Enc.: 6# <^x^>	IS: metal, hard	Aura:	XP: 7k	GP: 35k
-	-		-	-
Swords	-	Magic Items	-	DMG

Lore: The Drinker is first known to
have existed more than four hundred
years ago, in the reign of Kurskos
Ironhand; it was the sword of that monarch’s
herald and chief councilor,
Amrok of the Dwarves. Kurskos slew
Amrok in a night of revelry after one
Shieldmeet, and took Adjatha the
Drinker—plus the enmity of the
dwarves—as his own. Amrok was of
almost human stature, and it has often
been said Adjatha is of human and not
dwarven manufacture, for it is of full
size and heft for a strong, long-armed
swordsman.

The stories of its making are many
and colorful—and most are doubtless as
fanciful as the tale told by Thyri of
Amn, who looted Adjatha from the palace
vaults in the sack of Aumreayum
upon the death of Kurskos. Thyri held
that Adjatha was given to his grandfather
by the gods, and made any of the
family who wielded it invulnerable in
battle.

Thyri was easily—almost contemptuously—
slain by the first man
who challenged him, a merchant from
Calimshan. That merchant, whose
name is lost, was slain while on caravan
soon after by a mischievous kenku. In
like manner, The Drinker has often
changed hands over the years, usually
remaining only a short time with any
one owner.

Elminster saw Adjatha forty winters
ago at the court of Nesker of Mulmaster,
when the sorcerer-king was studying
it to increase his own arts. It
disappeared before Nesker’s death and
came to light briefly in reports of fighting
in the Shaar, apparently being
wielded by one of the nomad chieftains.
The sword was stolen from him, and
despite sending agents far afield, he
was unable to recover it. The present
whereabouts of the blade are
unknown.

Description: Adjatha is a +2 long
sword of fine blue steel, hilted with
steel in single cross-quillon and a plain,
spherical, polished knob pommel. Set in
the heart of the tang, where the quillons
meet just above the fine chainwrapping
of the hilt, is a large (one-inch
diameter) cabochon-cut black sapphire
(worth 6,000 gp). There are no known
markings or runes on the blade, and it
does not shed any radiance.

However, upon touching any magical
item (not including scrolls, but including
potions if these are poured over the
blade or it is immersed in them) Adjatha
siphons off magical energy, causing the
item in question to glow, shedding a
pale green-white radiance, until the
item is drained of dweomer or the
sword and the item are separated.

The Drinker can never permanently
drain an artifact or an item with permanent
magical abilities, such as another
magic sword; but it can steal the magic
of lesser items. In all cases, the touch of
Adjatha causes one power or effect per
round of contact of the item to be nullified
for 1-4 turns after contact. If the
item has limited charges, or operates
but once, sufficient contact with Adjatha
can drain it entirely of magic at a
rate of one charge or use per round.
The blade absorbs the dweomer into
itself in a peculiar way, retaining magical
energy to protect itself and its bearer.

Per charge drained or round of contact,
Adjatha gains 2 “hit points.” It has 9
“hit points” worth of personal strength,
and may add any magically drained
points to its own, without known limit.
Any attacks on Adjatha or its bearer
must exhaust these phantom “hit
points” before they can harm the physical
entities of blade or bearer. When
reduced to its original 9 hit points, Adjatha
cannot absorb further harm to its
bearer, and is itself vulnerable. Anyone
grasping the grip of Adjatha can receive
its hit point protection; there is room
for a maximum of two bare human
hands to grasp the grip at one time.

Adjatha cannot repeatedly drain the
vitality of the same item; after two contacts
with any single item, the Drinker
cannot drain anything more from it—
but a contact, if uninterrupted, can continue
for up to 1 turn before any bearer
must withdraw or risk the onset of a
feeblemindedness due to magical backlash
(non-cumulative 10% chance each
round beyond one turn of continuous
contact). Drained “hit points” gained by

Adjatha in no way cure existing damage
to its bearer, but merely absorb all further
attacks until exhausted.
Adjatha cannot drain or negate spells
cast at it or its bearer; it confers immunity
to psionic domination, charm
spells, and similar direct mind-control
spells. This immunity does not extend
to sleep, suggestion, ESP, and the like.