Spiritlight

One of four items created with the help of the original god of death, this copper lamp is highly sought after by those wishing to ensure a person or creature remains dead. The lamp was made during the first age in the land known as Balri and at first glance it appears to be a fairly normal oil lamp. However, if the lamp is filled with regular oil it will not light. It will only light if filled with a mixture of embalming fluid and diamond dust at which point it gives off a green flame.
When the lamp is lit, the soul of a creature killed in it's vicinity will be drawn into the lamp. When this happens the lamp's flame changes to blue and burns for 24 hours. After this time the soul is totally destroyed, preventing resurrection and ensuring it cannot move on to join a divine or fiendish patron.

History

First Age

The earliest mention of this lamp is during the first age when a description of it was included in a report on the death of an influential noble in Balri. The lamp had been set up in the entranceway to the noble's home and the teport descibes how the light changed colour when the noble was killed with an arrow. The lamp was seized by the state and there are mentions of it being used to permanently remove threats in official reports from the period.
According to stories from the first age the lamp was stolen by a group of adventurers who hoped to use it to defeat a lich. They planned to use the lamp to destroy the lich's spirit before it could return to it's phlactery, but the plan failed and the lich claimed the lamp for it's own. The lich deplored the waste of souls from the use of the lamp so it only used it to develop several new spells to ensnare spirits for it's own use.
Towards the end of the first age the lamp was claimed by a group of undead hunters when they destroyed the lich's physical form. After several failed attempts to use it to destroy ghosts and spectres they turned it over to the Holy Kingdom of Caresnas in exchange for a hefty reward. The lamp was kept safe in Shaon until the Necromancer War.

Second Age

The lamp was retrieved by agents of the Empire of Trem after the defeat of the.necromancers and was used in several high profile executions. It was stolen from Trem by the Assistants to the Elevation as they tried to bring togther their deity's artefacts but they were stopped by the Order of the Shield. The order were unable to. retrieve the lamp and it became the prize in an underground war between nations, cults, churches, and adventurers.
Despite falling into the hands of various good aligned organisations there were few if any attempts to destroy it. Each organisation seemed to find reasons for why it was too valuable to destroy, leading some scholars to believe that it may have a subtle suggestion spell worked into it as protection. Towards the end of the second age the lamp was used by forces loyal to Miluril Starbrow to ensure that any powerful spellcasters loyal to Oscar Hilsburg couldn't be resurrected.

Third Age

Following the years of darkness the Assistants to the Elevation managed to steal the lamp from the Ancient Kingdom of the Forest. The Assistants tried to use it while observing the impact of infecting a vllage with azure ooze, but a mistake in the formula for the embalming fluid meant the lamp wouldn't light.
The entire empire of outraged by the assistants deliberately infecting a village with a disease and the assistants were forced to go into hiding to avoid the dozens of bounty hunters after their heads. While the assistants were eventually hunted down, the lamp was never recovered.

Item type

Magical

Creation Date

Some time in the first age

Manufacturer

Assistants to the Elevation

Weight

3lbs

For a while the lamp was used by a group that hunted devil worshippers. They used the lamp to destroy the souls of those who had sold them to fiend to prevent the fiends gaining more power. While well intentioned their actions were considered a terrible crime by the established churches and the devil hunters were themselves hunted by those they thought should have been their allies.