Shield of Reflecting
Also known as: Reflecting Shield
Forged from polished mirrorstone mined in the Shimmering Isles and rimmed with silver-veined Talamhari earthsteel, the Shield of Reflecting drinks in hostile magic and hurls it back at the caster with terrible precision. Its surface ripples like still water disturbed by a falling stone when it senses an incoming spell, betraying nothing of the wielder behind it.
Artifact Details
- Type
- Armor
- Rarity
- Legendary
- Origin
- The Shield of Reflecting was commissioned by the war-council of the Islanders of the Shimmering Isles after the catastrophic Siege of Vel'Mora, when Naga battle-sorcerers turned the Islanders' own fleet-blessings against them in a single devastating tide. The master-artisan Serath Dun, a half-Islander craftsman trained in both Talamhari earthforging and the reflective mirrorstone-cutting traditions of the Shimmering Isles, laboured for three years to bind a shard of the Great Mirror of Vel'Mora, the very relic the Naga had used to amplify the reflected curse, into the shield's core, so that the weapon of the enemy's triumph would become the instrument of their defeat.
Overview
Shield of Reflecting is a legendary armor in Landorya. Its known origin is The Shield of Reflecting was commissioned by the war-council of the Islanders of the Shimmering Isles after the catastrophic Siege of Vel'Mora, when Naga battle-sorcerers turned the Islanders' own fleet-blessings against them in a single devastating tide. The master-artisan Serath Dun, a half-Islander craftsman trained in both Talamhari earthforging and the reflective mirrorstone-cutting traditions of the Shimmering Isles, laboured for three years to bind a shard of the Great Mirror of Vel'Mora, the very relic the Naga had used to amplify the reflected curse, into the shield's core, so that the weapon of the enemy's triumph would become the instrument of their defeat.. Its most cited abilities include Spell Reflection: Any targeted spell of Rare rarity or lower that strikes the shield is absorbed and instantly redirected at its caster at full potency., Projectile Deflection: Physical projectiles, arrows, bolts, thrown weapons, are deflected at sharp angles, scattering in the direction of the nearest enemy within thirty feet., and Mirror Ward: Once per day the bearer may raise an invisible aura for ten seconds during which ALL incoming spells, regardless of rarity, are reflected.. Accounts also warn of a drawback: The shield remembers every spell it has reflected. After reflecting seven or more spells in a single battle, it begins to grow hot and erratic, on the eighth r…
History
The Shield of Reflecting was first carried by Admiral Ysolde Kael at the Battle of the Twinned Tides, where she turned a Naga poison-surge spell back upon the serpentine warhost, routing their vanguard and winning the Shimmering Isles a generation of uneasy peace. It passed through three generations of the Kael bloodline before being seized as a trophy by a Drakonian warlord during the Ashen Raids, who found it could not protect him from threats he himself conjured during a ritual gone wrong. The Talamhari recovered it from the ruins of the warlord's keep at the foot of the Iron Mountains and held it in the Vault of Balanced Things for over a century, cataloguing its strange resonance with earth-magic. Rumour now places it in the hands of a Desert Scholar expedition probing the drowned ruins of old Vel'Mora, seeking to understand whether the Great Mirror shard within the shield still answers to Naga command-words spoken beneath open water.
Powers & Abilities
- ✦ Spell Reflection: Any targeted spell of Rare rarity or lower that strikes the shield is absorbed and instantly redirected at its caster at full potency.
- ✦ Projectile Deflection: Physical projectiles, arrows, bolts, thrown weapons, are deflected at sharp angles, scattering in the direction of the nearest enemy within thirty feet.
- ✦ Mirror Ward: Once per day the bearer may raise an invisible aura for ten seconds during which ALL incoming spells, regardless of rarity, are reflected.
- ✦ Arcane Dampening: Persistent magical auras and enchantments targeting the wielder are weakened by one tier while the shield is held.
- ✦ Echo Sight: The polished face of the shield reveals invisible or illusion-cloaked figures as distorted silhouettes on its surface.
Curse or Drawback
The shield remembers every spell it has reflected. After reflecting seven or more spells in a single battle, it begins to grow hot and erratic, on the eighth reflection it chooses its own target, not necessarily the caster, potentially redirecting the spell at any figure within range, ally or foe alike. The wielder cannot release the shield voluntarily until combat ends, as the mirrorstone shard binds to the grip of anyone who raises it in anger.