Artifacts & Persistent Modifications

Major artifacts through Scenario 13

Artifact	Story acquisition	Mechanical implementation	Persistence model
Ruby of Fire	Recovered from Lich-Lord Lenvan’s temple in Scenario 06	Scenario 12 attaches a permanent 14×4 magical fire ranged attack to Haldric	Permanent unit object; no campaign flag required afterward
Book of Fire and Darkness	Recovered from Lich-Lord Caror in Scenario 09	Enables Jessene to translate how the Ruby is used	Temporary `have_book` gates Scenario 09 exit, then is cleared because every victory guarantees possession
Lord Typhon’s Storm Trident	Granted as part of his scripted Scenario 12 creation	Permanent 14×2 magical fire ranged attack with lightning animations	Embedded directly in the hero’s modifications
Island Storm Trident	Optional pickup in Scenario 13	Core `OBJ_TRIDENT_STORM` macro gives an eligible merfolk unit the same 14×2 attack	Permanent pickup object; one-use item state managed by the core macro
Holy Water	Found in Scenario 06	Core pickup appends arcane behavior to eligible melee attacks	Scenario-duration effect only

Ruby of Fire implementation

Property	Value
Owner filter	`id=Prince Haldric`
Duration	`forever`
Attack	14 damage × 4 strikes, ranged fire
Special	Magical
Animation reuse	Core fireball missile frame, fireball icon, `fire.wav`

The campaign creates no “Ruby Haldric” unit type. The ordinary Noble Commander receives an additional attack through an object, preserving all advancement and recall behavior.

Two Storm Trident authoring patterns

Pattern	Scenario 12	Scenario 13
How granted	Guaranteed inside Typhon’s scripted hero creation	Optional map pickup
Eligible bearer	Lord Typhon only	Any merfolk unit lacking the attack
Interaction UI	None; automatically equipped	Core take/leave/cannot-use dialogue
Effect	14×2 magical ranged fire, lightning icon and animations
Use case	Signature named-character equipment	Player-selected persistent reward

When to use a variable, object, or unit type

Need	Best mechanism	Campaign example
Gate a local objective	Temporary variable	`Have_Ruby` in Scenario 06; `have_book` in Scenario 09
Permanently add an attack to one existing unit	Forever-duration object	Ruby of Fire and Storm Tridents
Create a complete advancement identity	Custom unit type	Haldric’s Noble line
Provide a reusable map pickup	Core pickup macro	Holy Water and optional Storm Trident

State-minimization principle. A narrative fact does not always need a permanent variable. Once all valid campaign paths guarantee the same fact, later code can treat it as an invariant.

Ruby acquisition · Book acquisition · Ruby and Typhon trident · Optional trident · Core item macros

Holy water revisited on Cursed Isle

Scenario 17d reuses the same core OBJ_POTION_HOLY_ALT pattern previously seen in Temple in the Deep. One pickup is always present at 29,24; Easy adds a second at 28,26.

Difficulty	Holy-water pickups	Temple rewards
Easy	2	Queen + two 50-gold temples
Normal / Hard	1	Queen + one 50-gold temple + one empty temple

This is a clean difficulty adjustment through player tools and exploration rewards rather than weakened undead statistics.

Ruby concealment

Stage	Mechanical representation
Scenario 12	Haldric receives permanent object `ruby_of_fire`.
Scenario 19	`[remove_object] object_id=ruby_of_fire` removes the attack from Haldric.
Scenario 19	Jessene leaves the battlefield to hide the physical artifact.
Scenario 20	Jevyan detects only that the Ruby’s magical power has been concealed.

Artifact-model lesson. A permanent object can later be removed just as explicitly as it was added. The unit’s attack list is part of campaign state.

Final Ruby state

Stage	Artifact state
12 — A Final Spring	Permanent `ruby_of_fire` attack attached to Haldric.
19 — The Vanguard	Object removed; Jessene takes the Ruby to the Troll Hole.
22 — Final battle	Forged treaty claims the elves received it; Jevyan never recovers it.
23 — Epilogue	Jessene confirms it remains hidden; Haldric’s attack is not restored.

Release 1.0.0. Source snapshot: Wesnoth 6ab3fc1, accessed July 12, 2026. This site has no external runtime dependencies and can be opened directly from disk.