Howling Despite of the Yawning Maw

Rules

Performing the Ritual

Performing this ritual takes at least 2 minutes of roleplaying. The ritual targets a single mage implement which must be present during the ritual.

Effects

The power of the ritual is stored in the implement targeted by the ritual. Any one of the contributors can unleash the power of the ritual while holding the implement to allow them to call MASS WEAKNESS.

The power of the ritual can be invoked only once.

When the power of MASS WEAKNESS is invoked, the character is struck with weakness and cursed. The weakness can be cured normally, but the curse may need additional treatment.

The power granted by this ritual lasts until it is used or for ten minutes, whichever comes first.

Additional Uses

The ritual can be used to place more than one use into the target implement. Each additional use increases the magnitude of the spell by 30. Any uses left over are lost at the end of the ten minutes. You cannot charge up more than one implement with this ritual.

Description

This battlefield ritual allows a powerful magical attack to be unleashed against a group of enemies, weakening them and leaving them incapable of casting spells, using enchanted items or performing heroic deeds. Like similar rituals, the attack is temporarily stored in a rod, staff or wand, and then unleashed at the most tactical moment.

For many Winter ritualists, the Howling Despite of the Yawning Maw is superior to both the weakness spell and rituals such as Hungry Grasp of Despair because it spreads the curse of weakness among many enemies but only a single ally suffers the curse in return. They agree that it is unfortunate for the ritualist who has to deliver the curse, but one magician losing their power for a time is a small price to pay for blasting an enemy company. Used wisely, this ritual can neutralise an elite band (such as an orc chieftain and his bodyguards) ir cut-off an entire enemy coven from their magic. It is even useful when fighting some supernatural threats; for example, it can prevent a mob of husks from rising again when they are struck down.

When the power of this ritual is unleashed, the ritualist doing so often feels an overpowering urge to unleash a screaming howl; at the same time they are struck by the backlash of the effect and weakened, and feel a curse settling on their shoulders. Stories report curses ranging from a hunger for rotten meat to crippling effects comparable to the weakness caused by Curse of Decrepitude or the sickness associated with Curse of Gangrenous Flesh. Magical scholars have theorised that the curse may be associated with the Wendigo, and can be mitigated by boonsfrom that dangerous Eternal. Other scholars suggest that this is just another lie of the Wendigo, and that the curse comes directly from the destructive spiritual energies unleashed through the implement; that it is simple a price to be paid for the power to condemn so many others to despair and (presumably) defeat.

In the Marches this ritual is sometimes called Topple the Lofty Pedestals, while in The Brass Coast it is referred to as Calling the Black Wind.

Common Elements

When performing this ritual, the coven often invokes forces of despair, fear and hunger. Oppressive music or thundering rhythms that begin fast and become slower and slower, symbolic of the way power ebbs from those effected by this curse, are common; so are frenzied dances that reach a climax with the performers collapsing as if from exhaustion. The slow ringing of bells often accompanies this ritual.

The focus of this ritual is an implement, and the role it plays in the ritual can be quite important. Some ritualists, especially in Varushka pass a single implement from magician to magician, whispering curses and dire promises of failure and despair to the tool before handing it on. Others might place the implement at the centre of the ritual and leave it stationary while they weave their magic around it.

Other elements might include the runes Kyrop or Naeve, or a dramaturgical scene in which the Captain succumbs to despair and frailty. For an astronomancer, the ritual has a clear correspondence with the Drowned Man constellation. Some Dawnish - and even a few Highborn magicians - consider evoking the spirit of the malign manticore.