The Mighty Quill

From Mizahar Lore

Background and History

A fine-clothing merchant living in the Alahea Empire sometime prior to the Valterrian had a problem with thieves. Working for his competition, the thieves would routinely steal his financial ledgers and other business papers so to help their employer stay on top of the clothing trade. While the merchant was quite skilled at what he did and could have been enormously successful, the underhanded methods of his competition held him back.

Desperate to save his failing business, the merchant - whose family had always been close to Zulrav - prayed to the god for help. Then, on a stormy night a few days later, the merchant was closing up shop and started for home. On his way, a boom of thunder and a crackle of lightning shook the buildings around him. With the flash of lightning, he caught the briefest glimpse of a massive winged creature flying overhead. A moment later, a feather fell to the ground in front of him. After feelings of fear and awe began to fade, he reached down and picked up the feather. As he held it in his hand, he felt a slight tingle as the hair on his arm stood as if affected be static electricity. Quickly he ran for home and, when under cover from the storm, he looked closer at the feather and saw a tiny glyph drawn on the quill. He quickly realized that the quill was a gift from Zulrav.

Though he wasn’t a wizard and knew next to nothing of magic, a thought occurred to him that maybe he should use the quill to draw the rune on something. So, he dipped the quill in a bit of ink and drew the rune on the replacement to his previously stolen business ledger. A few days later, he arrived at his shop to find it broken into; the new lock on his tiny vault broken and the door forced open. Inside he found the body of one of the thieves. The man’s chest looked as if it were hit with something forceful that had caused a deadly burn. The merchant began referring to the quill as the Mighty Quill since he felt it was far better than any sword.

Appearance and Abilities

This deep blue feather is edged with white. It is about 10 inches long with the quill baring a tiny glyph near the tip. To the trained eye, the glyph appears to be one that stores a simple spell. However, when using the quill to draw the rune on an object that contains something else - a book cover, a lock, a door, etc. -, the drawn rune will trigger when the object is opened by anyone other than the one who drew it. Once triggered, the rune will unleash a small ball of lightning centered on the one who opened the object it was drawn on. The ball of lightning is treated as being cast by a competent reimancer. The quill will only create a single charged rune at any one time. Once that rune is triggered, another charged rune can then be drawn.

The Quill has a minor secondary affect being that it can be used to draw other glyphs or even common writings on any surface be it cloth, flesh, bone, stone, paper, etc. It still requires separate ink however.

Appearances

The Mighty Quill
	A Skill Challenge Weekend	Gillar awards the challenge winners.