The Borrowed Round

by Frazer 👁 59 views

This squat silver tankard is banded in dark walnut and marked with a tarnished brass handle. Its surface bears dozens of tiny engraved tavern signs, many worn smooth by generations of hands. A single green glass gem is set beneath the rim; when the tankard refills, the gem glows with the color of the drink within. No matter how often it is emptied, the inside remains perfectly clean and faintly warm.

Echo of the Last Owner The tankard remembers the creature that owned it immediately before you. As an action, you can speak the tankard's name and cause it to fill with up to 1 pint of the nonmagical beverage that previous owner is currently drinking, provided that creature is on the same plane of existence. The liquid matches the beverage's taste, color, aroma, and temperature. The tankard can refill this way once per round.

Last Call If the previous owner is not currently drinking, the tankard instead produces the last nonmagical beverage that creature drank. If the previous owner has never drunk from it, or the beverage cannot be determined, it produces clean water. The tankard cannot create potions, poisons, alcohol with magical effects, or any other liquid whose properties are magical; such liquids become harmless, mundane versions of themselves.

Inherited Obligation When you attune to the tankard, you hear the previous owner's name and learn a small unresolved obligation they left behind, such as repaying a tavern debt, delivering a message, returning a keepsake, or buying a drink for a named person. The DM determines the obligation, which should be reasonable to complete during an adventure and should not require more than 100 gp or a few days of effort. Until you fulfill it, the tankard's liquid tastes faintly of ash to you, and you cannot willingly end your attunement to the tankard. Once the obligation is fulfilled, the restriction ends and the tankard chooses you as its new previous owner if you later pass it on.

A Drink Shared Once per long rest, when you use the tankard to pour a drink for another creature and both of you drink from it within 1 minute, that creature gains 1d6 temporary hit points and has advantage on its next saving throw against being frightened within the next hour.

Lore

The Borrowed Round was made by a halfling innkeeper named Pell Underbough, who believed no guest should ever drink alone. The tankard was enchanted to keep a distant companion's cup beside them, but its magic became stranger after Pell lent it to a wandering adventurer who vanished without paying several debts. Ever since, the tankard has passed from owner to owner, carrying not only the taste of another person's drink but also the unfinished promises of the dead and departed.

History

Pell created the tankard from the silver cup of a retired adventurer and the handle of the first mug broken in his family tavern. Its first notable owner was Captain Orra Vane, who used it to share wine with her crew while separated by months at sea. After Vane disappeared, the tankard resurfaced in the possession of a priest, a burglar, and three different tavern keepers. Each owner fulfilled one obligation and unknowingly left another behind, creating the tradition known among collectors as 'paying the next round.'

Created by Frazer 👁 59 views

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Lore

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