Publication:Dread Codex 2/Magic and Cursed Items/Tongue of Crin Arda

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Tongue of Crin Arda

This amulet, which has also been called a strangling amulet, is made from a thick string of rubbery sinew, slightly moist to the touch. Attached to the string is a withered human jaw with a leathery tongue still hanging from it.

Crin Arda was a bonewitch in the lands beyond the Paragon Mountains, who lived for a thousand years. She spread her terror in the mountain villages, and only when a band of refugees came to the king of Elderbridge and pleaded their case with tears in their eyes did he send his knights to slay her. They brought this item back, and gave it to their king. They may have been acting on Crin Arda’s last words, but the next morning the king lay dead in his bed. Scholars have speculated on why a king would don such an item looking vile and evil, but they have found no answer so far.

Upon donning the amulet it will instantly contract, strangling the wearer unless a command word is spoken. Only two consecutive successful strength checks of 25+ can loosen its grip (only from a single person, though not necessarily the wearer). A check each round is needed, and a single check of 25+ only gives the wearer one extra round of air (follow the rules for drowning). If the command word is spoken when donning the amulet (or possibly when choking with a successful Constitution check of DC 15), the amulet remains inanimate, or relaxes if it was donned, and its power activates.

Wearing the amulet grants the power to speak any language as well as giving the wielder the ability to speak with the dead 3/day, as per the cleric spell. When the power of the amulet is active (i.e. the wearer speaking any language not known to him or her) the tongue moves as if in a mouth talking, which might unnerve onlookers.

The command word of this magical item is the abyssal word, “Grathus N’lath”, which means “tongue speak my name”, and when activated, this item actually whispers the wearer’s name.

Caster Level: 12th; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, speak with dead, ghoul touch, tongues; Price 45,000 gp

Weaknesses

The amulet can be undone by destroying the rather frail jaw.

Adventure Hook

This amulet has been brought in by a band of heroes and one of them lies dead in the temple, choked by the item. No one knows what this item is, but a scholar manages to find out that this is called the Tongue of Crin Arda. He asks the party to go into the Paragon Mountains to the north and seek out the bonewitch’s old abode and find out what danger the amulet holds. He knows that this amulet has strangled many people, among them the ancient king of Elderbridge, and fears that it will cause more harm. Upon reaching the mountains, the party finds an old abandoned castle. It is ruined, yet there are no bones lying around, but there is something vile lurking deep in the heart of that place, some creature made of bones, and it guards the secret of Crin Arda.

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