The Violent Return
Appearance:
A solid gold bracelet composed of tightly interwoven chain links, forged in a seamless loop. The design is unnervingly perfect — no visible clasp, seam, or break in the construction. The golden chains reflect light in unnatural ways, sometimes absorbing it entirely at certain angles. When inactive, the bracelet is warm to the touch, but grows unnaturally cold when danger is near.
Function:
The bracelet attaches to the target's skin upon contact with a bare patch of flesh. Once attached, it cannot be removed by mundane or magical means. After 1d4 rounds (or at the DM’s discretion), the bracelet activates violently. Gold chains whip outward, latching to the victim’s face and neck. It then constricts, flaying skin and muscle, before burrowing beneath the flesh and tightening like a noose.
Once fully engaged, a sphere of magical darkness (25 ft. diameter) erupts from the wearer, obscuring the area. After several seconds, the darkness implodes inward, erasing everything within its radius — leaving behind a perfect hemispherical crater in the environment.
True Purpose:
The bracelet is not meant to kill — it is a tether, a violent recall mechanism. When bonded to a creature, it forcibly returns the target and all caught within its reach to the bracelet’s origin reality.
These artifacts are typically carried by extraplanar entities and affixed to creatures of interest — for collection, judgment, or experimentation. Once activated, all living beings and their equipped gear are violently displaced into the target plane.
The impact zone — a carved-out void in the shape of a hemisphere — remains in the original reality. Over the next 8 to 36 hours (measured by the destination plane’s flow of time), all non-living materials (soil, debris, shattered stone) are returned to the bracelet’s reality of origin. To observers in the original world, this may appear to happen minutes later or a full day after the event.
Living beings and worn items are never returned.
Known Planar Indicators (Theories):
The origin reality is unknown until after activation, but observers note that a faint color tinge or smell may sometimes reveal the destination:
- Black and sulfur: Likely one of the Hells or Abyss
- White: Possibly a Celestial realm
- Red and sulfur: Plane of Fire
- Blue and sea foam: Plane of Water
- No color: Unknown or void origin — commonly associated with true reality deletion
Cursed Properties:
- Once touched to flesh, it cannot be removed.
- Traditional Remove Curse spells fail to dislodge or deactivate it.
- Identify reveals only vague, planar binding magic unless cast using rare components or in a location tied to the origin plane.
- It may also reveal nothing of that sort, leaving only a vague impression of the energy it contains within
- Wearing gloves or barriers can prevent activation — but any direct touch bypasses this.
Item Type: Wondrous Item (Cursed)
Rarity: Unique
Attunement: None required
Comments