Brathik was waiting for us in the third bedroom, which was slightly larger than the others. The orc’s corpse was laid in state upon the double sized bed, still wearing the armor she had worn in life, and a hilt without a blade laid upon her breast, beneath her crossed arms. Her body looked well-preserved against decay by the effects of the magic in this temple. Around her corpse, there were a number of other treasures, suitable for a king’s burial.

The ghost must have seen the look on my face as I took in the scene, for she simply shrugged when I turned my gaze upon her. “I had the time to do it, and none of the others noticed me enough to care, so I figured, why not? It isn’t every day you get to perform your own funeral rites.”

“I understand completely. In my last life, I had no control over anything. This life has been better, so far, but I can certainly see myself doing something like this, if given the chance.”

Before going to the bed, we first checked the dresser and the two chests in the room, one a simple wooden chest like the others, and the other an iron-bound chest that looked far more formidable. The dresser revealed more vestments, and the wooden chest had a pair of silver candlesticks, that would be worth some gold. The iron chest, however, two far more interesting items, a cloak, and a holy symbol of Malar, carved out of bone.

Mantle of Hidden Faith

Type

Shoulders

Weight

This plain grey cloak shields your faith, alignment, and patron deity from magical detection as long as it is worn. It does not provide any bonuses to skill checks used to disguise or lie about your faith and beliefs.

Vestele whistled softly when I explained the cloak’s effects. “Perhaps this explains why the temple fell, despite the protections laid upon it? There was a traitor in their midst, sabotaging the defense!”

Brathik sighed. “For a group that claims to be about the hunt, the forces of Malar seem to often resemble snakes more than hunters. It is vexing to have my death be caused by this kind of treachery.”

I left the holy symbol where I found it, and stowed the cloak in Frostmane’s bag, before finally turning to the bed, and the treasures laid upon it. Looking over everything with a critical eye, I noted that most of the treasures were nonmagical, but that did not mean they were worthless. There was a bolt of cloth woven from strings of what looked like pure platinum, a ceramic statue of the temple we were in, and at least two dozen other objects of art, or just finely crafted items that would sell nicely in a civilized town. Just those treasures alone would be worth thirty thousand gold or more!

Loot:

Spiritkeeper’s Armor

Soul’s Violation

Potion of Greater Magic Fang (+1)

Mattock of the Titans

Lyre of Building

Right Claw of Malar

Left Claw of Malar

Bloodspear of Gruumsh

But the magic items that laid upon the bed were impressive enough in their own right. Frustratingly, the two claws, the spear, and the bladeless hilt resisted my attempt to identify them, offering only their names. Their magic was more powerful than mine, clearly. Still, the other items did give up their secrets to me.

Spiritkeeper’s Armor

Type

Medium

Weight

30

AC Bonus

+8

Max Dex

3

ACP

-3

ASF

25%

This breastplate made of dragonhide has been enchanted to be especially effective against spiritual beings. While primitive in make, the enchantments are as powerful as any found in more civilized lands.

+3 Enhancement Bonus to AC

Ghost Touch – Armor is effective against incorporeal creatures, applying its full bonus against incorporeal touch attacks. Can be worn by incorporeal creatures. (+3 Bonus)

Quickness - +5 ft. Enhancement to land speed. (5000 gp)

Traceless – Continual Pass Without Trace effect. (2000 gp)

Potion of Greater Magic Fang (+1)

Type

Tool

Weight

The drinker of this potion gains a +1 to a single natural weapon, or +1 to all natural weapons, for 5 hours.

CL 5

Mattock of the Titans

Type

Tool

Weight

120

This digging tool is 10 feet long. Any creature of at least Huge size can use it to loosen or tumble earth or earthen ramparts (a 10-foot cube every 10 minutes). It also smashes rock (a 10-foot cube per hour). If used as a weapon, it is the equivalent of a Gargantuan +3 adamantine warhammer, dealing 4d6 points of base damage.

Lyre of Building

Type

Tool

Weight

5

If the proper chords are struck, a single use of this lyre negates any attacks made against all inanimate construction (walls, roof, floor, and so on) within 300 feet. This includes the effects of a horn of blasting, a disintegrate spell, or an attack from a ram or similar siege weapon. The lyre can be used in this way once per day, with the protection lasting for 30 minutes.

The lyre is also useful with respect to building. Once a week its strings can be strummed so as to produce chords that magically construct buildings, mines, tunnels, ditches, or whatever. The effect produced in but 30 minutes of playing is equal to the work of 100 humans laboring for three days. Each hour after the first, a character playing the lyre must make a DC 18 Perform (string instruments) check. If it fails, she must stop and cannot play the lyre again for this purpose until a week has passed.

Those were all interesting enough, and they quickly went into Frostmane’s bags. But what I was most interested in what was obviously the hilt of a katana, that my spell assured me was the artifact Soul’s Violation. The hilt that did not have a blade on it.

Brathik laughed at my confusion. “You’re wondering where the blade is, no? Don’t worry, I thought the same thing when I first found it. The blade did not reveal its truths to me until I completed the binding. It is a thing of Shadow, you see, and not native to this plane. It requires an anchor for its true power to be brought out, a living soul to bind itself to.”

I nodded. “I understand. What do I need to do?”

“You’ll find some chalk in the pouch on my body’s waist. It is completely nonmagical, so I cannot touch it normally, and my skill with my telekinesis is not that precise. But I can guide you through drawing the circle, and the runes you’ll need.”

The spirit was correct. The runes were written in Elven script with the Sylvan tongue, which made sense considering that the original wielder of the blade was a Nymph. Even if the blade was forged on the Plane of Shadow, it would have been made for her hand, after all.

The runes themselves were simple enough, despite the fact that writing them took an hour’s work. They were runes that signified binding, a sharing of one’s life force with another entity, and a connection born in blood. A couple of the runes were clearly necromantic in origin, as well.

When the runes were written, and Brathik had checked to see there were no mistakes, she bade me kneel in the center of the circle. As I knelt, she guided my hands so that I was holding the hilt against my stomach, such that if it had a blade, I would have impaled myself with it. Looking at the hilt, I saw that it had a small ring upon the end, to allow it to hang from a belt loop, and what looked like a blood-red gem beneath the hilt’s wrapping, just below the guard.

Brathik’s spirit knelt just outside the circle, facing me. In a heavy voice, she said, “There is only one way to bind yourself to the blade, as I’m sure you’ve guessed by now. You have to offer up your blood to the blade. If you survive the blow, then the blade will be yours. The gem is the key.”

Soul’s Violation Binding: 10d12 = 80 (Piercing, Unresisted)

Maximum HP reduced by 16.

Melinda’s Fort Save (Massive Damage): 1d20+21 = 31 (Success)

The moment I touched the skull with my finger, I felt more pain than I had in either of my previous lives. Well, more pain from a single strike, at least. My stomach burned where the blade pierced through me. And there was definitely a blade there.

I felt a part of… my life force, you could say, flow from my body and into the blade. How it worked, and how I knew what it did, I had no clue. But I suddenly knew everything about the blade.

Shaking, my fingers touched the gem again, and the blade disappeared from my gut. Pitching forward, I collapsed upon my hands and knees, coughing up blood as I did so. I had not been that close to dying in a long time.

As I gasped for air, I heard the spirit speaking again. “And with that, my work is done, and I can move on. May the blade bear you to better fortune than it did me.” When I looked up, she was gone.

Vestele’s Cure Moderate Wounds (Melinda): 2d8+3 = 16

Vestele’s Cure Moderate Wounds (Melinda): 2d8+3 = 17

Vestele’s Cure Moderate Wounds (Melinda): 2d8+3 = 16

Vestele’s Cure Moderate Wounds (Melinda): 2d8+3 = 7

Vestele’s Cure Moderate Wounds (Melinda): 2d8+3 = 12

Vestele’s Cure Moderate Wounds (Melinda): 2d8+3 = 8

Vestele’s Cure Moderate Wounds (Melinda): 2d8+3 = 6 (2 Overhealing)

“You damned fool! What the hell do you think you were doing, impaling yourself with a bloody magical blade?! Fuck, if that ghost was still here, I’d give it a piece of my mind, for doing something like this!”

The next thing I knew, Vestele was by my side, unleashing charge after charge from her wand. Eventually, I felt better, or at least as good as I could. My HP had dropped permanently by binding the blade to me, and me to it, but I found myself fine with that, especially as I went over what I now knew of the blade.

Soul’s Violation, Black Blade of the Queen

Type

Artifact Weapon

Weight

6 lbs

Damage

1d10

Damage Type

Slashing

Crit

19-20 / x2

+3 Enhancement to Attacks and Damage

**Shadow Energy - A shadow energy weapon has its effective portion (blade, axe head, spearhead, etc.) transformed into shadow. A shadow energy weapon ignores nonliving matter. Armor bonuses provided by physical armor (as opposed to spells) are ineffective against weapons imbued with this quality. Other bonuses to Armor Class (dexterity, deflection,

Dodge, natural armor, etc.) still apply. A shadow energy weapon automatically dispels a light or continual flame spell if touched to the object upon which the spell was cast. A shadow energy weapon causes no damage to targets that are not alive. Bows, crossbows, and slings cannot be enchanted with this ability. This does not alter the item’s weight.

**Ruinous - Each hit with the blade deals 1 CHA damage. Creatures immune to critical hits are immune to the CHA damage. CHA damage is not multiplied with critical hits.

**Vampiric - Deals an extra 1d6 damage to any living creature it hits, and heals you for the same amount.

**Skillful - The wielder is considered proficient with this weapon, even if they lack the appropriate feat. The wielder's BAB for using this weapon is 3/4 their HD, or their normal BAB, whichever is higher.

**Hideaway - Can collapse to 2sizes smaller, making it easier to conceal.

**Shadowstrike - 1/day add 5ft to reach and deny target DEX to AC.

In addition to its other abilities, Soul's Violation is intrinsically connected to the Plane of Shadow. While not in areas of direct sunlight (or the area of effect of a Daylight spell) the wielder has access to the following effects:

Shadow Shield (Sp) - 3/day, create a shield of transluscent shadows. Acts as a Shield spell, negating Magic Missile attacks and providing +4 Shield bonus to AC, with a CL equal to the wielder's HD.

Shadow Walk (Sp) - 1/day, use Shadow Walk, as the spell. (CL equal to HD, DC 16+CHA Will to resist)

Dimension Door (Sp) - 3/day, use Dimension Door, as the spell (CL equal to HD, DC 14+CHA to resist).

Veil of Shadow (Sp) - 3/day, use Veil of Shadow (SC) as the spell. (CL equal to HD)

Shades (Sp) - 1/week, use Shades, as the spell. (CL equal to HD, DC 19+CHA Will to resist)

With one hand, I waved off Vestele. “I’m fine, Vestele, thanks to your healing. There’s always a price for power, and the greater the immediate gain, the greater the price always is. You should know that, given who you serve.”

Forcing myself to my feet, I wiped the blood from my mouth with one hand, while I held Soul’s Violation in the other. Once again, it looked like just a hilt, without a blade. But when I touched the gem, a blade of inky black shadow burst into existence, in the curved shape of a katana. Despite the blade being made seemingly of nothing but energy, I could feel the weight and balance of the blade, as though it were made of steel.

I took another breath, and deactivated the blade, for now. “Thank you for your concern, Vestele, but I think we’ve just gotten a powerful tool to use against these mangy wolves of Malar. This blade will go a long way towards bridging the gap between our strengths.”