The Hammer of Below

The Hammer of Below begins amidst the conflict of the unworthy. It is a relic whose path led through the abyssal lair of the last child of the Ocean Lord. It is within that hold, a prison of Prexus some would say, that the omega did vie with the intellect. This battle of egos will someday begin the mortal quest of Stormhammer.

Deep sixed within an oubiette, many adventurers have perished. He is the last of his kind, the last of the Norrathian children of Qisallis. With a physique formed of fish and Dal, the omega guards his keep. Those who enter find themselves eternal residents of this deathly realm. What was once a city of deep learning has become a memorial of a race long forgot. The omega allows no departures from this ancient place. Here by his side the creatures of Qisallis flutter and float and incarcerate those who seek what is not theirs. No one escapes, but the intellect defies this law.

A great power of the abyss meets a legendary intellect. Such a confrontation is made for the ages. It all began with a threat of knowledge, a release of a secret… a taunt of the highest power. The great intellect that hailed from Mount Erudition delved into the ancient ages and uncovered the reason for the omega, the hidden force behind an extinction of the children of the Ocean Lord. Entering into the murky ruins, he entered armed with only this lost truth. It is all he needed.

With a threat and a boast the intellect defies his host. The one from below is enraged and mad that his secret is released, a secret of great sadness. To the one that did taunt, death would have arrived if it were not for the supernatural stalemate. A power that was the unwitting end of a race is also wielded by a highman. The intellect directs a threat of destruction if his demands are not met. The power that could destroy an entire race within the blink of a titan’s eye could be unleashed by one who has studied and mastered the many circles of the arcane. The omega must comply and the great intellect wins the day.

The keep of the abyss has been compromised and the great intellect threatens to return. But the omega strikes back in silence and within a vision granted the eyes of the intellect shall be redirected. A vision is given of a great relic of below, a hammer of the gods that once lay in the hands of the first kind of Kaladim. This vision was granted to an unscrupulous stout by the name of Duskan Hammerhand. In the vision, the hammer is secreted beneath the great cauldron, within a barnacle-encrusted tower. Here it is guarded by goblins of the abyss. Here is where Hammerhand shall find it.

Duskan recognized the holy relic of the dwarves. Delusions of grandeur lead him to a foolish attempt to retrieve the hammer. The witless bandit dives into the cauldron and locates the citadel of the abyss. His entry depicts his great skill, but the halls of water are not gracious to guests. The goblins of the abyss are quick to spring to action. Their movements were as fluid as the tides. His dreams of being the lone hero are in vain, his mission into the barnacle citadel, futile. Barely escaping with his life, the stout rises to the surface. He knows he must return to Kaladim and lick his wounds. The glory of rescue shall be a joint venture of rogue and guard.

Crawling along the short, near death and barely coherent, Duskan manages to convince a party of passing trotters to escort him to the kingdom of the dwarves. There, Duskan is brought before King Kazon Stormhammer and explains his vision and his ordeal. The king organizes an expedition to recover the hammer. At the lead of this assault are three dwarven champions; Boric Stormhammer, Kalek Orefinder and Fenric Ogrebane. These three heroes are aided by guard and trotter. Trotters have a tendency to fall into the ventures of the ancient empires. What it is they seek is not glory, but riches and power. Their mettle is soon tested as the mission to retrieve Dagnor’s Fist begins.

The march to the cauldron is long and hard. The heroes of the kingdom reached the shores. Battling back the vanguard of the abyss was done at ease. The battle continued into the murky depths of the cauldron. The heroes breached the barnacled-keep and cut down the forces within. The final defender would not be so easy, or alone. The goblin Tide Lord faced the heroes in a battle for the hammer. Although the Tide Lord was powerful, the heroes found an advantage. When victory was near, Phinigel Autropos did appear. With power unmatched, the omega stymies the heroes, driving them back. Then without reason, he vanished. The heroes are victorious, so it would seem. The hammer is won.

The victory march back to Kaladim is interrupted. A Teir’Dal hero and his dragoon raiding party appear and a violent battle ensues. In the skirmish, the heroes are outnumbered and each falls against insurmountable odds. Valkis D’Vinn, leader of the dragoons, carefully seals the captured hammer in an enchanted chest, and orders his group to march to the nearby kingdom of the orcs and ally to Neriak. But Fenric is not dead! His ability to feign death is unrivaled. Through words heard upon the field of defeat, he heard of the destination of the hammer, Crushbone Keep. When the evil army is departed, the injured hero crawls back to Kaladim and with him comes the location of the hammer.

A final operation to reclaim the hammer of Dagnor Butcherblock is undertaken. An army of Stormguard and trotter is organized. No force could keep them from reaching the doors to Crushbone Keep. While Stormguard warriors battle Crushbone centurions a band of heroes enters to find the chest that holds the hammer. The sealed adamant chest of Thex passes into the possession of the heroes. The victorious force returned to Kaladim to deliver the chest to King Kazon. Unfortunately, the chest was impregnable, a stolen device of gnomish invention. The hammer was locked within.

Within the borderlands of the Teir’Dal Empire the key of the chest awaits. Such a place is unfamiliar to a dwarf, but not to trotter. The trotters are hired to retrieve the key. In a long expedition into the Ashlands of Tunaria, the final heroes do find the owner of the key. Captain Na’Var and his dragoons are met. The struggle for the key is long, but the trotters proved their strength. The key is taken and makes its way across the Ocean of Tears to meet the hands of the king of Kaladim. The heroes are honored and the Hammer of Butcherblock has returned to its home.

But this is not the artifact behind these words. In this tale of the hammer of the first kind of Kaladim, the riddle of Stormhammer rests. What once restrained the glorious radiance of the hammer now reveals the riddle. Through a path of a divided key, it will lead a hero. Listen well to whispers of champions and the journey shall begin. The Stormhammer, hammer of below, hammer of the thunder lords, hammer forged in the Underfoot and lost to all. This hammer shall wait beyond turmoil, beyond war and beyond cataclysms. Within Destiny it awaits.

The Relic of Brell Serilis

Source: http://web.archive.org/web/20001017195422/everquest.station.sony.com/hht/h_hq_Serilis.shtml

At last, with the long sought after scroll in his possession, the mighty Al’Kabor unravels the secret behind the demise of the Kedge race. Phinigel Autropos, the last surviving Kedge, consigned his brethren to permanent undeath with a magical spell of great power. Al’Kabor, armed with this knowledge, confronts Phinigel. The unspoken threat that he could use the very same spell on Phinigel himself is made clear, unless Phinigel cooperates with the wizard. The last Kedge is not one to take such threats lightly, however, and though he could more than likely destroy arrogant Erudite, he reasons it wiser to teach him a valuable lesson rather than risk his own life.

Phinigel uses his arcane magic to send out a vision of an ancient artifact, long guarded by his minions, the aqua goblins. The Hammer of Dagnor Butcherblock, the first dwarven king, appears before the dwarven rogue Duskan Hammerhand and a dark elven cleric named Teuil N’Mar. In the vision, the hammer is revealed, secreted beneath the murky waters of Dagnor’s Cauldron within a barnacle-encrusted tower, and guarded by aqua goblins. Duskan recognizes the holy relic, and immediately makes a foolish attempt to retrieve the hammer alone, desiring the glory of the successful deed solely for himself. He fails, narrowly escaping the aqua goblins with his life.

Crawling along the shore, barely coherent and near death, Duskan manages to convince a party of passing adventurers to escort him to his King. When Duskan is brought before King Kazon Stormhammer and reveals his story of the vision and his botched raid, the King organizes an expedition for the recovery of the Butcherblock Hammer, known among the dwarves as Dagnor’s Fist. Three dwarven champions are chosen to head the effort: Boris Stormhammer, the King’s nephew, Kalek Orefinder, and Fenric Ogrebane, son of the legendary Furtog Ogrebane. These three, aided by the adventurers, easily cut down the aqua goblins guarding the hammer. As the goblin Tidal Lord is dying, Phinigel Autropos himself appears. He stymies the dwarves and adventurers, driving them back. Then, as swiftly as he appeared, he disappears. The dwarves and adventurers finish off the last goblin and rescue the hammer.

As they march victoriously back to Kaladim, a dark elven raiding party ambushes and slaughters them. In the fight, the dark elven wizard perishes, preventing the raiders’ return to Neriak. The leader, Valkis D’Vinn, carefully seals the captured relic in an enchanted adamantium chest, and orders his group to march to Crushbone, where another dark elven wizard awaits.

Fenric, thought dead but actually feigning, overhears these plans, and immediately seeks help once they leave.

The dark elven raiding party discovers upon returning to Crushbone that the wizard they sought, Szasi R’Alis, is dead, along with Grak Crushbone, who died defending her. Valkis attempts to bargain with the adventurers who surround them, but is quickly cut down. The sealed Adamant Chest of Thex passes into the possession of the adventurers, who return to Kaladim to deliver the chest to King Kazon. The Dwarven King declares the dwarf in the party of adventurers his champion, and instructs him to return with the key to the chest.

The adventurers travel to Nektulos and slay Captain Na’Var, holder of the key. The Captain struggles, but is outmatched. The adventurers take the key back to the King, who rewards them with baubles from his treasury. The King then declares the dwarf adventurer who was integral to the success of the mission to be Champion of the Dwarves, and Guardian of Butcherblock’s Hammer.