Cursed Doubloon

A photo of a Spanish Doubloon.

### Effects

owners of the coin believe it to be lucky despite any evidence otherwise, the owner almost always dies

### Source

"through means you don’t need to know, and should know better than to ask about"

### Appears in

DESCENDING

A mid-16th century Spanish doubloon that has a gruesome history of its owners believing it to be lucky.

## Description

An antique Spanish Doubloon, a gold coin estimated to have been minted in Spain in the mid-16th Century. It is made from real gold and has a distinctive groove through the centre of its face from an accident resulting in its creation.

## History

The day the doubloon was created, it somehow got lodged in the workings of the machinery.

A worker kept the coin despite being told to melt it down. Believed it to be his lucky coin. Lived for a day and a half.

A co-worker in debt tried to blackmail him into receiving money. Implied to have murdered him and ran away to stay low.

The co-worker ran into some highwaymen who "took the coin and his life" even though the co-worker insisted the coin was only his lucky coin and not worth anything.

They ran into some military men who took the coin with them.

The soldier was heading to a coastal town and tried to desert the mission on a merchant boat. The soldier insisted they would be fine thanks to his lucky coin.

A sailor recognised them and rewarded their possessions in return for reporting them. The sailor lived for several months until he won too many games of poker, supposedly thanks to the help of his lucky coin.

The sailor was killed by a second sailor, who successfully passed off his murder as an accident. He attributed this to the lucky coin. Later the ships were raided by pirates and the coin was stolen. Supposedly the second sailor survived after owning the coin, although he supposedly "wished ever after that he hadn’t, and never saw land again."

The captain of the pirate ship was mutinied, setting the entire ship ablaze and killing everyone except for the captain. He escaped with only the doubloon and buried it beneath him. He wrote in his journal one last time then died.

Coin stayed buried for 200 years.

Two brothers found the captain and the coin. The older claimed this seemed like a good reason to confess his love to a woman. Jealous, the younger brother killed him and inherited their family's wealth. The coin became a symbol of his family and he kept it with him for the rest of his life, believing it to bring him luck.

The younger brother married the woman and had several children. He lived a long life- apparently too long, as his son became impatient and poisoned him.

The son's son killed him as well.

The son's son was killed by a rival family.

The authorities intervened and took the doubloon. The rival family's patriarch died in prison some days later.

The Mistholme Museum received the coin through unknown means.

## Alternatural Abilities

### Supposed Luckiness

Everyone who owns the coin attributes any good fortune they receive to the coin. This is upheld even when the owner may be proven otherwise.

### Misfortune

The owner or previous owner of the coin received great misfortune. While this commonly comes in the form of death, the Guide claims one owner forever regretted losing the coin. The Mistholme Museum is also the current owner of the coin.

## Trivia

* Despite the Guide claiming that the sailor was the longest-lived of the coin's owners, it was likely the younger brother, who lived long enough to have children and have his son kill him.
* It is heavily debated by researchers whether or not the doubloon is alternatural or just has a morbid history.
	+ Some research staff claim the coin is to thank for the museum's recent success and that it is lucky.
* The room the coin is held in has "security mechanisms well beyond State-Of-The-Art"
	+ This implies that there either have been multiple attempts to steal the doubloon or that the staff are extremely protective of the coin.
* When originally minted, the coin cost 32 reales, or roughly 9 AUD.
	+ According to the Guide, it is now "thousands of times more valuable" than its original price.
	+ Real-life prices range from 40 to just under 5000 AUD for vintage Spanish doubloons.
* The Cursed Doubloon is likely based on Touch Pieces- a coin believed to cure disease, bring good luck, change people's behaviour, etc. Also any superstition about items or coins bringing good or bad luck.
* The son and their rival family may be a vague reference to Romeo and Juliet.