Garrett's Swords

I thought about Garrett as I went to dinner tonight. I wanted him to have something of a hook beyond just "swordsman" and it goes perhaps a fraction of an inch beyond that designation. Garrett collects magical swords. See, that wasn't so far. Garrett's swords, however, should be unique and interesting. A +5 flaming burst giant-bane mighty cleaving bastard sword is beneath his notice, despite its market worth. Garrett always has access to at least two of his swords. We all know he uses the little girl as a scabbard (well, I know and you would too if I ever told you) but the sword she carries is not one of them.

The sword Garrett usually carries at his hip is a completely invisible and silent blade (no clanking or bumping into things to give it away). I have not yet decided if it is ever visible (such as becoming visible when drawn). The inspiration is a magic sword called the Sword of Lyons from an old adventure module. When the blade was sheathed, both it and the bearer were invisible. When drawn, both it and the bearer became visible. Good sword for bodyguards. Perhaps Garrett's is the opposite. While sheathed, the sword is invisible but when drawn the bearer is invisible while the sword is visible (creates the appearance of a dancing weapon effect). But I do like the idea of Garrett wielding an invisible blade. And, as added in the comments, the invisible blade is a dancing weapon. Garrett "pretends" to draw a sword and takes a few practice swings, secretly activating the dancing property. He then draws anther sword to start the fight and catch his opponent flat-footed and unaware.

Another sword usually sequestered upon Garrett is his chain sword. He typically keeps it miniaturized in a glove of storing. With a snap, the long rapier appears in his hand. By pressing a concealed button on the hilt, the blade comes apart into dozens of razors held through the middle by a metal cord (the cord is usually wound tight within the crossguard thus holding the various razors together in a single sword blade). While thus extended, the sword acts as a bladed whip studded with razors along its length. A second press of the button rewinds the cord taut, but the razors do not fit perfectly back together. Instead, each is arrayed in its own rotation, turning the original twin-edged blade into a sort of stick with edges on all sides. In this configuration, the sword acts as a shredder that Garrett draws across his opponent. It is all but useless for hard strikes and thrusts with the point (the wire is taut but lacks the strength to present an actual cutting edge and the many orientations of the razors means the sword bends or creases at a thrust) but the wounds caused by dragging the blade across flesh are deep and wide and bleed profusely. A third press of the button tightens ancillary wires that run alongside the main cord and realign the razors into a single blade once more.

The final sword that Garrett always has access to is a knock-off version of the Pureblade. I see it as a black blade with fiendish connotations. It has the ability to travel through dimensions and across planar boundaries. As Eldric can summon the Pureblade to his hand from anywhere in existence, so can Garrett reach into a tear in space and time to emerge with the black blade in hand. This is his ultimate weapon; the blade's dimensional properties do not end with being always at hand. Just like Linedwell's Shakhal, the black blade can strike through folds and tears in space so that Garrett, thrusting at you from the front, will strike you in the back, or the side, or from above, or below, etc. It is all but impossible to defend against the black blade because it is constantly moving in and out of folds in space, i.e. it is not displaced X feet and moves accordingly like a displacer beast; rather, it blinks around like a blink dog, ceasing to be here and suddenly being there without traversing the intervening distance. Needless to say, it can impart such mobility unto its wielder as well (blink effects, dimension door, and cross-planar travel).

Those are the hidden blades of final resort that Garrett possesses (with the chain whip sword being the most likely to find use and the black blade being the true weapon of last resort). He of course has dozens of other magical blades with which to challenge the party.

• A sandstone blade that absorbs water and dessicates flesh.
• Himura's Justice
• A sword that, upon killing someone, causes a huge eruption of blood from the wound that envelops the victim in a blood golem
• A sword that causes wounds that teem with vermin
• A sword that can shape the earth with a swing (creating an earth wall or a rock spike)
• A coral sword that allows you to breathe underwater
• A sword that causes its victim to change color on every strike.
• Blood Hunger - a sword that causes bleeding wounds and allows the wielder to scry on the last creature injured by its blade (think Sword of Omens' Sight-Beyond-Sight).
• A sword that's blade looks like links of chain; when it strikes a creature or surface, the link that hits magically attaches and more chain links appear from the hilt as needed until the blade strikes a second creature/surface or the wielder wills it to stop; this allows the wielder to strike a creature, then strike a wall, and thereby leave the creature attached to the wall by a length of magic chain