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When the cousin was caught at the "toll booth" -- the trap that the sorcerers had set for the unwary fey that might cross into the mortal realm, they examined him for what they might steal or break or misuse.

His sword caught their eyes.

Wresting it from him by magic, "speak" they commanded it, "tell us your powers."

"I can speak without your help," it said in an almost haughty tone, "But the elves have suppressed my normal talkativeness, so I will gladly tell you about myself."

"First and foremost of my powers is that I am of cold iron, in the modern style."

The audience snickered.  Iron swords might be important to the elves, for the bite of iron against the fey is legendary, but it was nothing to the audience.  As for "the modern style," they all wore rapiers, and that was the truly modern style. Everyone knew that elvish work was behind the styles, but this ...

"Second, I am famed for my ego and force of will" ("Indeed" snickered a couple in the audience) "which gives the mortal man who bears me the courage to stand, and to fight, and to die when faced with unstoppable odds." ("A great power to give someone else's sword" nodded a wag).  "Further, I can allow my bearer to breath in rooms such as this." ("Ah, but can it let one breath among the unwashed?")

"Which reminds me, let me tell you ..."

"Enough"

"So, one used sword, thinks highly of itself, can brag without ceasing, has other related powers ... I think we should count ourselves lucky if he takes it away from us without charging us."

The comment brought down the house.

The sword was forged of serpentine steels, pattern welded together in the pattern known as "Odin's eye" and because of the pattern capable of biting all the fey, even the dwarves and trolls, with the bite of iron.  It was death to the touch, even of the undying fey and of sorcerous creatures usually immune to iron.

It could speak, Hellenic Greek, five elven tongues, the language of the Aesir, the common polyglot of the trolls and the northern court language of trolls, the language of the earth dragons, and Norman French (which the user spoke).  It could also speak the language of the hearer (a process similar to magical telepathy).

Next, it had a ferociously powerful ego and will -- so strong that it would rend many spells that might otherwise control or afflict the user and so strong that no fear could touch or worry him.  It also increased the combat skill level of the user by a factor of three.  The ego also resisted any attempts to break the sword or beguile the user by illusion.

It also would allow the user to breath in any setting -- one with gills could breath in the air, poison did not affect it -- and even the lack of air would not distress one wielding this sword.

Finally, it had a six-fold rune against chaos.  Because of the folding, it appeared to be a one-fold rune (one fold = 1 point of power.  two fold = 1+4.  three fold 1+4+9.  four fold 1+4+9+16, six fold 1+4+9+16+25+36 = 91 points of power). With the chaos use of the court, a one-fold rune was something that they would dislike, but not feel threatened by -- it just made the sword less useful. A six-fold rune would have greatly disturbed them.

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