Raincheck, the Umbrella of Deferred Consequences

by Frazer 👁 85 views

Charges: 3 (regains at dawn)

Raincheck is a compact black umbrella with a silverwood handle shaped like a question mark. Its canopy is woven from midnight-blue silk that remains perfectly dry even beneath supernatural rain, and thin silver ribs gleam beneath the fabric like frozen lightning. Along the rim are embroidered tiny scenes of disasters interrupted at the last moment: a falling chandelier halted inches above a noble's head, a ship balanced on the edge of a wave, and a duelist's blade paused before the heart. One spoke ends in a jagged, empty socket, clearly designed to lock against a matching umbrella.

Shelter from Consequences When you are hit by an attack or fail a saving throw, you can use your reaction and expend 1 charge to open Raincheck. The attack's damage, or the failed saving throw's immediate effects, is delayed until the start of your next turn. You suffer no damage or other immediate effects from that instance until then, though the attack still hits and the saving throw is still failed. At the start of your next turn, the delayed damage and effects occur as normal. If the effect would affect an area, only you are sheltered; other creatures are affected normally.

Brief Respite While Raincheck is open, you have advantage on saving throws against being knocked prone or moved against your will. This benefit ends when the umbrella closes, which requires no action.

The Missing Half Raincheck is one of a matched pair. When you hold it open, its handle subtly leans toward its missing sibling, provided both umbrellas are on the same plane of existence. If the sibling is within 1 mile, the canopy trembles whenever you face away from it. Raincheck cannot reveal the sibling's distance or location through magical barriers.

Lore

Raincheck and its missing sibling were known as the Pair of Last Moments. Their maker, the artificer Melisande Vey, believed that fate was not a law but a matter of timing. She designed the umbrellas to grant their bearers a single breath in which consequences could be reconsidered. The pair became a symbol among spies, gamblers, and doomed heroes: an umbrella did not prevent the storm, it merely promised that the storm could wait.

History

Melisande gave one umbrella to her daughter, Ilyra, and carried the other herself. During the Siege of Bellweather, Melisande used Raincheck to postpone the collapse of the city's eastern gate long enough for thousands of refugees to escape. Ilyra vanished soon afterward while searching for her mother, taking the matching umbrella with her. The surviving umbrella was recovered beneath the ruins, still open and perfectly dry. Every owner since has reported that its handle points toward the missing sibling when opened, though no one has yet found it.

Created by Frazer 👁 85 views