“If we drink, we will die,
If we don’t drink we will die.” – Cossack Drinking Song

In a forgotten basement below St. Sepulchre’s Church is a large, ancient wine cask with a corroded, antique silver tap. Rapping on the cask reveals that it is still two-thirds full. Moving it is a serious problem since it weighs around 500 pounds and is around six feet in diameter.

The wine is wonderful. Any oneophile tasting it will pronounce it as being of the highest quality. It is also exceptionally potent, both physically and metaphysically. The wine has double the normal impairment effect, (except for dipsomancers – more on this below) and will, impart a single minor dipsomantic charge to anyone whose impairment reaches -10.

This charge will allow even a non-adept to cast a dipsomantic formula spell, or even work minor improvised boozehound magic. At an impairment of -30 another minor charge will be gained, and at -60, a third. The imbiber cannot gain any further charges from the cask for seven full days, or until he has sobered up and participated SINCERELY, in an authentic Catholic or Orthodox communion. (He or she would have to be a committed, believing Christian for this to work.)

There are, of course, a few catches:

First, this thing won’t work for a boozehound. It won’t even get him drunk! The monastics who made this magic fountain dissaproved of gluttony.

Second, this is a taboo violation for any adept, and for most avatars, except, perhaps, the Fool.

Third, this thing gives a mean mystic hangover. No adept who drinks from the cask can retain charges of any kind for one full week, or until he has been to mass under the conditions cited above.

Fourth, if the cask is ever opened, the curious will find inside the dry mummified remains of three monks. Not a drop of wine will be found. Realizing that you’ve been drinking corpse renderings is going to call for a rank 8 Unnatural check – if you’re drunk on the cask at the time, a rank 10 check. Other checks may be called for at the Game Master’s discretion.

Lastly, this is a MAJOR artifact. Everybody is after it, especially a group of 500 year old monks with very dry mouths, a lot of mystic know-how and a very unchristian attitude.