[New Magic Item] Mask of Spiders

Mask of Spiders

The giant spider lowered itself through the skylight of the ancient temple of a forgotten reptilian deity. Silently it turned on the adventurers at the command of the man wearing the stylized spider mask. The arachnid advanced slowly then stopped and bowed before one of the adventurers.

Valance grinned.

‘It cannot be!’ cried the man confronting the adventurers.

‘Normally you would be quite safe, I, however, am a priest of the Spider God,’ said Valance, his voice echoing down the temple’s side chambers. With a wave of his hand the spider turned towards the man with wearing the mask.

‘Mercy?’ the man asked halfheartedly, expecting none.

Valance looked at the others. Chalk nodded, Koram and Navnen shrugged.

‘You leave here with your clothes, nothing more,’ stated Valance.

The man slowly removed the mask and handed it to Valance.

‘I will hold the spider at bay until dusk, then he hunts you,’ added the priest of the Spider God.

The man hurried to remove his armor and find an exit.

A gift for a champion of the Spider God made ages ago. When the fell hero was ambushed and killed by knights of the insect deity Locustus the relic fell with the champion and was discarded as tainted by the followers of the Insect God. It’s whereabouts unknown.

Benefit: When worn this mask may:

1. Summon 1HD of spiders for 1 day.

2. Summon 3HD of spiders for ½ day.

3. Summon 6HD of spiders for 1 hour.

Creatures summoned obey the commands of the masks wearer and will attack, spy, scout, guard, etc for the mask’s owner. The summoned spiders can come in the form of an individual or a swarm, up to the desired hit dice. Note that clerics of the Spider God are immune to the effects of this mask, any summoned spiders will not act against a priest or priestess in good standing with the Spider God in any way.

Usable by: Anyone.

[New Magic Spell] Heated Words

Heated Words

 

‘I need to get out of this town, it is stifling,’ grumbled Fellhorn.

‘With everyone hunting us thanks to that sawed off runt?’ the elf ranger asked.

‘I need to get into the trees soon,’ the druid reiterated.

‘Relax you two,’ the gnome illusionist said.

Quietly the gnome sneaked ahead and whispered a spell. The two guards immediately began arguing over the price of oranges to the point it almost seemed that they would draw weapons on each other.

The gnome quietly opened the gate and slipped outside the town. He turned and looked back at his companions and shrugged. The human and elf got the hint and scurried passed the squabbling guards moments before they gathered there senses.

‘The door is open!’ gasped one guard.

‘What is an orange anyway?’ asked the other.

 

Heated Words (Illusionist)

Level 3

Range: 15′

Duration: 1d6 rounds.

 

When cast this illusionist spell compels two sentient beings to begin arguing over something, anything, for 1d6 rounds. These two can be on opposite sides of an encounter or the same side. There is no saving throw, except the two in the debate must have a language in common that they can argue in. If two parties are involved these two become non-combatants and are -2 to hit in combat while those arguing are -2 on any checks regarding their surroundings. This spell does not necessarily need to be cast in combat and can be used to distract watchmen, jailers, guards, etc as well.

[New Magic Item] Arrows of the Royal Harpy

Arrows of the Royal Harpy

Valance crossed the threshold of the shared common room of the cottage and collapsed an arrow in his shoulder.

‘Hurts….bad,’ the priest of the Spider God said and was suddenly unconscious.

‘Quick, one of those healing potions!’ Chalk shouted and Koram hurried across the room with a small glass vial.

‘On the wound or drink this one?’ Chalk asked.

Koram shrugged.

There was a knock at the door, Navnen slipped over and opened the door a crack. The thief whispered at someone outside then snarled and burst out the door. A scuffle could be heard and a groan of pain.

‘Who was that?’ Chalk asked.

‘Jackass wanting his arrow back,’ the thief replied.

‘Potion….’ wheezed Valance as he suddenly came to.

‘Oh yeah, sorry,’ Chalk said and poured the potion into Valance’s mouth.

Arrows that are made from the feathers of the very rare royalty among harpies, these arrows are very expensive and highly sought after by archers of every stripe as one shot can make all of the difference between life and death.

Benefit: These magical arrows, usually found in numbers no more than seven (1d6+1) allow the archer not only a +1 to hit, but also to ignore any terrain short of the victim being totally enclosed in a shut room with the doors and windows closed, a coffin or similar container, etc. A successful strike deals 1d4+2 damage. A critical hit deals 3d4+3 damage.

Usable by: Anyone who can use a bow.

[New Magic Book] Lornak’s Book of Birds

Lornak’s Book of Birds

The thief raced along the rooftop, he paused and looked back for a moment, then stopped. Retrieving a book from within his tunic he quickly thumbed through the pages.

‘There he is!’ shouted one of the guardsmen.

With a halfhearted prayer the thief pulled one of the pages from the small book and hoped for the best.

A strange golden bird appeared before the thief, flapping its wings and seeming to hover magically.

‘Take me from here, please,’ the thief begged of the bird, doubtful of its capabilities.

To the shock of all watching, the bird grabbed the man by the shoulders and flew him to safety as the swords and axes of the guardsmen swung in the thief’s wake.

‘Find him or it is your necks!’ growled the sergeant as the men scrambled to get down and find the thief who was laughing as the bird carried him free of the town and off into the woods beyond.

It is said that Lornak made a few of these books on birds which are hard to find and highly sought after for obvious reasons.

Benefit: Lornak’s Book of Birds usually contains 3-12 (3d4) pages when found. These pages are illustrated with various avian creatures such as Axe-beaks, Rocs, Alicanto, Phoenix, Tengu, Harpies and other magical birds or bird-like creatures. There is a 33% chance of duplicates. Each time a page is ripped from the book an example of the creature, living and breathing and with one extra HD on top of their normal maximum, will appear before the one who tore the page and will serve that person for one hour per level of the page-tearer.

Usable by: Anyone.

[New Magic item] Scroll of Staining

Scroll of Staining

A trio of crossbow bolts thudded into the door a few minutes after Navnen entered the room the adventurer’s shared.

‘Why does this keep happening?’ Koram asked.

‘You are somehow marked, but how?’ Valance asked.

The thief paused and looked at his hands and feet.

‘I don’t see anything though,’ he said.

‘Whoever it is, they found out where you live, so either we move or wait for a trap,’ Chalk suggested.

‘And if we move, how do we keep this happening again?’ asked Navnen.

‘We could wrap you in a blanket or put you in a large bag to transport you to another place,’ the sorcerer offered.

Navnen smirked at these ideas.

This strange, old spell seems to only be found on scrolls and can be useful to use on oneself or another, depending on the situation; this can be used to track a killer or to find one’s own way out of a dungeon or similar predicament.

Benefit: When read, this scroll allows the reader to cause either their own hands or those of another within line of sight at the time the scroll is read to leave a blue stain on whatever they touch. At the time of casting from the scroll the reader of the spell can decide whether only they or everyone can see this faintly glowing stain. Duration is three days.

Usable by: Anyone who can use a scroll.

[New Spell] Caster’s Curse

Caster’s Curse

 

Chalk kicked the door open.

‘We are going after that little weasel of a wizard that works for the duke,’ he snarled.

‘Why, what happened?’ Koram asked.

‘I just spent the last two hours as a pigeon hiding from two hungry falcons because of him, he cast some sort of curse on me,’ answered Chalk.

‘I wondered why you missed lunch,’ Navnen commented.

‘Someday I really need to learn to remove curses,’ Valance commented.

‘Yes you do!’ snapped Chalk as he stormed off to clean himself up in the other room.

 

Caster’s Curse (Magic-user, Cleric)

Level 3

Range: Touch

Duration: One year and one day or until dispelled.

 

When a spellcaster has this curse lain upon them any spell cast will cause the caster to make a Saving Throw versus spells with a -1 modifier. Failing this save transforms the spellcaster into a 1HD normal animal at random. While Int and Wis are retained, all other attributes become that of the animal. Without speech or hands spellcasting is impossible, however the caster can utilize the animal form’s physical abilities to fight or escape, including flight if a bird form happens to the caster. This lasts for one hour per level of spell cast (or one day for a devious referee/GM).

[New Magic Item] Ring of the Great Toad

Ring of the Great Toad

Just one hour into their revelry at the Befuddled Bugbear a toad crawled unceremoniously from Valance’s mouth and flopped onto the table where it crawled away unhindered.

‘Enough already!’ the priest of the Spider God shouted to no one in particular as he wiped his mouth off with a sleeve.

‘That’s the third time this week,’ Koram observed.

‘And the second tavern in a row,’ added Chalk.

‘Isn’t today only Wednesday?’ Navnen asked.

‘Maybe we go out too much,’ suggested Chalk.

‘Maybe we need to find this miscreant that has me coughing up toads in public!’ snarled Valance as he glared about the room.

Suspected to have once been the property of a high priest of a toad god of some sort this magical ring has functions that can be handy for getting into or out of trouble or for making someone else look guilty of something warty and possibly sinister. An innocuous looking silvery ring with a stylized toad on top of it.

Benefit: Once per day the Ring of the Great Toad will allow its wearer to do one of the following:

1. Leap up to 30′ vertically or horizontally and land safely.

2. Breathe underwater as per the spell for one hour.

3. Cause a toad to crawl out of the mouth of anyone within line of sight.

4. Create a rain of tiny toads in an area 200’x200’x200′. All caught in this amphibious rain are slowed to half movement and -1 on all rolls for the duration of the rain (ten minutes).

Usable by: Anyone.