Albruin (Magic Sword)

Albruin is a sword made from an alloy that combines steel, electrum, and silver, demonstrably as effective as silver against undead and other creatures who suffer particular effects from contact with that metal. It is +1 on attack rolls and +3 on damage. It sheds an eerie blue radiance (up to 10' radius) when drawn from its scabbard. It is of chaotic neutral alignment (Intelligence 17, Ego 13), communicates by speech (Common, Elf, Drow, Thieves' Cant), and can read languages and magical writing.
Albruin's bearer can, at will, activate the sword's power to detect invisible objects in a 10' radius, maintaining it by concentration. Albruin can also neutralize poison once every three days, and heal its bearer once every 12 days. These powers are evoked at the will of the bearer, or by the sword if the bearer is unconscious and Albruin deems it advantageous to activate either power by itself. Physical contact between Albruin and the flesh of the bearer is necessary for the powers to work.
Albruin is believed to be the creation of the long-dead smith Surdee, who was famous in his day for the craftsmanship of the work that came out of the forges of icebound Glister, where he worked ore fresh from the mines above the city, on the edge of the glacier. The blade itself evades questions about its origins: there are no markings or definite touches of workmanship that identify Albruin as the work of anyone in particular. Albruin was held for decades in the royal house of Cormyr, kept as a family treasure, but seldom (due to its alignment) borne by the kings of that land. It was stolen from the palace at Suzail some 90 winters ago by the thief Nyparr (“Nipe”), a halfling who was soon arrested at Wheloon by soldiers of Cormyr and slain while attempting to escape. Nipe did not have the blade when he was seized, and did not reveal its whereabouts. It was rumored among the thieves of that place that he had sold it to a “gray trader” (a “fence”) by the name of Blusken Shtult, who had a merchant barge on the Wyvernwater, and that Blusken had sailed from Wheloon up to a port on the northern shore of the Wyvernwater and delivered the blade to a waiting buyer.
The blade's whereabouts were uncertain for some 24 winters, until a lady of high birth in Selgaunt, one Shamur, found the blade left behind in her bedchamber by a visitor fleeing the city guard. He never returned, and Shamur sold it when she married, it was bought by an adventurer visiting the city of Selgaunt on matters of trade (gold for mercenaries), and wielded thereafter in several minor skirmishes about the Eastingreach before its owner died in an ambush. His slayer, the adventurer-prince Thaum of Telflamm, used Albruin to help him take the lands of Impiltur forcibly from his father and found his own kingdom. Thaum eventually died by magic (a wizard hired by his father Kuskur, who was unable to regain control of the lost lands), and Albruin was acquired by one of Thaum's warriors, who fled the dead king's keep and took the blade back westward into the Dalelands.
This warrior, one Adjuz by name, perished at the hands of brigands on a northern road, and Albruin disappeared from view- but not before Adjuz had sought out a sage in Shadowdale to learn the blade's true nature and powers. After the death of Adjuz, the trail of the sword is hidden for some eight winters, but it is known to have been in the hands of the mercenary general Malakar on his visit to Zhentil Keep in the spring of the ninth year following, and was identified again by the sage Murail of Sarbreen when a mercenary warrior sought him out to learn the blade's properties in that city some six winters beyond that time. From then until now, the whereabouts of Albruin are unknown, but Elminster is careful to remind us that its plain appearance and its ability to control many of its bearers would contribute to its anonymity.
Category:Encyclopedia Magica Magic Items
Category:Magic Items
Category:Magic Swords
Category:Magic Weapons