On the Ninth Day of Christmas, the Dragon Gave to Me...

Nine Ladies Dancing
This gift is a well-read theatre program either from the early 1930s, late 1960s, or mid 1980s, but always for Dance Crazy: The Musical. It might be worth a few dollars to hardcore memorabilia collectors, but the condition isn't one that would attract the attention of museums. Inside the program is a note written in flourish-rich cursive style, on stationary from The Frederick Hotel on West Broadway dating from the same period as the program, that reads: "Bring this to a stage or an open space, wave it over your head and shout, 'The show must go on!'" If examined with detect magic, both the program booklet and the letter inside it radiate a mixture of Illusion, Divination, and Summoning magic.

   Function: When the owner of the program booklet follows the instructions on the note, a chorus line of nine dancers in golden leotards and top hats and they perform a song and dance from Dance Crazy: The Musical. Music is provided by an unseen orchestra.

    When they are done with the number, one of the dancers lets the owner know that they would all like to get to know him or her better, and each of them would be honored to join the owner at an event, a party, or just for dinner.They then dissolve into quickly dispersed wisps of smoke until summoned again.

   When the owner needs an attractive date for any purpose, all he has to do is focus on the invitation or reservation and his or her companion will appear, dressed appropriately for whatever the event is. This magically created companion is a perfect date for the owner; she can carry on intelligent and informed conversations about any topic that the owner wants to talk about. She will also have perfect manners and timing when it comes to interacting with other guests at events and subtly always making sure the owner is perceived in the best possible light by way of her behavior.

   In addition to being great eye candy and perfect socially, the magical companion has the ability to defend the owner and those he or she is friendly with from attacks or other forms of violence. She can only be injured by magic or by enchanted weapons with at least a +2 bonus. She has 100 hit points and has all the class abilities and the attack rolls, saving throws and DC/AC of a 10th-level Bard (fantasy OGL d20 System) or Charismatic Hero (OGL d20 Modern). The companion is also proficient with all weapons, is an expert in all martial arts and unarmed combat styles, and a talent for turning just about any item she can place her hands on into a weapon.

   The summoned date remains with the owner for 20 hours, until released, or until destroyed through damage suffered in combat. Each time, the date is a different dancer. 

   If the GM feels so inclined, the following random table can be used to determine if the magical date bears a striking resemblance to someone famous.

d12 Roll    Who the Date Resembles

1-6              No one recognizable but is still a knock-out.

7                 Bunty Bailey

8                 Cyd Charrise

9                 Paulette Goddard

10               Bessie Love

11               Virginia Mayo

12               Barbara Stanwyck

              

   The chorus line can be summoned an unlimited amount of time. However, the individual dancers can only be summoned nine times during a year lasting from January 1 through December 31. If the summoned dancer resembles a real person, they appear as they did during the height of their dance careers. 

   Trivia: Dance Crazy: The Musical was the brain-child of a pair of ancient dragons--gold dragon who goes by the name of Robin among humans, and the red dragon Brigid. They have tried staging it several times since they collaborated on it in the late 1920s/early 1930s, but each time it has been a flop. Interestingly, although it was made in the hopes it would appeal to humans, Robin has informed Brigid that the show has become very popular with dragons and that it is constantly being staged on the various elemental planes where they now mostly make their homes.

On the Eighth Day of Christmas, the Dragon Gave to Me...

Eight Maids-a-Milking
This item consists of a wooden base that features a drawer on one side and a brass plate on the other. On the base are mounted somewhat crudely made figurines of four grown country women and four country girls. They are gathered around, what in scale to them, is an item that looks like a cross between a giant tea pot and a coffee pot. The figurines serve as a holder for the tea/coffee pot, which can be lifted off the base, its lid removed, and up to three cups of liquid can be poured into and served from it. If examined with a detect magic spell active, all parts of the Eight Maids-a-Milking radiate Summoning magic; the magic is stronger during the early morning hours, waning and waxing in intensity as a day moves through the hours.

   Function: Every day, just after the sun clears the horizon, the tea/coffee pot (hereafter "dispenser") fills with three cups of milk. If the Eight Maids-a-Milking is left to its own devices, the type of milk is random. The brass plate displays the kind of milk that has been created in whatever language the owner of the item is primarily literate in.

   GMs should roll on the following table to determine the kind of milk in the dispenser. Any milk left in it after sundown evaporates without a trace, leaving the dispenser dry and clean.

1d12    Type of Milk

1          Cow milk

2          Donkey milk

3          Goat milk

4          Yak milk

5           Reindeer milk

6           Sheep milk

7           Almond milk (unsweetened)

8           Oat milk (unsweetened)

9           Cashew mile (unsweetened)

10         Soy milk 

11         Coconut/Almond milk mix (unsweetened)

12         Chocolate almond milk (unsweetened)

   Any character that drinks at least one cup of milk created by the Eight Maids-a-Milking gains a +1 bonus to Fortitude saves for the following 12 hours. 

   The owner of Eight Maids-a-Milking can control the kind of milk that the dispenser fills with by placing a handwritten note in the drawer on the base before sundown on the prior day. The owner can also keep the dispenser from filling by either leaving the drawer empty and open or by not placing the dispenser on the base among the maid figurines.

 

   The Eight Maids-a-Milking is one of the few items that Brigid has created that the person she gave it to can give to someone else without the item losing its enchantments. In fact, if the owner gives it a person or family in need, he or she is guaranteed a visit from Brigid with another gift during the following Christmas Season. 

   If the owner of the Eight Maids-a-Milking tries to sell it, or gain some other form of personal benefit, it immediately loses all magic once a deal is made.

   Trivia: Originally, this magic item only created four different kinds of milk (cow milk, goat milk, reindeer milk, and yak milk), but Brigid has improved upon the item to expand selections, as well as to appeal to a broader swath of humans and their changing preferences. When Brigid drinks milk in human form, she prefers donkey or yak milk.

On the Seventh Day of Christmas, the Dragon Gave to Me...

Seven Swans-a-Swimming
At first glance, the seventh of the dragon's 12 Days of Christmas gifts has no connection to the lyrics of the famous song. It appears to be seven large marbles that shimmer with constant blue-green swirls within them. They are given in a red felt pouch with a golden drawstring. Each marble radiates a mixture of summoning and transmutation magic if they are inspected with a detect magic spell. The pouch raidiates very faint summoning magic. On the outside bottom of the pouch, the following phrase in High Dragon, embroidered with fine golden thread, reads, "Best Used When Halfway to Christmas Time".

   When the marbles are examined closely, however, the "shimmering" is actually a tiny animated scene of a swan gliding across a body of water under a clear blue sky, with a forest on the far shore. Shaking or rolling a marble causes them to glow brighter while the scene of the swan dissolves into swirling blue and green colors. As the image reforms, the glow fades. Is this all there is to this gift? Of course not!

   Functions: When thrown into a stream, river, pond, lake, or ocean--or even an Olympic-size pool-- the marble turns into a large, inflatable rubber swan of the type that kids, or those young at heart, ride and play on while in the water. It rapidly inflates and then floats unerringly in the water; it only capsizes if those riding on it wishes and then rights itself immediately. It is always easy to mount by the person who summoned it, and it remains as stable as they want it to be.

   Each marble summons one swan. The swan lasts for 12 hours or until the person who summoned it is done playing in the water or on beach or is otherwise safely back on solid ground. (In extreme circumstances, a swan can thus be used as a life raft... for a time at least. When the swan's usefulness comes to an end, it dissolves into water.

   One very practical function of each of the Seven Swans-a-Swimming is that each one can detect a person in the water who is at risk of drowning within 100 yards of its present location. The swan makes it very easy for the at-risk person to climb onto it, or just cling to it, and then heads for the nearest solid ground and help. The swan might even emit loud screeches to attract attention of nearby people to provide assistance.

   The size and appearance of the Seven Swans-a-Swimming varies in a totally random fashion. 

   Trivia: Until 1935, Brigid made the Seven Swans-a-Swimming to be larger, more lethal versions of the Six Geese-a-Laying (but without the added benefit of free eggs). Once she got wind of the idea of Christmas in July, she reinvented the seventh gift to serve as a promotion of this second Christmas!

There's a New Year coming...

... and one of the benefits to being a dragon who has perfected shapeshifting into a human form is that you can use magic portals to follow the arrival of 2025 and attend dozens of parties along the way.

From the tiny island nation of Kiribati, the very first place humans flip the calendar to 2025, all the way to Baker Island, the very last place where the new year begins, and home to a very small, secret community of Witchkind, Brigid goes from celebration to celebration, joyously bringing in the new year along with her favorite lesser beings--humanity! (Although her mood to party is nowhere as intense as what will come for the Lunar New Year, which is what dragons observe.)

At each party she attends, Brigid picks one human to give a present to. It is the very last thing she does before she moves on to the next one, and the beneficiaries of her gift often chalk it up to a gag or a distortion of reality through a drunken haze.

The gift is a delicate chain necklace that sometimes has a piece of jewelry on it. Brigid gives it to the subject of her largess with the comment, "You deserve to have a great year. Wear this always and it will make a difference. And if you're ever in danger or otherwise in serious need of help, break the chain and I'll be there in a flash. But you can only do this once, so choose the moment carefully." 

THE DRAGON'S NEW YEAR BLESSING

This is a delicate chain necklace that appears to be made out of silver, gold, or platinum. Sometimes, a small amulet resembling a dragon's head hangs upon it. Both the chain and the amulet radiate a curious mixture of abjuration, divination, and summoning magic.

   Functions: When worn by the person Brigid the Dragon gave it to, the dragon's new year blessing provides a +1 enchantment bonus to all skill checks and saving throws from the first second of January 1st through the very last moment of December 31st during the year it is received. When the new year comes, all magic is drained from the necklace, leaving it just a simple piece of understated jewelry.

   For a person who finds him- or herself in a life-or-death situation or otherwise attempting to deal with a disastrous outcome, the dragon's new year blessing has a function that's even more powerful. 

   If the person it was gifted breaks the chain necklace while wearing it (DC3 Strength Check), it becomes red hot for a moment, then seems to dissolve into the thin air. At the end of the following round, Brigid appears in her human form. She quickly appraises the situation, asks the character what he or she needs (assuming it isn't immediately clear) and then takes action. If she can resolve the situation without abandoning her human form, she will... but if the danger is serious enough, she takes her true, massive form. What follows will be the nightmarish destruction that happens whenever an ancient red dragon reveals its true self to mortals who are endangering things it cares about.

   Once the danger has passed, Brigid returns to her human form, chats briefly with the character and his or allies, promises she'll show up for any Christmas and/or New Year parties they may host, then says goodbye and vanishes as suddenly as she appeared. (If she is asked about the status of the dragon's new year blessing, Brigid will say that the magic in it is spent.)

   Special: The dragon's new year blessing only provides benefit to the person Brigid gave it to; it is just a simple piece of jewelry on anyone else... except if it is stolen or looted. Then, whoever wears it is subject to a curse that inflicts -4 to all attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks for the remainder of the year unless subjected to remove curse with a 20th-level caster effectiveness..

Brigid the Dragon, celebrating the New Year's Eve with friends.

Brigid the Dragon in the process of abandoning her human form.
She warned them not to make her angry...

On the Sixth Day of Christmas, the Dragon Gave to Me...

Six Geese-a-Laying
One of the bulkier gifts the Dragon Who Loves Christmas might bestow upon someone is the Six Geese-a-Laying. It consists of six carefully crafted woodcarvings of geese. They are made from basswood, but then either glazed or painted through some unusual method that no mortal has been able to determine. (The coloring of the wood is part of the enchantment process.) If subjected to detect magic, all six statues radiate a moderate aura of divination magic with hints of summoning and transmutation magic mixed in. The magic is equally strong on each of the carving and it does not change in intensity if they are close together or many miles apart.

   Functions: When any one of the Six Geese-a-Laying carvings is placed within the boundaries of what the owner considers his or her domicile (including any yard, gardens, or outbuildings around it) it becomes a magical alarm and defense. If someone who has hostile intent toward the owner and his or her belongings comes within a 20-foot radius of one of the Geese, it starts honking loudly--so loudly anyone within 500 feet can hear it and individuals close to the carving must roll a successful Fortitude saving throw (DC18) or become confused for one round and be deafened for 1d6+6 hours.

   If the trespassing intruder doesn't retreat the following round, the carving animates and attacks. It is treated like a 5th level Warrior with no Strength or Size modifiers to attack and damage rolls; it attacks twice each round, inflicting 1d4+2 piercing damage with its beak and 2d4+2 bludgeoning damage with its wings; it can only be damaged by spells, spell-like attacks, or enchanted weapons with a +2 or better bonus; each construct has 35 hit points. If reduced to 0 or lower, the construct crumbles to moldy sawdust and wood splinters. Once destroyed, all magic is dispersed from the construct.

   One, all, or just some of the Six Geese-a-Laying can be deployed to provide security for the owners domicile and surrounding area. Each carving functions as described above, and no power or function is lost if one or more are destroyed. 

   One quirky aspect to the Six Geese-a-Laying (and Brigid's favorite) is that every day 1d6 of the Geese actually produce an egg. The eggs appear under the carvings that "lay" shortly before sunrise. The eggs appear to be normal goose eggs in every way, despite their obviously arcane origins. A person who eats a meal that incorporates one or more of these magical goose eggs gains a +1 bonus to melee attacks and Intimidation skill checks.

 

 

   Although the Six Geese-a-Laying are created as one unit, they can be split up and used by several people. The person originally gifted with them can give any number of the Six Geese-a-Laying away as a gift to others without any of them losing their enchantments. The gifted geese become attuned to the recipient's domicile, just as they were to the original owner. (The carvings must be given without expectation of any compensation. If the owner expects anything from the recipient other than he or she being a little safer as a result of the gift. If one of the Six Geese-a-Laying is regifted with any selfish agendas, all of the carvings immediately lose their enchantment and crumble into moldy debris.

   Trivia: Brigid made the Six Geese-a-Laying to mimic aspects of standard alarms and defenses that dragons place their "lairs" and treasures. As for the eggs... goose eggs are one of Brigid's favorite things to eat when in human form.

On the Fifth Day of Christmas, the Dragon Gave to Me...

Five Gold Rings
The Five Gold Rings is among the rarest of Christmas gifts: It is intended to be re-gifted. In fact, the person to whom Brigid the Christmas Dragon gives the Five Gold Rings will benefit if he or she chooses to give most the gold rings to others.

   The Five Gold Rings are each different in appearance, with four being slender and delicate and one being hefty. This larger ring is decorated with a representation of a red dragon's head and the phrase "Christmas Blessings" in a long-lost language that can only be deciphered through the use of a read magic spell. If the rings are subjected to a detect magic spell, they are found to radiate abjuration magic with a slight accent of divination magic. 

   Function: When the Five Gold Rings are first given to a character, each functions as a +1 ring of protection. Each time the recipient gives one of the slender rings away to another person as a gift, the hefty ring with the dragon's head gains an additional +1 bonus to its enchantment. Once all four of the other rings have been regifted, the fifth ring is a +5 ring of protection. The other rings remain +1 rings of protection.

    If the character to whom the Five Gold Rings is gifted give away rings with conditions attached or expectations, or tries to sell any of them, all rings immediately lose their enchantments. The slender rings can be sold to jewelers for base values of $25+2d10, while the heavier, ornate ring can be sold for $50+2d10. The ornate ring can be sold to a character who has knowledge of dragon magic and dragon society for a base value of $200.

On the Fourth Day of Christmas, the Dragon Gave to Me...

Four Calling Birds
This piece of artwork is perfect for mantlepieces, coffee tables, or shelving units that aren't completely filled with books. It consists of four blackbird statuettes made from carefully shaped obsidian that are mounted on a slab of polished marble. If subjected to detect magic, the item radiates moderate illusion magic.

   Function: When placed inside the home or place of work of the owner of the Four Calling Birds, if he or she, or any person there with permission, says the word "Sing", the sculpture starts playing the speaker's favorite genre of music at a soft volume. By saying "Louder" or "Quieter", the character can adjust the volume up or down. The music continues until the character leaves the location or he or she says "Silence".

   The user of the Four Calling Birds can direct it to play music by a specific composer, band, rock group, singer--any music performed by any human, anywhere on Earth, at any time. The user must say "Sing and Play Falco".  The music doesn't even have to exist as a recording anywhere, nor does the performers of it need to be well-known. Any music that has been performed anywhere by anyone can be channeled through the magic of the Four Calling Birds.

   If the music exists (or existed at one time) as recordings, the user can specify collections by title, or series of albums and performances by mentioned specific years, such as "Sing and play music composed by Mike Oldfield from 1985 through 2015." In this example, the selection will be random, but it will all be performed by Mike Oldfield together with supporting vocalists and musicians. Also, when genres or a broad selection of a particular band or artist is played, any Christmas music that falls under those parameters is mixed in among the rest, no matter what time of year it is.

   If a user asks the Four Calling Birds to play Christmas music, the recording you can hear by clicking below is always in the mix somewhere. It also happens to be "Brigid's Happy Christmas Theme" if the film version of The Dragon Who Loves Christmas ever gets made!