Gaudle's rod of rings

Gaudle's rod of rings was a magical item used by the Harpers.

Description
Gaudle's rod of rings was a sleek black wooden stick of similar length to a large man's hand. It was commonly carried sheathed inside a boot or attached to a sword scabbard.

Powers
Upon grasping the rod and commanding its activation, it elongated to the size of a typical rod, accompanied by the manifestation of a ghostly human hand at one end. This spectral hand could bear up to one ring on each digit, including the thumb. Remarkably, these rings remained undetectable and unusable when the rod was in its compact, inactive state. The presence or powers of any magical rings, including gem-encrusted ones, could not be discerned when the hand was not visible.

Typically, rods of this nature were acquired without any rings adorning the phantom hand. It fell upon the user to find or create rings and subsequently affix them to the hand.

When wielding Gaudle's rod of rings, the wielder instantly gained mental awareness of the magical powers possessed by the rings worn on the hand. The wielder could voluntarily activate one power from each ring. Additionally, there was no limit to the activation of involuntary powers. The rod-wielder could concurrently wear and utilize up to two magical rings while wielding the rod.

The phantom hand was very strong. A finger was capable of enduring significant amounts of damage before its ring was forcibly removed or severed during battle. However, the rod-wielder retained the ability to remove a ring at will by speaking a secret command word to release it.

In the absence of rings, Gaudle's rod of rings could only be utilized for its most basic functions. The intangible phantom hand lacked the capability to inflict damage, but its touch could identify any magical item or spell, including magical traps, without triggering them. When in contact with a being, it was able to discern the presence and attributes of any enchantments afflicting that individual.

The phantom hand had the ability to emit an eerie undead-like bony gleam or a faint glow, providing luminosity equivalent to faerie fire, with the hue chosen by the rod-wielder.

The hand could adhere to any solid surface, such as a ceiling, wall, or even slick, wet, oily, greasy, or icy surfaces, through touch and command. This feature allowed the wielder to utilize it as a handhold or anchor in situations where such support would typically be absent. The grip remained in effect until the wielder spoke the word of release or until the rod exceeded a load of. This attribute had been employed by Harpers for descending into glacial crevasses using a line, facilitating cargo transfer between ships at sea by utilizing a mast as a makeshift crane (with a pulley affixed to the rod at a high point on the mast), and enabling various daring rescues or acrobatic swinging-on-a-rope feats.