The past week has not been good to me, but this is not the place for that. Rumors of my death have nearly been true … but not true enough. My apologizes to anyone who reads Genius Loci for my hasty and unplanned disappearance! So to get back into the groove of blog life I present to you a magic item that has been created and recreated in probably every edition of D&D since it first appeared on syndicated television in 1982.
Enjoy!
Sword of the Greyskull
Background –
Long ago a great Barbarian chieftain known as the Greyskull made a pact with The Eternal, the avatar of the living force of the World in which he lived. In exchange for power beyond that of any man, he and his decedents would protect the living soul – the magic – of the world from all who desired it for their own selfish gain. The Eternal Being imbued the Greyskull’s family sword with the essence of the world’s living soul, allowing all of Greyskull’s decedents and any the world found worthy a metamorphic connection to the world.
For nearly ten years the Greyskull protected the fonts of power in the world that lead to the living soul. But finally, the agents of Chaos came against the Greyskull in the fields of the Eternal Plains in great number. For ten days and ten nights the Greyskull fought and defended the greatest font of the world’s power. As the moon fell into the horizon on the tenth night, however, the Leader of the Chaos army- the Lich King, Dakhor – Summoned into the world the serpent of worlds. The creature was too much for even the Greyskull to defeat, but with his dying breathe he pledged that even in death he would guard the fonts.
The sword was lost that day, the hero of generations fallen … yet … yet Dakhor and his army were defeated through means that no one knows and no one can say. One of the few who witnessed the event, an immortal (and somewhat crazed) Make known as Q, spotted a great Owl flying through the battlefield.
Abilities –
The Sword of the Greyskull can, three times again when the activating phrase is uttered, imbued the holder of the sword a +2 to Strength and constitution as well as grant the holder 10 temporary hit points.
The Sword of the Greyskull does damage as a normal Bastard Sword, however, it greats its holder a +2 to all To-hit rolls and does an additional +1 damage to all creatures of an evil or chaos alignment.