Unicorn RampantClaw / Claw / Bite magazine & Tabletop Role-Playing Games

Oct 19th The Sword of War

Aryte Majak, or the Sword of War, is an artifact created when Malthalious the Inquisitive attempted to craft the ultimate weapon. A demon’s spirit infused the blade and now it lives for war.

Aryte Majak, The Sword of War – Heroic Level
The blade of this sword appears to be made of some type of smoky glass or crystal. The intricately carved iron hilt and pommel are covered with tightly packed mystic runes. As it is raised to strike a strange green glow gleams from within.
The Sword of War is a +2 sword. It can take the shape of any type of sword, depending on its wielder’s preferred weapon. By default it is a long sword.
Enhancement: Attack and damage rolls.
Critical: + 2 d12 damage.
Property: You gain a +2 Fear bonus on intimidate checks.
Power: (Encounter, Fear): Standard Action You can use Cause Fear (Cleric Attack 1) as an Encounter power. The attack roll is Wisdom bonus + 1/2 level + the sword’s enhancement bonus against the target’s Will defense.

Goals: Ayrte Majak’s only purpose is to wage war. The demon within this blade revels in the deaths of mortals, and only on the field of battle can its thirst for blood be properly slaked.

Roleplaying the Sword of War
When Ayrte Majak speaks its voice can be heard in the mind of its wielder, or the one it intends to be its wielder. Those nearby may hear a low, rasping whisper, but the words are difficult to make out.

Ayrte Majak is new to the world, but it burns with the desire to kill. Having seen the carnage of the battlefield it knows in its soul that it must taste the joy of that slaughter again. The Sword will ask, or failing that, compel, its bearer to go forth, raise up armies, and lead them into battle.

Possession (At-Will, charm): If Ayrte Majak’s wielder is not complying with its wishes, it can use its powers of possession to force the wielder to act. Any time Ayrte Majak’s wielder disobeys its commands it can make a +10 attack against the wielder’s Will Defense. A hit indicates the sword takes control of the wielder’s actions (save ends).

Fated Blade (At-Will): Once the Sword of War has chosen a bearer, it has the power to place itself in their possession. Leaving the sword behind or giving it away result in it simply magically transporting itself back in their scabbard, or the next time they draw a weapon they mysteriously find that it is the Sword of War.

Concordance
Starting Concordance 5
Bearer recruits for war +2
Bearer dismisses troops -2
Bearer engages in a battle involving at least 20 participants +1
Bearer engages in a battle involving at least 40 participants +3
Bearer engages in a battle involving at least 80 participants +5
Bearer spends a week not actively engaged in warfare -2

Pleased (16-20)
“More souls for my thirst! Charge!”
Enhancement bonus and Intimidate bonus raise to +4, critical becomes +4 d12.
The Sword’s Cause Fear power becomes an At-Will power.
The Sword’s acid power becomes an Encounter power.
The Sword’s Possession attack becomes +8 vs Will.

Satisfied (12-15)
“Ahh, the bload-soaked fields. This is what is good in life!”
Enhancement bonus and Intimidate bonus raise to +3, critical becomes +3 d12.
The Sword gains the following power: Power (Daily – Acid): Free Action. Use this power when you hit with the weapon. Deal an extra 1d6 acid damage, and the target takes ongoing 5 acid (save ends).

Normal (5-11)
“These skirmishes will never do… we must wage WAR!”
Normal powers as listed above.

Unsatisfied (1-4)
“We must raise an army and destroy our enemies!”
Enhancement bonus drops to +1, Intimidate bonus drops to +1, critical becomes +1 d12.
The Sword’s possession attack is raised to +12 vs Will.

Angered (0 or lower)
“Die at his hand that I may drink fresh blood!”
Enhancement bonus drops to +0, Intimidate bonus drops to +0, critical becomes +0 d12.
The Sword’s possession attack is raised to +14 vs Will.
Any time Ayrte Majak’s wielder encounters a warrior who could wield it the sword will make a Possession attack against the wielder’s Will Defense. On a hit the wielder will be forced to attack the target. In this way Ayrte Majak hopes to be transfered to a more warlike bearer, once they have defeated its current wielder in combat.

Moving On
In the hands of someone who persistently refuses to wage war, Ayrte Majak will force its bearer to challenge those they encounter until they are struck down and it had a new hand to wield it.

Redemption
If the sword is made to suffer, perhaps by being imprisoned, and then used in a just war, it can then be redeemed and turned from an instrument of slaughter into one of good.

Aryte Majak in your game: The Sword of War is meant to be a recurring NPC in a long campaign set in a war-torn land. During the story the sword changes roles from villain to victim and then to hero. The sword’s character and path explore the theme of an individual’s relationship to war.

First it comes into the player’s possession and forces them to wage war against their will, or to go to excess in the name of war. Eventually it is taken from them and they see it several more times on battlefields, or hear of its exploits, and it continues to menace them. Later they learn of its imprisonment and eventually even have a stolen moment when it eloquently pleads with them to free it: it was built to wage war and is tortured by it’s inability to do so. Finally, they realize that they need its power to defeat a dangerous general who is marching on their homes on the field of battle. They rescue it and it takes on a heroic role.

Background: This sentient weapon is the result of a wizard’s attempts to create the ultimate weapon. The reclusive sage Malthalious the Inquisitive, who discovered the mixture of diamond and adamantium from which the sword is made, forged it and was imbuing it with magical powers. An evil spirit, a balor fiend of possession, heard of the weapon and attempted to steal it. A group of heroes foiled the demon’s theft and slew it. The incomplete sword was a perfect receptacle of malevolent destructive energy, and was made sentient as the dying fiend’s soul entered the sword in desperation. As the two fused, the descruction of the balor’s body in the demi-plane where Malthalious lived caused the sword to be flung through the spaces between the worlds. It emerged two generations later on a field of battle where two armies were readying to fight over the scraps on the once-great nation of Soguer.

Now it is the cause of strife and war wherever it goes. It raises it’s owner’s personal ambition to the level of madman, and then often leaves them dead on the battlefield, to be itself carried off be their slayer.

Eventually during the course of these wars the sword fell into the hands of a tyrant who was able to establish dominance over the northern remainder of Soguer: Muret, Oleander, and the mountains. From his position of strength this follower of Hextor began to fortify and build his kingdoms up. Believing the Sword of War to be his symbol of power, and fearing that it would be stolen and that he would be defeated, he had a special vault built for it from whence it could not escape. At that point Aryte Majak became the unwilling victim and prisoner of this strong-willed tryant, and his purpose of waging war was stymied.

Later Aryte Majak is rescued from his imprisonment by a group who need its power to wage an important war or fight an important battle. A rogue general is marching on and pillaging the player’s king’s lands, or perhaps an army of the dead. During this time, the sword shines as a hero – striving with it’s rescuers to defeat a horrible evil in battle. In this way, by first having suffered itself, and then fighting in a just war, the Sword of War may be redeemed and a new purpose found: to fight for good and freedom against tyrants and those who would slaughter for power.

Encounters with Aryte Majak
Finding the Sword on the field of death – 5th level encounter, xp 1000

In this encounter the party comes upon a battlefield where all are dead except the wielder of the sword. He attempts to press the party into his service and, if they refuse, attacks them.

Description: Walking through a wood on an overcast day, the sound of crows ahead is muffled in the gray light. Coming out of the wood, a battlefield stretches out before you, covered with the dead and dying. One single surviving soldier sits in the middle of the field of corpses, his head hung low, a strange sword held limply in his hand.

At the sound of your approach he look up, and then jerks to his feet. He raises the sword above his head. In the dim light its blade seems to be made of some type of smoky crystal. As the man begins to speak a greenish light can be seen within the sword’s strange blade.

“Good, more recruits! Come, swear fealty to me, for you shall be the start of my new army! Now that I have the sword, we shall crush all that stand before me!”

If the players refuse, the soldier will make one more attempt to intimidate them into service

“As we joined battle against Lord Steig’s men this sword appeared in a flash of flame in the middle of the battlefield. I knew right then that it must be mine and that I would carry it to victory in battle. One of Steig’s men picked it up, but was quickly cut down by one of our pikemen. Their footmen took it back, but I ordered our archers to shoot them down. Man after man kept taking it, until I finally cut the last of them down and took it for myself. I have defeated all who stood before me! It is my destiny to conquer Lord Steig’s lands, then then all of the surrounding lands, and then the world! You shall join my forces or you shall also die!”

Any reaction other than offering themselves as his vassals results in the maddened soldier attacking the party.

Mad Human Veteran – level 5 Solo Soldier
Medium natural humanoid – XP 1000

Initiative +2 Senses Perception +2

HP 192; Bloodied 96
AC 25, Fortitude 19, Reflex 17, Will 19
Speed 5
Action Points 2

The Sword of War – (standard melee; at-will)
+12 vs AC; 1d10 + 7 damage (+3d12 on crit)

Soldier’s Fury (standard; at-will)
The soldier can make 2 basic attacks.

Combat Challenge (at-will)

Alignment Evil
Languages Common
Skills: Athletics +10, Intimidate +12

Str 19 (+6) Dex 16 (+5) Wis 10 (+2)
Con 13 (+3) Int 10 (+2) Cha 16 (+5)

Equipment scale mail, large shield, Aryte Majak

Tactics: The soldier will simply attack the nearest enemy, laying about with the Sword of War until all are slain or have submitted to his leadership. He will fight to the death.

Development: If the party manages to defeat the soldier they should take Aryte Majak with them. If they decide to leave it behind the Sword will magically place itself in the possession of the strongest warrior in the group.