Tsunamaya

Full Item Description
Tsunamaya is a curvaceous silver war hammer with a leatherweed hilt-wrapping. Leatherweed is kelp that has been processed in such a way so it has the consistency and strength of leather. A turquoise jewel rests in the pommel and at second glance; you see small black specks riddled throughout it.

The hammer itself has many curves and when you look at it from a distance, it has a wavy appearance. The head is slightly convex and the top spike and pommel spike are slightly curved back toward the wielder. A loop of leatherweed hangs off from the hilt to encircle the wrist of the wielder and hold onto it better.

History

In the fourth year of the age of Moon's Chaos (during this age of four hundred years, Nephril's moon was three times closer to the earth's surface than in any other age), the forces of water ran rampant across the land. Great tempests swept across thousands of miles every day, ravaging the landscape over and over. For two-thirds of each year, the sky was black with clouds, flashing with lightning, and pouring with rain. Usually it was lucky to have TWO days of no rain in a whole year.

Rogue water elementals and feral liquid waveivores reshaped the landscape and ruined whole cites, laying siege to them for days and crushing them with their magical, fluid forms. One immensely great city, whose true name was Raksha'Criloth'Torgo ('City of the Old Language' when translated from Rak'Cril'To, which only the most wizened of sages knew anything about in this age), still stood against the onslaught. Its enchanted ivory walls stood over all opposition and its great central tower (the demesnes of the city's great wizard, Barasheed, apprentice of the Sacre-Sorcerer Dastantoli) rose high above the clouds.

Only visitors to Barasheed were ever able to see the sun, stars, moon or any other heavenly body. The City of the Old Language had been under siege for three months with thousands of human defenders dead trying to defend their city. The people were through with their 'great and powerful wizard' standing by, watching, and apparently doing absolutely nothing.

A small mob of the people's governors climbed up the tower one morning to ask Barasheed why he was not helping their city in any way. When they came and approached him with their plea, the wizard replied in anger, 'Nothing? You believe I do naught for our cause? Thy home is mine as well! Do you believe thou ivory wall holds itself so strong alone? My great expense of power is all that keeps it standing! Fear not my fellow human beings, for I also have the key, to stop this slow, impending threat from showering over thee. I have been collecting here some items of great power. I hope we may assemble them and crush the growing tide.'

The twelve rulers looked into his study and sure enough on four pedestals—arranged in a triangle with the largest in the center of the room—stood four items. On the first to the left rested a stout bundle of leatherweed, the strongest non-magical binding material in existence. The second furthest back held a large block of pure silver, its holy material reflecting and dazzling with light. The third pedestal to the right held a massive rolled scroll. No one knew what this was for. On the largest in the middle nestled a round jewel of perfect turquoise upon a cushion.

'Tomorrow, fellow countrymen, I shall begin my incantation. But for today, merely go outside and proclaim to the city what you know. I shall create a weapon of great power over water. This weapon will be able to finally crack this everlasting siege. I shall begin just outside the entrance to my tower so all may see my wondrous formation.

On the very next day, which was the single day without rain of that year, after each of the twelve had gone to his or her districts to proclaim the news, hundreds of thousands of people gathered to witness Barasheed's ceremony. Hours passed and the crowds grew restless, for Barasheed had not yet appeared. Suddenly, as the clock struck noon, there was a flash of light just outside the entrance to the tower. And lo and behold, the four pedestals appeared along with Barasheed on a podium of his own.

With a simple spell, the wizard called the great scroll to his hand. The long parchment snaked through the air until the top rested before his eyes. The incantation began. No one understood what Barasheed was saying (for of course he spoke in the Old Language, the language of magic, Rak'Cril'To), but the people could feel the words flowing through them. Ultimate power and ultimate beauty, their salvation. Within the first few seconds of casting, the turquoise began to glow with a radiant energy. The block of silver siphoned into the air, seemingly turned liquid by the flowing of Barasheed's verse. As minutes passed, the stream of silver floated up above the center pedestal and began forming into a large, vaguely hammer-like shape. At last! A new verse began, the shifting of the melody bringing the leatherweed coiling through the air. It wrapped around the now formed hilt so gracefully, the last bit hanging off in a slipknot noose. Once more, the verse began anew, the turquoise jewel began to rise. It rose up to the last space left where there was room just for a pommel stone.

Just then, out of the crowd burst the maddened citizen, Gothrizand, who ran up with a knife and stabbed poor Barasheed. His spell was almost complete, the last two words tumbling from his lips, but they were twisted from intolerable pain and the beck and call of death. The last words loosed caused the turquoise jewel to flash with an angry, malignant black. Just for a second, all seemed lost, but the war hammer simply fell. To the pillow on the pedestal, it dropped and rested there. The incantation complete, the scroll crumbled. Barasheed let out one last cry, 'NO! LOOK WHAT THOU HATH DONE!'

The assassin replied to the empty corpse in a half-crazed voice, 'I am this city's savior, I shall wield this weapon!' So he ran to the hammer and raised it up above his head, 'I will save my beloved city and rule over all!' and as Gothrizand brought it down to examine it, he noticed letters inscribed in the common tongue which pronounced Tsunamaya. He also noticed the pommel jewel was now flecked with specks of black, but being mad as he was, he did not care the least.

No one for all their shock did anything as the great ivory walls crashed down upon the city. As the great water elementals and liquid waveivores rushed down upon the city, most people simply fled in terror before the overwhelming assault. But the maddened fellow fought his best against the devastating tide for what he thought was right, but realized a bit to late that he had sealed his city's fate.

The madman fought through day and night, the world seeming to slow around him. I must really be a god he thought while vast watery entities he felled with every swipe. He found he no longer had to breathe the air and could settle for simply water, and found that he could move things at a short distance. I really am a got he thought at his desperate struggle's ended. Not a single being was left in sight and the city was submerged. So Gothrizand went up the wizard's tower to get a better view and found that a cloud seemed to follow him around wherever he would go. When the crazed man reached the tip of the tower and looked out upon the city, he proclaimed in great triumph, 'I do not need this mortal weapon to rule my domain.' And so he cast it from the tower as far as he could aim. But then poor Gothrizand saw his fatal error, when he realized he could no longer breathe normal air.

And so here ends the story of how a headstrong wizard almost saved a great city and how a madman ruined his own disillusioned dream.

Magic/Cursed Properties
On hit-

Tsunamaya forces some of the water in an object to 'phase out' and discharge behind it when it strikes. To 'phase out' means to become ethereal for a split second and rush out of the target. This makes a splashing effect behind the individual. The individual does not need to be an animate object.

The Watercaller has a chance of Dehydrating Blow and force all the water to phase out.

The most powerful of Tsunamaya's abilities is the power of Tsunami. For twenty seconds each day, the wielder may use the trigger word 'Tsunami' to activate this ability. When activated, a turquoise elliptical aura materializes around the head of the war hammer. When this magical field comes in contact with any animate object, that object is instantly liquefied and transmuted to normal water.

Passive-

The simplest of the powers granted to Tsunamaya's bearer is extra damage to the undead and lycanthropes because of its basic silver construction.

Tsunamaya's wielder also passively gains the power of telekinesis in a twenty-foot radius around the wielder. Objects flung outside this radius quickly lose momentum.

Water has a unique attraction to the war hammer. Water vapor will gravitate toward Tsunamaya and float in orbit around the bearer sometimes in a density so high it forms streamers of cloud and sometimes, liquid water. The water will not evaporate and leave orbit. The Vapor Field extends for about forty feet with only the first twelve or so seriously high density. This field never expands or shrinks because it never loses any more water than is replaced during battle. Over time, the water tends to get dirty and block the wielder's field of vision and the vapors must be slowly replaced with fresh water in battle or from a water source. The Vapor Field gives the wielder near immunity to fire.

This water is breathable only for a short period of time for anyone but the wielder. The high water density atmosphere around the wielder will slowly drown anyone caught inside the field. The closer an oxygen breathing organism is to the bearer, the faster they will drown.

The wielder of Tsunamaya is able to breathe while underwater when the war hammer is in hand.

Because of the Vapor Field, anyone moving around in it will be slightly slowed as if they are moving through thick air. The effect varies from almost nothing around the edges to the density of very thin water closer to the wielder.

Curse-

For all of its bonuses, Tsunamaya has one great drawback. Because the forging spell went awry and the black specks manifested themselves in the pommel jewel, once the bearer takes up the Watercaller and is surrounded by the Vapor Field, he or she is never able to leave the field for any period or they will suffocate in the normal air. When the war hammer is not in hand, the Vapor Field begins to dissipate. If too much water evaporates, the wielder will suffocate and die while also losing his or her immunity to fire. This is the reason for the leatherweed loop on the handle. If someone disarms the wielder of Tsunamaya or steals it and carries it away, he or she will surely die.