A metal puzzle box

Runes of Creation

Tags: indestructible

A 6" cube of dull gray metal, covered in hinges, knobs, dials, sliders, levers, and the like. A thing of mad genius, resisting all attempts to open it by brute force.

To unlock it, you must:

• roll to open the box — on a success with a 6, it takes a few days of fiddling; on a success with no six, it takes a few obsessive weeks; on a bust, it's beyond you;
• spend a season deciphering the symbols etched along the inside;
• risk never being able to decipher the symbols, and/or developing some mental quirk as you do so;
• commune with a primordial spirit and learn the Silent Words from it;
• spend a few weeks practicing the spell, risking all sorts of harm and collateral damage.

Runes of Creation

When you carefully inscribe an object with the runes of creation, pick 1 desired effect:

• It will flow into any shape you imagine
• It will become indestructible
• It will become beautiful
• It will blaze with terrible heat (1d10 damage, messy), if only for a moment

When you speak the Silent Word that completes the spell (far range), mark a debility as elemental forces flow through you into the object. The effect works, but roll:

• On a success with a 6, pick 1.
• On a success with no six, pick 1 — and the GM picks another.
• On a bust, all 3:
  • Mark another debility & lose 1d10 HP
  • The elements run amok, triggering a fire/earthquake/avalanche/storm/etc.
  • The effect lasts only while you focus on it, and then the object is damaged in a manner of the GM's choosing