Fluff help with cursed weapons

[BassWave]

Greetings traitors! I'm writing a short story and the main antagonist is a Slannesh Champion who wields a cursed sword. The back story on him is that he is a master swordsman and dedicated himself to slannesh, but because he thinks he's a good looking guy already, he did not want any of his patron's "gifts" marring his visage. So he had a sorcerer curse his blade so that any "gifts" Slannesh would bestow on the Champion, it is instead given to the sword. Now there is a catch (of course there is, its chaos), but the problem is I'm having trouble to come up with a catch for my protagonist to exploit in his duel with the champion. The end result of the catch being exploited will be that the gifts all get transferred back to the Champion at once (very painfully I might add). Any thoughts on what the catch should be?

[RolandTHTG]

The blade is broken.

It was the Item holding all these "blessings" and once the container is destroyed, all the blessings returned. Maybe a jewel or part of the hilt, if you don't want to be the actual blade.

If you can get the Black Crusade RPG, I know there is an Item you can get that adsorbs some of your corruption (stat that determines when you are blessed) but if it is broken, it all affects you at once. So basically what you want to have affect the champion. Unfortunately I don't have access to my book right now.

[BassWave]

I've thought about that but isn't that pretty much impossible if its a power weapon? I was thinking more in the lines of, since he's a master swordsman, if he gets hit a number of times, the sword's curse is lifted. BUT at the same time your idea would still work if it was a power weapon as the protagonist is an Iron Hand, and if anyone knows there way around dismantling technology it would be them.

 

Okay guys, you get the choice of either telling how one would get around the power field (hitting the off switch is not an option ;)), or a different way to reverse the curse, go!

[Kristoff]

Why not simply have it so he has to hold it in order for it to retain the gifts. If he is disarmed or dishanded, wielder becomes Spawn (or something).

 

OR the wielder has to kill with it regularly, and in a different method and style each time, in order to keep using the blade. This forces the swordmaster to come up with new ways of executing his opponent or loose his good looks (or become Spawn, and not the cool dude with the cape).

 

As for breaking through the power field, it's not on all the time, it has to be activated. Disarm the person, and it switches off.

[RolandTHTG]

Power-fields can be overloaded or wrecked some other way, but if the guy doesn't have some special weapon its not likely. I was thinking more in terms of a blade that is warp-blessed to the point of acting like a power-field versus normal armor/weapons, and even other powerswords, but some blessed (by good or evil, as I don't know what side your hero is one) weapons can neutralize the strengthening effect. I was just thinking because of the traditional story method of destroying the evil item, breaking the tie to the normal world.

The warp-holder could be some Jewel on the hilt, but I like the disarm thing.

Such as, If its not on him to take the blessings, and acting as a grounding rod for the warp powers, he gets the equivalent of a warp-lightning strike, as the sword is no longer siphoning off the energy. It makes for a more dramatic moment than my *shatter*, as the champ has that moment of looking at his empty hand. Though the horrified look could also be at broken item.

 

Do you want it to happen with your hero managing to out-duel the master swordsman (via disarm) or a desperate, last gasp strike by the hero shatters the blade/container, saving him?

 

The killing in new ways method, while it would be an interesting motivation for a character, is not something that can be applied while in a duel, especially if BassWave wants to have his protagonist remain alive.

[BassWave]

Alright its time for more details. The story I'm writing continues the story of Brother Godfried, an Iron Hand marine who will do whatever it takes to win a battle (check my sig if you want to read btw B)).

 

Basically when it comes to fighting against him, you are always fighting on his terms. If you expect an honorable duel, expect him to interrupt you when you are calling him out to a duel by throwing a dead body to distract you and land a quick finishing blow.

 

I don't plan on killing of Godfried in this story, as I plan to do a series. Basically he was going to be forced by fate to duel this Slannesh champion, and at first he has no option but to duel him normally, but the champion is quite the talker. He is so arrogant he tells him all about the sword he uses because he thinks Godfried won't be able to exploit its weakness...

 

As for the transformation itself, I was thinking a slow and painful transformation as he gets his gifts one by one, slowly destroying what the Champion was so proud of.

 

Do you want it to happen with your hero managing to out-duel the master swordsman (via disarm) or a desperate, last gasp strike by the hero shatters the blade/container, saving him?

 

It certainly won't be because Godfried out played the Champion in his own game as he is no swordsman, and it won't be a desperate last strike. I plan for it to be a tough fight at first, until Godfried finds something to mercilessly exploit. Disarming could work if I can think up a situation where Godfried catches him completely off guard, but that will be tricky.

 

Thanks for the ideas so far guys, keep it up! :cuss

[Kristoff]

Any ideas as to what Godfried will be armed with in this encounter, or other weapons that may be lying around?

 

I would imagine that a Melta or Plasma shot to the hilt would do a good job of wrecking a power sword or daemon weapon, as those weapons have a nasty way of dealing with matter of any kind.

 

For some reason, I was reminded of the Batman Beyond DTV movie, Return of the Joker. At one point, Batman realizes that the Joker likes to hear the sound of his own voice and mock his enemies, and that he likes to do the same thing, too. So, he starts mocking him, causing the Joker to loose control and end up causing his own destruction.

 

A little cliche', perhaps, but it's always hard to come up with something really new and completely original.

[Kristoff]

Any ideas as to what Godfried will be armed with in this encounter, or other weapons that may be lying around?

 

I would imagine that a Melta or Plasma shot to the hilt would do a good job of wrecking a power sword or daemon weapon, as those weapons have a nasty way of dealing with matter of any kind.

 

For some reason, I was reminded of the Batman Beyond DTV movie, Return of the Joker. At one point, Batman realizes that the Joker likes to hear the sound of his own voice and mock his enemies, and that he likes to do the same thing, too. So, he starts mocking him, causing the Joker to loose control and end up causing his own destruction.

 

A little cliche', perhaps, but it's always hard to come up with something really new and completely original.

[Possessed Marine]

perhaps if he got a powerfist & grabs the sword to snap it in half? just throwing out an idea.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

perhaps if he got a powerfist & grabs the sword to snap it in half? just throwing out an idea.

 

That was my first idea. Other, similar, concepts include:

 

- Godfried wields a thunder hammer. Hard to parry that with a puny little scimitar.

- If Godfried can disarm him in some way -- say, uses the interior curve of an axe blade to pull the sword from his hand, for example -- and then simply stamps down hard on the blade, snapping it.

- If Godfried uses a ranged weapon -- plasma pistol would be my choice -- and takes a snapshot at the Champ at point blank range, forcing him to use the blade to block the shot, resulting in very serious damage to the weapon.

[RolandTHTG]

They some how end up in the "staring across locked blades" position, when gottie glances down. The champ glances down and relizes that gottie's other hand is holding a plasmapistol, aimed at his chest and charging up. in the desperation move to avoid it/block it, the blade gets in the way...

[Kristoff]

Godfried swings low, intending his hammer to deliver a crushing his opponent's loins to open him up to a final blow. Quickly, <Antagonist> swings his Power Cutlass down to block the heavy blow. The inertia is too much, as the hammer shoves the cutlass up doubling the intensity of the blow. As the cutlass is pressed between the armor and the hammer, it is warped and a large, glowing gem is ejected from the weapon. As Godfried pulls his hammer back to set for one last blow, <Antagonist> begins to shake and shiver as paroxysms wrack his whole body. His flesh expanding, contracting, and elongating in quick pulses as warp spawned energies spread through <Antagonist's> body, warping and contorting it in new forms almost too fast for his Astartes eyes to witness.

 

Or something like that.

[Brother Nathan]

make him drop the sword, close face to face with blades inches from each others faces, the iron hand loosing to he reaches down and rather than punching his opponent he puls the pins either from his own grenades or his opponents... frcing hthe opponent to drop his blade and in a hurry throw the grenades away, just about succedes and realises hes dropped his sword as his laugh starts to warp then hands etc....

[Inquisitor Fox]

If you're wielding a thunderhammer, it's actually easier than that.

 

Don't break the sword, break the armor. Attack the shoulder plates, elbows, and other joints. If you bend the material of the armor, damage the servos, etc, you render the arms of the swordsman unable to move properly. This means the swordsman loses his ability to maneuver or fight well, and starts leaving openings that you can exploit.

 

Common tactic among peasants against armored knights or people in full plate. Maces can warp elbow joints and shoulders/pauldrons, which means the armored knight starts having issues, especially if they've been dehorsed.

[BassWave]

make him drop the sword, close face to face with blades inches from each others faces, the iron hand loosing to he reaches down and rather than punching his opponent he puls the pins either from his own grenades or his opponents... frcing hthe opponent to drop his blade and in a hurry throw the grenades away, just about succedes and realises hes dropped his sword as his laugh starts to warp then hands etc....

 

Sounds like something Godfried would do actually. Either he wins, or nobody wins. I like it :)