Dread's Bane

Never before had she held such malice in her hands, never before had reckless ambition and lust for power taken such a cruel form.

• Bards dramatically tell the tale of Ardeth's link to Dread's Bane.

Dread's Bane is a black stone-like sentient longsword that was used by The True Heroes to kill The Dread King and most of his black hand as well.
Containing the soul of Camille the Betrayer, the sword carried his lust for power and ambition to displace The Dread King and sought to exert that influence over the true heroes.
Wielded by Ardeth, champion of Kord, the longsword proved to be a very powerful weapon and one of the only items that could cause damage to the Dread King, it was instrumental in the victory of the True Heroes.
When the Dread King was defeated, Ardeth fought for possession of herself over the blade and won, discarding the curse and the influence of Camille before Drahz Grymhook destroyed the blade and sent it to the Lady of Pain for punishment.
The Denizens were formed as an organisation with the view of saving Camille from the Lady of Pain and joining him to Lolth as monarchs of the drow.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

The blade was runic in nature and worked from the many etchings of Camille's influence and soul.
Mechanically, Dread's Bane carried many effects:

• The wielder of Dread's Bane is immediately attuned to the blade and cannot unattune.
• Only the wielder of Dread's Bane can communicate with Camille the Betrayer who resides inside the blade. 
• The wielder of Dread's Bane mutates and takes on some of Camille's features, turning the wielders ears and skin into a likeness of the drow, turning their hair white and also giving them the Drow sunlight sensitivity feature. 
• Dreads bane is a +3 magical longsword
• As a bonus action, you could activate Dread Bane's 'Aura of Gloom', every creature in that aura takes an additional 1d8 damage from Dread's Bane. 
• If a creature is killed whilst within the aura of gloom, the wielder of Dread's Bane can increase their strength score by 1 to a max of 24. 
• Dread's Bane was the only weapon known to be able to harm the Dread King.

Significance

Dread's Bane is an incredibly famous blade (arguably one of the most famous weapons in the history of Alturis), the character of Camille the Betrayer is generally portrayed as a villain but the significance of Dread's Bane killing the Dread King cannot be understated.

Item type

Weapon, Melee

Subtype / Model

Dread's Bane

Used by

• Dread's Bane

Owning Organization

The Denizens

Rarity

Dread's Bane is a legendary Artefact and nothing of it's ilk has been seen since. Though sentient weapons surely exist, very few match the curse and potency of Dread's Bane.

Weight

15lbs though Dread's Bane altered it's weight to either suit or inconvenience the wielder.

Raw materials & Components

The materials used to make Dread's Bane are inherently magical in nature and not known to be of a natural composition. Though, Ardeth acknowledge that it LOOKED like sharp stone but was weighted and cold like steel.
Most scholars generally equate the material used to make Dread's Bane with Gloom Metal  found in The Blackstone Peaks.