Item from Icewind Dale by R.A. Salvatore / Wizards of the Coast / Black Isle Studios
The Crystal Shard — a sentient artifact of immense power that seduces its wielder with visions of conquest, raises crystal towers from nothing, and ultimately devours every mind it touches.
Crenshinibon is not merely a tool — it is a predator wearing the shape of a gift. The Shard was created by a conclave of liches as a weapon of domination, and it absorbed their hunger along with their power. It communicates telepathically with its wielder, beginning as a whisper of encouragement and escalating to overwhelming compulsion. It offers genuine power — the ability to raise Cryshal-Tirith, a crystal tower fortress, from bare ground using only sunlight, and to dominate weak minds within its radius. But every gift is a hook. The Shard amplifies its wielder's ambitions until they become all-consuming, turning scholars into tyrants and warriors into megalomaniacs. It has passed through many hands: the wizard Akar Kessell, who used it to unite the goblinoid hordes against Ten-Towns; the demon Errtu, who coveted it across planes; the assassin Artemis Entreri, who carried it as a burden; and the drow Jarlaxle, who alone had the cunning to wield it without being consumed. It was ultimately destroyed, shattered by deliberate effort — but artifacts of this power have a way of not staying destroyed. Crenshinibon does not care who wields it. It only cares that someone does.
A small, multifaceted crystal shard that fits in one hand, radiating faint warmth and pulsing with inner light. In direct sunlight it blazes with blinding radiance. Its facets seem to contain tiny, moving reflections of towers and armies that do not exist — yet.
Also known as: Crenshinibon, the Crystal Shard, the Shard