Wand of Witchfire: Introduction

I play Dungeons&Dragons (yes yes) and in the latest campaign I play a wizard named Hex in a land recently conquered by an evil cabal of vampires. A couple sessions ago, when we killed our first vampire, we looted a handful of magical items, mostly cursed but a few were keepers. Among them was a Wand of Witchfire, a powerful weapon borrowed from the Arduin Grimoire. Straight black wood, 18-inches long with a large blue sapphire at the tip.

Unsure of its nature, we bagged it. Or, more precisely, I bagged it. I had other magics and you should always be wary of the loot of a vampire. The staff he carried promised to wither the soul of the holder as surely as it did its victims. His dagger compelled its wielder to stab stab stab whoever might be closest. Could the wand be trusted? I didn't have time to find out. There was other business at hand, like, hiding while we healed our wounds.

Soon enough we were creeping further into the depths, searching for an underground road, when we were ambushed by creatures out of a nightmare -- huge, slashing beasts that immediately dropped half of the party. I knew my spells weren't going to save us fast enough. I could run, I could turn into a wisp and whisper away, but that wasn't Hex played the game. He drew the black wand and its magic scorched the beasts with a great blaze of savage bolts that left them paralyzed and near death. The wand saved us in a single stroke.

So, of course, now I had to make the Wand of Witchfire. I had seven weeks until the next game.

I started by scouring the local woodcraft stores for the darkest ebony wood, but the prices were too high. I didn't want to pay $80. I found a much better deal on eBay: $20 for a 20-inch 1.5x1.5 block of Gabon ebony, plus $13.50 shipping from India. $33.50 was acceptable, but I had to wait almost two weeks for the ebony to arrive.