Warehouse 23

[cityship]

These are interesting things we could possibly use in plots or have discovered on the ship:

A joystick. When placed within 5 feet of any electronic device, it automatically takes control. It will tune radios, run computer games, and drive cars with power steering and brakes.

A small tuning fork which makes no audible sound. When it is struck, everyone within about 40 feet (twice that for children, much more for dogs) gets a stabbing headache which lasts about 10 seconds and fades to a dull ache.

A sword with engraving on the blade. One side reads "Take Me Up"; the reverse reads "Cast Me Aside." The weapon is speaking to you in an unknown language.

A three-legged mechanical spider, 10cm in width, made of platinum and with no obvious internal mechanism. If warmed above 15 C, it will begin running along the ground, phasing through all obstacles until it finds a human subject that resembles the archetypes engraved on the Pioneer spacecraft. It will then embed itself into that human's medulla oblongata, with no apparent effect.

A sword. As a swung blade, it acts like a normal saber. However, when thrust, it will impale living tissue harmlessly, leaving no wound when removed. While the sword is embedded, it cannot be used to cut laterally; it can only be removed (or embedded further, until the hilt stops it).

What appears to be an ordinary 60-watt light bulb. When placed in a lamp fixture and turned on, it removes all darkness (including shadows!) within a 3-meter radius. The area of effect penetrates walls, doors, floors, etc.

A small stone cube that measure 5.5" on a side. Strange pictographs adorn 5 out of the 6 sides. On the sixth side is a disk made of a metal that cannot be identified. If the disk is turned counterclockwise by 40 degrees, the box opens, unleashing a bright, sickly green light that causes several minutes of blindness and nausea. The box has made an "imprint" of the person who opened it . . . data, but for who?

A featureless black cube 4" square is floating in the center of the box. If you touch it, it glows with a warm white light. It floats out of the box, and stops just out of reach above your head. It follows you everywhere you go, always remaining just out of reach.....

A cultivating box for mushrooms, filled with dung. Growing from the box are seven mushrooms, about a foot tall and bright purple. When the box is opened, the mushrooms cry out "Momma! We love you, momma!" and hop out of the box. The mushrooms will follow the person who opened the box for the rest of their life and are fiercely loyal.

Six carefully paper-wrapped 40W fluorescent tubes. If one is placed in an appropriate light fitting and turned on it will glow pinkly and make all clothing, armor, etc. appear mistily transparent.

A layer of greyish dust in the bottom of the box. It swirls about in the air currents created when the box opened. A few moments later, the box falls apart. Your hands begin to itch and blood bruises form.

A box from a popular pizza chain. It is closed with heavy duct tape but emits a wonderful aroma. Should the box be opened, there will be revealed a large pizza with everything, which will immediately separate into twelve slices and attempt to slither away. Each slice is intelligent, malignant, and in telepathic contact with the others. If this happens in the Warehouse, over the next few weeks a number of rats will be found smothered to death with globs of cheese. Worse things will happen if the box is opened outside the Warehouse. But the pizza is delicious.

A music box, obviously old and quite valuable. Someone who listens to it several times in a row, especially if they have any musical skill, will realize that the tune is changing and being rewritten very, very slowly. Occasionally the old song will cease to play and a new one will start up. Inside there are only the gears and cogs you would expect.

A transcript of everything your group has said since they entered the warehouse, right up to the point when they opened the box. It's typed - on an old manual typewriter - and covered with a light layer of dust.

An unlabeled videotape. When played, it appears to be from a medical surgery in 1986, somewhere in Mexico. It looks like a normal heart bypass, until a foot long pinkish worm, approximately 3 inches thick, is removed from the aorta. The worm has three mandibles, arranged in a triangular fashion, and is segmented. The head surgeon then swallows the worm, and removes the patient's heart. During the film, no words can be understood. No linguist will be able to identify the language.

A worn, hardbound book. It has no title or author, and appears to be an analysis of how the development of music in a culture influences technological and social development. Later chapters outline a plan to inhibit the progress of certain cultures by introducing certain 'detrimental' musical instruments, carefully developed for the purpose. The last three chapters have exacting plans and diagrams for constructing bagpipes, banjoes, and piano-accordions.

Several large, human-sized cylinders made of frosted glass and lying on their sides. When one is opened, an exact living, breathing duplicate of one member of the party is found asleep within. When awakened, it will have all the memories of that person, right up to that point. At that point, the person duplicated will become stiff and unresponsive. Closer examination will reveal the person in the cylinder to be real and the other to be a sophisticated (and now non-functional) android. The other cylinders contain the other members of the party.

A small silver sphere some 3 inches in diameter, without any apparent seam, which "floats" in mid-air approximately 18 inches above the surface it is over. While no device can detect any sound coming from the sphere, anyone within two feet will hear faint "radio static." It is easily transportable, yet anyone who lifts it senses a momentary feeling of great weight. If dropped from any height, it will plummet until it reaches 18 inches - and stop. Attempts to study it can go no further than the surface. It cannot be scanned, probed, or x-rayed. It maintains a steady temperature of 60 degrees F., regardless of conditions.

A small, flat hand-held box with one button on the side. When the button is pressed, an alien creature, in suspended animation in another crate, will awaken, become extremely agitated, and do its best to reach this equivalent of a silent dog whistle.

Various human body parts. No, wait . . . they are really prostheses. A cardboard box contains 12 cans of aerosol medical adhesive. The instructions on the adhesive direct the user to spray the prosthesis lightly, then apply the prosthesis and hold it motionless for 10 minutes. If the prostheses and adhesive are used together, then after 5 minutes, the user feels a peculiar tingling sensation. After 7 minutes, the sensation is definitely coming from the surface of the prosthesis. After 9 minutes, any digits of the prosthesis will begin flexing slowly. After 10 minutes, the prosthesis will be permanently attached, and will function as a natural limb (although it will maintain a slightly synthetic appearance and feel). Note that there is no requirement that any prosthesis replace an amputated limb, although the creation of an unnatural anatomy will usually bring poor reactions.

An angel, full human size, wings, halo, and so on. Upon seeing the party, she says "Awww, man!", covers her eyes and begins counting to one million. Nothing the party does will stop her from spending the next 11 days counting to a million, at which point, she will track down one of those present when the box was opened, tap him on the forehead, and say "You're it."

A sheet of temporary tattoos, in the traditional designs. Anyone applying one to their skin will feel a sharp tingling sensation lasting a minute or two, followed by 15-20 minutes of swaggering overconfidence. Repeated applications produce diminishing effects.

A clear plastic bag labeled: Evidence #20003. In the bag is a torn piece of cloth and a lock of hair. The cloth matches your shirt - which is not torn - and the hair is the same color as yours.

A large storage case, heavily armored, and covered with toxin and biohazard warnings. Inside, substantial padding surrounds a small yellow container, labeled in red: "CAUTION: SAUCE CONCENTRATE"; it bears the logo of a well-known fast food chain. The container is armored and sealed, and the thick, chunky yellow goo inside is poisonous and highly acidic.

A small radio which appears to work normally. However, anyone playing with it will eventually discover a station reporting live updates on their every action.

A large ruby containing the glowing soul of a long-dead King. It will attempt to take over the mind of the holder.

A small cube, approximately 9" square, with an electrical cord, an in-line switch, and two wires ending in epidermal attachments. An engraving on one side shows the wires attached to a user's temples. The user will fall into a coma for 36 hours. When they awake, they will effectively be deprogrammed from any sort of mind-altering influence.

A small, silvery sphere, about the size of a baseball. Although apparently made of solid metal, its surface shimmers and shifts like quicksilver. Watches or other time-measuring devices brought near it stop running...

A detector that always indicates the correct distance and direction to whatever item it is attuned to. To attune it to an object, simply touch the detector to the object when it is not otherwise attuned. To end the attunement, touch it again. It is currently attuned to a feather duster used by the White House cleaning staff.

. . . . your own head. As you stare at it, you wave your hand through where your head normally is, and encounter nothing. Maybe it'll come back when you close the box...

A piece of normal-sized blank fax paper. In the center, printed in large black letters, is the word "You." If the paper is ever damaged in any way, the current person holding it or who last held it will be damaged.

An ornate glass bottle, stoppered and sealed with wax. Inside can be seen a tiny human skeleton dressed in fanciful ancient Arabian costume. If opened it smells a bit musty; the skeleton will break and crumble if shaken.

A wad of used chewing gum. If touched, the sticky mass will draw itself up into a humanoid shape, wave its arms at the person who touched it, and then lapse into its former state.

Another closed box marked: "WARNING!! Permanently Empty Box!!" Any item or person within 3 feet of this second box when it is opened must make an appropriately difficult roll or be sucked inside and vanish. It continues to suck air into it with a loud roar until closed.

A small, plush gibbon. If gently squeezed, it says "You need more zinc in your diet!" It then begins *breathing,* and won't stop for several minutes.

A longsword that cuts through metal as though it were butter, but will not cut flesh or paper.

A large tallow candle. Any human shadows cast by its light will detach themselves from their host and scamper away giggling, never to be seen again.

A big red switch backed by a suction cup. If the switch is stuck to any mechanical device, the switch will turn the device on or off. If the switch is stuck to a living being, the switch will kill or resurrect the being.

A jar containing a fetal-like alien "corpse." In truth, it is only sleeping, and any strong light will wake it up. It will look pleadingly through the glass and signal to be let free.

An ordinary office stapler containing extraordinary staples. They could staple together two sheets of 1/16" steel, but refuse to perforate paper.

Numerous CAT scans. Not the brain X-ray images; these are actual scans of actual cats. Few of them look very pleased.

A hamburger wrapped in wax paper, still warm, but with far too much mustard (nothing strange about it: a loader-operator stashed it here when he saw an inspector walking towards him -- further exploration will reveal the french fries).

A textbook and course notes for the class "Messiah 201: Advanced Topics." Unfortunately, the material is completely incomprehensible to anyone who has not passed 101, the prerequisite course.

A human skull, intact and undamaged, save a small roundish indent on the top of the skull, a reddish wax candle, and a small book of matches. When the candle is placed in the indent and lit, the candle will burn at a normal rate, covering the skull in red molten wax. When the candle burns out, the eyes will open and the skull will answer any one question. After the question is answered, the eyes will close. Chipping away the wax reveals no presence of eyes or any other organ, simply a skull covered in red wax.

A typical ventriloquist's dummy. When someone puts his arm up the back of the dummy and grabs the controls, however, the dummy immediately says whatever the operator is thinking, and will continue to do so until the operator lets go.

The original text, with a modern commentary, of the gospel of Judas Iscariot, in which he explains how all of Christ's "miracles" were performed, as well as some of the fun he had playing tricks on the rest of the disciples.

A fresh apple with three bites taken out of it. Two are good, healthy bites from two different people, each with perfect dentition, one slightly larger than the other. The third bite is small, on the top, and appears to have been made by some kind of snake or lizard. Eating any or all of the apple will have no effect, as all of humanity already has knowledge of good and evil.

Six carefully paper-wrapped 40W fluorescent tubes. If one is placed in an appropriate light fixture and turned on, it will glow with a slightly greenish light. Plants exposed to the light (within 1 m, under normal circumstances) will grow at 10 times their normal rate.

A small pen, about 4 inches long, dull black with a gold metallic ring around the center. It writes in blood - the user's blood - and won't run out till the user does.

A black opaque sleep mask. It places the wearer into a deep sleep from which he cannot be awakened until either the mask is removed or he is fully rested. He will have no recollection of any dreams while wearing the mask.

A 7" long blue-green crystal that feels quite cool to the touch. In complete darkness it glows very lightly and seems to hum. If placed on the ground it sprouts roots and grows into a large crystalline bush which in a matter of minutes bursts into flames. If a intelligent creature is within a few meters of the bush, it will hear a powerful psionic voice saying "Put off thy shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." If the hearer obeys, he gets a very spiffy staff; if not, the bush burns out and vanishes in a puff of noxious blue vapor.

Your Permanent Record - the one they always talk about in school. It includes everything you ever did, including that incident with the rubber plant and the rubber cement in second grade.

A package of "Hello, my name is . . ." adhesive labels. If the full name of another individual is written on one of these labels, and the label is placed on one's clothing, others will perceive the wearer as being the person named on the label. Mechanical devices (e.g., retina scanners) will not be fooled, but human operators of such devices will misread their output and remain deceived. The effect lasts 18 minutes.

An old map of the town where one of the PCs was born. Lines have been drawn between several key buildings to form a pentagram - with the PC's birthplace at the center. The date of the PC's birth is written in faded ink in one corner of the map.

Green-ness. The inside of the box is colored grass green. The surface of anything placed or poked into the box also acquires a green tinge. The longer anything is left in the box, the greener it gets.

A small plastic egg which has the words "PRIMA MATERIA" embossed upon its surface in large, playful letters. The egg contains a large lump of, literally, colorless, formless matter. Everyone who comes near it will feel an innate and smug sense of superiority. Likewise, thinking of any shape, no matter how complex or simple, will transform the matter into a perfect likeness of that thought.

A normal-looking digital wristwatch. It is very durable (immune to the things that kill normal wristwatches and radiation, PD3 DR8, 2 hits) and (strangely) has no buttons for setting/alarms etc. It always displays correct local time. The wearer is locked in time, however - no time travel devices can affect him.

A long, hollow plastic rod marked "Wand of Hyperstimulation." Closer examination reveals that it is a king-sized Pixy Stix.

An extremely large dead cockroach. It measures 20' from mandible to abdomen. Its carapace can stop a mortar round and its claws can slice through high-grade steel. Exactly what killed it is not possible to determine, but the whole thing smells vaguely chemical.

A box containing a set of matte-black cylinders. Each is about the size of a large fountain pen, and one end tapers just like a pen. Near the ends are rings of different colors. Opposite the tapered end is a button like that of a ballpoint pen. Pictograms inside the lid seem to direct you to put the tapered end against your forearm, then press the button.

A block of Aerogel (TM) (precisely 1 cf), formed seamlessly around a small glass vial with a heavy rubber stopper. Inside are 13 fleas, mysteriously alive despite their apparent lack of air. These are maddened vampiric fleas, however. Anyone who is bitten by them must make a Will roll at -4 or receive a random mental disadvantage worth -10 points or more. Further, the supernatural nature of these fleas gives them Alertness +2, +1 ST, +1 Move, +1 DR, +1 HT/hits, and the Stealth and Hypnotism skills at level 21. Unlike ordinary fleas, they are perfectly willing to jump from victim to victim at the first opportunity....

A cube of armored glass, 20 inches on a side. It contains what first appears to be a foot-long lizard. On closer inspection, the lizard is actually a swarm of small, inch-long lizards holding themselves together into an aggregate lizard-shape. It is a colonial organism; it is hostile, venomous, and subsists on gravity waves.

A human skeleton. Making any "medical" roll at +2 reveals that the ankle bones are fused in a manner that will keep the toes pointed. The head is normal-sized but appears grotesquely small in comparison to the body, which is nearly 8 feet tall. Other pink boxes hold a myriad of high-fashion clothing sized to fit.

A paper shopping bag containing a 5,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. When assembled, the puzzle turns out to be a photograph of the group opening the crate that contained the puzzle.

A large juice jar filled with hundreds of fortune-cookie fortunes. The jar is coated in a thick layer of dust, and a yellow-brown gunk has dried on it. If a fortune is removed from the jar and read aloud, within the next week, it will come true . . . in bed.

The plastic-wrapped body of a twelve-year-old girl in a blue dress. If the wrapping is removed, she will awaken. Her name is Helen Chambers, and the last thing she remembers is stepping into the corner drugstore in a suburb of Toledo in 1962. She will not be willing to return to the wrapper, and it won't work anyway.
((Possibly the intro for an NPC?))

A "coffee table" book entitled Ancient Treasures. Except for the title page, each of its 271 pages is a color photo of a valuable treasure (including many well-known items, like Tutankhamen's burial mask).Pages 64, 128, 192, and 256 have no captions, and if the book is left open to one of these pages for more than 5 minutes, the photo begins to look three-dimensional. Five minutes later, the three-dimensional image becomes a satin-lined recess 5 cm deep, containing the item from the photo. It may be removed from the recess, and other objects may be put in its place. When the book is closed, any objects in the recess become photographic images, and can only be recovered by leaving the book open again for 10 minutes.

A pair of life-sized white marble arms, broken from a statue. There are traces of red paint on the fingernails, and their pose will be very familiar to anyone who remembers the Venus de Milo. The left hand holds what can only be described as a ray gun (also marble, of course), while the right is making a very peculiar gesture. Both hands have six fingers.

A videotape from a hidden camera in the master bedroom of the White House. It shows the President preparing for bed. Eventually, he slathers a glowing orange gel about his neck and unscrews his head. From the obviously mechanical body cavity, a small Chihuahua crawls forth. Shortly, two Secret Service agents bring in a young woman. The Chihuahua gazes at her and she falls into a trance. The Chihuahua then bites her wrist, draining her blood. After some time, the Secret Service agents take the girl away.

A United States passport. The identifying information matches that of one of the party members. The photo, however, is of a different party member.

A metal tube eight inches long with no obvious buttons or openings. It grows warm and vibrates when you hold it.

A small scrap of paper with a URL and a password for a web site. The web site permits you to enter any name and see where that person fits in The Conspiracy. A few hours of work will reveal only one person who is not a member of The Conspiracy - the one who opened the box. His friends and associates are noted as being 'assigned' to him.

A thin and delicate glass sphere, ten inches in diameter, containing a beautiful swirling pattern of colored vapors. The sphere is clamped to the inside of the box using six screw clamps with left-hand threads. Any rough handling (or over-tightening of the clamps) will break the glass and dissipate the vapors.

A small silver ankh. When touched by bare skin, it swaps the soul stored within with the soul of the toucher. Right now the soul stored inside is that of former U.S. President Chester Arthur. He has gone completely insane, as the soul stored in the ankh remains fully aware of its surroundings. The ankh cannot be destroyed by any obvious means.

A harp of exquisite quality, wrought in silver and gold and a third strange material that looks like glass. Several sheets of parchment are also in the crate, but they have been nibbled by insects and are unreadable.

A yellow smile button. If used as a thrown weapon, it is extremely accurate and capable of penetrating a brick wall.

Hundreds of small vials containing a reddish-green liquid and marked with the names of animals, all extinct. If tested they will be found to contain DNA.

A packet of 10 29mm diameter holes, with instructions. Each hole is attached to a specially coated carrier paper. To use, simply press the "hole" side against an object and peel off the paper. There will now be a 29mm diameter hole right through whatever it was applied to. Once applied, holes can not be removed.

A case of 24 packages of "Naturally You(TM) Permanent Hair Color", in assorted colors. The product appears to have no effect when used according to the directions (which are typical of normal home hair-color products). However, as the treated hair grows out, the roots will be the color specified on the package; the user's natural hair color will have been changed. The treated hair will not change color with age.

A device like a palmtop computer, but the screen glows red-orange. There are only six keys: Y, N, 1, 0, On/Off, and Restart. When picked up, the screen lights with DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE? Y/N. If Y is entered, the screen dims, but will light again for the next person to pick it up. If N is entered, the user's heart stops. He will revive if Restart is pressed within 3 minutes. The on/off key works normally; the others have no visible effect.

An edition of a popular weekly "lurid crime" magazine with gratuitous details of several famous murderers and serial killers. On the page advertising the contents of the next issue is a photograph of one of the party members.

A vintage car from the 1920's, with one exception: two very large wings attached to either side. The car is currently unfueled, but when the tank is filled the car will fly.

A plastic-coated roll of U.S. quarters. They are tricentennial commemorative quarters minted in 2076. The reverse side bears the face of one of the party members, with a small image of the planet Saturn in the background.

A mummified human hand. When exposed to sunlight, the flesh fills out, the fingers clench, and in five rounds it springs to life and scuttles away. Anyone not used to mummified human hands springing to life, make a fright check at -3 (-7 if you have "fear of death and the dead", or "squeamishness").

A spray can. The contents smell like air freshener. It's really a powerful "truth serum." One spritz will treat an ordinary-sized room; the spray persists for 24 hours if the door is closed. Anyone who breathes the stuff must roll vs. (Will-6) to avoid saying exactly what is on his mind, and (IQ-2) to notice that he has suddenly become completely truthful. The effects last about three minutes after the victim quits breathing the spray.

A huge, leering creature springs out! It's only a large Jack-in-the-Box, but Fright Checks are required of all viewers. (This is an old and forgotten joke set up by one of the guards - the Jack has no unusual powers.)

A metal sphere, the size of an eyeball. If placed in an empty eye socket, it will begin to grow metallic filaments that join to the nerves. Within a week, it will be permanently attached, and the user will be able to see in all frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum.

A six-foot watermelon. If opened, the investigators will find a 5'6" attractive human female attached to the side with an umbilical cord. She will awaken ten minutes later, stand, and say something in an unknown language. If studied, the inside of the watermelon shows the same characteristics as the human uterus during pregnancy. The woman registers as human on all tests. (another NPC?)

An illustrator's wooden figure dummy, mounted on a green marble stand by a red metal post. The dummy will mimic the movements of the last person to touch it. Anyone who moves the dummy causes a similar movement in the person it is attuned to, even if doing so harms (or kills) the person - i.e., turning the dummy's head through 360 degrees is a BAD thing.

A large silk bag that appears to be extremely old. It is filled with a strange dark sand of peculiar texture, and the grains are coarse and oddly shaped. If examined under a microscope, it will be seen that each grain of sand is actually an impossibly small human head, mummified with age. There are millions of them in the bag; most have their mouths open, as if screaming.

The box is full of skimpy polka-dot bikinis which provide the same protection as an armored, sealed, spacesuit. (Temperature tolerance -200C to +500C indefinitely, full pressure support, air supply, radiation shielding, PD6, DR 100.) They `feel' just like normal swimwear when worn; however, the protective properties don't kick in until needed.

A large chart that unfolds like a road map. Along the right side of the chart, the rows are labeled in years, starting with the date of Nostrodamus' birth and ending in the year 2009. The columns are labeled Timeline 1 through Timeline 117. At the bottom of each column is a label for "result." Timeline 1 is labeled "Experiment complete" and 117 is labeled "Certain destruction." In the row for the current year and the column for Timeline 72 is a yellow sticker labeled "You are Here." If any of the party makes, out loud, any guesses about the nature of the chart, the "You are Here" sticker moves 1d6 steps towards Timeline 117.

A pocket-sized, spiral bound notebook. The paper is unusually thick. Whenever anyone writes anything on the paper, the ink flows freely across the page until it forms strange alien letters and symbols, which correspond to nothing known on earth.

A hand mirror that shows the user his own skull. In general, the flesh of any living being reflected in the mirror seems transparent; bones, cyberware, etc., can be seen within.

A small metal cylinder containing exactly 1kg of antimatter in a TL14 magnetic bottle. A simple digital readout on top shows the time left before the power supply for the containment field is depleted and a fresh TL14 power cell will need to be supplied (there are two sockets, only one of which is occupied). Currently, the display reads 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 58 seconds...

An electric pencil sharpener. It requires no batteries; it uses a bioconverter that feeds off of wooden pencil shavings. Once out of the box, it will whine pitifully if not "fed" daily.

A large rug of apparently Middle Eastern origin, with tassels around the edges. If it is placed upside down on the ground and someone sits in a lotus position in the center, it will float several inches off the ground. It will maneuver according to the will of the user. Breathing apparatus is recommended for high-altitude use.

A file containing documents which appear to be genuine and which prove that a male member of the party is a direct descendant of William the Conqueror through the male line, and thus the rightful King of England.

A pair of hands sewn together at the wrist, creating an odd creature which leaps from the box the moment the lid is opened. Upon closer inspection, a single eye may be seen embedded in the palm of each hand. If not captured immediately, it scurries away, never to be seen again.

A plain black domino mask. Anyone who puts on the mask and then removes it again will have their face and other signs altered to those of a different person. Controlling the process is possible with practice and careful study.

A small, flat, greenish rock. When touched lightly it moans softly; if struck it emits a sound like an agonized shriek. It seems to be utterly indestructible.

A silver, spherical object approximately one yard across, and a six-inch blue rod with twelve switches, marked with both red and green. All twelve switches are set to red. The sphere is completely immune to all damage, and nothing anybody does will affect it significantly. The rod is broken easily enough, and if it is, nothing much happens. If someone flips all twelve switches on the rod to green, however, the spherical silver stasis field drops, allowing the 9-kiloton nuclear explosion contained inside to resume its motion.

The Box of Denial. A small safe-sized black box with a heavy hinged lid. There are government stamps on the side but the Latin mottos are unreadable and blurred. Whatever you put in the box becomes corrupted and unbelievable in some way - photos of moon landings look like they have been tinkered with, aliens on autopsy videos look like latex fakes and maps change to make the shot from the grassy knoll impossible. Unfortunately, it can never be used to PROVE anything...

A disk of green and orange granite with a hole in the center. If it is tipped over, a mouse falls out of the hole.

A Commodore 64 (or similarly ancient and cheesy) computer with a tape drive and one tape. The tape contains an incomprehensible program in BASIC that looks like it was written by a five-year-old dyslexic. When run, it is an AI with mental abilities comparable to a human, no memories, and hidden suicidal tendencies. The C64 appears normal to every test, but the AI only works on this particular computer.

A grenade resembling an ordinary modern defensive (frag) grenade. It is loaded with blue paint that eats through glass, but leaves everything else intact.

A small hand-made wooden box, six inches square and two inches deep, with a close-fitting lid, lacquered and patterned with fading blue dragons. When opened it is quickly apparent that the inside is three-and-a-half inches deep.

A box of generic-brand "toaster pastries." No flavor is listed on the box, and the taste is unfamiliar but sublime. But when one is broken open or bitten into - the filling will be seen to consist of a wriggling mass of motile purple goo.

A large briefcase containing the following items: A black collapsible snap-brim hat, mirrored shades, black suit coat, black pants, black dress shirt, black tie, black shoes, black socks, and bright pink underwear with the word "Chuckles" written on it in neon green. 1d4 rounds after opening the briefcase, the players will be physically assaulted by the angriest MIB they have ever seen . . . who is, oddly enough, blushing.

A 50' hempen rope. When tossed into the air, it sticks, remaining extended vertically. Anyone who climbs the rope disappears from view, then a scream is heard, and the person's limbs fall to the ground. However, the person appears, with limbs, a few minutes later behind any witness. This only works when viewed by a crowd in India.

A white coffee cup, with the logo of a major defense contractor printed on the side. Any liquid poured into the cup will heat to a boiling point in 30 seconds, without any visible heating element or power source. Solid objects will be disintegrated.

A crate of sticky notes, of a slightly different shade of yellow than is normal. The adhesive is stronger than superglue and the `paper' is virtually indestructible except by fire (DR 20, 1 hit, no DR vs fire). These would make good armor.

A 24"x36"x6" transparent box, made of some unidentifiable polymer. The box is filled with thousands of live bees. If someone asks a question with a simple two or three word answer, the bees will arrange themselves into letters and words in the language of the person asking the question. The answer will always be vague. Even simple "yes" or "no" questions will receive answers like "Almost definitely" or "Probably not." The box bears a legend in the lower left corner reading "Magic Bee Box, Ouroborus Toy Company, Made in Thailand." Unless molested, the bees will not die.

A sonic-ray-gun mounted on six wheels. The gun destroys nearly any substance. The typed instruction folder is labeled "Trumpet of Jericho."

A standard box of 64 crayons. Each crayon is labelled "flesh."

A flash of light and a noise so loud that you can't hear it. Then silence. At the bottom of the now-empty crate is a slightly singed piece of paper bearing the words. "Here's the spare in case the first goes wrong."

A scattered assortment of pages from a book that apparently describes a method for creating an exact duplicate of the Earth and transferring the entire population to it. Details on the method are not present, but several means of distinguishing between the original Earth and the copy are included. If any of those differences are checked, the results will be consistent with the copy.

A small, gray ring with a flat surface on top. It turns briefly red and blinks if a flame is detected within ten meters. Tapping the flat surface of the ring engulfs a 20-meter radius in a 1/10th second duration force field. Within the force field, all atmosphere is removed completely. The wearer is protected for an additional 1/10th second - enough to ride out the violent implosion when the force field dissipates. Inscribed inside the ring is "Help stamp out smoking."

. . . another box, seemingly of heavy cardboard but curiously tough and stiff, about 2.5 feet square. It is apparently a foot deep, and empty. Inside that box you can see a single tiny pencil. Actually, it is normal-sized and far away. Space inside the box is warped by a 10-to-1 factor; the interior of the box is a room 25 feet square and ten feet deep, and from inside the walls are quite solid. You cannot get in without lowering yourself down a side (or jumping). Getting out will be harder.

A small vial marked "Universal Solvent." There is a hole in the bottom. Examination will reveal matching holes in the box it was in and the warehouse floor.

A stack of paperback copies of a book on wilderness survival. The book seems ordinary, but if it is squeezed, it will heat up, providing enough heat to warm a tent for eight hours before cooling down again. The pages are edible and nutritious, and if the book is held at the right angle, it acts as a perfect dowsing rod, detecting water.

A ring which looks quite valuable, but turns out to be made only of gold foil and charcoal. It seems to thrum with some arcane power, and indeed, it is potently magical (as anyone with abilities in that area can clearly perceive). If placed firmly on the third finger of the left hand, the wearer may tap into this vast power and create an infinite number of identical rings, also capable of creating identical rings. . .

Four smaller cardboard boxes, open and empty, 6" deep with 3" x 3" openings. If someone puts a hand (or any other portion of their anatomy) in one of these boxes, even if they don't touch the sides, the box will be permanently "stuck" to the hand. The victim will end up wearing the box like a very clumsy glove until he can get rid of it. Peeling the cardboard off won't remove it. Burning the box will dispose of it, though it carries obvious risks.

An oversized plastic algae scraper (handle 4 ft. long, scraper 3x2 ft. wide). On the handle is written "Jaspar's Big Algae Scraper... For the REALLY LARGE aquarium." While it is nothing more than an oversized algae scraper, it can be used as a two-handed weapon, and do swing+2 crushing damage.

A terrarium containing what appears to be some small plants, a pair of lizards, and a frog, all composed of crystals of various brilliant colors. The animals move (if somewhat slowly), and, aside from their unusual composition, act normally.

A case of a strange clear drink with small colored dots floating in the liquid. Included is a carbon copy of a plan for alien embryo breeding and distribution through a major soft-drink company. The original copy is missing.

A phone book. Each listing includes the person's exact location at that moment. If you close the book and then reopen it, the information is updated.