Falcon/SkullOfMuRay

The Skull of Mu'Ray

Artifact ••••
Commitment: Nothing, but it requires essence to activate.

The origins of the Skull of Mu'Ray are shrouded in mystery. It is named after the first person known to possess it, a ghost ancient beyond telling who claimed that it was a fragment of Oblivion itself. He was consigned to the Labyrinth and Harrowed by an alliance of powerful nephwracks, who then fell to fighting amongst themselves once the Skull was securely in their possession. When the victor had been decided, he activated the Skull for the first time in recorded history, and was promptly swallowed up by its malign power. Rumours of it surfaced from time to time until it came into the possession of Princess Magnificent, who kept it securely locked away in case someone discovered how to use it against her. When she was defeated by Talespinner, an oppotunistic ghost stole the skull and fled. It passed through several more spectral hands before arriving in the clutches of Bo Dak, who has carefully researched its powers. It is possible that only he and the Mask of Winters himself know exactly what the Skull does.

The skull itself seems unremarkable: a plain, human-sized and human-shaped skull with an elaborate jade-and-soulsteel mask tightly sealing the eyes and mouth. The mask is held on with ancient-looking leather straps, but the straps have no buckles or other obvious means of opening them. The first clue that one might have that this skull is no natural construction is that despite its mundane appearance, the skull, the mask, and the aged leather are impervious to any assault that has ever been levelled against them.

Activating the Skull requires an expenditure of 10 motes of essence. These motes become committed, and remain so until the Skull becomes dormant again. The activator cannot voluntarily shut the Skull down and reclaim his essence! Even his death will not deactivate the Skull of Mu'Ray: only the destruction of its body will achieve that. Upon commitment of the motes, the skull will begin to darken. Over the course of about five minutes, it will turn completely black. Once this has occurred, the commitment is complete and the Skull is active. The exact effects of this depend on whether it is in Creation or the Underworld.

Creation
In Creation, the Skull collects bones. After activation, bones within about ten yards of the skull will begin to be attracted to it by an almost-magnetic force. Upon contacting the skull, the bones will turn black and become absorbed into the general mass of skeletal pieces. Once enough pieces are present, the bones will animate and form a body that the Skull of Mu'Ray will animate. Bones equivalent to a single human skeleton will give it the following basic stats:

Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2
Appearance 0, Manipulation 0, Charisma 0 (The Skull doesn't interact on any meaningful social level)
Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Perception 3

Brawl 5, Stealth 3, Endurance 5, Resistance 5.

Compassion 0, Conviction 5, Temperance 5, Valour 5. As an undead creature, the Skull cannot fail Valour rolls. Essence 4, Willpower 10 Soak: 12B/11L/10A

 (Magically Hardened Bones, +10B/+10L)

Health Levels -0/-0/-0/-1/-2/-4/Inc

Each additional human's worth of bones grants the Skull two extra dots of physical stats or a Lunar-style Gift. Each body also grants it an additional -0 health level. The body it builds varies each time, and it has been known to adapt its construction to defeat persistent enemies. Strikes from its magically hardened limbs deal aggravated damage to spirits, ghosts, demons and the Fair Folk.

Once animated, the Skull of Mu'Ray obeys the will of whoever activated it. If left alone, it will seek out more bones to add to its mass and kill anyone who crosses its path that it thinks it can handle - and add their bones to its structure. If reduced to Incapacitated, the skull reverts to normal colour, the motes are uncommited, and the rampage ends.

Underworld In the Underworld, the process is much the same. However, there are two key differences. Firstly, the Skull is not subject to the will of its activator so long as it is in the Underworld. Secondly, it can feed off ghostly corpus the same way it can feed off bones in Creation. For every three health levels it inflicts, it gains the same benefits as if it had absorbed a human's worth of bones. Its appearance remains much the same - a conglomeration of blackened bones - but it sometimes gains tattered rags, whispering shadow strands and other ephemeral effects if it feeds off enough ghosts.

Comments

I wonder what would happen if the Skull of Mu'Ray defeated and ate a Bone Lion... - [[Falcon|F]