The Lost Sword

The Lost Sword was the famed last, and lost, unfinished katana of the master swordsmith Hiroyasu Ohta of Jasuga in Wa in the 1700s on the Wa Calendar.

History
In Wa Year 1773 (1355 DR), Hiroyasu was widely rumored to be making a masterpiece katana that would be the pinnacle of his craft. But thieves invaded his workshop and slew him, apparently seeking to steal the sword, before it was even finished.

Afterward, the thieves found themselves haunted, and even possessed, by an unknown spirit creature, and enjoyed no fortune from their theft. Believing the sword to be haunted, they either sold it, lost it, or abandoned it.

Over the next two years, The Lost Sword changed hands some two dozen times, as each subsequent owner discovered it to be haunted and quickly sold it on.

In Wa Year 1775 (1357 DR), a weaselly hawker in an alley in a marketplace in Aru would try to sell an unfinished sword-blade to passing adventurers, insisting it was "a katana of most transcendent workmanship" and asking a ridiculously low 15 ch'ien for it, though an expert eye would recognize its true quality and worth.

Reputation
As the famed sword was not known to be recovered after Hiroyasu's death, legends grew about the so-called Lost Sword.

Description
Although unfinished, the sword was a clear masterwork to any trained smith, with perfect balance and exceedingly sharp edge. However, it had no hilt, only a bare tang.

Powers
The sword was non-magical, but its quality meant wielders would with greater accuracy and deal greater injury on a critical strike. However, the lack of a hilt obviously hampered all this.

It was indeed haunted, and by the spirit of Hiroyasu himself.