Ogremeet

by Terrance “Abysslin” Hunt

Location:

Ogremeet is located at southwestern edge of the Abbor-Alz just north of the bright desert and not too far east of the Ghost Tower of Inverness and the Pits of Azak-Zul.

Darlene Hex A4 92



History:

Roughly –1080 CY the Flan peoples of the Abbor-Alz region flourished and sizeable Flan cities lined the coasts of the Wooly Bay.

Flan prophets and lorekeepers had been in study of large monoliths in the nearby hills, now known as the Abbor-Alz. The monoliths encompassed a large, barren plateau. After years of study, the Flan lorekeepers discovered the monoliths were a means of tracking time, some form of ancient calendar foreign to them. Perhaps the calendar of the cairn builders, other ancient caverns also made long before the Flan had arrived and settled here. By standing at the center of the plateau and observing Oerth’s two moons, Luna and Celene, along with the Sun, one could decipher nearly the exact date of the year and how far along the day has progressed.

The Flan lorekeepers further studied the monoliths and discovered if they positioned three arches atop the plateau in very definitive locations that they could use this same sort of system for calculations relevant to their calendar.

It took many months and tedious trial and error occurrences, but with time the lorekeepers finally had positioned southern most two arches correctly. Not a moment after construction of the third, northern, arch was finished a shimmering appeared within the northern arch and a deep hollow humming accompanied it. The lorekeepers were in astonishment! Was this a blessing of mother Oerth? Or could it be a devilish concoction inadvertently awakened by their construction? None dared go near the shimmer and humming.

None, save one, Lorekeeper Jyfet could not resist the portal’s beckoning. He drew closer to the portal and the other lorekeepers wanted to stop him, but their curiosity told them to let Jyfet go, to let Jyfet breach the portal!

Jyfet stopped just short of the arch, raising his arm and outstretching his hand. Slowly his nervous and shaking hand drew nearer to the shimmer, his heart beating like the gallop of a horse. His finger touched the shimmer. Faces of the onlooking lorekeepers winced with anticipation and awe all at once. Jyfets whole hand had breached the shimmer and was not seen on the other side of the arch. Jyfet took a step and before the lorekeepers could even gasp he was gone and with him, the shimmer within the arch. The lorekeepers looked at each other puzzled and began to speculate on what they had just observed.

Hours later a bright and sudden flash of greenish light shined from the arch and as it dimmed, there stood Jyfet. The lorekeepers weren’t certain it was Jyfet immediately. They surveyed him for a moment and had discerned that he had changed. His face was younger, much younger, and his skin...it was very pale white. Indeed it was Jyfet, but he was... different.

Hundreds of years later, around –420 CY, Suel immigrants from the west invaded the Flan settled Abbor-Alz region. The Suliose drove out the Flan people and battered them into the nearby desert areas. The Flan had all but disappeared from the area, and with them, the secret of the monoliths and arches.

The Moment of Position:

Fast Forward: 500s CY.

The granite monoliths here vary in height from 9’ to a towering 50’ and each of the three arches atop the plateau are around 20’. The terrain is hilly and is surrounded on all sides, save the south, by cavernous hills inhabited by tribes of flesh eating ogres all praising worship to Nerull.

Once per decade when Oerth’s two moons, Luna and Celene, are positioned correctly, magical dweomers shine within the stone arches of Ogremeet. When Luna can be viewed through the southwest arch, Celene through the southeast arch, and both through the northern arch, a shimmer of violet and greenish hues swirls within the northern arch. This occurrence is known to the ogres simply as The Moment of Position, or Dech Podak in their native tongue.

The surrounding Ogre tribes, after hundreds of years, have unlocked the secrets of Ogremeet’s monoliths and arches. They gather here perhaps a fortnight previous to the miraculous occurrence. The tribal shamans perform rituals and bless their tribe’s champion with magical boons. The day previous of Luna and Celene’s positioning the ogres gather closer to watch the various tribal champions do battle to the death with one another for the privilege to receive Ogremeet’s reward and become king of the tribes. Curious to outsiders brave enough to observe these events, there is always one albino ogre participating in these contests.

The day of the Dech Podak is a grand event and the ogre tribes dance and partake in more involving rituals, some of which are dedicated to Nerull. Once the Dech Podak takes place the tribes assemble to form a long aisle leading to the northern arch with its magical hues and loud humming emmitance. The victor of the tribal battles walks down the aisle and into the arch before him. At this time the ogre champion and the magical mist within the arch disappear and the ogre tribes take place north of the arch awaiting the champion’s return.

Note: Only one living being may pass through the portal before it closes.

The Albino King:

Just a few hours after the champion has entered the arch portal, the northern arch once again momentarily shimmers with its hues and the unique bellowing hum returns and disappears just as fast as the ogre king returns. His skin transformed to an albino white and his disheveled features turned fair. The ogres emit roars of glory and return to their dancing and various other odd rituals.

Within the Portal:

The portal leads to a vast spherical chamber of sorts with crystalline walls that shimmer and fade a dim white, the only light source. The arch within stays shimmering and can be exited at any time, immediately closing thereafter. Some distance from the portal is a pool of azure blue liquid that contains bright glowing crystal fragments not much larger than a grain of sand. The liquid is thick and syrupy in consistency and warm to the touch.

Off to the left lying near the pool are several human sized skeletons presumably Flan as depicted by the tattered garments and age old weaponry that accompany them.

In actuality the liquid is Oerthblood in one of its less pure and less raw forms. If a living being bathes within the pool a surge of peace, serenity, and warmth envelopes the body momentarily. The Oerthblood absorbs into the body transforming flesh to an albino white and reducing the age of the being by 10-40% of the average life expectancy dependant upon race and the current age of the recipient. Furthermore, any scars, missing limbs, or other disconformities of the body including any form of disease or other gene related defects and handicaps are removed. Beings once considered unattractive become handsome or beautiful. In effect the charisma and comeliness of the being are substantially improved.

Secrets of the Chamber:

Once a being enters the chamber from the arch of Ogremeet the portal within the arch there is closed, however, the portal within the chamber stays open for a couple hours until Luna and Celene are no longer positioned correctly for the southern arches to maintain the portal.

Only one living being is able to maintain life within the chamber at any given time. If one does not exit the chamber in the allotted time he is forever trapped within the chamber. If at the next Moment of Position a decade or so later, any being enters the chamber via the Ogremeet arches, the being within the chamber immediately dies; His life force absorbed by the Oerthblood.

Transportation from within the chamber is impossible by any means other than the portal. Magic within the chamber is suppressed or sometimes absorbed by the crystalline walls and transferred to the Oerthblood so dimension doors and teleports are fruitless efforts from within. Some acts of magic will cause the walls to flash with a blinding brightness which is filtered down into the pool in an eye blink’s time.

The Oerthblood is filtered by the portal and can not be transported back to Ogremeet. An old Flan scholar is rumored to have discovered a way to relieve the pool of its contents, but he was stricken down as a heretic as the Oerthblood was held very sacred to his people at the time.

Reference: FTA: Campaign Book pg. 36, TAB: Adventure Maps Insert

Some miscellaneous ogre scrawled pictographs found on some of their cave walls.