Congratulations to everyone who took part in this challenge and especially to the three who made it to the top. As promised, here are the reward items that you can acquire in thread.
The Mighty Quill (Kynier)
History: A fine-clothing merchant living in the Alahea Empire sometime prior to the Valterrian, had a problem with thieves. Working for his competition, the thieves would routinely steal his financial ledgers and other business papers so to help their employer stay on top of the clothing trade. While the merchant was quite skilled at what he did and could have been enormously successful, the underhanded methods of his competition held him back. Desperate to save his failing business, the merchant, whose family had always been close to Zulrav, prayed to the god for help. Then, on a stormy night a few days later, the merchant was closing up shop and started for home. On his way, a boom of thunder and a crackle of lightning shook the buildings around him. With the flash of lightning, he caught the briefest glimpse of a massive winged creature flying overhead. A moment later, a feather fell on the ground in front of him. After feelings of fear and awe began to fade, he reached down and picked up the feather. As he held it in his hand, he felt a slight tingle as the hair on his arm stood as if affected be static electricity. Quickly he ran for home and when under cover from the storm, he looked closer at the feather and saw a tiny glyph drawn on the quill of the feather. He quickly realized that the quill was a gift from Zulrav. Though he wasn’t a wizard and knew next to nothing of magic, a thought occurred to him that maybe he should use the quill to draw the rune on something. So, he dipped the quill in a bit of ink and drew the rune on the replacement to his previously stolen business ledger. A few days later, he arrived at his shop to find it broken into; the new lock on his tiny vault broken and the door forced open. Inside he found the body of one of the thieves. The man’s chest looked as if it were hit with something forceful that had caused a deadly burn. The merchant began referring to the quill as the Mighty Quill since he felt it was far better than any sword.
This deep blue feather is edged with white. It is about 10 inches long with the quill baring a tiny glyph near the tip. To the trained eye, the glyph appears to be one that stores a simple spell. However, when using the quill to draw the rune on an object that contains something else; a book cover, a lock, a door, etc., the drawn rune will trigger when the object is opened by anyone other than the one who drew it. Once triggered, the rune will unleash a small ball of lightning centered on the one who opened the object it was drawn on. The ball of lightning is treated as being cast by a competent reimancer will 40 skill points. The quill will only create a single charged rune at any one time. Once that rune is triggered, another charged rune can then be drawn.
The Quill has a minor secondary affect being that it can be used to draw other glyphs or even common writings on any surface be it cloth, flesh, bone, stone, paper, etc. It still requires separate ink however.
Gloves of the Spider Maiden (Madeira)
History: A short time before the Valterrian, a young woman of some small renown in the Suvan Empire, her name lost in time, wanted desperately to enhance her status in life and be seen as important in the political sphere of influence. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried, she could never gain the trust of others, at least not enough to move her way up the political ladder. Frustration led to irritation led to anger. Eventually she enlisted the help of a wizard and paid him a respectable sum of coin to craft her something that would help. The wizard, who had a particular fondness for spiders and incorporated them into his magical pursuits, created a pair of gloves made from spider-silk. He magecrafted the gloves with a hypnotic effect that, while not profound, would potentially leave a person more open to the wearer. Being a bit quirky himself, the wizard threw in a little added themed effect to the gloves and presented them to the woman. Pleased by the look and feel of the gloves as well as the possibilities they offered, the woman was excited with her purchase. She used them to improve her status however this did not last long as she died soon after during the Valterrian. After that, the gloves disappeared into history along with their owner. Over the years, there have been rumors here and there of the existence of a pair of beautifully woven gloves that have been worn by a few different individuals. With the nature of rumors being what it is, they also say that they house the spirit of the Spider Maiden, a being of beauty and influence who inspires trust in all who encounter her. The Spider Maiden is said to lure men in close only to devour them; physically, emotionally and/or financially. Rumors…?
These silvery silk gloves are patterned after a spider’s web. When worn, they appear to glisten like a spider’s web after a soft drizzle of rain. When the wearer brushes their face with their fingers while speaking to someone, that person will experience a hypnotic suggestion of “Trust me.” This effect works as if it were cast by a Competent Hypnotist with 40 skill points. It only enacts that particular suggestion and only works against a single target who is engaged in conversation with the wearer; once per encounter.
The gloves possess the relatively minor secondary ability of allowing the never have to worry about being touched by spiderwebs as long as they are worn. It is as if the wearer is surrounded by an invisible aura that simply pushes the webs away from them.
Pitch (Kelski)
History: 600 years ago, there lived a woman named, Mia Kine, one of Akajia’s Nightstalkers. Through her service to the Endless Shadow, Mia had become uniquely attuned to communicating with and manipulating shadows above and beyond other Nightstalkers. It is said that from the shadows, she learned fragments of a secret so great that the desire to learn more drove her over the edge. She spent years growing ever closer to the darkness in search of the secret. The closer she became with the shadows, the more they changed her. She shied away from bright light and avoided heat. Her skin grayed and eventually became black. Slowly she became more shadow than human. Her quest to discover all that she could of the secret led her to a place that was so old, the term ancient didn’t quite quantify it.
Drawn to a particularly unassuming ruin, Mia entered. Some time later, for a reason only Akajia knows, a trio of Nightstalkers were sent to the ruin to find Mia. As they approached the entrance to the ruin, they peered into the darkness within. It is not known what they saw but a few years later, a group of explorers stumbled upon the site; the ruin gone. They found three skeletons laid out around the shape of a human burned into the ground. While the ground looked burned, it had obviously been years since whatever happened, happened. Nothing grew in the spot and it actually felt abnormally cold to the touch.
The front of the skeletons were also blackened in a similar manner, cold to the touch, bits of blackened flesh still stuck to the bones. While there were no personal items found on the skeletons, on the ground next to the strange human-shaped mark was a dagger. The dagger was blacker than black and seemed to absorb ambient light around it. Cool to the touch, the blade was curved on one edge, the other serrated. When held, it appeared as though trails of darkness emanated from its surface like smoke. Whatever happened to the dagger after the explorers found it is unknown however it was noted, at some point in some recorded history somewhere that the explorers, one by one, went mad; claiming that they had discovered a horrific secret only to die in what was believed to be some sort of fire; only their partially blackened bones remained.
This dagger has a curved blade roughly 12 inches with one edge being serrated. It feels cold to the touch and seems to absorb ambient light so that the space immediately surrounding it appears darker than it should. Shadowy trails of darkness lick their way off the blade like trails of smoke. Over time, the hand of the wielder will develop grayish veins which eventually become darker, almost black. Pitch is most effective when used against someone who is actively keeping information from the wielder. When used to cut or pierce such a person, Pitch acts as though it has a Competent Intelligence skill with 40 skill points for the sake of learning and sharing the information with the wielder.
Pitch has a minor secondary ability, if the wielder wishes it, of being able to remain undetected, if on the wielder’s person.
The references to skill levels and points with each item will become clearer when I unveil a guide to dicing hopefully this week. |
by Kynier on June 13th, 2018, 1:54 pm 
