The birds of Yngstead Marsh

There are Ironbeaked birds in Yngstead Marsh. They look like egrets save for their iron grey feathers tinged with rusty red and a long, straight beak to match. The locals tell of the birds using that beak to attack people and animals from the air, sometimes driving themselves straight through their victims. Afterwards they flock to the corpses and feast, their black eyes dotted in the center with a fleck of red betraying no emotion and what many perceive to be a malign intelligence.

Why would adventurers and warriors risk the ire of these deadly birds and seek them out in their home? The answer lies in the bird's deadliest weapon.

It is said that you can sharpen a weapon by using a subdued bird's beak as a whetstone. And in doing so the weapon will stay preternaturally sharp for a year or as long as the bird is alive, whichever is shorter. This "sharpening" is a supernatural effect that makes a connection between the individual bird and the blade that it has sharpened. When that blade draws blood no matter how far away, the birds beak will drip that same blood.

Many have sought to capture the birds and keep them in their homes, safe and well cared for to ensure a lifetime of sharp blades. Ironbeaked birds die quickly when taken from Yngstead Marsh, getting weaker and more feeble as they get farther from the Marsh, until they finally lay down and die.