Legion Killer

This artifact is a massive crossbow, almost too heavy to be wielded by one person. Its heavy lath is made from a curved piece of mithril-laced blue steel fitted with a heavy string woven from the hair of a giant. The crossbow's stock is cut from a single slab of oak, its grain shot through with glittering shards of some crystalline stone. A complex crank (obviously of Dwarf manufacture) provides a mechanism for cocking the device. Legion Killer is enchanted with Epic combat and alteration magic. A Great test of divination magic will reveal the command word required to activate its unique power.

Legion Killer has the following characteristics:

• Its mechanism is so powerful that it takes two full rounds to cock the weapon.
• Once cocked, Legion Killer self-loads with a magically created quarrel of steel-tipped oak fletched with slabs of clear stone crystal. The weapon has Superb accuracy and range bonuses, and each quarrel that hits inflicts Good damage before vanishing the round after it strikes home.
• Once loaded, Legion Killer begins projecting a magical charge into the fitted quarrel. The accumulated charge causes the quarrel to split into multiple missiles when fired, each bolt striking a unique target within the weapon's field of fire. The number of quarrels created increases with the duration of the charge, each round doubling the number of quarrels created: two after one round, four after two rounds, eight after three rounds, and so forth, to a maximum of 1024 quarrels after ten rounds.