The Tsurugi of Muramasa (dNetHack)
| ) The Tsurugi of Muramasa (No tile) | |
|---|---|
| Base item | nagamaki |
| Appearance | long-handled samurai-sword |
| Affiliation | |
| Generation | |
| Wishable? | no |
| Damage vs. small | 1d16 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d8+2d6 |
| Damage type | slashing |
| To-hit bonus | +2 +1d2 |
| Bonus versus | all monsters |
| Weapon skill | two-handed sword |
| Primary attribute | strength |
| Properties | (see below) |
| When carried |
|
| When wielded |
|
| When used | (none) |
| When invoked | (none) |
| Base size | (base item standard) |
| Base price | 4500 zm |
| Weight | 60 |
| Base material | metal |
The Tsurugi of Muramasa is the Samurai quest artifact in dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, and it is significantly changed from its behavior in NetHack. The artifact remains the prize for completing the Samurai quest, and its default alignment is lawful. Its base item type is a nagamaki.
Generation
The Tsurugi of Muramasa cannot be wished for by any means.
For Samurai, The Tsurugi of Muramasa is always generated on the goal level of the Samurai quest, where the blessed +0 artifact is placed on Ashikaga Takauji's square during level creation. If a Samurai loads a bones level containing the quest artifact, it will always be reverted to its base item.
Description
While carried, The Tsurugi of Muramasa acts as a luck item, and while wielded it grants automatic searching and adds an enchantment-based bonus to manual searching for secret doors and secret corridors. As a weapon, the artifact has +1d2 to-hit and deals double damage to all targets, with the ability to bisect targets that are medium or smaller in physical size while always shattering the target's wielded weapon upon hitting. The Tsurugi of Muramasa has no effect when invoked.
The Tsurugi of Muramasa is bloodthirsty, and will lash out at adjacent monsters once each turn, with a 1⁄4 chance per monster—bloodthirsty attacks are more likely to occur if the hero is adjacent to several monsters. Peaceful monsters have a chance based on the hero's sanity of not being targeted, with the artifact being exponentially more likely to attack peacefuls at lower sanity and being exceedingly unlikely to do so at high sanity.
A user has suggested improving this page or section as follows:
"Properly detail bisection ability."
History
The Tsurugi of Muramasa is altered to its current form in dNetHack 3.26.0 with the introduction of the nagamaki via commit b15bcb34, which renames the item from the tsurugi (a word that simply means "sword" in Japanese).
Origin
Muramasa Sengo (千子 村正) was a famous Japanese swordsmith who founded the Muramasa school and lived during the Muromachi period (14th to 16th centuries) in Kuwana of Ise Province. They were originally reputed as fine blades favored by the shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu and his vassals, but gradually became a symbol of the anti-Tokugawa movement.
The idea of Muramasa's swords being bloodthirsty and compelling the wielders to murder or suicide is a product of both the aforementioned political shift and of 18th century Japanese lore and popular culture, such as kabuki dramas —this is also likely the source for the idea that Muramasa passed his own violence and bloodlust on to the blades he forged.
Encyclopedia entry
This most ancient of swords has been passed down through the
leadership of the Samurai legions for hundreds of years. It
is said to grant luck to its wielder, but its main power is
terrible to behold. It has the capability to cut in half any
creature it is wielded against, instantly killing them.
