Canonfire! - Postfest VII: The Hall of Silence

In less than 200 years petty kinglets, chieftains and bandits kingdoms arose in troubling numbers. Malv the Second, orders the Duke of Dorlain to conquer the region. The Duke responds by establishing the Knights of the Watch.

In the first days of their invasion, the Knights heavy cavalry proves devastating. The factions between the Rushmoors and Lortmils were occupied with fighting each other, and the Knights established a firm foothold in what is to become Lortenford, at the convergence of the Lort and Rushflow (Sheldomar) rivers.

However, soon the invasion ground to a halt. The Flan, it seemed, had learned the strategies of the Knights. Soon, they were attacking from the mists, the forests, and the darkness. Then an entire legion of Keoish Regulars disappeared.

Around the campfires, soldiers spoke of the Whispered One, that he had returned. The soldiers fears mounted as the battle turned against the Knights and their allies. Soon, even the Knights feared Lich-Lord had returned.

The Commander of the Knights, youngest brother to the Duke of Dorlain, sent word to the Mages of Dorglast that the Shining Crusade needed aid. They needed to keeps the Knights secrets and councils from the Lord of Secrets. The House Wizards of Neheli, who had trained directly under the apprentices of Slerotin.

These twelve mighty mages, trained directly in the ancient arcane arts mastered by their Suel Forbearers, labored for three months. It is said that a string of prisoners, all Flan priests, adepts and wise women were sent south by the Knights for sacrifice, in order that the work be completed, and one of the Mages was forced to give up his life. When sent north, their creation, the Hall of Silence took 14 wagons to transport, and a week for skilled craftsmen to erect.

The Hall was designed contain a meeting of the Knights of the March, with all of their attendants in tow. The Hall of Silence can be disassembled and transported. However, it can be constructed in any 30 by 30 square foot room. However, the interior dimensions when assembled are significantly larger, though it seems to have no permanent size. The largest known Convocation occurred in -112 CY, when it is recorded that over 1,000 Knights and their attendants gathered in the Hall to discuss the public humiliation of their leadership by Senestal I.

The walls were white marble, through which arcane lightning seems to soundlessly dance. The room is filled with small, backless square stools; one seems to appear for each Knight or person of appropriate stature. In the center rest a small raised dais, and above the dais a large cobalt blue globe filigreed in silver and mother of pearl.

While within the room, the occupants are immune to all spells except the affects of a Wish or Miracle. Even these cannot cause physical damage. The only effects they can force upon persons in the chamber are clairaudience, and Clairvoyance. That is, unless the chamber allows it.

The Hall, or rather the Censer that hangs in the center of the Hall, is an intelligent entity, with plans, designs and machinations of it's own. The Chamber, its walls seats and other accoutrements are all separate items. All of these items will function on their own, providing specific effects. However each achieves maximum potence when assembled and controlled by the Censer. All were created at the same moment, by the same Mages.

The Censer contains the soul of Salinea Nehrin, an unfortunate lesser noble attached to House Nehli; he has watched and plotted for over six hundred years. During the year after the death of Commandant Berylkin in the Short War, the Chamber of Silence was disassembled from the Granite Kirk in order that it be transported to Watch Fort. A convoy of wagons left one Earthday in Fireseek, and was lost to history.

The Censer's goals are unknown; however, he has been plotting for over six hundred years. The Censer can see and hear all within the Chamber. Unlimited times per day, it can cast Detect Thoughts, Silence, Light, Darkness and Detect Magic as a 15th Level Caster. Three times per day the Censer can cast Charm Person, Charm Monster and Confusion as a 21st Level Caster. Finally, the Censer has the ability to cast spells as a 14th Level Sorcerer, with spell selection that should be determined according to the DM's needs.

The components of the room can be disassembled, and retain their various minor magics. The Censer, however, cannot be destroyed by any conventional means (i.e. any spell in the PHB). However, the Silent Ones desperately seek this item and the means of it's destruction. It is rumored that they fear the item so because they do not know what it knows of their secrets and their history.