Item:Brass bolt with an oily sheen

brass bolt with an oily sheen
Look:	You see nothing unusual.
Weight:	2 stones
Metal:	Unknown
Uses:	10
Appraised Cost:	125 Kronars100 Lirums <br />90.2 Dokoras <br />0.125 LTBpoints <br />0.125 Tickets <br />0.125 Scrips <br />
Properties:	This is an item. This item is magical. This holds the Rend spell.
Dimensions:	? length x ? width x ? height
Sources:	Source is Su Helmas: Seeds of Entropy/Incidental loot, Su Helmas: Revealed!/Incidental loot, Su Helmas 444: Make Haste!/Incidental loot, Su Helmas 440: Entrapped/Incidental loot, Su Helmas 438: The Forbidden Temple/Incidental loot, Su Helmas 434: The Forbidden Temple/Incidental loot, Su Helmas 424: The Forbidden Temple/Incidental loot

• FOCUS:

You focus your magical senses on a brass bolt with an oily sheen.

The brass bolt has a definite magic pattern, which is apparently a spell.

You recognize the pattern as a manifestation of Lunar magic.

The pattern appears to be the Rend spell.

There is a weak point in one of the lines of energy, which will hold for ten more uses.

• STUDY:

You recognize that the bolt is a spellcasting device. The bolt will produce a magical effect under its own power if properly triggered, leaving your own talent out of the equation. Tales of humble heros producing spectacular magic because of a trinket find their anchor in reality here. There are few limits on the size or shape of spellcasting devices. Wands, rattles, staves and charms are common, but masterful enchanters have used pebbles or even dried flowers as the device's physical vessel. Most spellcasting devices contain a core of specially treated cambrinth to house the enchantment's charge, but a free-standing charge -- magical energy that simply hangs within its spell pattern -- is possible, at the cost of longevity.

While the bolt takes no spellcasting skill to work, invoking it is not effortless. Spellcasting devices require, at the very least, elaborate gesturing to function (a safety mechanism). Complex magic requires suitably complex perparations, often related to the realm of magic being used. It is not rare for a device to be keyed to the invoker's pulse, emotional state, bodily stance, surface thoughts or even prayfulness. The mixture of knowledge and discipline required to invoke these devices off hand demands practice.

You figure the simplest way to describe how to trigger it is "pointing it at your target, waving it at your target or invoking it."