The Black Vault and the Order of Guardians

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Jack the Reaper
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The Black Vault and the Order of Guardians

Post by Jack the Reaper »

Some of you are probably already familiar with the SCP site, but since I came upon this treasure hoard only recently, I'd like to share it with those who aren't:
http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-series
It is an endless source of inspiration for items and creatures that might be found kept in Azalin's Black Vault or by the Order of Guardians, along with the methods for guarding them.
Coming to that, after Watching the Cabin in the Woods and 13 Ghosts, I thing it would be great idea for Azalin to have a similar magical prison for all kinds of monsters, ghosts, undead killers etc. He might use them for missions, or for mystical rituals such as in the aforementioned movies. The prison can be an extention of the dungeon in Avernus, or located somewhere else and operated by the Kargat.
The Reaper's riddle:

"Im ata yachol likro et ze, ata yode'a et ha'emet."

If you can read it, you know the truth.
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thekristhomas
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Re: The Black Vault and the Order of Guardians

Post by thekristhomas »

I introduced a map to the Black Vault (basically a map of the lower levels of Avernus, which is where I located the Black Vault IMC) with codes and cyphers on it that could prove useful if decrypted, quite early on in my current campaign, the players don't seem to be having much luck with it, but hopefully they'll start to focus on it now that they are actually in the lower levels of Avernus.

I really like the idea of the Black Vault, on one level my players have swallowed it hook line and sinker, they imagine a hoard of powerful items, rather than a collection of deathly dangerous artifacts :twisted:

I've often wondered about a Darkonian Central Prison, and I wonder what sort of character would end up there, after all, a death sentence is a more usual punishment.

So the first type of prisoner I imagined was the Unkillable. Not necessarily undead, the Unkillable includes all those brought before the Darkonian justice system who either cannot be killed or should not be killed.

As Azalin, an arch-lich is the ultimate justice in Darkon it should be no surprise that those who cannot be killed are quite a small group, but includes some few with the ability/curse to inhabit new bodies upon the destruction of their current one (rare outside darklords) for whom a death sentence would merely facilitate escape, as well as those few genuinely immune to physical destruction.

Those who should not be killed is very much Azalin's choice, but by should not be killed, I'm meaning that the consequences of their death would be bad, and whether Azalin is willing to live with the consequences is the metric by which he makes his choice. For example, Lord Prospero is the last Darkonian to have contracted the plague known as the Red Death, a plague which cost Darkon greatly, he ranks among the Unkillable not for any physical immunity, far from it, as he is a feeble disease ridden man never far from death, but because if he dies, the spores which currently lie dormant in his body will be released, and the Red Death will return. Prospero's cell then, resembles something resembling a hospital room, with every effort put into keeping the mortal alive (indeed, a fair portion of the nations healing potions and potions of longevity have kept this poor soul hanging on for quite some time.
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