Relics from Blackmoor
by Robert J. Nuttman, Jr.I've got a few relics from Blackmoor on the blog: Spellshear knives, and various accoutrements and arms of Val'kiran make.
Val’kira Arms: Spellshear knives
Sisters of Fire and Afridhi battlemancers threw additional layers of danger over the already chaotic battlegrounds of the various Afridhi Wars. It did little good for the warrior to fight his way through the lines only to be bound in place by a Holding spell or cut down by a volley of Magic Missiles.
Val’kira took his knowledge of weaponcraft and married it to the null-harmonics branch of dragonstone research to produce the Spellshear effect. Binding a red dragonstone to a blade not only increased the weapon’s durability, but properly tuned, the stone could also deflect magical effects intended for the wielder.
Game effects: Spellshear weapons fitted with red dragonstones are considered +1 weapons, and confer a +2 bonus to the wielder’s Saving Throws vs. Spells. In addition, it allows a Save vs. Spells against Magic Missiles, as per the Shield spell.
A limited number of Spellshear knives were forged of rare World-Shield ore, and set with black dragonstones. Rather than deflecting magical attacks, these weapons absorbed the damage on a successful Saving Throw vs. Spells, suspending the spell along the length of the blade, to be released on the next successful attack within three rounds. After three rounds, the magical energy dissipates too much to be of any use.
If the wielder is a magic-user, he or she have additional options of releasing the spell, or absorbing the energy to replenish an equivalent-level (or lower) spell slot already used.
For example: Killian Saves vs. Spell and ‘catches’ an Afridhi war-wizard’s fireball. Because he is also a magic-user, he can opt to throw the spell back at the caster, store the damage to release it on the beastman that is charging and will engage next combat round (if he hits), or absorb the spell energy to replenish his own, and be able to re-cast a third-level (or lower) spell.
Blades of silver were also created, set with white dragonstones. These so-called “Life-Drinkers” or “Vampire Tongues” were able to convert varying amounts of damage dealt to foes into healing factors for the wielder.
The Fiveform sword: Andahar’s Edge
Val’kira also crafted weapons, having studied with some of the greatest dwarven smiths in the Stormkiller Mountains. Perhaps not his greatest achievement, but the most ingenious was Andahar’s Edge. Incorporating the features of a Blackmoor longblade and a scorpion-tail scourge, the Edge allowed the user to engage foes from a distance, wearing them down before closing in to finish them off. Uther’s daughter was perhaps the most famous of wielders, and it is from her that the Edge takes its name.
Weapon Mastery notes: User must devote multiple slots to use the sword to its fullest potential, one for each of the sword’s forms. Without mastery with a given form, the user is limited to “Unskilled” level mastery with any of the other forms.
A user must have a Strength of 13 or greater to wield Andahar’s Edge due to the bulk and heft of the weapon. The “whip” deals damage equal to a dagger at equivalent Mastery levels.
Zastra’akaara (Sword-form)
A miniature winch and spool of ironwire joins the slide-mounted segments of the sword, holding them tight against each other so the weapon can be used as a longsword or broadsword.
Kasha’akaara (Whip-form)
Releasing one of the catches unspools the ironwire, and the blade disjoins, separating into between 12 and 15 segments (depending on the sword’s length) joined by one to one and a half feet of ironwire cabling., the weapon can be used as a heavy-gauge whip.
With the blade segmented and extended, an Edge has a reach of up to 30 feet. With proper training, a user can entangle, trip, and disarm opponents.
Dhan’akaara (Bow-form, or “Archer” as Thorn calls it)
Joining the scabbard to the hilt of the sword releases the tip of the blade. The resulting length of ironwire is then linked back to the scabbard, configuring the weapon for use as a makeshift longbow. Because of the tensile strength of the wiring and awkwardness of the bow, Dexterity bonuses to not apply when using Andahar’s Edge in this configuration.
Zhuul’akaara (Glaive-form)
A twist of the hilt collapses the blade into a short, broad spear tip. The hilt then extends up to six feet in length, enabling the weapon to be used as a spear. Mounted Shrikes use a heavier version (2-handed/greatsword configuration) of Andahar’s Edge that extends to use as a lance.
*Thorn has yet to see the fifth weapon form.
Demoncutter
The younger of the twins, golden-eyed Leansethar has tinkered with her Andahar’s Edge over the years. It is an Andhar’s Edge +1, +3 vs. summoned creatures. On command, it will burst into golden-green fire, inflicting an additional 1d8 points of damage on a successful hit. She has modified the scorpion-tail’s spring mechanism so that she can fire the tip of the sword at an opponent within an unobstructed line of sight within 30’ (as if from a hand crossbow). This can only be done once per primer charge, which takes 10 minutes to rework through the spring- and cog-workings of the mechanism.
Leansethar’s Fury: At the cost of an experience level, her sword will nullify a demon’s Anti Magic effect within a 30’ radius burst of ghostly greenish fire for 3 turns.
Val'kira Armor: Battlecloth
“There was a rustle of cloth, and instead of hearing another, we heard an almost-metallic jingle -- not the heavy clangor of Varis or Ana’s coats of mail, but... I can only describe it as what theirs would sound like if a single breath could disturb the links. There was nothing unpleasant or jarring in the noise. It was almost... musical.
“[We] turned to see the girl clad in what appeared to be another gown. But there were differences -- the front bodice looked to be adorned with row after row of decorative vertical seams. There was no neckline -- the girl’s throat was enclosed in a high collar. From a distance, she would simply appear to be dressed in the high Thyatian formal style.
But no Thyatian had ever worn a dress that gave off a metallic whisper.”
-- Druid Thorn, winter of AC 997
Battlecloth is a weave of synthetic fibers lining a nanometallic core, making for armor equivalent to chain mail no heavier than a thickly woven sweater of dense wool. While not entirely suitable for use on the battlefield, the material was routinely worn at public functions where regular armor would be -- to say the least -- out of place.
Val’kira Armor: Bracers and Circlet of the Heiress
Val’kira crafted two pairs of bracers, one of silver, one of gold, each spun in swirling, delicate traceries of seemingly molten metal. At first glance, it seems impossible that they could even support their own weight and keep their shape, yet they have turned aside countless Afridhi swords and spears, been bathed in dragonflame and rimed with the blackest ice from within the Fusion Boundary, survived the millennia to the present day without a scratch, score or scorch mark.
Matching the bracers was a circlet, crafted in the same fashion.
Worn together, the set functions as bracers of protection +3, with a continuous protection from normal missiles effect surrounding the wearer. The bracers or circlet alone only function at a protection +1 enchantment.
The bracers and circlets have mountings for ornamental gems, and the girls were never seen in public without trace of either the circlet or bracers. Only the Regent, and a handful of wizards knew their true purpose, and only the Fetch knew of the deeper purpose for which Uther had them crafted.
Rather than set them with routine gemstones, the Fetch had the small cache of dragonstones passed down through the Royal Family cut and grafted into the bracers and circlets, shrouding the twins in layer upon layer of some of the deepest magics known in the land.
Copies of these bracers are part of the soulbound-clones, both reinforcing their inherent protective magics, and keeping their power levels restrained for use among mortals.