Soul Ampoule
The Soul Ampoule is the most important item to a Lich, as it literally contains the Lich's soul. Making one is hard, and destroying it is the only way to permanently kill a Lich. A lich with no Soul Ampoule will slowly die, so it's not unusual that Liches make more than one to maximize its chances of survival.
The Soul Ampoule is important, and best kept secret from the prying eyes of others. You will be vulnerable to attack if the nature of your Soul Ampoule is known. Even if only one other person knows about it, chances are that the information is spread sooner or later - secrets are sometimes hard to keep. It might be smart to have more than one as well, hidden in different places.
Multiple Soul Ampoules
A Lich might have more than one Soul Ampoule at one time. How many it can have is based on how long it has been a Lich. A newly created Lich can only have one, while an older Lich might have several. Obrivas has confirmed to have at least twelve - of course without revealing the exact number or where they are.
Breaking Soul Ampoules
When in a Lich's lair, look around - if there's one item that looks like it's hidden or protected, it might be the Soul Ampoule. This item needs to be destroyed if you're going to get rid of the Lich.
Just remember - threatening the Lich's Soul Ampoule will surely make the Lich attack you if it's able to. It knows it might die if the Ampoule is broken.
There are two ways to break a Soul Ampoule; physical and magical.
Breaking a Soul Ampoule physically is as easy - or as hard - as destroying the item used as an Ampoule. If the Ampoule is a ceramic vase it's enough to break it - as long as there isn't any magic effect preventing it from shattering. Imbuing a Soul Ampoule with extra magical effects is extremely hard and might render the Soul Ampoule unstable if not done correctly, though. Only the most powerful Liches might have Ampoules imbued with protective magic.
Magically destroying a Soul Ampoule requires strong dispelling energies or specific spells for destroying Soul Ampoules. The latter spells can be learned from the few individuals who know them - though finding anyone who know these spells is hard.
Breaking a Soul Ampoule isn't easy, though - especially considering that the Lich will be extremely aggressive towards anyone who tries.
Even when a Lich has more than one Soul Ampoule it's not pleasant when one of them is destroyed. The few Liches that have experienced it describe it as a mixture between overwhelmingly agonizing pain and an extremely loud screeching sound. No matter how many Soul Ampoules the Lich has, after losing one of them the Lich will go to great lengths to prevent losing another one.
Manufacturing process
A Soul Ampoule is made through a magical ritual taking seven days of non-stop work. The ritual consists of several steps, and each step needs to be done precisely and at the right time. One mistake and the whole ritual is failed, needing to be started again at another time. After a failed ritual the Lich's soul needs to recover for days until a new ritual is started. As long as a Lich has a Soul Ampoule already and only do the ritual to make another one it's not deadly to try again, although it's mentally painful for the Lich to have a battered soul. However, if the Lich fails the ritual while trying to remake its only Soul Ampoule after it's destroyed, it will most likely die before having a chance to retry the ritual.
The creation of the Lich's first Soul Ampoule is a vital part of the initial ritual to become a Lich.
When making extra Soul Ampoules all the old ones need to be collected and used in the ritual. The new Soul Ampoule will absorb soul essence from the others, balancing the amount of essence between all Ampoules. If all the old Ampoules aren't present the soul essence levels will become uneven, making the Ampoules unstable and prone to shattering. A shattered Ampoule is broken and can't be repaired, and will make the Lich suffer the same agony as if someone had destroyed it.
Significance
A Soul Ampoule is vital to a Lich. It's not possible to kill a Lich completely without destroying all of its Soul Ampoules, as the Lich will be reborn as long as at least one of its Ampoules are intact. If all of a Lich's Ampoules are destroyed, the Lich will slowly wither away until it dies - unless it can create a new one quickly.
A container - Something to store the Lich's soul into. Can be almost anything without an already present magical energy, as long as it's within the allowed size span, and not earlier used as a Soul Ampoule.
The Lich's soul - Must be the creator's soul. A Soul Ampoule is personal and can't be made for anyone else.
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