Bottle of the Bound

*Advanced Player's Guide*
**Slot:** —
**Aura:** Strong abjuration
**Caster Level:** 20th
**Weight:** 4 lbs.

*Swirling runes reminiscent of claws and flames circle this elegant*
 but ancient-looking brass bottle, and a stopper shaped like a ferocious
 tiger
seals it tightly.

The *Bottle of the Bound* is an ancient brass bottle with a
 narrow neck and a rounded belly, slightly flattened on the bottom so it
 stands upright when resting on a table. The bottle's tight-fitting
stopper is engraved with sigils of binding and sealed with lead. Legends
 say a wizard of tremendous power and wisdom enchanted a fiendish army
and trapped it within the bottle for all time. The Legion of the Bound
may be called forth from the bottle by its wielder and forced to serve,
as they were once commanded to build a fantastic ancient city, long
since buried beneath the dust of the ages. But the bottle endures, its
inhabitants still bound.

A would-be wielder of the *Bottle of the Bound* must know
three secret commands: the Word of Opening, to unseal the bottle so the
stopper can be removed; the Word of Binding, to call forth and command
its denizens; and the Word of Banishment, to return the Bound Ones to
the bottle. A holder who knows the words may use the bottle like a *summon monster IX*
 spell at will, except only creatures of the evil subtype can be
summoned. The summoned creatures remain until the sun next rises or
sets, and no new creatures can be summoned from the bottle until the
initial summoned creatures' destruction or return.

No known force can open the bottle without the Word of Opening.
If the bottle is opened without the use of the Word of Binding, its 666
inhabitants are freed, one each minute starting from 1st-level creatures
 and moving on to higherlevel ones, until they all escape. If one of the
 Bound is called forth and commanded without the Word of Banishment
being uttered, it is free after it performs the task for which it was
summoned.

The Words to use the *Bottle of the Bound* have been lost for uncounted years, although some sages believe they know at least one or two of them.

## Destruction

The *Bottle of the Bound* can be destroyed only if every
creature bound within is slain or banished, and the empty container is
then smashed with a holy weapon.

## History

~~At the height of his power, Osirion's Pharaoh of Forgotten Plagues came to
believe he'd discovered a trap that might channel the power of a godlike entity
into his own mortal form. To test his theory, he dedicated years and the lives
of innumerable slaves to the construction of a labyrinth near the city of Shiman-Sekh.
The maze itself was a potent symbol of binding, and for his experiment, he
targeted the daemonic harbinger Zelishkar, known as the Bitter Flame.~~

~~The pharaoh's attempt was a catastrophe. His wards, apprentices, guardians,
and greatest magical devices quickly succumbed to Zelishkar's assault. After
a lengthy struggle with the daemon, the pharaoh only managed to turn the tide
by releasing an ancient efreeti bound by the hand of Sulesh the Great, promising
it freedom and more to support him in a last desperate wish to lock the daemon
away. Together, the great wizard and a summoned army of genies used their great
wishcraft to bind Zelishkar and the 666 fiends rampaging through the labyrinth
into the efreeti's former prison. In a torrent of flames, the daemonic harbinger
and his army rushed into the bottle and the genies vanished to begin their
wait for their promised reward. The Pharaoh of Forgotten Plagues alone stood
amid a ruin of shattered bodies and broken magic, not victorious, but having
survived.~~

~~For the rest of his lengthy rule, the Pharaoh of Forgotten Plagues remained
wary of his prisoner and loathed to touch what was dubbed the Bottle of the
Bound. The bottle long remained a weapon of Ancient Osirion's pharaohs, though
its prisoners were temporarily released at the hands of the Incorruptible Pharaoh.
Since then, the Bottle of the Bound has supposedly rested within the Labyrinth
of Shiman-Sekh; some claim it was pilfered in recent decades, however, and
sold for an emperor's ransom in red gemstones.~~

## Ramifications

Those seeking the Bottle of the Bound should know what danger they pursue.

Legion of the Bound: 666 fiends are locked within the Bottle of the Bound.
While some are mere peons and foot soldiers in Zelishkar's legions, or prisoners
pressed into the harbinger's service, some of the other villains locked within
include the conjoined quasits Ivixstayn and Loiix; the venedaemon (Horsemen
of the Apocalypse) Lomotho; the erinyes Veil; an eremite kyton (Bestiary 3)
known as the Splinter Spinster; and the obcisidaemon (Horsemen of the Apocalypse)
Tascracraid and his scepter, which holds the soul of the Azlanti sage Opono.

The Promised Flames: Whatever the Pharaoh of Forgotten Plagues promised his
efreeti benefactor to enlist his and his people's aid so swiftly has been lost
to the ages. However, one hint might remain in a chamber in the Labyrinth of
Shiman- Sekh, which holds a massive ruby brazier, an image of what appears
to be a pharaoh entombed in a sarcophagus of fire, and hieroglyphics that refer
to the Time of Promised Flames.

## The Words:

Three words are required to safely utilize the Bottle of the Bound. Although the words themselves have been lost, some arcanists believe they are actually three names spoken in Ancient the true name of The Binder, the name of the efreeti who aided in binding him, and the birth name of the