Death-in-the-Box

Death-in-the-box was once a jack-in-the-box, a perfectly harmless, if perhaps somewhat stradling toy, crafted by the master toy maker Guiseppe. Maligno effected its corruption. It is now a minor artifact of evil, a tiny dread construct armed with razor sharp claws, potent necromantic powers, and discretion over the time and place of their use. The thing is fond neither of daytime nor crowds. It is invulernable to mundane violence. Mundane fire and potent magic harms it slightly, but the last traces of the damage are gone within minutes. It can be destoyed only by flames of a funeral pyre, the light of a sunray spell, or, curiously enough, the effect of an energy drain spell.

Powers

Each time it is wound and then springs, the death-in-the-box will unleash a random power, from horror all the way up to death or energy drain. Skeletons summoned by the death-in-the-box function as Strahd Skeletons.

Curse

Many of the powers of the death-in-the-box do not discriminate in their targets. In addition, possession of the death-in-the-box increases the chances of earning the attention of evil (increased chances of failing a Powers Check).

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

		Forged of Darkness
		Forged of Darkness - p34 The Created - pp1, front cover
		Forged of Darkness - pp34-35
		Forged of Darkness - pp34-35