| Category | Artifacts |
| Type | artifact |
| Forge | - |
| Smith | Taranorn |
| Enchanter | Taranorn |
| Location | Nárfaltuin |
In 1127, a high-level wild mage worked to build a device for harnessing the primal energies of chaos. This Githirmil wizard was named Taranorn. The device she designed and built was shape like a pinnacle and took six years to complete. The stone structure was embedded with three Entropy Fragments. While it was being built, the mage enlisted the aid of numerous slaadi. Most of these unfortunates perished as fuel for powering the Pinnacle. The slaad souls were taken by Taranorn and then trapped in the entropy fragments. These petty souls were not enough to bring the device up to the required power to tap into the raw energy of Chaos. One of the slaadi that came to work with Taranorn was a black slaad named Ushgergoon. He offered to use his knowledge to help from his end, the Limbo side, providing the necessary fuel to activate Taranorn's toy.
In 1133, the Pinnacle of Chaos was ready for use. Before it could fully power up, her twin sister, a mage favoring the side of negative entropy, entered the cavern where she used her staff of the magi in a retributive strike. The goal was to destroy her sister's artifact. It failed, ending in the lives of dozens of slaadi guards and both sisters. While a protective measure was forming, Taranorn's force ward, the black slaad Ushgergoon stepped out of the Pinnacle of Chaos.
Under the ancient canopies of Nárfaltuin is a hidden passage leading to a deep vault. At the end is a large chamber, hewn of stone and seemingly built to hold an eerie pinnacle-like device. This stone pinnacle is embedded with black crystals. A field of rainbow motes surrounds the pinnacle, forming some kind of impenetrable shield. The visible part of this pinnacle is 30' high with a 10' base, but the true size cannot be determined, for it descends into the floor. Later, we learned that this structure is the Pinnacle of Chaos, and that it descends several hundred feet, disappearing through a rift to somewhere in the Limbo system.
A seemingly bottomless pit blocks access to the area holding the pinnacle. After some searching, we found an invisible glass bridge. We crossed the bridge and were able to circumvent the force field. We did this by activating a series of knobs. These knobs were on a 3' high mithril pedestal. Each of the five blutium rods were shaped like the heads of the five basic slaadi - a black one, a blue one, a red one, a green one, and a white one.
The chamber around us was scarred and burned from what appeared to be the effects of a powerful magical explosion. Tiny splinters of bone, metal, and wood were everywhere. A scrap of paper, probably from a journal, told about the misgivings of some mage and his/her dealings with a slaad named Ushgergoon.
The five rods on the pedestal were pushed down in the following sequence to activate the Pinnacle of Chaos. If they are done out of sequence then the ill-effects of the Pinnacle take effect. The correct order is the pecking order of the slaadi - red, then blue, green, white, and lastly black.
As for the ill-effects, some of us experienced these and found them to be permanent. Once the correct sequence is activated, a ghostly scene, seemingly from the past, play-out the events that occurred many centuries ago. The mages meeting their dooms and a black slaad stepping out of the Pinnacle of Chaos. He says something, grins, and then hops off towards the exit.
After the amusing illusion, the Pinnacle of Chaos began to rise upward and then through the ceiling of the cavern. We expected the place to crumble down, but the Pinnacle passed through the ceiling and onward to the surface without causing any damage. Over the next few days, Nárfaltuin and areas far away began to experience the disruptive nature of the Pinnacle of Chaos.
We later learned, that someone went to the vault and shut down the device by erected a very powerful ward around it. When this happened, the pinnacle sunk back into the chamber and went dormant.
- Ariel, of Squad X7E, from the Squad X7E Chronicles - "Tamperering with Chaos"
The black crystals in the Pinnacle of Chaos are Entropy Fragments. These remained in the Pinnacle of Chaos, behind a Travel Impenetrability Ward, for the next three centuries. In 1814, Entropy cultists came to the vault and removed the Entropy Fragments. This ended up demolishing the Pinnacle of Chaos and killing everyone in the chamber except for several golems. The golems then took the Entropy Fragments outside to their masters. A decade later, these fragments were put to use again in making a Entropy Arch. The Arch was used during the Siege of Sapthiladân. When it was opened, it destroyed part of the city and tore up the landscape.
Before the Pinnacle of Chaos was demolished, it produced an ill-effect whenever the activation sequence was done incorrectly. Below are some of the possibilities that would affect the person doing an incorrect sequence.
Ill-Effects
- eye color changes
- hair color changes
- limb changes to that of a different humanoid - roll on reincarnation table{mages} in the humanoids handbook
- alignment changed to chaotic
- random insanity
- character changed (random change from tables in Dungeon Masters Guide, pg. 237)
When activated, the Pinnacle of Chaos will rise to the surface and then begin to grow 10' taller ever day. Each time it grows, it effects
Pinnacle Activation
- Weather will change unpredictably - like snowing in summer
- detection of alignment will result in a random effect - the casting of know alignment on a chaotic evil creature may show it as being lawful good
- rivers reverse course - water may flow up a mountain-side
- other effects can only be speculated
