Historians of the arcane agree the Macabre Masks were created for a masquerade ball held by an order of wizards in the distant past.
Where they fiercely debate is what their purpose was. Some scholars believe they were given to the guests to be used in the masquerade ball itself and kept as gifts.
Other scholars imagine they had a darker reason for being created. A few of these masks were found on skeletal remains in the dungeon tunnels underneath the order’s tower leading some scholars to imagine the masks were used in a deadly game.
Macabre Mask
Wondrous Item, Rare (Requires Attunement)
This is a dull bronze masquerade mask that will attach itself securely to the bridge of your nose.
While wearing the mask, you can use an action to transform into either a ghoul, a dire wolf, or a scarecrow for one hour or until you drop to 0 hit points or die.
Your game statistics, including mental ability scores, are replaced by the statistics of the chosen form. You retain your alignment and personality. Your gear and equipment melds into the new form and you can’t activate, use, wield, or otherwise benefit from any of your equipment.
Once you use this action, you can’t use it again until the next dawn.
As long as you are wearing the mask, you exhibit a small physical feature of one of the forms such as lengthened fingernails, pronounced canine teeth, or making subtle creaking noises when you move. These features are cosmetic in nature.
Curse. This item is cursed and attuning to it, or casting identify, on the mask reveals the curse. Whenever you wear the mask, you cannot remove it until you reduce a creature to 0 hit points, or a remove curse spell is used on it.
Story hooks for DMs:
- The adventuring party meet a hag disguised as a travelling merchant named Mama Crabclaws on the road. She has a wagon full of strange trinkets and potions. She is willing to trade the Macabre Mask for another item of equal rarity, or if the party will procure her a mushroom which grows in the nearby lair of a dangerous creature.
- While eating at an inn, the party overhears a kobold miner named Jayjay describing how he saw a “spooky mask” at the bottom of a chasm in a nearby silver mine. He will lead the adventurers to the tunnel for 25 gp, but will run as soon as there’s trouble.
- The next time the party are in a shop, they spot a creepy mask for sale for 3,500 gp. If questioned the merchant describes a disheveled tiefling woman who sold it because she “needed to pay off a debt”.
Image generated by DALL·E
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