The Soul Twister of Takhisis

D&D 3e (3.0/3.5) Rules

by Harthan

Takhisis thrives off of Evil. She loves to sow discontent and corruption, and to see it sewn by her mortal servants. One of the things that please Her Dark Majesty the most is to see the purest, most valiant souls dedicated to Good corrupted by Evil. However, the most resolute of her enemies were impervious to the most beguiling and well crafted taunts and lies.

There was one of Takhisis's most prized servants, a powerful cleric who had the gift of a silver tongue. He was known as a gifted corrupter, who had led some powerful foes to the Dark Queen's side. But the most resolute enemies, servants of the gods of Light, would not come to her. This cleric gathered around him the most powerful servants of the Dark Queen, and with the aid of a black dragon, known for there gift of lies, forged a powerful dagger. In the proceedings, the cleric turned the tables on the dragon and trapped her inside it. He and the other clerics created all sorts of nightmares and devised lies of all sorts to be put into the dagger, and finally it was done; the perfect weapon to destroy a soul and return it in the service of Takhisis.

The cleric took it to a paladin, a servant of Kiri-Jolith, whom he had met once in battle and unsuccessfully corrupted. In the depths of night, the cleric stabbed the paladin with the dagger and with its magic stole out the soul.

The passage of time within the dagger is different than in the real world. Perhaps within the scope of a few minutes, centuries could pass within the dagger. This is how it corrupts souls. The paladin trapped inside faced endless years, perhaps millennia, facing unfathomable torture at the hands of dark, twisted creatures, led by the cruel black dragon. All these were the design of the evil clerics who forged the dagger. When the design was complete, the dagger shot the soul back into the body of the cleric, thoroughly twisted, corrupted, bastardized into a dark and evil creation of Her Dark Majesty's designs. This new being was totally unrecognizable, and had fallen so far from grace. The Dark Queen loved it, and put her new servant to use.

The cleric did this more and more, bringing powerful beings to Takhisis's side. It changed hands many times, sometimes through murder of one cleric by another. Eventually, it found its way into Istar, converting powerful ranking clerics. In an ambush, followers of the Kingpriest slew the cleric and, very carefully with lots of wrapping, took the dagger back to the Hall of Sacrilege.

The Soul Twister of Takhisis functions by stealing the soul out of a victim and, for many years as it seems in the dagger, but in but a few minutes in the real world, completely corrupts and morphs the soul into something twisted and evil. It is powerfully valuable to the clerics of Takhisis as, by using it, they can not only remove their opponents, but bring them to their side.

It appears as a small black dagger with a dark blue, knotted hilt. It has an onyx gem set in the pommel, and is steely cold to the touch.

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