Wondrous Item, artifact (requires attunement by a These phylacteries were permanently attuned to Bria'rkzot Gling. If any other entity somehow captures one and attempts to use any of its secondary magical powers, a contest of wills between them and the phylactery at the beginning of each turn is necessary for them to do so. If they fail, the spider phylactery immediately lashes out with three wild magical effects, determined in the manner described under [monster]Goblin lich (Bria'rkzot Gling)[/monster]'s entry, with the additional condition that any effect which benefits the being who tried to control the phylactery or harms the phylactery itself, or any other phylactery or Bria'rkzot if they are within 5 feet, is also rerolled and imposes a cumulative +2 on subsequent rolls. If all three effects succeed in doing harm to the being who attempted to control the spider phylactery, it can then attempt to control them as per any other intelligent item winning such a contest, and cause them to do whatever would further Bra'rkzot's successful re-embodiment)

How the insane goblin lich Bria'rkzot Gling managed to create these rather elegant, if creepy, and rather cunning set of phylacteries remains as clouded a mystery as the linked one as to how a goblin shaman ever managed to attain to the secrets of even his flawed and demented lichdom, tormented and manipulated by the imp pretending to be his bound servant and chief majordomo, in the first place. In any case, they are indeed elegantly crafted and clever, being a set of 13 fully animated phylacteries in the form of giant wolf spiders crafted from black mithral, onyx, silver wire, and the skins and pelts of blink dogs which Bria'rkzot embalmed/tanned to various degrees between leather and fur and dyed in fanciful patterns of black and red; they all have a central ovoid body chased with threads of silver which looks like a somewhat flattened egg and can be opened by Bria'rkzot, or by any other (usually temporary, tragic and doomed) being who has won the contest of wills to use it that turn. The space thus accessed is lined by the traditional runes required in any liches' phylactery, mingled with the mad ravings in Olde Runic Gobline that are to be expected with this particular lich; and therefore all of them are potentially usable by him as his phylactery under the conditions laid out in his description.  It is an extradimensional space equivalent in capacity to one of the side "pockets" of a [Tooltip Not Found] (e.g. "can hold up to 20 pounds of material, not exceeding a volume of 2 cubic feet")

Bria'rkzot Gling also managed to capture some of the power of the aforementioned skins and pelts' former occupants, granting the ability to blink three times a day to the spider phylactery ; it will attempt to do this if all three wild effects in a contest of wills FAIL to do harm to the being who tried to control it; in this case, it will also become the phylactery Bria'rkzot will re-embody through, and -1d4 days will be subtracted from the period he requires to complete that process.

The phylactery will share its powers, including the ability to blink, with its master (whether Bria'rkzot or temporary, probably doomed other) if they are within 5 feet of it, creating a soul link between them that simultaneously causes the masters' use of a power to count against the total daily use limits of the phylactery; and introduces a tiny bit of the spider phylactery's twisted corruption into the soul of any "master" but Bria'rkzot himself, requiring an alignment check each day the master actively attempts to use the spider phylactery's powers. Those powers include, in addition to the aforementioned blink spell:

5x/day:

  • spider climb
  • cause fear
  • web
  • chill touch
  • commune with spiders: this 3rd level spell is limited to areas where there are significant levels of spider population (thick cobwebs in an abandoned hut at the least) but otherwise acts as a commune with nature spell with regard to the area within 300 feet of such concentrations of webs. This is the limit of perception whether these webs are outdoors or in a cave, but on the plus side can also be webs in areas where nature has been replaced with construction, so long as spiders have been able to infiltrate there


3x/day:


1x/day; triggers immediate contest of wills if any master other than Bria'rkzot himself attempts to use up for the day:

  • vampiric touch; if the spider phylactery finishes off a victim with this spell, it is considered to be devouring its soul in the same way a soul which a more fully developed lich feeds to its phylactery with the imprisonment is fed upon, with the same time period of 24 hours till full consumption and all other parameters of that sacrifice as found in the description of the 'real' liches who steal Bria'rkzot's lunch on the schoolbus and kick sand in his face at the Liches' Annual Beachside Dans Macabre on the Shores of the Sea of Death.  In this case. the casting of dispel magic as a 9th level spell is necessary to restore the victim, and will lead to a contest of wills with the phylactery; if the caster wins, the victim is restored exactly as they were the moment before the phylactery cast vampiric touch upon them, and the phylactery itself is destroyed.  If the caster of dispel magic fails the contest of wills, they are affected as if the phylactery had cast dissonant whispers upon them and are unable to try again to restore that soul for one hour.
  • danse macabre


If appropriate to the spell, the effect will radiate from one of the phylactery's two gem eyes; the nature of the spell and the DM's poetix whimzii will determine whether it is cast from the eye composed of dark purple amethyst shot through with a webwork pattern of black sapphire; or the one composed of one solid flame opal.

 

Each spider phylactery is a sentient chaotic evil item with an Intelligence of 17, a Wisdom of 19 and a Charisma of 15.  None can speak except in chittering hisses that spiders instinctively understaand, but which implies no sort of command over them; however, spiders that hear the phylactery making these noises will tend to be less disturbed by its presence and therefore more likely to react peaceably to it.  All, however, can communicate telepathically in Goblin, Thieves Cant and (reluctantly) in Common; none will actually do so, however, unless it thinks this will serve the purposes of its master.  All the spider phylacteries share a purpose to ensure the continued existence of Bria'rkzot Gling; and if his body has been destroyed, they will sense this and will all attempt to disengage from combat or any other activity they might be involved in, escape any potential observers and use their blink powers and full movement abilities to find a location that is as secret and well-fortified secure as possible in case they are the phylactery through which Gling re-embodies.  

Otherwise, personalities of the spider phylacteries vary between the morbid, stylish humour of the imp and the slavering insanity of Gling.  All, however, believe that goblinkind are superior to all other creatures.  Except spiders, of course.

 

Notes: These phylacteries were permanently attuned to Bria'rkzot Gling. If any other entity somehow captures one and attempts to use any of its secondary magical powers, a contest of wills between them and the phylactery at the beginning of each turn is necessary for them to do so. If they fail, the spider phylactery immediately lashes out with three wild magical effects, determined in the manner described under [monster]Goblin lich (Bria'rkzot Gling)[/monster]'s entry, with the additional condition that any effect which benefits the being who tried to control the phylactery or harms the phylactery itself, or any other phylactery or Bria'rkzot if they are within 5 feet, is also rerolled and imposes a cumulative +2 on subsequent rolls. If all three effects succeed in doing harm to the being who attempted to control the spider phylactery, it can then attempt to control them as per any other intelligent item winning such a contest, and cause them to do whatever would further Bra'rkzot's successful re-embodiment

OisinmacCameron

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