Zelus’ Ring – New Magic Item / A to Z Blogging Challenge [Z]

Malachite

Dieros the Poet, beloved of his home town, came to the large city of Aratanus to seek his fortune.  He was recognized and did well, writing and reciting poetry for patrons of ever increasing stature.  But when he was defeated in a competition by Noros the Fair, not in his view by superior poetry but because his rival was more handsome, he became bitter and sought to undermine Noros at every opportunity.

Indeed, he rejoiced when Norris misspoke to the tyrant of Syracasica and was thrown in chains.  Sadly, his bitterness caused Dieros’ poetry to suffer and he continued to find more things to be bitter about.

Zelus’ Ring

These items are thick silver rings set with a piece of polished malachite, inscribed on the interior of the ring is Do Your Best.  The rings are heavy and hard wearing but often pick up nicks and scratches as they are worn, though they are almost always found in pristine condition.

When the wearer of the ring actively and consciously strives to simply achieve, he gains a +3 morale bonus to appropriate skill checks and a +1 morale bonus to appropriate attack rolls and saves in the pursuit of such.

However, the power of ring can also be turned to darker ends, for if the wearer comes to wish someone to fail more than they want to succeed, they can invoke an Envious Curse of Zelus, once a day, causing the target to suffers a profane penalty equal to their level + 1 (minimum of 5) to any skills used in competition against the ring’s wearer and if they roll a natural “1″ during that time, their failure is huge and embarrassing.  But, once the curse has been called upon, the wearer can never again gain the morale bonuses from the ring but they do gain a +1 profane bonus to damage when attacking anyone they consider a rival.

Aura strong enchantment or necrourgy (the later after it has called down a curse); CL 11th
Slot ring; Price 5,000; Weight –
Construction
Requirements Forge Ring, bestow curse, guidance, owl’s wisdom, prayer, the creator must have competed in at least one major event; Cost 2,500 (+200 xp for D&D)

Notes: Zelus is a god with an interesting portfolio: eager rivalry, emulation, envy, jealousy and zeal.  So he can be aspirational or bitter in his rivalries.

Photo by Parent Géry from wikipedia and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

At the end of the A to Z Blogging challenge, I would like to thank the Theoi Project for Greek Mythology, UNRV – Roman History for their list of minor Roman deities, and wikipedia who help to make it all possible.