Hawkstone's Bulwark

by Ed Greenwood
The ranger Hawkstone bore this shield in
his war against the giants of the Great Gla-
cier and the beast-men (ogres) of Thar.
Some time after his death, his grave was
violated and all his treasures stolen, among
them the blade Durelva and this shield,
known in ballads as  Hawkstone's Bulwark.
It is generally believed that Hawkstone won
this shield from the hoard of the black
dragon Yrindoth. Its origin is as unknown
as its present fate.

The shield is a single slab of 2-inch-thick,
polished steel of a beautiful blue hue, a fine
metal unique in its quality in the Realms. It
has the usual two straps within, of black
bullhide, and weighs no more than a
wooden shield. It has the abilities of a +2
shield, and upon command the shield grows
magically into a bridge. (The command
word, known through lore but not written
anywhere on the shield, is ?Bulwark.?) The
shield will disappear from the bearer?s
possession and reappear at the start of the
following round as a 5-inch-thick span of
line steel, 2? wide by 60? long. Its length is
not variable, and the change is not always
automatic; if the command word is spoken
when the  Bulwark  doesn?t have enough
room to expand, the power will simply fail
to function. The bridge will extend out in
the direction the bearer of the shield is
facing, beginning just in front of the bear-
er?s feet. Once placed, the bridge cannot be
moved (although it can be shrunk back to a
shield and re-expanded in a different loca-
tion). It will support up to 5,000 pounds of
weight at one time; exceeding that limit will
cause it to ?collapse? back into a normal
shield (see below), leaving the creatures and
objects upon it without any visible means of
support.
If its weight capacity is not exceeded, the
bridge will remain in that form for 33 days,
or until the bearer of the shield holds onto
one of the straps and utters the reverse-
command word ?Krawlub.? (When it is in
bridge form, the shield?s straps are located
on the top surface of the bridge at either
end.) The shrinking process works essen-
tially the same as the expanding process: the
bridge disappears upon utterance of the
command word, and at the start of the
following round the  Bulwark  reappears at
the bearer?s feet in shield form.

No magic short of a  limited wish, alter
reality,  or wish  will cause the bridge to
shrink, shift, break, or otherwise move
(although the ground on which it rests could
well be affected by  disintegrate, dig,  or
similar magic). The bridge will conduct
heat, electricity, and other similar forms of
energy, and in such respects acts as normal
metal does.
 
 
Dragon - Six Shields - Dragon #89