Elfwrought Magical Sword

Burning Wheel Modifications, Hacks and Expansions
1

Help,

one of my players characters has come across an Elven magical sword. I haven’t got the faintest ideas what to do with it!

Here is what is known:

  1. Its a superior quality elven sword; the blade is preternaturally sharp and has a large red ruby near its hilt.
  2. The sword was won in a duel against a fallen elf swordsinger.
  3. It has been established that the sword has a mind of its own, and that it will try to connect with its handler. The knight has already lost a contest of wills and forgotten the episode.
  4. The knight handed the sword to an trollblooded wisewoman, she instantly recoiled as it mind made contact with hers-- but, she was able to give its name “Kalibans bitt” ~ Norwegian for ‘The Bite of Caliban’.

The knight, Gesler Storms, is a household knight of the royal house in Twiburg. Little is known of his family, or rather, his own mother suppressed the horrible truth: his familys honour was irrevocably tarnished when his grandfather turned tail and fled from an important battle. Gesler is on a quest to restore his family name to its former glory.

You can assume an archetypical, in a DnD sense, fantasy realm. Dwarves are fairly well represented in human society, elves are all but unheard of. Recently, in the black march to the east, the players witnessed a horrible lich rise to power- they failed to prevent this- the lich has summed an army of undead whom march toward their nations capital.

[HR][/HR]

So,
there are some very clever people on this board. I’d appreciate a brainstorm, ideas, mechanics, experiences, or inspiration. I can imagine the sword as a personality, perhaps a fullblooded NPC; I imagine something overconfident, shark-like to its behavior; would love to see this represented somehow.

regards,
Ken

NB: If this is in the wrong forum, I apologize. Please move to the correct place.

2

What is its curse? All good enchanted swords have a drawback too.

Will it cause you to slay your kin? Does the sword possess you? Mechanically these can be expressed by artha rewards if you follow “fate”.

3

Perhaps the sword “curses” you with the Grief attribute? It is elven, after all… and I agree, any powerful item should be double-edged (pun intended). :slight_smile:

4

If you want to capture the feeling of elven magic, make sure you’re using the rules for enchanting that elven characters follow–Antiphon Union. It is an enchanted elf-blade, so that means it was made with a combination of Riddle of Steel, Antiphon Union and at least one spell song. The trick is determining which spell songs fit the bill.

If the blade has some sort of evil associated with it, perhaps it is a dark elf spell song (from Path of Spite)?

5

+1 for Antiphon Union; I was going to suggest the same. If you’re looking for the sword to exert its will, give it a Will. And a Persuasion score. And Beliefs and/or Instincts (in other words, if it’s going to be important, make it an NPC). And challenge the player to a DoW or Versus Test when one of the sword’s BITs comes into play.

As far as curses, look in the Magic Burner for information about cursed items.

Heck, make it Spiteful, like Thor suggested.

6

Indeed, give the Sword Beliefs of its own. Give it a Will and at appropriate times, perhaps it can try to Possess the wielder. If it beats the wielder, than the wielder needs to take on one of the Beliefs as his own. There was a rule for this in one of the books… Blossoms, perhaps?

7

The Possessed trait, from the Inquisitor LP. The possessing spirit gets Beliefs and Instincts, and whenever they come into conflict with the character’s there’s a versus Will test.

I like Kublai’s suggestion of treating the sword like a possession. Make that elf-song useful and the character will be reluctant to part with it–even more so if it’s Cursed per the Magic Burner.

8

Check out the sword Tyrfing from Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks. In particular when she opens the barrow of her father to retrieve it and accepts the conditions that the ghost tells her the sword bears.

9

I’m a player in the campaign, but we try to be open with the disclosure, so it’s better to bud in and then get yelled at to stay away. I reckon!

I have researched it (whether it’s 100% or not, we don’t know - but we succeeded in both the research test and the horoscope for the Sword)!

We got to know these things:

  1. It was forged in the First Age (we’re currently at the dusk of the 2nd?) and probably by the God Okus hand. (Oku was the troll who stole all the Wisdom of the trolls and made them the stupid race they are today).
  2. It’s wielder must be prepared to battle against the Blade’s will
  3. The Blade’s path is, currently, on the side of Light (good) and is destined to be wielded for good in these end-times.

Also:

  1. The Sword may help the Wielder’s Sword-skill with 2D (at least when killing/attacking).
  2. The Knight Gesler refuses to part with the sword, and is always fondling it in it’s scabbard - without the knight noticing. This could off course just be roleplaying on part of the player, as I do the same with my magical staff, without me receiving any such instructions. An NPC (chronicler) did however react very much the same.
  1. It can hurt magical stuff!

We’re already talked about the Elves beeing spiteful - as they’re truer bastards than the common elfs we all encounter in our gaming. They’re however willing to make and honour deals, though the Stars foretell the deal that got us away with the princess to “bring ruin to us all!”.

I think BITS for the sword, the helping boost (one day it will not help, I tell you!) and the +VA(?) is cool. A troll-song or two, which must off course be unlocked could be cool. No, that’s no error - I mean troll songs (from Before).

10

The best way to represent “hurting magical stuff” would probably be to make it a Spirit Weapon.

11

Yeah, define “magical stuff” better. Magical Creatures? Yes, Spirit Weapon. Magical Spells? Imbue it with the Spell Breaker miracle. Magical Gear? Some sort of Destroyer trait.

12

Actually, given that it’s an elfwrought weapon…for spells I’d say give it Sow of Discord (the Spiteful song that acts as a Spell Interrupt and Distraction).

13

Even better!

14

I have been remiss in my duties as original poster, its not that I have avoided the thread, its just that in these busy days of exams and Yule tide celebrations, it has been hard to find time to construct a post that gives proper credit to the help given. Michael has outlined our current setting, it would not have come about without the insight and input offered by in this thread.

Increasingly I came to the conclusion that, though it was taken from an elf warrior, the blade itself was not created by elven hands-- the vicious hunger and alien intelligence contained within the sword is trollwroght, made at the height of their power, before the enigmatic figure, Oku, stole their intelligence, confiding them to their contemporary beastlike state.

To say the sword has an impressive ego is an understatement. It was created, by Oku’s hand, he a god amongst troll and men, and it carries a fearsome ambition: “To restore the intellect of the trolls, and to usher in a new age of Trolls”. You see, my players might not have realised yet, but they stand on a precipice of time, a new era is upon them; as they leave the age of heroes, what will come next, Dwarves, Elves, Trolls, Gifted sorcerers, or something brought on by the players?

Thanks for your help and comments everyone, they proved extremely helpful in characterizing the blade. Next session our good knight must enter a dreamlike journey, wherein he must match wit and will with ‘Kalibans bitt’, will he bargain, will he learn, will he, or it, become the master of their relationship? The next session prove interesting.

Ken

NB: Trolls a different in the setting. At one point they were able to interbreed with humans. Perhaps their current physical shells represent their repugnant ambitions made apparent as they lost their ability to reason?