Gravetaker Sphere (Lorestone)
Properties
Magical properties
Description
Weathered carvings of constellations, suns, and planets cover the surface of this ancient, melon-sized stone sphere.
This obsidian sphere is cool and unpleasantly clammy to the touch, feeling more like dead flesh than stone. Its layers detail processes of rot and decay, the final resting places of certain ancient druids, and rituals designed to exhume the ancient dead. A harmonized possessor can use expeditious excavation five times per day. Additionally, if the harmonized possessor (DC 35) is evil, she can use animate dead to animate a Medium or smaller humanoid once per day, although after 24 hours a creature animated this way collapses into carrion that cannot be animated again.
This lorestone currently lies in the hunting grounds of a fiendish quickwood (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 228) east of the gnome city of Wispil in the Verduran Forest.
Lorestones
Lorestones are dense encyclopedias of natural lore carved in stone. The surface of a lorestone is engraved with constellations and celestial markers, such as the orbits of planets. This astronomical information is only the first gateway to the knowledge encoded upon the sphere. Creatures who study the stone and succeed at a DC 20 Knowledge (nature) check identify inconsistencies and unusual prominences in the sky map, and realize that the sky map conceals information about weather patterns and seasonal changes, like a visual almanac. This climatic information also hides deeper truths; a reader who identifies this hidden information can attempt a DC 25 Knowledge (nature) check to identify omissions and emphases that indicate further concealed information. A lorestone might have several successive layers of information, regarding such things as plant reproductive cycles, aquatic landscapes, and druidic rituals, but the Knowledge (nature) check necessary to unlock each subsequent layer increases by 5.
A successful DC 30 or higher Knowledge (nature) check, as defined with each lorestone, allows a reader in possession of the stone to identify a unique path along the sphere. If the reader traces this path with a finger or other appendage, she harmonizes with the stone. After being harmonized with the user for 24 hours, that lorestone grants her special benefits. These benefits are retained until a new creature harmonizes with the stone, which ends all previous harmonizations. Reharmonizing requires a reader to be in possession of the stone and again succeed at the required skill check, although the reader gains a +5 bonus on the checks because of her familiarity with the stone.
History
All documented lorestones were crafted by the druids of the Verduran Forest. As the most recently crafted lorestones are centuries old, it's unclear whether the druids currently active in the region have lost the skills needed to create lorestones or have simply chosen to not do so.
All lorestones have constellation patterns concealing climatic information, but the stones' deeper layers of knowledge—and the magical effects unlocked through harmonization—differ based on the specific lorestone.
Legacy
Lorestones provide a wealth of information, but only the truly knowledgeable can unlock the full potential of one of these ancient stones.
A Druidic Tradition: Issian explorers venturing into Iobaria returned with tales that the druids of Fangard carried large round stones carved with constellation-like patterns. The explorers were not able to examine the spheres to ascertain whether these stones are lorestones like those crafted by Verduran Forest druids, but some druidic connection seems likely.
Crafting requirements
Crafting cost: 7000 gp
Craft Wondrous Item, commune with nature, creator must speak Druidic, creator must have 15 ranks in Knowledge (nature)See also
Sources
- Lost Treasures
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