Luci communicates her desire to augment an item through visual art, using the surrounding shadow and darkness to help form the swirls of pure energy that infuse themselves into the items she desires.
On firearms, her shadow will slink along the barrel and firing mechanism, making it far more efficient and adding its own kick to the fired bullet, making it deadlier while also assisting to manage recoil.
On melee weapons, the shadow slinks along the weapon with either barbs or thorns.
On other mundane items, their shadows become slightly more pronounced and may even shimmer if looked at closely enough. This improvement strengthens the bonds of the item with more supernatural or mundane energies, allowing it more freedom, efficiency, and durability.
This Artifact has been upgraded.
This Artifact receives 2 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +2 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice. While it is upgraded, the item cannot be destroyed.
Upgraded weapons count as any material your opponent might be particularly vulnerable to. Upgraded Armor cannot be circumvented by called shots. Upgraded Devices do not run out of fuel or energy.
The hammer hits the device with full force. A golden aura will burst from the object and quickly dissipate.
Exert your Mind and spend 1 Action. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. Cannot be used to improve Armor.
Lasts the next two hours. Your target receives 3 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +3 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice.
Upgraded weapons count as any material your opponent might be particularly vulnerable to. Upgraded Armor cannot be circumvented by called shots. Upgraded Devices do not run out of fuel or energy.
After the Effect ends, any upgraded targets suffer a -3 dice penalty until they are either repaired or upgraded again.
The consumable appears to be two chemical vials. Pour them upon an object or pile of items, and watch as it shifts and molds. This normally takes months or years to research and produce, but who are you to complain? It's food.
After a minute you'll get your requested food item, whose output weight matches that of the input. The taste of the food will depend on the value of the object. Make sure it's exactly 1 minute (not that you can tell if it takes a bit longer than that). Who knows what'll happen if it isn't.
On alchemy:
Here comes the alchemist chef. Does Delphyrion need to specify that this is a transformation from one object to another? Not really. Do they really like the law of conservation of mass and matter? Nope. Do they know they don't have to do all this stuff to limit themselves? Debatable. They'll just insist that this is for the science, the discovery, the suspense, the funny shenanigans.
On the vials:
They appear to be generic vials of clear liquid when unused, though that's questionable enough in and of itself if Delphyrion ever needs to get it past TSA (not that it's much of an issue anymore, considering the availability of their little stash). Hopefully Delph has labeled these correctly, lest they try to chuck this at someone instead of their signature piranha solution. What is the liquid called, anyway? ...Schrodinger's solution. It either exists or it doesn't. Or maybe it's somewhere in between...
On the backpack:
This consumable used to be a backpack. It was easy enough to mistake for any backpack at all, and Delphyrion had not put a label on it. They have lost quite a few beakers and pens to it whenever they mused about their next experiment, as they often reach epiphanies by saying, "If only I had [food item]". Perhaps that's why the artifact works this way.
On food quality:
For some reason the output quality directly ties to the price of food in Orlando. So, use a 5-cent pencil, and you'll get a 5-cent quality potato fry*.
Also, yeah, make sure it's 1 minute exactly. This is a theoretical number; no one has tried to test its limits, hence its reference to Schrodinger.
*Food will vanish from your stomach after 2 hours.
Use up this pair of chemical vials and spend 1 minute. Roll 7 dice Difficulty 6, dice penalties do not apply.
Choose a specific type of Food which could fit inside a regular backpack (up to 27 liters). It must be Non-Alien and generic. You cannot create explosives. You cannot create firearms.
Roll Intellect + Crafts to fabricate up to 5 copies of your chosen Object. The Difficulty is assigned by the GM and depends on the specificity of your chosen Object. The created item lasts 2 hours.
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
works the item with a forge and hammer to increase its usefulness and reinforce the durablility
Take a Severity-1 Injury and spend an hour to activate. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you burns & broken item. You must actively and obviously use forge & smithy to activate this Effect. Can be used on Armor.
For the next day, your target receives 2 extra dice to all actions taken with its intended use. While it is upgraded, the item cannot be destroyed. If it is a piece of Armor, it instead receives half that amount as bonus armor rating, rounded up.
Spend a minute and use up this test. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. Cannot be used to improve Armor.
Lasts the next hour. Your target receives 2 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +2 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice.
Carlyle calls to the slumbering spirits that rest within the ancient weapons he spent so long restoring. Carlyle takes his hands and covers the weapon he desires to restore to its former glory. It takes about a minute for him to awaken the specter that waits for the day that it can rise again. He slides his hand across the blade as the rust, wear, and tear from all the years of lack of use just disappear. The weapon is as powerful and glorious as the day it was forged. For the next hour, it is even more powerful than it was before. But, after this hour, the weapon tries to catch up to this use and ends up in even worse condition than when it was restored.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute to activate. Select a non-Alien Weapons created at least 200 years ago within arm's reach. Cannot be used to improve Armor.
For the next hour, your target receives 2 extra dice to all actions taken with its intended use.
Upgraded items have half their normal weight, for the purposes of encumbrance.
After the Effect ends, any upgraded targets suffer a -2 extra dice dice penalty until they are either repaired or upgraded again.
The aristocrat knows a ritual that allows them to rent the best version of any item. They set $10,000 worth of cash on fire and place the item to be upgraded in the fire as well. While in the flame, the item morphs into a high-end version of itself. After a while, it reverts.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. You must use up $10,000 cash (or equivalent) in order to activate this Effect. Cannot be used to improve Armor.
Lasts the next two hours. Your target receives 3 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +3 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice.
The mad scientist produces thorium cores that can be used to upgrade tools and other devices. The core supercharges the item, increasing its quality and rendering it indestructible for a period. However, once the core runs dry, the object is rendered less useful than it was before. The core crackles with blue electricity while active.
Spend 1 Action and use up this glowing blue disk. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. Cannot be used to improve Armor.
Lasts the next two hours. Your target receives 2 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +2 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice. While it is upgraded, the item cannot be destroyed.
After the Effect ends, any upgraded targets suffer a -2 dice penalty until they are either repaired or upgraded again.