Psyche, Soul and Fury

You reach out to touch the swords, but your hand encounters an invisible shield. You run your hand along it's surface, trying to find a break in it, but you are unsuccessful. Looking down at the paper laid across them, you can see arcane symbols tracing across the page, seeming to move of their own accord.

"So you're interested in those three, eh?" the elven woman saunters over to stand beside you. "I'm afraid they are never going to leave my tower. They are much too powerful and too dangerous to be allowed to just float around in the realm. Besides, it took almost 200 years of my life to hunt these three down and imprison them. I can tell you about them, though, if you wish."

A longsword of exceptional quality, this weapon handles easily and has a comfortable feel to it, almost as if the wielder had been using it his entire life. The blade is covered in strange runes which will glow with an aura of enchant/charm if detect magic is cast in it's presence. Otherwise, it is a rather ordinary looking blade . . . the hilt is covered in old, rough leather which is tied off in a knot just below the crossbar. There is a nick at the base of the blade, as if it once warded off a killing blow for a previous owner. All in all, it's just an extremely well-balanced, comfortable blade.

There is one big difference about this blade, however. It steals memories. Basically, Psyche was created not only to be an excellent fighting tool, but to be a spell storage unit for mages. Unfortunately, the creator was not able to fine tune it to the point where it would store only what he wanted . . . the blade was wont to take what it pleased. This meant not only spells, but other, more intimate knowledge, as well. This can be as trivial as where you left your towel to as important as the keyword to open all the doors in Myth Drannor.

In games terms, what this amounts to is this: If the wielder is a mage, he will awaken each morning to find a random spell missing from his memory. The sword will allow the wielder to know that the spell is not truly gone, but merely stored. Thus, the mage will have an extra spell to rememorize. The sword will hold a total of 20 levels of spells (i.e. 20 first level spells, 2 tenth level spells, 4 fifth level spells, etc.). Psyche will continue to absorb spells until it has reached it's maximum capacity. At that point, the mage must use the spells in the sword before it will begin absorbing more spells.

For warriors, Psyche holds the non-weapon proficiencies of previous wielders. The warrior will not loose his knowledge of his proficiencies except on a roll of 5% or less each time the sword is used. Psyche will hold 5D6 random proficiencies at a random rating. It will not let the wielder know that the memories are coming from itself . . . rather, if the wielder needs tracking, he will simply know what to do. This could be kind of disconcerting since he has never been able to figure out this stuff before, or it could just be a happy twist of fate, depending on your view. This also holds true for thieves and priests.

Now, for the downside. Because the sword stores the memories of others, there is a 10% chance each time Psyche is used, that the wielder will suffer a flashback from the life of a previous owner. The flashback is so intense that the wielder looses awareness of what is going on around him. There is also a 10% chance each time the sword is used that the wielder will permanently loose a memory (could be trivial, could be important). The flashbacks are so real and intense, that over time, the wielder will begin to have doubts about who he really is, eventually descending into a state of schizophrenia.

Also, Psyche is connected magically to it's sister swords, Soul and Fury. Psyche records the deaths of anyone killed by Fury and shows this death to it's wielder as if the wielder were killing the person himself. Psyche knows that she is being hunted by her sister and will do everything in her power to give her wielder the edge over Fury. In fact, she knows when she is getting close, and will begin making memories of Fury surface in the wielder's mind, showing people and places that Fury has been as well as contacts who have the knowledge to destroy her. The only way any of these three can be destroyed is by the cooperation of the Elemental Lords of Fire and Water working together to break the blades.

Psyche's Stats: Alignment: Chaotic Neutral Intelligence: 17 Longsword +3

Soul is a broadsword of deep silver metal, almost pewter-like in hue, with a purplish tinge to the runes which run down it's blade. The hilt is wrapped in black dyed leather and a set of small, blue feathers are tied to the crossbar. When held, it proves to be a light and easily wielded blade, but for some reason, you find that you do not wish to use it. There is an aura of sadness to the blade that usually bothers most wielders. If the blade itself is touched, it will feel warm and almost soft, like skin. Upon casting detect magic on the sword, it will glow with divination magic.

Soul was originally created in order to allow the wielder to gain some foreknowledge of the battles ahead, allowing him to figure out how to best prepare or how to avoid what could be major pitfalls. However, it turned out that it worked a little too well. The first thing that will happen upon picking up Soul is the wielder will be given vivid and accurate information as to exactly where and how he is going to die. The sword does not give any time frame (this enough to disturb most normal people sufficiently). Now matter what the wielder does to avoid this fate, it will occur.

The major powers of Soul are it's divination abilities. It can be invoked once a day to cast Foresight, Vision and True Seeing, twice a day it can cast Clairvoyance and Clairaudience, and three times a day it can cast ESP. These are controllable and operate as stated in the Player's Handbook. The added effect that it has is the wielder will begin to have precognitive dreams which always relate to the wielder somehow and, again, no matter what actions are taken, the event can not be avoided. Lastly, the wielder is cursed by the ancient oracle's fate: If he tells anyone about what he has foreseen, no one will believe him.

Soul is connected to Psyche and Fury magically: Anyone wielding Soul will feel the death of Fury's victim as if he suffered the blows himself. Soul knows that Fury hunts it and will take every opportunity to find a way to transport itself and it's wielder to another plane or crystal sphere in order to elude it's mad twin.

Soul's Stats: Alignment: Neutral Intelligence: 14 Broadsword: +3

Fury is a bastard sword of brightly shining, deadly honed metal. It feels quick and light in one's hand and the wielder knows almost instinctively that with a bit of skill and luck, he could decapitate a dragon with this weapon. It's edge is clean and bright, nearly glowing in the dark and blinding in sunlight. The hilt is bare metal engraved with rose thorns and a sawvine pattern. Runes seem to almost slide down the blade, trickling like the blood of the defeated. If detect magic is cast upon it, the blade will glow with alteration magic.

Fury was created to give the wielder that extra edge in battle. In effect, Fury can be invoked to cast Timestop, Vanish, and Tenser's Transformation once per day, stoneskin, Fireshield and Haste twice a day, and Strength, Jump and Slow three times a day. It also grants a +3 bonus to the wielder's strength and dexterity scores as long as the sword is in his possession. (This can put the wielder's scores above the racial maximum.)

Unfortunately, since Fury was dedicated entirely to battle, this is the only thing that matters to it. If given a situation where the wielder may either fight or flee, the sword will always force him to fight. After awhile, the wielder will become numb to the deaths of others. Given more time, he will begin to revel in it, seek out reasons to kill. "Only the strong survive" begins to take on a whole new and deeper meaning to the wielder. Only one thing consumes Fury more than bloodlust: the need to hunt and destroy it's sister swords, Psyche and Soul. It hate's it's sisters with a passion, viewing them as weak and pitiful creations which should be destroyed. Fury always knows where it's sisters are (in general, it knows what direction to go to reach them, not the exact location) and will seek to hunt them down at every opportunity. Fury will destroy everything in it's path to find Psyche and Soul and destroy them.

Fury's Stats: Alignment: Chaotic Evil Intelligence: 14 Bastard Sword +7