The Smoking Strand
Hidden far from civilized coasts lies a strand of Klothys’s hair that she purposefully plucked. Knotted in on itself, the strand appears as a seething ring of dense smoke. Myths say that any who touches the strand risk having it invade them, infecting them with a pernicious destiny that Klothys herself tore from the natural order. None can say what terrible destiny the Smoking Strand drives its possessor toward, but the ruins within which it lies might give some hint—caverns burrowed deep into a mountain of petrified bodies, the twisted obsidian corpses of humanoids and animals alike. It lies in the Empty Eye- a wasteland where Klothys herself battled a Titan and foresaw the Twilight of the Gods centuries ago.
The Smoking Strand is a divine artifact that the players must obtain, the only one, in order to perform the binding. This binding is the predetermined fate that Klothys worried over long ago. While many believe it will drive a person mad, it only does this to a person who has not accepted the Twilight of the Gods or who wishes to use the god-making Path to make themselves into a deity.
The Strand floats around the head of the person it chooses and grants them special abilities to help them bring about the Twilight and is a crucial ingredient in the ritual for sealing a god. The twisted Strand of Destiny she plucked offers a special gift of much-needed Time to the person who wields it, but there is only some much Time available in the Strand and it must be used wisely.
Retrieving the Strand
The Smoking Strand is held in a mysterious temple to Klothys that comes and goes as it pleases from inside the Empty Eye. The PCs must travel into the Oraniad Mountains and down into the Empty Eye to find the underground Temple. The Temple's floor and surrounding are littered with the corpses of mortals who tried to take the Strand from the Temple without Klothys's blessing. As Klothys has recently left the Underworld and Erebos has sent monsters up to follow her through to the mortal realm through the Empty Eye (he has kept the truth secret & instead blames the appearance of the monsters on Klothys herself, saying that she dragged them up when she left), his creatures will make retrieving the Strand especially difficult. The monsters have burrowed there way through Theros topside into the caldera of the Empty Eye and can sense the power of the Strand inside her Temple. Erebos obviously wants to know that it is, if not totally claim the power for himself.The Temple
At an outcropping within the Empty Eye and set into the wall of the caldera lies an abandoned temple. The abandoned temple is partially collapsed, with overturned pillars, and parts of the ceiling sunken in to prevent passage to some areas. The most outward, front-facing section is overgrown with black vines and includes the ruins of the main sanctuary, which contains mostly rubble except for a cracked altar and a headless statue. A library of rotting books and priests’ quarters containing skeletal remains complete this section. The halls are streaked with burn marks. Many of the rooms in this place are rubble-strewn and ruined. A passage leads to an ancient level further beneath the main structure with scrying pools filled with blood that has barely a trace of dust. A sturdy iron door protects the temple’s vault and showcases a strange locking mechanism that keeps anyone from breaching its protection. The thrum of incredible magic power leaks from the vault door and out into the surrounding areas of the Empty Eye. Monsters from the Underworld have sensed the Strand here and sent by Erebos have been trying to burrow or smash their way through the Temple to obtain it but have as of yet not been successful. The monsters infiltrating the Temple include four blood-toll harpies that fly around the temple, four Returned Drifters that shamble about at its steps, two woe striders that stalk around it, and an Underworld Cerberus who will exit the temple and join the fight once things kick-off and it hears the fighting.Mechanics & Inner Workings
Wondrous Item, legendary (Klothys chooses the wielder)
When you use an action to toss the Strand into the air, it orbits your head at a distance of 1 foot and confers several benefits to you. Thereafter, another creature must use an action to grasp or net it to separate it from you, either by making a successful attack roll against AC 25or a successful DC 25Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. It has AC 25, 10 hit points, and resistance to all damage. It is considered to be an object that is being worn while it orbits your head. Once the Strand is orbiting your head, you gain the following:- Greater Absorption. You can use your reaction to cancel a spell of 8th level or lower cast by a creature you can see and targeting only you. Once it has canceled 64 levels of spells, it no longer does this. If you are targeted by a spell whose level is higher than the number of spell levels it has left, the Strand can't cancel it.
- Fortitude. Your Constitution score increases by 2, to a maximum of 20, while it orbits your head.
- Strength. Your Strength score increases by 2, while it orbits your head.
- Earthquake. You can cast this spell once per day centered on a target of your choice, with the stipulation that the area of effect is reduced to a circle with a 40-foot radius.
- Forbiddance. You can cast this spell once per day and while active a creature also cannot travel out of the area with teleportation.
- Time Stop. You can cast this spell only once. It is predetermined to have 12 seconds, or two rounds, available to the wielder of the Strand. Additionally, it can be used as a reaction only. Once activated, you may use the 12 seconds to do whatever you wish and the results of those actions will play out immediately once time starts up again. As stated in the original spell, the spell will end if you affect another creature than yourself in some way, but those actions will play out. For example, if you did this and used the first free round to run up to a target and into melee range and the second free round to attack the target, the attack made will carry out but as soon as it is done, whatever was going on before you stopped time will immediately resume.
Significance
DIVINE ARTIFACT REQUIRED FOR SEALING A GOD
Item type
Unique Artifact
Current Location
Manufacturer
Owning Organization
Rarity
LEGENDARY (ONLY CHOOSES A MORTAL IN ACCEPTANCE OF THE TWILIGHT)
Raw materials & Components
it's impossible to determine the true form of this hair from Klothys's head. The Strand is only visible as a swirling, perpetually rotating line of smoke that rotates around the head of whomever it choose to carry out its destiny.
