The Sword's Edge

Issue 3: November 9th, 2015 - In Ferro Veritas

Welcome to the first release in a new era for The Sword's Edge! The Sword's Edge originally was released quite soon after the launch of The Secret World within Nine Swords. 3 years on, we are reviving it -- and giving you a monthly overview of what's happening within our cabal! So grab a cuppa, a plate of cookies and catch up with what has been going on!

Durendal

Welcome to the third edition of the Sword's Edge! I am always excited when I get the opportunity to witness the wide variety of activities that are going on in the cabal. Besides our usual daytime activities of running PvE and PvP encounters and RP events, our great PR division keeps coming up with ways to show everyone that would like to hear it how great of a community we have all created. Katelin and The Sword's Edge team have taken up the major effort of reviving one of our traditions from the times of launch. So this space is dedicated to them, I am looking forward to many more issues coming soon.

I hope you'll all enjoy our little creation. Take care,

Commander Durendal

9S Halloween

Halloween in TSW is one of our favourite times of the year. This year, we had a couple 9S Halloween events where we shared our Halloween Trick or Treat bags! These events included scary stories around the campfire and a social event in the Horned God. We got to hear two poems, one read by Katelin and one written and read by Floryn, and a story from Durendal we will never let him tell again!

SWORD to the Wise

Marlolini has been in Nine Swords since December 2014 and he really loves to help our fellow Swords! This section is where Marlo imparts some words to the wise. Sword style.

For this issue of The Sword's Edge: A quick introduction to stats and what they do!

Base stats

• Combat Power: This number is calculated off your attack rating and weapon power.
• Healing Power: This number is calculated off your heal rating and weapon power.
• Weapon power: Together with either attack rating or heal rating, Weapon power makes up your Combat or Healing Power.
• Attack Rating: A DPS stat. Attack rating together with Weapon power makes up your combat power that will give you the base damage on skills that deals damage to enemies.
• Heal Rating: Heal rating together with weapon power makes up your healing power that will give you the base healing of all your healing and leeching skills.
• Hit Points: This is the stat that determines how much damage you can take before dying. Usually just called HP, not to be confused with Healing Power, or health.

Glyph stats

• Glyph stats are found on talismans and weapons; but while talisman stats are always active, glyph stats on weapons only work with the weapon that is active.
• Hit Rating: This stat counters Defense and Evade rating. If you see a lot of your attacks glance or are evaded your hit rating might be too low.
• Penetration Rating: Most of the time just called Pen, this stat is a counter to Block Rating. If an enemy blocks your attack your damage will be reduced while a penetrating attack will increase your damage over a normal hit.
• Critical Rating: This stat determines your chance to do a critical hit or heal. It works together with Critical Power.
• Critical Power: Critical Power gives you your Critical Power Rating. The higher this stat, the more damage a critical hit will do, or the higher a critical heal will be.
• Block Rating: Works against Penetration Rating. A blocked attack reduces incoming damage based on your Protection stats.
• Defense Rating: works against Hit Rating and can make attacks glance, reducing incoming damage.
• Evade: works against Hit Rating, gives a chance to evade an attack, making the attack deal no damage.
• Physical Protection: Reduces the damage of physical attacks.
• Magical Protection: Reduces the damage of magical attacks.

A tip on how to gear up for leveling

When you are leveling up you will have a limited stat budget until you reach endgame and get custom gear. A good way to gear up while levelling, is to have one minor talisman with HP, one with Heal Rating and the rest of your talismans with Attack Rating. If you still feel a bit squishy, an alternative is to have all minors and your head talisman with Attack Rating, and a Heal Rating, Attack Rating and HP major. Your glyph points should be split between Hit and Penetration Rating.

9S Member Awards

Our Nine Swords leadership really like to acknowledge our members when they achieve something in the cabal, or show that they have used their skills to do something positive within the cabal. Some awards are also given to members of the cabal for assisting in division responsibilities.

Many of our divisions have a directive that outlines which awards can be gained, and what you can do to work towards receiving one! Each of our members has their own Cabal Roster page which lists all the awards that member has received whilst being in Nine Swords. We also have a summary of the last 3 awards given on our 9S News Page.

Lupus Magnus. A Nine Swords tale - Chapter 4.

Prologue.

Floryn winced when a dry twig snapped under his foot. His companions froze in an instinctive involuntary reaction. “Sorry!” he mouthed wordlessly meeting their eyes with an apologetic gaze. Eyes rolled and Sonno whispered “Drop-bear fodder” under her breath. A few seconds passed without any indication of enemy presence and Antanahe, the group’s leader, gestured them to continue advancing.

Their three-man cell proceeded to their destination without another sound. The whole operation depended on three such groups’ cooperation and it was vital that they adhere to the schedule. The groups designated “Sword”, “Fist” and “Hammer” were to approach their target simultaneously from three different directions to ensure that no hostiles would be left to stab them in the back when the bullets started flying and the blades started cutting.

Anta, Floryn and Sonno comprised “Hammer”. Floryn greeted that announcement with a cheerful “Floryn smash!” and he wasn’t far from the truth. Their primary goal was to ensure that nothing would leave the compound they were zeroing in on via the main gate. There was only one road leading to their target and the rough countryside terrain around it made it inaccessible to heavy vehicles from any other direction. And what they were after was certain to require some serious measures to transport.

Floryn had been tasked to carry a heavy grenade launcher they would set up on a small rise located in the vicinity of the gate, but he didn’t complain. He would finally have something that made more noise that Sonno’s Boom Stick and he was feeling a peculiar brand of satisfaction that came with the awareness.

According to the intel they had been able to gather thanks to Mellified’s scouting excursions the compound’s security had not been too tight which surprised them. One would think that the occurrences of the past week would make the Phoenicians more cautious but “Hammer” had not run into a single guard or patrol.

“Why is there nobody here?” asked Floryn. “Boss said it was supposed to be some kind of important facility. Shouldn’t there be guards or something?”. “Maybe they chose to rely on secrecy? Guards could invite curious eyes” whispered Sonno. Suddenly Anta stopped and raised her hand ordering her fellow Templars to do the same. She waited for a few seconds, the index finger of her right hand placed firmly on her earpiece. Her face hardened. “Hammer leader here. Message understood. Hammer leader out” said Anta over their short-range frequency. Her companions looked at her questioningly.

“Kate has found the guards. Or at least their corpses” Floryn and Sonno raised their eyebrows simultaneously. “Look alive people” said Anta “We’re not alone here”. “They’ve not been dead longer than about half an hour” Aberlour rose from his knees and looked his team-mates. “Two shots. Two bodies. This was cold. Precise” Mel scanned the corpses with an expert’s eye. Katelin nodded and reached for her earpiece. “ ‘Sword’ leader to all leaders. We’ve found two fresh corpses. Probably Phoenician guards” “Ex-guards” muttered Abe under his breath and Mel nodded in agreement. “There seems to be a third party involved” Kate went on “Stay sharp, Swords. ‘Sword’ leader out”.

“Any idea who that could be, Kate?” Mellified asked while she surveyed their surroundings. “Not really” Katelin responded with a pensive expression “To be honest, the Phoenicians are working with dozens of shady organisations and any one of them could be at work here”. “True” concurred Abe “And we don’t know how close the Phoenicians have been guarding this project. All it would have to take is a small leak and I could give you at least a dozen terrorist groups who’d love to get their paws on a virus like this.” “So we better get our paws on it first” said Kate “Let’s move”. Her companions nodded in agreement and resumed their march. The forest they were walking through was not a place one would choose for an evening stroll and suddenly it became just a bit too sinister for their liking.

“Fist’s” approach was a bit tougher than the other teams’. The Phoenician compound was located next to a small hill, pressed against its steep slope. To get on the top Blue, Oxara and Marlolini had to climb the milder hillside. The problem was that it was studded with small boulders and thick with trees. The sniper rifles and rocket launcher they were carrying did not make the ascent any easier. “You’ll be the support team, they said. You’ll drop fire and brimstone on them and be totally awesome, they said. Well nobody said, You’ll have to climb a bloody mountain with a hundred pounds strapped to your back” grumbled Blue. “It’s not a mountain” said Oxara with a grin. “It’s just a little hill. You can do it” she chuckled and slapped Blue’s shoulder. “Hmpf!” he mumbled. Marlo just smiled and continued climbing. Despite their banter they were all on internal high alert. Kate’s message was both unexpected and unsettling. They were in enemy territory and any additional and unknown factor introduced into the situation was something none of them welcomed.

“Teams in position” whispered Kate as “Sword” knelt in their designated spot. The Phoenician compound was just a few dozen metres before them, in a relatively small hollow. It didn’t seem much from the outside. A few makeshift buildings grouped around what looked like a typical warehouse surrounded by a metal fence. But looks can be deceiving and Katelin was not going to be lulled into underestimating her opponents. She raised binoculars to her eyes and carefully scanned the area in front of her. Everything seemed quiet. She notice three guards leisurely walking in front of the warehouse heading towards a few vehicles parked in near the main gate. They looked more like drinking buddies ambling in search of another pub than professional guards. Kate twisted her lips in disdain and was just about to make a mental comment when she noticed a swift shadow moving on the edge of the area illuminated by the compound’s lights. And then another. “Movement inside the enemy complex. Can anybody confirm and provide identification?” she asked via the radio. She listened for a moment and then responded “Are you certain, Marlo?” Apparently he was. Katelin nodded, ignoring the fact that he couldn’t see her and turned to her companions, her finger still pressing at the earpiece as if she was not entirely sure that what she had heard was true. Only one word left her lips. “Orochi”.

Looking to join a Templar Cabal?

Nine Swords is an active Templar Cabal in The Secret World. Our cabal is continually searching for fun team players to join us in experiencing everything that The Secret World has to offer us. If you are interested in joining Nine Swords, click the JOIN 9S link on the left side of our website!

Your next issue of The Sword's Edge...

This is a wrap Swords! We hope that you had as much pleasure discovering this first release of the “new” Sword’s Edge as we had working on it. Thanks for reading! The next edition is due for the 9th of December. As we are already working on it, here is some exclusive information about the additional contents it will feature (SPOILER ALERT):

• Fresh news from our leaders on what’s going on in our divisions
• A selection of the best posted screenshots of the month
• Upcoming things to look for in terms of TSW content
• An interview with a division member of our choice.

In each release to come, we will try our best to provide our members with content they enjoy and need. That’s why we need you! Want to know how to contribute to the lifelong success of The Sword’s Edge? There are two ways:

First, you can submit content such as screenshots (events, raids, dungeon runs or even random subjects), articles on in-game content, as well as graphics, short stories, poems and all other kinds of fan-made creations.

Second, you can join our team and help making The Sword’s Edge even harder better faster. This involves creating news and articles, searching the forum for interesting content and coordinating our contributors. If interested, please contact Katelin or any The Sword's Edge team member by PM. We’ll be most happy to have a chat with you.