The survival of the venerable Belliards' Guild was not always such a sure-fought thing, and in its early days as the pre-eminent gentleman's lobby of Purists in the Empire it faced serious risk of dissolution in the face of its enemies. Uniquely among the institutions of the Empire did it have to struggle with both enemies in the Courts, and open attacks made by Vampires and brigands on its places of operation in the homeland. A little known story is that one of the most dangerous and desperate attacks on the Belliard headquarters by a Calemberger coven of Vampires that had learned of Puretek's development and sought to destroy it was thwarted by a single conductor. Not a Belliard himself, nor even a Purist, he responded having heard the commotion from a nearby building and threw himself in the Vampires' path, buying just enough time for the Belliards to prepare a defense on the upper levels and destroy the incursion before it could reach the research rooms. In honor to the martyrdom of this regular Regalian citizen, whose name and those of others like him the Belliards and their cohorts the Lothar honor, they constructed a unique Puretek and gifted it to his surviving family members. Having no use for it as she was not a soldier, his widow insisted that Adagio take it from the wall of the inn she owns upon learning that he was a freshly Knighted Darkwald, requesting that he "return it only once he had avenged her husband, and otherwise never at all." This is a Knight Collectible, obtained as a gift from the rank-up process, for the Character Adagio von Rolanthe.
Appearance
The Choirsong Rifle is a pristine Puretek weapon, a barrel of white stone affixed to a finely detailed and ornamented wooden stock hewn of darkly varnished wood. The golden inlays that run down the stock evoke the shapes of the forests of Tirgunn and the Waldmark, gravitating down to the Darkwald Castle stamped on the bottom where the weapon presses into the wearer's shoulder. If the user holds the top of the stone barrel and presses down while pressing up on the bottom of the rifle, it folds in half at the middle for easier storage and discrete carry. When the Choirsong Rifle is aimed and loaded, it hums very faintly like it is singing from the way that its internal mechanisms keep Quicksilver primed to fire.
Permanent Mechanics
The Choirsong Rifle is a Unionist Collectible Legendary Artifact. As an artifact, there are several rules associated with Artifact Ownership, see Artifact Page. It also provides the following Specials:
Touch of Muses: As long as Adagio has the Choirsong Rifle with him, he inexplicably inherits the late conductor's talent with the piano, violin, and lute. He has no idea the Choirsong Rifle did this for him, and just believes that he learned very quickly.
