The Hellforged Vengeful Talons Of The Nemesis

The Hellforged Vengeful Talons of the Nemesis (Artifact •••)

Picture a weapon forged of shadows, alloyed with hate, cooled by lust, and sharpened by desire. Now picture a pair of them. For 3 years the deathlord known as the Nemesis Wrapped In Black Silk worked without stop in the deepest bowels of the Labrynth forging these weapons of pure hate. Not for himself did he forge them, for an ancient being such as himself needed no such toys. Not for some pet deathknight did he forge them, the Nemesis cared only for one person and he didn't waste time or effort on such servants. No, these were blades that he forged for his most hated of enemies, his most desired of lovers, the newly-reincarnated Night caste Lily. 3,000 years ago, the two danced around each other in a cutthroat, passionate, Machiavellian waltz of death, both peerless spies with rival masters. Just as the Nemesis was the personal retainer of the corrupt Speaker of the Deliberative, Lily, then the man known as Vincente, was the direct eyes and ears of the Unconquered Sun. As they worked to foil one another, they grew to both relish and loathe one another, until on one dark night a duel to the death became a passionate love-making session.

Such joy was not to last though. The Usurpation happened and the two hated rivals were separated, although both died. In the afterlife, the Nemesis, bereft of his greatest challenge, devoid of purpose, and filled with limitless rage threw his name into the Abyss, becoming the very first of the deathlords. For millenia, he sought a way to bring back his hated rival, that they might once and for all resolve who was the better and whom was but second-rate trash. Gladly did he arrange the deal with the Yozis, just as he gleefully sabotaged the skeletal behemoths efforts to steal all of the Solar essences. And when he finally found the new bearer of Vincente's shard, the young daughter of a Great Forks crime lord, his cold heart sank. She was naught but a mewling whelp, still suckled at her mother's teat. His vengeance meant nothing if it wasn't earned. Weeping ice cold tears that shattered like glass as they hit the ground, the Nemesis fled. He fled to the darkest depths of the Labrynth, determined. At first, his goal was simple. Craft a weapon of such power that she might prove a challenge to him. But in his darkest of hearts he spawned another, much more wicked, plan. He would craft a weapon that would not only make her formidable, but would serve to taint and corrupt her. That would blacken her soul and shatter her good intentions. First he would best her in mortal combat, and then she would beg to serve him, to have him transform her into his own personal deathknight. Oh how sweet that would be. As a man possessed, the Nemesis began to pound away within his hellish forge...

Mechanics: The Hellforged Vengeful Talons of the Nemesis is a pair of soulsteel sais, Artifact rating 4.

Spd +3 Acc +3 Dmg +3L Def +3

They were designed with 3 purposes in mind. First, they were forged in such a way that they functioned as essence batteries, sapping essence from slaughtered foes to feed the wielder's combat charms. As such, every time one of the sais strikes true, it drains an amount of essence equal to the wielder's essence. Each dagger can store within it up to 5 essence at a time.

Second, they were forged to make their wielder in to a heartless, brutal killer. Once attuned, and while they are "active" (see below: Disadvantages), the wielder's compassion is dropped to 1 for all intents and purposes. By the same stroke, however, the wielder's conviction is effectively doubled, again for all intents and purposes.

Third, they were designed to be absolutely merciless, killing weapons. Once they have inflicted a wound that has done at least one Health Level of damage, the victim suffers extreme blood loss, taking damage every 2 rounds unless treated by a Wits + Medicine roll, difficulty 3. The final benefit to these sais is that so long as they are wielded, all opponents are at a +2 difficulty to hit their wielder.

Disadvantages: When the Nemesis forged these sais, he imbued within them of some his own dark, animal hunger and lust into them. As such, these cursed blades come at a cost.

First, they are so evil, such an affront to the glory of the Unconquered Sun that by the light of day, the weapons become cowardly shadow tattoos, hiding deep within the sleeve of their wielder. So long as any form of sunlight is present (the Zenith anima flare also applies but not the other Solar castes') the sais transform into tattoos on the arm of the wielder. They squirm uncomfortably when exposed to direct sunlight but otherwise are not affected. Once night falls, or if exposed to true darkness (such as a lightless dungeon), the tattoos slither along the arm until reaching the hand and transforming into a pair of large, savage-looking, silver and black sais. Their curse is more sinister than that though. The daggers were designed to transform their wielder into a merciless killer. To reinforce that, the dagger punish their wielder for every night that human heart's blood is not spilled. For each night that the wielder fails to kill someone, the sais lose a mote each. If empty, the begin to suck essence from their wielder. Although a nightly loss of 1 essence may not seem terrible, the daggers will also not transform into the physical incarnations without heart's blood being poured upon them. Lastly, each night that the possessor of the tattoos fails to quench them in blood once they've lost all their own personal essence, he must make a Temperance roll to resist succumbing to the bloody urges of the sais. Difficulty 1 for the first night, 3 after the first week, 5 after first month and for each successive month.

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Comments

The bleeding power is pretty meaningless, since bleeding characters lose health levels "every several minutes," not on a turn-to-turn basis. It is not a big deal that Angelo needs to wait 3 turns to make his roll to stop bleeding, unless you're using house rules in which characters bleed really quickly. I recommend making this power last for a period measured in scenes or days, or (probably better) until all wounds inflicted by the weapon have been healed.\\ _Ikselam

First, I gotta say that I love the story. Really nice. Mechanically, are they 3 or 4 dot artifacts (it says 3 in head, 4 in text)? And what is the commitment? Also, can the Exalted use their power to stop bleeding with a thought against these Sais? Perhaps with a much greater difficulty? Also, having them useless by day could be something of a disadvantage, after all they still have to commit the motes during daylight - could the bearer perhaps pay extra essence to use them during the day? And lastly, doubling conviction takes it out of the mechanical range of the rules - I'd just increase it to 5 (which still makes the bearer the hardest, most ruthless person on the planet). - Voidstate

So from this discourse I see these are to be used on me? o_O

"It is not a big deal that Angelo needs to wait 3 turns to make his roll to stop bleeding..."

Should I be scared Sig?

~ MageDragon ~