d20 Eternal Knot Games Alortun The Crown of Skulls.pdf

History

Discovery

which time Agyraea became more

powerful.

the Time of Greatness, the time

Agyraea Empire ruled was known

as the Time of Skulls – perhaps

after the Agyraean tradition of

keeping a small model skull of

loved ones after they passed away.

The crown was renamed to the

Crown of Skulls.

Ten years before Exa I crowned

himself King of Agyraea, a group

of knights loyal to Exa discovered

an ancient Dwarven temple;

inside, hidden under the altar, was

a locked trapdoor that led to a

room housing a single Darkwood

chest. Unable to open the chest

they brought it to Exa believing it

to house some important treasure.

Even the most powerful magic

user Exa could call upon was not

able to open the chest. The night

after the magic user gave the chest

back he took it with him into a

temple where he kept a nights

vigil, the first of many he kept

before major battles. In the

morning he rode out, with an

open Darkwood chest, at the head

of an army. Two weeks later he

rode back at the head of a

victorious army wearing the

treasure from inside the chest, a

spectacular crown, the same

crown that ten years later was

placed upon his head when he was

crowned King Exa I of Agyaea; the

Crown of Victors, not the ancient

Crown of Agyraea.

On his death King Reninec III

passed his powers down to his

eldest son. The eldest son took the

name Exa after his granddad and

was crowned King Exa II. Exa II

went against the wishes of his

father and used the Crown of

Victors on his coronation day.

Some of the ancient, and powerful,

noble families rose up against Exa

II within weeks of him being

crowned, but he quickly smashed

their armies and took their lands

with this the hold of the King over

the land became undisputed

allowing Exa II to invade

neighbouring lands adding them to

the Kingdom of Agyraea.

Crown of Skulls

A lord near the elven lands captured

a small band of elves; amongst their

possessions was a crown which he

recognised as the Crown of Skulls.

The elves tried to warn the lord the

dangers of the crown but he ignored

the warnings and started to use it.

The lord started his own rebellion,

and soon split from his old kingdom.

He quickly made his name in many

battles against his fellow kin, the elves,

and finally he started to attack the

dwarves. After a couple of battles the

dwarves recognised the crown, they

then started to warn any humans or

elves they could of the dangers of the

crown. Some humans joined the

dwarves, most of them joined because

of political, or personal, reasons, to

bring down the lord; some elves,

mainly the older generation, also

joined the fight. It was during this

period of conflict, known at the time

as the Dwarven Wars, that the

Crown of Skulls was lost. Also

during this period a group of dwarves

invaded what was an ancient

abandoned dwarven religious site

that the elves had started to inhabit.

The period of conflict was called the

Skull War; and the lord, by tradition,

was called Skull Lord.

During the next one hundred and

fifty years there were many mass

slaughters; villages, towns, royal

families, even an entire city were

targeted. Kings seldom held the

throne for more than ten years,

yet somehow even through this

internal strife the Kingdom

became a strong empire. Its peak

was under the leadership of the

first foreign emperor, Bevin of

Southtun. He led his

outnumbered army against the

Elves after they took the town of

Alderidge Meadow; he defeated

them and went on to capture

some of their lands.

Crown of Victors

It was less than two years to the

day he was crowned he killed all

his sons and brothers fearing they

were all trying to remove him

from power. Within three

months Exa died while putting

down a rebellion in an outer

province. A bastard son of Exa,

Reninec, proved to be a powerful

leader of men and quickly ended a

civil war that had threatened to

split Agyraea apart. In a great

diplomatic move he was crowned

with the Crown of Agyraea; he

sent the Crown of Victors to a

distant fortified monastery to keep

it secure. King Reninec III ruled

Agyraea for twenty years during

In the same year of his victory

over the elves he was killed in

battle. His body was found three

days after the battle, naked and

impaled. The Crown of Victors

was missing.

After the Skull War nothing was

heard about the Crown of Skulls

until recent times when stories

started to surface about the crown

mainly from a small kingdom, the

Kingdom of Kemi which some

scholars believe was the land that

the Skull War originated from.

Over the next sixty years the

empire crumbled; even Agyraea,

which had remained strongly in

the hands of the kings, split in

various civil wars and breakaways.

Instead of the Rule of Victors, or

Legends

There is not much known about

the Crown of Skulls but what is

the most commonly known, or

accepted, is listed below.

• The Crown of Skulls can create

armies of skeletons, or undead. (F

20)

• The Crown of Skulls was once

the crown used by an ancient

empire. (T)

• The Crown of Skulls can

resurrect the dead. (F 20)

• The dwarves have had previous

dealings with the Crown of Skulls

before the Skull Wars. (T)

After each legend the word true or

false appears, this indicates

whether the legend is true or false.

If false the number that follows is

another DC, if this number is

reached then the players either

learn the truth about the falsehood

or learn that the legend is false but

not the correct information.

• The Crown of Skulls can control

undead. (F 20)

• The first human king to wear the

Crown of Skulls, then known as

the Crown of Victors, was Exa I

of Agyraea. (T)

• The Crown of Skulls hints at

who is to die and how. (F 20)

• The Crown of Skulls once

belonged to the elves. (T)

• The true description of the

Crown of Skulls, as noted in the

description, but not including the

additional information found

there. (T)

The DC numbers they are listed

under are in a medium town or

larger, in smaller settlements the

DC may be higher; some places

may have different legends about

the crown and the DC numbers

below may vary.

• The first common description

about the Crown of Skulls is that

it is a heavily bejewelled piece;

some of the jewels are in the

shapes of skulls. (F 20)

DC 30

• The Crown of Skulls was once

known as the Crown of Victors.

(T)

• The second common description

about the Crown of Skulls is that

it has a single large gem, or jewel,

in the forehead of the crown in

the shape of a skull. (F 20)

DC 10

• When the Crown of Skulls is

found again by humans the end

times will start. (T)

• An ancient historian renamed

the Crown of Victors to the

Crown of Skulls as a parody of

the troubled times soon after the

last person was crowned with the

Crown of Victors, perhaps using

the Agyraean tradition of keeping

a small model skull of loved ones

after they passed away. (T)

• The third common description

about the Crown of Skulls is it

has heavily bejewelled with a

large gem stone in the shape of a

skull in the middle of the

forehead. (F 20)

• The Skull Lord was the last

human known to wear the

Crown of Skulls. (T)

• The Crown of Skulls was called

that because its gems were cut as

skulls, of it has one major jewel in

the forehead of the wearer that is

in the shape of a skull. (F20)

DC 20

• Crown of Skulls makes its bearer

go mad. (T)

• Other information about the

Crown of Skulls (from after the

crown’s name was changed) as

noted in the history. (T)

• Other information about the

Crown of Victors as noted in the

history, from the crowning of Exa

I. (T)

• The Skull Lord built a castle out

of, or using, skulls of his enemies.

(F 15)

• The Crown of Skulls once had

another name. (T)

• It was during the Skull Wars

that the dwarves and elves

started their antagonism. (T)

• Other information about the

Crown of Victors as noted in the

history, from before the crowing

of Exa I. (T)

• The Crown of Skulls makes its

bearers better tacticians. (T)

DC 15

DC 25

• Other information as found in

the description. (T)

• The Kingdom of Kemi is the

heart of Skull Lands. (T)

• The dwarves fear the Crown of

Skulls. (T)

• Other information as found in

the abilities. (T)

Description

The crown is plain and comprises

of magically strengthened gold,

with four small magically glowing

orbs set equally around the band of

the crown; the largest of the four

is normally worn on the front.

Inside of the crown there are

numerous fixings for allowing it to

be attached to a helmet.

Some contemporary sources claim

that the size of the crown best

fitted a dwarf, not a human with a

helmet on; this, along with it being

found in a dwarven temple, led

some scholars of the same era of

the Crown of Victors to claim it

was a dwarven crown – this view

was always an unpopular idea in

the courts of the kings who wore

the crown and some of the

scholars, even those with powerful

friends, disappeared or ended up

dead soon after they made the

declaration.

Abilities

There has been no work

completed detailing the complete

benefits of the Crown of Victors,

of the Crown of Skulls there are

many works which claim to detail

the benefits of wearing the crown.

• Ability to predict a person’s

intent.

enemies plans, while other areas

were weaker, or missing, mainly

the protection in combat.

• Ability to predict whether a

person is telling a falsehood.

Soon after the magician wrote his

findings down, and while he

carried on, hinting at a form of

madness that afflicted the bearer

the magician disappeared and his

name was struck from all records,

all his work destroyed – ironically

it was this single-mindedness

destruction of his name from all

records that allowed his work to

survive. In a distant library they

heard of a new appointment to the

court magician before they were

told to destroy all works from ‘he

whom shall remain nameless

henceforth’, in a simple

misunderstanding they destroyed

the new court magician’s work

and not the old court magician.

• Protection in combat; either by

knowing a person’s intent, or

casting a shield like rings of

protection.

The definitive guide to the Crown

of Victors was completed by Exa

I’s court magician. Watching Exa

I wearing the crown in many

actions he wrote a list that came

to be at the core of many future

lists of benefits of the crown:

• Increased ability in combat.

After Exa I died and his son

Reninec III was crowned the court

magician gave advice to Reninec

III too, it was during this time

when he carried on with his guide

to the crown noting that the

effects between how the crown

worked for father and son were

similar but areas seemed to be

stronger, namely predictions of the

• Ability to predict the enemies

plans on the battlefield.

• Ability to predict the enemies

plans in a short campaign, or

short term in a longer

campaign.

How to Use in Campaigns

Abilities

Campaign Ideas

random street vendor who used to

pass the nobles mansion everyday.

The ex-vendor moved in with his

family. While exploring his new

house he found an underground

library and two secret rooms

upstairs. In these rooms were

artefacts and documents dating

from around the Skull Wars. One

document in particular gave

details about the last days of the

Crown of Skulls. Interested about

the crown and in fear of being

called a evildoer and madman he

hired an almost unknown group of

adventures to follow the last

movements of the Crown of Skulls

and see if they can carry on with

the story of the crown itself.

The Crown of Skulls is a cursed

major artefact – the curse drives

the bearers paranoid and mad,

how quickly this occurs depends

on how much they use and rely on

the item – some of its abilities that

it could bestow upon its bearer

are:

The head of an ancient, yet ailing,

noble house secretly hires in a

group of ‘adventures’ to find the

crown to help him bring his house

back into power. Once the group

is gathered he tells them of his

plans, in a rough manner, and asks

them to search for the Crown of

Skulls. The information he tells

the group is basic information, all

expect for one fact, the crown at

one time had a different name but

he is unable to discover its original

name.

Divination Spells:

• True Strike (Level 1)

• Detect Thoughts (Level 2)

• True Seeing (Level 6)

A shepherd in the hills of the

Kingdom of Kemi discovers an

ancient dwarf grave after one of

his lamb falls through a small gap.

Once word of this discovery gets

around the shepherd gets moved

away to a bigger and more

profitable farm the other side of

the kingdom. The king’s soldiers

take over the farm and start to

build a defensive barrier around

the dwarf grave. Some rumours

spread that the grave was from

the Skull Wars and had new

information from near the end of

the conflict – some even more

whispered rumours mention it

talks about the Crown of Skulls.

• Moment of Prescience (Level

• Foresight (Level 9)

Protection:

• Equivalent to Ring of

Protection +1 to +5

Each user of the crown gains

different effects; each effect also

manifests itself in different ways

and strengths. Those who are

closely related have similar effects

but are still noticeably different.

Once a person starts wearing the

crown they are unwilling and

unable to give it up.

An eccentric noble dies leaving all

his belongings, and title, to a

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