Panath’s Thorn (Holy Dagger of Evil):

A greater Holy Weapon of Evil, Panath’s Thorn is one of the most treasured items of the church. If it falls into the wrong hands, the church will hunt anywhere to find it. It is said that assassins would enter the gates of hell to retrieve the dagger. This does not mean that an assassin or priest of Panath in possession of the dagger is safe either. Worshipers will kill each other for the possession of this powerful holy weapon. As a result, it rarely remains in the hands of anyone for more than a few months. If anything, the weapon has probably spilled more blood within the church itself than outside of it. Interestingly, most thieves, even those who worship Panath, tend to avoid it. Maybe it is all of the deaths of previous owners.

It is hard to know how old the weapon is. There are stories which appear to go back thousands of years describing weapons similar. The problem is that some of these stories appear to be contradictory and it is extremely hard to separate true from fantasy. In more recent times, a number of assassins and priests of Panath have had enchanted copies of Panath’s Thorn made using more conventional magic. Sometimes these are nicknamed 'Lesser Thorns.' There is a bit of inconsistency that while they look extremely similar to "Panath’s Thorn," some have completely different enchantments.

The "Thorn" is a large heavy bladed, Cinquedea style dagger. Triangular, it is twin bladed and comes to an extremely sharp point. The blade is made from a matt black metal and although the weapon is believed by most to be ancient, it shows no signs of rust or wear. The hilt is wrapped in black leather. On either side of the blade, there is the design of a leaf of the Panath Tree. As with most magical weapons, the dagger is extremely well balanced, equal to that of the finest Dwarven crafted weapons. While capable of being thrown, the dagger is not really designed as a throwing weapon.

As one might expect, Panath’s Thorn is a weapon for assassin. While most magical weapons with poison enchantments have a limited amount of uses per day, the "Thorn" has the ability to poison each time the blade penetrates the skin. The poison is similar to the one produced by the Panath Tree and has very similar effects. Libs become number when stuck and the target feels almost paralyzed. Often for an assassin, silence is more important than being unseen. Often one will not see what is going on right in front of one's eyes yet the sound of danger is less easy to overlook. Up to six times per day, the blade can be commanded to create a small globe of silence around the wielder. Duration is also longer than the normal enchantment. No noises will be able to be heard coming from this globe of silence including sounds of battle or the yelling of help of a victim. A more mundane ability of the dagger is that it cuts far deeper than a dagger normally would, equal to that of many sword. In addition, the weapon gives the possessor the ability to better resist magic, horror, and poisons themselves.

Basic Statistics:

Damage:

Weight:

Length:

Bonuses:

Powers:

Virtually indestructible and never dulls
Glows with a black halo of energy and registers as magic
Adds +5% to all prayers to one's deity.

Special Abilities:

Damage Bonus: Weapon inflicts 2D6 additional Damage (S.D.C. in S.D.C. worlds and M.D.C. in M.D.C. worlds).
Magic Bonus: +1 to save vs Magic (All), +2 to save vs horror factors, +2 to save vs poison and disease.
Poison: Has a paralytic poison which, unlike standard enchanted poison blades, has unlimited uses per day. Victims must roll to save vs nonlethal poison. Failure to save means the character's limbs become numb; reduce speed by 80% as well as attacks per melee, combat bonuses and skill performance by half.
Silence: Enchantment of weapon which when activated produces a globe of silence centered on the weapon. The globe of Silence has a diameter of 10 feet (3 meters) and has a duration of 64 melee rounds (16 minutes.) Enchantment can be activated up to six times per day. Effects are as per the spell except wielder does not have to concentrate on it and moves with the weapon.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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