The Legend:
Alkanash, the Staff of Power. A name not spoken of. Not nearly so much as its creator. Alkanash was designed deep in the heart of Nehekhara an age ago, by the great Nagash, during the height of his rule.
As the first son of King Khetep (of the 3rd Dynasty of Khemri), Nagash was destined to serve in the Mortuary Cult whilst his younger brother, Thutep, ascended to rule following their father's death. Nagash was an exceptionally gifted student, and due to his talents and heritage he quickly became one of Khemri's High Priests, but this did not sate his thirst for power. Filled with pride and greed, Nagash coveted the throne held by his brother and set into motion a plot to seize the crown for himself. Nagash began to corrupt the religious incantations of the Mortuary Cult, and he gathered together a dozen like-minded acolytes, of which a cruel noble named Arkhan was the foremost.
One night, as the clouds covered the moon, Nagash murdered Thutep's bodyguard before entombing the young king alive within the Great Pyramid of their father. The next morning, blood still staining his hands, Nagash placed himself on the throne, and none dared confront him. The reign of Nagash was a time of terror for all the people of Nehekhara. The usurper king sought to increase his own power by means of devilish sorcery; a blasphemy that the people of Nehekhara felt certain would incur the wrath of the gods, since Nehekhara did not yet know sorcery, only divine power. Nagash had learned the art of magic from a cabal of shipwrecked Dark Elves, captured and imprisoned within his father's pyramid on the eve of his funeral. Nagash tortured the pale-skinned foreigners until they divulged the secrets of their mystical powers, and he proved to be an apt pupil indeed. After only a few years, Nagash had surpassed his tutors' powers, and he destroyed them in a deadly magical duel as they tried to escape.
Nagash began to experiment with necromancy, combining his mastery of magic with his knowledge of death from the Mortuary Cult. He committed his findings into nine accursed tomes: the Books of Nagash, the most powerful sources of necromantic magic in the world. One of Nagash's chief successes was the creation of the cursed Elixir of Life. With it, Nagash had finally unlocked the secret of eternal youth. He allowed Arkhan, his trusted vizier, and his other principal lieutenants, to imbibe the elixir. It granted them immortality and incredible strength but, unable to recreate the potion themselves, they were little more than slaves to Nagash's sinister will.
To increase his power and maintain dominance over the land, Nagash ordered the building of a vast black pyramid. Whilst the populace of Khemri believed this to be just another burial tomb, it was in fact a structure that would channel and harness the Winds of Magic to Nagash's every whim. The pyramid became Nagash's obsession, and its construction quickly drained Khemri's resources, forcing the necromancer to wage war to capture building material and replenish his workforce. Nagash demanded great quantities of gold and slaves from other cities to be sent in tribute to Khemri. That which was not given freely was taken by force, and several cities were brutally conquered by Nagash.
Marble the colour of midnight was brought from afar, and innumerable slaves toiled day and night for fifty years until the Black Pyramid of Nagash towered above all other monuments in the whole of Nehekhara. Such was Nagash's arrogance that he had built for himself a tomb that dwarfed even the Great Pyramid of Settra. The broken corpses of countless slaves were built into its foundations, and mystic sigils of power were woven into the Black Pyramid's walls. Even in the baking desert sun, the pyramid was cold to the touch, and not even starlight reflected off its magic-saturated surface. Upon its completion, the Winds of Magic blew more strongly across Nehekhara, and Nagash's mastery of magic increased ten-fold. However, the tribute exacted by Khemri was so great that the poverty-wracked cities of Nehekhara had begun to fall into ruin. Eventually, the other Priest Kings rallied against the tyranny of Khemri. They refused to submit to Nagash any longer, and they began to draw their plans against him.
Knowing a great war was upon him and his now-exhausted people, Nagash used his now immensely-empowered magics to begin the forging of a staff to focus his power upon. As the High Priests from the Temple-City of Mahrak rallied the Priest Kings of Lybaras, Rasetra, Ka-Sabar, Quatar, and Bhagar to assault Khemri and "liberate the heart of Nehekhara from the false king", Nagash poured as much power as he could muster from the Black Pyramid into the staff, enchanting it with some of the most powerful enchantments known to the world.
As though he had been living half a life, once construction of his staff was complete, Nagash seemed a new sorcerer, a whole step above any priest who would attempt to engage him in a magical duel. None could stand before him and his newly-found power, and eventually Khemri forced the invading armies into retreat.
The rest is history.
Properties of the Staff:
This staff is made of obsidian, terminating in a pair of darkened bronze prongs curving around into a nearly-joined ring, around a perpetually-rotating annulus of bright, magical power. Whorls of dull-glowing turquoise wind their way up and around the staff towards the tip.
Alkanash holds up to 30 charges for use. It starts with 3d6 charges, and regains 1d6 + 2 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 20, the staff regains 1d12 + 1 charges. Alternatively, certain magical fonts of power may be used to recharge the Staff of Power.
While attuned to Alkanash, you have the following properties and bonuses:
- Your primary spellcasting ability score increases by 2, to a maximum of 30.
- When casting any spell while using this staff as your magical focus, you may expend Charges equivalent to the spell's level to cast a spell without making a casting roll..
- Alternatively, you can expend 10 Charges to exert control over an undead creature within 60 feet of you, similar to a 8th level Dominate Monster spell, using your spell save DC. Legendary creatures are immune to this effect.
Malediction:
Whenever you successfully Counterspell (and your Counterspell is not Counterspelled) an enemy spell, it forces Tzeentch's Curse upon them at a level appropriate for their spell.
Spell Absorption:
While holding the staff, if you would succeed on a saving throw against a spell effect, you may use your reaction to absorb the power of the cast spell into the staff, gaining Charges equivalent to the spell's level. You still take damage if a successful save would normally result in receiving damage.
Retributive Strike:
You can use an action to jam the butt of the staff into the ground or into a solid surface, performing a retributive strike and destroying the Staff of Power. Alkanash releases its remaining magic in an explosion that expands to fill a 30-foot-radius Sphere centred on it.
You have a 50% chance to instantly travel to a random location within the Realm of Chaos, avoiding the explosion. If you fail to pass the saving throw, you take force damage equal to 20 times the amount of Charges contained within Alkanash. Every other creature in the 30-foot-radius sphere must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes an amount of damage based upon how far it is away from the point of origin, as shown in the following. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage.
Distance from Origin - Damage
Creatures struck by Retributive Strike will take the following damage based on their distance from the explosion:
- 10 ft. or closer: 12 times the number of Charges in the staff.
- 11-20 ft. away: 8 times the number of Charges in the staff.
- 21-30 ft. away: 6 times the number of Charges in the staff.
Notes: spellcaster, not a paladin, cleric, or druid.
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