:: Random Item—Chalkboard of Magnificent Bull ::

This handheld slate tablet comes with several sticks of white chalk. The actual tablet itself has been thoroughly used, covered in layer after layer of half-erased drawings, but the cherry-stained wooden frame was clearly added recently.

Most of the faint chalk drawings seem to have been of people or animals—hastily drawn with minimal detail, each one with scribbles over the subject's eyes, ears, or hands. Upon further inspection, you notice that tiny, carefully-carved runes border the outer edge of the frame, which glow with a faint light when a stick of chalk is touched to the slate.

:: Random Item—Poncho of the Eagle ::

As you lift the eggs gingerly from the eagle's nest, you notice—squashed beneath the weight of the eggs—a mass of flattened fabric covered in white-and-black droppings and heavily soiled with dirt. The mother eagle must have brought some unattended item of clothing up to line its nest some time ago, before she laid her eggs. Despite your better judgment, you pinch the edge of the garment and peel it away from the rest of the nest, shaking it to be rid of the stray feathers and small animal bones. It is evidently a woolen poncho, though unremarkable in every way. At least, as far as you can tell...

Not certain what to do next, but positive that you won't be climbing down with the thing (and unwilling to put it back for some reason), you drop it to the ground from halfway up the tree. You watch as it falls, surprised at the graceful waves of air that fill out its folds. It lands almost elegantly, suggesting something more than an ordinary woolen poncho.

You climb down with your breakfast in the bag over your shoulder. Reaching the ground, you set the bag down by the tree and pick up the repulsive article of clothing, convinced now that there must be something else to it. Eyeing it in your hands, and questioning yourself every step of the way, you actually put it on.

:: Random Item—Mandeep's Living Nightmare ::

Mandeep’s Living Nightmare

or Dying for Merciful Nirvana

by Wm Jay Carter III, 6/25/15

a grimoire

Books: History

Culture: Sirens

Condition: Dirty, Intact

Color: Pastel Pink

Keyword: Nirvana

The siren guarding the underwater grotto agrees to let you pass only on the condition that you read a passage aloud from a book in her collection. When you agree she selects a volume bound in the hides of pink starfish and slimy with algae. Opening the book you discover that it is a history of one Mandeep, a draconian dendrite who once sought to find release from reincarnation and offer her soul to the void of nothingness.

The passage you select details Mandeep’s final attempt at lasting release—a long off-white gown woven from the tendrils of poisonous jellyfish. Upon entering a lake deep within an undersea grotto, Mandeep’s record says that the dress’ poison would sink into her skin and obliterate her soul, granting her true death. After reading the passage you look up to see the siren gazing at the water of the lake with bitter reminiscence. Taking the book from you again she wordlessly escorts you into the grotto.

:: Random Item—Key of Kannux ::

Key of Kannux

by Wm Jay Carter III, 6/18/15

a seraph

Tool: Locks/Picks

Culture: Seraphim

Condition: Dirty, Appealing

Color: Tomato Red

Keyword: Liquid

As you march along the forest path you occasionally hear the heavy thud of someone chopping wood. Soon enough you pass a cottage where a dark-haired man is doing just that, the muscles of his bare back flexing beneath his pale white skin with every downstroke. He stoops to gather a few logs and when he stands you see a badge of black metal fixed to his chest, carved with delicate appealing swirls.

Uncertain how the badge manages to stay attached to bare skin, you greet the man and ask about the curiosity. Without responding, the pale man drops the wood in his arms and rips the badge away from his body, revealing a long serrated wooden spike that oozes with thick liquid the color of ripe tomatoes. He offers it to you, evidently unaffected by the fresh wound the spike left behind. “Perhaps you’d like it for yourself,” he says, his dark eyes becoming hungry, his teeth sharpening by the moment. “I won’t need it any longer…”

:: Random Item—Merek's Armor of Encore ::

Merek’s Armor of Encore

by Wm Jay Carter III, 5/23/15

Armor: Banded Suit

Color: Cotton Candy Blue

Conditions: Light, Dirty

Keyword: Skull

You step behind the curtain of the abandoned theatre and cast your gaze over what must be the dressing room. Mannequins stand single-file like soldiers along one wall, each wearing a unique costume. One costume catches your eye in particular: a suit of papier-mâché banded armor painted a whimsical cotton candy blue and stained with what you take to be a splatter of fake blood, long since dried. As a macabre touch, you notice that someone has replaced the head of this mannequin with an actual human skull. Moving on to the props, you study one of the false weapons, but turn around as you hear something move. You see nothing amiss...until you notice that the skull-headed mannequin wearing the suit of fanciful blue armor has suddenly gone missing.