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Geomancers Fracture Pick 337

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by

Dale
in

From: Lineage 713 of Qosqo Pacha Peak Forged Ascendants

Description: This is less a weapon of war and more a reinforced artisan’s tool, perfectly balanced for Kallpa-Rumi’s needs. It features a head forged from dark, salvaged iron, with a sharp pick on one end and a narrow, flat hammerhead on the other. The head is socketed into a sturdy, slightly curved handle of petrified wood, wrapped tightly in hardened leather grips. The metal of the pickhead has faint, bluish-silver veins running through it—remnants of a magic circuit—which resonate with Kallpa-Rumi’s geomantic energy. When struck against stone, it sends a mild, diagnostic pulse through the rock, allowing Kallpa-Rumi to easily find faults, hollows, or weak points, making it an essential tool for navigating unstable ruins. In combat, it serves as a fast, piercing weapon that can exploit gaps in armor.

Lore:

This tool is a physical metaphor for the Peak-Forged Ascendant lineage: a broken thing, reforged into a tool of diagnosis. The “dark, salvaged iron” of the head is not common metal; it is a structural support rod, a piece of a high-capacity magic circuit, salvaged from the ruins of a Turrath-era power conduit—one of the very conduits that caused the Rockfall. The “bluish-silver veins” are the literal, burnt-out, and shattered pathways of that catastrophic magic, permanently stained into the metal by the overwhelming surge.

The handle is not just petrified wood; it is “Shock-Petrified” wood, a branch from a highland tree that was flash-fossilized during the Rockfall, instantly turned to stone by the raw, unmaking geomantic blast. It is imbued with the mountain’s own stability, a “witness” to the cataclysm.

Kallpa-Rumi likely found these two “broken” pieces separately and, sensing their shared, traumatic history, forged them together. For any other avatar, the pick-head’s circuit is dead. But when held by a Peak-Forged Ascendant, their own volatile, “shattered” magical aura resonates with the broken circuit. Her magic flows into the veins, re-awakening them, but not to their original, world-breaking power. Instead, the circuit can now only manage a single, weak, diagnostic pulse.

When the pick strikes stone, this pulse lances into the rock, seeking to complete its broken circuit. A solid, stable stone returns a clean, “harmonious” echo to the wielder’s hand. An unstable, fractured, or hollow stone returns a dissonant, “buzzing” echo—the pick feels the flaw and reports it. It has been transformed from a tool of hubris into a tool of perfect, cautious diagnostics.

Slot: One-Handed Melee Weapon

Tier 1 Stats:

  • Strength: +0
  • Dexterity: +1
  • Constitution: +0
  • Intellect: +2
  • Wisdom: +1
  • Charisma: +0

Skills Gained:

  • Stonecrafting (Artisan): The pick is a masterwork tool for finding flaws, making clean breaks, and analyzing masonry.
  • Geomancy (Knowledge): The pick’s pulses help in identifying the magical properties and structural-magic of ancient stonework.
  • Melee (Finesse): The weapon is light, fast, and balanced, allowing the wielder to use it with precision.

Passive Magics:

  • Lineage Resonance (Peak-Forged Ascendant): The pick’s magic circuit is dormant unless held by a member of the Peak-Forged Ascendant lineage. This resonance is what awakens the tool’s true power, unlocking its +1 Dexterity, +2 Intellect, and +1 Wisdom stat bonuses.
  • Diagnostic Pulse: When the pick passively strikes a stone, wood, or metal surface (a non-magical tap), the wielder receives an immediate, tactile vibration through the petrified-wood handle. A clean, ringing thrum indicates a solid object. A dull, buzzing thud indicates a flaw, a hollow, or structural instability.
  • Finesse Weapon: This weapon is balanced for precision, not brute force. The wielder may use their Dexterity modifier instead of their Strength modifier for attack and damage rolls.

Activatable Magics:

  • Focused Fracture-Tap (3 uses per long rest): The wielder can use an action to strike a single, unworked stone or a piece of masonry (a wall, a floor, a statue). The pick sends a focused magical pulse into the object. For one minute, the wielder gains a clear, intuitive “echo-map” of the structure within 10 feet of the impact, revealing hollow spaces, traps, internal mechanisms, or the precise location of its keystone or weakest structural point.
  • Shatter-Point Strike (1 use per long rest): The wielder can use an action to declare a Shatter-Point Strike against one target (creature or object). The bluish-silver veins on the pick-head flare with a cold, silver light as they “read” the target’s structural-armor flaws. This one attack ignores all of the target’s mundane armor (e.g., mail, leather, plate) or an object’s structural resistance. The attack hits the target’s unarmored self, or in the case of a construct or object, hits a “shatter-point,” causing critical damage.

Tags: Weapon, One-Handed, Melee, Tier 1, Qosqo-Pacha, Peak-Forged Ascendant, Geomancy, Diagnostic, Finesse, Piercing, Tool, Intellect, Magic Circuit, Ruin, Lineage-Bound, Salvaged, Petrified Wood, Tactile Feedback, Echo-map, Armor Piercing, Artisan’s Tool, Precision, Turrath-Relic, Light, Hammer-Head, Resonant

The Geomancer’s Fracture-Pick (Weapon 337) is a very specific item whose value is almost entirely hidden. To a common observer, it is a well-made, but old, prospecting-pick. Its true, potent magical abilities are dormant unless held by a Peak-Forged Ascendant. This creates a vast difference between its “Utility Value” and its “Legacy Value.”

1. The Master Artisan’s Guild Shop (Utility Value)

  • Type of Shop: A high-end, clean, and professional guild-hall or storefront that sells masterwork tools to licensed stonemasons, surveyors, and steam-engineers. This is not a weapon shop; it’s a shop for high-paid, skilled professionals.
  • Where: Located in the artisan’s or university quarter of Peakhold (Qosqo-Suma), or in an industrial city like Puna-Qollas that has a strong surveyor’s guild.
  • How It Is Sold: The pick would be displayed in a locked, velvet-lined case, sold as a “Masterwork Diagnostic Pick.” The guild-master (the shopkeeper) would have acquired it from the estate of a deceased member. They would be selling it based on its passive, non-lineage-bound ability.
  • Sales Pitch: “This is not a common tool. It is a masterwork, forged from salvaged Turrath-iron with a petrified-wood handle, perfectly balanced. But its true value is the diagnostic pulse. Notice the bluish veins? Tap it against a boiler-plate, a stone wall, or a support beam. You will feel the flaw in your hand—a clean thrum for solid, a dead thud for a crack. It’s the finest diagnostic tool a master-artisan could ask for. It’s not a weapon; it’s an instrument.”
  • Cost (Utility Value): The price is high, reflecting its masterwork quality and its unique, universally useful (though non-magical to them) diagnostic-pulse feature.
    • Cost: 20 Platinum (200 Gold)

2. The Antiquarian & Relic Broker (Legacy Value)

  • Type of Shop: A dim, cluttered, and magically-warded shop that deals in “curios,” “relics,” and items of questionable magical origin. The proprietor is a shrewd Qosqo-Pacha who can sense magic.
  • Where: A back-alley shop in the high-altitude, ancient districts of Peakhold, or a specialized shop in Hanan-Pacha, which is known for its scholars of the past.
  • How It Is Sold: The pick would be kept off display, likely wrapped in cloth in a lead-lined drawer. The proprietor would have acquired it from a scavenger and, with their Mind’s Eye, sensed the powerful, dormant, and highly specific magic circuit within. They would have no idea what it does, only that it is “waiting” for a specific “key.”
  • Sales Pitch: (Spoken in a whisper) “I have something… special. A tool, yes, from the Turrath-era. Salvaged iron, petrified-wood. It is a fine diagnostic pick, of course. But feel it. The magic circuit… it is asleep. It is shattered, yet… waiting. It hums with a cold, silver light that only one of a certain blood can awaken. To you, it is a fine tool. To the right person… it is a key. The price reflects this… potential.”
  • Cost (Legacy Value): The price is astronomical and speculative. The seller is selling a promise of great, locked power to a buyer who might have an inkling of what it is.
    • Cost: 50 Platinum (500 Gold), and the seller would be willing to haggle if they sense the buyer is not the “right person” and is just a collector.

3. The Common Scavenger’s Market (Ignorant Value)

  • Type of Shop: A rickety stall in a massive, open-air bazaar within the megacity cave-systems. The stall is piled high with salvaged, rusty tools, mismatched gear, and junk.
  • Where: The “Scrap-Market” in the lower, unlit levels of Peakhold, or any dockside “junk” market in a port like Chay-Uro.
  • How It Is Sold: The pick is tossed in a bucket with other hammers, chisels, and pry-bars. The seller, a “Ruin-Rat,” found it on a body and thinks it’s just a… weird-looking pick. They might even think the bluish veins are a flaw or “rust-stain.”
  • Sales Pitch: “Eh? The pick? Yeah, ‘s a good one. Old, but good. See? Good iron, nice and sharp. Handle’s stone, won’t break on ya. Good balance for climbing or for… you know, work. What’s the blue? Dunno, magic-stain from the ruin I found it in. Probably harmless. Two silver and it’s yours.”
  • Cost (Ignorant Value): Practically free. The seller has no idea what they have and just wants to sell it for food-money.
    • Cost: 2 Silver, and they’d probably take 1 Silver if haggled.

Here is a roleplaying explanation of how the Geomancer’s Fracture-Pick (Weapon 337) is used for defense and offense.

Environment 1: An Ancient, Unstable Ruin (Turrath)

Defensive Application: Navigating Hazards

  • Scenario: Kallpa-Rumi is in a long, dark, and silent hallway in a Turrath-era ruin. The floor looks suspiciously clean.
  • In-Game Roleplay: The player states, “I don’t trust this floor. I’m not walking on it. I’m tapping the stone in front of me with my Geomancer’s Fracture-Pick to use its passive Diagnostic Pulse.”
  • How it’s Described: You gently tap the pick’s hammer-head against the flagstone. Instead of the clean, solid thrum you’ve been feeling, the petrified-wood handle gives you a dull, sick, buzzing thud. The pick is telling you the stone is a thin, brittle shell. You tap again, a foot to the left… a clean thrum. You have found the pressure-plate for a trap. You can now safely trace its edges and navigate around it, all without ever being in danger.

Offensive Application: Deconstructing a Guardian

  • Scenario: A large, ancient, stone-and-bronze construct, a relic of Turrath, grinds to life and blocks the path. Its armor plating is seamless.
  • In-Game Roleplay: The player says, “I can’t punch through that armor. I’m waiting for it to swing, dodging, and using my action to declare a Shatter-Point Strike against its shoulder-joint.”
  • How it’s Described: The construct swings its massive stone arm, and you duck under it. As you rise, you activate the pick. The bluish-silver veins in the metal head flare with a cold, bright light as the broken magic-circuit “reads” the golem’s structure. You don’t just swing; you tap the pick’s sharp point against a seemingly solid plate on its shoulder. The pick’s magic ignores the thick stone armor, finds the internal bronze-and-iron joint, and sends a fracturing pulse into it. There is a sharp CRACK, and the entire arm seizes, its magic-circuit broken, rendering the arm useless.

Environment 2: A Peakhold Steam-Tunnel

Defensive Application: Sabotaging a Mechanism

  • Scenario: Kallpa-Rumi is being pursued by Guild Enforcers down a narrow, hissing steam-tunnel. She needs to stop them, not kill them. A large, complex junction of steam-pipes blocks a side-passage.
  • In-Game Roleplay: The player says, “I’m running to that pipe-junction. I’m not trying to break it; I’m trying to understand it. I’m using an action to hit it with Focused Fracture-Tap.”
  • How it’s Described: You slam the pick’s hammer-head against the main brass-and-iron valve-casing. You get an instant, clear “echo-map” of its internal state. You see the complex gears and valves, and you see the single, critical pressure-pin that keeps the valve from failing. As the Enforcers round the corner, you take your next action, tap the pick’s sharp point exactly over that hidden pin, and shatter it. A deafening, harmless cloud of scalding-hot steam instantly floods the corridor, completely blinding and blocking your pursuers, allowing you to escape.

Offensive Application: Exploiting Armor

  • Scenario: One of the Guild Enforcers, wearing a heavy, steam-powered breastplate (mundane armor), has Kallpa-Rumi cornered in a dead end.
  • In-Game Roleplay: The player says, “I’m attacking him, aiming for the center of his chest. I’m activating Shatter-Point Strike to bypass his armor.”
  • How it’s Described: The Enforcer raises his baton, confident in his thick, boiler-plate armor. You lunge, not with a heavy swing, but with a fast, precise thrust of the pick. The bluish-silver veins flare. The pick’s point doesn’t try to break the armor; it finds the flaw. The magic guides your hand to a micro-fracture, a seam between plates, or a hidden hinge. The pick’s point sinks 4 inches deep, bypassing the armor completely, as the Enforcer looks down in shock, his defense rendered useless.

Environment 3: A Treacherous Mountain Cliff-Face

Defensive Application: Creating a Safe-Hold

  • Scenario: Kallpa-Rumi is climbing a sheer, crumbling cliff-face. She needs to rest but can’t find a stable hand-hold or place to put a piton.
  • In-Game Roleplay: The player says, “The whole wall is unstable. I’m going to use that. I’m using Focused Fracture-Tap to find the most unstable, hollow spot I can reach.”
  • How it’s Described: You tap the pick against the wall. You get an echo-map… and there. A hollow, buzzing thud reveals a large, brittle “scab” of rock, poorly attached to the cliff. You tap it again, find its weak point, and with a sharp strike, you break it, shattering a 3-foot-wide, 1-foot-deep chunk of stone, revealing the solid, stable mountain-face behind it. You have just carved a perfect, custom-made “safe-hold” where you can rest, anchor your rope, or even take cover.

Offensive Application: Attacking the Environment

  • Scenario: A group of rival scavengers is shooting at Kallpa-Rumi from a ledge 20 feet above her. She is pinned down, and the ledge they are on looks old.
  • In-Game Roleplay: The player says, “I’m not attacking them; I’m attacking the ledge. I’m using Focused Fracture-Tap on the stone support under their ledge.”
  • How it’s Described: You tap the pick against the load-bearing rock beneath your enemies. The echo-map flashes into your mind. You see the entire structure… and you see its keystone. A single, fractured, load-bearing stone that is holding the entire outcropping together. You brace yourself, and on your next turn, you use your Shatter-Point Strike on that stone. The pick’s magic ignores the stone’s mundane toughness and hits its core structural-flaw. A massive CRACK echoes through the canyon, and the entire ledge, along with the scavengers on it, collapses in a cloud of dust and rubble.

Perception of Activation:

User’s Perspective

The perception is split between the pick’s two magical functions, one a “question” and the other an “answer.”

For Focused Fracture-Tap (The Diagnostic Ping):

  • Tactile (Primary): When the user intentionally strikes a surface to activate this, the petrified-wood handle transmits a sharp, clean, jolt of cold energy, like striking a tuning fork made of ice. This is immediately followed by a complex “return” sensation. Solid, stable stone feels like a “harmonious”, satisfying thrum. A hollow space feels like an “aching,” cold void. A fracture feels like a stinging, dissonant buzz that travels up the arm.
  • Auditory: The user hears the physical TINK of the pick, but this is immediately followed by a faint, high-pitched, internal CHI-I-I-ME in their ears, the “sound” of the magical echo returning to the pick.
  • Extra-Sensory (Mind’s Eye): The user perceives a faint, bluish-silver ripple (like a sonar ping) expanding from the point of impact and then “splashing” back. The “echo-map” they receive is a pure, intuitive, tactile feeling of the structure’s internal state.

For Shatter-Point Strike (The Attack):

  • Tactile: The moment the user commits to this attack, the entire pick becomes intensely, painfully cold. The petrified-wood handle thrums with a high-frequency, screaming vibration, feeling less like a tool and more like a barely-contained, living weapon. It feels “hungry” and “eager.”
  • Auditory: The user hears a rising, high-pitched VREEEEE sound, like a massive crystal being stressed to its breaking point, seeming to come from the bluish-silver veins in the pick-head.
  • Extra-Sensory (Mind’s Eye): This is the key perception. The user’s vision changes. For a split-second, the world’s mundane details fade, and the target (creature or object) is overlaid with a faint, bluish-silver “map” of its own flaws. A person in armor is not a person, but a collection of plates, straps, and gaps. The pick’s magic highlights a single, brilliant, cold-white ‘X’—a strap buckle, a micro-fracture, a gap between plates—the “shatter-point.” The user’s attack is magnetically, intuitively drawn to that one point.

Observer’s Perspective

For Focused Fracture-Tap (The Diagnostic Ping):

  • Visual: This is subtle. The observer sees the user gently tap the surface with the pick. The bluish-silver veins in the pick-head flare with a single, faint, bluish-silver pulse of light, like a camera flash seen through fog.
  • Auditory: A normal tap sound, but it is followed by a faint, magical chime that seems to hang in the air for a split-second longer than it should.
  • Extra-Sensory (Observer): A magically-sensitive observer (using a Mind’s Eye) would perceive a “probing” pulse of geomantic magic, like a quick “question,” lancing into the stone and then returning, carrying “data” back to the user.

For Shatter-Point Strike (The Attack):

  • Visual: This is overt and dramatic. As the user prepares to strike, the bluish-silver veins on the pick-head ignite with a bright, cold-silver light, strong enough to cast shadows. When they strike, the pick’s point flashes on impact with this cold light, and the attack seems to move with an unnatural, uncanny precision.
  • Auditory: The pick emits a high-pitched, piercing VREEE-SHATTER sound upon impact, like a diamond being broken by a hammer, a sound that is loud and painful to the ears.
  • Extra-Sensory (Observer): A magically-sensitive observer would feel a sharp, focused “spike” of “fracturing” or “unmaking” magic. It doesn’t feel like a big, explosive spell, but like a surgically precise needle of pure, disruptive energy.

Positives

  • Stealthy Diagnostics: The Focused Fracture-Tap is visually and audibly subtle, allowing for stealthy investigation of traps, secret doors, or structural weaknesses without alerting others.
  • Intuitive Feedback: The user doesn’t get numbers; they get feelings. The thrum, buzz, and void are instinctual and easy to interpret. The Shatter-Point Strike literally shows them where to hit.
  • Definitive Offense: The Shatter-Point Strike is a powerful “problem solver,” allowing a Tier 1 character to bypass the primary defense (heavy armor, construct-plating) of a much more powerful foe, making it a powerful “equalizer.”

Negatives

  • Tap Requires Action: The Focused Fracture-Tap is not a passive sense. The user must stop, take an action, and physically tap the surface, making it slow to use when mapping a large area or when in a hurry.
  • Strike is Conspicuous: The Shatter-Point Strike is incredibly “loud,” both visually and audibly. Using it once announces to everyone in the area that the user is wielding a powerful, offensive magic item.
  • Strike is Single-Target: The “shatter-point” vision is overwhelming. The user can only see the weak point on their intended target; all other enemies fade into a blur, making the user vulnerable to an attack from another direction during that split-second of focus.

Recipe: Artificer’s Fracture-Pick

Description: A recipe to forge a perfectly balanced, one-handed pick that serves as both a masterwork artisan’s tool and a potent diagnostic weapon. This item is not forged with heat, but “cold-set” to preserve the delicate, dormant magic circuit within its salvaged-metal head.

Materials Needed:

  • The Head (Core): 1x Shattered Power-Conduit Rod (This is the critical, rare material: a length of dark, Turrath-era iron, salvaged from a ruin, which clearly shows the faint, bluish-silver veins of a burnt-out magic circuit).
  • The Handle (Core): 1x Shock-Petrified Wood Billet (A length of petrified wood harvested from a magically-saturated or cataclysmic zone, such as the Rockfall Memorial. It must be stone, not wood).
  • Grip: 1x Strip of Cured, Hardened Leather.
  • Bonding Agent: 1x Pouch of Alchemical “Cold-Set” Resin (A two-part alchemical paste that bonds metal to stone with the strength of a forge-weld, but without using heat).
  • Circuit-Solvent: 1x Vial of Resonance-Etching Fluid (A mild, alchemical acid used to clean the slag and tarnish from the delicate magic-circuit veins without destroying them).

Tools Required:

  • “Cold-Forge” or Alchemical Forge: (A forge that can apply precise, low-level heat, or a set of heavy-duty hammers, files, and grinders for shaping the metal without a traditional, hot forge).
  • Stonecarver’s Kit: (Includes fine chisels, rasps, and polishing stones for shaping the petrified-wood handle).
  • Leatherworker’s Kit: (For the grip).
  • Artificer’s Lens/Goggles: (For the fine-detail work on the magic circuit).
  • Geomantic Focus: (A personal staff, amulet, or crystal needed for the final attunement).

Skill Requirements:

  • Artisan (Blacksmithing or Metalworking): Journeyman Level. Required to shape the incredibly hard, salvaged Turrath-iron into a pick-head without using destructive heat. This requires a specialization in “Cold-Forging.”
  • Artisan (Stonecrafting): Journeyman Level. Required to carve the dense, brittle “Shock-Petrified” wood into a balanced, durable handle and socket.
  • Geomancy (Knowledge): Journeyman Level. This is the most critical skill. The crafter must understand how to read, clean, and attune the broken magic circuit without causing it to short-out permanently.
  • Artisan (Alchemy): Apprentice Level. Required to correctly mix the Alchemical “Cold-Set” Resin.

Crafting Steps:

  1. Handle Carving: The crafter begins with the handle. Using the Stonecarver’s Kit, the Shock-Petrified Wood Billet is painstakingly filed, chipped, and polished into its final, sturdy, curved shape. A precise, reinforced socket is ground into the top to accept the pick-head. This is a slow process, as the “wood” is stone.
  2. Head Shaping (Cold-Forging): This is the most difficult step. The crafter takes the Shattered Power-Conduit Rod. A traditional forge would destroy the magic circuit. Instead, the crafter must use the “Cold-Forge” or a painstaking process of grinding and filing to shape the rod into the pick-and-hammer-head. All work must be done around the bluish-silver veins, preserving them at all costs.
  3. Circuit-Etching: The newly-shaped head is “dead,” its veins clogged with slag and tarnish. The crafter, using the Artificer’s Lens, must carefully apply the Resonance-Etching Fluid, using a fine-tipped tool to clean out the bluish-silver veins, re-exposing the dormant circuit.
  4. Assembly: The crafter mixes the Alchemical “Cold-Set” Resin. They fill the handle’s socket with the paste and firmly set the pick-head in place. The resin is left to cure for one full day, forming an unbreakable, heat-free bond.
  5. Finishing: The Hardened Leather Grip is wrapped and stitched tightly onto the base of the petrified-wood handle, completing the physical construction.
  6. Final Attunement (The Diagnostic-Pulse): The pick is now complete, but its magic is asleep. The crafter must place it on a “flawed” object: a cracked stone, a hollow wall, or a broken steam-pipe. Using their Geomantic Focus, the crafter sends a tiny pulse of magic into the flawed object, not the pick.
    • Success: A successful skill check. The pick is designed to find flaws. It senses the pulse in the flawed object. The bluish-silver veins will give a single, faint, cold-silver flash and the pick will emit a clean, harmonic thrum. Its passive Diagnostic Pulse is now active.
    • Failure: The crafter’s pulse was too strong, or the circuit was damaged. The veins flash dull-red once, and the circuit is permanently burnt out. The item is ruined, now only a mundane (though high-quality) pick.
    • Lineage-Specific Result: If a Peak-Forged Ascendant is the one to perform this attunement, the pick recognizes their “shattered” magical aura. The circuit doesn’t just flash; it sings, the veins glowing with a steady, cold-silver light. This permanent resonance unlocks the item’s full stat bonuses and activatable powers.

Song of the Un-Making Pick
(This is a telling, taken from a cracked stone, which itself was a copy of a Khipu-Knot-Song, long-since turned to dust. The words are false, but the truth is in them.)

It is known. In the shadow-time, after the great judging (the Rockfall), there was a woman. She was of the Peak-Forged, the lineage of the crack. Her eyes were true, but the world was a lie.

The stones of the new city, they looked strong. The steam-pipes, they looked sealed. The high walls, they looked mighty. But she… she knew the crack. She felt the lie in her own bones. She saw the hollow-heart in the strong-looking men. She was a “Flaw-Seer,” and she was sad, for all the world was a lie, and she had no proof.

She said, “I need a truth-teller. I need a finger that can point at the lie.”

She went not to the forge, for the forge is loud with pride-fire. She went to the grave-of-pride. The scar. The Rockfall.

There, she found a thing. It was an iron-rod, black and dark. It was a vein from an old, dead god… a power-conduit (a guess?) of Turrath. It was burnt-out by its own hubris-magic. Its veins were still visible, a bluish-silver-scream of old, dead power. This, she took. This was the “Iron-Vein of Hubris.”

Then, she found a tree that was no longer a tree. It was a Stone-Bone. A branch that had seen the Rockfall, and its fear had turned it to stone. It was “Shock-Petrified” (a guess?). It was hard with the memory of the great terror. This, she took. This was the “Wood of True-Knowing.”

She did not use fire. Fire is the lie of strength. She took the two broken things. The “Iron-Vein of Hubris” and the “Wood of True-Knowing.” She took the blood-of-the-rock (resin?) and she cold-set them. She married the Hubris to the Knowing. She made a pick. Not a war-pick. A seeing-pick.

She took the pick. It was balanced. It felt… right.

She went to the new wall, the strong wall of the city. She tapped it. TINK. The “Wood of True-Knowing” listened. The “Iron-Vein of Hubris” sang back. The pick vibrated in her hand with a dissonant, buzzing thud. The pick was singing: “LIE. LIE. HOLLOW. CRACKED.” The “Flaw-Seer” smiled. She had her proof.

She walked. She tapped. The floor: TINK. The pick sang: “SOLID. TRUE.” The next floor: TINK. The pick sang: “HOLLOW. TRAP. LIE.” This was the Diagnostic Pulse.

She came to a great stone door, sealed by the old magic. She tapped it. TINK. The pick shouted in her hand. A cold, screaming VREEEEE. And she saw it. Not with her eyes. With her hand. The pick showed her a map. A map of the lie. The door was not a door. It was a wall, and the lock was a single, flawed, baby-sized stone at the bottom. This was the Focused Fracture-Tap.

Then, a False-Guardian (an armor-man?) came. He was a Guild Enforcer. His chest was a great, strong, shining lie of steel. He raised his mace. “You cannot tap here, Flaw-Seer,” he said. The “Flaw-Seer” looked not at his eyes. She looked at his lie. She activated the pick. The “Iron-Vein of Hubris” screamed with a cold, silver light. It remembered its old power. It showed her the Shatter-Point. The lie was not the steel. The lie was a tiny, mis-set rivet under the arm. A flaw. She did not swing. She tapped. The pick’s point flashed. The VREEE-SHATTER sound was loud. The pick did not see the armor. It saw only the flaw. The pick’s point found the rivet. The rivet broke. The great, strong lie of steel fell to the ground in pieces. The armor-man was just a man, holding his arm.

She walked on, tapping. She was no longer sad. For she was not the “Flaw-Seer.” She was the “Flaw-Finder.” And she had the song to prove it.

The Moral of the Story: A thing that looks strong is just a lie you have not tapped yet.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

Fracture-Pick of the Ascendant Weapon (war pick), rare (requires attunement by a creature of the Peak-Forged Ascendant lineage)

This one-handed melee weapon is a masterwork artisan’s tool. The head is forged from dark, salvaged iron with faint, bluish-silver veins, and the handle is petrified wood.

  • Magic Weapon: You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon.
  • Finesse: The pick is so perfectly balanced that it gains the finesse property (you can use your choice of Strength or Dexterity for attack and damage rolls).
  • Artisan’s Knowledge: While attuned to the pick, you gain proficiency with Mason’s Tools and Tinker’s Tools.
  • Diagnostic Pulse (Passive): As an action, you can tap the pick against a stone, wood, or metal surface. The pick sends a tactile vibration back to you: a clean, solid thrum indicates the object is solid, while a dull, dissonant buzz reveals a flaw, a hollow space, or structural instability within 5 feet of the tap.
  • Focused Fracture-Tap (3/Day): As an action, you can strike a structure or object to send a magical pulse into it. For 1 minute, you gain a clear, tactile “echo-map” of the object within a 10-foot radius of the strike. This reveals the location of internal mechanisms, hollow spaces, traps, or the object’s primary structural weak point (if any). The pick regains 1d3 expended charges daily at dawn.
  • Shatter-Point Strike (1/Day): As an action, you can declare a Shatter-Point Strike. Your next melee attack with the pick is made with advantage. On a hit, the attack is an automatic critical hit. If the target is a creature, this attack ignores any Armor Class contribution from non-magical, mundane armor (e.g., mail, plate, or hide, but not shields, magic, or Dexterity). If the target is an object or structure, the attack bypasses any damage threshold. This ability recharges at dawn.

Blades in the Dark

The Geomancer’s Fracture-Pick Fine Weapon (heavy) & Fine Tinker’s Tools (1 Load)

A reinforced, perfectly balanced pick made of salvaged, pre-cataclysm materials. The bluish veins in the metal thrum faintly.

  • Fine Tool: This item counts as Fine Tinker’s Tools for any action involving diagnosing, repairing, or sabotaging steam-mechanics or structural flaws.
  • Diagnostic Pulse: When you Study a structure, trap, or mechanism by tapping it with the pick, you get a clear, tactile sense of its nature. You always get a good result, as if you had rolled a 6.
  • Focused Fracture-Tap: When you Tinker with a structure or mechanism to find a flaw, you can suffer 1 Stress to ask, “What is the primary internal weakness, hollow, or flaw here?” The GM must answer you. If you (or a teammate) act on this information, you gain +1 Effect on that action.
  • Shatter-Point Strike (1/Score): When you Attack an armored opponent or a structure, you may activate this ability. You ignore their armor completely. If it’s a structure, you automatically find its weak point and your attack has Potency.
  • Lineage-Bound: If you are of the Peak-Forged Ascendant lineage, you do not need to suffer Stress to activate Focused Fracture-Tap.

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)

The Turrath Fracture-Pick Artifact (Melee Weapon/Tool)

This appears to be a well-made, albeit ancient, prospector’s pick. The metal head is cold, and its bluish-silver veins thrum with a palpable, pre-human, catastrophic energy.

  • SAN Cost: Identifying the pick’s origins (from the “Rockfall” cataclysm) with a successful Occult or Archaeology roll costs 0/1d3 SAN.
  • Weapon: Functions as a Pick (Small). Damage 1d6 + DB.
  • Diagnostic Pulse (Passive): The pick functions as a masterwork tool. The Investigator gains a Bonus Die (one 10-sided die) on all Geology, Craft (Stonemason), and Spot Hidden (for structural traps/flaws) rolls when using the pick to test a surface.
  • Focused Fracture-Tap (Magic): By spending 2 Magic Points and making a Hard POW roll, the user can tap a structure.
    • Success: They receive a clear, tactile vision of the structure’s interior (up to 10 feet), revealing hollows, traps, or mechanisms. Costs 0/1 SAN per use.
    • Failure: A feedback of psychic trauma from the pick’s origins. Costs 1d3 SAN loss.
  • Shatter-Point Strike (Magic): By spending 4 Magic Points and 1 SAN, the user can declare this strike. The next melee attack with the pick, if it hits, bypasses all physical armor (the target’s armor points are ignored for this one attack).
  • Lineage-Bound: Only an Investigator of the Peak-Forged Ascendant lineage (or equivalent custom background) can use the Focused Fracture-Tap and Shatter-Point Strike abilities. To all others, it is just a fine tool that grants the Diagnostic Pulse bonus.

Knave (2nd Edition)

Geomancer’s Fracture-Pick Pick (Relic)

  • Inventory Slots: 1
  • Damage: 1d6
  • Qualities: Finesse (can use DEX), Piercing, Precise (critical hit on 19-20)
  • Relic: This item is magical and cannot be repaired by mundane means.
  • Diagnostic Pulse (Passive): You have advantage on WIS saves made to detect structural traps, secret doors, or unstable/hollow stone.
  • Focused Fracture-Tap (3/Day): As an action, you can tap a structure or object. You learn its current HP, its Armor Points, and the location of any internal hollows, mechanisms, or traps within 10 feet.
  • Shatter-Point Strike (Daily): Once per day, you can declare a Shatter-Point Strike. Your next attack with this pick ignores the target’s Armor Points and is an automatic critical hit (deals maximum damage).
  • Legacy of the Fall (Lineage-Bound): If you are of the Peak-Forged Ascendant lineage (Virtue), this item’s full power awakens. You gain a +1 bonus to your INT defense and a +1 bonus to your WIS defense. The Shatter-Point Strike can be used 3/Day instead of Daily.

Fate (Fate Core)

Pick of the Shattered Vein A perfectly-balanced, salvaged-iron pick that hums with the memory of a cataclysm.

This item is represented by a core Item Aspect and several Stunts, which are only fully available to a character with a related Lineage Aspect.

Item Aspect: Pick of the Shattered Vein You can Invoke this Aspect for a +2 or a reroll when:

  • You are attempting to find a structural flaw or secret in stone or machinery.
  • You are making a precise strike against an armored foe’s weak point.
  • You are climbing or using it as an artisan’s tool.

An enemy can Compel this Aspect (for a Fate Point) when:

  • The pick’s “shattered” magic acts erratically, or the “lie” it reveals is a dangerous distraction.
  • Its cold, alien nature makes a social interaction difficult.

Stunts:

  • Masterwork Tool: Because the pick is a masterwork tool, you gain a +2 bonus to Craft rolls related to stone, masonry, or steam-mechanics.
  • Diagnostic Pulse: Because the pick “listens” to stone, you gain a +2 bonus to Notice rolls when you are actively tapping and listening for structural flaws, hollows, or traps.
  • Focused Fracture-Tap: (Requires Peak-Forged Ascendant Aspect) Once per scene, you can spend a Fate Point to Create an Advantage by “pinging” a structure. You automatically succeed with style, creating a Situation Aspect (e.g., Hollow Wall or Cracked Support Beam) with two free invocations instead of one.
  • Shatter-Point Strike: (Requires Peak-Forged Ascendant Aspect) Once per session, when you Attack an armored opponent or a structure, you can declare a Shatter-Point Strike. Your attack ignores all physical armor Aspects or Stunts the target possesses.

Numenera & Cypher System

Fracture Pick of the Turrath Echo Level: 6 Form: A one-handed light weapon (pick) and a diagnostic tool, made of petrified wood and salvaged, veined iron. Artifact

Effect (Passive Tool): The pick functions as an artifact-level diagnostic tool. All tasks related to identifying flaws, traps, mechanisms, or instabilities in stone or machinery are eased by one step.

Effect (Passive Weapon): The pick is perfectly balanced. All Speed-based attack rolls made with it (it is a light weapon) are eased by one step.

Effect (Action, Fracture-Tap): The user strikes a structure. For the next minute, they gain a clear, tactile “echo-map” of all internal mechanisms, hollows, or structural flaws within a short distance (approx. 10 feet) of the strike. (Depletion: 1 on a d20).

Effect (Action, Shatter-Point): The user’s next attack with the pick this round is aimed at a “shatter-point.” The attack ignores 5 points of Armor and deals +4 damage. (Depletion: 1-2 on a d20).

Lineage-Bound: If the wearer is of the Peak-Forged Ascendant Descriptor, the Depletion roll for this artifact is eased by two steps (e.g., it only depletes on a 1-2 on a d100). To all others, it functions as a Level 4 artifact with only the two passive effects.

Pathfinder (2nd Edition)

Geomancer’s Fracture-Pick Item 5 [Rare] [Magical] [Divination] [Geomancy] [Qosqo-Pacha] Prerequisites: You must have the Peak-Forged Ascendant heritage to invest this item. Usage: Worn, 1H; Bulk: 1 Base Weapon: War Pick (1d6 P, Fatal d10)

This masterwork pick is forged from salvaged Turrath-iron and has a petrified-wood handle. Its magic is dormant unless invested by one of its intended lineage.

Invested (Passive): The Geomancer’s Fracture-Pick is a +1 Striking War Pick. It is perfectly balanced and gains the Finesse trait. Invested (Passive): The pick’s diagnostic magic sharpens your mind. You gain a +1 item bonus to your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Dexterity ability scores. Invested (Passive): Diagnostic Pulse. You gain a +2 item bonus to Crafting and Perception checks made to find structural flaws, hollows, or mechanical traps.

Activation [one-action] (Interact, Divination) Focused Fracture-Tap

  • Frequency: Three times per day
  • Effect: You tap an adjacent structure or object. For 1 minute, you gain a clear, tactile “echo-map” of the structure’s interior within a 10-foot radius of the tap. This reveals the location of internal mechanisms, hollows, traps, or the object’s primary structural weak point.

Activation [one-action] (Concentrate, Magical) Shatter-Point Strike

  • Frequency: Once per day
  • Effect: Your next Strike with the pick before the end of your turn finds a “shatter-point.” If the target is an object or structure, the Strike ignores 10 points of the target’s Hardness. If the target is a creature, the Strike treats the creature as Flat-Footed, and the Strike deals an additional 1d6 precision damage.

(Note: If not invested by a Peak-Forged Ascendant, the pick functions only as a Masterwork War Pick with the passive Diagnostic Pulse ability.)

Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition)

Pick of the Shattered Echo Magic Weapon

Damage: Str+d6 AP: 2 Weight: 4 Notes: Magic. This pick is a masterwork artisan’s tool and a perfectly balanced weapon. It ignores the standard -1 Parry penalty for picks.

Lineage-Bound: The following abilities are only active for a character with the Peak-Forged Ascendant Lineage Edge. To all others, it is a simple Magic Pick (Str+d6, AP 2) that also provides the Diagnostic Pulse bonus.

  • Finesse: The pick is so well-balanced that the wielder may use their Agility (instead of Strength) as their associated die for Fighting rolls.
  • Diagnostic Pulse (Passive): The wielder gains a +2 bonus to Notice rolls when actively tapping to find structural flaws, traps, or hollows. It also functions as a Masterwork Tool Kit, providing a +1 bonus to Repair and Crafting rolls on stone or steam-powered mechanisms.
  • Focused Fracture-Tap (Action):
    • Frequency: 3/Day
    • Effect: The wielder “pings” a structure. They make a Notice roll (with the +2 bonus). On a success, they learn the location of all flaws, hollows, and mechanisms within a Large Burst Template. On a raise, they also learn how to exploit one of them (gaining a +2 on their next action to do so).
  • Shatter-Point Strike (Action):
    • Frequency: 1/Day
    • Effect: The wielder declares a Shatter-Point Strike. Their next Fighting attack with the pick this round gains +4 AP and deals +1d6 damage. If the target is an object or structure, the attack deals an additional +1d6 damage (for a total of +2d6).

Shadowrun (6th Edition)

“Turrath” Fracture-Pick Melee Weapon (Pick) / Magical Focus (Lineage-Bound)

This appears as a masterwork-quality pickaxe, with a head of dark, salvaged iron showing faint, bluish-silver traceries. The handle is a single, perfectly balanced piece of petrified wood. It feels cold to the touch and hums with a silent, magical-static “noise.”

  • Type: Melee Weapon (Blade/Club)
  • Reach: 1
  • Damage: (STR + 2)P
  • AP: -2
  • Availability: 15R
  • Cost: 35,000 Nuyen
  • Focus Rating: 4
  • Attunement (Bonding): Requires bonding as a Focus (4 Karma). Can only be bonded by a character with the (custom) Peak-Forged Ascendant Quality.
  • Powers (Bonded & Lineage-Bound):
    • Attunement: The wielder gains 1 bonus Edge on any Dexterity, Logic (Engineering), or Intuition (Perception) test.
    • Finesse: The pick is so perfectly balanced that the wielder may use their Agility instead of Strength to determine their melee attack dice pool.
    • Diagnostic Pulse (Passive): The wielder gains 2 bonus dice on any Perception or Engineering test made to find structural flaws, traps, or hollows in stone or machinery by tapping it.
    • Focused Fracture-Tap (3/Day): As a Simple Action, the wielder may tap a structure and make a Magic + Intuition [Rating 4] test. On a success, they gain a clear “echo-map” of the structure’s interior in a 10-meter radius, revealing traps, hollows, and mechanisms for 1 minute.
    • Shatter-Point Strike (1/Day): As a Simple Action, the wielder may declare this attack. Their next melee attack with the pick this round gains +4 AP and +2 Damage.

Starfinder (1st Edition)

Echo-Pick of the Ascendant Advanced Melee Weapon / Hybrid Item

Level: 6 Price: 4,200 credits Category: One-Handed Damage: 2d4 P Critical: Shatter (DC 17) Bulk: L Special: Analog, Finesse, Lineage-Bound (Peak-Forged Ascendant), Technomantic

Description: This masterwork pick is made of non-standard, salvaged materials. A faint, bluish-silver magic circuit is visible in the head, and the petrified wood handle is cold to the touch.

  • Finesse: This weapon is balanced for precision. You can use your Dexterity modifier instead of Strength on melee attack rolls.
  • Diagnostic Pulse (Passive): You gain a +4 circumstance bonus on Perception and Engineering checks made to find structural flaws, hollow spaces, or traps in stone or machinery.
  • Lineage-Bound Attunement: This item’s full power can only be accessed by a creature of the Peak-Forged Ascendant species. An attuned wielder gains the following:
    • Stat Attunement: You gain a +1 insight bonus to your Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom ability scores.
    • Focused Fracture-Tap (3/Day): As a standard action, you can tap a structure. For 1 minute, you gain blindsense (vibration) with a 10-foot range, but only for perceiving inanimate objects, traps, mechanisms, and structural features (e.g., you can “see” a hollow space or a mechanism behind a wall).
    • Shatter-Point Strike (1/Day): As a standard action, you can declare a Shatter-Point Strike. Your next melee attack with the pick this round ignores the target’s KAC bonus from all mundane, non-magical armor (e.g., armor, but not shields, magic, or Dexterity). If attacking an object, the attack ignores the object’s Hardness.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)

Turrath Fracture-Pick (Artifact) Melee Weapon (Blade) / Magical Artifact

This appears as a perfectly balanced, one-handed pick (TL 5-7). The head is a dark, unknown iron alloy with faint, bluish-silver “circuit-like” veins. The handle is a single, polished piece of petrified wood.

  • Tech Level: 5 (Artifact)
  • Skill: Melee (Blade)
  • Damage: 1d6+2 P
  • AP: -2
  • Mass: 0.5 kg
  • Cost: Cr 45,000 (Artifact Price)
  • Qualities: Finesse (wielder may use DEX DM for attacks), Magical (cannot be repaired by normal means), Lineage-Bound.
  • Abilities:
    • Diagnostic Pulse (Passive): The wielder gains DM+2 on all Investigate (Search) or Engineer (Structure) checks to find flaws, hollows, or traps in structures.
    • Lineage-Bound (Peak-Forged Ascendant Trait): The following abilities are only active for a wielder with this trait:
      • Attunement: The wielder gains DM+1 to their Dexterity, Intellect, and Education Characteristics.
      • Focused Fracture-Tap (3/Day): As a Significant Action, the wielder may tap a structure. For 10 minutes, they gain a clear “echo-map” of the structure’s interior within 3 meters, revealing all mechanisms, hollows, and traps.
      • Shatter-Point Strike (1/Day): As a Significant Action, the wielder may declare this strike. Their next melee attack with the pick ignores all mundane armor Protection.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (4th Edition)

Pick of the Echoing Flaw Magical Weapon (Pick)

This masterwork tool appears as a perfectly balanced, one-handed pick. The head is forged from a dark, salvaged iron, and faint, bluish-silver veins of Ithilmar seem to be embedded within it, glowing faintly in the presence of Dhar. The handle is a single, cold piece of petrified wood.

  • Type: Hand Weapon (Counts as a Pick)
  • ENC: 10
  • Availability: Unique
  • Damage: SB+4
  • Qualities: Magical, Precise, Piercing (2), Finesse (see below)
  • Abilities:
    • Finesse: The wielder may use their Agility instead of their Weapon Skill when making Tests with this weapon.
    • Diagnostic Pulse (Passive): The wielder gains a +10 bonus to all Trade (Mason) and Perception Tests made to find structural flaws, traps, or hollows in stone.
    • Blood of the Fall (Lineage-Bound): The following abilities are only active for a character with the Peak-Forged Ascendant Bloodline (a custom Talent).
      • Attunement: The wielder gains a +5 bonus to their Agility, Intelligence, and Willpower Characteristics.
      • Focused Fracture-Tap (3/Day): As an Action, the wielder may tap a structure and make an Average (+20) Perception Test. On a success, they gain a clear mental “map” of all mechanisms, hollows, and traps within 6 yards (3 Threads) for 1 minute.
      • Shatter-Point Strike (1/Day): As an Action, the wielder may declare a Shatter-Point Strike. Their next attack with this pick this round, if it hits, ignores all mundane Armour Points (AP) from armor (e.g., Mail, Leather, or Plate, but not magical or shield-based AP).