Dahak

The Dahak is a divine monster begot by Typhon and Echidna during the Golden Age. It attacked Zeus in the Silver Age and was punished by imprisonment within a volcano. Tentineh freed the Dahak when building Greshendale. Centuries later the beast attacked Zeus once more and ripped the Titan, Metis, from the Olympian King’s belly. After doing so the Dahak disappeared with his prize.

The Dahak’s vast power gives it a small spark of divinity. It oversees static things and repeating cycles that preserve the unyielding nature of the universe. This sphere also extends into the Dahak working to maintain the timeline itself. It senses when someone manipulates events outside of their own time and swiftly punishes those who attempt to break the laws of nature in such a fashion.

It was this protector nature that led the Dahak to attack Zeus. The Greek gods have a cycle of the son overthrowing the father to establish a new order. Cronos had overthrown Uranos and Zeus had overthrown Cronos. Gaia and Uranos had prophesied that Metis would bear a son stronger than her father. Zeus had already impregnated her, but by swallowing Metis, Zeus hoped to prevent the birth of his strongest son and break the cycle. Metis bore Athena within Zeus and their daughter then broke out of Zeus’s forehead after growing to full size. The Dahak’s compulsion to continue the cycle led it to free Metis. Now it needs to trick Zeus into impregnating her once again and the cycle will continue as destiny commands.

The Dahak’s first attack on Zeus ended in failure and imprisonment. Tentineh became the monster’s savior when building Greshendale. The wizard needed enormous power to keep his city aloft. Volcanoes provided a good base for that required magical energy. Using the five volcanoes for his construction project freed the five monsters within, one of them being the Dahak. The Dahak thanked Tentineh and actually helped him with the building of Greshendale. The Dahak continued to reside within the interior of the main Greshendale volcano as a sort of local deity for the city.

During the First Alliance War the Dahak seduced Amalgami away from Apollo‘s divine light. The Dahak lent Amalgami his magical weapon, the Pitchfork of Doom. Amalgami served the Dahak for the final months of the war, but soon left his monstrous master for Eris, Goddess of Strife. The Pitchfork returned to its master and the Dahak chose that moment to strike against Zeus. It stabbed the Father God in the belly and stole Metis from within him before fleeing into hiding once more. Additionally, the Pitchfork of Doom injected a virulent poison into Zeus, rendering him bedridden until he could be cured by the Druid’s Prophecy.

The Dahak would resurface during the Second Alliance War. The Druid’s Prophecy required the Pitchfork of Doom to heal Zeus. The Exiles came to the Dahak and it gave them the Pitchfork in exchange for a small favor. This favor was to destabilize Nomingburg and reignite the cycle of violence in the city. The Exiles performed their task and were rewarded with the Pitchfork. They used it in the Druid’s Prophecy ritual to revive Zeus successfully. The Dahak and Metis remained hidden, ready for whatever scheme the Dahak has to create a son of Zeus that can overthrow the Olympian King.

I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

83 – Call of Cthulhu's Garden (Hem and The Sprouting) Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

Hem tells us about their actual play campaign, The Sprouting. Within the world of The Sprouting, Earth's history diverged during the 1800s when an eldritch horror was summoned into our reality. The horror lay in wait for centuries, building up a secret army of plant monsters. In 2020, the plant monsters struck, ruining infrastructure and attacking population centers across the world. One hundred years have passed and our heroes learn that the next stage of the plant apocalypse has begun…We also discussed some of the difficulties and pleasures of actual play podcasts and how the RPG community varies internationally (Hem is in Iceland).If you want to try listening to The Sprouting its available on all major podcast platforms. You can learn more on The Sprouting's website.For other shows produced by Hem check out Blighthouse Studio's website.Hem mentioned The Lucky Die actual play show of theirs several times which used D&D 5e.And the broader network of Fable and Folly has their website too.Check out the Setting the Stage website!Want to be on the show? Fill out this survey.Join our Discord!Support Setting the Stageon Patreon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  1. 83 – Call of Cthulhu's Garden (Hem and The Sprouting)
  2. 82 – Tarot Ghosts (George and Fears & Fortunes)
  3. 81 – Biopunk 2287 RPG (Seiya and Synesthesia Synthetica)
  4. 80 – Dynamic RPG Countries (Travis and Tetara)
  5. 79 – Dragon Age Degenerates (Zoe from Degenerates with Dice)