School girl recovering after 'goblins' attack

A reported case of a modern goblin attack!

I find this article (linked below) very interesting because it involves:

• Goblins
• Witches
• a Prophet

According to the article, the unnamed school girl was calling out the names of the witches. This act somehow provoked the goblins to attack her, She claims they come after her and demand for her "flesh and blood".

If this were a weird fantasy adventure, I would imagine that the witches disliked their names being called out by the unwitting girl for no purpose and that they sent the goblins to wreak retribution. Is there now a curse upon the girl and perhaps her village? Will the prophet be able to help? Would the PCs need to destroy the goblins and ultimately the witches?

This is surely a case where "real life" is stranger than fiction! 

Check out the news story here:

http://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-local-byo-9151-article-School+girl+recovering+after+'goblins'+attack.html

I definitely see an adventure in this story!

The Bane Toad Ritual

The Bane Toad Ritual

some demented Medieval guy's idea of a toad

A Bane Toad is a magical creature that is created using a ritual on the night of Samhain, the same night which the Holy Church calls All Hallows Eve. Only an Evil/Chaotic Witch or Sorcerer can create a Bane Toad.

The Ritual:
During the night of Samhain, the foul practitioner takes a live toad and places it into a pumpkin which has had the pulp and seeds removed from it. Into the pumpkin is placed a pint of fresh blood, which may be the magician's or someone else's. Three Belladonna leaves are placed in with the blood. The live toad is then put into the pumpkin. The pumpkin is placed over a fire made from coniferous tree branches.

A chant is said over the components as the finally toad boils to its demise:

“In dark night I give of life that woe and ward may become a snare.
Ere one touches this creature again, methinks they should show 'ware!”

Once the creature dies, the pumpkin is removed from the fire and the admixture is allowed to cool.
Eventually the now dead toad will hop out of the gourd. Its appearance will have been altered. This newly created corruption, a Bane Toad, will have pale greenish-white skin. It continually oozes a mucus that is poisonous to the touch. It can also bite someone for the same poisonous effect. The Bane Toad will now have only one, great, bulbous red eye with a yellow pupil. The creature is now able to see not only what it could beforehand, but also invisible beings and also “see” vibrations of moving living beings in even pitch blackness.

a handsome, newly created Bane Toad

The Bane Toad is not a familiar, though its creators sometimes keep them as a pet. Its purpose it to ward and watch over a person (the creator or other) or a singular object. If anyone other than the creator of the Bane Toad attempts to harm the person warded or touch the object so warded, the Bane Toad will attempt to bite them. If a saving roll vs poison at a difficulty of -2 is not made, the person bitten or who touches the toad will become paralyzed for 1 to 6 hours. If the Bane Toad is to guard a person other than the creator, its poison will not affect them.

The object or person warded is chosen by the Witch/ Sorcerer at the time of its ritual creation. Once the person or object and the toad are joined, the toad will never willingly leave its obligation. It must be destroyed before it stops its warding. Of course, the creator or the person it wards could do so easily. Bane Toads are considered a highly prized pet and guardian by rich, decadent nobles, who will willingly supply ALL of the components, as well as a substantial sum of money to have one created for them, because of their rarity. They are considered a status symbol by those twisted enough to buy the creation of one and are handy for magicians, to safeguard their person or magical grimoire, etc. The toad will croak an alarm if the thing they ward is harmed/touched.

The Bane Toad is a ½ HD creature (1 to 3 Hit Points)
Bite for 1 HP of Damage + Saving Roll vs Poison or become paralyzed for d6 hours.
(Touching the Bane Toad also requires a SR vs Poison)

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Components as related in the Bane Toad Ritual description:

• Live toad
• Pumpkin
• 3 Belladonna leaves
• Coniferous branches
• 1 pint of freshly spilled blood

Witch Oracle - a strange and powerful NPC encounter

Just in time for Halloween:
The Witch Oracle

The Witch Oracle is a powerful sorceress. They are a rare, solitary type of witch, living in secluded places that others do not frequent. They may live in a hut in a dangerous swamp, in a hidden cave, at a ruined temple, a stormy mountain top or any other creepy, perilous and appropriate site. The point is that finding a Witch Oracle is not easy and the place where they live is fraught with enough natural dangers to dissuade the average person from approaching their lair.

A Game Master might want to include a Witch Oracle in the game when rare and vital information is needed to be acquired by a Player Character or a party of characters. Quests, recovery of valuable artifacts, knowledge of the weakness of a foe, the need to know the whereabouts of a lost loved one, etc. are all possible reasons for PCs to inquire of a Witch Oracle.

Witch Oracles are capable of foretelling future events, remotely seeing over great distances, casting curses and have secret knowledge that no one else possesses. For their information, there is always a price. Here are some possible ways of handling that:

1- The Game Master may have previously made it known that the Witch Oracle requires a specific rare item (such as a spell component that is dangerous and difficult to get – a Roc's egg, for instance)

2- The PCs may not know what it is that the Witch Oracle wants until they ask her for information, at which time, she will name her price – something that could lead the PCs into to a side-quest to get for her.

3- The Witch Oracle may demand to have sexual relations with the querent or the PC with the highest Charisma stat, if an entire party is seeking knowledge. Here is where one of the abilities of the Witch Oracle comes into play. The Witch Oracle is capable of making her appearance be that of any type of woman of any race. When the PCs first see her, she will appear as a woman of any form, with an apparent 18 Charisma. Any person seeing the Witch Oracle in this form must make a Saving Roll vs Charm or be enamored of her beauty. (“Surely the foolish people that warned the PCs of seeing the Oracle must be superstitious and mistaken!”)

Her true form is, however, extremely hideous; that of an old crone, with bugling eyes, warts, large nose or any other way in which the Game Master wants her to truly be – the point being that she is really a Charisma of 3 and extremely ugly to look upon. The crone will not reveal her true form until after the unnatural sexual union has occurred. There is a 20% chance of the Oracle becoming pregnant with a PCs child if they have relations with her. The pregnancy will last 3 months. The child born of this union will be a powerful child, mirroring both the abilities of its mother and those of the father. This could lead to some interesting adventures in the future. The child will always disdain its father and will seek somehow to make their life miserable, if not to end it! It only takes one year for the child to grow to maturity.

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Anyone that kills the Witch Oracle is always cursed. This is a good rumor to spread to the PCs beforehand as a warning, to make her seem even more terrifying. No matter how a Witch Oracle dies, even if decapitated or disintegrated, etc.immediately afterwards, an audible voice will curse the specific person(s) who caused her death.

Possible Curses:

1- The PC(s) are doomed to never complete their quest!

In this case, all rolls made by the PCs will be at a minus two [-2] until the quest or adventure is completed.

2- The PC(s) will be told that they will be haunted by the Witch Oracle for the rest of their days!

If this is the case, they will have nightmares every night, slowing healing and causing exhaustion in the character(s) until an Exorcism/Banishment is performed by a high-level Cleric, which is another possible quest.

3- The PC(s) will be cursed to rot until they reach the grave, where the Witch Oracle threatens to consume their soul!

The killer(s) will begin to be covered with oozing sores and begin to rot for 1 unrecoverable Hit Point per day. This can only be removed by a combination of Cure Disease & Dispel Curse(or Chaos) being used upon the sufferer(s).

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The Witch Oracle will not harm the PCs if they do as she bids and do not harm her in any way. The Oracle always has a familiar appropriate to her natural surroundings. This creature will fight to protect her to the death, if she is attacked.

An Oracle is always of equal or higher level to that of the most advanced PC and will have Magic Spells of that level (determined by the Game Master).

If treated well and her bidding is done, the Witch oracle can also give a Boon to the PC(s).
A Boon is a sort of “blessing”, such as plus one (+1) to all rolls involving a specific upcoming encounter, which will be foretold by the Witch Oracle. This is up to the Game Master's discretion and can be anything the GM wants it to be, in addition to any information gleaned from the Witch Oracle, as was originally purposed in seeing her.

A visit with a Witch Oracle should be handled as a major encounter in an adventure/quest, not merely as advanced rumor gathering or the like. A good Game Master will be able to use her to good effect in making any adventure or quest more interesting.