Magic Item - The Stone Heads of Messerschmidt

In the great city-state of Ptolemides magic and those who wield it are as much artists as they are scholars or mystics and perhaps no one was greater at his craft than the mad sculptor-magician Messerschmidt. During his day the College of Wizards was a powerful organization and they held sway over all branches of the mystical field of study in a way that has not been seen again since.

Messerschmidt was a genius, but he had little truck with his fellow practitioners and this cost him dearly. The elders of College would not brook insolence let alone the complete disregard that Messerschmidt held them in and in a single much regretted night they smashed his studies, slew his wives and myriad children and thought to destroy the artist-wizard himself, but Messerschmidt had transported himself away to a nearby quarry to view the soul in the stone he sought for his next work. When he returned his tower was a burned out abattoir.

Over the next year Messerschmidt decimated the College of Wizards. The elders, staff and many of its students became the 'work' of the sculptor and instead of rendering stone into works of art and magic he rendered magicians into stone and artifacts of power.

There are dozens of these stone heads still in existence. They are the souls of mighty dweomencrafters frozen into paroxysms of emotion. Each alone benefits its possessor, acting as guardians most often, voicing alarms, summoning spells and creatures as they might have in life. The more that are brought together the more powerful they become.

A single head will act as a magic mouth unless the name of the magician whose soul is trapped within the stone is known. Then the head will be able to cast a single first level spell as if it were a first level magic-user. If the possessor of the head is also a magic-user they themselves will be granted the casting of an extra 1st level spell at 1st level once per day if they are within 100feet of the head.

With every extra stone head in possession the level and ability of the heads and the possessor increases by one. Two stone heads act as a single 2nd level mage and grant the same to the possessor of the heads within the 100 foot radius of this enchantment's reach. Through the years there has been a constant struggle to gain as many of these stone heads as possible. Many have been lost though whether they actually be destroyed is not known.

It is rumored that each head possesses unique abilities as well as curses and the number of heads is rumored to grow if used too often or if too many are gathered together. A wizard may possess twelve of these stone heads only for his apprentices to find thirteen come morning and no master to be found.