Eric L. Boyd - Magic Items: Robe of the Roaring Lion

Robe of the Roaring Lion (Minor Artifact)

Fashioned from the pelt of a rare albino lion, the robe of the roaring lion is an ankle-length garment with a gold brocaded gauntlet of Torm on the chest. The hem, cuffs, and neckline are adorned with the soft white fur of woven lion's mane and faint silver filigree woven through the pelt depicts ancient arcane runes.

Believed to have been fashioned in Calimshan and brought east by a paladin of Torm during the Triad Crusade, the first recorded mention of the robe of the roaring lion dates back to the Battle of Moaning Gorge (786 DR) and the legendary Paladin-Princes of Old Impiltur. According to all accounts, Araln, the middle brother and a noted sorcerer-paladin, wore the splendorous pelt of a white lion into battle against the balor Ndulu and his demonic horde. Although Araln and his elder brother, Essys, perished during the fray, the robe of the roaring lion was recovered by their younger brother Nord after the demons were banished back to the Abyss.

Upon his ascension to the throne, King Nord honored Prince Araln's sacrifice by proclaiming the robe of the roaring lion to be the ceremonial garb of Old Impiltur's kings. It served as such for over a century until the Year of the Cracked Turtle (924 DR) when a plague wiped out Old Impiltur's royal house. During the subsequent civil strife that tore Old Impiltur asunder, the robe of the roaring lion was lost, presumably stolen by one of the noble houses that sought the throne for themselves.

Although the church of Torm and various Impilturan nobles sought word of the robe of the roaring lion for many years, it did not surface again until the Year of the Minotaur Paladin (1067 DR), when a dwarven caravan passing through the Labyrinth (a region of the Underdark beneath the River Dessarin in the North) was attacked by a large band of baphitaurs. Although sorely pressed, the dwarves survived with the unexpected assistance of a minotaur knight with a divine radiance who appeared as if from nowhere to hold off the host of bullheaded tieflings while the beleaguered Stout Folk made their escape. Dwarven accounts of the battle recorded in the halls of Mirabar indicate that the mysterious "Minotaur Paladin" (as he was popularly anointed by the bards who told the tale) wore a robe fashioned from the pelt of a white lion and emblazoned with the symbol of Torm.

In the years since the Battle of the Minotaur Paladin, many Tormites have dared the twisting passages of the Labyrinth in hopes of finding the long lost robes of Old Impiltur's kings. As all such efforts have come to naught, some now claim that that the Minotaur Paladin fell in that battle, and that the baphitaurs who recovered the robe of the roaring lion eventually passed it on to Ndulu in the Abyss. As such accounts are mere speculation, however, nothing is truly known of the robe's fate.

The robe of the roaring lion has all the properties of vestments of faith (see the Dungeon Master's Guide). Thrice per day, a good-aligned bearer can roar with the force of a great lion, equivalent to the effect of a great shout spell (see the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting). At the cost of a turn undead attempt, a good-aligned bearer can cloak themselves in the radiance of a holy aura spell.

Caster Level: 20th; Weight: --

References:

• FR4 - The Magister
• Lands of Intrigue
• Empires of the Shining Sea
• Sea of Fallen Stars
• Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark
• Races of Faerun
• Baphitaurs