From: Lineage 6274 of Qosqo Pacha
• Slot: Arms (Left and Right, worn as a single matched pair)
• Tier: 1 (Common)
• Armor Check: +3
• Item Health Points: 10 plus the avatar’s maximum health points (resilience 10)
• Attunement: Simple (1 minute)
• Weight: 2 pounds
• Suggested Value: 90 silver
• Appearance: Fitted forearm bracers of dark tooled leather reinforced with thin, overlapping plates of polished obsidian. Each plate is etched with a tiny Khipu-Glyph, and the plates glow faintly in time with the wearer’s bioluminescent veins. Narrow loops along the wrist edge hold small knot-picks.
• Properties:
• Obsidian Plates: The overlapping obsidian plates deflect glancing blows and slashes aimed at the arms, adding to the wearer’s Armor Check.
• Steady Hands: Grants +1 temporary skill point to Lockwork and Fine Mechanisms while worn and attuned.
• Snag Ward (reaction, 2 uses, recharges at dawn): Trigger: an attacker announces that it is targeting one of the wearer’s worn or carried items, including the cord in her Braid slot. The wearer flicks a bracer into the path of the strike, adding the wearer’s tier die to that item’s Armor Check against the attack.
• Lore: Cord-Readers handle fragile, irreplaceable records, and rival guild agents have more than once tried to cut cords from a reader’s hands or hair. The Knot-Guard bracers were designed after an attack in the Archive-Terraces in which an assassin slashed a Keeper’s braids to destroy the family knots woven into them. Each pair is fitted to its wearer’s forearms in a short ritual before it is first attuned.
Expanded Lore
* The violent assault within the lower vaults of the Archive-Terraces of Hanan-Pacha remains one of the darkest incidents of Andean’s early Renaissance. A cadre of infiltration specialists hired by rival guild dynasties in Peakhold breached the subterranean cord-chambers during the week of Dimming, intent on severing and destroying the recovered genealogical khipus that proved guild complicity in the catastrophic collapse of Turrath. During the melee, the infiltrators deliberately targeted the forearms and hair-braids of the defending knot-keepers, knowing that severing a reader’s dexterous fingers or lopping off the family braids in their Braid slot would permanently silence their testimony and destroy centuries of living ancestral records. The surviving readers recognized that scholars handling delicate, irreplaceable historical materials could not operate inside heavy steel gauntlets or bulky plate vambraces, which restricted fine finger articulation and dulled tactile feedback. The master artificers of House Khipurana resolved the dilemma by commissioning the first pairs of Knot-Guard Bracers, combining supple highland reptile hide with precision-laminated volcanic glass.
* Sourced directly from the glassy cooling margins of the basalt flows surrounding the Rockfall scar, the obsidian used in these bracers is split into thin, paper-like lamellar plates through thermal fracturing in boiling mineral springs. Each delicate scale is hand-ground to an optical polish, then inscribed upon its underside with microscopic Khipu-Glyphs of warding, deflection, and unyielding preservation before being mounted in overlapping tiers upon vegetable-tanned leather. When fitted to a Qosqo-Pacha avatar, the semi-translucent volcanic glass acts as an organic optical filter for the wearer’s bioluminescent circulatory system. As the colored vein-light of ochre, indigo, and verdigris courses through the avatar’s wrists, the obsidian absorbs the ambient luminescence and radiates a synchronized rhythmic glow, indicating that the defensive glyphs have bonded directly with the wearer’s physical energy pathways.
* The functional integration of utility loops along the inner wrist margins elevated the bracers from simple body armor to an indispensable field apparatus for expeditionary archivists, ruin surveyors, and locksmen. The small leather sheaths are calibrated to hold precision-ground bone and bronze knot-picks, delicate tension needles, and obsidian scribing styluses within immediate reach of the fingers. This allows an avatar to transition from defensive parrying to intricate lock-picking or emergency cord preservation in a split second, without expending additional actions searching through deep pouches or satchels. Over generations of continuous use, the bracers became the iconic mark of field-active Cord-Readers who venture outside the guarded sanctuary of Hanan-Pacha into the hazardous wilderness, where rivals, tomb-raiders, and wild beasts frequently attempt to strip, disarm, or mutilate their specialized equipment.
Item Specifications
* Item Name: Knot-Guard Bracers 5091 * Specific Slot: Arms (Left and Right, worn as a single matched pair) * Tier: 1 (Common) * Armor Check: +3 * Item Health Points: 10 plus the avatar’s maximum health points (Resilience 10) * Attunement: Simple (1 minute) * Weight: 2 pounds * Suggested Value: 90 silver
Tier One Stats
* Dexterity: +1 * Intelligence: +1
Skills Gained While Openly Worn or Held
* Lockwork and Fine Mechanisms: +1 temporary skill point * Qosqo-Khipu Knot Reading: +1 temporary skill point
Multiple Passives Magic
* Obsidian Lamellar Guard: The overlapping, glyph-inscribed obsidian plates form a rigid kinetic barrier that turns aside piercing thrusts, razor slashes, and crushing strikes aimed at the forearms and wrists, providing a flat +3 Armor Check bonus to the wearer’s overall defensive threshold. * Steady Hands: The resonant energy circulating between the leather backing and the wearer’s wrist pulses dampens involuntary muscle spasms, fine tremors, and environmental vibration, granting a +1 temporary skill point to Lockwork and Fine Mechanisms and providing advantage on all precision motor tasks undertaken while picking locks, handling brittle ancient fibers, or etching miniature runes. * Luminescent Vein Synchronization: The etched Khipu-Glyphs naturally amplify the wearer’s internal bioluminescent veins, casting a soft, concentrated glow in an immediate 5-foot radius around the hands that shifts in hue to illuminate faded inks, micro-inscriptions, and darkened keyholes without requiring an open flame or torch.
Multiple Activatable Magics
* Snag Ward: As a reaction, when an attacker explicitly announces that it is targeting one of the wearer’s worn or carried items—including tools, sheaths, pouches, weapons, or the historical cord bound in the avatar’s Braid slot—the wearer flicks a bracer directly into the incoming trajectory of the strike. The bracer’s glyphs flash brightly and interpose the obsidian plating, adding the wearer’s tier die to that targeted item’s Armor Check against the incoming attack. This ability has 2 uses and recharges at dawn. * Ward of the Severing Blade: As a reaction, triggered immediately when a foe attempts a disarm action or makes a targeted strike intended to sever an item held in the avatar’s hands, the wearer crosses their forearms to discharge an abrasive pulse of repulsive kinetic energy from the obsidian plates. The attacker must succeed on a Strength saving throw against Difficulty Class 11 or suffer a -2 penalty to their attack roll, and the held item remains firmly anchored in the avatar’s grip. This ability has 1 use and recharges at dawn. * Razor-Knot Severance: As an action, the wearer channels their thought through the etched outer ridge of either bracer, causing the obsidian bevels to vibrate with high-frequency geomantic resonance for 1 round. The wearer may sweep the arm across any non-magical rope, cord, restraining net, or woven binding to automatically sever it without requiring a tool check, instantly releasing themselves or an adjacent ally from entangled or anchored conditions caused by mundane bindings. This ability has 1 charge and recharges at dawn.
Specific Slot
* Slot Assignment: Arms (Left and Right, worn as a single matched pair)
Tags
Obsidian Plates, Arm Slot, Tier 1, Hanan Pacha, Knot Guard, Snag Ward, Armor Check, Lockwork Bonus, Bracers Pair, Vein Resonance, Common Rarity, Braid Slot Defense, Knot-Pick Sheaths, Disarm Counter, Lamellar Forearm, Micro-Glyphs, Basalt Quarry Glass, Andean Artifice, Handheld Tool Loops, Severance Edge, Steady Hands, Archive Vault Guard
Acquisition and Commerce of the Knot-Guard Bracers
* Acquisition through avatar possession occurs when an incoming player character soul descends from the sky of Saṃsāra and merges with a living native host who already wears the bracers as part of their vocational equipment. In the highland territories of Andean, especially within the stone-carved city of Hanan-Pacha and around the Archive-Terraces, junior record-keepers, archive-guards, relic excavators, and apprentices of House Khipurana routinely strap Knot-Guard Bracers to their forearms to protect their limbs while handling heavy stone-cased cords or working inside unstable subterranean ruins. An unpossessed native carrying these bracers who is targeted by a descending soul is successfully occupied if the incoming entity rolls an even result on a d4. Upon successful possession and after the initial disorientation of transient global amnesia recedes, the character immediately claims ownership of the bracers, their integrated leather pick-loops, and any tools slotted into the wrist loops without needing to pay vendor coin, negotiate with merchants, or undergo preliminary craft training.
* Acquisition through institutional assignment or quest rewards occurs when characters render service to the Archive-Terraces of Hanan-Pacha, the office of the Keeper of the Long Cord, or allied civic bodies resisting guild encroachment in Andean. When Guide Managers deploy adventuring parties into the dangerous debris of the Rockfall scar to recover buried Turrath archives, or assign them to transport sealed genealogical cords past hostile guild agents from Peakhold, the archive leadership frequently issues a pair of Knot-Guard Bracers from the central armory to ensure the expedition’s record-keepers are not disarmed or maimed. Completing contracts that involve exposing forged guild khipus, retrieving lost family cords from remote mountain shrines, or defending archive outposts against coordinated raids can also yield these bracers as direct quest compensation, awarded alongside Renown Points and official commendations recorded in the court rolls.
* Acquisition through recipe crafting requires an avatar or contracted artisan possessing the requisite proficiencies and materials to forge and assemble the armor piece by piece. A crafter must hold a minimum trained skill level of 5 in Leatherworking or Armoring, combined with a skill level of 3 in Rune Inscription or Qosqo-Khipu Knot Reading and a skill level of 2 in Lapidary or Fine Glassworking. The physical bill of materials requires two pounds of tanned highland reptile hide or durable mountain goat leather, half a pound of razor-split volcanic obsidian harvested from basalt flows near the Rockfall scar, waxed linen cording, and four ounces of resinous pine sap extracted using a fluid collector. The crafter must also provide one intact Tier 1 magic crystal—approximately the size and weight of a coin—which serves as the sacrificial catalyst during the final transference ritual. The obsidian is shaped into thin, overlapping lamellar scales, each micro-inscribed on its reverse with glyphs of warding and deflection, before being stitched onto the leather cuffs. During the ten-minute ritual, the catalyst crystal dissolves into the assembly, passing its latent magical matrix permanently into the bracers to enable the Snag Ward and Steady Hands properties.
* Acquisition through combat recovery occurs when defeating hostile agents, rival guild thieves, or renegade archivists who wear the item into battle. When an unpossessed enemy wearing the bracers is killed in combat, the foe’s body remains on the ground in a pool of blood, allowing victorious party members to spend an action to unbuckle and retrieve the bracers from the corpse, along with whatever picks or styluses were held in the wrist loops. If the slain opponent was an avatar possessed by an external soul, the avatar’s body vaporizes into a cloud of sparks or a flash of purple light upon reaching zero health points, dropping its Tier 1 soul crystal and all carried physical gear—including the Knot-Guard Bracers—directly onto the ground, where surviving characters can collect them without damaging the item’s attunement structure.
* Domestic leatherworking shops and specialized archive outfitter stalls located throughout Hanan-Pacha serve as the standard retail venues for acquiring these bracers under normal market conditions. These family-operated workshops cater directly to local scribes, mechanics, and terrace wardens, maintaining small inventories tailored to highland needs. In Hanan-Pacha, where access to volcanic glass and trained knot-inscribers is abundant, the bracers sell at their base suggested value of 90 silver (equivalent to 9 gold coins or 18 electrum). An unaffiliated customer pays the full price of 90 silver. A buyer holding recognized membership in the local crafters’ guild or an affiliated faction receives a 10% discount multiplied by their character tier level; a Tier 1 faction member pays 81 silver, while a Tier 2 member pays 72 silver. When an avatar sells a pair of Knot-Guard Bracers to a highland leatherworker, the merchant applies the standard haggling deduction of 10% of the item’s value multiplied by the seller’s tier level; a Tier 1 seller receives 90% of the value (81 silver), and a Tier 2 seller receives 80% of the value (72 silver). The payment is transferred directly into the seller’s World Bank account, and the shopkeeper logs the transaction details for potential inspection by municipal judges.
* Fortress armories and mercenary bazaar stalls stationed along the militarized transit roads leading to Peakhold or near the fortified garrison watchposts of Andean stock the bracers as high-utility tactical gear. Because these shops cater to caravan escorts, military scouts, and adventurers traversing regions with heavy monster activity and frequent guild ambushes, inventory is constrained and prices reflect a strict seller’s market. In these roadside trading posts, retail costs typically range from 100 silver to 115 silver (10 to 11.5 gold coins). Unaffiliated buyers must accept the higher asking price without room for dispute under the prevailing buyer-beware trade customs. Guild-affiliated adventurers may still claim their tier-based discounts, bringing a 105 silver base down to 94.5 silver at Tier 1. When purchasing from adventurers, garrison merchants rarely offer more than 70 to 75 silver, citing the high cost of maintaining remote supply lines, and may refuse the purchase entirely if their lockers are already stocked with arm-slot defenses.
* Foreign curiosity shops, high-end arcana boutiques, and exotic import emporiums located in distant continental capitals—such as the coastal metropolises of Aterian, Assyria, or Magdalenian—treat Knot-Guard Bracers as rare ethnographic artifacts of Andean’s Renaissance. Because trans-oceanic transport across Saṃsāra flows continuously from east to west, moving goods eastward across maritime routes incurs double shipping costs, accompanied by state border tariffs of 5% and local gate entry fees. In these distant markets, merchants display the bracers behind glass cases, marketing them to scholars, aristocratic duelists, and master thieves for prices ranging between 180 silver and 240 silver (18 to 24 gold coins). If an adventuring party imports an authentic, undamaged pair of Knot-Guard Bracers into a distant metropolitan market, an exotic goods dealer will verify the obsidian glyphs using the Mind’s Eye and may pay between 135 and 160 silver into the character’s World Bank account, capitalizing on the high local resale markup.
* Black-market pawnbrokers, shadow syndicates, and subterranean fences operating within the unregulated alleys of Peakhold, hidden cavern slums, or lawless dockside cantinas deal extensively in stolen, looted, or unregistered bracers stripped from fallen couriers. Transactions in the black market are conducted entirely in physical coinage—predominantly gold coins—and bypass the World Bank entirely. When buying from a black-market broker, the customer pays full price or higher, typically between 95 and 130 silver (delivered as 9.5 to 13 gold coins), with absolutely no price reductions granted for faction badges or guild standing. When selling to a fence, the broker maintains complete anonymity, keeping no ledgers and asking no questions regarding how the bracers were obtained. A standard fence pays the baseline equivalent of an honest merchant (81 silver in physical coin for a Tier 1 seller), but if the black-market buyer has an urgent client needing specialized gear to pick an archive vault lock or bypass cord-traps, they may pay up to twice the standard merchant rate, providing up to 162 silver (16 gold and 2 silver coins) in physical coin.
* Legal tax assessments and gate passage tolls govern all open commercial exchanges involving Knot-Guard Bracers within lawful jurisdictions. Any merchant offering the bracers for sale within a Central City, State Capital, or chartered Town must remit a 3% value tax (2.7 silver on a 90 silver base) to the local revenue collector. Cargo shipments merely passing through a city or port without being offered for public sale are taxed at 1% of the assessed manifest value, in addition to the standard passage fee of 1 silver per individual at city gates or harbor wharfs. Goods transported across state boundaries incur a 5% border tariff based on assessed value. Foreign citizens engaged in trade pay double the standard tax rates, facing a 6% sales tax or a 10% border tariff. Traders who cannot satisfy the required tax levies immediately upon assessment face the immediate impoundment and confiscation of their goods by local or state guards until all arrears and associated administrative fees are cleared.
Tactical Environmental Roleplay for Defense and Offense with the Knot-Guard Bracers
* Within subterranean archive vaults, narrow stone catacombs, and excavation shafts beneath Hanan-Pacha or ruined Turrath, the bracers function as a frontline shield against close-quarters ambushes and environmental cave hazards. Defensively, when maneuvering through collapsing stone tunnels or tight crawlspaces where brittle shale falls from the ceiling, the avatar raises their forearms in a crossed guard, allowing the overlapping obsidian plates to deflect tumbling stalactites, falling gravel, and sharp mineral shards without bruising flesh or slicing tendons. When rival archive-infiltrators or guild assassins attempt to sever the researcher’s irreplaceable record pouches, tool satchels, or the historical khipu carried in their Braid slot, the avatar triggers the Snag Ward reaction, snapping the bracer into the attacker’s blade path to project an illuminated runic barrier that boosts the targeted item’s Armor Check by the avatar’s tier die. Offensively in these confined corridors, the avatar uses the bracer’s integrated loops to execute instantaneous disarming and entrapment tactics. Drawing a hardened bone pick as an integrated action, the avatar drives the point into mechanical wall traps or sliding stone doors to jam mechanisms, pinning pursuing foes. When cornered in hand-to-hand range, the avatar channels mana into the outer beveled obsidian edges using Razor-Knot Severance, violently sweeping an arm across an enemy’s support lines, web nets, or hanging lantern rigs to drop cave hazards directly onto the heads of pursuing adversaries.
* Across high-altitude mountain passes, icy glacial moraines, and razor-sharp shale ridges of the Andean highlands, defensive handling relies heavily on physical deflection and precision motor stabilization. When negotiating sheer cliff paths during sub-zero squalls, bitter winds and extreme cold threaten to freeze an explorer’s fingers into uselessness; the avatar relies on the Steady Hands passive magic, drawing rhythmic warmth from the synchronized vein-light to keep their fingers limber and steady while hammering pitons or tying safety harnesses into freezing rock faces. Should a sudden scree slide occur, the avatar holds the forearm guards outward to shield their face and throat from razor-sharp basalt fragments flying off the mountain wall. Offensively against predatory highland beasts such as cliff-drakes or rogue griffons that attempt to snatch items or disarm climbers mid-ascent, the avatar invokes Ward of the Severing Blade as a reaction. Crossing the bracers against a descending claw strike releases a repelling concussive shockwave from the obsidian plates that drives the beast’s talons back and forces a Strength saving throw, maintaining the avatar’s grip on their climbing huaraca or spell cord while leaving the off-balance predator vulnerable to an immediate counterattack.
* Within crowded urban markets, narrow tenement alleys, and cobblestone court thoroughfares of major cities like Peakhold, the bracers serve as subtle instruments of street-level defense and surgical counter-theft. Defensively, while navigating tight market squares where cutpurses and pickpockets operate, the avatar relies on the forearm armor to passively guard against concealed shivs, slicing rings, and garrote wires slipped from behind. If a thief lunges with a razor to slice the strap of a World Bank coin purse or targeted belt pouch, the avatar snaps the nearest bracer downward to catch the blade on the slick obsidian scales, using Snag Ward to neutralize the strike with a flare of indigo light that alerts nearby city guards to the assault. Offensively within municipal skirmishes or tavern brawls, the avatar uses the bracer’s reinforced structure as a non-lethal striking surface. Feinting a strike with their main hand, the avatar drives the reinforced rim of the forearm guard into an opponent’s wrist or solar plexus, utilizing the dense lamellar plate to batter aside a weapon guard and create an opening to deploy a Knot-Cutter’s dagger, or flicking an etching pick directly from the wrist loops into a door lock to secure a fast escape route through a locked municipal gate.
* Across dense subtropical jungles, mangrove mires, and humid river valleys in the lowlands of island continents, environmental roleplay shifts toward resisting vegetative entrapment and biological hazards. Defensively, when hacking through dense thickets of thorned vines, predatory strangler roots, or razorgrass, the avatar holds their forearms forward like twin machete guards, allowing the smooth obsidian plates to part toxic brambles, fend off venomous biting vipers, and protect the wrists from acidic insect stings. In the event that marsh beasts or hostile swamp tribes attempt to entangle the avatar with bola ropes, weighted reed nets, or strangling creeper vines, the avatar activates Razor-Knot Severance. Sweeping the energized obsidian edge across the constriction immediately severs the fibrous coils without requiring an edged weapon draw, neutralizing the anchored or entangled condition in a single fluid gesture. Offensively, the avatar uses the bracers’ Steady Hands property to assemble and arm delicate tripwire cord traps in slick mud, quietly rigging spring-loaded bamboo snares across jungle trails to capture pursuing scouts before melting away into the humid canopy.
* In active volcanic calderas, geothermal fissure fields, and subterranean basalt chasms, the bracers withstand intense environmental punishment while enabling high-risk tactical maneuvering. Defensively, as hot cinder sprays, flying pumice, and sulfurous embers rain down from nearby magma vents, the avatar holds their arms across their chest; the volcanic obsidian, having been formed in the same geological fires, is naturally impervious to heat spatter and shields the avatar’s forearms and vital organs from blistering burns. If an obsidian-armored lava beast attempts to shatter the avatar’s spell focus or snap their weapon haft, the avatar interposes the bracer’s reinforced edges, absorbing the kinetic shock through the tough leather backing. Offensively within caldera ambushes, the avatar exploits the synchronized bioluminescence of the bracers, utilizing the soft light to illuminate treacherous fissures in dark volcanic chambers without lighting a torch that would attract predators. When engaging fire-resistant cavern horrors, the avatar drives the blunt, glyph-inscribed edges of the bracers directly into soft joint seams of the creature’s rocky carapace, using the hard, glass-reinforced blows to crack natural armor plates and expose inner vital cores to companion strikes.
* Aboard sailing vessels, open merchant caravels, and warships navigating the heavy east-to-west sea currents, maritime roleplay highlights protection against boarding sweeps and rigging manipulation. Defensively, during violent sea squalls or broadside naval bombardment, the avatar throws their arms up against flying wood splinters, snapped block-and-tackle gear, and whipping rigging cords torn loose by high winds, letting the obsidian plates take the kinetic impact. When enemy deck raiders attempt to disarm an avatar or sever their securing harnesses while boarding, the avatar snaps up the bracers to trigger Ward of the Severing Blade, releasing an acoustic kinetic pulse that shatters the boarding pike’s momentum and sends the attacker sprawling across the wet deck planking. Offensively during boarding actions, an avatar who swings across the gulf on a grapple rope activates Razor-Knot Severance upon landing, slicing cleanly through the opposing vessel’s main halyards, anchor ties, or steering cables with a backhand forearm sweep. This disables the enemy vessel’s rigging controls in seconds, plunging the opposing crew into organizational chaos while party fighters secure the main deck.
* Operating on airborne vessels, such as the open gondolas of zeppelins, cloud-skiffs, or in the saddle of a flying griffon, the bracers provide critical equipment stabilization against intense aerial slipstreams. Defensively, flying at speeds through high-altitude winds exposes an avatar to gale-force drag that can rip loose items from belts and pouches; the streamlined, close-fitting leather and flush obsidian scales reduce wind resistance across the forearms, allowing the rider to maintain an unyielding grip on leather reins and flight controls. If attacked mid-flight by winged predators such as manticores or hostile sky-pirates attempting aerial grapple strikes, the avatar triggers Snag Ward, interposing the bracer to stop incoming talons from severing safety tethers or flight harnesses. Offensively during sky skirmishes, the avatar uses the bracer’s pick loops to manage delicate aerial sabotage. Leaning out from a griffon’s saddle or skiff gunwale, the avatar retrieves a tension pick, works it into the valve fittings or ballast ties of an opposing hot air balloon or zeppelin gas envelope, and utilizes Razor-Knot Severance to slice support lines cleanly away, forcing the enemy aircraft into an uncontrolled descent while maintaining complete physical control over their own mount.
Perception of Activation:
* User’s Perspective: * When an activation is triggered, the avatar feels an instantaneous, sharp contraction of the supple leather backing as it conforms tightly against the radial and ulnar musculature of the forearms. A soothing, resonant hum travels down the arm bones from the elbows to the fingertips, completely stabilizing the hand muscles and extinguishing all natural micro-tremors, nervousness, and environmental shivering. At the precise moment Snag Ward or Ward of the Severing Blade engages, a sudden rush of cool, volcanic energy surges across the skin under the leather cuffs, creating an intense tactile impression of weightless rigidity—as though the avatar’s arms have temporarily transmuted into solid, unyielding stone pillars capable of intercepting any strike without feeling bruising, bone jarring, or flesh trauma. If Razor-Knot Severance is invoked, a micro-vibrational prickle courses along the lateral edge of the wrists, humming like a high-tension harp string that buzzes through the skin, filling the avatar’s senses with the sharp, mineral tang of ozone and sheared basalt as the bevels prepare to slice through bindings.
* Observer’s Perspective: * To an outside onlooker, the bracers undergo a sudden, dramatic optical and structural change the moment an activation begins. The matte, polished obsidian scales, which normally reflect ambient torchlight with a smoky glass sheen, suddenly flare from beneath with intense, crystalline light that traces the miniature etched Khipu-Glyphs cut into each plate. The luminescence pulses in direct synchronization with the wearer’s bioluminescent veins, shifting through bands of deep indigo, verdigris, and bright ochre before settling into an electric violet outline around every overlapping lamellar tier. When the wearer flicks their arm to interpose Snag Ward, the observer sees a transient, semi-translucent geometry of defensive glyphs project outward two inches from the glass face, accompanied by a crisp, ringing chime resembling a glass bell striking obsidian. When Ward of the Severing Blade repels an incoming strike, a visible concussive ripple of distorted air erupts from the crossed cuffs, kicking up ground dust and violently knocking back the attacker’s weapon with a dull, subterranean crack.
* Extra-Sensory Perceptions: * Through the Mind’s Eye, any character observing the activation sees a complex overlay of numerical and functional stats materialize around the forearm slots. The item’s defensive ratings and active wards pulse brightly in glowing Andean script, displaying the temporary surge in Armor Check values, the remaining charge count of the reactive wards, and the precise mechanical resistance thresholds currently active against targeted disarming maneuvers. * Under True Sight, the activation reveals a vibrant, ultraviolet aura enveloping both forearms in tightly braided ribbons of arcane power. The Weave appears drawn into the etched glyphs, spinning in miniature vortices around the wrist loops and knot-picks, while a crystalline latticework of hard magical energy projects outward like a spectral pavise shield whenever an incoming strike approaches a worn item or braid. * To an entity utilizing Darkvision or infrared detection, the bracers shift from cool, ambient gray plates into sharp, temperature-neutral voids of absolute blackness that absorb infrared radiation, while the activated glyphs glow with high-contrast, pinpoint heat points along the seam lines, delineating the intricate geometry of the warding spells against the warmer living flesh beneath. * Beings endowed with Tremorsense or acute acoustic sensitivity perceive a deep, resonant subsonic hum vibrating through the floorboards or bedrock upon activation. The high-frequency resonance generated by the energized obsidian bevels transmits a distinct acoustic signature through physical matter within a 20-foot radius, alerting subterranean predators or floor-listening guards to the presence of an active geomantic mechanism. * Avatars possessing Soul Sight or astral perception observe the wearer’s spiritual matrix harmonizing directly with the catalyst crystal dissolved within the leather foundation. The soul boundaries of the avatar expand slightly into the armor cuffs, creating an ethereal phantom glove that anchors held weapons and worn cords directly to the spirit, making them metaphysically indivisible from the avatar’s own essence during the ward’s duration.
* Positives: * Provides immediate reactive protection for critical carried items, preventing irreplaceable historical cords, hair braids in the Braid slot, belt pouches, and tool kits from being severed, damaged, or stolen by targeted strikes. * Grants an automatic tier-die boost to the Armor Check of targeted items during Snag Ward activation, forcing incoming attacks to overcome substantially higher defensive thresholds. * Neutralizes enemy disarm attempts via Ward of the Severing Blade, punishing the aggressor with a kinetic shockwave that can penalize their subsequent attack roll and disrupt their combat footing. * Enables instantaneous self-liberation from non-magical ropes, fishing nets, cord snares, and woven restraints through Razor-Knot Severance without requiring the expenditure of multiple actions or specialized cutting blades. * Steadily calms the wearer’s motor nervous system, ensuring absolute precision and tactile dexterity during delicate lockwork, mechanism disarmament, and fine knot manipulation even in life-or-death situations. * Projects localized bioluminescent illumination from the wrist plates that allows the wearer to inspect locks, glyphs, and fine cords in pitch darkness without needing an open lantern or occupying a hand slot.
* Negatives: * The sudden burst of bright indigo, verdigris, and ultraviolet luminescence from the etched plates instantly ruins visual concealment and compromises stealth positions in dark environments. * The distinct ringing chime of Snag Ward and the subterranean acoustic vibration of Razor-Knot Severance produce auditory indicators that can be detected by keen-eared sentries and subterranean creatures through stone walls. * High-frequency geomantic vibration generated along the obsidian bevels creates temporary numbness and skin tingling in the wrists after prolonged activation, requiring a few moments of flexing to regain natural sensation. * The reactive wards consume specific daily charges, leaving the wearer vulnerable to repeated item-targeting tactics once all daily activations are exhausted before dawn. * Active repulsion waves emitted during disarm counters can accidentally shatter nearby fragile glass containers, destabilize delicate parchment scrolls, or agitate loose gravel within confined underground crawlspaces.
Crafting Recipe: Knot-Guard Bracers 5091
Materials Needed
* Tanned Highland Leather: Two pounds of supple, dense highland reptile hide or mountain goat leather, vegetable-tanned in tannins derived from mountain alder bark and conditioned with rendered beast tallow, providing a flexible, puncture-resistant foundation that conforms directly to the avatar’s forearm anatomy.
* Razor-Split Volcanic Obsidian: Half a pound of pure, homogenous black volcanic glass harvested directly from the glassy cooling margins of basalt fissures surrounding the Rockfall scar near the ruins of ancient Turrath, chosen for its sharp fracture planes and high capacity to channel arcane light.
* High-Tensile Waxed Linen Thread: Fifty yards of triple-twisted highland linen thread, thoroughly saturated with purified mountain beeswax, utilized for locking the leather cuffs, securing overlapping lamellar scales, and binding the wrist tool loops with durable tension.
* Resinous Pine Binding Sap: Four ounces of dense, aromatic amber sap drawn with a fluid collector from high-altitude mountain pines growing along exposed ley-line fractures in the Andean highlands, utilized as an alchemical adhesive to stabilize the obsidian plates against the leather backing.
* Geothermal Mineral Water: One gallon of boiling mineral water drawn from the active subterranean spring vents of Hanan-Pacha, saturated with dissolved quartz salts and elemental fire trace elements to temper the leather foundation and cleanse the cut glass plates.
* Tier 1 Magic Crystal Catalyst: One intact, unblemished Tier 1 magic crystal, possessing the approximate size and weight of a standard coin, harvested from a slain creature or procured from a certified merchant, serving as the sacrificial reagent that channels its latent matrix into the completed armor.
* Micro-Tanned Utility Strapping: Four ounces of split calfskin or goat hide cut into narrow, three-millimeter strips, used to construct the four precision tool loops positioned along the inner wrist cuffs to hold knot-picks, tension needles, and scribing styluses.
Tools Required
* Precision Cleaving Chisel and Mallet: A tempered copper-alloy splitting blade and hardwood mallet, engineered for controlled thermal and percussive fracturing of raw volcanic obsidian along natural cleavage lines without creating internal micro-fractures.
* Wet Basalt Polishing Wheel: A hand-cranked or foot-treadle rotating sharpening disc carved from porous basalt stone, continuously lubricated with a slurry of water and fine pumice grit to grind, smooth, and bevel the edges of obsidian scales.
* Graduated Obsidian Etching Styluses: A matched set of needle-sharp, pointed obsidian scribing tools mounted in bone handles, utilized to score microscopic Qosqo-Khipu glyphs and geometric warding characters directly onto the reverse surfaces of the glass lamellae.
* Leatherworking Awls, Punches, and Edge-Bevelers: Hardened steel and bronze hole-punches, stitching awls, and beveling irons used to pierce clean stitch channels, burnish the leather edges, and flute the cuff contours without tearing the hide fibers.
* Precision Fluid Collector: A calibrated mechanical syringe extractor equipped with a hollow brass needle, utilized for the exact measurement, extraction, and precise application of the pine resin sap into the plate beds without air bubbles.
* Bone Bodkins, Needles, and Bronze Tension Clamps: Polished horn sewing needles, split-bone bodkins, and adjustable bronze screw clamps to hold the overlapping plates and leather layers firmly under uniform tension during the stitching process.
* Hardwood Shaping Anvil and Forearm Last: A pair of carved stone or dense oak forearm molds matching the anatomical proportions of the intended wearer, providing a rigid internal support structure while setting, gluing, and sewing the bracers.
Skill Requirements
* Leatherworking and Protective Armoring: A minimum trained skill level of 5 in Leatherworking, Armoring, or Crafting, ensuring the artisan can draft ergonomic forearm patterns, temper hides to withstand kinetic stress, and establish the structural rigidity required for the base +3 Armor Check.
* Rune Inscription and Qosqo-Khipu Knot Reading: A minimum trained skill level of 3 in Rune Inscription or Qosqo-Khipu Knot Reading, necessary to precisely score the miniature Khipu-Glyphs of deflection, item protection, and unyielding preservation upon the obsidian scales without breaking the glass.
* Lapidary and Fine Glassworking: A minimum trained skill level of 2 in Lapidary, Gem-Cutting, or Fine Glassworking, required to split, shape, grind, and polish volcanic obsidian into uniform lamellar plates that fit together in overlapping layers.
* Alchemical Preparation and Material Infusion: A minimum trained skill level of 2 in Alchemy or Material Infusion, enabling the artisan to properly blend the pine resin adhesive with mineral concentrates and prepare the catalyst crystal for stable transference.
Crafting Steps
* Phase One: Hide Selection, Pattern Drafting, and Foundation Forming * Select two matching rectangular sections of two-pound highland leather, ensuring the hide is entirely free of scar tissue, weak spots, or grain irregularities along the forearm flexion lines. * Submerge the leather cuts into warm geothermal mineral water for fifteen minutes to relax the fibers; remove the saturated hides, blot away surface moisture, and mould them around the hardwood forearm lasts to match the anatomical taper from elbow to wrist. * Use edge-bevelers and bone burnishers to smooth and seal the outer perimeter of each cuff, rounding the wrist and elbow margins so the leather will not chafe the wearer’s skin during active movement. * Measure and mark parallel stitching channels across the outer forearm face of each cuff, spacing the puncture marks at four-millimeter intervals to accommodate the tiered lamellar mounting holes. * Pierce the marked stitch lines using a diamond-tipped leather punch, ensuring each hole passes cleanly through the leather without splitting adjacent fibers, then allow the formed cuffs to dry slowly upon the shaping lasts.
* Phase Two: Obsidian Cleaving, Shaping, and Edge Beveling * Mount the raw block of Rockfall basaltic obsidian upon the stone workbench; inspect the stone with reading lenses or the Mind’s Eye to locate the natural cleavage planes running through the volcanic glass. * Place the copper-alloy cleaving chisel along the dominant plane and deliver controlled strikes with the wooden mallet, cleaving the block into thirty-two thin, uniform rectangular plates measuring two inches in length, three-quarters of an inch in width, and two millimeters in thickness. * Transfer the cleaved obsidian plates to the wet basalt grinding wheel; continuously lubricate the wheel with water and pumice slurry while grinding the perimeter of each plate into a smooth, rectangular tile with slightly arched lateral borders. * Grind an exterior bevel along the exposed outer edge of each plate to create the precision cutting ridge required for the Razor-Knot Severance function, while dulling the inner mounting edges to prevent the stone from cutting through the retention threads. * Drill two miniature mounting holes through the upper margin of each plate using a diamond-tipped bow drill bathed in cold mineral water, taking care to avoid thermal fracture or shattering during penetration.
* Phase Three: Micro-Glyph Inscription and Geometric Attunement * Wash each shaped obsidian plate in heated geothermal mineral water to remove all slurry, oil, and dust, then lay the tiles in sequential rows across clean linen towels. * Take the finest obsidian etching stylus and inscribe microscopic Khipu-Glyphs of preservation and deflection across the frosted reverse face of every single lamellar plate. * Scribe the glyph meaning “Unbroken Thread” on the upper tier of plates, the glyph meaning “Deflection of Hostile Steel” across the central overlapping plates, and the glyph meaning “Severance of False Cords” along the lowest wrist tier. * Verify the depth and legibility of the etched glyph lines under magnification; each character must penetrate the surface glaze evenly to establish uninterrupted flow channels for the wearer’s bioluminescent vein-light.
* Phase Four: Lamellar Assembly, Tool-Loop Attachment, and Structural Sewing * Warm the four ounces of pine resin sap in a small crucible until it achieves a smooth, workable liquid consistency; use the precision fluid collector to apply a thin, uniform bead of resin beneath the mounting bed of each plate on the leather cuff. * Lay the obsidian plates onto the glued channels in an overlapping lamellar arrangement, ensuring each upper plate overlaps the lower plate by one-third of its length to form an unbroken kinetic barrier that flexes with forearm rotation. * Thread bone needles with waxed high-tensile linen cord; sew through the drilled mounting holes and pre-punched leather channels, anchoring each plate firmly to the foundation using a reinforced double-cross stitch. * Clamp the assembly with bronze tension clamps and allow the resin adhesive to cure for six hours, bonding the glass tiles permanently to the contoured leather hide. * Position the micro-tanned utility strapping along the inner wrist border of each cuff; stitch four narrow, reinforced loops into the interior lining using heavy linen thread, sizing each loop to securely grip standard knot-picks, fine awls, or scribing styluses. * Stitch two adjustable closure straps and miniature bronze buckles along the inner forearm seam, allowing the finished bracer to be strapped securely over bare skin or the sleeve of an archive tunic.
* Phase Five: Catalytic Crystal Binding, Mana Transference, and Final Inspection * Lay the completed pair of bracers upon the stone workbench with their obsidian plates facing upward; place the Tier 1 magic crystal catalyst between the two bracers within a small stone cup filled with two ounces of warmed pine resin. * The artisan rests one hand upon each bracer, focusing their conscious thought through their magical conduit, and initiates the transference ritual by chanting the ancient Pacha-Qosqo cadence of stone-binding. * Over a period of ten uninterrupted minutes, the artisan guides the arcane flow from the catalyst crystal into the etched glyph channels of the obsidian plates; as the transference proceeds, the catalyst crystal glows brightly with a deep violet hue, slowly dissolving until its physical form vanishes completely, leaving only a fine crystalline sheen throughout the resin beds. * Roll a d20 to verify the success of the magical transference: * A roll of 1 indicates a catastrophic harmonic failure; the catalyst crystal shatters into inert shards, cracking the obsidian plates and destroying the raw materials, requiring the entire fabrication process to be restarted from the beginning. * A roll of 2 through 19 confirms a standard successful merger; the latent magic permanently settles into the bracers, binding the +3 Armor Check, the Steady Hands skill bonus, the two charges of Snag Ward, the Ward of the Severing Blade, and the Razor-Knot Severance ability. * A roll of 20 results in a critical resonance triumph; the obsidian plates absorb additional harmonic stability from the Weave, granting one additional daily charge to the Snag Ward reaction and elevating the item’s baseline health points by 5. * Inspect the finished pair using the Mind’s Eye or reading lenses, confirming that the total weight registers at exactly two pounds for the matched pair, all thirty-two obsidian plates remain uncracked, and the glyphs emit a soft, synchronized indigo glow ready for immediate simple attunement.
Broken Hair-Strings and Arm-Coverings of Black Fire-Glass Made by Sorrowful Daughters
Now this is the speech brought over from the dead scratchings of the ancestors, which were turned from the old tongue that no mouth now shapes into the clumsy words of our grandfathers, and again set down upon this skin with many stumblings of the hand. In that season when the great sky-ball VaporSphere was turning its belly toward the star Helios, and the land of Andean was waking up from its long sleep of stone, the women who tell the knots sat in the hollow belly of the mountain Hanan-Pacha. Their arm-veins were flowing with the juice of lamps, glowing yellow, blue, and grass-green, and their long fingers were busy untying the dead cords pulled up from the dirt of Turrath. In those days, the Mother who held the Long Cord was named Mama Mama-Khipu of the first branch, whose head-hair was grown thick with sixty and four nodules of bronze-wire and family knots, reaching from her crown-bone down unto the middle of her thighs. In that hair was tied every mother who had ever given milk to a reader since the world was turned upon its side, so that her head carried the breath of twenty score of grandmothers who had no other earth to walk upon.
Yet in the high city of Peakhold, where the stone-sellers and iron-beaters sit upon their bags of silver, there was much burning of the bile. For the cords that the women were pulling from the rubble did show with great plainness that the five houses of the quarry had taken the silver of foreign boat-people and left the mountain hollow until the stone-roof fell upon ten thousand miners. The guild-masters said to one another with crooked mouths: If these women continue to finger the cords, our names will be thrown into the dung-trench, and the queen who sits upon the hill will take away our quarry-stones and give them to the common carvers. Therefore, let us not fight with the spears of the army, for the queen’s guards walk with long sticks; let us send the night-creepers who carry the little sickle-knives that are curved like the beak of a hawk-bird. Let them not seek the gold-pots, nor the bread-sacks, but let them cut off the hair of the Mother, and chop the fingers from the wrists of the apprentices, for a hand without knuckles cannot tie a knot, and a head without its braid is an empty gourd that has no voice before the court.
So it came to pass, in the week when the sky-giant darkened the sun and made the world like the inside of an iron kettle, that seven men crept through the water-pipes of the Archive-Terraces. They wore the soft skin of dead sheep upon their feet so that the stone did not speak of their walking, and their faces were smeared with the soot of fat-lamps. They entered into the deep vault where the oldest strings were hanging from the ceiling like rows of salted meat. There sat Mama Mama-Khipu alone by the grease-torch, singing the names of the barley-counters of the old kingdom. Before the mouth of her throat could shout a cry, the men of iron fell upon her like starved wildcats of the crag. One seized her arms from behind, while another took the curved hawk-knife and with a single cruel sawing did chop the great Long Cord of her hair straight off at the nape of the bone. Another striker swung his blade against her left wrist, seeking to take away the meat of her knot-fingers forever.
The mother screamed with a great hollow noise, for the chopping of the ancestral braid was to her people worse than the breaking of the neck; it was the killing of forty grandmothers at one blow. The striker’s knife did bite into her arm-flesh, cutting through veins and sinew until the bioluminescent lamp-blood poured out across the floor like spilled indigo dye. The thieves took the severed hair-braid, which was heavy with gold beads and names, threw it into the red charcoal brazier that warmed the ink-pots, and blew upon the coals with leather bellows until the whole record of House Khipurana was burned into greasy black stink and grey cinder. Then they fled through the dark pipes, leaving the mother weeping upon the red stone with her arm limp like a broken tree-branch.
When the morning light came and the small-daughters ran down into the vault, they found their Mother sitting in the puddle of her own cold vein-light, holding the charred ash of her grandmothers against her breast with her one unsevered hand. Great was the howl that went up from the Archive-Terraces. The women did tear their mantles, and the terrace-masons beat their chests with building-hammers until the stone walls rang. But when the crying was accomplished, the eldest daughter, who was named Mama Nina-Suyu, stood upon the reading-table and spat into the ash-pot. She said with a voice of dry gravel: The men of iron have taken our past because our meat was soft. They think because we are scholars of the wool that we have only marrow and fat in our arm-sticks. They shall not find us naked a second time. We shall make a covering for the forearm that will break the iron hawk-knives into teeth, and we will bind our tools to our skin so that even in the pitch-night our hands are full of biting points.
Then Nina-Suyu went down into the terrible deep hole of the Rockfall scar, where the great mountain had broken its teeth. She did not seek the soft gold or the red copper of the traders; she went to the glassy black cliffs where the fire of the earth had met the ice of the sky in the ancient years when Gaialilith was young. There she took the hard stone hammer and struck the cliffs of black obsidian until great flat flakes fell down, sharp as the tongues of evil spirits and black as the eye of an owl. She gathered four baskets of these glass-leaves, choosing only those that were thin like dry leaves of the maize plant, but would not bend when the foot stepped upon them.
She brought this black glass up to the high terraces of Hanan-Pacha, to the work-sheds where the reptile-skins are made soft. They took the belly-hide of the great mountain-lizard that sleeps upon the hot steam-cracks, which is tough so that neither thorns nor the claws of the condor can tear it. This hide they soaked for seven days in the boiling water of the sulfur wells, mixing into the kettle the bitter bark of the mountain trees and the fat of the wool-rams, until the leather became thick as the thumb of a quarryman, yet bent around the arm as supple as a wet silk band.
Then Nina-Suyu sat with the finest glass-needles upon her knees. For twenty and two sun-risings she did not sleep, but with her fingers she chipped the edges of the obsidian flakes until they were thirty and two in number, all shaped like the scales that cover the breast of the river-serpent. Upon the belly-side of each glass leaf, where the eye cannot see when the stone is laid down, she scratched with a needle-point the ancient sign-words of the unbreaking knot. She wrote: Let the steel turn aside; let the hair stay upon the head; let the arm be as the root of the mountain that cannot be cut by the spade of the digger.
When the signs were made, the daughters took the three-fold thread of the highland flax, waxing it with the yellow fat of the honey-flies until it was like wire. They laid the black glass scales upon the lizard-skin, overlapping each one upon the next like the shingles upon the roof of the queen’s storehouse, so that if a knife should strike downward from the elbow, it would slide over glass and glass without ever finding a seam of meat. Along the inside of the wrist, where the small pulse jumps like a captured bird, they sewed four narrow loops of calf-hide, and into each loop they thrust a pick of hardened vulture-bone and a wire of bronze, so that the reader would never have to search her pouch when a knot was locked or a bolt was barred.
Yet the bracers were only dead leather and dry stone until the sacrifice of the moon was given. The daughters went to the market-place and gave sixty measures of barley and three silver cups to buy an intact Tier 1 magic crystal, which was round and heavy like a silver coin from the sea. They brought the crystal into the vault where the wounded Mother lay. They placed the crystal between the two bracers within a dish of warm pine-gum drawn from the trees that grow upon the earth-cracks. Then the Mother, though her left hand was still wrapped in bloody bandages, laid her fingers upon the glass scales and spoke the ancient speech of the stone-binders, which calls upon the bone of the world to enter into the handiwork of women.
For the space of one full hour the vault was silent, save for the bubbling of the pine-gum. Then the crystal began to tremble like a leaf in the wind. A great light, purple like the juice of the mountain berry and white like the frost of the crag, leaped out from the stone and ran along the thread-channels of the leather. The crystal grew thin, melting like a lump of salt in a warm soup, until nothing was left of its body; but the black obsidian plates took the light into their bellies, and the scratched glyphs beneath the glass began to burn with the same yellow and blue lamp-fire that moved in the Mother’s unsevered veins. When the Mother touched the bracers to her forearms, the leather did pull itself shut like the mouth of a hungry child, clicking its bronze buckles tight without the pulling of a hand. Her trembling ceased, her wounded wrist grew cold and stiff like a stone wall, and the light of her remaining veins burned twice as bright through the dark glass.
Two months had not passed before the guild-masters of Peakhold grew bold again. Seeing that the queen had not yet sent the soldiers, they thought the women of the knots were cowed like sheep in a pen. They hired twelve men of iron, giving them double silver and heavy cleavers of tempered steel, and sent them into the Archive-Terraces by night, commanding them to slay every woman who held a cord and to carry away the stone boxes of the Vorzul quarry records.
The men broke through the cedar doors with iron bars, shouting their battle-cries into the dark vaults. But they did not find weeping maidens hiding behind the parchment racks. They found Mama Nina-Suyu and the young reader Illari standing upon the stone stairs, with the black Knot-Guard bracers strapped upon their arm-meat, their obsidian scales glowing with the violet fire of the deep earth.
The chief of the thieves, a great bull-necked breaker of stones from the quarry, laughed with a foul mouth and swung his broad iron cleaver straight at Nina-Suyu’s left wrist, intending to lop the hand off upon the stair. But the daughter did not flee; she thrust her forearm straight into the descending iron. There was a sound like the lightning striking the church-spire of the peak. A great bell of white sparks flew twenty paces into the roof, and the concussive wind of the Ward blew the soot from the ceiling. The heavy iron cleaver did not bite the flesh; its hardened edge struck the glass scale, shattered into three jagged pieces like a dropped clay jug, and flew back into the face of the striker, cutting his cheeks to the bone.
Before the thief could drop his broken hilt, Nina-Suyu crossed her forearms before her breast and thrust them forward. The Ward of the Severing Blade discharged its hidden thunder, vomiting a wave of stone-force that hit the striker in the belly and threw him backward down the stone steps, breaking his ribs against the floor-flags. Then young Illari, stepping down like a hunting hawk of the crags, drew the bone-pick from her wrist loop with a motion so swift the eye could not catch the drawing. With her other arm she swept the energized razor-edge of the obsidian across the ropes of the great hanging lantern-cradle above the thieves’ heads. The thick hemp cords, which four men could not have cut with axes in ten breaths, were severed in a half-blink, and the heavy bronze cradle, full of three hundred pounds of burning oil-pans, fell upon the remaining assassins, crushing them under iron and fire.
The three men who survived the fire dropped their knives upon the flags and crawled upon their belly-meat, crying out to the gods that the women of Hanan-Pacha were not daughters of sheep, but were spirits of the mountain whose arms were made of unbreaking iron-glass. They were bound with the very cords they had come to steal and dragged by their heels into the royal court, where their confessions were read aloud from the khipus before the queen and the assembled lords.
The original pair of bracers, which bore the number 5091 carved upon the inside leather by the city tax-scribes, was placed upon the stone altar of the Archive-Terraces. From that season forward, no daughter of House Khipurana was ever allowed to touch the ancient cords of the scar until she had first bound the obsidian scales upon her flesh. The guild-masters of Peakhold never again sent the night-creepers with the hawk-knives into the deep vaults, for they knew that beneath the soft embroidered wool of the reader’s sleeve there lay the cold, unyielding teeth of the black earth, waiting to break whatever steel sought to silence the memory of the dead.
Moral of the Story: The hand that records the truth must be made as hard as the truth it writes; for he who keeps the books of the wicked without a shield upon his wrists will find that those who fear the word will gladly cut away the fingers that hold the pen.
Suggested conversions to other systems:
Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition) Inscribed Obsidian Vambraces of Hanan-Pacha
* Classification: Hypergeometric Armored Apparatus and Inscribed Precision Relic
* Physical Profile: A matched pair of fitted forearm cuffs constructed from heavy vegetable-tanned leather, each reinforced with sixteen overlapping, paper-thin lamellar scales of razor-split volcanic obsidian. Each glass tile is etched on its reverse with microscopic glyphs that faintly radiate bioluminescent energy matching the wearer’s circulatory pulse. Four narrow leather loops along the inner wrist border hold bone knot-picks, tension needles, and obsidian etching styluses, allowing tools to be drawn without accessing deep packs. The total weight of the pair is 2 pounds.
* Armor Rating: 3 points of physical armor. The layered obsidian scales and dense leather backing absorb 3 points of kinetic, puncturing, or slashing damage from any physical weapon, shrapnel, or natural claw/bite attack directed specifically at the investigator’s forearms, hands, or wrists.
* Tool Utility and Inherent Precision: * The wrist loops secure a complete set of fine-work picks and etching styluses, allowing the investigator to deploy lock-picking and mechanical probe tools instantly without spending an action searching through luggage. * The wearer gains a bonus of +15% to Locksmith and Mechanical Repair skill rolls when performing delicate lockwork, safe manipulation, micro-etching, or disarming clockwork and trigger mechanisms.
* Attunement and Awakening: * Bonding with the bracers requires an investigator to possess a minimum score of 20% in Occult or Archaeology, spend 1 Magic Point, and strap the leather cuffs to bare skin for 1 uninterrupted minute while focusing their consciousness. * Once attuned, the glyphs calibrate to the investigator’s heart rate, stabilizing fine motor dexterity and dampening physical tremors.
* Steady Hands (Passive Hypergeometry): * The rhythmic resonance between the leather backing and the wearer’s radial pulse completely suppresses nervous hand tremors, severe shivering, and environmental vibrations. * The investigator gains a Bonus Die on all DEX-based skill checks requiring fine manual dexterity, including Sleight of Hand, cutting fragile bindings, or handling volatile chemical reagents in high-stress situations.
* Snag Ward (Active Hypergeometry): * Trigger: An adversary attempts a targeted combat maneuver to disarm the investigator, slash a strap, sever an equipped satchel, or destroy a carried artifact. * Cost: 2 Magic Points as a reactive action. * Effect: The investigator snaps the forearm guard into the weapon’s trajectory. A translucent geometric barrier flashes outward from the obsidian plates with a loud ringing chime, conferring two Bonus Dice to the investigator’s Dodge or opposed Fighting roll to protect the targeted gear, while adding 5 temporary armor points to the item itself against the incoming blow.
* Ward of the Severing Blade (Active Hypergeometry): * Trigger: An opponent within hand-to-hand reach attacks with an edged or bludgeoning weapon and fails their combat roll. * Cost: 2 Magic Points and 1 Sanity Point as a reactive counter-action. * Effect: The wearer crosses their forearms to unleash a localized kinetic shockwave from the obsidian scales. The attacker must immediately make a Hard CON roll; failing this roll knocks the attacking weapon from their hand to land 2 yards away, and leaves the attacker stunned and unable to take reactions until the next combat round.
* Razor-Knot Severance (Active Hypergeometry): * Cost: 1 Magic Point as a standard action. * Effect: The wearer channels energy into the outer beveled ridges of the obsidian plates for 1 combat round. Sweeping the forearm across non-magical ropes, woven nets, cord restraints, or wire snares automatically severs the material, instantly freeing the investigator or an adjacent ally from physical entanglement without requiring an Escape roll.
* Vein-Light Glow (Passive Utility): * The glyphs emit a soft, controllable indigo luminescence providing illumination in an immediate 3-foot radius around the fingers, allowing the user to read fine inscriptions or pick locks in pitch blackness without igniting a match or carrying a flashlight.
Blades in the Dark The Obsidian Knot-Guards
* Item Classification: Fine Specialized Defensive Gear and Integrated Infiltration Rig (Arms, 1 Load)
* Quality and Tier: Tier I (Fine Quality, granting +1 effective Quality level to defensive actions against blades, lockpicking checks, and close-quarters parrying).
* Item Traits: Fine (+1 Quality), Armored Forearms, Tool Carrier, Warded, Obsidian.
* Integrated Gear Capacity: * The fitted leather cuffs integrate four reinforced loops holding fine bone picks, tension needles, and glass scribing probes. * Equipping the Knot-Guards provides the equivalent of Fine Lockpicks and Tinker Rigging without consuming additional Load boxes beyond the initial 1 Load.
* Armor Rating and Damage Reduction: * A scoundrel wearing the Knot-Guards may check their Armor box to absorb physical Harm directed at their arms, hands, or upper profile (such as a blade slash, bludgeon, or shrapnel strike), reducing the severity of the incoming Harm by one level. * Alternatively, checking the Armor box can be used to protect a fragile carried device, document case, or delicate vault key from being crushed, sliced, or lost during a scuffle.
* Steady Hands (Passive Quality): * The synchronized vibration of the bracers calms the scoundrel’s pulse and motor nervous system. * The wearer gains Potency on all Tinker and Finesse rolls when picking complex tumbler locks, cracking physical safes, disarming mechanical vault traps, or cutting delicate wire assemblies.
* Snag Ward (Special Ability): * When an opponent or complication inflicts a consequence that threatens to disarm you, tear away your belt bags, sever a braided line, or destroy a carried item, you may spend 1 Stress to activate the Snag Ward. * You flick your forearm into the strike, projecting an impenetrable glyph-mesh from the obsidian tiles that completely negates the loss or damage to your carried gear without expending an Armor box.
* Ward of the Severing Blade (Special Ability): * When you are targeted by a close melee attack or grab, you may spend 1 Stress to cross your forearms and release an abrasive repulsion shockwave. * The attacker’s weapon is violently jarred aside; the enemy is knocked off-balance into a Vulnerable position, and you gain improved Effect on your immediate follow-up action to counterattack, disengage, or slip past them.
* Razor-Knot Severance (Special Ability): * Spend 1 Stress to vibrate the beveled glass edges. * You instantly slice through any mundane hemp, leather, net, or cord bindings holding you or an ally, clearing the Restrained or Entangled status immediately without rolling.
Dungeons & Dragons Hanan-Pacha Knot-Guard Bracers
* Item Type: Wondrous Item, Uncommon (Requires Attunement)
* Description and Weight: A matched pair of tooled leather forearm bracers layered with overlapping polished obsidian plates etched with miniature protective runes. Weighs 2 pounds.
* Armor Class Bonus: * While wearing these bracers, you gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class, provided you are wearing light armor or no armor and are not wielding a shield. * The overlapping obsidian scales deflect incoming slashes and thrusts aimed at your upper body.
* Integrated Infiltration Rig: * The inner wrist loops contain a full set of bone and bronze picks, probes, and styluses that function as Thieves’ Tools. * You can draw or stow any tool stored within these wrist loops as a free object interaction on your turn.
* Steady Hands (Passive Property): * You have Advantage on Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) checks and on ability checks made using Thieves’ Tools to pick locks, disarm mechanical traps, or manipulate delicate mechanisms. * Your hands and fingers cannot be involuntarily stiffened or paralyzed by natural cold or physical tremors while attuned to the bracers.
* Glyph Luminescence (Passive Property): * As a bonus action, you can cause the etched Khipu-Glyphs on the obsidian plates to emit a dim indigo light in a 5-foot radius. * This illumination allows you to inspect locks, read inscriptions, or examine delicate cords in total darkness without holding a light source. You can extinguish the light as a free action.
* Charges and Replenishment: * The bracers have 3 charges and regain all expended charges daily at dawn.
* Snag Ward (Reaction): * Trigger: A creature targets an item you are wearing or carrying (including pouches, sheathed weapons, or items bound to clothing or hair slots) with an attack, or attempts an action or combat contest to disarm you. * Expenditure: 1 charge as a Reaction. * Effect: You interpose the obsidian plating into the path of the strike. The targeted item’s effective Armor Class increases by your Proficiency Bonus against that attack, or you gain Advantage on the saving throw or ability check made to resist being disarmed.
* Ward of the Severing Blade (Reaction): * Trigger: A creature within 5 feet of you misses you with a melee weapon attack. * Expenditure: 1 charge as a Reaction. * Effect: You cross the bracers, releasing a concussive burst of repulsive force from the obsidian plates. The attacking creature must make a Strength saving throw (DC 13). On a failed save, the creature drops the weapon used in the attack at its feet and suffers disadvantage on its next melee attack roll made before the end of its next turn.
* Razor-Knot Severance (Action): * Expenditure: 1 charge as an Action. * Effect: The beveled obsidian edges hum with high-frequency geomantic energy. You sweep your forearm across any nonmagical rope, net, cord, or woven binding restraining you or a creature within 5 feet of you. The binding is instantly severed and destroyed, ending the Grappled or Restrained condition caused by the binding.
Knave Obsidian Knot-Vambraces
* Inventory Slot: 1 Item Slot (Worn on the arms as a matched pair).
* Quality and Durability: 3 Quality points.
* Armor Defense Contribution: * Grants +1 Armor Point toward total Armor Defense (adding to the base 11 to calculate Armor Class). * The dense leather and overlapping volcanic obsidian scales turn aside slashing and piercing weapon blows directed at the arms and wrists.
* Integrated Tool Carrier: * The wrist cuffs are fitted with reinforced loops carrying a complete set of bone and bronze lockpicks, tension probes, and scribing needles. * These integrated tools do not take up an additional inventory slot on the character sheet.
* Steady Hands (Passive Trait): * The wearer adds a +2 bonus to all Dexterity checks made to pick locks, disarm mechanical mechanisms, undo intricate knots, or perform fine crafting under stressful conditions. * Involuntary shivering and environmental hand numbness caused by cold weather or damp vaults are completely negated.
* Snag Ward (Protective Reaction): * Frequency: Twice per day. * Trigger: An opponent makes an attack specifically targeting a weapon, pouch, or item in your inventory slots, or attempts a maneuver to disarm you. * Effect: You flick the obsidian plates into the path of the blow. The item is protected from being dropped, cut, or damaged; the attack targets the bracer’s Armor Defense instead, and any sundering damage that would break the targeted item is absorbed entirely, reducing the bracers’ Quality by 1 point rather than destroying the carried gear.
* Ward of the Severing Blade (Combat Maneuver): * Frequency: Once per day. * Trigger: An enemy attacking you in melee combat rolls a natural 1 on their attack die. * Effect: You cross your forearms, discharging an explosive kinetic pulse from the obsidian scales. The attacker’s weapon is wrenched from their grip and flung 10 feet away in a random direction, and the attacker must succeed on a Strength check or be knocked prone by the concussive backlash.
* Razor-Knot Severance (Daily Exploitation): * Frequency: Once per day. * Effect: You channel kinetic force through the beveled obsidian outer edge and sweep your arm. You immediately sever any mundane rope, cord, snare, or net entangling you or an adjacent companion, ending the trapped condition instantly without requiring a check.
* Vein-Light Glow (Exploration Trait): * The etched runes emit a faint, steady light in a 5-foot circle around your hands, providing sufficient illumination to pick locks or read inscriptions in pitch darkness without needing to hold a torch or lantern in an inventory slot.
Fate Core The Obsidian Knot-Vambraces of Hanan-Pacha
* Classification: Extra (Armored Forearm Apparel, Integrated Infiltration Rig, and Warded Focus)
* Permission: An aspect establishing a background in Andean knot-keeping, archive defense, or precision ruin exploration, along with physical possession of the vambraces.
* Cost: 1 Refresh point to permanently bond the item to the character sheet.
* Primary Item Aspects: * Overlapping Obsidian Plates of the Rockfall Scar * Inscribed Glyphs of the Archive-Terraces
* Passive Stunt – Lamellar Forearm Defense: * The layered volcanic glass scales and heavy treated leather backing provide Armor:1 against all incoming physical Fight and Shoot attacks directed at the wearer’s forearms, hands, or upper chest profile. * The wearer gains a +2 bonus to Physique and Athletics defense rolls to protect against close-quarters maneuvers specifically intended to disarm, sever carried belongings, or cut harness straps.
* Passive Stunt – Steady Hands: * The sympathetic harmonic pulse circulating between the wearer’s wrists and the leather backing dampens nervous tremors, cold shivering, and ambient vibration. * The wearer gains a +2 bonus to Crafts and Burglary rolls when performing delicate lock manipulation, disarming mechanical trigger traps, picking complex tumblers, or scribing micro-runes under stressful conditions.
* Active Stunt – Snag Ward: * Trigger: When an adversary succeeds with style on an attack or advantage creation intended to disarm the wearer, sever an equipped pack, or destroy a carried relic. * Mechanics: Once per scene (or by spending 1 Fate Point if already triggered), the wearer may spend a reaction to interpose the obsidian plating. This immediately downgrades the opponent’s outcome to a standard success, prevents the loss or destruction of the carried item, and places a temporary boost named Deflected Blade on the user.
* Active Stunt – Ward of the Severing Blade: * By spending 1 Fate Point when a melee attacker fails an attack against the wearer, the user crosses their forearms to discharge an abrasive pulse of repulsive kinetic energy. * The attacker immediately takes 2 physical stress from the concussive backlash, and the situation aspect Disarmed and Knocked Off-Balance is placed on the attacker with one free invoke for the wearer or their allies.
* Active Stunt – Razor-Knot Severance: * Once per session, the wearer may channel energy through the beveled glass rims to automatically overcome and eliminate any mundane restraint, net, rope, or woven binding holding them or an adjacent character, without requiring a roll or spending an action.
Numenera & Cypher System Obsidian Glyphic Vambraces
* Classification: Artifact (Worn, Forearms and Wrists)
* Level: 4
* Form: A pair of close-fitting, supple dark hide bracers faced with thirty-two overlapping scales of ultra-dense volcanic glass. Each scale features microscopic sub-surface data-etchings that pulse in sync with the wearer’s capillary flow. Four narrow micro-loops on the inner cuffs house slender bone picks and glass styluses.
* Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (roll for depletion only upon triggering an active ability).
* Passive Properties: * Armor Contribution: The rigid obsidian lamellar structure provides +1 to Armor against physical attacks, cutting implements, and incoming projectiles targeting the user’s upper profile. * Integrated Infiltration Tools: The wrist loops house precision instruments that function as a specialized kit, easing all tasks related to picking mechanical tumblers, disarming pressure devices, and manipulating physical security locks by one step. * Steady Nerve Induction: The wearer’s nervous system receives micro-vibrational stabilization from the backing hide, easing all fine manual tasks, delicate surgical cuts, and microscopic inscription work by one step. * Capillary Illumination: The micro-etched glyphs cast a soft indigo luminescence in an immediate 5-foot perimeter around the hands, allowing the user to examine locks, cipher discs, and micro-mechanisms in total darkness without holding an external light source.
* Active Ability – Reactive Deflection Shroud (Action or Reaction): * When an opponent attempts a maneuver to disarm the wearer, slice away an external pack, or sever an attached cable or braided focus, the wearer interposes the bracers. * The defensive Speed task to prevent disarming or equipment destruction is eased by two steps. If successful, the incoming strike is deflected harmlessly across the glass scales. Roll for Depletion.
* Active Ability – Repulsion Backlash (Action): * The wearer crosses their forearms to emit an explosive kinetic wave from the volcanic glass scales. * An attacking creature within immediate range must succeed on a Might defense roll against Level 4 difficulty or be thrown back an immediate distance (up to 10 feet), drop its active weapon, and lose its next turn to disorientation. Roll for Depletion.
* Active Ability – Kinetic Filament Severance (Action): * The wearer activates the high-frequency vibration of the obsidian plate bevels. * Any non-synthetic, non-hyperdense binding, netting, rope, or woven cable entangling or pinning the character or an adjacent ally within immediate reach is sheared through instantly, ending the immobilized condition immediately. Roll for Depletion.
Pathfinder (Second Edition Remaster) Knot-Guard Bracers
* Item Traits: Uncommon, Abjuration, Invested, Magical
* Item Level: 3
* Price: 55 gp
* Usage: Worn bracers (Forearms)
* Bulk: Light (L)
* Description: * Crafted from dark, supple highland leather, this matched pair of forearm guards is reinforced with sixteen overlapping plates of razor-cut volcanic obsidian per arm. Each plate is etched on its reverse with microscopic Qosqo-Khipu glyphs that glow with a rhythmic indigo pulse matched to the wearer’s heartbeat. Four fitted loops along the inner wrist cuffs hold a suite of bone picks, bronze tension levers, and obsidian scribes.
* Passive Defense: * When invested, the bracers grant a +1 item bonus to AC against melee attacks with the piercing or slashing trait made by an enemy utilizing the Disarm action or targeting the wearer’s worn items. * The wearer gains a +1 item bonus to Reflex saving throws and Acrobatics checks made to resist being disarmed or having equipped containers and weapons torn away.
* Integrated Thieves’ Tools: * The picks and probes stored inside the inner wrist loops function as fine mechanical infiltration tools. * The wearer can draw, switch, or stow a pick from the bracer loops as a free action as part of an action to Pick a Lock or Disable a Device.
* Steady Hands (Passive Property): * The bracers steady the user’s motor nerves and fine musculature. * The wearer gains a +1 item bonus to Thievery checks made to Pick a Lock or Disable a Device. This bonus increases to +2 if the task is attempted in dim light or darkness, as the bioluminescent glyphs cast concentrated light directly over the lock face out to 5 feet.
* Activate – Snag Ward (Reaction): * Traits: Concentrate, Manipulate, Magical. * Trigger: An opponent attempts a Disarm action against you, or targets an item you are carrying, wearing, or keeping in a specialized hair or clothing slot. * Frequency: Twice per day. * Effect: You snap your forearm across the incoming weapon path. You gain a +2 circumstance bonus to your Reflex DC or Athletics DC against the triggering maneuver. If the triggering action fails, the attacker’s weapon glances harmlessly off the warded glass, and the attacker is off-guard until the beginning of their next turn.
* Activate – Ward of the Severing Blade (Reaction): * Traits: Force, Manipulate, Magical. * Trigger: A creature within your reach critically fails a melee Strike against you. * Frequency: Once per day. * Effect: You cross the obsidian vambraces, releasing a concussive burst of repulsive geomantic force. The creature must succeed on a DC 19 Fortitude save or drop the weapon used in the Strike. If the creature rolls a critical failure, the weapon is flung 10 feet away in a random direction and the creature falls prone.
* Activate – Razor-Knot Severance (One Action): * Traits: Concentrate, Manipulate, Magical. * Frequency: Once per day. * Effect: You energize the beveled obsidian ridges and slice your forearm across non-magical cords, ropes, nets, or web restraints binding you or an adjacent ally within reach. You automatically sever the material, ending the grabbed or restrained condition imposed by that mundane restraint without needing an Escape check.
Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition) Hanan-Pacha Knot-Guards
* Item Classification: Arcane Armored Device / Utility Relic
* Locations Covered: Arms (Forearms and Wrists)
* Minimum Strength: d4
* Weight: 2 lbs
* Suggested Value: 600 currency units
* Armor Rating: * Grants +2 Armor to the Arms against slashing, piercing, and impact damage, stacking with flexible torso armor up to setting limits.
* Integrated Infiltration Suite: * The wrist loops carry a full set of bone and bronze picks, wire levers, and fine chisels, acting as integrated Lockpicks that require no preparation or draw actions to ready during an infiltration encounter. * The wearer gains a +1 bonus to Thievery rolls when picking mechanical locks, disabling clockwork triggers, or performing fine mechanical sabotage.
* Steady Hands (Passive Property): * The wearer ignores penalties up to 2 points caused by environmental shivering, freezing wind, or hand tremors when attempting Thievery, Repair, or fine Agility-based skill rolls.
* Glyph Glow (Passive Property): * The micro-etched obsidian tiles radiate dim indigo light in a 1-inch (2-yard) radius around the wrists, negating illumination penalties when working on locks or reading small inscriptions in total darkness.
* Internal Power Reserve: * The bracers store 6 dedicated Power Points that recharge at the rate of 1 point per hour of ambient exposure to non-magical atmosphere.
* Integrated Power – Snag Ward (Deflection): * Power Points: 1 * Range: Self * Duration: Instant * Trapping: A crisp, glass-like flash of geometric glyphs interposes between the incoming blow and the targeted gear. * Mechanics: As an immediate reaction when a foe attempts a Called Shot or Disarm maneuver against a carried weapon, pack, or hair cord, the wearer raises the bracers. The attacker suffers an additional -2 penalty to the attack roll, and the targeted item gains +4 Toughness against any residual damage from the strike.
* Integrated Power – Ward of the Severing Blade (Havoc): * Power Points: 2 * Range: Touch * Duration: Instant * Trapping: Crossing the forearms to release a concussive acoustic shockwave from the obsidian scales. * Mechanics: When a melee attacker rolls a Critical Failure on a Fighting roll against the wearer, the user may activate this ability as a free counter. A concussive kinetic pulse bursts in a Small Blast Template centered in front of the wearer. The attacker must make a Strength roll at -2; if failed, the attacker is knocked back 2 yards, drops their weapon, and becomes Distracted.
* Integrated Power – Razor-Knot Severance (Environmental Cleave): * Power Points: 1 * Range: Touch (Self or adjacent ally) * Duration: Instant * Trapping: High-frequency resonance along the beveled outer edges of the obsidian tiles. * Mechanics: The wearer sweeps their arm across mundane nets, ropes, or vines. All non-magical woven restraints entangling the character or an adjacent companion are immediately severed, ending the Bound or Entangled status automatically without requiring an Athletics or Agility roll.
Shadowrun (Sixth World) Hanan-Pacha Obsidian Intrusion Vambraces
* Item Classification: Armored Forearm Apparel and Integrated Infiltration Rig (Arms Slot, Paired Vambraces)
* Defense Rating Modifier: +2 Defense Rating to the physical defense pool against ballistic, slashing, and impact attacks directed at the runner’s forearms, wrists, and hands. The overlapping volcanic obsidian lamellar plates, tempered through mineralized springs, absorb direct kinetic trauma and deflect slashing blades, high-velocity projectile fragments, and close-quarters melee strikes.
* Armor Capacity: 2 modification slots available for micro-electronics, magnetic sensor coils, or biomonitor telemetry leads.
* Essence and Focus Bonding: Unbonded mundane wear provides standard physical defense and integrated pick storage. To awaken the active metaphysical wards, the bracers must be bonded as a Force 2 Qi Focus or Sustaining Focus aligned with Manipulation or Health metamagics for 4 Karma.
* Integrated Infiltration Suite (Physical Property): * Four micro-tooled utility loops along the inner wrist margins carry a calibrated set of non-metallic bone probes, bronze tension levers, and fine-edge obsidian scribing needles. * These instruments act as integrated fine lockpicks and hardware probes, allowing the runner to draw and employ tools as an immediate Free Action during intrusion tasks without drawing from a deep backpack or pocket. * The runner adds +2 dice to all Engineering (Lockpicking) or Electronics (Hardware) dice pools when physically bypassing mechanical tumblers, picking lever-tumbler safes, or inspecting fragile electronic contact pins.
* Steady Hands Motor Dampener (Passive Magic): * The rhythmic bio-harmonic resonance between the treated reptile leather backing and the user’s radial artery pulse eliminates physiological tremors, cold shivering, and involuntary motor flutter. * The user gains a +1 dice pool bonus to all Agility-based skill tests requiring extreme manual precision, including delicate bomb disposal, micro-soldering, palm-concealment, and micro-etching under high-stress combat conditions.
* Capillary Glyph Illumination (Passive Property): * The etched micro-glyphs on the obsidian plates passively channel capillary energy, casting an adjustable, non-thermal indigo luminescence out to 2 meters around the hands. This completely negates darkness visibility modifiers for close-up mechanical or manual tasks without emitting an infrared heat signature.
* Snag Ward (Active Reactive Minor Action): * Trigger: An opponent uses a Called Shot or targeted melee action specifically aimed at disarming the runner, cutting weapon straps, slicing cyberware cables, or destroying carried gear, foci, or gear in specialized slots. * Effect: The runner snaps a forearm into the line of the incoming blow, interposing the obsidian lamellae. The targeted item’s effective Defense Rating increases by +3 against the incoming strike, and the opponent suffers an immediate -2 dice pool penalty on their Attack Test. If the attack fails, the runner gains 1 point of temporary Edge that must be spent immediately on a counter-strike or defensive roll against that attacker before the end of the combat turn.
* Ward of the Severing Blade (Active Major Action Counter): * Trigger: A melee attacker rolls a Glitch or misses an attack within close-combat reach of the runner. * Effect: The runner crosses their forearms, releasing a concussive geomagnetic repulsion wave from the warded glass scales. The attacker must make an immediate Body + Strength Test against a threshold of 3. If failed, the attacker drops their weapon, is pushed back 2 meters, and suffers the Off-Balance status condition until the start of their next action phase. This ward may be activated twice per 24-hour cycle.
* Razor-Knot Severance (Active Minor Action): * The runner stimulates the energized outer bevel of the obsidian plates with an electric/geomantic pulse. The runner sweeps an arm across non-magical, non-monofilament physical bindings such as nylon cord, zip-ties, ropes, or containment webbing, automatically severing them instantly without requiring an escape roll or cutting tool, clearing the Immobilized status immediately.
Starfinder (Second Edition) Knot-Guard Obsidian Bracers
* Item Level: 3
* Price: 1,350 Credits
* Bulk: Light (L)
* Category: Worn Magic and Tech Hybrid Armor (Arms Slot, Paired Vambraces)
* Usage: Worn bracers, invested
* Applicable Traits: Hybrid, Abjuration, Primal, Tech
* Kinetic and Slashing Defense: * When invested, the bracers grant a +1 item bonus to Armor Class against melee slashing and piercing attacks directed at the wearer’s upper body profile. * The wearer gains a +2 item bonus to Reflex saves and Acrobatics checks made to resist being disarmed or having equipped weapons, communication comm-units, or belt batteries wrenched from their grip.
* Integrated Infiltration Tools: * The internal wrist loops contain an assortment of non-conductive bone picks, synthetic polymer tension wedges, and obsidian scribes that function as specialized Thieves’ Tools or an Infiltration Kit. * The wearer can draw, use, and stow any tool stored in the wrist cuffs as a free action as part of an action to Pick a Lock or Disable a Device.
* Steady Hands Motor Synchronization (Passive Property): * The micro-vibrational harmonic field stabilizes fine musculature in the hands and wrists, granting a +1 item bonus to Thievery checks to Pick a Lock or Disable a Device. This bonus increases to +2 when performing tasks in environments experiencing severe structural vibration, zero gravity, or sub-zero atmospheric temperatures.
* Glyph Illumination (Passive Property): * As an action or free thought, the user commands the micro-etched glyphs to emit soft indigo light in an immediate 10-foot emanation, providing illumination for intricate technical or surgical work in complete darkness without producing a thermal hotspot on thermal sensors.
* Snag Ward (Reaction): * Trigger: An enemy initiates a Disarm combat maneuver or targets an item worn or carried by the user (including hair gear, holstered sidearms, or data-slates). * Frequency: Twice per day. * Effect: The user interposes the layered obsidian plates into the attack path. The user gains a +2 circumstance bonus to their Reflex DC against the disarm maneuver, and the targeted item gains a +4 item bonus to AC and hardness 5 against any damage inflicted by that attack.
* Ward of the Severing Blade (Reaction): * Trigger: A creature adjacent to the user critically fails a melee attack roll against the user. * Frequency: Once per day. * Effect: Crossing the forearms triggers an abrasive pulse of concussive force. The attacking creature must succeed on a DC 19 Fortitude saving throw or drop the weapon used in the attack and be pushed 5 feet away from the user. On a critical failure, the dropped weapon is hurled 15 feet away.
* Razor-Knot Severance (One Action): * Frequency: Once per day. * Effect: The user vibrates the beveled glass rims with high-frequency resonance. Sweeping the arm across non-metallic, mundane ropes, biological vines, capture cables, or tangler-grenade netting automatically slices through the binding, ending the Grabbed or Restrained condition on the user or an adjacent ally without rolling an Escape check.
Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition) Hanan-Pacha Kinetic Vambraces
* Item Classification: Archaic Protective Forearm Armor and Mechanical Infiltration Assembly
* Tech Level: TL 10
* Mass: 1 Kilogram (Paired set)
* Suggested Cost: Cr 1,200
* Armor Rating: Armor +2. The matched pair of treated hide cuffs layered with razor-split volcanic obsidian tiles provides +2 protection against Ballistic, Piercing, and Bludgeoning damage directed at the traveler’s forearms and hands, stacking with under-armor suits and mesh body armor.
* Integrated Mechanical Intrusion Rig: * Fitted along the inner cuffs are four dedicated tool loops carrying an array of tempered bone picks, bronze tension levers, and obsidian probes. * These instruments function as integrated mechanical Lockpicks, requiring no draw time or encumbrance space. * The traveler gains a +1 DM to all Mechanic or Electronics (Sensors) checks attempted while physically picking tumblers, bypassing manual access panels, or inspecting fine mechanical gear.
* Steady Hands Neural Dampener (Passive Property): * The internal harmonic frequency of the bracers calms the traveler’s peripheral nervous system, dampening hand tremors, cold-weather stiffness, and zero-gravity disorientation. * The wearer gains a +1 DM on all DEX-based checks involving fine manipulation, micro-welding, disarming manual explosives, or performing delicate field surgery under pressure.
* Snag Ward Deflection Circuit (Active Minor Action): * Frequency: 2 charges per standard day. * Trigger: An opponent makes a Melee or Gun Combat attack specifically targeting a holstered weapon, carried equipment bag, helmet tether, or sensor unit on the traveler. * Effect: The traveler snaps the obsidian vambrace into the path of the blow. The attacker suffers an immediate -2 DM penalty to the attack roll, and the targeted gear gains an additional Armor 4 against any residual kinetic damage.
* Ward of the Severing Blade (Active Reaction): * Trigger: An opponent within close Melee range makes an attack against the traveler and achieves an Effect of -3 or lower (a severe failure). * Frequency: 1 charge per standard day. * Effect: The traveler crosses the bracers to discharge a localized acoustic repulsion pulse. The attacker must make an immediate STR check at -1 DM; failure indicates the attacker’s weapon is jarred from their grip and flies 3 meters away, leaving the attacker Off-Balance (-2 DM to their next action).
* Razor-Knot Severance Edge (Active Action): * The traveler activates high-frequency micro-vibrations along the beveled obsidian tiles. Sweeping the arm across non-metallic ropes, synthetic netting, cargo cords, or restraining straps immediately shears the material, freeing the traveler or an adjacent crewmate from physical entanglements instantly without requiring an Athletics check.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (4th Edition) The Vambraces of the Closed Knot
* Item Classification: Magical Armored Vambraces and Inscription Apparatus (Arms Location, Matched Pair)
* Encumbrance: 1
* Locations Covered: Arms (Forearms and Wrists)
* Armor Points: 2 AP on the Arms. The overlapping lamellar plates of volcanic glass mounted over boiled mountain leather turn aside sword thrusts, arrowheads, and cudgel strikes aimed at the forearms.
* Qualities: Fine, Practical, Reinforced.
* Integrated Infiltration Tools: * Four leather loops along the inside wrists hold fine bone knot-picks, bronze wire levers, and obsidian etching points. * These count as a set of Fine Lockpicks and Styluses that can be drawn or stowed as a Free Action. * The wearer gains a bonus of +10% to all Pick Lock and Sleight of Hand Tests when working on tumblers, latches, or delicate mechanical devices.
* Steady Hands (Passive Relic Trait): * The synchronized resonance between the treated leather and the wearer’s wrist pulse calms the nerves and banishes tremors. * The wearer ignores all penalties to Dexterity and manual tests caused by shivering, freezing mountain winds, or cold-induced numbness. * The wearer gains a bonus of +10% to Art (Engraving), Trade (Mechanic), and Heal Tests involving delicate manual surgery or suture work.
* Vein-Light Glow (Exploration Trait): * The etched runes glow with a controllable, soft indigo light out to 2 yards around the hands, allowing the wearer to inspect locks, read small script, or pick cages in pitch blackness without lighting a torch or candle.
* Snag Ward (Active Reaction): * Trigger: An opponent makes an attack targeting a carried item, pouch, sword scabbard, or braided hair cord worn by the character. * Frequency: Twice per day. * Effect: The wearer interposes the obsidian plates. The attacker suffers a -20% penalty to their Weapon Skill Test, and the targeted item gains 4 temporary Armor Points against that strike. If the attack misses, the wearer gains a +1 Advantage token.
* Ward of the Severing Blade (Active Reaction): * Trigger: An adjacent opponent fumbles or rolls an Astounding Failure on a Melee attack against the wearer. * Frequency: Once per day. * Effect: The wearer crosses the vambraces, releasing an explosive burst of concussive earth force. The attacker must make an Opposed Strength Test against the wearer’s Willpower; if the attacker fails, their weapon is knocked from their grasp to land 2 yards away, and the attacker gains the Prone Condition from the sudden kinetic backlash.
* Razor-Knot Severance (Active Action): * Frequency: Once per day. * Effect: The wearer energizes the beveled glass rims with geomantic power and slashes across any non-magical rope, net, hanging cable, or woven binding. The restraint is immediately severed, instantly ending the Entangled Condition for the wearer or an adjacent ally without needing an Athletics (Escape) Test.