The Godbird Sceptre
The Godbird Sceptre is an ancient magic stave and the major plot element in Dragon Quest VIII: Jounery of the Cursed King. This object was the treasure stolen from the Trodain Castle by the wicked jester Dhoulmagus, in spite of the fact that the scepter is a vessel and prison for the spirit of Lord Rhapthorne who possess anyone who touches the cursed relic.
Appearance
It is a tall brown rod adorned with blue sapphire gems and a bronze bird sculpture on top of the scepter with a ruby orb in it's mouth resembles Ramia the Godbird.
History
When the Seven Sages imprisoned Rhapthorne in the Goddess Statue in Neos, the scepter became his tool to use on the outside world as his own unwanted prison sinc ehis defeat. For countless years, the scepter imbued with the power of Rhapthorne was held in the Castle of Trodain, guarded at all times, and valued as its most precious treasure.
With this powerful sceptre, he transforms the inhabitants of Trodain into plant-like statues, as well as changing the king into a toad-like monster and the princess into a horse, while covering the majority of the castle in large, green magical thorns.
The Hero, a young Trodain guardsman, is eventually joined on his quest by three companions: a scarred, inarticulate bandit named Yangus, a wand-waving tomboy named Jessica, and Angelo, a rapier-wielding Templar Knight and self-proclaimed ladies' man.
During their travels, the party runs into Dhoulmagus several times. A couple of these encounters involve Dhoulmagus killing someone beloved by members of the Hero's party. Individuals slain by Dhoulmagus include Alistair (Jessica's brother) and Abbot Francisco, who is head of the abbey where Angelo lives.
The party finally tracks down Dhoulmagus to the Dark Ruins, where they find him recuperating, and finally face off against him. After his defeat, he tries to curse the party with his sceptre, but the hero is again unaffected by the curse, blocking the blast and sparing his allies.
Dhoulmagus then uses his menacing power to change into a hideous demonic creature. However, even with his new powers, he is no match for the might of the heroes. Much to their surprise, however, they find that even with his defeat, the curse still has not been lifted.
Concluding that something else must be maintaining the curse, they exit the ruins, with Jessica picking up the Godbird Sceptre as they leave.
Gallery
Trivia
- The scepter controlled many people along its journey. Each person that was controlled had one thing on their minds: killing the heirs of the Seven Sages.
- The first person to be possessed was Dhoulmagus, who broke into Trodain Castle and cursed the kingdom into a perpetual entanglement in vines and turned King Trode into a troll and Princess Medea into a horse. He next headed toward the town of Farebury. There, he killed Master Rylus and burned his house down to cover it up. He proceeded to the Tower of Alexandria and killed Alistair Albert, Jessica's brother. Following that was Maella Abbey where he killed Abbot Francisco. He crossed the ocean and went to Baccarat where he broke into the Golding Mansion and killed Golding himself.
- Once Dhoulmagus was defeated by the party, Jessica picked up the staff and was taken over, but this took no effect until the next morning. She took off from Argonia to the northern checkpoint and headed through to Arcadia. She at first thought Dominico to be the heir to the Sage, but it turned out to be David. Although she came close, she never actually killed him, but was defeated by the rest of the party.
- In the ensuing confusion, Sir Leopold, Dominico's beloved dog, took possession of the scepter. He killed David, then flew off north to the Blizzard Peaks where he was targeting Marek, but discovered that it was Marek's mother, Marta, that was the heir and killed her. He then went off to the the Lord High Priest's Residence to attempt to kill the Lord High Priest himself, but was defeated before he could do so.
- Finally, Marcello took the scepter and killed the Lord High Priest, making it look like he died from shock while also sending off his successor, High Priest Rolo, to Purgatory Island. Marcello was defeated at Neos and the scepter's hold over him was broken, but with the heirs of the Seven Sages killed and the Goddess Statue destroyed, Rhapthorne was free from his prison.