Born in the backlands of Merrydale (now Daggerdale), Asterious was a
happy, if introverted boy.  He preferred roaming the woodlands near his
home to working in his father's fields.  One spring night, when he was
twelve he snuck out of the house to see if the eggs in a Nightingales' nest
had hatched yet.  The nest was nearby, yet cradled within the ravine of a
dry creek bed.  As he was examining the nest, a wandering group of
Wererats, exiled from Zhentil Keep (for acts of violence, no less), fell
upon the home of his father, mother, and sister, Essima.

Following their trail was the Ranger Gresion (CG H-M R-9), who had chosen
Lycanthropes as his species enemy, had had already dispatched 5 of the
dozen or so members.  When he came upon the small, isolated cabin within
the woods, all he found was a young boy in a state of hysteria, and the
corpses of two people, pieces of them strewn about the entire cabin, and
threats written in their blood, praising Bhaal.

He took the youngster in, trained him, and took him to an old dwarf smith
somewhere within the Strom Peaks.  This dwarf had found an old elven way of
making a silver-steel alloy with the strength of steel, yet the essence of
silver, so it could still strike those creatures vulnerable to it. The
Dwarf, Dek'Kantho, forged him a matched set of Blades, one short, one long.

Thus began a long, successful adventuring career.  It ended the day he,
tracking a group of Wererats beneath Waterdeep, found his sister.  She
(long since a wererat), lured him into dropping his guard, and would have
killed him, if not for the "timely" intervention of Halaster.  As she
lunged to end her brothers life, Undermountain saw it a fit time to
release a flaming Beholder and the Adventuring band "Firestalkers", know
for their devotion to Kossuth, the fire lord.  In the ensuing
conflagration, The wererat, the beholder, 2 mages, a shrine, 3 warehouses,
2 stores, one stables, 32 horses, 1 hippogriff, 1 dwarf, 2 half-elves, 8
humans, 15 cats, Khelben's nice day, etc, etc, etc.... all went up in
flames.  From that day, till the day he died he never swung a sword again.
He gave the blades to a visiting (and upset) druid from the High Forest,
with instructions to give the blades to someone worthy.  No one knows what
became of them since.

Appearance:  These appear as a matched set of silver blades, with the
simple hilt being made from fine dwarven darksteel.  Upon close
examination, one can see the holy symbols of Mielikki and Dumathoin on the
pommel, as well as the small forge and anvil mark of Dek'Kantho.

Powers:  Both blades are Silver +1 Blades, yet part of Asterious's rage
still resides within the blades.  When found, or given, to a new wielder,
the Long Sword will have 2d8 charges, and the Short Sword 2d4.  At the
instead of rolling to hit a lycanthrope, a charge can be expended to
automatically hit, instead of rolling a d20.  Also, a charge may be
expended to get an additional attack against a Lycanthrope, but only one
charge per sword may be used in a round, so either a charge can be given
for an auto hit, or one for an extra attack, but the powers cannot be
combined.

Every time the owner of these blades kill an Lycanthrope, a charge is
regained.  It is 70% likely to go to the Long Sword, 30% likely to go to
the Short Sword.  In the event the blades are separated, it is still the
same chance that a charge will go to either blade, unless one blade is on
another plane of existence, in which case, the slayer's sword gets the charge.