Reiki 9 of the Umbral Tether – GearAscendancy.com

Slot: Wrist

Tags: Reiki, Dark Magic, Debuff, Support, Worn Item, Common, Tier 1, Wrist Slot, Life Drain, Control, Binding, Surgical, Unethical, Melancholy, Pain, Conduit, Iron

Lore: The principles of Reiki are based on channeling universal life energy to heal and soothe. But in the desperate, shadowed alleys of Saṃsāra’s under-cities, philosophers and healers are luxuries few can afford. Here, pragmatic and often ruthless surgeons, known as flesh-crafters, sought a different application of life energy manipulation. They theorized that if life force could be given, it could also be moved. The Umbral Tether was the crude but effective result of their experiments.

It was not created for malice, initially, but for a grim necessity: a way to perform battlefield triage by drawing vitality from a healthy limb to mend a failing organ, or to siphon warmth from a robust soldier to stave off frostbite in another. However, the tool’s potential for darker applications was immediately obvious. The Tether does not connect to the universal wellspring of Reiki; instead, it turns the user into a grim conductor, allowing them to tap into the life force of one being and use it as a resource for another. These common items are often crudely made copies of forgotten medical prototypes, now favored by back-alley doctors, interrogators, and practitioners of forbidden arts who see life as just another currency to be spent.

Description: The Umbral Tether is a single, heavy manacle forged from a dark, non-reflective iron that seems to absorb the surrounding light. The metal is smooth and cold, with an almost oily texture, and is devoid of any ornamentation save for a series of faint, unpleasant etchings near the locking mechanism that resemble medical diagrams of veins and arteries. Set into the clasp is a single, milky quartz crystal, shot through with cloudy imperfections. When inactive, the item feels like a dead weight on the wrist. When its magic is used, the black iron does not glow, but seems to grow darker still. The quartz crystal, however, pulses with a sickly, faint, and flickering violet light, seeming to beat in time with the heart of the person whose energy is being siphoned.

Detailed Stats

Tier: 1
Rarity: Common
Attunement Requirement: To attune to the Tether, the wearer must close the manacle on their wrist and prick their finger on a small, hidden needle within the clasp, creating a blood bond with the item. The item will then recognize the user as its operator.
Magic Capacity: The Tether holds no energy of its own. It is merely a conduit, its effectiveness limited by the user’s willpower and the vitality of the creature being used as a source.
Durability: High. It is a solid piece of forged iron, built to be brutally functional.

Passive Magic

Vitalsense: The wearer’s sense of touch becomes unnervingly perceptive. By touching another living creature, the user gets a vague, intuitive sense of their physical state—the strength of their pulse, the heat of a fever, the coldness of impending death. It is not a detailed diagnosis, but a grim, tactile awareness of life force.
Aura of Melancholy: The item radiates a subtle field of emotional dampening. Strong, positive emotions like joy, excitement, and mirth are muted in a small area around the wearer. The effect is not strong enough to cause sadness, but it can make a cheerful room feel subdued and somber.
Pain Recessor: The user’s own connection to their pain is slightly frayed. Minor aches, pains, cuts, and bruises feel distant and unimportant to the wearer. This provides no actual resistance to damage but can allow for clearer thought immediately following an injury.

Activable Magic

Vitality Siphon: This is the Tether’s primary, grim function. The user must be in physical contact with two separate living creatures (one of whom can be the user themself). By activating the Tether, the user chooses one creature as the “Source” and the other as the “Target.” A conduit of Reiki energy is formed, and the user can forcibly draw a small amount of life energy from the Source and channel it into the Target. The Source creature feels a sudden, profound wave of fatigue, dizziness, and cold, while the Target feels a brief surge of warmth and energy, which can mend very minor wounds (such as closing a small cut or easing a bruise) or grant a momentary burst of stamina. The process is unpleasant and frightening for the Source.
Sympathetic Affliction: A more sinister application of the Tether’s siphoning principle. The user can touch a creature suffering from a minor, non-magical ailment (such as the lingering nausea from a poison, a throbbing headache, or the fever from a common illness) and also touch a healthy creature. Upon activation, the user can attempt to transfer not the ailment itself, but its symptoms. The healthy Target will suddenly be wracked with the nausea, pain, or fever, while the original sufferer experiences a few moments of blessed relief. This transfer is temporary and fades after a few minutes, but is incredibly draining for the user to perform and deeply unsettling for the Target.

The Umbral Tether is not an item one finds displayed on a polished shelf in a well-lit shop. Its trade is confined to the shadows, a tool sought by those who operate on the fringes of the law, medicine, and morality. Acquiring one is often as dangerous as using it.

The Flesh-Crafter’s Den

Deep within the steam-choked underlevels of a metropolis, or in the unmapped, dark warrens of a cave-city, are the dens of flesh-crafters. These are not shops but illicit surgeries, smelling of harsh antiseptics, stale blood, and the ozone tang of misused medical machinery. The flesh-crafter is a disgraced surgeon or a brilliant, self-taught practitioner who serves the criminal underworld, patching up wounds with no questions asked or performing unsanctioned biological modifications. The Umbral Tether is a tool of their trade, used for its original, grim purpose of shunting vitality from one place to another to keep a patient alive on the operating table.

Here, the item is not truly for sale to the general public. A buyer would need to be a trusted associate, an apprentice, or a client with a very specific, “professional” need that they could articulate to the crafter’s satisfaction. The transaction would be a hushed negotiation in a blood-stained side room, the Tether produced from a surgical tray rather than a display case.

Cost: The monetary cost might be deceptively low, perhaps 25-30 Gild, as the flesh-crafter can likely produce their own crude versions. The true cost is becoming entangled with the crafter. They might demand a service in return—the acquisition of rare biological samples, acting as a guard during a risky procedure, or becoming a test subject for a new and dangerous technique.

The Midnight Market

In the largest cities, there exist black markets, often called Midnight Markets. These are not fixed locations but temporary, secret gatherings announced only hours beforehand through coded messages. They might take place in a derelict factory, the sealed cargo hold of a massive steamship, or a forgotten transit tunnel deep underground. The atmosphere is thick with paranoia; attendees are almost universally hooded or masked, and private guards stand watch at every corner. The goods sold here are illegal, dangerous, and unique.

The Umbral Tether would likely be presented by a specialized vendor dealing in tools for spies and assassins. It would not be on open display. The seller, a faceless figure in a heavy cloak, would keep their wares in a reinforced, locked chest. A potential buyer would need to know the correct slang or password to even begin a conversation about such an item. The seller would produce the manacle, allowing it to be inspected for only a moment before putting it away. The entire transaction would be conducted in whispers, with payment and goods exchanged simultaneously.

Cost: Approximately 50 Gild. The price is high due to the risk involved for the seller and the specialized, illicit nature of the clientele. This vendor would deal almost exclusively in currency or small, high-value, untraceable goods like flawless gemstones or concentrated magical reagents. Bartering for services would be too risky.

The Hedge-Witch’s Booth

On the absolute fringe of a sprawling bazaar, in a district the city watch prefers to ignore, one can find the stalls of hedge-witches and curse-mongers. These booths are a chaotic mess of strange and unsettling wares: bundled dried herbs that carry faint curses, skulls of unidentifiable beasts, and grimoires bound in stained leather. The proprietors are often outcasts, dealing in minor hexes, questionable poultices, and ethically grey magic.

The Umbral Tether would be a prize item for such a vendor. It would be kept hidden, wrapped in black cloth inside a locked box. A buyer would need to approach the stall and ask for something indirectly, inquiring about “tools for sympathetic transference” or “items that can share a burden.” Reading the buyer’s intent, the hedge-witch would produce the Tether, their eyes constantly darting about for guards or rivals.

Cost: A firm price of around 40 Gild. The hedge-witch knows the value of such a unique tool to their specific customer base. They would be highly receptive to trades, but only for equally dark or rare components. They might exchange the Tether for the venom of a rare subterranean creature, a preserved organ from a powerful monster, or a stolen page from a licensed mage’s personal research notes.

The Receiver of Stolen Goods

In any criminal underworld, there is always a “Receiver” or a “Fence.” This is not a shopkeeper but a professional who launders stolen property. Their place of business might be the back room of a noisy tavern, a nondescript warehouse, or even just a specific, shadowy archway where they conduct their affairs. They acquire items like the Umbral Tether from thieves who have burgled a wizard’s workshop or mugged one of its practitioners.

The Receiver’s only goal is to turn inventory into currency as quickly and safely as possible. The transaction is impersonal and devoid of any ceremony. The item is presented, a price is named, and the deal is concluded. There is no information offered about the item’s history or function beyond what is obvious. The Receiver’s reputation is built on discretion and reliability, not customer service.

Cost: The price is usually a bargain, perhaps only 20 Gild. The Receiver wants to move the product fast to minimize their own risk. They deal only in hard currency, as their entire business is about liquidation. Haggling is not entertained, and any attempt to cheat or short-change a professional Receiver would be an extremely unwise decision with long-lasting consequences.

The Umbral Tether is a tool of grim necessity and dark intent. Its use in offense and defense is never clean, often involving a terrible choice or the exploitation of another living being to achieve the user’s goals.

In the Grimy Back-Alleys of a Megacity

This environment is defined by close quarters, desperate people, and sudden, brutal violence. Fights are quick, and survival often comes at a cost.

Offensive Roleplay: The user is cornered in a narrow, steam-filled alley by a hulking enforcer from a rival faction. The enforcer is physically superior, and a direct fight is unwinnable. However, the user has a companion, or perhaps just a terrified street urchin they grab in the moment. As the enforcer moves in, the user clamps one hand on their companion’s shoulder and touches the enforcer’s arm with the hand wearing the Tether. They activate Vitality Siphon. The companion cries out and sags, a wave of weakness and fatigue washing over them. Simultaneously, the enforcer, who was about to throw a punch, suddenly feels their muscles turn to lead. The strength drains from their limbs, their breath catches in their throat, and a wave of inexplicable dizziness overwhelms them. This momentary, debilitating fatigue is the opening the user needs to land a decisive blow or simply slip away into the steam. The offense wasn’t a direct attack, but a parasitic weakening of the foe.

Defensive Roleplay: During a chase, the user takes a deep knife wound to the leg and stumbles, their life bleeding out onto the grimy cobblestones. Their pursuer smirks, advancing slowly to deliver the final blow. From a nearby pile of refuse, a pack of large sewer rats emerges. In a desperate act, the user slams their hand wearing the Tether down on the largest of the rats while pressing their other hand to their own wound. They activate Vitality Siphon. The rat instantly convulses, its life force pulled from its body in a violent rush. The user feels a jolt of warmth and raw vitality flood into their leg. The bleeding slows, the gash partially knits together—not a full healing, but enough to ignore the pain and give them the strength to scramble to their feet and continue their escape. They have defended themselves by extinguishing another life to fuel their own.

In a Secret Interrogation Chamber

This environment is about control, pain, and the breaking of a person’s will. The conflict is psychological as much as it is physical.

Offensive Roleplay: The user needs information from a captive who is stoic and resistant to conventional methods of torture. The captive has proven they can endure any pain inflicted upon their own body. So, the user brings a second person into the room—perhaps the captive’s friend, or just another prisoner—and leaves them unharmed but visible. The user then touches the captive with one hand and the healthy, terrified observer with the other. They activate Sympathetic Affliction. Instead of hurting the captive, they find a lingering pain in their own body—a memory of a broken bone, a chronic migraine—and transfer the pure, unadulterated sensation of that agony into the healthy observer. The observer screams and writhes in pain that has no physical cause. The offense is not directed at the target, but at their resolve. The user is attacking their empathy, forcing them to watch someone else suffer because of their silence.

Defensive Roleplay: The user has been captured and is being subjected to a powerful truth serum. The poison doesn’t compel them to speak but wracks their body with debilitating nausea and vertigo, making it impossible to form a coherent lie. A guard is holding them steady in the chair. As the drug’s effects peak, the user slumps forward, grabbing the guard’s arm as if for support. They activate Sympathetic Affliction, siphoning the worst of the vertigo and sickness out of their own system and pouring it directly into the guard. The guard, suddenly overwhelmed by extreme dizziness and a wave of nausea, stumbles back, gagging. This moment of confusion and weakness in their captor provides the user with a precious window of mental clarity to resist the interrogation or attempt to break their bonds.

In a Monster-Infested Ruin

In ancient, forgotten places, the opponents are often not humanoid and may possess strange biologies, powerful regeneration, or immunities to normal pain.

Offensive Roleplay: The user’s party confronts a massive, amorphous creature of living protoplasm that regenerates from nearly any wound. The party’s weapons seem to pass right through it, the wounds closing instantly. The user notes, however, that the creature’s life force, while immense, is chaotic. They have a summoned creature or a loyal animal companion with them. Touching their own companion and extending a hand into the monster’s mass, they activate Vitality Siphon. They begin draining the life from their companion and pumping it directly into the monster. The monster, already full of chaotic life, is overloaded by this foreign energy. Its regenerative process goes haywire. Like a body rejecting an organ transplant, the creature begins to convulse as its own life force wars against the invading energy. Its regeneration fails, and it may even begin to tear itself apart, making it vulnerable to conventional attacks from the rest of the party.

Defensive Roleplay: While exploring a tomb, the user is afflicted by a supernatural curse from a trapped sarcophagus—a flesh-rotting disease that is slowly consuming their arm. There is no cure, and their companions can only watch. The party has a pack animal, a sturdy beast of burden. To buy time, the user places the Umbral Tether on their own wrist and rests their hand on the animal’s flank. Over the next several hours of travel, they perform a continuous, low-level Sympathetic Affliction. They are not transferring the curse, but are constantly siphoning off the sensation of decay and the effect of the rot, shunting the necrosis into the animal’s flesh. The user’s arm remains intact, though they are pale and weak from the effort, while the poor animal slowly sickens, its own body exhibiting the symptoms of the curse meant for the user. This is a grim, sacrificial defense that trades one life for another to reach a place where the curse can be properly removed.

Perception of Activation:

Sight

User’s Perspective: The world’s colors become desaturated, as if viewed through a grey filter. The user’s focus narrows intensely on the two creatures they are touching, whose skin seems to become faintly translucent, allowing the user to perceive the dark, web-like patterns of veins just beneath the surface. The milky quartz on the manacle pulses with a sickly, faint violet light that is uncomfortably vivid to the user’s eyes.
Observer’s Perspective: An observer will notice the black iron of the manacle appear to grow darker, absorbing the ambient light and becoming a patch of absolute shadow on the user’s wrist. The cloudy quartz crystal set within it begins to pulse with a faint, flickering, and unpleasant violet light. A thin, shadowy tendril, like smoke or ink in water, may be seen snaking from the manacle to the creature being used as a source.
Positives: The hyper-focus allows the user to better concentrate on their targets, ignoring external distractions. The visual effect is subtle enough that it may go unnoticed by casual observers.
Negatives: The visual effect is deeply unsettling and unnatural to anyone who does notice it. For the user, the sight of veins and the sickly light can be nauseating and disorienting.

Sound

User’s Perspective: The user hears a low, throbbing hum that seems to emanate from inside their own skull, synchronized with the violet light on the Tether. It sounds like a slow, strained, and terrified heartbeat. This is overlaid with the faint, wet, internal sound of a siphon at work.
Observer’s Perspective: There is almost no sound. A very attentive observer standing in complete silence might perceive a very low-frequency hum. More likely, the only sound they will hear is a sudden, sharp intake of breath or a weak, pained gasp from the person whose vitality is being drained.
Positives: The activation is nearly silent, making it ideal for covert use where an audible spell would draw attention. The internal sound provides clear, non-visual feedback that the siphoning is active.
Negatives: The internal throbbing sound is deeply disturbing and can cause dizziness. The audible distress of the source creature is an immediate and obvious giveaway that something harmful is occurring.

Touch

User’s Perspective: The user’s hands grow unnaturally cold. The hand touching the “source” creature feels a draining warmth, as if they are touching a hot coal that is rapidly cooling. The hand on the “target” feels a faint, artificial heat spread into them. The manacle itself becomes ice-cold, leaching heat directly from the user’s wrist.
Observer’s Perspective: An observer cannot perceive the sensation directly, but will see the physical effects. The source creature may shiver, grow visibly pale, and break out in a cold sweat. The target creature might gain a flush of color or steady themselves as a tremor passes.
Positives: The tactile feedback is unambiguous, confirming for the user that the transfer of energy is happening and in which direction it is flowing.
Negatives: The sensation is viscerally unpleasant for the user. For the source creature, the feeling of having their life’s warmth drained away is a terrifying and physically debilitating experience.

Smell

User’s Perspective: A faint but distinct metallic and coppery odor, the smell of old blood or rust, rises in the user’s nostrils. It is mixed with the cold, sterile scent of a morgue.
Observer’s Perspective: Someone standing very close to the user may catch the same faint, unpleasant metallic scent on the air.
Positives: There are no positive aspects to this perception. It is purely an indicator of the unnatural process being performed.
Negatives: The smell of blood and decay is universally alarming. It can alert others that an unnatural and harmful act is taking place and may trigger a fear or disgust response in those nearby.

Taste

User’s ‘s Perspective: A powerfully foul taste fills the user’s mouth, like licking a rusty nail. It is salty, metallic, and acrid.
Observer’s Perspective: An observer has no perception of this sense.
Positives: None. It is a wholly negative sensory experience.
Negatives: The taste is vile enough to cause a strong gag reflex. A novice user might lose their concentration from the sheer unpleasantness of the taste, potentially breaking the siphoning effect prematurely.

Extra-Sensory Perception: Empathic Violation

User’s Perspective: The user feels a sharp, jarring jolt of the source creature’s panic and sudden physical weakness. It is not empathy; it is a forced, predatory glimpse into their terror. Simultaneously, they feel the target’s brief and artificial surge of energy, a fleeting moment of relief that feels hollow and unearned.
Observer’s Perspective: An empathic observer perceives a violent, invasive act. They sense a psychic “hook” latch onto the source’s emotional field, tear a piece away, and then crudely shove that stolen vitality into the target. The entire process feels jagged, predatory, and fundamentally wrong.
Positives: Provides the user with absolute confirmation that the transfer of life force was successful.
Negatives: Experiencing the raw terror of a victim, even for a moment, is deeply traumatic and spiritually corrupting for the user. Repeated use can lead to a dangerous desensitization or psychological damage.

Extra-Sensory Perception: Aura Scourge

User’s Perspective: Through their Mind’s Eye, the user sees the source’s aura as a bright, living flame. When the Tether is activated, they see a dark, violet tendril of shadow extend from their hand and plunge into that flame, siphoning off a stream of its light. They then see this stolen, guttering light forced into the target’s aura, where it does not merge, but sits like a sickly, temporary patch.
Observer’s Perspective: An observer with Aura Sight witnesses an act of spiritual vampirism. A parasitic tendril of anti-energy extends from the user’s aura, pierces the source’s aura, and begins to drain its color and brilliance. This stolen light is then injected into the target, where it flickers weakly and unnaturally.
Positives: It gives the user a precise, visual way to gauge how much vitality they are taking, preventing them from accidentally killing the source.
Negatives: To see the act on the auric plane is to understand its true, horrific nature. It is a violation of the soul, and witnessing it so clearly is spiritually damaging.

Extra-Sensory Perception: Magical Void

User’s Perspective: The user feels no connection to the ambient magic of the world. Instead, they feel a profound and sudden disconnection, as if they have been plunged into a pocket of absolute magical silence. The world’s natural Reiki energy feels like it is actively recoiling from the Tether, leaving the user feeling isolated and alone on the magical plane.
Observer’s Perspective: A magically-aware individual perceives a “magical sinkhole” or “void” abruptly opening at the user’s location. Ambient energy doesn’t radiate from the act; it is drawn inward and annihilated. It is a terrifying and deeply unnatural signature, the magical equivalent of a black hole.
Positives: This magical void might briefly hide the user from passive magical detection that scans for active energy signatures.
Negatives: The feeling of total disconnection from the world’s life energy is spiritually and mentally taxing. The magical void is a blatant and alarming signature to any skilled magic-user, announcing that an act of profound metaphysical violation is taking place.

Flesh-Crafter’s Formula: The Tether of Transference

This document details the grim and pragmatic process for creating a functional Umbral Tether. The methods described herein are not those of a traditional enchanter but of a desperate surgeon or forbidden alchemist, focusing on function over form and morality.

Materials Needed

Billet of Cold Iron: A single, unrefined billet of pig iron, known for its lack of luster and its disruptive properties against purer forms of magic.
Flawed Quartz Crystal: One milky quartz crystal, notable for its internal fractures and cloudy imperfections. A pure crystal will not hold the necessary discordant energy.
Vial of Living Blood: A vial containing fresh, still-living blood. The source is irrelevant to the process, but the vitality within is essential.
Ashes of a Parasite: A small pouch containing the incinerated ashes of a parasitic creature, such as a blood-leech, stirge, or other vampiric organism.
Caustic Etching Acid: A flask of potent acid capable of eating into iron, used for creating the diagrams.

Tools Required

Forge and Anvil: Standard blacksmithing equipment for heating and shaping the iron.
Manacle Mold: A simple, heavy cast for shaping the basic form of the tether.
Surgical Stylus: An unnervingly sharp, needle-pointed steel stylus, designed for extreme precision.
Alchemical Mortar and Pestle: A heavy stone bowl and grinder for preparing the ashes.
Ritual Brazier: A small, heat-resistant bowl used for the final stage of the ritual binding.

Skill Requirements

Functional Blacksmithing: The ability to work iron into a strong, functional shape. Finesse and beauty are irrelevant; durability is everything.
Forbidden Alchemy: Knowledge of how to handle and mix volatile and spiritually significant reagents like living blood and parasitic remains to create magical compounds.
Life-Force Siphoning: The core skill required. The crafter must understand the fundamental principles of life energy not to heal, but to move it. They must be able to perceive vitality and create a conduit to forcibly redirect it. This is a dark, rudimentary application of Reiki principles.

Crafting Steps

Forging the Shackle: Heat the billet of cold iron in the forge until it is glowing a dull, angry red. Pour the molten iron into the manacle mold. Once it has partially set, remove it and use the anvil and hammer to beat out any imperfections that would compromise its strength, leaving the surface rough and unappealing.
Etching the Conduits: Once the manacle has cooled, use the surgical stylus to carefully apply the caustic acid to its surface near the clasp. With painstaking precision, etch the patterns of veins, arteries, and other biological conduits into the iron. The acid will bite into the metal, leaving faint, unpleasant diagrams that feel sharp to the touch.
Preparing the Binding Ash: In the alchemical mortar, grind the ashes of the parasite into the finest possible powder. The finer the ash, the more potent the binding will be.
The Ritual of Transference: Place the etched manacle into the ritual brazier. Pour the vial of living blood over the flawed quartz crystal, coating it completely. While the crystal is still wet, roll it in the parasitic ash until it is fully encrusted.
Setting the Focus: Carefully place the blood-and-ash-coated crystal into its setting on the manacle’s clasp. Heat the brazier until the manacle itself begins to warm. The crafter must now begin the siphoning. They must channel their own life force—a small, painful amount—into the crystal, focusing their will on the concepts of draining, transference, and sympathetic connection. The blood and ash will bake into a hard, permanent, and spiritually foul cement, binding the crystal to the iron.
The Final Quench: To complete the process, the still-warm manacle is not quenched in water, but plunged into a vessel of cold, stagnant fluid—swamp water, bilge water, or something similarly lifeless. This final act shocks the iron and seals the cold, life-draining nature of the enchantment into the item. The hidden needle for attunement is then sharpened and set within the clasp, ready for its first user.

Testament of the Somber King

It is told from the tablets of ash that there was once a city of bright spires, which drank the sun. The King of this city was a wise man, known for his just rulings. A daughter he had, whose laughter was said to be a type of music. But a shadow fell upon this bright city. A plague came, which was called the Creeping Ash, for it made the skin of the living first cold, then grey, then hard like the stone of a forgotten statue. It was a slow thief of life, and no physician could halt its progress, and no magic could turn its course.

Thus it came to pass that the King’s own daughter, the one whose laughter was music, was taken by the Creeping Ash. Her warmth began to fade, and a great sorrow fell upon the King. His heart became a heavy, iron thing in his chest. In his youth, the King had studied the hidden ways of life, the energy called Reiki that flows through all things. He knew that to give this energy was to heal. And a dark thought, a serpent, coiled in his mind: If life could be given, could it not also be taken and moved?

The Somber King, for he was somber now, went to his deepest chambers. He called his royal smith, a man who understood the secrets of metal. He ordered a thing to be made. Not a crown of gold, nor a sword of shining steel, but a single shackle, forged from the black iron of a star that had fallen in a lightless place. Into its clasp was set a flawed crystal, a cloudy stone taken from a cave where the sun had never journeyed. This thing, this shackle of sorrow, was the first Umbral Tether.

Behold, the King looked upon his works and his sorrow was great, but the love for his daughter was greater still. He ordered a man brought from the dungeons, a murderer condemned to die. The King, whose hands were made for signing laws, now used them for this dark work. He clasped the Tether on the wrist of the murderer. He then touched the grey, cold hand of his sleeping daughter. He activated the shackle.

He felt it. A pulling. A draining. A life unspooling like a thread. He heard no scream, but he felt a scream inside his own soul. He saw the Tether’s flawed crystal pulse with a violet light, a sick and hateful color. He looked at his daughter. A small amount of pink returned to her cheek. The grey stone of her skin seemed, for a moment, to soften. The Tether worked. The serpent of his thought had borne a terrible fruit.

To keep the life in his daughter, the Tether required more fuel. The King used all the condemned in his dungeons. One by one, their lives were fed into the shackle to buy his daughter another day, another breath. Soon, the dungeons were empty. But the Creeping Ash was patient. The grey began to return to his daughter’s skin.

The King’s heart, now a hard, iron thing, made a hard, iron choice. He changed the laws. A man who stole a loaf of bread was now condemned. A woman who spoke a harsh word against the throne was now condemned. A merchant who was owed a debt by the King’s friend was now condemned. Justice became a lie. The city of bright spires became a city of whispers and fear. The King, who once drank the sun, now drank only the lives of his people to keep his one flickering candle of hope alive.

His daughter, in a time of wakefulness, saw the truth. She saw it not with her eyes, but felt it in the hollow life within her. It was not her own life. It was a patchwork of other, stolen lives, full of terror and pain. She looked at her father, the Somber King, and saw not a loving parent, but a monster born of that love.

One night, while the King slept his troubled sleep, she rose from her bed. With a strength that was not her own, she went to the chamber where the Umbral Tether was kept. She took the shackle of sorrow and clasped it upon her own wrist. And with the last of her will, she brought it down upon the stone floor, shattering the flawed, violet-pulsing crystal.

The breaking of the focus was a catastrophe. All the stolen lives held within the Tether, all the pain and terror of the condemned, were released in a single, silent wave of pure despair. The wave washed over the daughter, and her borrowed life vanished, turning her instantly to fine, grey ash. The wave washed over the Somber King in his chambers, and his own life, so long bound to the fate of his daughter and the magic of the Tether, was also extinguished. He too became as dust. The shackle lay on the floor, its crystal gone, its dark iron cold and inert. But the knowledge of its making had already escaped the palace, carried by the smith who had first forged sorrow into iron.

Moral of the Story: A love that consumes others to feed itself will in the end consume itself.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition

Manacle of Shared Suffering Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement)

This is a single, heavy manacle of non-reflective black iron. A cloudy, flawed quartz is set into its clasp. To attune to this item, you must lock it on your wrist and prick your finger on a hidden needle within the clasp, shedding a drop of blood.

Vitality Siphon. As an action, you can touch a humanoid that is either willing or incapacitated (the Source) and one other creature (the Target). The Source takes 2d6 necrotic damage, and this damage cannot be reduced or prevented in any way. The Target regains a number of hit points equal to the necrotic damage dealt. If this would heal the Target above their maximum hit points, they gain the excess as temporary hit points.

Transfer Affliction. As an action, you can touch a creature suffering from a single disease or the poisoned condition (the Source) and another creature (the Target). The Source can make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the Source is cured of the chosen disease or condition, and the Target is immediately afflicted with it as if they had just contracted it or been poisoned. On a successful save, the power fails to transfer. Once this property has been used, it cannot be used again until the next dawn.

Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition

The Surgical Shackle of Penhew Strange Item

A relic from the Penhew Foundation’s more esoteric and morally bankrupt experiments, this is a heavy iron manacle with a clouded quartz crystal. It was theorized to be a tool for “balancing the humours” between two subjects, but its true function is far more parasitic and damaging to the soul.

Siphon Life. The wearer may touch two individuals (one can be themself) to create a conduit. This requires an action and a successful Hard POW roll. If successful, the wearer chooses to transfer up to 5 Hit Points from the Source to the Target. The Source loses these Hit Points, and the Target gains them (up to their maximum). Using this power costs the wearer 1 Magic Point and forces a Sanity roll (0/1d2) for facilitating the unnatural act.

Transfer Trauma. The wearer can attempt a truly monstrous act of psychic surgery. They may touch a character who has just suffered a bout of temporary or indefinite insanity and another, sane character. The wearer must spend 5 Magic Points and make an Extreme POW roll. If successful, the sane character (the Target) immediately loses 1D10 Sanity points, and the original character’s Sanity loss from the precipitating event is halved (rounded down). Using this power is a major transgression against the laws of nature and man, and forces a Sanity roll (1/1D8) on the wearer for performing it.

Blades in the Dark

The Beggar’s Clasp Worn Item, Occult, Grisly

A single, cold iron shackle that feels unnaturally heavy. The clasp holds a dirty, clouded crystal. It’s a tool for those who see life, pain, and spirit as commodities to be forcefully traded in the back alleys of Doskvol.

Share the Burden. When you are about to suffer a level of Harm, you can use the clasp. Suffer 1 Stress. Touch another character who is helpless, restrained, or willing. They suffer the Harm instead of you. The GM will tell you who notices this monstrous act and how your reputation suffers for it.

Siphon Resolve. When you need to Push Yourself for a bonus die or to activate a special ability, but you have no Stress left to give, you can use the clasp on a helpless or willing character. They take 3 Stress, and you may act as if you had spent 2 Stress (gaining +1d or activating the ability). This allows you to act when you should be broken, at a terrible cost to another.

Grisly Attractor. This item’s use leaves a dark psychic stain. Every time you use one of its abilities, the GM adds 2 ticks to a clock for a vengeful ghost, a rival faction, or the Spirit Wardens to hunt you down.

Knave 2nd Edition

The Iron Shackle of Scapegoats Inventory Slots: 1

A heavy, dark iron manacle with a cloudy quartz crystal set in its clasp. It feels cold to the touch and seems to drain the warmth from the air around it.

Transfer Injury. As an action, you must be touching two creatures. You can move one specific physical injury (such as a “Shattered Arm,” “Gouged Eye,” or “Severed Finger”) from one creature to the other. The new host immediately gains the injury and all associated penalties or disabilities. The original host is cured of the specific injury. This does not transfer hit point damage, only the physical wound itself.

Pay the Toll. When you or an ally you are touching is dying (at 0 HP) and fails a death saving throw, you may use your reaction to touch another living creature (an enemy, a hireling, a non-combatant, an animal). That creature dies instantly. The dying character becomes stable at 1 HP.

Corruption. Every time one of this item’s abilities is used, the wearer’s spirit is tainted. The player must mark down one point of Corruption. At certain thresholds of Corruption (GM’s discretion), the character may develop unsettling physical mutations or psychological compulsions.

Fate Core System

The Shackle of Sacrificial Exchange An Extra represented by a single, cold iron manacle that feels unnaturally heavy and seems to deaden sound around it.

This artifact is a conduit for pain and vitality, allowing the wearer to treat life and suffering as transferable commodities. It grants access to a new situational Aspect and the following Stunts.

Character Aspect: My Suffering is Now Your Strength. This Aspect can be invoked when making a sacrifice to empower an ally, or to justify enduring pain for a greater goal. A GM can compel this Aspect by having the item’s dark nature cause NPCs to become distrustful or fearful of the user, or by having the user feel a phantom echo of a pain they previously transferred at an inopportune moment.

Stunts

Siphon Vitality: When you succeed on a Physique roll to grapple or hold two different characters (one can be yourself), you can choose to inflict a 2-shift hit on one character (the “source”) to allow the other character (the “target”) to immediately begin recovering from a Moderate physical consequence. The consequence is not gone but can now be healed naturally.
Transfer Burden: Once per session, you may spend a Fate Point to move a physical Consequence you have just received to another character you are touching. They must be helpless or willing. The GM receives a Fate Point for this dark act, representing the narrative fallout and twisting of fate.
Aura of Melancholy: You gain a +2 bonus when you use Provoke to Create an Advantage by making a social environment feel hopeless, somber, or uncomfortable.

Numenera & Cypher System

Biotic Transference Manacle A single, heavy cuff made of a black, non-reflective material that feels like cold iron. A cloudy, fractured crystal is set in the clasp. The device was likely a form of ancient, grim medical technology.

Level: 6 Form: A single, wearable manacle Effect: This artifact creates a crude, forced bridge between the biological systems of two living creatures, allowing for the transfer of vitality and affliction.

Pool Siphon: As an action, the wearer must touch two creatures (one can be themself). They can move up to 6 points from one creature’s Pools (any combination of Might, Speed, or Intellect) and transfer them to the other creature’s Pools (the user chooses where the points go). A creature cannot go above its maximum Pool values. The psychic strain of facilitating this forced transfer inflicts 1 point of Intellect damage to the user.
Affliction Shift: As an action, the wearer can touch one creature suffering from an ongoing affliction (such as a poison, a disease, or another effect that deals damage each round) and a second creature. The wearer must make an Intellect-based roll against the artifact’s level (a difficulty 6 task). On success, the affliction, and all its effects, immediately ceases for the first creature and begins affecting the second, as if they had just been afflicted. Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (On a roll of 1, the flawed crystal cracks completely, rendering the device inert).

Pathfinder 2nd Edition

The Leech’s Manacle Item 5 [Uncommon] [Invested] [Necromancy] [Magical] Price 150 gp Usage worn manacle; Bulk L

This heavy, cold iron shackle is etched with unpleasant diagrams resembling anatomical drawings. To invest this item, you must clasp it to your wrist and willingly take 1 slashing damage from a hidden barb in the clasp.

Activate [one-action] (manipulate); Frequency once per minute; Requirements You are touching at least two living creatures; Effect You create a parasitic bond. Choose one creature to be the source and one to be the target. The source takes 1d8 negative damage, and the target regains Hit Points equal to the amount of damage dealt. The source must be living; the target can be living or undead. Heighten (+1) The negative damage increases by 1d8 for each additional level you heighten this activation to.

Activate [two-actions] (manipulate, curse); Frequency once per day; Requirements You are touching one creature suffering from a non-magical disease or poison, and one other living creature; Effect You attempt to move the affliction to a new host. The new host must attempt a Fortitude save against the affliction’s original DC.

Success The new host is unaffected.
Failure The new host contracts the disease or is subjected to the poison. The original host’s condition improves by one stage (e.g., from stage 3 to stage 2).
Critical Failure As failure, but the new host’s condition starts at stage 2 instead of stage 1.

Savage Worlds Adventure Edition

The Shackle of Ill Omen A heavy, dark iron manacle that seems to exude a palpable sense of dread. It is cold to the touch and unnervingly silent.

This dark artifact allows the wearer to treat vitality and suffering as things to be moved and traded, though always at a cost.

Requirements: Seasoned, Smarts d8+ Effects:

Vigor Siphon: As an action, the wearer may touch two targets (one of whom can be themself) and make an opposed Smarts roll against the “source” target’s Spirit.
- Success: The source becomes Fatigued, and the “target” character may remove a level of Fatigue.
- Raise: The source becomes Exhausted, and the target may remove up to two levels of Fatigue. This ability cannot make a target Incapacitated.
Share the Pain: When the wearer suffers one or more Wounds from a single attack, as a reaction, they may touch another living character. That character suffers the Wounds instead. Using this ability automatically makes the wearer Shaken from the psychic backlash.
Curse: This item is inherently malevolent. Whenever the wearer rolls a Critical Failure on any Trait test, the GM may choose to have the shackle inflict a level of Fatigue on the wearer as its parasitic energy turns inward.

Shadowrun, Sixth World

The “Janus” Biotic Leech This piece of forbidden biotech is a heavy, dark iron manacle that syncs with a proprietary, single-use dermal patch. Rumored to be a prototype stolen from a rogue Evo research lab, the Janus Leech facilitates the direct, crude transfer of biological states between two subjects.

Availability: 14F Cost: 35,000 nuyen (Dermal patches cost 200 nuyen each)

Vitality Transfer. The user must have a “source” subject tagged with an active dermal patch. As a Major Action, the user can make an Engineering + Logic [Astral] test with a threshold equal to the source’s Willpower. If successful, the source subject takes 1 box of unresisted Physical damage. The user, or a target they are touching, may then immediately heal 2 boxes of their own Stun damage OR 1 box of Physical damage.

Toxin Shunt. If the user is currently affected by a toxin, they may use this device to transfer it. The user makes a Sorcery + Magic [Astral] test with a threshold equal to the Toxin’s Power. This use requires a Major Action. On a success, the toxin’s effects immediately cease for the user and are transferred to the dermal-patched “source” subject, who is immediately affected by the toxin as if they were just exposed at its full Power. Using this ability inflicts 1 box of unresisted Physical Drain on the user. The dermal patch is consumed in the process.

Starfinder

Manacle of Parasitic Transference Level 6 Price 4,500 credits Hands 1; Bulk 1 Type Hybrid Item; Category Worn Item

A heavy shackle forged from a dark, non-reflective metal that seems to absorb light. A cloudy crystal in the clasp glows with a sickly violet light when the item’s hybrid magic and technology are activated.

Siphon Vitality. As a standard action that requires you to be touching two different creatures, you can activate this function. Choose one creature to be the source and one to be the target. The source must succeed at a DC 18 Fortitude save or take 3d6 negative energy damage. The target then regains a number of Hit Points equal to the damage the source took. This healing cannot raise a creature above its maximum Hit Points.

Transfer Affliction. Once per day, as a full action, you can attempt to transfer an ongoing affliction. You must be touching a creature suffering from a disease or poison and another living creature. The second creature (the target) must succeed at a DC 18 Fortitude save or contract the affliction from the first creature. If the target fails its save, the first creature is immediately cured. You cannot use this ability to transfer curses or magical effects other than poison or disease.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)

The ‘Vesalius’ Medical Tether (TL-13) Cost: Cr 150,000 (Typically illegal on worlds with a Law Level of 5+) Mass: 1 kg

An advanced and highly illegal medical device consisting of a heavy control manacle and two single-use dermal patches connected by disposable micro-tubules. The manacle contains a sophisticated biosampler and a quantum-entangled particle weaver. It is designed for radical field medicine by transferring biological states and trauma between subjects.

Trauma Transference. A dermal patch must be applied to two subjects. The user may then activate the device to make a Difficult (10+) Medicine check. If successful, they can transfer one specific physical injury (such as a broken limb, a deep cut, or internal bleeding) from one subject to the other. The new host immediately gains the injury and any associated penalties. The original host’s injury vanishes, though they do not regain any lost END. Each use burns out one of the dermal patches. Replacement patches are highly illegal and cost Cr 1,000 each on the black market.

Toxin Siphon. As above, a user can transfer a poison or disease from one patched subject to another with a Difficult (10+) Medicine check. On success, the affliction is completely purged from the first subject and now affects the second as if they were just exposed.

Possession. This device is not a weapon, but its potential for misuse and torture means that possessing it is a serious crime in most civilized systems.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, 4th Edition

The Shackle of Unwilling Sacrifice Encumbrance: 10 Price: 25 GC Availability: Very Rare, Illegal

A heavy, cold iron manacle, etched with morbid anatomical diagrams. It is said to have been designed by a disgraced Imperial surgeon from Altdorf who dabbled in the forbidden lore of the Amethyst Order. The item feels cold, and those nearby often feel a sense of inexplicable dread and sorrow.

Steal Vitality. The wearer may touch two living creatures (one may be themself) and make a Difficult (-10) Cool Test. If successful, they may transfer up to 1d10 Wounds from the “target” character to the “source” character. The target heals, and the source takes the damage, ignoring their Toughness Bonus and any Armour Points.

Share the Blight. The wearer may touch a character suffering from a Disease or Poison and another living character. They may make a Hard (-20) Heal Test. If successful, the second character must immediately make an Endurance Test against the disease/poison as if they were just exposed. If they fail, they contract it. The original sufferer may then immediately make an Endurance Test with a +30 bonus to shake off the effects or remove the ailment entirely.

The Price of Blasphemy. Using either of this item’s abilities is a Sinful act and should be treated as such. Each time an ability is used, the wearer must make a Challenging (+0) Endurance Test or gain 1 Corruption point as the unnatural energies flow through them.