Or so they thought.

The paladin Megit had an amulet that looked sort of like an Egyptian ankh (Rhianna drew images for all our power cards, and it served as the inspiration for the art you’ll see below).  What he didn’t know was that there was a counterpart that looked just about identical, but it was in the hands of someone else instead.

The amulet of communication is essentially a fantasy styled walkie talkie.  It allowed for our party members to communicate across different places in dungeons and towns, and has come in very handy for them so far.  Of course, it also served to further shred away at Megit’s faith, so he’s dangling by a thread now.

Since the Egyptian gods don’t really have a place in Tellest beyond distant inspiration, we converted the ankh to one with a double loop.  We didn’t have to change too much to accommodate this, though you can see that Azot did slim down the lower set of triangles.

So, we’ve used the artifacts in D&D, but we haven’t seen them in the literary universe yet.  As far as rarity goes, it wouldn’t be exceedingly rare to find one, though they would be fairly uncommon.  Many people would likely find it hard to procure something like this, and if I had to guess, there might be only one or two power artificers or sorcerers alive who know how to make them.

Anyway, that’s not the last of our artifacts, so just make sure you keep an eye out.  We’ll have more to show off soon!

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First up, let’s take a look at the weapon of choice that our Dragonspeaker, Kaiyonani, uses.

Kaiyonani’s Staff

Here’s Azot’s initial look at the staff.  It’s definitely got a more gnarled look to it than in the other views we’ve had of it.  We always talk about how he stylizes everything, and I liked the way this was going.

The finalized version was definitely not what we would have usually seen Kai use.  The little idols looked more akin to a witch doctor, but I was okay with how this looked.  Maybe in another universe, Kai’s desert was swampland instead.

Bracelet of Travel

Next up, we’ve got the Bracelet of Travel.  It was introduced in The Enemy Within to help me out with some long distance meetups.  It feels like it happens all the time in Game of Thrones without any explanation—well, I found a way to make it work in my series.  This bracelet let’s people travel through the Nexus in order to arrive at different places in Tellest.  This version of it was a little too busy for me, so we had Azot tweak it somewhat.

This version still had a somewhat eerie, otherworldly feel to it, but it wasn’t as crazy.  In my original write-up, it wasn’t anything like this, but I can dig it!

Here you can see the complete version of Azot’s bracelet.  I imagine a dark energy pours out of that spiral, and coerces doorways to the Nexus to manifest.

We’ll be back one more time before the end of the year to show off some more artifacts.  Keep your eyes peeled here just before New Years if these relics of Tellest entertain you!

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How it was Acquired

During Michael Kreegan’s first visit to the city of Atalatha, the festivities for Alicia Mane’s birthday party were in place.  A contest had been set in motion in one of the fairgrounds, wherein brave men could attempt to make their way through an obstacle course without being knocked down.

Despite the dangers, Michael snuck into the obstacle course, and managed to win, against all odds.  The man who had organized the obstacle course was offering up a ruby encrusted, silver pendant that was shaped like a heart.  When he attempted to keep the pendant from Michael, his family and a stranger, Stephen Caista, fought for his right to it.

Later that night, upon meeting with Alicia Mane, he gave her the item, which had been dubbed the Heart of Ariyas.

Attributes

The Heart of Ariyas bestows mystical powers upon its wielder.  Both clerical and fire magic seems to be readily available to whoever wears it.

Early Events

Over a decade after Alicia was given the Heart of Ariyas as a gift from Michael Kreegan, she attempted to visit him at an inn, The Centurion, following another contest he had taken part in.  When he did not arrive, she planned on leaving.  Brigands assaulted the inn, however, and she was forced to defend herself.

With the powers of the necklace, she was able to thwart her aggressors.  Unfortunately, the fire magic that she cast resulted in the complete destruction of the inn, along with the inhabitants inside, including its owner, Peyton Garus.

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