I was thinking that when I read it anyway, on the grounds I heard most
servers had had the sleeper woken anyway! Which is why many of the
bigger guilds often contemplated all mass transferring to a new server
when it was opened on the grounds they could be the people to wake
it..

Kerafyrm is supposed to be unkillable, by 2001 standards.

PoP and LDoN weapons and spells are much more powerful than anything in any previous
expansion.

PCs can achieve level 65, with huge amounts of AA specializations and disciplines.

Therefore, it has apparently become possible if you bring enough firepower and an extreme
level of organization to the party.  Then it's all just a matter of battle duration.

Here's my take on the situation, drawn both from the documentation on Ascending Dawn's
website (www.ascendingdawn.com), and from multiple conversations with their website
developer in serverwide.paladins.

According to multiple GMs, the battle was neither intentionally ended by the GM team, or
ended by a purposefully scripted action.

The Sleeper lore is critical to the gameworld.  At the time of Vellious, Verant was
probably the proudest they've ever been of lore.  They assumed that the players would be
as proud.  I guess the developers never thought anyone would kill A Shady Swashbuckler,
either ;->

Kerafyrm depopped 3:15 after awaking.  This does not support the rumor that it
automatically depops after 4 hours, at least when it is under attack.  Further, it
depopped at 26%, a rather odd number, and not at 50%, or 99%, as multiple rumors suggest.

From the relative direction of the GM comments thus far, it is assumed that Sony (or
Verant, before they were bought out), apparently missed a bug in the Sleeper script,
because they never tested the slaying of Kerafyrm.  "Why kill it if no group of PCs will
even be able to come close?"  Almost forgivable.  It is assumed that this bug in the
script is what Kerafyrm to depop.

I bet the GMs got wind of the Saturday evening battle, and laughed it off.

Then, as it became clear that the raid had the staying power to slay the dragon, some
phone calls were made to the server GMs, to the lead GM, and to the developers.  They were
all amazed that such a large, organized raid was being executed.

The powers-that-be (PTB) must have been quite proud of their little PCs.

However, the PTB soon realized that 1> the Sleeper lore placed no reward on Kerafyrm, so
their paying customers would not be rewarded for their substantial effort, and/or 2>
killing the Sleeper would permacrash the Tomb and/or Skyshrine.

So, being a weekend and all, they couldn't test the Sleeper script properly, or add reward
to Kerafyrm, so the development team reset the zone.  

The PTB attempted to placate the raid party by restoring their lost experience, and giving
2 additional AA points to all present.  They have also promised further rewards.

Kerafyrm is now back in the Tomb, asleep (proven as best possible).  That's never happened
before.  Typically, the Sleeper depops after a 4 or so hours, and is never seen again for
the lifetime of the server.

The raid leaders have already announced another attempt, which will come this evening.
Multiple GMs will attend, ostensibly to ensure that fair tactics are being used.  Bah.
They just want to watch the fireworks.

I'll bet that the EQ developers are going to spend at least part of their day today
(Monday) on the Sleeper script.  The easiest option is to make the dragon tougher, nearly
impossible to kill, which will support the EQ lore that it is a real badass capable of
wiping Norrath.  But the techniques employed by the raid party will be just as valid
against a 2-billion HP mob as they were against a 1-billion HP mob ;->  It's all just a
matter of battle duration.

The other possibilities include adding loot to Kerafyrm, toughening up the warders, making
the dragon jump into the Bazaar ;->  Anything goes.

I guess we'll know by midnight tonight, either way.

Best Regards,

Tim ==