Now, where darkness has _never_ been, or has been very little, or Yelmer Fudd and his evil minions have exorcised it, Darksense works very poorly, if at all.
***
David Miller suggests Body-Snatching Thanatari:
>Wouldn't it be better (if this is possible) to capture the spirit (as
>hangs around the body for seven days before fading into the otherworld)
>and bind it into an animal or into a freshly sacrificed body.
>From a moral point of view this would raise no problems for a
>chaotic/evil cult (see Thanatar).
One possible problem, at least in cults like Thanatar and Krarsht, is who's helping you. When, at the height of the ritual, your faithful lieutenant turns to you and says: "Heh, heh, you didn't *really* think I wanted you around for another 40 years, did you? I'm getting a promotion and a magic spirit!" <Stuff, stuff, stuff>
***
TTrotsky wrote:
> I'd also add that AFAIK (and I'm not personally involved with side of
> things) even modern ultrasound equipment only produces an image when the
> equipment is pressed against the mother. So to sense much you probably have
> to stick your snout up pretty close.
Hmm. I'd originally suggested it since (according to Trollpak) trollz can
"sound an animal's body cavities and see whether or not it is hungry (by
looking for empty stomachs)." Freely admitting that I know very little
about pregnancy -- how big is an empty womb? At what point does it become,
um, stomach-sized? On the non-nice side -- I could see some trolls
favoring pregnant critters/hoomans/etc. as a delicacy, so learning to look
for the signs is a good skill for evil troll raiders/slavers.
No other cavities one would want to look into, AFAIK -- I suppose you could search the lungs for water if you think someone swallowed some while swimming. <Shrug>
Frex, I'd guess the troll can pull off the womb/stomach search at around a couple of feet, but others' interpretation of "very close at hand" may vary. Perhaps in cultural practice, based on Trollpak's comments on body language:
If a male troll is arguing/disagreeing/being put upon by a troll female, Mr. Troll does "Sally's Song." The male troll shifts between battle stance and a supine, forward hunch, even while bickering/arguing with her; at the same time, he scans the female troll to see if she's pregnant, nursing, or otherwise Off Limits to fighting back (also if her annoyance is caused by hunger). The supine hunch gives a decent angle to examine the womb area, without giving undue offense.
If Mr. Troll thinks the female is being unreasonable, Battle Stance predominates to show he's determined; if he wants to back down, he mostly stays in the supine position to appease her. Hopefully, Ms. Troll figures how how far she can push the male, and/or Mr. Troll can back down before she beats him silly. (No doubt there's similar body language for Ms. Troll.)
I'd go so far to say that looking/examining the womb outside of Sally's Song, uninvited, is risking life and limb at the hand of the outraged trollop* in question, your and her female relatives and the local XU community.
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