The Griffin Sword Saga (storyline)/Griffin Sword shards (summary)

The Griffin Sword shattered into four pieces when Ulstram failed to remove the taint from the sword via his ritual. The next several years saw a search for the shards that would span the entire continent.

Hilt

The hilt was found first on Teras Isle, claimed by Siwas who gave it to Eryael in Mularos' name.

a red-veined alabaster hilt
It is a red-veined alabaster hilt, that is carved and polished to perfection.  Platinum, gold, and silver wire braids are inlaid upon the grips, and the sapphire-encrusted platinum rings crown and boot the hilt.  The hilt seems neither cold nor hot, and the grip seems to fit your hand perfectly.

Quillions

The quillions were found next in the Cairnfang Forest outside of Solhaven, claimed by Alisaire who gave them to Draezir in exchange for two demands in a deal brokered by Morvule.

some fine gold quillions
You see a pair of finely crafted gold quillons, gilded with platinum rubies and diamonds.  They are carved into the shape of griffin wings that would spread elegantly from hilt to blade.  The connecting ring that sits upon the hilt and tang is carved into a griffin head, and the eyes are made of small emeralds that stare out into eternity.

Pommel

The pommel was found the next year in Ta'Illistim, claimed by Maimara who gave them to Eryael in Mularos' name.

a pommel-shaped half-melted rock
The rock appears to be shaped like that of a pommel, its surface marked with trails of now-hardened melted rock that resemble runny candlewax.  At the bottom, however, a flawlessly-cut deep blue sapphire sparkles amid the black rock - and at its border, you can catch the hint of more precious stones imbedded into a lustrously-shining metal.

Blade

More than a year would pass before the final shard, the blade, would be unearthed, and Ulstram himself retrieved it from a merchant who had hoped for fame and wealth from its sale. Instead, he gave it to Ulstram when he realized that Morvule had found his precise location, with hopes to be spared from inevitable torture or worse. Ulstram was eventually killed by Morvule, who claimed it in turn.

a veil iron blade

Corrupted

The entire sword was reforged by the Dark Alliance after Ulstram was killed and the blade taken from him. It underwent complete corruption upon the Altar of Darkness. The lich Morfell wielded it one final time before it was unmade.

the Griffin sword
The sword is utterly permeated by the blackness flowing around the altar -- its once pure veil-iron blade is now stained blacker than a starless night, and its quillions have been twisted into the shape of batwings.  Its hilt, once pristine alabaster, has been blackened to resemble cracked bone, its dark surface shot with a tangle of crimson veins.  Its pommel juts outward in a ring of razored talons, their edges glistening as they continually pour forth a neverending fount of fresh blood.

Loresong

All three shards that were recovered by players had the same loresong.

Images begin to swim across your vision as you sing, moving too fast to be very clear.

You see a great undertaking going on across the land, dwarves pounding a lump of heated metal into a blade, skilled craftsmen creating other fine pieces.  As they flash past your eyes, you notice one of them faintly resembles the rock in your hand.

Suddenly, the images unravel as your song comes to an end.

As your entrancing melody flows toward the half-melted rock, several visions begin to blossom within your mind...

Priests and other members of the clergy crowd around a blade of magnificent construction in the halls of a temple.  One man, bearing the look of a paladin, kneels in the middle of the crowd.  Slowly, he picks up the blade from its resting place upon a black obsidian altar set with a key of pure gold and raises it above his head, the blade flaring with a blinding golden glow.

Though the priests and clergymen seem to be in awe, a faint, deceptive smile plays across the lips of the warrior as he gazes up at the sword he holds.

The images fade away as your song slowly ends.

The rumble of thunder echoes in your mind as you begin to sing, and soon images flash past your vision...

Great storms roll across the land, unnatural in their fury.  You feel a horrible tearing sensation as if your very being was ripped into different parts and thrown to the wind.

Abruptly, the scene and the pain fade away.

The sound of battle booms in your mind as you continue to wrap the magic of your song around the rock...

Great wars rage in a small frontier town, the citizens fighting against hordes of creatures aligned with the Dark Gods.  Scaled beings and other monstrosities run rampant along the countryside.

You get a strange feeling deep in the pit of your stomach as you watch the scenes unfurl.  Slowly, a feeling of completion comes over you as the battles fade away into darkness.  As you drift in the sea of nothingness, an intense feeling washes over you, and suddenly the void is filled with a blinding white glow, giving way to a magnificent vision of the Griffin Sword, its form whole once again and set in a white stone near a beautiful domed temple.

Your song slowly comes to an end, a peaceful feeling surrounding you.

As your song's magic wraps around and draws out the last memory of the rock, your senses begin to slip away from you for an instant...

You watch transfixed as people walk by a domed temple, some stopping by a large sword set in a glowing white stone.  Time seems to move by in an almost nauseating blur as people come and go.  Hours, days, months and years flashing by in seconds.

Then as suddenly as it started, time seems to thicken as you watch a frail elven man with scars across his eyes begin to perform a ceremony around the Griffin Sword with a large crowd of people gathered.  Slowly, the sword rises up into the air with the man as the crowd prays, and the entire square is filled with a golden light.

You feel intense sensations of cleansing, as if an ancient, terrible scar was being healed.  Abruptly, pain shoots through you like lightning as a crackle of blackness swirls around the golden column of light bathing the sword.  The form of a scaled man appears in mid-air, and soon after both the blind elf and the Luukosian are locked in a fierce battle, the Griffin Sword being wielded with an uncanny precision.  The battle rages on as storms gather around you, and the inevitable triumph is tantalizingly close.  Just as the sword descends in a vicious arc toward the scaled man, he raises his eyes and grins.  A flash of blackness is the last thing you see before you feel a horrible tearing sensation dominating every fiber of your being.

Another surge of intense pain explodes within your mind as the sword suddenly shatters, its pieces flying off with amazing speed over the horizon in different directions.

The vision comes to a close as the roar of a fire burning echoes in your head.