Forever Forgotten (3.5e Epic Spell)

''As you proceed down the passage, a dark feeling comes over you. You will not proceed; the prospects are too dim. You will not tell anyone why; the secret is too dangerous. You will never return; whatever you were pursuing is no longer worth it.'' - ''I present to you this spell under my experience and with my caution. It may be seen as a last resort to keep dangerous knowledge out of the hands of men, but more than this, it may be seen as a way to keep those same secrets hidden even from those most desperate to uncover them. The result of this spell is none other than a door. This door may be placed in the path of any ordinary tunnel, any extradimensional space, or any portal to another plane. What lies beyond this door is none of my concern, for I trust your judgment in sealing it away forever.'' E.S.N -

At the resolution of this spell, the caster is whisked away under the effect of a teleport spell, to any location he wished, leaving behind a door in a fixed location. It is 15 feet high and 10 feet wide, and looks mostly indistinguishable from stone. It is emblazoned with magical runes which may be read at a creature's own risk, and is engraved with various cryptic messages of the caster's choosing.

Any creature which enters within 1,000 feet of the door, regardless of whether the door is in view, must make a will save to resist the first of the enchantments, a powerful aversion effect, permanently marking those who approach to never want to return to that place or speak of it ever again. This is a mind-affecting fear effect. A will save can be made once per year to overcome this effect in the event of a failure. Even in the event of a successful will save, the distaste felt while entering the area is significant enough to cause creatures to turn back, only to be overcome if the creature has a pressing reason to continue. (The head of a 30+ level caster and 50% of an entrant's sanity can be paid to bypass this effect for each entrant. This serves to afflict the entrant with a sort of insanity, with the chances of acting normally increased by 45%, and all other effects occurring at half the normal frequency.  For this purpose, the "caster" is the nearest perceptibly magical item, save for the door.  This is forever a part of the creature's psyche, and for all intents and purposes, is to be treated as though it were an original feature.  No wish or miracle, nor death and resurrection can reverse this effect.) Whichever way the guard is bypassed, upon passing, a character is immune to the effects for one week.

Should this guard be bypassed, upon reaching within 25 feet of the door, a second will save is required to bypass the second barrier, a powerful memory charm, instantly destroying memory of all events from the past year, and a third effect, which teleports the victim to some predetermined location, not necessarily the same location the caster chose at the spell's resolution. (A vial of blood from a lesser deity can be paid as tribute to bypass this barrier for each entrant.) Whichever way the guard is bypassed, upon passing, a character is immune to the effects for one week.

Should this fail to deter, upon reading the runes upon the door, any contingency the caster chooses may be triggered. As many as 10 spells of 9th level or lower may be triggered upon this reading. The caster is immediately alerted in the event that these are triggered, and may sacrifice additional spells, regardless of what plane he is on or where he is, to reset the contingencies. A dead caster may reset the contingencies from the plane in which he is a petitioner, even without being able to cast other spells at other points in time. He is otherwise an ordinary petitioner.

Should this fail as well, an additional contingency may be put into place: a spell of 12th level or lower. This contingent spell may be set in the same manner as those mentioned above.

Should this fail as well, upon the casting of any spell upon the door, a DC 64 caster level check is required for success; anything less results in a disjunction centered upon the door with a radius of one mile. All magic items must make a will save to avoid being disjoined. This has a 1% chance per caster level (max 40%) to destroy artifacts. If an artifact is destroyed, all spellcasters within 40 feet of a destroyed artifact must make a DC 25 will save for each artifact destroyed within 40 feet, with a -2 penalty on each save for each artifact destroyed. A failure of any of these saves results in a permanent loss of all spellcasting abilities.

Should this fail, there are 5 physical locks on the door. To each of these locks corresponds a key, which are bestowed unto the caster to deal with as he sees fit. A DC 68 Open Lock check is required to open each of these. A failure of any of these triggers a reset of the first two defenses, regardless of whether it was bypassed by virtue or by tribute. A DC 68 disable device check can disable this trigger. In addition, there are 5 magical locks on the door. The key to each of these locks is a specific, unique 8th level spell which only the caster knows. This spell may be printed onto a scroll, though this is ill-advised. A DC 68 decipher script and a DC 68 spellcraft check can reveal the information necessary for a character to research the unknown spell. A failure of either of these re-triggers the disjunction.

Any caster who would attempt to pierce the door with a divination spell must succeed on a DC 64 caster level check or trigger the disjunction centered upon the source of divination. The caster of the divination spell receives a bonus to this check equal to the level of the spell being cast.

The door has 40,000 hitpoints and a hardness of 40. It has an armor class of 13 (10, -5 DEX, -2 size, +10 deflection). It has fast-healing 1. Whenever the door is struck, the object or creature which makes sharp contact with the door must make a will save to avoid being teleported to the aforementioned pre-determined location.

Material Component: 1,000,000 in small, adamantine cubes. XP Cost: 20,000 -

Note: Given the nature of the spell and the circumstances under which it is typically cast, it is common for versions of the spell to be developed which involve rituals among multiple casters. The Spellcraft DC given is the base value for the effects presented (possibly stretched a bit), but may be lowered in other versions. This will require a long discussion with one's DM anyway, so it's worth mentioning this option.

-

Note #2: This spell is also useful for DMs who have areas that they don't want PC's snooping around in until much later, but who don't have the heart to set contingent disintegration rays upon the curious ones.