Excalibur

The ancient lich-king Raumos forged Excalibur for his chief lieutenant, the death knight Darnag. The blade was a weapon of soul-searing evil. Darnag ultimately used the sword to overthrow Raumos and set up his own kingdom, tales of which are still used to frighten children into good behavior. Darnag himself disappeared a few centuries after overthrowing Raumos. He was never seen again.

Darnag was actually vanquished in battle by a young human woman named Eyria, a paladin of Vivienne. Eyria is renowned in the history of Vivienne's church for her piety and courage, and though she was slain in battle with the death knight, even in her own destruction she was victorious. Excalibur stole her soul and absorbed it, but the sword was unable to destroy her wholesome essence. Eyria’s faith infused the weapon. Darnag was then burned to ash by the touch of his own blade—Eyria’s purity destroyed him.

After Darnag’s destruction, he and his sword were entombed in a grand mausoleum constructed by his loyal servants, who were unaware of the presence of Eyria’s soul inside Excalibur. For centuries, the paladin’s spirit struggled against the evil inherent in the blade. In the quiet darkness of the tomb, Eyria’s spirit was overwhelmed. Unable to purge the unholy magic from Excalibur, her soul fell dormant and passed into a deep torpor.

Many centuries after Excalibur was interred in Darnag’s tomb, an adventurer named Uther Pendragon (also known as He of the Steely Heart) discovered the tomb and began exploring it. His excavations triggered the tomb’s magical defenses, and Uther was cornered by over a dozen guardian demons at the death knight’s sarcophagus. With no other weapon at hand, Excalibur appeared to him through the water in a puddle, and Uther wielded the evil blade against his fiendish attackers. The strength of Uther's determination, along with the destruction of so many demons, caused Eyria’s spirit to stir into wakefulness once again. With Uther's help, the paladin within was able to banish the evil of Excalibur’s sinister magic once and for all.

Excalibur is currently wielded by Dereth