The Gold-Toothed Theif

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Legend tells of an ancient skull, left long ago in a land of salt and bones. This skull, it's origins almost completely forgotten, lies dormant in the mouth of some dark cave on the coast. Many venture forth to reclaim this skull, though, not for its knowledge or lore, nor for the secrets it contains. No. They try to find it for the sole purpose of getting rich off of it. Because there is one thing that I have not mentioned when it comes to this skull. It is made almost entirely of gold. In its eyes rest two diamonds each the size of a gold piece. And if you gently shake the skull, you can hear the soft clinking of coins and other treasures within!

The story behind the skull is mostly mystery, but what others have uncovered is that there once was a Thief, and, after being caught trying to pickpocket a Mage of some importance, attempted to sweet-talk their way out of being thrown into the stocks. The Mage decided to let the Thief go, but cursed the Thief for having a silver tongue, and of only thinking of riches. The Thief, much relieved, and completely unaware of the curse beset on them, went about their lives as if nothing had happened.

It was some time however before the Thief realized that they had been cursed. Since the Thief lived a solitary life, they did not interact with people too often. But, on one of the Thief's many ventures into the town for some easy gold, they had to lie to get out of trouble again. As soon as the Thief's mouth opened, out fell hundreds of tiny gems, gold coins, silver nuggets, rings and earrings. Horrified the Thief quickly grabbed all of the valuables that came of of their mouth and ran away, deep into the swampy coast.

They traveled for some time, and made their way to a cave with a view of the ocean. There they tried to figure out what had gone wrong, but every attempt to eat or drink, even open their mouth, was met only with more coins and gems falling forth. Eventually even their tongue turned to solid silver, and their teeth to gold. Weeks went by, and slowly, the Thief starved and died. Their body decayed, flesh became food for the fish and tiny crustaceans, bones became shelters for sea-snails and insects of the marsh.

As the curse ran its course, only one thing remained of the Thief, their skull. Their golden skull...

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