Description: These objects appear to be small gems, about an inch across (i.e., about the size of human eyes). They are nearly perfectly round, with areas corresponding to irises and pupils cut slightly differently. One eye is very dark blue and the other is red.
Function: The Eyes Of Sharn are Eternity Shards. The blue eye carries the group power of Gate, and causes its wearer to see the flaws in everything (currently worn by Sparks). The red eye is believed to give its wearer the power of true sight.
THE TALE OF SHARN AND VERRA
(OK, I'm cheating and simply paraphrasing.)
The initial part of the story revolves around Sharn and Verra, a dwarf hero and heroine who have many adventures, being good little hero-types while falling in love. Sharn tends to be a bit lazy, while Verra has a notably short temper, but they complement each other nicely.
Then, one day, they fight a particularly vicious beastie (you recognize some traits of it as being distinctly Orrorshan, despite the fact that supposedly, this was long before the invasion of Aysle...you wonder if the tale has been modified during the centuries). They kill it, but when Sharn doesn't follow through quite enough, it gets in one last atttack and blinds Verra.
Sharn promises that he will make eyes for Verra, using only the finest flawless gems in all of Aysle. (You note that apparently all dwarven heroes are just _expected_ to be craftsmen as well, from the discussion that goes on here.) Sharn sets out on a mighty quest, overcoming many great obstacles. Finally he comes to the mountain with the world's most perfect gems.
He kills his way through an escalating sequence of monsters, finding sequentially bigger and better gems as their treasure. After killing a _very_ powerful giant, he finds a gem that he thinks will do, but after carving it down to the size of an eye, finds that there is a microscopic flaw, and tosses it aside.
Then he kills a horrific dragon, and finds an even bigger and better gem, which he carves into an absolutely perfect eye. As he prepares to go on to the next monster, he begins to think about how close a call the dragon was, and how much work. He thinks about how long it's going to take, and how much tougher the next beast will be. Finally, he concludes that the giant's gem was _almost_ flawless, and that he can work the flaw into the design so that no one will notice...and he's already done most of the work, so there's almost nothing left to do!
Returning to Verra, he gives her the eye. The dragon's gem eye is perfect and sees the absolute truth in all things. But the giant's gem has the flaw, and sees only the flaws in everything. Looking at Sharn, she sees his laziness and guilt, and knows what he has done. In a fit of rage, she kills him. Then, in a fit of remorse, she kills herself. The legend goes on that her eyes rolled out of her sockets when she died and became treasures of the dwarves.
According to further legends, the perfect eye was a 'stone of good omen' while the flawed eye was a 'stone of ill omen'. It's vague as to whether they actually thought the flawed eye was unlucky or whether they were such proud craftsmen that it was damned annoying having flaws pointed out. One might think that they would just get rid of the flawed one, but they seem to have regarded them as an unbreakable set.
The eyes were found in the treasure trove of Uthorion, bound together by a spell. Ta'eesh eventually cut the spell with the Magic Letter Opener. Experimenting with them, Sparks learned he could use one to replace his lost eye.
