inches tall and weighed one hundred forty-five pounds. He had medium-length dark hair and bronze-silver eyes (rare for an elf), which accented his pointed ears. He has a quiet and pleasant disposition in spite of being a master archer. He utilizes his powerful long composite bow, named Elm, which has a centrally mounted dragonstone located above the hand grip, given to him by Gallanth. This gave the bow great power, enabling it to deliver an energy burst to arrows fired from it when Dekeen desired. Arrows so directed delivered enough damage to fell an ogre with a single shot and could circumvent all but the strongest of magic armor and even magic shields.
The bow was made of elven dark oak, laminated with red dragon bone and sporting the same dragon’s sinew for a string. The most feared power of Elm was that once per day, it could empower a slaying arrow of Dekeen’s choosing. This deadly arrow, upon a successful hit, could automatically kill the intended target, regardless of the creature’s power. While proven on a white and green dragon, it had never been tried on a more powerful blue or red. This also drained the bow’s power for a short period of time, however. Elm could also be fired to counter certain spells in midair as well as create a smaller antimagic shield, capable of taking almost the same damage as Mkel’s or Toderan’s sword. Mkel often witnessed his friend fire ten arrows in extremely rapid succession, stopping an orc charge. Mkel knew Dekeen was almost as accurate as he was with his crossbow, but the magic longbow didn’t have quite the same range, being able to consistently hit stationary targets out to five hundred yards. Mkel, Dekeen, and Jodem often had shooting matches in which they pushed each other to strive for more excellence.
Mkel found it puzzling that Dekeen was carrying his powerful bow rather than slinging it across his body. The elf clan leader also had his short mithril alloy scimitar with him, which he utilized for close-in fighting. He was very fast and deadly with the scimitar, being able to cleave a man or orc with a well-placed blow.
Dekeen’s wife, Beckann, was herself a powerful wizard, almost as advanced as Jodem. The lady elf was five and a half feet tall with shimmering golden hair and deep violet-blue eyes. Her beauty was only matched by Jennar, the elusive nymph who lived in Draden Forest. Together, they oversaw the elf clan in Draden Forest. The clan consisted of approximately three hundred elves, and they could muster a force of one hundred twenty to complement the Weir’s garrison.
Mkel counted on the elven company for the next day’s exercise: three platoons of elven archers and one platoon of infantry armed with the deadly double-headed pole arms and long swords. They worked closely with the Weir in providing both local security and trade as partners for goods and services while receiving defense from the Weir. The elves produced fine products of wood, cloth, metal, and magic work, as well as wine and certain fine foods and elvish medicines.
Eldir, the elven master weaponsmith, worked with Ordin, Jodem, and Gallanth on magic items and weapons made with mithril and Gallanth’s or Silvanth’s dragonstones. Mithril was a very difficult metal to work with and required dwarven strength, elven finesse, Gallanth’s intense heat to make it malleable, and Silvanth’s cold to cool it down and strengthen it. Jodem’s magical abilities made these items among the most powerful known. The weapons they made were given as a reward to those soldiers of the Weir’s garrison and the Draden regiment that distinguished themselves in battle. All of the mithril arrow and bolt tips for Mkel’s and Dekeen’s projectiles were made by them as well.
The elves cared for the giant eagles that inhabited the top of Keystone Weir, and they also trained and bred the griffons used by the rangers. They crafted all the support gear for them as well, including the special saddles and
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