Mala Radice

Level 2 - Storyline Rituals

Background: Brian O'Reilly found this ritual in the lodgings of a vampire hunter named Peter Harker that he killed in London in 2003 C.E. It was a work of hedge wizardry. While the details are sketchy, the ritual was written down on a vellum leaf found in a old book with many others. The leather-bound tome was the property of The Pentagonian Order.

Description: This ritual draws its power to deter and drive off western vampires from human folklore. For the last 7000 years it has been a strangely consistent bit of folklore that blood-drinking night-borne demons and evil spirits could be driven off with Allium Sativum (everyday Garlic). The earliest reference to garlic being used to drive away evil was in ancient Egypt where it, along with cinnamon were burned as purifying incense to drive out evil influences. Later, the ancient Greeks would make offerings at crossroads of the same root to the witch-goddess Hekate to keep the evil spirits away as they returned home. The herb is actually a native of the central Asian steppes, but quickly spread to all the corners of the world due to its epicurean, medicinal and spiritual properties. Even today, in the modern Philippines, the herb is hung about the neck of those thought to be possessed or rubbed around window frames and door lintels to ward off the hungry-dead.

With so much history and belief behind the garlic, its a wonder than any ritual is required at all, but then the 19th through 21st centuries could reliably described as a soulless age, when the mystical strength of the garlic has begun to breakdown under the weight of mass disbelief.

In either case, the ritual itself was quite ancient when it came into the possession of the Pentagonian Order in 1897 A.D. While the details remain vague, the ritual was given to the order by elderly hunter from continental Europe to aid the then young heroes against a particularly ancient undead that had arrived in London earlier that year and begun to prey on the women-folk of the order's male membership.

Found by Brian: Summer 2003 (Brian's Prelude 2: London)

Ingredients: A whole clove of wild garlic, dug up beneath the light of the full moon. A point of the casters blood (originally a cup of Holy water taken from a sanctified place of worship). A handful of night growing fungus and a hand fired clay jar.

Casting: The caster must cast this ritual under the light of the full moon. The caster begins the ritual by declaring his intent weaken others of his own kind and spits blood into the jar. Then he grinds or chops up the wild garlic with a weapon that has wounded a vampire before. Once the wild garlic is added to the jar, the cast spits more blood into the jar. Finally, he adds the night growing fungus to the jar and spits the last of the blood required (1 blood-point) and seals the jar with a bit of beeswax and buries it in the earth. Upon the setting of the sun the following night, the effects of the ritual are complete and the clay jar and its contents have become a blood-magic grenade.

System: The player rolls Intelligence + Rituals at a difficulty of five (5), at least for in-clan casters. If the caster botches, the ritual, the potion is toxic to him alone and all other vampires are unaffected. A failure brings only blank looks or incredulous laughter at the expense of the caster when he shatters the clay jar. On a successful casting of this ritual, the caster's vitae, ground garlic and the nocturnal fungus form a toxic mixture that when exposed to air via the shattered clay jar, releases a cloud of toxic fungal spores infused with the supernatural essence of wild garlic.

Successes equate to the area of effect. The initial area of effect is twenty (20) feet in radius from the point where the clay jar was shattered. Each success beyond the first extends the area of effect by an additional twenty feet in radius. Thus, if the caster gained three (3) successes on the casting roll, then the area of effect would be 60ft in radius from the jar's point of impact.

The effects are instantaneous, and quite unpleasant; though the caster is completely immune to the effects of his own castings of this ritual, but the same cannot be said of this ritual cast by another thaumaturge. Victims of this ritual can smell nothing but the nauseating reek of rotting garlic, which causes uncontrollable dry-retching in all vampires. In addition, the sensitive tissues around the eyes, ears and nose release a bloody discharge that can interfere with social and sight based rolls. Yes, the bloody discharge could be used against the victim by a sorcerer, but this discharge is too little to affect the victims blood pool or to be used in rituals like "Blood Walk" (thaumaturgy level 2).

This ritual increases the victim's difficulties to all rolls by plus two (+2) related to combat, sight based rolls (like Perception & some paths of blood magic) and social rolls (as few things scare mortals and other vampires as much as watching a fellow come stumbling out of the cloud with bloody-pus leaking from eyes, nose and ears).

Once successfully cast, the "Mala Radice" remains potent for a month; if allowed to expire, the jar containing the ritual mixture bursts open spraying its vile rotting mixture everywhere. The duration of the ritual is equal to the caster's occult score in combat turns, after which the cloud dissipates quite rapidly. During the ritual's period of effect, the cloud is difficult to disperse without sorcery or potent technological means (neither an electric fan, nor an air conditioner are going to help). Mortals are unaffected of course, save for a wrinkling of the nose; particularly ancient ghouls or those with supernatural weaknesses similar to vampires may be affected to a lesser degree (at the storyteller's discretion). Other supernaturals are completely immune to the effects of this ritual.

Reference:

Notes: Update begun on (04/12/14) and completed on (04/24/14) by Bruce as the storyteller.