Skull of Unlife by

## Skull of Unlife

(Artifact, requires attunement by a cleric, sorcerer, warlock or wizard)

This black crystal skull is about the size of a human skull, even though it isn't. It is the last remains of a cursed Ancient Vampire Necromancer Lord who abused Oyana's powers over death. Killed by followers of Jaster, a gift of Jaster's to Oyana, and kept as a warning, even though his name was stripped from existence. The skull was later stolen by the Shadar Kai and used by them. Over the years, the skull has become attuned and corrupted by the Shadowfell.
While attuned to it, it is sentient and prefers to float above your left shoulder. When you cast a spell from it, its mouth moves, as if providing the somatic components for the spell.

When you first attune to it, you must make a DC 20 Wisdom check to claim power over the Vampire's person. If you fail, you are considered charmed by the Vampire's soul, your alignment changes to Evil and you gain the flaw "You very much dislike not having the skull within reach and sight. You never want to unattune from it." On a success, you become the dominant mind with no further changes.

***Properties.***

<ul>

* While attuned to the skull, you are immune to disease (1 minor beneficial property)
* While attuned to the skull, nonmagical flames within 30 feet of you are doused (1 minor detrimental property)
* While attuned to the skull, your body rots over the course of four days, after which the rotting stops. You lose your hair by the end of day 1, finger tips and toe tips by the end of day 2, lips and nose by the end of day 3, and ears by the end of day 4. A *regenerate* spell restores lost body parts.
* While attuned to the skull, you are immune to Shadowfell madness.
</ul>

***Spells.*** While the skull is floating near you, you can use an action to cast one of the following spells: *animate dead* (5th level, 3 charges), *create undead* (4 charges), *blight* (2 charges), *bestow curse* (1 charge), *vampiric touch* (1 charge), *gentle repose* (1 charge). The skull has a total of 7 charges and recharges 1d4+3 charges at midnight.

***Power over Death.*** Alternatively to casting spells, you can use all 7 charges at once to reassess control over all undead that were ever created by a wielder of the skull, including the vampire whose skull this is. In addition to this, the skull recharges to full (7 charges) at midnight when in the Shadowfell.

When you die while attuned to the skull, your soul is ripped from your being and enters it. Only a *dispel magic* spell cast at 9th level can end this effect for one soul at a time.

***Sentience*.** The Ancient Vampire Necromancer's soul within the skull has an Intelligence of 22, a Wisdom of 14 and a Charisma of 18. It has blindsight out to 60 ft. The skull can't actually speak, but it can communicate with you telepathically.

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<div style='margin-left:-5px;'></div> Art credit: "Mystery Ticket", by Diletta De Santis

***Personality*.** It desires three things: To end the church of Jaster and all its followers, because they got him killed; to further the most noble science and art of necromancy; and freedom. In that order. Having been the vampire he was, being dead inside the skull isn't too big of a deal, but the fact that it was killed in the first place annoys it. That being said, its greatest passion in life, raising the dead, can still be pursued at the hands of its wielder. So great is this passion that it would rather pursue this if the wielder is able (and if she is not it will comment on it frequently) than its freedom.

#### Acquiring the Skull
As it stands, the  skull contains only the soul of the no-named Ancient Vampire. When someone kills the wielder of the skull before they acquire it, their soul enters the skull, retaining its mental ability scores and personality. Both souls can communicate with one another and could very well hate each other.

The currently controlled undead by count Romilly are: a beholder zombie, five ogre zombies, two wights, two vampire spawn, and thirty-six skeletons. By virtue of count Romilly, the ogre zombies, wights and skeletons are armed with leather armor, swords and shields. Note that, even though these can be commanded to leave the Shadowfell to, say, the Material Plane, it is highly unlikely the new wielder can retain control, due to less than 7 charges being regenerated. The only real way to balance this as a PC would be to ensure she is in the Shadowfell at midnight every day.

When on the Material Plane, after some time (depending on how and where the PCs travel), a dachshund skeleton named Collin makes its way to the creature attuned to the skull. Even while not controlled by magic, it is nevertheless loyal to the wielder of the skull.

\pagebreakNum

___
> ## Collin
>*Small, Lawful good*
> ___
> - **Armor Class** 10 (natural armor)
> - **Hit Points** 5 (d6 + 1)
> - **Speed** 20 ft.
>___
>|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA|
>|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
>| 4 (-3)|8 (-1)|12 (+1)|3 (-4)|12 (+1)|16 (+3)|
>___
> - **Skills** Deception -1, Persuasion +5
> - **Damage Vulnerabilities** radiant, bludgeoning damage
> - **Senses** Passive perception 11
> - **Languages** Understands the languages of the wielder of the skull, but can't speak (still tries)
> - **Challenge** 0 (10 XP)
> ___
>
> ### Actions
>
> ***Bite.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +1 to hit, 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 3 (d6) piercing damage
>
> ***Bark.*** Collin tries to scare miscreants away. Creatures within 30 ft. that can hear him must make a DC 15 Charisma saving throw or be frightened until the start of Collins next round. If the creatures are not undead and aware that Collin is, they have disadvantage on the saving throw.

***With good intentions.*** Collin was the very first creation of the now deceased vampire lord. Centuries ago when he was a mere mortal wizard, Collin was his pet at university, but when his beloved friend passed away, he could not bare the loss.

Even though he was able to restore Collin to unlife, he could not hide his secret for long. While Collin's spirit was as bright as ever, his flesh rotted away and the cause of the smell in the university halls was soon found out. As necromancy was forbidden at the time, the guilty was promptly expelled.

***The most noble science of necromancy.*** All for the better, he must have thought, as he was far beyond his peers in skill already. Throughout his life he honed his necromantic skills and become convinced of the beauty of this magical science. Not only does one have to kill ones opponent, one must also know how to bring is back to life and how to live as it. It is all good and well to simply control it, but without proper knowledge of the raised's functions, many subtleties would be lost. In his eyes reaching far beyond both natural biology and other magical schools, his love for necromancy was unrivaled. Alas, one can only do so much research in one lifetime. So naturally, given his passion, to become undead was almost expected. To become a vampire, to be precise.

Through all this and for many years later, Collin stayed by his side, a loyal companion, unwavering, without ever doubting his master's heart, until the day he was killed. And now, once again, he can be reunited with his master.

***Loyalty.*** While Collin doesn't understand the first thing about life and death, having been raised by his master and having spent so much time with him, he has developed a bond that only the strongest of magic could break. While the skull is on the Material Plane, Collin knows exactly where it is, as long as it contains the soul of the vampire lord.

He is friendly and loyal to whoever is attuned to the skull, and acts as if he is convinced the wielder has the best intentions with his master and is merely helping him. The vampire lord himself is also very glad to see Collin again. If the current wielder displeases him, he will try to let Collin know, even though he has no telepathic connection with him, and try to break this attunement, perhaps through means of Collin.