MERCY (Artifact Blade)
“The sword that preserves the moment of dying.”
Crafted from Mirrorstone by Marcel of the Silver Frown, founder of the Harlequin Vale Prop Foundry.
Overview
Mercy is a legendary soul-binding blade forged from Mirrorstone and originally created as a revolutionary prop for theatrical death scenes. Its magic traps the soul of anyone it kills, holding them in a preserved stasis until the wielder:
• chooses to resurrect them using a physical remnant of the body, or
• performs an exorcism to release them into the afterlife.
Mercy’s history is a blend of artistry, obsession, tragedy, and abuse of power. It has passed through multiple hands, each shaping its mythos—from stage actors to manipulators, from grieving families to secret torturers.
Today, Mercy is one of the most dangerous and emotionally loaded artifacts in Harlequin Vale.
Magical Effects
Soul Entrapment
Any person slain by Mercy has their soul trapped within the blade. Souls remain intact, conscious, and preserved at the exact moment of death.
Resurrection Requirement
A trapped soul may be resurrected if:
• Mercy killed them,
• AND a physical remnant of their body still exists (ashes are acceptable).
The resurrected return with 1 HP and Resurrection Sickness.
Exorcism Release
A ritual may free a soul without bringing the body back, permanently sending the spirit to its afterlife.
Temporal Preservation
Time does not pass for souls inside Mercy. A person slain for minutes or centuries is preserved identically.
Creation
Forged by Marcel (Age 73)
Mercy was crafted by Marcel of the Silver Frown, a master prop artisan and dramatist who founded the Harlequin Vale Prop Foundry. He shaped the blade from Mirrorstone, a rare reflective mineral that bends identity and fate.
Marcel intended Mercy to revolutionize stagecraft:
• real deaths without permanent harm
• absolute realism in execution scenes
• a merging of performance and metaphysics
This artistic ambition quickly warped into something darker.
The Marcel–Elya Tragedy
Meeting Elya
At the Foundry, Marcel mentored a 20-year-old acrobat named Elya of the Ropewalks. Their relationship became romantic despite a 53-year age gap. Marcel, a narcissist masked by romantic theatrics, believed their love was “eternal.”
The Promise of Preservation
When Marcel felt his age catching up with him, he convinced Elya to kill him with Mercy so she could:
• “live her own story,”
• grow older,
• and resurrect him “when she caught up.”
Intellectually, Marcel understood she would age.
Emotionally, he believed:
• her heart would remain unchanged,
• her devotion would stay frozen at 20,
• and she would return to him.
This delusion defined his downfall.
Elya obeyed, killing him at age 20. His soul entered Mercy, preserved in timeless stasis.
Elya’s Life After Marcel
A New Love
At age 28, Elya fell in love with Lenard Marrin, an engineer known for his quiet kindness.
She married at age 30.
Birth of Della
Della Fizzle Marrin was born when Elya was 34, and became part of the Prop Foundry at a young age.
Lenard Learns the Truth
When Elya was 50, Della was 16 and already apprenticed at the Foundry. Lenard discovered:
• the truth about Marcel,
• the emotional weight the sword had on Elya,
• and the unhealthy bond she still feared she owed.
Acting out of love, Lenard sold Mercy to a pawn shop for Elya’s mental health.
The Divorce
Elya, feeling betrayed and violated, could not reconcile the decision.
This incident eventually ended their marriage.
Della Reclaims the Blade
Della, sympathetic to both parents but believing Mercy belonged within the family, secretly bought the blade back from the pawn shop.
She hid it from her mother and returned it to the Prop Foundry as a “retired tool of historical importance.”
The Stage-Death Era (Della Age 16–18)
Curious performers and thrill-seekers persuaded Della to use Mercy in controlled theatrical executions:
• only consenting performers
• strictly supervised rehearsals
• murder onstage, resurrection backstage
For two years, the death scenes of the Vale were disturbingly realistic—and safe.
Until they weren’t.
The Fatal Heart-Attack Incident
One performer became so terrified during a staged death that they suffered a heart attack before Mercy touched them.
Because Mercy did not kill them, it could not resurrect them.
The tragedy shut down the entire practice.
Decommissioning
Mercy was placed in a locked display case.
It remained undisturbed for 18 years.
The Disappearance of Daemon the Clown (Elya 70, Della 36)
Around the time Elya was 70, Mercy disappeared from its case.
A cruel, bullying clown named Daemon, known for tormenting a meek colleague named Chubbin, vanished at the same time.
Everyone concluded:
“Daemon stole Mercy and ran.”
They were wrong.
Chubbin’s Secret Torture Dungeon
The truth:
• Chubbin, long bullied and humiliated by Daemon, snapped.
• He kidnapped Daemon,
• stole Mercy,
• and imprisoned them beneath his home.
Night after night, after performances, Chubbin:
• kills Daemon with Mercy,
• resurrects him,
• and repeats the cycle endlessly.
By day, Chubbin is cheerful, helpful, and beloved—
his tormentor’s disappearance has made him “confident again.”
Only in his basement does he reveal his darkness.
Mercy is kept hidden in this dungeon, surrounded by chains, props, and a silencing veil.
This kidnapping occurs about a week before Elya asks the players to find Mercy.
Elya’s Final Request
On her deathbed, Elya—now 70 and nearing the end—asks the players:
“Find the sword…
so I may finish the story I began.”
The PCs follow the trail:
• Pawn shop (Lenard’s sale)
• Prop Foundry (Della’s confession)
• Search for Daemon (missing clown)
• Finding Chubbin (the true culprit)
Upon retrieving Mercy and returning it to Elya:
Marcel is revived.
He accepts the facts of her age…
but not the reality of her autonomy.
He immediately kills Elya with Mercy, trapping her soul, and flees into Harlequin Vale.
Thus the PCs’ quest to “help a dying woman find closure” becomes the birth of a campaign villain, created by their own hands.
Current Status of Mercy
• True Physical Holder: Chubbin (before PC intervention)
• Legal Recipient (Will): Della Fizzle Marrin
• Emotional Request: Elya’s plea to retrieve Mercy
• Known Souls in the Blade:
• Marcel
• Elya (after revival incident)
• Daemon (torture cycles)
• Possibly actors from the Foundry era
Mercy continues to be sought by:
• historians,
• devils unable to claim souls trapped by it,
• performers fascinated by its legacy,
• occult collectors,
• and Marcel, who now sees the blade as his only remaining connection to “true love.”
See Also
• Marcel of the Silver Frown
• Elya of the Ropewalks
• Della Fizzle Marrin
• Lenard Marrin
• Chubbin (Clown Torturer)
• Daemon the Bully Clown
• Clown Hospital Hospice Ward
• Harlequin Vale Prop Foundry
• Mirrorstone Artifacts