Magical Plunder for Otkorion

This document is a list of magical items for my Otkorioni campaign, although I doubt that it would present much difficulty to convert these items to your campaign. They are intended for RuneQuest game use, and are presented vaguely as items are in Plunder.

Arroin's Belt

Arroin's Belt is a holy item that was presented to warriors in the First Age. Arroin, the son of Chalana the White Woman, was a pacifist who healed the injured and sought to right the world's wrongs, but fell foul to the machinations of chaos. In the First Age, when Ralios was in turmoil as the Bright Empire advanced it's control over the basins inhabitants, Harafna Whiteblade, aide to Makla Mann, instituted formal rituals within the cult of Humath to pay homage to the deceased god Arroin in the hopes that he might return and heal the Bright Empire of its "wounds". Makla Mann supported the decision for only three seasons before coming to the conclusion that violence, and only violence, would solve the problem of Nysalor and his minions, ordering Harafna to turn his attentions to more important ideas. Harafna argued fiercely with Makla Mann, and the two fell out, Harafna leaving to head south with followers who believed in Arroin's path. For seven years, until they were slain as part of a Lead Cross HeroQuest, they continued to honour the dead god Arroin to no avail. The god never returned, nor showed any sign of.

However, during the rituals the warriors received Arroin's Belt, a powerful magical item from the OtherWorld that was a sign of great piety and devotion to Arroin (and thusly a sign of weakness to other warriors). Thirty six of these belts were returned to the Inner World, and only twelve were lost to the ravages of time, the remaining belts having passed from hand to hand and spread across Ralios. The belts are worn by Orlanthi warriors who believe in the paths and ideals of Arroin.

The belts are made of leather, enchanted to 17 ap's. It is fire resistant, but not immune from flame. It does not fade nor decay from age. They are plain, except for a single line of runes on the front that belong to Arroin. The belts can only be used by worshippers of an Orlanthi warrior god, such as Orlanth Four Weapons, Humakt, Urox, Vinga, Babeester Gor etc... It requires an attunement ritual that takes one hour and resists against a POW of 2d6. Failure to attune results in the loss of 1d4 POW and the character can never attempt to attune to the belt again. Once attuned it doubles the effects of any and all healing magic that the character casts, however the character cannot use any magic that is banned by the Chalana cult (i.e. attack spells, most boost spells etc...). The character can still fight and have such magics cast upon him, but cannot use them himself.

Religions:

Friendly:Chalana, Humakt, Orlanth
Neutral:All non-chaotic cults
Hostile:Chaotic cults, some worshippers of Makla Mann's sub-cult.

Blackfoot Mead

Based on the Eurmali spell "Safe Drunk"

Blackfoot Mead is brewed by Connor Blackfoot, a Trickster who lives in southern Otkorion (under the safe protection of a local Lord Caste Priest). He worships the gluttony and drunken aspects of the trickster god, and his feasts and orgies of beer are well reknowned. One of his creations is Blackfoot Mead. It is an exceedingly potent mead, but brewed with magical properties. No matter how drunk you get, you will always be safe from drunken accidents, you will never accidentally slip your blade into your chest when untying it and going to bed, you will not fall into a river, or choke on your own vomit, nor die from over intoxication. While it doesn't stop you from being hurt (if someone leaps on your and attacks you you will still have to fight for your life), it does prevent you from accidentally causing physical harm to yourself.

Connor only brews ten kegs a year of Blackfoot mead, and sells five to foreign traders for a hefty price. The process of creation is unknown, and sometimes Connor will make tales of odd ingredients that go into its creation. Drinking Blackfoot mead is said to be akin to drinking acid mixed with nails, but with a kick powerful enough to knock out an Uzuz.

Religions:

Friendly:Eurmal, Urox, Bemurok.

Blood of Urain

In a momentous battle between Urain and the God of light (variously identified as either Elmal, or Yelmalio by those who know of his existence) he was sundered in two. Before Urain could pull his two halves together he had cast blood across the skies and for the next year all rainfall showered the land with his evil blood. From time to time his crystallised blood turns up, buried in the land or in the possession of a chaos worshipper. Sacred to the cult of Urain for ritual purposes, it has little other use due to the fact that few people would consider the crystal worth possessing. Cults that are enemies to Urain seek out such crystals, destroying them to rid the world of it's evil.

The crystal detects as chaotic. The crystal works as any other (see Elder Secrets) and has a POW of 1d8 for attunement purposes. If successfully attuned the user loses 1d3 permanent CON. From that point forth they can cast any spirit magic spell, at will, and at no magic point cost, with no action cost or SR cost. However, for every point in the spirit magic spell the user loses 1 more point of permanent CON.

Religions:

Friendly:Urain, Ragnaglar
Hostile:Orlanth and Orlanthi cults.

Dryad's Bell

These are devices created by the elves of the Ballid Forest, although they are well known in Otkorion. The method of their creation is a mystery known only to the Aldryami, which no human has been able to reproduce. The bell's are found mainly in the Salantia Forest, the undead filled forest in northern Otkorion which Aldryami often make pilgrimages to. The pilgrims are said to leave the bells hanging from certain trees within the forest, and it is considered to be great luck to find one. However, removing them disturbs the Alrdyami rituals, and so elves are particulary aggressive towards those who do. Notably, a dryad bell is hung every year from a tree near a village called Anlif, where a competition is held to see who will win it. It is cause for celebrations and festivities within the village.

The bells are small, about the size of a child's hand, and are made of copper inscribed with a simple plant rune. They have a copper handle, but a twig for a clanger. When rung the bell makes no audible noise, however if rung within the vicinity of a dryad the dryad will appear and, unless the character is very hostile or a darkness monstrosity, the dryad is usually willing to perform a simple, non-lethal service for the character in return for the bell itself.

Religions:

Friendly: Aldrya.

Family Seals

Every of the Seventeen families of Otkorion have a Family Seal, with the exception of the Family Bemurok (being the cult of St. Urox). These items are somewhat related to the regalia of the Jofrain Confederation. The seals themselves appear as small three inch diameter enchanted silver circles, inscribed with a picture of St. Orlanth and the Saintly Host on one side, and a picture of the Family founder on the other. Around the outer edge, in Stormspeech, is inscribed various holy writings concerning the founding and heroes of the Family, written in tiny, tiny writing. They are normally hung from an enchanted iron chain around the neck by the Family Head or one of his Iron Council.

The items are very precious to all Families, for they are the embodiment of their authority. Any official declarations by a Family Head, or one of his proxies, must be made whilst wearing the item - although such important declarations are a rare event. Each family only has one Family Seal.

The only people who can use the item are the family head, his Iron Council, and Family Retainers (people appointed to protect the Family at any and all costs, aides to the Iron Councils). Whilst worn the character has the entire spiritual support of every member of the Family. This is represented under my game system as gaining Support Points (see "Cult Support" in my HeroQuest rules) - as most major families have thousands of members this normally grants about 6 support points! Family Seals do not give you an increase in POW. If you do not use my HeroQuest rules you can either use an adaption of your own, or simply use Support Points as they stand for Family Seals. Being a rare item, and a powerful item, they are rarely found in possession of anyone but the Family Head. Used Support Points return during the Sacred Time rituals.

Certain Families within Otkorion also have Wyter spirits which they then bind into this item, normally having a POW of 50-70 and a selection of rune magics and spirit magics.

If the item was lost it would spell misfortune and disaster for the family, they would have lost their own spirits. If the item was stolen it could be used as a focus for a ritual to curse or destroy the family!! Without it the family would be defenceless and most likely die off, as has happened to many such families in past years.

Religions:

Friendly:St. Orlanth and the Henotheistic Church
Neutral: Other Orlanthi religions.
Hostile: All other cults aggressive towards Otkorion! Especially troll cults and the Stygian Church of Naskorion.

Finshad's Clock

Calantia Masonlord is the only Hero that Otkorion has, and his mechanical and technical building skills are unsurpassed. When he returned as a Hero from the OtherWorld (whence no-one knows what occurred nor what he did whilst there) he appeared in the middle of Sacred Time rituals in Valantia, much to the surprise of the priests involved. The King of Valantia, King Remeual Finshad, questioned him for many hours and was told of his great prowess and ability. Eager to demonstrate his new found knowledge, Calantia agreed to make the King a marvel. It took him one entire season, as all of his projects do (such as the Stormwalk Road, or Tempest Halls). When he was finished he had created a Clock! It was about the size of a small box and rivalled anything even the Mostali could build! It measured the time perfectly, utterly perfectly. It know resides in Valantia's palace.

Value: Priceless. Anyone found in possession of it would be ordered to return it or face the consequences, although the King may pay a reward of about 8,000 pennies for it.

Goldentongue Quill

These items are created by the cult of St. Goldentongue, although they are said to have stolen the secrets of their creation from trader cults in Galin. They are mainly produced as gifts for powerful merchants, but some have been traded away. They appear as quills made of gold, with a bird feather in the top, often a ravens. The quills have only one function, when used in calculations of maths (such as accounts) they aid the user so that his calculations never fail. The quill does not aid in advanced mathematics, so if a character were to try anything other than addition, subtraction, division or multiplication they would not be aided by the magic.

Religions:

Friendly:St. Goldentongue

Humakti Stone Hearts

In Godtime, when the Kingdom of Umathil was invaded by the Devil and his Horde, many creatures, allied to the Monster-God, slew the defending Weaponthanes as their friends and family fled the field of battle in a desperate rout to avoid destruction at the hands of Chaos. Of these Weaponthanes, few survived, but many who died were so pious and virtuous to the Angel of Death that chaos could not claim their souls. Saved from Oblivion, the Humakti could not Die for they had been slain in an unnatural death. The souls, instead, became stone hearts within their corpses, and the chaos horders trampled over the cadavers, plunging the bodies, with their stone hearts, deep into the earth. Over the years, many hearts have turned up in a variety of forms and ways, and through the path of Humakt it is possible for anybody to meld with the heart - the soul remains trapped, but endows the user with powerful magical effects. When the host dies, both the souls can travel the path of the dead, releasing the Humakti and allowing them to return to their Lord's Halls to await Judgement. The Hearts are hunted by worshippers of Thanatar (the Severed God is the remains of the Monster-God reformed) for their rituals, and Zorak Zorani or Gyzarians who destroy them.

The hearts appear to be made of solid stone. They have 15 ap's, making them exceedingly difficult to crack or chip. They radiate magic, but only a proficient shaman could tell that they contained an actual spirit. During Death Week a ritual can be used to allow the heart to become part of the user. It becomes part of them, replacing the heart that they have already with the magical stone. Their blood flow stops, so that they can no longer bleed to death. They are also immune to a vast majority of poisons that require the blood flow to convey them, although corrosive venom (such as that from Fiends) can still be deadly. However, they lose all Love Passions (see my HeroQuest Rules), and can never again participate in sexual intercourse. Such things have no interest for the character. Any attempt at ressurection is also made more difficult, the dead soul resists at POWx3/2 rather than normal POW to see if they are ressurected or not.

People who have a stone heart become passion less and single minded. Many not already in Death Cults join them, obviously favouring Humakt.

Religion:

Friendly:Humakt
Hostile: Tien, Thanatar, Atyar, Than, Zorak Zoran, Gyzar.

Lodge Kippers

The Lodge is a mystical OtherWorld location accessed only by shamans. The shamans of Lankst can travel there and talk to the nature and wind spirits, and the shamans connected to Tempest Halls sometimes travel there and bring back magical mysteries. One common item is a Lodge Kipper.

The magical item is as it sounds, a kipper. A dead, foul smelling kipper. A shaman will always give it to a specific person ordained by the spirits to possess the item. If that person cooks and eats the kipper then they receive a prophetic vision of the future, always presented in symbolic terms. The prophecy may be very specific, or may be a broad vision of things to come. The shamans do not always give the Kippers to people who might seemingly deserve them, in their eyes such prophecies are not reserved to heroes. Kippers have been given to warrios on the eve of war, or Family Heads embrouiled in political inrigue, to aid them in their tasks, but are often given to common folk who have more "mundane" problems such as selling wheat, or domestic problems, or child-bearing. The nature of who the shaman gives the kipper to is determined by the spirits of the lodge, and no-one can influence it directly.

If someone else should eat the kipper then it is normal, mundane, although of the finest quality. Otherwise it has no effect.

Religions:

Friendly: Kolat, Orlanth

Purity Seals

Purity Seals are from Purity Tower, a convent as described in convents in Otkorion. There are thirty in all that are used to imprison and incarcerate the powers of Darkness beneath the convent that have lain dormant for so long.

The seals are made of iron, and are four feet in length, and six inches wide, two inches deep, making them large and difficult to carry. They have carved upon them signs of Orlanth Lightbringer, and are attached to the doors they seal by means of heating the metal to very high temperatures, and enacting a simple ceremony to seal them.

A ceremony roll must be made by a Priest of any non-Darkness cult. The priest must be supported by one or more other people who must also make ceremony rolls. All those who succeed in the ceremony roll can then sacrifice POW to the ritual. The POW is permanently lost. From that point forth, until the seal is removed or broken, any darkness creature or darkness power that attempts to breach the doors must attempt to resist their POW against the POW used in the door. Failure means they may not attempt for at least another year, a fumble means they may not try again. Success means they may attempt to breach the doors for fifteen minutes before having to make the attempt again. Most of the seals in Purity Tower have sacrificed POW of at least 40.

Religions:

Friendly: Orlanth, Earth Cults, Elmal
Hostile: Darkness Gods

Tirogel Mist

There is a place in northern Otkorion, near the tip of the Beast Parent Lakes, called Tirogel. Here is a mysterious spot that has existed for as long as memory allows. It was discovered by Barac Silvermane in the Godtime. It is a large pit in the highlands which constantly pours forth a white mist. Those that enter never return. No-one knows where it comes from or where it goes, and neither Divination nor magical research has revealed any useful information. It has been visited seven times in the last century by an otherwise unknown species of long-limbed, black eyes albinos with long blond hair. After asking directions for it they disappear, entering it's dark depths. Some of these people can be convinced to take a bottle to the edge of the pit and capture some of the mist, corking it in. They then vanish into the depths. Such captured mist has powerful magical effects. Mist taken by anybody else is useless and has no magical properties.

The mist can be released from the bottle at any time. It pours forth almost instantly over an area of 1d100 metres in radius. Visibility is barely affected, but everyone in the area who breaths in the mist becomes Befuddled as per the spell, and cannot shake off its effects until they leave the area of effect. The mist disperses after about twenty minutes.

Value: 1,000 pennies.

Quietening Statues

The Court Wizard, Garanwyn O'Farley, aide to King Leoban IV of Fiesive, designed these magical items and only he knows how to create them. As he has disappeared in 1620 ST, the secrets of their creation have vanished with him. He only made them for certain clients that were close to him, for he was a uniquely paranoid man who trusted no-one. Some have managed to get into circulation, but have become very precious to those who require total security against powerful people, and their equally powerful magic.

The statues are small, about four inches high, and those with Magic Sight notice that they radiate strong magic. They are normally statues of Orlanth, or Malkion, both important Henotheist gods, but one or two were tailor made to represent the person who owned them. They are constructed of a green, semi-transparent stone, that is not emerald, nor is the stone identifiable by any means. To activate the stone requires a character to place it on a flat surface, and press the top of it, expending one magic point in the process. It then softly glows green and remains so for ten minutes.

During this period of time, no Divination spells or Divine Intervention effects, can penetrate and discover what goes on within the vicinity of the statue (a ten metre radius). Effects used to listen in on the characters within 10m of the statue, such as Project Hearing, Project Sight, or the Jakaleel cult spell Whispers, must overcome a resistance of 5 on the resistance table with their intensity.

Religion:

Friendly:Malkion and independent sorcerors within Otkorion
Hostile: The Red Circle of Fiesive

Vore's Foot

Vores are creatures that are allied to Darkness and appear only under special ritual circumstances at stone circles in the Scanthil Forest located on the border of Surkorion, Lankst and Otkorion. In the future I will hopefully describe these monstrosities, as well as other creatures of the region.

Their feet sometimes retain magical abilities when they are slain. Not all feet are so, they only have magical properties by chance and there is no way to purposefully make these items. The feet are large, chitin-like and pointed, in some hideous mockery of a spider's foot. They are normally hung from gold or iron chain to ensure that they are not lost by the owner. Whilst worn the character is immune to demoralise spell effects caused by any creatures screaming (such as chaos features, or ghouls). It is only effective against the effect if it is produced by screaming, it gives no immunity or protection against normal Demoralise spells.

Religion:

Friendly: Ernalda, Ralia, Orlanth, Ehilm, Yelmalio, Elmal
Hostile: Troll cults.

Wada Blood

Wada a rare type of bird that appear in southern Lankst, and along the border of Northern Otkorion. They are small, about the size of a robin, with long red tail feathers if they're male, and blue if they are female. They have small beaks and are generally harmless, but have the uncanny ability to hide in the most obscure and deadly of terrain, able to withstand powerful heat and cold, meaning that they can live in inhospitable territory to keep predators away. If slain and their blood is quickly mixed with a simple concoction of herbs, it can be used as a powerful drug. The drug remains potent for about a year before becoming useless and foul tasting.

It is a common Lanksti practice for warriors to hunt and capture the birds for their magical qualities. However, the dangerous nature of the drug means that it is discouraged to use it in Otkorion, although the Mac Erc family, who retain a lot of their pagan roots, still hunt it, especially younger adults seeking the edge it can give them in combat. One Wada bird can provide enough for two doses of the drug.

The drug is consumed and becomes active within about ten minutes, and remains active for about two hours. It temporally increases the characters STR by 1d6, cumulative with all other magic. Additional doses past the first increase STR by only a further one point.

The dangers of the drug are addiction and withdraw symptoms. For every dose there is a cumulative 3% chance of becoming addicted, a chance which decreases by 1% every season of not having the drug. A roll to see if they become addicted must be made every time a dose is taken and has worn off. Those who become addicted crave Wada Blood and must have one dose every week or suffer withdraw. A character who is withdrawing becomes wracked by pain, vomiting fits and are basically incapacitated. Every day without the drug, roll 1d100. A roll over the chance of addiction means the incapacitation passes (but may return if they do not take the drug), a roll under the chance of addiction means they remain incapacitated for that day. A critical roll means the character falls into a coma and must make a CONx5 or die. Such addicts must remain off of the drug until their chance of addiction is reduced to 0%.

Value: About 150 pennies per dose.

Wind Eye Blanket

The Wind Eyes are Kolati Spirit Masters from Lankst who have belonged to an ancient tradition of following a specific set of ceremonial restrictions. From this the Wind Eyes gain prophetic and magical insight. One of their common creations, which they give as gifts to potential heroes, or those who have done them great service, is the Wind Eye Blanket. The Blankets are made of rugged cloth, big enough to take a normal human sized person to sleep under them, and are woven with a variety of different patterns depicting Kolati myths. The weaving is very intricate.

Those who sleep underneath the blankets are partially immune to any environmental effects whilst they rest in its comfort. Noises, while heard, sound slightly distant stopping loud noises preventing sleep, as long as the temperature is between -7 and 30 Celsius the character suffers no discomfort, and they can sleep in any wind conditions other than a hurricane. These items are sort after by outdoor travellers who find them useful in a lot of circumstances.

Relgions:

Friendly:Orlanth, Kolat