Cudgel of the Saint (Artifact)

His origins unknown, though his motivations pure of heart, a man simply known as the Saint traveled the lands to protect the people from the demons and undead that would plague the world if left unchecked. He traveled very simply - only with his robes and a simple club whose head was shaped like the sun - and refused any assistance or payment for his accomplishments. He felt that it was his duty, with the powers that had been handed to him, to do whatever he could to make sure the people of this world never fell under the vale of evil that was attempting to cover every soul.

Even when the people of a town didn't realize that there was an evil presence within their population, the Saint would. He would show up, casually wandering into their homes, and simply dispatch of the terror without a word. He would know exactly who had been possessed by a demon attempting to cross into the Material Plane, or which loved one had been brought back to life through means of some last-ditch necromancy.

And after several decades of journeying from town to village to city, and just as mysteriously as he first appeared, the Saint simply stopped existing. The last story told of him was one recorded in a small village on the northern banks called Varnasta, where the Saint dispatched of a large group of demons who had been hiding in the basement of a pub; the demons had been snatching the bodies of men who had fallen unconscious due to drunkenness and had been left to sober up. he simply walked into the bar when moments later a flash of light flooded several blocks. The bartender (oblivious to the happenings within his establishment) walked out in a daze, however the Saint never emerged.

This fairly unimpressive wooden club is topped with a bronze orb with waving spikes protruding from it.

Requirements
To successfully wield the Cudgel of the Saint to its fullest potential, a character must meet the following requirements:
Skills: Knowledge (religion) 4 ranks
Alignment: Within one step of Neutral Good
Special: The character must be able to cast 1st level divine spells

Weapon Level	Minimum Wielder Level	Ability
1	---	+1 morningstar
2	4	Detect Undead (3/day)
3	6	Protection from Evil
4	8	+1 holy morningstar
5	10	Undeath to Death (3/day)
6	12	Protection from Chaos
7	14	+1 holy disruption morningstar
8	16	Banishment (3/day)
9	18	Consecrated Ground
10	20	+2 holy disruption axiomatic morningstar

Simple Light Melee Weapon
Critical 20/x2
Bludgeoning
Damage 1d6
Weight 3 lb
Cost Priceless Artifact


Detect Undead (Su): At 2nd weapon level, the wielder can cast the spell detect undead up to 3 times per day. For the purpose of duration, the wielder adds half of their character level to their caster level.

Protection from Evil (Sp): At 3rd weapon level, the wielder gains a permanent aura as the spell protection from evil. This aura is active so long as the wielder is in contact with the weapon.

Undeath to Death (Sp): At 5th weapon level, the wielder can cast the spell undeath to death up to 3 times per day. For the purpose of effect and range, the wielder adds half of their character level to their caster level.

Protection from Chaos (Sp): At 6th weapon level, the wielder gains a permanent aura as the spell protection from chaos. This aura is active so long as the wielder is in contact with the weapon.

Banishment (Sp): At 8th weapon level, the wielder can cast the spell banishment up to 3 times per day. For the purpose of effect and range, the wielder adds half of their character level to their caster level.

Consecrated Ground (Su): At 9th weapon level, any ground that the wielder treads upon is treated as having the spell consecrate, moving with the wielder. However as a standard action the wielder can cast consecrate on an area, transferring the aura from himself. The consecration is not limited to a single deity, therefore any religious fixture doubles the modifiers.

Unbenounced to the wielder of the cudgel, each creature who is defeated using the spells undeath to death or banishment is not actually destroyed or sent back to the plane they came from, instead they are absorbed into the wielder who acts as a container for all of their evil and chaos.

At first, this responsibility poses only minor effects on the wielder, fatiguing them for a number of rounds equal to the number of creature or creatures defeated. After each time the cudgel is used to either destroy undead or banish demons, the wielder must make a Will save (DC 10 +1 to the DC after each additional use). If the wielder of the cudgel eventually fails the save, he begins to succumb to the evils within him as they slowly tear away at his soul. From that point on, the wielder will continue to make a save each time he wields the weapon. When the wielder fails 10 saves, he will have been completely consumed by the evil and chaos inside him, thus starting his descent to becoming the creatures which he had spent his life hunting. Within 1d4 days, the wielder will lose all sense of his previous life, transforming into an undead extraplanar demon.