Items

Powers (named Scrolls and Tablets)

mechanic / lore catalog MÖRK BORG Bare Bones Edition, p.34–35; Cult content

A few so-called Powers are known, and they are usually found written in scrolls. Roll Presence + d4 every morning to determine how many times you can use Powers that day; choose from your available scrolls. When reading a scroll, test Presence DR12. If you succeed, the Power is activated and you subtract one use from your daily total. If you fail, the Power doesn't work, you lose d2 hp, and you become dizzy for the next hour. During this time, Powers will always fail in the worst possible way.

Scrolls divide into Unclean and Sacred. Scrolls will never work when wielding zweihand weapons or medium/heavy armor.

The Tablets of Ochre Obscurity are a separate category — clay tablets behaving as scrolls but with different breakage rules. The Forlorn Philosopher is uniquely able to read them.

Named Powers in Canonical Sources

Slithering Strangulation (Sepulchre of the Swamp Witch) — d4 rainbow ethereal boa constrictors emerge from the ground, capture one creature each for d8 rounds, d2 damage per round. Melee attacks on a constricted creature have 50% chance of the snake targeting the attacker.
Nine Violet Signs Unknot the Storm (Rotblack Sludge, Sepulchre of the Swamp Witch) — d2 bolts of lightning dealing d6 damage each. Wielded by Fletcher and Srolki & Yaoxl.
Daemon of Capillaries (Rotblack Sludge) — one creature chokes for d6 rounds, d4 HP damage per round. Wielded by Fletcher.
Ich-bin-luft (Rotblack Sludge) — unique to Fletcher. Invisibility for two rounds, can still attack.
Metzhuotl Blind Your Eye (Sepulchre of the Swamp Witch) — wielded by Srolki & Yaoxl.
Roskoe's Consuming Glare (Sepulchre of the Swamp Witch) — wielded by Srolki & Yaoxl.
Deathlike Silence (Death Ziggurat) — wielded by high-rank death-obsessed cultists. Presence DR14 or deafened d10 minutes.
Beechwood Tube Protean Power (Rotblack Sludge) — sold by Sagsobuth; a different unclean Power each dawn, single-use, misinterpreted on 1–3.

Unclean Scrolls (d10) — Bare Bones p.34

d10	Name	Effect
1	Palms Open the Southern Gate	A ball of fire strikes d2 creatures; d8 damage each.
2	Tongue of Eris	One creature of your choice is confused for 10 minutes.
3	Te-le-kin-esis	Move an object up to d10×10 feet for d6 minutes.
4	Lucy-Fire's Levitation	Hover for Presence + d10 rounds.
5	Daemon of Capillaries	One creature chokes for d6 rounds, d4 hp per round. Wielded by Fletcher.
6	Nine Violet Signs Unknot the Storm	d2 lightning bolts, d6 damage each. Wielded by Fletcher and Srolki & Yaoxl.
7	Metzhuotl Blind Your Eye	One creature is invisible d6 rounds, or until damaged. Attack/defend at DR6. Known to Srolki & Yaoxl.
8	Foul Psychompomp	Summon (d6): 1–3 d4 skeletons / 4–6 d4 zombies.
9	Eyelid Blinds the Mind	d4 creatures fall asleep for one hour unless they pass a DR14 test.
10	Death	All creatures within 30 feet lose a total of 4d10 hp, divided as the caster wishes.

Sacred Scrolls (d10) — Bare Bones p.35

d10	Name	Effect
1	Grace of a Dead Saint	d2 creatures regain d10 hp each.
2	Grace for a Sinner	One creature gains +d6 on a single roll (damage, test, etc.).
3	Whispers Pass the Gate	Ask three questions of a deceased creature.
4	Aegis of Sorrow	One creature gains 2d6 extra hp for 10 rounds.
5	Unmet Fate	One creature, dead no longer than a week, wakes with terrible memories.
6	Bestial Speech	You may speak with animals for d20 minutes.
7	False Dawn / Night's Chariot	Light or pitch black for 3d10 minutes.
8	Hermetic Step	You see every trap in your path for 2d10 minutes.
9	Roskoe's Consuming Glare	d4 creatures lose d8 hp each. Known to Srolki & Yaoxl.
10	Enochian Syntax	One creature blindly obeys a single command.

Arcane Catastrophes (d20) — Bare Bones p.43–45

What happens on a fumble while wielding Powers. Effects in italic are things the caster might not immediately realize. A caster who rolls the same result twice explodes in screaming black fire in which the faces of the dead are seen — d6 damage each round, and water only feeds this fire.

d20	Catastrophe
1	One by one your teeth fall out. Long, brittle fingernails replace them in your gums. Your smile is horrific and you find it hard to eat.
2	You feel fine. It's fine. You pustulate with a magical STD. Those intimate with you die of plague within d4 days, then rise as weeping zombies who hunt you in dreams before finding you in reality.
3	Your skeleton is possessed and will do anything to kill you and escape (drowning or piercing preferred, to spare the bones). Test Strength DR10 in stressful situations or take d4 damage. When you die, you become a zombie.
4	The illusion of the celestial sphere is lifted; you see what dwells beyond. And it sees you. Gazing upon a clear night sky drives you mad with fear.
5	An unending snow of black ash falls around you, perceived only by you and the mad. Water sickens you from this day on — only ash, soot, or burnt remains quench your thirst.
6	The earth decays around you like wet flesh. You sink 3 feet, unable to climb out without help. d4 translucent, crayfish-like children with your face cling, scream, and bite. (HP 3, Morale —, no armor, bite/pinch d4)
7	Your skin tatters like paper, your flesh melts like wax, your intestines bloat and burst — until all that is left is a walking, talking skeleton.
8	A gnashing gap-toothed mouth splits open on your neck. It spits out your secrets and inner thoughts, and can be lulled to sleep only with blood.
9	The sky warps and stars spin like wheels. Thrown one day into the future, you arrive vomiting Time as evaporating silver bile. A Misery is fulfilled.
10	Light itself despises you. If you gaze upon a candle, lamp, or torch, it goes out.
11	Within d4 days a vile cocoon heaves from the ground and bursts, spawning your exact clone — unintelligent, spreading mischief and suffering. It recurs every few days until the ground is cleansed with holy water or fire.
12	Your eyes burn in agony, bleeding before loosening and falling from their gory pits. You continue to see through them wherever they are.
13	You and a random nearby creature pass out. When you wake, your souls have switched. Welcome to your new flesh.
14	Five twisted, skeletal arms burst from your back. The hands are mischievous, violent, and terribly cruel.
15	Your skin pales and emits a sickly greenish light. Living things held close fall ill — weakening, bones brittle, teeth and hair falling out.
16	The Power works, but fate or a demonic force perverts its effects to your precise disadvantage.
17	The scroll crumbles to fine black powder that reaches for your nose and mouth. Make a Toughness DR14 test or lose d10 HP.
18	The Power pierces you like a knife, feeding on your anima. You are permanently gaunt, drawn, and insatiably hungry. When resting you restore only half the rolled HP.
19	You fall through Refva into Cube-Violet, an esoteric dimension of mythical obscurity — walls smooth, iridescent, cold; above, an endless inferno. To leave (d4): (1) slay riddling Kulvan, who holds three colourless pearls; (2) poison a close friend with crumbled Sict-Shroom; (3) reach up through the fire to the golden key (d4 fingers burn to ash); (4) the cube is perfect and empty — wait in maddening timeless silence until another fool arrives.
20	Perhaps it's for the best. HE emerges from the shadows. At least your suffering is short, almost instantaneous, as the two-headed basilisk devours you.

Recovered from the Bare Bones art spread via OCR (poppler + tesseract).

Connections

Tablets of Ochre Obscurity, Forlorn Philosopher, Fletcher, Srolki & Yaoxl, Srolki & Yaoxl, Sagsobuth, Death-Obsessed Cultists, Kulvan, Sict-Shroom, Cube-Violet

Gaps / Expansion Notes

All three Bare Bones power tables — Unclean Scrolls, Sacred Scrolls, and Arcane Catastrophes — are now fully recovered (the catastrophes via OCR of the p.43–45 art spread). Kulvan, Sict-Shroom, and Cube-Violet remain named-but-undescribed beyond their catastrophe-19 appearance — open expansion seeds.