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Old 01-21-2014, 09:31 AM   #5
zorg
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: saarbrücken, germany
Default Re: Treasure from the Sheikh of the Grinning Skull Oasis

Quote:
Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
I'm looking for any and all ideas on what would be cool treasures to include among the rest of the bandit leaders and what powers to give the Sheikh's gear.
What you absolutely need:

a) A tarnished bronze lamp.

b) An iron bottle, covered in runes, with a stopper bound in gold wire.

Putting a djinn inside might be a tad obvious, but tempting abilities with drawbacks, or just plain weird, spooky or dark powers might be appropriate.

The bottle might contain a sandstorm, which can be released and then banished again by putting the stopper back. It might contain the hot desert wind which dries up any water, causing watering holes and wells to dry up. It might hold swarms of locusts. It might even contain the black miasma which brings plague, though that should be pretty obvious from the runes, or else it would be a bit mean on the PCs.

The lamp could bring light, in that it causes the sun to stay up (with little control over how long this effect works - not too pleasant in the desert). Its light could cast shadows which foretell the future, or which show past or present things. It might be that by its light, you can see buried bodies, or maybe the souls of the dead, or into the Beyond. The lamp, when lighted, could attract demonic desert-beings, intent on taking the lamp to their master/home plane/office building.

Indeed, the setup looks like a perfect excuse to go all baroque on your players!
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