Bow of the Black Archer

The Bow of the Black Archer from Weapons of Legacy

The Bow of the Black Archer was the weapon of the elven deity Shevarash until he was slain by a drow priestess after he was captured. Apart from the fact that the bow is as black as pitch, it is completely unremarkable in terms of looks. When it is wielded however, the bow intermittently whispers softly in elven to the wielder about grief and loss. If a drow comes within sixty feet (20m) of the wielder, its whispers become angry and much more regular, talking about having revenge on all drow.

History

Three hundred years after Shevarash was executed, an elven ranger named Valaderion decided he would recover the lost bow from the drow. He killed every dark elf he came across, always striking from the constant darkness of the Underdark so that he was never detected.

He recovered the bow and made his way back to the surface. Along the way though, he met with a female drow exile named Kiralasha and was forced to work with her to kill a nest of beholders that blocked both of their paths. He used the bow to devastating effect and as a result, both survived the encounter. They grew to respect each other, then admire each other and soon, they fell in love. Valaderion was torn, however, on whether to choose his god, the enemy of all drow, or to follow his heart and settle with his new love. He decided to ponder his choices and in the meantime he donated the bow to the nearest temple of Shevarash. As soon as he crossed the threshold of the temple, however, he was struck down for consorting with one of his god's enemies.

The bow was sent to Shevarash's largest temple, which soon became a site of pilgrimage to many of his followers but around seven centuries later, the drow started attacking the surrounding region and the temple's high priestess, Salariel, took up the weapon and led her clergy to victory though she herself was slain by a conjured spider-demon and the bow was once again lost to the drow.

A dwarf named Khofar took it upon himself to avenge his clan who had been wiped out by the descendants of that drow army. He single-handedly slew every drow residing in a small, isolated enclave in a fit of grief-induced rage and discovered the bow amongst the fallen. He took it and used it to wage a one-dwarf war against the local dark elves but the whispers of the bow, in addition to his lingering grief drove him mad. He now perceives anyone he comes across as a drow in disguise and attacks them. This course of action is bound to mean that eventually the bow will end up in another's hands.