Treasures from “Dawn of the Overmind” – Ilsensine’s ring. I moved this to the neothelid’s treasure trove because I wanted my PCs to have an opportunity to use it. The player who picked it up was contacted by Diinkarazan and made a deal with him. He could have the ring if he helped fight Ilsensine – which he agreed to.
ILSENSINE’S RING
Legendary, requires attunement
This ring is an item of vast power. To mind flayers, it is a sign of favour from their many-tentacled god. To other races, it is the physical symbol of the illithid’s racial goal of mastery. To the derro specifically, it is the physical embodiment of imprisonment.
Isensine’s Ring bears a marquis-cut archon gem “claw” prong mounted on a nephelium (transparent iron) band. The claws of the mounting are also forged of nephelium, but careful study reveals that each prong actually resembles a tentacle. The archon gem is a smear of purple and white, but it glows with a faint greenish radiance if invisible objects or creatures come within 20 feet of it.
History. Long ago, the mind flayer god Insensine caught a pair of derro godlings named Diirinka and Diinkararan stealing secrets from its realm. In order to escape, Diirinka betrayed his brother Diinkarazan, leaving him behind to suffer Ilsensine’s wrath. Ilsensine magically bound Diinkararan to a stone throne somewhere in the endless levels of the Abyss. The stone throne of Diinkarazan’s imprisonment was set with all manner of gems and stones. To ensure that the binding remained permanent, Ilsensine plucked an archon stone from the throne and declared that only upon the destruction of this singular stone would Diinkarazan ever be free of his sentence of stone. Ilsensine mounted the stone to a band and imbued it with such potent psionic power that it is now a near-artifact level item. It is Ilsensine’s policy to allow one of its favoured proxies to wear the ring. How it ended up as part of the treasure hoard of a gluttonous neothelid is anyone’s guess.
Powers
- Trueseeing (Aura). As described above, the archon stone glows in the presence of invisible objects or creatures. If the ring wearer specifically concentrates upon a suspected invisible presence in the room, the mental knowledge of that object’s nature and immediate intention (if any) is revealed to the ring’s wearer.
- Whirling Guardian (At-Will). If mentally called upon, the ring can call forth a ring of whirling debris around the wearer for a duration of 10 minutes. The effect extends to a radius of 15 feet. The swirling sphere appears as pinpricks of baleful light of an undefinable colour. When triggered, you can designate any number of creatures you can see to be unaffected by whirling guardian. An affected creature’s speed is halved in the area, and when the creature enters the area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, it must make a DC 25 Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 3d8 psychic damage. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage.
- Call the Faithful (1/Week). Once per week, Ilsensine’s Ring can be used to summon 1d4+1 illithids from llsensine’s personal retinue in the Outer Planes. This power functions no matter where the wielder is; such is the power of the ring. The summoned illithids arrive in the same round in a burst of oily radiance. They gladly attack as commanded by the wearer of the ring until they or their opponents are slain, or until 1 minute has elapsed, whichever comes first, at which point they return to Ilsensine’s realm.
- Brain Render (1/Month). The most terrible power of the ring is usable once per month. The wearer can choose any target visible within 100 feet, who must make a DC 25 Intelligence saving throw with disadvantage. If the save succeeds, the target loses 1d10 hp from psychic damage and suffers a terrible headache for 1d4 hours during which time he has disadvantage on all actions due to the pain. If the target fails his save, his skull bursts asunder as his brain leaps forth to land within the hand of the ringbearer.
Secret Information
Diinkarazan. Each time the call the faithful power is used, there is a 1 in 20 chance that instead of illithids, a crazed avatar of Diinkarazan appears. The avatar immediately attacks the wearer of the ring with the ultimate goal of stealing the ring and destroying it and thus freeing its greater self from its age-long imprisonment. The avatar fights until slain, or until he gets his hands on Ilsensine’s Ring, in which case both it and the ring disappear, never to be seen again (it’s possible that Diinkarazan himself may ultimately be freed in this circumstance). If the avatar is slain, Ilsensine’s Ring goes dead for 1 full month, and a new avatar doesn’t have a chance to appear for 1 full year.
Curse. Non-illithids that don the ring face the ring’s curse. Once Ilsensine’s Ring is worn for more than 48 hours, or immediately after the wearer triggers one of the powers, the wearer begins to hunger for a certain something, something that at first, he can’t quite put his finger on. If the wearer continues to wear the ring for another 96 hours, the nagging feeling of hunger suddenly crystallizes: the wearer of the ring must successfully make a DC 25 Wisdom saving throw or become addicted to brains! At this point the ring cannot be taken off; this is a permanent condition that can only be lifted with a wish spell or an equally all-powerful effect. For every month the wearer resists the urge to indulge in brain-eating he loses 1 point of intelligence, If his Intelligence reaches 0, he dies of brain atrophy.
If the victim of the curse indulges this horrible appetite, his alignment shifts towards lawful evil. If the victim continues to wear Ilsensine’s Ring in spite of the curse, his form becomes more and more illithid-like over a period of three months, until for all intents and purposes, the wearer is an illithid, body and soul.