Shugendo 811 of the Pool of Nascent Forms

Lore: The yamabushi ascetic Ine was a midwife in her former life, a woman whose hands had welcomed hundreds of new souls into the world. She was endlessly fascinated by the moment life begins—the invisible spark that animates the growing form within an egg or a womb. When she took to the mountains, her focus shifted from the beginnings of human life to the beginnings of all life. She spent her days in meditation not on emptiness, but on potential. She would contemplate a single acorn, trying to perceive the mighty oak sleeping within it, or a fish’s egg, seeking to understand the glimmer of the flashing salmon it would become.

One year, during a spring thaw, she followed a stream to its source: a small cave deep on the sacred mountain, known to locals as the “Womb of the Earth.” Inside the cave, half-submerged in the gurgling spring, she found a single, unique stone. It was smooth and dark, shaped like an egg, with a natural, bowl-like depression on its surface. The stone was covered in faint fossil patterns that looked like coiled, sleeping creatures. Ine discovered that when she filled the stone’s hollow with the spring water, it became a scrying pool unlike any other. It did not show the future or the past, but the “shape of potential.” By gazing into it, she could witness a ghostly echo of what a thing could become. It was a tool for appreciating the first step of every journey, the first note of every song. Copies of the stone, often simple river rocks with a hollow polished into them and ritually submerged in a mountain spring, are sometimes crafted by her followers to aid in their own meditations on the nature of beginnings.

Description: This item is a single, smooth, heavy stone that fits comfortably in the palm of two hands. It is a deep, dark grey, like river stone from a mountain stream, and is almost perfectly ovoid in shape. One face of the stone features a shallow, perfectly smooth, bowl-like depression that can hold a few ounces of liquid. The stone’s surface is covered in a delicate, complex web of faint, fossil-like patterns. These patterns resemble the coiled shapes of ammonites, trilobites, and embryonic ferns, as if the stone itself is a record of ancient, nascent life. The item feels cool to the touch and gives off a profound sense of age and stillness, a quiet potential waiting to be awakened by water.

Detailed Stats

Durability: 40/40 (It is, after all, a solid stone.)
Required Tier: 1
Attunement: Requires the user to spend a full night meditating by a body of water, holding the stone and contemplating the beginnings of life (e.g., watching eggs hatch, seeds sprout, or simply the moon’s cycle of renewal).
Skill Bonus: Provides a minor +2 bonus to any skill checks related to animal handling (specifically with young or pregnant animals), medicine (related to childbirth), or nature (related to identifying eggs and seeds).

Passive Magics

Aura of New Life: The user, while holding the stone, projects a subtle aura of calm and non-aggression that is particularly effective on creatures that are pregnant, nesting, or caring for their young. Such creatures will perceive the user as non-threatening unless provoked, making it easier to approach and observe them without causing distress.
Sense of Imminence: The user develops a gentle, intuitive sense for things that are on the verge of a new beginning. This is not a grand precognition, but a subtle feeling. They might sense that a particular clutch of eggs is about to hatch, that a dormant seed is about to sprout after a rain, or even that an NPC is on the cusp of a significant personal epiphany.

Activable Magics

All activable magics require the user to first fill the stone’s hollow with a few ounces of clean, fresh water.

Scry the Potential:
- Activation: The user places a single, non-sentient biological item containing a life-spark (such as a seed, an egg, a larval grub, or a flower bud) next to the water-filled stone. The user then gazes into the water.
- Effect: Within the pool of water, a cloudy, ephemeral, and abstract image forms. This image is a ghostly representation of the object’s potential mature form. A seed might show a swirling green image of a tree’s branches; a bird’s egg might show a fleeting shape of wings in flight. The vision provides a general, artistic sense of what the creature or plant could become, but offers no specific details, timelines, or guarantees of this outcome.
Trace the Life-Spark:
- Activation: The user gazes at a living creature through the pool of water in the stone, using the water as a scrying lens.
- Effect: The user does not see the creature’s future or its aura, but rather a representation of its “nascent vitality” or life-spark. A healthy, vibrant creature might cause the water to shimmer with a clear, bright light. A sick, wounded, or deeply depressed creature might cause the water to appear murky, dark, or still. This provides a basic, intuitive diagnostic of the subject’s current life force. It cannot identify specific diseases or injuries.
Nurture the Beginning:
- Activation: After filling the stone with water, the user carefully pours this water onto a fragile life form in its earliest stages (a sprouting seed, a newly hatched chick, a newborn mammal).
- Effect: The enchanted water provides a single, gentle burst of nurturing life energy. It does not cause accelerated growth, but it bolsters the subject against the initial frailties of life. It might cure a minor natural sickness, give a sprout the strength to break through hard soil, or grant a newborn the vigor to take its first meal. This ability may be used once per day.

Specific Slot

Pouch / Carried (Held in one or two hands to use)

Tags: Shugendo, Embryology, Scrying, Divination, Utility, Common, Tier 1, Stone, Water, Healing, Nature, Roleplay, Non-Combat, Subtle Magic, Focus, Midwife, Fossil, Diagnostic, Nurturing, Life-Force

The Pool of Nascent Forms is an item of subtle and highly specialized magic. It would rarely, if ever, be found in a general store or an adventurer’s outfitter. Its journey through the economy of Saṃsāra would be one of misunderstanding, niche appreciation, and quiet reverence, with its value shifting wildly depending on the hands it passes through.

A Mountain Midwife’s Birthing House

This is less a shop and more a place of community service, located in a village that rests in the shadow of a sacred mountain. The home is clean, smelling of boiled linens and herbal teas. The midwife, often a lay practitioner of Shugendo herself, might possess one or several of these stones, created as part of her spiritual tradition. They are not for sale. An item like this would be gifted to a trusted apprentice who has completed their training, or perhaps given as a blessing to a new mother whose child was brought into the world under difficult circumstances. An avatar could not buy one here, but might earn one by performing a great service, such as protecting the village or assisting the midwife with their own unique skills.

Cost to Buy: Not for sale. Its value is in its purpose, not in coin. If a monetary value were forced, the midwife would consider the stone itself worthless, perhaps 1 Silver for the time spent finding and polishing it.

The Alchemist & Apothecary Supply

In the scholarly or temple district of a major city, an apothecary shop is filled with anatomical charts, bottled herbs, and alchemical equipment. The proprietor is a student of the natural world and the humors of the body. They may have acquired a Pool of Nascent Forms from a traveling mystic, recognizing its utility but not its spiritual depth. It would be kept with other diagnostic tools—scrying glasses for seeing humors, enchanted thermometers, and the like. It would be sold as a “Vitality Sensor Stone,” and the apothecary would demonstrate how filling it with water and observing a patient reveals the strength or weakness of their “life-spark.”

Cost to Buy: 9 Silver. The price is based on its perceived utility as a unique medical diagnostic tool. The apothecary would value its ability to give a quick, non-invasive reading of a patient’s overall vitality.

The Breeder of Rare Mounts

On a sprawling estate outside a metropolis, a wealthy guild or individual raises prized creatures—Griffons for royal guards, Hippogriffs for discerning racers, or exotic lizards for the nobility. The head breeder is a master of animal husbandry, and to them, this stone is a tool of immense value. They would use “Scry the Potential” to peer into their most valuable eggs to get a sense of the offspring’s vitality before it even hatches. They would use “Nurture the Beginning” to give a crucial boost to a fragile, million-coin hatchling. They would actively seek out such items.

Cost to Sell: This is where an avatar could get the highest price for the stone. The breeder understands its practical application in a high-stakes business. They would be willing to pay handsomely to secure such an advantage. An informed seller could easily negotiate a price of 2 Gold coins (20 Silver), possibly more if the breeder is facing a particularly difficult or important hatching.

A Diviner’s Parlor

In a dimly lit room, filled with the smoke of strange incense and the glint of crystals, a professional fortune-teller offers glimpses into the future. This diviner might have found or been sold the stone, completely misinterpreting its function in a way that benefits their trade. They would present it to clients as a rare and ancient hydromancy tool. After filling it with water, they would have the client touch it, then use the “Trace the Life-Spark” ability to give a vague reading on the client’s “destiny,” calling a bright shimmer “good fortune” and a murky dullness a “coming trial.”

Cost to Buy: The diviner would be highly unlikely to sell what they perceive as a unique and powerful tool of their trade. If they were persuaded, they would price it based on its supposed fortune-telling power, asking for an exorbitant sum like 4 Gold coins (40 Silver), framing it as an artifact of immense mystical power.

The Curiosity Peddler’s Cart

A cart laden with strange and dusty objects is a common sight in the markets of Saṃsāra. The owner of this cart specializes in odd rocks, fossils, and things no one can quite identify. The Pool of Nascent Forms would be sitting in a wooden crate alongside a three-eyed fish preserved in a jar and a gear from some forgotten automaton. The peddler bought it for a few coppers because the fossil patterns were pretty. They have no idea it is magical. They might pitch it as, “A fossilized monster egg, maybe? Or just a lucky stone. Feels nice, dunnit? Good for grinding herbs.”

Cost to Buy: Very cheap. An avatar could likely purchase it for 1 Silver and 2 Nickel (20 Copper), and could probably haggle the price down even further. This is the most likely way for a person to discover the item’s properties by pure chance.

The Pool of Nascent Forms is an item of observation, not aggression. Its use in conflict is entirely indirect, relying on the user’s creativity to turn hidden knowledge and subtle influence into a decisive advantage. “Offense” and “defense” with this item are played out in the moments before a fight, using information and psychology as weapons.

Social & Political Environments (A Tense Negotiation)

Defense (Psychological De-escalation):

The avatar is in a tense negotiation with a notoriously aggressive merchant prince who has brought his two prize hunting beasts—large, intimidating mastiffs—to the meeting as a silent threat. The dogs are on edge, growling softly and mirroring their master’s hostility.

Roleplay: While the merchant prince makes his blustering demands, the avatar calmly removes the Pool of Nascent Forms from a pouch and places it on the table, filling its hollow from a water carafe. They make no grand gestures, simply holding their hands near the stone as if contemplating it. The item’s Aura of New Life passive begins to work. The dogs, being animals, are susceptible to this calming field. Their growling subsides. One lies down with a huff; the other looks at the avatar with curiosity instead of aggression. The merchant prince’s primary tool of intimidation has been neutralized without a single word of protest. His posture falters slightly, his bluster losing its edge. The avatar’s defense was to quietly change the emotional state of the room, deflating the opponent’s aggression by soothing his living weapons.

Offense (Exploiting Hidden Weakness):

The avatar suspects the same arrogant merchant prince is overplaying his hand and that his guild is not as stable as he claims. They need to find the leverage to press their advantage.

Roleplay: During a lull in the talks, the avatar lifts the water-filled stone as if to take a drink, catching the merchant’s reflection in the pool’s surface. They activate Trace the Life-Spark. The roleplay is internal: the avatar’s gaze becomes distant as they interpret the scrying. The water in the pool appears murky, dull, and listless. The vision confirms the avatar’s suspicion: the prince’s “life-spark” is weak. He is stressed, exhausted, or perhaps hiding an illness. His aggressive front is a facade. The “attack” comes in the next sentence. Armed with this knowledge, the avatar can now confidently counter offers, call bluffs, and push demands that would have seemed foolhardy moments before, watching for the flicker of panic in the eyes of a man they now know is running on empty.

Monster Lairs & Ancient Ruins (A Cockatrice Nest)

Defense (Strategic Avoidance):

The party must traverse a chamber in a ruin that contains a large nest of Cockatrice eggs. The formidable parents are nearby, and a direct confrontation would be deadly.

Roleplay: The party takes cover while the avatar, as the expert on life-forms, observes the nest. They use the Sense of Imminence passive, focusing on the clutch of eggs. They get a distinct, intuitive feeling—a sort of mental “pressure”—from one side of the nest. They know, with certainty, that several eggs in that specific location are moments away from hatching. The defense is now proactive. Instead of risking a stealthy passage at a random time, the avatar informs the party they can wait. They watch until the parent Cockatrices become preoccupied and distracted by the chirping and movement of their new hatchlings, providing the perfect window for the party to slip past unnoticed.

Offense (Calculated Sabotage):

The party has been hired to clear the nest and must retrieve the eggs for a client. They want to do this with maximum efficiency and minimum risk.

Roleplay: Under the cover of a distraction, the avatar performs a tense ritual, moving from egg to egg with the Pool of Nascent Forms. They use Scry the Potential on each one. For most, the water shows a faint, stony-feathered shape—viable. But for three of the eggs, the water remains dark and still. These are duds. The offensive plan is now surgical. The party can ignore the duds and focus their efforts on securing only the viable eggs. To create a final diversion for their escape, the avatar can use Nurture the Beginning on one of the viable eggs near the exit, giving it a burst of vitality to encourage it to hatch prematurely, drawing the parents’ attention away from the escaping party.

Wilderness & Evasion (A Forest Hunt)

Defense (Redirecting a Threat):

The avatar is being hunted by a territorial Owlbear. They are wounded and cornered in a small canyon, but they notice a Wyvern circling high overhead.

Roleplay: The avatar takes out the stone and uses Trace the Life-Spark, first on the Owlbear, then on the distant Wyvern. The water for the Owlbear shimmers brightly—it is healthy and full of rage. The water for the Wyvern, however, is slightly dim. Perhaps it is old, or hungry, or tired from a long flight. This information is a desperate lifeline. The avatar now knows the Owlbear is the greater immediate threat on the ground, but the Wyvern is the alpha predator of the region, and likely defensive of its territory, especially if it feels weak. The defense is a gamble: the avatar makes themself visible, luring the Owlbear further into the open canyon, directly under the Wyvern’s flight path. The hope is that the Wyvern, seeing a powerful, healthy rival encroaching on its territory, will choose to attack the larger threat (the Owlbear) rather than the small, insignificant avatar.

Offense (Biological Warfare):

An enemy scout has been tracking the party for days, a master of woodcraft who seems impossible to shake. The party finds his hidden camp, but the scout is away.

Roleplay: The avatar notices the scout’s water skin and a small pouch of what appear to be foraged rations (nuts and dried berries). The avatar takes the Pool of Nascent Forms and finds a patch of particularly noxious, non-lethal but sickness-inducing fungi. They use Scry the Potential on the spores, seeing a cloudy image of the mature, sickening mushroom. Confirming they have the right plant, they carefully use the Nurture the Beginning ability on the scout’s pouch of rations, pouring the enchanted water over it. The magic gives the dormant fungal spores on the food the “burst of nurturing energy” needed to begin their life cycle. The avatar leaves no other trace. Hours later, when the scout stops to eat his rations, he will consume the now-faintly-contaminated food, likely leading to a bout of intense sickness that will end his pursuit. The offense was silent, subtle, and used the item’s “nurturing” ability for a malevolent purpose.

Perception of Activation:

SIGHT

User’s Perspective: The user’s world narrows to the pool of water in the stone. The surface becomes preternaturally still and clear, like a perfect lens. A faint, silvery luminescence seems to rise from the fossil patterns within the stone itself, causing the water to glow from beneath. When scrying, ghostly, swirling shapes of light and shadow form within the water’s depths—not a clear picture, but an abstract, moving sculpture of what could be. When pouring the nurturing water, it appears to have a viscous, silvery sheen, and it envelops the target sprout or hatchling in a soft, ethereal aura that is absorbed in seconds.
Observer’s Perspective: A nearby observer would see the user staring with intense focus into a stone bowl filled with water. If they are close, they may notice the water has taken on a faint, milky, internal glow. They cannot see the visions within the pool; to them, it is simply glowing water. The nurturing water being poured looks unusually thick and shimmers with a faint light, a clear but gentle sign of a magical blessing.
Positives: The activation is visually discreet. An observer knows magic is happening but is given no clue as to the nature of the information being received. This allows the user to gather crucial knowledge without revealing what they have learned.
Negatives: The glowing water is an obvious sign of active magic. It is impossible to use the item’s primary functions without revealing that you are using a magical device, which could draw unwanted attention.

SOUND

User’s Perspective: The clamor of the outside world seems to fade away, replaced by a deep, slow, and rhythmic thrum that feels like it is emanating from the stone itself. It is not a sound heard with the ears, but a vibration felt in the chest, like the slow, powerful heartbeat of a sleeping leviathan. When the nurturing water is poured, the user perceives a single, soft, resonant chime, like a water droplet hitting a deep well.
Observer’s Perspective: The activation is completely silent. An observer, even one standing right next to the user, would hear nothing but the gentle splash of water being poured.
Positives: The item is perfectly stealthy in a sonic sense. Its abilities can be used in total silence, making it ideal for situations requiring subtlety and quiet observation.
Negatives: From a tactical perspective, there are no negatives to the silence. It is a pure asset.

SMELL

User’s Perspective: A unique and ancient scent rises from the water in the stone. It is not the smell of standing water, but a clean, primordial fragrance—the scent of wet stone in a deep cave, of fresh ozone after a lightning strike, and a faint, fossil-like mineral dust. It is the scent of a world before flowers or decay.
Observer’s Perspective: Someone standing very close might catch a faint, clean scent, like the air after a heavy rainstorm. It is an out-of-place but generally pleasant smell that is unlikely to cause alarm, though it might be noted as strange.
Positives: The smell is subtle and not associated with any known dangerous sorcery or alchemy. It is unlikely to be identified as a threat.
Negatives: To a being with an extremely keen sense of smell or a deep connection to the elements, the scent of “primordial air” is a clear signature of powerful, ancient nature magic being wielded.

TOUCH

User’s Perspective: The stone, normally cool to the touch, becomes distinctly warm during activation. It pulses with a slow, steady warmth that matches the “heartbeat” the user perceives. The water in the pool feels different, silkier and slightly heavier than normal water, as if it is dense with unseen potential.
Observer’s Perspective: An observer would feel nothing unless they were physically touching the stone or the user. If they were, they might be able to feel the slow, rhythmic pulse of warmth, a clear sign that the user is channeling energy into the object.
Positives: The tactile feedback is a clear and unambiguous confirmation for the user that the item is active and its magic is working.
Negatives: The warmth generated by the stone can be detected by physical contact, potentially revealing the user’s actions to an ally or an enemy who happens to be touching them.

TASTE

User’s Perspective: The air around the activation takes on a faint, clean, mineralic taste, like the taste of pure spring water that has filtered through miles of rock. If the user were to drink the enchanted water, it would taste profoundly pure but also complex and ancient, with a grounding, earthy aftertaste.
Observer’s Perspective: An observer would perceive nothing.
Positives: This is a purely roleplaying-focused perception that enhances the user’s connection to the item’s ancient, elemental nature.
Negatives: There are no tactical negatives.

EXTRA-SENSORY PERCEPTIONS

Magical Perception (The Mind’s Eye):
- User’s Perspective: The user does not see magical energy in the form of runes or colors. Instead, they perceive the “threads of vitality.” When scrying, they see the shimmering, undeveloped life-threads of a seed or egg and how they might weave themselves into a future form. When tracing a life-spark, they see the creature’s own life-thread reflected in the water—bright and strong, or frayed and dim. The magic feels less like an action and more like a unique mode of perception.
- Observer’s Perspective (if magically sensitive): A magic-user would sense a very subtle and unusual form of Divination. It is not reading the future or space, but reading life itself. They would perceive the stone as a passive “antenna” that gathers and focuses biological and vital information into the pool of water, which then acts as a lens for the user.
- Positives: The magical signature is highly specialized and would be difficult for most mages to identify or counter, as it doesn’t fall into common spell categories.
- Negatives: The focus on life-force could be a beacon to creatures that hunt or feed on such energy, or to those who are obsessed with the secrets of life and death.
Spiritual Perception:
- User’s Perspective: The user feels a profound, humbling connection to the deep, slow spirit of the earth and the chain of life. It is not the chipper energy of a dryad, but the vast, sleepy consciousness of stone and the collective memory of all life captured in the fossils. The feeling is one of stillness, timelessness, and immense, patient potential.
- Observer’s Perspective (if spiritually sensitive): An observer would not sense an active spirit, but rather a deep “resonance” with the earth’s own spiritual bedrock. It feels heavy, grounding, ancient, and utterly implacable. It would feel less like talking to a spirit and more like listening to a mountain breathe.
- Positives: This connection is spiritually “quiet” and is unlikely to offend or alert active, territorial spirits. It is harmonious with the deepest, most fundamental forces of the world.
- Negatives: Beings of pure chaos, air, or fleeting energy might find this deep, slow, grounding energy to be oppressive or repellent. It could also be mentally overwhelming for a user who is not prepared for the sheer scale and age of the consciousness they are touching.

Artisan’s Method for the Stone of First Sight

This text details the patient and ritualistic procedure for creating a scrying stone capable of perceiving the potential within life’s beginnings. The creation of such an item is a pilgrimage and a meditation in itself, requiring more spiritual endurance than technical might. The power of the finished stone is a direct reflection of the deliberation and reverence invested in its making.

Materials Needed

One Great River Egg Stone: This cannot be a stone that is quarried or cut. The crafter must find it in a fast-flowing mountain river. It must be naturally ovoid or egg-shaped, worn smooth by the water over countless years. Its selection is a matter of intuition and patience.
Water From a Cave Spring: A flask of water drawn directly from a spring that originates deep within a cave, colloquially known as the “Womb of the Mountain.” This water, untouched by the sun, is believed to hold the purest essence of potential.
An Intact Fossil of Ancient Life: A small, complete fossil of a creature from a bygone age, such as a coiled ammonite or a detailed trilobite. This serves as a physical anchor to the world’s memory of past beginnings.
The First Shedding: The first shed skin of a larva as it becomes a moth, the first feather dropped by a chick that has just learned to fly, or a similar token that symbolizes the moment of emergence into a new form of existence. This item cannot be taken by force; it must be found after being freely discarded.
A Handful of Silt from a Deep Lake: Silt taken from the deepest, stillest part of a lake, representing the quiet and settled memory of eons.

Tools Required

Lapidary’s Polishing Kit: A set of hand-tools for working stone, including various grades of abrasive sand, polishing blocks made of slate and leather, and water droppers for lubrication. This is for a slow, manual process.
Stone Mortar and Pestle: A heavy mortar and pestle carved from rock, used to grind the fossil without introducing metallic or ceramic impurities.
Dowsing Rods or a Lodestone Pendulum: Traditional tools used to aid in the search for subterranean water sources, assisting the crafter in locating a true cave spring.
Unglazed Clay Basin: A large, shallow basin made of simple, unadorned clay, wide enough to hold the River Egg Stone.

Skill Requirements

Prospecting or Geology: The ability to read a landscape, understand river dynamics to know where such a stone might be found, and to identify authentic fossils.
Stonemasonry (Adept Lapidary): The craft of stone polishing. The crafter must have the immense patience and skill to manually grind and polish a perfectly smooth, shallow bowl into a hard river stone without cracking it or creating an imperfect surface.
Water-Finding: A practical or intuitive skill for locating underground springs, a crucial part of the initial quest for materials.
Meditation: The ability to maintain a deep, unwavering state of focus, contemplating abstract concepts such as “potential,” “becoming,” and “beginning” for several hours without interruption.

Crafting Steps

The Search for the Stone: The process begins not at a workbench, but in the wilderness. The crafter must journey to a mountain river and search for the perfect stone. This is not a quick task; it can take days or weeks. The act of patiently observing the river and seeking the one correct “egg” among millions of stones is the first part of the item’s attunement.
The Polishing of the Pool: This is the longest and most physically demanding step. The crafter takes the River Egg Stone and, using only water and abrasive sands, begins to slowly grind a shallow depression into one face. This process cannot be rushed. It is a meditation on the slow, persistent nature of growth and development, mirroring the nine months of a human pregnancy or the long years of a tree’s growth. The final surface must be polished to a glass-like smoothness.
Preparing the Essence of Beginnings: The crafter must journey to find a cave spring and collect its water. Separately, they take the ancient fossil and, using the stone mortar and pestle, carefully grind it into a fine, grey powder.
The Ritual of Consecration: The finished, polished stone is placed into the center of the large clay basin. It is then completely covered with the silt from the deep lake, burying it in “the memory of time.” The crafter then slowly pours the cave spring water over the silt, gently washing it away. This act symbolizes a birth, washing the stone clean of the past to reveal its new purpose. The water fills the stone’s newly polished pool for the very first time.
The Awakening of Sight: This is the final, crucial step that imbues the stone with its magic. The crafter must take the “First Shedding”—the feather or skin—and gently place it into the water-filled pool. The token of new life floats on the surface. The crafter then enters a deep meditative state, their hands resting on the stone. They must focus their entire consciousness on the memory and feeling of that specific moment of emergence—the chick breaking its shell, the moth leaving its chrysalis. They must hold this concept of “becoming” in their “Mind’s Eye” until they feel a slow, steady, warm pulse emanate from the stone. The water in the pool will shimmer with a faint internal light for a moment, signifying that the magic has awakened.
Final Assembly: The ritual is complete. The token is removed, and the stone is carefully dried and wrapped in a soft, dark cloth. Its power now lies dormant, waiting for a user to once again fill its pool with water and ask it to show them the shape of life’s sacred beginnings.

Scroll of Ine and Whispering Stone

(This telling is put down from the words of a traveler, who heard it from a mountain elder, who read it from a scroll that was already crumbling into dust. The truth of it is like a fish seen in deep water; the shape is there, but the colors are a guess.)

And it was in the time of the First Settlers, in a village that huddled at the foot of the Great Mountain, there lived a woman named Ine. Her title was Midwife, and so she was called the woman who listened to bellies. Her hands were wise to the pulling of new life into the world. Her heart knew the song of the first breath.

In this village, the Chief was a great man, but his heart was heavy, for his wife gave him only one son. And this son, the Little Chief, was born with a quiet spirit. His cry was not a shout for life, but a small sigh. His eyes looked upon the world but did not seem to see it. His breath was a small mouse in a big house. The Men of Poultice and Song, the village healers, they came. They made a great smoke with herbs. They sang the songs of strength. They put warm wrappings on the Little Chief. But the child did not thrive. His life-spark was a dim ember, and each day it grew more dim. Sadness was a heavy blanket on the village.

Ine, the woman who listened to bellies, felt a great failing. Her skill was to welcome strong life, not to watch a small one fade into the Great Sleep-Without-Waking. The healers’ tools were for the body, but she knew the sickness was in the child’s spirit, in his very beginning. So she left the village. She walked away from the poultices and the songs, and went into the Great Mountain. She sought not a new herb, but a new understanding.

She walked for a day and a night, following a stream to its birth. The stream brought her to a dark cave, a hole in the mountain’s side. The people of the village were afraid of this cave and called it the Womb of the Earth. Ine was not afraid. She walked inside. There, in the deep dark, where the water bubbled up from the stone, she found an object. It was a stone, shaped like a great egg, smooth and dark. And upon its face was a hollow like a small pool. It was covered in the ghosts of ancient, sleeping things. And she knew it was a tool for her question.

She filled the pool of the stone with the water from the cave spring. She held the stone in her hands and she did not speak. She put the thought of the Little Chief into her mind. She put the question of his fading life into the water. She looked into the stone’s pool, and the water showed her a truth. It became a sad, dark mirror. And in its deep, she saw the boy’s life-spark. It was a tiny light, a candle flame that sputtered and danced, about to go out. The stone did not give her a cure. It gave her the shape of the problem.

Ine now knew the boy needed more life-spark. But from where? She left the cave, carrying the Egg of Earth. She walked the high cliffs. She found the nest of a great mountain hawk. There were eggs in the nest. She held her stone near an egg and filled it with water. She looked into the pool. She saw the shape of the hawk’s potential, a great and fierce light, a fire of life that burned hot. She did not take the egg.

She went into the old forest. She found an acorn from an ancient oak, a tree that had seen a thousand winters. She held her stone near the acorn. She looked into the pool. She saw the acorn’s potential, a slow, deep, and powerful light, a life that knew how to hold on. She did not take the acorn.

She understood. She could not make a life-spark. But perhaps she could borrow one. She went back to the hawk’s nest. She held the stone, filled with water, and she made a new kind of prayer. She asked the hawk-spirit for a small piece of its fire, a tiny gift of its fierce beginning. As she asked, she poured the water from her stone onto the hawk’s egg. The water glowed for a moment, then returned to the stone’s pool. She did the same with the acorn, asking the spirit of the great oak for a tiny piece of its endurance. Again, she poured the water out and it returned to the stone, carrying what she had asked for. The water in the stone now shimmered with a borrowed light.

Ine returned to the village. The Men of Poultice and Song saw her. They sneered, for she carried no new herbs, only a wet stone. They said, “The woman who listens to bellies has brought a rock to cure the Little Chief.”

Ine did not look at them. She went to the child, who was now still and pale. She knelt. She dipped her finger into the water in the Pool of Nascent Forms, the water that now held the fire of the hawk and the strength of the oak. She touched a single, glowing drop to the lips of the Little Chief.

And a thing of wonder happened. A cry came from the child. It was not a sigh. It was a small shout. His eyes opened, and for the first time, they seemed to see. The dim ember of his life-spark did not die. It caught the borrowed sparks, and it began to burn with a small but steady flame. Ine had not healed his body. She had nurtured the beginning of his spirit.

Moral of the story: A weak fire is not always saved by building a great wall against the wind, but by being given a single, strong spark from another flame.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu, 7th Edition

The Midwife’s Scrying Stone

An artifact of obscure Japanese folk magic, this smooth, fossil-inscribed stone is believed to have been used by rural midwives to predict the health of newborns. It is not connected to the Mythos, but its ability to divine the vital essence of a living being is unnatural and disturbing. An investigator witnessing its function for the first time must make a Sanity roll (SAN 0/1).

Game Mechanics:

To use the stone, an investigator must fill its hollow with water and spend at least one minute in concentration.

Assess Vitality: The user may gaze at a living creature through the water in the stone. After one minute, the user may attempt a Psychology or Occult roll. A success grants a brief, intuitive insight into the target’s physical and spiritual state. The Keeper should provide a short, two or three-word description, such as “Vigorously healthy,” “Wounded and afraid,” “Chronically ill,” “Spiritually drained,” or “Inhumanly vibrant.” This cannot detect lies or read thoughts, only the state of the life force.
Glimpse Potential: This function is more esoteric. If the user scries upon an egg, larva, or other embryonic form for ten minutes, they may make an INT roll. Success grants a vague, symbolic vision of the creature it is destined to become. Scrying upon an egg of a Mythos creature would certainly result in a more significant Sanity roll (e.g., 1/1d4) as the investigator’s mind is flooded with visions of its unnatural adult form.
Nurturing Touch: Pouring the water from the stone onto a normal animal or plant that is sick or injured will restore it to health over the course of one hour. This has no effect on human beings.

Blades in the Dark

The Soul-Gazer’s Pool A heavy, smooth stone from the Dagger Isles, marked with the ghosts of long-dead sea creatures. The Deathlands Scavengers claim these stones form in places where the veil between the living world and the ghost field is thin. (Gear, 1 Load)

Game Mechanics:

This strange artifact allows an operative to peer into the vital essence of their allies and adversaries, making it a powerful tool for information gathering.

Assess the Mark: When you Survey a person or creature, you may gaze at them through the water-filled stone. Instead of asking one of the normal questions, you may ask the GM: “What is their true physical and emotional state?” The GM will answer honestly, revealing hidden illness, exhaustion, fear, or unnatural strength. This does not require a roll but may take a minute of concentration to perform.
Nurture a Connection: During Downtime, you can use the stone to aid a contact’s endeavors—perhaps by nursing a sick animal back to health, tending to their rare ghost-orchid, or simply divining the health of their associates. This counts as one Downtime activity and grants you +1 status with that contact’s faction.
Glimpse What’s Coming: When your crew acquires a strange, developing object (a ghost-egg, a pre-sentient hull, a strange seed from the Deathlands), you can use the stone to scry its potential. This can be used to start a long-term project clock to “Understand the Specimen.” Alternatively, you can spend 1 Stress for a flash of insight, gaining one crucial detail about the object’s nature immediately.

Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition

Stone of Nascent Vitality Wondrous item, common

This smooth, ovoid stone is covered in faint fossil patterns and has a shallow bowl carved into one face. It feels ancient and connected to the fundamental energies of life.

The stone has 3 charges and regains all expended charges daily at dawn. To use its abilities, you must first fill its bowl with at least an ounce of water.

Assess Vitality (1 charge). As an action, you can expend 1 charge and gaze at one creature within 30 feet of you through the water in the stone. You instantly learn whether the creature is above or below half of its maximum hit points. You also learn if the creature is afflicted by any diseases or is poisoned.
Nurture Life (1 charge). As an action, you can expend 1 charge to pour the enchanted water from the stone onto a beast or plant with 0 hit points. That creature immediately becomes stable.
Scry Potential. If you spend 10 minutes scrying on a non-sentient egg, seed, or similar embryonic form, you learn the creature or plant type it will become upon hatching or sprouting (e.g., you would learn that an egg is a “griffon” or a seed is for a “shrieker”). This property does not expend a charge, but it can only be used on a given object once.

Knave, 2nd Edition

The Midwife’s Stone A smooth, heavy river stone shaped like an egg, with a shallow, polished bowl on one side. It is covered in the faint, silvery imprints of ancient fossils. (1 Slot)

Abilities: To use the stone’s abilities, you must first fill its bowl with water.

Assess Health: By spending one minute observing a living creature, you can learn its general health. The Warden will describe it to you in one or two words (e.g., “Pristine,” “Wounded,” “Exhausted,” “Feverish,” “Dying”).
Identify Offspring: By spending one minute observing an egg, pupa, or seed, the Warden will tell you the name of the creature or plant it will grow into.
Bolster the Newborn: Once per day, you can pour the water from the stone onto a creature that is less than a day old or a plant that has just sprouted. For the next 24 hours, that creature or plant has Advantage on any saves made to resist mundane disease or poison.

Fate Core System

The Stone of What Will Be

This ancient, fossil-inscribed stone is an extra. It does not provide direct bonuses but allows the user to perceive and influence the potential of living things, creating new narrative opportunities.

Aspect: Sees the Shape of Beginnings You can invoke this aspect for a bonus when your insight into potential, vitality, or the “first step” of a plan or life-form would be beneficial. The Game Master can compel this aspect when your focus on what could be causes you to miss an immediate, present danger, or when your deep, quiet observations make you appear detached and strange to others.

Stunts:

Read the Fraying Thread: When you use the stone to Overcome an obstacle by discerning a person’s state of being, you can ask the GM, “What is their most significant physical or emotional vulnerability right now?” The GM will give you a descriptive answer (e.g., Deep-seated exhaustion, An old, painful wound, Crippling self-doubt). You get a +2 bonus to your roll for this action.
Bolster the New Bloom: Once per session, you can use the enchanted water from the stone to help a person, creature, or enterprise in its fledgling state. You can grant them the temporary aspect Infused with Potential with one free invocation, representing a burst of vitality, luck, or confidence.
Know the Seed: When you use the stone to examine an egg, seed, or other object of unknown potential, you can create the aspect Its True Nature Revealed with one free invocation. You do not need to roll to create this advantage, but it may take several minutes of quiet scrying.

Numenera & Cypher System

Embryonic Pattern Analyzer This device is an artifact from a prior world that specialized in advanced biological engineering and analysis. It appears as a smooth, ovoid stone covered in fossil-like circuits, but it is a powerful diagnostic and nurturing tool.

Level: 5 (Tasks performed with the analyzer are difficulty 5, or level 5. The depletion roll is 1 in 1d6.)
Form: A handheld, egg-shaped stone made of a dense bio-polymer, with a shallow depression on one side.
Effect: The device must have its depression filled with water, which it uses as a conductive and focusing lens for its internal nanosensors.
1. Vitality Scan (Action): The user concentrates on a creature within short range. The device performs a full bio-scan, revealing the target’s current state of health. The user learns the target’s current health pool (or general state, for NPCs), and if they are affected by any poisons, diseases, or genetic flaws. This function does not require a depletion roll.
2. Genetic Forecast (1 minute): The device can perform a deep scan on any embryonic or dormant life-form (egg, seed, pupa). It provides a detailed forecast of the mature creature, including its species, major physical traits, and any special abilities or mutations it will possess. Understanding this complex data is a difficulty 4 Intellect task. Depletion: 1 in 1d6.
3. Nanite Infusion (Action): The water in the stone can be infused with restorative nanites. If poured onto a living creature, it immediately restores 4 points to one of the creature’s stat Pools (user’s choice). This water is inert after one round if not used. Depletion: 1 in 1d6.
Depletion: 1 in 1d6 (rolled after using the Genetic Forecast or Nanite Infusion functions).

Pathfinder, 2nd Edition

Midwife’s Scrying Bowl – Item 2 Uncommon, Divination, Healing, Primal Price 35 gp Usage held in 2 hands; Bulk L

This smooth, heavy river stone has a shallow bowl polished into its surface and is covered in faint fossils that seem to shift when not directly observed. It is a tool for those who watch over new life and guard it against peril. To use its activations, you must first fill the bowl with water.

Activation [One-Action] concentrate; Effect You gaze at a living creature within 30 feet. You learn if the creature is wounded, but not the severity of its injuries. You also learn if it is currently afflicted by a disease or poison.
Activation [Three-Actions] concentrate, manipulate; Frequency once per day; Effect You perform a deep reading on a single living creature within 30 feet. You learn its exact current Hit Points and all conditions currently affecting it.
Activation [10 minutes] concentrate, manipulate; Effect You scry an egg, seed, or other embryonic life-form. You learn the type of creature or plant it will become (e.g., “Cockatrice,” “Shrieker”), and you learn one of its prominent abilities (such as a Cockatrice’s petrifying gaze). You can only use this activation on a given object once.
Activation [One-Action] manipulate; Frequency once per hour; Effect You pour the water from the bowl onto a living creature. The creature regains 1d4 Hit Points. This has no effect on constructs or undead.

Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE)

The Stone of Beginnings This smooth, egg-shaped river stone is a relic of ancient midwives and shamans. It is said to hold the memory of all life, and allows a user to perceive the health and potential of living things. A character must have an Arcane Background (Healing, Miracles with a life/nature deity) or a d8+ in the Healing or Survival skill to use its magical properties.

Game Mechanics:

Using the stone’s abilities is an action and requires it to be filled with water.

Read the Spark: The user makes a Healing or Spirit roll to perform a diagnostic on a character within sight.
- Success: You learn the target’s current number of Wounds and levels of Fatigue, as well as if they are currently under the effects of any poison or disease.
- Raise: You also learn the nature of the poison or disease and gain a +1 bonus on your next roll to treat that specific affliction.
Glimpse the Form: The user makes a Knowledge (any relevant) or Spirit roll while scrying an egg, seed, or larva.
- Success: You learn the species of the creature or plant it will become.
- Raise: You also learn one of its key features, such as a special ability, a noteworthy attribute (e.g., it will have a d10 in Strength), or if it is a Wild Card.
Nurture the Seed: Once per day, you can pour the water from the stone onto a living creature. This can be used to automatically stabilize a character who is Bleeding Out, or to allow a character to make a natural healing roll without the usual time restrictions.

Shadowrun, 6th World

Fossil-Matrix Bio-Scanner This device appears to be an esoteric stone artifact, often found in the possession of eco-shamans or Shinto priests. In reality, it is a sophisticated piece of biotechnology that uses a fossil-laced crystalline matrix to focus and interpret a subject’s bio-signature. It is a powerful, if strange, diagnostic tool.

Availability: 10R
Value: 12,000 Nuyen
Game Mechanics: The device must be filled with a conductive liquid (water works best) to function.
Vitality Scan: The bio-scanner can be linked to a standard medkit. When used as part of a First Aid + Logic test to diagnose a patient’s injuries or illnesses, it provides a +2 dice pool bonus. On its own, a user with Assensing can make a Perception + Intuition (3) test to get a general reading of a target’s aura, learning if they are healthy, wounded, sick, or magically drained.
Genetic Potential Analysis: Performing a deep scan on a sample of embryonic tissue, an egg, or a similar biological sample takes ten minutes and requires a Biotechnology + Logic (4) test. Success provides a basic genetic profile of the subject, identifying its species and any obvious positive or negative qualities (e.g., genetic predispositions to disease, magical potential, or compatibility with cyberware).
Restorative Nanite Infusion: Once per day, the user can use the device to infuse the water within it with restorative nanites. If administered to a living creature (as a drink or applied to a wound), it functions as a Healing stimulant with a Rating of 4. The target may immediately make a Body + Willpower (4) test to remove one box of Physical damage.

Starfinder Roleplaying Game

Life-Reader’s Stone Level 2 Price 900 credits Bulk L Category Hybrid Item

A smooth, ovoid stone covered in fossil-like patterns that are actually complex magical circuits. By using water as a focusing lens, the stone allows the user to analyze the vital essence and biological potential of other creatures.

Vitality Scan. As a standard action, you can gaze through the water-filled stone at a living creature within 60 feet. You learn if the creature has any of the following conditions: bleeding, diseased, dying, exhausted, fatigued, poisoned, sickened, or staggered. This does not reveal the specifics of the condition, only its presence.
Potential Analysis. If you spend 10 minutes using the stone to study an egg, seed, or creature in a gestational state, you can make a DC 18 Mysticism check. On a success, you learn the creature or plant’s type, and one of its subtypes or key abilities (for example, you could learn a creature is a ‘magical beast’ with the ‘plant’ subtype, or that it will have Damage Reduction).
Nurturing Touch. Once per day as a standard action, you can pour the water from the stone onto a living creature with 0 Hit Points. The creature is automatically stabilized. Alternatively, you can pour the water on a living creature to grant it 1d4 temporary Hit Points that last for 1 minute. This has no effect on constructs or undead.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)

Zhodani Bio-Imager This device is a tool used by the Zhodani nobility, specifically their psionically gifted physicians and xenobiologists. It appears to be a decorative stone egg but is a sophisticated diagnostic instrument that interfaces with a psion’s telepathic abilities. It is not generally available outside the Zhodani Consulate.

TL: 13
Mass: 0.5 kg
Cost: 200,000 Cr (Restricted, Psionic-locked)
Power Source: Internal psionic battery; recharges when handled by a psion.
Functions: The device requires a user with the Psionics talent to function. The shallow bowl must be filled with water to act as a psionic focusing lens.
- Vital Signs Monitor: A user with the Telepathy talent may make an Average (8+) Medic check to perform a complete, non-invasive diagnostic scan on a target within 10 meters. This functions as a TL 13 Mediscanner, providing precise data on heart rate, blood pressure, disease markers, and the location and severity of injuries.
- Genetic Forecaster: A user can perform a deep scan on an embryonic lifeform. This takes one hour and provides a complete genetic workup, identifying species, potential psionic talent, and hereditary traits. This requires a Difficult (10+) Science (biology) check to interpret the data stream.
- Restorative Infusion: The device can infuse the water with psionically charged nanites. If administered to a wounded character, it allows them to immediately make one natural healing check with a DM+2 bonus, even if they have already made one that day. Each use of this function has a 1-in-6 chance of draining the device’s power cell for 24 hours.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, 4th Edition

The Midwife’s Seeing-Stone Encumbrance: 10 Price: 5 GC Availability: Scarce

A heavy, smooth river stone, shaped like an egg with a shallow bowl in its center. It is covered in what appear to be the tiny fossilized skeletons of river fish. These stones are relics of the “old faith,” used by rural midwives and hedge-witches to predict the health of a child in the womb or the viability of livestock. The Cult of Shallya, the goddess of healing and mercy, views these stones with deep suspicion, seeing them as a form of sacrilegious fortune-telling that pries into matters best left to the gods.

Game Mechanics:

Read the Spark of Life: By filling the stone with water and taking a moment to observe a living creature, the user may make a Challenging (+0) Perception Test. If successful, they learn the target’s current Wound total (both current and maximum) and if they are suffering from any Minor or Major Diseases. A character with the Second Sight Talent may use their Intuition skill for this test instead.
Glimpse the Unborn: When used on a pregnant creature or a clutch of eggs, a successful Difficult (-10) Perception Test reveals the number of offspring and if they are generally healthy or sickly. An Impressive Success (+2 SL or more) might grant the user a cryptic, one-word vision concerning the offspring’s fate (e.g., “Warrior,” “Blighted,” “Change,” “Short-lived”), a tool the GM can use to introduce future plots.
Shallya’s Blessing: Once per day, the water from the stone can be given to a creature that is less than a week old or a character who is currently Bleeding. The water stops the Bleeding condition. If used on a healthy newborn, it grants them a +10 bonus to any Endurance Tests made to resist disease for the next 24 hours.