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Thursday, December 31, 2009

Eye of the Demon (part II)

I wrote up the Eye of the Demon a few days ago, and a couple of comments on that post led me to write more about it.

The Eye of the Demon is no singular artifact, rather it is one of many such Eyes, each cast forth by the Watcher with a Thousand Eyes, a demonic being trapped within a binding circle beneath a long abandoned fortress, which is located upon a rocky island within a vast, steaming swamp. Over the centuries the Watcher has managed to find a tiny loophole in the seals that bind it, allowing it to send forth its Eyes, cast into the form of the previously described amulet.

Each use of an Eye of the Demon amulet has a 1% cumulative chance of alerting the Watcher to the fact that the amulet has been found. Once alerted the Watcher will establish a link to the amulet, allowing it to see whatever the Eye can see while it is in use. Once the link is established, each additional use of the Eye has a 1% cumulative chance of strengthening the link, which both adds to the Eye's powers and increases the Watcher's connection to its user. Note that once the link between the Eye and Watcher becomes active, the Watcher will be aware of who owns the amulet. Destroying the Eye (which can be accomplished by inflicting Great physical damage) will gain the Watcher's enmity for all time.

The following additional powers become available with each strengthening of the link:
  1. In addition to seeing what the Eye sees while it is active, the Watcher can view the area immediately surrounding the Eye at will.
  2. The Eye's wearer gains a enhanced vision, allowing them to see in the dark and pick out fine detail with a casual glance. Secret or hidden doors are easily spotted, and attempts to use sleight-of-hand or trickery against the wearer suffer a Fair penalty.
  3. The Watcher gains the ability to read the surface thoughts of whomever is wearing the Eye. This ability allows it to pick up the gist of conversations involving the wearer and learn their basic motivations and purpose.
  4. The wearer's gains the ability to read people's faces as if they were an open book. Anyone attempting to deceive or lie to the bearer suffers a Good penalty to the attempt.
  5. The Watcher gains the ability to make minor mental suggestions to the wearer. It will use this ability to lead the wearer to its place of imprisonment and to create a feeling of isolation and paranoia in the wearer.
  6. The wearer gains the ability to split their view while using the Eye, carrying out normal actions while maintaining their remote view.
  7. The bearer begins to experience minor hallucinations, vague glimpses of movement at the edge of their vision, along with a creeping sense of paranoia brought about by the Watcher's suggestions.
  8. The Watcher's power of suggestion grows in strength, allowing it to guide and direct the wearer unless they make a Good test of resolve to resist.

The Watcher with a Thousand Eyes

The Watcher is a squat amphibian creature, much like a toad in form. Where a toad has warts, the Watcher's ten foot long, lumpy gray body is covered in unblinking, dull black eyes, each staring in a different direction. A pair of snake-like tentacles sprout from the demon's head, taking the place of its normal eyes. Its broad mouth has three tongues, each ending in a set of jaws lined with needle-sharp teeth. The Watcher has the following characteristics:
  • Demonic Vitality - The creature has the strength and vitality of a powerful demon, making it difficult to kill by mundane means. It has Great natural healing ability, recovering an Average wound every 10 minutes. It is immune to cold damage and mundane weapons.
  • Thunderous Leap - The demon can leap up to 30 feet in any direction, striking with all four clawed feet (Superb physical damage) when landing. Anyone within 10 feet of its landing spot is knocked prone by the force of impact.
  • Demonic Bite - The Watcher can strike up to three separate targets with its fanged tongues, each blow struck inflicting Great damage and spattering the target with the demon's corrosive saliva, which inflicts Average damage each subsequent round and dissolves any organic material it touches. Tongues can extend up to 15 feet.
  • Constrictive Tentacles - The Watcher can use its tentacles to attack with Superb accuracy. Once a target is hit the tentacles envelop them, inflicting Fair damage each subsequent round.
  • Perfect Awareness - The creature's thousand eyes make it instantly aware of anything happening within line of sight. Its vision allows it to see in the dark with perfect clarity. Even invisible and out of phase objects are revealed to its all seeing eyes.
  • Spell Use - The Watcher has Great magical abilities, and is a master of illusion and charm magic.
The Watcher is an intelligent creature. It will use clever tactics to isolate and control anyone under the influence of one of its Eyes. Its primary goal is to gain its freedom, then reestablish its cult-like following on the material plane. The wards that hold the demon have been weakened by time, and any physical disturbance of the inscribed stones that bind it will break the warding and allow it to roam free.

2 comments:

Timeshadows said...

Thank you for this great expansion. :D

Now, to convince someone to place the eye in their skull!
--> evil laughter <

Mark Thomas said...

Eeeeeeew!