The Twisted Caduceus

One of the first Artifacts of Skaldor to be created, the Twisted Caduceus is a wand of elfheart core inside of yew. A pair of skeletal snakes curl around the wand from its handle, which is carved of a headstone. When held by a suitably powerful wizard, the wand's heart begins to beat in irregular rhythms and the snake skeletons chase each other around the wand in an endless dance. It is considered the sister wand of Igmortenum, as both were crafted for Skaldor by a lich in the same period. The Twisted Caduceus was made by the lich Lixiss Gravewalker in exchange for a payment of one thousand one hundred and eleven Elf prisoners of war and thirteen virgin human volunteers. As the opposite of healing, the wand is the last notable example of True Necromancy in existence. When used as a spellcasting focus, the wand can empower necromancy and twist all manner of spells into a deathly equivalent. Undead in the vicinity of the wand's master follow the wizard regardless of who bound them, healing spells become deadly poison, and souls are prevented from moving on. The cost of using the wand is that it blackens the soul of the presumably already dark wizard that bears it, eventually rendering them undead themselves. When slain, the master of the wand becomes a servant bound to the wand and must obey the orders of the next master. There are thirteen total Death Mages created in such a fashion, and because of this each new master of the wand is more powerful than those that came before. Because of the "magical gravity" of the Twisted Caduceus, it is not detectable by the "free radicals" generated by the other Artifacts. The bearer of the wand cannot be slain by magical means, and cannot be affected by deities as they are no longer alive or dead and do not possess a mortal soul. During the Sylvan War, it was used by Skaldor's horde to raise the dead of the Mana Wastes and turn them against the Gemloki and Braithstrom. The Twisted Caduceus has been sighted at nearly every magical calamity on record since the war, each time with a new master. It is suspected to be somewhere in Ter Eira at this time, as it was last in the hands of a Gwelin agent during the Totem War, when an army of the undead was used to drive Imperial forces from Ter Eira's mainland.

Item type

Religious / Ritualistic