JEWEL OF JERRIMORE
The legend of the accursed Jewel of Jerrimore can trace its origins to
the third century Before Entharion in the northlands of Frobozz. This
jewel, which is a stunningly beautiful star sapphire, is said
to have been cursed by the Mage of Jerrimore as he lay upon his
deathbed. As he sickened, this powerful but twisted wizard became
convinced that his enemies had poisoned him to gain possession of his
greatest treasure, the Jewel of Jerrimore. With his dying breath, he
loosed a great and evil curse upon the Jewel and all who would possess
it. After the Mage's death, each of his heirs took possesion
of the jewel; each held it jealously, mistrusting any who might look
upon it; each became obsessed with the greed and treachery they
perceived around them; and each came to early and horrible deaths. Thus
grew the legend of the cursed Jewel.
Although
the legends vary, all
versions say that the Jewel travelled through many lands, always
leaving a wake of misery and death, was somehow brought across the
Great Sea long before the invasion of Duncanthrax, and became lost for
many years in
an iron mine near the Flathead Fjord (Fjord Site B) which was sealed.
The entrance to the iron mine is still today
marked by strange and frigthening runes proclaiming a warning of
inevitable death to anyone who took the Jewel, although it was since
removed in 883 GUE by
the daring adventurer who would become the First Dungeon Master, who
used it as part of a complex plot that would eventually
result in the fall of the Great Underground Empire. In the year 949,
the jewel was located at the Steppinthrax Monastery museum; but it,
along with many of the relics located within were afterwards dispersed
(most likely stolen). The final
fate of the Jewel is not known.
When
the reflection of the Jewel of Jerrimore was studied in Mirror Lake,
the bony skeletal hand of Death was seen clamped around it, laughing
silently from within his dark cowl.