Charon's Claw (sword)

Charon's Claw was a magical sword, once wielded by the highly skilled assassin, Artemis Entreri, and designed to battle wizards. It is currently assumed destroyed; having been thrown into the primordial Maegera in Gauntlgrym by Drizz't Do'Urden, after the Shadovar tiefling Herzgo Alegni lost it in battle with Artemis Entreri, Drizz't and Dahlia Sin'felle.

Appearance and Magical Properties
Charon's Claw was a sword and gauntlet combination, the perfect weapon when battling a wizard.

The Sword
"The sword had a slender, razor-edged, gleaming red blade, its length inscribed with designs of cloaked figures and tall scythes, accentuated by a black blood trough running along its center. Entreri opened his hand enough for the wizard to see the skull-bobbed pommel, with a hilt that appeared like whitened vertebrae. Running from it toward the crosspiece, the hilt was carved to resemble a backbone and rib-cage, and the crosspiece itself resembled a pelvic skeleton, with legs spread out wide and bent back toward the head, so that the wielder's hand fit neatly within the 'bony' boundaries. All of the pommel, hilt and crosspiece was white, like bleached bones—perfectly white, except for the eye sockets of the skull pommel, which seemed like black pits at one moment and flared with red fires the next."

- R.A. Salvatore, Servant of the Shard

The sword was a sentient artifact; strong of will and possessed of arrogance. Anyone who touched the blade or handle of this sword unprotected would need to compete with it in a battle of wills and, failure meant it would burn the flesh and skin of the wielders head away. This ability could be used by the bearer of the sword, but it would require prolonged contact with the victim.

Charon's Claw could be willed by its wielder to leave trails of ash in the air, creating temporary opaque walls to give an edge in battle. It could also to produce a strange black glow to act as a light in the darkness - though only its wielder could see it. It also made its wielder invisible to infravision, as seen in the fight with Domo the wererat. . The sword was also enchanted so that even a small nick or cut would eventually prove fatal, as the wound would fester and eventually poison the victim.

Without defeating the blade in a battle of wills, the only way a person could safely use the item was by covering their hand with the enchanted gauntlet which was it's counterpart. This kept the hostile sentience at bay.

The Gauntlet
The gauntlet was worn on the right hand and, it's ultimate purpose was to shield the wielder of Claw from the malicious and persistent intelligence within but, it had a couple other abilities. It's laces pulsed; warning the wearer of magical scrying. The wearer could even detect whether the scrying was of an arcane, priestly or psionic nature.

By wearing the gauntlet, the owner could catch magic directed at him within the magical netting of the gauntlet, and turn them back against the initiator or just dispel such magic.

Background
Charon's Claw was an old Netherese artifact.

For decades the artifact was owned by the Soulez Clan at the Dallabad oasis near Calimport. An illithid, Yharaskrik studied the artifact by living in the deep tunnels below Kohrin Soulez's throne room in Dallabad Oasis. Later the assassin Artemis Entreri took the artifact from Kohrin Soulez after tricking Soulez into grabbing the blade without the proper gauntlet during an assault of the dark elves of Bregan D'aerthe. Artemis won control over the sword after a contest of will power thus enabling him to wield the sword even without wearing the gauntlet. While working in Heliogabalus, Entreri and Jarlaxle are approached by a shade who offers them an alliance in exchange for the artifact, revealing to them the netherese nature of it. Entreri refuses though, killing the shade with his dagger since the sword resists striking him. Later, During a fight against a lich, the gauntlet was destroyed - consumed by the life-binding forces of the lich and, in turn destroying the undead.

After the Gauntlet's destruction, Jarlaxle asked their then employers, the dragon sisters Ilnezhara and Tazmikella, to replace the gauntlet as compensation for the two fighters' achievements, but they refused. Jarlaxle later presented Artemis with a new gauntlet, restored by the efforts of the psionicist Kimmuriel Oblodra, just after they left the Bloodstone Lands.

In 1451 DR, the sword appeared in the hands of Herzgo Alegni. A new ability is revealed as the sword is used to cause intense pain to it's previous owner, Artemis, while in the hands of its new Shadovar owner. Claw is (apparently) destroyed when Drizzt threw it over the rim of the pit in which the magma primordial Maegera resided in 1463 DR, as an attempt to break it's hold over Artemis.