Reply To: True Names
The black thing in the chest is actually a visualization of the wizard link binding to an accursed master.
One could go into the logic of why it appears black vs some other color but I won’t, it’s pure speculation.
These links are umbilical cords very much like a ‘Silver Cord’ and they go off from the demon and sort of disappear into the astral plane and then back to the accursed master.
An intact one extends somewhat tautly from the chest for some distance before ‘disappearing’ between planes. If one were to focus on following the link with demon sight, once can generally/eventually see where it goes, unless the wizard has masked it from third party scrutiny, however the demon who has the link attached can always follow it. They always know where their master is, if they desire to look.
When the link is broken, they appear sort of like a severed umbilical cord and sort of coil up closer to the demon, and just trail off, they aren’t going into the astral plane necessarily, although for a while they may….eventually they will shrivel up to nothing and flake away, like an umbilical cord.
If a demon has 2 or more masters, he/she will have one such cord for every master that has bound him or her.
Basically all “link” spells appear to demon sight/wizard sight/etc as a tethering cord between the linked subjects/objects. They are just different colors or patterns etc depending on what type of link it is.