Guard of the Ancients
| Type | Shield |
|---|---|
| Discovered By | SanMuerte Fantom |
| Discovery Date | 23 May 2008 |
| Discovery Location | Hernepoole, Atamara |
| Abilities | Prestige +8 +7% Spellcasting |
| Current Owner | Merlin Silverfire |
SanMuerte Fantom was serving the realm of Norland as an adventure fighting the undead and monsters the were running rampage there. He was in the region of Hernepoole, when he came upon a small undead army.
A battle took place and raged for 3 hours, SanMuerte's blows land true, shattering them to dust left and right. Then as it looks like it is over, out of the woods steps an undead champion, an evil creature with more power and intelligence than the usual lot. The smaller undead called it, Undeadübelmeister.
The champion made SanMuerte fight for his life, which almost ended when several times SanMuerte found himself flat on his back after a vicious side attacks. The undead champion was like no other undead warrior he had met. But in the end, SanMuerte relieved the undead champion's head from its body with with an side swinging stroke of his sword, leaving it just a pile of bones.
Among what is left of the champion, he found treasures worth a total of 2 gold, 4 silver, plus a unique item among the loot, directly off Undeadübelmeister was the undead Shield, "Guard of the Ancients". It had almost ended SanMuerte's life, for any attack to Undeadübelmeister body was always repelled. Now SanMuerte understood, "Guard of the Ancients" was made totally by the undead and he was the first man to touch it. It was cool to the touch. And appeared to blend with anything that came in contact with it. No wonder SanMuerte could not tell Undeadübelmeister was using it.
When SanMuerte had remove it from Undeadübelmeister, the Shield was heavy but once he wore it as part of his battle attire, it appeared to become weightless and move as one with his body.
Equipped with "Guard of the Ancients", SanMuerte was off again to chase down any undead or monster that would cross his path.
Many years later the item was once more in the hands of the undead. After reports that the fallen was stirring on the old battlefields outside of Barad Gardor, the adventurer Haniel went out to put them to rest. In a disturbing repetition of history he met an Undead Champion whom fought much like he later found out that SanMuerte's foe had fought and managed to bring it down and captured the Guard from him.
Haniel brought the Guard of the Ancients to the Sage Unthelm, with whom he often deals, to find out more. Apart from SanMuertes story very little is known about it either before or after its capture. The similar circumstances in its capture leaves room for some disturbing speculations though. What if this very protective item gradually drains the life out of its wearer finally leaving only an undead husk, doomed to destroying all life it encounters, until put down in mercy? What if the undead this item was captured from was no one other than SanMuerte himself or the poor soul to whom he passed it on to?
