Chamber of Delights

Rules

Performing the Ritual

Performing this ritual takes at least 2 minutes of roleplaying. The ritual must be performed in an enclosed area such as a tent or building. .

This ritual is an enchantment. A target may only be under one enchantment effect at a time.

Effects

This ritual imbues an area with an aura that creates a powerful roleplaying effect: they feel relaxed, happy and maybe a little drugged; pressing concerns are easy to set aside for later. They are encouraged to indulge themselves, and luxuriate in sensations they find pleasurable. It is easy to fall asleep in this area, and anyone who does is likely to experience vivid, pleasant dreams and awaken refreshed.

Anyone in the area can choose to roleplay being happy, lazy and relaxed in response to any other aura they are experiencing, for as long as they remain in the area.

The {{{1}}} can provide a source of supernatural strength to anyone in the area, allowing them to overcome an unwanted roleplaying effect. This ability requires the character to roleplay {{{2}}}, and to remain in the area. If they leave, the unwanted roleplaying effect returns assuming it has any duration left.

A character who engages in at least fifteen minutes of {{{3}}} in this location aura recovers all lost personal mana. There is no effect if the character is on a battlefield or in a similar stressful environment. If the character makes or suffers an attack during this time, or spends any personal mana, then the fifteen minutes is interrupted and must be begun again from scratch. This magic is not sufficient to allow recovery of personal mana to any character who is under an effect that prevents recovery of mana overnight - most obviously, it will not help someone who is under the effect of Dreamscape of the Endless Hunt or similar curses.

This enchantment is a location aura, similar to that created using the consecration ceremony. A location can only be under one aura at a time. This ritual will replace any standard location aura (including those created by similar rituals), but is not powerful enough to remove a strong location aura . Likewise, any consecration can replace (or remove) this enchantment. A detect magic spell performed in the area determines the realm and magnitude of the effect. The insight skill will not detect any spiritual element to the enchantment.

The effect lasts until the end of the next battle, skirmish or quest the character participates in; or until the end of the current event, whichever is sooner.

Additional Magnitude

You may choose to create a more powerful effect to overcome another magical enchantment that creates an aura in an area, and to make this enchantment harder to replace with another similar effect. You may increase the magnitude of the ritual by any amount. This does not increase the difficulty of removing or replacing the aura with exorcism or consecrate.

Description

Like The Solace of Chimes, The Chamber of Delights creates an aura similar to, but distinct from, the kind of aura a priest can create with the ceremony of consecration. It differs in several key respects.

Most obviously, it is not created using Liao, but is a construct made using magic. This is not a spiritual aura drawn from the Labyrinth or the spiritual strength of humanity; it is an enchantment that evokes the same feelings of relaxation and indulgence that surround many Eternals of Night.

The strength of the aura does not vary; like all such enchantments it is quite fragile and can be removed from an area by even the most basic ceremony of exorcism. The magnitude of the enchantment has no effect on the strength of the aura; it appears to be impossible to use magic to create an enchantment that is resistant to exorcism.

Some priests are quite skeptical of this ritual. They claim that it invokes a false virtue, or even a malign spiritual presence. It encourages inaction rather than action, self-indulgence rather than Virtue. At various points in history some magicians have used their ability to create these auras to support claims that the ceremonies used by priests of the Way are just magic, or even to found small cults based around the worship of Eternals. Scholars of magic, especially those associated with the Sevenfold Path of the Imperial Conclave have proved repeatedly that consecration and area-enchantments such as these are different on a profound level, but this does not silence critics on both sides of the debate. In practice, most priests tend to treat The Solace of Chimes much as they would any other enchantment - it influences the minds of mortals, through magic. It may be a useful tool, or a test for the faithful, but the context in which it is encountered is the most important thing.

This ritual is sometimes used to prepare areas that encourage relaxation and indulgence. Some Freeborn parador have a location specifically set aside for invoking this ritual, where visitors relax, eat, drink and chat languidly. More than a few naga in particular find these areas especially soothing, and enjoy holding long indulgent feasts in them, or simply engaging in lazy gossip while sipping cool drinks.

Common Elements

This ritual is designed to create feelings of relaxation and pleasure. It is often performed with relaxing music, especially the sound of stringed instruments. Soothing incense is often burnt, and where possible the area is dressed in deep, luxurious colours and decorated with patterns designed to help relax the mind (mandalas, depictions of the runes of Night and so on). Decorations and beautiful ornaments are often scattered around the area, and both cushions and thick carpets are common. Invocations are almost invariably performed in quiet voices, and may involve participants sitting or lounging rather than standing.

The rune Zorech is often evoked with this ritual.