Leger de Main-Gauche
'Odd style, you present yourself with.'
'Yes indeed, it suits me well enough.'
::lunge:: ::parry:: ::cross:: ::reposte:: ::parry::
'Strange you lead with your dagger, yet you attack in defend with your right...'
'I'd honor you with a flourish from my left but that would hardly be fair...'
'First blood it is, on guard!'
::advance and lunge from quarte::
::parry and counter from back-hand tierce, advance and a sidestep on-the-pass::
::pivot with left, and a mezzo-caviozone from low guard::
'my blade?!?!?!?'
'First blood? Better to have your neck than your pride'
Maestro Frascheta closed his eyes and nodded 'It is true, you sir I mind not losing my pride too. But how did you manage that manuever, stepping inside my thrust while your left remained at your side, I relized not your flourish before your blade rest upon my nape.'
'Ahh.. that. T'is your eyes that decieve you, my blade was at your throat before you raised your guard.'
Solid in construction, and utilitarian in design, the blade is no doubt meant to be of use and not as a decoration. The blade and guard both show considerable wear in the form of nicks and scratches and a few small gouges. The blade seems to have more wear on the sides than the blade, and the basket is littered with small detents and scarring, which would be typical of a parrying dagger; however, all damge is cosmetic and does not detract from the obvious craftmanship.
Other curiosities of the blade is that it does not share the common hallmarks of a normal fighting dagger, firstly the blade runs perpendicular to the guard, whereas on most daggers the blade runs squarely edge to guard, the blade on this weapon is exactly roated 90 degrees from such. Following the blade downward is a large half-basket hilt, with several ball-studs down its face, obviously inteded for blocking or punching. The blade itself is quite broad and very thick as well, though it does not seem to be overtly heavy, it has a fair amount of mass to it. About the blade is engraved 'Those who look before they leap' on the front, 'Fall before the jump' on the back The blade is sharp on both right and left, but not enough to draw blood from a touch except near the tip.
Magical Properties:
The magic of this weapon is disorientating to the wielder, the wielder's opponents, and vexing to onlookers. Without understanding the magic of the blade, fighting with it is interesting to say the least, and stranger still once accustomed to it. At first swordsmen may not think anythign is out of the ordinary, but that somethign is amiss with their or their opponents style.
However, the magic is of the weapon is easily ascertained with a simple trick. If the wielder tosses the dagger from one hand to the other, he will see what he would normallly expect, when doing such a thing, any observers will observe somethign else entirely. For they will see the dagger moving through the air laterally and caught in hand, seemingly propelled by magic, and then a moment later will see the dagger thrown fromt he originating hand and towards the second hand, already holding the dagger, the two daggers become one. Various other effects can be accomplished depending on the speed of the throw, and the ranges involved. When seen it is quite amusing, if not spooky.
The true magic is what lays behind the phenominon. For to all observers it seems that the blade strieks before it actually hits. Ie steel on steel noises preced a block, and a spurt of blood precedes the stab, any action in fact seems a moment before it really should. In fact what is occuring is the exact opposite, the blade and the wielder's arm are effectively invisible and an illusion of the blade+arm a fraction of a second ago is what observers witness. The wielder is visually unaware of this phenominon. Whether the effect was intentional or a failed attempt at invisibility, it isn't really important, what is important is the remarkable effectiveness it bears.
One can imagine all sorts of uses, a dagger that appears as if it is sheathed is in fact drawn and thrust before the victim could see it being removed fromt he sheath. They experience shock and suprise as they are stabbed from a man with his weapon holstered, and parry an attack that has already hit home. Similarly a feint a moment ago will be seen shortly later and the following action will be taken totally by suprise from the defender.
How this translates into game mechanics is up to the individual GM, but I suggest penalties worse than invisibility or atleast until the defender recognizes he is being duped. Remember, an invidible sword still shows the arm and fist swinging, where this blade gives no such warning, instead the fight tempo, and any telegraphs fromt he wielder are the important things.
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? Responses (12)
Wicked!
There is no warning of invisibility, as the blade is there for all to see...
A nice idea... I cannot decide whether to rate 5 or 4, and thus (as I will use it :D)give a 5
Luckily for me as a GM , the player who recieved it is a fairly principled individual. And he earned it, this was no treasure item, but one that was won in combat.
Also, I suggest if a GM has invisible villans or weapons or whatever, I reccomend that mages, druids, etc have a sort of magic sixth sense or that they can see the threads of magic. Warriors may have a sort of sixth sense, or strictly in the realm of physical reality, it is likely the wielder will give other visual tells, such as body movement, proximity etc. An experienced warrior might sense somethign amiss even if he can't 'see' exactly what is up.
Just a few thoughts.
As I understood it, it only masks the movements of the one arm, so that the body stance and sound might give it away.
As for seeing magic - check the GURPS advantages of Second Sight and Awareness, as well as spells Mage Sight and Mage Sense.
A very perceptive individual might see flaws in the illusion and discern it as such. Everything manmade is flawed, after all.
GURPS have such inelegant and technical names for their skills. *goosebumps*
I have an utter love for Fencing blades. Your score is high just for that.
This is one of those great magic items that you are not quite aware of. Nothing flashy, but totally effective.
I also love the write up. That is what made it for me.
I love it. I never woukd have found this if I wasn't working on my next project.. Kudos this is a wonderful idea and done very well to explain the complexities of using it.
I use a skill based system in which a single strike can kill a PC of any skill. While I certainly see the potential of this post, I do think the weapon would be terribly unbalancing, at least in my system.
Actually a similar weapon of my acquaintance did not unbalance a GURPS game it was used in. That is a skill based system as well. The illusion was simply an increase plus that can be distributed to either defend or attack (Invisability in close combat provided a -5 MOD, to hit. So this provided a 6 pts worth of mod, either as minus to hit the subject and plus to hit the subject distributed each round).
Well, consider another Skill based system: Rune Quest.
This weapon would appear to be striking on a different Strike Rank (SR) than is actually the case. What then would the consequences be?
1. The defender would be unable to parry or dodge, at least they would get massive penalties.
2. The attacker would get massive bonuses on their chance to hit the opponent. Why? Because the opponent would be a sitting duck.
Combine 1 and 2 and you get a massive advantage in that system.
Other than that: Yes, it is all a matter of implementation.
Excellent.
And with my current infatuation with Chivalry - Medieval Warfare, where timing is critical, this blade would be absolutely lethal. Even the slightest advantage in timing is devastating.
this is neat one, i really liked the teaser story ::drew me in::