A moderately large leather tube

This is a leather tube around a light wooden frame, similar to a scroll case but slightly larger.

Inside it is a roll of fine white linen. Inside that is another roll of white cloth, this second wrapping is cotton delicately embroidered with a light grey circle. Inside this are a number of dried oak leaves and a branch of vibrant verdant mistletoe.

A druid should immediately recognize this. Any druid should roll a wisdom check. On a one or lower the druid fails to recognize a ritual totem considered profoundly sacred by manner of her kind. Her mishandling will render the sacred inert and sullen her attunement with the natural order. She will experience a troublingly vague sensation of being corrupted by urban decay, and receives a minus one to all saving throws until she communes with nature alone for two nights and a day.

If she succeeds upon a second wisdom check she will readily intuit this faux pas and it's remedy. If she fails this she will suffer the penalty indefinitely until being advised by an NPC druid of at least 3 levels higher than she is.

Of course, she will almost certainly succeed in the initial check. In doing so she will recognize the sacred nature of the mistletoe; it has been harvested from oak by golden blade under a full moon. It has the following properties (the first two which she will also intuit):


 * 1) it must never touch the ground (or suffer the above)
 * 2) upon successful performance of any well-meaning ritual invoking it, it will restore a fallen comrade to one health point no less than three times
 * 3) if kept in the druid's possession for three months, the mistletoe will experience no ordinary wilting or decay.
 * 4) upon the three month anniversary of acquisition, the branch, oak leaves, and cotton wrapping will turn to white ash and the druid will permanently receive two points to max hp. These effects might also be realized spontaneously should the druid accomplish a feat of particular druidic significance.

The artifact is near worthless to non-druids. Exceptions include priests aligned with oak or moon deities and those who have spent more than a year studying the magical properties of mistletoe.

Should the druid return the artifact to a sacred grove, druid elder, or similar, she will not gain the hp bonus, but will immediately gain 1,000xp.

If the item is stolen from her or taken by force she will receive no negative or positive effects. In the unlikely event of failing both wisdom checks she will not willingly give up possession of the item to anyone not intimately possessed of druidic values.