Wondrous Item

Legendary The Storyteller’s Trial

Soul Brand

  As an action, you may target the corpse of a creature within 30 feet of you that has died within the last 24 hours. The creature must not be a construct or other inorganic being. You attempt to brand its soul into your skin, binding it within Kapa Kila Ahi as an Ashen Warrior.   Make a Wisdom check against a DC equal to 10 + the creature’s CR.   You may attempt to brand the same soul up to three times. On a success, the soul is trapped within your tattoo and becomes one of your Ashen Warriors. On a third failure, the soul is lost forever and cannot be branded again, and you gain 2 levels of exhaustion.   A soul cannot be branded if it is under the direct protection of a deity, patron, or similar supernatural power, unless that power permits it.

• At 14th level, you add your proficiency bonus to this check.

• At 20th level, you double your proficiency bonus for this check.

 

Ashen Warriors

  Ashen Warriors remain dormant as soul-marks within your tattoo until summoned. While dormant, they appear as blackened figures, symbols, faces, beasts, weapons, or burning silhouettes shifting faintly across your skin.   When summoned, an Ashen Warrior tears itself free from your body and manifests in an unoccupied space you can see within 30 feet. It is immune to the charmed and frightened conditions and cannot be compelled to betray you. It always obeys your commands with perfect loyalty.   An Ashen Warrior retains the rough shape, fighting style, and notable abilities it possessed in life, though its base rank determines its fundamental combat statistics. Equipment worn or carried by the creature in life may become part of the warrior’s manifested form. You may alter that equipment at your discretion, causing removed items to become physical again while newly granted gear is absorbed into the warrior’s ashen body.   Soul Storage   Kapa Kila Ahi can contain a number of branded souls based on your level.   Storage Capacity  

• Level 1: 1

• Level 2: 2

• Level 3: 3 + proficiency bonus

• Level 4: 4 + proficiency bonus

• Level 5: 5 + proficiency bonus

• Level 6: 6 + proficiency bonus

• Level 7: 7 + proficiency bonus

• Level 8: 8 + proficiency bonus

• Level 9: 9 + proficiency bonus

• Level 10: 10 + proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier

• Level 11: 11 + proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier

• Level 12: 12 + proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier

• Level 13: 13 + proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier

• Level 14: 14 + proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier

• Level 15: 15 + proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier

• Level 16: 16 + proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier

• Level 17: 17 + proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier

• Level 18: 18 + proficiency bonus + twice your Wisdom modifier

• Level 19: 19 + proficiency bonus + twice your Wisdom modifier

• Level 20: unlimited

If trapping a soul would exceed your storage capacity, the attempt fails.  

Ashen Energy

Kapa Kila Ahi feeds on a reserve of supernatural power called Ashen Energy.   Your maximum Ashen Energy equals twice your current storage capacity.   You regain all expended Ashen Energy when you finish a long rest. You regain one-quarter of your maximum Ashen Energy when you finish a short rest.   Each Ashen Warrior you keep manifested consumes Ashen Energy over time based on its summon cost, expending that amount for every hour it remains active. If you cannot pay this cost, the Ashen Warrior collapses into smoke and returns to your skin.  

Borrowed Flame

You may draw directly upon the power of a soul branded within Kapa Kila Ahi.   As an action, you may expend Ashen Energy to use a feature or cast a spell known by one of your Ashen Warriors. If the borrowed ability is a spell, the Ashen Energy cost is based on the spell’s level:  

• 1st level: 2 energy

• 2nd level: 3 energy

• 3rd level: 5 energy

• 4th level: 6 energy

• 5th level: 7 energy

• 6th level: 9 energy

• 7th level: 10 energy

• 8th level: 11 energy

• 9th level: 13 energy

  If the ability is not a spell, the DM determines an Ashen Energy cost appropriate to its power.  

Ashen Evolution

When you first attune to Kapa Kila Ahi, choose one of the following benefits:   Legion Leap. When you would summon one Ashen Warrior as a bonus action, you may instead summon up to three.   Servants of Skill. Your Ashen Warriors can make ability checks and skill checks on your behalf when appropriate.   Memory in the Ash. Your Ashen Warriors remember details from before death. They can always communicate with you regardless of language. Ashen Warriors of Rank 3 or higher can communicate with other creatures as well.  

• At 5th level, choose one additional benefit.

• At 10th level, choose the remaining benefit.

 

Ashen Warrior Ranks

  Martial Ranks

• Infantry — HP 1, AC 11, To Hit +0, Summon Cost 1

• Warrior — HP 2, AC 13, To Hit +1, Summon Cost 2

• Knight — HP 3, AC 15, To Hit +3, Summon Cost 3

• Captain — HP 5, AC 18, To Hit +5, Summon Cost 4

• General — HP 7, AC 22, To Hit +10, Summon Cost 5

  Mage Ranks

• Novice — HP 1, AC 9, To Hit +0, Summon Cost 1

• Scholar — HP 2, AC 11, To Hit +1, Summon Cost 2

• Master — HP 3, AC 13, To Hit +3, Summon Cost 3

• Grandmaster — HP 4, AC 15, To Hit +5, Summon Cost 4

• Archmage — HP 5, AC 17, To Hit +10, Summon Cost 5

  Beast Ranks

• Runt — HP 1, AC 9, To Hit +1, Summon Cost 1

• Welp — HP 2, AC 11, To Hit +3, Summon Cost 2

• Beast — HP 3, AC 13, To Hit +5, Summon Cost 3

• Predator — HP 5, AC 15, To Hit +7, Summon Cost 4

• Apex Predator — HP 7, AC 18, To Hit +10, Summon Cost 5

 

Ashen Guard

When you are hit by an attack, you can use your reaction to expend 3 Ashen Energy and force one of your branded souls to intercept the blow. You gain a +5 bonus to AC until the start of your next turn, including against the triggering attack.   If the attack misses, you can immediately summon that soul into an unoccupied space within 5 feet of you without paying its normal summon cost. The summoned warrior vanishes at the end of your next turn unless you spend its normal upkeep.  

Special Ability: Ashen Legion Unbound

  As an action, you may expend 10 Ashen Energy to tear open the branded souls within Kapa Kila Ahi and unleash them in a wave of ash and ember.   Choose up to five Ashen Warriors stored within the tattoo. They immediately leap from your skin and appear in unoccupied spaces you can see within 30 feet. This summoning ignores their normal summon costs.   For 1 minute:

• the summoned warriors have advantage on attack rolls,

• they add your Wisdom modifier to their damage rolls,

• they are immune to being charmed, frightened, paralyzed, or restrained,

and when one of them is reduced to 0 hit points, it explodes into ash and fire, forcing creatures within 5 feet of it to make a Dexterity saving throw against your item save DC, taking 2d8 fire + 2d8 necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success.   Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Kapa Kila Ahi is not a weapon in the conventional sense, but a sacred brand of dominion and fire-shadow. It manifests as a living tattoo that winds across the bearer’s skin like blackened ink mixed with ember-red veins. When a worthy foe falls, the tattoo drinks in the creature’s fading essence, trapping its soul within the bearer’s flesh. These imprisoned souls appear as shifting marks and silhouettes across the body, and when called upon, they leap free as ashen warriors formed from soot, shadow, and smoldering flame.

The ashen warriors resemble distorted echoes of their former selves. Their bodies are ink-black and wreathed in rising wisps of ash, with burning red eyes and the faint glow of buried embers beneath cracked shadow-skin. They are utterly loyal to the bearer of Kapa Kila Ahi and obey without hesitation.