Bard-in-a-Box (Patreon)

Wondrous item, common

This small music box can play songs at the request of the holder. As a bonus action, you can command the box to play a song for which it has music, causing the contraption to emit a slightly tinny rendition of the musical number. The box can know up to 5 songs at a time but can’t recreate lyrics or other creature sounds. The box has a knob on its side to adjust its volume: able to be as quiet as a whisper or as loud as a scream.

Sheet music can be fed into the box through a narrow slot along the bottom of the device. Sheet music must be labeled with a song title, page number, and instrument in order to be replayed. Pages failing to meet the requirements cause the box to make a sad, discordant noise before being spat back out. Once a sheet is successfully fed into the box, it is consumed and can’t be retrieved. 

If a new piece of music causes the box to forget an older one, it quickly plays several bars of the now- forgotten number before it slows to a stop.

As the beholder fell to the ground, no longer supported by its own unearthly levitation, the last thing it heard was the sound of...karaoke?