| Category | Artifacts, Swords |
| Type | artifact, Cairn Scythe |
| Forge | Imperial Armoury of Cal-Thaoun |
| Smith | Sothron Bathân |
| Enchanter | Sôvan Burterinii |
| Location | unknown |
Sarquiness holds the soul of Sarquiness Cal-Thaoun, once empress of the Cal-Thaoun Dynasty. She was of one of three Burterinii Queens that all came to power around the same time.
The blade Sarquiness was created in the War of the Three Queens. It is the sister sword of Sanglamore and Bleeberghast.
Sarquiness is a sentient +5 great sword. The blade is crafted from tantulhor. The hilt is forged from the iliac crest (hip bone) of a pit fiend. The handle of this great sword is made from nine joined hellstones.
The motives of the blade are the tenets of Law and Evil.
Obviously, all order is not good, nor are all laws beneficial. Lawful evil creatures consider order as the means by which each group is properly placed in the cosmos, from lowest to highest, strongest first, weakest last. Good is seen as an excuse to promote the mediocrity of the whole and suppress the better and more capable, while lawful evilness allows each group to structure itself and fix its place as compared to others, serving the stronger but being served by the weaker.
In short, Sarquiness seeks regimented rule by the strong, with the weaker serving the mighty.
In 1461, Black Banner raided the Crypt of Multhad. After battling past liches, vampires, grave golems and their masters, the Daughters of Krak-Oth, the group came upon the resting place of Prince Multhad Bile. This former knight of the Council of Bile, after a failed attempt to take the reigns from Queen Bretta Bile, was killed in the coup and laid to rest in one of the unhallowed crypts of Kudnetho. When the heroes entered his chamber, he rose from his resting place as a death knight, challenging one of them to honorable combat. If one could defeat him, then they could leave with his ancient blade. Carni Tir, himself a knight of the Grisagwer took the challenge and barely defeated Prince Multhad. While the blade Sarquiness was with Carni Tir, and Black Banner, it was sometimes convinced to give up a soul it had taken. These souls were used by Katrana, also a member of Black Banner, to enchant powerful magic items. One of these was the Clutch of Orat-Ghorn. Sarquiness did not give up these souls out of good will. Instead, each soul that Katrana took had to be destroyed to take its powers and enchant items. As a result, she became more evil with each soul destroyed.
When it was plundered from the Crypt of Multhad the soul-sucking blade Sarquiness had hundreds of souls in her reservoir. She probably had thousands more when she was secured in the ancient crypt with its maniacal master. I was to learn from Katrana, that Sarquiness like all soul-sucking sentient items and creatures have to periodically feast on the souls they have taken, or else go insane. If they do go insane, they often drive their possessor insane or make them commit acts without caution. Sarquiness fed on many souls while in the hands of Carni Tir, so it seemed willing to give up something for the promise of a great many souls in the coming war. I was to learn later that Sarquiness gesture of good will was part of a diabolical scheme to take us further down the road of darkness and greatness.
- Garn, excerpt from his book - "When of the Living"
| Trait | Value |
|---|---|
| Psyche | Queen Sarquiness |
| Alignment | lawful evil |
| Intelligence | 20 |
| Wisdom | 20 |
| Charisma | 23 |
| Ego | 40 |
| Communication | Speech & Telepathy, Read Magic, Read All Languages |
| Special Purpose | Defeat Good - see evil infusion power |
| Personality | female, noble, cunning, egotistic |
| Name | Description | Usuage |
|---|---|---|
| Tantulhor Edge | +2 damage for being made of tantulhor | continuous |
| Imperial Reach | the weapon can be called to the owner's hand by way of the spell teleport without error | continuous |
| Three Sisters Gait | movement speed increased by 3 | continuous |
| Soul Devour | those slain by the weapon have their souls trapped inside the blade, 70% of the time good souls are immediately consumed by the sword, over time the sword will feed on a soul, when this happens the soul is irrevocably destroyed | continuous |
| Soul Siphon | the energy of the slain feeds the wielder, adding +1 temporary strength point per three level of the victim and healing a number of hit points equal to the victim's level, these temporary points last 2 hours | continuous |