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Monday, April 18, 2011

Using Your Head

The Havatu tribe in the jungles of Asciana are infamous as headhunters. Usually, the heads they take (and shrink) are battle trophies, but at least once, a Havatu shaman seems to have coaxed powerful spirits into a group of shrunken heads and created magical artifacts. These were stolen by adventurers decades ago, and may now be encountered anywhere. There are five heads, each with a different power. The heads are intelligent, understand any language spoken to them, and reply in the native tongue of the person they are speaking with (though their breathless voices and sewn lips sometimes make them difficult to understand). A reaction role determines how helpful they are. The heads may answer as many specific questions about their area of expertise as they are inclined to. The heads' knowledge doesn’t extend to other planes or planets.
  • Bomju: Sees all things they transpire by day not hidden by magic.
  • Gomdala: Sees all things that transpire by night not hidden by magic.
  • Trukmak: Hears all things that occur underground, but tends to be most interested in the movements of borrowing animals, and must be redirected.
  • Moromo: Knows the location of all lost things, but it may take her d100 hours to remember.
  • Naapau: Knows an antidote for all poisons and toxins, but must taste the poison to identify it.
  • Ap-Oora: Knows things of magic, and can reveal the basic properties of magical creautres and objects, but will usally demand  to be close enough to "smell" the thing analyzed (though this really isn't neccessary).

10 comments:

  1. Gruesomely suited, and again it's the details that bed the idea in - the difficulty in speaking, the distraction.

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  2. Bomju and Gomdala have the best use if you can understand them enough.

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  3. Seems a shame that they know all languages. It deprives an NPC (or GM) of the chance to use the line: "You could ask them... if only you spoke Havatu!"

    (Actually, I like these heads very much, thank you)

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  4. Oh very, very nice. Any of those disreputable immigrants to The City bring pot de fers or similar things along with them? You don't always see the head, not right away, and it could be part of something more elaborate and potentially even more powerful...then there's spirits trapped in bottles, and those sealed cauldrons that come in from the islands...the ones that seem to talk or sing at odd times...

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  5. @Porky - Thanks. Yeah, its the little details that sell things, I think.

    @Angry Lurker - True, though they are limited to things that can be seen/observed--they've got no facility to hear things, or sense things nonvisual, so they're great for overview but not depth.

    @Risus - Well, you know, it could be the reports of them being able to speak any language are inaccurrate. ;)

    @NetherWerks - Ah! Good thoughts. I'm sure there are importers where such things turn up.

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  6. Oh yeah, forgot about the talking (shrunken) head there.

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  7. I love these. A childhood reading monster magazines and comics gave me a thang for shrunken heads.

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  8. Great stuff, love the flavor - I'm going to eventually use this and further pervert it. Cheers!

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