Guurgaal

=Guurgaal ("For Might")=

An ancient legacy weapon of the later Dhakaani Empire. According to a legend related by Professor Grigg Wunsin and partially corroborated by members of the invading Dark Hand Goblinoids, Guurgaal was forged more than 7,500 years ago, during the short-lived Ku'un Dynasty. This would be after the loss of //Aram// ("Wrath"), the Sword of Heroes wielded for thousands of years by older generations of Kuun heroes in service to the Dhakaani emperors of those earlier days.

Guurgaal (roughly translated as "For Might") was a spearlike weapon about five feet long, with a haft made of bronzewood from Aerenal, and a head forged of the purplish metal //byeshk//, chosen for its special power against the foul aberrations from Xoriat that repeatedly plagued the Dhakaani. The head was larger and heavier than a typical spear, closer to a Glaive, with an 18" long slashing blade along one edge, a serrated two-pronged fork at the tip, and fluting down the sides to enhance its ability to inflict bleeding wounds. The creator of this mighty weapon was said to Kriilla Darkhand, a legendary artificer from the //Draar'mac// Clan (which served as the Ku'un Emperors' closest advisers), reputed to be the best of that era despite being a female Goblin.

According to legend, during the fifth Xoriat incursion led by The Three that crushed the Ku'uns and their wildly divergent ideas, Emperor Sulaaco Ku'un (or perhaps it was Geshla Ku'un; which one was the father of the other is disputed) wielded Guurgaal in single combat against one of The Three, the Daelkyr known as //Turiya//, or Kinslaughterer. The fight took place on the windswept plains just west of the northern Seawall Mountains, in Breland near the modern-day settlement of New Cyre. In the end, the Emperor gave his life while plunging Guurgaal into //Turiya's// heart. The Daelkyr's death throes broke Guurgaal, and as it disappeared, whether to Xoriat, Khyber or some other realm, it took the //byeshk// spearhead with it, leaving the splintered bronzewood haft behind. This haft was encased in the cornerstone of a hilltop monument a later dynasty erected to honor the site of the Ku'un Emperor's sacrifice, and there it remained -- even as the monument itself collapsed into ruin -- until late 997 YK, when a Warforged working with a small family of Cyran homesteaders found it while dragging the monument's stones down the hill to help build cottages.


 * Update:** The haft of Guurgaal was taken by the Dark Hand Goblinoids, apparently in hopes of recreating it. To do that they'd need a new //byeshk// spearhead, which explains the appearance of the Duergar weaponsmith Kostas Knyarri. Knyarri was found by the consulting firm NZZN, but was apparently stopped before he could complete his task. A Sharn-based artificer, Faye Dwarfhammer, attempted to pass herself off as the Duergar's assistant. This seemed to fool the NZZN account rep Norrin Tordannon, and Faye was given shop space in the Cogs, tools, unforged //byeshk// and an assistant -- the sentient flesh golem Fedder. Faye's spearhead was about 75% complete when she, and the spearhead, disappeared. Faye was later freed from the clutches of the Cult of The Three Below, but the unfinished spearhead was not found..


 * Update 2:** Further research by Thomas and Faye gives clues as to Guurgaal's original purpose. More than just an Emperor's personal weapon, Guurgaal had the potential to summon and command a Horde of creatures to fight for the wielder. It is not known where the creatures came from, or how they were to be summoned, but during The Three's invasion from Xoriat a Horde was in fact used against their aberrant armies (along with the regular Dhakaani phalanxes and thousands of force-bred feral Dekanter'Dar, another legacy of the Dark Hands Clan). The Horde (which perhaps was the feral Goblinoids; accounts differ) failed -- along with everything else the Dhakaani tried -- and the Empire nearly collapsed when Emperor Sulaaco Ku'un died and Guurgaal was broken.


 * Update 3, 8 Eyre 998:** Faye tells Dark Lantern Ariel Elenwyd that Guugaal's complex head was intentional; it was a key meant to operate or unlock something (The Twins).


 * Update 4, 14-15 Eyre 998:** Now an Artificer Lich, Kriilla Darkhand gave the reforged Guurgaal to her champion, Warlord Kogaa of the //Gan'duur// Clan, who used it to activate the final stage of the custom-built console attached to a Giant-era //eldritch machine// Kriilla had found in Xen'drik when she was alive. Disassembled, hauled across Xen'drik and the Thunder Sea, then up the highest mountain in the Seawall chain to be reassembled in the first and topmost of the Seven Caves, Guurgaal would trigger the machine through Kriilla's console to open a controlled rift to Shavarath (surrounded by a manifest zone) -- just enough for disembodied Ja Noi Oni spirits to come through and possess the specially-bred //Dekanter'Dar// (Feral People) to form the //Maabin'Dar// (Incredible People), an advanced army able to fight and defeat the Daelkyr hordes. The scheme failed 7,500 years ago, but the //machine// was successfully triggered by Kogaa even as they were attacked by the Season Four, Part One party. Within seconds, dozens, perhaps hundreds, of //Dekanter'Dar// became //Maabin'Dar// Brutes and Skirmishers, the so-called Heroes of Dhakaan. But the arrival of the Droaamite airship //Quiet Storm// above the mountain ruined the scheme; the portable manifest zone to Syrania that powered the rebuilt airship interacted badly with the zone to Shavarath generated by the triggered //eldritch machine//, and the top of the mountain (that is, the relatively thin rock roof over the arena-like entrance cavern of the First Cave) shattered. The //eldritch machine// was destroyed, Kogaa died (amojng many others) and Kriilla's body destroyed. Guurgaal was taken by the party.


 * Update 5, 16 Eyre 998:** Thomas Lee Moore teleports Choraan //taarka'khesh// to Rhukaan Taash, where he presents Guurgaal to his Clan elders as a cultural treasure of the Goblin people.

Original "Mourning in Khorvaire" material and specific House Rules -- © 2007-2017 Herb Helzer. All Rights Reserved. "Eberron," "Dungeons & Dragons," "d20 system," etc. -- ©1995-2017 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.