Tricks of the Hunt

Tricks of the Hunt

This is a small, thick travelling spellbook, bound in plain brown leather which has seen much hard wear. The writing inside is small and cramped - difficult to read without considerable concentration. The first chapter appears to be a diary, or perhaps an adventure story, and tells the following tale:

Deep in the wild lands of Norwold, far from the toeholds of civilisation, there are areas where few of the "civilised" races care to go; regions which house many strange and dangerous creatures - and also hide fugitives, those hard enough (or desperate enough) to live in the badlands, rather than submit to civilised law.

These criminals have little to fear, apart from native monsters (who are often less dangerous than the criminals themselves), since lawkeepers are generally too scared of the wilderness to venture after them, but one name has caused even the hardest outlaw to look nervously over his shoulder; that of Sallac Daar, the Hunter.

Sallac Daar was a native of West Portage, on the Isle of Dawn, who came to Norwold during the Alphatian "Land Rush." He ruled a small dominion for nearly a decade but, while he was away leading an armed force in the service of King Ericall, his lands were overrun by humanoids under the command of a bandit troop. They were assisted by his seneschal, who showed them the way past his defences, watched as Daar’s family were slain, then fled with Daar’s most valuable magical treasures. Upon returning home and learning of the betrayal, Daar appealed to the King for troops to clear out his domain and hunt down his family’s killers, but Ericall - unwilling to spare soldiers he might need himself - declined.

Furious, Daar broke fealty and set out to track his foes alone. A powerful mage, he devoted months and years to finding, creating and devising suitable magics to help him, and to training himself for the rigours of the hunt. He succeeded in destroying the bandits and bringing the traitorous seneschal to justice, but declined to recover his domain; there was nothing there for him now. Instead, he dedicated his life to tracking those who thought themselves beyond the reach of the law. People began to call him "the Hunter", and the name stuck. To this day, he is known and admired as the premier retriever of lawbreakers in the North; although not officially part of any lawkeeping force, his assistance is welcomed whenever he chooses to give it.

Tricks of the Hunt is a journal detailing many of the Hunter’s adventures, interspersed with useful tips and anecdotes for anyone wanting to survive in a wilderness. Reading the book from cover to cover will give the reader an excellent intellectual grounding in wilderness survival (in game terms, it provides the Wilderness Survival Skill at -2 as a bonus skill - a Skill slot must be spent to improve it up to normal level). The book also holds a handful of Daar’s personal spells, and detailed descriptions of some of his favourite magical items:

Peace Bond

Level: 2

Range: touch (see below)

Duration: special

Effect: Charming enchantment

This useful spell is a permanent part of Sallac Daar’s repertoire; it is a common sight to see him leading dangerous criminals along like trained dogs, with only a frayed piece of rope to hold them.

The spell requires a length of lightweight rope, or other thin cord - simple string will do - as a focus. The enchanted tether remains dormant until used to tie or lasso the target, when a command word (chosen during casting) is spoken. at that point, the tied person is subject to a Charm Person effect. If it succeeds, the Charmed individual will follow the caster (or whoever holds the cord) in a docile, obedient fashion, and obey simple orders, without trying to escape. If no-one is holding the cord, the Charmed person will simply stand or sit quietly until it is grasped and a command is given. Indeed, while in the Peace Bond the captive cannot make any hostile moves, even to save himself (although a saving throw is allowed to break the spell if facing certain death). A Peace Bonded individual may make a saving throw when first affected, or once per week afterwards, to throw off the enchantment; if these do not succeed, only Dispel Magic, the Day of Dread, or removal of the cord can break the spell. The dormant version lasts for up to one day, if the cord is not employed, before fading.

Note: It is known that the Hunter developed a stronger version of this spell, based on Charm Monster rather than Charm Person, to capture more powerful foes, but that spell is not present in Tricks of the Hunt.

Hunter’s Stare

Level: 3

Range: 180’

Duration: see below

Effect: creates seeker-missiles

One of the first spells created by Sallac Daar, this Magic Missile variant was named for him by a poetic companion, who first coined the oft-quoted maxim, "no man can long withstand the Hunter’s stare."

When Hunter’s Stare is cast, the caster’s eyes begin to glow with a magical, red-orange light. It takes two rounds for the magic to build enough for release, at which point a bolt of red-orange energy may be fired from each eye, hitting the target automatically (so long as he is in range). If released on the second round, each bolt causes 1d4 damage; however, the caster may hold the power back for additional rounds, letting the power build even further, if he so wishes. Bolts released during the third round do 1d6 damage; during the fourth, 1d8; the fifth, 1d10; and the sixth, 1d12. If not released after six rounds the bolts reach critical mass and explode, blinding the caster and causing 2d6 damage each.

The two bolts created by Hunter’s Stare may be fired independently, at different times and/or at different targets. If the chosen victim hides behind a solid object, or someone interposes herself between missile and target, the bolt swerves around the obstacle to strike its chosen target. If the target is out of range, however, the bolt fades away harmlessly.

A useful side-effect of Hunter’s Stare renders the caster immune to blinding attempts by Light or Darkness spells while the power builds; the energy burns the magic away in a single round. Sallac Daar often cast this spell just before attacking, since he could cast other spells while the power grew - and the sight of a flame-eyed attacker often gave his prey a moment’s pause, which he could exploit to his own advantage.

Nightmare Tracker

Level: 4

Range: special

Duration: 1 night

Effect: dream-communication

Early in his career, Sallac Daar discovered that nervous, scared targets were often easier to track down and defeat than calm, rational ones. He devised this spell to make them that way.

The spell requires some personal item belonging to the target as a focus. Cast at night, it allows the caster to sense when the target sleeps, and to place himself into a meditative state, linking the dreams of hunter and hunted together. The caster enters the target’s dreamscape and may consciously examine and even affect it while there; the topography of the dream often gives the caster some clue to the target’s real-world location.

The dream, from the target’s point of view, is always the same; he or she is being chased by an indistinct, shadowy figure (the caster), and is consumed with fear, knowing that something terrible will happen if it catches him/her. The caster’s perception is not necessarily identical to the target’s (the shadow-form is the target’s conceptualisation of the dream being invaded), and he need not actually "chase" the target at all.

The nightmare ends if the target is awakened (which snaps the caster back to his body, leaving him stunned for 1d4 Turns), or at the point in the dream where the shadowy figure is about to catch the target. In the latter case, the target awakens in a cold sweat, with heart racing and gasping for breath. For the rest of the day, the target will be jumpy and unnerved (and at -1 to all "to hit" rolls).

Sallac Daar tends to use this spell on successive nights, compounding the fear engendered by the spell; this places the target at an emotional disadvantage when they finally meet.

Hunter’s Elixir

This is a brown, brackish liquid, tasting faintly of cloves. It contains a number of rare herbs and other natural ingredients (the recipe is contained in Tricks of the Hunt). It reacts quite strongly to Detect Magic.

When drunk, Hunter’s Elixir reproduces the effects of the spell Hunter’s Stare (see above). Sallac Daar created this potion to be used by a non-Mage companion, or by himself when his own spells were exhausted. It is expensive to make, and can only be brewed and enchanted in very small quantities - a typical batch contains no more than 1d4+1 doses of the potion.

One advantage to Hunter’s Elixir, at least as far as Sallac Daar is concerned, is its curious side-effect when drunk by a Mage. If that Mage has already memorised and cast Hunter’s Stare that day, the potion has a flat 45% chance of spontaneously regenerating the spell in the Mage’s memory, in addition to providing its normal effects.

Herne’s Compass

This is a very old item, resembling a small, ornate arrow made of black iron, measuring just 2" in length. It is always cold to the touch, and has the curious property of floating on water, despite its obvious weight.

Created by unknown hands, Herne’s Compass was used frequently by Sallac Daar to track down felons and fugitives. If a few drops of the target’s blood are dripped on the Compass - or a personal item of the target touched to it - and the command word ("mere") spoken, the Compass becomes sensitised to the target. Thereafter, if the arrow is placed in a bowl of water and the command spoken again, it turns unerringly to point in the direction of the target. The Compass functions twice per day in this manner, for 1 Turn per use. It remains sensitised for a number of days equal to the user’s Intelligence score before losing the trace. To re-energise it, fresh blood from the target, or a different personal item, must be used - the previous source will not function a second time.

Herne’s Compass was stolen from Sallac Daar by a former companion nearly a decade ago; its current location is unknown. The last rumoured sighting of the Compass - which might have been false, mistaken, or referring to a different item - was in the Sind Desert, four years ago. Unfortunately, the thief himself could not provide further information; Daar found his dead body in Northern Heldann, several months after the theft, but of the Compass there was no sign.

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