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Tellin's Fishing Rod

By MelWong

Tellin's Fishing Rod</i>\\ Artifact ?\\ Moonsilver ... uh. Fishing rod.\\ Speed +4 Accuracy +3 Damage +2L Defence +3 (without Magical Material bonuses)\\ Requires: Dexterity ??? MA ??? Commitment: 3

Among the furred, fanged, scaled masses of the Lunars in the Bordermarches, tales and gossip circulate of the No-Moon Lunar, Tellin Moon-Scaled. Once slaveborn gardener-boy to the corrupt Dynasts, he tended the noble lady Cynis Athera's exquisitely manicured garden until his Exaltation, where he slew his mistress and most of her bodyguard and fled by the waterways until his mentor found him with the Wyld Hunt two steps behind him. Since his initiation he has kept to a nomadic, loreseeking life, giving rise to many strange tales in his wake. Among them are the rumors that he has a <i>fishing rod made of solid moonsilver.

Those rumors contain a grain of truth, for the boy-Exalt, a carp-totemed sorceror, is most often found by riverbanks, seemingly angling for fish. He may occasionally dispense tidbits of choice knowledge to companions he may meet, in his own cryptic way, or he may smite them with curses depending on his strange inner logic. Either way, Tellin is considered an eccentric even among the Lunars, who know strangeness more than any other due to their close association with the Wyld lands.

In truth, his fishing rod is not solid moonsilver - rather, the rod itself is made of flexible black bamboo stolen from the depths of an Eastern shadowland, chosen from a stand of death-bamboos on the guidance of the strange, ancient snapping turtle familiar, Okamek, who once sat by the elbow of his First Age incarnation and waxed fat listening to words of wisdom.

For it was ever Okamek's purpose to outlive its owner, his lifespan having been augmented by strange sorceries and Wyld energies, and upon his master's death, watch, wait, and carry his lore to a young, worthy Lunar, and even now he tutors the child-Exalt in ways of sorcery lost in this benighted Age, carried at the side of his current master in a reed-basket as would be used for keeping fish fresh-caught by the rivers.

The black, lacquered bamboo of the fishing rod is inlaid with fine lines of the mecurial, silvery metal to accentuate the natural joints of the bamboo stem and add strength and flexibility to the original material, and the triple-barbed hook and strong, fine line are in fact forged and woven of moonsilver.

The handle is made from the end of the bamboo pole itself, carved with intricate rhythmic patterns for a satisfactory grip and coated in a honey-brown substance that is actually the hardened, slightly tacky sap of a tree that grows in the east.

That sap is often employed to prevent implements from slipping in the hand, and in other cases, used to make light bouncy balls for children to play with. The float appears to have been carved from a very light, but hard wood, as opposed to the normal cork bark float one would use for a fishing rod like this. There is a single hearthstone setting right above the grip of the fishing rod.

What few know is that this is more than a bauble - Tellin is quite capable of both catching fish for his dinner and entangling opponents with that rod and line of his, and the flexible, malleable nature of the moonsilver line ensures that whatever he catches (either in the water or on land!) stays caught without breaking free.

In addition to attacking ordinary targets, Tellin's fishing rod can also be used to entangle a foe in its line. Also, in addition to being able to use the rod to perform stunts involving grabbing onto, swinging, and pulling objects, the line can also be used to perform clinch and grab maneuvers. These are otherwise normal clinches or holds, save that they can only use the user's Martial Arts (rather than Brawl) and that they can be done at a range of up to three yards. Tellin's fishing rod can also be used by characters on foot to attack mounted opponents without penalty.

Tellin's fishing rod also adds a +3 bonus to Survival rolls made for fishing, if the rod itself is used during the attempt.

It takes 3 motes to commit to Tellin's fishing rod.

Comments?

I like it! It seems to cover all of the obvious rules questions, and is generally a very neat toy. I don't have my books handy for comparison, but while Artifact 1 does seem pretty fair, I expect it's a pretty strong Artifact 1; it does all sorts of neat stuff, and the ranged grapple seems pretty unique. - Quendalon

re: Strong Artifact 1?\\ I actually stole the ranged grapple from the fighting chains in Castebook Night - the only official Artifact with that ability would probably be a Lightning Chain, but I didn't want it a lvl 3. Tellin's Fishing Rod could probably be a lvl 2, but it also seems a tad too weak for lvl 2 going with the stats for construction that D. Elizabeth Brooks posted. - MelWong

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I like it. Also, you did quite well with the wacky Wiki stuff, despite what you said over on RPGnet. Mostly I just like the idea of ensnaring somebody with your magic fishing pole, and like Quendalon said, you covered the main rules questions. - AliasiSudonomo

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This artifact amuses me. Very fun, very interesting character story. But I'm with Quendalon: make it artifact two and up the damage by one. Keep in mind that with the MM bonus, it's Acc5, and ranged grapples are -wicked- evil, used properly. -- DODurden