November 17th, 2003: Rallos Zek server, EQ1. For as long as I could remember, well, at least as long as Scars of Velious was live, there was an unwritten rule on Rallos Zek that the Sleeper (AKA: Kerafrym) was to be left in it's sleeping state so that all of the server that dared venture into Sleeper's Tomb could benefit receiving the coveted Primal Weapons. Everyone knew that once the Sleeper was awakened, primal weapons would no longer drop, but instead, prismatic weapons would be the drop. Primal weapons were an artifact, specifically because once the Sleeper was awakened, they would forever be gone from existance! But Norrath moved on. From one expansion to the next until such a time that older raid zones were mostly a memory. Most guilds honored the unwritten pact that Sleeper would not be awakened. Rallos was a different server, for it was a pvp server. Anyone that violated the unwritten laws would have severe penalties placed upon them by the three highest guilds of the server. The consistent war between the pk guilds (random pk, thought of as honorless) and the anti-pk guilds (not anti-pvp, but those guilds that pvp'd what was characterized as known pks and their guilds and those that were put on any guild's K.O.S. list; thought of as pvp with honor) was a reasoning factor that the three top guilds on the server would come together and make a decision that the time had come to awaken the sleeper. To become the last original server to have the Sleeper awakened and the script be allowed to run it's course. But then someone mentioned, hey, why don't we go even further than just awakening the Sleeper? Why don't we make a real attempt to kill the Sleeper? None of these three guilds would have dared to take on such a momentous feat on their own without the expressed consent and inclusion of ALL three of those guilds. So, on November 17th, 2003; Ascending Dawn, Wudan, and Magus Imperialis Magicus came together and entered into the Sleeper's Tomb. I was known as Staffros D'Lamor, Necromancer of Magus Imperialis Magicus at that time, and this is my story. It was a day like no other had ever been or ever would be. The air seemed to have an uncanny aura about it. A sense of mysticism flowed around as we had decided to break an age old law. The time had come. Ever since I was a young necromancer killing grey wolves in Nektulos Forrest, pk's and their guilds were around every corner just waiting for the opportunity to pounce upon their next victim. The pk guilds never had been able to progress through the game, they were never allowed. The governing bodies of anti-pk guilds wouldn't allow it. To allow pk guilds to become a force would mean the end of all law and structure of the server. It would give way to total chaos and wrecklessness. No, we couldn't allow them to progress. But as new lands were discovered, the governing guilds of the server weren't around so much to enforce these unwritten laws. Venturing into alter planes of existence and testing our might against the false gods themselves; the pk guilds began to get on a rise. Word leaked out that an infamous pk guild known as "The Curse" had made plans to increase their infamy and awaken the Sleeper; Kerafrym. No, we could not have that. Hastily, Ascending Dawn approached Wudan and Magus Imperialis Magicus to deliberate what we should do about this new information. Our three guilds were constantly reaping rewards and loot from new realms, and the old world was left defenseless in the face of this new rising guild of chaos and destruction! Out of that deliberation, it was decided that we would not allow The Curse to awaken the Sleeper with dishonor. It was declared that the three governing bodies of Rallos Zek should come together, despite any difference we might have with one another, and awaken Kerafyrm so that the server would still be saved of it's honor. It was discussed and decided that not only would we awaken Kerafyrm, but we would also put forth the attempt to kill Kerafyrm. To kill Kerafyrm was to kill the unkillable, thus forever marking our presence throughout Norrath and setting our honor into legend. So on that fateful day, more than 300 members of our three clans gathered to venture into Sleepers Tomb and slay the fabled dragon known as Kerafyrm. More than 100 members of other guilds assisted from the sidelines to help keep Sleepers Tomb void of The Curse and other pk guilds that would attempt to foil our plan to maintain honor on Rallos Zek. We made our way to the guardians of the wards that kept Kerafyrm in a state of slumber. Four warders dedicated and sacrificed their lives to keep a constant field of energy around Kerafyrm maintaining his imprisonment. While it took just one warder to maintain this field of energy, four were stationed to ensure this prison tomb would not be breached. But although mortals have short lives compared to dragons such as these warders, mortals grow with persistence and become more and more powerful as the decades and centuries pass. One by one, the dragon warders fell to the might of these mortals. These mortals did not hate or disrespect those dragons, but just knew that their deaths had to be done in order to awaken Kerafyrm in order to slay him and imortalize our names in history. To protect the honor of Norrath on the Rallos Zek server, we must succeed. Wagers were made, predictions were given, and prophesies were announced about how long these three guilds would actually last against the ancient dragon prisoner of Veeshan. Whispers were heard that Kerafyrm was an abomination; a dragon that was conceived out of forbidden power. One single entity should never harbor such power, as was written. He was unkillable! As the last of the warders fell, the field of energy that maintained Kerafyrm's slumber weened. With a cry that was heard to the far reaches of Norrath, the Sleeper had awakened! Angered of his imprisonment and excited of his release, Kerafyrm would make no haste to fulfill the plan he'd dreamed of for all the centuries he had slept. His plan was to enter into the home of the dragons, Skyshrine, and kill the leader of the dragons that was responsible for his imprisonment, Lord Yelinak. He would slay any and every being that was in his path between his tomb and Lord Yelinak. As he awakened, he looked about him to see hundreds upon hundreds of mortal men and women in his presence. Kerafyrm knowing no fear, did not think twice about these mortals, but with a grin, began his ascent of destruction and revenge with these mortals. But these mortals were not the typical mortals. In his arrogance, Kerafyrm underrated them. For over four hours a battle waged between Kerafyrm and these mortals of Ascending Dawn, Wudan, and Magus Imperialis Magicus. It was a battle of might, will, and perseverance versus ancient strength and power. For every mortal that fell, one would rise to take his place, it must have seemed to Kerafyrm. These mortals ventured into Kerafyrm's tomb with an expectation that they would ultimately fail, but with the express hopes that they would be victorious. To their surprise, they were actually damaging Kerafyrm! Ever so slowly, Kerafyrm's life diminished from him. Bound to their pact, and determined to kill the unkillable and thus become immortal in legend themselves, these mortals of Ascending Dawn, Wudan, and Magus Imperialis Magicus kept fighting longer than any ordinary mortal would have long given up. The rangers loosed their arrows, the clerics healed their wounded and resurrected their recently fallen. The shadow knights unleashed their noxious fury, and the necromancers called upon their dark arts and malipulation of the undead to do their bidding. Then in the fourth hour of battle, robbed of his pact to kill the dragon that convicted him to an eternal imprisonment of slumber, Kerafyrm accepted his final blow! All of Norrath stood still for what was a moment but seemed like forever as Kerafyrm stood their motionless and lifeless then fell to the ground. As if all at once, the silence was broken with screams of VICTORY! THEY DID IT, KERAFYRM WAS DEAD! THE UNKILLABLE HAD BEEN KILLED! The names of Ascending Dawn, Wudan, and Magus Imperialis Magicus would forever be engraved in legend! {SYSTEMWIDE_MESSAGE}": Brenlo: In the darkness the shout to engage was heard. Seconds later a huge burst of magical energy could be felt as the Wizards and Shadow Knights engaged, and huge volleys of arrows begin to rain down as one against their target. {SYSTEMWIDE_MESSAGE}: Brenlo: The massive infantry then moved in to intercept Kerafrym in mortal combat, supported by a compliment of warriors. the clashing of steel and the screams of chaos echoed in the beasts tomb. The image of the legendary Keraryrm lay lifeless at their feet. Suddenly, the cries of joy and accomplishment began to echo through the decrepit hall and then rain accros the land of Norrath. {SYSTEMWIDE_MESSAGE}: Brenlo: The once warring clans of Ascending Dawn, Wudan, and Magus Imperialis Magicus had put there personal battle aside and come together united as one to accomplish the impossible. {SYSTEMWIDE_MESSAGE}: Brenlo: They had triumphed where all others before them had failed, they had slain the Legendary Kerafyrm. As the victors departed the ancien tomb, rumors began to spread across the world of Rallos Zek. Rumors became Stories. Stories became Legend." ----------------------------------- -Staffros D'Lamor (retired) Level 75 Necromancer, formerly of Magus Imperialis Magicus Rallos Zek server ((Staffros is currently known as Eragahn Shadeslayer. Still in Norrath, but in EQ2 on the Nagafen server.))
Important facts about this most memorable occasion: The original date that those three guilds FIRST awakened and attempted to kill the Sleeper was Novermber 15th, 2003; two days prior to the actual killing. There are many speculations and rumors surrounding what happened that first day. That first attempt on the 15th, Kerafyrm despawned when he reached 27% health. It was speculated by all the players that the GMs hastily despawned Kerafyrm because if he was killed it would have interfered with the script of Kerafyrm reaching Yelinak and killing Yelinak. That they allowed us to attempt to kill it because they believed we would all have died anyway, because Kerafyrm was supposed to be unkillable. A reason was given by GMs later that day that he was despawned because Kerafyrms focus was on a npc in the zone and not the players. Which we all knew was untrue, because if his focus was on an npc and not ours, then we wouldn't have suffered all of those deaths. Later it was stated that Kerafyrm despawned because of a bug and that he and the warders would be respawned in their original state as if they had never been awakened. As much as we, the players, were disappointed that this attempt was taken from us, we accepted the respawning of him as as an apology.
For the record, this is not official game lore. It was just one hell of an accomplishment by the players. I personally witnessed the actual event that those three guilds had accomplished. I was there watching from the sides of the zone. The GMs originally had to despawn the encounter because an invisible NPC who spawns in "Kerafyrm's Lair" was helping to reduce Kerafyrm's HP. They appologized to the players after what would naturally be expected to be quite an angry outroar. The GMs said they would reset the encounter, and they did. They wanted to see if these guilds could actually do it. The rest of the server had to be on guard during those 2 days to make sure that no PK guilds woke him up before then. On the 2nd attempt, it took them 3 hours to do it, but they finally killed him. The clerics just kept rezzing everyone, they'd grab thier weapons, but not thier armor, and just go back to work. All forms of spells were completely resisted by Kerafyrm except for Harm Touch and Manaburn. The corpse despawned after 30 seconds because it had no loot table.
Necro lifeburn also landed on the sleeper. I remember lifeburning him 3 times for that fight. As for this not being lore, perhaps that is true. But the title of the forum is HISTORY and lore. This certainly is history.
Here is a link to the only screenshot I could find about the sleeper kill. This screeny is with the sleeper at 14%. I had a bunch of screenshots on that computer back in 2003, but I've upgraded a few times since then and lost those screenshots. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped.../Sleeper_14.jpg
Oh yeah, I forgot all about Lifeburn. I didn't know it worked on him. If I remember right, the GMs congratulated everyone by rewarding them with 2 full AA points, and rezzed them back almost all the XP they lost from the numerous deaths.
makes me wonder if this creature is active , but hiding under our noses in eq2, and what ELSE lurks entombed or hiding under norrath. eq2 needs a lore entwined superbeast (other than nagafen).
Cusashorn wrote: TBH, I really don't remember getting 2 aa's, we could have; I just don't remember... it was back in 2003. The only time the GMs rezzed us with full xp was that first attempt when they despawned Kerafyrm. There were people that actually lost levels from dying so much. For those of you that played EQ1, you remember that when you died (other than in pvp) you lost xp and could lose a level. Heh, I remember when I first started playing (I started playing about two weeks before Kunark was released) and got to about lvl 15, I went into Befallen for my first time and I was solo. I came out level 12. ;p The only rezzes that were 100% xp rezzes were GM rezzes and around the time of Gates of Discord expansion, a veteran aa came out that gave everyone with so many years of an active account an aa to 100% rez yourself once a week. I don't remember the % of the best cleric rez, but I think it was something like 95%.
