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EccentricCircle
2011-04-02, 06:09 AM
in case anyone doesn't know the macguffin is some sort of artefact or object that drives the plot of a story, it is the thing that the villain wants and payers must find, hide or keep from them. like the Titular Ring in the Lord of the Rings, the Grail in the arthurian mythos and the various treasures that drive the plot of an Indiana Jones Movie. not all games have macguffins. but they can be an interesting focal point for a story.

trouble is its one of those things which is both an incredibly useful tool in the DM's arsenal, and totally done to death.

I'm in the process of plotting out a couple of games for down the line. i'm trying to think of some really interesting and original macguffins to use. the trouble is when you spend a lot of time in the DM's chair and are always writing adventures it can be a bit of a pain to keep coming up with new stuff. and the last thing I want to do is copy a popular work of fiction.

so the purpose of this thread is two fold.
1st: does anyone have any sugestions for really cool artefacts that aren't your typical magic ring, enchanted sword or holy amulet, that would be apropriate for a desert setting?

2nd does anyone else need sugestions for Macguffins for their games? if so let us know and maybe this thread can help you too!

Yora
2011-04-02, 06:29 AM
Artifacts are means to an end. Your ultimate goal determins what artifact you're chasing after. If you want to make an interesting artifact, first determine for what task it is needed, and then decide what it actually does.

A Mac Guffin in the stricter sense of the word is an object that everyone wants but that doesn't actually do anything. People want it, that's really it's only trait. If it has any potential use for the protagonists or antagonists within the story, it's not a MacGuffin.

Ravens_cry
2011-04-02, 06:29 AM
Well, what is the most important thing in a desert? Water. So something that provides water on a vast scale might be appropriate. If you're playing D&D 3.X and derivatives, there is already an item that does this though, so it isn't much of a MacGuffin.

EccentricCircle
2011-04-02, 06:55 AM
good points.

at the moments i'm mostly thinking from an asethetic point of view,trying to determine the feel I want this item to have rather than its actual role in the story. to a certain extent I want to base the plot of this game on the artefact rather than the other way around. that way the artefact will be integral to the plot rather than feeling tacked on.

my original thought last night was an hourglass. as that would have the sand element. but I don't think that is very original as there was a movie all about the sands of time recently.

I like the Water suggestion. that is a nice idea. Certainly dekanters of endless water are fairly standard in 3.x as written but that doesn't mean they have to be commonplace. Some sort of chalice that is forever full could be a very interesting idea.

Yora
2011-04-02, 07:02 AM
Usually such objects ly burried under the sand, and the whole plot starts with someone learning about its existance and starts looking for it. Unless it's just extremely valuable and will make the owner very rich (which I think is a bit lame for a great story), it's a tool for his greater plans.
The alternative is, that the object is just suddenly there and everyone wants to possess it. Thus starts a long line of cons, ambushes, and betrayals as everyone is constantly bussy stealing it from its current owner. However, even in that case, you should think of an ending or a small number of possible endings beforehand. The artifact breaks and is destroyed because it suffers so much abuse during the constant stealing and re-stealing would be kind of funny, but maybe not a suitable ending for all types of campaign. :smallbiggrin:

Amnestic
2011-04-02, 07:19 AM
A magical staff with untold destructive power due to it containing the raging spirits of demons, devils, celestials, archons and more. They're not terribly fond of one another, but they can't kill each other while trapped inside the staff so they're constantly trying to get out. It takes a caster of great skill to even unlock the safeguards on the powers, and one greater still to control them and not have them blow up in his face...like the last guy who tried to use it, who ended up wiping out his entire kingdom in a blazing flash of light that lasted but a moment.

Having recently been unearthed, and it, you know, being an artifiact of untold destructive power, there are more than a few interested people vying for it.

Ravens_cry
2011-04-02, 07:26 AM
Maybe there is someone who wishes to destroy it, unknowing that doing so would release said boogies. And of, course, another who wants to use it. Maybe still another faction who wishes to study, and those who wish to hide it. Who the players support changes how the campaign goes. Lot of work on your part, but the players can't say you railroaded them.:smallamused:

Tyndmyr
2011-04-02, 07:31 AM
I avoid mcguffins like the plague. Even when items are focal, its for a reason. And a reason better than "the x orbs of y". I especially hate generic one of each element setups.

I've seen way too many plots that appear to be cribbed from a crappy video game.

Yora
2011-04-02, 07:36 AM
Maybe there is someone who wishes to destroy it, unknowing that doing so would release said boogies. And of, course, another who wants to use it. Maybe still another faction who wishes to study, and those who wish to hide it. Who the players support changes how the campaign goes. Lot of work on your part, but the players can't say you railroaded them.:smallamused:

That actually sounds a lot like one of the Elder Evils.

Ravens_cry
2011-04-02, 07:46 AM
That actually sounds a lot like one of the Elder Evils.
I started with Skies of Glass and Fourth Edition D&D, so my idea of orignal is probably different then many players.

TheCountAlucard
2011-04-02, 07:51 AM
Just a thought in reply to the "Decanter of Endless Water" idea - perhaps you could go with the reverse instead: some sort of magic item that causes drought and devastation, even drying up magically-conjured water in a vast area.

The plot could thus revolve around trying to destroy or disenchant said item, or even just to move it to a different location.

EccentricCircle
2011-04-02, 09:01 AM
or something that can either provide water, or cause drought depending on how it's used of course... that could be interesting. weather magic played a very large role in the last game in this world, although chances are this next one will have a different set of players.

I like the idea of the Stave of Imprisoned powers, its a very cool idea. that would certainly work well in a highly faction driven game with different people wanting to do different things. a staff has the advantage of portability but i'd probably go for a tomb were I to use that one. the powers have been trapped for an enternity and now people want to let them out. prehaps the good powers deliberately sacrificed themselves to contain the evil ones al a Eberron et al.

as I have said i'm mainly looking for what people's opinions on what is a suitably interesting artefact, rather than plotwriting advice. the plot will ultimately be very player driven, regardless of what the artefact does.

Drogorn
2011-04-02, 11:02 AM
It might help if we knew the villain's motivations.

Mulletmanalive
2011-04-02, 11:39 AM
A few classics include:
A message, written in code that is key to two parties but utterly meaningless, lacking context, to the PCs
A collecion of love letters that could end up causing a revolution but very clearly have no means of controlling it
The control crystal for a magical dohicky/eldritch device
The only key to a cellar, wrapped in a map to get there
Microfilm or the equivalent [nothing needs to be on it, that's actually part of some spy stories]
A letter of promise tha will allow the bearer to buy into a minor noble house by paying to marry a daughter
A map to the lost city of god, which has a curse on it
A dusty old lamp that's actually the key to something...

Note that i've completely avoided any magic items or things that can actually be of much direct use to the PCs. There's another word for plot items that actually participate but TvTroupes and their inaccuracies have obscured it...

Waker
2011-04-02, 11:44 AM
You need desert themed macguffins? Sure, change the names as you see fit. They are just the fastest thing I could think of when I read through the topic.

Desert Tyrant's Scale- The scale of an ancient blue dragon who sought to expand his territory. The scale can transform any landscape into a desert. A madman has been reducing whole kingdoms to wastelands, the party must stop him.

Roc Feather Fan- An artifact that can call up enormous sandstorms and reshape the dunes as the wielder sees fit. No army can be sent into the desert to stop a warlord, the party must first destroy the fan.

Infernal Sunstone- A magnificent gem that imprisons a malevolent demon. When the gem is buried in a sand dune the demon can take take on the form of a sand titan under the command of the burier of the gem.

Cartigan
2011-04-02, 12:10 PM
For a desert MacGuffin? A map to a secret oasis or a buried city of treasures.

EccentricCircle
2011-04-02, 12:11 PM
It might help if we knew the villain's motivations.

at the moment there is no villain. and no actual plot, I just want to base my next game around a powerful artefact but nothing particularly inspiring has sprung to mind so I asked this question to get a rush of good ideas that would set the creative process in motion.

I like the idea of the Roc Feather Fan, the idea of the item that can shape the battlefield is interesting (I apreciate that several people have been saying that macguffins shouldn't be useful i'm not too fussed whether it is or not.)
Fans are a nice item with an eastern feel rather than a western one, so thats a useful host object to consider. reshaping sand could also work with an hourglass. particularly if the players are expecting it to control time instead, that could make a fairly nifty suprise when they learn its true purpose.

Cartigan
2011-04-02, 01:54 PM
If it's actually important, it's not a MacGuffin. Classically.

Fox Box Socks
2011-04-02, 02:17 PM
If it's actually important, it's not a MacGuffin. Classically.
This. The real definition of a MacGuffin is that it's something that people are looking for. What the MacGuffin is or does doesn't really matter; it can be an object or a person or even an idea. What's important is that people are searching for it, and that the story revolves around the search rather than the object itself.

This is why the Zelda games are not actually about Princess Zelda. Instead, they're about the trials and tribulations of the guy trying to save Princess Zelda.

Morghen
2011-04-02, 04:05 PM
A pre-first edition version of Religion X's holy book that would unmask them as blah, blah, blah. Various factions try to retrieve/destroy the book.

The idea of un-deserting the desert is actually pretty cool. Who wants it to stay a desert? Must be something pretty scary/awesome underneath all that sand if somebody went to all that trouble of putting a desert on top of it. They'll definitely want to keep it that way. (Ooooh, they might even be good guys!)


Non-standard "things":
A living tree
An intelligent construct
A pool of water
A rose in a jar (Beauty and the Beast)
A loom
Mud from the bottom of a certain oasis

Shyftir
2011-04-02, 04:27 PM
Perhaps the Vault of Powers idea, but not in a staff in a place. The MacGuffin is both the Key and a object of power in its own right. Now make opening the vault not cause destruction so much as change Maybe if you open the vault it will cause the Balance to go pear-shaped. Make it work in such a way that the changes might benefit the players, but perhaps hurt a lot of other people. Total upheaval. Now they have a MacGuffin to hunt, but when they find it they have a decision to make. Use it and change the world, perhaps for the better. Or keep the status quo leaving things basically unchanged. This of course means subjecting your world to the possibility of being changed permanently.

It's the ultimate player agency. The real power to change the world.

erikun
2011-04-02, 04:52 PM
The Crystal of Endless Winter, which rests in the depths of the north and are the reason spring never comes that far north

The Crown of the Fae, a circlet which grants its owner the boon of the Sidhe Court

The daughter of the Dragon King, who has not yet become aware of her legacy

A tank, from the future

A spear belonging to the ancestors


This is actually rather difficult. I mean, by definition, a MacGuffin is meaningless. If you want two (or more) people to be fighting or in conflict but have no real reason for them to do so, that's where the MacGuffin comes in. Everyone wants it, and so they scheme and plot and fight to get it.

Even the "MacGuffins" above aren't really MacGuffins when their abilities become relevant. If the BBEG wants to grab the Crown of the Fae to put the Sidhe Court under his command, or wants to charm the daughter of the Dragon King to use her powers when she matures, then they aren't really MacGuffins anymore.

MidnightOne
2011-04-02, 04:56 PM
I've used relatively minor-seeming (but in the end very powerful) magic items as the artifact someone else is after. Talk about spreading confusion in the party as to why they're being tracked and harassed...

nedz
2011-04-02, 05:04 PM
A trap would make for a pretty unusual McGuffin.

Alternativly if the Fiendish powers have an interest in said item: have a Fiend of Posession get to it first. Hours of fun here; unless you do something silly like turn it into a fight straight away. You could have the FoP use its powers to simulate all manner of things, e.g.: Its an hourglass which allows you to animate objects (actually someone else is doing that), etc.

Anxe
2011-04-02, 06:58 PM
Your Macguffin can be a person or a place as well.

Crossblade
2011-04-02, 08:45 PM
I'm a fan of using actual Artifacts found in the DMG. It allows the players to know the potential power of the item of desire, and helps conceive circumstances of the villain getting the item or even destroying the item.

Personally, the solo campaign I'm ran with my gf that is on hiatus, had the MacGuffins being the Orbs of Dragon. It'd be very bad if someone could control all and any dragon, eh? (And I fluffed that destroying an orb kills all dragons of that type, so it's a fairly epic circumstances campaign)

For a Desert setting, the blue orb would fit perfectly.

EccentricCircle
2011-04-03, 05:05 AM
there are some great ideas comming out of this thread. thankyou to everyone who's been participating.

i've now got the outlines of two basic artefact plots

1) the tomb: involving the sealed evil (and good, though that would be a twist at some point) in the can idea, but with a lost vault rather than an item of some sort. the plot would revolve around tracking down the maps and clues leading to its location before the villain.

2) a longer campaign revolving around several geomantic artefacts with an elemental motif. (appologies to whoever it was said they didn't like elemental motifs...)


the Chalice of Water: was sugested right at the start. the power to control water would be very useful. though I'm not keen on widespread ecological change (the most powerful spellcasters in this world are of sufficient power that if undesertifying the desert was possible they would have done it by now.) but on a smaller scale it could be the difference between famine and prosperity for a village or small town.

the Hourglass: this would control dust, allowing someone to shape sand and change the dunes. (they would be led to believe that it could control time. this would then turn out not to be the case)

the Fan: this item was originally sugested to have the control of sand idea above with regards to sand storms. I think it would work to have this contorl the Winds themselves. with sandstorms being an added bonus.

the Lamp: that just leaves an item to control fire, which would naturally have to be a lamp.


the four items would each be introduced seperately over the course of a long campaign so it wouldn't immediately be clear that they are a set or even connected. they all have practical utility as magic items. but their world shattering power wouldn't be immediately obvious. (and yes I know this means that they are not technically macguffins. they are artefacts, which is what I want for this game)
whether these four items could be linked to the daemonvault but i'm inclined to leave the two as unrelated campaigns. theres no point cramming all the good ideas into one game after all.

Slipperychicken
2011-04-03, 10:04 AM
I'm a fan of using actual Artifacts found in the DMG. It allows the players to know the potential power of the item of desire, and helps conceive circumstances of the villain getting the item or even destroying the item.

Personally, the solo campaign I'm ran with my gf that is on hiatus, had the MacGuffins being the Orbs of Dragon. It'd be very bad if someone could control all and any dragon, eh? (And I fluffed that destroying an orb kills all dragons of that type, so it's a fairly epic circumstances campaign)

For a Desert setting, the blue orb would fit perfectly.

Orbs of Dragon? Allows you to control dragons, eh? Please don't tell me there are seven of these things, each with a different number of stars on them...

DBZ, in case you were wondering.

Yora
2011-04-03, 10:10 AM
No, ten. One for each color.

Amnestic
2011-04-03, 11:06 AM
No, ten. One for each color.

More if you factor in gem and/or planar dragons :smalltongue:

Crow
2011-04-03, 11:12 AM
What if this desert was created by some untold devastation many milennia ago. Before this devastation, the inhabitants of this paradise ate the fruit of a magical species of tree which granted eternal life.

Of course that is just a legend, and it never granted eternal life, and by now, the only remaining seeds would be fossilized and useless. But legends state that the one who finds some of these seeds will be the one to create a new paradise wherein their people may flourish for eternity.

So the "macguffins" do nothing, but are extremely valuable to the right people, and lots of people will want to find them. Especially for a desert people, who would probably like the idea of turning their desert into a forest paradise. Plus, comes with some nifty foggy history that you can fill in as you like. Hell, maybe they aren't fossilized, maybe they do create a tree that gives immortality fruit. You don't even have to decide until they actually find some. Maybe not even then.

Plus if they don't find them, or someone else finds them first, the world doesn't end. The PC's just miss out on a bunch of money and fame.

valadil
2011-04-03, 11:15 AM
I tend to avoid them too. Most of the time they just end up leading to the sort of plot that I don't enjoy in D&D. When I do use a MacGuffin, I prefer for it to be a person. Mainly so I can kill the MacGuffin and leave the players scrambling to find another solution.

Tiki Snakes
2011-04-03, 11:18 AM
What if this desert was created by some untold devastation many milennia ago. Before this devastation, the inhabitants of this paradise ate the fruit of a magical species of tree which granted eternal life.

Of course that is just a legend, and it never granted eternal life, and by now, the only remaining seeds would be fossilized and useless. But legends state that the one who finds some of these seeds will be the one to create a new paradise wherein their people may flourish for eternity.

So the "macguffins" do nothing, but are extremely valuable to the right people, and lots of people will want to find them. Especially for a desert people, who would probably like the idea of turning their desert into a forest paradise. Plus, comes with some nifty foggy history that you can fill in as you like. Hell, maybe they aren't fossilized, maybe they do create a tree that gives immortality fruit. You don't even have to decide until they actually find some. Maybe not even then.

Perhaps this, but when they finally find the 'Seed', it turns out not to be a litteral seed, but infact the horrifying, cataclismic artifact that caused the apocalyptic destruction in the first place.

Bonus points if the Artifact is a flying magi-tec castle, currently crashed and half-submerged beneath the shifting sands.

[edit] A cast of characters suggests itself already, to my mind.
Obviously, you would have several conflicting factions seeking immortality. Perhaps a gang of theives, the forces of the local totalitarian dictator (perhaps he is nearing death, through illness, age, or just general wasteful excess and morbid obesity?), maybe throw in a group who seek to grow the trees of immortality for the benefit of all, too. Perhaps they could be well meaning but prone to going too far.

You'd also have the semi-dormant defences of the 'Seed' artifact, (Golems? Nano-tech style Sand-creatures? Warforged? Mutated semi-sapient desert creatures?) attempting to brutally dissuade anyone who drew close, or even begun following the trail.

I figure throwing into this mix a single, (probably mad person), who knows the truth about the 'Seed' is the way to go.

Crow
2011-04-03, 11:26 AM
Perhaps this, but when they finally find the 'Seed', it turns out not to be a litteral seed, but infact the horrifying, cataclismic artifact that caused the apocalyptic destruction in the first place.

Bonus points if the Artifact is a flying magi-tec castle, currently crashed and half-submerged beneath the shifting sands.

Supplementary Emergency Egress Device. When the ship in orbit exploded, "lighting the sky on fire", the escape module crashed into the planet. The impact levelled the forest, creating the desert they live in today.

EccentricCircle
2011-04-04, 05:10 AM
discussion has wound down so i'd like to say thankyou to everyone who has made sugestions they have all been very interesting and useful. I won't be using anyones sugestions as is, but combining a few of them together into something different. I liked all of the sugestions that people have made, even if I didn't discuss them at length.
all the best
EC

Cyrion
2011-04-04, 09:22 AM
Here's an idea for an item that would be of value to any desert traveler:

Mahir's Marvelous Parasol- Depending on the command word used, this sky blue parasol with yellow and black desert-themed designs can provide one of several effects. The parasol must be open and held in order to function.

1) It can provide shelter from the sun and heat for one person for a day, preventing any environmental ill effects such as heat stroke, dehydration or sun glare. After being used in this manner, it must be soaked in clean water for 4 hours.

2) Twice per day it can create enough pure water to fill itself if turned upside down and opened. If the parasol is being used as a parasol when this command is given, a small rain shower producing the same volume of water occurs over the holder's head inside the parasol. Any camels within 100 yards of the parasol when it is used in this fashion will be attracted to the user and will attempt to follow him or her for 1d4+1 minutes after the effect is triggered.

3) Twice per day it can provide the effect of a swift flight spell.

4) Although seemingly fragile, it is magically reinforced and can be used as a shield. It provides a shield bonus of +1 and an enhancement bonus of +1 for a total AC bonus of +2. Any time it is used in this manner a magic mouth is invoked that curses and complains in the game world's equivalent of Arabic.

Ravens_cry
2011-04-04, 10:30 AM
Orbs of Dragon? Allows you to control dragons, eh? Please don't tell me there are seven of these things, each with a different number of stars on them...

Then you find an obese, rather falsetto voiced, dragon looking for at least two of them.

Cerlis
2011-04-04, 08:02 PM
well i rather like the idea of people in a desert going to go get this plant from a far away jungle valley.

Whether its magical or not. Whether it has magical healing abilities. Or the ability to spawn at an alarming rate (perhaps it wilts fast and the group tries to slow down its death only to find out upon dying it germinates into thousands of seeds; or perhaps the entire forest was one big plant eminating from the single pod), or whether it attracts clouds to it, or it generates water, or is the rare component to a great ritual.....or something as simple as it being the dying wish of a beloved king.... supermagical or not it is just as mortal as any other plant.

Have to make sure its watered, sees sun but not wilt it. protect it from rabbits and horses. and all together take care of a tiny almost usless extremely fragile plant on the several leagues journey through dangerous forest and desert and wildlife just to bring the dinky thing back.

tonberrian
2011-04-04, 08:23 PM
The Ruby of Canchalan is a marvelous ruby the size of a dwarf's fist, with a luster that seems almost magical, a stone that was ancient when the world was new. If you believe the legends, it was to have been the finest treasure of each of a thousand kingdoms with names known only to myth. Whenever it appears, nations topple and armies march to capture the gem, only for it to be lost again amongst the bloody sands. Those few mages who studied the gem were astonished at the power it contained, though it's said that those who've seen the gem have always died within a year, whether by revolution, war, assassination or accident.

Basically, a giant Weirdness Magnet.

EccentricCircle
2011-04-05, 06:25 AM
The Ruby of Canchalan is a marvelous ruby the size of a dwarf's fist, with a luster that seems almost magical, a stone that was ancient when the world was new. If you believe the legends, it was to have been the finest treasure of each of a thousand kingdoms with names known only to myth. Whenever it appears, nations topple and armies march to capture the gem, only for it to be lost again amongst the bloody sands. Those few mages who studied the gem were astonished at the power it contained, though it's said that those who've seen the gem have always died within a year, whether by revolution, war, assassination or accident.

Basically, a giant Weirdness Magnet.

thats a cool idea, it reminds me a bit of the Devils Heart from one of the Star Trek TNG novels. basically it had passed through every culture in Star Trek sowing madness and destruction in its wake.

its interesting that a lot of people have discussed ways of making the desert green "again". the conclusion to which a lot of people are springing is that the wasteland must once have been a nice place and has since become barren. that is certainly a staple of desert fantasy (see Dune). now i'm an Environmental Scientist, what i'd had in mind when thinking about this was a natural desert, in equilibrium with the climate for the lattitude at which it lies. that doesn't mean that the desert can't be made green, magic is powerful stuff but the interesting issue is what happens when druids learn that people are trying to upset the naturall order of the desert and turn it into a green and pleasant land for their own purposes.

you almost get the opposite of the standard plot where the forces of darkness are destroying the land and the good guys have to save it.

Demonix
2011-04-05, 02:52 PM
well wait, does the macguffin have to be portable? Does it even have to be an object?

1) A date palm that not only produces dates year round, but the dates grant a limited precognition power. Continued use of the dates, however, bring about insanity.

2) two/Three/five/whatever different children/people who aren't related but were all born at the exact same time. Due to celestial circumstances, each of the three possesses a fragment of the soul of a nascent god. The method of release would determine this god's portfolio and alignment.

3) A pair of boots that take you where you need to be...but not necessarily where you WANT to be.

4) A random looking but obviously manufactured piece of metal with no discernable purpose or use. However, it is the last component needed to activate a device that will not only predict the future course of a nation, but reshape reality to make that prediction come true.

Well thats all I have for now.

Realms of Chaos
2011-04-05, 10:35 PM
Here's an idea that I had awhile back.

The Marbles of Caer-Zhaen:
Nearly half a century ago, the blackguard known as Caer-Zhaen conquered nation after nation in his bid for power. Mellowing down as he got on in age, Caer-Zhaen was content to build a family and peaceably run his empire (though not without an iron fist). Within the past year, the warlord sent out an entire legion of his army to an abandoned orphanage in a backwater province, demanding a bag of marbles of all things from the squatters within it and brutally slaying them no marbles were found.

Since the orphanage massacre, the army of the land has been searching for these marbles with reckless abandon, following even the tiniest rumor as to their location. Though he's getting on in years, the warlord still seems sharp as ever and, the people reason, must have a very good reason to want these marbles. Though nobody knows the power or true value of the marbles, they would be nearly priceless to anyone wanting it to themselves.

The underground resistance, united against the tyrrany of Caer-Zhaen, is convinced that Caer-Zhaen's obsession with the marbles is more than good enough of a reason to prevent the blackguard from ever acquiring them. To the extent that they can, they have been urging the common folk not to cooperate with the blackguard's wishes and they've been hunting down anyone claiming to have found the marbles, wishing to take it from them lest they seek to bargain with Caer-Zhaen.

The grand search for the marbles of Caer-Zhaen has begun.

However...The marbles have no powers and hold no great value, apart from sentimental value. Caer-Zhaen, for all of his continued bluster, is deathly ill and well-aware of it. Though he's been taking the time to say goodbye to the rest of his family, the one part of his life that he's been unable to make peace with was his own sad childhood, spent at the backwater orphanage. With the former caretakers dead and friends long-forgotten, the only fond memory that the Warlord has of his childhood that he might still be able to reach is a sack of marbles that he played with as a lad. He knows that the odds are stacked against him but he is willing to give it his best try, even if doing so means using his army.

In truth, a single marble from the original satchel still survives unharmed, a keepsake that one of the pcs had in their childhood as well. Caer-Zhaen would agree to almost any material price in exchange for the return of the marbles but is likely to take them back by force if it looks like that may be an option. If he acquires the marble, the sight of it can pierce old blackguard's heart and provoke a single final honest tear from his eyes. If he possesses it, the ancient tyrant can truly die without regrets (though whether he deserves such a happy ending is another matter altogether). Such is the power of the marbles of Caer-Zhaen.