Illus. by D. Martin
ITEMS OF LEGACY
CHAPTER 3
HAMMER OF WITCHES
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mission to eliminate all “heathen” spellcasters. Reliable This bulky warhammer has a head embossed with reports tell of Malleus continuing to draw upon his golden emblems of the sun and holy symbols of deity’s divine power to cast spells and turn undead, Pelor, while the oaken haft is engraved with intricate despite the fact that he seemed to have committed runes of warding against arcane magic. Divine power several violations against the code of the church. (DC seems to radiate from the weapon, which glows and 18; Rite of the Zealot) pulses with a soft, golden light when wielded. In The Light’s first conflict with the mainstream the presence of an active church of Pelor came arcane spell or a magic less than a year after item created through Malleus founded arcane means, this the group. With pulse steadies and the aid of hired brightens into a mercenaries and constant glow of summoned creabrilliant yellow. tures from the Nonlegacy Game Outer Planes, Statistics: +1 warthe Light raided hammer; Cost 2,312 a temple to Boccob. Once the high gp. The potent warding sigils inscribed on the haft grant you a +1 priest of Pelor’s cathedral in the same city got word of what had bonus on all saves against arcane magic. happened, he gathered the church’s clerics, HISTORY paladins, and other faithful to crush the renegades of the Circle of the Light. The battle The church of Pelor harbors its share of zealots willing to distort the sun god’s teachwas fierce. Though the mainstream church ings to further their own ends, much like any managed to rescue most of Boccob’s faithful, other faith. One of the most notable rogue Malleus led several of his cultists in a daring groups worshiping Pelor is the Holy Circle of escape. The Light went underground after the the Light of Faith, more commonly known disastrous battle. Malleus’s personal weapon, the so-called Hammer of Witches, became a as the Circle of the Light or simply the Light. This cult recruits exclusively from among symbol of the cult. Members of the Light had the clergy of Pelor, seeking clerics who the hammer’s likeness either engraved on the reverse side of their holy symbols or tattooed distrust or fear arcane magic and offering on an inconspicuous part of their bodies. (DC questionable scriptural proof that wizards 25; Rite of Hidden Light) and their ilk are blasphemers against Pelor’s Over the years, the Holy Circle of the Light will. The Light remains a secretive group. Pelor’s conventional church seeks to root out of Faith became more adept at hiding itself and and destroy the cult as heretics, but the Light its actions. The church of Pelor still doesn’t know exactly how many arcane spellcastnevertheless remains undeterred in what it ers the Light has put to the flame, but they sees as its sacred mission. (DC 15) The Holy Circle of the Light of Faith was suspect the number is at least fifty. The cult’s the brainchild of an adventuring cleric secretive nature is further aided by the fact named Malleus. During his long career that it has several sleeper agents within the with the Heroes of Lannan, Malhierarchy of the mainstream church All those of impure heart fear the leus came to the conclusion that of Pelor, covertly passing word to cleansing power of Hammer of Witches arcane magic was the source of all active members of the Light. In this manner, the Light has remained harmful, wicked spells, while divine magic was the font of all good and helpful spells. secret and safe for twenty-five years. The one exception was a brief power struggle five years ago, when With this revelation fixed firmly in his heart, he murdered his companion, the sorcerer Arthal, and left the Malleus died and left no clear successor. Ultimately, group, announcing he had been charged with a divine the near-mythical Hammer of Witches decided the
