Description: Thaylia’s Lyre is a beautiful stringed instrument of polished wood and engraved with pictures of roses entwining stars. The strings and the tuning keys glisten with a gold polish. The beauty is somewhat marred by the back of the sounding chamber which is charred and burned. With such damage, it’s amazing that the instrument even plays but it does. The eight strings create an enchanting sound when strummed. The lyre is warm to the touch. It is usually found in a fireproof pouch made from copper dragon skin.

History: Thaylia was an elven bard prodigy. At the age of five, she was an accomplished musician performing for large audiences. She composed a number of original songs that are still played today. “Dreams on the River,” “The Kissing Tree,” and “Rhythm Road” are three of her more popular creations. Over time, her fame and abilities grew. Many considered her among the top twenty greatest composers who ever lived. Thaylia’s parents were traveling performers and she continued that tradition. It is said that she suffered from wanderlust and rarely stayed in any one town for more than week or two. Thaylia never married but she did have a son who traveled with her.

Thaylia performed across the realms and everywhere she went her fame grew. Things were looking good for her until she performed at the royal wedding for King Brutan Namor II and Queen Violante Antona. The queen was so enamored with Thaylia’s playing that she demanded her new husband hire the bard as a royal musician. King Brutan offered the position to Thaylia but she refused. Accustomed to getting his way and determined to impress his new queen, Brutan had Thaylia imprisoned. He tortured her and when that didn’t work, he tortured her son. Seeing her child in pain, Thaylia agreed to be the court musician. Weeks passed and Thaylia grew more and more despondent. Her songs became sadder and sadder.

One night, Brutan held a large banquet for his wife’s birthday. He gave Thaylia an ultimatum. Play only happy music or he would cut off a finger from her child for every frown on his wife. That night, Thaylia gave the greatest performance of her life. The music poured from her like a fount of water long held back. People danced. People drank. No one wanted the party to end. To Close the evening Thaylia announced she would perform a new song she had written especially for the king and queen called “Fiery Inferno.”

The beautiful song enthralled the audience and Thaylia sang with incredible energy. Thaylia poured all of her anger and all of her despair into the words. It is said that the music itself caused the air itself to catch fire. A raging tornado of flame burst from the bard burning the king, his queen, all of the guests, and every servant in the castle. When the fires finally died down three days later and guards were able to get inside, they found only charred remains and a badly burned lyre.

Thaylia’s Lyre: Thaylia’s lyre must remain in a fireproof bag when not in use as it is constantly burning and will set fire to anything flammable. Attuning to the lyre causes 8d6 fire damage and gives you access to its abilities.

Thaylia’s Blessing: You gain proficiency in the perform (Lyre) skill and all performance checks made with the lyre have advantage. All spells that you cast that deal damage now deal fire damage regardless of their original damage type with a +1d6 bonus. When you inspire with bardic inspiration, reroll any 1s on the Bardic Inspiration die.

Spells: When the lyre is on your person, you can use an action to cast the following spells: Burning Hands, Create Bonfire, Firebolt, Wall of Fire. All of these spells gain the extra damage granted by Thaylia’s Blessing. Once you use the lyre to cast a spell, you can’t cast it again until after a long rest.

Burning Nature: The lyre is constantly burning. When played, the lyre deals 1d4 fire damage each round to the player. The lyre deals half damage rounded down to an attuned player. If the lyre touches clothing or some other flammable material, it will set fire to the object. It behaves similarly to a candle and sheds dim light in a 5 ft radius.

Wanderlust: Once attuned, the lyre makes the bearer restless. The bearer can’t spend more than three days in any one place, which is defined as a city or town. Treat the bearer as if they were under the influence of a Geas spell. On the fourth day in any one location, the bearer must travel at a slow rate for 12 hours, a normal rate for 8 hours, a fast rate of 6 hours or 2 hours on a mount or vehicle in any direction away from their current location. The bearer may not return to that location for at least 10 days.

Destroying Thaylia’s Lyre: To destroy Thaylia’s Lyre, a descendent of Thaylia must take the instrument into the deepest depths of the ocean and drown it in the center of the Everspray, a swirling riptide with enough raw power that it can rip a kraken in two.