Bittercut

This sabre belonged to the first mate of the Hangman's Bounty, a notorious pirate ship that roamed the Deadfire Archipelago three centuries ago. Legend has it that the crew seized a slave galley and, after killing the masters, decided to sell the slaves at the next port. One of the slaves, an elderly man with a scarred face and beady black eyes, came forward and demanded that he and his fellows be set free.

The pirates laughed and refused him, but the old slave persisted. He warned them of the terrible plagues and punishments awaiting them, yet still they refused. When he raised his voice in anger, the first mate drew her sabre and ran him through. Putrid green bile poured from the wound, running upward along the sword while the sailors watched in horror. The corruption spread from the dying slave's chest to the first mate's sabre and arm, filling her veins with venom and her flesh with squirming maggots.

The rest of the crew drove the ship aground fled, leaving the slaves to flee and the first mate to rot next to her tainted blade.