Silver Scimitar of Amahl the Mad

The Silver Scimitar, as it was originally named, was commissioned by Amahl Shoon IV early in his reign as qysar of the Shoon Imperium. Sometime after his paranoia grew into insanity, it took on his appellation and became known as the Silver Scimitar of Amahl the Mad. It was made in conjunction with Amahl's Mastering which allowed the wearer to command the Silver Scimitar to attack and defend without being held in the hand.

Description
Among his many faults, Amahl IV was a poor swordsman with an unreliable memory. He commissioned a sword of dancing to be made in the form of a heavy, silver-plated scimitar and had his artificers add additional capabilities that could only be unlocked by the wearer of the Mastering. The command words to activate the three additional modes were clearly engraved on the hilt of the sword in the old Alzhedo dialect used in the Shoon court. To make it even more obvious, the active command word gave off a red glow to indicate which mode was in use, and perhaps to allow the sword to be seen in the dark.

Powers
By itself, the Silver Scimitar could be used just as a sword of dancing, i.e., it had to be wielded for four attack maneuvers (each of which was incrementally more effective ) before it could be released to "dance" independently for four more swings and then return to the owner's hand for the next four, and so on. The owner had to stay within 30 ft (9.1 m) of the dancing sword or the animation ended and it fell to the ground. When the owner was also wearing the Mastering, the following commands could be given:


 * Attack : The sword leaped to attack a specified target within 20 ft (6.1 m) just as a sword of dancing, except it did not need to return to the owner's hand periodically. This ability was limited to three times per day.
 * Defend : The sword rapidly circled the wearer of the Mastering at a radius of 5 ft (1.5 m), moving with the owner and blocking or parrying up to three attacks per minute, including missile attacks. It could do this for four minutes for a total of twelve defensive maneuvers before returning to the owner's hand. This ability could be activated four times per day.
 * Defeat : This viscous attack could be commanded once a day and was specifically designed to incapacitate spellcasters, but could work on anyone. When the Alzhedo word was uttered, the scimitar launched itself at a victim pointed out by the wearer of the Mastering up to 100 ft (30 m) away, and attacked with one spectacularly devastating blow. If the target could not avoid the physical attack, they were seriously wounded and then had to resist the magical attack to avoid losing one of their arms below the elbow. For this one strike, the Silver Scimitar acted like an extremely powerful but modified vorpal sword that only severed forearms.

The Silver Scimitar also had a permanent free action enchantment placed on it to help overcome the typical defensive magics in use at that time.

History
The history of the Silver Scimitar is closely tied to that of Amahl's Mastering, and indeed they were never separated as far as sages have been able to determine.