Soul Stealer

Soul Stealer is the name of a magical relic from the Mage Wars. It probably pre-dates High Tower. The weapon eventually made it's way into the hands of the Gudersnipe Foundation.

History

Ancient legend calls the sword "Aru Ha'abrak", and if the extant artifeact is the same, it dates all the way back to the Mythical Age. According to these legends, the extant sword was one of 'many' given to powerful daemons during The Grey War.

No records exist that speak of the sword during Antiquity, though some scholars believe it may have been among various artifacts from before the Breaking of the World that were venerated by the Eladamri.

The first modern records of the sword appear in the early Mage Wars era, in which it seems to have been known since the Age of Darkness. The sword was considered a "relic" even then, was hugely powerful, and entire wars were fought over it. By the Dynastic Period, it had come into the hands of the Marcon Alliance.

Throughout the Dynastic Period, it was largely held "in reserve" being a powerful weapon the Marcons did not wish to lose. Very occasionally, it would be carried into battle by a supremely powerful warrior-mage. Late in the era, the weapon became so feared that just moving it into a region was enough to quell most rebellions.

The sword eventually wound up in modern Korrinth, which broke from the Marcon Alliance at the beginning of the Second Chaotic Period and continued many of their traditions. [[Uther famously launched several campaigns to capture the sword, but was ultimately unsuccessful. After Korrinth fell into Alliance hands, the whole of the region was searched.

Only one clue to the sword's location was ever found: a report saying it had been moved "to the Armory at Kartik". Kartik, while a major urban center, was a city spread over hundreds of square miles and inter-connected by canals. But it had been destroyed decades earlier and sacked, the location of the armory was not known.

As the centuries passed, the sword failed to appear anywhere else, and more information about Marconian practices surfaced. Scholars generally began to agree that the sword was likely still in Kartik. In A.Y. 1611, a scholar named Jeanette published this deduction:

"The Marcons did not use the word 'armory' the way we do today. Mundane weapons of iron and steel were kept in guard houses and garrisons. But The Armory was a holy place. Their enchanted weapons would have been made for them in Centered, wrote by the highest ranking and purest Marconians. These people were practically considered gods, thus the weapons kept in the Armor had been made by the hand of god. The Armor was more like a temple, and in holding with Marcon tradition, was probably underground. It also likely had many chambers and an odd layout to confuse intruders and thieves. Further, the most prized relics would be in scret rooms, protected by powerful enchantments."

Unfortunately, the ruins of Kartik were located in the center of a vast, dense jungle. Many expeditions have mapped the area, but without a better understanding of where the Armory itself is located, finding the sword(and any other treasures left behind with it) would be nearly impossible.

By the late Sixth Age, the Soul Stealer was all but forgotten by academic circles. It was still sought after by treasure hunters and rogue wizards, but the scholarly community had long since given up the search. It was, therefore, barely given a second thought when an archeological student stumbled across an ancient map of Kartik, and was able, for the first time, to pinpoint the armory. Viewing the find as no more than a minor historic curiosity(the general location of the city was well known, and all the major buildings had been excavated eons ago), the map was published, and a massive treasure hunt was inadvertently sparked.

Hundreds of local adventurers were the first to arrive, but many lacked the cartographic and historic skills needed to reach the pinpointed location. A documentary film crew was the first experienced team, of which the one surviving member called what happened there "a horror". The film crew had arrived just ahead of two formal recovery teams, one sent by the Slayer Dragons in Arindell, and another dispatched by the Gudersnipe Foundation. Both of these teams had arrived after a team sent by the Society of Assassins.

Most of the Arindell team and presumably the entire society team were killed. The much smaller Gudersnipe team suffered no casualties and succeeded in retrieving the sword.