Hand of Vaprak

Hand of Vaprak was a powerful magical artifact created by Elminster out of a cut-off hand of Gornak, an oni mage empowered by Vaprak himself.

Description
The Hand of Vaprak was a severed hand with green, rough, and bumpy skin and sharp claws. The stub of the wrist was encased in a metal.

Powers
The Hand possessed a strong evil aura that was overwhelming when detected by magical means. The artifact's owner was quickly corrupted by the Hand's influence, making them obsessed with the Hand of Vaprak, which could lead to violence against the owner's closest friends. The influence also disrupted the divine magical abilities of clerics and paladins if they were to own the Hand. The Hand of Vaprak could generate deadly magical blasts of energy.

History
Elminster in his younger days led an army of heroes against an oni mage who assembled a small army of humanoids to menace the realms after making a deal with the troll god Vaprak. The oni mage's name was Gornak, and he gained uncanny powers including magic and regeneration from Vaprak. Elminster managed to break the oni mage's power and sliced off the hand that contained the pact's power. The young mage sensed the great power within the hand and sought to tap into it, thus creating the Hand of Vaprak artifact.

Activating the Hand's power was dangerous and almost cost the wizard his life. Not being able to destroy the artifact, Elminster contained the wondrous item and hid it away. Over the years, the mage placed warning spells on it to prevent it from getting into the wrong hands.

In the, into wrong hands it fell. At some point, the wizard captain of the Halruaan caravel Realms Master, Dwalimar Omen, came into possession of the hand. Seeking to study and destroy the dangerous artifact, he succumbed to its corrupting influence. Seeing the change in her friend, Minder tossed the hand overboard. However, it was picked up by Priam Agrivar.

With Priam, the Hand of Vaprak made its way to Baldur's Gate, where Gornak resided after murdering the sage Gondal and taking over his identity. The oni mage's minion doppelganger stole the hand and tried to kill his master with a magical blast, instead attacking an illusion. Gornak quickly disposed of the doppelganger and reclaimed his long lost hand.

Learning of this via magical alarms, Elminster enlisted Alias of Westgate and her "brother" Dragonbait to retrieve the dangerous artifact and stop the monster. They joined the crew of the Realms Master in confronting Gornak in The Tower of Gondal. Escaping with their lives by the skin of their teeth, they managed to collapse the tower on the oni mage. Dwalimar Omen and Dragonbait disposed of the Hand of Vaprak by throwing it into a portal to the Demiplane of Fear, far out of the ogre mage's reach.

Notable Owners

 * Gornak, an oni mage whose hand later became the Hand of Vaprak.
 * Elminster Aumar created the artifact but failed to tap into its power.
 * Dwalimar Omen briefly possessed the artifact, succumbing to its corruption.
 * Priam Agrivar carried the evil artifact into Baldur's Gate.

Rumors & Legends
The legend of the Hand of Vaprak related by Dwalimar Omen told a story of the grandmother of the trolls and child of ogres. The old hag wanted to retrieve roasting chestnuts out of a fire, which was deadly to her. She asked the child of ogres for help, not caring if he got burnt. But the child grabbed the grandmother's hand and shoved it into the flame with his, horribly burning both and losing the hand. At the same time, Vaprak himself attained godhood and fused the burnt hands of the child and grandmother into one powerful artifact.

Dwalimar Omen cited multiple appearances of the magical item in the Realms but it was unknown if it was the same artifact or multiple similar items.

Appearances

 * The Ogre's Paw
 * Converging Lines
 * The Great Game
 * Fools Rush In