Soulstone
Spell, Black Magic, level 7
Traps a victim's life essence in an inscribed perfect gem, turning the body to dust; the holder gains half its hit points or one of its abilities and may question it monthly. If the stone breaks, the freed victim hunts its captor.
From the book
Captures and exploits a creature's life essence; arch demons, arch devils, guardians and godlike beings are immune. The caster needs a flawless gem of 10,000 G.P. or more, and spends two full weeks engraving the victim's name and arcane symbols on it.
The caster produces the stone before the victim and reads out its engraving; within a few words the victim feels their life draining into it. A demon or devil targeted this way will at once offer a service in return for mercy and the stone. The victim may save vs Will; success shatters the gem into worthless pieces and ends the spell.
On a failure the essence enters the gem and the empty body turns to dust. The caster may immediately take either half the victim's hit points or one of its abilities or attributes, such as great strength, magic resistance or flight, which lasts only while the stone is held. Once a month the holder may put one question to the trapped essence, which must answer honestly.
Unless broken, the stone never loses its power; breaking it frees the victim in bodily form, and it will then hunt down and kill its captor. A caster can never own more than one Soulstone of their own making, though others can be obtained by theft, purchase and so on.
At a glance
- Components
- Perfect gem worth at least 10,000 G.P. inscribed with victim's name and symbols
- Casting time
- Two weeks to prepare the stone
- Limits
- Not vs arch demons, arch devils, guardians or deific beings; a caster may own only one Soulstone of their own making
- Effect
- Gain 1/2 victim's hit points or one ability while holding the stone; one truthful answer per month
- Save
- As stated above (vs Will; success shatters the stone)
- Spell type
- Non-variable
- Duration
- Permanent unless the stone is shattered
A scene
For two weeks the necromancer Harith has engraved a flawless ruby worth a small kingdom with the name of a Jinn and a thousand crawling symbols. At last he faces the creature in the desert beyond Ispahan and reads the engraving aloud. The Jinn staggers, feeling its essence drain away, and cries out, offering service after service in exchange for mercy. Harith keeps reading. The Jinn's body collapses into a heap of fine sand, and the ruby in his hand burns warm with the power of flight.