Carrion Krait Machete glints in the half-light of a ruined market stall, a blade that remembers shadows it’s crossed. The steel is a dull pewter, with a faint green patina hinting at swamp origin. Coil-motifs wind along the belly—snakes inlaid in darker metal—each scale etched so finely you almost hear a hiss when the wind shifts. The spine bears a pale ridge like tiny teeth, and the hilt is wrapped in weathered leather, with bone-white talismans catching lantern glow. The grip feels seasoned, as if the weapon has dragged through vines and mud more than a single campaign. Lore says it was forged where carrion kraits hunt, tempered in brackish water, and traded through the swamps by caravans that used it to carve paths and cut through rope traps. It is both tool and relic, shaped by a world where life clings to decay and the living borrow death’s edge to move forward. Some tell of a curse that flares when you neglect a debt to the swamp, while others insist a patient owner can hum to the blade and coax it to keep quiet until it’s needed. In combat, the machete proves its merit with close-quarters speed. Its balance favors rapid strokes that chain into a single breath. Swing, and you feel the blade bite with a clean snap, cutting through brush, rope, and armor alike. It suits a scavenger-turned-guardian: carve openings, apply Bleed and other conditions with deliberate precision, and still pull back when a crowd closes in. In quieter moments it serves to carve through vines guarding a cache or free an ally, the lore-bound edge whispering about a world where life feeds on decay and the living pivot around it. Some say the blade carries the patience of swamp tides, waiting for the right moment to flash, while others hear a muted verdict whenever a debt is paid in steel. Market chatter threads the tale as you step into Saddlebag Exchange, where lanterns drift over stalls and traders weigh demand and scarcity. The Carrion Krait Machete can fetch a respectable gold sum in the right hands—usually mid-range for rare blades, with inscriptions nudging the price higher. Typical listings hover around 8 to 12 gold, while a pristine exemplar with a favored inscription or a minor boon can climb toward 15 gold. I watched a barter unfold as a hunter swapped an aged pelt bag and a faded compass for a blade that had seen swamp-water and wind, the deal echoing off wood and canvas like a pact sealed with a whisper. It’s more than a weapon; it’s a gate reminding this world stays in motion, and the next shadow-hollow may hinge on a single sharpened breath. So the machete remains, ready on your hip for the next step through marsh and memory, a companion in the march between decay and renewal.