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Beowulf
Learned Scribe
Canada
322 Posts |
 Posted - 02 Jul 2004 : 16:27:17
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Well met!
The heroes in my campaign have recently begun a quest for a powerful artifact, and one of them is a (2ed) mage-diviner. He was the Magic Mirror spell, a fair amount of information, and a fair picture of the artifact, and thus stands a half decent chance of divining it's location.
Of course, that is contrary to how I want things to go. I want this quest to take at least a couple of years.
What I came up with is the idea that artifacts are so powerful that they leave an magical "impression" or "after-image" in any place that the have been for 100 or more years. Thus, a detect magic cast in a room where an artifact was once housed would detect the item as though it was still there, and likewise a mirror image ... even though the mundane eye could clearly see that the artifact was not present.
Not a perfect solution perhaps. Afterall, though they see the artifact existing simulataneously in many places via the mirror, they could always pick the correct place first. End of quest. One the otherhand, it gives definite direction and goals (as opposed to ... )without making light of the spell.
Thoughts? How have others dealt with similar situations?
Wyrmslayer of the Geats
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"Ill tempered the wretch, who laughs at everyone. He cannot recognize, as he should, that he is not without faults." the High One, Poetic Edda |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 02 Jul 2004 : 16:44:55
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| I seem to recall reading somewhere that artifacts couldn't be located with simple divination spells... After all, if they could located so easily, then what's to stop every 3rd level mage from casting a single spell and then going after The Spellbook of Über-Munchiness? |
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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!  |
Edited by - Wooly Rupert on 02 Jul 2004 16:46:58 |
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Arion Elenim
Senior Scribe
933 Posts |
Posted - 02 Jul 2004 : 16:48:27
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Sounds pretty solid to me....
However, you might want to throw in another loop....cause as soon as they discover that the divined location is empty, they can just cast the spell again and again, divine the locations and track it.
An idea might be that the creator of the artifact (or even some powerful wizard preventing the PCs from getting it) has altered the reality surrounding the artifact so that it deflects divination. In this way, random places are chosen and believed by the PCs to be the location of the item...or, the places shown are actually diabolical traps set up to throw the seekers off or even kill them.....
...leaving the PCs to think the item is in the belly of a Venerable Dragon...or...below Zhentil Keep, etc.
Man...I am a bastard sometimes!!  |
My latest Realms-based short story, about a bard, a paladin of Lathander and the letter of the law, Debts Repaid. It takes place before the "shattering" and gives the bard Arion a last gasp before he plunges into the present.http://candlekeep.com/campaign/logs/log-debts.htm |
Edited by - Arion Elenim on 02 Jul 2004 17:00:12 |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 03 Jul 2004 : 06:01:54
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I seem to recall reading somewhere that artifacts couldn't be located with simple divination spells... After all, if they could located so easily, then what's to stop every 3rd level mage from casting a single spell and then going after The Spellbook of Über-Munchiness?
That's also the way I've always interpreted the ruling on divinations and artifacts. I think it's even written in several tomes...
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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divinations and artifacts and ghost-images
