Hiding a Deadeye

[tommahk]

I've been thinking about a campaign that I want to run in the RPG once the Mistborn books come out. Normally I would ask some of my Cosmere friends to debate, but they'd be players and I don't want to spoil my idea.

Ultimately I want to eventually have a shard blade on Scadrial that the players obtain. In the second half of the campaign, I would have some radiant world hoppers coming to try to find and recover the blade. I want them to be able to hide the blade, but I'm concerned that they Deadeye would give away their hiding space. 

Would putting the blade in an aluminum box prevent the dead eye from knowing where the blade is? Or would it in some way hide the location?

[Frustration]

22 minutes ago, tommahk said:

I've been thinking about a campaign that I want to run in the RPG once the Mistborn books come out. Normally I would ask some of my Cosmere friends to debate, but they'd be players and I don't want to spoil my idea.

Ultimately I want to eventually have a shard blade on Scadrial that the players obtain. In the second half of the campaign, I would have some radiant world hoppers coming to try to find and recover the blade. I want them to be able to hide the blade, but I'm concerned that they Deadeye would give away their hiding space. 

Would putting the blade in an aluminum box prevent the dead eye from knowing where the blade is? Or would it in some way hide the location?

The dead eye is the blade, only one will appear at a time.

[Nitpicking]

An aluminum box prevents most Invested detection, e. g.

SPOILERS FOR THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE

Spoiler

Azure's group blocked the Secretspren from detecting them with an aluminum room, and another one prevented Mayalaran from contacting Adolin.

 

[Isilel]

They could keep it perpetually summoned, so that there wouldn't be a  deadeye in the CR? And put it in a special aluminium sheath, obfuscating it's form and making it look like some tool or maybe a music instrument.

IIRC, the deadeyes also don't move very quickly, so if the person is traveling at higher speeds, it will lag behind significantly, unless summoned. So, I guess perpetually riding trains might theoretically work too.

[PanLin they/he]

12 hours ago, tommahk said:

Ultimately I want to eventually have a shard blade on Scadrial that the players obtain. In the second half of the campaign, I would have some radiant world hoppers coming to try to find and recover the blade. I want them to be able to hide the blade, but I'm concerned that they Deadeye would give away their hiding space. 

I agree with the answers everyone else has given above, but there's another fun RPG seed this question raises—is there anyone else hanging out on the Scadrian sub-astral?

Depending on when in the timeline you set it, the Pits of Hathsin used to be the main thoroughfare of an interplanetary trade route. Even if it takes a while for Rosharans to show up looking for the blade, I'm sure most people would be curious if they happened to notice an Invested humanoid with scratched-out eyes wandering around in the cognitive realm.

[tommahk]

Thanks everyone! 

I think the aluminum box would work for what I'm thinking. My biggest concern was a spren being on the Scadrian portion of the CR. I'm not quite sure where this would take place in the timeline, but it would before WaT. 

My biggest concern would be another spren seeing the deadeye while their knights take the physical realm. 

[Qianweilian He/him]

On 6/4/2026 at 7:37 AM, tommahk said:

My biggest concern would be another spren seeing the deadeye while their knights take the physical realm. 

I mean, this has already been answered. If the blase is summoned, there is no deadeye to see in the cr.

[alder24]

The blade is still visible in Shadesmar when it’s summoned in the Physical Realm, it appears as a shimmering, glowing object. Although on Scadrial every metal glows in the Cognitive Realm, pure investiture turned physical would probably be recognizable for a Radiant and especially for a spren from Roshar. 

Having Shardblade permanently summoned and hiding it in an aluminum sheath is a great solution. I would also cover its hilt with aluminum or some normal metal to hide its glow. If you know someone trusty and you don’t mind leaving your Shardblade with them, they can also hide it in a big pile of metal/scrap.

But truthfully, you could dismiss your blade and have your Deadeye sink into the depths of the Scardrian subastral, which is made out of opaque mists. Most of deadeyes on Roshar wander through the bottom of the sea of beads and it’s almost impossible to detect them. If your deadeye is somewhat aware and you can communicate with them (like Maya), you can tell them to stay hidden at the bottom of the Shadesmar sea and they won’t be seen and won’t betray your position, yet you can still summon them to the Physical Realm anytime you need a blade. 

If anyone wants to retrieve your Shardblade, they need to find you and not your deadeye. They need to either kill you, spike your Connection to the blade out, or destroy the gem in the blade when it’s summoned (only a Bondsmith would be able to steal that Connection by touching your deadeye). A giant, glowing sword would be very eye-catching on Scadrial so you’d do better if you don’t brandish your Shardblade in the Physical realm if you want to stay hidden.

On 6/4/2026 at 2:37 PM, tommahk said:

My biggest concern was a spren being on the Scadrian portion of the CR. I'm not quite sure where this would take place in the timeline, but it would before WaT. 

That's a problem because before WaT it was incredibly hard for a spren or a Radiant to leave Roshar, almost impossible. Kelsier suffers from the same problem, he can’t leave Scardial. 

[Nitpicking]

On 6/8/2026 at 8:10 AM, alder24 said:

... or destroy the gem in the blade when it’s summoned (only a Bondsmith would be able to steal that Connection by touching your deadeye) ...

I suspect only Ishar after the death of Tanavast and the breaking of the Oathpact could do that. Remember, the Stormfather kept being surpised by what Ishar could do in his conflict with Dalinar--the Oathpact and Honor had limited him for thousands of years.