Helm of darkness

Helms of darkness were an enchanted helmet imbued with the shadow magic.

Description
A helm of darkness appeared as nothing more than a mundane helm, but always tarnished, battered, and well-worn. Such helmets appeared weathered even when new. It revealed its appearance when worn. The true helmet was crafted out of blackened silver and steel. And unused helm of darkness was decorated with thirty-six black opal gems embedded along its lower edge, with a great black sapphire at its center.

Powers
Helms of darkness could create a cloud of darkness with an utterance of its command word, which was conveyed to the wearer after donning the helmet. The power of darkness came from its black sapphire, and it held up to ninety-nine charges of the spell. Once the gem was exhausted, it disintegrated into dust.

Each of the embedded opals protected the wearer from death magic. When an opal absorbed such a deadly spell, it crumbled, sawing the wearer's life. In a similar fashion, the opals shielded the wearer from losing life force and having their memories and experiences drained. The more potent such draining magic or ability was, the more opals were shattered.

Yet another defensive enchantment of a helm of darkness was its ability to soak in harmful cold, both mundane and magical; however, there was a limit to how much damage such a helm could negate.

Lastly, as long as at least one black opal remained embedded in a helm of darkness, the wearer was immune to fear and panic, as well as was granted the ability to see in the dark. The wearer could also use the helm to cast several spells: speak with dead once per day, chill metal thrice per day, and the pass without trace spell – at will.

Once a helm of darkness lost all of its gems, it became a mundane piece of armor. If someone attempted to remove any of the item's gems by force, the helmet was destroyed.

Creation
An experienced maker of wondrous armor could create a helm of darkness with the use of chill metal, deeper darkness, emotion, pass without trace, negative energy protection, protection from elements, speak with dead, and spell immunity incantations.

Notable Owners

 * Terpenzi, the Guardian of Najara, a ha-naga and the first ruler of Najara.