Star Razor

The Star Razor, known in Elvish as Dwueth'var, is a longsword and a Vestige of Divergence, a powerful magical item forged during the Age of Arcanum. Created by two followers of Melora and Sehanine, it is described by Legend Lore as carrying "the blessing of fiercest full moon and starlit night".

The Star Razor survived The Calamity and was apparently lost in undescribed circumstances. After 585 PD, it was recovered by Uthodurnians, then reforged and strengthened by Dulgrim Smeltborne at the Cinderrest Sanctum, a temple of Melora. During a "terrible" battle in the ruins of Molaesmyr, it was broken in two pieces: blade and hilt. The pieces were recovered, separated, and changed hands until their significance was forgotten. Caduceus Clay and the Mighty Nein acquired them during their adventures in 835 and 836 PD, and the sword was reforged again at the Cinderrest Sanctum by Dulgrim's son Umagorn Smeltborne. Afterward, Fjord, a warlock and paladin of Melora, wielded the Star Razor as his warlock pact blade.

Like all Vestiges of Divergence, the Star Razor has three stages of progression: dormant, awakened, and exalted. These stages cumulatively affect its current properties. In reflection of Fjord simultaneously becoming a paladin, the sword was reforged into its awakened state in. He exalted the Star Razor in upon killing Avantika and preventing her from escaping with the final Cloven Crystal.

The sword allows an attuned wielder to cast Faerie Fire (dormant), See Invisibility (awakened), and Fly (exalted) once a day each. In its awakened state, it can also deal radiant damage to a creature that makes a successful melee attack against the wielder; its exalted state additionally allows the wielder to teleport up to 15 feet when struck by this attack.

Appearance
The Star Razor is a silver longsword with a fuller down its center. The metal shimmers a slight blue, similar to the color of the iceflex used in its reforging, and it casts a pale blue glow when its command word Galas-var is spoken. The blade is thick and of a broadsword blade length; in its exalted state, the blade is an inch and a half longer than in its awakened state. In official art for Fjord's character portraits and Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, the Star Razor is depicted with a ricasso. The break in the blade is still visible, but the lines are continued to create a marbled look. Jester Lavorre felt that this made the blade almost look like water. When broken, the blade retained a very faint magical essence.

The runes along the fuller are both etched and inlaid. The original runes are in an Elvish-based script. These runes and its accompanying scrollwork are lightly etched into the metal. Dwarven runes were placed into the blade afterward. Like the metal, the runes shimmer in the light and glow pale blue when the sword's command word is spoken.

The hilt is silver with a silver loop at the pommel. The grip is wrapped in red leather, and a fine filigree runs across the hilt and base of the sword. When the Star Razor was broken, the hilt had about an inch of remaining blade. At least one emerald is set into the center of the hilt. Though the Star Razor's hilt was narratively confirmed to have come from The Invulnerable Vagrant, The Mighty Nein found a broken sword hilt of similar description in the Labenda Swamp: silver, inset emerald, and a remaining inch of blade; this hilt was beautifully smithed sword with two acorn-sized emeralds on either side and runes carved throughout.

Properties
As a Vestige of Divergence, the Star Razor progresses through three states, each granting more power to a worthy wielder. Properties in each state are cumulative; abilities granted by the sword in its awakened state are granted also by its exalted state. Unless otherwise stated, its properties are as played in Critical Role Campaign 2.

Dormant state
Fjord first wielded the Star Razor in its awakened state, so its properties in its dormant state are from Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn.
 * As a bonus action, it can invoked using its command word "Galas-var". This lasts until the command word is spoken again or when the sword is sheathed or dropped. When invoked, it gains the following properties:
 * Its weapon bonus is +1.
 * It grants resistance to radiant damage to the wielder. This was not among its properties on stream.
 * It sheds blue torchlight: bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet.
 * The wielder can cast Faerie Fire (save DC 13) without requiring components. A spell can be cast from the sword only once per day until the next dawn.

Awakened state

 * The weapon bonus is +2 while glowing.
 * The wielder can additionally cast See Invisibility.
 * The save DC for Faerie Fire increases to 15.
 * While the sword is glowing, any creature within 5 feet that hits the wielder with a melee attack takes 1d8 radiant damage.

Exalted state

 * The weapon bonus is +3 while glowing.
 * The wielder can additionally cast Fly.
 * The save DC for Faerie Fire increases to 17, per Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn.
 * The radiant damage inflicted to a melee attacker increases to 1d12.
 * When the wielder is hit with a melee attack from a creature within 5 feet (the same condition for the radiant damage), they can use their reaction to teleport up to half their movement speed in a direction of their choosing.

Changes in Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn
The Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting lists resistance to radiant damage while the sword is glowing among its dormant properties. This resistance was not among its demonstrated properties on stream, given Fjord took the full radiant damage of a Divine Smite in. The radiant damage dealt to a melee attacker was also changed from an effect that occurred automatically to a reaction. The teleportation can be made as part of the same reaction.

Background
During the Age of Arcanum, the Star Razor was forged together by a follower of Melora and a follower of Sehanine. It is described as carrying "the blessing of the fiercest full moon and starlit night", or "bright with the light of the bold full moon and the enigmatic starlit night". In 547 PD, Jorum Irrelios, High Curator of the Cobalt Soul, wrote that it was forged by the two acolytes of mutual love for and determined to protect the fragile Exandria.

It was recovered by the elves and dwarves of Uthodurn after 585 PD, suggesting that it had been lost at some point before the Divergence; due to Uthodurn's interest in the ruins of Molaesmyr, it is possible that this was during the city's fall. It was reforged and strengthened by Dulgrim Smeltborne, who reinforced it using iceflex on the Underforge at Cinderrest Sanctum. It was wielded into the ruins of Molaesmyr and broken in two during a "terrible" battle in its depths. The pieces were recovered as historical relics and passed between merchants and smugglers until the pieces separated from one another and their significance lost to time.

Rediscovery of the hilt
The Mighty Nein found a sword hilt in the subterranean tunnels of the Labenda Swamp in a foot-and-a-half by foot-and-a-half flat iron box, locked by a simple iron lock. They discovered that there was no magical essence coming from it. It is unknown what happened to that hilt and whether it is related to the sword pieces acquired later by the party.

Later, they learned that Pumat Sol had bought a broken longsword hilt from someone looking hard for some cash at The Invulnerable Vagrant. The broken sword had a silver hilt and a silver pommel wrapped in red leathers around the handle with very fine filigree across the hilt and around the base with a silver loop on the bottom of the pommel, with about an inch of blade remaining. Pumat had taken it because it was Pre-Divergence, from the Age of Arcanum, and he believed it could probably fetch a pretty penny at the various lyceums or the Soltryce Academy. Caduceus expressed his interest in broken things, and he paid 300 gp for the broken longsword hilt from Pumat Sol.

When Caduceus arrived in Rosohna he gave Wursh the Tapper the hilt, saying that he came across it in sort of spectacular circumstances and that he has been trying to find someone who would know how to bring it back to life. Wursh recognized the make of the hilt as Uthodurnian, and said that the Mighty Nein would need to take it there to be repaired.

Rediscovery of the blade
The blade was found at the Marble Tomes Conservatory in Rosohna in a pile of items in possession of Professor Tuss Waccoh. Beauregard and Caleb chose the broken blade out of the pile as a reward for doing a fantastic job of embarrassing the foreman of the Deepriver Mining Camp. The blade resisted being Identified by Caleb.

Reforging the sword
Beauregard gave the broken blade to Caduceus. Later, Caduceus successfully cast Legend Lore to learn the lore behind the two sword pieces and the name, Dwueth'var, the Star Razor. Caduceus believed that it could be reforged at the forge in Kravaraad, and the party agreed to travel there.

The party reached Uthodurn and learned that Dulgrim Smeltborne died four years ago, but his son Umagorn had learned his skills and could repair the sword. He told Caduceus that they needed iceflex to repair the sword. The Mighty Nein collected mythril within the town which Umagorn melted into an ingot. The party then went to Mythburrow and changed the piece of mythril into the iceflex that they needed to reforge the sword by tricking the ancient white dragon Gelidon into breathing on it by hiding it under a summoned ice spider queen.

Umagorn Smeltborne then successfully reforged the blade in the Underforge of the Cinderrest Sanctum. Caduceus gave the weapon to Fjord, allowing him to become its new master. The Vestige was Awakened by its reforging.

Fjord's use of the blade
 Fjord attuned to the sword, and it vanished into small clouds of snow. When summoning the blade, a familiar spray of water shot out and turned to frost as it hit the ground.

 Fjord used the weapon in combat for the first time, revealing its command word to be "galas'var", causing the runes along its blade to light up with blue radiant energy.

 Using his new weapon, Fjord cast See Invisibility in The Xhorhaus, and saw a small floating orb coming down the stairs. It was identified as a Scrying sensor by Jester and Caduceus.

 During their fight in the Chantry of the Dawnfather, Fjord cast Faerie Fire against Obann through the sword.

 When Fjord killed Avantika with a Divine Smite, the blade grew an inch-and-a-half and new runes appeared on it as the Vestige entered its Exalted state. This is consistent with one of the listed recommended guidelines: "A character successfully takes vengeance against a rival who has long tormented them."

Trivia

 * In the official character art by Ari, Dwueth'var is depicted as a broadsword that is five feet and four inches long. The runes on the sword are written in Elder Futhark, and read "Dwueth'var • Sehanine's Light • Melora's Might". The text is not canonical.