The bone scythe is an artifact shrouded in rumour. It was first chronicled during the Battle of Horstfind in Mazavi when Patriarch Menfest employed it to bring the war in Mazavi to the very gates of Kamest itself. The defeat of the forces of good in Mazavi seemed imminent save for the intervention of a band of unlikely heros lead by Erbocto of Middlefort. Menfest slew Erbocto in a titanic struggle but then met his death at the hands of a mighty Treant ally of the archmage. The moment the scythe was pried from the hands of the necromancer over three quarters of the undead forces assailing Kamest broke free and began assaulting the living among the Ludimarite forces. The fate of the bone scythe there becomes vague. The chronicles record that it was destroyed but perhaps it was merely taken into hiding. Nearly a century later the scythe has remerged in the hands of a powerful necromancer named Maugan, a young patriarch of Ludimar. Maugan’s power is matched only by his ambition and he seeks no less than to be ruler of the known world.
The Bone Scythe is a +4 Defiled Vorpal scythe.
Animate Victims
Any creature slain with a critical hit from the scythe rises as a zombie in the control of the wielder in the next round.
Negative energy affinity
The wielder gains an affinity to negative energy similar to an undead creature. Inflict spells and similar negative energy effects heal the wielder rather than dealing damage. If the wielder is a living creature he may still benefit from positive energy effects such as cure spells.
Enhanced control
The staff greatly enhances the manner in which a cleric can control undead. It treats any undead under the control of the wielder as though they had two less hit dice for the purposes of determining the maximum number of undead the wielder may exercise control over. Thus a controlled wight would be treated as being a 2 hd creature as opposed to a 4 hd creature. With the staff the wielder can control theoretically limitless lesser undead particularly zombies and skeletons.
