Doomed Ring of Leadership
| Type | Ring |
|---|---|
| Discovered By | Naven |
| Discovery Date | 2013-01-24 |
| Discovery Location | Orde, Beluaterra |
| Abilities | Prestige +3 |
| Current Owner | Naven |
Discovery
Naven Thorne the adventurer was traveling in the region of Orde, on the continent of Beluaterra. Many of the peasants had been worrying about a growing undead problem, so Naven was taking the opportunity to earn some extra silver by slaying them. One evening, while searching for a place to rest and let his bruises heal, he came upon a small cottage on the edge of a forest. The cottage looked inviting, so he knocked on the door, which was opened by a uniformed, middle-aged soldier. Naven offered the man some silver in exchange for a place to rest for the night, and the man agreed, introducing himself as Seamus.
As they sat by the fire, Naven noticed that Seamus was wearing a very expensive-looking ring, encrusted with several polished gemstones. Seamus, seeing that Naven was interested in the ring, sighed heavily. With a forlorn expression, Seamus told him its story.
Seamus had been the captain of a small group of militia, serving in Orde. One day while guarding one of the roads leading to Lastfell, a white carriage led by a single horse came up the path. Seamus stopped the carriage, intending to warn the occupants of a group of monsters that had been rampaging through the region. The occupant turned out to be a single beautiful woman, who gave Seamus a worried look at the news of monsters. She asked Seamus if he and his men would be able to guard her carriage, at least until she reached the next town. She offered him the ring he now wore as payment, and Seamus accepted.
About twenty minutes later, as Seamus and his unit led the carriage down the road, a man on a horse came charging up from the direction of the town. He stopped only for a moment, warning them that the monsters were heading this way, before taking off again. Seamus knew that the noblemen's armies weren't going to arrive in Orde for at least another four hours, and decided to take the woman down a forest path off the main road. In the middle of the forest, however, they were ambushed by a group of bandits! Seamus and his men fought valiantly, but the bandits were many and clever. The bandits fought well and had placed several traps in the forest, and before long Seamus' unit had entirely succumbed to the bandits, leaving only Seamus and the carriage. Seamus, a seasoned fighter, was able to kill several of the bandits before being stabbed, falling unconscious.
Naven looked expectantly at Seamus, but Seamus only shrugged, saying that he couldn't remember what happened afterward. The next thing he remembered was being back at this cottage. Seamus told Naven that the ambush had happened only a league north of here, in the forest. Naven nodded thoughtfully, and settled in his bedroll to sleep.
Naven awoke the next morning alone, looking in puzzlement at the cottage. It seemed a lot more run down than it had last night, and there were no embers or ashes in the fireplace. He saw no sign of Seamus. Shrugging to himself, Naven packed up and set off in the direction that Seamus had told him the ambush was, hoping to find some spoils that he could sell for a few silver. Naven found the remains of a ransacked carriage, assuming he had found it. As he approached the carriage, a group of undead appeared, surrounding him! Naven, no stranger to fighting undead, unsheathed his sword and sliced the nearest one in half. After a raging battle, Naven confronted the leader, a champion. Having the rare advantage of a good night's sleep that Seamus and his cottage had given him the night before, Naven fought expertly, felling the champion. Naven searched the tattered belongings of the twice-fallen men, collecting two gold's worth of trinkets and money. As he searched the champion, he noticed a ring on its finger, identical to the one he had seen Seamus wearing the night before. Looking in the carriage, he saw the rotting remains of what may once have been a beautiful woman, on her way to the next town. Naven's eyes widened as he remembered how the cottage had looked when he awoke, as if it had been abandoned for years.
It would appear, Naven thought to himself, that in exchange for the prestige eschewed on its owner in the form of its beautiful gemstones, this Doomed Ring forces one to fulfill their bonds of Leadership, even in death.
