Item: Idol to the Ska Moose, grants holy bonus on strength checks but only when trying to lift things. The user will be surrounded by a checkerboard aura and the faint sounds of the holy chant, “pick it up pick it up pick it up”

yesterdaysprint:

Chula Vista Star-News, California, November 26, 1959

looks like he had a face-lift and a manicure – but Glarf is still there!

The San Diego Reader says:

This is Rangui the blue Glarf. A Glarf is a cross between a dwarf and a dinosaur. The Glarfs were named and created by a 15 year old boy named Jerry Lee Gauss some time in the 1960’s. Jerry died in a traffic accident at age 19. This Glarf, along with it’s companion, Rumbi, the yellow Glarf, used to reside in the front yard of the Gauss family’s home home on Valley Road in Bonita until they disappeared in 1970. They were found found again in 1993 and relocated to their current spot in front of the Bonita Village Shopping Center on Bonita Road in 1999.

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Encounter: Rumbi and Rangui, two Glarfs (half Dwarf, half dinosaur) with a tragic backstory

Item: Sword of Piercing Armor And Nothing Else

Long ago, the gods of the forge created a sword for a legendary hero that could phase through armor—any inorganic substance, in fact—to wound the flesh underneath. The hero used the sword to vanquish monsters and enemies, and today the sword resides in a place of honor in the Hall of Heroes in case it is ever needed again. However, this is not that sword.

In modern times, a clever mage obtained what was believed to be the formula to create another such blade. Upon gathering the magical ingredients and enacting the charms, he discovered that the formula merely acted to alert the forge-gods to a mortal attempting to duplicate their holy work, and the intended sword was cursed to do the opposite of its intention: the blade phases through organic material and can only damage inorganic materials such as metal and stone.