Items · Melee Weapons · Magical
The Starsword
Once the dead walked upon the Barrow-Downs and protected them and, to some extent, the nearby towns as well, for few dared to burgle or rob, let alone murder, by night when the wraiths stalked the streets, but then when an act of demon summoning went wrong, everything changed for the worse, and the Starsword was created to fight the forces of the dark.
Full Item Description
The Starsword is a broadsword of steel with a hilt encrusted with moonstones and rubies and fitted with a glowstone that will light the way in the deepest darkness, even if the darkness is magicly created.The magic within it makes it as light as a shortsword when used in combat.
History
Barrowtown was built amongst the barrows of long past where at first many feared to tread, for it was known that wraiths flitted by night amongst the barrows. In time the city aquired two powerful wizards, Andre Pretorious and John Gonville. Unknown to the citizens, Pretorious practised black magic as a sideline. One of these dark spells proved fatal when he summoned a demon who's name in human speech translated to Doomsday.
Something was wrong with his summoning circle and it did not protect him from being torn into bloodstained pieces.
The demon Doomsday met with the powerful wights of the barrows and partly persuaded them to lead their undead armies from the Otherworld and conquer the human world. But only partly, for rather then commit their full strength they prefered to test the strength of the humans with partial attacks.
Yet even these were very nearly deadly for those humans who fell to the blades of the undead at once rose again and fought against those who had been their friends and comrades. In desperation the survivors turned to John Gonville as their last hope. Gonville was a man of peace who hated war and combat and had allways refused to create magical weapons, but he knew he had to act, for if Barrowville fell to the undead, then the dead lords might decide to throw their full support behind Doomsday, and if that happened, it was likely that there were not enough human warriors to defeat such mighty undead forces.
Yet he still beleaved that life was sacred, so he created a magical sword that, whilst it would strike down the most mighty demon or undead thing, would do no harm to the living, although it would parry blows from the living.
He had it forged of the finest steel, with moonstones and rubies and a glowstone set in the hilt, and he cast his most powerful magic upon it, and gave it to the Sheriff of Barrowtown and told him what to do.
The Sheriff went out and badmouthed Doomsday in front of the very undead lords and kings that he was trying to win over, calling him a coward who could not defeat a human in a one on one fight. Rather then lose his prestige, Doomsday came out to fight, wearing a body made of different parts in various stages of decay, with his claws and a sword from a barrow as his weapon of choice.
The fight was long and the Sheriff was injured badly, but he won the fight and Doomsday's foul body was hacked to pieces and his spirit shredded into nothingness. With Doomsday gone it was possible to arrange peace terms with the undead lords who much prefered their own realm of the Otherworld to the human one, and the danger was over.
The Queen of Vallermoore heard of the Sheriff's bravery and summoned him to her capital to be knighted, but he and the few who rode with him were ambushed in one of the mountian passes by bandits and cut down, for the Starsword would not injure his human attackers. After finding the Starsword to be useless to them the bandits sold it to an unsuspecting noble and the weapon vanished.
Magic/Cursed Properties
Against Undead, the bigger they are, the harder they fall, for the weapon will do great damage to undead flesh, bone and spirit, no matter how powerful the undead thing is. If used for too long the blade's magical power may weaken, but it will strengthen again after a few hours without being used.
Against living people/creatures, it will only parry or block blows and will do no harm, because the wizard who made it beleaved in the sanctity of life. So it is certainly not meant for the average barroom brawl and will be of very little use against living attackers.
Scrolls
Twists, chapters, and details meant to stream with the submission — not general discussion.
No scrolls yet — leave one if you have a twist worth keeping.
Sign in to plant an idea scroll.
Award XP
Enjoyed this? Sign in to thank Cheka Man with blade clashes — 5 XP each, up to 25.
5 10 15 20 25Sign in to award XP.
Discussion
Reader talk, questions, and feedback — not scrolls.
No comments yet — be the first voice in the hall.
Sign in to join the discussion.
Other takes
No other takes yet — the best compliment on the Citadel is a Retelling.
Bonds
Curated bonds across the Citadel. Kindred Favors are another thread in the same weave.
No bonds yet.
I see plenty of different parties here, but I have trouble with the motivation.
Why did the humans build Barrow town in the barrows that so many feared to thread?
What made them understand that it was safe to build a town here,(assuming it was, but then again it turned out it was not.) Why did the undead only walk the streets? Did they really need a demon to tell them that they could attack the living if they wanted too?
Why attack at all if they did not aim to get the job done?
And then John pops up, from where?
Who is he?
Later on the queen of VallerMoore arrives on the scene, who is she? Is VallerMoore the land in which the barrows lie? What do the Moonstones do?
Ah, so many questions.
To sum it up a little. I like the idea, but I don't think any of the involved parties have any real motivation. Make me believe it.
I am not convinced when you say that-
'The Sheriff went out and badmouthed Doomsday in front of the very undead lords and kings that he was trying to win over, calling him a coward who could not defeat a human in a one on one fight.'
What kinda demon is this, why didn't the undeads simply kill this human?
Why did the demon care about loosing his honor? I did not think honor was among a demons greatest feats...
Anyway I'm going to hold my vote. Let us see what the others think of this.
I don't think so but I could be off the mark.
Sincerely, Mike.
You do have a point, it probebly needs editing.
The Barrow-downs are a place where the Otherworld and the world of the living intersect.The undead lords of the Otherworld were not very intrested in conquering the human world until Doomsday persuaded them it was a good idea.As to why they didn't kill the human on the spot, they wanted Doomsday to do it to prove he was as ready to fight as they were.
Ok. That explainins a couple of things. But the reader does not know before it's in the post.
So, I'm looking forward to the update.
I'd best hold my vote then,but even as it stands,it's still worthy of a solid three. Not bad,all things considered.
This is one of my great ideas, but badly done.
Sometimes things don't come out exactly as we had planned them. It happens to us all and I have personally had many such experiences. The only thing that helps is to continue working on it until you get it right.
Good luck Thomas! Never give up!
Agreed, it's not bad, not bad at all. As Maggot said it is a pretty solid three as it is.
But it could be better, and I would love to see it edited.
Post on.
I'll edit it soon to make it make sense.
Just my holding vote. If you ever update it, I will follow up.
Here's my holding vote as well. Let me know if you update it and I will update my vote accordingly.
An decent item, though what does it specifically do if you make an earnest attack on the living? Bounce off?