Transmuting Oil Flask

From: Elixir of Transmutation

Lore: The recipe for the Transmuting Oil Flask is believed to have been discovered by an eccentric alchemist named Zephyrus the Transmuter. Zephyrus was known for his unquenchable curiosity and relentless pursuit of unlocking the secrets of transmutation. Legend has it that during his experiments, he stumbled upon a unique combination of the Elixir of Transmutation and various alchemical oils, which resulted in the creation of the Transmuting Oil Flask.

Zephyrus saw great potential in the ability to temporarily alter the properties of objects and surfaces. He envisioned the flask as a versatile tool that could be used for various purposes, from creating slippery surfaces for strategic maneuvering to melting obstacles with corrosive properties. As word of Zephyrus’ creation spread, the recipe became sought after by alchemists, adventurers, and tricksters alike.

Use: The Transmuting Oil Flask is a versatile tool that allows users to temporarily modify the properties of objects or surfaces. When the oil is poured onto a target, it triggers a transmutation process that alters its nature according to the specific alchemical oil mixed with the Elixir of Transmutation. For example, pouring the oil onto a stone floor could make it slippery, while pouring it onto metal could make it adhesive or corrode it.

Tier One Stats:

• Transmutation Effect: The oil temporarily alters the properties of the target object or surface, providing a unique advantage or hindrance.
• Duration: The transmutation effect typically lasts for a moderate duration, allowing for tactical usage during battles or encounters.
• Usage: The Transmuting Oil Flask contains a single application of oil.

Temporary Skills Gained:

• Alchemy: Proficiency in alchemy is necessary to understand and follow the recipe accurately, ensuring the correct preparation and deployment of the Transmuting Oil Flask.
• Dexterity: Proficiency in dexterity can enhance the effectiveness of using the flask by ensuring precise pouring and target selection.

Preparation: To create the Transmuting Oil Flask, the following ingredients and steps are required:

• Elixir of Transmutation: A measured amount is needed as the catalyst for the transmutative effects.
• Alchemical Oils: Various oils with specific properties, such as slippery, adhesive, or corrosive, are mixed with the Elixir of Transmutation.
• Flask: A small, sturdy flask capable of holding the transmuting oil securely.

Cost: The Transmuting Oil Flask is considered a specialized alchemical item due to its transmutative properties and versatility. The cost would depend on the availability and rarity of the alchemical oils and the craftsmanship involved in preparing the flask. Each flask would be individually prepared and have a moderate cost.

Process:

• Combine the Elixir of Transmutation with the desired alchemical oil, carefully measuring the amounts to achieve the desired transmutative effect.
• Mix the ingredients thoroughly, ensuring a homogeneous mixture.
• Pour the mixture into a flask, sealing it tightly to prevent leakage or accidental activation.
• The Transmuting Oil Flask is now ready for use.

Tags:

• Transmutation: The oil possesses transmutative properties, allowing for temporary modifications of objects or surfaces.
• Alchemy: The creation of the flask involves the use of alchemical knowledge and techniques.
• Consumable: The flask contains a single application of the transmuting oil, making it a consumable item.
• Additional: Metamorphic Lubricant, Arcane Alchemical Coating, Adaptive Substance, Elemental Infusion, Morphic Surface Agent, Volatile Transmutation, Alchemical Instability, Tactical Terrain Modifier, Reactive Alchemy, Phase-Shifting Solution

Perception of Activation:

• User’s Perspective:
  • Sight: As the flask is uncorked, the oil within shimmers, shifting through a spectrum of colors. When poured, the liquid flows unnaturally, spreading with intent rather than gravity. The surface it touches momentarily ripples as if alive before settling into its altered state.
  • Sound: A faint, alchemical fizzing can be heard as the oil makes contact, followed by an almost imperceptible hum. Occasionally, a soft chime rings out, as though reality itself is adjusting to the transmutation.
  • Touch: The oil feels paradoxically slick yet adhesive, as if defying the expected consistency of a liquid. It tingles against the skin, causing a sensation akin to static electricity dancing over the fingers.
  • Smell: A complex mix of scents emerges—burnt ozone, aged parchment, and something faintly metallic, shifting depending on the transformation being invoked.
  • Taste: A strange, lingering tang fills the air, reminiscent of iron and citrus, though attempting to taste the oil directly results in a numbing sensation.
  • Extrasensory Perceptions:
    • Material Resonance: The user briefly perceives the nature of the affected surface, sensing its density, weaknesses, and potential states of transmutation.
    • Temporal Disruption: A flicker of past and future states of the object flashes in the user’s mind, revealing hints of what it was and what it could become.
    • Echo of Alchemy: The sensation of knowledge beyond one’s own brushes the mind, as if ancient alchemists whisper guidance from beyond time.
• Observer’s Perspective:
  • Sight: The oil does not behave as expected, clinging unnaturally to surfaces before its effect takes hold. Colors seem to bleed into the target, momentarily reshaping its texture and consistency.
  • Sound: A muted, liquid churning can be heard, accompanied by occasional pops, hisses, or brief metallic chimes depending on the transformation occurring.
  • Touch: If touched after application, the altered surface feels temporarily unstable—warmer or colder than expected, softer or harder than its normal state.
  • Extrasensory Perceptions:
    • Dimensional Flux: To those attuned to magic or alchemy, the affected area appears to shift between possibilities before settling.
    • Residual Instability: Sensitive individuals might feel the lingering essence of transformation in the air, like a note still echoing after a song ends.
• Positives:
  • Grants temporary control over the material properties of objects or terrain.
  • Effects occur almost instantly, allowing for immediate tactical use.
  • Can be used creatively to hinder foes, create opportunities, or bypass obstacles.
  • Versatile, able to be prepared with different alchemical properties.
• Negatives:
  • Effects are temporary, meaning miscalculations or delays can negate the advantage.
  • Some surfaces or materials may react unpredictably, leading to unintended transformations.
  • Overuse or improper application can result in volatile effects, including unstable surfaces or alchemical contamination.
  • Particularly keen observers may detect the transformation occurring, alerting them to trickery or deception.

The Transmuting Oil Flask, with its versatile ability to temporarily alter the properties of objects and surfaces, is a sought-after tool by various individuals and organizations. However, due to the potentially disruptive nature of its effects, the recipe and the flask itself are not openly sold in regular marketplaces or conventional magic item shops.

The recipe for the Transmuting Oil Flask is often passed down through secretive alchemical guilds, hidden libraries, or specialized shops that cater to practitioners of unconventional or niche forms of magic. These establishments cater to those with a keen interest in alchemy, trickery, or tactical warfare. Accessing the recipe may require gaining the trust of skilled alchemists, proving oneself through tests of wit or skill, or trading rare and valuable ingredients.

The environment in which the Transmuting Oil Flask is typically used varies depending on the individual or group utilizing it. Its applications span across multiple domains, making it useful in a variety of situations.

In stealth and infiltration missions, the Transmuting Oil Flask finds great utility. It can be used to create slippery surfaces, making it difficult for guards or pursuers to maintain their balance. By applying the oil to floors, stairs, or narrow walkways, thieves or spies can easily navigate through otherwise heavily guarded areas.

In tactical warfare, the Transmuting Oil Flask can be employed to gain the upper hand. For instance, coating a section of the battlefield with an adhesive oil can impede enemy movements, hinder cavalry charges, or restrict the mobility of heavily armored opponents. Conversely, using the corrosive oil on metallic objects or barriers can weaken them, creating opportunities for breaches or sabotage.

The flask can also be used in misdirection and trickery. Pouring the oil onto surfaces in a strategic manner can create diversions or cause opponents to lose their footing, leaving them vulnerable to ambushes or surprise attacks. It can also be employed in trap-setting, as unsuspecting foes may encounter unexpected hazards or find themselves unable to escape sticky situations.

Furthermore, certain individuals or organizations may have specialized uses for the Transmuting Oil Flask. For example, a group of illusionists may utilize the oil to enhance their magical performances, creating illusions of shifting environments or objects. In a war-torn region, resistance fighters could use the oil to sabotage enemy supply lines by rendering transport surfaces slippery or causing materials to corrode.

Due to the specialized nature of the Transmuting Oil Flask and the potential for misuse, it is not commonly seen in the hands of everyday adventurers or openly sold. The recipe and the flask are typically acquired through niche alchemical shops, secret contacts, or by proving oneself to be aligned with the values or goals of the alchemical guilds or secretive organizations that possess the knowledge and resources to create them.

The Oil That Sang to the Stones

Long ago, before the rivers learned their paths and the mountains found their weight, there lived a man who sought to command the world not with strength, but with wisdom of shifting things. His name, once spoken, has since been broken by time, yet those who study the alchemies remember him as Zephyrus the Transmuter.

Zephyrus was unlike others who played with fire and metal. He did not wish to forge, nor did he wish to break—he wished only to change. To him, the world was not stone or water or air but something soft, something that might be persuaded to take a different form if only it was asked properly. He traveled the world in search of the right words to whisper to the elements, but they ignored him. Rocks stood firm. Water ran as it pleased. Wood refused to bend without breaking.

And so, Zephyrus grew tired, until one night he dreamed of a voice calling him to the place where the sky and land had once been the same thing.

It was a mountain that had not always been a mountain. The old ones said it had once been a beast of the heavens, but its wings had turned to stone, and now it lay forever sleeping beneath the sky it once ruled. The mountain was vast and broken, its form unfamiliar with itself, its rocks confused by what they had become. Zephyrus knew, then, that he had found the perfect place.

He took his flasks, his oils, his elixirs, and whispered words older than the tongue of men. He mixed the essence of the sky with the weight of the earth. He taught the oils to remember how things had once been and how they might be again.

Then, Zephyrus reached out and poured the oil upon the stone.

The rock shuddered. It did not break, nor did it crumble—it simply stirred, as though waking from an old dream. For a moment, the stone was neither soft nor hard, neither strong nor weak. It was willing.

Zephyrus laughed, for at last he had persuaded the world to change. He carried his new Transmuting Oil wherever he went, making wood into iron, sand into glass, walls into mist. People called him the One Who Spoke to the Earth, but not all who watched him smiled.

There was one who watched from the dark places, one who did not love the shifting of things. A creature with no shape of its own, bound to the unyielding earth. It had no name, for it had never needed one, but it knew hunger. And when it saw Zephyrus changing the world, it whispered to itself, this man must be stopped.

One night, when the moon hid its face, the creature unmade the ground beneath Zephyrus’ feet, and he fell deep, deep into the place where the world still remembered its first shape. He landed in a place of unformed things, where stone and sky had never been apart.

There, the voice spoke to him:

“You have taken the weight from the mountain. You have taught the roots to forget the soil. This is not your place, and yet you make it yours. Why?”

Zephyrus, though trapped, only smiled. “Because nothing wishes to stay the same forever.”

The voice rumbled like stone grinding against itself. “And yet here you are. The oil in your hand will not free you. You may shape the world, but not the truth.”

Zephyrus looked at the flask, then at the place around him. He did not fear—he understood. He uncorked the flask, but this time, he did not pour. Instead, he spoke to the oil, the same way he had spoken to the mountains, to the rivers, to the sky.

He told the oil not what to be—but what it had always been meant to become.

The oil shimmered. It turned not into stone, not into water, not into smoke, but into a door.

A door that had never been there. A door that could not have been there. And yet, there it was.

Zephyrus stepped through and was never seen again.

Some say he walked out into the sky, free of all things. Others say he became something in between, neither man nor wind, neither alchemist nor god. But to this day, when one uncorks a flask of Transmuting Oil, if they listen closely, they may hear the faintest whisper—a question, waiting to be answered.

Moral of the Story: To change the world is not to break it, nor to force it, but to understand what it wishes to become.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition) – Transmuting Oil Flask

• Artifact, Unstable Alchemical Substance
• Description: A flask containing an iridescent oil infused with eldritch transmutation properties. When applied to a surface or object, it alters its composition in unpredictable ways.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Effect: When poured onto an object, the oil alters its material properties for 1d6 minutes. Possible changes include softening metal, hardening flesh, or liquefying stone (Keeper discretion).
  • Use Case: Requires a successful Science (Chemistry) or Cthulhu Mythos roll to predict the transmutation effect. Failure may cause unexpected results.
  • Sanity Cost: Witnessing extreme transmutations (e.g., turning flesh into stone) costs 1d4 SAN.
  • Unstable Nature: The oil may react violently if exposed to certain energies (electricity, radiation, Mythos magic).
  • Charges: Contains 1d3 uses per flask.

Blades in the Dark – Transmuting Oil Flask

• Alchemical Tool, Illicit
• Description: A rare and unstable alchemical mixture capable of temporarily altering the physical properties of objects or surfaces. Favored by saboteurs and infiltrators.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Use: Spend 1 Load to carry this item. Applying the oil takes an Action and an Alchemy or Tinker roll.
  • Effects: The oil can alter the material properties of a small object or a section of surface for a few minutes (GM discretion). Examples:
  • Make wood brittle.
  • Soften stone to be moldable.
  • Temporarily fuse metal components.
  • Unpredictable Nature: A Devil’s Bargain or a failed roll may result in unintended transformations.
• Availability: Rare, requires a Tier III+ contact to acquire.

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition) – Transmuting Oil Flask

• Wondrous Item, Uncommon (Consumable)
• Description: This flask contains a shimmering alchemical oil that, when poured onto an object or surface, temporarily alters its composition.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Activation: Using the flask requires an Action to pour.
  • Effect: Choose one effect when applying:
  • Stone to Clay: Turns a 5-foot cube of stone into soft clay for 10 minutes.
  • Metal to Brittle Glass: Weakens metal objects, reducing AC or damage threshold by 2 for 10 minutes.
  • Frictionless Surface: Makes a 10-foot area extremely slippery, requiring a DC 14 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to traverse without falling.
  • Duration: Effects last 10 minutes unless otherwise stated.
  • Limitations: The oil does not work on magical objects.

Knave – Transmuting Oil Flask

• Consumable, Alchemical
• Description: A flask of rare transmuting oil, capable of changing the properties of non-living materials for a short time.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Effect: When poured, the oil alters a small object or a 5-foot surface for 1d6 exploration turns. Effects include:
  • Making wood as hard as iron.
  • Turning stone into soft, moldable clay.
  • Creating an adhesive surface that traps movement.
  • Risk: On a failed INT save, the oil has an unintended effect, altering an unintended material or changing unpredictably.
• Rarity: Sold only in alchemist shops at high cost or found in ancient laboratories.

Fate – Transmuting Oil Flask

• Alchemical Tool, Consumable
• Description: A flask containing a shimmering oil that temporarily alters the material properties of objects or surfaces.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Aspect: Reality’s Willing Servant – The oil can be used to manipulate the physical world, altering objects or terrain.
  • Invoke: Spend a Fate Point to alter a non-living object’s composition (e.g., softening stone, making metal brittle, creating a slick surface).
  • Compel: Unintended transformations may occur, or the oil may react unpredictably to magical materials.
  • Duration: Effects last one scene or until dramatically appropriate.

Numenera & Cypher System – Transmuting Oil Flask

• Level 4 Consumable
• Description: A flask of iridescent oil that, when applied, reshapes materials at the molecular level.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Effect: Alters a 1-square-meter area of material for 10 minutes, allowing for changes such as:
  • Softening metal
  • Turning stone to sand
  • Making surfaces slippery or adhesive
  • Usage: Single-use cypher.
  • Difficulty: If used creatively in problem-solving, it may reduce the difficulty of related tasks by one step.

Pathfinder (2nd Edition) – Transmuting Oil Flask

• Consumable, Uncommon, Alchemical
• Description: A flask of enchanted oil that, when applied, briefly alters the structure of non-living materials.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Usage: One-use item, activated by pouring onto an object or surface.
  • Effect (Choose One):
  • Stone to Mud: Turns a 5-foot cube of stone into soft mud for 1 minute.
  • Metal Weakening: Lowers an object’s Hardness by 5 for 10 minutes.
  • Slippery Coating: Creates a 10-foot radius slippery area for 1 minute (DC 18 Reflex save or fall).
  • Crafting: Requires Expert Alchemy and Elixir of Transmutation as an ingredient.

Savage Worlds – Transmuting Oil Flask

• Alchemical Item, Rare
• Description: A flask containing a rare transmuting oil that can temporarily alter materials when poured onto a surface or object.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Activation: Full Action to apply.
  • Effect (Choose One):
  • Brittle Metal: Reduces an object’s Toughness by 2 for 5 rounds.
  • Malleable Stone: Allows sculpting of stone like clay for 5 minutes.
  • Slippery Surface: Creates a Medium Burst Template area of extreme slipperiness (Agility roll at -2 to stay upright).
  • Limitations: Only affects non-magical materials, and effects fade after duration expires.

Shadowrun (6th Edition) – Transmuting Oil Flask

• Gear, Illegal, Availability 8R
• Description: A small flask of nanite-infused alchemical oil capable of temporarily altering the material properties of non-living surfaces.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Activation: Simple Action to apply.
  • Effect: The oil modifies a 1-square-meter area for 1d6 minutes. Effects include:
  • Structural Weakening: Lowers Barrier Rating by 3.
  • Frictionless Surface: Increases movement difficulty (Reaction + Athletics (3) test to avoid slipping).
  • Adhesive Coating: Makes the surface incredibly sticky, reducing movement speed by half.
  • Restrictions: Does not work on awakened materials or technological constructs.

Starfinder – Transmuting Oil Flask

• Consumable, Level 4, Price 850 credits
• Description: A vial of shimmering oil that, when applied, temporarily alters the material properties of objects or surfaces.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Usage: Standard action to apply to a 5-foot-square surface.
  • Effects (Choose One):
  • Molecular Destabilization: Lowers an object’s Hardness by 5 for 10 minutes.
  • Slick Surface: Any creature moving through the area must succeed on a DC 15 Reflex save or fall prone.
  • Malleable Surface: Allows shaping of metal, stone, or similar materials as if they were clay for 5 minutes.
  • Limitations: Only affects non-magical, non-technological materials.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition) – Transmuting Oil Flask

• TL 10, Cost 1,200 credits
• Description: An experimental alchemical compound suspended in liquid form, allowing temporary alterations to non-organic materials.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Activation: 1D6 rounds after application.
  • Effect: Affects a 1.5-meter-square area, providing one of the following effects for 1D6 minutes:
  • Material Softening: Lowers object’s Armor by 3.
  • Surface Instability: Requires DEX + Athletics (10+) to traverse safely.
  • Reinforcement: Temporarily increases object’s Armor by 3.
• Rarity: Found in experimental research stations or high-security black markets.

Warhammer 40K (Wrath & Glory) – Transmuting Oil Flask

• Rare Alchemical Tool, Single Use
• Description: A sacred unguent said to bear the blessings of the Omnissiah, capable of shifting matter on a molecular level for a brief time.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Activation: Simple Action to apply.
  • Effect (Choose One, GM Discretion Applies):
  • Matter Weakening: Reduces an object’s Resilience by 2 for a scene.
  • Sacred Adhesion: Creates a surface so sticky it requires a DN 4 Athletics test to move across.
  • Phase Shift: Temporarily renders an object malleable, allowing for reshaping or passage through narrow spaces.
• Restrictions: Forbidden technology outside of Mechanicus approval.