JohnBiles/ArtifactsSesusNybraxus

The Artifacts of Lord Sesus Nybraxus

The now deceased Lord Sesus Nybraxus loved to adventure and loved comfort. These artifacts helped him to have the best of both worlds.

Ice Chest (Level 1 Artifact)

Appearance: A four foot long, two foot deep, three feet wide chest made of mahogany inlaid with blue jade. It has two compartments. The left compartment is three feet long, the right compartment is one foot long. The two compartments can be secured shut in order to minimize transportation accidents, or padlocks can be applied to actually lock them.

Essence: Spend 2 essence a day to keep it running

Powers:

• The left compartment keeps food cold; the right compartment is chilled below the freezing point.

History:

The Ice Chest was created several hundred years ago for the use of Lord Sesus Nybraxus, who enjoyed hunting and wilderness exploration, but also liked his comforts. It was one of several devices he commissioned to enable him to take his comforts with him.

Lord Nybraxus, unfortunately, was killed on one of his hunting expeditions in the northeastern Threshold, and all of his artifacts were lost. They have since turned up in many different places. (Certain rumors claim he was killed by something which then cooked him in his own magic oven, but no one knows the truth.)

Insect Lure (Level 1 Artifact)

Appearance: A five foot tall, one foot thick pillar of red jade. It can be seperated into five one foot sections for transport; each screws into the one above it. It comes with a small tripod stand to slot it into.

Essence: 1 mote of Essence per scene

Powers:

• When activated, the pillar attracts every sort of insect that can see it; once they reach it, it flares up with flames and burns them to death if they are tiny normal insects. While it can be used to lure giant insects, it does not do this very well. It must pit its mighty willpower of 3 vs. their willpower; if they lose, they will feel compelled to approach and touch it, at which point it flares up, and they must make a Stamina + Resistance roll, taking two Lethal damage if they fail it. This will probably only annoy them and allows them to make another willpower roll against the pillar to break free. Once an insect has resisted the lure, it need not check again until the next scene.

History:

The Insect Lure was created several hundred years ago for the use of Lord Sesus Nybraxus, who enjoyed hunting and wilderness exploration, but also liked his comforts. It was one of several devices he commissioned to enable him to take his comforts with him.

Lord Nybraxus, unfortunately, was killed on one of his hunting expeditions in the northeastern Threshold, and all of his artifacts were lost. They have since turned up in many different places. (Certain rumors claim he was killed by something which then cooked him in his own magic oven, but no one knows the truth.)

The Black Jade Canteen (Level 1 Artifact)

Appearance: A canteen crafted from black jade. One side of it shows a vinyard, the other side a great waterfall

Essence: 1 mote of Essence per use

Powers:

• When activated, the canteen transmutes any potable liquid within it into wine. (It will not, unfortunately, transmute out any taints or poisons, so choose your water carefully.

History:

The Black Jade Canteen was created several hundred years ago for the use of Lord Sesus Nybraxus, who enjoyed hunting and wilderness exploration, but also liked his comforts. It was one of several devices he commissioned to enable him to take his comforts with him.

Lord Nybraxus, unfortunately, was killed on one of his hunting expeditions in the northeastern Threshold, and all of his artifacts were lost. They have since turned up in many different places. (Certain rumors claim he was killed by something which then cooked him in his own magic oven, but no one knows the truth.)

Life Raft (Level 2 Artifact)

Appearance: Compacted, it is a small yellow bundle of folded cloth. Inflated, it is an oval yellow life-raft which seems to be made out of magically strengthened tarpaulin.

Essence: Commit 5 essence to be able to use powers at will, or expend 1 essence per power used.

Powers:

• Can convert between a full-sized life-raft which seats eight and a small backpack-portable version on command
• Adds +4 dice to any Sail and Survival rolls made by passengers

History:

The Life Raft was created several hundred years ago for the use of Lord Sesus Nybraxus, who enjoyed hunting and wilderness exploration, but also liked his comforts. Unlike most of his artifacts, it was an emergency device instead of a source of comforts.

Lord Nybraxus, unfortunately, was killed on one of his hunting expeditions in the northeastern Threshold, and all of his artifacts were lost. They have since turned up in many different places. (Certain rumors claim he was killed by something which then cooked him in his own magic oven, but no one knows the truth.)

Red Jade Oven (Level 2 Artifact)

Appearance: The Red Jade Oven is a small box made of red jade with a tinted glass window in the side which opens to allow food to be placed on one of the two metal shelves inside for cooking.

Essence: Commit 5 essence to be able to use powers at will, or expend 1 essence per power used.

Powers:

• Can convert between a full-sized oven and a small backpack-portable version on command (best you wait for it to cool off, though...)
• Adds +4 dice to Craft (Cooking)
• Does not need fuel; it draws Essence from its environment and converts it into heat as needed
• Contains a timer which can be set to heat at X degrees for Y amount of time

History:

The Red Jade Oven was created several hundred years ago for the use of Lord Sesus Nybraxus, who enjoyed hunting and wilderness exploration, but also liked his comforts. It was one of several devices he commissioned to enable him to take his comforts with him.

Lord Nybraxus, unfortunately, was killed on one of his hunting expeditions in the northeastern Threshold, and all of his artifacts were lost. They have since turned up in many different places. (Certain rumors claim he was killed by something which then cooked him in his own magic oven, but no one knows the truth.)

Nybraxus' Instant Pavillion (Level 3 Artifact)

Appearance: Compacted, it is a blue bundle of cloth with a backpack-style carry bag. Opened to full extent, it is a sky blue, 50' long, 30' wide pavillion tent.

Essence: Commit 5 essence to be able to use powers at will, or expend 1 essence per power used.

Powers:

• Compacts into a backpack-sized carrying case or unfolds into a 50' long, 30' wide pavillion tent on command
• The interior of the tent is magically lit; the lanterns at the four corners of the tent on the exterior radiate light bright as sunlight for 100 feet, then as bright as torchlight for another hundred, when lit.
• The air inside the tent magically circulates and refreshes itself, adding perfumes so that it always smells nice, and removing undesired smells
• The pavillion contains enough tables, chairs, and place settings for forty people; you will need to supply your own food and drink. The place settings and furniture clean themselves magically whenever the pavillion is compacted. Place settings and furniture removed from the tent evaporate after a few minutes, and reappear the next time the pavillion is opened up after being compacted.
• Whoever (if anyone) has committed Essence to the Pavillion gains a +4 die bonus to Performance, Presence, and Socialize rolls made while inside it. He can choose to grant this bonus to someone else for as long as they are inside the pavillion. (Lord Nybraxus used this power to improve the performances by his minstrels.)

History:

The Instant Pavillion was created several hundred years ago for the use of Lord Sesus Nybraxus, who enjoyed hunting and wilderness exploration, but also liked his comforts. It was one of several devices he commissioned to enable him to take his comforts with him.

Lord Nybraxus, unfortunately, was killed on one of his hunting expeditions in the northeastern Threshold, and all of his artifacts were lost. They have since turned up in many different places. (Certain rumors claim he was killed by something which then cooked him in his own magic oven, but no one knows the truth.)

The Instant Pavillion was last seen in the possession of a merchant, Tylin Harrack, near Gethsamane. His caravan left that city thirty two years ago, and was never seen again; many suspect some Fair Folk lord likely now uses it to hold court.

Nybraxus' Self-Playing Orchestra (Level 4 Artifact)

Appearance: The self-playing orchestra is a collection of very finely made instruments which incorporate jade and soul steel into their decorations and trim; some of them are made entirely of jade or soulsteel, while others are chiefly made of expensive woods. It takes a dozen large boxes (all made of blue jade) to transport all the instruments, of which there are thirty eight, ranging from trumpets to flutes to sanxians. Roughly a third of them are instruments no longer used in the Second Age for a variety of reasons.

Essence: 10 motes to turn on a normal performance; extra to produce special effects

Powers:

• When the Essence is spent, each of the instruments of the orchestra rises into the air, and a spectral musician appears who begins to play the instrument. The musicians are quite brilliant in skill, and the orchestra effectively rolls 9 dice for all of its performances. The orchestra will play for a number of hours equal to the Essence rating of the person who spent the motes to activate it.
• In addition to normal music, the Orchestra can be commanded to play mood music. This requires someone to donate an extra ten essence to the Orchestra to fuel the effect. If this is done, everyone listening to the music must pit their willpower against the Orchestra's 9 dice of skill. If he loses, he will be filled with the emotion to be conveyed by an amount proportional to how badly he lost the struggle. (If the Orchestra beat him by 1, it's quite mild, whereas a 5 success margin of victory for the Orchestra overwhelms their minds with the emotion.)
• At a cost of five essence, one of the instruments can be empowered to grant a +4 die bonus to Performance for one scene to anyone who plays it, instead of calling up the spectral musician.
• When loaded into their carrying cases, the expenditure of 10 essence will cause the carrying cases to rise about a foot off the ground and trail after the person who spent the essence; they can move at up to the speed of a horse. After eight hours of travel, they will sink to the ground and need a recharge.

History:

The actual origins of the Self-Playing Orchestra remains unclear, as Lord Sesus Nybraxus, who found it in a First Age ruins during a hunting trip in the north-eastern Threshold, didn't bother to make much of an effort to determine its origins. Later owners were able to identify the maker's mark on all of the instruments as that of the Musician's Guild of Twerog, a minor city of the First Age noted for its skillful musicians.

Lord Nybraxus loved his self-playing orchestra and dragged it with him on all of his hunting and wilderness exploration trips, as he was a man who loved music and tried to keep his comforts, even in the wilderness. It was one of many items he typically took with him. Lord Nybraxus, unfortunately, was killed on one of his hunting expeditions in the northeastern Threshold, and all of his artifacts were lost. They have since turned up in many different places. (Certain rumors claim he was killed by something which then cooked him in his own magic oven, but no one knows the truth.)