Excellent. Thanks RobA, for putting this together for us!

Back to the adventure... I was doing some thinking while I was at work today, since I didn't have much else to do while I was sitting on my rear for 8 hours. What if it was a child-king? That may explain his naivety. Maybe the magic item is a sort of protective ward created to keep the child safe until he comes of age. Now that it is missing, the king's evil uncle can move in and seize the throne.

The item would be powerless unless it is in the hands of a true king. The uncle would know this, and understand that if the item were in his possession when the child-king died, he would immediately be under its protection.

But if the caravan was intercepted by a band of monstrous humanoids, and the item unknowingly fell into the hands of the tribe's leader, the one they call King...