Galderian solid-rod crossbow
Aldo's weapon from home, given to him broken and sent back to Galderia to be made whole
The weapon Aldo was raised to shoot, and the type Galderia is known for. Edrick gave him one after the raid, along with thirteen gold. It was beaten past use, and stamped with a maker’s mark from home that was never described in writing. It went back to Galderia through Yullen Gemsmith’s contacts to be repaired by a master, and came back freshly oiled with five bowstrings.
It carries a hundred feet where a plainer stock manages eighty, and strikes truer. The rod doubles as a club in the hand, heavy enough to swing in earnest, so a man holding one is never counted unarmed. The trigger throws hard enough to take odd ammunition without complaint: grappling bolts at full range, five of them slung on it, and later Hinta’s kit for setting a bolt alight.
What to call it is unsettled. The type is a solid-rod; the make is spoken of as Stalingrad, held to be built of the finest Galderian yew, gald elk sinew and tazion steel and to leave the bench already masterwork, though one man lately in the company of Galderian merchants ranked them at the lower end of Galderia’s finer crossbows. Aldo’s own has been named Stalligrand outright.