Pandora's Ball

## "*It doesn't think. It doesn't feel. It doesn't laugh or cry. All it does from dusk till dawn is make the soldiers die*" -Dwarven children's rhyme.

Pandora's Ball is itself an artifact of great power, able to contain one of the most dangerous entities of the K2 Universe- Valgrud Volvozas. Pandora's Ball was created long before it was ever discovered, by an unknown cult of incredibly powerful mages and wizards. The only thing known about this item's creation was the fact it was built specifically to contain Valgrud Volvozas. This claim is proven in the way Pandora's Ball was rediscovered.

Thousands of years after its creators had died, the artifact was located during an expedition into Tautunkuncol territory by one of the human leaders. They discovered a temple covered in Lizardfolk writings, detailing scenes and depictions of agony and destruction at the hands of a tall being clad in incredibly well-made armor. The interior of the temple was covered in Dwarvish and Human writings, warning anyone to turn around and leave. Naturally, the explorers did no such thing, and continued farther into the temple in hopes of finding their prize.

They found it, and decided to bring it back, not to the Tautunkuncol capital, but back to the Pilboan Empire where it might be investigated and researched. Along the way, the ships transporting the artifact were sunk. The explorer and Tautunkuncol hero aboard the vessels all died in the sinking, leaving no survivors to tell of the wreck's location. Due to their deaths, little is known about the artifact's location, its purpose, what it does, etc.

The only thing known about the artifact is its purpose and what led to its creation. According to the heiroglyphs enscribed along the outside of the temple, the Lizardfolk lands (and most of the world) were ravaged by a great conquerer of unimaginable strength and power, aided by Valgrud Volvozas. The Lizardfolk came to worship their new ruler, who, if the records are to be believed, managed to unify most of the Continent of Pilbo's westernmost island. Only when attempting to invade the eastern island did this great and unnamed conquerer find difficulty. Teyaco engaged in a terrible battle against the conquerer and his army of worshippers and minions, wounding both himself and the conquerer in the process. Teyaco, worried for Pilbo's safety, commissioned his council of mages and wizards to create something powerful enough to capture the being helping this conquerer.

Once the device was finished, Pandora's Ball was used to forcibly remove Valgrud Volvozas from the conquerer's body. Without his power, the conquerer fell almost immediately to Teyaco. The device was locked away in this temple, in an area of the globe that Teyaco and his mages thought would never be investigated.

Teyaco refuses to speak on the matter, and refuses to elaborate on anything related to Pandora's Ball or the information gathered from the ordeal. Teyaco does offer two warnings:

1. Although the conquerer is dead and his Master encased, their cult of the mind still exists. Under the name of Cerebro, Teyaco believes that they will try to bring their master back from his prison.
2. **DO NOT, under ANY circumstances, attempt to find, locate, or, gods-forbid, open Pandora's Ball**. He says that the sinking of the vessel was a miracle for good and a convenient twist that most likely saved the continent from obliteration.