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Satsnakheli 621 of the Mountain Poppy Censer Pipe

—

by

Dale
in

Lore

  • Across the high limestone terraces and mist-shrouded gorges of Saṃsāra, highland herbalists and wandering hedgewitches have long recognized that altered states of consciousness can bridge the gap between mortal senses and the unseen spirit world.
  • Satsnakheli witchcraft does not separate medicinal intoxication from ritual practice; instead, traditional smoke-weavers and root-healers consume concoctions of wild black henbane, mountain poppy resins (yayaq), dried grape-must dregs, and wild mint to walk safely within the dream-paths.
  • The lineage number 621 marks a consecrated design of ceremonial smoking implements blessed under the watchful gaze of the threshold spirits to ensure that visionary trances never open the mind to possession by malevolent road-demons (Ali) or spiteful chthonic earth-spirits (Devi).
  • By inhaling the resinous vapors filtered through holy minerals, a practitioner numbs their physical agony, heightens psychic attunement, and exhales enchanted smoke-veils that shield allies while leaving pursuers lost in drowsy, euphoric stupor.
  • Today, wandering mystics, frontier alchemists, and pain-hardened scouts carry these pipes through bandit-infested ravines to commune with ancestors, dull the aches of mountain travel, and pacify beasts through aromatic herbal sorcery.

Description

  • The item is a ten-inch ceremonial smoking pipe and compact brazier-censer carved from dense, aged walnut burl, featuring a bowl lined with heat-treated copper stamped with repeating grape-cluster and vine-leaf motifs.
  • The slender wooden stem is banded in beaten bronze and curves gracefully toward a polished mouthpiece fashioned from carved mountain ox-bone.
  • A Tier 1 magic crystal—a smooth, translucent cabochon of lavender-hued amethyst—is mounted in an open bronze bezel along the top of the bowl’s collar, pulsing with a drowsy, steady violet luminescence whenever cured herbs or resins smolder within.
  • A perforated bronze spark-screen lid, shaped like a blooming poppy bulb with six exhaust vents, fits snugly over the bowl, tethered to the stem by a fine brass security chain.
  • Suspended beneath the wooden bowl is a miniature pierced bronze reservoir flask designed to hold scented decoctions, fortified wine, or herbal infusions to filter the smoke.
  • The entire piece permanently exudes a sweet, heavy fragrance of burnt mountain-poppy resin, wild lavender, dried mint leaves, and sweet fermented wine lees.

Detailed Stats

  • Item Tier: Tier 1 (Common)
  • Item Classification: Carried / Wielded Implement / Arcane Focus / Inhalation Drug Implement
  • Specific Gear Slot: Main Hand or Off-Hand (Held in one hand during use; stowed at the belt or neck-cord when idle)
  • Base Item Type: Smoking Implement / Focus / Improvised Bludgeon (1d4 nonlethal bludgeoning damage; Finesse)
  • Armor Check (AC) Modifier: +0 base AC (+1 circumstance bonus to AC and saves against psychic attacks, sleep effects, and fear while inhaling or maintaining an active smoke trance).
  • Item Resilience: 10
  • Item Health Points: Avatar maximum Health Points plus 10 (base avatar max HP plus resilience of 10 multiplied by item tier 1).
  • Structural Integrity: The amethyst cabochon turns dull grey and the ox-bone tip hair-cracks if reduced to half health points or below; the walnut burl fractures and the bronze censer lid shears off if reduced to 0 health points.
  • Item Weight: 1.0 pound (counts against carried gear capacity; loses all weight if stored inside an extradimensional pouch).
  • Attunement Requirement: Simple attunement (requires packing the bowl with dried mountain herbs, steeping the reservoir in fortified wine, lighting the blend with an open flame at twilight while reciting the Satsnakheli hearth-ward chant, inhaling three measured breaths, and rubbing herbal ash across the amethyst; unattunes immediately if placed inside an extradimensional container).
  • Suggested Market Value: 25 silver coins (2 gold and 5 silver coins) in highland apothecary dens, herb-dryer communes, and monastic scriptoriums; rising to 35 to 45 silver coins in besieged mountain citadels, illicit spice alleys, and frontier sick-tents.

Passive Magic

  • Somnolent Liver & Mind:
    • While the wielder carries the pipe and consumes any ingested, inhaled, or smoked botanical substances, narcotics, or strong alcoholic spirits, they are immune to nonmagical overdose, fatal poisoning, and violent nausea; they gain the beneficial sensations, analgesia, and courage of the intoxicant without suffering motor impairment, slurred speech, or penalty dice to physical coordination.
  • Analgesic Trance-Veil:
    • Inhaling smoke from the pipe numbs the wielder’s nervous system against physical agony; the bearer reduces incoming nonmagical bludgeoning and cold damage by 1 (to a minimum of 1 damage) and rolls with advantage on all saves or checks made to resist physical stun, torture, or shock.
  • Scent-Masking Incense:
    • The aromatic, sweet smoke emitted by the smoldering poppy bowl completely conceals the natural scent of the bearer and up to four nearby companions, rendering them untrackable by mundane scent, hound tracking, or predatory beast senses within a 20-foot radius.

Activable Magic

  • Euphoric Vapor Shroud:
    • Action Cost: One standard action.
    • Verbal / Casting Requirement: The user takes a deep draw on the ox-bone tip and exhales a thick, sweet cloud of lavender-tinted smoke in a 15-foot cone.
    • Effect: Living targets caught in the cloud must make a DC 12 Constitution (or Fortitude) saving throw. On a failure, they succumb to a drowsy, euphoric stupor for 1 round, becoming incapacitated or suffering a –2 penalty to attack rolls, movement speed, and perception checks as their limbs grow languid and heavy.
    • Cooldown: Usable three times per in-game day.
  • Spirit-Wandering Trance:
    • Action Cost: One standard action.
    • Verbal / Casting Requirement: The wielder draws deeply on the blend, letting the smoke circulate through the amethyst chamber while whispering a plea to the unseen watchers.
    • Effect: The user enters an active, semi-lucid sensory trance for 10 minutes. During this period, the bearer can perceive invisible entities, ethereal road-spirits, and magical auras within 30 feet. Additionally, the user gains a +2 bonus on Insight, Perception, and divination-related checks to read hidden motivations or sense looming ambushes.
    • Cooldown: Usable three times per in-game day.
  • Poppy-Resin Ward of the Threshold:
    • Action Cost: One standard action.
    • Verbal / Casting Requirement: The wielder unlatches the perforated lid and taps a small circle of glowing, drug-scented ash upon the ground.
    • Effect: A 10-foot-radius ring of sweet, hazy smoke establishes a consecrated barrier for 10 minutes. Hostile spirits, possessing entities, and malevolent Ali cannot enter or manifest within the circle without succeeding on a DC 12 Wisdom (or Willpower) saving throw. Allies resting within the ring recover from mental fatigue or stress twice as fast and cannot be targeted by supernatural nightmares.
    • Cooldown: Usable once per day (resets at sunset when the twilight star rises).

Specific Gear Slot

  • Main Hand or Off-Hand Slot

Tags

  • satsnakheli, georgia, pipe, censer, drugs, poppy, narcotics, trance, amethyst, walnut-burl, ox-bone, common, tier-1, abjuration, divination, enchantment, herb-censer, euphoric-vapor, spirit-trance, analgesic-veil, scent-masking, brass-chain, copper-bowl, dream-walking, pain-dulling, highland-apothecary, somnolent-ward

Commerce and Acquisition of the Mountain-Poppy Censer-Pipe in Saṃsāra

  • Highland Herbalist Cottages, Rootsmith Dens, and Apothecary Shacks:
    • Physical Location and Structure: Clinging to mist-laden cliffs, village terrace perches, or the edges of damp alpine meadows. The interior is strung with drying bunches of wild sage, black henbane, and mountain poppy pods (yayaq), smelling of bitter crushed leaves, camphor, sheep tallow, and sweet drying mint.
    • Buying Procedure and Pricing: Village root-weavers and hedgewitches craft and consecrate these censer-pipes for communal seers, mid-wives, and pain-stricken herders. The baseline retail price is 25 silver coins (2 gold coins and 5 silver coins).
    • Wandering herbalists, hedge-magicians, and traveling avatars pay the standard 25 silver coins.
    • Recognized village healers, midwife apprentices, or agrarian avatars carrying clan herb-tokens receive a 10% tier discount (a Tier 1 avatar pays 22 silver and 5 copper coins; a Tier 2 avatar pays 20 silver coins).
    • Purchases are typically recorded on dried birch-bark slips or confirmed through the Mind’s Eye World Bank register.
    • Selling Procedure and Trade Log: Shopkeepers inspect the copper lining for verdigris and check the amethyst stone under a candle flame to ensure its violet luster has not clouded from burnout.
    • Buyouts follow the standard 10% base value multiplied by the seller’s tier (yielding 2 silver and 5 copper coins to a Tier 1 seller, or 5 silver coins to a Tier 2 seller).
    • Lineage number 621 is notched into the apothecary’s dry-herb inventory board.
  • Monastic Dispensaries, Scriptoriums, and Mountain Infirmaries:
    • Physical Location and Structure: Vaulted, cool stone chambers built within highland monasteries and roadside shrines. The air carries the serene aroma of beeswax candles, drying parchment ink, crushed valerian root, and smoldering frankincense.
    • Buying Procedure and Pricing: Maintained to administer painless surgical care, calm patients afflicted with battlefield shock, or aid ascetic monks in entering visionary prayer. Due to superior lapidary finishing and blessed temple provenance, retail cost stands at 35 silver coins (3 gold coins and 5 silver coins).
    • Mercenaries, traveling laymen, and independent wanderers pay the full 35 silver price.
    • Ordained acolytes, temple hospitallers, or recognized healer avatars receive the 10% tier discount, purchasing at 31 silver and 5 copper coins for Tier 1, or 28 silver coins for Tier 2.
    • Selling Procedure and Trade Log: Infirmary masters buy well-maintained pipes to replenish their emergency surgery wards or vision cells.
    • Buyouts are paid at the 10% tier rate based on the 35 silver baseline (3 silver and 5 copper coins for Tier 1; 7 silver coins for Tier 2).
    • Transactions are transcribed into the monastery’s vellum charity scrolls.
  • Subterranean Opium Cellars, Smugglers’ Teahouses, and Illicit Spice Salons:
    • Physical Location and Structure: Tucked away beneath cobblestone alleyways, cellar docks, or hidden caves behind mountain way-stations. Thick with rich narcotic vapor, warm rugs, curtained alcoves, charcoal braziers, and the murmurs of drowsy patrons relaxing on divans.
    • Buying Procedure and Pricing: Sought after by underworld syndicates, high-stakes couriers, and black-market fixers who use the pipe’s scent-masking and euphoric vapor for clandestine operations. The black-market retail price settles at 45 silver coins (4 gold coins and 5 silver coins).
    • Unaffiliated outlaws, underworld wanderers, and desperate fugitives pay the full 45 silver coin markup.
    • Vetted smugglers, shadow-guild members, or rogue avatars who flash syndicate guild-sign receive the 10% tier discount, paying 40 silver and 5 copper coins at Tier 1, or 36 silver coins at Tier 2.
    • Selling Procedure and Trade Log: Proprietors test the ox-bone tip and light a test pinch of raw opium resin to watch the amethyst glow.
    • Payouts follow the black-market 10% tier standard (yielding 4 silver and 5 copper coins to a Tier 1 seller, or 9 silver coins to a Tier 2 seller), paid out in unmarked silver coin, raw resin bricks, or rare tinctures.
  • Frontier Military Field-Hospitals and Garrison Lazarettos:
    • Physical Location and Structure: Canvas pavilions and log-walled triage barracks erected behind mountain fortress redoubts and siege lines. The atmosphere is sharp with vinegar wash, blood, woodsmoke, boiled bandages, and caustic disinfectant spirits.
    • Buying Procedure and Pricing: Field surgeons rely heavily on these pipes as reusable, portable anesthetics for amputations, bone-setting, and suppressing psychic dread among wounded vanguard troops. High military demand and supply-line shortages lift the price to 40 to 50 silver coins.
    • Unattached sellswords and civilian travelers must pay the full 40 to 50 silver rate.
    • Commissioned field medics, army officers, or military surgeon avatars obtain the implement at the subsidized 40 silver baseline (36 silver coins for Tier 1; 32 silver coins for Tier 2).
    • Selling Procedure and Trade Log: Garrison quartermasters purchase functional censer-pipes immediately to replace broken surgical tools.
    • Sellers receive compensation based on the standard 10% tier formula, settled in trade silver, requisition scrip, or medical rations logged into the garrison commissary records.

Tactical Roleplay of the Mountain-Poppy Censer-Pipe Across the Environments of Saṃsāra

  • Narrow Mountain Switchbacks, Ravines, and Alpine Scree Caves:
    • Environmental Context: Thin freezing air, howling canyon crosswinds, tight limestone caves, loose slate paths, and ambushes by mountain wolves or cliff brigands.
    • Defensive Roleplay:
      • While resting inside an icy rock cleft during a blizzard, Analgesic Trance-Veil deadens the biting cold and prevents hypothermic shivering, while Scent-Masking Incense stops hungry pack predators from catching the avatar’s scent on the wind.
      • When forced to spend the night near an ancient cliff cemetery, the wielder taps glowing ash to activate Poppy-Resin Ward of the Threshold, ensuring whistling night winds and wandering road-ghouls cannot cross into the camp circle.
    • Offensive Roleplay:
      • Trapped in a narrow choke point by heavily armed brigands, the wielder exhales Euphoric Vapor Shroud. The lavender smoke funnels naturally down the rocky crevice, causing frontline shield-bearers to drop their guards, blink through heavy-lidded eyes, and lose their footing on the slate.
      • Using Spirit-Wandering Trance, the user peers through thick mountain mists to spot camouflaged archers perched on high limestone crags before they loose their arrows.
  • Crowded Urban Alleys, Opium Dens, and Moonless Slums:
    • Environmental Context: Claustrophobic alleys, rain-slick stone pavers, watchful night-watch patrols, sniffer hounds, and cutthroat alley ambushes.
    • Defensive Roleplay:
      • Fleeing city guards with trained bloodhounds through tenement alleys, Scent-Masking Incense breaks the dogs’ tracking line completely, masking human odor beneath an innocuous drift of sweet, legal hearth incense.
      • Infiltrating an illicit tea parlor or criminal den, Somnolent Liver & Mind allows the wielder to accept laced drinks or potent narcotic pipes from suspicious crime bosses without passing out, getting sick, or losing mental clarity.
    • Offensive Roleplay:
      • Cornered at a dead-end alley by syndicate enforcers, the user takes a long pull and releases Euphoric Vapor Shroud. The heavy smoke hangs between the narrow building walls, leaving attackers languid, disoriented, and stumbling over their own boots as the avatar slips past them.
      • Activating Spirit-Wandering Trance, the avatar scans an interrogation chamber or crowded tavern, piercing illusions, spotting hidden egress runes, and reading subtle psychic fluctuations to detect an informant’s deceit.
  • Subterranean Tombs, Karst Sinkholes, and Forgotten Crypts:
    • Environmental Context: Stagnant subterranean air, echoing chambers, damp earth rot, ancient traps, and lingering spectral remnants.
    • Defensive Roleplay:
      • When ancient sepulchral horrors rise from broken stone sarcophagi, the wielder taps out the glowing herb embers for Poppy-Resin Ward of the Threshold. The fragrant boundary line drives back incorporeal shadows and screaming phantoms, giving wounded companions a safe sanctuary to recover.
      • Taking a sharp blow from a falling ceiling stone or blunt crypt deadfall, Analgesic Trance-Veil absorbs the physical shock, preventing the wielder from blacking out from pain.
    • Offensive Roleplay:
      • Navigating pitch-black catacombs where mundane torches fail, the user uses Spirit-Wandering Trance to perceive unseen ethereal tethers, spotting hidden pitfall runes and invisible spectral guardians floating in the gloom.
      • When skeletal laborers or shambling tomb guardians surge into a narrow burial vault, a burst of Euphoric Vapor Shroud blankets the passage, neutralizing auxiliary living thralls or slowing the advance of burrowing crypt-vermin.
  • Damp Peat Bogs, Marsh Camps, and Stagnant River Fens:
    • Environmental Context: Heavy ground fog, treacherous mud, swarms of biting midges, putrid swamp gases, and aquatic ambushers.
    • Defensive Roleplay:
      • Wading through foul, gas-choked marshes, Somnolent Liver & Mind filters out noxious swamp vapors, keeping the avatar clear-headed while the continuous smoke of Scent-Masking Incense repels blood-sucking insect swarms and hides the party from water stalkers.
      • Enduring hours of freezing wet travel, Analgesic Trance-Veil numbs joint pain, trench foot aches, and muscle exhaustion, allowing the party to maintain a relentless march without collapse.
    • Offensive Roleplay:
      • Approaching an encampment of bog raiders under cover of natural marsh fog, the wielder creeps close and releases Euphoric Vapor Shroud. Blending seamlessly with the damp mist, the narcotic cloud drifts through the guard posts, sending watchmen into deep, smiling daydreams before an alarm can be sounded.
      • Activating Spirit-Wandering Trance, the user traces the dim, ethereal footsteps of ancient drowned spirits to identify hidden submerged stone paths through deep quicksand.

Perception of Activation:

  • User’s Perspective:
    • Sight:
      • The smooth oval amethyst cabochon upon the pipe’s bronze collar pulses with a steady, rhythmic violet illumination that reflects off the grain of the walnut burl.
      • Wisps of dense, lavender-tinted vapor curl up lazily through the six perforations of the poppy-bulb lid, twisting into slow, hypnotic spirals before dissipating.
      • An ethereal, dim purple haze seems to settle softly over the margins of the user’s peripheral vision, softening harsh edges and glaring lights.
    • Sound:
      • A gentle, steady bubbling murmur arises from the miniature reservoir flask beneath the bowl as the herbal smoke filters through the infused wine.
      • A faint, delicate hiss resonates from the smoldering herbs within the copper lining, accompanied by the muffled, distant clinking of the fine brass tether chain.
      • Ambient environmental sounds—howling winds, echoing cavern drops, shouting voices—muffle into a distant, underwater hum.
    • Touch:
      • The smooth, polished ox-bone mouthpiece feels cool and satin-smooth against the lips, contrasting with the radiant, soothing warmth spreading across the walnut bowl.
      • A wave of tingling warmth washes downward through the chest, lungs, and limbs, easing muscle tension, aching joints, and dulling sharp physical pain into a distant numbness.
      • The physical weight of the pipe in the palm feels light and perfectly balanced, eliminating hand tremors.
    • Smell:
      • A rich, intoxicating bouquet fills the nasal passages, dominated by the sweet, resinous fragrance of charred mountain-poppy pods, wild lavender, and dried mint.
      • Underlying notes of warm aged walnut wood, heated copper, and sweet fermented wine lees drift upward with each gentle exhalation.
    • Taste:
      • A velvety, bittersweet flavor coats the tongue and throat, blending notes of dark honey, dried mountain berries, wild sage, and mild toasted poppy seeds without harsh bitterness or ash bite.
    • Extra-Sensory Perception:
      • Spirit-Sight (Veil Thinning): The physical world appears translucent; faint, glowing silver and violet silhouettes of ethereal spirits, leylines, and lingering psychic echoes become clearly visible across the room or clearing.
      • Empathic Murmur: The user feels an intuitive awareness of the emotional states, tensions, and hidden fears of nearby creatures, sensing hostile intent as a prickle of cold air.
      • Detached Serenity: The conscious mind experiences a calm, elevated clarity, observing chaotic danger without the paralyzing grip of terror, panic, or adrenaline-induced vertigo.
  • Observer’s Perspective:
    • Sight:
      • The amethyst cabochon glows with an alluring, steady purple light that casts long, gentle violet reflections across the bearer’s fingers and face.
      • A thick, dreamlike plume of pale violet smoke rolls smoothly out of the censer lid and the user’s mouth, hanging unnaturally low in the air like heavy river fog rather than dispersing quickly.
      • The bearer’s posture visibly relaxes, their shoulders dropping and eyes adopting a tranquil, glassy, yet profoundly focused stare.
    • Sound:
      • Observers hear a faint, soothing rhythmic bubbling and a gentle, dry crackle from the bowl, creating an oddly hypnotic acoustic backdrop that cuts through tension.
    • Touch:
      • Standing within the drifting smoke cloud produces a mild, prickling warmth on exposed skin, accompanied by a faint feeling of heaviness in the limbs and a sudden slackening of jaw tension.
    • Smell:
      • An intense, sweet scent of burning poppy resins, floral lavender, and mulled wine fills the air, completely obliterating the odors of blood, mud, horse sweat, or swamp gas within twenty feet.
    • Taste:
      • Those nearby detect a faint, sweet floral dustiness on the lips and the back of the mouth, tasting mildly of dried herbs and dark grape skins.
    • Extra-Sensory Perception:
      • Hostile foes and wild beasts feel an involuntary wave of drowsiness and emotional deflation, losing the sharp edge of their bloodlust as a heavy languor settles into their minds.
      • Friendly allies feel an immediate sense of psychic shelter, experiencing a noticeable reduction in ambient fear and stress as if safe beside a quiet hearth.
  • Positives:
    • Potent Sensory & Psychic Attunement:
      • Pierces mundane concealment and allows direct perception of ethereal entities, hidden magical auras, and deceptive intentions.
    • Organic Analgesia & Stress Immunity:
      • Shuts down agonizing physical pain, shock, and nausea while granting complete resistance to terror, nightmare intrusions, and panic breaks.
    • Absolute Scent-Concealment:
      • Effectively masks the presence of the party from hound patrols, tracking predators, and keen-nosed beasts through dense aromatic incense.
    • Non-Violent Pacification:
      • Incapacitates, slows, or confuses groups of pursuers and sentries without shedding blood or causing structural noise.
  • Negatives:
    • Distinct Olfactory & Visual Trail:
      • The thick, sweet purple smoke and lingering poppy aroma are impossible to hide in confined or windless spaces, making sight-based or olfactory stealth against alert sentries difficult once the smoke expands.
    • Mild Detachment from Urgency:
      • The serene, dreamlike euphoria can dull the wielder’s natural sense of physical urgency, requiring conscious willpower to sprint or react with sudden explosive aggression.
    • Drowsiness Contagion Risk:
      • Careless dispersion of the Euphoric Vapor Shroud in tight, unventilated quarters can inadvertently affect unbraced allies, causing them to suffer languid limbs and reduced reflexes alongside enemies.
    • Dependence on Herbal Consumables:
      • Full potency relies on maintaining a supply of cured resins, dried herbs, or wine infusions in the reservoir; without combustible botanicals, active spell activations cannot be sustained.

Crafting Recipe: Satsnakheli Mountain-Poppy Censer-Pipe

  • Materials Needed:
    • 1 block of well-seasoned walnut burl (kaklis kotsi), four inches square and six inches long, free of deep fissures or soft rot.
    • 1 Tier 1 magic crystal (a smooth, translucent oval cabochon of lavender-hued amethyst with high clarity and calm, internal violet refraction).
    • 1 sheet of pure malleable copper (one millimeter thick, approximately four square inches, for hammering the bowl liner).
    • 1 cast bronze ferrule collar with an integrated open oval bezel seat to hold the amethyst cabochon.
    • 1 cast bronze perforated spark-screen lid shaped like a six-vented mountain poppy bulb.
    • 1 miniature blown bronze or heavy glass reservoir bulb (one-ounce capacity) fitted with a threaded copper top-cap and twin bypass tubes.
    • 1 eight-inch section of fine brass link chain (for tethering the lid to the stem).
    • 1 piece of dense, bleached mountain ox-bone (three inches long, hollowed and shaped for the mouthpiece tip).
    • 1 ounce of natural pine resin and beeswax compound (for airtight sealing and thread-pitching).
    • 1 dram of dried, powdered mountain poppy resin (yayaq) and dried wild mint leaves (for initial bowl seasoning and spiritual attunement).
  • Tools Required:
    • 1 Set of pipe-maker’s spoon bits and long flexible auger drills (for boring the curved draft hole).
    • 1 Set of fine woodcarving gouges, rasps, and v-parting tools (for shaping the burl and cutting grapevine relief patterns).
    • 1 Jeweler’s ball-peen hammer and wooden dapping block (for dishing and stamping the copper liner).
    • 1 Small bronze-casting crucible, file set, and burnishing rods.
    • 1 Small jewel-setter’s bezel roller.
    • 1 Alcohol torch or charcoal brazier.
    • 1 Hand-reamer and fine sandpaper grits (ranging from 120 to 800 grit).
  • Skill Requirements:
    • Woodcarving and Pipe-Craft: Minimum skill rank of 3.
    • Tinsmithing and Copper Dapping: Minimum skill rank of 2.
    • Bronze Casting and Lapidary Setting: Minimum skill rank of 2.
    • Mind’s Eye Focusing / Satsnakheli Herbalism: Minimum skill rank of 2 (required to bind the somnolent trance-ward into the amethyst matrix).
  • Crafting Steps:
    • Boring and Shaping the Walnut Burl:
      • Select the walnut burl block and mark the bowl chamber and airway alignment.
      • Bore the central tobacco chamber three-quarters of an inch wide and one and a quarter inches deep using a rounded spoon bit.
      • Carefully drill the slender, curving draft hole through the stem from the shank face to meet the exact base of the tobacco chamber.
      • Rough-carve the exterior of the bowl into an organic chalice form, cutting raised grapevine clusters, spiraling tendrils, and leaf motifs in low relief along the shank and bowl walls.
      • Sand the wooden exterior down through 800 grit and buff with raw walnut oil to bring out the golden-brown marbled figure of the burl.
    • Fabricating the Copper Lining and Reservoir:
      • Cut a circular blank from the malleable copper sheet, annealing it over charcoal until soft.
      • Stamp grapevine and cluster patterns into the metal using chased punches, then dish the blank into a snug cup fitting flush within the walnut bowl chamber.
      • Drill twin intake and exhaust ports at the floor of the bowl and fit small copper bypass sleeves that drop straight through the base of the wood.
      • Seat and thread the miniature bronze reservoir bulb directly beneath the bowl so that all inhaled vapor must bubble through the reservoir liquid before entering the draft hole.
    • Mounting the Bronze Collar and Amethyst:
      • Fit the cast bronze ferrule collar snugly over the neck where the bowl joins the wooden stem, securing it with warmed pine pitch and a hidden bronze dowel pin.
      • Place the lavender amethyst cabochon into the collar’s oval bezel.
      • Use the bezel roller to burnish the bronze lips firmly around the perimeter of the gemstone, ensuring a tight mechanical hold without cracking the mineral.
    • Fitting the Screen-Lid and Ox-Bone Mouthpiece:
      • Turn and hollow the dense mountain ox-bone into an ergonomic, curved bit, cutting a comfortable lip shelf at the end.
      • Tenon the bone bit and seat it into the mortise of the wooden stem, sealing the joint with a thin friction gasket of beeswax-soaked linen.
      • Fit the domed, six-vented bronze poppy-bulb lid over the copper-lined bowl rim, verifying that it snaps securely shut.
      • Anchor the brass tether chain to the stem ferrule on one end and the finial loop of the lid on the other to prevent dropping the screen while mobile.
    • Herbal Seasoning and Satsnakheli Consecration:
      • Fill the miniature under-bowl reservoir with dark fortified wine infused with a drop of wild mountain mint extract.
      • Pack the copper-lined bowl with a pinch of cured mountain poppy resin and dried lavender.
      • At twilight, ignite the herbs with a glowing hardwood coal while holding the pipe in both hands.
      • Channel mental energy through the Mind’s Eye into the amethyst cabochon while drawing three slow, measured draughts through the ox-bone tip.
      • Recite the traditional Satsnakheli hearth-ward invocation of safe sleep and unclouded vision; the amethyst will flash with an internal, steady violet luminescence, and the wood will absorb the permanent, sweet fragrance of poppy resin, aged wine, and wild mint, completing the creation.

Upper Cliff Concerning Bone-Biter Herbalist, Seven-Headed Dream-Strangler, and Smoke That Made Dead Sleep Twice

In that hour before the sheep had learned to walk upright upon the limestone wall, and before the bronze-beaters of the high river had discovered the second heat of tin, there dwelt upon the upper terrace of the Cloud-Foot mountain a woman whose hands were black from the sap of green roots. Her designation in the grease-marked rolls of the skin-box is set down as She-Who-Walks-Between-Two-Blankets, but the goatherds who traded dried mutton for bitter bark called her only Darejan of the Knot-Wood Bowl, the Smoke-Mother.

Now, Darejan did not keep sheep of white fleeces, nor did she weave shirts of fine goat-silk. She possessed only a digging-iron tipped with melted copper, three earthenware jars of dark mountain-honey, and an orchard of stunted walnut trees whose roots drank the water that leaks from the graves of the ancient kings.

In that dry month when the earth cracks like an old loaf of barley bread, a great sickness fell upon the valley of the stone-presses. This was not the sickness of the red spots or the rot of the toes; it was the visitation of the night-demon whom the ancient speech calls the Gvel-Veshapi of the Slate-Hollows, the seven-headed crawler of bad sleep. The creature did not eat meat, nor did it carry off the small heifers; it crept down through the roof-holes of the stone huts while the hearth-ashes were grey, blowing a cold, black breath upon the eyelids of the sleepers.

Whosoever smelled the sour oil of its nostrils could close their eyes no more. For nine days and nine nights, the men, the women, and the nursing babes sat upon their stools of wicker, staring into the dark with eyes as dry and red as roasted chestnuts. Their teeth rattled like river-gravel inside a leather pouch; their flesh withered upon the bone because their bread tasted of wet river-mud; and when the ninth dawn broke over the scree, their hearts burst from the beating of their own terror, and their ghosts wandered about the pig-pens, weeping because they could not find the gate of stone.

The head-man of the terrace came up the winding sheep-stair to the house of Darejan. His beard was torn with his own nails, and his eyes were held open with two sticks of wild-plum wood because the eyelids were swollen like dead leeches.

“The bed is an iron griddle,” cried the elder, dropping two skins of wine at the door-post. “My sons have torn the flesh from their shins with sharp flints to keep from dreaming of the worm that eats the marrow! No man can close his mouth without swallowing the grey vapor of the scree! Make an herb-water, old woman, or take an axe and cleave our necks while the sun is high, for the night is seven leagues wide and has no water!”

Then Darejan went to her chest of walnut-boards. She did not take out the wolf-iron, nor did she loose the hunting-falcons. She took forth a ten-inch pipe hollowed from the root-burl of a walnut that had grown through the rib-cage of an ancient priest. The bowl of the wood was lined with red copper beaten into the shape of sour wine-grapes; upon its neck was bound a ring of rough bronze holding a stone of pale purple violet-quartz, which the old speech calls Amethystos, the stone that does not stumble. Beneath the bowl swung a small vessel of yellow brass like an egg, filled with the thick must of the wild black grape, and over the mouth of the fire-hole sat a cap of bronze pierced with six eyes like a poppy when the seed is ripe. The stem ended in the tooth of a white mountain-ox that had died of great age without bearing the yoke.

“The eye that stares into the dark,” spake Darejan, and her voice sounded like dried poppy-pods shaking in a leather bag, “cannot be shut with iron nails, nor can the fear of the ditch be chased away by shouting. When the snake comes through the roof-thatch to drink the spirit, the smoke must be sweeter than the grave, and the mind must sit upon a high stool where the claws cannot reach.”

She climbed the jagged scree to the Crag of the Broken Horn, where the wild black henbane grows out of the crevices of the limestone, and where the mountain poppies lift their grey heads among the eagle-dung. She gathered the thick white milk of the pods upon an iron spoon; she took three leaves of the wild river-mint that grows where the mountain trout spawn; and she rubbed the mass with resin scraped from the underside of a lightning-blasted spruce until it was a black, greasy dough that smelled of honey, funeral-oil, and cold mountain-rain.

When the red sun fell into the notch of the western valley and the shadow of the mountain lay across the roofs like a wet cloak, Darejan came down into the common hall of the village. The forty men and the thirty women were tied to the house-pillars with bull-hide thongs so that they might not dash their foreheads against the door-lintels in their frenzy. Their eyes were like burning coals, and their tongues were thick like sheep-tails from the drought of sleep.

In the middle watch of the night, when the mountain wolves cease their barking because the frost is heavy, the roof-timbers creaked. The smell of rotten fish-livers and swamp-moss blew down through the smoke-vent.

Out of the black hole in the rafters descended the seven heads of the Gvel-Veshapi. Its necks were long like gut-strings; its scales were the color of stagnant grease upon an iron kettle; and its fourteen yellow eyes burned with the malice of things that have never seen bread baked upon a hearth. It opened its seven throats and began to hiss the twenty-two names of sorrow, which cause the milk in a woman’s breast to turn into green water and the brain of a man to dry like an autumn gourd.

Darejan sat upon the middle hearth-stone. She did not look upon the fourteen eyes, nor did she reach for the iron spit.

She packed the black dough into the copper cup of her walnut crop. She took a red-hot ember of sweet oak from beneath the ashes with her fingers, dropped it upon the resin, and snapped the bronze poppy-cap down with its small brass chain.

She set the ox-bone tip to her lips and pulled three draughts through the belly of the brass egg.

The wine in the lower vessel began to boil without wood-coals, making a soft sound like a brook running under thick ice. The pale violet-quartz upon the bronze collar flared with a light like the sky above the glacier when the morning star is dying.

Darejan opened her mouth and breathed forth the smoke.

It did not rise toward the ceiling like the blue smoke of dry pine-boughs. It rolled out along the earthen floor in thick, heavy folds of pale lavender wool, smelling of dark mountain honey, crushed sweet-flag, and the wine-cellars of kings that have been buried under the scree for a thousand harvests.

The cloud touched the feet of the bound men. Instantly, the shuddering of their flesh ceased. The bull-hide ropes did not snap; they fell slack, for the limbs within them became soft like warm dough. The dried flints fell from the fingers of the young men; their clenched jaws opened with a great sigh that sounded like the south wind in the dry barley; and their eyelids, which had been stretched like drum-skins for nine days, slid down over their red eyeballs as softly as sheep-pelts laid upon a cradle.

The seven heads of the night-demon dropped down to lick the blood that had dried upon the floor-stones, but they met the violet smoke.

“What is this sour honey?” hissed the first head, and its tongue, which was like a split willow-wand, hung out three spans long. “This is not the sweat of men who fear the ditch! This is the breath of the stone that does not weep!”

“Strike it with the tooth,” hissed the second head, but its eyelids began to stick together with a gummy yellow wax, and its neck swayed like an alder-sapling in a slow brook.

Darejan rose from the hearth-stone. Her body felt neither the cold of the midnight wind nor the ache of her seventy winters. Her spirit stood two cubits above her grey hair, looking down upon the scaly worm as a shepherd looks upon an earthworm in a muddy trench. She took a fourth draught from the ox-bone mouthpiece and blew the vapor directly into the seven open mouths of the serpent.

The beast did not scream, for its breath was stolen by the sweetness of the mountain-poppy. Its fourteen yellow eyes rolled backward into its grey skull, turning white like hard-boiled eggs. The scales of its belly, which had been sharp enough to shear through bronze armor, grew soft like boiled tripe; its seven long necks tangled together like wet wool-threads; and the monster fell down from the rafters upon the floor-stones with a heavy, soft thud like a sack of damp grain.

It did not wake to strike with its claw, nor did it blow its black bile upon the thatch. It lay upon its side, smiling a strange, wet smile with all its yellow teeth, dreaming of high fields of purple clover where there is no hunger and no cold rock.

Then Darejan stepped over the coiled body of the horror as if it were a log of rotten birch. She went from man to man, from woman to child, and touched each forehead with the cold ox-bone tip of the pipe, leaving a small smudge of white herb-ash over their brows.

“Sleep, children of the ditch,” she whispered, and the smoke from her nostrils settled over them like a second roof of fleece. “The night is long, but the stone is dry. When you wake, the sun will have broken the teeth of the scree.”

For three days and three nights the village slept upon the earthen floor. Outside, the great hail fell and broke the wild cherry trees, and the wolves ran through the sheep-folds, but within the walls there was no sound save the quiet breathing of seventy souls whose sleep was deep like the sleep of stones in a river-bottom.

On the fourth morning, when the sun stood high and warm over the middle ridge, the head-man opened his eyes. His skin was clear like spring water; his beard was combed; and the red fire had gone out from beneath his eyelids.

The people rose from their straw beds, laughing like boys at a wedding feast, and looked upon the floor-stones.

The seven-headed Gvel-Veshapi was not dead; but it had not moved from the lavender cloud. Its great body had dried in the fragrant smoke, shriveling from twelve cubits down to the length of an axe-handle, turning into a hollow shell of grey lichen and hard resin that smelled only of dried sage and old honey. The village boys took sticks and broke the dried husk into grey powder, which they threw into the swift mountain torrent to carry it down to the salt sea where nothing can grow.

When they turned to bring thirty jars of wine and three fat sheep to the hearth-stone, Darejan was not there. She had climbed back to her stone cell below the snow-line, where her pipe lay cooling upon the window-ledge, its purple stone sleeping in the white light of the glacier.

The pipe was handed down to seven generations of root-wives, and it was said in the highland that so long as the bowl was packed with the bitter resin of the poppy and the smoke was drawn through the wine-reservoir, no terror of the grave could keep an honest man from closing his eyes, and no demon of the ditch could enter the mind that had been washed in the purple cloud.

This history was scratched with an iron style upon seven tablets of baked red clay, which were broken into pieces by the horse-riders from the north; but the goatherds gathered the red fragments, bound them with goat-gut, and recited the lines over the cradle-posts when the night was cold and the children were afraid of the shadows upon the wall.

Moral of the Story

He who seeks peace must understand that the deepest wounds of the spirit are not healed by the sword or the iron shield, but by knowing when to lay down the struggle, quiet the raging mind, and surrender to the sacred medicine of rest; for the nightmare that cannot be slain by anger will wither and turn to dust before a soul that has learned to be still.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu

The Mountain-Poppy Censer-Pipe

Enchanted Folk Artifact / Caucasian Hedgewitch Implement

  • Item Profile:
    • Weapon Skill: Fighting (Brawl) (Base chance: 25%)
    • Damage: 1D3 non-lethal (bludgeon with bowl or bone tip)
    • Hands: 1-handed (held in hand to smoke; worn via neck cord or belt pouch when stowed)
    • Form: A ten-inch pipe and compact brazier-censer carved from figured walnut burl with a copper-lined bowl stamped with grape leaves and clusters. Features an oval lavender amethyst mounted in a bronze collar, an under-bowl reservoir for infused wine, an ox-bone mouthpiece, and a six-vented bronze poppy-bulb lid secured by a fine brass chain. Emits a rich, sweet scent of charred poppy resin, lavender, wild mint, and fermented wine must.
    • Sanity Cost: 0 Sanity to smoke normally; 1 Sanity point upon initiating the Spirit-Wandering Trance to gaze upon unseen mythos entities or spectral echoes.
  • Passive Traits:
    • Somnolent Liver & Mind: The bearer is immune to nonmagical narcotic overdoses, alcohol poisoning, and nausea. Inhaled or ingested botanicals grant their calming, pain-dulling benefits without imposing penalty dice on DEX, INT, or physical coordination.
    • Analgesic Trance-Veil: While smoking or within 1 hour of inhaling, physical pain is deadened; incoming non-lethal and cold damage is reduced by 1 point, and the user gains a Bonus Die on CON checks to resist stun, physical shock, or torture.
    • Scent-Masking Incense: The aromatic smoke masks the scent of the user and up to four adjacent companions, rendering them untrackable by mundane scent tracking or predatory beasts within a 5-yard radius.
  • Active Powers:
    • Euphoric Vapor Shroud:
      • Cost: 2 Magic Points.
      • Mechanics: Exhale a thick 5-yard cone of sweet, lavender-tinted vapor. Living targets caught within must pass a Regular CON check or fall into a languid, euphoric stupor for 1 combat round, suffering a Penalty Die on all physical actions, attacks, and Spot Hidden checks.
    • Spirit-Wandering Trance:
      • Cost: 2 Magic Points (and 1 Sanity point).
      • Duration: 10 minutes.
      • Mechanics: The user enters an altered, semi-lucid state. The user can perceive invisible beings, ethereal entities, and magical/psychic residue within 10 yards, gaining a Bonus Die on Insight and Psychology checks to detect deception or psychic influence.
    • Poppy-Resin Ward of the Threshold:
      • Cost: 3 Magic Points.
      • Duration: 10 minutes.
      • Mechanics: Tapping out a circle of glowing herbal ash creates a 3-yard-radius protective perimeter. Incorporeal spirits, haunting phantoms, and lesser chthonic entities cannot cross the boundary without succeeding on an Opposed POW vs. POW check against the user. Allies resting within recover 1 additional Sanity point from temporary bouts of terror once per night.

Blades in the Dark

The Dream-Weaver’s Censer-Pipe

Arcane Implement / Drug Focus, 1 Load

  • Item Profile:
    • Load: 1 (held in hand or slung on a cord at the belt)
    • Appearance: An ornate walnut-burl smoking pipe and under-bowl bubbler lined with chased copper, fitted with an ox-bone bit, a perforated bronze poppy screen, and an oval lavender amethyst set in bronze.
    • Affinity: Trances, sensory masking, spirits, narcotics, pain threshold.
  • Passive Traits:
    • Iron Constitution: You are immune to the negative side effects, sickness, and motor penalties of mundane drugs and intoxicants; you take their sensory or analgesic benefits while retaining full motor control.
    • Analgesic Veil: When you suffer physical harm from blunt force, freezing conditions, or torture, you may spend 1 less Stress to resist the consequence.
    • Clouded Scent: Smoldering incense completely conceals the scent of your crew within close range, granting enhanced Potency on Prowl rolls against guard hounds or scent-tracking predators.
  • Active Arcane Abilities:
    • Euphoric Vapor Shroud:
      • Cost: 1 Stress.
      • Action: Consort or Sway.
      • Effect: You exhale a cloud of sweet, heavy lavender smoke into close range. Living targets within the cloud become drowsy and tranquilized, reducing their Effect and Tier on immediate reactions or physical violence for a few crucial moments.
    • Spirit-Wandering Trance:
      • Cost: 1 Stress.
      • Action: Attune.
      • Effect: You take a deep, filtered pull and open your third eye. For the remainder of the scene, you pierce the Veil, perceiving ghosts, hidden wards, and spiritual tethers with great clarity and Potency.
    • Poppy-Resin Threshold Ward:
      • Cost: 2 Stress.
      • Action: Attune.
      • Effect: You tap glowing ash in a circle, laying down a consecrated smoke-barrier across a small room or campsite. Lesser spirits, hollows, and specters cannot enter without overwhelming Force, and resting allies clear 1 additional Stress during downtime or rest within the circle.

Dungeons & Dragons

Censer-Pipe of the Mountain-Poppy

Wondrous Item, Common (Requires Attunement by an Avatar)

  • Item Profile:
    • Item Category: Wondrous Item / Arcane Focus / Improvised Weapon
    • Damage: 1d4 bludgeoning (Finesse, Light)
    • Weight: 1 lb.
    • Gear Slot: Main Hand or Off-Hand
    • Description: A ten-inch smoking pipe and censer carved from walnut burl with a copper-lined bowl showing embossed grape clusters. An oval lavender amethyst cabochon is mounted in a bronze collar above an under-bowl reservoir flask. Features a perforated bronze poppy-bulb lid with a brass chain and an ox-bone bit. Permanently smells of cured poppy resin, sweet lavender, wild mint, and fermented wine lees.
  • Passive Traits:
    • Somnolent Liver & Mind: While attuned to and carrying the pipe, you are immune to the poisoned condition caused by alcohol or ingested/inhaled nonmagical narcotics. You gain all standard medicinal, pain-relieving, or euphoric benefits of such substances without suffering penalties to your ability checks or movement speed.
    • Analgesic Trance-Veil: While inhaling or maintaining a smoldering blend, you have resistance to nonmagical cold damage, and you have advantage on Constitution saving throws against being stunned or paralyzed.
    • Scent-Masking Incense: The pipe’s aromatic smoke covers the natural scent of you and up to four companions within 20 feet, granting advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks against creatures that rely on keen smell.
  • Active Features:
    • Euphoric Vapor Shroud (3/Day): As an action, you exhale a 15-foot cone of sweet, lavender-tinted smoke. Each living creature in that area must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or be affected by a drowsy stupor until the end of its next turn. While in this stupor, a creature’s speed is halved, and it has disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks.
    • Spirit-Wandering Trance (3/Day): As an action, you draw deeply from the pipe, attuning your senses to the ethereal for 10 minutes. You can see invisible creatures and objects, as well as into the Ethereal Plane, up to a range of 30 feet. Additionally, you have advantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks to determine whether a creature is lying or harboring hostile intent.
    • Poppy-Resin Ward of the Threshold (1/Day): As an action, you tap a circle of glowing ash onto the ground, creating a 10-foot-radius sanctuary of fragrant smoke that lasts for 10 minutes. Fiends, undead, and fey cannot enter the area unless they succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw. Allies who take a short rest within the circle reduce their exhaustion level by 1 (if any).

Knave

Censer-Pipe of the Mountain-Poppy

Item / Arcane Focus (1 Slot, Hands: 1)

  • Item Profile:
    • Inventory: Occupies 1 item slot.
    • Durability: 3 Quality.
    • Damage: d4 blunt (can be used as an improvised cudgel).
    • Appearance: A figured walnut-burl smoking pipe with an under-bowl wine reservoir, a copper bowl liner, a perforated bronze poppy lid on a brass chain, an ox-bone stem tip, and an oval amethyst set in bronze. Smells of sweet poppy resin, lavender, and wine.
  • Item Rules:
    • Somnolent Liver & Mind: You cannot be poisoned or incapacitated by alcohol, herbal narcotics, or nonmagical toxins. You experience pain relief and courage without suffering Disadvantage on rolls from drunkenness or intoxication.
    • Analgesic Veil: Incoming non-lethal blunt damage and cold damage are reduced by 1. Roll with Advantage on Constitution saves against pain, shock, and stunning.
    • Scent Concealment: The aromatic smoke conceals the smell of you and nearby allies, preventing tracking hounds and wild predators from finding your scent within 20 feet.
    • Euphoric Vapor (3/Day):
      • Spend an action to exhale a 15-foot cone of heavy purple smoke.
      • Living targets in the cone must pass a Constitution save or become drowsy for 1 round, moving at half speed and rolling attacks and perception tests with Disadvantage.
    • Spirit Sight (3/Day):
      • Spend an action to inhale and enter a trance for 10 minutes.
      • You perceive invisible creatures, ghosts, and magic auras within 30 feet, and roll with Advantage on Wisdom checks to detect ambushes or lies.
    • Poppy Ward (1/Day):
      • Spend an action to tap glowing herb ash onto the ground, making a 10-foot-radius ring for 10 minutes.
      • Hostile spirits and demons cannot enter the circle unless they pass a Wisdom save. Allies resting inside recover 1 additional hit point during a camp rest.

Fate

The Mountain-Poppy Censer-Pipe

Extra (Aspect and Stunts)

  • Item Profile:
    • Aspect: Sacred Censer-Pipe of the Highland Smoke-Weaver
    • Description: A ten-inch ceremonial smoking pipe and compact bubbler-censer carved from figured walnut burl, lined with chased copper stamped with grape-leaf motifs. An oval lavender amethyst cabochon is mounted in an open bronze bezel above an under-bowl reservoir for fortified wine, capped with a six-vented bronze poppy-bulb lid chained to the stem, and ending in an ox-bone bit. Smells continuously of cured poppy resin, wild lavender, crushed mint, and sweet fermented wine must.
  • Stunts and Mechanical Rules:
    • Somnolent Liver & Mind: You gain a +2 bonus to Physique to resist the debilitating aftereffects, toxicity, or motor loss of narcotics, poisons, and alcohol. You enjoy the euphoric, analgesic, or visionary benefits of consumed botanicals without taking physical stress or consequences.
    • Analgesic Trance-Veil: While smoking or within an hour of use, you gain a +2 bonus to defend with Physique or Will against physical agony, freezing environments, and sensory shock.
    • Scent-Masking Incense: The pipe’s sweet smoke completely masks biological odors within your zone, granting a +2 bonus to Stealth against scent-tracking beasts and hunting hounds.
    • Euphoric Vapor Shroud: Once per scene, spend 1 Fate Point and an action to exhale a heavy, lavender cloud into an adjacent zone. Create the situational aspect Languid Euphoric Stupor on that zone with one free invoke, forcing targets attempting violent action to overcome with Will against your Empathy or Lore.
    • Spirit-Wandering Trance: Once per scene, spend an action to enter a meditative smoke trance for the remainder of the exchange. Gain the aspect Veil-Piercing Sight with one free invoke to detect invisible beings, spirit tethers, illusions, and hostile deception.
    • Poppy-Resin Ward of the Threshold: Once per session, spend 1 Fate Point and an action to tap out glowing herbal ash around your campsite or room. Establish a barrier aspect Sanctuary of the Violet Hearth with two free invokes that prevents malevolent spirits, hauntings, and sleep terrors from entering the zone.

Numenera & Cypher System

Satsnakheli Poppy-Censer

Artifact (Level 2)

  • Item Profile:
    • Level: 2
    • Form: A ten-inch pipe and vapor-resonator crafted from dark fibrous burl wood, containing a copper combustion lining, an under-bowl fluid bubbler, an ox-bone stem tip, and an oval lavender amethyst resonator gem set into a bronze collar beneath a perforated dome lid.
    • Classification: Wielded Implement / Focus / Narcotic Vapors (Held in 1 hand)
    • Weapon Type: Light weapon (2 points of damage as an improvised bludgeon)
    • Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (checked upon activating Euphoric Vapor Shroud, Spirit-Wandering Trance, or Poppy-Resin Ward).
  • Passive Effects:
    • Metabolic Filtration: The bearer’s digestive and respiratory systems treat all ingested or inhaled botanical toxins, recreational narcotics, and alcohol as harmless; tasks to resist overdose or physical impairment are eased by two steps.
    • Pain-Dulling Veil: Incoming non-lethal, blunt, and extreme cold damage is reduced by 1 point (applied after Armor). Tasks to resist torture, physical shock, or stun are eased by one step.
    • Olfactory Cloak: The aromatic smoke masks all scent signatures of the user and allies within immediate range, easing all stealth tasks against scent-dependent creatures by two steps.
  • Active Powers:
    • Euphoric Vapor Shroud (Action):
      • The user exhales a dense cone of sweet violet vapor filling an immediate area. Living targets within the area must succeed on a Might-based task against the artifact’s level or succumb to heavy drowsiness, hindering all physical tasks, movement, and attacks by two steps for 1 round. Check for Depletion.
    • Spirit-Wandering Trance (Action):
      • Inhaling deeply, the user opens their senses to the supernatural for 10 minutes. Tasks to perceive invisible objects, phasing entities, nanite swarms, or psychic traces within short range are eased by two steps. Additionally, tasks to perceive lies or concealed motives are eased by one step. Check for Depletion.
    • Poppy-Resin Ward of the Threshold (Action):
      • The user taps glowing herbal embers in a circle to project a defensive field with an immediate radius for 10 minutes. Hostile spirits, phase-beings, and psychic predators cannot enter without succeeding on an Intellect task against the artifact level. Allies resting within this zone recover 1 additional point to any Pool upon completing a rest. Check for Depletion.

Pathfinder

Mountain-Poppy Censer-Pipe

Item 2

Abjuration, Divination, Mental, Plant, Primal

  • Item Profile:
    • Price: 35 gp
    • Usage: Held in 1 hand
    • Bulk: L
    • Weapon Base: Improvised Club (1d4 bludgeoning; Finesse, Nonlethal)
    • Description: A ten-inch ceremonial smoking pipe carved from figured walnut burl with a copper-lined bowl stamped with grape-leaf motifs. An oval lavender amethyst sits inside a bronze bezel on the collar, mounted above an under-bowl wine reservoir. A perforated bronze poppy-bulb lid is connected by a fine brass chain, and the stem ends in an ox-bone bit. Smells of smoldering poppy resin, lavender, wild mint, and fermented grape lees.
  • Passive Effects:
    • Somnolent Liver & Mind: You gain a +1 item bonus to Fortitude saving throws against poisons, drugs, and alcohol. You gain the beneficial pain-dulling or calming effects of ingested or inhaled substances without suffering the sickened, clumsy, or stupefied conditions from mundane consumption.
    • Analgesic Trance-Veil: You gain resistance 1 to non-lethal bludgeoning and cold damage. You gain a +1 circumstance bonus to Fortitude saves to resist being stunned or paralyzed.
    • Scent-Masking Incense: The pipe produces an aromatic haze that conceals scents; creatures that rely on the scent sense treat you and up to four allies within a 15-foot emanation as undetected unless they succeed on a DC 16 Perception check.
  • Active Abilities:
    • Euphoric Vapor Shroud (Two Actions):
      • Frequency: Three times per day.
      • Traits: Incapacitation, Mental, Primal.
      • Effect: You exhale a 15-foot cone of heavy lavender smoke. Living creatures in the cone must attempt a DC 16 Fortitude save. On a failure, they become clumsy 1 and stupefied 1 for 1 round as euphoria slows their reactions; on a critical failure, they are also slowed 1 for 1 round.
    • Spirit-Wandering Trance (Two Actions):
      • Frequency: Three times per day.
      • Duration: 10 minutes.
      • Traits: Divination, Mental, Primal.
      • Effect: You enter an elevated sensory trance. You gain the effects of see invisibility out to a range of 30 feet, and you receive a +1 status bonus to Perception and Perception-based initiative rolls.
    • Poppy-Resin Ward of the Threshold (Two Actions):
      • Frequency: Once per day.
      • Duration: 10 minutes.
      • Traits: Abjuration, Primal.
      • Effect: You tap glowing ash onto the floor, setting a 10-foot emanation ward. Undead, spirits, and fiends must succeed on a DC 16 Will save to enter the area. Allies who spend a 10-minute rest inside the ring reduce their frightened condition by 1 and recover 1 additional Hit Point when treated with Medicine.

Savage Worlds

The Mountain-Poppy Censer-Pipe

Minor Arcane Relic / Herbal Implement

  • Item Profile:
    • Weight: 1 lb.
    • Damage: Str+d4 (Parry –1, Non-lethal; Improvised Bludgeon)
    • Traits: Carried / Wielded Implement
    • Description: A ten-inch walnut-burl smoking pipe and censer with a copper bowl lining, a bronze collar mounting an oval lavender amethyst, an under-bowl reservoir for wine, an ox-bone mouthpiece, and a pierced bronze poppy-bulb lid. Smells continuously of cured poppy resin, lavender, mint, and aged wine lees.
  • Passive Abilities:
    • Somnolent Liver & Mind: The wielder gains a +2 bonus to Vigor rolls to resist negative effects, sickness, or motor impairment from drugs, alcohol, or natural poisons, while gaining their full calming and pain-relieving benefits.
    • Analgesic Trance-Veil: While smoking, the bearer gains +1 Armor against blunt and cold damage, and receives a +2 bonus to Vigor rolls to recover from being Shaken or Stunned.
    • Scent-Masking Incense: The aromatic smoke obscures natural scent, imposing a –2 penalty on Notice rolls made to detect or track the wielder and nearby companions by smell within a Small Blast Template.
  • Active Powers:
    • Euphoric Vapor Shroud:
      • Cost: Action.
      • Frequency: 3 times per day.
      • Trapping: Exhaling a Cone Template of sweet, heavy lavender-hued smoke.
      • Effect: Living targets caught inside the Cone Template must succeed on a Vigor roll (at –2 with a raise on activation) or become Distracted and have their Pace reduced by half until the end of their next turn.
    • Spirit-Wandering Trance:
      • Cost: Action.
      • Frequency: 3 times per day.
      • Duration: 10 minutes.
      • Trapping: Deep, filtered inhalation that activates the amethyst’s violet resonance.
      • Effect: The wielder can perceive invisible beings, astral projections, and supernatural auras within 10 inches (20 yards), gaining a +2 bonus to Notice and Empathy rolls to read intentions or spot hidden threats.
    • Poppy-Resin Ward of the Threshold:
      • Cost: Action.
      • Frequency: Once per day.
      • Duration: 10 minutes.
      • Trapping: Tapping glowing herbal embers into a circular boundary.
      • Effect: Establishes a protective boundary covering a Medium Blast Template. Supernatural spirits, demons, and undead must succeed on a Spirit roll at –2 to cross the perimeter. Allies taking a Natural Healing or resting roll inside gain a +2 bonus to recover from Fatigue.

Shadowrun

The Mountain-Poppy Censer-Focus

Weapon / Sustaining Focus (Force 2 / Health & Illusion Affinity)

  • Item Profile:
    • Type: Weapon Focus / Sustaining Focus (Narcotic & Perception Modulation)
    • Force: 2
    • Reach: 0
    • Damage: (STR + 1)S (Stun / Non-lethal improvised bludgeon)
    • AP: —
    • Availability: 5R
    • Cost: 18,000¥
    • Weight: 0.5 kg
    • Form: A ten-inch pipe and compact brazier-censer crafted from figured walnut burl with a copper-lined chamber stamped with grape clusters. An oval lavender amethyst cabochon is mounted in a bronze collar above an under-bowl reservoir for fortified spirits, fitted with an ox-bone mouthpiece and a six-vented bronze poppy-bulb lid secured by a fine brass tether chain.
    • Astral Signature: Gentle violet-hued aura rippling with tranquilizing harmonic waves, smelling faintly of cured poppy resins, lavender, wild mint, and warm alcohol lees.
  • Passive Traits:
    • Somnolent Liver & Mind: The bearer’s digestive and metabolic systems rapidly neutralize the toxic degradation of recreational chemicals, combat stims, and alcoholic beverages. The user gains a +2 dice pool modifier on Toxin Resistance Tests against nonmagical narcotics, retaining positive psychological or analgesic effects without taking nausea, hangover penalties, or motor impairment.
    • Analgesic Trance-Veil: While the pipe smolders, the bearer reduces physical shock and pain; incoming Stun damage from blunt impacts or freezing cold is reduced by 1, and the bearer gains a +2 dice pool modifier on Damage Resistance Tests to avoid physical stun or unconsciousness.
    • Scent-Masking Incense: The aromatic smoke conceals biological odors within a 5-meter radius, imposing a –2 dice pool penalty on Olfactory Sensor tests, cybernetic sniffer suites, or critter tracking tests directed at the user and nearby teammates.
  • Active Features:
    • Euphoric Vapor Shroud:
      • Action: Complex Action
      • Cost: 1 Drain (Stun)
      • Mechanics: Exhales a 5-meter cone of sweet lavender vapor. Living targets caught in the cloud must succeed on a Body + Willpower (2) Test or fall into a languid, drowsy daze for 1 combat turn, suffering a –2 dice pool penalty on all physical actions, initiative tests, and targeting rolls.
    • Spirit-Wandering Trance:
      • Action: Simple Action
      • Cost: 1 Drain (Stun)
      • Duration: 10 minutes
      • Mechanics: The user draws a deep, filtered lungful of smoke, shifting mundane senses to the threshold of the Astral plane. The wielder gains the benefits of Astral Perception without fully projecting, easily spotting concealed spirits, dual-natured critters, and mana signatures, while gaining a +1 dice pool modifier to Judge Intentions and Assensing tests.
    • Poppy-Resin Ward of the Threshold:
      • Action: Complex Action
      • Cost: 2 Drain (Stun)
      • Duration: 10 minutes
      • Mechanics: Tapping out glowing embers from the copper bowl forms a consecrated 3-meter-radius perimeter. Unbound spirits, projected astral forms, and hostile astral entities must succeed on an Opposed Force Test against the item’s Force (2) to cross the boundary. Resting characters inside clear 1 additional box of Stun damage per hour of rest.

Starfinder

Satsnakheli Dream-Censer

Hybrid Tech/Magic Weapon-Implement, Level 2

  • Item Profile:
    • Item Level: 2
    • Price: 750 credits
    • Bulk: L
    • Hands: 1
    • Weapon Base: One-handed Basic Melee Weapon (1d4 B; Analog, Nonlethal, Operative)
    • Capacity: 20 charges (Usage: 1 to 4 charges per activation)
    • Description: A ten-inch micro-bubbler and smoking implement turned from hardened fibrous walnut synth-burl, lined with a conductive copper vaporization cup. An oval lavender amethyst resonator gem is mounted within a bronze-alloy bezel collar, paired with a six-port poppy-bulb exhaust lid, a fluid filter bulb, and a synthetic ox-bone mouthpiece. Permanently emits an aromatic vapor of sweet floral poppy resin, dried mint, and fermented grape compounds.
  • Passive Abilities:
    • Metabolic Filtration Grid: You gain a +2 insight bonus to Fortitude saving throws against ingested, inhaled, or contact drugs, toxins, and alcohol. You gain the beneficial sensory, calming, or pain-dulling aspects of these substances without suffering the sickened, impaired, or staggered conditions from nonmagical intoxicants.
    • Analgesic Trance-Veil: While inhaling or maintaining an active herb pack, you gain cold resistance 2 and a +1 circumstance bonus to saving throws against effects that cause the stunned or paralyzed conditions.
    • Scent-Masking Incense: The pipe produces an aromatic mist that masks biochemical signatures; creatures relying on the scent ability take a –2 penalty to Perception checks to locate you and up to four allies within a 15-foot radius.
  • Active Systems:
    • Euphoric Vapor Shroud:
      • Activation: Standard Action
      • Battery Cost: 2 charges
      • Mechanics: You project a 15-foot cone of sweet violet vapor. Living creatures within the area must succeed on a DC 13 Fortitude save or become drowsy for 1 round. Affected targets are off-target and have their movement speeds reduced by 10 feet until the start of your next turn.
    • Spirit-Wandering Trance:
      • Activation: Standard Action
      • Battery Cost: 2 charges
      • Duration: 10 minutes
      • Mechanics: Drawing deep from the filtered mouthpiece, your senses shift to detect unseen spectral currents. You gain the ability to perceive invisible and ethereal creatures as though using see invisibility up to 30 feet, and you gain a +1 insight bonus to Sense Motive checks.
    • Poppy-Resin Ward of the Threshold:
      • Activation: Standard Action
      • Battery Cost: 4 charges
      • Duration: 10 minutes
      • Mechanics: Tapping glowing ash across the ground creates a 10-foot-radius sanctuary. Outsiders and undead cannot cross into the zone unless they succeed on a DC 13 Will save. Allies taking a 10-minute rest inside regain 1 additional Stamina Point without spending a Resolve Point.

Traveller

Highland Censer-Inhaler

TL 10 Exotic Bio-Implement

  • Item Profile:
    • Tech Level: TL 10 (Frontier Artifice)
    • Mass: 0.5 kg
    • Skill: Melee (Unarmed or Bludgeon)
    • Damage: 1D–1 Stun
    • Form: A compact ten-inch walnut-matrix pipe and fluid aerosolizer housing a micro-reservoir, a copper-shielded heating crucible, an oval amethyst focusing element, an ox-bone bit, and a perforated bronze dispersion dome on a fine safety chain.
    • Sensor Profile: Detectable organic terpene signatures, trace lavender aerosols, and ionized violet emissions upon active heating.
  • Passive Traits:
    • Metabolic Buffer: The user gains DM+2 on all END checks to resist the negative side effects, organ damage, or motor impairments of high-potency pharmaceuticals, tranquilizers, or combat stims, preserving sensory focus while remaining immune to mundane chemical shock.
    • Analgesic Field: Reduces incoming blunt-impact and extreme cold damage by 1 point. The user gains DM+1 to END checks to remain conscious when suffering physical damage or blunt trauma.
    • Olfactory Scramble: The thick, sweet botanical vapor neutralizes natural scents and masks thermal traces, imposing DM–2 on biological tracking beasts or short-range atmospheric sensor drones trying to detect targets within 5 meters.
  • Active Features:
    • Euphoric Vapor Dispersion:
      • Time: Significant Action
      • Mechanics: The user vents a dense cloud of aerosolized narcotic vapor in a 5-meter arc. Living biological targets caught within the mist must succeed on an END check (8+) or succumb to heavy lethargy for 1 combat round, suffering DM–2 on all physical, combat, and initiative actions.
    • Sensory Attunement Trance:
      • Time: Significant Action
      • Duration: 10 minutes
      • Mechanics: The user draws a measured breath through the filtered reservoir. The user gains DM+1 on all Recon, Investigate, and Insight checks to spot concealed actors, electronic stealth baffles, or hostile ambushes within 15 meters.
    • Threshold Sanctuary Ring:
      • Time: Significant Action
      • Duration: 10 minutes
      • Mechanics: Dispensing glowing herb ash forms a 3-meter protective radius. Hostile fauna, low-order psionic beasts, or aggressive wildlife must pass an END check (8+) to enter the perimeter. Characters receiving First Aid or resting within the ring recover an additional 1 point of characteristic damage.

Warhammer

The Mountain-Poppy Censer-Pipe

Talisman / Enchanted Focus (Satsnakheli Folk Witchcraft)

  • Item Profile:
    • Item Type: Talisman / Focus / Improvised Weapon (Held in 1 hand)
    • Availability: Rare
    • Encumbrance: 0
    • Weapon Group: Brawling
    • Reach: Very Short
    • Damage: SB + 0 (Non-lethal, Impact)
    • Description: A ten-inch smoking pipe and censer carved from dark walnut burl, featuring an embossed copper-lined bowl with grape-cluster motifs. An oval lavender amethyst cabochon is anchored into a bronze collar above an under-bowl reservoir for spiced wine, closed with a six-vented bronze poppy cap tethered by a brass chain, ending in a polished ox-bone mouthpiece. Radiates the deep, sweet fragrance of smoldering poppy gum, wild lavender, dried river mint, and fermented wine must.
  • Passive Traits:
    • Somnolent Liver & Mind: The wielder gains a +20% bonus to Toughness and Consume Alcohol Tests to resist the poisoning, sickness, and motor loss associated with narcotics, strong wines, or toxins. The bearer gains the soothing benefits and relief from fear without suffering the Stunned, Fatigued, or Drunk Conditions from mundane consumption.
    • Analgesic Trance-Veil: The wielder gains +1 Armor Point to all Hit Locations against non-lethal blunt impacts and cold damage. The wielder receives a +10% bonus to Cool Tests to resist Panic, Broken, or Shock Conditions.
    • Scent-Masking Incense: Sweet smoke blankets the wielder and allies within 4 yards, imposing a –20% penalty to all Perception Tests made by hounds, hunting beasts, or tracker scouts relying on the Smell sense.
  • Active Abilities:
    • Euphoric Vapor Shroud:
      • Action: Half Action
      • Test: Simple (+40%) Channeling or Ranged (Vapor) Test
      • Mechanics: The wielder exhales a heavy lavender cloud into a 4-yard cone. Living biological targets caught in the cloud must pass a Challenging (+0%) Toughness Test or gain the Fatigued Condition and suffer a –10% penalty to all Movement and Weapon Skill tests for 1 round.
    • Spirit-Wandering Trance:
      • Action: Half Action
      • Test: Average (+20%) Intuition or Second Sight Test
      • Duration: 10 minutes
      • Mechanics: Drawing deeply through the ox-bone tip, the wielder opens their mind to the winds of magic and the spirit realm. The bearer can perceive ethereal creatures, magical residue, and invisible spirits within 12 yards, gaining a +10% bonus to Perception and Second Sight Tests.
    • Poppy-Resin Ward of the Threshold:
      • Action: Full Action
      • Test: Difficult (–10%) Channeling Test
      • Duration: 10 minutes
      • Mechanics: Tapping glowing herbal ash across the ground creates a 3-yard-radius sanctified boundary. Undead, Daemons, and malevolent forest spirits must pass a Hard (–20%) Willpower Test to cross into the smoke-ring. Allies taking a Rest inside the circle remove 1 additional Fatigue Condition.