They Who Live Still

More Dragonsfoot Challenges! This time, for a magical weapon that was not a sword.

They-Who-Live-Still

Once upon a time, there was a party of adventurers. Powerful men and women, humans and demi-humans, who strove mightily against the darkness that flows across the world, only sometimes held back by stalwarts such as these, creating the rills and eddies where light can flourish. With mighty thews and clever tricks, powerful incantations and weird magics, they fought, they won, and they celebrated life, until, one by one, it was time to leave it.

The humans passed first, of course, their flames so bright but so brief. The halfling followed, off to find some greater comfort beyond her days, and then the dwarf, his clan mourning in the city he had built. In the pass of some few centuries, all that remained was the gnome. He'd visited each of his friends in their final years, and been present when each passed, laying a knife on their breast in the final moments. And, in the fullness of years, the gnome passed too, the knife upon his breast.

The gnome, you see, had no intention of spending his centuries without his friends. They live on, inside the blade he created, inside the there in his lonesome burrow. They relive the glory of their days, eternally, until disturbed by mortals. Using powerful magics, he captured their spirits at the moment of death, bound them into the blade, and uses illusions to let them live eternally young and strong.

But the illusions are not limited to the blade. As the years have passed and the blade has laid undisturbed, the stories created have spread beyond the blade, beyond the burrow, until the countryside for near a mile in any direction is awash with illusionary stories of battles long past. Anyone trying to win through to disturb the blade is recognized and slowly drawn into the illusion, battling foes that are not real, meeting friends who have no substance, and carousing at victory feasts which contain no nourishment, until they are dead from the joy of living.


In the decades since, the area has become well known for disappearances and strange happenings. Horrific noises, as if hundreds or thousands of creatures are about; bright flashes of light, apparitions of monsters, and any number of other experiences have lead locals to shun the area. Anyone approaching too closely finds the way completely incomprehensible; illusions cover every surface and obscure others, so you may walk along through what seems to be an open field and crash into a bramble covered by the illusion of that open field, or stumble into a brook that was not there a moment ago. Unsurprisingly, the area is held to be haunted, and attracts many adventurers, but none have yet been able to penetrate the wild lands that have grown around the ancient burrow, much less the burrow itself. Many enter the woods, intent on ending the "threat", and simply never re-emerge, their minds taken by the dagger, or their lives taken in misadventure.

***

They-Who-Live-Still is a plain but well made dagger made for gnomish hands. The blade is silver, the pommel cold iron, the grip small for tiny, dextrous fingers. It rests on the chest of an ancient, withered gnomish corpse in the middle of an ancient burrow, long since fallen to disrepair. Originally, it contained the mind and spirits of seven adventurers, but over time, they have somewhat merged into the incredible will that is They-Who-Live-Still.

They-Who-Live-Still is a Neutral Good Dagger +3, with a 17 Intelligence and a whopping 37 Ego. If someone can control it, it possesses the ability to create Illusions (as the Wand) 14 times per day, and a special purpose to slay evil monsters; any evil monster struck by it must save v. spells or suffer insanity for 1d4 rounds. It speaks several languages (Common, Dwarven, Gnomish, Elvish, Orcish, Goblin, Giantish, Dragon, and all three Good alignment tongues), is telepathic, and can read both languages and magic.

In its current state, however, things have gone decidedly wrong. So long as it remains in the possession of the dead gnome who created it, all of its illusions become quasi-real... in the sense that they cannot be seen through, even with the aid of powerful spells such as "true sight" or "true seeing". If removed from the dead gnome's possession, it is thought that the spells would break... but it would require someone able to subdue the powerful will of the dagger. The dagger's will extends 6" (scale) from the dagger itself; it can snare minds within that range into its illusions, forcing creatures controlled by its ego to react to them.

Should someone gain control of the dagger, its powers would be diminished to the statistics above; some spell the dying gnome laid is enhancing its strength, and will be broken by someone taking control of the dagger.