jdnd/sections/4-a-warning-from-chronepsis.md

# A Warning from Chronepsis

The PCs have been tasked with finding Rennick, who is in
Sigil. There is no portal to Sigil in St Parnas (that the
PCs know of), so the PCs have to leave town.

When they leave town, they may be accompanied by some of the
people they have met.  In particular, Pig wants to accompany
the PCs.  Pig likes being around people who don't laugh at
him.  The PCs may also have discussed the possibility of
curing Pig, to do that, the PCs need "Greater Restoration," which
they can definitely purchase in Sigil.  Pig, in his weakened state, is
not a great fighter, but he's strong enough that he's not a
burden.  Sam is another person who may want to accompany the
PCs, but it is probably best if he doesn't, it might be better
to arrange for him to be transported with Green as discussed
in the previous chapter.

When the PCs leave town, they will probably walk toward
Tradegate, which does have a portal to Sigil. There are
other places in the Outlands that also have portals to
Sigil: it doesn’t matter where the PCs decide to go, what
matters is that they will be traveling through the Outlands.

The Outlands are a strange place. The farther one gets from
civilization, the more “unmoored” and “unrealistic” the landscape
becomes. At one point, the PCs walk past a section of forest which is
covered in cobblestone: not just the road, but also the forest floor,
and some of the tree branches. If the PCs are traveling with somebody
who is native to the Outlands, then this person remarks: “We’re standing
in the middle of nowhere. But this land doesn’t want to be nowhere, it
wants to be somewhere. The land is dreaming of all the different kinds
of places it could be. Tomorrow, it will look different.”

Eventually, the PCs will have to build a campsite and bed down for the
night. During the night, the entire campsite moves. This sometimes
happens in the Outlands: patches of land shift from one place to
another, or even, to another plane of existence. Sometimes, it’s random,
but in this case, it’s not: a god, Chronepsis, wants the PCs to pay a
visit. So Chronepsis moved their campsite close to his realm.

Chronepsis is the *Dragon God of Time and Fate*, and he is an enigmatic
god. He literally *never* talks to anyone, mortal or god. He does
occasionally leave his realm, but it’s rare. When he acts, it’s always
subtly, and nobody is ever entirely sure whether or not he acted at all.
This is the case here: Chronepsis did move the campsite, but he isn’t
giving the PCs any clues that it was him, and he will never do anything
to confirm or deny it. As a DM, you must treat Chronepsis as a permanent
enigma. Divination spells that try to determine a being’s purpose or
intent simply don’t work on Chronepsis. The PCs can make educated
guesses: they can be 90% sure that Chronepsis did something, based on
the evidence, but they should *never* receive any unambiguous
confirmation.

The PCs don’t notice the movement of the campsite until they wake up.
The campsite and the immediate environment look completely unchanged,
which is why nobody sounded the alarm during the night. But when the
light comes up, it is possible to see that the spire used to be on
*that* side of the campsite, but now it’s over *there*. Furthermore,
Moradin’s Keep (a mountain range) looks a lot closer. A survival roll is
enough for the PCs to figure out what happened: the campsite has moved
across the outlands. They’re still on the “good” side of the great
wheel, but they’re a lot closer to chaos now.

The players discover that there’s still a road running past the
campsite. The road used to connect St. Parnas to Tradegate, but now it
probably goes somewhere else. The PCs aren’t entirely sure where it
goes, but their best estimate is that if they travel rimward, they’ll
end up near Sylvania or Faunel. Tell them that both of those cities
probably contain gates to Sigil.

Wherever the PCs decide to go, as they walk down the road, they pass
beside a huge clearing in the woods, large enough to hold a city - but
there’s no city inside, just some old ruins. If the PCs ignore it and
keep walking, they eventually see it again, and again, and again.
Meanwhile, they never actually *get* anywhere. No matter how long they
walk, the spire seems just as far away, and the scenery starts to feel
like it’s repeating, and they keep on seeing the clearing.

### The Realm of Chronepsis

The clearing is actually the realm of Chronepsis. His realm consists of
a ruined city above ground, and an underground system of passages and
chambers, known as the “Mausoleum.” Chronepsis himself is in his
Mausoleum.

If the PCs enter the realm and then try to leave, they end up back on
the road, and they again find themselves walking past the clearing over
and over. Again, they get nowhere. They cannot really leave yet.

The ruined city contains only the foundations of buildings. The walls
have all fallen. Almost all the buildings are made of white stone blocks
that have been eroded by the millenia. The blocks used to be sharp and
square, but rain, wind, and time have rounded the corners and
sandblasted any surface details away. It is obvious to anyone that this
city was abandoned millenia ago. The scale of the buildings is
considerably larger than normal human buildings: the doorways are large
enough for a creature of large size.

Weather in the city is always cool and dry, and surprisingly, the PCs
can see the Sun! This is unusual for the outlands, which doesn’t
normally have a sun. This is because this city is an echo of a far away
time, a far away place, a place that did have a sun. There is plant life
here, mostly scrub vegetation and grasses. Small animals like birds,
squirrels, and the like are plentiful. If you wish, you may place
wildlife here, to give the PCs a random encounter.

Throughout the realm of Chronepsis, there are tens of thousands of
hourglasses. Most are down inside the Mausoleum, but the players will
encounter a hundred or so while traveling the ruined city. The
hourglasses appear to be made of glass, but with decorative trim made
out of miniature dragon hide with little tiny scales. The miniature
dragon hide trim comes in various colors - for every color of dragon,
there are hourglasses of that color. Attempting to touch an hourglass
reveals that they’re intangible illusions. The players probably don’t
know this yet, but each hourglass represents the lifespan of an actual,
living dragon.

There are no hourglasses near the periphery of the ruined city. The PCs
will have to walk inward into the city for a good 10-15 minutes before
they see their first hourglass. It is hovering a few inches above the
ruins of a stone wall, a few feet from the ground. Let the PCs examine
it, but they can’t touch it. If they cast *identify*, they can learn
what it is: the countdown of the life of a dragon. If the PCs get close
to the center of the ruined city, they will start to see more
hourglasses.

Close to the center of the ruined city, the PCs encounter a dragonborn
with golden skin, named Laeros. Laeros is actually an young adult gold
dragon who travels in the form of a dragonborn. Laeros is a philosopher
who is trying to understand how dragons are bound by fate. He isn’t a
worshiper of Chronepsis, but he has found that he has more insights
about fate when he’s in Chronepsis’ realm. He doesn’t know if this is a
magical effect, or maybe it’s just an inspirational place. Either way,
he’s happy sitting in the ruined city. He says the city is pretty, the
weather is cool and pleasant; and it’s conducive to meditation.

Laeros is quite surprised to see the PCs, the first thing he says is:
“Are you dragons?” If the PCs say, “obviously, we’re not dragons,”
Laeros laughs and says, “Most dragons take other forms when they
travel.” If the PCs ask, “why do dragons take other forms,” Laeros holds
up his hands and says, “Hands. Hands are very useful. Dragon claws just
aren’t made for delicate work. Writing, for example: much easier with
hands.”

Laeros asks: “So, what are non-dragons doing *here,* in the realm of a
dragon god?”

Of course, the players only know that they were pressured into coming
here by the clearing that kept chasing them. Laeros considers this to be
an interesting mystery. He explains that the PCs are in the realm of
Chronepsis. He says that hardly anyone ever comes to the realm, and that
it’s particularly odd for a bunch of non-dragons to show up.

He says: “I assume that if you’re here, it’s because Chronepsis probably
wants you here. But why would he want you here? There’s not much to do
here. He’s definitely not going to talk to you, he literally never talks
to anyone. I really have no idea why he would bring you here. There’s
nothing here but old stone blocks, some old sculptures,
hourglasses, and Chronepsis himself. And Chronepsis definitely won’t
interact with you.”

### Exploration of the Mausoleum

The players may decide to explore the realm, to see if they can figure
out what they’re supposed to do here. Laeros says, “Exploring seems like
a good idea, you might figure something out. I must warn you though: if
you see Chronepsis, don’t try to get his attention: if you bother him,
he will cause you to cease to exist. However, you can look around
safely, he does not object to people walking around the city and the
mausoleum. He doesn’t even mind people walking around his chamber, as
long as you’re quiet. Be respectful and silent, and you should be fine.”

In the city, the PCs have pretty much already seen everything: ruined
foundations, scrub vegetation, the occasional hourglass, and little
else. In the very center, however, is the mausoleum.

The mausoleum consists of a small above-ground building of white stone,
containing a stairway down, and an underground complex. The small
above-ground building is the only building that still stands in the
entire city. The doors are wide open. The building is featureless white
stone. There may have been decorations once, but they have been
sandblasted away by the aeons.

When the PCs descend into the mausoleum, they see corridors stretching
in all directions. It looks like a museum: the floors and walls are done
in marble, and there are magical lights at regular intervals. There are
sculptures throughout the place - this artwork represents the lives of
the dragons who used to live in the city. Many are in the form of
dragonborn, but some are in full dragon form. They are doing all the
things that people do: working, resting, eating, making art, and
spending time together. The artwork is unmarred by erosion or time.
Examining the art reveals little.

The walls also contain niches that contain hundreds of hourglasses each.
These niches are in every room and passage. The passages go in many
directions, and eventually one will find the chamber of Chronepsis. He
is here, resting in his chamber. He is an absolutely ancient dragon,
with ash-grey scales. He is bony and undernourished, so much so that he
initially appears to be skeletal, but a closer inspection reveals he
still has flesh, just not much of it. He is resting on a dais with a
raised pedestal for his head. He does not bother to look at the PCs when
they enter. His eyes stare into the distance.

The chamber with Chronepsis contains an immense number of hourglasses,
and more art. There is nothing else to discover here. In the long run,
the exploration reveals little. There is nothing much to be done inside
the mausoleum. Chronepsis will not react to the PCs unless a PC gets
aggressive or destructive, in which case that PC stops existing: roll up
a new character.

### Talking to Laeros about the Deck

A player might mention the Deck of Many Things to Laeros. When they do,
Laeros perks up, and says, “Everyone’s been talking about the Deck. It’s
big news all over the multiverse. People think it’s some kind of portent
of big changes. There’s also a rumor that some adventurers who drew
cards from the deck are working with Tymora to find the deck… and I see
you have a priestess of Tymora with you. Are you the guys from the
rumor?

If they agree that they are, then Laeros says, “Well that’s exciting!
You guys are famous, and I got to meet you! Good story for the kids.”

Laeros is intellectually curious, and will ask a variety of questions
about the Deck. But in the long run, he doesn’t have any immediate
insight about things.

### Asking Laeros about Hourglasses

The players may ask Laeros about the hourglasses. Laeros explains: “Each
hourglass represents the lifespan of an actual, living dragon. There’s
an hourglass for every dragon in existence. The color of the hourglass
matches the color of the dragon.”

“By the way, the sand only tells you how much time remains in the
dragon’s natural lifespan. But if a dragon gets killed before it has a
chance to grow old, then it dies while a lot of sand still remains. So
the sand isn’t a prediction of when the dragon will die. It only
indicates how old the dragon is.”

He says, “I tried to find my own hourglass, but in the end, I couldn’t
figure out which one was mine. Obviously, I’m a gold dragon, so my
hourglass is going to be gold. I’m a young adult, so I would expect the
sand in my hourglass to be about one-third used up. So I can rule out
99% of the hourglasses based on color and sand-quantity, but that still
leaves dozens of hourglasses that could be mine. I just don’t know how
to narrow it down further.”

### Why are the PCs Really Here?

Here is the real reason the PCs are here, in the realm of Chronepsis.
Spoilers ahead!

Green is a dragon. He didn’t start out that way: he was originally
human. He used wishes to transform himself, bit-by-bit, into a dragon.
Of course, he still takes the form of a human most of the time. One wish
wasn’t powerful enough to turn him all the way into a dragon, so he
divided the process into multiple steps. Each wish made him a little
more dragon-like, until finally, he used a wish that made him a true
Dragon - a steel dragon. Once he became a dragon, his hourglass appeared
in the realm of Chronepsis.

Green was a 35-year old man, so when he became a dragon, he became a
35-year old dragon. That’s a very young, small dragon. Green wasn’t
satisfied with that, he wanted to be more powerful. So he used a wish to
age himself. That wish added some years, but not as many as Green
expected. He plans to use more wishes to add more years.

If a dragon makes a wish to be older, that dragon is breaking a strict
dragon code of conduct. Aging oneself artificially is not allowed. In
fact, normally, it’s not even possible: the dragon gods have limited
mortal magic so that it cannot be used to age a dragon. But the Deck
isn’t mortal magic, the deck is a god in its own right. It has the power
to make Green older, but the dragon gods resist, which is why the wish
didn’t age Green by very much. Chronepsis, the dragon god of time, is
particularly annoyed.

So Chronepsis has a message for Green: Do not use any more wishes to age
yourself! If you do, there will be consequences.

However, Chronepsis cannot deliver this message. By his own rules, he
cannot speak to anyone, and he cannot act in any overt way. He must be
so subtle that nobody knows for sure if he acted at all. So here is his
plan:

First, Chronepsis arranged for Green’s hourglass to be directly in front
of Laeros, and made sure Laeros was watching when Green aged himself.
Laeros saw the sand in Green’s hourglass jump ahead. Laeros knows that
this kind of sand movement represents artificial aging, and he knows
that this should be impossible. He has been pondering it ever since.

Second, Chronepsis brought the PCs into his realm, forcing them to meet
Laeros. Now Chronepsis is just waiting for Laeros and the PCs to
exchange information. He knows that eventually, if the two parties talk
enough, they will figure out what they need to do.

When the PCs understand their mission, then they will be released from
the realm. But they’ll have to figure it out, with Laeros’s help.

### Solving the Mystery

When the PCs have finished exploring the realm, Laeros eventually brings
the subject back to: “So why did Chronepsis bring you here? You’ve
already explored everything. You’ve already looked at the hourglasses.
You’ve already looked at the sculptures. There’s nothing left to do.”
Then, in a joking tone, he says, “Well, other than talk to me.”

Hopefully, one of the players will say, “hey, maybe we *are* supposed to
talk to you about something.”

Give the players a little time to suggest this. When they do, Laeros
exclaims “Of course! We must have important information for each other!”
If none of the players suggests this, Laeros suggests it.

Laeros says, “OK. Let’s just tell each other what we’ve been doing. I’ll
start. I’m supposed to be here writing a book, but honestly, I’ve mostly
spent the last month pondering a mystery - a weird hourglass.”

He goes on to tell about how he was just relaxing one day, and staring
absent-mindedly at the hourglass which was in front of him, when all of
a sudden, the sand in the hourglass jumped ahead. He says:

> “If the sand jumps ahead, it means a dragon suddenly got older. Some
> kind of premature aging. But that shouldn’t be possible.
>
> You see, when dragons age, they get more powerful. So if you’re a
> dragon, magically aging yourself would be a cheap shortcut to power.
> Because of that, the dragon gods have decreed that dragons aren’t
> allowed to magically age themselves - dragons have to *earn* their
> years.
>
> For example, there are undead who can cause premature aging. If an
> undead like that attacks a dragon, the dragon might get sick, but it
> won’t get older. Getting older isn’t allowed.
>
> So how is it possible that I saw an hourglass jump ahead? Doesn’t make
> sense. But I’m sure I saw it. It would have to be some very powerful
> magic. I’m pretty sure only a god could do it.
>
> So I’ve been wondering about that ever since. I just keep thinking
> about it.

If the PCs ask what color the hourglass was: Steel.

> “Steel dragons? They fit in very well with human culture. They often
> take the form of humans and live in human cities. It’s common for them
> to form relationships with humans. They are often interested in art
> and culture.  Even though they live among humans, they're still dragons,
> and like all dragons, they like their hoards - they tend to be wealthy
> even when in human form.   Of course, they’re individuals - don’t
> assume they’re all the same.”

If the PCs ask how old the dragon was, based on the amount of sand:
Before the aging, juvenile. After the aging, young adult.

So after explaining all this, Laeros says: “OK, somehow, this must all
fit in with what you’ve been doing. There must be some sort of
connection.” Of course, the connection is this: the hourglass that
Laeros saw was Green’s hourglass, and the magical aging was caused by
the Deck.

It is up to the PCs to figure out at least this much: the Deck has been
used to magically age a dragon. Just let them sweat it out until they
figure it out.

When they say this to Laeros, Laeros says:

> “Well, if somebody’s using the Deck to age a dragon, somebody needs to
> tell them to stop. Otherwise, they’re going to really piss off the
> dragon gods.”

As soon as Laeros says this, the PCs feel a weight lift, and they
instinctively understand that they’re free to leave the realm. They have
the message they’re supposed to deliver.

Of course, Green is in Beshaba’s realm at this point. The PCs can’t talk
to him directly, but they could possibly use the *sending* spell. If
they do, Green will respond “Understood. Thanks for the warning.”

If the players don’t deliver the message right away, they will hopefully
remember it later, when they see Green try to use the Deck to age
himself again.

### To Sylvania, and then Sigil

After solving the mystery and leaving the realm of Chronepsis, the PCs
have no trouble following the road, which eventually leads to Sylvania.
We are providing a simplified version of Sylvania, mainly because the
PCs won’t be here long. They’re really just entering the town to use the
portal to Sigil. If you want to replace this version of Sylvania with a
more complex version, you can. You can even set some of your own
adventures here.

As the PCs travel down the road toward Sylvania, the trees start getting
bigger and bigger, until eventually around evening the road is snaking
around the bases of absolutely *enormous* trees.

The road leads underneath a living wood archway. At the top of the
archway, a hand-carved sign says, “Welcome to Sylvania.” At the side of
the arch, a bored attendant looks up from the book he’s reading and
says, “Please state your business.” If the PCs say, “Here to find a
portal to Sigil,” the attendant puts a tally mark on a notepad, and
says, “OK, move along,” while pointing toward the city. Then he goes
right back to his book.

A few minutes later, the road becomes the main street of Sylvania. On both
sides of the road are establishments built against or into the giant trees.
The establishments are mainly restaurants, bars, music venues, dance clubs,
theaters, and the like. Imagine bourbon street New Orleans on mardi gras, but
wedged between giant trees.

If the PCs stop for dinner at a restaurant, they have to make difficult
WIS save DC18 (use the party average) or else they start having a great
time talking and socializing. They stay at the restaurant way too long,
eat way too much, drink a lot of wine, and don’t leave until midnight.
They spend 5X as much money as they intended. They wake the next day
with an exhaustion level. This is the mood-altering properties of
Arborea leaching through into Sylvania.

If they ask an innkeeper about a room, rooms are available. If they ask
the innkeeper about a portal to Sigil, the innkeeper says: “To get to
Sigil, you need to talk to the scrap metal dealer in the flea market.
They open at 8 in the morning.”

The next day, the PCs wake, and the character of the city has completely
changed. People are working hard, it’s bustling. The locals know that if
they want to party at night, they have to get their work done during the
day, and they’re pushing themselves so that they can celebrate again.
This is life in Sylvania.

The flea market contains some permanent buildings, some large tents,
some people who just have tables by the side of the walkway. The scrap
dealer has a big round tent. Inside, there are bins with metal
classified by type: tin, copper, iron, steel, and alloys. The bins are
full of all kinds of metal junk, bought and sold by the pound.

If you ask the merchant about the portal to Sigil, he says, “OK, I’ll take you
there. 10gp each.” He collects the money. Then, he says “First, I have to do
this.” He reaches into the steel bin, and pulls out a roll of steel wire. He
makes a loop out of wire - an impromptu bracelet. He says “This ring of steel
has an affinity for the city of Sigil, because the city of Sigil is like a
ring of steel. Here, put this on.” He hands the bracelet to a PC, and then
makes one for each PC. When everyone has a bracelet (except the dealer), the
dealer says, “OK, time to go.” He ushers everybody out of the tent. When the
PCs step out of the tent, they’re back in the flea market. But then they
realize: it’s not the same flea market. It’s bigger — much bigger! Looking
behind them, they see there’s no tent. They just traveled through a one-way
portal.

Welcome to the Bazaar, in Sigil.