DariusSolluman/MorgulBlades
In quite a few pieces of well known literature, the Bad Guys use weapons which will inevitibly slay those struck by them. I like this plan.
Further, with Lookshy getting such neat toys, shouldn't the dead? :)
Screaming Blades\\ Artifact • to •••
My master mansion has many workshops. Down some, you will find the Smelting rooms; those passages where dead souls who refused to serve Oblivion are no longer given a choice. They are reborn as the black metal soulsteel, and then wrought to new and wonderous purpose. Many of these artifacts are the tools of the Deathlords, or their servants, the Abyssal Exalted. However, some are instead placed in the hands of other servants. Nemesaries and deathknight, rogue Gods and corrupt men. For them, the Screaming Blades are forged, an alloy of true metal, brass and soulsteel. The weapons are forged from the souls of the newest dead, and quenched in the blood of unborn babes. The rage felt at those who never had their chance at life infuses the weapon; they seek to drag all others into death with them.
A Screaming Blade can take the form of almost any other, normal weapon. They are heavier than normal, however, and so impose a -2 to Speed and a -1 to Accuracy, but deal +2 Damage. More importantly, however, are the wounds. Wounds opened by a Screaming Blade remain raw and open and bleeding. They are far more likely to become infected- but few die from illness. Instead, shards from the sword burrow slowly through the flesh of their victim, eventually piercing the heart.
For an Artifact • blade, the victim rolls 2 dice of unsoakable lethal damage a week until dead or the shard is removed. For Artifact ••, the victim rolls 2 dice a day. For Artifact •••, it's 4 dice a day. The damage is inflicted at the same time of day as the wound was first struck. Furthermore, normal healing is impossible while the shard remains. Magical healing can restore the lost health levels, but will not normally remove the shards themselves- although Charms which will cleanse a system of posion will render them inert. Alternatively, a doctor can attempt to remove the shards; they roll Intelligence + Medecine, at a difficulty of the Artifact's level +2. Failure to remove the shards deals a level of lethal damage to the subject.
The blades themselves are no more noisesome than any other weapon- their name derives from the awful death cries given by those struck by them. Many of those slain by a screaming blade linger as ghosts; some seek vengence, only to learn that a Screaming Blade will pierce undead flesh again, and drag them screaming to Oblivion.
