The Helm of Helm

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This “tome” appears to be a heavy metal war-helm with a simple visor, but without mantling or heraldic markings. There is nothing on it to denote its dedication to the God of Guardians, and its only unusual properties are an immunity to rust and the word “Surgar” engraved on the inside of the visor, in the Common Tongue. If this word is uttered aloud by someone touching the Helm, the visor glows with a faint silver radiance, and the Helm becomes active. Creatures of all lawful alignments who do not worship Helm see only the radiance and hear singing in a very faint voice that might suggest that magical properties in the Helm have awakened. Lawfully neutral individuals who do not worship Helm but don the helmet, hear the name of the god echoing grandly in their heads (no one else who is present hears anything). Beings of chaotic alignments who are wearing or in contact with the Helm suffer the effects of a heat metal spell (that is, a very warm feeling on the first round; blistering hot and 1d4 points of damage on the second; searing hot, hair sizzles away and 2d4 points of damage per round on the third and every round thereafter; save vs. spell on the fifth round and every 3 rounds there¬after or fall unconscious for 1d4 turns—if contact is broken, start the effects over at the first round for a character’s next touch), though the Helm does not in fact get hot, and beings of other alignments who are touching the Helm at the same time feel nothing out of the ordinary. If a being who worships the god Helm dons or is wearing the Helm within 1 turn of the word “Surgar” being uttered, he will see the spells the Helm of Helm holds displayed one by one on the inside of the visor. These magics appear in alphabetical order, ranked in ascending levels, but speaking aloud the name of a spell stored in the helmet brings that spell instantly to view. Spells cannot be cast by reading them directly from the Helm because the closed visor prevents the caster from seeing what he is doing or concentrating on surroundings. While a consecrated priest of Helm (that is, a cleric who has dedicated himself to the God of Guardians, made an offering, and been accepted into the faith with a formal altar ceremony) is wearing the Helm, he never needs sleep or feels weary and is immune to the effects of all enchantment/charm spells (both friendly and hostile). All spells of the guardian and protection spheres he memorizes (when cast later) last for the maximum length of time, do the maximum possible points of damage or aid, and affect the maximum possible area or number of recipients. The helm is believed to be about a thousand years old. It was first seen rising out of a battlefield bog, presenting itself to the Helmite cleric Garshond in the defense of Iriaebor against a hobgoblin-led army of mixed orcs and goblins in the year 1264 DR, but some clergy then and now believe that the Vigilant One took it then from the bones of an older, forgotten champion of his faith, one whose bones lay under the waters of that bog. Whatever the truth, Garshond bore the war-helm off that field and back to The Watchtower of the Vigilant, his fledgling temple-keep in Harkstag (a long-vanished village that stood northeast of Serpent’s Cowl, in what is now scrub woodland. Then, as now, the area is infested with lurking yuan-ti). There he called a council to which he invited the most law-abiding, old-money families of Waterdeep, Iriaebor, and Scornubel. Most sent their nearest merchant agents, but a few sent younger sons, and to them all Garshond preached the common benefits of well-guarded roads and an elite, disciplined band of guardian knights. The Council of Helm was a great success, and established Garshond as the most important Helmite priest of his day. Some of the nobles stayed to join the envisaged Vigilant Riders, and others sent senior agents with money to sponsor the band and to formalize its obligations to the merchants using the area. The Riders undertook to patrol the roads linking Waterdeep, Baldur’s Gate, Elturel, Scornubel, Iriaebor, and the smaller towns and villages between. This did not please the brigands and goblinkin in the area, whose depredations had made the lightly popu¬lated lands between Amn, the Sea of Fallen Stars, and Waterdeep the most dangerous for travelers in all Faerun. They all united to smash the Vigilant Riders in battle after battle, notably Skull Hill in 1266 DR, Scattershields in 1267, and Ghost River in 1268, where Garshond was slain and the Riders were smashed forever, though it took the lives of 12 times their strength in orcs to do it. Some survivor took the Helm off Garshond’s head and bore it away. Despite a diligent search by priests of the faith, no trace of it came to civilized ears until 1312 DR, when it was offered for sale in Westgate. A Helmite priest tried to buy it and was refused by the Chessentan merchant whose shop held it. The priest returned with twice the asking price—only to be slaugh¬tered by the Lawless, a sect of Shar, who had obviously set the shop up as a lure for clergy they opposed. (They killed a priest of Torm a day later, and sorely wounded several clergy of Ilmater.) Clergy of several faiths hurriedly met and hired an adven¬turing band, the South Shore Serpents, to hunt down the Lawless. It soon became clear, as the city erupted into sniping in the daytime and pitched street battles at night, that someone high in authority was shielding or backing the Lawless, and that the Helm had become just one more piece in the ongoing struggle for rule of Westgate. The Serpents fell one by one, taking the Lawless with them, but thieving bands and street mercenaries entered the fray, and the strife continued. A young Helmite priest, Carath of Selgaunt, hired the Wild Blades Adventurers of Teziir to slay the Chessentan and bring back all the contents of his shop they could salvage. The Blades were led by two sisters whose magecraft was growing speedily, and they used spells to summon monster after monster to prowl through the shop, destroying its bodyguards, its wares, and its proprietor. Then they looted the ruins only to find themselves under attack by agents of Thay, who had been waiting for a good chance to seize the Helm (which most of the combatants knew only as a potent magical item, not something dedicated to the faith of the God of Guardians) for themselves. In the struggle that followed, the senior Thayan mage was forced to flee for his life, all of his forces destroyed, and the Blades reduced to one battered warrior and one of the sisters, Tayana, who was trapped in a curse laid by her Red Wizard opposite that forced her into the shape of a giant hissing serpent several times each day. Fearing she would be slain by fearful citizens, she fled into the wilderlands with the Helm and with her surviving companion, who soon died of his wounds. Embittered, Tayana hid in the Giant’s Run Mountains, where the priest Carath tracked her down in the spring of 1313 DR. She attacked him, but he used spells to defeat her without doing her harm, and then break the curse upon her. She gave him the Helm with her grateful thanks, and in time they were wed. Carath established the Guardtower of the God temple in Redwater, and spent his days training young hopefuls to be priests of Helm (and, it is said, adding spells to the Helm under the guidance of the god himself). Hundreds of Helmite priests began their careers under his wise tutelage, and Carath’s repu¬tation slowly spread. And so, of course, there came a day (in 1347 DR) when priests of Talos and of Shar attacked the temple, seeking to destroy it and him together. Their spells shattered the walls and crushed Carath in his own courtyard, and a grief-crazed Tayana flew up out of the ruins with murder in her heart and mighty spells flying from her hands. When she was done, the evil clergy were all ashes and dust, the temple was a burning pyre, and Tayana burned to death in its flames willingly, embracing the body of her beloved. From that day to this, the Helm has emitted a burnt smell whenever magical fire is active within a half-mile or so of its location. Many priests of Helm came to the site of the fallen Guardtower to pray and to search for what could be salvaged. One of the first to do so was a young, ambitious Helmite priest by the name of Rolor, who saw himself as the new Sword of Helm, who would lead the faithful to greatness. His dreams were confirmed (in his own eyes, at least) when the Helm rose out of the fire-scarred rubble to hover in front of him. Rolor took it and marched off into Tunland to found a new realm dedicated to Helm, thundering his chosen mission to all who would listen (most thought him a ranting madman). He used it and his own spells and items to rout a Zhentarim patrol out of Darkhold in full view of a fleeing caravan, then he walked on into Tunland and has not been seen since. Some believed the Zhentarim killed or enslaved him, and took the Helm as booty. Others believe that he still wanders the wilder¬lands of Tun as a madman, but to date both Rolor and the Helm of Helm are missing. Shardun Voamil, a Revered Guardian (learned elder) of the faith, visited Carath in the days when the Guardtower was new, and it is from his exhaustive examination of the Helm that we know its properties and contents. (The reader is reminded that Carath may have added more spells to its roster after Shardun’s examination.) The helm is known to have held the spells anti-vermin barrier (a spell detailed in the Tome of Magic sourcebook), anti-animal shell, blade barrier, chant, continual light, cure serious wounds, dispel evil, dispel magic, effica¬cious monster ward (Tome of Magic), exaltation (a spell detailed in the Faiths & Avatars sourcebook), faith armor (a spell detailed below), fire purge (Tome of Magic), fist of faith (detailed below), flame strike, glyph of warding, heal, holy word, invisibility purge (Tome of Magic), light, mace of Odo (Faiths & Avatars), magical vestment, negative plane protection, protection from evil, protection from fire, protection from lightning, remove curse, remove paralysis, resist fire/resist cold, seeking sword (Faiths & Avatars), sentry of Helm (Faiths & Avatars), shield of the god (detailed below), spell immunity, squeaking floors (Tome of Magic), sunray, symbol, tenfold ironguard (detailed below), tentacle walls (Tome of Magic), undead ward (Tome of Magic), wyvern watch, zone of sweet air (Tome of Magic), and zone of truth (Tome of Magic).