From: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RQ Digest Maintainer)
To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Daily automated RQ-Digest)
Reply-To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RuneQuest Daily)
Subject: RuneQuest Daily, Thu, 02 Jun 1994, part 5
Sender: Henk.Langeveld@Holland.Sun.COM
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From: Argrath@aol.com
Subject: Quests, Visions, Cages
Message-ID: <9406012037.tn720377@aol.com>
Date: 2 Jun 94 00:37:56 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 4309
Loren on the Morocanth Thumbquest:
Yeah, Peter Michaels independently said the same thing about
getting the human's thumbs. That sounds so true, it must be.
Plus, it'll add to the general hatred of morocanth by humans. "I
agreed to take part in this contest, and when I lost the beast
BIT MY THUMBS OFF! Avenge me, my brothers!"
With this twist, the quest depends on taking a captive or
finding a foreigner to be your sucker. (A wealthy American was
in England after the war, and funded the renovation of a country
church. When the renovation was complete, the church invited him
back for a dedication ceremony, at which the vicar prayed, "Oh
God, we thank you for this timely succor...")
Re: Gaumata's vision
As a playtester, I was pretty sure something was going on,
and reasonably sure that we were in the right place (after all,
we were PC's!) However, my *character* determined, after a day
of so of game time, that we were in the wrong place. I had
convinced our commander to leave and we were getting ready to go
when one of the bad guys tried to kill a lone PC, and the rest of
the scenario avalanched from there.
Re: Ott Edward D's running of Melisande's Hand
"well i let them compete and the baboon ended up winning any body
have a good idea of what the garhound reaction should be."
Rending of garments. Wailing. Melisande falls into a
swoon. The earth priestesses mutter darkly, some local firebrand
climbs to a roof and incites the crowd. He says the beast
cheated, and ugly looks are cast the way of the Duke and his
entourage. The Duke prudently leaves, taking the baboon with
him. (If the baboon insists on staying, he is murdered before
the sacred wedding.) The baboon is declared to have forfeited,
and the runner-up is married to Melisande.
The reason I say this is because bestiality is taboo just
about everywhere (though I did read recently of a place with an
exception for horses.) Anyway, having a baboon for Year King
(just kidding) is a Very Bad Thing, likely to result in everybody
moving away from the town ("it's going to be struck with a
disaster, that's why everyone left--hmm, I guess everyone leaving
was the disaster.").
The Cage of Bones (with apologies to Warren Zevon)
DESCRIPTION
A cage about 1.25 meters in each dimension. It is made of
the long bones of a sentient species, usually human. In most
cases, lead or iron joins the bones together. One Vadeli
sorcerer used Form/Set Bone to mold the bones to each other, even
making hinges for the door that way.
ORIGIN
The secret of making these cages comes from the West, but no
one wants to take the blame for inventing them. Vadeli,
Brithini, and various heretical Malkioni make them now. In Guhan
and Halikiv, Zorak Zorani make them, having learned the ritual
from the Arkati.
KNOWLEDGE
In the West, the cages are well known in whispered legend.
Few admit seeing one, because that raises hard questions. Most
people know that the cages trap people with magic, but know no
more than that.
POWERS
To force someone into a cage of bones, one must overcome
that person's MP with one's own. Each attempt takes a melee
round. If the victim physically resists, the attacker must also
keep the victim at the door to the cage.
Once inside the cage, a person has to overcome the cage's MP
to do anything. The cage's MP are in the 30 point range. The
prisoner has to roll MP v. MP to cast a spell, to try to break
out, or to call upon a saint, spirit, or god. Each attempt at
resistance takes 1 MP. The prisoner's will power fades away, so
that after an hour, he or she cannot resist the cage. The
prisoner can not regain MP inside the cage.
If the prisoner dies inside the cage, his or her spirit
stays there. Even if the corpse leaves the cage, the spirit
cannot leave by itself. No psychopomp comes to take the spirit
away. The spirit can attack any being that enters the cage. A
person outside can use a spell to order the spirit to leave.
Once the spirit gets out, it is a ghost or wraith and can regain
its MP normally.
If the cage takes more damage than its AP (6 for a basic
cage), its magic ends. Any being or spirit trapped inside can
then leave and regain its lost MP, though it will not go to the
proper afterlife unless someone performs the correct funeral
ritual over it.
PROCEDURE
Make a cage. This takes the bones of at least three
sentient beings, sacrificed in the ritual of making the cage.
The magician traps the spirits of the sacrifices, and binds them
into the cage.
The magician needs to spend at least 2 POW for each of the
binding enchantments. The cage ritual takes another point of
POW. If the magician fails to make at least three binding
enchantments, or fails in the Cage of Bones Enchanting Ritual,
the cage does not have the powers listed above. The Ritual is a
woven magic, which does not require an additional spell, merely
knowledge of how it is to be performed.
The POW of the cage equals the total POW of the bound
spirits that went into making it. The bound spirits function
only as part of the cage, not as magic spirits or any other kind
of spirit.
Enjoy!
--Martin
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