lukelightning said:
It's actually a cheap hunk of glass.
Yup, but if the players would hold the fist directly into the sunlight they could barely see that there is something embedded into the center of the fist. It looks like a piece of paper with something written on it.
If they manage to get that paper out of the glass fist they could a read strange, cryptic text that looks like a riddle that starts with
"So, you finally found it. Well then! Let the great hunt begin.... *insert riddle* "
*time warp 200 years back *
An old, grumpy explorer that travelled the world up and down has one day found the entry to an isolated canyon/underground entry/whatever. At the end of endless traps, canibals, dinosaurs, cursed places, etc he found the ruins of a long lost civilization. The place was full or riches and magic, dangerous magic and even more dangerous items of magical nature. Since he knew that he could not handle the things he had found nor that he was able to get it all out of those ruins he only took some small and precious items back from his voyage. He planned to come back later but that never happend in the end. He told no one about this discovery so he could come back without having to fear that someone else might get the treasure and fame before him.
Since he was a bit of an excentric chap once he felt that his days on this world were nearing their end he created a trail of hints all over the continent that in the end would lead to the place he found so many years ago. And that piece of paper would be the first bit of the long journey to those fantastic ruins. he wrote a small riddle on a bit of pergament and through means of magic he placed it into an old worthless fist made of red glass he found some years ago on another expedition. He also prepared the items he found in those ruins and inserted little hints into them where each items' hint would lead you to the next item or to a location with another riddle/hint/whatever, until in the very end you would stand before the gates of this lost civilization.
The old explorer died peacefully with a smile on his face, knowing that he would watch the greatest treasure hunt the world has ever seen from his place in heaven.
Evil edit: When I think about it...If you really want to torture your players just make the glass stone a real fire opal
It became the basis for an entire campaign (though when we started the module I had no such concept in mind.) The Opal Fist was actually supposed to be held in a safe place by a secret society known as the Order of the Opal Fist. This order is actually responsible for authorizing the Rites of Succession performed at the coronation of a new king/queen. In part by merely possessing the Opal Fist, the PC's have now accepted their place as members of the order since the entirety of the old order was wiped out by the infernal monks. Without members of the Opal Fist sanctifying the coronation the king/queen is illegitimate. This is known to very few people in the kingdom but it is undeniable legal tradition - whoever the Opal Fist designates to be king becomes king.
