Book of Bone and Ebony

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
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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.