Zykon worrying about his phylactery

[nifelheim]

What better place to put the phylactery than where it is now?

He himself says that it is protected by powerful spells. It cannot be scryed on. It has loads of HP and hardness to overcome. It is per now a mucky, ruined (well necklace ruined) holy symbol, left in the sewers. And might be anywhere in a few moments.


Is'nt this the perfect hiding place?

[Zone]

Oh merciful gods, NOT Zykon ;_;

Edit: There might be terrible monsters hiding in the sewers (like, lets say, ancient shadow dragon). So no, it ain't the best hiding place around.

[Raging Gene Ray]

It's not a perfect hiding place if not even Xykon can find it. Besides, if his body is destroyed, he regenerates from the phylactery.

[Mystic Muse]

and many other things that could bypass a hardness of 20. and if you look at the panel it looks as if the phylactery is drifting into the OCEAN. many things that could destroy the phylactery in there. especially if you have a DM who likes realism. phylactery goes down deep enough the pressure would crush it like a tin can.

[Snails]

What better place to put the phylactery than where it is now?

He himself says that it is protected by powerful spells. It cannot be scryed on. It has loads of HP and hardness to overcome. It is per now a mucky, ruined (well necklace ruined) holy symbol, left in the sewers. And might be anywhere in a few moments.


Is'nt this the perfect hiding place?

Once you graduate to the Epic League, security through obscurity is just not going to cut it in the long term. Remember that Xykon prides himself on having "the guts to stay in the game", so leaving this kind of detail to luck out of character. He may not be a fastidious planner day-to-day, but he does focus his mind when he believes the details are likely to matter.

Furthermore, V. just got away. A party of Adventurers have the skills to win in a dungeon crawl race for the McGuffin.

And worse of all, Xykon would probably find such adventuring work really, really boring.

[Mr. Mud]

See, when Xykon gets killed next, he's going to regenerate in the lair/stomach of some colossal god killing abomination. Not in his tower. :smalltongue:.

[Threeshades]

and many other things that could bypass a hardness of 20. and if you look at the panel it looks as if the phylactery is drifting into the OCEAN. many things that could destroy the phylactery in there. especially if you have a DM who likes realism. phylactery goes down deep enough the pressure would crush it like a tin can.

I'll be so bold as to propose that the phylactery will float before it gets down deep enough to be crushed, because it most likely would have to go so deep the water pressure would make the water itself heavier than the same volume of phylactery.

[Pepz]

plus, even though Xykon is a lich and as such doesn't need air, it would still suck to be regrown at the bottom of the sea

[hamishspence]

if its hollow, pressure might crush the hollow. If not, not. Water Pressure only tends to compress things that have room to compress into- solid metal won't crumple.

There are undersea volcanoes, but that might be a little too LOTR-ish.

[Totally Guy]

I don't have a phylactery so if I die, I'm dead. And you don't either. But then again we're not planning on getting killed any time soon.

I guess he does worry about getting killed because he's the antagonist in a story with not a whole lot of karma working in his favour. The advantage of having a safe phylactery is that he can take risks that the rest of us can't.

With it missing it's a schrodinger's cat scenario. But with an undead cat...

He's got to stop the high risks because he'll be less confident about his overall survival. That is until he can find it again.

[Optimystik]

I predict that the next gate
will destroy Xykon's body again. Only then will we find out where the phylactery ended up.

[KindaChang]

I'll be so bold as to propose that the phylactery will float before it gets down deep enough to be crushed, because it most likely would have to go so deep the water pressure would make the water itself heavier than the same volume of phylactery.

Also, if you're worried about it being crushed due to DM-realism, then it should be pointed out that water will not compress to a density where whatever metal the phylactery is made of would be bouyant.

The amount of pressure needed to compress liquids and solids is usually so great they're just considered incompressable, and unlike so many other things H2O is not an exception.

[hamishspence]

indeed, H20 is exceptionallly incompressible for a liquid.

It can be compressed into an unusual form of ice, but on a planet, the planet would need to be very big and have a very high gravity for this to happen.

[nifelheim]

It's not a perfect hiding place if not even Xykon can find it. Besides, if his body is destroyed, he regenerates from the phylactery.

If not Xykon cannot find it, who can?


If his body is destroyd, to regenerate far away from trouble, like at the bottom of 5000 feet of ocoan would not be such a bad thing. When fully regenerated he can just walk back ashore. Or perhaps teleport if he likes that better ;)

It will take a lot of resources for his enemies to find him while he is at his most vulnerable regenerating.

[Random832]

phylactery goes down deep enough the pressure would crush it like a tin can.

Ignoring, for the moment, the discussion that's already taken place on how water pressure doesn't work that way...

It wouldn't end up that deep - if it's heavy enough to sink at all then it won't get very far out (and thus into very deep water) at all before being embedded in sediment on the bottom of a shallow area.

[mistformsquirrl]

I predict that the next gate
will destroy Xykon's body again. Only then will we find out where the phylactery ended up.

...

I actually really hope this happens now <,< because the potential for hilarity is enormous.

"... crap."

[Great Dane]

If not Xykon cannot find it, who can?


Razor :D The phylactery is near Azure City after all...

[Simanos]

I'll be so bold as to propose that the phylactery will float before it gets down deep enough to be crushed, because it most likely would have to go so deep the water pressure would make the water itself heavier than the same volume of phylactery.
Ask your science teacher :smalltongue:

Heh, maybe he will teach you about the real heavy water after correcting you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_water

Another fun fact is how the average human body (mainly the lungs) is compressed enough when you free-dive at depths of over 10 meters to lose buoyancy. And that's sea water. Pool water is less dense. So be careful out there. I almost got stuck at the bottom of a pool once (when I was a kid). I exhaled a bit after I dived and then couldn't reach the bottom (it was kinda deep) and I couldn't decide whether to start swimming for the surface or try to reach the bottom and push with my legs. I almost panicked when I saw how hard it was to rise (I was used to sea water). The other problem was I hadn't taken a deep breath and my air was running out. Eventually I reached the bottom and jumped upwards as fast as I could and swam to the surface.

Seriously though, it is up to the DM what would happen to the phylactery, but when you look at it from Xykon's POV you will see he has good reason to be paranoid about it. After all Sauron "lost" his ring and look how well that turned out. Stuff like that has a tendency to be picked up by the most unlikeliest creatures.

[Haedrian]

Hey I suppose the giant army Xykon had can finally have some proper work to do now.

[Alysar]

and many other things that could bypass a hardness of 20.

...

..

.

:eek:

Oh my god.

:mitd:

[Allan Surgite]

Actually, can I raise a question for our water pressure experts, out of curiosity~?

If the phylactery reaches a depth in which a non-hollow object with 20 hardness (such as the phylactery, from the looks of things) would be crushed if it was hollow; what would happen if Xykon regenerated down there? Would he not have some trouble down there, due to his bone-like nature? I mean, his skull is almost certainly hollow, for one. Or would the gaps within the skull's structure prevent it from being crushed?

[Beorn080]

Actually, can I raise a question for our water pressure experts, out of curiosity~?

If the phylactery reaches a depth in which a non-hollow object with 20 hardness (such as the phylactery, from the looks of things) would be crushed if it was hollow; what would happen if Xykon regenerated down there? Would he not have some trouble down there, due to his bone-like nature? I mean, his skull is almost certainly hollow, for one. Or would the gaps within the skull's structure prevent it from being crushed?

His skull isn't hollow, since it is open. Xykon would have no problems operation at such a depth, other then difficulty moving, from the pressure alone. Other problems, such as absolute darkness, deep chasms, and and the wildlife, would greatly hinder his ability to surface, excepting of course magical means of floating.

Also, a hollow object needs to be forced down in order to get deep enough to be crushed. The phylactery, even if hollow, simply wouldn't have enough mass to overcome buoyancy to get that deep. It would float at whatever point its volume to mass ratio balanced out with the surrounding water. Submarines and other such objects have to force themselves down by pressurizing the air and water and using propellors to force themselves down.

[nifelheim]

After all Sauron "lost" his ring and look how well that turned out. Stuff like that has a tendency to be picked up by the most unlikeliest creatures.

The big BUT here is that Sauron had bound most of his powers into his ring. Powers the wearer of the ring could unleash and use (though not without a price). The ring even had a power of its own and could manipulate people.

The phylactery has no powers. It is not useful to anybody. It serves no other purpose except being a dirty holy symbol with a broken chain.


So if it is randomly found, it is most likely discarded as old smelly junk.

The phylactery is warded by all known magic wards. It can't be scried on. It won't show as magic. Who would keep a piece of junk like that? A holy symbol collector? Then it would be keept safe in his collection.


Nobody but Zykon knows it is in the sewers. V and Mr. Stiffly don't know where the thing dropped. For all they know, it could've dropped into the rift.

"But Blackwing did see it drop!"
Did he actually? He could have. However, did he see where it landed? To me he seemed to be stunned from the explotion and then poofed out of existence before it landed.


It took The One Ring thousands of years to be found with all the powers it had. How long would it take for somebody to find the holy symbol?

[mizzim]

...

I actually really hope this happens now <,< because the potential for hilarity is enormous.

"... crap."

Literally.

[NikkTheTrick]

The phylactery has no powers. It is not useful to anybody. It serves no other purpose except being a dirty holy symbol with a broken chain.


So if it is randomly found, it is most likely discarded as old smelly junk.

The phylactery is warded by all known magic wards. It can't be scried on. It won't show as magic. Who would keep a piece of junk like that? A holy symbol collector? Then it would be keept safe in his collection.
Can't Detect Evil be cast on it? After all, Xykon's crown tagged Roy as evil during Miko's (sorry for mentioning the unholy name :smalleek:) scan. It is concievable that a simple scan would indicate that the item is interesting. Even a simple treasure hunter might realize it is unique, at which point it might get sold to a wizard who will study it in detail. Once a very smart good wizard finally learns what it is, Xykon is in a lot of trouble.

[Optimystik]

If it has abjurations blocking it from being scryed on, those same spells should prevent it being detected by its alignment.

Which again raises the question of how O-Chul knew what it was. Maybe the baddies just spoke too freely in front of him?

[Sgeo]

If it has abjurations blocking it from being scryed on, those same spells should prevent it being detected by its alignment.

Which again raises the question of how O-Chul knew what it was. Maybe the baddies just spoke too freely in front of him?

In Azure City, Soon said that the holy symbol was the phylactery. Now how Soon knew that, on the other hand..

[Gundato]

Ignoring, for the moment, the discussion that's already taken place on how water pressure doesn't work that way...

It wouldn't end up that deep - if it's heavy enough to sink at all then it won't get very far out (and thus into very deep water) at all before being embedded in sediment on the bottom of a shallow area.

I was also thinking of this as well.

It is dense enough to sink: It will likely sink long before it reaches the ocean. And even if it didn't (let's pretend that the water is REALLY flowing), it would embed itself long before it happened to find a trench.

It is not: It just floats for a long time, and he eventually regenerates washed up on some island.

[invisiblejon]

The kobold sage/predictor of Tiamat that the party has abused far too much would know where the phylactery is, right?

Of course, kobold dude would never, ever, ever want to help at least two of them (V, Belkar) again. Most of the others aren't high on his list 'o love either.

[holywhippet]

The kobold sage/predictor of Tiamat that the party has abused far too much would know where the phylactery is, right?

Of course, kobold dude would never, ever, ever want to help at least two of them (V, Belkar) again. Most of the others aren't high on his list 'o love either.

Maybe. Depends if his god granted powers can overcome the wards hiding the phylactory or not. Of course the whole "only one question per person" thing is a problem since it's hard to give an answer that would lead you directly to it - "It's in the sewers" isn't very helpful and detailed descriptions would be hard.

On top of that, in order to search for it they'd need to get back into a goblin infested city protected by an angry lich + his minions. No dobut said minions will be flooding the sewers to find the phylactory.

[Golden-Esque]

If his body is destroyed, to regenerate far away from trouble, like at the bottom of 5000 feet of ocoan would not be such a bad thing. When fully regenerated he can just walk back ashore.

One thing no one has brought up yet is the possibility that the Phlactery sinks far enough down into the ocean that, while the Phylactery is strong enough to resist being compressed and crushed, Xykon is not.

It takes 1d10 days for Xykon to regenerate. Even assuming that Xykon rolls well enough to regenerate within 1 day, it's 24 hours. If it's deep enough, the pressure would crush the regenerating Xykon before he can even cast spells, turning the unterwater abyss into an eternal prison for him. Xykon would just keep regenerating at the Phylactery over and over again, his body always destroyed before he could cast spells to save himself.

[Dagren]

Maybe. Depends if his god granted powers can overcome the wards hiding the phylactory or not. Of course the whole "only one question per person" thing is a problem since it's hard to give an answer that would lead you directly to it - "It's in the sewers" isn't very helpful and detailed descriptions would be hard.They could ask for latitude and longitude. If Xykon can get a Teevo I'm sure they could get their hands on a GPS of some type. :smalltongue:

[One Step Two]

Something I don't think anyone has pointed out, but theres two things to consider:

1: Xykon only saw that his phylactery has fallen into the sewers, we as the readers are allowed to see that not only has it fallen into the sewers, that should Xkyon have to send minions to search for it they will be hindered by the three options of either being in the Anachoristic Sewage plant, the Obligatory Sewer-Themed Labyrinth (tm of the Azure City Public Works), or the much more daunting aspect of it being swept into the vastness of the Ocean.

2: While it appears to be leaning towards the ocean, we just dont know if it will head there, depending on the currents of the waters and how much the amulet weighs in relation, it may yet end up elsewhere, but the ocaen does seem most likey.

Given the second point, if it does end up in the ocean, it will take time to end up in a deep enough chasm to prevent Xykon from regenerating in a meaningful fashion, if it even gets that far. Other things that can occur can include, but are not limited to the following:

Being swept ashore, nearby or afar depending on the current tide.
End up buried in a sand bar not too far from the coast.
Being eaten by an unintelligent sea creature.
Taken as treasure by an intelligent sea creature.
Captured for study by a hyper intelligent sea creture who can cast detect magic.
[Non-specific plot device to assure the phylactery ends up in the heroes hands]
And so on.

In any case, Xykon has every reason to be furious, and paniked.

[spargel]

I'm surprised Xykon didn't immediately try rushing down into the sewers to find his phylactery. He might have been able to get it before it floated too far away.

[Axl_Rose]

And worse of all, Xykon would probably find such adventuring work really, really boring.

:xykon: Sacrificing Minions, is there anything it can't solve?

[Beorn080]

One thing no one has brought up yet is the possibility that the Phlactery sinks far enough down into the ocean that, while the Phylactery is strong enough to resist being compressed and crushed, Xykon is not.

It takes 1d10 days for Xykon to regenerate. Even assuming that Xykon rolls well enough to regenerate within 1 day, it's 24 hours. If it's deep enough, the pressure would crush the regenerating Xykon before he can even cast spells, turning the unterwater abyss into an eternal prison for him. Xykon would just keep regenerating at the Phylactery over and over again, his body always destroyed before he could cast spells to save himself.

Why would Xykon die? He wouldn't take pressure damage, since he has nothing to compress, being made of bone and all. The reason living things get damaged by pressure is because they have squishy bits that can be crushed. Granted, it would be a pain to get out from the bottom of the ocean, but I can't imagine it would be too difficult.

[Foryn Gilnith]

Why would Xykon die? He wouldn't take pressure damage, since he has nothing to compress, being made of bone and all. The reason living things get damaged by pressure is because they have squishy bits that can be crushed. .

Compared to metal, bone is squishy. It might be compressed in areas where a phylactery might not. And the resulting structural instability may cause problems for Xykon in the close future.

[One Step Two]

Compared to metal, bone is squishy. It might be compressed in areas where a phylactery might not. And the resulting structural instability may cause problems for Xykon in the close future.

Not to mention the extreme pressure would hamper his spellcasting that has any somatic components.

But as someone pointed out earlier, Xykon can cast Ghostform, assuming he can use it with the Still Spell feat, all he needs to do then is cast Mage hand (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/Magehand.htm) afterwards, pick the amulet up and be on his way.

[Ghostwheel]

Also, long bones are hollow. Deep-sea pressures would be enough to break or shatter them. Would tgat be enough to keep X from properly reforming? I don't know.

Another question on this line of questioning is this: Could X even cast spells while under-water? :smallconfused:

[One Step Two]

Another question on this line of questioning is this: Could X even cast spells while under-water? :smallconfused:

Still and Silent Metamagic feats would solve it. Though I don't know much water would impede the verbal component of something that can talk without lungs and windpipe.

[Zeful]

Also, long bones are hollow. Deep-sea pressures would be enough to break or shatter them. Would tgat be enough to keep X from properly reforming? I don't know.

Another question on this line of questioning is this: Could X even cast spells while under-water? :smallconfused:

If the water's deep enough to shatter human bones, then the weight of all the water above you is enough to stop you from moving.

[Torquinette]

Nobody but Zykon knows it is in the sewers. V and Mr. Stiffly don't know where the thing dropped. For all they know, it could've dropped into the rift.


Yeah, but Xykon very conveniently shouted his anguish of how he'd have to find it by hand, which would suggest to V and O-Chul that their Destroy-The-Phylactery Plan didnt go as well as they could have hoped.

They could deduce that it fell it to something akin to a sewer, though. I mean, apart from the floor, where else could a trinket fall into that would make Xykon worry about its whereabouts? o_0.

[David Argall]

If the water's deep enough to shatter human bones, then the weight of all the water above you is enough to stop you from moving.
We have been over this before. It just don't work that way. If you are not drowning or otherwise rapidly dying, the pressure will just not be noticed by you as you move around freely.
You are crushed only if internal pressure does not equal external, and if you don't have air pockets, that is the case. If, like Xykon, you have air pockets full of water, external and internal pressure balance and you are not crushed at all.
Now certain gasses act in different manners, depending on pressure, which can make breathing a pain, but this is not a problem for Xykon. What might be a problem is exiting the water. However, at worse, he can move his phylactery uphill until problems kill him, and then regenerate a new skeleton able to handle the new conditions, and continue his journey. The pressure is just not going to be a massive problem for Xykon.

The locals are a different matter. Traditionally, some really nasty monsters live really deep in the sea. Things quite able to destroy the phylactery. Xykon does not want it to end up in the deep seas.

[nifelheim]

They could deduce that it fell it to something akin to a sewer, though. I mean, apart from the floor, where else could a trinket fall into that would make Xykon worry about its whereabouts? o_0.

It fell into a ruined city. Could be anywhere. Zykon just said that it cannot be found by magic. He implied that it would be hard to find by sight, but what isn't in a ruined city?

[Simanos]

His skull isn't hollow, since it is open. Xykon would have no problems operation at such a depth, other then difficulty moving, from the pressure alone. Other problems, such as absolute darkness, deep chasms, and and the wildlife, would greatly hinder his ability to surface, excepting of course magical means of floating.

Also, a hollow object needs to be forced down in order to get deep enough to be crushed. The phylactery, even if hollow, simply wouldn't have enough mass to overcome buoyancy to get that deep. It would float at whatever point its volume to mass ratio balanced out with the surrounding water. Submarines and other such objects have to force themselves down by pressurizing the air and water and using propellors to force themselves down.
If Xykon goes deep enough (which I seriously doubt) the pressure could be enough to crush bone (other than the hollow bones that will break/crack much earlier and allow water inside them), but it won't turn into powder. There is no difficulty in moving from the pressure alone. Xykon can see in the dark. Bone (even uncompressed) is denser than water so Xykon can't surface without magic or "walking" on the sea floor till he reaches a beach.

Hollow objects do not need to be forced down in order to get deep enough to be crushed. An object either floats or sinks. If it is hollow it can still sink if it's "average" density is bigger than water's. That means the shell has to be big enough and/or dense enough to counteract the air pocket's low density. Water density doesn't change noticeably no matter how deep you go so if an object starts to sink it will not stop ever (especially if it cracks and loses the air pocket). Submarine do not compress the air to sink. They have ballast tanks
Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballast_tanks
In submarines ballast tanks are used to allow the vessel to submerge, water being taken in to alter the vessel's buoyancy and allow the submarine to dive. When the submarine surfaces, water is blown out from the tanks using compressed air, and the vessel becomes positively buoyant again, allowing it to rise to the surface. A submarine may have several types of ballast tank: the main ballast tanks, which are the main tanks used for diving and surfacing, and trimming tanks, which are used to adjust the submarine's attitude (its 'trim') both on the surface and when underwater.


If the water's deep enough to shatter human bones, then the weight of all the water above you is enough to stop you from moving.
No, it doesn't affect movement at all in the way you describe.

Guys, please. Do not use such certainty in your posts if you do not know basic physics. Post what you want, but avoid such certainty please.

[Jan Mattys]

If not Xykon cannot find it, who can?

That's hardly what I'd call a safe way of thinking...

Not long ago Xykon killed an Epic Wizard named Dorukan who was just about his level.

One of the Heroes of the Stick has been studying under a very powerful Elven Wizard named Aarindarius, who is supposed by many to be epic.

Many hints and time calculations seem to suggest that a ranger (?) / illusionist (?) named Girard might still be alive, and well into epic levels himself.

Don't be so eager to assume Xykon is THE most powerful being in the world. He might be, but it's far from being obvious.

And never forget that two heroes, named Vaarsuvius and O-Chul, just teleported away from Xykon with plenty of information about his phylactery (i.e. his greatest weakness in the world).

Would you risk? Would you just shrug off and say "oh well, it's probably safer wherever it is" ???

I know I wouldn't.

[0mar]

I don't think the phylactery will be going out to the deep sea. Azure City is a coastal city and if the OOTS planet is like Earth is (eg plate tectonics), then chances are that the continental shelf will only be a few hundred feet deep, if that. The phylactery will probably get caught on some rock or be embedded in sand before actually making it out to the deep ocean. Most of the deep ocean isn't that deep either; I think a lot of people here are thinking the Marina Trench or what not. Most of the deep ocean is only a thousand or so meters down, not the 10,000 meters that is the Challenger Deep.

Xykon should really have no problems if he were to kill himself and reform next to the phylactery. That is, unless Rich has other plans for that phylactery. I could see it being taken by one of the intelligent sea races, like those depressed fish thingies.

[i6uuaq]

Of course the whole "only one question per person" thing is a problem since it's hard to give an answer that would lead you directly to it - "It's in the sewers" isn't very helpful and detailed descriptions would be hard.


I'm thinking in terms of those exam questions... "Describe in detail to within a radius of 10 feet the exact current location of the Phylactery made for the Lich commonly known as Xykon, as well as any movement it might undertake of distances greater than 10 feet over the next 1 year."

[Pogogoblin]

Am I the only one thinking that the Phylactery could actually be destroyed underwater?

Think about it, drifting among dangerous (possibly magical) sea creatures, all that could weaken the protection on the Phylactery, hitting up against jagged rocks, immense pressure, and (if tectonic plate theory is the same on this world) black smokers, fissures, and undersea volcanoes. How much chance does a small amulet have, protection spells or not?

Also: everyone knows there are horrible, horrible traps inside "labrythns" so there's danger there too.

Another thing to consider: Xykon didn't see which path it went down. That small fact increases the searching difficulty by 3. woah.

[Skorj]

If the water's deep enough to shatter human bones, then the weight of all the water above you is enough to stop you from moving.

This is a common misconception, as others have noted. To add a little science to the replies above: what matters for moving is the viscosity of the water, not the pressure. Pressure presses in both directions, so it's a non-issue for moving. Ocean water's viscosity acutally decreases as you descend, which is a bit counter-intuitive. Hot water (above 33 degrees C) does become more viscous under pressure, however.

Fun fact: below a certian depth, air bubbles descend, instead of rising to the surface.


Am I the only one thinking that the Phylactery could actually be destroyed underwater?

Think about it, drifting among dangerous (possibly magical) sea creatures, all that could weaken the protection on the Phylactery, hitting up against jagged rocks, immense pressure, and (if tectonic plate theory is the same on this world) black smokers, fissures, and undersea volcanoes. How much chance does a small amulet have, protection spells or not?


I agree about the dangers. On a D&D world there are giants in the deeps: both deep underwater and deep undergroud, ridiculously powerful monsters roam. I'd say the monster threat is far more of a concern than pressure or other natural hazards.

[hamishspence]

Two kinds of giant (ocean giants which look like oversized merfolk, and storm giants)

And lots of dangerous sea monsters (sea drakes, leviathan, sea serpents (dragon magazine) sea hags, kraken, and many more)

[Pip]

Why would Xykon die? He wouldn't take pressure damage, since he has nothing to compress, being made of bone and all. The reason living things get damaged by pressure is because they have squishy bits that can be crushed. Granted, it would be a pain to get out from the bottom of the ocean, but I can't imagine it would be too difficult.

But if the phylactery falls between two rocks, for example, Xykon won't have room to grow a new body. His skull would be continually crushed as it grow. Its not just the water that Xykon's worried about, its that his his phylactery could end up anywhere; between two stones, in a giant squid's gizzard, ...

[DigoDragon]

I'd laugh my butt off if the phylactery floated over to the new land the Azure citizens moved to. Nothing says "maximum suckage" like regenerating in the middle of a paladin controlled city. :smallbiggrin:

[Kol Korran]

i'm just thinking of a fairly miserable outcome for Xykon. the phylactery get swollen by some big fish, and get stuck in it's gut or something. then he startes regenerating, just so his skull gets dissolved in the guts acid. regenerate, dissolve, and so on... for ever (or at least until the fish dies). there might be worse fates then just being destroyed.

bah, silly thought, but here it is..

[Dagren]

I'm thinking in terms of those exam questions... "Describe in detail to within a radius of 10 feet the exact current location of the Phylactery made for the Lich commonly known as Xykon, as well as any movement it might undertake of distances greater than 10 feet over the next 1 year."What exact form are you expecting the answer to take? Given that question I would expect the Oracle to describe the arrangement of rocks within 10 feet of the Phylactery. Answers the question, but is at the same time completely useless. (Yeah, really I just like my answer better :smalltongue:)

[ericgrau]

Actually, can I raise a question for our water pressure experts, out of curiosity~?

If the phylactery reaches a depth in which a non-hollow object with 20 hardness (such as the phylactery, from the looks of things) would be crushed if it was hollow; what would happen if Xykon regenerated down there? Would he not have some trouble down there, due to his bone-like nature? I mean, his skull is almost certainly hollow, for one. Or would the gaps within the skull's structure prevent it from being crushed?

Solid objects don't get crushed under pressure. However, bone isn't entirely solid. It has a hollow core and the wider parts at the ends are spongey. Even so, it'd take a great deal of pressure to crush anything, and I bet everything would stay intact. Whether or not it'd survive in d&d however, I cannot say. I mean a human body might also stay intact but your lungs would collapse or some other part wouldn't be too happy and you'd die, even though your corpse is intact.

[Simanos]

Fun fact: below a certian depth, air bubbles descend, instead of rising to the surface.
What depth is that? It's probably over 1000 atmospheres of pressure so I'm guessing 10000 meters. That's very deep. I think there's only one place on our Earth that's so deep currently. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_trench
(I didn't look up the formulae for gas compression so I might remember them wrong)