Souleater's Ring

The streets of the City of Gold are chaotic. The network of streets and alleyways can confuse and disorient anyone. This is where Ailen thrived. He would steal from stalls and dark into the alleys, where he could disappear before the guards arrived. Ailen found himself in this network of alleys tonight.
He had just stolen some food for dinner, a loaf of bread and some smoked beef. Gnawing at the meat, Ailen looked to the night sky. The moons glowed enough to light the alleys. While his elven vision gave him more than enough to see, the additional light was nice and set the mood. Making a turn down another alley, he froze.
Lying on the ground was the body of a male human. Dried blood crusted around his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Ailen covered his nose, wanting to vomit if he hadn't. He then pulled out a handkerchief he normally wore to cover his face during a heist and walked up to the body. Ailen searched for any valuables.
On the man's body, Ailen found a few gold pieces but the real find was a ruby studded ring on the man's right index finger. Its design was foreign to Ailen but he took it anyway. It resisted his pull, which Ailen thought was the rigor mortis of the poor bastard. When he finally got the ring off, Ailen slipped backward. The ring clattered to the ground. When Ailen reached for it the ring, it flew toward his hand and slipped onto his outstretched index finger. Ailen jumped and tried to remove the ring. It refused to budge.
Feed me. Ailen heard echo in his mind. He shrugged off the voice. Thinking it was just the sound of the wind.
Ailen decided he had enough of the dead man and ran off. He had a plan for tonight: to steal from rich Mr. Slebner's manor. Moving through the town he finally made it to the mansion. It was gnomish in design, with sharp edges and constructed largely of metal. Ailen slipped over the gate and across the lawn. He climbed up to a window on the second floor, which was less likely to contain magical alarms. Pain spiked in his right index finger.
FEED ME, the voice echoed louder. Ailen had a hard time pushing it away, but he remained silent and ignored the voice. After the heist, he would acknowledge the voice.
Ailen pulled himself through the window. He found himself in a room filled with tools and gears. Mr. Slepner was a highly respected tinkerer and Ailen thought he could find something incredibly valuable he could pawn off. Academics were some of the best to get money from, they'd pay anything to learn something they didn't know. Looking around the room, he saw a complex device with several arms and lenses. Ailen reached for the device.
The pain burned up his arm, causing him to pull back and grip his wrist with his left hand. Pulling back, Ailen knocked over several tools and small devices. They clamored to the floor. FEED ME! the voice screamed in his head.
"What do you want?!" Ailen shouted.
FEED ME! the voice shouted.
"Feed you what?!"
The door to the tinkerer's workshop creaked open. Ailen's attention pulled away from the voice, which was now whispering feed me. An older gnome gentleman in a sleeping gown walked into the room, a candle in one hand.
"Who's there?"
The voice began shouting in his head again.
FEED ME! FEED ME! FEED ME! FEED ME! FEED ME!
Ailen found his right hand move on its own. It pulled out his dagger, and Ailen knew what the ring wanted. He had been found out, Mr. Slepner had found him. Ailen would rot in prison if he didn't act. He could run and deal with the screaming voice, or he could sate its appetite.
The voice flooded his thoughts. Standing up, Mr. Slepner saw Ailen in the light. Ailen lifted the dagger and lunged at the older gnome.

*****

Ailen's hands were covered in blood. The blood covered the strange device with arms and lenses. The voice was silenced at last. It ended as soon as Ailen killed Mr. Slepner. He grabbed the strange device to get something out of all this chaos. Ailen looked deeper at the device. He wished he knew what the thing did. Ailen then looked at the ring on his finger. It was the newest thing on him.
He dropped the device on the ground, which landed with a thud. Ailen was trying to pull the ring from his finger but it clung to him. He assumed he would have to cut the finger off of his hand. He pulled out his dagger and held it up to his finger. Ailen felt the pressure of the knife on his skin. A bead of blood dripped down his finger, and he felt the pain.
Ailen pulled the dagger away. He didn't have the courage to do it. He would just have to deal with the voice if it came back. Picking up the old gnome's strange device, he continued down the labyrinth of alleys.

History

The Souleater's Ring is a magical ring that was created by Olgog to spite his brother Azamin and the god Thanatos. He crafted the item after capturing one of Thanatos' Reapers and spilling the blood of a Psychofagos. His only goal was to release the ring into the world to corrupt and devour souls, removing them from the cycle of reincarnation.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

The Souleater's Ring is a cursed ring that devours souls. If a creature dies within 10ft of the wearer of the ring, the ring devours their soul which is unable to be resurrected. If the ring is not fed once a week, the ring will devour the soul of its wearer.
Being a cursed artifact, it cannot be removed from the wearer until they die or the Remove Curse spell.

Item type

Magical

Rarity

Very Rare

Raw materials & Components

Cloth of a Reapers Cloak, Blood of a Soul Eating Demon, the dust of a Blood Diamond