User:Daranios/Sandbox/Kerell (3.5e Campaign Setting)/Magic/The School of Magery

The School of Magery, found in the mountains south of Omnini, is one of the most potent (and now dead) schools of magery in the world.

The school is divided into two parts. One part, the Upper School, is entered by a particular cave south of Omnini. This half of th school is administrative: it is where the school is run, where the chancellor rules the school and where the visitors can stay.

At the bottom of the Upper School, there is an underground cavern which leads out to the Lower School. The cavern leads into another entrance in stone, which is the entrance to the Student Quarters. Under the Quarters, by staircase or teleportation, are the libraries. Below that are the lecture halls.

Below the lecture halls lie the experimental chambers. This is where most of the experiments by the scholars are conducted. The chambers are divided into four quarters (NE, SE, SW, NW). These quarters are for different experiments. The northeastern corner is dedicated to shapers and summoners, the southeastern corner to illusionists, the southwestern corner to alchemy and the northwestern corner focusing on the properties of magical items.

Monsters
The various monsters living in the School of Magery include:

Upper School
The upper school is mainly infested by goblins and kobolds, together with the regular dungeon vermin, slime and rats. There is a dragon who was previously been a guinea-pig for the scholars, and she is unhappy about it, and wanting to be freed...

The lowest part of the Upper School and the underground caverns are dominated by dangerous undead, including the ghost of Halfdan, the most potent wizard in the school at the time.

Lower School
The lower school contains many gremlins and orcs who have taken the student rooms. There is a spine beast, the school "mascot", in a particular room here. The Mascot, Spininy, likes to attack any invader of its terrortory. In the experiment chambers, the evoked beasts have drunk the potions of various effects, and have augmented to become great big beasts, some with four arms, some dark fur, some with five heads. The potions can mutate anything, and if used as a weapon...

The various items/potions/spells and their effects
I am not going to explain the basic potions. There are some items, spells and potions found in the experiment chambers, however, which you may be interested in:

Amulet of Nature
This blue crystal hung onto a string will allow the wearer to turn into a wild animal (as per the wild shape ability of druids). The effect is usable once per day and lasts for twelve hours (but may be dismissed). It is possible to spend 12 hours per day in animal form but not in one go - you may polymorph, then polymorph back, then polymorph again, unless you use more than 12 hours. The wearer also gains a +2 bonus to Knowledge (geography) and Knowledge (nature) checks, where the geography or nature in question pertains to the wearer's animal form. Wearing the amulet of somebody else will cause you 1d12 points of damage, but you may use the amulet. On claiming the amulet, you must declare an animal type to turn into.

Balm of Life (aka Elixer of Life)
This lime-green fizzy potion has the taste of orange juice, to those who drink it. When a living being drinks the potion, the creature is cured of 4d8+10hp worth of damage (as per Cure Critical Wounds, CL 10). When applied to a dead body (provided that the soul is willing to return) the body is risen, as with Resurrection. Undead which drink this lose 4d8+10 hp.

Halfdan's Broken Heart
This glass heart-shaped orb has been broken into five miniature pieces, spread out around the School of Magery. It was created in the experiment chambers by Halfdan (supposedly) when one day a hyperactive giant wyrm attacked. Halfdan was able to shoo the wyrm away, but the orb had already been broken by then. The pieces, being so small, require a DC 25 Search check for each of the five pieces. When all five pieces have been gathered, the user makes a DC 35 Craft (Gemcutting) check. If he succeeds, the Broken Heart is completed, and the crafter gains 1000 XP, and the Heart orb may be used to summon a mutated beast, which lasts for half an hour and is summonable once per day:

Beast: CR 5; Large Magical Beast; HD 4d10; hp 22; Init -1; Spd 20 ft; AC 13 (-1 dex, -1 size, +5 natural); Base Atk +4; Grp +10; Atk +5 melee (1d6+2, claw); Space/Reach 10 ft/10 ft; SA -, SQ guarding; AL LN; SV Fort +6, Ref +3, Will +2; Str 15, Dex 9, Con 10, Int 4, Wis 12, Cha 6. Skill: Jump +9 Feats: Blind Fight, Power Attack Guarding : When summoned to the aid of its owner, this loyal creature may deduct a number from his Base Attack Bonus and add it as a dodge bonus to its owner.

Crystal of clarity
The crystal of clarity, when fixed onto a mudane quarterstaff and tributed at least 100 gp in herbs, and has had a one-month ritual, will function as a Staff of Divination (see Dungeon Master's Guide, page 244 for details). Th crystal can function without the quarterstaff, but the charges are all reduced by one (so the spells with 1 charge originally cannot be used).

The Spellbook of Halfdan
Halfdan, the most potent scholar, was a shaper. Within his spellbook (which is but a normal spellbook) you will find the spells Summon Monster, Summon Nature's ally, and also the improvised spell Summon Aid. The Summon Aid spell summons 1d6 shades which last for 1 turn per caster level. Is Sor/Wiz 5 spell, and has a range of 20 ft.

A shade is the same as a shadow except that it is neutral in alignment, cannot be turned, does not create spawn and does not damage strength.

Orb of Polymorph
This red, smoky orb, when thrown at an enemy, will explode (use splash weapon rules). Direct damage is instant mutation into a monster of half its current CR (so a monster with CR 10, such as a noble salamander, will be transformed into a CR 5 creature, such as a Troll.) Splash damage is 3d6 points of damage from mutation. The mutation is as per a polymorph effect.

Pandora's box
This wooden, mudane-looking, innocent-looking box is filled with the evil in the world. When opened, there is a 30% chance that the user dies, 20% chance that she turns evil, 30% of a bestow curse and an inflict light wounds, a 10% chance of -3 to a random ability score, or a 10% chance of summoning 1d4 dread wraiths.

Scythe of the Reaper
The Reaper was a long forgotten God, renowned for his killing of millions of innocent people. He was depicted as a scythe-wielding skeleton who was cloaked in a black cloak, and was killed in a magical duel by the Sun God Pelor. His scythe was banished to a limbo for a thousand years and a day, until it was "rescued" by scholars studying the various chaotic spaces. This +1 vorpal shock unholy wounding scythe is worth a lot of cash if sold in the mundane world. By the way, would you sell unlimited power?