Antler Crown of the Hunted

Antler Crown of the Hunted

Antler Crown of the Hunted

Wondrous Item, legendary

Wielded by: Karma

A circlet of dark, weathered antler — six points, asymmetrical, the bone polished smooth at the base where it rests against the brow but rough and wild toward the tips. It is heavier than it looks, and warmer, and when you first set it on your head you heard, very faintly, the sound of hooves on stone. Not running away. Running out.

Zarchelia told you the truth of it, in that careful way she has of giving gifts that come with their own histories. The antlers were sacrificed — willingly, deliberately — by an Elk Beast King who tore them from his own crown to barter passage out of the Nine Hells. He paid in bone and blood and the shape of his own kingship, and he walked free. She was the one who took the payment. She kept the antlers. She has been waiting, she said, for someone worthy of the crown they would become.

What she did not say, but what you know — what you knew the moment you put the crown on, with a certainty that arrived in your chest like a held breath finally released — is that the Elk King lives. Somewhere under a real sky, in a real forest, he walks on lighter feet than he once did, his head bare and strange, and he is free. The crown remembers him. The crown is glad. And so, against everything you thought you knew about the bargain you'd just made, are you.

Properties

Charges. The crown has 5 charges. While wearing it, you can expend charges to cast the following spells:

• Entangle (1 charge)
• Heat Metal (2 charges)
• Conjure Animals (3 charges)

Recharge Ritual. The crown regains all expended charges when you complete a long rest, but only if you perform the Antler's Blooding at dawn: prick your fingertip on one of the crown's rough upper points and let a single drop of blood run down the length of the antler until it reaches the band. As the blood travels, you feel — briefly, vividly, and not at all like memory — what it was to wear these antlers when they were still part of a living skull. The weight of them. The pull of muscle at the base. The running. The drop reaches the band and is drunk in; the crown warms against your brow, and the sensation fades, leaving only a faint impression of hooves striking earth somewhere very far away.

Lore

This crown was crafted by Zarchelia, the erinyes, from the antlers of an Elk Beast King who sacrificed them to escape the Nine Hells. The antlers were willingly given as payment for freedom, and the crown carries the memory of that sacrifice. The Elk King walks free somewhere in the mortal world, his head bare but his spirit intact.

Related

• Pact Items – Complete collection of all pact items and their wielders
• Zarchelia – The erinyes who took the antlers as payment and crafted this crown
• Fiendish pact feats – Other benefits available through infernal pacts
• Bracers of the Bound Devil – Another pact item from Zarchelia
• Hellhound Whistle – Another pact item from Zarchelia
• The Apostate's Rosary – Another pact item from Zarchelia
• The Bound Grimoire – Another pact item from Zarchelia
• The Patron's Signet – Another pact item from Zarchelia