The Chair Of Life
They took the murderer of Cassie Davis to the chair at noon and the Warden pulled the lever. There was a loud crackle and a blue flash and the murderer's body shrank and changed into that of his young victim. There was total silence whilst Cassie's mother asked a question that only Cassie would have known.
When she answered it correctly there was a loud cheer as she was set free. Justice had been done and Cassie was not only legally avenged, but alive again, whilst her killer no longer existed in any form.
Full Item Description
A heavy chair of oak and bronze, with a stump of highly magical tassite on the back, straps to hold the victim down and a metal cap to be strapped to the victim down and deliver it's magic.
History
When Queen Amber took over from the hated Yocasta, and the crime wave that resulted as a result of her lighter hand on a people used to brutal repression had eased, some liberals came to her and asked her to end the death penalty. She refused at first, believing that to do so would result in another massive crime wave. But after a man was wrongly hanged and it later turned out that the main witness against him turned out to be a serial killer who had committed several murders, she decided that the death penalty had to go.
Rather then just replace it with prison for murderers, she heard tales of The Gate of Life and called the finest mages in the Queendom to make a portable form of it on a small scale, fitted within a sturdy chair, a Chair of Life. First a picture of the victim would be slotted onto a piece of tassite in the back of the chair and it would be charged up with magic, a procedure that lasted several hours. Then the convicted killer would be strapped down and a clamp fitted to his or her head. After the sentence was reread to the convict and the last words were said, a lever was pulled and a beam of powerful Changing magic enveloped the convict, changing him or her into his or her victim.
Because Queen Amber knew that no judicial system was without the occasional error she had a fail-safe fitted into the chair. If the convict were guilty his or her mind would be rewritten with the memories of his or her victim. But if the convict was wrongly convicted only his or her body would be changed and the original memories would remain. Compensation could then be paid on a sliding scale, according to the age and health of the new body, the persons prior criminal record, if one existed, and if it was in any way the persons fault that he or she ended up wrongly convicted in the first place.
Plot hooks-One of the PCs is wrongly convicted and sent to the chair and must now get used to being in a radically different body.
-There is a way to get the spell cancelled but it will be a difficult and dangerous quest.
-Something is wrong with the fail-safe and the PCs memories and skills are slowly being rewritten. If he or she is not freed of the spell in time, in effect he or she will have been replaced body and soul by another person.
-Or the PCs are ordered to escort a notorious crime boss from one town to another to face the chair, but the uncaught members of his or her gang are determined to rescue him or her.
-Or a famous noble or actress is in danger of being assassinated by someone who wants to be him or her, with his or her memories, and plans to turn him or herself in afterwards to the City Guards and plead guilty at trial. The PCs have been hired as bodyguards to keep the would be murderer at bay, a murderer who wants to be caught afterwards.
Magic/Cursed Properties
If a murderer is strapped into this chair and the magic is activated, he or she will be replaced in body and soul with the victim, but an innocent person will only have his or her body changed.
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? Responses (7)
Except for the creation story, which can use a lot of improvement, this is a cool idea Cheka. It does hold a lot of potential for abuse, which may be a good thing.
I can only imagine the amount of mischief an item like this could cause in the wrong hands, it's great! The local thieves guild kills a ranking magistrate, and then uses a stolen Chair of Life to turn an innocent thief into a copy of the magistrate, mayhem ensues!
Agree with both of the comments - this is good Cheka!
Another hook is if the victim was killed for a good reason - by a PC hero, for example. But apart from the PCs, no one ones their true evil, so when they are arrested for the villians murder....
One of your best so far, Cheka. Exquisitely original and well worthy of its 5/5. This is exactly the kind of lopsided, out-of-the-box thinking I love and admire.
A very good piece!
/David
i like this as well. Great concept to play around with. The "magic" of how it works is a bit foggy to me, but then again, thats why its called magic! Kudos.
Beautiful. That is poetic justice at it's finest. But I think it needs a slightly cosmetic quirk to put it at it's best. Maybe something like a an more detailed description of the transformation. Sorry to nitpick, I do like it.
I don't have much to add except to say that this is an aamzing sub. Well done!
