The Maiden Saga: Role Playing Game (11 page)

plus 1 point in each of the four Basic Attributes, for example -

 

2 Golds gets you a superior retainer of 70 Game Points, with 40 points distributed as above plus 30 points to use as you please, for example -

 

3 Golds gets you an excellent retainer of 100 Game Points, with 40 points distributed as above plus 60 points to use as you please, for example -

You buy kit for retainers in the same way you do for yourself. During the game, retainers function as NPCs but under your control and not that of the GM.

 

“Once more these thoughts passed through Aisla's head as she sat watching the celibentuary. Reaching into her pouch, she drew out a glass vial set in a web of brass filigree. Inside was a murky liquid, a preparation obtained by Talithea from the witch Aurora. She even knew the ingredients, which the Princess had recited with a measure of pride - the sperm of an enraged troll, black mandrake, chevrotain milk, cherry juice: leather, chewed separately. It would enhance her strength and determination, yet would leave her weak afterwards. Aurora herself had escaped Kavas-Arion in her youth, and as Aisla grasped the vial in her hand her confidence rose again.”
Captive

 

In the Maiden Saga magic falls into two main categories, thaumaturgy and the real thing. As far as the Aeg are concerned the, the process by which a black powder made from shit, cinders and sulphur can be made to hurl a large iron ball the best part of a mile is magic and no amount of explanation will convince them otherwise. Not that they have any difficulty with the idea of a solid turning into a much larger volume of gas so fast that the ball is projected with immense speed, but it's still magic. The same logic applies to the effects of potions and poisons. Anybody can dabble in this sort of magic so long as their skills are good enough, while possession of a suitable book will allow all but the most dull-witted to attempt potions, subject only to the availability of ingredients. Obtaining such ingredients may require a little work.

Then there's the other stuff, Spirit Magic, the real thing if you like, which is all to do with communicating with the dead and exerting influence, and preferably control, over beings from other dimensions. This is open only to those capable to detaching their minds from the real world, which requires absolute belief in an afterlife and the assistance of powerful hallucinogens. Only Aeg can start the game with Magic, and that at great cost, while their abilities must be gained with experience. The Mund have the advantage of access to the red mushrooms essential in freeing the mind, but anybody else wishing to learn the art must first travel to Kora, which is likely to be the beginning of their troubles.

 

 

Thaumaturgy

 

This works according to the normal rules of the game, but on a higher level. In order to employ Thaumaturgical Magic you need arcane knowledge, which is hard to come and requires intelligence to make, also craft skills and wisdom, although the devil is not so much in the detail as in collecting the ingredients. For example, for women goblin musk is an irresistible aphrodisiac. This is well known, but you must first catch your goblin. Goblins are rare, elusive creatures that live in deep burrows, into which they retreat at the approach of a human. They have an excellent sense of smell, enabling them to tell male from female and aggressive intent from indifference. Only when they are certain that their victim is unable to restrain herself and that there are no men nearby will they emerge from their burrows.

Yet these problems are by no means insurmountable. The people of Ythan simply stake a slave girl or a female nymph out as bait, at the centre of a ring of pitfalls and nettraps. Some goblins will inevitably get through and ravish her, leaving her pregnant with their offspring, but this is a drawback only from her perspective. A well designed system of traps might provide five or six goblins in the course of a night.

There is then the problem of how to extract the musk, a distasteful process involving the stimulation of certain glands. This is far too tricky to be left to an untrained underling, as the musk has to be free of all contamination if it is to last more than a few hours. Quantities are also tiny, and if distilled, as is the practise in Ythan, tinier still. A dozen goblins are required in order to produce enough musk to fill one of the tiny glass vials protected in a cage of golden filigree which are the traditional vessels.

The musk of female nymphs has a similar effect on men, and so has to be prepared exclusively by women. Combine the two and a single drop introduced to a tureen of soup will be enough to turn the politest Aprinian dinner party into an uninhibited orgy. What the Aprinians in question will have to say about this afterwards is, of course, another matter.

Such musks are the simplest of potions, requiring a single ingredient with a straightforward effect. Others are more complicated, such as that used by Aisla to bring on a berserk rage. The ingredients are; the sperm of an enraged troll, black mandrake, chevrotain milk, cherry juice and leather, each of which has an exact effect. The leather, for example, is the activant, and will trigger the rage. Proportions must be exact and errors carry unfortunate side effects. This is produced by the Aeg witch, Aurora.

Using potions is simple, especially on yourself. If you have it, you can take it, and the consequences. Anybody can try to use a potion, although it takes skill to do so while avoiding detection. In game terms, the rules are similar to those for assassination. Once you have manoeuvred your target into a suitable situation, you roll with your Game Points in Craft or Wisdom against their Game Points in Constitution, building sixes if you have the right Primary Drive. If the target manages to roll a quadruple they have escaped. Otherwise if they run out of Game Points in Constitution before you run out in Craft or Wisdom the potion is considered to have taken effect.

Obtaining potions is harder. If you attempt to steal them they are always at least level three (see rules for theft), while they will not be found at all except in a reasonable place. If you are skulking through an Aprinian hospital you might reasonably expect to come across a vial of one of their powerful soporifics, making it level three, but if you are seeking that same in a beached Makean corsair it will be a level five if it is there at all.

Making potions is harder still. Books exist, but are rare and like the potions themselves will always be level three or more if you seek to steal them. If you have a book you can attempt to make anything listed in it. Otherwise, the process can only be attempted if you have all the ingredients and sufficient skill. In game terms this is expressed as the combination of your Game Points in Intelligence, Craft and Wisdom, your Thaumaturgy Points, which must exceed a specific value in order for you to have picked up the secret of any given potion. Different peoples have different skills and the values vary accordingly. The witches and warlocks of Aegmund, alchemists from Ythan and Aprinian physicians are generally the best.

If you have more than half the required Thaumaturgy Points you are assumed to have picked up at least some of the crucial knowledge and are entitled to make a roll of the six dice. A triple indicates success.

If you have a book that gives the relevant recipe you are entitled to make a roll regardless of the level of your Thaumaturgy Points. A triple indicates success.

 

In all cases you must have obtained the necessary ingredients

 

Thaumaturgy Points required to make the eight potions

Numerous other potions exist. These can be introduced by the GM, or created by any PC with more than 100 Thaumaturgy Points, subject to the GMs approval and the spirit of the game.

Attitudes to thaumaturgy vary, but those using it may expect to encounter distrust at the very least, while poisoners are shunned everywhere, if not beheaded, impaled or made to drink their own wares.

 

 

Spirit Magic

 

This gives great power, but at great cost. Unless you have purchased Magic at the start of the game you must first undergo the Trance. For this you must be in wooded country in northern Kora, where you must search out the Red Agaric mushroom. To use this properly requires the same Thaumaturgy Points as for Fool's Broth, with a chance to roll a triple if you have more than half the required points.

If you succeed, you enter the Trance. If not, you are violently sick. Once in Trance you must play out a conflict with your Thaumaturgy Points against the total from a roll of the six dice by the GM. If you win you can now commune with the spirit world, but must subtract 60 Game Points from across your abilities, or 30 if you are Aeg. If you loose you become a gibbering wreck, or, if there are more than 20 points against you when you run out of Thaumaturgy Points, you are dead. A gibbering wreck can continue to play, but only after subtracting 60 Game Points from their abilities, or 30 if they are Aeg.

You will now be in a weakened state and need to rebuild your Game Points before attempting any serious magic. Any magic requires enormous mental exertion, and so in game terms costs points from your constitution. Otherwise it is simply a matter of talking to the right being, and if necessary persuading it to act on your behalf. This provides three new abilities, Necromancy, Binding and Summoning.

 

 

Necromancy

 

Talking to the dead is the least useful of your new skills, largely because they seldom have anything interesting to say. At a cost of 1 Constitution Point you can open a conversation, the nature of which is dictated by a roll of the six dice with the following results –