I could be mistaken, but to my eyes it seems like there is conflicting info regarding this artifact. Since I plan on making it a big part of my campaign, I wanted to ask your opinions.
- in Artifacts & Legends, it's said that Theocrat Ordrik realized the threat the axe represented to his rule, and so hid it deep beneath Droskar's Crag.
- in Dragons Unleashed, it's said that the axe was carried by a team sent by Ordrik to explore the ruined city of Jernashall. The team was destroyed by the magma dragon Moschabbat's, which now has the axe in its possession.
I guess you could say the axe was hidden and then brought out of hiding for the sake of the Jernashall mission. Why, I'm not sure, but it's plausible. But was this the intention? Or are these two separate stories simply inconsistent with each other?
Thanks.
(P.S: yeah, I know, it's my campaign and I can put the artifact in a jungle in the middle of the ocean if I want. But I prefer to stick to official setting as much as possible because every detail connects to another).
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The last option is by far the best (the one where you decide its 'in a jungle in the middle of the ocean').
If you want choose one of the above stories to be the Truth. That's the one Truth in your campaign. The others are rumors, myth and legend. Either way if its to be the center piece for an adventure or series of adventures or campaign you are going to have a lot of stuff to add and makeup/generate to fill it all out regardless.
Something like the Axe is going to be surrounded by an utter sea of conflicting rumors, myths and legends by its very nature.
I plan for on using the Dragons Unleashed version for my home campaign. A powerful weapon like that should be guarded by a dragon!
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Some say that Theocrat Ordrik recognized the threat of the Axe... it's power... to his newfound control of the throne so he hid it deep, below the roots of Droskar's Crag. Others however cleave to the lore contained in the Sagas of Jernashall. The rolls suggest that the doomed company was dispatched with the Axe in their stead, a symbol of Lord Ordrik's authority, but they were waylaid by the Magma Dragon Moschbatt, which lands the artifact squarely in the foul creature's hoard.
Ordrik's theocracy crumbled though hundreds of years ago and other legends of the Sagas of Jernashall have been disproven as fanciful embellishments and outright lies. I believe that Ordrik had it, once, and may even have attempted to use the Axe or hide it in some way from being used against him, but such things have a mind of their own.
The Axe... like that bloody Ring... WANTS to be found.
Over the last centuries other tales have surfaced. 'Tis said that the dwarf host at the battle of Magnimar bore it before them in a skirmish they were fated to lose. Then again there is the myth of Hrothgar of the North, who brought down the Linnorm crone, Thryghyah in 7 blows only to be trapped in the heart of a glacial rift.
It was sited in the sands of a temple in the Merasz Desert. It is sung about in the Epic of Rythgar at the Oparra, supposedly the Axe even made an appearance in a failed Starstone Test in Absalom for the sake of the gods! Every few years it seems some damned fool gets it in their head that THEY know the truth in all of it, mounts an expedition, and ventures out in search of the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords!
Y'know what they all have in common? Ruination.
Each tale, myth, legend and story ends with the "hero" and those in their service being undone by the very quest they undertook. Certainly the Axe is well acquitted in these odes, with great power and amazing devastation unleashed in its wake. But inevitably the supposed "ruler" of the weapon is themselves defeated and the Axe is lost.
I think the Axe is alive, with a cruel will and a dream of malice in its heart. It finds no shortage of willing hands waiting to fall for its wicked promises and the weapon reaps them as sure as the Scythe, sending a never-ending supply of souls to The Boneyard for their reckoning.
Seek it not lads. Or better still, reason not which tale be true. If'n you're hells-bent on finding the Axe mark me... the cursed thing will find you thrice as fast!
Mark, now I wanna find the blasted thing!
Ha ha, you guys are hilarious!
I like the idea of "rumors". At first I thought of simply telling the PC's that "the dragon has it. Go fetch." But now I'm thinking, maybe not so fast. Maybe it's better to create a sense of mystery around it, since the last time it was seen by anybody was hundreds of years ago. In my campaign it's actually supposed to be a force for good and a symbol of Dwarven power and leadership, so I want the PC's to find it. Possibly the best part of the artifact is how it can turn any non-dwarf that wields it into a dwarf. :-) :-) oh my.
It's interesting that nobody directly addressed the inconsistency issue. From this I gather that: 1) it doesn't really matter. 2) the inconsistency is genuine.
The funny thing is that there is no Truth in pathfinder, only stories. Even high level divination gives you story, not truth. Legend Lore tells you the story of a thing. Some of those stories may be embellished to the point you don't recognize the truth.
Pathfinder is split between being the honest truth of an event, and then the perspective of an uncertain story teller. Most of what the PCs hear should be from the perspective of someone that herd a story, not from someone that knows the absolute truth of the world (unless they were there for the event).
Also rumors make for great campaign hooks. Early in the game, go chasing after goblins that were rumored to have stolen the axe from a battlefield 20 years ago. If they manage to talk to the chief of the tribe he remembers the axe and tells a story of how the previous chief was killed for it. Or how the previous chief lead a suicidal expedition into an old dwarven ruin and was never herd from again.
There is a rumor that the axe is going to be auctioned off in a far away city. It couldn't be true, could it?
A group of Durgar raiders has surfaced near that old dwarven ruin. They have laid waste to several small villages and a town. One of them is said to carry the Axe, and a particular hatred of nobles. It is said they have taken over a mountain fortress from the local kingdom.
A peculiar troll has been spotted in the woods. It is shorter than normal, wields the Axe, has a beard, and seems to have a 'clan' of Madcaps following him. This has to be a trick of fae magic, right?
I think I like your last suggestion the best. A troll with a beard...:-)
I find all your perspectives very interesting as with regards to truth vs. hearsay. I did feel constrained in the past when I tried to follow the official stories to a tee.
Having said that, I do like the idea that the Axe is part of a dragon's horde, my only challenge here is how to prevent the PC's from directly fighting it because they will not stand a chance, but other than that the description in Dragons Unleashed is pretty evocative. Maybe a combination of this and some of the elements mentioned above... I would also LOVE to have the axe turn someone into a dwarf. he he...
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looks like I'm not the only one inspired to use the Axe in their campaign
I'm agreeing with everyone here, the truth is what the GM says it is ;)
An artifact getting campaign is the ultimate McGuffin hunt. If you want to make it a linear game and your players get into that, there's no reason not to just say "Here's what you know about the axe... (insert setting lore here)... now go get it." Lots of megadungeon games are this way and grinding through can be a great game!
If however you and your players want a bit more meandering in your plot and setting, consider not even starting things off with the Axe in mind. PCs begin the game as normal, cliché even, going about their normal adventuring. All the while they hear rumblings of whatever end villain you want them to face.
Suddenly at level 3 or so they face off against a major player in the final villain's retinue. From this encounter they learn the only thing the villain fears is the Axe... or something like that. However you want to run it or spin it is yours to decide, but this encounter then puts the Axe of the Dwarven Lords in the players' heads as part of the endgame of the campaign.
I suggest waiting a few levels only because once players have an idea of the overarching endgame, more often than not they're like dogs with bones. In my own campaign when I said "so in the distance there's this evil druid working with the fey..." my players, then 3rd level, went straight at the CR8 evil druid, carving their way through many evil fey and plant monsters in the process and one of the characters nearly died.
Anyway, so now that they know they need the Axe rather than just telling them where it is you give them a series of adventures leading them there. For a couple levels they're hunting for the premier expert on the Axe... who of course has been kidnapped by the campaign villain. After the PCs rescue the expert he reveals a number of rumors and legends. After this the party chases down leads, eliminates red herrings, and helps out oppressed people in the process.
You might have them find pieces of a map that then leads them to the final resting place. Alternatively if the players like intrigue, perhaps the Axe expert helping them is actually a spy for the villain. Eventually however they should have the opportunity to find and recover the artifact for themselves.
Now, artifacts are powerful, sometimes game-breaking devices. While the players should have a bit of fun with the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords because they campaigned so hard for it, perhaps consider limiting their use of the thing to a couple of levels before they have the final showdown with the villain. I mean if your campaign is meant to go, say, 15 levels and the PCs acquire the Axe at level 6, now you've got a potential "kid in a candy store" kind of thing going on :)
Finally, as for the inconsistency, I feel like it was probably not deliberate. I can't speak for Paizo of course but often times on these boards some of the folks in the organization or creating content for expansions and such have noted that sometimes newer material conflicts with older, more established cannon. It happened often in Forgotten Realms and I'm sure if I really did my research I could find differences between the old first edition Greyhawk Gazateer and the update made for 3x.
But that's the beauty of artifacts though! There NEEDS to be a bit of inconsistency. Consider the Sword of Gryffindor for example. The blade, throughout history, seems to magically appear whenever it is truly needed. While Harry used it extensively through a few books, eventually it got into the hands of a goblin who died while possessing it, and the sword disappeared. Then the REAL hero of the books (in my opinion) Neville Longbottom reached into the sorting hat, at a pivotal moment, and BLAMMO! The sword was at the ready!
So while the inconsistency was likely a glitch or oversight on the part of two different authors adding to the lore of Golarion, this wrinkle gives us the perfect excuse to add our OWN take on the legend. We can put the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords wherever we need it because, of course, it appears when the need is greatest!
Thanks for all the tips and ideas.
The campaign is not to retrieve the axe, but retrieving the axe is part of the campaign, if that makes sense. The campaign is ultimately about a long-forgotten prophecy (that may or may not be genuine) that one of the PC's is the One that will unite the Dwarven city-states against the Orcs and the climax is supposed to be set in Urgir in the Hold of Belkzen. The axe is not only a magical artifact, it's the symbol that the PC must acquire is order to prove that he truly deserves it.
The PC's have not yet been told directly about the axe, so there are the two options: tell them directly where it is, or use rumors and uncertain information. I like the second option better. It employs red herrings and they will have to work for it a bit more as you say and hopefully gain some levels in the process. I do like the idea of looking for an expert on the axe or at least for someone who might know it's exact whereabouts. I did have thoughts in that direction so it's nice to see someone else thinks the same way.
Now, I do like the description in Dragons Unleashed, the fire lake and creatures there are very evocative and I'd like the PC's search to eventually lead them there. However, the PC's are currently level 7 and most of the encounters in Dragons Unleashed are level 14 and up. Second, I have no clue how the PC's will take the axe from the dragon. Dragons Unleashed makes it very clear that Moschabbat considers the axe his most prized possession. The PC's can't engage the dragon in a direct violent conflict. They don't stand a chance. So... I might have to let go of that or populate the lair with other, weaker creatures. Or simply design it as a stealth mission with (hopefully) no encounters.
However, once the dragon realizes his most prized possession was stolen...
I understand it's a very powerful artifact, but the finding of it is supposed to lead to a great battle against fearsome enemies. The PC's will not have much time going around killing and looting for the sake of it... finding the artifact will be the beginning of the third act, sort to speak.
Of course, this being an rpg things can change, but that's the general plan.
By the way, another inconsistency: Dwarves of Golarion names the volcano that buried Jernashall as Droskar's Crag, while Dragons Unleashed calls is Torag's Crag :-))))
The name of the volcano WAS Torag’s Crag until the Rending. Afterwards, it was renamed Droskar’s Crag.
So what you're saying is: a group of PCs, ill-prepared for the actual fire-breathing dragon at the end of the module, are supposed to take some of the treasure from the thing and escape with it. This will trigger the dragon to action to retrieve it's treasure, which in turn signifies to the world at large that the PCs HAVE the treasure. Finally, the climax of the PCs' story is a war of several armies. Where have I heard this before...
"Farewell, Master Burglar... If more people valued Home above Gold, the world would be a merrier place." - paraphrased from Thorrin Oakenshield.
But yes, this sounds like it is an epic campaign! Hopefully it's going well.
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