The Black Vault Haul

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Jeremy16
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The Black Vault Haul

Post by Jeremy16 »

I'm working on an article for this year's QTR and I want some (if not all) of the items listed as being stolen from Azalin's Black Vault to make an appearance. Now, I know canonically they are listed as being destroyed by Rudolph van Richten, but for the sake of this exercise let's assume that the good doctor wasn't quite as thorough as has been reported.

There's over 20 of these buggers and while I could do it all by myself it might be a good idea to share the wealth, so to speak, and see what the hivemind can come up with. I thought it might be a fun little mini-contest for everyone. Anyone that participates would get credited in the article, of course.

I'm not looking for powerful curses or lengthy backstories, just a one line description of what it is and what it does with maybe a little crunch thrown in. Also, the fellow trafficking in these things doesn't believe in violence, so I'm more interested in non-lethal magical effects than combat applications. He is a devious little practical joker, however, who likes to substitue seeminly innocuous items with more sinister ones that look the same so any clever tricks or fake-outs are welcome.

Here's an alphabetical listing with a few of my brainstorms thrown in to illustrate what I'm looking for:

Bloodcup of Noth -
Bracelet of Betrayal - a common gold bracelet with a braided pattern engraved on its outer surface, if the wearer tires to lie or cheat the giver it turns black (much like a mood ring would)
Brightbane's Buckler – a small silver shield used by a famous swordsman, provides +1 AC bonus, once per day can be used to cast ray of light, can also be used as a mirror to detect vampires that cast no reflection
Chains of Binding
Chimes of Awakening
Collar of Correct Thoughts
Dark Destiny's Scourge (whip)
Decanter of Time – a small crystal bottle shaped like a dragon's body with a water dropper shaped like a dragon's head that doubles as its cap, the water dropper is filled with a specially prepared potion and then placed on top of the bottle to drip down, while the bottle is filling the user's movement speed is triple the normal rate
Dervish Flute
Gambler's Gold – a dozen gold pieces that grants their holder increased luck in games of chance, however a percentage of the winnings gained (the percentage depends on how many times this ability is used) disappears after 24 hours
Escher's Harp
Fallen Karlak's Sabre
Fists of Fury
Foolheart's Breastplate
Goblet of Gladness
Helm of Ill Fortune
Hoarfrost's Hammer
Libram of Unending Life
Manual of the Planes
Peace's Pin
Robe of Rulership
Scroll of Damnation
Shackles of Shame
Shadow-walker's Sword
Tome of Mold
Truehope's Trump
The Widow's Veil
Wyrm's Tooth (sword)
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Re: The Black Vault Haul

Post by IanFordam »

Jeremy16 wrote: Fri Feb 17, 2023 9:41 pm Shadow-walker's Sword
Isn't that the sword that allows its bearer to dimension door between areas in shadow? Which sounds really cool until you realize there's a small chance with each shadow-walk that you step into the darkness and don't come out?
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Re: The Black Vault Haul

Post by Speedwagon »

Dunno if this might help with inspiration, but there was a thread by Jack the Reaper a while ago that used the SCP Foundation lore/creatures and items to give ideas for what might be found in an Order of the Guardians facility or the Black Vault. Link here: https://www.fraternityofshadows.com/for ... CP#p213207
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Re: The Black Vault Haul

Post by alhoon »

"Chains of Binding" : More of a matching pair of necklaces in the form of chain links made from cold iron than real chains. Created for an abusive, jealous aristocrat so that he could control his wife and his mistress. The necklaces when worn "bind" the will of the target to the owner (the wearer obeys the owner's stated commands as if target by a suggestion spell, DC 13). However, the items are cursed and slowly the corrupted mind of those binded becomes obsessive with the person that gave them the necklaces. The baron's life ended when his mistress stabbed him in the back out of jealously.
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Re: The Black Vault Haul

Post by IanFordam »

A certain Borcan widow knew that she would have to marry again to maintain her social status. However, she had taught herself magic from her elderly husband's spellbooks while she waited for his long illness to finally claim him, and she created The Widow's Veil to help guide her in making a proper selection. The Veil's wearer can recognize both illusions and shapechangers who are not in their natural forms. (In the case of hereditary lycanthropes, the human form is still considered the natural form.) However, when worn for longer than 1d6x10 minutes, the Veil's wearer begins to suffer visual hallucinations, discerning illusions and shapechangers where none exist. In particular, the Veil's wearer eventually, inevitably grows paranoid about the trustworthiness of her own companions, even after the Veil has been removed.
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Re: The Black Vault Haul

Post by Baron Von Stanton »

The Tome of Mold is a book bound in a strange beige ("mushroom" colored) leather. The book reeks of mildew, and discusses numerous rare, exotic fungi, and fungal monsters in lurid depth, with separate chapters concerning the demon lords Zuggtmoy and Yibiyru, and has several additional chapters about various uses of fungi for food, medicine, dyes, murder, recreational use, magic and alchemy. If a reader can stomach the tome's nauseating miasma, and reread it no less than ten times, they will realize it is actually an encrypted spellbook that allows its user to charm and or summon fungi and fungal monsters to do their bidding. According to legend, the tome is cursed by its author, allegedly Haagenti, so that anyone who uses the tome without permission from either the Lord of Alchemy or Zuggtmoy will attract fungus gnats until they die and their corpse is eventually eaten by them, or divest themselves of the tome with remove curse and dispel evil.
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Re: The Black Vault Haul

Post by Wolfglide of the Fraternity »

Jeremy16 wrote: Fri Feb 17, 2023 9:41 pmCollar of Correct Thoughts
I get ideas of indoctrination and Thought Police on hearing this name.

Sitting open, this silver torc has a representation of a brain at one terminal and a clawed hand at the other. Placed about the neck, it bends so that the hand clasps over the brain, locking it in place. While worn, the torc monitors the wearer's thoughts, seeking out those deemed undesirable by the one who placed the torc on the wearer. Whenever the wearer entertains such thoughts, the wearer is beset by mind fogs, confusion, headaches, and even seizures, depending on how egregious the thoughts are perceived to be. Through this conditioning, the torc slowly turns the wearer away from these thoughts---at least, that is the intent.

While it certainly sounds like a cruel device for controlling others (and it certainly has been used that way), it was originally meant for self-correction. However, many an owner has misinterpreted normal intrusive thoughts as signs of corruption, and been driven mad by the torc attacking very common incidental thoughts.
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Re: The Black Vault Haul

Post by Mephisto of the FoS »

Libram of Unending Life

This white leatherbound, made of the skin of a white unicorn first appeared in Barovia around a few decades after its transition to the Land of Mists and was mistakenly known as Libram of Life Eternal (written in an archaic language on its cover). Legend says it was created by a young priest who was seeking the secret of everlasting youth and immortality. The young priest knowing that the life span of unicorns surpasses 1,000 years and are believed to maintain their youth until death is only weeks away, he slew one to create this unholy book. Since the secret to a unicorn's longevity is the strong magical nature of the horn, he used it to pen the magical writings within. It is said that while the book indeed gives anyone who reads it and performs the ritual described within its dove white pages eternal youth, this gift comes with a price as it also binds the spirit of that person to their body. While the book offers eternal youth it does not offer eternal life as one would expect it would. Legend says that the young priest's god himself cursed the book to punish him for killing a creature of purity for his (or her by other accounts) vanity. The legend says that when the priest died after centuries by unnatural causes, the priests corpse was dismembered and its parts were scattered in the four corners of the priest's world, were the dismembered parts still try to find each other to this day.
Any person who studies the libram for one week can perform a ritual that allegedly makes that person immortal. While the powers of the book do indeed confer this boon to whoever succeeds in performing the ritual they are now considered a construct, unable of healing wounds through the various Cure Wounds spells and unable to gain experience points. If the person/construct suffers fatal damage or would otherwise die from any other cause, the magic of the libram makes that person still stay "alive". The person is considered a living corpse after it has suffered any of the aforementioned conditions and rots away as a normal corpse would but without being considered undead but rather a construct as mentioned before. Also lost limbs cannot be attached If that person suffers any such injuries but are still usable/controlled by that person though they start to decompose, so anyone decapitated after using the book would still be alive and able to speak and control their headless body, but unless they are able to see it, it is considered blind.
The book was for centuries part of Strahd Von Zarovich's library until it was stolen in the 6th century BC and It is speculated that both Strahd and Azalin have made extensive research on it. Strahd probably found the mystic elements of how to create Strahd zombies within its silky pages and Azalin may have found information useful into creating his Reanimate (3e) /Life (2e) spell. This magical libram is probably the book Jacqueline Montarri was looking for in the library of Count Strahd von Zarovich, when Madame Eva suggested her to search for the secret of how to stay forever young and beautiful in the Count's library (although Madame Eva had something else in mind). Undead are immune to the powers of this cursed book.

Whoever has seen the satirical black comedy fantasy film Death Becomes Her (1992) knows how this book's curse works... :mrgreen:



Libram of Unending Life Soundtrack...
Musica Eternal by Dead can Dance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NPHtUzcVwQ
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Re: The Black Vault Haul

Post by The Lesser Evil »

Peace's Pin was actually detailed in canon. https://www.fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Peace%27s_Pin
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Re: The Black Vault Haul

Post by Mephisto of the FoS »

Truehope's Trump

This cursed item looks like an ordinary ace of spades card with the back of the card being designed into a motif of 45 black and white spades against white and black rhombus squares. It belonged to a devious halfling from Rivalis, Ricchar Truehope known as the most notorious gambler of his time. While this rumour was true it wasn't based on the halflings abilities or luck but rather to this magical card, created for him from none other than the annis hag Hasiaph when she was still alive. No one knows what despicable act did Ricchar perform for the monstrous crone in exchange for this magical card but as most hag magic the cost was far greater than the reward.

Truehope's Trump has the power to transform its images, cardback design and size to any card belonging to a deck but also to change its cardface to any card it's holder wishes (without spending any charges) as well as changing those held next to it by expending a charge. This is no mere illusion though as the cardface can actually replace any card next to it with any other card the holder of the card wishes, that exists in a deck, including those held by other players (this takes two charges though). In that case the hag magic of the card acts as a forget spell to those who previously owned that card, making anyone using this deck able to cheat the whole game as long as they successfully slip the magical card into a deck or their hand. The curse of the card connecting the owner of the item with the card makes it possible for the "lucky" card to be the first card its owner draws from a deck after it has been shuffled into a deck.

While Ricchar Truehope's motto was "Life is like a game, its not whether you win or lose, its whether you win" he actually lost more than he won in the end. The ace of spades is the highest card in the deck, and as such, it has come to symbolize power, success, and good fortune but it is also a symbol of death and this is its curse. When the card is used and a charge is spent a spade from the original cardback motif changes into a skull, when the cursed user uses all 45 charges of the card the face of the card takes it's original form that of an ace of spades with a skull image within the spade, this works as a symbol of death affecting only the user. If the cursed individual succeeds the save and survives the deadly symbol his fate is even worse as the deadly looking skull emerges from the spade symbol in the form of a 10 HD grim reaper visible only to the owner of the card or any creature capable of seeing invisible or ethereal beings and attacks the cursed individual with the purpose of trapping the poor individual's soul. After the deed is done the grim reaper is drawn back to the card which is then recharged and waiting for a new owner to claim it by using it. Strangely the card's magic is undetectable by magical means such as detect magic or a true seeing spell because of the ancient dark magic used in its creation.

The means of its destruction had been debated by scholars for years with the one prevailing being that the cursed card must be shuffled in a more powerful deck such as a Deck of Many Things before a card is drawn with the magic of the artifact cancelling the hag magic of Truehope's Trump. Others believe that although a Deck of Many Things must be used for the cursed item's destruction someone must willingly call the Skull card, fight the grim reaper and win or by other accounts self sacrifice themselves by willingly calling the void card and cancelling the dark magic of the cursed card with an act of complete selflessness and altruism.

Dread Possibility: Deck of Deception
It is said that Dr. Van Richten had another theory and this was the way this cursed object was destroyed. He believed that the destruction of this cursed card was possible by shuffling it in a powerful deck, but he believed that such a deck was none other than Madame Eva's Tarokka deck of cards, the oldest in the Land of the Mists, which was and still is in the possession of the Witch of Invidia Gabrielle Aderre. Rudolph Van Richten seeked out the ruler of Invidia and asked her to use her deck to destroy Truehope's Trump. The half-Vistana Gabrielle Aderre actually deceived Rudolph Van Richten into believing he destroyed the cursed card fogging his mind with her evil eye powers and kept it. It was placed along with a masterfully illustrated non magical deck inside an elaborate wooden box within her chambers in Castle Loupet, a curse trap for anyone foolish enough to steal it. Since Malocchio became lord of Castle Loupet the whereabouts of Truehope's Trump are unknown, though it may still be stored inside that same box in one of Gabrielle Aderre's nightstands or a drawer.

Truehope's motto was inspired by this...
"I am not omniscient, but I know a lot."
-Mephistopheles from Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Re: The Black Vault Haul

Post by IanFordam »

Mephisto of the FoS wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 2:38 am Truehope's Trump

This cursed item looks like an ordinary ace of spades card with the back of the card being designed into a motif of 45 black and white spades against white and black rhombus squares. It belonged to a devious halfling from Rivalis, Ricchar Truehope known as the most notorious gambler of his time. While this rumour was true it wasn't based on the halflings abilities or luck but rather to this magical card, created for him from none other than the annis hag Hasiaph when she was still alive. No one knows what despicable act did Ricchar perform for the monstrous crone in exchange for this magical card but as most hag magic the cost was far greater than the reward.
Truehope's Trump has the power to transform its images, cardback design and size to any card belonging to a deck but also to change its cardface to any card it's holder wishes (without spending any charges) as well as changing those held next to it by expending a charge. This is no mere illusion though as the cardface can actually replace any card next to it with any other card the holder of the card wishes, that exists in a deck, including those held by other players (this takes two charges though). In that case the hag magic of the card acts as a forget spell to those who previously owned that card, making anyone using this deck able to cheat the whole game as long as they successfully slip the magical card into a deck or their hand. The curse of the card connecting the owner of the item with the card makes it possible for the "lucky" card to be the first card its owner draws from a deck after it has been shuffled into a deck.
While Ricchar Truehope's motto was "Life is like a game, its not whether you win or lose, its whether you win" he actually lost more than he won in the end. The ace of spades is the highest card in the deck, and as such, it has come to symbolize power, success, and good fortune but it is also a symbol of death and this is its curse.
When the card is used and a charge is spent a spade from the original cardback motif changes into a skull, when the cursed user uses all 45 charges of the card the face of the card takes it's original form that of an ace of spades with a skull image within the spade, this works as a symbol of death affecting only the user. If the cursed individual succeeds the save and survives the deadly symbol his fate is even worse as the deadly looking skull emerges from the spade symbol in the form of a 10 HD grim reaper visible only to the owner of the card or any creature capable of seeing invisible or ethereal beings and attacks the cursed individual with the purpose of trapping the poor individual's soul. After the deed is done the grim reaper is drawn back to the card which is then recharged and waiting for a new owner to claim it by using it. Strangely the card's magic is undetectable by magical means such as detect magic.
I know that Jeremy16 requested terse descriptions, but I really enjoyed the flavor text for this item in particular. Ricchar Truehope would have been a fun character to drop into an adventure. Y'know, in the days before he lost everything.
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Re: The Black Vault Haul

Post by Mephisto of the FoS »

IanFordam wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 9:23 am I know that Jeremy16 requested terse descriptions,
Yes I know I am blabbing too much, I even created a means of destruction and DP.
Jeremy16 must be getting pimples (Mephisto comment allergy aka Mephisto info overkill :mrgreen:)

But seriously, I believe the story of cursed items is what makes them special so I will keep on going with this. It can always be edited later on.
IanFordam wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 9:23 am but I really enjoyed the flavor text for this item in particular. Ricchar Truehope would have been a fun character to drop into an adventure. Y'know, in the days before he lost everything.
Well the name sounded as that belonging to a halfling and the rest were just flowing after that.

I even created the cardback design for newly charged, all charged used and original card face versions.
You can download the PNG file here https://ibb.co/hWQFRYc
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Re: The Black Vault Haul

Post by IanFordam »

Mephisto of the FoS wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 9:57 am Yes I know I am blabbing too much, I even created a means of destruction and DP.
Jeremy16 must be getting pimples (Mephisto comment allergy aka Mephisto info overkill :mrgreen:)

But seriously, I believe the story of cursed items is what makes them special so I will keep on going with this. It can always be edited later on.
The editing stage is what always saves my writing, I know. Trust me. I know what it looks like at the start. :D

But, yes, seriously, my post was not intended as chastisement. If anything, that particular comment was a sheepish explanation for the terseness of my own suggestions. I didn't come up with any cool backstory!
Mephisto of the FoS wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 9:57 am Well the name sounded as that belonging to a halfling and the rest were just flowing after that.
Nothing like that flash of inspiration, is there?
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Re: The Black Vault Haul

Post by Mephisto of the FoS »

Dervish Flute

In the exotic domain of Hazlan there exists a sect of mystic's who have chosen to live in material poverty and praise the Lawgiver with ecstatic whirling dances, a form of physically active meditation. These mystics called dervishes try to approach the Lawgiver by virtues and individual experience, rather than by religious scholarship. Many dervishes are mendicant ascetics who have taken a vow of poverty, with the main reason for begging being to learn humility. One such man was the Rashemani Erdem Kaan, who lived in poverty in the streets of Sly-Var to perfect himself before the Lawgiver, accepting his stature and meekness. But what Erdem was seeing in the streets was a constant blasphemy against the Lawgiver's tenets. He saw people stealing to become richer and other kinds of sacrilege and immoral behaviour and acts of sin even from members of the priesthood. As most people in Erdem's view had taken the wrong path and were destined to end up in the Hell of Slaves, Erdem became determined to find a way to save their souls.

The aging dervish made an ascetic journey to the Høj i den Safdrede Sti-Naavne ("Hill of the Hundred Paths") at the limit of the Ufrugtbarlan ("Barren Lands") in search of eldritch secrets spiritual guidance and powerful magic. No one knows what happened there but when he returned after a few months to Sly-Var he carried a flute made of bone with him. Based on the flute's magic powers, some speculate that the flute might had been made of the bones of a Quelshar, the ancient fey like creatures that lived in Hazlan millenia before and was found by Erdem rather than created by him. When Erdem reached the middle of the town he sat down on the ground and began playing the flute. As the first tunes were played the people around Erdem begun to whirl unable to stop while the old dervish played the magical flute hoping to make them see the truth through the mystic ecstasy of the whirling dance. Erdem being in ecstasy himself failed to recognise the terror on the peoples eyes as they continued to whirl unstoppably, some even dying from exhaustion. It wasn't long before the magic of the flute attracted the attention of the Red Wizard Hazlik who punished the dervish extremist by setting him on fire with a large fireball. He took the cursed flute in his hands and vanished back to Veneficus were it was stored, until it was stolen by Julio the Master Thief of Hazlan. Somehow it ended up in Azalin's Black Vault and then was destroyed by Van Richten and his group.

Anyone playing even a single note on the Dervish Flute is affected by its magic and continues playing even if they don't know how to play a tune. As they play they automatically cast Irresistible Dance also known as Otto's Irresistible Dance with those affected being anyone able to listen to the tune (or random notes) and the duration of the spell lasting as long as the player plays the flute. The player of the flute being also enspelled by this magical instrument must make a Will save DC 25 each turn if they want to resist playing the flute. People forced to whirl for too long may become fatigued, exhausted or even die, falling lifeless on the ground from exhaustion. Creatures immune to mind effecting and enchantment spells are unaffected by the flutes powers but can still use it. Such a magical item in the hands of the undead would be even more powerful ,so it was fortunate that Rudolph Van Richten destroyed it along with other cursed and magical items from the Black Vault.
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Re: The Black Vault Haul

Post by Jeremy16 »

IanFordam wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 11:23 am
Mephisto of the FoS wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 9:57 am Yes I know I am blabbing too much, I even created a means of destruction and DP.
Jeremy16 must be getting pimples (Mephisto comment allergy aka Mephisto info overkill :mrgreen:)

But seriously, I believe the story of cursed items is what makes them special so I will keep on going with this. It can always be edited later on.
The editing stage is what always saves my writing, I know. Trust me. I know what it looks like at the start. :D

But, yes, seriously, my post was not intended as chastisement. If anything, that particular comment was a sheepish explanation for the terseness of my own suggestions. I didn't come up with any cool backstory!
Mephisto of the FoS wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 9:57 am Well the name sounded as that belonging to a halfling and the rest were just flowing after that.
Nothing like that flash of inspiration, is there?

TBH, I will most likely pare these down a bit just to fit them into the article better (after all, I don't want it to become all about the items and not the NPC). I am loving your write-ups, though, so keep them coming!
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