Items
Singing Short Sword
The Bard Epic 1.0. Click 'Dance of the Blade' proc, charisma stack, hybrid-weapon stats.
Singing Short Sword is the Bard Epic 1.0 reward — a one-handed slashing weapon that procs Dance of the Blade, the signature Bard combat enhancement. The blade is described in lore as having a faint, audible hum at the edge of hearing, a song the wielder can almost place but never quite name. The Bard who finishes the chain hears it; everyone else hears only steel.
Both Primary and Secondary equippable, the sword is one of the few epic weapons that the wielder can dual-wield with itself in twin-completion runs.
Stats
- 16 / 26 damage and delay (a fast Bard-friendly profile)
- +100 HP
- +20 CHA, +15 STR, +10 DEX, +5 STA
- +10 PR, +10 MR, +10 CR, +10 FR, +10 DR
The +20 CHA is the headline. Bard charisma drives charm, lull, and song-resist checks; 20 CHA in a single one-hander is a meaningful boost on top of the Bard's already CHA-stacked armor sets.
Effect
- Combat proc — Dance of the Blade. A Bard-only weapon proc that layers on top of the class's existing per-song procs. The Bard who has a Dance proc and a Selo's-twist active in the same swing is one of the higher steady-damage profiles in the era for a melee-caster hybrid.
The proc is the visible signature. A Bard with the Short Sword in one hand (or both) feels measurably faster, harder to kill, and more difficult for charm-resist mobs to break.
How to obtain
The Bard Epic 1.0 quest, Singing Short Sword, threads Felwithe, Kelethin, the Plane of Hate, and a final fight against a powerful Bard-themed encounter in the outer planes. The chain leans on Bard-specific tasks — songs sung at specific spawn timers, instruments tuned with specific resin, and a final combine that requires materials from each segment.
For the full walkthrough see the Bard Epic 1.0 page. The Plane of Hate segment requires a small raid.
Why it matters
The Bard's identity at era cap is the twist — running multiple songs in rotation while contributing measurable melee damage. The Short Sword feeds both halves: the CHA boost steadies song-resist landings, the HP and resist line keep the Bard alive through the long pulls bards are often asked to lead, and the proc adds real damage to the swings that Bards already make between song twists.
A Bard with Singing Short Sword in either hand finishes a long fight with more damage on the scoreboard, more clutch mez landings, and more group-uptime than a Bard without it. The chain is also the moment the class is recognised — a Bard with the Short Sword visible at zone-in has earned the title.
The Last Camp any-race-class note
Class-locked at the item level — only Bards can equip the Short Sword. The Last Camp's open class system widens the race pool of who can play Bard to every race on the server, including races that classic EQ never permitted as Bards. The chain is the same in every case; the Short Sword is class-driven, not race-driven.