Ilbratha

Ilbratha (the Mistress of Battles, Haalorth, or the Warrior's Fang) was a bronze short sword and one of the Cormyrean Swords of State. It was commissioned by Azoun I of Cormyr and was seen as a symbol of Azoun's victory over the armies of Shoon.

Appearance
Ilbratha was a bronze short sword and despite many battles, it retained a sharp edge. It had a slightly leaf-shaped blade, a short but ornate cross-guard, and a green hilt. Most distinctively, the blade was inlaid with six matching bloodstones in its helve, on the left face. Individually, these bloodstones were worth 70 gold pieces each, and as a set, apart from the sword, they might return 500–600 gold pieces.

Although it was a magical weapon, the sword did not glow and it carried no inscription. Its leaping ability made it seem surprisingly light, as if it sought to spring away.

Powers
It was originally a +1 short sword in power,   but after the Spellplague it could be characterized as a +2 leaping short sword.

However, it had a variety of other magical abilities that made it very effective in combat, earning it its nickname, "Mistress of Battles". When held by a fighter of any alignment, with flesh pressed to hilt, the sword could communicate these powers to its wielder. However, the sword was not itself sentient; this was actually a feature added in its creation. These powers could be activated with a mental command.

Most well-known among its abilities, the sword allowed its wielder to use the spell jump three times a day. Specifically, Ilbratha jumped, and carried the wielder with it. Following the Spellplague, its leaping ability allowed a wielder to briefly fly short distances, once a battle, in order to attack.

According to legend, it could also create a mirror image of itself and its wielder, once a day,    and also blink itself and its wielder, once a day. Some stories told that this last ability made its wielder flash back and forth between the Feywild and the material plane.

When coming into contact with magic or magical effects, it would make a ringing sound like a struck chime or tubular bell. This only functioned on physical contact with enchanted objects and spell effects from devices, not against physical effects from spells already cast (such as a gust of wind or stinking cloud). This only served as a warning, and provided no defense against the magic.

History
Through the mid–4th century DR, the small realm of Valashar—a client-state of Tethyr and a subject of the Shoon Imperium, under King Ashar Tornamn—had steadily extended its borders north to the Troll Mountains and beyond. Finally, in the Year of the Woeful Resurrection, 375 DR, the ambitious Ashar made a concerted effort to expand his realm and the Imperium still further, though without the permission of the king of Tethyr or the Shoonite emperor. Over 15 months, he marched his forces along the Sword Coast and into the Western Heartlands, reaching the High Moor by late summer of the following year. He claimed all these lands for the Imperium, and began to tax caravans for "passing through the empire's lands". The people of Cormyr soon found their trade routes to the west blocked by Shoonite forces demanding tariffs.

Responding to these claims on the northern lands, the interruption of trade, and the continued expansion toward Cormyr's border, Crown Prince Azoun I   ordered the creation of a weapon that he could wield against King Ashar. Forged by an unknown weaponsmith, Ilbratha was completed by the end of 375 DR. The sword became a symbol of power, rallying Cormyrean troops against Shoonite aggression and giving speed to their march. Its powers proved very useful in the fighting that followed, and Ilbratha soon earned its nickname, "Mistress of Battles".

Azoun I carried the sword into battle in 376 DR against King Ashar, to defend against Ashar's attempt to expand the Shoon Imperium north to the High Moor.

Over the next fourteen years, Azoun carried the sword with him always but rarely had cause to wield it in combat. However, in the Year of the Wooded Altar, 389 DR, Azoun took the sword with him on a trade mission to the Vilhon Reach, where he used it to kill Dima, the Djinni-Lord of the Chondalwood.

The sword was lost when Azoun's ship, Valashar's Bane, sank in a storm on the Sea of Fallen Stars.

The sword was recovered by two fishermen from Teziir, and it was purchased by the merchant Sevan of Amnwater, who took it on a trade caravan to Scornubel. In Scornubel he sold Ilbratha to Phelas Urm, who was a merchant from Thentia.

When Cormyrean agents came across the sword in 392 DR, they killed Phelas Urm in an attempt to retrieve it, but the sword went missing again, either due to the confusion of the situation, or due to a corrupt agent.

The sword later turned up in the Vast, in the hands of a peddler from a town near Procampur who appeared ignorant of the sword's powers and origins. It was purchased for 1500 gold pieces by the sage Thallastam of Procampur, who brought it to Elminster Aumar in Shadowdale in the Year of the Zealous, 550 DR in an attempt to identify it. Although Elminster was able to identify the sword from Azoun I's writings, Thallastam never made it back to Procampur. His bones and belongings were found several years later in the Pool of Yeven in Battledale, but the sword was not there. Elminster believed that the sword fell into the hands of bandits or mercenaries, but its whereabouts remained a mystery to Faerûn. In fact, it became better known beneath the Sea of Fallen Stars.

In 582 DR the sword was in the possession of Tarag, a merrow chieftain, where it remained until the fall of the merrow in 655 DR. It was then claimed by a merman of the Homurr clan.

When the kingdom of Eadraal formed in 735 DR, it became the Heir's Blade of this kingdom, and gained the names "Haalorth" and "Warrior's Fang".

It was then lost in the Twelfth Serôs War of 1369 DR, during a battle at Myth Nantar. It was wielded by Princess Jian when she was slain by Iakhovas, and the sword was lost in the confusion. Popular rumours of the time included that the sword was taken by the merfolk traitors of Thruridru, or the morkoth of Olleth.

When the Spellplague struck, the Sea of Fallen Stars disappeared, diminishing the chances of the weapon being recovered.