The Wyrm’s Tomb

Inside an ice monolith can be seen the form of a wyrm. Much of the ice is cloudy, and it is hard to make out what could be the creature’s feathers or fur, in white and deep green, or its many legs. The only patch of clarity in the ice shows its eye, a deep blue orb with no discernable whites or iris, with a black slit pupil. Staring into this eye brings the starer under the beings magical influence.

The wyrm is not entirely asleep, nor is it entirely awake. They can communicate through a very limited telepathy with those they have taken. They hunger, though it can be fed through ritual offerings. In times past, they would hypnotize a few ghosts that wandered into their den, make them serve them for a time, then allow them to move on. Now, their influence is far greater, as the ghosts do not move on.

A few pine trees grow in the caves around the prison, a garden tended by the hypnotized. This and the feeding ritual are why the creature’s jailers do not prevent them from using their mental power; they are permitted to tend a garden, and to slake their hunger, but not to conspire against their enemies or to plot an escape. They do so anyway.

In a past age, a trio of gods from the Final, Storm, and Sun courts put this wyrm in this prison, along with an entourage of mortal heroes. Adventurers might be placed under a subtle influence, demanding that they act against the gods who bound the Wyrm. Or the Wyrm might ask that secret rituals be addressed to its allies on the Courts, reminding them of favors owed and debts unpaid. Or monuments to those heroes might be desecrated (in one case, a kingdom yet bears the name of the empire carved by the hero in question, and so counts as a monument).

Sometimes, one might even seek out its influence and hope to resist the hypnotism, suggestion, and compulsion it can lay. It knows a great many secrets that could tempt even the wisest of wizards. The strong-willed might be able to bargain with it, a favor for a secret.

The Wyrm breaking free is a sign that the current age of the world is coming to a close, and a new one is beginning. Perhaps, with its jailer’s Court distracted, it may take the opportunity to escape.