Elder Evils

CHAPTER 2
ATROPUS
18
Illus. by Izzy
widespread death were to occur. She researches the apocalypse
from the sky spell (see the sidebar, page 21), during which time
she sends out her minions to collect a sample of angel tears she
intends to use to complete the casting of the spell. The PCs
might be drawn into the fighting on the planes, join the battle
against Gorguth, or follow up their leads about Caira.
EL 17 (Strong Sign): The undead outnumber the living,
spreading like a cancer. Gorguth’s armies beat back the
defenders, filling their depleted ranks by turning their fallen
adversaries into undead. Gorguth marches toward the metropolis
where he intends to greet the elder evil when it arrives.
Meanwhile, Caira completes her research and begins the daylong
casting from her hidden base beneath the city. From one of
her captured minions or another ally they met along the way,
the PCs learn of her horrible plan and must decide whether they
will stand against
the fast-approaching
undead army or seek
out the ur-priest in
the hope of halting
her fell magic.
EL 20 (Overwhelming
Sign):
If the PCs stop Caira,
it is a short-lived
victory, for Gorguth
approaches, and his
hordes of demons
and undead spill into
the city, spreading
death and destruction
throughout.
Alternatively, if the
characters faced Gorguth
and defeated
him, Caira completes
the spell and bathes
everything in a 130-
mile radius with fiery
death, killing tens of
thousands. This calamity
is enough to
awaken Atropus, and
the moonlet begins
to descend toward
the planet. Surviving
spellcasters cast gate
spells to transport
people to the Plane of Shadow, trying to save as many as they
can, leaving the PCs as the world’s last chance to stop Atropus.
They must travel to the moonlet, brave the void, and find
and defeat the aspect of Atropus before the moonlet reaches
the planet’s surface.
ATROPUS IN EBERRON
Given the elusive character of the gods in the EBERRON setting,
it is not clear what or who Atropus is. The oldest mentions
of this entity date back to the Age of Demons, marking
Atropus’s appearance during the climactic sacrifice of the
couatls in their attempt to rid their world of the demons
and force them to their native plane. In the millennia that
Aspect of Atropus
followed, astronomers have commented on the passage of an
anomalous comet that seems to appear whenever Dolurrh,
Realm of the Dead, is coterminous with the Material Plane.
Some theorize this comet is in fact Atropus of legend, and
one day the World Born Dead will visit Eberron again.
Outside of the dragons peering into the heavens to divine
the future, few comprehend the significance of the movements
of the celestial bodies. If mortals knew the evil far
above their heads, they would quake in their boots and seek
refuge in the bowels of the earth. Indeed, only the Argonnessen
dragons know what doom awaits them all, for they have
identified a celestial object whose appearance occurred at
the same time that Cyre became the Mournland. It is an odd
thing moving through the Ring of Siberys. Some suspect
magical manifestation, maybe a planar anomaly, but a few know
the truth, and they do
their best to push such
thoughts from their
minds, lest they draw its
attention by dwelling
on what many believe
is the inevitable end of
the world.
ATROPUS
IN FAERÛN
Those few sages who
even know of Atropus
debate the origins of
this elder evil. They
agree that Atropus was
spawned when Ao created
the first gods, but
where they differ is
in how Atropus was
formed. Some claim the
elder evil gained awareness
from the divine
amniotic fluid surrounding
the first god
of death, while others
claim Atropus was the
last god Ao created, but
it was stillborn. Atropus
has never come close to
Faerûn, but those aware
of him are ever watchful
of the heavens, waiting
for the day when the moonlet circles the tapestry of night.
The moonlet is one of the drifting bodies forming the
ring around the dull gray planet known as Glyth, one of
the Five Wanderers that do not follow the ordinary paths of
the stars. Little do the mortals of Faerûn realize the cataclysm
affecting this distant world. Drawn by the widespread death
and destruction meted out by mind flayer overlords, Atropus
drew close, masking its approach behind the belt of debris
forming the ring around the planet. While the illithids
waged their interminable wars against the native humanoids,
Atropus descended and wiped out all life, leaving Glyth an
empty husk. Now Atropus turns its attention to Faerûn and
begins its slide toward a world ripe for the taking.