Stormwalker's Eye
Magical gem that scrys storms, and allows the wielder to 'walk' them.
Full Item Description
The gem is a rectangular pyramid. The base is 2 inches in length and width. The point of the perimid is centered over the base, and rises 1 inch from the base. The base is smooth, clear and free of defects, while the pyramid is cloudy, as if sandblasted. Along the sides of the pyramid, dwarvish runes are inlaid with an optoelectric conductor (Gallium nitride). At the very top of the pyramid is a small rod of silver.
The runes spell out three different spells. There are no marks deliniating where one spell ends and the next begins. The spells progress from the top running left to right, spiraling to the base. The effects of the three spells, starting from the top are: Attract Lightning (wielder), Electrical immunity (wielder), and vertical force (wielder).
The gem is transparent, and has a light grey-blue hue. The flat base vaguely shows seens of storms. However, if the the gem is cupped by a persons hands, such that the base is exposed to light, while the pyramid is cupped in darkness. The images become much more vivid, and the holder can clearly make out the scene depicted in the image.
History
For a long time the Storm Gem (as the gem was once called) was just a curious dwarven oddity. It passed as a trinket through the hands of numerous Dwarven lords. But the forecasting of storms is of little practical use when you're a dwarven lord surrounded by the great stone walls of a mountain; so it was of no large importance when the gem was pilfered at night by a scheming dwarven rune master named Tolrus son of Glodo.
Tolrus had in mind a devilishly practical use for storm prediction. He wrote upon the gem three runes with Gallium Nitride mix. This mixture would allow power to flow in the runes only in certain conditions; Tolrus worked the mix to maximumize the effects for electrical storms, intense light and energy all at once - the kind that only a lightning bolt could provide. The semiconductor nature of the metal inlay permitted no effect otherwise; Tolrus' runes would only invoke with the application of a lightning bolt.
Using the gem's base, Tolrus could intercept storms. Whenever lightning struck the silver rod, it activated each of the runes. Granting Tolrus immunity to electricity, and launching him (slowly at first) into the air. With each successive lightning bolt, Tolrus rose higher and higher, attracting more and more lightning. By means of his hand covering the silver rod, Tolrus could control the rate of bolts, and ascend or descend in a haphazard manner. By angling his body, Tolrus had some control over his orientation.
It is unknown what happened to Tolrus, but the most popular legend is that he flew to high one day, and his frozen hands were unable to mainting grip in the cold wet storm. The stone and Tolrus fell to the earth. The stone was then recovered by parties unknown.
Magic/Cursed Properties
The base of the gem is clear, and always shows clearly the nearest storm.
The pyramid is inlaid with runes that can allow a person to attain flight. This is mixture of alchemy and magic. When lightning hits the silver lightning rod, the holder of them gem is granted immunity to lightning and pulled upwards into the air. Meanwhile the gem attracts even more lightning. By covering the rod and letting less power in, a person can safely descend.
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? Responses (11)
This was gearing toward a 3.5 from me but the added history of what possibly happened to Tolrus made me give this another .5
The thing about this is it is different. Not all magic items are made in a way to seem mundane and are, yet pull it off as being so abstract and ludadris to be interesting.
Who in their right mind woul set up a device to travel by lightning bolts? No one in their sane mind would. However it was done and in a somewhat believable manner.
Good job. I'm not sure how this fits into the shard quest though as this is a gem and not a piece of metal from the sword shards.
All Items are initially put into the quest and must be edited out. No fault of the submitter at all, a deficiency of the Quest system.
I don't recall the Shards quest specifically mentioning what the shards looked like. In this case the shard happens to look like a gem. You might feel thats a copout, but thats what I had intended to convey.
The shards are from the broken swords of the two gods, the Storm Queen and the Mad Lord of Avarice. They are shattered remnants of a divine weapon, a certain amount of power remains in these bits of celestial metal. If you could alter the description to fit the shards real concept it may suite very well with the Quest of the Shards of the Storm.
Cool.
4/5.
A crazy item and a good one.
That is a FUN item! Very creative too. Imagine the scene of somebody flying around amidst a lightning storm. I pictured something similiar to the person being the center of one of those lightning balls. I know players that would absolutely have a grand time with this puppy. Swooping through enemy ranks, wonder if how that would work out?
Indeed, I had visions of a dwarf arm upheld hurling through the storm. Its a cute trick.
Originally I had intended for it to be an Orcish item, since Orcs use dwarven runes for writing anyway, but I decided that an orc wouldn't have that kind of magic, and I would need to use shamanism rather than alchemy. It might have been made to work, but I think this is cooler still.
However, under the old shaman system I had imagined that not all bolts would hit the gem. Some would hit the ground below the shaman, which would be a devestating attack. Personally though, I wouldn't go this route, as it makes the item too powerful; instead the opposite is better, the rod attracts nearly all lightning, so the storm is harmless to those below the flyer.... those above the flyer are a different matter.
I have to agree, it is an interesting item. The history makes it more so.
Along the sides of the pyramid, dwarvish runes are inlaid with an optoelectric conductor (Gallium nitride)
yowser!
come back, Wildcooooorn!!!
An odd juxtaposition of the technical with the magic, and insanity. Great visuals!