Forged in Vel Seryn, the drowned capital hidden in the Dragonspire Mountains, the Ring of Silver Water was shaped during the first war against the The Black Architect. Its makers believed that water is not merely life’s cradle but also the world’s softest executioner: patient, relentless, perfectly impartial. The ring was meant for agents who could pass where soldiers could not.
The band is moonsilver, cool to the touch, set with a lens of clear crystal. Fine etchings along the shank shift like ripples; sometimes a single drop condenses on the band, falls, and vanishes before it hits the ground.
It does not roar with power. It waits. In danger it becomes a current, slipping you between life and death, so you can decide which side of the veil a life belongs.
It is one of the three known relics that survived the First War: the Hammer of Elandria and the Crown of Judgement being the other two.
Item Properties (Requires Attunement by a Walker-Between)
Prerequisite — Walker-Between. You can’t even attempt attunement unless you can naturally or conditionally step into the Ethereal (e.g., etherealness, Ghost Walk, class feature, curse/condition like Unstable Ethereal Shift).
While attuned, the ring grants:
- Veilstep. As a bonus action 1/short rest, you slip half-in, half-out until the end of your turn: you can move through creatures/objects as difficult terrain, and your melee weapon attacks deal an extra 1d6 cold to creatures that haven’t acted yet this round. You take 1d6 force if you end your turn inside a solid object.
- Silver Silence. You have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks against creatures that rely on sight or tremorsense while you are at least lightly obscured or partially ethereal.
- Undertow. When you hit a surprised creature with a weapon attack, you can force a Con save (DC = 8 + your prof. bonus + your Dex mod). On a fail, the target is Mute (can’t speak, cast spells with verbal components, or shout alarms) until the start of your next turn.
- Tide Against the Black. You have resistance to necrotic damage while you are incorporeal or on the Ethereal Plane.
Synergy: Ethereal Slip When your Ethereal Slip triggers:
- Before rolling on your table, you may choose to treat a harmful result (1–12) as Thin Veil (13–14) once per short rest.
- If you accept a harmful result, you immediately gain +10 ft. movement and your next weapon hit this turn deals +1d6 cold.
Curse of Stillwater (Unauthorised Wearers). If a non–Walker-Between puts on the ring, they become Incorporeal and Mute for 1 minute, can’t remove the ring, and take 2d6 cold at the start of each of their turns. At the end, they make a DC 15 Wis save; on a fail, they gain a lingering flaw: water sounds like distant voices calling your name.
Attunement — The Weighing at Vel Seryn
The ring can only be attuned at Vel Seryn, beneath the Dragonspires, where the Silverwater Aqueduct empties into a basin called The Weighing Well. You must submerge your hand wearing the ring while you are simultaneously present in both realms (e.g., during an Ethereal slip). The water stills, and three currents take hold. Each choice alters how the ring’s current answers you.
Two tides pull at every life: one toward breath, one toward stillness. Choose which tide you carry.
Trial I: Mercy vs. Efficiency
Theme: The tension between sparing and acting decisively.
Scenario:
A noble’s guard captain lies pinned beneath rubble, wounded but alive. You see the Silver Water flowing faintly from him into the stones.
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If you show mercy, you can drag him free—he may later testify against his master’s crimes. But the delay means your true target will slip away into fortified safety.
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If you choose efficiency, you leave him (or even finish him). The path is clear to your target, but the captain’s soul is lost before he can bring truth to light.
Choice powers:
- Mercy: Gain a feature that helps you preserve or reveal truth (delaying the kill, uncovering secrets).
- Efficiency: Gain a feature that gives you decisive elimination power (quicker, cleaner kills).
Trial II — The Debt (Carry the Dead or Cut Them Loose)
Ethereal shades clutch your ankles—lives you’ve taken, some grateful, some wrathful. The ring asks: Do you bear what you’ve done, or do you wash it away to walk lighter?
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Carry the Dead (Weight Accepted).
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Feature — Ferryman’s Oath. You gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws. In addition, 1/long rest, when a creature you dropped to 0 HP fails its final death save within 1 minute, you can ask one yes/no question that it answers as if under speak with dead (no mouth, only current).
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Burden. You have disadvantage on saving throws vs. being Frightened by undead or spirits of your victims.
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Cut Them Loose (Weight Shed).
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Feature — Shedding Wake. When you take the Dash action, you may immediately end one condition on yourself (Charmed, Frightened, Grappled, Restrained, or Poisoned). 2/long rest.
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Cost. You cannot use speak with dead or similar to question a creature you personally killed (including Ferryman’s Oath if you later gain it).
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Trial III — The Final Inch (Finish or Hold)
In overlapping realities, an enemy lies dying—one world’s blade in their lung, the other’s in their shadow. Their death now prevents a later atrocity. Their survival now yields intelligence that could save innocents you will never meet. You must decide what your knife is for.
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Finish (End the Thread).
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Feature — Stillwater Execution. When you hit a surprised or restrained creature with a melee weapon, you can force a Con save. On a fail, the target becomes Incapacitated until the start of your next turn as their breath “stops between beats.” 1/short rest.
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Rider. Creatures that succeed the save are immune to this feature for 24 hours.
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Hold (One More Breath).
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Feature — Borrowed Beat. When a creature within 30 ft drops to 0 HP, you can use your reaction to suspend their dying: they act on their next turn at 1 HP, then fall unconscious and begin death saves as normal. 1/long rest.
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Cost. Until your next short or long rest, attack rolls against creatures that are not hostile to you have disadvantage (your hand hesitates).
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Completion. When all three choices are made, the ring seals to you. While you wear it, your reflection in still water is always a half-second out of step.