The Foul and Darkened Places

Bleakharrow: This weapon doesn't even appear to be a weapon at first. Shaped as a scimitar, Bleakharrow appears to be an illusion of some sort, or even a window to a place that doesn't actually exist. Bleakharrow is a scimitar-shaped pool of inky midnight blue and black, in which the occasional flickering star seems to flicker - and then die. An edge of purest malevolence and vile powers, this weapon is, unsurprisingly, favoured by evil creatures and undead.

Bleakharrow is wielded as a scimitar that deals a base damage of 1d8+2, and all damage from the weapon is cold damage. The weapon is too light and too flimsy to convey a wielder's Strength bonus or penalty, but a wielder can employ the Weapon Finesse feat when using it. Attacks made with Bleakharrow are touch attacks. When Bleakharrow touches a good character in combat, it automatically bestows one negative level on them - and this includes the wielder. On a critical hit, Bleakharrow deals an additional negative level, and grants any evil creature touching it 1d8 temporary hit points. These negative levels fade after 12 hours.

Caster Level: 4th. Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, enervation, creeping cold. Market Price: 77,000 gp; Weight: 0 lb.

Bloodhunter: This katana has no real name, no family, and no champion to claim it. Throughout history, any who has raised the weapon has lost their own life in battle, and all who grip its hilt in anger, for any reason, are brought to a bloody end. Only one of a truly pure heart, gifted with a gentleness of spirit and an impregnable honour, untouched by the powers of the Shadowlands could truly wield this weapon without consigning his or her soul to eternal damnation.

Bloodhunter is a +4 Katana. When it strikes a target, it also bestows 2d4 negative levels, which fade in 12 hours time, granting the wielder 5 hit points per negative level bestowed.

Caster Level: 12th. Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, enervation. Market Price: 200,000 gp; Weight: 15 lb.

Carthas' Tomb: There have been many incidents of practitioners of magic forbidden from continued presence in the forums of the Council of Nine. Of them, few names hold the same scorn and hatred as the Abluted Three. While the Abluted Three almost champion the cause of rebels against the Council of Nine, there are others who have been thrown out from the courts of the Council, often bodily by the Council's enforcers - or, if the person in question is particularly stroppy, by Arnemeas the Wild.

Carthas Lightreaver was one of these. A necromancer of no small power, he was barred from further practice in the fairly accepting courts of the Council of Nine and the Grand University, Carthas' main crime had been experiments in the study of negative energy. Once cast out, he was given six months to put his affairs in order by Arnemeas.

Carthas took up residence in a town in the outskirts of Kyngdom's quiet lands, and there, took up a life as a gravedigger. However, the man's experiments with negative energy had not yet ceased, and so, little by little, he used the energies of the dead to lace every tomb in the area with a little hint of darklight energy. It is said that the graves glow black at night, and that you can see flits of people dancing amongst the tombs.

Carthas himself knew that he could be found easily, were he too powerful. As such, the then-young man charged his body with negative energy, reducing his magical capacity, skills, knowledge, and even his mental capacity. To save himself, he stored this section of his soul and mind in a fairly mundane tool he kept around the gravekeeper's shed - his scythe.

Eventually, Carthas was found, and killed, very easily by Arnemeas. The damage he had dealt to the area will take years to undo, and maybe yet Carthas can return - but for now, nothing much remains of Carthas' experiments... nothing much except for his scythe.

Carthas' Tomb is an Intelligent (Int 22, Wis 7, Cha 12, Ego 14) +3 Souldrinking Scythe, that is also a neutral evil level 7 Necromancer (Banned School:Divination), who acts on its wielder's initiative. Carthas is typically truculent and surly, believing himself to be superior to those he'd refer to as his allies. Significantly, he actually seems unaware that he speaks his thoughts aloud, and as such, can often appear downright dundering. Despite being an evil weapon and an evil person, Carthas is also a bit of a snivelling coward, and dreadfully afraid of ever being found by the Council of Nine. As such, he will lie, cheat, steal, beg, and even serve anyone he can if it will keep his hide safe.

Carthas' Tomb removes its wielder's need to sleep and breathe - which is all well and good, but Carthas' Tomb still requires eight hours of time in which it rests to prepare spells. For the wielder, this is often eight pleasant hours in which Carthas shuts the hell up.

Carthas can prepare and cast spells as any other caster (who isn't able to walk around), providing his wielder fulfills any somatic components (requiring a Spellcraft check equal to 5+the spell level in question) for him, but he does require a spell book to prepare. Lacking arms, Carthas generally needs his wielder's help in obtaining and keeping a spellbook.

Caster Level: 11th. Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Enervation, Trap the Soul, Speak With Dead. Market Price: 315,125 gp; Weight: 12 lb.

Fleshscorn Arrows: While Savatare Hexare did not craft his bow, he did craft his own arrows. Despite his limited access to magical spellcraft, he seemed able to provide a magical effect to power the arrows he crafted - not that he made many. He dubbed these arrows Fleshscorn Arrows.

The cost below is for a single Fleshscorn arrow. The most significant ability of Fleshscorn arrows is that they are +1 Fleshgrinding arrows. However, significantly, once used as arrows, when pulled from a wound, they return to the person carrying the bow that fired them. They return in a decidedly direct fashion, however, and a character without the Snatch Arrows feat may find themselves in a spot of trouble. The arrows return with the same attack bonus as they were fired with originally.

Caster Level: 11th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Animate Objects. Market Price: 18,350 gp; Weight: 1 lb.

Jerrenscum Graft: Jerrenscum is largely regarded as the most hostile nonsentient flowering plant that exists. This noxious weed has to be carefully cultivated to properly take root, Jerren druids say. While it does spread quite easily, and is renowned for destroying and choking out more useful species of plant, when left wild, Jerrenscum uses most of its dangerous toxins corrupting soil and root systems - toxins that the Jerren know can be better employed as weapons of Terror.

A Jerrenscum Graft is actually a cluster of black Jerrenscum seeds, kept in a finely-ground paste and powder that keeps them from flowering. The most significant nutrient required to cultivate proper Jerrenscum is the bone marrow of a sentient character. Jerrenscum grows like wildfire on former battlefields, and works to even greater effect when given corpses of the virtuous to feast upon. However, such nutrients only help sustain the plant for a while. Much like a child with sweets, if Jerrenscum gluts itself on the corpses of the righteous, it is unable to draw in the nutrients it needs from the bodies of those who are truly evil. And it is for this reason that Jerrenscum grafts were made.

Originally, Jerrenscum Grafts were designed to allow Jerren rangers a chance to populate the world with the fouled crop. Jerrenscum Grafts function by being swallowed. Once the pod is swallowed, it quickly breaks up in the stomach and the seeds seek out the marrow of a creature that is, as the expression goes, evil to the bone. If swallowed by a nonevil character, Jerrenscum Grafts instead poison the imbiber, dealing 2d6 Constitution damage as both primary and seconday damage (Fortitude Negates; DC 26). However, if swallowed by an evil character, the seeds quickly spread to the imbiber's bones, dealing a 2 points of Constitution damage (Fortitude Negates; DC 26). After a few days of wracking pains, the character's body starts to alter, as the fouled crop begins to sprout from their body. The crop only obviously grows on the tops of the imbiber's feet and down their arms, but a close inspection will find the imbiber has vines growing around the roof of their mouth. Now, the plant can never be killed without destroying the host - once Jerrenscum has taken root, it is there to stay.

However, this fouled parasite is not without its advantages. The vines intertwine under the skin of the imbiber's feet and hands, and drain life and heartiness from creatures touched - they also exude a noxious slime from the wearer's skin, which burns living flesh. The host of the Jerrenscum may now make touch attacks that deal 1d6 points of acid damage, a point of Constitution damage, and bestows a negative level on its target. Furthermore, 1 point of the acid damage is considered Vile.

Jerrenscum is actually fairly easy to conceal - it seems to know when it is not suppose to be seen, and pulses and throbs less obviously, imposing no penalty on its wearer's disguise or diplomacy checks. However, Jerrenscum does require a great deal of nutrition, or it will steadily consume the body fat (and eventually muscle tissue) of its host. Jerrenscum hosts fall prey to starvation twice a quickly as normal characters.

Caster Level: 11th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Unholy Blight, Plant Growth, Enervation, Bestow Curse. Market Price: 150,000 gp

The Lance of Surrish: Omar the Black had one truly persistant foe; the Blackguard Surrish. Just as evil as Omar himself had been, Surrish was a skilled horseman and a truly determined foe. When Omar was finally slain, murdered by his employer, Orskyr Ultorish (who slew Omar for fear of his incredible repuatation as a slayer of men), Surrish took it upon himself to slay Orskyr. Not content with this, Surrish also sacked the Ultorish homestead, murdering the entire Ultorish family.

The Lance of Surrish is a +3 Lance that still holds a fragment of Surrish's knowledge of animals and mounted combat within it. The wielder of Surrish's lance may act as if they have the Trample, Ride-By Attack, and Spirited Charge feats, but only when making attacks with Surrish's Lance.

Caster Level: 7th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Horse's Nose. Market Price: 69,310 gp; Weight: 7 lb.

Predator's Wrath: In the history of Cobrin'Seil, only one warrior outstripped the predatorial skills of Omar the Black. Gorgus Kinslayer, the orcish ranger of Nbyana's deserts was only exceeded by Omar in the annals of history by dint of Omar's herculean effort at defending his charge. Gorgus, however, was unmatched in his home terrain, slaying all creatures that ired him equally, being a truly terrifying force to behold and with whom to contend. A warrior of truly extreme skill, Gorgus' armour and weaponry have since been duplicated, by both orcish adepts and elven wizards, all attempting to create a warrior worthy of them.

Predator's Wrath is a +3 Spiked Chain. When this weapon is used to strike a type of creature its wielder has designated as a Favoured Enemy, Predator's Wrath deals a negative level on every confirmed hit. Furthermore, when wielded by a character with the Track feat, the Predator's Wrath grants its wielder a +15 competence bonus to Hide, Move Silently, and Wilderness Lore checks, and also grants them the Scent and Pounce extraordinary abilities.

Caster Level: 15th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Emotion, Scent, Haste. Market Price: 124,005 gp; Weight: 15 lb.

The Scorpion's Sting: This overlarge scimitar is shaped to appear as a curling scorpion's sting. The weapon is enamelled black and gold, and has about it a slightly gritty feel - an almost tangible feeling of sand.

The Scorpion's Sting is a +1 Scimitar. When wielded by a nongood character with more than 4 ranks in Wilderness Lore, the scimitar summons to their aid a pair of small fiendish scorpions, which fight alongside the wielder without regard for their own lives. If either of the scorpions are slain, the fiendish forces that sent them sends another one that appears one full round later. As unintelligent vermin, the scorpions are not able to understand any orders but 'attack', and will not flee.

The scorpions refuse to travel more than 30 feet away from the weapon, and if bodily removed, will scuttle back regardless of threats to life or limb. If completely unable to return, the scorpion will roll onto its back and die, and another will appear by the scimitar a full round later.

Caster Level: 3rd; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Summon Monster I. Market Price: 7,922; Weight: 3 lb.

Soulwrack: This long, inky-black rapier's edge, hearsay has, is constructed of the congealed substance known as liquid pain. The weapon, legend has, brings about the death of its wielder - not being so enhanced as to be famous enough to deserve serious research, the weapon has become something of a curiosity, being passed from nameless owners to faceless buyers. All its owners, lore says, meet a fate usually involving having their wills wrested from them...

Soulwrack is a +2 Rapier that deals *3 damage on a critical hit, rather than *2 against good-aligned creatures. Further, it can allow its wielder to guide their strokes as per almost medical precision, allowing them to add their Intelligence modifier to their damage rolls. Soulwrack is an evil weapon, and bestows a negative level on any good character that wields it. This negative level cannot result in actual level loss, but persists as long as the weapon is wielded. This negative level cannot be removed in any way. Further, it imposes a -4 penalty to its wielder's Will Saving throws against spells of the Enchantment school.

Caster Level: 6th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Distort Weapon. Market Price: 29,820 gp; Weight: 1 lb.

Wyrdhunter: The Dark Speech is a tongue known only to a few, and in its corrupt and vile tones one can find only words for ugliness and brutality - and it is in this language the Vashar encode the greatest works of their history, in an oral tradition that is enacted once a year. Historical events are played out, with the condemned or unpopular playing the roles of good creatures slain, and performances culminate in a recitation of the most vile passages of Dark Speech accompianing ritual sacrifices of prisoners or leaders.

The legends of the Immoth speak of words having power - gigantic, creatures of ice and sorrow, whose lives are spent seeking the frozen words of their own curse. Dark Speech is a language that so perfectly proves this theory, as its words make the very ground tremble and can slay weak creatures.

Wyrdhunter was once nothing but a simple katana, stolen, years ago, from a Unicorn Samurai. After years of being used in play-actions, and being subjected to the hammering tones of Dark Speech, it began to slowly crack, and, ancestral protections aside, absorbed some of the evil that surrounded it. Taken up by an Ur-Priest who found it to his liking, Wyrdhunter was made into a weapon of evil excellence - imbued in its very metal is a fragment of a word of Dark Speech.

It was this very fragment, however, that Porlonoth, the Outcast Immoth, was sent to find. The Immoth stole away the weapon from the Ur-Priest, slaying him, and, after a few haphazard attempts to destroy the sword (rendered almost indestructable by its being intertwined with the very nature of Dark Speech), attempted to establish magical contact with the weapon - and such was his mistake.

Porlonoth took up the blade, forgetting his quest, and took up the path of Ur-Priest, seeking out dark and hidden knowledge, learning the Dark Speech himself, discovering means and ways of empowering the weapon which very quickly overcame his senses and became the center of his existance. After a scant few years, Porlonoth had managed to accrue the magical power necessary to bring the Blade to a form of sentience. And so, the blade chose to speak.

Wyrdhunter, as it called itself, began to play elaborate wordgames with Porlonoth. The Immoth, almost utterly crazed by this point, eventually fell into a trap of cunning and deceit, and was lost to the Blade. Wyrdhunter established a contract of ownership, and deceived Porlonoth into agreeing. Then, as it feared Porlonoth's magical prowess, Wyrdhunter charged his slave with negative energy, and drained away Porlonoth's life and memories. No longer was Porlonoth an Ur-Priest, and indeed, no longer was Porlonoth much at all. Wyrdhunter then renamed Porlonoth, giving him a name that could only be spoken in Dark Speech. He was stripped of the name Porlonoth, being granted the title of Wyrdslave.

Wyrdhunter is an Intelligent (Int 20, Wis 18, Cha 20, Ego 35) +3 Souldrinking Katana. Its alignment is Lawful Evil. When wielded, it removes its wielder's need to sleep and breathe, and it grants a True Seeing effect to its wielder, as a cleric. Wyrdhunter has the special purpose of finding a way of reducing Dark Speech to a written language, and this can, as far as it can see, can be best achieved by finding, taking, and empowering artifact-level sources of evil (Asmodeus' Ruby Rod, and Orcus' Wand being two highly valued options). When being used for this purpose, Wyrdhunter casts Disintegrate (Will negates, DC 16) on anything it strikes.

Wyrdhunter also grants its wielder free use of Dark Speech, and can speak the language itself. Having no body and being otherwhise inured against the speech's hazards, it takes no damage from doing so, but its visits its damage upon its wielder. Wyrdhunter rarely consults with its wielder regarding when it should speak in the Dark Speech. Dark Speech aside, Wyrdhunter also speaks Common, Abyssal, Infernal, Sylvan, and Aquan.

Wyrdhunter also comes with its constant slave and companion, Wyrdslave. Wyrdslave can be subjugated to a person's will if his name is spoken in the Dark Speech. Doing so does deal 1 point of Strength Damage to the speaker, but permanently renders Wyrdslave a servant. Wyrdslave will never go against Wyrdhunter's wishes, and Wyrdhunter has played his slave off against any supposed owners before.

Caster Level: 14th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Dread Word, Energy Drain, Imprison Soul, creator must be an Ur-Priest; Market Price: 286,880 gp; Weight: 10 lb.

Yethbrahn's Touch: This pair of hand-bindings were worn by the orcish monk of the Burning Tigers, Brother Yethbrahn. Brother Yethbrahn's straps grant their benefits to the natural weapons of the wearer. Yethbrahn himself was not an overly evil man, but his allies were, and so it was with little dithering, he had these straps crafted to better aid his allies - as long as they were his allies.

Yethbrahn's Touch render the wearer's natural weapons +2 Marrowcrushing weapons, and the straps further constantly surround the wearer with a bane affect as the spell cast by a 1st-level cleric (DC 11).

Caster Level: 15th. Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Poison, Unhallow, Bane. Market Price: 154,000 gp; Weight: 1 lb.

The Dice of Bane-Wolf: In Kryphaneos, Tieflings are common enough. Given that the country is populated by both werewolves and vampires, both capable of utilising magic that reaches out to such powers, it is not uncommon for the occasional demon or devil to roam the lands at night. What is uncommon is for such a creature to survive a night in the forests of Kryphaneos. There are more fell things than demons abroad in the Midnight Woods. So, the rogue outsiders seek solace within the walls of cities and towns, doing their best to avoid the light and little charms people carry through superstition... and more commonly than not, they sow a bit of evil in the world when they can, through acts of rape or seduction. Bane-Wolf was the result of such an incident. A werewolf tiefling, he exceeded his half-fiendish father in both fame and skill. Banewolf was a thief and a liar, and good at both.

Bane-Wolf's Dice are powerfully enhanced items of deceit. When used to play a game of chance, they greatly favour their owner. When the DM is called upon to make a roll for the result of any game of chance involving the Dice, the DM should roll three times, and take the best result of the three. They also sharpen the owner's perceptions of people, granting a +5 competence bonus to Sense Motive, Bluff, and Profession (Gambler) checks.

Caster Level: 1st; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, Cheat. Market Price: 6,000 gp; Weight: -

Fleshbiter: The wearer of this nipple ring is constantly affected by the spells Masochism and Sadism. The origin of Fleshbiter is unknown, though it is suspected that the ring was crafted first by a drow male who wished to further his own ends by actually enjoying the measures of pain doled out to him by his mistress.

Caster Level: 13th; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, Masochism, Sadism. Market Price: 48,000 gp; Weight: 0 lb.

Jerren Furs: This set of hard-wearing travel furs were crafted by the Jerren, feral halflings renowned for being flesh-eating maniacs. Jerren spellcasters, given over to evil and vile behaviours unknown to all but the most abominable, craft these furs to be given to champions of their race - and indeed, to the few outsiders that earn their trust. Earning a Jerren's trust, however, is often not a goal many people set for themselves. These furs can be worn over armour and clothing, and do not take up any item slots.

Jerren Furs empower the wearer, drawing them to a more bestial nature and vile behaviours. When worn by a non-good chaotic or non-lawful evil character, the furs transform the wearer's hands into long, beastial claws akin to some beast or, indeed, some demons. These claws deal 1d6 damage, and 1 point of bonus Vile damage. The claws are also constantly affected as if by the Distort Weapon spell, cast by a 2nd-level Blackguard.

Further, the wearer of the furs may take a standard action to spit, as a ranged touch attack (with a -4 penalty) caustic saliva into a target within 30 feet's eyes. The spittle blinds the target until he can wash his eyes with water or other rinsing fluid. This ability has no effect on creatures without eyes or that don't depend on eyes for vision.

Caster Level: 2nd. Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, Distort Weapon, Blinding Spittle, Claws of the Beast, crafter must have hair from the dead body of a Jerren they slew personally. Market Price: 16,800; Weight: 4 lb.

Souleater Phial: The sickly black fluid contained inside these dull, crystalline phials is no more and no less than congealed negative energy. An intense, boiling plasma of cold and unlife, the thick sludge radiates cold and bubbles with a strange form of unheat.

When a target is struck with a Souleater Phial that is thrown as a grenadelike weapon, the target receives 2d4 negative levels. Twenty-four hours later, the target must make a fortitude saving throw for each level against a DC of 23, or permanently lose a level.

Caster Level: 17th; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, Brew Potion, energy drain. Market Price: 15,300 gp; Weight: 0 lb.

Fiendformer: This ring allows its wearer to, once a day, assume the guise of a half-fiendish creature, as the spell Greater Aspect of the Deity, as cast by a 17th-level evil Cleric. Furthermore, the ring constantly grants its wearer a +2 enhancement bonus to Charisma.

Caster Level: 6th. Prerequisites: Forge Ring, Dispel Magic. Market Price: 69,200 gp; Weight: - lb.