Martine's Mask

From the Gaerlan Quest, introduced during the Verdict event.

Martine's Mask
Value: 2,000 100 Burden Units
A broken virindi mask. Flesh seems to be seared to the interior of the mask. Armor Level: 150 Covers Head Armor Level: 150 Slashing: Below Average (75)) Piercing: Below Average (75) Bludgeoning: Below Average (75) Fire: Below Average (75) Cold: Below Average (75) Acid: Below Average (75) Electric: Below Average (75) This item cannot be sold

Lore & Dialog

When you put the mask on, you get one of the following messages:

Your vision clouds. You are standing in a doorway watching a woman cradle a small child. She appears to be weeping. You look at your ruined, clawed hand and begin to weep yourself.
As you place the mask on your face tendrils of energy reach into the recesses of your mind sqeezing [sic] down. The eye sockets of the mask blink open and closed in quick succession.
"Am I not comfortable?" The flesh on your face shifts and contorts. "How about now?"
A small boy looks at you without fear. You had meant to kill him. Arrita's giggles fill your head as you look at the tattered letter in your hand. Melanay's kisses and gentle smile come to mind and you stand. "Come Borelean it is time to make amends."
A mosswart with outstretched arms, screaming in what appears to be pain, dangles before you. Its screaming becomes ragged and finally ceases as its head drops down to its chest and mosswart disappears.
A man's voice says, "Eyes in the dark."
A man's voice screams "The pain! The pain!"
You feel the flesh of your face searing becoming one with the mask.
Your breath quickens and a pain grows in your chest. Your head begins to hum and the world begins to close in upon you ever tighter. Claustrophobia clutches you in vice-like grip. The mask tightens on your skull threatening to crush it.
The ghostly image of a fallen Tusker, its skull exploded open from the inside, appears in front of you. A smile creeps onto your face and then the image disappears.
The face of the enemy appears before you. He speaks consoling words, but your mind fills with hate as you struggle to attack this man... and then the feeling fades.
An arrow slices through your throat. Rocks pelt against your head and body. People beat your body bloody. You have become the slayer of hope.
He stands before you and offers the way home. You hesitate a moment and you think his offer is sound.
You have a strange thought. "Power it could be ours again."
Screeches, howls, hums and unearthly sounds of wet fingers running along crystal pervade your mind a pulsing thrum throbs within. The singularity calls to you.
As your thoughts stray to Asheron you think of home and the wife and child you have lost. You have an urge to scream.
A man's voice fills your head. "Do you hear voices? I do. I cannot escape them!"
Your sanity shatters like a crystal goblet.
A man's voice says, "Two moons circle."
A man's voice says, "As you have done for me, I now return the favor." Asheron's wounds close and he looks upon you.
As you don the shell of Martine, you are overcome by the feeling of slugs crawling all over your face for a moment, until the mask slips into place, and all is well.
As you wear the mask your vision fails you and it feels like egg yolks begin to run down your face.
Your mind is flodded with the sights and sounds of a bustling port and a melancholy feeling overpowers your thoughts, but the vision soon fades.
You feel alone in the world. All around you are enemies. They will not help you quell the renegades. These Isparian meatlines must be destroyed.
For a moment you think of home and family, then the memories fade into an array of abstract analysis, devoid of soul.
A man's voice says, "Am I not a man? Correction. Are we not men?"
You squeal trapped in a cell devoice of light. You are but a fraction when once you were a whole. You have a feeling you had never had before. Loss.
Darkness clouds your vision. You hear water dripping and smell blood. A voice invades your mind and pervades your thoughts "Puppet, Reports are strong today. Puppet assimilates well."
The wretched mask slips over your head and for a moment you wonder... will it ever come off?
As the magic coalesces and tears through Asheron's chest you smile broadly thinking now you will have Elysa for your own. But the betrayal is at hand when your mind clears and your conscience becomes heavy.
A warm feeling of home and hearth fills your mind. You see a child playing at your feet... and then the sensation fades.
A man's voice bellows "Ahhhh! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"
As the mask falls into place you see Virindi... everywhere. The faces melt into nothingness after a few panicked moments.
The calming chimes of the singularity tug at the back of your mind and your consciousness threatens to slip away.
Your thoughts stray to Elysa, no Melanay, Elysa, no Melanay.
Your vision clouds. Magical energy crackles all around you as a deafening hum pervades the air. You feel a sense of satisfaction as you stare into the shocked and widening eyes of Gaerlan.
The mask slips onto your face, and feels wet. Tendrils of energy loop into your cheeks and a purple hue covers your eyes for a brief moment. The world swims and your consciousness enhances. The smell of burned flesh fills your nostrils.
Asheron quells the ravages in your mind. You begin to think clearer as if a great weight has been lifted from your mind.
A man's voice fills your head. "Do you hear voices? I do. I cannot escape them!"

---

When you take the mask off, you get one of the following messages:

The mask slips from your skull with a sickeningly slick sound.
When you remove the mask, the voices in your head decrease to the normal level.
The mask refuses to give up its grip on your skull for a moment.
A tinny voice calls out, "Don't leave me alone. I can't stand to be alone."
A tinny voice calls out, "Where are you putting me? I liked it there."
A tinny voice calls out, "No! Put me back!"
The feeling of intense claustrophobia lifts as you slip that disgusting shell from your head.
A sound of Virindi holding a conversation in your head sounds as you peel the mask from your face.
As you pull the mask from your head the flesh threatens to come with it.
As you try to pull the mask from your face the eye sockets and mouth close off choking you near to death.
Martine's Mask cast Stamina Blight and drains 466 points of your stamina.