Item highlight: Ancient elven rune sword (UPDATED)

 

This ancient blade was created by elves and dwarfs in the time before the War of the Beard for use by the Phoenix King's guard. It's made from an unknown alloy (probably involving mixing gromnil and other metals, curiously including copper) and inscribed with numerous runes (12 in number, although the number of power combinations is probably lower). 

At some point, the blade ended up in the hands of a minor line of Reikland nobility and received a new hilt and guard, making it look like an Empire knight's blade to the uninitiated. Wigmar recovered it from the undead remains of a knight in the Barren Hills. He later had it rehilted in Parravon; it now looks very much like a Bretonnian longsword. 

For a time, Wigmar imagined it might be the lost Runefang of Solland, but after consulting with the remaining rune masters of Karak Azgarz, this was proven wrong. Its forging predates the Empire by thousands of years. The blade is so old the runes used are from a time before the dwarves standardized their rune magic (some would say the runes look a bit elvish), and the masters cannot for certain say what the blade's powers are.

Update 1: After the battle of Brass Keep, the runes will sometimes light up, seemingly of their own volition. This includes some combinations that haven't been active before.

Update 2: According to Alaric the Mad (or the madman pretending to be him), the runes are proto-Khazalid, but the language is Elvish. This explains why other rune masters don't understand shit - they don't know the language OR the runes. Moreover, each rune is NOT a complete rune of power. Instead, combinations of runes make up individual runes of power (this sword was made before the runes of power were perfected). No wonder the sword's inscriptions have been hard to interpret! 

It's also interesting because the sword would seem to violate the Rule of Three, which states that any item can have a maximum of THREE runes of power. It's also unclear how this relates to the Rule of Pride; the same combination of runes can never be inscribed on more than one item.

Powers: The blade is magical (curiously, it radiates very little magic when examined) and of premium quality, doing +2 damage and granting a +10% bonus to WS when wielded. 

• Rune of Illumination: The blade can be made to emit magical light at will (10 yards brightly lit, 10 additional yards dimly lit). 
• Rune of Banishing: Any daemon or other otherworldly creature damaged by the blade must make a WP test or be banished. This rune has also proven effective at banishing daemons possessing physical hosts, although the exact process isn't known.
• Rune of Annulment (?): Alaric isn't entirely sure yet, but it looks like when this rune is active, the blade sucks in magical energy, making spellcasting in the vicinity (even for the wielder) much harder, if not outright impossible. The runes glowing at random could be the sword eating magic. It's a theory, anyway.