The Story of Shadow Dancer:

When dwarves first came to Illantul they took their clan deep into the Black Mountains, far east of the wastelands and the eleven forests.  There they encountered a ferocious beast deep in the caverns where they intended to mine.  Some form of wyrm, but far different from any ever described throughout thousands of years of dwarven history.  This monster was rarely seen prior to its deadly attacks, as it seemed that the scales upon its body played tricks with the light. Although not invisible, it remained mostly unseen, blending perfectly into its immediate surroundings.  The dwarves called it a shadow dragon.  After a decade of mining interruptions and countless dwarven deaths attributed to the beast, the shadow dragon was finally vanquished by the dwarves.  Upon its destruction, the dwarves found that the dragon’s scales were an organic metal, harder than the very iron for which they mined.  Harvesting the shadow dragon’s scales and delivering them to their greatest smiths, the dwarves forged three blades of pure “Shadow Steel”.  The wielder of a shadow steel blade was endowed with the same ability as the shadow dragon, to blend into any surroundings, making them almost impossible to see and a formidable foe in battle. Unfortunately, the blades were lost to an earthquake deep in the black mountains, buried under tons of rock and rubble some three centuries past.  Yet recently the dagger known as Shadow Dancer, reappeared in the battles of the second northern border war.  Shadow Dancer not only delivers the power of shadow steel; the magic of the radiant gem set into its pommel also gives its owner an unnatural proficiency with the blade, endowing the wielder with the ability to strike their foe deeply with every thrust delivered. 

Actual Design and Construction:

The original blade blank was forged by Windlass Steelcrafts using 1085 high carbon steel.   I altered both the shape and the taper of the blade.   Each side of the blade is hand etched with dragon’s scales from tip to tang and cold blued to a dark appearance.    The guard, spacer, and pommel are fashioned from brass which I then treated with a patina.  The fluted handle is carved from West African Padauk, and a 10 mm diamond cut zirconia gem is set into the end of the pommel.  I threaded the through tang in order to have the pommel provide the mechanical connection for this blade’s take down design.  

Specifications:

Blade length: 12 inches

Overall length: 18 inches

Hand grip length: 4.25 inches

Blade width at widest point: 1.625 inches

Guard width: 4.5 inches

Weight: 12.6 ounces

Balance point: .75 inch in front of the guard

 Sheath Construction:

The Sheath is constructed of 4-5 oz premium veg tan leather, wet fitted to the blade, and is hand stitched.  I have hand tooled an image of the head of the shadow dragon onto the throat of the sheath. The body of the sheath is tooled with dragon scales.  The entrie sheath is stained red with a black antiquing.