The Vault

Wondrous item, relic

Worshiped by the survivors of a shattered civilization, The Vault holds secrets too dangerous to know. Scraps of lore, powerful artifacts, forbidden magic, and more have been deposited within, never to emerge. The relic takes the shape of a great basalt box whose fractured corners surround an all-consuming void. It is into this void—the relic’s extradimensional space— that objects and knowledge can be cast, imprisoned within the relic. Over the eons of its existence The Vault has become home to the darkest secrets of countless civilizations and worlds.

The consequence of withdrawing even a single piece of such knowledge, let alone opening the entire relic, could be a disaster of apocalyptic proportions, especially if done so maliciously.

While unattuned, the relic has the following properties:

• Extradimensional Space. The inside of the Vault is far larger than its exterior, large enough to store a near-infinite number of objects. Additionally, no creature can enter The Vault, nor can any known effect determine what is inside.
• Memory Bank. A creature that touches The Vault’s void can choose to forget something it knows, the knowledge of which is stored inside The Vault. A creature that forgets something in this manner cannot recover that information by any means other than by the power of the Vault.
• Safe Deposit. If an object smaller than The Vault is cast into the void in its center, the object vanishes into The Vault.
• Weightlessness. The Vault is weightless and floats in the air when lifted.

ATTUNEMENT

Becoming attuned to the relic requires one learn The Vault’s combination, a twenty-digit code. When a creature approaches The Vault, New Relic: The Vault an illusory tumbler appears in front of the creature, which can be turned by hand to enter the combination. Instead of numbers, The Vault’s tumbler is faced with ninety-nine eldritch runes whose meaning is a complete mystery, twenty of which are used in The Vault’s combination. Guessing the combination is not enough—a creature must learn the meaning of each rune and understand its place in the combination. Each time The Vault is opened, a new combination is determined from the available ninety-nine runes. When this occurs, each rune appears inscribed on a surface on a unique plane within a single universe (chosen by the GM). A rune so inscribed cannot be removed or destroyed by any means, and a creature must discover, record, and discern its place in the combination. Once a rune is recovered, a successful Epic DC 40 Intelligence (Arcana) check is required to learn its place in the combination. While attuned, the relic gains the following properties in addition to its unattuned properties:

• Cataclysmic Opening. By spending 1 hour of strenuous activity working with The Vault’s tumbler, a creature attuned to the relic can open The Vault’s void. While The Vault’s void is open, any creature can use the relic’s Withdrawal feature, as detailed below.
• Profane Knowledge. The creature attuned to the relic knows the general details of everything contained within The Vault, but not specific details that would allow the creature to make use of said knowledge.
• Withdrawal. As an action, a creature attuned to The Vault that is in contact with its void can withdraw a single object, creature, or piece of lore from within. If an object is withdrawn, it appears in the nearest unoccupied space to The Vault. If a piece of lore or knowledge is withdrawn, the knowledge enters the creature’s mind, which it cannot forget by any known means.

BANE

If a creature attempts to open The Vault by any means other than its attunement process, the creature becomes imprisoned within The Vault, with the only means of escape being retrieved from the relic via its Withdrawal feature, as detailed above.