The Rings of Deathlessness: One of the three paths to true immortality. These 10 rings each make the wearer invulnerable to pain, damage, interference, and death from a different kind of danger. Each is made of rustless iron and bears a square imprinted plate, depicting the type of danger it wards against. The rings were forged long ago, by Ibilon, one of the Seven Sages, a student of the Wizard King Zalaman. Zalaman disapproved of the rings, foreseeing catastrophe if they were united upon the fingers of one man. So, unable or unwilling to destroy them, Ibilon cast his masterpieces into the sea. Through the ages, the rings have crept back into the wide world, waiting to be claimed. If someone were to wear all 10 rings on each of his ten fingers, he would be invincible.
Aging: A man and woman, stooped and wizened. One of the most sought-after rings, the wearer ceases to age as long as the ring remains on his finger and cannot be aged by magical means. Worn for centuries by the vain Duke Moroix, who pretends to be his own descendent, in each successive generation, furthering his growing empire of blackmail, assassination, and corruption.
Breaking: A hammer crushing a skull. The wearer cannot be bludgeoned, crushed, or dashed by a great fall. This and the ring against Smothering were found by T’loa, a pearl-diver. She has used them to befriend merfolk and claim treasures from the deep sea.
Corruption: A serpent coiled around a rotting tree. The wearer cannot be dissolved by acid, disintegrated, withered by necrotic powers, or harmed by poisons or venoms. This ring is in the hoard of the slumbering black dragon Tamligon.
Disease: A convalescent surrounded by miasma. The wearer is immune to all diseases and infections, even magical ones. This ring is held in the hollow of an ancient tree, which has resisted the fell blight that struck down the rest of the forest, due to the presence of a powerful Lich, in the caverns below.
Freezing: A snowy, windswept peak. This ring makes one immune to cold, exposure, ice attacks, and petrification. Owned by a little orphaned girl. Unaware of its powers, it has enabled her to survive the harsh nights of the uncaring northern city. She has befriended a gorgon, living in the sewer depths.
Hunger: An emaciated beggar, clutching his stomach. The wearer cannot starve or dehydrate and always feels well-fed and contented. Worn by the False Saint Crios, who has attained his status by his “divinely sustained” fasting.
Immolation: A funeral pyre. The wearer is immune to heat, flames, and lightning strikes. Placed on an altar, within an abandoned temple that was carved into the side of a now dormant volcano.
Magic: The sign of the evil eye. The wearer is completely immune to magic. This coveted ring is currently in the possession of an unscrupulous minor sorcerer who obtained it by cutting the throat of his cabal’s master.
Severing: A bloody sword. The wearer cannot be cut, stabbed, slashed, sliced, or pierced through in any way. Possessed by Gutchglor, a pigman warlord uniting the monsters of the wastelands under his blood-soaked banner.
Smothering: The wearer cannot drown, choke, suffocate or otherwise be harmed by lack of air. This and the ring against Breaking were found by T’loa, a pearl-diver. She has used them to befriend merfolk and claim treasures from the deep sea.
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