Peek: The Shatterer

Deep in a vault in the Dungeoneer's Guild Headquarters, there lays a maul, as real as me standing here!  It is no ordinary vault.  Behind inches of steel and stone, designed to withstand not only an onslaught from an archmage, but the scryings of the same, the vault is designed to impregnable to almost all.  The enchantment to open the vault is only partially known, the five individuals privy to it only know part of the enchantment.  Even the enchantment is shrouded in mystery, demanding the memory of actually casting it, as well as the significant investment of mana, to actually be cast.

The maul itself seems ironically mundane, like something that could be found in any laborer's shed and used to drive any number of stakes or spikes, perhaps to break stones.  Even under magical scrutiny, the maul appears mundane, at least at first glance.  There's no real mana signature in it, no runework or alchemical enhancement nor enchantment.  But trying to take a closer look starts to reveal the nature of The Shatterer, as the inspection magic will simply slip off or fray at the edges until they unravel entirely.

The maul is not simply mundane, but actively mundane, actively anathema to mana.  Who created it and how is a mystery, but the why seems to be fairly obvious.  There has only been one use discovered for it, thus far.  It cannot be used to break out of its own vault, for while it will destroy the enchantments upon it, it has no enchantments of its own to destroy the thick metal and other materials.

It can't be used against mages, at least no better than any other maul could.  It would likely be harder, even, as the wielder would have no ability to call upon their own affinities to aid them.

As of yet, the only known use of The Shatterer is to shatter dungeon cores.  But such action is not done on a whim.  Destroying a dungeon has harsh consequences to the economy, and to the surrounding areas as well.  While the specifics are argued, there is no arguing against the facts: an area with a dungeon which suddenly loses the dungeon will go to shit!  The mana flows will destabilize, monster attacks will see a sharp increase, and that's if the dungeon is actually destroyed!

For shattering a core does not necessarily kill the dungeon.  It shatters it, breaks it into pieces, fractures the awareness to small shards.  These small pieces only see that they are surrounded by cores that are not them, and so lash out to subsume the pieces of itself that it no longer recognizes, even as those pieces seek to do the same to all the others.

Denizens run amuck, scions go mad, and the might of a dungeon is unleashed in undirected fury and fear.  At best, invaders take advantage of the confusion and manage to drain the shards and so the dungeon, removing it from existence.  At worst... there is a new dungeon, mad and angry both, aware of what the delvers tried to do to it, how they hurt it.

Of course, the Guild itself denies the very existence of The Shatterer!  They work with so many dungeons.  If they learned delvers might have some way to actually harm them... how many would continue to trust them?  But there are whispers, of dungeons vanishing, of them going mad, of them cowing to some demand.

But for how long?  How long until some dungeon decides it doesn't like that threat hanging over it?  How long until it figures out how to reach the vault?  How long until it exacts vengeance for all dungeons forced under the yoke of the Dungeoneer's Guild?!

We must- get your hands off me!  The people deserve the truth!  You can't do this!

~Rant of a drunken elf before being arrested for disturbing the peace.