Circlet of Cerberus
With triumph the Halfling thief pried the shining silver circlet from the skull of some poor merman long dead of the trident plunged clear thru the bones of his chest. As he swam to the surface he marveled at the craftsmanship and planned to take it straight to the camp. That thin fidgety wizard, Prinny the Prestidigitator, might know the worth of this silver circlet with waves so detailed he could almost feel the call of the sea....
A band of realistic ocean waves carved of fine silver, accented with polished bone chips as the foamy crest of each wave. The only thing that marks this headpiece as anything other than normal jewelry is the fact that it is forever untarnished and of course has a magical dweomer. This wondrous circlet was in fact, crafted by the merfolk deep under the sea. Most of them can be found belonging to the afluent houses of the Sahuagin and Merfolk hunters. Very few make it up to the surface and those that do are highly prized among hunters of any kind.
Cerberus is well known as the three headed hound which guards the gates of Hades, preventing those souls who have crossed the river Styx from wandering back out of Hades. What is less known is that he is the offspring of Echidna and Typhon. Both are sea monsters and Cerberus was born in a cave deep beneath the waves. As a child of the sea, he is able to breathe water, and move with great speed while in water. With his hound head, he can also track his prey in water with unfailing accuracy. When long gone Mermen orginally found the shed teeth of a young Cerberus, they took them to their finest metalworkers to craft these magical circlets. The resulting bands took on the tracking abilities of the monster as well as bestowing some of his speed and underwater breathing.
The wearer can track a living target thru water or over land with 100% accuracy if the trail is less than a day old, losing 5% accuracy per day as the trail grows colder. If the target is specific, such as Randy the Barbarian, a previous scent of Randy or something he touched is required.
The wearer may also roll to 'catch the scent' of a general living target. (for example; deer, orcs, sharks) It's a 60% chance of success.
It bestows the wearer the ability to breathe underwater, and increases their swim speed by 50%.
The little known fact about this item is the longing Cerberus has to return to the sea is also a part of the gift bestowed. It has the properties of a slow moving Geas, causing the wearer's mind to linger more and more on fond thoughts of life beneath the waves.
Eventually it always becomes too much to bear....perhaps this is the true reason there are not many to be found on dry land...
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? Responses (7)
Nicely done and I love especially that with the advantages it bestows comes also the siren call to live under the sea.
I really like how you weaved (wove? woven?) greek myth and mermen. Seamless. Good read, and nicely balanced item.
As Muro says, a great link to Greek Myth. Good stuff here!
This is really well done. It's like you took one of those random magic items from the back of the DM book and turned it into something interesting. And the seamless blend of myths is wonderful. Good work!
It's short, but covers all essential topics.
I'd just suggest a read-over, there are some spelling and syntax issues (e.g., 'thru' instead of 'through' in the introduction)
Love the mix of mythos, reasonable and justified abilities, and the longing call of the ocean. Very well crafted.
Plus I learned something about Cerberus's lineage!
Decent item with a nice little story. Could also see this in a mystically tinged black powder and sail pirate setting