Broken Blade

This shattered tip of a blade is engraved with the sigil of a strange creature like a many-antlered deer, and seems to be made of solid shadow.

Keywords: Magic

Crafting: Cannot be crafted.

Awakened: While you carry this blade, any creature who damages you is marked for revenge until the end of your next turn or until another creature damages you. Any strike you make against a creature marked for revenge deals extra damage equal to your highest characteristic score, and whenever you damage a creature marked for revenge, they are also bleeding until the end of their next turn.

Transformed: Each creature who damages you is marked for revenge until the end of your next turn. Whenever you damage a creature marked for revenge, they are also bleeding (save ends).

A hero seeking justice begins the campaign with the broken blade, the shattered tip of an elven longsword. The blade is engraved with the sigil of a strange creature like a many-antlered deer, and seems to be made of solid shadow.

Unbeknownst to the hero, the blade once belonged to Erevan Löwenhart, a shadow elf noble and talented swordsman who used the brush stalker as his personal sigil. However, Erevan refused to pay tribute to King Barov von Zarovich, a powerful warlord and the father of Strahd von Zarovich. Rahadin, Erevan's son, helped King Barov crush the shadow elf resistance. Rahadin then broke Erevan's blade and personally executed Erevan and his family as punishment for his defiance.

The hero who possesses the broken blade should have strong, vivid reasons to pursue justice for persecuted people, and to believe that the blade will one day deliver vengeance to the traitor who destroyed its original keeper.

Developments.

• In Arc A - Escape From Death House, when it senses the presence of Death House, the blade emits a high-pitched hum and begins to tremble violently, spinning like a compass needle in the direction of the house.
• In Arc B - Welcome to Barovia, when Rahadin, Strahd's chamberlain, arrives at the village of Barovia to deliver Strahd's proclamation, the blade emits a high-pitched hum and trembles violently, spinning like a compass needle in his direction just as it did upon sensing Death House.
• If the hero shows the broken blade to Rahadin, he at first claims to have no memory of it, noting dispassionately the thousands that he has slaughtered. However, in combat, Rahadin eventually comes to remember the blade's origins, dismissing it as "the shattered toy of a weak and worthless man."
• In Arc E - The Missing Girl, if the hero shows the blade to Kasimir Velikovche, they mournfully recall its history, ask the hero how they came to possess it, and wonder aloud if more shadow elves of Erevan's house might have survived Rahadin's slaughter outside of Barovia. Wisps of shadow rise from the blade like smoke, and the blade becomes awakened. If the hero is a shadow elf, Kasimir greets them as family.
• In Arc P - Ravenloft Heist or Arc T - The Three Fanes, when the heroes (permanently) defeat Rahadin, the blade becomes transformed.