If you get hit by this, the willow isn't the only thing that'll weep.
The Weeping Willow is a vicious weapon commonly employed by the nature spirits of
Esarhaddon - a gnarled length of branch, ranging from shillelagh to quarterstaff, covered in curved, hooked barbs. Magic courses through the Weeping Willow, causing each barb to visibly grow over the course of a day and those lost through impact or accident are swiftly regenerated. Buds emerge along the willow and flower, but quickly die again. It is not a weapon meant for beauty, but butchery.
Despite its crude appearance, magic makes the Willow as hard as iron - and the barbs sharp as steel. They can puncture even heavy mail, so long as it is not contested by other magic. Any barbs that becomes imbedded into something - anything, from metal armor to wood to yielding flesh - burrows in. Those who survive the sensation say it is now unlike a wiggling, gnawing tooth. Once in place, the barb quickly blooms, spreading roots and vines to grasp in its new host. These grasping roots can grow up to a meter long, and will entangle limbs, strangle throats, and slowly crush stone.
Some variants of Esarhaddon allow its wielder to fling the barbs from a short distance, and demand great fear from the
Legions of Lagash who most commonly have to face them. Combined with the powerful nature spells of Esarhaddon's malicious spirits and the blood spilled from the Willow, it is a fearsome, cruel way to wage war.
Weeping Willows are made with Nature and Earth magic - the first to imbue it with vigor and fecundity, the latter to harden it to compete with metal. It is rumored that one of Esarhaddon's leading spirits has a Willow further imbued with Blood magic, allowing the barbs to deposit seeds into the victim's blood, only to bloom to a grotesque harvest from within.
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