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Harrowing Grasp
Owned By: Unowned
Type of Item: Device
Equipment Slots Used: 0
Description:
Class Required: Necromancer
Appearance:
Equal parts visceral gore and fantastical metal, the Harrowing Grasp is a little medallion about three and a half inches around, in the vague shape of skull. The front, that which is the skull, appears to have been crafted from some blackened metal some assumed to be a corrupted mithril, with the skull being a sideways profile. It shimmers dully when light is shone upon it, as if the metal is absorbing the light rather than redirecting it.
On the back, though, is an interlaced web-work of muscle, sinew, and veins, pumping and thrumming to a life of their own. Four bone spikes, like little ribs, jut out in the four cardinal directions, and upon placing it upon flesh, those boney spurs sink into the flesh, fusing with it's host.
Powers:
Ritualistic Doom (2 slots): When using the Harrowing Grasp to cast Impending Doom, the inflicted target's nightmarish encounters will not be limited to their dreaming hours. Those under the effects of the Augmented spell (Impending Doom) will suffer with varying frequency (OOC choice of the Character Affected) that their dreams have followed them into their waking moments. Things seen from the edge of vision. The feeling that their nightmare has never ended, and they are trapped within its grip. The fear that even the most mundane things, or people, are somehow involved in your torment. Even, in the most severe cases, hallucinations. This can lead to paranoia, or even sudden bursts of Anger.
Mechanics: The rolls, and stipulations, are the same as the Necromancer spell, Impending Doom. (!ranmagatk) Though the effect will only last half the time. (So max - The spell would only last through 3 days). This Augmentation can * Only * Be used OOB. The severity of the affliction will be left to OOC discretion of the one targeted.
Ritualistic Death Speak (1 slot): Though even the most novice of Necromancers can raise the spirit of the recently fallen dead so that they might communicate with the living, it was always understood that one had no power over an apparition but the power of subtle persuasion. With unique insight into the strange realm of existence after death, and the very composition of the spirit, the ritualist can actually cause 'harm' to these shades of the dead, accosting their very essence in a way that could only register to them as pain.
Mechanics: The Necromancer gets 3 opportunities to employ this technique on a ghost or spirit who is withholding information. On each attempt a 1d8 is rolled. If the necromancer rolls a 4 or an 8, the spirit is compelled to answer the Necromancers next two questions truthfully. If all three attempts fail, the Spirit is immediately released from its bondage and cannot be recaptured for the purpose of this spell.
History:
There is a reason why necromancers are so reviled, even as their presence within the Empire is tolerated. To many of the races that call the Empire, and Belariath, home, the final service of laying a soul to rest is something blessed, something pure. They are returned to Gaea, or Kirva, Ishtar, or the great flames of Aden’var. But necromancers care not for such whimsical sensibilities. To serve their own ends, or the dark gods they serve, necromancers will defile any grave, any grove, and return to service the bones and bodies of the fallen.
One such necromancer, who’s name has been forgotten in the annals of time, sought to unbind the tethers of life fully from a soul while a body still lived. They hoped, in essence, that through this breakthrough, not only would their prowess of necromancy be proven, but it would heighten said necromancy to levels unheard of in that era. Many lives were lost in the pursuit of knowledge and power, stripped of flesh, of muscle, of blood, and of soul, yet the necromancer never quite found that necessary step to sever the soul fully from a living body.
It was through these powers and the rituals that Harrowing Grasp was created – a nexus of power, fusing into the body and soul of the one brave enough to let the little parasitic construct bite into their flesh. Not quite the perfection the necromancer wanted… but good enough, they thought.
