The Story of Cassandra’s Thorn (The Blood Rose):

As the men of Tarth headed off to fight in the first Northern Border War, a local smith named Caro, was fearful for his young wife’s safety if he was to leave her in Tarth among the thieves and cutthroats that would remain behind. With hopes of offering protection for his beloved Cassandra, Caro employed the services of a mysterious sorcerer to endow a blade of his design with unique magical properties. The blade that the sorcerer retuned to Caro was named “The Blood Rose”.  Although Caro believed that the blade’s strange name came from the dagger’s ability to cause fatal wounds with the slightest of cuts, he renamed the dagger, Cassandra’s Thorn, and gifted it to his bride for her personal protection.  Cassandra employed her new blade many times over the ensuing years, always to her boon and resulting in the certain death of her foes.  Cassandra and her Thorn became one. 

When Caro returned from the wars, he would often awake alone in a bed from which Cassandra had slipped during the night.  Caro soon realized that his wife was no longer in danger of becoming prey for the thieves of Tarth but instead had become a predator during his absence. The Cassandra he loved had been consumed by the Blood Rose and its desire to feed. Caro discovered that the blade grew stronger with each victim Cassandra took, as did its thirst for blood.  Cassandra was now killing on an almost nightly basis just to satiate the Blood Rose.  Fearing what his wife had become under the influence of the magical blade, Caro took the weapon and headed to the wastes of Illantul where he planned to abandon it for all time, but the Blood Rose had other ideas.  Along his journey, the blade pulled Caro into confrontation after confrontation with gnolls and their sand dragons so it could continue to strengthen and feed.   Finally, the Blood Rose decided it would be better served in the hands of the brutal gnolls than it was with the timid Caro.  During their very next encounter the blade caused Caro to fumble, slicing his hand and feeding on Caro’s very life.  It is said that the Blood Rose passed to the Gnolls for some time, but it quickly grows weary of any other owner as it strives to return to its original soulmate, Cassandra.  

 Actual Design and Construction:

The original blade blank was forged by Windlass Steelcrafts using 1085, High Carbon Steel.   I reground the blade into a flamberge profile.   Both sides of the blade are hand-etched and blued, depicting a thorny rose vine.  The guard is hand carved from mild steel and twisted into the shape of a vine with thorns.   The handle of the blade’s through tang design is carved from Central American Katalox.   Finally, the pommel is hand carved from mild steel and threaded onto the through tang, completing the blade’s “take-down design.

Specifications:

Blade length- 12 inches

Overall length-18 inches

Grip length- 4 inches

Blade width at widest point- 1.625 inches

Guard width- 6 inches

Weight- 16.05 oz

Balance Point-0.375 inchers in front of the guard

Sheath Construction:

The sheath is a traditional dagger design (wet formed to the blade with hand stitching down the back spine) constructed of 4-5 oz. premium veg tan leather.  The body of the sheath is stained black. The large leather throat is adorned with entwined rose vines, and both it and the chape are stained an antiqued brown.