The Sar Aigu Ritual

[Freedom92]

Very interesting and I love how you have portrayed the Sar Aigu Ritual and the idea they possess reality piercing magic is interesting and adds to the lovecraftian nature they have as a degenerate race of fishmen.

Thanks! Parts of this were derived from Dungeons of Castle Blackmoor (DoCBM), but as usual I like to fill in the blanks. The ritual itself was something I added because it helps explain what they were doing there in the first place.

When I say that they accidentally summoned an Old One, I mean that in the Mentzer sense of the word. DoCBM doesnt explain what drove the Sar Aigu away (possibly it referred to the demons), but on the lower levels you find a Sphere of Annhilation. In BECMI terms, such a sphere can easily be replaced by a Blackball. Again, these are associated with the Old Ones. Also, there is the suggestion that the Old Ones are analogous to Game Designers, in which case the Old One in question could be Dave... 8)

Interesting and and sounds about right, I've always been interested about all of secrets of Blackmoor ranging from the Egg of Coot to the City of the Gods and beyond, I remember Blackmoor was placed originally or at some point in a sci-fi setting and was a quarantined zone because the native spellslingers could easily take out a group of technology using warriors. I've played up technomancy in my games hinting to that whole thing with a group of 'human' technomancers scrapping tech. The Old Ones have interested me and since I never got to play Blackmoor back in the day(DM was a Greyhawk/forgotten Realms fan)

I've yet to get Dungeons of Castle Blackmoor and I've heard nothing but great things about it, I love Mega-Dungeons so I hope to obtain it eventually.

DoCBM is an interesting book, but it has some flaws. For instance, I wish they had decided to leave out the 3E stat blocks for existing monsters and simply included page references to the Monster Manuals. This would have freed up a lot of space that could have been used to include more information about the castle itself, what the various creatures are doing there in the first place etc.

Thats a common trend among 3rd party material I've noticed during the early days of 3.X so I know what you mean. Stat blocks shouldnt have to be placed every encounter and if you do minimize it to only those who are different or have class levels, etc. What kind of creatures called it home though? Stuff left over from the age of Sar Aigu and there on?

Also the Sar Aigu worship Stodos(?) and tried summon him to the prime material plane?

The Sar Aigu originated in the area currently controlled by the Temple of the Frog. It seems likely that they are the creations of the deity behind that order (Stodos in the Mystara continuity). Probably this is also who they wanted to summon, though the relationship between the Temple of the Frog and the Egg of Coot has not been explored in detail. My understanding is that the Egg does not control the Temple.

I figured the Egg of Coot didnt control the Temple of the Frog but I could see infiltrators among those Faithful to the Frog God trying to uncover any arcane material from the age of the Sar Aigu. With this the Egg of Coot could harvest the energies of a Immortal and survive or awaken fully to its full power. This could have a lot done with it.

Also what kind of Ancient Evils have you hinted too? Demons or more Lovecraftian horrors?

I will reveal more on these in a later blog entry, but Lovecraftian is definitely a good starting point. Also, consider the Burrowers from the Hollow World Boxed set in this context...

Thanks for the feedback!

-Havard

Awesome! I cant wait then, I thought about using the Burrowers as well for my lovecraftian entropy generators but then a thought popped into mind of using the Makrab from wilderlands so atleast one of my Ancient Evils is a void dwelling demonic being imprisoned between the stars. Though I've thought of using the actual Elder Evilsl source book for inspiration, it has good ideas how to role-play the situation of something from before this universe or during its creation was banished long ago but now its forcing its way through awakening slowly from its slumber. I've even used Chaositech for ideas for the Chaos Cults I have had in game, its a good source book for demonic things that are not demonic and a bit lovecraftian as well. I tossed a few of the lesser Galchutt into the temple of the frog since Sscree are frog like and very alien.

I suggest looking at the Chaositech, Elver Evils, and When the Sky Falls for 3.X games.Chaositech has good 'gifts' for chaos cults in the form of technology and other implants, Elder Evils has a good run down how to play up the reality warping abilities of Elder Evils, When the Sky Falls just some goodies for space junk and arcanist who harness plasma and other thing.