Charges:
3
(regains at dawn)
The pair consists of two yellowed knucklebones, each polished into a six-sided die and engraved with tiny necromantic sigils instead of pips. Hairline cracks run through the ivory, glowing faintly with violet light whenever the dice are shaken. Their corners are capped in tarnished silver, and one die bears a dark red stain that never washes away. When cast upon a hard surface, they make the sound of small teeth chattering before settling into their chosen result.
The Lich's Desire
These two six-sided dice always roll the result most desired by the lich from whose knucklebones they were carved. Whenever the dice are rolled as part of a game, wager, random determination, or other meaningful decision, the Dungeon Master determines the lich's current desired outcome and has the dice display the appropriate combination. If the lich has no meaningful preference, the dice roll normally. The lich's desire can never produce an impossible result, directly deal damage, or create an effect beyond the scope of the decision being made.
Rig the Wager
When a creature you can see within 30 feet makes an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you can use your reaction and expend 1 charge to roll the knucklebones. If the lich desires that creature to succeed, the roll succeeds; if the lich desires it to fail, the roll fails. Otherwise, the original roll is unaffected. This property cannot alter a natural 1 or natural 20 on an attack roll.
Bonebound Omen
As an action, you can expend 2 charges and roll the dice while asking a question about a specific course of action you plan to take within the next 24 hours. The Dungeon Master determines the lich's desired answer and interprets the dice as an omen, as with the augury spell. The omen is always colored by the lich's agenda and may be misleading if the lich benefits from your misunderstanding it.
Whispers of the Former Master
While attuned to the dice, you have advantage on Intelligence (History) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks made to identify undead, liches, necromantic relics, or hidden tombs. In addition, the dice occasionally click or roll by themselves when an object, creature, or location connected to their former master is nearby.
Curse.
The dice's magic subtly serves the lich's unfinished will. Each time you expend the last charge, you must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or become charmed by the dice until the next dawn. While charmed in this way, you are compelled to advance what you believe to be the lich's current agenda and cannot willingly discard, sell, or give away the dice. The curse can be removed by remove curse cast using a spell slot of 6th level or higher, or by fulfilling a major objective chosen by the Dungeon Master that furthers the lich's true desire.
Lore
The dice were carved from the index-finger knucklebones of Vauldrath the Unfinished, a lich who believed that every event in existence could be reduced to a wager. Vauldrath lost the final game of his unlife when his apprentice cheated, destroyed his phylactery, and scattered his remains. The dice survived, retaining not Vauldrath's mind but the cold, dominant impulse that guided it: the need to win, no matter how long the game lasted.
History
After Vauldrath's destruction, the dice passed through gambling dens, royal courts, and the hands of several adventurers. Every owner eventually found the dice useful, but each also became entangled in schemes they did not understand. The last known bearer vanished while investigating a sealed ossuary beneath the ruined city of Karth Veyr. A collector named Merovan Quill claims to know exactly where the dice are now: inside the ossuary, resting in the mouth of a stone effigy of Vauldrath. Merovan offers a substantial reward for their recovery, though he refuses to explain why he wants them returned.
