-or- Register at the Citadel

Plots
Hired
Encounter
1.93
7 Votes

-2xp


Hits: 4422
Comments: 6
Ideas: 0
Rating: 1.9286
Condition: Normal
ID: 191

Submitted:

Updated:
April 1, 2006, 7:27 pm

Vote Hall of Honour

You must be a member to use HoH votes.
Author Status

Options


Print Friendly and PDF

Becoming a druid

By:

In the middle of nowhere, followers of nature religions meet for a great festival. Also, the new druid for that region of the world is going to be “elected”. Not all of the 4 contestants are initiates, however…

One of the contestants is a defiler, as has come into the knowledge of the archdruid, who is supervising the combats. He doesn’t know which of the four, though.
A short word on defiling: a defiler is a magic-user, who draws his powers from the forces of nature. Thus, the more potent the spell he uses, the greater the effects on his surrounding nature are (leaves turning brown, twigs falling off, ... ). Naturally, druids and defilers don’t get along very well. However, if there’s no druid to a region, a defiler could carry out his experiments to a threatening degree.
Also, note that the contestants will try to use this situation to gain advantage over the candidate they’re most afraid of, by setting rumours that will point to that candidate being the defiler.
Moreover, the initiates will not be very cooperative, claiming that they need all their powers for the final contest that’s going to come up once the defiler is found.
With my group, it was very easy hooking them onto this, since one of the characters managed to upset a coven of witches, that was attending the festival. They put a curse on him (also, there was a time limit), which none of the other people at the festival could lift but one of the druids or the arch-druid himself.



Additional Ideas (0)

Please register to add an idea. It only takes a moment.

Join Now!!



Gain the ability to:
Vote and add your ideas to submissions.
Upvote and give XP to useful comments.
Work on submissions in private or flag them for assistance.
Earn XP and gain levels that give you more site abilities.
Join a Guild in the forums or complete a Quest and level-up your experience.
Comments ( 6 )
Commenters gain extra XP from Author votes.

EchoMirage
January 7, 2005, 8:43
0xp
If it is known that one of them is a defiler, have all cast but a simple spell. So easy. "Cast a spell to prove your magic ability, so that you may continue with the contest."
Mystery solved. 2/5
Cheka Man
January 7, 2005, 13:23
0xp
1/5
Scrasamax
January 7, 2005, 15:17
0xp
I think that the congregation of the different nature religions for a great festival of nature has more potential than hunting down a defiler mage hidden in their midsts. See Echo's comment on the easy solution.

It would be more interesting to know why the festival has come into being, what occurs, why the people attend, and so forth.

1/5
Iain
January 7, 2005, 17:02
0xp
Possibly a defiler does not have to drain nature - although he would do it as his preferred source of energy, he could also (at least for minor to moderate spells) rely on "conventional" energy sources. This would prevent Echo's solution being used as the defiler would just refrain from draining nature for the simple spell.

It has potential, but a bit more work is needed to make it actually workable. 2/5
Voted manfred
November 29, 2005, 5:30
Only voted
Murometz
January 10, 2008, 23:22
0xp
A festival of druidic rites and initiation rituals, either old-school or new-take, perhaps with this basic concept but with all the juicy and necessary details, would make a fine sub indeed actually!


Random Idea Seed View All Idea Seeds

Nine times out of ten, it’s the undead that do the running. Not strictly animal or vegetable, the Corpse bud is a peculiar individual that shares characteristics from multiple kingdoms and species. In appearance, all corpse buds bear a shape of a large rounded top bud divided into four lateral segments, and a much longer, narrower bottom bud, also divided into four segments. Between the two halves are a set of four radial limbs, rounded on top and flat on the bottom, covered with tiny serrated hooks facing towards the body. In overall size, it’s limbs reach as wide as a spread hand, with the body being as thick as a fist. It is as long as a human hand from top to bottom. Internally, the top bud of the corpse bud contains a bacteria filled membrane that produces the hydrogen that the corpse bud uses to stay aloft, and a series of fungal gills for the dispersal of spores for reproduction. The lower half of the bud contains a number of fine filaments, as well as a sharp barbed stinger containing a powerful local anaesthesia. The Corpse Bud mobilizes by inflating its top bud, and steers by rotating its arms rapidly about its body. The corpse bud ordinarily drifts with the wind, orienting towards the scent of recent decay and death. It preys on the recently dead, burrowing the lower bud into the victim, using the anaesthesia in case the victim is dying, and not truly deceased. Once embedded, it releases its filaments into the body, replacing the current nervous system. This gives it full animation of the body, and allows the corpse bud to direct it. Corpse buds are not a malevolent species, being primarily concerned with breaking down the host body for food, and infecting the reproductive cycle with spores in order to mate with other corpse-bud bodies. To preserve the corpse for this purpose, Corpse buds will seek out dry locations to prevent bacteria from destroying the corpses. This often causes a large number of corpse buds to gather in a single location. In culture, Corpse buds are used to repair broken spines or degenerative diseases, as the sentient mind will easily overcome the mind of the non-sentient corpse bud. Once infected by a corpse bud, however, removal is usually fatal, and the infected individual cannot reproduce, or risk infecting another. Thus, it is a technique often reserved for the elderly, or a last resort. Necromancers and other dark sorcerers will often preserve the corpses of their victims magically, and infect them with corpse buds, creating traditional undead as well, so as to seed their lairs with undead both offensive and non, in order to throw their enemies off balance. They will also enslave the rudimentary minds of the corpse buds, and transform the docile things into a plague. There have also been accounts of magically transformed corpse buds with stronger minds and a taste for living flesh, but thus far all accounts are unproven rumors.
By: Raptyr | Visit | UpVote 3xp

Creative Commons License
Individual submissions, unless otherwise noted by the author, are licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
and requires a link back to the original.

We would love it if you left a comment when you use an idea!
PayPal
Powered by Lockmor 4.1 with Codeigniter | Copyright © 2013 Strolen's Citadel
A Role Player's Creative Workshop.
Read. Post. Play.
Optimized for anything except IE.
0.0250