Rites of Prime Banishment

The Rites of Prime Banishment is the ritual used to exile a god from the Material Plane and seal them behind the Divine Gate. The ritual involves the Prime Trammels to weaken the god and the Tome of Isolation to invoke the banishment.

Prime Trammels[edit | edit source]

The Prime Trammels are long, javelin-sized spikes of platinum which can be attached to a wounded god to aid in the Rites; the more wounded the god, the easier they are to attach.[1] The more powerful the deity is, the more trammels are required to subdue them.[2] Although to craft a single Trammel requires "the strength of a titan" and "the ingenuity of a madman",[3] the tools to craft them are ordinary.[4] The design is unknowable to the most mortals.[5]

Each Prime Trammel requires both blacksmithing and tinkering skills kept secret by Ioun, involving a large amount of pure platinum (1500 platinum per trammel),[6] smelted down into workable bars, and infused with a fragment ("bead") of divinity, shattered across the anvil. The fragments can be granted by Deities of Exandria, requiring a great sacrifice of their power[7] and can be done only once,[8] being lost "until the seal is broken".[5] Each bead is a small, smooth oval and its appearance represents the deity it was a part of: Ioun's has a faint whitish-gray glow,[9] the Dawnfather's bead has a faintly yellowish-glow,[10] and the Raven Queen's bead is jet black in color.[11] To properly shatter a bead, the blacksmith must pass a DC 25 Strength Check[12] and has at least three attempts.[13]

In the next step, the metal bars must be stretched to a point, taking shape as a javelin-like rod, and use the vice to twist the heated metal, as a prerequisite of improved conductivity of the divine energy across the Trammel. In a final stage, using the chiseling tools, runes are engraved onto the Trammels that match the incantation from the Tome of Isolation.[14] As with fragments, the Trammels' appearance represent each deity that bequeathed an element of their power: one Trammel glows yellow, another sky blue, and the third emanates a black shadow from its runes.[15]

Properties[edit | edit source]

The Prime Trammels can be thrown or thrust into a foe (an improvised weapon attack using Strength or Dexterity, attacker's choice) at a range of 20/40. Upon a hit, if the target has taken enough damage to leave an open wound, the trammel may embed itself within the weakened opening.[16]

Tome of Isolation[edit | edit source]

The Tome of Isolation is thin, grey leather-bound tome appears damaged and ancient. It has no title on the spine and is filled with blank pages.[17] When activated, the text appears, describing the method to invoke the Rites, in what appears to the reader as Common.[18]

Properties[edit | edit source]

As an action, the one who holds the Tome of Isolation can expend a spell slot of any level higher than 3rd into the book and the cover and pages, subsequently, begin to glow with the hidden text of the Rites of Prime Banishment. This text remains for 1 hour.[19] To read this text, high level arcane knowledge is required. The Champion of Ioun can read it without issue.[20]

While legible, they can spend an action to invoke the Rites of Banishment against a target. The target must make a wisdom saving throw (DC 10, +5 for each Prime Trammel fused to the target). On a failure, the target is banished and sealed, and this book is immediately teleported to the Endless Athenaeum. On a success, for the creature who attempted to read the book the text becomes blurred until the end of their next turn.[19][21]

History[edit | edit source]

Official art of Pelor battling Tharizdun, by Svetoslav Petrov from Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 4.[art 1]

The ritual has only been used twice in the history of Exandria.

First, during the events of the Calamity, the Prime Deities sought to re-imprison The Chained Oblivion. It took the full might of Pelor, with the blessing of Avandra and a near-fatal blow to Ioun, to defeat the mad god and complete the ritual.[22] The banishment involved the Prime Trammels forged by one of the Prime Deities, The Allhammer.[23]

Long afterward, as Vecna sought ways to strengthen his newfound godhood and expand his domain in Exandria, Vox Machina sought the help of Ioun who knew of a long-unused, ancient method of banishing him behind the Divine Gate. But before she granted them with this knowledge, Ioun chose Scanlan Shorthalt as her champion, also giving him her blessing, and set to complete a timed challenged that prove them as worthy candidates.[24][8] Once they fulfilled the objective of finding and delivering the Tome of Isolation, she described the ritual and granted them the Tome, and magically loaned Grog and Percy the complete picture of the craftsmanship to make the Prime Trammels.[25] They remembered it "only for as long as it's required".[26]

In "The Core Anvil" (1x108), Vox Machina traveled to The Allhammer's abandoned workshop to craft three Trammels of their own. They used one bead of divinity from Pelor, one from Ioun, and one from the Raven Queen. Grog, using his Titanstone Knuckles, provided the strength to work the hammer. Percy, aided by knowledge from Ioun, provided the ingenuity to design the Trammels and engrave their surface with runes. Vox Machina succeeded in fusing three of the beads of divinity into three Prime Trammels, though one may be more fragile than the other two due to difficulties during its construction. They spent 4500 platinum coins on three Trammels (1500 per Trammel).[6]

Vox Machina confronted Vecna in his Ascended form atop the tower of Entropis. Keyleth, in the form of a planetar, completed the ritual to seal Vecna away beyond the Divine Gate.[27]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. "The Endless Atheneum" (1x106) at 1:09:15.
  2. "The Endless Atheneum" (1x106) at 1:24:00.
  3. "The Endless Atheneum" (1x106) from 1:12:35 through 1:14:50.
  4. "The Endless Atheneum" (1x106) at 3:13:33. "It's more the essence of the god that drives the trammel."
  5. 5.0 5.1 "The Endless Atheneum" (1x106) at 1:08:16.
  6. 6.0 6.1 "The Core Anvil" (1x108) at 3:56:35.
  7. "The Endless Atheneum" (1x106) at 1:27:00. After Ioun gave her fragment of divinity, book cases began to crack and bow across her realm, books started to plummet.
  8. 8.0 8.1 "Talks Machina #33: The Endless Atheneum" (TM1x106) at 36:48.
  9. "The Core Anvil" (1x108) at 4:00:05.
  10. "The Core Anvil" (1x108) at 4:02:33.
  11. "The Core Anvil" (1x108) at 4:04:51.
  12. "The Core Anvil" (1x108) at 4:03:28.
  13. "The Core Anvil" (1x108) at 4:08:00. Grog succeed in properly shattering the bead on his third attempt.
  14. "The Core Anvil" (1x108) at 3:48:59.
  15. "The Ominous March" (1x109) at 19:30.
  16. The item card for the Trammels is available in Matt's public Dropbox as of 9/19/2017.
  17. "The Endless Atheneum" (1x106) at 52:10.
  18. "The Endless Atheneum" (1x106) at 59:12.
  19. 19.0 19.1 "The Endless Atheneum" (1x106) at 1:02:45.
  20. "The Final Ascent" (1x113) at 4:30:45.
  21. "Vecna, the Ascended" (1x114) at 5:09:27.
  22. "The Endless Atheneum" (1x106) at 1:09:35.
  23. "The Endless Atheneum" (1x106) at 1:10:30.
  24. "The Endless Atheneum" (1x106) at 1:05:54.
  25. "The Endless Atheneum" (1x106) at 1:14:17.
  26. "The Endless Atheneum" (1x106) at 1:14:52.
  27. "Vecna, the Ascended" (1x114) at 5:26:00.

Art:

  1. Official art of Pelor battling Tharizdun, by Svetoslav Petrov from Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 4. This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.