Blood-Metal

The Bane of Living Creatures

Written by Mlawt

The point on his pick sizzled, it hummed throughout the hilt, reverberating with every heartbeat of the Beast. She felt it. Its echoes. Its warmth. Blood of her blood. Metal borne of her bone. She knew little terror such as she witnessed before her and that is why she struck so violently. Terror.
A great mass heaved into him and he was flung through wood and brush. Thunderous, frantic crashing followed. Crack! Whist-- Thud. Thoom! Thoom! Thoom! Poison seeped into the air from the Beast's nostrils, a gale beat from her wings, tearing through the undergrowth. Bleeding, dazed, staring through half-lidded eyes, he gripped his war pick, steeled himself, and planted a knee into the ground, foot bearing into the thick of the trunk he laid upon. He was resolved. This blood was his strength. The pick thrummed violently, pulsing loud enough to hear.
She could not know her own rhythm over the Blood-metal. Nor would she ever. She swept through the underbrush, a wild wind wending through the wood. Too late she witnessed him.
The Knight's muscles tensed, his form prepared, every fiber in his soul heaved forward. With great discipline and fervour his arm came crashing down. A snap, then spider-like splintering until scale gave way to skin and flesh to gristle and gristle to muscle and muscle to bone until every inch of the Blood-metal was slickened. The metal breached her scales, singing as it pierced into her being. As she faltered, it rejoiced in its returning.
She wailed. She reared. She secreted the air to her breast and it became Death. He raised the pick again, slashing into her belly. Flesh popped. Venom burst forth. Gas flooded the woods, thick as fog. She gasped through beleaguered breathes. Her legs turned, she shuddered away. His eyes melted away in the toxin, ears and mouth bleeding, every pore shredding itself apart in the onslaught. With one last great heave, he threw himself onto her, clutching the handle between burning palms.
The last thing that eye saw was the gleaming point of the Dragonsbane seeking home. A faint pop, spurt of blood covered his face, then a snap as the weapon embedded itself into her skull.

Utility

Blood-metal is the weakness of any creature whose blood is the target of its creation. It acts as the antithesis to the creature, defined by its unique soul, destroying its physical shell completely. Developed as a weapon of war, it is extremely dangerous in a weapon let alone an army of Blood-metal weapons.
Blood-metal weaponry must be made with the intention to destroy a particular creature or race, as such an "orcslayer" sword will only be a normal blade to humans, but the bane of any orc. Indeed, this was their original purpose. It acted as an intense poison to those it was intended to destroy: even the slightest touch would decay the flesh and burn the body. As such, it was most prominent in weapons, placed on the front lines and distributed to a civilizations greatest warriors. Running into an enemy with a Blood-metal weapon spelled certain death for all but the most skilled warriors.
However, there were more devious methods of utilizing the mere threat of Blood-metal; luckily few, if any, ever made it to light. Trade caravans seeded with particular Blood-metal, hidden within modest and expected goods, could easily target specific peoples within empires. The potential to poison thousands. Spoons made with poisoned metal, tools with toxic straps, counterfeit coins falsely exchanged.
As a material, it was worth its weight in gold. As a technology, it was capable of toppling empires.

[1] Ed Greenwood, City of Ravens Bluff. 1998.

Inventor(s)

As far as it's known, blood-metal is a legendary feat of a fallen dwarven kingdom. None realize it is the product of brilliant forgemasters of multiple clans working in conjunction against a common terror. Though that ancient empire fell and as it did, scores of dwarves retreated across the land, seeking refuge where it could be found. So it is, a few remaining who knew of the technique lay buried beneath The KRVE. Perhaps the secret lay with them, if not with their bodies, then surely their ghosts.

Access & Availability

As of now, the technique to create blood-metal is forgotten, lost to time, having died with its dwarven inventors. Few if any knew the secret to create Blood-metal, and of those all of them were dwarves of the same clan. The dwarves never shared their secret with outsiders, even their own kin.
Still, in a valley as ancient as The KRVE, there are rumors of blood-metal weapons and caches scattered in the deep. In addition to such rare artifacts, "-slayer" weapons are said to be made from a similar technique.

Complexity

No one quite knows the method to create blood-metal, but some believe the metal must be enchanted. Some claim the weapon is a simple enchantment, but the means of enchanting "-slayer" weapons seems to elude all society and peoples. Some claim, the blood of dozens must be poured into the forging process of the metal, however, blood sacrifices are common in cult rituals and still no blood-metal has formed. Rather, it seems there is a rare component needed along in conjunction with esoteric rituals and powerful enchantments.

Discovery

It's said that when the dwarves originally invented blood-metal, they sought the destruction of orcs that threatened to take their residence from them. In response, the dwarves created a means of infusing metal to cause the death of any creature and as one scholar put it: "run in waist-high riot across the land." ^[1]

Related Materials

• Bloodstone
• Slough Scale