Long roads the Sword of Fury makes,
Hard walls it builds 'round the soft,
The fighter who Townsaver takes
Can bid farewell to home and croft.

Were the average person to sit down and make a list of all the Swords, in the order of which he would most like to possess -- if he could only have one -- Townsaver would probably be second to last, followed only by Soulcutter. It's not that Townsaver is not a useful nor powerful Sword, but rather that the wielder tends to get used as a human shield by Townsaver when the Sword is working it specialized magic: defending innocents.

That line in the song that says, "the fighter who Townsaver takes," is not merely a case of odd word order -- it is correct exactly as read; it's not a confusing way to say, "the fighter who wields Townsaver". Once you are committed to fighting a battle, however great or small, the purpose of which is to defend non-combatants, you are a slave to Townsaver's magic. While an experienced fighter may be able to use his own skill to pull off a victory without being reduced to a well-armed puppet and body shield, there is a point at which the Sword really acts on its own, and will use whatever means necessary to protect its charges. If this means throwing its wielder's body into the path of one, five, or fifty-nine crossbow bolts, so be it. Townsaver is a godly Blade, powerful in magic, impressive in sharpness and force, and dizzingly fast when fully "activated", but it is still limited. When these limits are reached, that's when things turn ugly for the wielder.


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