Aurumic Staff

Appearance

The Aurumic Staff is a wooden staff, six feet long. It is made of a celestial wood known as Sacred Oak, and it is shod in orichalcum, or celestial gold. The crozier is a sinuous serpent wrapped around a solar disk, all made of orichalcum.

Origin

The Aurumic Staff was created by a now forsaken demi-goddess who created the staff as a sacred offering to the divine dragon Sangia in hopes that the dragon would take her as a spouse. The now nameless demi-goddess stole a branch from a sacred oak, and celestial gold from Yu-Shan, the Celestial City. In secrecy, she created the staff, and took it to the heart of the city where the Unconquered Sun resides. She took the staff as close to the Celestial Furnace as she dared, and the heat of that divine engine and her own heart's desire shaped the crozier.

Her actions did not go unnoticed.

The Goddess of Secrets and the God of Thieves took notice. Though her transgressions were against the gods, they were far more interested in what she was doing than stopping her.

The God of Thieves came upon the demi-goddess and attempted to steal the Staff from her, desiring it for his own. The Goddess of Secrets whispered in the ears of birds and ghosts what had transpired, setting her own plans in motion. She did not desire the staff, but knew of it's potential. Thus is was, as the demi-goddess prepared to present herself and her gift to the great golden wyrm Sangia that the ruse was laid bare. As the God of Thieves confronted her, they themselves were confronted by the tribunal of Yu-Shan, and the senior deities there, including the great wyrm Sangia and it's erstwhile spouse Ixia.

There was a scuffle. The demi-goddess was smashed and came very near to death. She was preserved, but would eventually come to wish that Ixia's hammer had indeed ended her life. She was banished to the twilit ruin of Dimmault, the Infernal City, to spend eternity as a pariah, to live in the ultimate level of poverty, and to abase herself as a worm. The Staff was not lost, but was rather cast as a lightning bolt to the Earth, where it struck true and would later be found by the hands of men, such was the Goddess of Secret's design.

Powers

Create Gold - the most sought after power of the staff is perhaps it's least dramatic. A magic user can activate the staff by expending a spell slot, and create from thin air and sunlight a shower of gold. The gold created is mundane, and it's form is chosen by the caster. This typically manifests as gold coins, gold nuggets, or low quality jewelry (unless the caster is already a jeweler and knows how to make it). A first level spell would give 10D10 gold coins worth of gold. A 9th level spell would 10D10 million GP worth of gold. The drawback is that this power draws directly on the Divine Furnace, and creating gold with spells from 1st to 6th level are not going to cause much attention. Casting 7th to 8th level is going to cause the Sun to dim, and draw agents of the Celestial City to investigate. Casting at the 9th level will cause the Sun to fade, leaving the world in twilight for hours, or even days with a critical success on the creation roll. The gods themselves will come to investigate such a blantant display of vulgarity.

Magic Item +5 - the Aurumic Staff is a divine staff +5, and can be used as a holy symbol, and is the bane of undead and night creatures. While not intended to be swung as a crude club, it can be used for just that, and nothing short of celestial metals can even knick the sacred oak it is made of.

Magic Power - the Staff can function as a spell adder/battery, holding charges to allow a magic user to draw on at a later date, either increasing the power of their spells or allowing them to cast more than they normally would be able to.

Immitation Aurumic Staves

Immitations of the Aurumic Staff have been attempted. These staves look similar, but are not made of celestial materials, and their ability to conjure Gold are magnitudes weaker, and instead of using spell slots, use basic charges to create 1d6 gp at a time, the most powerful managing to do this 2-3 times a day. After being expended, these glorified change shooters lose their magic and become mundane staves with gold caps.

History

The name of the first unfortunate soul to find the Staff has long since been lost. They found it, and they used it, and in time made themselves wealthy. But wealth is it's own punishment. Men fall in love with gold and the power it commands. Others covet this power, and above all other things, they covet gold.

The bearers of the staff are robbed. They are murdered. They are hunted down and assassinated.

And each time the staff passes to a new hand.

This power, this curse, is not limited to the hands of mortal men. Dwarves covet the gold, and they have felt it's siren song and tasted it's curse. Brother slays brother, and son turns against father to wield the divine staff. It's power is heady and intoxicating.

Dragons have born the staff for short periods of time, but the gold lust of dragons knows no bounds and they quickly turn on each other. This shedding of draconic blood draws the attention of Sangia, who invariably tasks his clerics with finding the staff and returning it to a safe place, where the claws of his kin are not turned against each other.

The Goddess of Secrets gains great joy as the staff winds it way through history, and the mountains of secrets and conspiracies that grow around it.