Book of Bone and Ebony

The bees return to their hive with imperceptibly tiny
pieces of ghostly flesh, storing these remains deep inside
the hive’s twisted passages. When they have collected 20
health levels worth of lethal damage, the remnants inside
the hive distil into a rich onyx liquor that works only upon
the dead but will restore five health levels of damage
instantly when it is drunk (it can be divided into separate
doses). This liquid can be tipped out of the hive and stored
elsewhere. The bees will not produce another dose until
the first one has been removed. While the bees may be
called as often as required, they must be called at least once
a month, or they will turn on each other in a cannibalistic
frenzy and slay one another, and the hive itself will wither
and fall to dust.
Artifact Traits:
Power ••, Usefulness •••, Game Impact ••, Script
Immunity •••;
Drawback ••• (Component •, Maintenance •,
Notoriety •)
PHANTOM MANTLE (ARTIFACT •••)
This translucent mantle is barely visible. Woven from
wool as pale as crystal and clasped with an onyx brooch, it
covers the wearer from head to foot, whatever his height.
When it is donned and the brooch clasped, if the wearer
chooses to expend 5 motes of Essence, he becomes immaterial
for the duration of the scene. He can pass through
wood and metal and rock alike, but is balked by jade (or by
any of the other Magical Materials). He is also affected by
Charms and sorcery and by fire. He is as immaterial to the
Underworld as a ghost normally is within Creation.
A person wearing a phantom mantle is still visible and
audible, even if he has activated its magical powers. He can
choose to end the effect before the scene is over, if he so
desires. While he can walk through the ordinary dead, he
cannot pass through one of the Abyssal Exalted — and is,
indeed, advised not to try. The mantle is too thin and
fragile to serve as armor and is destroyed by three or more
levels of bashing damage.
Artifact Traits:
Power •••, Usefulness ••••, Game Impact ••, Script
Immunity •••;
Drawback ••• (Component •, Maintenance •,
Notoriety •)
RAZOR TEETH (ARTIFACT •••)
In its unused form, this artifact seems to be a necklace
strung with carved soulsteel incisors, modeled to resemble
a shark’s teeth. When claimed and placed against a wouldbe
wearer’s mouth, it painfully burrows into the flesh of her
gums, displacing her natural teeth and filling her mouth
with razor-edged soulsteel. This attunement process requires
5 motes of Essence, which are permanently lost. Not
only does this give the wearer a bite attack (Speed 5,
Accuracy 5, Damage 5L [and Rate 1 for Exalted Power
75
CHAPTER THREE • THE WONDERS OF THE DEAD
Combat]), but it also allows the wearer to consume the
flesh of her enemies and strengthen herself in the process.
For every five health levels of lethal damage that the
user of the teeth manages to consume from her prey, she
gains a bonus of one die to her next roll involving Strength
or Stamina, to a maximum bonus of three dice. She must
actually consume the flesh of her opponents, and not
simply rip them apart, in order to gain this bonus. This
requires an extra combat turn to eat the flesh that she has
torn apart in her latest attack. Once the bonus is spent, she
can begin to accumulate dice again. These bonus dice
cannot be saved beyond the end of the scene.
Artifact Traits:
Power •••, Usefulness ••••, Game Impact •••, Script
Immunity ••••;
Drawback •••• (Component •, Maintenance •,
Notoriety ••)
ROSARY THAT FEEDS ON SOULS (ARTIFACT •••)
The rosary that feeds on souls is a long necklace of
pearls that can be wound around the neck several times,
with a single soulfire crystal dangling as a pendant from it.
It is a valuable tool for warriors who run short of Essence
mid-battle, as it can gather Essence while they are slaying
their enemies and store it in the soulfire crystal for later
use. Each time the wearer of a rosary slays another living
being who has at least one dot of permanent Essence, a
mote of Essence enters the soulfire crystal until it reaches
its maximum. This Essence may only be used by the wearer
of the rosary and is automatically Death-aspected, like all
Essence stored in soulfire crystals. Victims must be slain
with weapons or Charms or bare-handed strikes and must
be within 10 yards of the wearer of the rosary, or no Essence
will be gained from their deaths.
The amount of Essence that can be stored in the
soulfire crystal depends on its size. Since these rosaries are
lightweight and designed to be worn around the neck, the
attached soulfire crystal usually stores 5-10 motes, though
ones large enough to hold 10 motes of Essence are very rare
and somewhat cumbrous. As the crystal fills, the pearls of
the rosary shift from pale luminous white to dead black in
proportion to the amount of Essence in the crystal, until,
at last, the crystal is full, and the pearls are all as black as
the Abyss.
Artifact Traits:
Power •••, Usefulness •••, Game Impact ••, Script
Immunity •••;
Drawback ••• (Component •, Notoriety ••)
SCOURGE OF THORNS (ARTIFACT •••)
This scourge is forged from soulsteel and modeled like
a multi-stranded whip, but with each strand of the whip
braided from knotted wires and each wire contorted into
spiky knots. Its butt has a setting for a Hearthstone, and it
has statistics of Speed +3, Accuracy +1, Damage +3L,