Shaman's Norn Shield of Corruption

Shaman's Norn Shield of Corruption lies in its display case like a weathered moonlit shield, the surface a hammered obsidian that seems to swallow light. The boss-black metal is threaded with copper veins that coil along the rim, each vein catching a glint as if a spark kept alive. The central boss bears a carved sigil—a snarling bear's maw entwined with thorny ivy—while a wan, smoky sheen swirls within the shield's translucent enamel. Touch it and you feel a chill, not mere cold but a whisper of old rites, a memory of the tundra where the Norn would call upon the wilds to sanctify their oath. Leather straps, pale from long use, wrap the back like a memory of hunting trips; the grip is wrapped in rawhide braided with sinew, a reminder that power here was earned rather than gifted. The texture shifts under the fingers: firm when you brace, almost velvet-soft around the edges where the runes are worn smooth by centuries of pacts and parries. Lore-wise, the Shaman's Norn Shield of Corruption is said to have been forged atop the ice-clad spires of the Far Shiverpeaks by a shaman who walked the line between blessing and blight. It was not made for conquest but for counterbreath—an instrument to choke the foe's resolve while empowering the wearer to call down the pack's ancient rites. When the shield blocks a blow, a split-second halo of shadow blooms across the surface, as if a winter storm pressed its weight through the metal. Those who speak in taverns of its past recall trade-seeing eyes, the way a shield like this could tilt a moment from feint to decisive victory, and how the corruption within the sigil could siphon a portion of an enemy's vigor to renew the wielder's own stamina. In play, its significance sits at the crossroads of defense and ritual disruption. A stalwart shield for a frontline shaman-blood hunter, it turns blocking into a form of crowd control, granting a brief window to tether foes with a lingering corruption aura. The wearer can thread a path through skirmishes: stand, absorb, and then unleash a tailored burst that erodes an opponent's guard while the totem of the pack grows louder in the background. Abilities that cleanse or bolster allies become more reliable when the shield's aura has charged, and every successful shield bash is a chance to spread the corruption to a targeted enemy, weakening their resolve and strengthening the morale of the rider's allies. I asked a seasoned collector what the shield might fetch in a bustling market, and he pointed me toward the Saddlebag Exchange, where traders haggle over gleaming loot and long-told relics. A buyer once paid in gold, a handful of sapphires, and a carved bone mask, he recounted, for the shield, knowing that it would soon pass into a new hunter's hands, ready to write its next chapter in the old, ice-worn saga. Its glow remains a written oath, guiding those who listen to the cold.