Blood Chalice
'Malghoul Etra Galad Morta, Malghoul Etra Galad Morta!' This booming chant repeats itself over and over; I clutch my head wishing it to end. Physically it doesn't cause me pain, but my brain seems to want to explode from some unseen pressure. Wait something is happening, the bloodied mist has finally settled and I feel refreshed from my hard days. I wonder what this bloodied chalice has in store for me.
-Torren Wayhon, Adventurer, lost soul
Description
The entire cup is made from an exquisite gold that has a deep red shade to its luster. Blood pearls adorn the outside in moderation, giving it a slightly top heavy feel to it. The side of the chalice is covered with etchings of demonic winged things seemingly drinking from fountain sized holes in the calices surface.
The stem of the chalice is hand sized and bounded in wrapped leather, softened and colored a deep red that accents the blood pearls with near perfection. Inside the cups surface, a scene of transformation of one offering a gift to an idol which then is devoured by more of the demonic things, only to be reborn in a bathing of liquid, assumingly blood.
History
The blood chalice was found in a crumbled ruin of a temple found in the southern marshes. The jungle having overgrown the entire complex it was lost for ages. Little was found within other than the blood chalice. A half destroyed mural on a crumbled wall ages behind an stone alter. Scenes depicting the owner of the chalice to be without death but only while owning the chalice. After years of study and research it has been found to be wrong, or at least incomplete in explaining the entire process. The chalice rests center of the alter in a small depression.
It is written that if ones empties their blood into the chalice it will instantly begin to mist and form a torrent of swirling vapor. A deep booming voice erupts from the miasma of blood only to be heard by the giver of blood. An unknown dialect beats down the walls of the mind until insanity nearly closes over the victim 'Malghoul Etra Galad Morta' this repeats over and over again until the blood finally settles and peace sits calm in the chalice filled with blood.
As long as the givers blood resides in the cup, they will regenerate any and all injuries, up to and including some death. As long as the body is not destroyed will they regenerate. This regeneration is slow but it none-the-less gives them an immortal appearance. Within a few days they will be able to heal most injuries except death, which can take up to a week or longer. However, if the chalice is ever emptied or spilled the subject dies near instantly.
They feel a change and an urgency as if something is wrong. They have only a few hours to refill the chalice again with their own blood or they are lost. The only way to reclaim the blood without risking death is to drink it out of the cup. If they are unable to refill the chalice, the feeling of being burned and torn from their insides is present, and then their body crumples with their blood pooling from every openning.
The regeneration will grow new limbs but cutting off the head or piercing the heart will kill someone under its effects. The destroying of the heart or the missing of the head are usually the only two injuries which can not regenerate.
Magic/ Cursed Properties
While the regenerative properties seem over powering and are highly sought after by those who know little of the real properties of the chalice, the effects it brings on the owner do not seem to compare.
Once the giver of blood lets a single drop of their blood hit the chalice they are the property of the creator of the chalice. A fallen priest of Aduivo that calls himself Dougaele created this chalice when his new deity, Sethalis, transformed him into one of the powerful Souless. Anyone who places their sanguine into the chalice is bonded to Dougaele unknowingly; even their death does not stop this bonding.
Once their final death is done, whether they are beheaded or the chalice is spilled, Dougaele sends a calling to their soul which stops it from crossing over. The now soul trapped are tormented by Dougaele and either returned to a partial living form, or given another body to inhabit until their usefulness is complete.
Once the path is traveled, darkness is inevitable for their fate. Even the most repentant men have failed to atone for their crime against their god by using this tool of blood and darkness.
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? Responses (9)
Likeable, but a bit Highlanderish.
Curious how is it highlanderish?
The beheading bit is like in the film Highlander.
so it can regenerate someone from the dead within a span of three days, heal grevious wounds in 1, but piercing the heart or removing the head results in instant and irreversible death? While this might echo the traditional vampire weaknesses, it really doesnt fit into the idea of a demon fueled cup of immortality. I like the concept of spilling the cup as being a way to kill a nearly unstoppable foe.
This could create a new new facet to a game where the PC have to find a way to eliminate a foe they can't kill.
I enjoyed the imagery in this one, especially the paragraph describing the blood going into the bowl and the bit about spilling said blood. This piece is nicely atmospheric. Good work!
Aside, I could of sworn I commented on this before
I like the presentation of the cup, that is nicely done. And the history of as well. I am a little less enthused about the abiolities of the cup and the related parts. Still a nicely done post.
I see where everyone is leading with the powers of the chalice... this will be fixed.
Altered the time effects of the healing. Made it a little less over powering as healing does not seem instant.
A very Robert E Howard item.
The Blood Chalice of the Black Priest of Stygia
Final scene has Conan lifting the Black priest, with sword, dagger and other wounds aplenty, being hurtled bodily onto his own altar, upsetting the chalice and splashing his life's blood over the floor.
His own ghoulish followers, following their own infernal appetites, fall upon the spilled feast while the priest lies, broken and in his death throes.