Staff of Thunder
Also known as: Thunder Staff
A towering war-staff of blackened ironwood, its crown fitted with a jagged shard of storm-glass harvested from the Zephyrian Tempest Spires, the glass perpetually writhes with caged lightning that crackles between carved runes of Old Aetheric script. When gripped in battle, the air grows thin and electric, the scent of scorched sky preceding each devastating strike that sunders both flesh and enchantment alike.
Artifact Details
- Type
- Weapon
- Rarity
- Legendary
- Origin
- The Staff of Thunder was forged during the Age of Screaming Winds by Varek Dun-Sohail, a master weaponsmith of the Zephyrians, at the behest of the Aeriel High Convocation, who sought a weapon capable of breaking the siege engines of the Drakonian war-hosts massing at the Cloudwall Pass. Varek spent seven years channeling living storm-essence into a heartwood bough torn from the mythic Ironspine Tree atop the Tempest Spires, binding the volatile energy with runes taught to him by an elder of the Order of the Starlight.
Overview
Staff of Thunder is a legendary weapon in Landorya. Its known origin is The Staff of Thunder was forged during the Age of Screaming Winds by Varek Dun-Sohail, a master weaponsmith of the Zephyrians, at the behest of the Aeriel High Convocation, who sought a weapon capable of breaking the siege engines of the Drakonian war-hosts massing at the Cloudwall Pass. Varek spent seven years channeling living storm-essence into a heartwood bough torn from the mythic Ironspine Tree atop the Tempest Spires, binding the volatile energy with runes taught to him by an elder of the Order of the Starlight.. Its most cited abilities include Tempest Strike: Channels a focused bolt of thunder upon impact, dealing concussive physical force and raw magical discharge simultaneously, capable of shattering stone fortifications and disrupting enemy spell-weaves., Stormcall: The wielder may invoke a localized thunderstorm above a battlefield, raining down successive lightning strikes on targets designated by the staff's tip for up to three consecutive rounds., and Resonant Shockwave: A grounded slam of the staff releases a thunderous shockwave in all directions, deafening enemies within forty feet and knocking lesser foes from their feet.. Accounts also warn of a drawback: The Staff of Thunder hungers for open sky, wielders who use it for more than three consecutive days without standing beneath open, unroofed heavens begin to su…
History
In its first and most storied hour, the Staff of Thunder was wielded by Aeriel storm-caller Thessavyn the Loud at the Battle of Cloudwall Pass, where three sweeping Stormcalls obliterated an entire Drakonian siege column and earned her the epithet "Voice of the Sky." After Thessavyn's death at the Siege of the Pale Meridian, struck down by Drakonian shadow-archers, the staff passed into the vaults of the Order of the Starlight's Sanctum Aetheris, where it was studied for generations as both weapon and relic. It was stolen during the Mystarans' Raid of the Hollow Archive, a devastating incursion into Starlight territories that saw dozens of irreplaceable aetheric artifacts plundered and scattered across Landorya. The Staff of Thunder is currently believed to be in the possession of a rogue Desert Scholar war-sage operating in the sun-blasted ruins east of the Scorchwall, who reportedly purchased it from a Nomad of Aurora caravan with no knowledge of its full and terrible potential.
Powers & Abilities
- ✦ Tempest Strike: Channels a focused bolt of thunder upon impact, dealing concussive physical force and raw magical discharge simultaneously, capable of shattering stone fortifications and disrupting enemy spell-weaves.
- ✦ Stormcall: The wielder may invoke a localized thunderstorm above a battlefield, raining down successive lightning strikes on targets designated by the staff's tip for up to three consecutive rounds.
- ✦ Resonant Shockwave: A grounded slam of the staff releases a thunderous shockwave in all directions, deafening enemies within forty feet and knocking lesser foes from their feet.
- ✦ Aetheric Severance: The storm-glass crown can absorb and violently detonate a single incoming magical projectile or spell per encounter, converting its energy into a blinding thunderclap.
- ✦ Storm Mantle: Sustained contact with the staff wraps the wielder in a faint corona of static charge, causing any creature striking them bare-handed or with metal weapons to suffer an arc of retaliatory lightning.
Curse or Drawback
The Staff of Thunder hungers for open sky, wielders who use it for more than three consecutive days without standing beneath open, unroofed heavens begin to suffer mounting static fits: involuntary arcs of lightning discharge from their fingertips, scorching allies and objects at random. Prolonged deprivation of sky exposure causes the storm-glass crown to crack further inward, and scholars of the Order of the Starlight warn that a fully shattered crown would release the caged tempest-essence in an uncontrolled detonation powerful enough to level a city quarter.