The curse of poverty is very real, and sometimes you are forced to learn the error of your ways before you can break its shackles.

Some sovereigns prefer a different sort of tax from their subjects - whether freely given, or taken by force.

Quest - #2 Winner

"Gods, oh, g-gods," stammered Dray, as he sagged in my grasp.  His eyes were wild, unfocused, and his teeth were damn near chattering.

"What the hell WAS it?" I snapped, half-glaring at him, half-gazing past his shoulder to figure out what had made Dray's squad run like a pack of rabbits.

"There, it was t-there, that g-guy ..."  He drew in a breath, and straightened up, pulling his wits together.  "That guy.  With that huge frigging sword.  All a-burnin' with magic fire, and screaming like the frigging damned."  Dray glared right back at me.  "You know I ain't no coward, G.  I've fought long and hard, but the Lieutenant can go to the Ice Floes bareassed before he'll get me to face THAT twice."

Quest

Not only the weapon needs to be special or magical...

"Damn," Dray said, beaming with excitement, "will you look at this, Gwythar?  There must be twenty gold coins in this box!  Hah, right behind that crushed shelf and the heap of worthless old books.  Want to see if there are any more?"

I blinked, as my blade comrade led me by the sleeve to what must have been some library.  Books?  "Worthless" old books?  "Damn" was right!  Pestilence take a handful of coins, Master Thormor would give us ten times that for those books!  Now all I had to do was talk Dray into it ...

Quest - #1 Winner

The Truth Mage, Veracit, feared to utilize the Observer's Paradox, uncomfortable with their perilous effect on reality.

“So there it is,” drawled Dray.  “Hoorah, it’s purty.  Can we go home now?”

Shining like it was woven from silver there at the peak of the hill, older than us, older than the Empire ... some said it was older than the world.  But that didn’t matter so much to us today, because the general had screwed up with his damned trickery.  Our condotta was on Lyllenyn’s Hill, all sixty-one of us left, supporting less than a cohort of Vallian regulars that were all that held down the position.  The Avanari wanted that Standard a powerful lot more than to face our main body, it seemed ... and Wolf Lord’s swinging sack, I couldn’t count the number of spears marching onto the hill.

Quest

"This sword! It's helping me connect all the dots!"

"Yeah, even the dots that don't exist!"

Despite becoming the god of creation later in life, Corran was renowned as being a master craftsman first, and possibly the worst cook to ever live second. This cooking set changed all that.

The Elders say there was once a great kingdom here. Yes, in this field of cattle, void of rubble or debris. Now, there are just a few fences and a barn for the bovine herd. At the most, you'll find some fresh dung. No treasures or artifacts of bygone ages here. What fate could have befallen such a place, as to leave no trace? Come closer, and I will show you...

Quest

Knock Knock!

Who's there?

Hold on, this punchline will make more sense behind an actual door.

{This item is silly}

John “Whiney” Winston, he was good at his job, maybe a little too good. When Jimmy the Snake found out his books were being cooked, Jimmy took it upon himself to end Whiney's employment. Too bad Jimmy's problems are over yet.

Thirty items from the distant past, some are still used today in different forms, others were one of a kind and have long since been lost or sequestered within dusty old tombs, awaiting looters to bring them back to the world once more.

Quest

Inspired by #35 from 30 Benefits to owning a pet crocodile.

Because somebody had to.

The ties that bound their childhood home might just be the ties that repair their broken kinship.

There are hundreds if not thousands of liquors throughout all the lands, but few ever manage to stand out from the rest.  The defining trait between a run of the mill booze and a rare and special spirit can often be a gimmick.  This is what master brewer Donovan learned all too well.

When dealing with magic, there’s power in a name.

This sword may not look like much, but it will probably save your life.

A collection of 30 bardic tales you may hear sung in the local tavern or empresses' court, complete with bardic verse excerpts from all 30 tales themselves.

Many of these tales can also be used as quick plug in adventures for Gm's looking for a side quest. (And let the players exploits be turned into the song by a near by bard perhaps?)

Its old and battered exterior hides a subtle, and finicky, magic.