Storyteller Shield

Armor; bespoke. Requires attunement.

A large, evenly-weighted shield inlaid with three circular, twisting wrought-iron baskets around the edges. These baskets are tiny, pocket-sized versions of a normal story orb which can be filled with larger-than-life stories. An attuned user can tell the shield a story of their battle prowess and make a DC13 performance check. On a successful check, the shield absorbs the tale into one of the story orbs. On an unsuccessful check, the shield is unimpressed with the story and rejects it.

The shield recognizes three types of stories: defense stories, attack stories, and love/friendship stories. You can easily see which kinds of stories you have stored in the shield based on their colors: blue for defense, yellow for attack, and green for friendship. Expending these charges has the following effects in battle: Expended story orbs have no light in them and can be charged with a new story as normal. You can tell one story per long rest. You cannot store more than three stories at once, but at any point you can replace a story with one of another type, provided you make a successful performance check.
 * Defense story: As a bonus action, you are sheathed in a dim blue light and gain +1 AC for one minute. You must have your shield equipped to activate this, but you retain the benefits of this protection even if you doff your shield or have it taken from you.
 * Attack story: On an unsuccessful melee attack against an enemy, you may use your reaction to call an illusory figure from your shield to attack for you. This figure appears as a ghostly version of you made of yellow light. The attack succeeds automatically, with damage calculated as normal. You must have your shield equipped to activate this effect.
 * Friendship story: If an ally within 30 feet of you that you can see is attacked, you may use your reaction to interpose an illusory green figure of yourself between your ally and their attacker. The figure remains for the attacker's full turn and absorbs half of the damage dealt to the ally. At the end of the attacker's turn, the figure vanishes. You must have your shield equipped to activate this effect.

Note that the shield is occasionally temperamental, and if presented with a string of unimpressive stories or a particularly abominable performance, it may absorb your terrible behavior and release it at an inopportune moment. Story orbs that have been charged in such a way have black energy pulsing inside them, and cannot be replaced with normal stories until they've expended themselves. Let it be a lesson to you on the dangers of poor storytelling.