Stonefist Gauntlets
Also known as: Ogre Gauntlets
Massive gauntlets of black iron, each knuckle capped with a shard of raw bloodstone mined from the Talamhari's deep-earth forges, their leather lining stitched from the hide of a hill-ogre slain during the Siege of the Shattered Vale. When worn, the veins of the bearer bulge and darken, the body swelling with a crushing, bestial might that no ordinary mortal frame was built to endure.
Artifact Details
- Type
- Armor
- Rarity
- Unique
- Origin
- The Stonefist Gauntlets were forged by Durgath Ironbone, a master artificer of the Dwarves of the Iron Mountains, during the brutal decades known as the Shattered Vale Campaigns, when Orc warlords and rogue ogre clans threatened to overwhelm the eastern passes. Durgath smelted black iron from the deepest Talamhari veins and bound the essence of a freshly slain hill-ogre chieftain into the metal through a blood-quenching ritual, sealing raw bestial strength into permanent enchantment.
Overview
Stonefist Gauntlets is a unique armor in Landorya. Its known origin is The Stonefist Gauntlets were forged by Durgath Ironbone, a master artificer of the Dwarves of the Iron Mountains, during the brutal decades known as the Shattered Vale Campaigns, when Orc warlords and rogue ogre clans threatened to overwhelm the eastern passes. Durgath smelted black iron from the deepest Talamhari veins and bound the essence of a freshly slain hill-ogre chieftain into the metal through a blood-quenching ritual, sealing raw bestial strength into permanent enchantment.. Its most cited abilities include Bestows the wearer with ogre-tier physical strength, multiplying their natural force several fold, enough to shatter stone walls and overturn war wagons., Grants resistance to pain and physical fatigue, allowing the bearer to fight long past the point of mortal exhaustion., and Empowers unarmed strikes to carry the force of a siege weapon, capable of pulverizing bone and warped iron alike.. Accounts also warn of a drawback: The longer the gauntlets are worn, the more the wearer's mind degrades toward ogre-like brutishness, impulse overtaking reason, rage displacing strategy. After…
History
The gauntlets were first wielded by Durgath's own champion, a Dwarf war-captain named Breld Ashfist, who used them to tear the gates of the Orc fortress of Grakhur Mound from their hinges during the final push of the Shattered Vale Campaigns, an act that became legend among the Iron Mountain clans. After Breld's death, the gauntlets passed through several hands, most notably those of a Human mercenary commander who sold them to a Desert Scholar collector in the city of Aurath, where they were studied for decades as a specimen of Dwarven blood-forging. They were stolen from the Aurath Vaults during the Naga raids on the eastern trade roads, and their trail went cold somewhere beneath the Sun-Scarred Peaks, rumored to have been claimed by a Sphinx who prizes them as a curiosity of mortal ambition. No expedition sent to confirm this has yet returned.
Powers & Abilities
- ✦ Bestows the wearer with ogre-tier physical strength, multiplying their natural force several fold, enough to shatter stone walls and overturn war wagons.
- ✦ Grants resistance to pain and physical fatigue, allowing the bearer to fight long past the point of mortal exhaustion.
- ✦ Empowers unarmed strikes to carry the force of a siege weapon, capable of pulverizing bone and warped iron alike.
- ✦ Allows the wearer to grip and hold supernatural creatures, including entities bound by elemental or fey compulsion, preventing magical escape or teleportation through touch.
- ✦ Radiates an aura of physical intimidation that unsettles lesser creatures, causing animals, beasts, and weak-willed humanoids to instinctively recoil.
Curse or Drawback
The longer the gauntlets are worn, the more the wearer's mind degrades toward ogre-like brutishness, impulse overtaking reason, rage displacing strategy. After prolonged use, the bearer begins to lose the capacity for complex speech and fine motor thought, and removal becomes increasingly resisted by the wearer's own will, now half-consumed by the ogre essence within.