From Andre Norton’s flawed D&D novel, Quag Keep:
“Warrior.” Now he addressed Naile directly. “To my Lord, money is nothing. A year ago he found the hidden Temple of Tung and all its once-locked treasures are under his hand. I am empowered to draw upon them to secure any rarity. What say you to a sword of seven spells, a never-fail shield, a necklet of lyra gems such as not even the king of the Great Kingdom can hope to hold, a-“
How about that? 3 D&D treasures that have never been written up. Google reveals that the only reference to any of “sword of seven spells”, “never-fail shield” or “lyra gems” is from Quag Keep. So what do they do exactly?
The problem is that they seem like they might be a bit too powerful. Specifically, the “never-fail shield” seems like it should protect you from all harm, which is obviously overpowered. Let’s say that, once a day, you can use the never-fail shield to block one attack or spell, but you must decide to use the shield’s power before the attack roll or saving throw.
As for the sword of seven spells: it’s probably equivalent to a combined +1 sword/scroll with 7 random spells on it, except that only Fighting Men can use the spells. Once each spell has been used, it can’t be used again. When all 7 spells are used, it’s nothing but a +1 sword.
It’s possible that when you use up a spell, you use it up only for yourself, so once you’re finished with it, you should hand it to the Fighting Man next to you.
As for lyra gems, they’re probably nonmagical, but clearly very valuable. Maybe they’re the next price category of gems, above diamonds.
“Masterly — masterly and as evil as the Nine and Ninety Sins of Salzak, the Spirit Murderer.”
This is an offhand comment that I’m throwing in because this Salzak, the Spirit Murderer sounds awesome. Use Salzak as your campaign villain and you will be using a bit of Greyhawk canon that hasn’t been used since 1978.
Tags: everybook
The Shield of Never-Fail will never fail – a calculus pop quiz. If ever a fighter faces the Dread Math Teacher Roberts, this is the shield he will want.
Similarly, the Sword of Seven Spells can spell seven words. And five of them are “the,” “sword,” “of,” “seven,” and “spells.”
“Lyra gems” was a mispelling at the typographer’s hands. This is not surprising, as Invista had not yet invented the word “lycra.” These gems were an early, useless use for spandex.
And what, if the Sword of Seven Spells randomly uses one of its spells on a critical hit, and the seven spells are on a line from “favours the wielder” to “favours the opponent”?
The Shield of Never-Fail – would he never fail to block a melee attack, or never fail to let a ranged attack pass?
Or the Sword of Seven Spells is like a multitool – with spells such as “Knock”, “Light”, etc.
Rantharon, I like that shield of never-fail writeup.
A “never-fail shield” is the Eric’s shield from the Dungeons & Dragons animated series to me.
Milo’s Rings?