After venturing into the countryside, the party is approached by a galloping centaur. He is wearing a cowboy hat and a red bandana. In his hands, he holds two fiendish-looking daggers with their blades pointed upward. If your party reacts to his advance, expecting an attack, the centaur will slow to a trot and insist, from a distance, that he means no harm.
When he reaches the party, he says, “whoa there, girl” to his lower half and comes to a halt. He says his name is Texxus, and he is a rancher and shepherd for the nearby cities. Whenever Texxus talks, it’s important to note that he is in complete denial of his “centaur” status. For example, he will comment on how he would happily dismount and get on the party’s level, but that he’s a very busy man and can’t waste any more time. Also, he will whisper commands to his lower half as if it was a horse that he was riding.
Texxus begs the party to help him out with these two daggers. He explains that, if he releases the daggers or stashes them somewhere, they will become “alive”, magically zip around through the air, and cause unspeakable havoc to everyone and everything around him. The only way that these daggers can be controlled is if they are consistently held by someone with a pure and noble heart.
As his arms quiver from exhaustion, Texxus whines that he can’t do this alone any longer and needs someone to share in his burden. Once he does pass them off, he insists, they can all work together to find a proper way to destroy/exorcise these cursed blades.
If one of your party members agrees to take on the burden, Texxus will go to hand off the blades to them…
- If the party member has “a pure and noble heart”, then the daggers will be kept successfully subdued so long as they are firmly held.
- If the party member does NOT have “a pure and noble heart”, then the daggers will start to audibly cackle in anticipation, prompting Texxus to pause and ask if someone else in the party can offer to hold them instead.
Once he has passed off the daggers to one of your party members, Texxus will turn and make an attempt to dash away, galloping at a 60’ speed. He will call back, “Thanks, buckaroo! They’re your problem now!”
If, somehow, your party is able to successfully grapple and capture Texxus before he escapes off the map, then he will tell you that he can’t take the daggers back now because, after that last stunt, he’s no longer considered as having a “pure and noble heart”; he’s just a sneaky, yellow-bellied good-for-nothing.
If your party decides to test this theory, the daggers will, again, start to laugh in eager anticipation as you go to hand them over to Texxus. If the daggers are ever handed to someone of a more “unsavory” character (like Texxus 2.0), then they will begin thrashing about, dragging the wielder with them until they are relinquished.
Play the Hand You’re Dealt
The party is now the not-so-proud owner of the Deuces-Wild Daggers. While a player holds this pair of daggers, they cannot do anything else that requires the use of their hands. Here is what they can do:
- Slash with the daggers, each dealing 1d4 slashing damage
- Use a bonus action to cast the “vicious mockery” cantrip through the daggers, dealing 1d4 psychic damage
- Drop the daggers. If they do this, the daggers will begin to cackle maniacally as they come alive and zip around through the air, causing mayhem. The daggers can either cause harmless fun, like slicing off belts and pantsing people, or deliberately cause damage indiscriminately to whoever is around. The daggers will need to be caught midair using a sleight of hand check or something similar to stop their antics. If the party tries to drop the daggers in a location and leave, they will find that the cursed objects follow after them, continuing to zip around through the air.
- Stash the daggers. If they are placed into any bag, the daggers will slice through the bag and escape, damaging that bag and causing its other contents to spill out. If the daggers are placed into another canister/container of sorts (wood, steel, etc.), they will chip away at the sides until they can escape. If they are placed in a different dimension, they will disappear for about 1 month in game before, at a random and inopportune time, come sailing in and attack your party.
Go All In
To remove the daggers’ curse, the party needs to meet with a high-level cleric or wizard in one of the nearby cities. When the magic user begins chanting to lift the curse, the daggers start to feel very warm in the player’s hands. Instead of cackling, the blades will begin to grumble irritably.
Then, suddenly, the holder of the daggers watches as the world around them dissolves into an inky blackness, the chanting of the cleric getting softer and softer until that too disappears The player feels the daggers pull from their hands and fly off into the darkness. Now, a light comes up in the distance exactly where the daggers disappeared. Two devils sit on the opposite side of a card table lit by lanternlight, laughing and beckoning to the player to approach.
Each devil challenges the player to a game. If the player wins a game, then the curse is broken for that particular dagger.
- Devil #1’s Game: Blackjack. The player rolls a d20. After the roll, they can choose to “stand” if they are satisfied with their score, or they can choose to “hit” to roll another d20. After the player is done, the devil will do the same. If the player gets a higher score than the devil (without going over 21) or if the devil “busts” by going over 21 himself, then the creature will give a languished cry before getting pulled away by an invisible force into the dark surrounding void. Devil defeated.
- Devil #2’s Game: Poker(-ish). The player and devil take turns. During each turn, the player/devil rolls 2 d20’s and selects ONE of those numbers to “keep” (allowing for some strategy/choice and not just pure luck of the draw). The first player to earn a “straight” (5 numbers in sequential order) wins. As the game progresses, the devil mocks the player, recalling his time inside the dagger, saying things like “you have such soft hands for a supposed hero.” If the player wins, like the the devil before him, this creature is dragged off into the void and seemingly destroyed.
If the player loses at any point, they take 1d8 of psychic damage and are snapped out of their mental trance (either to find themselves still holding 2 demonic daggers or 1 demonic dagger/1 regular dagger if they were partially successful).
If the player succeeds, the the curse is broken entirely and both daggers are simply daggers. They maintain some of their former magic, however, and the wielder can continue use their bonus action to inflict “vicious mockery.” Finally, and most importantly, the daggers can now be sheathed like normal weapons.
