Appearance: A sealed clay kylix painted with a black ship, ivy, and a sleeping crown.

Handout. "Drink nothing. Spill nothing. Break me only when the dance forgets the dancer."

Enc. 1–2. The sealed cup grants advantage on one save against charm, frenzy, or intoxication; it also exposes disguised wine.

Enc. 3. Breaking the cup at the revel's heart creates a 30-foot sober hush for 1 round, ending fey glamours and opening the route to the prince.

Appearance: A palm-sized clay lamp shaped like a tiny jar, its handle a twist of gold wire and its face carved in a gentle grin. A hooded gold flame burns inside without oil. Warm to the touch; smells of beeswax and ozone.

Handout (23 words). "Hope was the last light in the jar. Keep it burning through the dark. At the source, say the old words: Out, Keres."

Light. Bright light in a 20-ft. radius and dim light for another 20 ft. Wind and water cannot snuff it; only its bearer can, by choice. Shadows, Specters, Keres and Hungry Shades have disadvantage on attack rolls while in its bright light.

Relight. As an action, touch the Lantern to a snuffed grin-lamp: that PC's lamp is lit again (+1 lit lamp, max 6). If the Lantern is out of the party's hands at the end of a round, a lamp is snuffed.

Door Shortcut. Showing the lit Lantern to Kyros counts as a correct answer: "Only those sent with Hope dare enter."

Return the Flame (Act II). Win Path B. As an action within 30 ft. of the Jar, the bearer opens the shutter and speaks the Closing Words. The flame leaps into the Jar and the Lantern goes cold (single use). See Act II.

Flare (emergency). As an action, open the shutter fully: all creatures within 30 ft. end the Frightened condition and have advantage on WIS saves for 1 minute. The flame is spent — Path B is lost.

Appearance: A heavy gray loaf that smells like rain, ash, and honest work.

Handout. "Gold cannot eat. Gold cannot knead. Feed the king what wealth refuses."

Enc. 1–2. Absorbs one minor golding effect or reveals fresh curse-tracks as dull clay footprints.

Enc. 3. Pressed into the millstone or Midas's hands, it gives the party one round to redirect the curse into earth.

Appearance: Glass tear of gray ash and green sparks tied with red wool.

Handout. "Dust to dust is lazy magic; ash remembers the shape of every fire."

Enc. 1–2. Sprinkle to reveal hidden verse, granting advantage on one Investigation or Religion check.

Enc. 3. Cast into the page-fire to freeze the burn clock for 2 rounds or reveal the safe exit door.

Appearance: A short olive-wood club sticky with dark Nemean resin; twelve notches cut into the haft.

Handout. "Not the hero's name — the sand's. Strike the hide, stake the charge, leave the legend empty."

Enc. 1–2. As a weapon: +1 club. Once per encounter, a hit ignores the Nemean Lion's Hide That Will Not Cut. Once during the Hydra wave, a hit with the club may be declared a cauterizing strike if a free hand holds flame (torch/cantrip): that stump does not regrow.

Enc. 3. Plant in the sand as an action (DC 14 Athletics or Strength). Until the start of your next turn, the Cretan Bull's next charge must target the stake or take 4d10 piercing and fall prone (no save). Once during the Boar wave, as a bonus action, plant briefly to grant allies advantage on the next shove/grapple against the boar.

Appearance: Plain leather with a moonlit bit that grows lighter when thanked.

Handout. "Hold with open hands. Ask before ascent. Return before applause."

Enc. 1–2. Grants advantage on one Animal Handling, Acrobatics, or Persuasion check involving Pegasus.

Enc. 3. If a rider refuses the killing blow while holding the bridle, Pegasus can force the Chimera to retreat.

Appearance: A warm bronze triangle that casts noon shadows even at dusk.

Handout. "Set false words in true light. The shadow will point where the voice is hiding."

Enc. 1–2. Reveals contradictions in testimony or makes forged prophecies cast crooked shadows.

Enc. 3. Set into the cracked tripod to pin the Python-spawn's real body for 1 round.

Appearance: small coral trumpet, warm and faintly pulsing

Handout (22 words). "When the sacred crab climbs for blood that is not the sea’s, sound this horn — hunger hears the true feast."

Enc. 1–2. Action: blow once (1/short rest) — sharks or octopus within 30 ft. make a DC 13 Wisdom save or end their next turn moving away from the hull.

Enc. 3. Action adjacent to Karkinos or at the bow rail: sound the true feast (once). Karkinos must succeed DC 15 Wisdom or be incapacitated until end of its next turn and lose Legendary Actions that round; soft underbelly exposed (attacks vs. it have advantage until it moves).

Iron nail that sings in storm

Handout (22 words). "Drive this nail into dead wood that still rows — lightning loses its master, and bones remember the grave."

Enc. 2–3. Action: hammer into ghost-galley deck or a Tempest Effigy — target construct/undead ship-zone: disadvantage on attacks 1 round + 15 lightning (friendly to storm knights? no — grounds them). Once per short rest.

Enc. 3 finale. Drive into the ghost mast (AC 15/HP 25 to place): storm knights’ lightning aura suppressed while nail remains.

Appearance: fist-sized rough diamond, warm; flashes even under cloud

Handout (24 words). "When the mountain-bird stoops for its stolen moon, flash Serendib’s noon — nest remembers sky, and sky remembers mercy."

Enc. 1–2. Action (1/short rest): flash — one creature within 30 ft. that can see you Dex DC 13 or blinded until end of its next turn (serpents & cyclopes hate this).

Enc. 3 (Finale). During Phases 1–2 a flash works as normal (Con DC 15 or blinded 1 round; no Snatch or Nest Quake that round). The Diamond solution: in Phase 3, when the Roc drops to 0 HP (downed on the bow) or the party survives 5–6 rounds of pursuit, the light comes right and the diamond hums — flash it (auto-succeeds). If the egg’s secret hasn’t surfaced yet, it does now: she cracks the decoy in her talon, sees carved stone, and remembers sky. Read the handout aloud; she departs.

Appearance: A tarred hemp net threaded with blue wire and small bronze bells.

Handout. "Throw only when the sky answers. Pull only if you like keeping both arms."

Enc. 1–2. Can capture a scout bird, block a dangerous dive lane, or grant advantage on one flock-control check.

Enc. 3. If spread across the nest spire during thunder, grounds the boss for 2 rounds and strips its reaction.

Poseidon’s authentic tax seal

Handout (20 words). "Show the true bronze when false kings claim the wave — the deep-beast bows to the stamp, not the spear."

Enc. 2. Advantage on Intimidation/Persuasion vs Atlanteans once.

Enc. 3. Action, brandish at Deep-Beast within 30 ft.: DC 15 Wis save or frightened 1 min and cannot Climb Hull for 1 round (once).

Appearance: A hand-length iron bristle wrapped in red wool and smelling of wet leaves.

Handout. "Hold me to moonlight and pride will cast the longer shadow. Hold me to blood and the forest will remember the wound."

Enc. 1–2. Reveals false trails and social lies: advantage on one Survival, Insight, or Persuasion check tied to the hunt.

Enc. 3. Driven into the boar's old wound as an action, it suppresses the boar's curse aura for 1 round and prevents a regeneration surge.

Description. A cold bronze nail etched with spiraling script, given by Kadmos at the outset, attached to a scrap of hide.

Note Attached. "Seek the ichor-valve at heart or heel. Turn the pin thrice. The bronze giant will sleep, not die."

Function. Required to attempt shutdown checks at the Ichor Valve in Encounter 3. Without it, the valve cannot be engaged at all.

Secondary Use. Can instantly disable a single lesser construct (Bronze Sentry or Legionnaire) if inserted into its back-panel port as an action — usable once per encounter.

Appearance: Palm-sized bronze dove with one real white feather in its throat.

Handout. "If it returns with clipped wings, row. If it returns whole, pray faster."

Enc. 1–2. Launch it to scout currents, granting advantage on one vehicle (water) or Perception check.

Enc. 3. Its wingbeat names the safe count; spend it to cancel one rock-clash or expose the Titan-kin anchor.

Appearance: Seven blue-black chain links that drift an inch above any surface and hum in open air.

Handout. "Debt belongs to the ground. Judgment belongs to the open sky. Bind only what you can lift."

Enc. 1–2. Can hoist one buried captive, wagon, or stone slab; advantage on one check to lift, drag, or separate something from earth.

Enc. 3. Fastened around Antaeus during a successful grapple or terrain maneuver, it suspends his earth-healing and makes him vulnerable until he touches ground again.

Appearance: Black reed-paper pages sewn with coin-bright thread and damp thumbprints.

Handout. "One fare, one name, one shore. Cross out a lie before it learns to row."

Enc. 1–2. Identifies forged fares, calms one passenger group, or reveals who belongs on the return shore.

Enc. 3. Balanced on the prow, it stabilizes the barge and exposes the undead smuggler boss for 1 round.

Appearance: bronze disc, Amazon crescent on one face, Spartan lambda on the other; olive cord through the center

Handout Text (23 words). "When bow and spear both cry injustice, bind crescent to lambda at the ford-stone — or gift the face you trust in battle."

Enc. 1–2. Showing the seal marks the party as envoys: advantage on one social check per camp (once each).

Enc. 3 — Peace. As an action at the ford-stone, bind both faces with the olive cord: Strife-Wrought Champion loses legendary actions for the fight and takes 30 psychic damage (once).

Enc. 3 — War sides. Gift the matching face to Atalanta or Leonidas (action, adjacent): that champion gains +2 to attacks and saves for 1 minute, and may use a special Rally once.

Appearance: bronze serpent coiled around a spring-drop, hung on a laurel cord — temple charm from Apollo's treasury

Handout Text (22 words). "Where Castalia's coil meets Apollo's light, bind the brood before the shed — or the navel drinks serpent-blood at dusk."

Enc. 1–2. Bearer has advantage on saves vs. poison from snake-themed enemies (once per short rest).

Enc. 3 — Shed Staging. As an action when the Green Coil sheds (or at ≤25% HP), bearer can force the serpent to lose one Legendary Resistance use and take 20 radiant damage.

Enc. 3 — Shed-Bone. Once per fight, force Shed-Bone to reroll one attack or save.

Branch B Prep. Castalian oil smeared on the charm can prime the orchestra oil-slick interaction without an action in round 1.

A smooth garnet-red stone, warm to the touch. While holding it, you have advantage on Persuasion/Performance checks against creatures bound by grief or dark magic (such as the Wilting Court).

Curse-Sever. As an action, press it to an incapacitated or Grief-Bound (0 stacks) fey to instantly sever any underworld curse-bond, ending magical compulsion. Single use — crumbles to ash after severing one curse.

Appearance. A small clay vial, stoppered with black wax, containing milky-white sap from the divine herb moly. A strip of papyrus is tied around the neck.

Papyrus Note (17 words). "Against the witch's power: anoint thyself, pour the rest in her fire. The gods watch."

Anoint (Bonus Action). Touch a willing creature with a drop from the vial. The creature gains advantage on Wisdom saving throws against enchantment and polymorph effects for 24 hours. Does not deplete the vial; only a pour empties it.

Calm Beast (Situational). Holding the vial near Enchanted War-Wolves or Lion-Guards grants advantage on Animal Handling checks to calm them (the divine scent resonates with the curse binding them).

Pour into Cauldron (Action, Depletes Vial). Requires adjacency to a magical cauldron. The PC pours the entire vial in. Against Circe's Great Cauldron, this triggers her Moly Vulnerability (55 psychic damage, strips Sorceress's Focus, ends Transformation Curse permanently, and may force surrender). All transformed creatures on Aeaea revert to human form. The cauldron cracks and goes cold.

The vial cannot be depleted by anointing — only by the pour. Multiple PCs can be anointed over the course of the session. Smart players who anoint early have advantage on WIS saves throughout. The pour is the primary win condition of the session; reward players who remember and use it creatively.

Appearance: White bone shuttle threaded with a hairline of moon-silver.

Handout. "Pass under, pass over, pass through the lie; the third crossing remembers the true name."

Enc. 1–2. Lets a PC lift one thread without touching it, granting advantage on Stealth or Arcana at a loom.

Enc. 3. Can carry the true name through Arachne's web, severing the rewritten fate without killing her.

Appearance: pale conch etched with closed lips

Handout (21 words). "When wings blot the sail and the sea begins to sing, breathe this shell — deafness is mercy, and mercy is a blade."

Enc. 1–2. Action: you and allies within 10 ft. auto-succeed saves vs. siren song until end of your next turn (1/short rest).

Enc. 3. Action: shatter the conch’s silence-pulse (once) — all siren/jelly casters DC 15 Con or lose concentration and song for 1 round; deals 20 thunder to the Fog-Mother if she is within 30 ft.

Appearance: Tiny bronze pruning shears warm as late afternoon.

Handout. "Cut the stem, not the fruit; cut the shadow, not the throat."

Enc. 1–2. Advantage on one Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) or Wisdom (Perception) check involving orchard wards.

Enc. 3. Cut one dream-vine on Ladon; it loses a legendary reaction and cannot awaken fully for 1 round.

Appearance: a thumb-sized golden bell on a scrap of fleece-wool cord

Handout (22 words). "Ring once at the root of the golden oak — not thrice — and even sleepless lids grow heavy for a breath."

Enc. 1–2. Optional: 1/encounter, ring softly — one beast or construct within 30 ft. Wis DC 13 or distracted 1 round (no alarm if already hidden).

Enc. 3 (primary). Action within 10 ft. of the sleepless dragon: ring once. Dragon Con DC 16 or becomes Drowsy for 1 minute (Speed halved; disadv on Perception; Fleece Cut DC −2). Ringing twice or thrice in the grove raises Alarm +2 immediately.

Appearance: black-iron coin stamped with a closed eye; warm like living blood

Handout Text (22 words). "When the queen's garden sings with stolen breath, press this eye to the ferry-bell — the husband hears iron before lies."

The Fare Home. Hades lends it in the throne room. It pays Charon for the whole party on the way back, with one spare "truth toll".

Burning Eye. While a creature holds the Obol, its nonmagical weapon and unarmed attacks deal radiant damage instead of their normal type (its choice on each hit). Radiant from the Obol stops Hydra-Tooth Skeletons and Spartoi from reassembling.

Ferry-Bell. As an action, strike it against a bronze ferry-bell (garden / throne / dock): begins the Hades Arrival clock (see Enc. 3). Once per session.

Optional Cerberus. Offering it as a scent-token (action, not consumed) grants advantage on the first Animal Handling check to calm Cerberus.

Kept. If both gods save face, Persephone asks Hades to let the party keep it (session reward).

Appearance: A carved cedar heart with bronze pins that can lock, wake, or cripple a larger wooden body.

Handout. "Turn once for silence, twice for soldiers, thrice for fire. A fourth turn belongs to no king."

Enc. 1–2. Opens hidden panels in the colossus, quiets its joints, and grants advantage on one sabotage, repair, or concealment check.

Enc. 3. Inserted into the colossus core, it chooses the payoff: open gates, lock the payload, evacuate civilians, or disable the construct.

Appearance: Black nail with a coal-red seam and a head shaped like a tiny torch.

Handout. "Drive it where iron learned cruelty; turn once for mercy, twice for rebellion."

Enc. 1–2. Can anchor a rope, calm divine fire, or grant advantage on one Athletics check during the climb.

Enc. 3. Wedged into the central shackle, it lets the party free, loosen, or consecrate the chains.

Appearance: A sun-warm cord of braided gold, too light to fall and too bright to stare at directly.

Handout. "One hand guides pride. Two hands guide terror. Three true names guide the fire home."

Enc. 1. Anchor. Auto-success on one civilian rescue, one tangled pegasus, or one falling creature — no check. The gold also slips the herm's courier-knot once, freeing a pair of Talaria for free.

Enc. 2. Skyhook. Auto-cross one sky-road gap and auto-board the chariot. Its glow counts as a bright coordinated signal to drive off an Ash-Wing Vulture (free action).

Enc. 3 (primary). Action at the yoke strut: loop the Rein through and speak the three city names aloud — one per city the speaker has actually watched burn. While looped: every calming check gains +2; a calmed horse that would be re-panicked saves with advantage; Kaustra has disadvantage on attacks within 10 ft of the strut.

Win gate. The horses can be calmed without the Rein. The chariot cannot be turned without it.

Appearance: iron brand, ash-black, warm; Delphic laurel stamp

Handout (22 words). "When the Mother calls her children from the dark, press this ash-iron to the stone — the nest forgets one name."

Enc. 1. Action (1/short rest): brand a brood-beast within 5 ft. — it has disadvantage on attacks vs. you until end of its next turn.

Enc. 2 payoff. Action once per phase: press to nest stone / Echidna’s coil. Cancel her next Call Brood (or dismiss one summoned creature of CR 5 or less as it arrives). Phase 3: instead, for 1 round Echidna cannot use Call Brood and has disadvantage on Constrict.

Appearance: palm-sized bronze astrolabe, ticking with stolen star-hours

Handout (23 words). "When hundred hands are pinned by jealous noon, turn Tenages’s hours against the locks — free the mountain of arms."

Enc. 1–2. Action (1/short rest): read the light — advantage on one Investigation, Arcana, or Survival check to navigate solar traps / fever-wards.

Enc. 3. Action adjacent to a Solar Lock: spend the dial’s turn (once per lock, or central Master Lock once) — that lock opens (no check) or DC 14 Arcana/Religion if you prefer tension. Opening the Master Lock (or all 4 satellite locks) frees Briareus.

Appearance: A thin gold-and-olive fillet that refuses to stay tied until Victory herself knots it.

Handout. "Wear the unfinished crown into the dark. When Victory breathes, the knot will hold — and the horn will answer."

Enc. 1–2. While worn: +1 to saving throws. Once in Enc. 1, when you succeed on a check to break Nike’s chain-locks, each ally within 30 ft. gains 10 temporary HP.

Enc. 3. In Enc. 2, after Nike’s blessing: once per Phase, as a reaction when you or your helper hits Typhon, deal +2d10 radiant and reduce one of Typhon’s legendary action uses by 1 until end of round (min 0).

Appearance: a human eye, brown and entirely unclouded, set in a lens of hardened amber resin about the size of a plum. Warm. It does not track, but people keep checking.

Handout (21 words). “She gave up her eyes so she could sleep. It did not work. Make her look.”

Clue 2. History DC 16, Religion DC 15, or Arcana DC 15: the eye is adult, human, and recent — and a Libyan queen was once granted the setting-aside of her eyes so she could rest. She set them aside the night her household changed, so she would not have to watch. It did not spare her any of it.

Enc. 1 (Sea). Shown to Acheilus it opens the parley automatically with no check — he has seen it before, wet, on his own sand.

Enc. 2 (City). Held up as an action before the Yoke-Sworn: the eye is unmistakably a person’s and the rite’s premise wobbles. Every Yoke-Sworn makes the Morale save at disadvantage for the rest of the encounter, and Alkippe loses one Yoke-Cord charge.

Enc. 3 — one use, three choices. Into the Bier (action, adjacent): her Night-Smoke cannot enter it, and 0 HP destroys her. Into her socket (action; she must be grappled, restrained, stunned, or within 5 ft. and unaware): DC 18 Wis or stunned until the end of her next turn, with Sleepless Regeneration offline until then. Into Herophile’s hands (action, adjacent): she looks into her mother’s own eye and sees what was actually done and what was never coming — every remaining step of Herophile’s Choice completes at once.

DM note. Make the party choose out loud and do not warn them which is “correct.” The Bier is the one that ends the monster; the socket is the one that buys a round; the girl’s hands is the one that ends the session without a body. All three are right answers to different questions.

Description. A palm-sized golden mask on a braided leather cord — comedy face on the front, tragedy on the back. Warm to the touch. The inside rim bears a tiny inscription in old Greek: "When the curtain falls for the last time — raise me aloft upon the stage, and the God of Theater honors his word."

Enc 1 — Fey Hesitation. Displaying the mask openly causes all Fey creatures within 30 ft. to hesitate — they recognize Dionysus's symbol. Grants advantage on Persuasion and Intimidation checks made against satyrs or fauns this encounter. Faun Revelers will not approach the mask-holder without being ordered to.

Enc 2 — Sabotage Sense. While holding the mask, a creature has advantage on Investigation checks made to locate magically tampered objects, hidden magical effects, or creatures using illusion magic within 60 ft. The mask grows warm and vibrates faintly near active magical sabotage.

Enc 3 — Deus Ex Machina. Once the primary win condition is met (Komos incapacitated or at 0 HP), a creature holding the mask while standing on the stage (the orchestra) may use their Action to raise it aloft and make a DC 12 Performance check. On success, Dionysus descends to the stage immediately. On failure, the check may be retried on the next turn (Dionysus won't let the party fail indefinitely). On a result of 20+, Dionysus arrives in spectacular fashion and every PC present gains the Blessing of Dionysus at full potency.

Properties. The mask cannot be destroyed by non-divine means. It does not count as a magic item for the purposes of attunement limits. It is worth approximately 500 GP to a collector but will not be sold — it simply reappears at the holder's side the next morning if sold or lost.

Appearance: a blood-dark bronze spear tip, warm to the touch, etched with a boar and a spear

Handout (23 words). "Plant this in the steam-altar when war has seen your worth — then stand aside. Ares does not share kills."

Enc. 1–2. While held: once per encounter, when you help Hold the Line (see Pass Tools), gain advantage on the check.

Enc. 3 (primary). Action at the steam-altar when Favor ≥ 6: plant the spearhead. Ares arrives at the end of that round (win). If planted early (Favor < 6), it flares — Favor +1 once, then must be wrenched free (Ath DC 12) to reuse.

Appearance: olive-wood disc, winged victory stamp, warm to the touch

Handout Text (24 words). "When bronze claims the sacred sand and the crowd screams for blood, press this olive to the false victor's brow."

Enc. 1–2. Optional: presenting the token grants advantage on one contested Contest check per event (judges recognize the invitation).

Enc. 3 Payoff. As an action adjacent to Khalkotaurus, press the token to its brow-socket: the colossus loses legendary actions for 1 round and takes 40 force damage (ignores resistances). Once per fight, or a second time if a recruited captain aids the press (helps as an action).