The Bound Blade

Aura strong necromancy; CL 20th; Slot none; Weight 6 lbs.

STATISTICS

Alignment LE; Ego 10; Senses 30 ft.

Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 12

Communication empathy

Powers

Constant—deathwatch

3/day—deeper darkness, rage, slow (DC 14)

DESCRIPTION

The Bound Blade is a +3 unholy adamantine bastard sword, forged from the claws of Kazavon. For worshipers of Abadar, the Bound Blade is heresy made manifest. The sword grants the user a +6 enhancement bonus to Strength. As a free action, upon using the sword to reduce a sentient living creature to 0 or fewer hit points, the wielder can cast soul bind, forcing that creature to make a successful DC 25 Will save or have its soul trapped within the sword. While there is a soul trapped within the sword, the Bound Blade emanates the effects of the spell desecrate in a 50-foot-radius aura. This aura lasts for a number of days equal to the number of Hit Dice the slain creature possessed. After that period passes, the soul within the sword is destroyed and cannot be restored by any method short of divine intervention. The sword wielder can release a trapped soul by using the blade's soul bind ability on another creature.

DESTRUCTION

The Bound Blade shatters if used by a paladin of Abadar to slay a fallen paladin dedicated to Zon-Kuthon.

Lore

Knowledge (history, local, or religion) DC 25:

Speaking not a word upon receiving Mandraivus’s charge, the stern paladin of Abadar, Roianda, took up the Claws of Kazavon, walked out of Scarwall and—as tales among her order go—was never seen again. In truth, the fateful paladin took her duty the most gravely of all her companions, leaving Avistan and all she knew.

Through the deserts of Osirion, the arcane wonders of Nex and Geb, and even farther south, Roianda wandered endlessly, living far longer than any human naturally could. In her 180th year, the Lawgiver, the herald of Abadar, appeared to her bearing a massive tablet of gold, steel, and adamantine. The metal bore a message warning Roianda that, in one month, her life would end. Taking hammer and chisel in hand, the ancient hero set to work, knowing her time was short. Over the course of the next month, Roianda forged chains of adamantine and a bier of steel and gold. She bound the evil claws in the unbreakable chains, filled the heavy stand with molten gold, and cast the dragon’s remnants inside. Dragging her work deep into the mountains, she found a lonely cave. Collapsing the entrance, she trapped the bier and herself inside, and with a prayer to Abadar she lay down upon her work and died.

For long centuries the paladin's resting place lay undisturbed, and the Claws of Kazavon languished. Scant decades ago, however, a lone choker slipped through a barely perceptible crevice connecting deeper caves to Roianda’s crypt. What it found was an ancient skeleton made from gold atop a fantastic sword etched with perverted Abadarian runes, wrapped in chains, and with a blade forged of adamantine and the claws of a massive dragon. Lusting after the thing, the depraved trespasser scattered the bones and stole the sword, dragging it into the savage wilds of the Darklands.