Troll's Wife

Hugh has enchanted a long-hafted bearded axe as his talisman. He calls this Troll's Wife, in deference to a Northern tradition to name an axe after a fearsome monster. Only the

haft has been enchanted, allowing the blade to be unimpeded by Magic Resistance. The weapon is beautifully made: the head is made of steel with an iron edge, and inlaid silver depicts mythological scenes of heroes slaying dragons and giants. The haft is made of holly wood, perfectly sized to Hugh's height and reach, and bound in bands of brass. It is carved with horses, eagles, and wolves. Near the axe head are six inlaid discs, three of amber and three of bloodstone. This weapon was made personally for Hugh at great expense, and is of excellent quality (see City & Guild, pages 69–70), granting a +3 to Attack and Defense rolls when using it. The weapon otherwise has the statistics of a pole axe.

Troll's Wife was opened with 12 pawns of vis (the highest cost component is the tiny semi-precious gems near the axe-head), and currently has no room left for further effects as Hugh has not chosen to increase its space just yet.

Attunements

• +3 Corpus (amber)
• +4 blood and wounds (bloodstone)
• +4 demons and angels (brass, from Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults, page 137)
• +7 harm or repel faeries (iron)

Wood that Neither Bends Nor Breaks

MuHe(Te) 14

Pen n/a, constant effect

R: Per, D: Sun, T: Ind

The haft of the axe becomes as hard as iron, and is virtually unbreakable by mundane means.

(Effect: base 4, +2 Sun; Modifications +1 2/day, +3 environmental trigger)

Fell the Faerie

PeVi 23

Pen 20, 6/day

R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind

This effect is triggered when the wielder of the axe says "ferrum et fraxinus" ("iron and ash") when striking a creature with the haft; but it only affects entities with Faerie Might. If the effect penetrates, the creature loses 15 Might.

(Effect: Base 5, +1 Touch; Modifications +10 Penetration, +3 6/day)

Hew the Hell-Beast

PeVi 23

Pen 20, 6/day

R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind

This effect is triggered when the wielder of the axe says "os et orichalcum" ("bone and brass") when striking a creature with the haft; but it only affects entities with Infernal Might. If the effect penetrates, the creature loses 15 Might.

(Effect: Base 5, +1 Touch; Modifications +10 Penetration, +3 6/day)

MuVi 28

Pen n/a, 24/day

R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind

This effect is automatically triggered when the wielder says the word "acuere" ("be sharpened!") before triggering another enchantment in the talisman that has a unmodified level (that is, excluding Uses per Day, Penetration, and so forth) of 10 or less. The Penetration total of the target effect is increased by 10, which is a total change of effect. This effect can only increase the Penetration of an effect in the item, or the Penetration of the item itself.

Hugh invested this effect because when he first created many of the effects in his talisman he was unable to give them a particularly high Penetration total. This effect makes up for that deficiency, even though it adds an extra round to the activation of these effects. It is more economical in terms of enchantment costs than reinvesting the effects he has currently.

(Effect: Base 15, +1 Touch; Modifications: +5 24/day, +3 linked trigger)