The Demented One
2007-07-12, 09:22 PM
Bloodbath of Eternal Youth
The Bloodbath of Eternal Youth is a powerful artifact, first created centuries ago by a vile priestess of Nerull, nicknamed the Queen of Blood, who sought to live forever. She slaughtered her seven sons, and bartered their souls with devils and demons in exchange for the secrets required to create the Bloodbath. In the centuries following, a handful of evil mages have been mad enough to make similar sacrifices, creating their own Bloodbaths. The Bloodbath appears to be an ornate bathing tub of black steel, set around its rim with flawless rubies. Various occult sigils are carved into its bottom; symbols of death and rebirth.
To use the Bloodbath, one must first fill it with the blood of sentient, good-aligned creatures that were willfully killed, though not necessarily by the user. The creatures must be younger than the user is, and they cannot be older than one-half of the age required for them to reach their highest age category. The blood must be taken from the creatures while it is still warm, within an hour of their deaths. It takes the blood of four Medium creatures, eight Small creatures, or one Large creature to fill the tub. Once the Bloodbath has been filled, the user must bathe in it for four hours. Once this ritual is completed and the user emerges from the Bloodbath, her body undergoes reverse aging, becoming one year younger. If this aging causes her to regress an age category, she loses any penalties to physical ability scores from her prior age category, but does not lose the corresponding bonuses to mental ability scores. The Bloodbath cannot reduce its user’s age to below one year.
However, there is a cost to be payed for using a Bloodbath. No one who has ever used one can ever truly die. Any character that uses a Bloodbath cannot be resurrected by any form of magic, except artifacts and direct divine intervention. In addition, if a user is killed, then 1d6 hours later, she rises from the dead as a ghoul. Even if she is destroyed as a ghoul, she continues to reanimate indefinitely, eternally undead. There is only one way to free the user of a Bloodbath from this curse. One must kill the user, and cremate the remains. Her ashes must then be mixed with holy water in the same Bloodbath that she used, and a miracle, or wish spell must be cast to free her from the curse. Once this has been done, she ceases to reanimate as an undead, and can be reanimated normally.
Strong Necromancy, CL 20th. Minor Artifact.
The Bloodbath of Eternal Youth is a powerful artifact, first created centuries ago by a vile priestess of Nerull, nicknamed the Queen of Blood, who sought to live forever. She slaughtered her seven sons, and bartered their souls with devils and demons in exchange for the secrets required to create the Bloodbath. In the centuries following, a handful of evil mages have been mad enough to make similar sacrifices, creating their own Bloodbaths. The Bloodbath appears to be an ornate bathing tub of black steel, set around its rim with flawless rubies. Various occult sigils are carved into its bottom; symbols of death and rebirth.
To use the Bloodbath, one must first fill it with the blood of sentient, good-aligned creatures that were willfully killed, though not necessarily by the user. The creatures must be younger than the user is, and they cannot be older than one-half of the age required for them to reach their highest age category. The blood must be taken from the creatures while it is still warm, within an hour of their deaths. It takes the blood of four Medium creatures, eight Small creatures, or one Large creature to fill the tub. Once the Bloodbath has been filled, the user must bathe in it for four hours. Once this ritual is completed and the user emerges from the Bloodbath, her body undergoes reverse aging, becoming one year younger. If this aging causes her to regress an age category, she loses any penalties to physical ability scores from her prior age category, but does not lose the corresponding bonuses to mental ability scores. The Bloodbath cannot reduce its user’s age to below one year.
However, there is a cost to be payed for using a Bloodbath. No one who has ever used one can ever truly die. Any character that uses a Bloodbath cannot be resurrected by any form of magic, except artifacts and direct divine intervention. In addition, if a user is killed, then 1d6 hours later, she rises from the dead as a ghoul. Even if she is destroyed as a ghoul, she continues to reanimate indefinitely, eternally undead. There is only one way to free the user of a Bloodbath from this curse. One must kill the user, and cremate the remains. Her ashes must then be mixed with holy water in the same Bloodbath that she used, and a miracle, or wish spell must be cast to free her from the curse. Once this has been done, she ceases to reanimate as an undead, and can be reanimated normally.
Strong Necromancy, CL 20th. Minor Artifact.