Dozen Eyes

Dozen Eyes, also known as "The Sage" is a creature of unusual origins. They have the power to see both the past and possible future, and to share those visions with others.

Living inside the Heart of the World, Dozen Eyes frequently consults with the High Queen.

## Appearence

Having the ability to change their appearance, Dozen Eyes has appeared as an Elven woman when they felt "shy." Following the attack by Vardok which left the Heart of the World severely damaged, Dozen Eyes maintained their appearance but seems visibly older.

Through the use of magic, Ick was able to see Dozen Eyes' true form....

## Connection to the Twilight Rose

Dozen Eyes had been prophesying the arrival of Gwen, Grodak, Lefty, and Briza for a year before their arrival to Valamer, far longer than they had known each other. Upon meeting the delvers, Dozen Eyes knew that they were there to seek the remedy for what plagues Ozma, and reported that Stahl had unleashed something terrible. Furthermore, they reported that Gwen, Grodak, and Briza were "vial for the fate of the world."

### First Vision

When the group first met Dozen Eyes they received the following vision:

*You are wracked by confusing visions of what’s been, and what has yet to be.*

*You see Orcha controlled by the oblex, the day you left home, yesterday, all rolled into one. You see a village in a thick forest, where a young halfling plays with her friends, you see the village burned, you see a swamp surrounded by charred wooden buildings, where a pale man and woman dressed in black embrace. The plants around them die and melt into mulch. You see Siegfried holding Thalia while a small half-elf child plays in the street. You see Siegfried, younger, holding Thalia while the lifeblood drains from a wound in her stomach. You feel cold. A woman stands in the shadow of a carved-out mountain, cutting a young man to pieces, and at the last moment great leathery wings sprout from her back. In a blizzard, surrounded on all sides by cliffs of ice, you see a great obelisk that pulses in time with the heartbeat of existence. Hundreds of feet tall, and at the top a black crystal that hums as sickly energy flows into it. The tower topples and the sky is blue. The tower stands as hundreds around it wither and die. Cedric, grins madly, surrounded by a horde of the undead. Lefty, bloody and bruised, stands overtop rows and rows of men on the back of a turtle. You see a woman that summons a rockslide while people in chains scream and are buried. Orcha, empty again. A woman begs for her life as an orc descends on her village. A half-orc boy swears oaths surrounded by men in robes. The sky is black. Sebastian Stahl sits atop a mountain of gold coins. He is emaciated and skeletal. You see endless miles and miles of badlands, covered in pink, pulsing flesh and atop it, dozens of dark elves. They are searching for someone. A monstrous orb covered in eye stalks watches the world go by through 100 000 windows made of glowing black glass. You see a human man with half of a face casting a spell out the window of a small cobble tower and behind him Ivilesse burns. Your vision flashes to white. It is blinding and painful and warm and loving.*

### Second Vision

During their second encounter with Dozen Eyes the group received another vision:

*Once again you are wracked by confusing images of what could be to come. All at once you see the obelisk fall and the world bathed in the warm embrace of what has been lost. You see the tower stand, and the world shrivels, and dies. And those that live there die with it.*

*You see those that were lost in the attack on Ivilesse—Ick’s parent’s, Lily, Dramon Feng—all at once you see them revived, smiling and happy, you see them put to rest, in graves beneath giant groves of trees. You see their souls burned away entirely. The city of Ivilesse rots as though it was made of flesh, and rises again built from the bleached bones of the dead.*

*Cedric stands bathed in light, at the precipice of unimaginable shadow. He smiles knowingly, clasps his hands together, and says “I wish…” His mouth keeps moving but you can’t make out what he says.*

*Lefty stares unblinking at the goliath monk, the two opposite one another on an unmarked road with endless fields around them. Suddenly, Lefty’s neck \*crack\* snaps sickeningly, and he falls to the ground as the goliath still stares unblinking into the distance. You hear the sounds of footsteps arriving too late to help anyone. You see the same scene, with Lefty flanked by silhouettes, and your vision shifts before the outcome is certain.*

*Garth lounges in the middle of a raging, caustic inferno. Five multi-colored dragon heads split forth from his shoulders, each hunched over and whispering in his ear. He nods along, understanding, agreeing with them. The heads suddenly retch and fall from him, and as each does, the flames that surround him shrink. He looks confused.*

*You see, once again, the obelisk through a blizzard. You hear a sound, like a glacier cracking, and the obelisk falls to the ground. There is a blast of radiant light that explodes outwards, bathing the world in the warm embrace of what was once lost. From below, you hear the cackling of those this empowers—demons you once defeated, ancient evil gods, and things from far away that you have yet to encounter. There are a hundred voices, a thousand faces, and through them all you see Dozen Eyes’ face. Her eyes roll upwards in her head, and you hear a snapping sound, like a bowstring failing, or the strings on a guitar, before her pupils rise again from the bottom of her eye sockets. A third eye opens in the center of her forehead. You feel searing pain as your skin splits in the exact same spot. “You can feel it, can’t you?” She says, with ragged breaths. Two more eyes open at her shoulders, and your skin does the same, “The tree has been weakening while you grow stronger. Free us. Let us out. Free us.” Eyes on the palms of her hands, on the small of your back, on your legs spew out from you as your lifeblood weeps from your new wounds. The cacophonous voices grow to be too much to bear, when suddenly all of your new eyes snap closed, and your real eyes force open.*

Following this vision, the group discovered the true nature of Dozen Eyes, including its origins.