MEGadungeon: some items and abilities
A handful of items and abilities from my MEGadungeon campaign. I've done my best to make them fairly system-neutral, but you might see some lingering 5e-isms. Oops!
Amphisbaenian Box
Iron box containing a fleshy snake with two heads, one at the top and one in the direction of the tail. When it advances, as need for a forward movement impels it, it leaves one end behind to serve as tail, while the other it uses as a head. Then again if it wants to move backwards, it uses the two heads in exactly the opposite manner from what it did before.
The amphisbaena is essentially useless at self-defense. It is weak and can hardly move. Both of its heads chew unceasingly, each questing for a different food. One head desires wood or flesh; that which tastes of life. The other will consume plaster or stone as if it were as nutritious as a banquet. The amphisbaena is kept eternally writhing within its iron prison, both heads searching for edible substance: no matter which way it turns, it finds no reprieve from its hunger.
You can release the amphisbaena from its prison and direct one of its heads toward an edible surface. It will chew a one inch-wide, circular tunnel up to sixty feet deep. The amphisbaena burrows completely straight at a rate of one foot ten seconds. After sixty feet or if it reaches the end of the substance, it perishes, having gorged itself.
Alternatively, you can release the amphisbaena and direct one of its heads toward a creature made of an edible material within reach. The amphisbaena latches onto the target's skin like a remora. While on the target's skin, the amphisbaena can be killed by normal means or scraped off. Otherwise, the amphisbaena burrows under the target's skin within a few seconds, seeking out its heart. After finding the creature's heart and consuming it, the amphisbaena perishes, having gorged itself.
Atrox Equus
Silver warhammer with a head carved to resemble that of a fearsome horse. Its eyes are glittering rubies, its lips are pulled back to expose a snarl of silver teeth, and intricately-carved steam curls from its nostrils. Were it not so bright and gleaming, one might mistake the head for the real thing, impaled. Its haft is just as fine as its head, carved of bayberry wood encircled with bands of silver, each engraved with a herd of charging horses—some carry armored riders, some pull chariots, and some are wild and free.
When you wield Atrox Equus, you have the speed and momentum of a herd of wild stallions. On the charge, you count as a unit of cavalry unto yourself for the purposes of enemy morale.
Gorgon Mirror
Small glass mirror stored in a drawstring bag alongside a chisel-peen hammer. Its handle is carved in the guise of a beautiful woman dressed in aristocratic garb: the cursèd empress Valeria, wife of Julian the Beloved. Her hands cover her face—grotesque and inhuman, it is hidden beneath the mirror’s reflective glass.
Show someone their own reflection and then shatter the mirror with the hammer, revealing what lies underneath. They will be paralyzed with fright—while not damned to statuary, petrified nevertheless. Should it ever not still see the shattered mirror held aloft or have its attention undoubtedly drawn elsewhere (e.g., by being attacked), the creature can make a save to recollect itself.
Δ: Litany of Dragonsong
Throw yourself into the waves and risk your life in the storm. Witness Krataeis’s song and survive its performance.
You learn the coda to the Lament of Ages, known to some as the Song of All Time. The Litany of Dragonsong was once known to dragon cults across the world. In the face of an immortal dragon, who could not name it a god? Mother Kos, Slumbering Gotric, the Nameless Wyrm of World’s End: there were once many. Not so many remember in this age. Even fewer sing.
Nefas
A rough iron ring, unmarked. Once donned, the ring cannot be removed. The wearer cannot be touched by or produce magical effects—nor can they remove the ring without losing a finger. No effect can cause the finger to grow back. Such an unholy act must have a price knowingly paid.
Nightcrawler
Wickedly curved knife of a pale metal that reflects no light. Favored by killers who do their crimes by night. While wielding Nightcrawler, you have the ability to see in moonlight as if at high noon.
Relic Shavings
Off-white flakes suspended in a yellowish solution; bone floating in cod oil. A saint’s corpse, sent to the abattoir and packaged for consumption. Someone that consumes the shavings—by quaffing the oil—cannot be harmed by extraplanar creatures for the next hour. During this time, they appear as a celestial creature to any magical detection.
Alternatively, the liquid can be sprinkled on the ground over the course of a minute, where it can cover up to a five-foot-radius circle. The circle cannot be crossed by any extraplanar creature except for a celestial one, nor can it be crossed by the undead.
Skullcrusher
Simple warhammer made of black iron. Too simple to not conceal something greater—something awful. In a quiet room, one might hear whispers.
When you hit a creature with Skullcrusher, you may mark it for death with an iron hex. A marked creature may never hide from you. At any time if you can see the marked creature, you can consume the hex, teleport beside them, and immediately attack with Skullcrusher.
If you kill the marked creature, the hex is dispelled. Consuming the hex to teleport also dispels it—but be wary doing so, for while your original quarry still lives, you may never again mark another creature.
Snail in a Jar
Wine-colored snail that slowly locomotes around a tightly-sealed glass jar, leaving a thick trail that gives the jar a ruddy translucence.
Removed from the safety of its mucus-filled sanctum, the snail will die within minutes. Unhouse it a second time and consume the snail’s soft flesh before it does—the empty shell is yours to claim.
You and any of your choosing may open the lid and crawl inside—there will be room enough to fit you, and furniture enough to sit you. While inside the shell, you can hear muffled noise from outside and can vaguely detect any changes in light. Once you depart, you may never enter again.
Stardrop
Miniature diamond chit that burns to the touch like cold fire. To the eye, it glows with invisible light; the world sees no such illumination.
A star’s tear falls like rain on a cloudless night, caught in hands whose nerves were burned away long ago. Heretics and magicians trade their privacy for the prophecy of the stars, then call themselves priests.
A stardrop passes hands only when accepted honestly; the attention of many eyes follows the guiding beacon. Those that are watched are subtly preserved in support of incomprehensible ends. When the stardrop is kept on your person, you can call on the stars to reroll a die whose result you dislike. You must use the second roll. This property recharges when the first star of evening shows its face.
Histories speak of mythic priests with a single gleaming eye, their gaze dually human and inhuman. To sacrifice an eye for sight beyond sight is an ancient form of worship, and a permanent one. Things that have been seen cannot be unseen.
Δ: To See Is to Be Seen
Gouge out one of your eyes and replace it with a stardrop. Pledge your soul in unwavering service to the night sky. Go forth, O starry-eyed dreamer! Go forth, O useful fool! Go forth and make the world pristine!
To sacrifice an eye for sight beyond sight is an ancient form of worship, and a permanent one. Things that have been seen cannot be unseen. You gain wizard vision. You can see the history of everything within sight, so long as that thing has seen and been seen by the night sky. You cannot sleep without magical or pharmaceutical aid.
Stone Salve
Greyish paste akin to ground stone. To the touch, it is cool and viscous. Rubbed on that which was once someone, this salve restores life to a petrified creature.
Alternatively, a thick application of the salve to one’s own hands allows for the manipulation of stone as if it were wet clay. The salve dries in one hour and falls to the floor in flakes.
Swaggering Rapier
Piercing sword with a sharp, slender blade. This rapier’s leather pommel is stained with the sweat of a hundred swordsmen; this was the instructing blade of a swordmaster from Gallegos, used to train brave young men who wished to throw themselves head first into battle in the traditional manner. Eventually, the swordmaster sought inimitable danger himself: he found it in the Weeping City, and his death alongside it.
This sword remembers its past wielders and the fighting style practiced in Castile: a style of fencing centered around quick, daring movements with a single rapier. When you are wielding no other weapons and dance around the battlefield, the rapier grants you the technique of a master swordsman, even if you are untrained. However, when you contemplate or undertake a cowardly act—or even a neutral act, when a more daring option is available—the sword enhances the burning feelings of shame and guilt. The swordmaster’s spirit yet rages against your timidity.