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Collecting the Seal

Astral Plane

  • Collect Shard of Infinite Thought
  • A fragment of pure, crystallized thought from a long-dead god, floating in the Astral Plane.
    • In it’s dying moments, it was filled with fear, doubt, uncertainty, regret
  • Mind flayers also want said shard to make it their own god under their control
    • Their leader is elder brain “The Inquirer”
    • It believes that by claiming this artifact, it can ascend beyond physical form and birth a new Elder God of Thought, remaking all minds in its image. The Inquirer leads a clandestine Mind Flayer cult known as the Unbroken Circle, whose agents are already moving within the Astral Plane.
  • While the heart of the mountain is the physical, this is the mental framework of the seal, keeping together the complex magics of the spell.
  • The party would arrive in the astral plane, floating in space. In the distance, they see the giant skeleton of the god. The skull of the god has cracked open, and inside, there’s some tunnels through the petrified skull, but in the center is a hollow chamber. Here, floating in the middle of the room is the crystallized thought, encased in a psychic barrier
  • The Inquirer is linked to the thoughts barrier with weird psychic links. It seems to be absorbing the power
  • Around the Inquirer are the Unbroken Circle, the mind flayers and other aberrations.
  • The Inquirer would ask questions will, well, inquire the party as they approach the corpse. It will warn them to stay away, and to do no further meddling.
    • Paranoia. Creatures within 5 miles of an elder brain feel as if they are being followed, even when they’re not.
    • Psychic Whispers. Any creature with which the elder brain has formed a psychic link hears faint, incomprehensible whispers in the deepest recesses of its mind. This psychic detritus consists of the elder brain’s stray thoughts commingled with those of other creatures to which it is linked.
    • Telepathic Eavesdropping. The elder brain can overhear any telepathic conversation within 5 miles of it. The creature that initiated the telepathic conversation makes a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw when telepathic contact is first established. If the save is successful, the creature is aware that something is eavesdropping. The nature of the eavesdropper isn’t revealed.

Elemental Plane of Earth

  • Heart of a living mountain
  • Party has to move through the mountain’s “veins” to get to the heart
  • There are golems that act like white blood cells
    • They see the party as a virus, and as such, much like actual cells, try to absorb and crush the party members.
    • They can have different personalities as they absorb personality traits of previous “viruses”
    • The deeper in the party ventures, the less the golems are just “golem-like” and get deeper personalities reflecting the amount of essences absorbed.
  • As they get to the heartchamber, the mountain violently reacts and starts collapsing in on itself as a final defense mechanism
    • starts a “timer” where the party has to do something to get the heart out
  • The heart represents earth and the strength of durability of earth and how that will be the “physical” cage of tharizdun
  • Party has to delve into Kar’Grathul, a sentient mountain. Its insides are a labyrinth of stone arteries, crystalline caverns, and magma veins. The mountain is aware of intruders and views them as infections—threats to its being. Its defenses grow stronger the deeper the party travels.
  • At first, Kar’Grathul disperses the earth elementals.
  • Then, the party must make a series of survival or medicine checks
  • They need 3 DC 20’s. If they fail, they get lost and wander around too much, where the mountain tries to crush them by causing rock falls in the “veins.” DC 20 dex saves or take 3d10 bludgeoning damage.
  • First, the party is intercepted by the elemental cells.
  • Next is the lungs. Vast caverns filled with spiked crystalline formations that resonate like breathing.
  • The lungs are filled with poisonous gas. as the party traverses through, they must make DC 20 con saves, 6d8 poison damage
    • the lung fills with the gas in a breathing like pattern. checks to time it. investigation, perception, etc.
  • Final is the crystal chamber. Here is the amalgamation, which will show the absorption, and will tell them no further.
  • In the heart chamber, its a matter of dealing 75 damage to the rocky tendrils around the heart in the middle of the room
  • Every hit triggers a rumble and rocks to break from the roof - dc 16 dex saves, 2d10 bludgeoning damage, and once it breaks, the mountain starts collapsing. The party has 5 rounds to get out, with 3d10 dex saves each round. If they dont get out, its 10d10 and they are buried in rubble until they free themselves.

Elemental Plane of Air

  • Elemental Plane of Air – The Last Breath of the First Word
  • Description:
  • A translucent, swirling orb of condensed wind and ancient energy, constantly shifting between vapor and form. Inside the orb, faint echoes of a voice can be heard whispering in a language older than the gods themselves. This artifact is said to contain the final breath of the first being to ever speak magic into existence—a primordial utterance that shaped the foundations of language and spellcraft. This breath is pure, unbound power, the force behind every spell and every spoken word of power in the multiverse.
  • Symbolism in the Ritual:
  • The Power of Speech and Binding Words: To bind Tharizdun, the seal requires a spoken incantation of unimaginable power. The Last Breath of the First Word provides the raw energy to give form to the words that will cage a god.
  • Manifestation of Will: Breath is life and will; this item represents the force of intent made reality, empowering the final words that will trap Tharizdun within his mortal prison.
  • Unyielding Command: The artifact channels the authority of creation itself, ensuring the binding words cannot be defied.
  • The party teleports to the air plane, and finds themselves below a flying mountain in the sky. There’s a constant storm around it, and if they fly up, they realise they cannot actually fly up and will have to climb
  • When they start climbing, hostile elementals will set on them
  • It’s DC 18 acrobatics or athletics checks to move up one tier. Once everyone’s at the top, the elementals disperse.
  • When they get to the plateau up top, they see the flying magical being, speaking in various ancient languages, and being clearly magical creations
    • “Words created the world. Words unmake it.
    • Speak the Word that binds, or be scattered upon the wind.”
    • Ioun will give them the Power Word that must be spoken, but there are 3 checks to get it right
    • “VOR” – To Bind or Restrain
    • An ancient syllable derived from primordial languages, signifying the act of constriction and containment. It resonates with authority and control, a force that compels obedience.
    • “UL” – Will or Command
    • This syllable channels personal intent, representing the pure force of willpower required to enact change upon reality. It is the speaker’s dominance over the chaotic forces of the Plane of Air.
    • “THAR” – Breath or Life
    • A sacred syllable referencing the breath of creation, the essence of life and speech. It mirrors the concept of beginnings and endings, tying the spoken Word to the breath that forged the multiverse.
    • All checks are DC 20
    • Insight, Performance to fuel emotion/power into the word
    • Constitution to get the resonance correct
    • Int/wis/cha to get the magic right
    • It can go from 3 successes which traps the breath, to 3 fails, which still works but backfires in a PW:K. Ioun explains this.

Elemental Plane of Water

  • At the bottom of one of the deepest trenches, a giant clam rests - one who has been here since the creation of the plane of water.
  • The clam has “pearlified” an essence of pure peace. Its an embodiment of the perfect stillness of thought that exists in the heart of the oceans depths, free from the distractions and noise of the worlds surface.
  • The party needs this essence of tranquil to counteract the maddening whispers and the corruption of tharizdun in his true form, so that he doesnt corrupt the actual seal or the mortal body to release him again.
  • To get the pearl, the party will need to convince the clam somehow to give it up, as the pearl wouldnt do it willingly
  • In the quiet, as the party meditates, their fears and insecurities manifests as weird beings. The party will have to “fight” them, all while staying still. doing this by wisdom saves and like, describing how their state of mind is really breaking it.
  • The party will teleport to the edge of the Trench of Endless Silence. Immediately when the party would descend into the darkness, all sounds around them disappear. No waves, and the water is unnaturally still. The very water here seems to absorb sound, and the pressure of the ocean depths creates a serene, otherworldly calm. The further the party descends, the silence grows more oppressive, leaving only the party’s own thoughts.
    • At this point, the only way to communicate is through the earrings of message, as sounds do not travel.
  • At the bottom of the trench, the party finds the old ruins of a temple or place of worship. In the middle of it sits the biggest clam the party has ever seen.
  • Suddenly, in the silence, there’s a voice. In the oppressive silence, it’s extremely loud.
    • “I am Quollan’thu, The Still. I have slumbered here since the first wave kissed the shore. You come seeking the Essence of Tranquil.”
    • “The Essence of Tranquil is an embodiment of the perfect stillness of throught that exists in the heart of the oceans depths, free from distractions and noise of the world’s surface. Over millenia, I have captured this essence within a pearl, one I keep.
    • “Many have come seeking it, but none have understood. It is not a gift to be taken, but a truth to be understood.”
    • “To hold the silence, you must become the silence. Cast aside your voice and body, and still your mind.”
    • “You must sit in the stillness. Meditate. Let the silence overcome you. In the stillness, your mind will run free, scream its fears to wake you from the stillness. Down here in the depths, there is room for these fears to take shape. To understand tranquility, show me you can silence these fears. Remain unshaken yourself. Endure the quiet. Only then shall the pearl recognize you.”
    • The party must meditate in silence. All make a wisdom check
      • Nat 1 is 5 water sparks
      • 2-8 is 4
      • 8-15 is 3
      • 16-20 is 2
      • Above 20 is 1
    • The party must find a way to destroy these without moving on their own. Be creative.
    • “You have quieted the storm within. In stillness, you endured. In silence, you became whole. The ocean does not yield to force, but to those who move as it moves. Take this fragment of stillness. It is not a weapon, nor a shield, but a truth. Hold it close, and may the silence within guide you through the noise beyond.”
    • As one of the party reaches forward, the pearl gently lifts into their hands, impossibly light and yet brimming with an indescribable weight. For a fleeting moment, the world is utterly silent—no heartbeat, no breath, no thought. Then sound slowly returns, distant and soft, as if the ocean itself acknowledges their success.
    • Go. And disturb the depths no longer.

Elemental Plane of Fire

  • https://5e.tools/trapshazards.html#extreme%20heat_dmg
  • The party must venture into the Ashen Crucible, a volatile volcanic wasteland deep within the Elemental Plane of Fire. Rivers of molten rock split obsidian plateaus, while storms of ash and cinders blot out the sky. This desolate land is sacred ground, where phoenixes come to surrender their immortality.
  • In the Caldera of one of the volcanoes, the party would find the temple of the Ashen Conclave
    • The Ashen Conclave are religious fanatics, who worship the cycle of death and rebirth. Led by Ergan, the Cinderlord
    • They believe that the Phoenix’s choice to embrace death is a divine act. The cinderbloom is not merely a flower, but the last ember of their god’s (the phoenix’s) will.
    • Doctrines:
      • Life must yield to death, and death to life. Immortality is a defilement of existence, and any attempts to escape this cycle is heresy
      • The cinderbloom is the phoenix’s fianl lesson. To disturb it would be to disturb the true truth that the phoenix has found. The Ashen conclave don’t know this truth, as it only reveals itself at the moment of your death
    • To witness the flower, the party must be cleansed by fire.
      • 3d12 fire damage
      • This is a quicker version of the true ritual of burning flesh
    • To negotiate and get the Cinderbloom, the party must offer a significant sacrifice, to show they understand the value of what they are asking the conclave to give up
  • The flower only blooms where a phoenix has chosen to “embrace mortality” and died. The flower in the ritual will be used to force tharizdun to embrace mortality, and be able to die

Abyss

  • getting a gem of tharizdun here.
  • the party has the ride the river styx to its source, where they will find the first gem of tharizdun, which they will get
  • it will be guarded by one of tharizduns strongest
    • tanar’ri