Nightmare Drums

Level III Rituals

Description: The houngun using this ritual sends the dead to haunt the dreams of an enemy, using the wraiths to drive an opponent slowly insane. Once the ritual is cast, the houngan has no control over this power, save to stop it from continuing. The shape of the nightmares and the images that assault the target are not under the control of the houngan; they are under the control of the wraiths who actually do the haunting.
The houngan uses his own blood and a personal possession of the target’s in this ritual. Once the item has been coated with blood, the houngun must burn the item, sending a ghostly icon of it to the Shadowlands both as an identifying badge and as a reward to the spirits who agree to haunt the target. While the item burns, the houngan (and assistants, if available) pound out a relentless beat on gigantic drums, headed in human skin. The drums are inaudible in this realm but thunderous in the underwater home of the dead. To silence the deafening drums, the wraiths resignedly agree to negotiate with the houngan They promise to send nightmares to the victim for as long as the houngan demands, in return for a favor. Their request normally runs along the lines of passing a message to a living relative or exacting revenge against someone who slighted them.

Reference: BM 112: Voudoun Necromancy.