Book of Bone and Ebony

little while. A single health level of lethal damage will
provide enough blood for one glass of the pourer’s choice of
beverage. She must place the blood in the pitcher and then
pour it out while concentrating on whatever type of drink
she wants. Dried blood is ineffective, and blood more than
a day old will produce a drink that has a faint patina of age
and no longer tastes wholly fresh.
Thirst-quenching pitchers come in many different
shapes and sizes, from small porcelain jugs that will fill a
single glass to large onyx urns that can provide drink for a
dozen feasters. In some mighty households, it is as important
to have a servant or chamberlain who has sampled
numerous vintages as it is to have a pitcher, so that a
sufficient variety of drinks is available. To drink blood
from a pitcher without bothering to change it to some
other liquid is seen as either gauche, or as making a daring
statement of personal fashion, depending on the social
position of the person doing so.
Artifact Traits:
Power •, Usefulness ••, Game Impact •, Script
Immunity ••;
Drawback •• (Component •, Notoriety •)
THE TONGUE-BINDER (ARTIFACT •)
When donned, this thin soulsteel chain lies closely
around its wearer’s throat and seems no more or less than
any other necklace, and the pendant hanging from it is
merely an elegant, inch-long, stylized representation of a
snake. However, the tongue-binder’s true potency comes
into effect when it is invoked by its owner to bear witness
that she speaks the truth. The serpent-pendant begins to
slowly writhe, and the chain wriggles against her flesh. If
its wearer knowingly tells a lie of any degree, the serpent
breaks loose from its chain, digs into the flesh of her neck,
wriggles up inside her throat and bites off her tongue. This
will cause a level of lethal damage to the wearer and is also
immensely obvious to any onlookers.
Nothing stops the wearer from removing this necklace.
However, in the treacherous world of the dead, it is often
worn by ghosts and humans living in shadowlands so that
they can prove that they are speaking the truth. It must be
deliberately invoked in the name of Oblivion to cause it to
function, and it will only work if the wearer knowingly lies.
If she honestly recounts a fact that she does not know to be
false, the serpent will not react, and she will not be harmed.
Artifact Traits:
Power •, Usefulness ••, Game Impact ••, Script
Immunity ••;
Drawback •• (Component •, Notoriety •)
WHIP OF THE DEAD (ARTIFACT •)
This whip is made from leather flayed from the corpse
of a leviathan, with soulsteel barbs on the end and soulsteel
wire wound around the butt. Any ghost or animal creature
of the Underworld will instinctively fear it and will make
63
CHAPTER THREE • THE WONDERS OF THE DEAD
an extra effort to please its wielder and fulfil his wishes.
Carrying this whip gives an extra dice on all Ride rolls,
while actively using it on one’s steed gives the rider two
extra dice for that particular Ride roll but inflicts a level of
bashing damage to his steed.
Artifact Traits:
Power ••, Usefulness ••, Game Impact •, Script
Immunity ••;
Drawback ••• (Component ••, Notoriety •)
BAG OF HARVESTED PLAGUES (ARTIFACT ••)
The illnesses that have slain the dead can, in turn, be
let loose upon the living once again. This black silk sack is
three handwidths across and is embroidered with the
names of sicknesses from across Creation with black silk
thread and the hair of those who died from contagious
fevers. It has two main functions: to “trap” a disease and to
“release” it. To “trap” a disease, the bag must be held to the
mouth of one of the dead who died from such a disease, and
the owner of the bag must spend a mote of Essence. This
has no effect on the dead himself. Up to five different
diseases may be held within the bag at any one time, but
multiple applications of the same disease have no effect.
To “release” a disease, the holder opens the bag and
shakes it in the direction of a living person, from a distance
of five yards or less. The victim’s player must make a separate
Stamina + Resistance check for each of the diseases in the
bag, as they cannot be released one at a time, but must all be
discharged together. Should the victim’s player fail his
check against the Virulence of a particular disease (see
Exalted, pp. 319-321), then the victim contracts it. No
other living people nearby will catch anything from the bag,
though they are at normal risk of infection from an illnessridden
victim. This artifact cannot trap or release the Great
Contagion. Nothing less than the Well of Udr could hold
such a thing, and any attempt to trap the Great Contagion
in a bag of harvested plagues will destroy the bag.
Artifact Traits:
Power •••, Usefulness •••, Game Impact ••, Script
Immunity •;
Drawback •• (Component •, Notoriety •)
BONE BRIDGE (ARTIFACT ••)
This chain of human vertebrae, linked together with
dried human sinews, is flexible enough to be worn as a belt
or coiled around a forearm. Its true purpose, however, is to
form a convenient bridge over rivers, marshes, or gaps in
the ground. The owner must attune to it, which requires
committing 5 motes of Essence, but once this is done, she
can use it freely. All that she needs to do is to cast it down
in front of her, over a river or chasm or soft ground or
similar gap, and the chain of vertebrae will grow and arch
into a curved bone bridge three feet wide. The bridge can
span a gap of up to 100 yards, but no further. It will remain
solid and in place until its owner places her hand on it and