Tiroch's Bow

"The Legend of Tiroch" is still sung by the bladesingers of the Banoc Forest. He was the most powerful Sylvan ranger to ever walk the earth, with a vendetta against the undead that spanned centuries.

Alkeveron Tiroch was the son of a bladesinger and a druidess of Barith, born barely a century before the Shaping Wars. He studied under both his father and his mother, achieving a unique harmony with his weapons and his environment. When the Artifact Wars began, no one could have foreseen how the world would change, and how it would be shaped by the various conflicts. As each faction raced to unearth the artifact or relic that would make it supreme over the others, many people and even whole nations were drawn into the battles and wars without ever knowing the reason.

The elemental faction, a group of powerful elementalists bound together in common purpose, were led by The One. The One had once been a human sorceror, and through his knowledge of the arcane arts, he removed his soul from his body, achieving undeath. The One was driven, seeking to rule the entire world in the name of peace and harmony. He sought to end war once and for all by elininating any threat to his iron domination. Though his goals might have been lofty and ideal, his methods were ruthless -- and one innocent bystander was Alkeveron Tiroch's bethrothed.

Alkeveron and his family strove to protect the ancient rainforests of the Banoc Empire, working against the elementalists, the var gauf, and even the demons of Argunas. As each side turned the world over searching for their respective items, and double agents ferried the items back and forth, no region was safe from intrusion and 'incidental' devestation. Alkeveron's bethrothed, Miedridya Verashke, was a innocent bystander caught in a battle between an elemental search party and a group of demons running with some artifact The One craved. When the Tiroch family learned of the death, they were heartbroken -- and then they were enraged.

His mother and father joined him as he began a personal crusade against The One. From demons, Alkeveron could expect death and destruction, callusness and cruelty. The Tirochs could not stomach the peace and humanity that The One preached, yet could not abide by. Their hatred would eventually cause the downfall of the elementalists, and place them in a new faction -- that of Vengeance. To achieve their ends, they sought items and artifacts of their own to use against The One and his minions, and unintentionally added to the chaos of the wars.

Alkeveron's mother was named Denaeledath, and she used a long and deadly longbow named Svedledath -- meaning 'Winter's Breath' in the druidic tongue of the sylvan elves. While her husband Murovren fought alongside Alkeveron as an advisor and personal body guard, Denaeledath used her considerable druidic talents to begin enchanting and enhancing Svedledath for use against the undead, and The One in particular. Denaeledath travelled over much of Gaeleth, finding hidden pools of magic and druidic power, breathing life and a hatred of the undead into the bow. The yew of the bow slowly became diamond wood.

Ordinarily, diamond wood is made over the course of a decade -- when a young arrow wood sapling is lightly sanded, so that its sap just bleeds through. Upon this sap is sprinkled diamond dust, and the tree eventually grows around the diamond dust, incorporating the bits into itself. Performed month after year, for several years, the process yields a tree unlike any other. The arrow wood itself changes because of the abrasions, going from a deep brown to an ultra-deep purple in color. The bits of diamond dust found in every layer of the the tree make it dull tools extraordinarily fast, and so working it is difficult. On the other hand, the diamond bits allow for extraordinary enchantments to be laid upon the wood, and also hold a great deal of life energy.

The life that had existed within the dead wood of the bow was slowly coaxed back, and Svedledath grew as a living thing, fashioned by the hand of a sylvan druidess. Naturally occuring silver veins that wrapped themselves around quartz crystals were sculpted by Denaeledath's own elemental power that was not magic, but druidic might. The silver was added to the bow, acting as a bracing, and a housing for prayers of elemental earth she bestowed upon the weapon.

When Denaeledath was through, after nearly five years of effort, Svedledath was almost complete. The final step was the addition of bulette gut as string, but Denaeledath died in the attempt. Mourning the loss of wife and mother, the two remaining Tirochs completed the bow, intertwining the bulette gut cord with strands of hair from Denaeledath. The life force within the bow cared not for the passing of its maker; it had but one purpose -- to destroy the undead.

In the course of the next year, father and son brought the elementalists to their knees, and eventually faced off against The One. The lich, the ranger, and the bladesinger fought for days, and The One seemed tireless. Alkeveron's father Murovren finally collapsed of exhaustion, and was slain by The One. Enraged, Alkeveron used the living earth to bind his fury into Svedledath, calling upon the druidic powers his mother had once used. Svedledath took the arrow Alkeveron fed it, and breathed life into such as the undead have feared since the beginning of time. The single arrow severed The One's contact with his soul, and seared the undead body with a flow of living energy. The resultant explosion, positive and negative energies colliding and unleashed, leveled the fortress of the Elementalists.

Undamaged by the debris that killed Alkeveron, the family bow of Tiroch lay undisturbed for millennia during the Age of Peace that followed.

Tiroch's bow is a undead bane longbow +1, and its magic is more druidic than clerical. The bow infuses arrows fired from it with a considerable amount of energy -- more so than conventional bane weapons. The price comes in the range of the weapon; arrows that travel further than 78 yards* disintegrate as Tiroch's bow yanks the energy back into itself, in order to keep from depleting its energy store. All arrows knocked into Svedledath receive a +1 cumulative bonus To Hit and Damage. Arrows that strike the undead receive a x3 multiplier for damage, cumulative with all other To Hit and Damage adjustments -- including critical hits!

*78 yards is the distance between the bow and Denaeledath's body in the instant of her death.

Svedledath (or Tiroch's bow as it is more often called) can also hold undead (DC14 for 1d4 rounds), as well as impart detect undead as often as needed upon its owner, whether the bow is in hand or not. Tiroch's bow has an ego of 8, Intelligence of 6, Wisdom of 7, and Charmisma of 5. It has been aptly described as a, "Predatory tree with the vocabulary of a troll and the disposition of a rabid dog." It's alignment shifts with that of the wielder, though its unending quest to rid the world of all the 'delicious' undead is unwavering. Caster level: 16th. Prerequisites: Craft Wonderous Item, detect undead, hold undead, animate dead. Market Price: 76,400gp.

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