Steam Pneumatic Fluid Collector and Reagent Extraction Rig 825

From:
Lineage 684 of the Gem Crested Karthian of Archaic

    * Equipment Classification: Mechanical Harvesting Tool and Field Alchemical Sampling Apparatus, held in one or two hands and carried via a dedicated leather cross-body shoulder harness.     * Tier and Rarity: Tier 1, Common quality.     * Attunement and Action Economy: Automatically undergoes handheld attunement upon being grasped by the avatar's clawed hand and primed for extraction. Using the rig to extract fluids from an organic corpse, tree trunk, or alchemical pool costs one combat action, which encompasses uncapping the needle valve, driving the trocar into the specimen, engaging the suction lever to draw the fluid into the collection chamber, and locking the safety stopcock. When held in combat or during tactical exploration, it functions as an attuned harvesting implement that remains exempt from the ten-item attunement pain threshold. If subjected to a successful targeted strike by an adversary, the rig is deactivated and unattuned, requiring a ten-minute ritual attunement before the internal pressure chambers can re-stabilize for clean suction.     * Durability and Health Points: Possesses a base resilience rating of 10, establishing a total pool of 33 Item Health Points (23 avatar base maximum health points plus 10 resilience points). Sustaining damage that reduces the rig to 16 hit points or below inflicts the broken condition, fracturing the graduated glass cylinder or bending the needle armature, which prevents fluid retention and causes caustic reagents to vent into the air until mended. Total reduction to zero hit points shatters the containment tube completely, destroying any collected reagents inside.     * Material Composition and Machining: Built around an eight-inch-long, heavy-walled cylinder of annealed borosilicate glass protected within a slotted brass reinforcing cage to prevent impact fractures. The forward snout features a threaded brass collar fitted with a removable six-inch hollow trocar needle forged from tempered steel, ground with a tri-beveled tip capable of piercing petrified ironwood bark, thick draconic hides, or fibrous subterranean roots. The rear end houses a spring-actuated suction piston fitted with oiled leather seals and a miniature steam-injection jacket; when primed with a single measure of heated steam from a portable boiler or hot water reservoir, the thermal condensation creates a powerful internal vacuum that draws viscous fluids swiftly through the needle. The base of the cylinder is equipped with a rotating three-way brass stopcock that allows harvested liquids to be diverted directly into three detachable, sealed lead-crystal sample phials without exposing the operator to toxic fumes.     * Alchemical and Harvesting Utility: Designed specifically to harvest high-potency liquid components required for Saṃsāra’s recipe-driven crafting and alchemical transmutation systems. The scholar utilizes the rig to extract pure, unadulterated ironwood sap from the dense groves of the Rootwood Marches, drawing tree-specific resins that serve as binding agents for enchanted parchment inks and woodcraft glues. When exploring subterranean burrows or swamp margins, the apparatus extracts bodily fluids and venom distillates directly from freshly slain cavern fauna, subterranean oozes, or phosphorescent bog flora, preserving the latent magical properties of the biological reagents by keeping them hermetically sealed from atmospheric decay. The precise measurement gradations etched along the glass casing allow the avatar to calculate the exact fluid volume harvested, ensuring strict adherence to delicate consumable recipes that pass magical properties into finished potions, preservation elixirs, and steam-tech catalysts.

During
the industrial expansion of Syl-Kar and the aggressive timber
campaigns along the borders of the Rootwood Marches, early field
apothecaries and transmutation artisans faced catastrophic reagent
degradation and lethal work-site contamination. Traditional fluid
collection relied upon open bronze spoons, gut-skin bladders, and
bone scalpels. When surveyors attempted to harvest the pressurized,
resinous sap of ancient ironwood burls or tap the corrosive
bile-bladders of subterranean sump-terrors, atmospheric exposure
instantly curdled the organic matrices, neutralizing the reagents'
catalytic potency before they could be sealed in transit chests.
Furthermore, ruptured fluid sacs routinely vented caustic aerosols,
blinding apprentices and dissolving leather protective gear.

Lineage 684 engineered the Batch 825 extraction rigs to transform volatile field harvesting into a closed-loop mechanical science. By encasing an annealed borosilicate tube within an impact-resistant brass lattice and utilizing a steam-condensation vacuum stroke, the operator could penetrate deep bark plates or armored carapaces without permitting a single bubble of ambient air to contaminate the specimen. The rig earned historical renown during the drainage of the Gladeport Outflow Channels, where surveyors systematically tapped the flammable lipid-glands of submerged mire-behemoths while working chest-deep in sewer water, collecting hundreds of measures of pure, uncombusted alchemical fuel directly into hermetic lead-crystal phials without triggering a vapor-flash or releasing toxic fumes into the subterranean galleries.

• Specific Slot:
  • Held in 1 or 2 hands (or stowed within a dedicated cross-body leather shoulder harness / chest bandolier fitted with quick-release bronze toggles).
• Tier One Stats:
  • Equipment Classification: Mechanical Harvesting Tool and Field Alchemical Sampling Apparatus.
  • Tier and Rarity: Tier 1, Common quality.
  • Base Resilience: 10 resilience points.
  • Item Health Points: 33 Item HP (Avatar base maximum HP of 23 plus 10 resilience points). Entering 16 HP or lower inflicts the broken condition (the graduated borosilicate cylinder cracks or the needle valve arm bends, venting caustic fumes and preventing vacuum suction until repaired during downtime); reduced to 0 HP shatters the containment tube entirely, destroying all harvested liquids.
  • Attunement Dynamics: Instantaneous handheld attunement upon grasping the grip and uncapping the trocar; does not count against the avatar’s ten-item attunement ceiling. If targeted and struck by a successful combat strike, the rig depressurizes and deactivates instantly, requiring a 10-minute ritual recalibration during rest before suction can be established again.
  • Action Economy: 1 Action to uncap the valve, drive the needle into a specimen, engage the suction lever, draw the reagent, and rotate the three-way stopcock into a collection phial.
  • Physical Dimensions & Weight: 14 inches total length (including trocar); 4.5 pounds.
  • Improvised Combat Profile: 1d4 piercing damage (wielded as an improvised one- or two-handed dagger via the six-inch tempered steel trocar; rolling a natural 1 on an attack roll risks 1d4 structural damage directly to the borosilicate cylinder).
• Skills Gained While Openly Worn or Held:
  • +1 Temporary Skill Point to Alchemical Extraction & Reagent Harvesting (assists in locating internal fluid reservoirs, gland margins, and tree sap-veins).
  • +1 Temporary Skill Point to Toxicology & Bio-Fluid Conservation (enhances checks to identify hazardous organic secretions, caustic reactivity, and shelf-life stabilization).
• Multiple Passives Magic:
  • Hermetic Meniscus Preservation: An alchemical containment barrier seals the interior of the borosilicate cylinder and the three lead-crystal sample phials, halting oxidation, biological curdling, and volatile evaporation to preserve the harvested fluids at peak potency indefinitely until unsealed.
  • Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit: The steam-jacket housing radiates a micro-thermodynamic hum along the steel needle, warming chilled fluids, dense fats, and congealed tree resins upon contact so they flow effortlessly through the narrow bore without clogging in freezing or damp conditions.
  • Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry: Contact between the needle and any liquid specimen projects an analytical overlay directly into the avatar’s visual field, displaying fluid density, chemical purity, reactive toxicity, and exact volume down to the fraction of a milliliter.
• Multiple Activatable Magics:
  • Rapid Vacuum Surge (Deep Core Aspiration): The wielder expends 1 action and channels mana to over-cycle the steam piston, creating an instantaneous high-vacuum draw that pulls fluids through up to two feet of petrified bark, thick chitin, or hardened mud crusts without requiring pre-drilling. (2 charges per day; regains all expended charges daily at dawn).
  • Caustic Venting Jet: The wielder expends 1 action to rotate the stopcock and vent a stored measure of acidic, venomous, or scalding reagent under high pneumatic pressure. Projects a 15-foot line that deals 2d6 damage (acid, poison, or fire, matching the harvested fluid’s inherent properties) against an enemy or target lock mechanism. (2 charges per day; regains all expended charges daily at dawn).

Tags: Mechanical Harvesting Rig, Steam-Pneumatic Vacuum, Borosilicate Cylinder, Tri-Beveled Trocar, Lead-Crystal Sample Phials, Lineage 684, Hermetic Preservation, Mind’s Eye Titration, Caustic Venting Jet, Rootwood Sap Extraction, Handheld Attunement, Slotted Brass Cage, Three-Way Stopcock, Rapid Vacuum Surge, Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit, Cross-Body Shoulder Harness, Venom Distillate Collector, Deep Core Aspiration, Thermal Condensation Vacuum, Reagent Sampling Tackle, Gladeport Outflow Operations, Toxic Vapor Containment

Acquisition,
Commerce, and Valuation of the Steam-Pneumatic Fluid Collector and
Reagent Extraction Rig 825

• Methods of Obtaining the Item:
  • Field Recovery from Abandoned Timber Stations and Sump Outposts:
    • Expeditions exploring the fringes of the Rootwood Marches or the marshy drainage networks around Gladeport can discover intact Model 825 rigs inside abandoned forestry outposts, swamp research stations, or drainage gatehouse workshops.
    • Units left behind in storage lockers are generally preserved inside waxed-canvas transit pouches; however, before field deployment, the leather suction seals must be soaked in mineral tallow, and the tempered steel trocar checked for corrosion or burrs along its tri-beveled tip.
  • Guild Requisition and Forestry Concession Grants:
    • Licensed field alchemists, certified apothecaries, and timber surveyors operating under contract with the Syl-Kar Alchemical Combine, the Department of Public Works, or recognized logging combines can requisition an apparatus.
    • The applicant must register an active harvesting permit and place an equipment surety deposit against their World Bank ledger account, receiving a calibrated rig accompanied by a shoulder harness, three empty lead-crystal phials, and a cleaning rod.
  • Lineage 684 Scriptorium and Outfitter Investiture:
    • Within Lineage 684 and its allied extraction cloisters, the apparatus is conferred upon journeyman apothecaries and reagent hunters who demonstrate mastery in tapping pressurized venom glands and ironwood sap-veins without triggering gland rupture or biological spoilage.
    • The lineage marks are stamped directly into the slotted brass cage alongside the artisan’s personal mark during the investiture ceremony.
  • Artisanal Workshop Fabrication:
    • An avatar trained in precision brass lathe-turning, glassblowing, and alchemical tool-crafting can manufacture the rig at an outfitter’s bench.
    • Fabrication requires annealing a borosilicate glass cylinder, casting and slotting the protective brass cage, machining the three-way stopcock, forging and honing the tri-beveled steel trocar, turning the black ironwood components, and ritually dissolving a mundane Tier 1 sampling or drafting tool alongside a charged Tier 1 magic crystal to anchor the vacuum and preservation matrices.
  • Salvage from De-Manifested Reagent Harvesters:
    • When a rival apothecary, illegal poacher, or mercenary harvester falls in the wild and reaches zero hit points, their physical body de-manifests into ambient mana, leaving equipped tools, harnesses, and sample cases behind.
    • Scavengers can claim the rig directly from the ground. If reclaimed from swamp mud or acidic bile pools, the borosilicate cylinder must be flushed with neutral alcohol, the three-way stopcock greased with tallow, and the needle cleared of calcified organic residue before drawing a vacuum.

• Types of Commercial Shops, Transaction Procedures, and Operational Costs:
  • Apothecary Guild Exchanges and Municipal Alchemical Depositories:
    • Storefront Character and Location:
      • Situated in the central administrative districts of Syl-Kar, flanking the university botanical cloisters, or within the grand guildhouses of the Alchemists and Apothecaries.
      • Clean, dry stone vaults smelling of camphor, rectified spirits, and crushed sulfur, filled with felt-lined drawers of ground glassware, brass retorts, and lead-shielded sample vaults.
    • Purchasing Mechanics and Discounts:
      • Available to licensed apothecaries, chartered scholars, and enfranchised guild contractors.
      • Guild members receive a standard institutional discount equal to 10% multiplied by their tier level (a 10% discount for Tier 1 harvesters).
      • Purchases are debited directly from the buyer’s World Bank ledger account into the municipal treasury, exempt from municipal excise taxes when issued under an active harvesting charter.
    • Purchasing Price:
      • Standard civilian and academic list price is 180 silver coins (18 gold coins).
      • For an enfranchised Tier 1 member, the discounted price is 162 silver coins (16 gold, 2 silver coins).
      • Replacement sets of three sealed lead-crystal sample phials cost 3 silver coins; spare tempered-steel trocars cost 5 silver coins each.
    • Selling Mechanics and Payout:
      • Guild evaluation factors inspect the glass cylinder for stress fractures under polarizing lenses, test the three-way stopcock seal, and verify the vacuum stroke with a water manometer.
      • An intact rig yields a ledger credit of 110 to 120 silver coins. Broken units (16 HP or lower, with blown seals or cracked glass) are purchased for 25 to 30 silver coins to reclaim the brass cage, valves, and needle fittings.
  • Precision Horological and Instrument-Maker Ateliers:
    • Storefront Character and Location:
      • Found along the artisan terraces in upper Syl-Kar or near the clockmakers’ row in Stonefall.
      • Small, meticulous workshops fitted with treadle lathes, rows of miniature brass taps, optical loupes, and small benchtop steam boilers used for testing pressure fittings.
    • Purchasing Mechanics and Taxes:
      • Open to independent delvers, freelance apothecaries, and traveling scholars.
      • The artisan demonstrates the suction stroke, tests the stopcock action, and certifies the thermal conductivity of the needle collar.
      • Transactions are settled in coin or certified bank scrip, subject to a 3% municipal precision-tool tax.
    • Purchasing Price:
      • Retail purchase price ranges between 175 and 205 silver coins (17.5 to 20.5 gold coins), plus the 3% municipal tax (approximately 5 to 6 silver coins).
    • Selling Mechanics and Payout:
      • The shop verifies the alignment of the piston stroke and checks the borosilicate wall for internal bubbling.
      • Applying standard merchant resale margins, the shop pays a cash payout of 90 to 105 silver coins. Non-functional or fractured units sell for 20 to 25 silver coins as scrap brass and lapidary salvage.
  • Frontier Timber Waystations and River-Landing Depots:
    • Storefront Character and Location:
      • Operating out of fortified trading compounds at Wayrest, river-wharf docks at Gladeport, or timber depots flanking the Rootwood Marches.
      • Heavy timber halls smelling of raw pitch, pine sawdust, woodsmoke, and damp leather, stocking climbing spikes, iron drums, axes, and field preservation gear.
    • Purchasing Mechanics and Tariffs:
      • Specialized sampling tools are scarce on the frontier; incoming supply crates carry an added transit markup, and transactions are subject to a mandatory 5% frontier security tariff collected by local road-wardens.
      • Merchants accept mixed coinage, raw gold dust, or direct barter in seasoned ironwood logs, refined rosin, or pelts.
    • Purchasing Price:
      • Retail price on the frontier ranges from 230 to 270 silver coins (23 to 27 gold coins), plus the 5% tariff (11.5 to 13.5 silver coins).
    • Selling Mechanics and Payout:
      • Frontier factors maintain limited cash reserves and favor settlement through trade goods or basic supplies.
      • A functional rig sells for 75 to 90 silver coins in trade barter. If an alchemical retinue or logging team needs an extraction rig immediately to harvest a fresh beast carcass, the merchant will pay a cash bounty up to 120 silver coins.
  • Clandestine Sump Dens and Undermarket Reagent Fences:
    • Storefront Character and Location:
      • Located in the unregulated depths of the Third Burrow, illegal venom-milking cellars near the Iron Sump, or drainage tunnels beneath the municipal chemical works.
      • Shadowy, candle-lit dens operating out of abandoned cisterns, run by poison-brewers, grave-looters, and black-market reagent smugglers.
    • Purchasing Mechanics and Anonymity:
      • Transactions are strictly anonymous, settled in unmarked coin, cut metal bullion, or barter chits with no questions asked regarding filed-off lineage marks.
      • The rig is coveted by illicit poison-harvesters who milk lethal venoms and corrosive gland secretions from living beasts without venting deadly vapors into their hideouts.
    • Purchasing Price:
      • When sold by a desperate delver seeking to liquidate gear quickly, a rig can be bought for 100 to 125 silver coins.
      • If the black-market fence knows an outlaw crew requires an extraction tool to harvest a volatile monster corpse before it decomposes, the price jumps to 250 to 300 silver coins.
    • Selling Mechanics and Payout:
      • Fences purchase intact units for 45 to 60 silver coins in physical coin, ignoring damaged serial plates or scratched guild seals.

Tactical
Environmental Roleplay: Defensive and Offensive Applications of the
Steam-Pneumatic Fluid Collector and Reagent Extraction Rig 825

• The Rootwood Marches and Primeval Canopy Groves:
  • Defensive Applications:
    • When harvesting amidst predatory flora and stinging swamp-gnats, the scholar activates the rig’s Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit, radiating a localized micro-heat barrier along the brass cage and needle collar that repels parasitic insects and prevents congealing tree resins from locking the wielder’s clawed digits to the bark.
    • Before tapping pressurized ironwood burls, the surveyor touches the trocar tip to the bark; the Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry projects an immediate internal hydraulic cross-section, warning the user of explosive resin chambers that would otherwise burst outward under hydraulic pressure and shower the harvesting crew in scalding pitch.
    • In close-quarters ambushes from predatory vine-creepers or wood-spiders, the scholar utilizes the slotted brass cage to catch and deflect descending fangs and barbed thorn-whips, shielding vital throat scales while retreating to defensive timber line positions.
  • Offensive Applications:
    • Faced with carnivorous strangler vines or animated root-husks, the harvester drives the six-inch tempered steel trocar into the entity’s central vascular node and triggers Rapid Vacuum Surge (Deep Core Aspiration). The instantaneous high-vacuum stroke collapses the plant’s vital fluid conduits, draining its sap reserves and causing the constricting tendrils to wither and lose grip.
    • Against charging marsh beasts or territorial wood-cats, the wielder holds the apparatus in a reverse dagger grip, driving the tri-beveled trocar through thick hide or between neck plates to deal 1d4 piercing damage directly to arterial pathways.
    • When wood-stalkers corner the party against petrified briars, the scholar turns the three-way stopcock to align with an ironwood pitch phial and fires the Caustic Venting Jet, projecting a 15-foot line of boiling, pressurized resin that ignites upon contact with torch flames to wall off pursuing beasts behind a curtain of fire.
• Subterranean Caverns, Mine Galleries, and Chitinous Burrows beneath Archaic:
  • Defensive Applications:
    • When traversing cavern floors coated with acidic slime puddles or weeping vitriol veins, the surveyor uses the rig to siphon the caustic fluid into a lead-crystal phial, clearing a safe foothold for allies and removing environmental trip hazards without splashing acid onto boots.
    • After slaying bloated cavern arachnids or sulfuric burrowers whose carcasses threaten to burst into toxic gas upon death, the harvester pierces the abdominal sacs and depressurizes the bile reservoir, safely neutralizing the corpse before it can vent toxic vapors into enclosed mine flues.
    • In narrow tunnels where long weapons are constrained, the wielder keeps the rig held across the chest, using the reinforced brass cage as a rigid parrying implement against lunging troglobites and stone-scorpions.
  • Offensive Applications:
    • Against armored cavern vermin, burrowing beetle-crabs, and chitinous cave-beasts, standard edged weapons often glance off mineralized carapaces. The scholar punches the narrow, heat-treated trocar straight through flexible chitin joints or eye clusters, delivering deep internal trauma.
    • If cornered by a pack of blind subterranean Maw-Hounds in a narrow crawlway, the wielder unleashes the Caustic Venting Jet using harvested vitriol or stomach acid; the pressurized 15-foot stream blinds the lead hounds and strips the flesh from their snout-pits, buying time to fall back.
    • Confronted by amorphous subterranean oozes, slimes, or bloat-grubs that divide when struck with bludgeons, the harvester rams the trocar into the core membrane and engages the vacuum stroke, rapidly drawing the creature’s cohesive jelly nucleus into the borosilicate chamber to disperse the entity from within.
• Flooded Sluice Vaults, Silt Cisterns, and Wastewater Arteries of Syl-Kar:
  • Defensive Applications:
    • While wading chest-deep in sewer runoff and industrial chemical effluents, the Hermetic Meniscus Preservation matrix keeps all harvested medicines, antitoxins, and water samples isolated from external biological contamination, preventing ambient sewer rot and cholera bacteria from fouling delicate reagents.
    • When navigating partially submerged drain-valves encrusted with razor-sharp barnacles or toxic moss, the avatar sweeps the trocar forward to sever clinging parasites and test submerged structural seams before placing a hand or foot on unseen surfaces.
    • If sudden sewer back-pressure threatens to burst an ancient copper valve, the scholar threads the trocar into the inspection port and drains the trapped grease-plug, relieving line pressure and preventing an explosive rupture.
  • Offensive Applications:
    • Submerged predators like mire-leeches and sewer-lampreys attach to scaled flanks through suction. The wielder jams the trocar into the parasite’s muscular ring, using the sharp beveled edges to sever the feeding maw and pumping the cylinder to flush scalding water into its core.
    • In aquatic ambushes, the scholar discharges a stored phial of concentrated mire-beast bile via the Caustic Venting Jet directly beneath the waterline, creating a dense underwater plume of burning chemical irritants that sends aquatic predators thrashing away in blindness.
    • To breach locked or corroded sluice gates during a sewer flood escape, the harvester injects harvested sulfuric solvent directly into the bronze padlock’s keyway, rapidly dissolving the internal shear-pins and allowing the gate to be kicked open.
• Urban Industrial Foundries, Boiler Halls, and Rail Terminals:
  • Defensive Applications:
    • In runaway boiler emergencies or broken hydraulic line incidents along Syl-Kar’s steam-tram tracks, the engineer uses the apparatus to siphon off scalding lubricants or superheated water from pressurized junctions, preventing catastrophic casing explosions.
    • During urban riots, foundry strikes, or warehouse skirmishes, carrying the rig within its leather cross-body harness allows the scholar to move inconspicuously as an off-duty technician, avoiding the scrutiny drawn by broadswords and polearms.
    • If exposed to thrown alchemical flasks, incendiary oils, or acid bombs, the wielder uses the slotted brass cage to deflect shattering glass and shields their face behind the borosilicate housing.
  • Offensive Applications:
    • In close-quarters brawls inside narrow tenement stairwells or tram cars, the scholar drives the steel trocar forward like a trench stiletto, targeting soft armor gaps, unarmored shoulders, or knee tendons to disable aggressive assailants.
    • Against armed strike-breakers or corporate automatons, the wielder draws volatile naphtha from a nearby steam-pipe and fires the Caustic Venting Jet into the machine’s air intake or an enemy’s weapon hand, forcing them to drop their arms from thermal shock and chemical burns.
    • In sabotage or counter-espionage operations, the scholar inserts the trocar into the fuel bladders or hydraulic reservoirs of enemy transport wagons, rapidly draining their propellant into sealed lead-crystal phials to immobilize the convoy without leaving a telltale spill.
• High-Altitude Ash Vents, Fumaroles, and Precursor Calderas:
  • Defensive Applications:
    • In volcanic fissures and geothermal vents thick with sulfur gas and boiling mud pots, the borosilicate cylinder and brass cage withstand thermal shock without cracking, allowing the wielder to sample bubbling elemental springs without risking skin exposure.
    • When clambering along crumbling basalt ledges, the avatar uses the rigid steel trocar as an improvised rock piton, driving it into cooling lava cracks to arrest sudden slips or anchor temporary safety lines.
    • The Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry monitors toxic gas saturation and boiling liquid purity in real time, alerting the expedition when ambient mineral vapor reaches lethal toxicity thresholds.
  • Offensive Applications:
    • Against lava-ticks, salamanders, or magmatic elemental vermin whose outer shells resist steel blades, the harvester drives the trocar through soft breathing spiracles, chilling their molten cores with a rapid reverse suction cycle.
    • When pursued by ash-stalkers across volcanic ridges, the wielder draws boiling mineral brine from a thermal vent and immediately expends a Caustic Venting Jet, blanketing the narrow ridge path in scalding steam and blinding mineral spray that turns advancing beasts back down the slope.
    • To trigger localized rock-bursts beneath barricaded enemies, the scholar injects harvested volatile geothermal fluids into cold limestone crevices, exploiting steam-expansion fractures to shatter the ledge beneath the defenders’ feet.

Perception
of Activation:

• User’s Perspective:
  • Somatic and Tactile Sensations: Grasping the ribbed handle and thumbing the steam-injection priming lever triggers an immediate, sharp thermal kickback. A comforting, steady warmth radiates from the brass steam jacket into the avatar’s scaled palm and forearm, immediately softening the stiffness of cold claw-joints. When the trocar needle pierces a specimen and the suction lever trips, a powerful kinetic pull throbs through the chassis—a fluid, hydraulic shudder as the internal vacuum draws against resistance, settling into a balanced, rhythmic counter-weight that makes the 4.5-pound apparatus feel anchored and precise.
  • Auditory and Vibrational Sensations: A muffled pneumatic exhalation—whuff-tssssk—escapes the brass check-valves as steam condenses within the jacket, instantly followed by the deep, resonant metallic click of the internal spring-piston latching into its draw stroke. As fluid surges into the borosilicate chamber, the operator hears the crisp, liquid gurgle of rushing reagent, punctuated by the mechanical snick-click of the three-way stopcock directing flow into the lead-crystal phials.
  • Olfactory and Thermal Sensations: The immediate atmosphere around the avatar’s snout shifts to the clean, humid scent of distilled boiler steam, scorched mineral tallow, and hot machine brass, underlaid by the sharp, metallic tang of cold-drawn steel. Even when drawing blistering vitriol or virulent swamp-crawler venom, zero caustic fumes reach the lungs; the hermetic seal locks away all toxic odors, leaving only the faint, crisp smell of heated metal and ionized steam.
  • Extra-Sensory Perception — Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry: As the needle tip breaches a fluid sac or sap conduit, the avatar’s visual cortex projects a vivid, luminous geometric readout across the fluid meniscus. The wielder instantly perceives fluid density, catalytic viscosity, mineral purity, reactive volatility, and exact liquid volume down to the fraction of a milliliter, floating in sharp Syl-Trace notation.
  • Extra-Sensory Perception — Sub-Surface Vascular Mapping: Contact between the tri-beveled trocar and an organic or lithic surface transmits an intuitive spatial awareness of the target’s internal anatomy. The avatar feels the depth, pressure, and branching layout of hidden sap-veins, arterial channels, or venom bladders buried beneath up to two feet of dense bark, chitinous plates, or petrified scales.
  • Extra-Sensory Perception — Hermetic Meniscus Preservation Awareness: The wielder maintains an instinctive psychic tether to the containment barriers inside the glass cylinder and crystal phials. The avatar senses the complete cessation of entropy within the chamber—confirming that volatile ethers, living enzymes, and unstable magical catalysts are locked in suspended animation, immune to decay, oxidation, or ambient contamination.
  • Extra-Sensory Perception — Structural Diagnostic Telemetry: The avatar passively monitors the mechanical health of the rig (confirming all 33 Item Health Points, piston seal lubrication, and borosilicate wall stress), receiving an immediate sensory warning if internal pressure spikes or if thermal stress approaches the threshold of gasket failure.

• Observer’s Perspective:
  • Visual Manifestations: When the operator primes the rig, twin plumes of pale white steam hiss from the miniature brass exhaust petcocks flanking the cylinder. The etched calibration lines along the borosilicate tube illuminate with a soft, warm amber glow, while the three lead-crystal sample phials at the base capture and refract ambient light with an internal phosphor sheen. As fluid enters, the liquid is seen swirling cleanly through the glass core without foaming or splashing against the outer brass lattice.
  • Auditory Manifestations: Bystanders hear the sharp, mechanical intake of a vacuum chamber snapping open, followed by a continuous, low-frequency hum vibrating through the steel trocar as the thermal conduit warms the extraction path.
  • Thermal and Atmospheric Shifts: A distinct wave of localized dry heat radiates in a one-pace circle around the collector’s forward snout, melting frost, thinning stagnant swamp mist, and driving off biting midges or gnats hovering near the harvester’s hands.

• Positives of Activation:
  • Instantaneous Handheld Attunement: Bonds immediately upon grasping the grip and uncapping the trocar valve, requiring no ritual delay and consuming none of the avatar’s ten-item attunement ceiling.
  • Zero-Contamination Harvesting: The closed-loop vacuum stroke and hermetic barrier ensure volatile biological reagents, living essences, and corrosive toxins are drawn and sealed without exposure to air, preserving maximum alchemical potency indefinitely.
  • Thermal Anti-Clogging: The micro-thermodynamic conduit prevents dense tree pitches, congealing monster fats, and freezing swamp biles from seizing inside the narrow trocar bore.
  • Real-Time Chemical Analysis: Mind’s Eye titration telemetry eliminates guesswork, instantly revealing whether a fluid is contaminated, diluted, or dangerously pressurized before it enters the glass core.
  • Hazardous Vapor Suppression: Neutralizes caustic aerosols and noxious odors at the extraction point, protecting the operator and companions from blinding fumes or toxic inhalation.
  • Controlled Pressurized Venting: Offers emergency offensive and utility projection, enabling the scholar to vent stored caustic reagents as a 15-foot pressurized jet against foes or locked mechanisms.

• Negatives of Activation:
  • Two-Handed Operational Demand: Operating the pump lever, steadying the trocar, and indexing the three-way stopcock occupies both hands during active extraction, leaving the avatar unable to hold a weapon, shield, or torch without relying on a partner or stowing the rig.
  • Fragility of Borosilicate Core: Sustaining damage that drops the item to 16 HP or lower inflicts the broken condition, cracking the graduated glass cylinder or bending the trocar armature, which vents caustic reagents and prevents vacuum draw until repaired during downtime.
  • Disarm Deactivation Vulnerability: If targeted and struck by a successful combat strike, the vacuum seals depressurize and the rig deactivates immediately, requiring a 10-minute ritual recalibration during rest before suction can be restored.
  • Improvised Combat Risk: Functions only as an awkward, improvised piercing weapon (1d4 damage), with a critical fumble risking structural damage to the borosilicate containment tube.
  • Reagent Depletion on Jet Discharge: Utilizing the active venting capability expends stored harvested fluids, potentially sacrificing rare, high-value alchemical components in exchange for short-term tactical defense.

Crafting
Recipe: Steam-Pneumatic Fluid Collector and Reagent Extraction Rig
825

• Materials Needed:
  • Annealed Borosilicate Glass Cylinder Stock: One eight-inch-long, heavy-walled cylinder of high-purity borosilicate glass, annealed against thermal shock and etched with volumetric graduation marks.
  • High-Tensile Brass Alloy Stock: Three pounds of dense brass billet to cast, machine, and mill the slotted outer reinforcing cage, threaded cylinder end-caps, three-way stopcock manifold, and piston housing.
  • Tempered Tool-Steel Needle Stock: One six-inch rod of high-carbon tempered steel, bored with an ultra-fine internal conduit and ground into a tri-beveled puncture tip.
  • Lead-Crystal Phial Blanks and Fittings: Three heavy-walled, threaded lead-crystal sample phials fitted with knurled brass sealing collars and internal stop-valves.
  • Piston Drive and Gasket Pack: One phosphor-bronze recoil spring, brass draw-rod, vulcanized tallow-soaked leather cup gaskets, and graphite-impregnated valve packing yarn.
  • Steam Jacket and Copper Conduit Tackle: One miniature brazed brass thermal sleeve, coiled micro-bore copper tubing, pressure-relief petcock, and steam intake nipple.
  • Seasoned Rootspire Ironwood and Harness Leather: Turned black ironwood handle scales and four feet of heavy, oil-cured ox-hide strap fitted with cast bronze adjustment buckles and quick-release toggle clips.
  • Sacrificial Sampling Implement (Component Ingredient): One mundane Tier 1 precision fluid-measuring tool (such as an apothecary’s brass graduated syringe, glass pipette, or field hydrometer), ritually dissolved in the transmutation basin to transfer its calibrated tolerances, 10 base resilience, and structural balance into the rig.
  • Tier 1 Magic Crystal Catalyst: One intact, fully charged magic crystal of the first circle (coin-sized) to anchor the Hermetic Meniscus Preservation, Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit, Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry, Rapid Vacuum Surge, and Caustic Venting Jet matrices.
• Tools Required:
  • Glassworking Torches and Annealing Kiln: Bench-mounted oxygen-gas or alchemical flame torch, graphite marver, diamond scribing wheel, and a temperature-regulated annealing kiln.
  • Precision Clockmaker’s and Instrument Lathe: Metal lathe fitted with micro-boring tools, external and internal threading dies, jewelers’ saws, and milling attachments for cutting cage inspection slots.
  • Heat-Treating Hearth and Oil Quench Basin: Charcoal-fired forge hearth, optical pyrometer or temperature chalks, and vegetable quenching oil to harden and temper the steel trocar.
  • Lapidary Grinding and Polishing Spindle: Diamond-lap polishing wheel and cerium oxide slurry to hone the tri-beveled needle facets and thread the necks of the lead-crystal phials.
  • Manometer and Vacuum Calibration Station: Benchtop mercury or water manometer, hand-primed vacuum test chamber, and steam-line connector.
  • Granite Transmutation and Quenching Trough: Shallow stone trough filled with mineralized brine for mana channeling and sacrificial component dissolution.
• Skill Requirements:
  • Precision Glassblowing and Annealing: Minimum of 3 trained skill points to blow, true, and anneal the heavy-walled borosilicate containment cylinder without residual structural tension or wall thickness irregularities.
  • Instrument Machining and Brass Foundry Work: Minimum of 4 trained skill points to turn air-tight brass cylinder heads, mill the slotted protective cage, and machine the precision three-way directional stopcock.
  • Metallurgy and Tool Smithing: Minimum of 3 trained skill points to forge, deep-bore, and heat-treat the six-inch tempered steel trocar to penetrate petrified wood and draconic scales without snapping.
  • Alchemical Engineering and Fluid Dynamics: Minimum of 3 trained skill points to plumb the miniature steam condensation jacket, balance vacuum draw ratios, and calibrate volumetric titration markings.
  • Mind’s Eye Diagnostic Proficiency: Capability to project internal stress vectors during assembly, verifying that the completed rig registers 10 base resilience, establishes an air-tight handheld bond, and locks in 33 Item Health Points.
• Crafting Steps:
  • Forming and Annealing the Borosilicate Containment Core:
    • Heat the heavy borosilicate tube over the alchemical flame torch, blowing and rolling the glass against the graphite marver until the walls achieve a uniform three-sixteenths-inch thickness and an exact eight-inch length.
    • Flame-polish both open rims and grind micro-seating bevels on each end to accept the brass gasket collars.
    • Etch volumetric measurement gradations along the exterior cylinder wall using acid-resist paste and hydrofluoric solution, calibrating the scale in precise half-milliliter Syl-Trace increments.
    • Place the completed cylinder into the annealing kiln, holding at soaking temperature for four hours before gradually ramping down to relieve internal molecular stress.
  • Milling the Slotted Brass Reinforcing Cage:
    • Chuck a cylindrical brass billet onto the instrument lathe; bore out the interior diameter to slip-fit snugly over the finished borosilicate glass tube.
    • Mount the cylinder in the milling indexer and cut four longitudinal sight-slots along the casing, leaving thick reinforcing ribs to protect the internal glass against lateral crushing and blunt impact.
    • Thread the forward and rear ends of the cage with fine-pitch male threads to receive the trocar nose-collar and rear piston cap.
  • Forging, Boring, and Tempering the Tri-Beveled Trocar:
    • Forge the high-carbon steel needle blank down to a quarter-inch diameter over a six-inch length.
    • Deep-drill the center of the rod on the lathe to create a smooth, clean capillary conduit through the entire length of the shaft.
    • Machine fine mounting threads onto the base shank to seat flush against the forward brass collar.
    • Heat the needle to bright cherry red in the forge, quench in oil, and temper back to a spring-hard straw temper.
    • Grind the puncture tip on the diamond lap into a razor-sharp, tri-beveled cutting point capable of shearing dense fiber and piercing hardened scales.
  • Machining the Vacuum Piston, Steam Jacket, and Stopcock Assembly:
    • Turn the rear brass piston head, cutting twin circumferential grooves to seat the tallow-soaked leather cup gaskets.
    • Assemble the phosphor-bronze recoil spring and central drive-rod inside the rear housing, linking the assembly to a thumb-actuated release sear.
    • Braze the miniature outer steam jacket around the vacuum cylinder head, fitting a threaded intake valve and manual condensation relief petcock.
    • Machine the three-way directional stopcock body from solid brass, reaming the internal conical plug and drilling fluid-routing ports to direct incoming flow into three distinct outlet spigots.
  • Fashioning the Lead-Crystal Sample Phials and Mounting Harness:
    • Grind three thick lead-crystal blanks into faceted sample phials, cutting external screw-threads onto their necks.
    • Fit each phial with a knurled brass threaded collar containing an internal spring-loaded check-ball that seals the container automatically when unscrewed from the stopcock spigot.
    • Cut, bevel, and stitch the ox-hide cross-body shoulder harness, riveting bronze retaining clips and a padded chest cradle designed to hold the rig securely against the torso when moving through rough terrain.
  • Sacrificial Transmutation and Structural Transference:
    • Fill the granite transmutation trough with mineralized brine and submerge the sacrificial Tier 1 sampling tool alongside the uncoupled brass cage, steel needle, and stopcock assembly.
    • Open the Mind’s Eye and initiate the dissolution sequence, channeling mana into the fluid to decompose the sacrificial tool’s physical structure.
    • Guide the released essence into the component metals and glass, transferring its precision fluid balance, 10 base resilience, and structural durability into the chassis until an amber resonance hum sounds across the basin.
  • Catalytic Crystal Bonding and Alchemical Inscription:
    • Mill a secure recess directly beneath the three-way stopcock manifold and seat the charged Tier 1 magic crystal into a bed of resin mastic.
    • Inscribe Syl-Trace micro-runes along the copper steam conduits and needle collar, bridging the crystal’s mana flow into the fluid chamber to anchor the Hermetic Meniscus Preservation, Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit, and Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry matrices.
    • Align the secondary mana channels with the steam intake valve and stopcock release ports to power the Rapid Vacuum Surge and Caustic Venting Jet channels.
  • Final Assembly, Vacuum Calibration, and Handheld Harmonization:
    • Slide the annealed borosilicate tube inside the slotted brass cage, placing tallow-soaked leather gaskets at both ends; thread down the forward trocar nose-collar and rear piston cap to form a pressure-tight seal.
    • Thread the three lead-crystal sample phials onto the three-way stopcock base and secure the turned black ironwood grip scales to the handle lugs.
    • Connect the assembly to the test manifold: inject a single measure of heated steam, release the piston sear, and verify that the resulting vacuum draws fluid without bubble formation or gasket leakage across a five-minute test cycle.
    • Establish a firm handheld grip on the apparatus and uncap the trocar needle to initiate instantaneous handheld attunement: verify that the graduation marks glow with faint amber light, the internal 33 Item Health Points register in personal awareness, and the device functions without drawing against the avatar’s ten-item attunement ceiling.

Glass Belly and Steel Thorn
Wherein Master Tor-Vayn of 684 Did Siphon Burning Gall of Great Marsh-Behemoth in Sluice-Mouth of Gladeport Without Sinking of a Single Spark
Rendered from Damp Water-Clay Cylinders of Archaic into Lower Tongue by Hesitant Hand of Scribe-Novice Ber-Tann

In the ancient turning of things, before the smoke of the great smelters had blackened the stars of the lower valley, the city of Syl-Kar was gripped by the Bitter-Water Ague. In that terrible winter, the cold rot did enter the joints of the people and the wood of the houses alike, so that the timbers of the roofs wept salt, and the scaled shins of the avatars turned soft and brown like rotten squash.

The high leeches of the College of Pots did search through seventy-seven sheepskins of ancient lore, and they spoke with one voice to the High Siphon-Master: “There is no balm in all the earth that can stay the rot of the joints, save only the living fat-milk that sleepeth within the marrow-sacs of the Great Sump-Behemoth. If that oil be poured into the lamp of an invalid, the warm smoke driveth the salt from his bones; and if three drops be mixed with refined spirit, the mortar of the bridges will harden against the frost. Yet woe unto us! For that fat is like the semen of the lightning: if it toucheth the raw air, it curdleth into black tar; and if a single breath of warm breath bloweth upon it, it bursteth into a yellow fire that consumeth water and stone alike!”

Now there was great wailing at the water-gates of Gladeport. For in the Outflow Canal Number Four, a monster of the deep muck—a brute of forty ox-lengths, whose belly was heavy with twenty jars of the sacred volatile oil—had crawled into the narrow masonry of the sluice to die of the winter cold. Its gigantic, swollen bulk had choked the water-way. The sewage of seven wards was backing up behind its tail; its great belly was swelling like a toad in a wine-press; and the green, blistering gas of its rot was bubbling through the surface of the canal.

The old apothecaries of the City Guild went forth in their barge of oak-planks. They carried great bronze ladles upon poles of ash-wood, and bladders sewn from the bellies of dried bullocks, such as the ancient barbarians did use for the taking of lard.

They drew near to the beast with great fear. An elder of the guild did take a long pole-axe of copper and did hack a hole in the beast’s side beneath the third paddle-fin.

Alas for the folly of the open pot!

The moment the copper edge broke the thick, scale-crusted hide, the pressurized oil leaped outward in a boiling spout! The ambient air kissed the liquid; the air did curdle the pure fat into a stinking, yellow curd that had no virtue of healing; and the vapors, catching the pilot-wick of the helmsman’s lantern fifty paces distant, did flash into a great wave of greasy fire! The barge of the apothecaries was burned to the water-line in the twinkling of an eyelid; eleven masters were turned into black crisps; and thirty apprentices leaped into the boiling sewer, their hair burning upon the water like dry moss.

Then did the Siphon-Master sit upon the ashes of the wharf and beat his chest with a broken brick, crying that the city must perish of the rot and the flood.

Yet there was a journeyman of the Four-and-Eighty and Six Hundred [translator note: Lineage 684, the burrowers who despise the open ladle and worship the shut cylinder], whose name upon the chalk-slates was Tor-Vayn of the Narrow Pinhole. He was a small man, having no meat upon his ribs, but his claws were long and delicate as the needles of a seamstress, and he had spent eight years in the glass-ovens learning how sand may be melted into water that freeze-doth without cold.

Tor-Vayn went not with ladles or skin-bags. He went into his little shop beside the sulfur-flues, and he took from his shelf the Eight-Hundred and Five-and-Twentieth construction of his mind [translator note: here the primitive text speaketh of the Model 825 extraction rig].

He took a hollow pipe of that clear, hard stone which the fire cannot crack [translator note: borosilicate glass], eight finger-lengths long and thick as the horn of a ram. About it he did sweat a lattice-coat of tough brass, pierced with four long sight-slits like the arrow-slits of a fortress, so that though a falling stone should strike the pipe, the glass within would smile and remain unbroken.

At the forward snout he screwed a long tooth of high-carbon steel, six inches from the base to the mouth, bored through its middle with a hole no thicker than a horse-hair, its snout ground with three flat faces [translator note: the tri-beveled trocar] sharp as the razors of the high priests, so that it would part the skin of an alligator as a warm knife parteth lard.

At the tail he mounted a small engine of breath. He set a piston of brass fitted with cups of goat-leather soaked in sheep-tallow, and behind it he coiled a spring of phosphor-bronze that had been tempered in the grease of eels. And around the piston-neck he wrapped a copper coat with a little cock of brass, wherein a single thimble of boiling steam might be breathed from a pocket-kettle.

And at the bottom of the glass tube he set a marvelous thing: a cock of brass with three horns [translator note: the three-way directional stopcock], so ground and seated that when it was turned with the thumb, it pointed the path of the drawn liquid into three separate eggs of heavy crystal, each screw-threaded into its own socket and guarded by a silver ball that leaped into the hole to shut out the world when the egg was unscrewed.

Tor-Vayn laid this machine into the holy salt-trough alongside a brass hydrometer that had measured the honey-yields of thirty summers. He spoke the binding-names until the old hydrometer dissolved into gray meal, and its ghost of exact measure went into the glass cylinder; and he bedded a yellow crystal of the first circle into the brass collar, so that the needle hummed with a quiet heat.

And when he took the black ironwood grip in his claw, the machine became part of his bone. Through his Mind’s Eye, he saw the red and green juices running through the earth like water through a sponge; he smelled neither the stinking sewer nor the rotting grease of the harbor, but only the sweet, dry smell of hot brass and boiled tallow; and his heart was quiet as a stone in a well.

He slung the cross-body harness of ox-leather across his breast-scales. He took his pocket-kettle of brass in his left hand, and he climbed down the slimy ladder of Wharf Nine into the boiling filth of Outflow Four.

The water in the canal was hot as the dish-wash of an inn. The green grease from the rotting behemoth floated upon the surface three fingers thick, bubbling with yellow pustules of sulfur.

Tor-Vayn waded through the soup. The muck reached to his belly-plates; the stench was so fierce that it turned his tongue black in his mouth; yet he did not open his lips, for he held between his teeth the little copper tube that drew the dry, warm air venting from the brass exhaust of the machine, which blew away the poisonous gas in a circle two paces wide about his snout.

He came to the side of the mountain-beast.

The brute was monstrous to behold. Its black, plated hide was stretched tight as a drum-skin from the gases within; its vast paddle-fins were stiffened in death; and beneath its left flank, the great fat-reservoir—a sac three cubits wide—throbbed with an unholy internal heat, shining through the thin skin between the scales like a lamp behind a horn pane.

Tor-Vayn drove the three spod-feet of his small bronze anchor into the mortar of the canal wall to steady his tail.

He set the three-beveled tooth of the Eight-Hundred and Five-and-Twentieth piece against the center of the swollen flank.

He did not hack! He did not strike with a mallet!

He leaned the weight of his withered chest against the back of the brass frame. The three-beveled tooth bit into the iron-hard scales. Because of the Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit, the steel needle grew hot as an iron from the hearth: it melted through the thick, waxy scales without tearing; it slipped through the white grease beneath; and with a soft “thump-snick”, the hollow tip pierced the central bladder of the living oil!

Tor-Vayn cracked the cock of his little kettle. A hiss of hot steam shot into the rear jacket of the cylinder!

The steam touched the cold brass; it died in a heartbeat, shrinking down into a drop of water no larger than a grain of barley. And by that dying, it left behind it the absolute void—the great empty mouth of the vacuum [translator note: here the text describes the thermal-condensation vacuum stroke].

The sear tripped! The phosphor-bronze spring leaped back!

Through the glass wall, guarded by the four brass ribs, Tor-Vayn saw the wonder.

There was no smoke. There was no flash of greasy fire. There was no stink of burned fat.

A thick, ropy river of liquid gold—bright as the eye of the noon sun, clear as honey that hath been twice strained through silk—came roaring through the hollow tooth! It struck the glass; it whirled in a shining vortex against the borosilicate walls; and through his Mind’s Eye, the numbers of the Syl-Trace danced before Tor-Vayn’s sight, telling him: Density nine-and-forty; water-parts zero; virtue of warmth complete; cataloged thirty-and-three measures of absolute health!

The oil touched no air! Not one grain of the outside dust did kiss its golden cheek!

Tor-Vayn turned the three-horned cock with his thumb. Click!

The golden river plunged downward through the brass spigot into the first egg of lead-crystal. In three heartbeats, the crystal was filled to its brim. The silver ball within leaped into its seat; the master unscrewed the full egg with a twist of his fingers, laid it into his leather pouch, and clicked the cock to the second horn!

Click! The second egg filled with the liquid sun.

Yet as the second egg drank its fill, a great disaster stirred in the deep muck beneath the monster’s ribs.

Attracted by the heat of the needle, a brood of Sump-Leeches—great flat worms of the sewer, long as the arm of a rower, with circular jaws set with fifty rings of bone needles—came swarming through the green fat. They were hungry for blood, and their blind snouts sought the soft flesh between Tor-Vayn’s thigh-plates.

The first leech struck him upon the inner thigh, its bone-teeth biting deep into his flesh!

Tor-Vayn did not let go of the machine with his right hand. He did not cry out, though the pain was like the touch of red-hot pincers.

With his left hand, he turned the three-way cock beyond its third notch into the emergency-dog. He opened the bypass-valve of the steam-jacket!

He engaged the Caustic Venting Jet!

The machine gave a terrible, screaming bark—“whuff-KRSSSH!”

From the side-spigot of the brass manifold there shot forth a five-cubit line of superheated, pressurized sewer-bile and burning mineral oil! The jet struck the leech full in its circular face: the boiling stream dissolved the worm’s skin in a breath, bursting its guts into white jelly and washing it twenty yards down the canal, where it floated belly-up in the sewage.

He swung the jet in a half-circle: three more of the abominations were cooked in their own skins, thrashing and screaming like babies, until the water was cleared of their gnashing.

Tor-Vayn turned the cock back to the third horn. Click!

The third crystal egg filled to the very lip.

He reached down his claw, took the quick-release ring of the needle-collar, and tripped the spring. The six-inch steel tooth drew back from the beast’s side with a clean, dry “pop”, like a cork drawn from an old bottle.

The three-faced wound did not tear the flesh: the waxy fat of the beast, chilled by the sudden withdrawal of the hot needle, closed upon itself and sealed the hole tight, so that not another drop of the precious juice was spilled into the muck.

Tor-Vayn unhooked his bronze anchor. He clutched the three filled crystal eggs against his belly with his left arm; he held the Eight-Hundred and Five-and-Twentieth machine across his neck with his right; and he kicked through the green fat until he reached the iron steps of the quay.

Ten score of citizens and fifty elders of the college were standing upon the flags of Gladeport, their lanterns shining through the fog.

Tor-Vayn climbed out of the ditch. His scaled legs were covered in black slime; his thigh was bleeding from the bite of the leech; his lungs were whistling like dry reeds from the sulfur-breath.

He knelt upon the stone before the High Siphon-Master. He set the machine down between his knees—its brass cage unbent, its glass cylinder clear and unbroken, with not one hairline fracture in its wall—and he laid the three crystal eggs upon the white cloth of the guild.

The Chief Apothecary drew near with trembling claws. He brought a bronze needle and touched the neck of the first phial. He drew forth a drop of the grease no larger than the head of a pin; he touched it to the cold, stiff leg of an ancient scribe whose knees had been locked in the ague for seven winters.

In the space of three breaths, the old scribe leaped to his feet! His shins grew warm and white; the gray scales of his hide became green and lustrous as young river-rushes; and he began to dance upon the flags, shouting praises to the stone-fathers!

And from that day, the canal was opened; the fires of the city were lit with the pure oil; and the Eight-Hundred and Five-and-Twentieth piece was carried before the procession of the guilds as the holy sceptre of the closed vessel.

Moral of the story: He who goeth forth with a wide shovel and an open bucket shall find only fire, foul vapors, and the loss of his goods, for the volatile treasures of the world do mock the hand of the clumsy; but he who draweth the spirit through a narrow tooth into a closed room of glass shall take the very heart-fire of the beast in peace, and walk through the lake of sulfur without the burning of a single scale.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

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Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)

Steam-Pneumatic Reagent Aspirator 825

• Item Classification: Specialized Field Extraction Tackle, Alchemical Sampling Apparatus, and Two-Handed Scientific Instrument (carried via cross-body shoulder harness).
• Physical Attributes and Durability:
  • Mass: 4.5 lbs. Operable in one hand for basic probing, but requires two hands to cycle the steam piston and index the stopcock.
  • Durability and Resilience: 33 Item Hit Points (Base Resilience 10). If the apparatus sustains structural damage reducing it to 16 HP or lower, it gains the Broken condition; the borosilicate glass cylinder fractures or the needle armature bends, venting caustic fumes and preventing vacuum suction until repaired with a successful Mechanical Repair or Science (Chemistry) roll during downtime. Reduced to 0 HP shatters the containment tube completely, destroying all harvested liquids.
  • Improvised Combat Profile: Skill: Fighting (Brawl); Damage: 1D4 + half Damage Bonus (Piercing). Wielded as an improvised stiletto/dagger via the six-inch tri-beveled trocar. If the user rolls a Fumble (96–100, or 100 if skill is 50+), the apparatus takes 1D4 structural damage directly to its own Hit Points.
• Operational Action Economy and Attunement:
  • Instantaneous Handheld Attunement: Grasping the ribbed handle and uncapping the trocar needle bonds the apparatus immediately to the investigator, requiring zero Sanity loss, no ritual delay, and drawing no capacity against personal attunement thresholds.
  • Disarm Deactivation: If an adversary successfully executes a combat maneuver to disarm the investigator or strikes the frame directly, the vacuum seals depressurize and the apparatus deactivates instantly. Its active matrices and vacuum assists remain inert until the investigator spends 10 minutes of uninterrupted rest recalibrating the valve seats.
  • Sampling Action Economy: Uncapping the needle, driving the trocar into a biological specimen or alchemical pool, triggering the vacuum draw, and locking the safety stopcock requires 1 combat round (1 Action).
• Skill Bonuses Gained While Wielded:
  • +10% bonus to Science (Biology, Chemistry, or Pharmacy) and Medicine rolls made to locate fluid bladders, milk venomous organs, or sample volatile non-terrene secretions.
  • +10% bonus to Spot Hidden checks when inspecting organic matter for concealed vascular nodes, poison ducts, or internal parasite clusters.
• Passive Tactical Features:
  • Hermetic Meniscus Preservation: An airtight containment field seals the borosilicate cylinder and the three lead-crystal sample phials, completely halting biological curdling, evaporation, and oxidation. Harvested fluids retain peak chemical and catalytic potency indefinitely until unsealed.
  • Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit: The steam jacket radiates a low-temperature thermodynamic hum down the steel trocar, warming dense monster fats, congealed biles, and thick sap upon contact so they flow effortlessly through the narrow bore without clogging.
  • Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry: Contact between the trocar tip and a liquid specimen projects an analytical overlay into the investigator’s visual field, granting one bonus die on Science rolls to determine chemical purity, reactivity, toxicity, and exact volume.
• Active Occult Capabilities:
  • Rapid Vacuum Surge (Deep Core Aspiration): The investigator expends 1 Magic Point (MP) to trip the auxiliary condensation piston. The high-vacuum stroke pulls fluids through up to two feet of dense wood, calcified carapaces, or hardened mud crusts without requiring pre-drilling. Usable twice per day.
  • Caustic Venting Jet: The investigator expends 1 MP to rotate the three-way stopcock and vent a stored measure of acidic, venomous, or scalding reagent under high pneumatic pressure. Projects a 5-yard (15-foot) stream requiring a DEX or Firearms (Throw) roll to hit, dealing 2D6 damage (Acid, Poison, or Burn depending on the reagent) against an adversary or target lock mechanism. Usable twice per day.

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Blades in the Dark

Fine Steam-Pneumatic Harvesting Rig 825

• Item Classification: Fine Alchemical Rig, Reagent Collector, and Field Aspirator (Load: 1, carried via a cross-body leather harness).
• Tier and Quality: Tier II Quality Archaic Technology (counts as Fine).
• Item Profile: An eight-inch annealed borosilicate glass cylinder protected by a slotted brass cage, fitted with a six-inch tri-beveled steel trocar, a thermal steam condensation piston, and a three-way directional stopcock feeding into three detachable lead-crystal sample phials.
• Operational Action Economy and Rigging:
  • Operational Engagement: Operated using Study to locate internal glands and analyze fluid volatility, Doctor to extract biological essences safely from carcasses, or Tinker to adapt the steam-vacuum mechanism.
  • Field Sampling: Uncapping the trocar, driving the needle into a target, cycling the steam-vacuum stroke, and indexing the stopcock consumes 1 action during dangerous encounters.
  • Disarm and Structural Failure: If targeted by an enemy consequence or disarmed, the internal vacuum seals vent immediately. The rig becomes inert until the scoundrel spends 10 minutes of downtime or a quiet breather to reseat the leather gaskets and reset the pistons. Sustaining severe damage (the Broken condition) fractures the glass and vents caustic fluids until repaired via a Tinker downtime activity.
• Passive Tactical Features:
  • Hermetic Meniscus Preservation: Possesses innate Potency when preserving rare alchemical extracts, ghost essences, or volatile monster reagents; stored fluids never curdle, spoil, or oxidize while contained within the phials.
  • Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit: Radiates a micro-heat current along the trocar, completely ignoring environmental cold and operational resistance when drawing congealed fats, freezing biles, or sticky petroleum resins.
  • Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry: Examining or sampling an unknown fluid grants +1d to Study rolls made to identify toxins, assess alchemical purity, or measure exact liquid volume.
• Active Capabilities:
  • Rapid Vacuum Surge (Deep Core Aspiration): Push yourself (spend 1 Stress) while triggering the vacuum draw against an armored carcass, petrified ironwood trunk, or sealed stone duct. The apparatus achieves Great Effect, extracting core fluids through up to two feet of dense substrate without needing an incision or drilling.
  • Caustic Venting Jet: Push yourself (spend 1 Stress) to vent a measure of stored caustic, acidic, or venomous fluid through the bypass valve. Projects a pressurized 15-foot stream dealing Level 2 Harm (Chemical Burns or Toxic Shock) to an adjacent target or instantly dissolving non-reinforced lock hardware.

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Dungeons & Dragons (2024 Edition)

Steam-Pneumatic Reagent Extractor 825

• Item Type: Wondrous Item / Tool (Alchemical Harvesting Rig)
• Rarity: Common (requires attunement by holding in one or two hands)
• Weight: 4.5 lb.
• Item Statistics & Structural Resilience:
  • Armor Class: 15; Item Hit Points: 33; Resilience: 10.
  • Broken Condition: If reduced to 16 HP or lower, the borosilicate cylinder cracks or the trocar armature bends, causing caustic reagents to vent and preventing vacuum suction until repaired with Alchemist’s Supplies or Tinker’s Tools during a short or long rest. Reduced to 0 HP shatters the containment tube completely, destroying all contained liquids.
  • Improvised Combat Profile: Can be wielded as an Improvised Weapon dealing 1d4 Piercing damage (Finesse). If the wielder rolls a natural 1 on an attack roll with the rig, it sustains 1d4 damage directly to its own Hit Points.
• Attunement and Action Economy:
  • Instantaneous Handheld Attunement: You attune to the extractor instantly upon gripping the handle and uncapping the trocar needle. While held, it does not count against your maximum limit of attuned items.
  • Disarm Deactivation: If you are forced to drop the apparatus or are disarmed in combat, it immediately unattunes and depressurizes. It functions merely as an inert mechanical frame until you spend 10 minutes performing a recalibration ritual during a rest.
  • Field Sampling: Extracting fluid from a carcass, tree trunk, or alchemical pool requires 1 Action (uncapping the needle, driving the trocar, triggering the suction lever, and indexing the stopcock).
• Skill Bonuses Gained While Wielded:
  • +1 bonus to Intelligence (Arcana, Nature) and Wisdom (Medicine) checks made to locate harvestable glands, milk venoms, or preserve biological components.
  • Advantage on ability checks made to identify the properties, toxicity, and purity of unrefined alchemical fluids.
• Passive Properties:
  • Hermetic Meniscus Preservation: Fluids stored within the borosilicate cylinder or the three lead-crystal sample phials are held in complete stasis. They never spoil, dry out, evaporate, or lose catalytic potency due to atmospheric exposure.
  • Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit: The steam jacket keeps the steel trocar heated, allowing congealed monster fats, chilled ichors, and thick tree pitch to be drawn freely without clogging the needle bore.
  • Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry: While holding the extractor, you intuitively know the exact volume (down to the milliliter), chemical purity, and toxicity level of any liquid touched by the trocar.
• Active Properties:
  • Rapid Vacuum Surge (Deep Core Aspiration): As an Action, you expend 1 charge to over-cycle the steam piston. The needle draws fluids through up to 2 feet of petrified bark, natural chitin armor, or hard stone crust without requiring an incision. This property has 2 charges and regains all expended charges daily at dawn.
  • Caustic Venting Jet: As an Action, you expend 1 charge and rotate the three-way stopcock to discharge a stored measure of caustic, venomous, or scalding reagent in a 15-foot line that is 5 feet wide. Each creature in that line must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 2d6 damage (acid, poison, or fire, matching the stored fluid’s properties) on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. This property has 2 charges and regains all expended charges daily at dawn.

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Knave (2nd Edition)

Brass-Caged Reagent Aspirator 825

• Item Slots: 1 Slot (carried via leather cross-body harness, operated in one or two hands).
• Qualities and Durability:
  • Item Quality: 4/4; Item Hit Points: 33 HP.
  • Broken Condition: If reduced to 16 HP or lower, the pressure seals blow and the borosilicate glass cracks, disabling all suction and storage capabilities until repaired by an apothecary or tinker during downtime. Shatters into scrap brass, broken glass, and bent steel at 0 HP.
  • Improvised Weapon: Deals 1d4 Piercing damage if thrust in combat. Rolling a natural 1 on an attack roll inflicts 1 point of Quality damage to the aspirator itself.
• Operational Mechanics and Attunement:
  • Instant Handheld Bond: Grasping the handle and uncapping the needle bonds the aspirator immediately to the delver without occupying a magical attunement slot.
  • Disarm Vulnerability: If disarmed or knocked from the wielder’s grip, the tool depressurizes and deactivates. It remains inert until the delver spends 1 exploration Turn (10 minutes) cleaning and re-attuning the valve seats.
  • Sampling Action: Drawing a measure of fluid from a fallen beast, ancient plant, or mineral pool requires 1 combat action (or 1 combat round).
• Passive Tactical Features:
  • Hermetic Meniscus Preservation: Harvested fluids, venom distillates, and tree saps sealed within the three lead-crystal phials never spoil, rot, or evaporate.
  • Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit: The steam jacket keeps the trocar hot; heavy biles, pitch, and freezing fluids never freeze or jam inside the needle capillary.
  • Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry: The wielder gains Advantage on INT and WIS checks made to harvest monster parts safely, identify deadly poisons, or assess the market purity of alchemical pools.
• Active Properties:
  • Rapid Vacuum Surge (Deep Core Aspiration): Twice per day, the wielder cycles the condensation piston to pull fluids through up to 2 feet of hardened bark, insect carapaces, or mud crusts in a single action without pre-cutting.
  • Caustic Venting Jet: Twice per day, the wielder turns the stopcock to vent a stored phial of caustic or venomous fluid as a 15-foot jet. Deals 2d6 damage (acid, fire, or poison) to a target in front of the user (DEX save to avoid or halve).

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Fate

The Alchemist’s Steam-Aspirator 825

• Classification: Specialized Extra, Portable Reagent Extraction Tackle, and Precision Alchemical Rig (carried via dedicated leather harness, operated in one or two hands).
• Aspect Integration:
  • Dedicated Item Aspect: Slotted Brass-Caged Borosilicate Aspirator with Tri-Beveled Trocar. This aspect can be invoked to pierce armored hides or petrified bark without tool fracture, extract volatile reagents in an airless vacuum, safely sample caustic and venomous fluids, or discharge pressurized chemical jets; it can be compelled to represent the vulnerability of delicate borosilicate glass during violent impacts, the sudden venting of gaskets when struck, or the danger of explosive reagent backfire.
  • Inherent Operational Aspect: Hermetic Closed-Loop Harvester. Ensures sampled materials remain completely isolated from the atmosphere, but requires deliberate handling to avoid fouling needle threads or blowing leather seals under pressure.
• Attunement and Disarm Mechanics:
  • Instantaneous Handheld Attunement: Uncapping the needle and gripping the ribbed handle bonds the apparatus immediately to the researcher without consuming refresh or stunt slots.
  • Disarm Deactivation: If an opponent successfully executes a disarm maneuver or an attack directly strikes the housing, the vacuum seals depressurize and the device deactivates instantly; all active assists and thermal conduits remain dormant until the harvester spends 10 minutes performing bench recalibration during downtime.
• Operational Action Economy and Combat Profile:
  • Field Sampling: Uncapping the needle, driving the trocar into a biological specimen, engaging the vacuum stroke, and indexing the stopcock into a phial requires 1 action.
  • Improvised Combat Profile: Weapon:1 (Improvised Piercing Stiletto). If the wielder fails a Fight roll with style while thrusting with the trocar, the frame sustains structural stress, gaining the situational aspect Bent Needle Armature.
• Durability and Structural Stress:
  • Item Stress Track: Possesses a dedicated 4-box stress track and 10 base resilience (representing its 33 Item HP pool). If reduced past its structural threshold (equivalent to 16 Item HP or lower), it gains the Fractured Containment Core broken condition, venting caustic fumes and disabling all vacuum suction and storage capabilities until repaired by an artisan during downtime.
• Passive Tactical Features:
  • Hermetic Meniscus Preservation: Overcomes environmental obstacles to store volatile monster secretions, venom distillates, or rare tree resins; reagents held within the three lead-crystal phials never spoil, curdle, or lose potency.
  • Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit: The steam jacket radiates continuous low heat down the steel needle, allowing the wielder to automatically overcome resistance when drawing congealed monster fats, freezing biles, or sticky pitch.
  • Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry: Grants a +2 bonus to Lore or Crafts rolls made to evaluate the purity, toxicity, chemical reactivity, and exact volume of sampled liquids.
• Active Stunt Capabilities:
  • Rapid Vacuum Surge (Deep Core Aspiration): Twice per session (or by spending 1 Fate Point), the harvester over-cycles the steam piston to draw fluids through up to two feet of petrified bark, thick chitin plates, or rock crusts without requiring an incision. Gain a +2 bonus to Crafts or Physique to extract core specimens.
  • Caustic Venting Jet: Twice per session, the harvester rotates the three-way stopcock to project a pressurized stream of stored caustic, acidic, or venomous reagent at a target up to one zone away. Acts as a Weapon:2 attack using Shoot or Crafts, or instantly dissolves non-reinforced lock hardware.

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Numenera & Cypher System

Steam-Pneumatic Reagent Harvester 825

• Item Level: 3 (governs crafting difficulty, maintenance tasks, and structural interaction thresholds).
• Form and Structure: An eight-inch annealed borosilicate glass cylinder enclosed in a slotted brass reinforcing cage, fitted with a six-inch tri-beveled tempered steel trocar needle, an under-mounted steam condensation vacuum piston, and a three-way brass stopcock feeding three detachable lead-crystal sample phials. Carried via an ox-hide cross-body harness. Total weight: 4.5 pounds.
• Classification and Operational Economy:
  • Classification: Artifact / Specialized Alchemical Harvesting Rig (operable in one or two hands).
  • Operational Sampling: Uncapping the trocar, driving the needle into a target, cycling the steam-vacuum stroke, and indexing the stopcock consumes 1 action.
  • Improvised Combat Profile: Light Improvised Melee Weapon (deals 2 points of piercing damage). On a natural 1 attack roll (GM Intrusion), the apparatus takes 2 points of structural damage directly to its borosilicate tube.
  • Instant Handheld Bond: Bonds to the explorer immediately upon grasping the grip and uncapping the trocar; does not count against standard cypher limits.
  • Disarm Deactivation: If forcibly knocked from the wielder’s grip or disarmed, the vacuum seals depressurize and deactivate. It remains an inert mechanical frame until the user spends 10 minutes of uninterrupted rest recalibrating the valve seats.
  • Durability: 33 Item Health Points with 10 base resilience. If reduced to 16 HP or lower, it enters the Broken condition (the glass cylinder fractures or the needle bends, venting caustic fumes and preventing vacuum suction until repaired during downtime).
• Depletion Rating: 1 in 1d20 (checked only upon activating Rapid Vacuum Surge or Caustic Venting Jet; passive capabilities incur no depletion checks).
• Passive Tactical Features:
  • Hermetic Meniscus Preservation: Eases tasks to preserve and store volatile bio-fluids, living enzymes, and reactive chemical reagents indefinitely by two steps.
  • Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit: Eases harvesting and sampling tasks in freezing conditions or against high-viscosity resins, chilled fats, and congealed biles by one step.
  • Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry: Eases Intellect-based tasks to analyze chemical purity, identify biological toxins, or measure exact liquid volumes by one step.
• Active Capabilities:
  • Rapid Vacuum Surge (Action): The wielder over-cycles the steam condensation piston. Eases tasks to harvest fluids through up to two feet of dense ironwood bark, natural chitin armor, or hard stone crusts without pre-drilling by two steps. Depletion: 1 in 1d20.
  • Caustic Venting Jet (Action): The wielder rotates the stopcock and discharges a stored measure of caustic, venomous, or scalding reagent in an immediate 15-foot line. Deals 4 points of damage (acid, poison, or fire, matching the stored fluid) to a target, or eases tasks to melt through non-reinforced locks and structural latches by two steps. Depletion: 1 in 1d20.

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Pathfinder (Second Edition Remaster)

Steam-Pneumatic Reagent Aspirator 825

• Item Metadata: Item 3; Uncommon, Alchemical, Magical, Transmutation.
• Price: 55 gp.
• Usage: Held in 1 or 2 hands (carried via cross-body shoulder harness); Bulk: 1.
• Base Statistics & Improvised Profile:
  • Base Category: Improvised One-Handed Melee Weapon (Dart or Knife group).
  • Damage: 1d4 Piercing.
  • Traits: Agile, Finesse, Improvised, Magical.
  • Critical Failure Penalty: A critical failure on a Strike made with this tool inflicts 1d4 damage directly to the item’s Hit Points.
• Attunement and Action Dynamics:
  • Instantaneous Handheld Investiture: Invests automatically the moment the wielder grasps the grip and un-caps the trocar needle; while held, it does not count against the character’s 10-item investment limit.
  • Disarm Deactivation: If an opponent successfully uses the Disarm action against the apparatus, it immediately deactivates and depressurizes. It functions merely as an inoperative mechanical frame until the wielder spends 10 minutes performing a maintenance and recalibration activity during a rest.
  • Sampling Activity: Uncapping the needle, driving the trocar into a specimen, engaging the suction lever, drawing fluid, and locking the stopcock requires 1 Action.
  • Durability & Health: Hardness 10, HP 33, BT (Broken Threshold) 16. If reduced to 16 HP or lower, it gains the Broken condition (borosilicate glass fractures or the needle bends, venting caustic reagents and preventing vacuum suction until repaired with Crafting).
• Skill Bonuses Gained While Wielded:
  • +1 item bonus to Crafting checks to harvest biological reagents, brew potions, or identify alchemical properties.
  • +1 item bonus to Nature or Medicine checks made to locate internal fluid organs, extract poisons, or harvest tree saps.
• Passive Properties:
  • Hermetic Meniscus Preservation: Fluids stored within the borosilicate cylinder or the three lead-crystal sample phials are held in complete stasis. They never spoil, dry out, evaporate, or lose catalytic potency due to atmospheric exposure.
  • Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit: The steam jacket keeps the steel needle heated, allowing congealed monster fats, chilled ichors, and thick tree pitch to flow freely without clogging the trocar bore.
  • Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry: While holding the aspirator, you immediately know the exact volume, chemical purity, and toxicity level of any liquid touched by the trocar tip.
• Active Properties:
  • Rapid Vacuum Surge [one-action] (Alchemical, Transmutation); Frequency: twice per day; Effect: You over-cycle the steam condensation piston. The needle draws fluids through up to 2 feet of petrified bark, natural chitin armor, or hard stone crust without requiring an incision or pre-drilling.
  • Caustic Venting Jet [one-action] (Alchemical, Evocation); Frequency: twice per day; Effect: You rotate the three-way stopcock to discharge a stored measure of caustic, venomous, or scalding reagent in a 15-foot line. Each creature in that line must make a DC 19 basic Reflex save, taking 2d6 damage (acid, poison, or fire, matching the stored fluid’s properties). This jet can also be directed at a lock or latch to bypass standard hardness up to Hardness 10.

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Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition)

Syl-Kar Steam Reagent Extractor 825

• Classification: Specialized Scientific Harvesting Tackle, Reagent Aspirator, and Field Sampling Rig.
• Damage: Str+d4 (Improvised Piercing Weapon).
• Weight: 4.5 lbs.
• Minimum Strength: d4.
• Price: 180 silver coins.
• Operational Flow and Action Economy:
  • Field Sampling: Uncapping the needle, driving the trocar into a biological specimen, tripping the vacuum lever, and rotating the stopcock requires 1 action.
  • Improvised Combat Profile: Can be swung or thrust as an improvised dagger (Str+d4). A Critical Failure on a Fighting roll inflicts 1d4 damage directly to the extractor’s internal borosilicate tube.
  • Instant Attunement & Disarm Deactivation: Bonds to the wielder immediately upon gripping the handle and uncapping the trocar. If an opponent successfully executes a Disarm maneuver, the apparatus deactivates and depressurizes instantly; all special functions remain dormant until the harvester spends 10 minutes recalibrating the valve seals during a rest.
  • Durability & Health: Toughness 10, with 33 Item Health Points. Reaching 16 HP or lower inflicts the Broken condition (glass cracks and seals blow, disabling all vacuum suction and storage abilities until repaired with a successful Repair roll during downtime).
• Skill Bonuses Gained While Wielded:
  • +1 to Healing, Occult, or Science rolls made to locate internal glands, extract venomous fluids, or identify organic secretions.
  • +1 to Notice rolls when searching organic matter for concealed vascular nodes, poison ducts, or internal parasites.
• Passive Mechanics:
  • Hermetic Meniscus Preservation: Volatile bio-fluids, venoms, and rare tree resins stored within the three lead-crystal sample phials never curdle, spoil, or evaporate.
  • Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit: The steam jacket keeps the trocar hot, completely negating environmental cold penalties and viscosity resistance when harvesting thick saps, freezing biles, or congealed fats.
  • Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry: Grants a +2 bonus to Notice or Science rolls made to evaluate chemical purity, toxicity levels, and exact liquid volume.
• Active Mechanics:
  • Rapid Vacuum Surge (Action): Twice per day, the harvester cycles the condensation piston to pull fluids through up to 2 feet of hardened bark, insect carapaces, or mud crusts in a single action without requiring pre-cutting or drilling.
  • Caustic Venting Jet (Action): Twice per day, the harvester rotates the three-way stopcock to vent a stored phial of caustic, venomous, or scalding fluid as a 5-inch (10-yard/15-foot) jet using Athletics to hit. The stream deals 2d6 damage (acid, fire, or poison depending on the harvested fluid) to a target, or melts non-reinforced mundane locks and latches.

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Shadowrun (Sixth World Edition)

Steam-Pneumatic Reagent Aspirator 825

• Item Classification: Specialized Archaeological & Alchemical Field Tackle, Precision Fluid Sampler, and Improvised Stiletto (carried via dedicated cross-body leather harness).
• Weapon Attributes and Combat Statistics:
  • Damage Value (DV): 2P (Physical) as an Improvised Melee Weapon (Piercing).
  • Attack Rating (AR): 4 / — / — / — (Close: 0–4 meters).
  • Reach: 0 (Requires close melee contact).
  • Availability: 3.
  • Legality: Legal (Classified as non-lethal biological sampling, forestry surveying, and laboratory gear).
  • Cost: 2,100 Nuyen.
• Physical Profile and Operational Flow:
  • Mass and Structure: Eight-inch annealed borosilicate glass containment tube enclosed within a slotted brass reinforcing cage, fitted with a six-inch tri-beveled tempered steel trocar needle, a miniature steam-condensation vacuum jacket, an ironwood handle, and a three-way directional stopcock feeding into three detachable lead-crystal sample phials. Total mass is 2.0 kg (4.5 lbs).
  • Harvesting Action Economy: Uncapping the needle valve, driving the trocar into an organic carcass, tree burl, or chemical pool, tripping the vacuum draw, and indexing the stopcock consumes 1 Major Action in combat initiative (or approximately 30 seconds in narrative time).
  • Instant Handheld Attunement: Taking a firm grip on the handle and uncapping the trocar needle bonds the apparatus instantaneously to the runner, consuming 0 Essence and counting as 0 bonded foci against personal thresholds.
  • Disarm Deactivation: If an adversary successfully executes a Disarm combat maneuver or strikes the rig directly, the vacuum seals depressurize and the device deactivates instantly; all passive assists and thermal conduits remain dormant until the runner spends 10 minutes performing bench recalibration during downtime.
  • Durability & Resilience: Possesses 33 Item Health Points with 10 base resilience. Sustaining damage that reduces the rig to 16 HP or lower inflicts the Broken condition (the borosilicate tube cracks or the trocar armature bends, venting caustic fumes and preventing vacuum suction until repaired by an armorer or technician). If swung as an improvised weapon, rolling a Critical Glitch inflicts 2 boxes of damage directly to the apparatus’s own Health Points.
• Skill Bonuses Gained While Wielded:
  • +1 dice pool bonus to Biotech, Chemistry, or Outdoors tests involving locating biological fluid reservoirs, harvesting venomous organs, or preserving organic reagents.
  • +1 dice pool bonus to Perception tests when inspecting organic materials for concealed vascular conduits, venom sacs, or parasitic clusters.
• Passive Tactical Properties:
  • Hermetic Meniscus Preservation: An airtight containment field completely seals the borosilicate core and the three lead-crystal sample phials, preventing oxidation, biological curdling, and volatile evaporation. Harvested reagents retain peak chemical and magical potency indefinitely until unsealed.
  • Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit: The steam jacket radiates a low-temperature thermodynamic hum down the steel trocar, warming chilled monster fats, congealed biles, and dense sap upon contact so they flow effortlessly through the narrow bore without clogging in freezing or damp environments.
  • Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry: Contact between the trocar tip and a liquid specimen projects an analytical overlay into the runner’s visual field, granting a +2 dice pool bonus on tests to identify toxins, determine chemical purity, or calculate exact liquid volume.
• Active Operational Capabilities:
  • Rapid Vacuum Surge (Minor Action / 1 Edge): Twice per run, the runner over-cycles the steam condensation piston. The high-vacuum stroke pulls fluids through up to two feet of petrified wood, thick chitin plates, or hardened mud crusts without requiring pre-drilling or cutting incisions.
  • Caustic Venting Jet (Major Action): Twice per run, the runner rotates the three-way stopcock to discharge a stored measure of caustic, venomous, or scalding reagent in an immediate 5-meter (15-foot) line. Treated as a Close-range combat attack with an Attack Rating of 6, dealing 4P damage (Acid, Poison, or Fire depending on the stored liquid) and applying the appropriate elemental status effect, or dissolving non-reinforced lock hardware.

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Starfinder (Second Edition)

Steam-Pneumatic Reagent Extractor 825

• Item Metadata: Item 3; Uncommon, Alchemical, Magical, Tech, Transmutation.
• Price: 55 Credits.
• Usage: Held in 1 or 2 hands (Bulk: 1, carried via cross-body shoulder harness).
• Base Statistics & Improvised Combat:
  • Base Category: Improvised One-Handed Melee Weapon (Knife group).
  • Damage: 1d4 Piercing.
  • Traits: Agile, Finesse, Improvised, Magical, Tech.
  • Critical Failure Penalty: A critical failure on a Strike made with this tool inflicts 1d4 damage directly to the item’s own Hit Points.
• Attunement and Action Dynamics:
  • Instantaneous Handheld Investiture: Invests automatically the moment the wielder grasps the grip and uncaps the trocar needle; while held, it does not count against the character’s 10-item investment limit.
  • Disarm Deactivation: If an opponent successfully uses the Disarm action against the apparatus, it immediately deactivates and depressurizes. It functions merely as an inoperative mechanical frame until the wielder spends 10 minutes performing a maintenance and recalibration activity during a rest.
  • Field Sampling: Extracting fluid from a carcass, tree trunk, or alchemical pool requires 1 Action (uncapping the needle, driving the trocar, engaging the suction lever, and indexing the stopcock).
  • Durability & Health: Hardness 10, HP 33, BT (Broken Threshold) 16. If reduced to 16 HP or lower, it gains the Broken condition (borosilicate glass fractures or the needle bends, venting caustic reagents and preventing vacuum suction until repaired with Crafting).
• Skill Bonuses Gained While Wielded:
  • +1 item bonus to Life Science or Physical Science checks made to locate biological fluid reservoirs, milk venoms, or preserve volatile chemical reagents.
  • +1 item bonus to Perception checks to notice hidden vascular nodes, gland margins, or concealed fluid conduits.
• Passive Tactical Features:
  • Hermetic Meniscus Preservation: Fluids stored within the borosilicate cylinder or the three lead-crystal sample phials are held in complete stasis. They never spoil, dry out, evaporate, or lose catalytic potency due to atmospheric exposure.
  • Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit: The steam jacket keeps the steel needle heated, allowing congealed monster fats, chilled ichors, and thick tree pitch to flow freely without clogging the trocar bore.
  • Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry: While holding the extractor, you intuitively know the exact volume, chemical purity, and toxicity level of any liquid touched by the trocar tip.
• Active Operational Capabilities:
  • Rapid Vacuum Surge [one-action] (Alchemical, Tech, Transmutation): Frequency: twice per day; Effect: You over-cycle the steam condensation piston. The needle draws fluids through up to 2 feet of petrified bark, natural chitin armor, or hard stone crust without requiring an incision or pre-drilling.
  • Caustic Venting Jet [one-action] (Alchemical, Evocation, Tech): Frequency: twice per day; Effect: You rotate the three-way stopcock to discharge a stored measure of caustic, venomous, or scalding reagent in a 15-foot line. Each creature in that line must make a DC 19 basic Reflex save, taking 2d6 damage (acid, poison, or fire, matching the stored fluid’s properties). This jet can also be directed at a lock or latch to bypass standard hardness up to Hardness 10.

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Mongoose Traveller (2nd Edition)

Type-825 Steam-Pneumatic Fluid Aspirator

• Item Classification: Archaic Mechanical Sampling Tackle, Reagent Aspirator, and Field Extraction Rig.
• Tech Level and General Statistics:
  • Tech Level: TL 4 (Precision Archaic Mechanical Engineering, Borosilicate Glassblowing, and Thermal Steam Condensation). Non-electronic and completely immune to EMP or electrical interference.
  • Damage: 1D-1 Piercing (Improvised One-Handed Melee Weapon).
  • Range: Melee (Contact).
  • Mass: 2.0 kg (approx. 4.5 lbs).
  • Price: Cr 650.
• Physical Architecture and Operational Flow:
  • Construction: Eight-inch annealed borosilicate glass containment cylinder protected by a slotted brass reinforcing cage, fitted with a six-inch tri-beveled tempered steel trocar needle, a miniature steam jacket with manual condensation piston, an ironwood grip, and a three-way brass directional stopcock carrying three detachable lead-crystal sample phials. Carried in an ox-hide cross-body chest harness.
  • Harvesting Action Economy: Uncapping the needle, penetrating a biological specimen or resin vein, triggering the steam-vacuum stroke, and indexing the stopcock into a phial requires 1 Minor Action (or 1 Action in narrative play).
  • Improvised Combat Risk: Can be thrust as an improvised stiletto/dagger (1D-1 Piercing). Rolling an Effect of -6 or a natural 2 on an attack roll inflicts 1D damage directly to the apparatus’s borosilicate tube.
  • Instant Handheld Bonding: Operable immediately upon grasping the grip and uncapping the trocar. If disarmed or forcibly dropped, the internal vacuum seals vent immediately; all thermal assists and diagnostic functions remain dormant until the traveler spends 10 minutes performing bench recalibration during downtime.
  • Durability & Integrity: Possesses 33 Item HP with 10 base resilience. If reduced to 16 HP or lower, it gains the Broken condition (glass cracks and seals blow, disabling all vacuum suction and storage capabilities until repaired with an Engineer check).
• Skill Modifiers While Wielded:
  • +1 DM to Science (Biology or Chemistry) or Survival checks made when locating harvestable glands, sampling alien bio-matter, or extracting pure plant resins.
  • +1 DM to Recon checks when inspecting organic carcasses or vegetation for hidden vascular conduits and poison reservoirs.
• Passive Tactical Mechanics:
  • Hermetic Meniscus Preservation: Harvested fluids, venom distillates, and plant saps sealed within the lead-crystal phials never spoil, curdle, or lose chemical potency due to environmental exposure or planetary atmosphere.
  • Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit: The steam jacket keeps the trocar heated; dense biles, pitch, and freezing fluids never congeal or jam inside the needle bore.
  • Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry: Contact between the trocar and a liquid provides instant physical analysis, granting a +1 DM to evaluate fluid purity, reactivity, and exact volume.
• Active Operational Capabilities:
  • Rapid Vacuum Surge (Significant Action): Twice per 24-hour cycle, the traveler cycles the auxiliary steam piston to pull fluids through up to 60 centimeters (approx. 2 feet) of dense wood, chitin, or mineral crust in a single action without pre-drilling.
  • Caustic Venting Jet (Significant Action): Twice per 24-hour cycle, the traveler turns the stopcock to vent a stored phial of caustic, venomous, or scalding fluid as a 5-meter (15-foot) jet. Deals 2D damage (Acid, Fire, or Poison depending on the fluid) to a target in front of the user, or dissolves non-reinforced mechanical padlocks and latches.

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Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (4th Edition)

Guild Reagent Extraction Rig 825

• Item Classification: Masterwork Alchemical Harvesting Rig, Guild Reagent Aspirator, and Improvised Stiletto.
• Weapon Statistics and Values:
  • Price: 3 Gold Crowns, 10 Silver Shillings.
  • Encumbrance: 1 (carried via a dedicated cross-body leather shoulder baldric).
  • Availability: Rare (highly prized by imperial apothecaries, apothecary guilds, and jade wizard herbalists).
  • Weapon Group: Basic (Improvised Stiletto / Dagger).
  • Damage: +SB+1 (Piercing).
  • Qualities: Precise, Special (Hermetic Meniscus Preservation, Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit, Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry, Rapid Vacuum Surge, Caustic Venting Jet).
  • Flaws: Delicate (a Fumble on a melee combat test inflicts 1d10 structural damage directly to the rig’s internal glass core).
• Operational Flow and Attunement:
  • Instant Handheld Attunement: Attunes immediately when grasped and uncapped; draws 0 attunement slots. If an adversary successfully Disarms the bearer, the apparatus depressurizes and deactivates instantly, requiring 10 minutes of uninterrupted rest to reseat seals and recalibrate the valves.
  • Field Harvesting: Uncapping the needle, thrusting the trocar, triggering the vacuum draw, and indexing the stopcock into a phial requires 1 Action.
  • Durability & Resilience: Possesses 33 Item HP with 10 base resilience. If reduced to 16 HP or lower, the implement gains the Broken condition (the borosilicate cylinder fractures or the needle bends, venting caustic fumes and preventing suction until repaired by an artisan with Trade [Apothecary or Tinker]).
• Skill Bonuses Gained While Wielded:
  • +10 bonus to Trade (Apothecary or Poisoner) and Lore (Herbs or Beasts) Tests when locating fluid glands, milking venom, or harvesting volatile resins.
  • +10 bonus to Perception Tests when inspecting carcasses or ancient flora for hidden fluid veins and poison ducts.
• Passive Special Rules:
  • Hermetic Meniscus Preservation: Harvested fluids, venom distillates, and tree saps sealed within the three lead-crystal sample phials never curdle, rot, or evaporate, remaining at peak potency indefinitely.
  • Viscosity-Lowering Thermal Conduit: The steam jacket keeps the steel trocar hot, granting +1 SL on harvesting tests and guaranteeing that thick resins, monster fats, or freezing biles never clog the needle bore.
  • Mind’s Eye Titration Telemetry: Contact between the trocar tip and a liquid specimen grants an immediate analytical readout, giving +1 SL on successful Lore and Trade Tests to determine reagent purity, toxicity, and volume.
• Active Special Rules:
  • Rapid Vacuum Surge: Twice per day, the apothecary cycles the steam piston (an Action) to pull fluids through up to 2 feet of hardened bark, insect carapaces, or mud crusts without requiring pre-cutting or incision, ignoring up to 2 Armour Points on natural beast hides.
  • Caustic Venting Jet: Twice per day, the apothecary rotates the three-way stopcock (an Action) to vent a stored phial of caustic, venomous, or boiling fluid as a 5-yard (15-foot) jet. Deals +SB+3 damage (Acid, Poison, or Fire depending on the harvested fluid), inflicting the Ablative (for acid) or Poisoned Condition, or burning away non-reinforced mundane locks and latches.