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 Monument of the Ancients - need info
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xmaxx
Acolyte

France
39 Posts

Posted - 12 Jun 2015 :  21:07:55  Show Profile Send xmaxx a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
Hi all,

Will soon run the Monument of the Ancients adventure, and I'm looking for anything related to :

- House of Gold
- Oubliette of Madness
- Cenotaph of the Lost Gods

Those locations are shown on the map of the Dungeon #170 adventure.

SaMoCon
Senior Scribe

USA
403 Posts

Posted - 12 Jun 2015 :  22:18:06  Show Profile Send SaMoCon a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Othern than Demzer mentioning it once here, I have nothing on the cenotaph. The oubliette, I have found less than the cenotaph. House of Gold, aha, there is more. According to Candlekeep's library the House of Gold was sourced from Demihuman Deities pg 44 and it is a named temple of Abbathor in the Turnback Mountains. It was founded in 1001 DR. That information lead to the other name for the temple as Aefarn on this page with the following information:
quote:
Major Centers of Worship: Aefarn, the House of Gold, is a fortified temple complex housing much of the collected wealth of Abbathor's clergy. The temple is located deep beneath Turnback Mountain, the southernmost peak of a mountain range of similar name running north-south along the eastern border of Anauroch and north of the frozen steppes known as the Tortured Land. The treasure vaults of the Hands of Greed are located in a cavern complex hewn millennia ago from the surrounding granite by the great red wyrm Ragflaconshen, Spawn of Mahatnartorian, before he died defending his hoard from the avaricious Abbathor. In the Year of the Wailing Winds (1000 DR), a trio of Abbathoran priests stumbled across the wyrm's long-hidden lair after following a trail of gold coins placed - or so they suspected - by the Great Master of Greed.

After an arduous adventure bypassing the long-dead wyrm's many traps, the three priests finally penetrated Ragflaconshen's inner sanctum early in the Year of the Awakening (1001 DR). There they discovered that the great wyrm had survived, after a fashion, as a ghost dragon, his spirit unable to rest until his fabulous horde was replaced in kind. The Trove Lord then appeared to the three priests in a vision and directed them to muster the faithful (along with their personal hoards) scattered throughout the Cold Lands - the territory loosely incorporating the lands between the Moonsea, Anauroch, and the Great Glacier - in the ghost dragon's lair. This mass assemblage of treasure would allow the spirit of the Trove Lord's ancient antagonist and kindred spirit in greed to rest at last. When this was done, Abbathor appeared to his assembled worshipers in avatar form and directed them, under the leadership of the Three Coinlords (as the trio was thereafter known), to build a temple honoring him. This structure would house the assembled trove of treasure (possibly the most valuable to ever exist in the Realms), as well as all new wealth that its clergy acquired in the wider world. In the nearly four centuries since the founding of Aefarn, the caverns that make up the House of Gold have been entirely covered with gold leaf and studded with precious gems. The three seniormost priests of the temple compose the ruling triumvirate (still named for its founders), although Abbathor's assembled priests work collectively to defend the House of Gold from interlopers. Each priest has his own heavily trapped set of chambers in which his personal share of the temple's wealth is hoarded. Thus those seeking to plunder the House of Gold find themselves faced with innumerable smaller fortresses in addition to the formidable collective defenses.


I hope that helps (1 for 3, that's gonna' drop my avg).

Make the best use of the system that's there, then modify the mechanics that don't allow you to have the fun you are looking for.
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 13 Jun 2015 :  08:55:41  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
If you read the demihuman deities it mentions a dead dragon who was descended from Mahatnartorian "Master of the Mountain", the same Mahatnartorian who I think slew Durothil of Tintageer, so the gold in that lair could be immense.

I also made a link between Mahatnartorian and the artefact "Crown of the Mountain" and had the crown located around the dragon's lair before it was turned into the House of Gold. The mention of Abbathor slaying the dragon I slightly altered so that the dragon died of greed and paranoia (he starved to death protecting his hoard) which I put down to the fell intelligence of Mahatnartorian which resides in the Crown of the Mountain (Valamadarace's article which includes the crown mentions powers as yet unidentified).

So if you go down the route of the dragon and the crown then the House of Gold would be a smooth single piece of rock carved by the magic of the mountain rather than sculpted by the claws of a dragon.

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Derulbaskul
Senior Scribe

Singapore
408 Posts

Posted - 28 Jun 2016 :  13:42:21  Show Profile Send Derulbaskul a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I was wondering if anyone ever dug up any information about the other two locations?

Cheers
D

NB: Please remember: A cannon is a big gun. Canon is what we discuss here.
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Brimstone
Great Reader

USA
3287 Posts

Posted - 28 Jun 2016 :  15:58:55  Show Profile Send Brimstone a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Look at the Ask Brian R James scroll. It may have some useful info...

"These things also I have observed: that knowledge of our world is
to be nurtured like a precious flower, for it is the most precious
thing we have. Wherefore guard the word written and heed
words unwritten and set them down ere they fade . . . Learn
then, well, the arts of reading, writing, and listening true, and they
will lead you to the greatest art of all: understanding."
Alaundo of Candlekeep
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 28 Jun 2016 :  19:36:06  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
No idea on the oubliette of madness.

The cenotaph of the lost gods seems an odd thing to me. Why would someone erect a monument to beings no one even remembered and only the dark three likely knew the details of.

The only scenario that springs to my mind at the moment is that the dark three erected it on purpose as a false resting place of the lost gods to keep others from finding the remains of the lost gods and destroying them for good or stealing the power for themselves.

Such an event may have limited effect now as the dead three are dead or established deities and so the power loss may not bother them much. But when the dead three were starting on their path to godhood (which i dont believe was immediate despite what the legends say, i think it took over 600 years) the power from borem's heart, maram, haask, and the others would have been a valuable resource that others may be able to steal (taking the dagger from the heart or releasing maram or killing haask for example).

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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 20 Mar 2018 :  00:04:28  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
*** casts Raise Scroll!!! ***

So, anything at all on those last two locales? I hate placing stuff I know nothing about.

A Cenotaph isn't supposed to be a person (or god's) final resting place anyway, so who knows who erected it. Maybe jergal put up a monument for some unknown reason?

As for the Oubliette, maybe it's just really angry?


"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone

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Brian R. James
Forgotten Realms Game Designer

USA
1098 Posts

Posted - 20 Mar 2018 :  02:24:19  Show Profile  Visit Brian R. James's Homepage Send Brian R. James a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I had plans to use those locations in Prophecy of the Ancients, but alas that sequel adventure was pulled from the schedule mid design. Now, they are just interesting locales on a map, free for DMs to use as they wish.

Brian R. James - Freelance Game Designer

Follow me on Twitter @brianrjames
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Brimstone
Great Reader

USA
3287 Posts

Posted - 20 Mar 2018 :  13:37:20  Show Profile Send Brimstone a Private Message  Reply with Quote
No hints???

"These things also I have observed: that knowledge of our world is
to be nurtured like a precious flower, for it is the most precious
thing we have. Wherefore guard the word written and heed
words unwritten and set them down ere they fade . . . Learn
then, well, the arts of reading, writing, and listening true, and they
will lead you to the greatest art of all: understanding."
Alaundo of Candlekeep

Edited by - Brimstone on 20 Mar 2018 13:37:43
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nblanton
Seeker

USA
92 Posts

Posted - 20 Mar 2018 :  14:57:25  Show Profile Send nblanton a Private Message  Reply with Quote
As to the construction of the Monument and the other structures, the shaman that give the party the puzzle cube says it was the Imaskari that sealed Maram away from Toril (Dungeon 170, pg 61).

It might be a throwaway line or an unreliable narrator issue.

It is the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules, which is important. Never hold to the letter written, nor allow some barracks room lawyer to force quotations from the rule book upon you, if it goes against the obvious intent of the game.

Afterword, DMG pg 230.
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