Amber Shard

This small chunk of amber resin mounted on a chain-link cord is inset with complex, three-dimensional arcane runes which speak of a path that leads to untold power.

Keywords: Magic, Neck

Crafting: Cannot be crafted.

Awakened: You gain an edge on Presence tests made to intimidate, coerce, or bully.

Transformed: Whenever you make an ability roll for a Magic ability, the number you need to roll to score a critical hit is reduced by 1. Alternatively, as a respite activity, you can perform a magic ritual to bind this shard to a weapon; if you do so, you can never unbind the shard from that weapon. Once the shard is bound to a weapon, whenever you make an ability roll using that weapon, the number you need to roll to score a critical hit is reduced by 1. This effect does not stack with the Devastating imbuement.

A hero seeking power begins the campaign with the amber shard, a small chunk of amber resin mounted on a chain-link cord. The shard is inset with complex, three-dimensional arcane runes which speak of a path that leads to untold power. The hero who possesses the amber shard should have strong, vivid reasons to want to find and claim the power that the shard promises.

Unbeknownst to the hero, the amber shard was formerly a part of a dark vestige's amber sarcophagus in the Amber Temple in Barovia.

Developments.

• In Arc A - Escape From Death House, when the amber shard senses the presence of Death House, it glows with amber light and tugs its cord in the direction of the house.
• In Arc A - Escape From Death House, the hero recognizes Elisabeth Durst's amber shard as similar in appearance to their own.
• In Arc G - The Strazni Siblings or Arc F - Lady Wachter's Wish, the hero recognizes Izek Strazni's amber shard in a similar way. When the party defeats Izek, the amber shard becomes awakened.
• In Arc R - Trials of the Mountain, Elder Burebis of Soldav can recognize the amber shard as a shard of evil taken from the Amber Temple, and the hero can recognize the amber shards kept by the shoosuva and bodaks (and Scorilo) as resembling their own.
• In Arc S - A Sword of Sunlight, upon entering the Amber Temple, the hero's amber shard glows and tugs in the same way that it did upon sensing Death House, guiding the hero toward a suitable amber sarcophagus (preferably Zantras's). If the hero accepts a deal with a dark vestige, the amber grows darker, and the amber shard becomes transformed. If the hero rejects a deal with a dark vestige, the amber seems to glow from within as if lit by sunlight, and the amber shard becomes transformed.

If the hero would die in Barovia while in possession of their amber shard, it behaves as described in Amber Shards, offering the hero an opportunity to forge a pact with a vestige of the Amber Temple: Zantras, the Kingmaker.