Crown of Horns

The Crown of Horns is an evil, intelligent artifact of great power. Forged by a Netherese arcanist and enchanted by Myrkul, the former god of death, it carries with it a long history of corruption and tragedy.

At one point, the Crown possessed Laeral Silverhand, one of the Seven Sisters, and was sundered by her husband, the archmage Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun, who locked its pieces away within the heavily-protected walls of his tower. However, when Myrkul died at Midnight's hand during the Time of Troubles, the god tore the broken shards of the Crown from Blackstaff Tower, reforged it in a new shape, and infused it with the remains of his sentience before teleporting away. To this day, Myrkul, through the Crown, has been spreading evil through the Realms, tormenting members of the Church of Cyric as well as hapless innocents, avoiding allies of Khelben and temples of Mystra.

The Crown of Horns appears as a silver circlet with a black diamond set on the brow and four bone horns mounted around its edge. It imbues the wearer with several considerable necromantic powers - including the unique "Myrkul's Hand" property - but has a tendency to strongly influence that action of the wearer, changing his alignment to neutral evil and gradually making him into an undead creature, among other things.

The Crown of Horns was last seen in the possession of a yuan-ti pureblood named Nhyris D'Hothek, who disappeared from his haunts in Skullport in 1370 DR, after the Crown transformed him into a lich. People and creatures who have remained dedicated to Myrkul after, or have become dedicated to him since, his demise, devote themselves to him through the Crown of Horns by touching it and are known as Horned Harbingers - Nhyris included.

Powers

The wearer of the Crown of Horns has the following powers:

• Fear aura as if he were a lich of equivilant level.
• Spell resistance 25 against necromantic spells and effects.
• Rebuke or command undead as a 6th level cleric. If the wearer already has this ability, these levels stack with his cleric levels for this purpose.
• Teleport without error once per tenday, affecting only the wearer and his equipment.
• Cone of undeath: Usable once every 10 minutes, this effect is a 40-foot cone. Creatures within the cone must make Fortitude saving throws (DC 20) or be slain and rise 1d4 rounds later as wraiths under the control of the wearer. A successful save means a creature takes 2d6+20 points of damage. This ia a necromantic death effect.
• Myrkul's Hand: Once per day, the wearer can invoke black flames that coverone of his hands. These flames are treated as a touch-spell. On a successfull melee touch attack, the target must make a Fortitude save (DC 20) or be instantly slain, rising 1d4 rounds laster as a spectre under the control of the wearer. A successful save means the creature takes 2d8+10 points of damage. This is a necromantic death effect.

The wearer of the crown suffers the following penalties:

• The wearer changes alignment to neutral evil while the crown is worn.
• The crown cannot be removed unless Myrkul wills it. Normally the only way the crown is removed is when it teleports itself away.
• The crown can use suggestion once per day on the wearer, and can possess the wearer for up to 20 minutes per day as if using a magic jar spell.
• The wearer slowly turns into an undead being over the course of two years. Use of the cone of undeath or the Myrkul's Hand abilities advances this process 1d4 months per use. When the transformation is complete, the wearer appears lichlike and his type changes to "undead", but he otherwise retains all his normal abilities. If the wearer reaches this state and the corwn teleports away, the wearer is instantly destroyed.
• The wearer is paranoid and possessive about the crown, keeping all others away from it.
• All beings within 100 feet of the crown while it is worn must make a Will save or be affected by a sympathy spell.

Caster Level: 20th; Weight: 2lb.

References

• Sean K Reynolds, Duane Maxwell, Angel McCoy, Magic of Faerûn (Wizards of the Coast 2001).
• City of Splendors boxed set (1994)
• Volo's Guide To All Things Magical (1996)