D&D Dark Alliance: What The Crystal Shard Is

The Crystal Shard, or Crenshinibon, is often referenced in the recently released Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance, but the relic has a rich history prior to its use as a plot device in the action-RPG from Tuque games. Crenshinibon is one of the most infamous artifacts in the Forgotten Realms D&D campaign setting, a sentient magic item that tempts and manipulates evil magic-users and calls to hordes of malevolent beings. In essence, the Crystal Shard is a cataclysmic threat in a small package. In D&D: Dark Alliance, the aftermath of the mage Kessel’s fall sees numerous evil-aligned power groups feuding over the Shard, hoping to become the next wielder of Crenshinibon’s might. The Legend of Drizzt novels, and related stories from author R. A. Salvatore, saw the Shard change hands many times, prior to its final destruction.

D&D: Dark Alliance is set after the novel called The Crystal Shard, which introduced the game’s playable characters: Drizzt, Wulgar, Bruenor, and Catti-brie. The series is now 36 books long, and the Crystal Shard survived for 22 of those titles, before its last bid for power in The Ghost King. In the first published Drizzt novel Crenshinibon bonded with the overly ambitious mage Akar Kessel, who formed an army of monsters and attempted to ally with the Balor demon Errtu as well as the Rheged barbarians to crush the Ten Towns settlement of Icewind Dale before expanding his conquest to other regions of the Forgotten Realms setting. Errtu had been present at the creation of Crenshinibon, when seven liches attempted to create an item of unparalleled might but found themselves consumed in the process.

Crenshinibon was capable of many feats, including generating magical fire, conjuring crystalline structures, and mentally controlling creatures of evil alignment. Those of good alignment, or people with particularly strong wills, could resist its manipulations. After Kessel’s fall, the relic tried to manipulate a dwarf cleric who resisted the shard, prior to falling into the hands of Errtu. After Errtu’s defeat, Jarlaxle, the leader of the dark elf mercenary band Bregan D’aerthe, came into possession of the shard by deceiving Drizzt, disguising himself as Cadderly Bonaduce. Cadderly was the protagonist of R. A. Salvatore’s other major Forgotten Realms series, The Cleric Quintet, and surviving characters from that series are now part of the supporting cast of The Legend of Drizzt novels.

Salvatore’s Biggest D&D Series Collided To Battle Crenshinibon

Artemis Entreri, Drizzt’s rival turned ally, stole Crenshinibon from Jarlaxle during the events of the Sellswords trilogy, and resisted the relic’s control through mental discipline. Jarlaxle later duped a red dragon named Hephaestus into deploying its breath weapon on the shard, destroying it temporarily, but the Crystal Shard would make one final return due to the influence of the 4^th edition D&D Spellplague. The Spellplague’s impact on the region housing Hephaestus’ lair turned the red dragon into a dracolich and a slain mindflayer named Yharaskrik into a ghost. The mindflayer coerced the dracolich into placing Crenshinibon into its forehead, forming an entity made up of three minds that called itself the Ghost King, the title of the 22^nd novel in The Legend of Drizzt. Drizzt and his companions, as well as the heroes of the Cleric Quintet series, battled the Ghost King. Cadderly entered the Shadowfell and bested the triumvirate entity, becoming the new Ghost King himself, and ultimately sacrificing his life to keep the evil relic sealed away forever.

It is always possible Crenshinibon will return in a later novel, as few things remain dead forever in the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons. The adventure module Legacy of the Crystal Shard, released during the playtest period for the current 5^th edition of D&D, saw Kessel’s return as an undead wight, and fragments of Crenshinibon that lack the original relic’s sentience continuing to spread its evil influence, in a lesser form. The events of D&D: Dark Alliance include Kessel being re-animated as an undead by a group of Shard Mages much earlier in the timeline of Forgotten Realms.

Crenshinibon provided an excellent ongoing antagonist in the Legend of Drizzt novels, as it could be presented as either a subtle manipulator, feeding on weakness and ambition to find a malleable wielder, or an overt threat conjuring massive towers and destructive armies, closer to the overwhelming enemy forces depicted in Dark Alliance. For longtime fans of the series, Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance offers an opportunity to experience the aftermath of one of Crenshinibon’s first major grabs for power, and the Crystal Shard’s role as a catalyst for evil.

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