Heartgem Necklace

Lore

There are no inscriptions upon the Heartgem Necklace, no sigils, no clasps of gold or silver. It is, by all outward appearances, unremarkable: a simple rope cord, worn and sun-darkened, bearing a single polished stone the color of dried blood. And yet, among scouts, monster-hunters, and certain war-minded scholars, it is spoken of with reverence usually reserved for relics or saints.

The stone pulses in time with the wearer’s heartbeat — not in metaphor, but in truth. Set against the chest, it resonates with each thrum of blood, sending out a wave so faint and narrow it cannot be felt by any other, nor measured by known instruments. But the pulse does not vanish. It travels.

What returns to the stone is not sound, nor vision, but life itself — or rather, the echo of life: other beating hearts, within a limited radius. The more attuned the wearer, the clearer the sensation. To novices, it may feel like pressure in the lungs, or a faint second rhythm in the chest. To the skilled, it becomes a living map — dozens of pulse-threads in the dark, revealing not only how many beings lurk nearby, but where they are, and how fast their hearts race.

It is not sight. It is not hearing. It is presence.

Many who wear the Heartgem describe the sense as instinctive, almost animal. Calm heartbeats feel smooth and slow, like paddles in still water. A frenzied heartbeat stings — a rapid knocking on the edge of awareness. And should a heart go still, the absence leaves a gap the wearer cannot ignore.

Its uses are varied. A ranger may use it to chart prey beneath the underbrush. A guard might detect intruders before they cross a threshold. But it is not a passive tool. The Heartgem requires the wearer’s own heartbeat to function — each beat sending a new pulse, each moment of fear or exertion threatening to cloud the readings. In battle, when the heart races and the world narrows, the flood of signals can become overwhelming. Only those trained to breathe through terror can wield its gift without harm.

[image5-right]It cannot detect the undead. It cannot reveal constructs or machines. It is a charm of the living, and for some, that is its greatest horror — for there are things that move without pulse or breath, and they are beyond its reach.

Still, the Heartgem Necklace has endured through the ages. No two are quite the same; some stones are ruby, others garnet, and a rare few are cut from a deep-veined ore known as sangite, said to form only near battlefields long grown silent. No records exist of how they are made — only where they are found: worn by corpses seated upright, back against stone, as if they died waiting for something that never came.