Curious Item Club - Pool of Shadow Sculptures

A pool of matte black liquid, its surface unnaturally still and unreflective. Perhaps it is found in a natural cavern. Or in the middle of the desert nestled between dunes blazing in the sun. Or kept in the marble basin of a vizier’s palace. Or held in a bowl of brass decorated with strange bas reliefs.

LIQUID SHADOW

Liquid shadow is a vile substance that pools in the darkest corners of the world—usually at the heartrock of a massive mountain or in a cave at the bottom of the deepest lake. It exists naturally as a result of evil done in the world; the residue seeps into the earth and takes on a physical substance in the deep darkness. One can use liquid shadow to enhance spells with either the shadow or evil descriptor (either way, the spell gains both descriptors when cast). A pint of the material used as a spell component modifies a spell so that it is cast two levels higher than normal, with a +2 bonus to the saving throw DC to resist.

Liquid shadow inflicts damage to good-aligned outsiders and blessed children if used as a splash weapon (one pint inflicts 3d6 points of damage; full immersion inflicts 20d6 points of damage). It heals evil outsiders and undead in like amounts. Liquid shadow is worth 1,000 gp per pint and is usually found only one or two pints at a time.

LIQUID SCULPTURES

When one draws near the pool, its deceptive placidity is abruptly, disturbingly disrupted. The surface of the pool rears up – almost mechanistically – forming various shapes and forms, both natural and otherwise.

These forms will shift – sometimes rapidly, at other times at lengthier intervals, but always stochastically. The longer one remains in proximity to the pool, generally the more specific the depictions become. Over time, it may even become clear that the pool is reacting to the moods of its viewer… and then their thoughts. And then their secrets. A disquieting sense arises in many of a malevolent, horribly alien intelligence rummaging through their minds. Are the things depicted in the pool what it seeks? Or merely the rubbish it is tossing aside? Or is it trying to communicate – to bridge some incomprehensible gap of understanding in the only way it can fathom?

(This material is covered by the OGL. See attached PDF.)