Kerafyrm's Lair

Overview

Sleeper's Tomb, also known as Kerafyrm's Lair, is an enormous underground lair beneath the frozen tundra of the Eastern Wastes where the First Brood imprisoned the most powerful dragon in history. Long, long ago, there was no Claws of Veeshan or Ring of Scale. All the dragons of Norrath were of one faction. This all changed when two dragons of opposite elements mated, which was strictly forbidden by the council of elders. From their egg hatched a crystal dragon, resembling Veeshan herself, whom they named Kerafyrm. When the Arch Priest of Veeshan, Kildrukaun, learned of their defiance, he sentenced the two lovers to death. Ironically, he took pity upon the young prismatic dragon, and took great interest in its growth. It was during this time that the dragons split into two factions and the Ring of Scale left Velious for the continent of Kunark. Kildrukaun believed that Kerafyrm would lead the Claws of Veeshan in a great civil war against the Ring of Scale and successfully reunite all dragons under the same banner.

The council of elders disagreed with this view, as they thought it a great risk to wage war in Kunark leaving Skyshrine more vulnerable to the storm giants. Kerafyrm quickly rose through the ranks of the Claws, and became so powerful, ruthless, destructive, and chaotic that the council decided that Kerfyrm had to be stopped or else risk the destruction of the entire world. Kildrukaun was present for this ruling, so he assembled a legion of followers to join Kerafyrm in defiance. Kerafyrm's immense power made the battle more of a fight than it should have been, but they were severely outnumbered by the council of elders. How they subdued Kerafyrm is still a mystery, but death was not an option. The Claws of Veeshan built an elaborate tomb beneath the Eastern Wastes where they placed four powerful warders to keep watch over Kerafyrm, who became known as The Sleeper.

Kildrukaun and a few of his supporters survived the battles and escaped to unknown parts of the world. The warders are simply the last line of defense in this massive tomb, while gigantic golems known as The Progenitor, The Master of the Guard, and The Final Arbiter keep all but the most skilled adventurers at bay. Entrance to the tomb is only earned after completing a task given by Jaled'Dar's shade in the Dragon Necropolis. Jaled'Dar was the leader of the Ring of Scale that left Velious for Kunark, and in his death seeks vengeance against the Claws of Veeshan. Returning a talisman from any of the remaining First Brood dragons to him will earn a key to the tomb, which is highly sought after by any melee class, for the golems that protect the marble and velium halls carry the legendary primal velium weapons. It is said that if anyone were to slay the four elemental warders that Kerafyrm would be released.

EverQuest's First One-Time-Only Event

In the Summer of 2001, a guild by the name of Blood of the Spider on The Rathe server was the first to awaken The Sleeper. By this point, it was clear to most high level guilds that killing all four of the warder dragons that surrounded the Sleeper, that he would be released. But, since those warders dropped loot that was some of the best gear in the game, it was common practice to kill only three of them, then wait for those three to respawn in a week's time before farming them again. Most simply did not want to awaken the Sleeper in favor of obtaining this high end loot once a week, or sometimes on a rotation agreement with other guilds capable of taking down warders. On many servers where such an agreement between guilds had been made, such as Rodcet Nife, the Sleeper was awoken by a guild somewhat secretly or at least unexpectedly. Being put on the server-wide list of guilds that awoke the Sleeper eventually became more important that the loot from the warders.

Once the Sleeper was released, the world of Norrath was changed on that server forever and there were reactions in many zones simultaneously. It was an event that only happened once, which was a first in EverQuest. First of all, at the moment the last warder died, Kerafyrm shouted across the zone "I AM FREE!" and immediately began killing every player in the zone. He was capable of death touching players very quickly, leaving no opportunity for anyone to fight him. The Sleeper then spawned Skyshrine, killing many players there as well, many of which had no idea what was going on. On servers where Lord Yelinak was alive at the time, The Sleeper would make his way to the top of Skyshrine, fight, and slay him. While this was all happening, dragons all around the world of Norrath began to shout warnings of their impending doom at the hands of the awakened Sleeper. Lady Vox and Lord Nagafen were witnessed shouting joy, for with the death of the Claws of Veeshan, their exile in Antonica would be over. After slaying Lord Yelinak, Kerafyrm flew away and was not seen again by players for several years when it was revealed that he had been hiding out in the unexplored regions of Faydwer in the Secrets of Faydwer expansion.

The only server to have never released The Sleeper is the Mac server, Al'Kabor.

Changes to Sleeper's Tomb

The depths of Sleeper's Tomb were left empty for a while, but, eventually, the zone was revamped by replacing the fallen warders with new dragons referred to as The Ancients. These were the dragons that originally defended Kerafyrm in the war between the dragons. Kildrukaun and his three allies had decided to take over the tomb and presumably await the return of Kerafyrm. The ancients had their own loot tables, which stayed true to the concept of the warder's loot drops being gone forever from the game. Some of the creatures originally found in the zone, especially the named golems, were kept but strengthened, thus giving players another reason to return to the zone.

The Death of Kerafyrm

On November 15, 2003, an army of three combined guilds (Ascending Dawn, Wudan, Magus Imperialis Magicus) on the Rallos Zek server (a PvP server) attempted what many thought was impossible. Being one of the last servers to release the Sleeper, they sought to slay the prismatic dragon. They would only have one shot and since the Sleeper has the ability to death touch players at an alarming rate, the normal strategy of assigning a main tank for clerics to target would not work. And all spells except for manaburn and a shadow knight's harm touch would be resisted, so a simple zerg rush strategy was implemented where players would haphazardly run in, attack as long as they could, and die. The Sleeper could attack for a max 6999 per hit but had the ability to quad hit. All of the clerics in attendance were responsible for resurrecting those players, who would then loot their equipment and immediately run back in to attack. Many players lost levels due to the experience penalty for dying in EverQuest.

The strategy was working, but after a couple hours and getting the Sleeper to 27% health, a GM that was monitoring the attempt despawned the Sleeper, thus ending the attempt. The reason was originally cited as a bug, but two days later, SOE released an apology and respawned all four warders and the Sleeper in order for the guilds to attempt it once more. It was an unprecedented move by SOE.

So, on November 17, 2003, the three guilds returned to Sleeper's Tomb with roughly 200 players in attendance. After close to three hours in battle and reportedly close to 1000 resurrections, Kerafyrm was defeated. As many expected, he had no loot, for it was never intended for anyone to kill him. Since he had no loot, the corpse quickly disappeared. A game-wide message was sent out by one of the game's GMs announcing the accomplishment.

Neighboring Zones

• Eastern Wastes

Factions

• Disciples of Kerafyrm
• Keepers of the Claw
• Kromrif
• Kromzek

Creatures

• Dark Elves
• Dragons
• Drakes
• Erudites
• Gargoyles
• Ghosts
• Gnomes
• Golems
• High Elves
• Humans
• Spectres
• Wood Elves
• Wyverns

Notable NPCs

• Bittles the Lost
• Ferrin Q`Nyil
• The Final Arbiter
• Forbidding Gargoyle
• Furious Phantasm
• Jobana Du`Ata
• Jonas Levlellen
• Kal T`Ven
• Kildrukaun the Ancient
• Master of the Guard
• Milas An`Rev
• The Overseer
• Paldar Bladesoul (Paldar the Demented)
• The Progenitor
• Remmen the Short
• Sinister Gargoyle
• Tjudawos the Ancient
• Ulessa Bladesoul (Ulessa the Insane)
• Vyskudra the Ancient
• Wyvern Fanatic
• Zeixshi`Kar the Ancient

Notable Items

• Ancient Prismatic Axe
• Ancient Prismatic Battlehammer
• Ancient Prismatic Bow
• Ancient Prismatic Brawl Stick
• Ancient Prismatic Claymore
• Ancient Prismatic Fist Wraps
• Ancient Prismatic Lance
• Ancient Prismatic Mace
• Ancient Prismatic Spear
• Ancient Prismatic Staff
• Ancient Prismatic Stiletto
• Ancient Prismatic Warsword
• Besmirched Mask of Conception
• Bladesoul's Spiritual Armguards
• Bladesoul's Spiritual Diadem
• Boots of the Ancients
• Bracchium Secundae
• Clandestine Veil of M`Rata
• Clawed Coat of Tyro
• Despondent Shroud
• Dowel of the Secundarum
• Eye of Kildrukaun
• Eye of the Deranged
• Eye of Tjudawos
• Eye of Vyskudra
• Eye of Zeixshi-Kar
• Fascia Secundae
• Fedora Secundae
• Fist of Pummeling Prowess
• Furious Shroud of Unlife
• Gilded Wyvern's Claw
• Gloves of Temperantia
• Heritage of Secundae
• Legacy of Tyro
• Lungi of the Forbidden
• Premier Axe of Secundae
• Premier Bow of Secundae
• Premier Lance of Secundae
• Premier Mace of Secundae
• Premier Spear of Secundae
• Premier Staff of Secundae
• Premier Stiletto of Secundae
• Premier Warsword of Secundae
• Primal Velium Battle Axe
• Primal Velium Battlehammer
• Primal Velium Brawl Stick
• Primal Velium Claidhmore
• Primal Velium Reinforced Bow
• Primal Velium Spear
• Primal Velium Warsword
• Sharpened Dragon's Scale
• Surreptitious Brooch
• Tainted Wyvern Heart
• Tenuous Dragonscale Slippers
• Tome of Innovation
• Tyro's Manuscript
• Velium Fraught Shackles
• Wings of Duress
• Wings of Oversight