Once, a Fakir saved the daughter of a Caliph from drowning when she fell from the royal barge. The Caliph offered him anything his heart desired. The Fakir, replied "Grant me a bed of nails I don't have to carry to the market place." Taken aback, the Caliph did as he wished-- his most sage magicians imbued a thousand nails with magic so that, however scattered, they would fall into perfect lines, balanced on their heads. And with a single magic word they word fly back into a bundle tied with a golden ribbon.
Centuries later, the Fakir's Bed, is just a few hundred rusted nails bundled with a dirty linen strap. A local rogue is said to possess the bed, and throw it out behind her when she flees the guard. Late at night, you might hear her call the nails back to her by singing out the magic word.
I like the little fairy tale story that goes along with this one.
ReplyDeleteThat is outstanding, love the concept and execution.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much to both of you. I struggle with trying to be evocative without making too many assumptions about the imagined world, so that DMs might be excited to use something and still be able to fit it into their own campaign. For this one, it seemed so odd, I felt I had to tell a little story to explain what I even had in mind (I get a lot of my ideas in the hazy time right as I wake up).
ReplyDeleteWell, this one was so good it finally spurred me to get my act together and re-start my largely-unused blog. You can see my "return" to this serve over here if you'd like:
Deletehttps://sanctumreconditesage.blogspot.com/2020/10/faithful-bowl-of-mendicant.html
Sweet! I'll check it out.
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