Carnage (3.5e Equipment)
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Carnage
Lore
Carnage is the name given to a powerful set of gauntlets that contain a demon lord.
Legend tells of a terrible and devious demon that fancied the treasures found in the City of Brass. He did not want to bother trading with the Efreeti sultans and Noble Salamanders in the city. Trade was dull and Efreeti are known to drive unfavorable barter.
The demon instead decided to destroy the resources of the city in order to offer replacement supplies for most of the riches in the city. In order to do this, he opened several gates from the Elemental Plane of Fire to many other layers of the Abyss. He then sent his own demons to attack nearby countryside to these gates. The denizens of the Elemental Plane of Fire responded brutally by sending small armies to kill the rampaging demons and build keeps around these gates.
The other demon lords of these layers of the Abyss did not appreciate this. To them, they noticed a gate opened from the Elemental Plane of Fire and keeps being built around the gate. Seemingly, an obvious invasion into their layer of the Abyss. Most of the gates came under brutal attack. As the Efreeti and Salamander lords attempted to stop the demon onslaught, the demon that started the whole mess made his move.
He swiftly sent his entire army directly into the City of Brass. They plundered most of the city and left back to the demon's plane, content with their plunders.
Little did he know, his greed had blinded him to a simple trick done by the Efreeti. They had created illusions to make it seem like they were fighting a losing battle against other demons. Instead, they had already closed the planar gates and used this opportunity to lay a trap for the demon attempting to steal their riches. Using their great magic, they set a terrible curse on their treasures. Should any of it leave their city in the next year, the creature who stole it would be compelled to not just return it, but return twice its value as well.
Immediately when the demon returned to its great hall, its servants began packing up his own treasures and returning towards the City of Brass. The demon, in a fit of rage, tried killing his own followers, but he could not stop them fast enough. There was only one of him and millions of followers. He slashed through their procession towards the City of Brass for days until there were no more left in his plane. He continued into the Elemental Plane of Fire, determined to get his treasures back. He killed without mercy perhaps hoping to kill all of the creatures in the City of Brass by himself.
The leaders of the city used their great magic to bind the demon in their most valued treasure: a pair of gauntlets with 10 perfect rubies. The demon's rage still channels through these gauntlets and though he has long since forgotten about the circumstances of his imprisonment, he still lusts to kill everyone in his path.
Appearance
Carnage are a set of two black adamantine gauntlets adorned with ten rubies each. The gauntlets have a lens on the back of the hand. If both lenses are looked into, the viewer can see the true form of a demon lord contained by the magic of the gauntlets and they can also see the names of each creature that the gauntlets have killed. Etched on the inside of the palm is a powerful magical containment spell.
Effect
When wearing Carnage, you gain the following benefits:
Your unarmed damage is treated as a monk of fifteen levels higher. If you are not a monk, you gain the unarmed damage of a 15th-level monk.
Each time you reduce a creature to -1 hp or lower, that creature is automatically targeted by death knell, heightened to 9th level, base caster level 20th (increase with bonuses from successful death knells). Use your wisdom modifier to determine the DC. If you kill the creature with an attack, resolve the death knell as normal, but assume the target automatically fails its saving throw.
When a death knell successfully kills a creature in this way, one of the rubies on Carnage glows for the duration of the spell. You must make a Will saving throw DC 20 + 1 per glowing ruby. If you fail, you attack the nearest living target with unarmed attacks. If there are no living creatures nearby, you must search as desperately as you can (breaking down doors, walls, etc.) until all of the death knell spells affecting you expire. Each time a death knell spell expires, a ruby stops glowing and you are granted a new saving throw. If you cannot find a victim before they all expire, you fall unconscious and forget all that transpired during your assault.
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