```col-mdflexGrow=2.5===# Outline## Players Information A player may learn of the Broken Blade legend in any one of three ways:1. If he is present at [[landmark/the-stone-hammer|The Stone Hammer]] on a night the Brotherhood congregates, and inquires about what is going on.2. If he is a dwarven fighter of 6th level or above and spends more than one day in [[settlement/the-dwarrow|The Dwarrow]] (in this case, one or more of the Brothers will contact him)3. If another dwarf has already been "selected" as the bearer of the sword (a 5 in 1000 chance), whereupon news of the upcoming expedition to Arkendelve will be all over [[settlement/the-dwarrow|The Dwarrow]], and volunteers for that journey will be actively sought.The legend told to the players will follow more or less the same form, regardless of its teller."In the olden days, the underground city of Arkendelve was a great bastion of dwarven might, the source of rich metalcrafts of all types, and of magical weapons of valor. Of these latter, none were greater than the weapon that was passed down through the many generations of ruling Princes of Arkendelve, the blade known as Waarhite, the Singing Sword of Truth. Yet in time, the blade surpassed the valor of its wielders. So it was that a century ago, Prince Argavi (the 17th Master of Arkendelve) shattered the sword in despair, after watching his two older brothers become undone by the harsh truths the blade revealed of their own weaknesses of character, and of a grim evil that had begun to grow beneath the earth.“A few years later the shards of Waarhite were banished from Arkendelve, for they were said still to haunt Argavi with visions of a future he could not face. Nodri the enchanter brought the Broken Blade to Haven, and thus, on a dark night some twenty years later, did a seer and oracle hold the pieces of the blade in his entranced fingers, and beheld a horrific vision - of an immense and silent stalker in the halls of Arkendelve, able to change form at will, a beast that could flow into any sort of matter, be it flesh or stone, and rend apart its very essence. And still in the trance, the seer spoke, in a voice totally unlike his own, "So shall it be, 'til the dwarf be found capable of re-forging the blade of Truth. He will be pure of heart and mind, a common and decent man willing to let the sword guide his course - and the sword will pulse with life when in his hand. Until he is found, all is lost, for naught but Waarhite can stand against the dissolutive powers of the beast, nor strike the blow that renders the beast assailable by mortal man."Most (though not Nodri) thought the seer mad, and his words were soon forgotten - until fifteen years ago, when all news of Arkendelve ceased, and no delve-wares came to Haven. Some remembered the long dead seer then, and still more remembered when an expedition and then another - went to Arkendelve and never returned. [[person/coppin-oxblood|Coppin Oxblood]], son of Nodri, went through his father's possessions, and found the broken blade, along with a scroll which set down the exact words of the seer - and began his quest to find the one dwarf destined to re-forge and use Waarhite."Any of the Brothers (or a common citizen, if the chosen one has been found) will willingly relate this tale to a visitor to the city, for they are always anxious to have additional people searching for the chosen one. If a dwarven character is a veteran fighter (6th level or above), he will be invited (or implored, if he is initially unwilling) to test the blade. If a dwarven character is of good moral character, but not an experienced fighter, the only Brother who would willingly contemplate putting him to the test would be [[person/sikki|Sikki]] and the test would even then have to be made in a very careful and surreptitious manner.## GM's Notes The seer's vision is true in all respects. Arkendelve has fallen to this stalker, roused from the depths of the earth by the ever-deeper excavations of the dwarves. The stalker appears in the form of an immense fifteen-foot-tall amorphous mass of earth and stone. The stalker can restructure its form to deal with its foes, shaping itself into long appendages for pursuit, or increasing its mass to form a veritable battering ram of force. Most importantly, it is able to alter its molecular structure when it has an object in its grasp and infiltrate the being's own form. Once it has violated a form in this matter, it can tear the body apart from within (a fatal attack from which there is no defense). The being can be struck by normal weapons but since there is no way to deliver a critical blow to this ever-shifting mass, little of the damage done is lasting. A magical weapon will do lasting damage, but only Waarhite can freeze the being into the form it presently occupies and make it vulnerable to normal attack.Without Waarhite's special powers the last two expeditions were slaughtered to a man. The corridors of Arkendelve are now filled with the stalker's animated minions, which are of three basic types:1. Small [[person/creature-of-earth-and-stone|Creature of Earth and Stone]], which function as rather slow bare-handed fighters (packing a reasonable wallop, but likely to be shattered to pieces by a good blow).2. Distorted [[person/creature-of-flesh-and-bone|Creature of Flesh and Bone]], vaguely recognizable as their former dwarven identities, but with misshapen hunks of rock and mud jutting out of their joints or oozing from their eyes and mouths. They retain some instinctive memory of their former fighting skills and can use weapons. Their new form provides them with a natural AC of 6. There is a 20% chance that one of these creatures is one of the Haven dwarves who went on the prior two expeditions, and recognizable to the Brotherhood. Anyone fighting against him must make a CON save to avoid violent revulsion (-2 to HP for duration of the melee)3. Inanimate objects, such as weapons, chairs, plates, bowls, etc., which have been invaded by the stalker's consciousness, and are capable of limited movement, all of it malevolent in nature.The GM should treat the first two classes as semi-intelligent monsters (fight with very little strategy, may retreat if being badly beaten), and the last as non-intelligent nuisances.If a dwarven fighter of 6th level or greater grasps the sword (which is kept behind a secret panel in [[landmark/the-stone-hammer|The Stone Hammer]]'s private meeting room), roll a d100. - **00-05** : the blade with glow brightly, revealing the holder to be the foretold heir.- **06-25** : the sword will flicker briefly, then fade. Though this will thrill the uninitiated (including, perhaps, the player), it holds no significance and the response will never be duplicated again.- **26-90** : nothing happens- **91-00** : the righteous power of the sword will be too overwhelming for the holder, and he will lapse into unconsciousness. For a lengthy period after this experience, he will be bothered by this contact, and respond to crisis situations indecisively (-2 initiative for 1d4 weeks.It is rumored by many in [[settlement/the-dwarrow|The Dwarrow]] that [[person/nithri-griffinrider|Nithri Griffinrider]], the reclusive mercenary who has refused to touch the blade, is the chosen one. If he can be made to grasp the sword, there is a 5% chance it will respond to him (of course, if it doesn't, there is a much greater chance that Nithri will respond rather unkindly to those who forced this confrontation upon him). If by chance a commoner without fighting experience is brought in contact with the blade, there is a 15% chance the sword will come to life. It should be noted however, that Coppin and several of the other Brothers are violently opposed to allowing such un-worthies to be tested, so that engineering the test should be a fairly difficult task.``````col-md**Locations/Start** - [[settlement/the-outlands]]- [[settlement/the-dwarrow|The Dwarrow]]- [[landmark/the-stone-hammer|The Stone Hammer]]- Arkendelve **Key Participants** - [[organization/brotherhood-of-the-broken-blade|Brotherhood of the Broken Blade]]---### World Anvil Metadata**Id:** 4db0d0e3-3179-4e90-855f-ad252b32b4c5<br>**Entity Type:** Article / plot<br>**Category:** Haven Encounters and Scenarios<br>**Tags:** FCoH-plot```