Grimwoth Chain

The histories of the Storm Wars are replete with the magical destruction that both sides rained down upon their enemies. The Nathelian mages used necromancy and battle-magic against the Karatikan abjurers and scryers, and the vile Nathelian Blood Priests battled the Karatikan druids at every turn.

Scholars of the arcane, that have been trying to piece together the magical events of the Storm Wars, believe that the Karatikans had an abjurer of considerable power on their side. A special group of warriors, known only as the 'Helak', were responsible for protecting all of the druids of the Karatikan Alliance, including Avard Karatikan himself. There are numerous accounts of the Helak protectors, but no one seems to know where they came from, or who paid and supplied them. That mystery has left arcane scholars in a quandry, because the Helak were extremely well-armed and well-equipped. Their magical armor, weapons, and equipment are considered masterpieces by arcane standards, and their numbers are considerable.

Their power and presence is undisputed, even by Inquisition scholars, who researched the Helak exhaustively during the First Crusades. (And still they never learned the identity of the abjurer that crafted the Helak items.) Mosaics and tapestries still in Karmen, depect the Helak in the many important battles, or in the backgrounds of important meetings, conferances, and pilgrimages. The Helak were easily identified by the commonality of their equipment -- and their golden chain mail in particular.

As the war went on, the Helak slowly began to fall in numbers, and their bodies were all buried in the same cemetary in Theledra, Bridela. By the war's end, forty-seven Helak were buried in the cemetary, and only eight Helak were still alive. Those eight slowly died of various causes, and the last was buried nearly forty years after the conclusion of the Storm Wars. During the First Crusades, and the advent of the Inquisition, their bodies were reinterred in the vast Karmaic Cemetary -- and the Inquisitors removed from the bodies all their magical arms, armor, and items. Most of those items were later destroyed during the War of the Undead, when several Cache Vaults self-destructed. Some few of the items -- including the golden chain mail known as Grimwoth chain -- survived.

The suits of Grimwoth chain were made of gold-washed steel, with a connecting head coif, and running to mid thigh. Even unenchanted, the craftsmanship of the steel links is phenomenal, both metallurgically and aesthetically. Part of the armor's power derives from its amazing self-repairing properties, but most importantly, it dealt damage to anyone who struck it.

A Grimwoth chain hauberk acts as Grimwoth chainmail +2. Any successful melee attack directed against the wearer of Grimwoth chain must make a Fortitude Save versus DC 18 to avoid taking 1d6 points of magical energy damage, similar in effect to a pulsed magic missile at close range. Spells or effects that protect against damage from magic missile also protect the attacker. Successful ranged attacks also set off the armor, but the range on the discharge is only five feet, in which case the energy disappates without dealing damage.

Caster Level: 18th. Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, mending, magic missile, contingency, wish, minor creation. Market Price: 115,000gp.

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