Lifeforge

"Well, I suppose he couldn't take it anymore. Those Tombladors are known to be harsh to their workers. Gastin was a tough one, but even the toughest can only take so much before the rage takes them. But he went down swinging, that is for sure. Savastes would be proud."

"What's this, you've never heard of Savastes? Well, grab an ale and have a seat."

"Savastes was Andropinis's master blacksmith. This was, oh, over a hundred years ago. My father told me the tale, and his father's father was the first to tell it. A mul slave, Savastes worked in the bowels of the White Palace, working the forge to all those weapons for The Tyrant and his templars."

"Now Savastes was already a legendary smith - his skills at the forge were legendary. But you know how our Tyrant was, may the suns keep him far from here. Always wanting more, he was. Ordinary blades of stone and obsidian, even steel, weren't good enough. So he worked his evil magic. I don't know what he did to poor Savastes, but it was something especially nasty."

"The next anyone saw of the smith, he came barreling out of the White Palace, his hammer swinging. He fled from his prison, knocking templars left and right and made it all the way down to the city. Andropinis was furious - he killed a few more templars himself after his prize got away. But you know, they never did find him. Don't know where he could have gone to, but he just vanished."

Andropinis was always in need of superior weapons in his battles against the giant and the occasional incursions by the armies of bandits and other sorcerer-kings. His magical experiments led him to the creation of the Lifeforge, a wicked creation consisting of three distinct yet interconnected pieces: The anchor, the life spikes, and the forge hammer.

The life spikes are thin obsidian spikes six inches long. These spikes are rammed into the chests if sacrificial victims. The spikes are not placed in vital organs - the purpose is not to kill the victim outright, but to drain them slowly.

The forge hammer is a large hammer of iron and obsidian. The hammer is used like any other hammer in blacksmithing - to strike against the steel of a weapon being forged. The true power of the hammer is to transfer the energy of those in whom a life spike is embedded and transfer it into the weapon being created.

The final piece is the anchor, is a fist-sized chunk of diamond-shaped obsidian. The anchor is embedded at the base of the blacksmith's neck, and it is the key to transferring the life energies of those in whom the spikes were embedded, through the forge hammer, and into the item being worked by the hammer.

When the life spike is stuck into a victim, they take 2d4 points of damage. No other effects occur until the smith connected to the anchor beginning hammering with the life forge. At that time, the victim must make a DC 25 Fort save to resist the effects of the spike. A failed save means they take 1d4 points of Constitution damage as their life force is ripped from them by the forging process. When a victim reaches a Constitution score of 0, they die.

The smith must make a DC 20 Blacksmith check in order to successfully create the item, thus only skilled blacksmiths are “blessed” with an anchor . Every ten points of Constitution damage pulled from the victim gives an item a +1 bonus. Defilers and those gifted with The Way often work with the forger to further enhance the item being created.

Whomever uses the Lifeforge may also become its victim. Upon insertion into the smith, the anchor forces the receiver to make a DC 20 Will Save take 1 point of Wisdom damage. Every time a victim dies from the Lifeforge, there is a 5% chance of further damage to the blacksmith. They must make a DC 20 Will Save or take 1d4 points of Wisdom damage as the energy is directed from the victim, through the anchor, and into the forged item.

Wisdom damage cannot be healed while the anchor is embedded in the smith. As the anchor drains the smith's mind, they begin to lose grip on reality. If the smith's Wisdom scores drops to 3 or below, they must make an additional Will save (DC 25) or go permanently insane. Should a smith’s Wisdom drop to 0, they become completely mindless, their brains unable to support even basic functions, and they die.