Demonshield

Demonshields were magical shields binding powerful fiends and using them to grant magical powers to their users.

Description
Demonshields were magical shields forged from an alloy of silver with arjale and tantulhor, two rare ores found in the infernal layer of Phlegethos. This gave them a silvery appearance with a greenish hue, and caused them to be extremely resistant to physical attacks while retaining a level of flexibility. Having been created during the reign of the Shoon Imperium they were given the form of diamond shields, typical of that era.

Powers
The demonshields had the ability to grant their wielders powers borrowed from the fiends imprisoned within them during their creation. For example a demonshield containing a glabrezu would give its wielder unnatural resistances and immunity to some forms of elemental damage.

While a fiend was imprisoned within a demonshield, it was impossible to communicate with them. If a shield was destroyed however, the creature within was released and free to act as it pleased.

History
During the the wizard Halaster Blackcloak, then known as Hilather, was hired by the rulers of the Shoon Imperium. According to their agreement Halaster would provide the empire with a new way to bind fiends which was more secure than the methods used in this day and age, in exchange of which the wizard would receive some mysterious payment.

Halaster spent four years working on his task in the realm of Torsil, hidden in the catacombs of an abandoned tower. He emerged four years later, during the, with thirteen magical shields and Hilather's Workbook&mdash;a libram describing their creation.

Twelve of the shields were distributed amongst high-ranking members of the empires. There are records of those artifacts being used until the first century of the Seventh Age of Calimshan, at which point most of them became lost to history.

During the, four lost demonshields were found in a barrow of the Fields of the Dead and brought to the School of Wonder to be studied there.

The thirteenth shield, known as Kuraltaar, was kept in the vaults of the imperium for a long time. While never used in battle it had a much richer history than the others: it was offered to a dragon during the, and saw the destruction of the Ulcaster School of Wizardry.

Reputation
Amongst conjurers of the Ulcasterian school the shields were said to be the key to unlocking the secrets magics used by Halaster, and as such were highly sought after.

Amongst the Cowled Wizards of Amn, those shields were an object of great unease. Given the populace's distrust of wizards, they believed that unveiling the frightening power of the demonshields could trigger a witch hunt against all practitioners of the Art.

The creation of the demonshields as well as other fiendish artifacts during the Shoon Imperium lead to the creation of the sword Dornavver by the local church of Ilmater.

Notable Owners

 * Iryklathagra was offered a demonshield by the Qysara Shaani in 371 DR in an attempt to bargain for peace.