Bones of Dusk (3.5e Bodily Relic)

Bones of Dusk

The Bones of Dusk is a Bodily Relic that takes the form of a membrane that replaces the person in questions bone marrow in a paticular group of bones (i.e. spine, rib cage, or all the bones in the left arm). This "replacement" marrow is capable of making blood just as normal bone marrow does, although the blood made by the Bodily Relic is thicker than usual and colored black instead of red. This fact makes the person appear rather unsettling, with the veins that appear close the skin being distictly black. The blood is actually where the powers of this Bodily relic eminates from, making the persons body unnaturally swift and strong.

Nature of the Bones of Dusk

Physical Affects of the Bones of Dusk

The person who has the Bones of Dusk will have a rather unsettling visage, their bodies will always be criss-crossed with black veins and their gums and tongue will always be solid black. Additionally, they will tend to have paler skin than most others of their race and the irises of their eyes will be solid red. The blood pumping through the veins of a person with the Bones of Dusk seems to amplify the physical ability of the person who has it, granting them unbelievable reflexes.

• In game terms the person who has this Bodily Relic has a +4 bonus to reflex saving throws, a +2 bonus to intimidate checks, and the feats Improved Unarmed Strike, Deflect Arrows, and Snatch Arrows as bonus feats at first level.

Mental Affects of the Bones of Dusk

The mind of the person who has the Bodily Relic Bones of Dusk will be drastically affected. The energies that the black blood give off seem to alter certaint thought patterns the person has, making them jittery and unable to focus on one thing for too long, paranoia is often a trait of a person with this Bodily Relic.

• In game terms the person who has this Bodily Relic has a −6 penalty to all Concentration checks.

Properties of the Bones of Dusk

Crafting and Transfering of the Bones of Dusk

The process of transfering the Bones of Dusk Bodily Relic is very grueling and often dangerous for both doner and recipient. The main fact for this being because the membrane can only be lifted directly from the inside of the bone, meaning that the bone often must be broken and the part of the body the bone is in cut open in order to every remove the Relic in the first place. Additionally, the period when the body is either adjusting to the new blood or adjusting to loosing it can cause the person in question to nearly die.

To transfer this Bodily Relic the doner and must first be unconcious (if they're concious then the process does not work for some reason and both parties die) and the entire part of their body that contains the bones that the membranes are in must be cut open, dealing 4d6 points of immediate damage and 1d3 bleeding damage each round afterwards. Once this has been done the bones must be openned in some way (specific means need not be mentioned) and the membrane removed from the bone. After this process has been completed then the exact same process must be enacted uopn the recipient (who must also be unconcious during it). The exact same area of the body and group of bones must be afected by this process in the recipients body, if the person is missing any of these bones for any reason then the transfer cannot be made. Once the recipients bone marrow has been removed the membrane must be placed on the inside of their bones, the recipients marrow must then be placed inside the doners bones, this transfer must be done in 1 minute or the process fails. Once the membrane and marrow have traded places the wound must be sewn back up and the bones set. Both parties are considered stable as soon as this has been done, but not before. There is no way to craft the Bones of Dusk from pre-existing materials. Only a character who has 20 or more ranks in Craft(Bodily Relic) knows any of this information, the craft DC for this entire proccess is 24, if this DC is failed, then the entire proccess fails and the membrane falls apart as it's lifted from the bones of the doner.

A body of a person loosing the Bones of Dusk has a lot of difficulty coping with the change, their mind often loosing control of their limbs at unexpected times. Every 6 hours a person goes after loosing the Bones of Dusk they must pass a DC 15 will saving throw or begin having a seizure, taking 1d6 intelligence damage. This goes on for a month solid, if the persons intelligence score drops to 0 before the end of the month then they die outright. A person who has recieved the Bones of Dusk is in for a lesser ordeal, but an ordeal none-the-less. The body of the person in question becomes incrediblly weak over the next few weeks as the black blood slowly filters through their body, during this time the person takes 1d10 Constitution once a week for a month. As soon as the recipient recovers from this state they are considered as having the Bones of Dusk.

Immunities of the Bones of Dusk

The Bones of Dusk Bodily Relic is a strangley sturdy material, being completely unaffected by acid, cold, lightning, fire, or negatively aligned types of damage, and seeming to pass through arcane magic of any type without a scratch. Although, if a person is affected by an arcane spell that moves or affects their body in some way, the Bones of Dusk are affected as though they didn't have any immunities to arcane spells.

Occurances of the Bones of Dusk

The Bones of Dusk Bodily Relic is exclusive to a single bloodline it seems. This may be in no small part due to the inherant paranoia that comes with the Relic. Seeing as the people who have it have difficulty trusting people the world only sees a single child with this Bodily relic each generation if its lucky. This Bodily Relic is passed down through bloodlines and is a dominant gene. If two people have a child and they both have the Bones of Dusk then there is a 75% chance that the child, whether it's a boy or a girl, will have it also. If only one parent has the Bones of Dusk then there is only a 45% chance of the child having the Bodily Relic. If either of the parents were not born with the Bones of Dusk, but still have it, then lower the percent chance by 25%.

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