Mask...

Lorveer's Mask

Lorveer's Mask

Psyche:  8, INT:  12, Willpower: 23 , Morale: 6 (can be improved by wearer's CHAR bonus, as hireling/henchman)
AL C, AC 3, HD 6 (withstands 40 hp damage before crumpling into a sizzling, green mess of molten metal that slowly flows from one plane to another for the next 1d100 years.)
Communication: Telepathy (only with wearer).
Languages: Crowmish, Viletongue, Wermik (Lesser and Casting-Cant), Sibillant. Note: No other languages can be used by wearer while the thing is in-place. The mask does not recognize them as legitimate forms of speech.
Detection Powers: See Invisible, Detect/See Magic, Discern Intangible, all at will, while mask is worn. Wearer can attack or perform spells normally while using these abilities, as they are considered to be always in effect. Darkness and Continual Darkness have no effect on the wearer of this mask.
Spell-Like Powers: Clairaudience (up to three times per day, but must remain stationary), ESP (up to twice a day, but cannot perform any other action while in use), Vision of Other Planes (once per day).
Other Powers: Wearer gains +2 bonus to Saves versus other-planar effects and is rendered immune to draining attacks from undead under 10 HD. When worn, the mask grants the wearer a +4 bonus to their AC, but also forbids them to wear anything heavier than studded leather. Those who don this mask can never use Holy Word ever again, if it was in their repertoire. The wearer can negotiate with the mask to perform Plane Shift. Details of such an arrangement are left up to the parties so involved.

Vain, ancient and not entirely of the same plane upon which it was discovered, Lorveer's Mask has wandered across numberless regions and zones of consciousness and experience, and it will tell you all about it, if you prove yourself worthy of its hard-won wisdom and guidance. Fashioned from seamless panels of hammered and burnished Plattnerized brass over a thin layer of lead and lined with a speckled violet and gray fuzz, the mask is very comfortable, once it allows itself to be worn. The single eye-gem takes some getting used-to, but it provides excellent depth perception, despite being cyclopean--literally--the eye-gem is a crystallized cyclope's eye. At least that's what the current lore surrounding this mask asserts.

There is a growing body of information regarding this particular relic-mask. Mostly this consists of warnings and advice along the lines of what former wearers wished they had done way back when they had the chance. Even the most scathing reviews and critical assessments of this mask agree that the thing is quite good at what it chooses to do, what it is interested in doing, and completely terrible at all else. Willful, stubborn and highly opinionated, Lorveer's Mask tends to be egotistical and very restrictive, always setting conditions and requiring negotiation for every little thing, unless one can overcome its vaunted ego or break its will. Many have tried, few have succeeded. Those that have made the mask a partner or colleague have gone on to impressive things, but then they also left the mask behind once they got there. Many modern scholars consider entering into an arrangement with this mask to be a means to an end. One should probably have an end in mind before taking it up. Or not.

No one claims any real expertise in dealing with this uppity mask from beyond. The most common practice is to use the thing for a specific task, rite or ritual, then hand it off to some other sucker host. It is sometimes passed-off as a gift to students deemed to be getting too big for their britches.

Upon encountering Lorveer's Mask for the fist time, each person involved should perform a Reaction Roll as though they were a potential retainer. A negative result causes the Mask to remain inert and disinterested in the character. Any further attempts (limited to one fresh attempt every 1d4 days) will require some sort of sacrifice or offering before-hand. All subsequent failures at this Reaction Roll will result in the Mask using one of its powers to cause mischief (30%). There is a cumulative 10% chance of it teleporting away with each failed attempt.

On a successful Reaction Roll, Lorveer's Mask will deign to allow the character to wear it. The Mask grants the wearer a number of advantages, all of which it will point out in excruciating detail over the next hour or so. It will also specify the ground-rules as it desires things to be from now on. The wearer must then either accept the mask's dictates, or attempt to re-negotiate. Every sacrifice or offering given to the mask nets the wearer an additional +1 on their Reaction Rolls for one day.*

Surrendering the mask to another, potentially more worthy wearer (someone who rolled a good Reaction Roll), allows the former wearer to relinquish the mask with no ill effects. Should the new host fail their Reaction roll, the mask will inflict 2d6 damage on the current wearer and deny them use of the mask's powers and abilities for 1d4 hours. It cannot be removed during this time, however it can be removed afterwards. Each time the mask is removed incurs a -1 penalty on subsequent Reaction Rolls. Every hour the mask goes without a host wearing it also incurs an additional -1 penalty to Reaction Rolls. If the mask is abandoned, it will Plane Shift away...but it will never forget, nor forgive the one who abandoned it.

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*Appropriate sacrifices for Lorveer's Mask consist of feeding it werms, worms and anything similar. Each HD of worm-like thing fed to the mask will placate it for an hour. It will also accept serpents, with some complaining and reluctance. It will not touch grubs. No one has discovered why it is reticent in this regard, at least not yet.

Glushigon's Mask

Glushigon's Mask

Psyche:  6, INT:  11, Willpower: 20 , Morale: starts at 3 (see below)
AL C, AC 4, HD 4 (withstands 22 hp damage before teleporting away in a cloud of Black Smoke)
Communication: Telepathy (only with wearer).
Languages: Aklo, Samakt, Ardushaim (Middle), Vruskive (Formal), Choft, Indruge (runic form), 1d4 random, additional languages picked-up from former hosts.
Detection Powers: See Invisible, Detect/See Magic, Read Languages, all at will, while mask is worn. Wearer cannot attack or perform spells while using these abilities.
Spell-Like Powers: Resist Black Smoke (special), Condense Black Smoke, Craft Black Ink, Cause Fear (twice per day), Sottrix's Six Clouds (once per day).
Other Powers: Wearer is rendered immune to Fear Effects.

When first encountered anyone inclined to attempt to take-up the Mask must make a Reaction Roll as though they were a potential retainer. A negative result causes the Mask to remain inert and disinterested in the character. Any further attempts (limited to one fresh attempt every week) will require some sort of sacrifice or offering before-hand. All subsequent failures at this Reaction Roll will result in the Mask spewing forth a toxic cloud of Black Smoke with a cumulative 20% chance of it teleporting away.

On a successful Reaction Roll Glushigon's Mask will allow the character to don it. The Mask grants the wearer AC 4, as though clad in fine Chain-Mail, whether they wear armor or go naked; it is of no matter to the Mask. While wearing the Mask, one need not fear the Black Smoke, as the Mask grants a limited immunity to it as well as a sort of mastery over the dreadful stuff. The Mask consumes Black Smoke, causing it to condense into a glossy black fluid that the Mask transmutes into a magically efficacious, but no less highly toxic Black Ink. The Mask will, if requested (and perhaps offered some sort of incentive), teach the wearer some version of a spell that will mimic one or more of its spell-like powers, including a means of crafting the Black Ink.

The Mask is notoriously fickle and will require regular 'readings*,' as well as occasional fumigations in the smoke of dried cave-squids, the rendered fat of octopoidal-beings, or equivalent substances derived from similar creatures...or by immersing it in a cloud of Black Smoke. The Mask suffers a -1 penalty to Morale for every day it feels 'neglected.' Each 'reading,' or fumigation will restore 1d4 all-too temporary points to the Mask's Morale. Even on the best of days, the Mask suffers the loss of 1 Morale point, mostly due to its innate pessimistic outlook. Should the Mask's morale drop below 3, it will teleport away in a cloud of Black Smoke.

Should a wearer of the Mask discover themselves suddenly an ex-wearer, they immediately suffer 3d6 points of damage as the accumulated traces of Black Smoke saturating them is released. They retain any spells taught to them by the Mask, but suffer a permanent -2 penalty to all Saves versus Black Smoke or other, similar Vaporous Horrors or gas attacks.

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*By 'readings,' the Mask is referring to scrolls or texts of copied and transcribed spells that are given over to it. By 'reading' these spells, the Mask consumes them, effectively destroying the scroll, or removing it from a spell-book. These spells are permanently lost, though it is conjectured that the Mask does in fact retain the spells deep inside itself, but no one has unlocked a reliable method for getting the thing to share any of these spells, despite several fairly clever attempts.