Carrion Familiar (The Coin-Fattening Ferret)

Moderate transmutation; CL 9th
Slot —; Price 18,000 gp; Weight 2 lb.

DESCRIPTION

This object appears to be the corpse of a small ferret in an advanced and irreversible state of decay, roughly five days post-mortem. Its fur is patchy and sloughing, its flesh bloated and split in places, and its tiny jaws hang slightly ajar, revealing yellowed teeth beneath drying lips. A constant seep of foul-smelling fluids mats what remains of its coat. The odor is overwhelming and persistent - a thick, clinging stench of rot that seems to settle into clothing, hair, and equipment within minutes of exposure.

The Carrion Familiar cannot be cleaned, preserved, repaired, or altered in any way that would reduce, mask, or eliminate its smell. Mundane and magical attempts alike - including but not limited to prestidigitation, purify food and drink, gentle repose, or similar effects - automatically fail to affect the corpse or its odor. The stench radiates in a 30-foot radius and is strong enough to impose a –2 penalty on Charisma-based skill checks (except Intimidate) for any creature carrying it or within range for more than 1 round. Creatures within 10 feet of the Carrion Familiar must succeed on a DC 10 Fortitude save each round or be sickened for 1 round from the overwhelming proximity, while creatures between 10 and 30 feet are merely subjected to the pervasive odor and its social penalties. Creatures particularly sensitive to smell may react far more severely at the DM’s discretion.

Despite its revolting nature, the Carrion Familiar possesses a peculiar and highly coveted magical property. As a standard action, a creature holding or carrying the ferret may activate its power, provided it is within 30 feet of a closed container of coins (such as a chest, coffer, strongbox, or similar repository) located in an underground dungeon environment. This activation must occur before the container is opened.

Upon activation, the ferret’s corpse convulses in a brief, grotesque spasm. Its body tightens and shifts as though something within it has ruptured, producing a series of wet, sickly squelching noises - an unmistakable chorus of tearing flesh and shifting decay - clearly audible within 30 feet. This sound cannot be muffled, silenced, or suppressed by any means, including magical effects such as silence. Creatures who hear this sound must succeed on a DC 13 Fortitude save or be sickened for 1 round. Creatures already sickened by the Carrion Familiar’s presence instead become nauseated for 1 round upon a failed save.

Immediately following this convulsion, the corpse releases a fresh seep of viscous, foul-smelling fluid from its mouth, eyes, and ruptured seams along its body. This ichor drips audibly onto nearby surfaces for 1d4 rounds, leaving dark, greasy stains and a clinging residue wherever it lands. These fluids cannot be prevented, contained, or redirected, and any attempt to do so results only in further unpleasant spread.

If the designated container is opened within 1 round of this activation, the total number of coins within that container increases by 20%. This increase applies only to coins (including copper, silver, gold, platinum, and similar minted currency) and does not affect gems, art objects, or magic items. If the container is not opened within this time, the activation is wasted and counts against the item’s daily limit.

Coins within the affected container emerge dampened with a faint, greasy residue and carry a subdued but unmistakable trace of the ferret’s odor for several hours, often rendering them unpleasant to handle.

This ability may be used up to five times per day. The Carrion Familiar must be present at the moment of activation and remain within 30 feet of the container until it is opened.

The ferret is considered an attended object when carried and has hardness 0 and 5 hit points. If destroyed, it collapses into an especially foul slurry of rot and bone fragments, but reforms after 24 hours in the possession of the last creature that carried it, fully restored to its previous loathsome state.

LORE

Few items inspire such immediate revulsion paired with such reluctant dependence as the Carrion Familiar. Tales of its existence spread in hushed tones among treasure hunters and dungeon delvers, often accompanied by exaggerated gestures of disgust and half-serious warnings about “the smell that follows you home.” Yet, for all the mockery it invites, those who have carried it speak of the quiet, undeniable increase in wealth that trails behind its presence.

The origins of the ferret are widely debated. Some claim it was once the beloved pet of a miserly wizard who, in death, sought to ensure his companion would never be without purpose - or profit. Others insist it is the result of a failed experiment in transmutation, where the boundary between decay and growth was disastrously misunderstood. A more unsettling theory suggests the creature was never truly alive in the first place, but rather a construct made from refuse and given a semblance of form by magic that feeds upon avarice itself.

What is consistent across all accounts is the psychological toll of prolonged exposure. Adventurers have been known to argue over who must carry it, to bury it only to dig it back up hours later when coin is at stake, and to develop an almost ritualistic relationship with its presence. The smell does not merely linger - it embeds itself into memory, into identity, into the shared suffering of a group that cannot quite justify discarding it.

There are even whispered claims that the ferret’s condition worsens ever so slightly with each use of its power, as though feeding upon the act of acquisition. Whether this is truth or embellishment is uncertain, but those who rely upon it too heavily often find themselves wondering if the coin gained is truly worth what is slowly being carried alongside it.

CONSTRUCTION

Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, fabricate, gentle repose, bestow curse; Cost 9,000 gp, 720 XP, plus the preserved corpse of a small carnivorous mammal that must be allowed to rot naturally for no fewer than five days before enchantment begins.

Kelwyn’s Notes

There are, on rare and deeply regrettable occasions, creations that transcend mere poor judgment and instead stand as quiet indictments of the thinking mind itself. This object is one of them. I do not say this lightly, for I have walked through charnel dimensions where the ground itself wept rot, and I have catalogued organisms that exist solely to consume one another in endless cycles of wet, shuddering hunger. Yet even among such company, this… thing distinguishes itself with an almost admirable depravity.

It is not the stench alone, though I would note that it possesses a persistence and character that suggests something far more deliberate than simple decay. No - what renders this ferret truly offensive is the intention behind it. Someone, somewhere, looked upon the natural processes of death, filth, and dissolution, and asked not how they might be halted or understood, but how they might be harnessed in service of greed. That the result is effective is, if anything, the most damning aspect of all.

One might expect such an object to be shunned outright, cast into the nearest abyss or sealed behind wards and forgotten. Instead, it lingers. It is carried. It is tolerated. Adventurers - individuals who will brave dragons, curses, and the gnawing dark between worlds - will nevertheless recoil at its presence… and then, with visible reluctance, place it back into their satchel when coin is to be had. There is a lesson here, though I find little comfort in it.

I have often maintained that magic is a reflection of its creator, a mirror held not to the body, but to the will. If that is true, then this object offers us a rather unflattering portrait. It suggests that, given sufficient incentive, even the most capable among us will accept indignity, revulsion, and a slow erosion of self, provided the return is measured in gold. I cannot decide which is worse - the mind that conceived it, or the many hands that will, without fail, choose to keep it.