Moontide Crown

Moontide Crown
General Information
Type	Wondrous item
Rarity	Artifact
Properties	Perfect nightvision Illusion and destruction spells Orientation linked to the moon(s) and the ability to always know the location of Catha and/or Ruidus
Historical Information
Owners	Keeper of the Moontides (formerly) Birdie and Oleander Calloway (formerly) Ira Wendagoth

The Moontide Crown is a precious artifact with strong ties to Sehanine the Moonweaver, and to Catha's perpetual glow in the Feywild.

Description

Appearance

Ollie described it as a silvery gossamer crown that was made partially of metals and partially of "immaterial crystal".

Properties

The crown grants nightvision, the skill of always knowing where Catha and Ruidus are in the sky and the wearer's location relative to them, and access to magic drawn from the moons, including illusions and destructive spells. Birdie Calloway mentioned being able to bring down an illusory "temporary eclipse" bestowing "withering darkness" on someone, having the ability to "change minds" easily, and to craft and alter illusions. It has been described as having Moonweaver- and Fey-centric abilities, as well as illusion, mind, shadow, and light alteration abilities.

History

Normally, only Catha appears in the Feywild and Ruidus is not present. But in approximately 836 PD (coinciding with the return of the Ruidusborn Fearne Calloway to the Feywild), Ruidus "began poking through," offering odd boons the Unseelie were eager to utilize.

The Unseelie magically hid the appearance of Ruidus from others within the Fey Realm and began working with unnamed Exandrians (later revealed to be Otohan Thull and Ludinus Da'leth) to build a device that would increase the new boons from Ruidus. Because Oleander Calloway had had visions of the red moon tearing through the Feywild leaving devastation in its path with Fearne at its center, the Calloways tried to warn against this, but were not believed. The Calloways eventually stole the Moontide Crown from the center of the device to prevent its completion, with some help from the Nightmare King, who wanted revenge for being removed from the Unseelie project.

This act created much consternation within the Feywild, and set off efforts to recover the crown. One of the agents sent to the Prime Material Plane was a changeling named Yu Suffiad, who in the persona of a lost elf named Dusk was aided by Bells Hells in Bassuras. Yu had been sent by Sorrowlord Zathuda, Grove Captain of the Unseelie Court, on behalf of Archfey Potentate Sammanar, to locate the Moontide Crown and deal with the Calloways. Yu discovered that the Calloways' daughter Fearne Calloway was living in the mortal world and this led Yu to the location of her parents.

When confronting Birdie Calloway, Yu Suffiad told her that if the crown was not returned, "they're never going to stop. Are you going to fight every single member of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts and the Keeper of the Moontides?" Birdie countered that the Crown was not the property of the Unseelie Court either, which suggests that it had been loaned to the Court by the Keeper.

The Crown was utilized by Ira Wendagoth in the construction of the Veilscatter Scope, which allowed the scope to visually pierce the magical wards surrounding Ruidus. After the scope's activation, Ira grabbed the Crown and placed it on his head before disappearing in a flash of purple energy.

When Bells Hells found and destroyed the Malleus Key in the Fey Realm, it appeared that it had been retrofitted with additional arcane cores in order to overcome the theft of the crown. This proved to be its undoing since the party's overloading of the external cores led to a massive explosion.

Weeks later, in the final battle against Ludinus, the Nightmare King was still using the Moontide Crown.

References

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