Runeslave Cauldron (Minor Artifact)

Slot none; Aura strong necromancy; CL 20th; Weight 900 lbs.

DESCRIPTION

This 12-foot-high, 10-foot-diameter cauldron is made of solid iron, cast in one piece and thick enough to withstand great heat. Its side is marked with a large rune, while many other runes grace its rim.

A runeslave cauldron has the ability to infuse the body of a freshly slain giant, reviving it and transforming it into a runeslave. Before it can be used, the runeslave cauldron must first be activated by filling it with a specially prepared broth of rare necromantic ingredients and rainwater collected from several open graves. The cost of the special ingredients is 10,000 gp, but once the cauldron is filled, a fire lights under it automatically and keeps the broth bubbling and functional for 1 year.

Once the cauldron is filled with broth, one need only sacrifice a giant (the method of killing the giant is incidental) and then place the giant’s corpse wholly or partially within the cauldron’s bubbling contents. One hour later, the sacrificed giant rises from the cauldron as if true resurrection had been cast on it. In addition, the newly revived giant gains the runeslave template. The cauldron can revive up to five giants a day in this manner. Non-giant corpses placed in the broth are unaffected by the cauldron’s magic.

Any living creature (save for a runeslave) completely immersed in the boiling broth inside a functional runeslave cauldron immediately takes 6d6 points of fire damage per round. In addition, the smoke produced by the cauldron as it boils is particularly noxious to good-aligned beings. It spreads to a radius of 30 feet around the cauldron, and while the smoke isn’t thick enough to obscure vision, its foul-smelling vapors sting and burn those of good alignment. Each round such a creature remains in the smoke, he must make a DC 20 Fortitude save or be blinded and nauseated for as long as he remains in the area plus an additional 1d6 rounds after leaving the area.

DESTRUCTION

By brewing a certain variant mixture of broth and then attempting to use the runeslave cauldron to transform a good-aligned giant who volunteers for the job, the cauldron can be caused to crack open across the carving. This immediately destroys the cauldron and slays all living runeslaves it has created.