The heroes are approached by an agent of the Earl of Cunarvan, who offers to sell them a bottle containing a powerful imp who will grant them a wish. His master has used his wish and has no more need of it.

When the next full moon comes, the new owner will be offered one wish by the imp. There is a catch: The wish must be used before the following full moon, or the owner dies and his or her spirit is captured by the bottle, absorbed by the imp.

The Price

The agent’s price is very, very low: just two coppers.

He explains that the earl has to sell the bottled imp for less than he bought it for before the next full moon, or he will die. And so must the buyer (before the following full moon). They indeed won’t be able to get rid of the bottle any way but selling it for less money than they bought it for. If it’s in the hero’s possession under the full moon after next, that character will die.

If the heroes buy the bottle, the imp appears at the next full moon (the one that would have killed the earl if he hadn’t sold it) and will offer one wish to the one who paid. If the heroes try to destroy the bottle or give or throw it away, it will magically return to the buyer. The hero would need to sell it for only one copper and disclose all the terms, and any interested person would know they wouldn’t be able to sell it for less. (Selling it for one copper with other goods in the bargain or selling it for a copper chopped in half won’t work, but the heroes won’t automatically know that.)

The Twist

Worse, the imp’s power is a kind of monkey’s paw: each wish is granted with a twist and somehow comes at an awful cost. Take your time figuring out how to twist the wish to make it only just barely worth the trouble. If the character wishes for a certain magic item, it becomes available only when another magic item is lost or whatnot.

The imp has only just managed to have the king create his master as the first Earl of Cunarvan; His Majesty agreed to do so in compensation for the loss of the nobleman’s family and possessions when his lands were overrun by hobgoblins in revenge for the king’s war against them.

To make the deal, the agent of the earl will show the heroes to his master, a forlorn but grandly dressed fellow in a fancy carriage who will thank them warmly.

The Solution

You can eventually let the heroes sell the bottle to someone else by succeeding at conning them into buying it for a single copper and persuading them of some way they can resell it “for less”. The players will probably make up any number of plausible schemes, one of which might be acceptable to you. So later, they might hear that the poor fellow died or that he indeed used their trick to sell it on, killing some other desperate fool.

Remember that the goal here isn’t to trick one of the heroes into dying or anything; it’s just a wish with a downside.