A protective potion was created by Avshar during the recapture of Videssos the City by forces loyal to Thorisin Gavras. Avshar cut an unborn child from the womb of a serving maid, then dropped it into a cauldron and used unknown magic to create the potion. When his bandit followers (and Vardanes Sphrantzes) dipped their sleeves into the cauldron the potion warded them from being cut or stabbed by blades, but did not protect them from blunt trauma, as Gaius Philippus was able to down a bandit using the butt-end of a pilum, and Vardanes Sphrantzes himself was killed when Avshar flung his head against a stone wall.