Maritesa's Finger
Touch of Death
The way of the Lich allows one to animate the dead with a touch of a finger. To write life into bones, and to command them beyond death. Maritesa was the first one to do so, to carve their name into the skulls of their diciples. So they might wield the Lich's power even in death.
Amongst the artefacts of Maritesa, one of their more well known ones is their severed finger. Able to grant anyone who wields it the power to animate the dead, the pen is a viable relic for any necromancer wanting to raise an army.
A necromancer's Writing Tool
A Pen as mighty as the Sword
The relic is a regular fountain pen adorned in silver, being no different than any other writing tool. All except for its tip, which consists of the mummified fingerbone of the Lich god.
Still having its nail, a groove is carved into it allows ink to flow through. Long enough to write on anything, sharp enough to stab someone with. Decorated in a language that is long dead, no longer spoken by anyone alive in the modern age.
Written in Blood
While the pen can write normally, its main purpose is to control beings. By writing a command onto a creature's forehead, it allows direct control of their actions. Bones reanimate, corpses come to life, and even the living struggle to fight against the will of the word.
To take full advantage of its power, it requires a blood donor to write with. The benefit of its sharpness allows it to take blood from a victim, only to write the command right on their dead bodies. Though any blood can be used to use the pen's power.
What gets written ends up engraved into the skin and bone of the person. Only once it believes its task is complete, will the command fade and any power controlling it be gone.
The Tale of the Pen
Nobody is certain when or where the pen first got made, as its existence dates back to any record of Maritesa's cult. Presumed to be stolen from their corpse, the pen ended up in the hands of their followers, either by accident or inherited.
Its existence only became known when Prometheists pulled a heist upon a necromancer's den. Finding the relic lying amongst his research table, they confiscated it and brought it back to Luxaltar for research. Ever since, it ended up in the Tenebris Vault for safekeeping. Stored away amongst the many other relics, to end up lost to time.
But even with only a few officials aware of the pen's existence, it seems the cult knows its presence in the vault. Hence why security got raised over the years it remained there.
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