Misery Ascendant - Necklace of the Hunted

Necklace of the Hunted

In a land of forgotten origin, there exists a region of plains, extending far across the North of the Lands of Aredakar. These plains, just south of the Arctic circle dwell a vast barbarian empire, where only the strongest of the lands can survive the harsh climates. There are various tribes of barbarians, almost all from different stock, there live in abundance tribes of not only human barbarian tribes, but also various humanoid races and a small tribe of plains dwarves. The tribes of humans are an ambitious lot, always trying to eradicate the other races' hold on the territory of the Broken Plains. Humans wage incessant wars on the other inhabitants driving the dwarves to near extinction. The remaining non-human tribes are forced to be restricted to their small holdings of lands in order for the tribe to be able to defend themselves.

One such tribe was that of the Rabid Maw, a tribe of Curr who valued the hunt above all things. The Rabid Maw originates at the southeastern end of the Jaklevaan Mountains. The tribe religiousness bordered on the fanatic, the teachings of Rognaar, the Beast Lord, was of primary importance to the tribe of the Rabid Maw. He was praised for each successful hunt, and for each unsuccessful hunt, for the challenge it brought to them. Dying while on the hunt was the most honorable way for a tribesman of the Rabid Maw to perish, being considered the ultimate sacrifice to the Lord of Beasts. Rognaar sought to help in any way he could to maintain the followings he had accumulated, and as such set in motion the creation of this item, the Necklace of the Hunted (012SR). He sent visions to the tribal shaman, a process by which to make the ritual that would become the Necklace that would protect his people. The tribal shaman, called the Hunter Shaman by his people, set out to do his masters bidding. The shaman, Garjuelt, started small at first, hunting the beasts he had been hunting all of his life, and upon doing so, performed the ritual of sacrifice for his god that involved transferring the souls of his hunts into a single claw, or tooth, which ever was the largest of the two. These claws were then strung onto a cord of tendons, made strong by the god's will. These creatures souls offered the shaman protection, but at a terrible price.

The more souls Garjuelt collected for his necklace the more the thrill of the hunt left his mind. He desired greater and more impressive kills than before to add to his necklace. Garjuelt was deemed mad by the chieftain of the tribe and that he be watched at all times, and protected, because he was the only source of shaman magic that the tribe had available to them. Garjuelt continued on his mad raids of the beasts of the wild, and when he encountered a great twelve headed cryohydra, Garjuelt gave praise to his lord and attacked the beast. The four tribesmen who were sent after the shaman lay dead next to the cryohydra at the battles conclusion, as they were unprotected by the Necklace' magic.

Garjuelt's desire to kill more and more powerful beasts led him to the outskirts of the Human Barbarian tribes, where he waited in hiding for one of them to separate from the group. The Necklace of the Hunted had invaded Garjuelt's mind so thoroughly that he now craved the hunt of sentient beings.

Garjuelt saw his chance and began to stalk his victim across the woods, and then proceeded to throw a dagger at the mans feet, to prompt him to run. Run the man did, but it was not enough. The madness that now took over Garjuelt had him upon the man in seconds. The barbarian did not stand a chance.

As Garjuelt began his sacrifice to Rognaar for the soul of the barbarian to enter a tooth, the barbarians group stumbled upon the shaman. No sooner had the shaman added the tooth to his necklace than the barbarian's friends attacked him. The twelve barbarians dispatched the shaman easily enough, only losing four of their numbers to the all too powerful curr. One of the barbarians proclaimed his disdain for the curr, and that they be exterminated that very night.

The power of the necklace spoke to the man, telling him to retrieve it as a reminder of today's events. Radig the barbarian retrieved the necklace, and proclaimed war on the curr. The barbarians put together a war band that night, due to Radig's prompting. The barbarians struck out that night. As they traveled through the woods, the apparent absence of Radig was noticed by the barbarians, and they began to search for him, fearing the worst.

The worst was beyond their imagination, however, and as soon as the barbarians were split up looking for Radig, he pounced on a lone barbarian, gutting him with his bare hands, and then faded back into the trees. When a member of the barbarian tribe happened upon this corpse, he shouted with contempt, and declared that no more time be wasted in the curr's forest, that they take it to their village with all that they had.

One by one the barbarians fell to Radig in their pursuit of the curr. As they reached the curr village through the trees, their numbers had been horribly decimated. They entered the clearing recklessly and in fright, and alerted the curr as to their presence. A battle ensued, with the curr in their natural habitat, and with an unseen predator among them, the barbarians did not stand a chance. They fell within the hour. Radig, satisfied with the death of his hunt, returned home, the taste of blood fresh in his mouth from the victims of hi own tribesmen. Upon reaching his own village, the bloodlust resumed, and he attacked his village members at first sight. The power that now flowed in the necklace enabled Radig to destroy nearly half of his remaining village, including all of the tribe's children and all but two of the tribes women. The tribe of the Grey Bear had nearly fallen to the curse of Rognaar. The Grey Bear shaman realized the evil apparent in the necklace, and decided to have it cast into the sea. An expedition left to accomplish this mission that very night.

Whether or not this mission succeeded is still in question, as they members of the expedition have not returned to this day.

The Necklace of the Hunted appears simply as a string of cord, on which are strung various claws and teeth of large animals. On closer inspection, the tiny teeth of humans, demi-humans, and humanoids can be seen outnumbering that of the beasts. This necklace has an untold number of these teeth, as the item has not been seen for quite some time for them to have been counted. The necklace grows in length to accommodate the extra teeth as they are offered to it. The Necklace of the Hunted causes the wearer to assume a kind of festering bloodlust, that eventually leads to the hunting of sentient beings. Although this necklace was created by Rognaar for the purpose of destroying the humans of the Broken Plains, the Necklace has since overridden those commands, and will now seek to acquire the souls of anyone. The Necklace eventually turns the wearer into a raving beast, with blood dripping from his face, eyes bulging from his head, and tongue constantly licking his parched lips. It has not been uncommon for the wearer to bite off his own tongue in salivation, without realizing or feeling the pain of his actions. The Necklace takes its time on delivering the victim to this state, depending upon whether or not the victim amuses the Necklace. When the wearer of the Necklace falls dead, as he inevitably will, the Necklace of the Hunted will call out telepathically to a sentient being, within a ten mile radius, of its choosing to wield it. Such creatures can avoid the temptations of the Necklace with a saving throw vs. Death, as the Necklace is very patient and does not try all that hard to be worn by anyone specific, as it knows that someone will. Anyone that passes the save, but puts the Necklace on anyway, suffers full effects of the Necklace just as if he had failed the saving throw.