Dragon skull wards

originally posted by Hunter

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Last we saw the unborn baby dragon skull wards, Raiett had them in Avenor.

But Raiett has been running Etarra for some time as Lysaer gallivants around Athera looking for, and finding, his wife.

Lysaer purged most of his inner sanctum at Avenor because they were tainted by the necromancers. Raiett was purged along with the other senior members in Etarra by Arithon.

So… if they are still in Avenor who - apart from Lysaer - may know they are there and is keeping them "safe"? If they were in Etarra, did Davien take them or are they still laying around in Raiett's private residence?

originally posted by Blue

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Good idea this, Hunter. I didn't want to put spoilers right in the middle of the FP thread, in case someone would get the TK surprises spoiled.

Davien might or might not have taken the skulls, were they in Etarra. Remember, he did not seem to take too kindly to Arithon's implying he had stolen the black grimoires. "Ah, no, more like Sethvir's pilfering, I see."

Who knows, with all that time with Arithon, who was, after all, the heir to a pirate King, Davien might have decided to try the thrill of theft, just to see if he could outsmart any countermeasures?

One possibility is that Vorrice gets hold of them just to get rid of them - after all, he questioned whether Lysaer himself had been overshadowed by evil when Raiett unpacked them in the first place.

Lysaer also has a new crop of priests in training. Could one of them get hold of these things? The results could be similar to a curious, careless kid with a chemistry set.

What about the Kralovir cultists? They were destroyed at Etarra but maybe they had possession of the skulls, were themselves destroyed, and then a rival cult got their hands on the skulls? It seems there is more than once cult of necromancers. In Melhalla, Arithon asked Traithe, "Which cult?" to which Traithe replied, "The nastiest."

Morriel/Selidie is highly peeved at Arithon's alteration of the Great Waystone. What is to stop her from ordering one of the Koriani to steal the skulls, and use them against Arithon and the F7? If I recall, Raiett Raven said that this set was "misplaced" by a Koriani Senior Circle during the uprising. Morriel/Selidie might view it not as theft, but as the return of the Koriani's rightful property.

Speaking of "this set" does anyone else think there might be more sets of dragon skulls out there?

Who's got the bones? More importantly, once the "good guys" have hold of them, how will they be dealt with? Should they be destroyed - is that possible? Or should they be placed in their own little Grimward? Should they be placed in the same Grimward with one of their parents, IF indeed the parent(s) of the unhatched dragons is in a Grimward?

WHO was powerful/crazy enough to mess with baby dragons in the first place? A mother dragon must be a million times more ferocious than a mother grizzly bear.

originally posted by Trys

Blue,

quote:

WHO was powerful/crazy enough to mess with baby dragons in the first place?

I think you answered that one in your post above with
quote:

set was "misplaced" by a Koriani Senior Circle

. I'm curious on your phraseology of 'this set'. Ia that a quote? If so it does lend some credence to your question about more sets.

Trys

originally posted by Blue

Trys, the mention of "this set" above was indeed a quote by Raiett Raven, page 301 US paperback of GC.

"This set was mislaid by a Koriani Senior five hundred years ago, when a sisterhouse burned in the uprising."

Raiett also has an astonishing knowledge of exactly what these things are capable of, which leads me to the conclusion [erroneously?] that there is more than one set, and that somewhere, the capabilities of the skulls are either written down, or someone tutored Raiett in their arcane properties. The only way to do that, without the Koriani set, would be to have another set of them around somewhere.

originally posted by Lekx

I also had the impression that there were a number of them floating around. I had initially assumed the Koriani may have had another, but on second thought, since they can block the F7 and Sethvir's snooping, I would think that if they did, it would be in use. So, scratch that. I agree with Blue re Raiett's knowledge, so I'm thinking that either his family nicked the userguide from the Koriani when she 'misplaced' it 500 years ago, and they've been using/studying it since, or he or his family have connections with others who also have duplicates or knowledge of them. Either way implies another group of magic users on Athera, with at least some activity in/around Hanshire.
This series keeps getting more interesting. I liked the addtion of the necromancers in TK. Like the revelation of the inner cabal that predated Lysaer, it added yet more to the complexion of the Atheran face we've been studying for the last 10 years. The towns have been developing a severe case of achne. Nice of Arithon to give it a bit of a wash recently!

- Dave

originally posted by Wendy Collett

I was also under the impression that there was more than one set, but not sure whether the others were 'still in existence', or at least not outside the vaults at Athlain Tower.

If they were there, the F7 could probably use them if they wanted to, but they have other methods at their disposal, or don't feel their use is warranted since not based on permission (of unborn baby dead dragons? shudder)

But as far as Raven knowing about the wards, and even having possession of them, consider this:

They have been missing for 500+ years since the uprising from the Koriani, but we don't know which sisterhouse/sister lost them/misplaced them/gave them away.

Somebody surely in disgrace somewhere, have we run across them yet?

There would have been a lot of opportunitists around at the time (as sadly demonstrated by the current situation in New Orleans).

Maybe they have been with Raiett's family for all that time, they may have had prior knowledge of the skulls, or with the Koriani influence over the family so tight that the K want their children, maybe the 'search' for the skulls was shared with them. THey found them, and somehow never told the K they found them, and the K didn't find out otherwise…

Thinking about this though - the K lost the Waystone, they lost the Dragon Skulls. Seems extremely careless of the order with their power of the time, even under the circumstances.

Once an accident, twice a co-incident possibly suspicious, three times a conspiracy…?

(I'm waiting for the 'third' lost item to pop up)

Wendy

originally posted by Blue

(I'm waiting for the 'third' lost item to pop up)

Would that by any chance be Morriel/Selidie's mind? :smiley:

Nice thought, Blue.

I was tempted to post the same reply. :smiley: