Book of Bone and Ebony

More documents

Recommendations

Info

used three times in a single day. It flickers oddly if it is not stored in absolute darkness. Artifact Traits: Power •••, Usefulness •••, Game Impact ••, Script Immunity •••; Drawback ••• (Component •, Notoriety ••) STOMACH-WEIGHTING POWDER (RESOURCES ••• FOR A POUCH OF 5 DOSES) This artifact is one of the quicker and nastier ways that have been devised to force one of the dead to remain where she is. In its latent form, it is a small pinch of dark powder, easy to swallow if taken with a little wine or water. If it has been mixed into a drink that is given to an unwitting victim, the victim’s player may roll his character’s Perception + Alertness against a difficulty of 6 to see if she notices anything odd about the taste. On one success, she notices a slightly bitter taste; on two successes, she perceives that there is a foreign substance in the drink; and on three or more successes, she can tell that there is a powder of some sort mixed in the drink. Many slavers lie while administering the powder, finding some sort of plausible story to persuade the victim to drink it. When swallowed, the powder swells to the size of a man’s head inside the victim’s stomach and becomes 10 times as dense and heavy as iron. The victim is pinned to the ground by its weight, unable to rise, let alone walk away. There are three known ways of removing the stomach-weighting powder. The first is to drink a solution of nettles, ash and Underworld grapes (at least three successes are required on an Intelligence + Medicine roll for a character to remember the correct proportions). This concoction causes the powder to shrink and crumble and the victim to vomit it out. The second method is to wait. Twelve hours after being swallowed, the powder will shrink once more, and the victim will vomit it out and be free once again. The third method involves using a sword or knife to cut the victim’s stomach open, causing three health levels of lethal damage. Once removed from inside the victim’s body, the powder will fall to dust. This substance is usually found in pouches of five doses. Artifact Traits: Power •, Usefulness ••, Game Impact ••, Script Immunity •; Drawback ••• (Component •, Notoriety ••) TAMING MUZZLE (ARTIFACT •••) Sometimes, the Deathlords not only wish to chain their slaves, but also wish to enforce absolute subservience on them and deny them even any chance to dream of freedom. This twisted muzzle of pitch-black soulsteel is bound around a victim’s face and across his mouth. Soulfire crystals glint on either side of it, though they are usually dark gray. A prisoner wearing a taming muzzle loses all 77 CHAPTER THREE • THE WONDERS OF THE DEAD ability to take independent action. He is in a trance state, numbly obedient to his master (the owner of the muzzle), though lacking the energy or capacity for thought to do more than follow or stand still as he is ordered. The taming muzzle has two states, however. In the first state, the wearer is passive as described above, but in the second state, the soulfire crystals glow bright scarlet, and the wearer goes into a berserk state, attacking whoever his master may order. A prisoner of the muzzle may use physical attacks or weapons but lacks the capacity of thought to use Arcanoi, Charms or sorcery. He can remain in combat mode indefinitely while attacking his designated targets, but if he goes for more than 10 minutes without fighting, he relapses back into his trance state. The taming muzzle is locked, and can be released, with the touch of a engraved soulsteel ring that is created at the same time as the muzzle to match it. Victims with Essence •• or less have no chance of breaking free. Victims with Essence ••• to ••••• may try to break free if they see some person to whom they feel a strong emotional connection or if forced to watch scenes that they are strongly opposed to or to do battle at their master’s command. They do so by an effort of will, their players rolling a number of dice equal to the characters’ totaled Virtues against a difficulty of their master’s Willpower. If their players score five or more successes, the muzzles come loose and fall from them. A taming muzzle cannot hold victims with Essence •••••• or more. There is another way of removing a taming muzzle, though scarcely anyone knows of it. If another person (willing or unwilling) presses her lips against a muzzle in a parody of a kiss, the muzzle comes loose and reknots itself around the other person’s head, freeing its previous wearer. Artifact Traits: Power •••, Usefulness •••, Game Impact •••, Script Immunity •••; Drawback ••• (Component ••, Notoriety •) THIEVING HARNESS OF SERVITUDE (ARTIFACT •••) Jade effigies are among the most valuable artifacts in the Underworld — is it surprising, therefore, that they are targets for theft? This harness is plaited from thin black silk rope and buckled with a soulsteel clasp, set with an Essence-containing gem. If he fastens it around a jade effigy’s chest and over its shoulders, the owner of this harness can compel the effigy to obey him instead of its proper owner. Naturally, ownership of an artifact such as this is looked on extremely poorly by any organization (such as the Dual Monarchy) that commands and depends upon jade effigies. The owner must place the thieving harness of servitude on the target jade effigy and pour a pint of his own blood or plasm over the gem at the center of the Harness.
EXALTED • BOOK OF BONE AND EBONY The gem then begins to glow darkly red, and the jade effigy will obey him as it would previously have obeyed its proper owner. Activating the harness requires one level of lethal damage, though if the Harness’ owner wishes, he can drain off some of his blood or plasm beforehand (up to a day before) and save it in a container of some sort. He must thereafter continue to feed the gem with a pint of blood every week, though the blood need not necessarily come from him in the future. Should he omit to do this, the gem stops glowing, the harness falls from the effigy’s shoulders, and the effigy itself returns to its prior allegiance. Artifact Traits: Power •••, Usefulness •••, Game Impact •••, Script Immunity ••; Drawback ••• (Component ••, Notoriety •) URN THAT VOIDS DARKNESS (ARTIFACT •••) With this artifact, the owner can summon a vast darkness, which will come spilling out of the open mouth of the urn like smoke, filling any room in which it is opened within a single turn. All natural lights (torches, candles, lanterns) are extinguished. Sorcerous lights are dimmed to half their normal strength if affected by Sapphire Countermagic or are extinguished for the duration if susceptible to Emerald Countermagic. Stronger works of 78 sorcery are unaffected. Solar anima flares and Caste Marks burn with their usual strength. The room remains filled with darkness for as long as the lid is off the urn. Once the lid is restored, the darkness ceases, and any lights burn again or return to their normal strength. The darkness does not go beyond the boundaries of the room, however large or small the room may be. The artifact can fill a single tiny attic with darkness or steal the light from a great royal hall. If the urn that voids darkness is opened under other conditions, such as in a maze of corridors or outside under the open sky, then it will simply fail to function. Anyone looking inside under such conditions will see that the urn appears to be full of unpierceable darkness that cannot be poured or emptied away. The urn itself, a small thing only one foot wide and two feet high, is carved from onyx and inlaid with soulfire crystals and is surprisingly light to carry. It is also fragile, and if broken, it is utterly destroyed. Should this happen, a great gout of shadow comes rising out of the shattered remains and hangs in the air for a moment, a plume of darkness more than a mile high, before vanishing. Artifact Traits: Power •••, Usefulness •••, Game Impact •••, Script Immunity •••; Drawback ••• (Component ••, Notoriety •)
Page 1 and 2:
AND A Compendium of Necromantic Lor
Page 3 and 4:
EXALTED • THE BOOK OF BONE AND EB
Page 5 and 6:
Page 7 and 8:
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28: EXALTED • THE BOOK OF BONE AND EB
Page 35 and 36: EXALTED • BOOK OF BONE AND EBONY
Page 77: EXALTED • BOOK OF BONE AND EBONY
Page 129 and 130:
EXALTED • BOOK OF BONE AND EBONY
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
show all

Book of Bone and Ebony

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?