Bone Quill

A tool that can only be created by those trained in the necromantic arts, a Bone Quill is a writing implement that can allow the dead to both communicate with the living and more concretely affect the Material Plane than they would otherwise be able to do in a ghostly form.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

To an observer, a Bone Quill in use appears simply as an unusual looking quill or dip-pen moving through the air of its own volition, leaving a trail of arcane writing in the air, which can remain suspended in space for hours at a time if the entity controlling it does not choose to remove it.

Manufacturing process

Once the bone from the skeleton or corpse of the entity that one wishes to bind the Bone Quill to has been taken and carved to the desired shape, the final step of the process is a lengthy ritual, known only to necromancers, and which is passed between them amongst their own private networks, rather than being public knowledge, even to other magic users. What is known commonly is that the bone has to be bathed in the blood taken from a creature of the same species as the spirit being bound to the quill and that the blood is completely consumed by the process.

Significance

Whilst arcane methods of contacting and communications already exist within Kelbonnar, they all have their limitations. Many require the living communicant to be close to the corpse or skeleton of the deceased and almost all of them are limited in what the dead can actually communicate, or have difficulty working on those who have been deceased for more than a few decades.
A Bone Quill, however, creates such a strong connection to the dead entity it is bound to that it allows them to write voluminous answers to as many questions as the living wish to ask it, for as long as the Bone Quill continues to be in existence, which given that Bone Quills only cease to exist when they are actively destroyed, rather than say ceasing to exist after a certain time, means that they can be used to communicate with the dead for time immemorial.
What is more, a Bone Quill can be used as a spell casting focus on the Material Plane by a deceased spell caster, allowing them to cast spells from beyond the veil. Naturally, many a necromancer or unwary living creator or user of a Bone Quill has come a cropper because of this, having become the target of a malign spell cast by the dead entity a Bone Quill was bound to. There are even tales of the dead using Bone Quills to try and magic their way back onto the Material Plane and back into life, though there are no known recorded examples of this actually having occurred.

Item type

Magical

Rarity

As they can only be made through the use of powerful necromantic magic, Bone Quills are incredibly rare.

Raw materials & Components

There are only two material components needed to create a Bone Quill. The first of which is one of the bones of the entity that the creator wishes to link the Bone Quill to, normally one of the long bones from the arms or legs, but occasionally ribs have been used. There is no restriction on which bone should be used, other than that it should be one that can be filed or carved into a quill like shape.
The second material component is blood, specifically blood from the same species of creature that the dead was themselves. The specific amount of blood used in the casting ritual is a subject of much debate between necromancers, with some arguing for copious amounts and some for simply a modest amount. Nevertheless, most necromancers will err on the side of caution and will totally exsanguinate a victim so that they know that they have enough.

Tools

There are no specific guidelines as to what to use to craft a quill-like object from the chosen bone, and in the past necromancers have employed all sorts of methods from filing, whittling and even manipulating the bone with magic to get it to the desired shape.