Scuffed red leather tavern cap

This item was a prize from the Hunt for History.

Item

a scuffed red leather tavern cap

Show

Pliant leather and supple bands of short-haired dark fur are bound together through masterful stitching to create this comfortable-looking, rugged, and downright rakish headwear.  Black beads threaded onto a length of bleached-out thong dangle from beneath the brow's band, supporting a thin disk of pure gold emblazoned with a thorned rose at the end.

Details

It was said to belong to a wealthy underground criminal organization in Fairport.

Loresong

As you focus your song into the cap in your hand, darkness seeps in from the corners of your senses. Sunbursts of light dance through the blackness and then resolve into a vision.

Floating above a quickly-moving human shadow as it glides from rooftop to rooftop, the ambient sounds from the surrounding city of Fairport and the ocean beyond only a murmur, but not even a light patter of feet from the thief directly below. In the distance a cry of alarm splits the night, but far away, and moments later the shadow bounds through the open skylight of a large manor.

Blending back into shapeless forms and then darkness, the visions end and you open your eyes.

Maintaining your song's focus on the cap, the surroundings darken and shift into a new vision.

Melting through the ceiling like a ghost, you can see a large crowd of lords and ladies cheering for the man who has dropped through the skylight. The adventurer garb of the crowd is extravagant and well-tailored, and perhaps just a shade incongruous for such nobility, and they all wear red leather hats like the one you hold. Removing the black mask from his head, exposing shockingly blond hair and a young human male face, the roof-jumper falls to one knee before an older bespectacled man, wearing the only black cap, and presents a huge flawless emerald on his open palm. The older man tosses him a red leather cap and the crowd roars approval.

As you focus your song into the cap in your hand, darkness seeps in from the corners of your senses. Sunbursts of light dance through the blackness and then resolve into a vision.

Images flash by, visions of the lanky blond thief performing daring acts of larceny.

Always he returns to the older man, to make his offerings and share his exploits with the others. More images flicker, the younger thief prowls not alone, he is leading a small band of shadows. The brief moments that their crimes take are amazing glimpses of gymnastic skill and ruthless enjoyment.

Blending back into shapeless forms and then darkness, the visions end and you open your eyes.

Maintaining your song's focus on the cap, the surroundings darken and shift into a new vision.

The coffin resting on the catafalque is open and within lays the body of the older man, his spectacles tucked respectfully into his breast pocket. Mourners, nearly all with faces from the secret manor but wearing somber respectable garments, file past the dais and pay their respects. The blond thief, older than before, passes the coffin and smiles so that only you and the corpse witness.

The morbid vision darkens and fades, leaving you cold and short of breath.

As you focus your song into the cap in your hand, darkness seeps in from the corners of your senses. Sunbursts of light dance through the blackness and then resolve into a vision.

A scene fades in of a dark alleyway, the blond thief entering below you. Melting out of the darkness, two stout little forms appear and step up to meet the thief. The moonlight breaks through the cover of clouds and you clearly see the trio. The man is extending a leather pouch to the two halflings, who have matching daggers stuck behind their belts, shaking it lightly to a jingle of coins. The halfling assassins accept the payment, and the man tips his black leather cap to them.

Blending back into shapeless forms and then darkness, the visions end and you open your eyes.

Maintaining your song's focus on the cap, the surroundings darken and shift into a new vision.

Looking much the same as before, though some faces are more aged and new faces abound, the crowd of oddly-dressed nobles chatter lightly and mill about in the large manor. Reclining on a chair is the blond thief in his black cap, looking older but still spry, listening to the people around him tell of the petty larcenies they had perpetrated for their amusement. Suddenly, through the skylight drops a dark-haired man, who flows to his knees before the elder thief. He offers up on his palm a huge diamond, waiting with hungry eyes for his cap.

As the vision blurs and slowly fades, you open your eyes and intake a ragged breath.