Armor | Artifacts | Cursed Items | Intelligent Items | Potions/Oils | Rings | Rods | Staves | Weapons | Wondrous Items | Other


Minor Artifacts | Major Artifacts | Metagame Artifacts | Transcendent Artifacts


Fetoring Maw

Source Pathfinder #140: Eulogy for Roslar's Coffer pg. 40
Aura strong necromancy CL 18th
Slot none; Price —; Weight 1 lb.

Description

By holding this fist-sized, sickly green gem and concentrating for 1 hour, the bearer can create a sphere of poisonous fog centered in a location the bearer has seen that is within 1 mile of his current position. It must be centered on a geographical point, so it can’t target a specific person, but it can surround that person if she is in the area the bearer targets. The sphere must be created around an area of normal, safe air, of a size selected by the user when the sphere is created, between 100 feet and 1 mile in diameter. This thickness of the fog is always one-tenth the diameter of the safe area inside it, so a safe area 5,000 feet across is surrounded by a poisonous fog 500 feet thick. The sphere of fog seeps through earth and liquids, but it does not penetrate worked stone. No amount of wind can disperse the poisonous fog. The fetoring maw must remain within 10 miles of the center of the sphere, or the fog dissipates harmlessly.

The fetoring maw can create only one sphere of poisonous fog at a time, and once a sphere is created, the fetoring maw must recharge for 3 months before it can create another one. The creature that created a sphere can dismiss it as a move action while holding the gem, but the sphere otherwise lasts for 3 months or until the fetoring maw is destroyed, whichever comes first.

Any creature can pass through the poisonous fog of the sphere’s walls, though it obscures vision as per fog cloud. The fog also includes poisonous vapors and bewildering mists, as described in The Fog Dome on page 5. The creature that created the sphere can touch the fetoring maw to the palm of a willing creature as a standard action, marking that target with a skull-shaped brand that renders it immune to the fetoring maw’s poison and mind-affecting effects. A fetoring maw can mark up to 13 creatures in this manner every three months.

The Fog Dome

The PCs can approach within a few feet of the dome of poisonous fog without suffering any ill effects other than a harsh, stomach-churning odor. The dome is actually part of a sphere permeating the earth beneath the town and the water of the nearby Tourondel River; the river water isn’t poisonous, but it’s filled with dead fish that swam through the dome of fog and perished. A PC who examines the fog with detect magic can see that the fog has a strong aura of conjuration magic, and a PC who succeeds at a DC 25 Knowledge (arcana) check surmises that the effect has been produced by a very powerful magic item, possibly a minor artifact.

The sphere of fog obscures all sight beyond 5 feet, much like the spell fog cloud, and carries two additional effects: a deadly poison and a mind-affecting misdirection.



Poisonous Vapors: The fog automatically kills living creatures with 3 or fewer Hit Dice (no save). Living creatures with 4 or more Hit Dice take 1d4 points of Constitution damage (Fortitude DC 28 half) each round they remain in the fog. The cloying fog forces its way into a creature’s lungs and seeps through the skin, so even a creature holding its breath is exposed to the fog’s poison. This is a poison effect.



Bewildering Mist: The fog magically clouds the senses, making it easy for a creature fully immersed within the fog to get turned around. A creature that starts its movement within the fog must succeed at a DC 25 Survival check or its movement is in a random direction (use the method for determining the misdirection of a missed thrown splash weapon). A creature that exits the fog via this movement immediately understands that it was misdirected by the bewildering fog. This is a mind-affecting effect.

Undead are immune to poison and mind-affecting effects, and can move through the fog without harm (although the fog still blocks their vision).

Destruction

A fetoring maw can be destroyed by first immersing it in a mixture of holy water blessed by a priest of a deity with the Healing domain and antitoxin, in equal parts. For 1 minute after being immersed, the fetoring maw is weakened; if dealt at least 10 points of damage in a single blow with a bludgeoning magic weapon, the artifact shatters and any fog sphere it has created dissipates harmlessly.