Story Seeds for Finding Magical Creatures

The Bottomless Pool

A grog hears of an accident in the local village. A villager's hay wagon overturned and fell into a stagnant pool. Efforts to retrieve the wagon failed, and divers reported that it had disappeared entirely. Nor could they discover the bottom of the pool, which seemed to go on forever. A local wise woman says that the pool, ignored by the populace, is magical; legends differ as to its inhabitants. Some say a treasure is submerged below, others claim an entire village lies at the uncharted bottom, while tales from a generation past say that a dragon used to live below its brackish surface. What magus could resist?

Any and all of the legends may prove true. Alternatively, the player characters could find something completely unexpected. According to bestiaries, swallows hibernate underwater, and instead of finding a reptilian monster, the characters could discover sleeping swallows, tucked in the nooks and crannies of the pool's walls. A Swallow of Virtue's powers are left to your storyguide to develop, but even this happy coincidence could prove problematic. The village has always been noted for its large flocks of swallows, and many see this as a sign of good fortune. Taking the swallows could remove the village's luck, and the villagers will react negatively to those trying to take away their good luck charms.

Fish Falls

Rumors say that a town in a distant part of the tribunal has had repeated rainfalls that leave live fish in their wake. Thinking that such a supernatural weather condition must produce magical fish, the characters rush to the town to retrieve living samples. In actuality, it is a miracle of the local saint, who produces a rain storm that leaves edible fish on her feast day. Each fish has a Divine Might of 1 and, when eaten, provides a +1 aging bonus to a character's annual Aging roll. The townsfolk know that their saint is responsible for this miracle, and fear that refusing to eat the fish might result in her displeasure. There is no way they will allow a foreigner to take any living fish from the town.

The Spring Hunt

One of the covenant's grogs knows of a curious superstition of a nearby village. On the first day of spring, the villagers gather in a meadow, armed with hats and sticks, and search out the season's first butterfly in an effort to kill it. A white butterfly signifies good luck for the village's harvest, while a black butterfly indicates difficulties. The dead butterflies of years past are all saved by the village elder, and magical investigation of these corpses reveals that each is worth a pawn of Imaginem vis. Scouring the meadow reveals small pockets of Magical auras, none especially large or powerful, but a great number of isolated auras in a relatively small field. Could a magus capture the butterfly, which is surely magical, and produce a stock of these magical insects? A clever ruse will have to be concocted. The villagers will not let a Gifted stranger and his men participate in the event, nor will they willingly forego their annual ceremony at the request of a wizard.

to its own motivations. (Base 50, +1 Touch, +1 Mentem requisite)

Required Lab Total: 1 season (120), 2 seasons (90), 3 seasons (80), 4 seasons (75)

Fashion the Ancient Worm

CrAn(Co, Ig, Me, Vi) 80 R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind, Ritual

This spell creates a dragon, which has the same statistics and powers as Stellatus (ArM5, page 194). This dragon is not actually Stellatus, who is an individual, but the creature mirrors his powers and Abilities.

(Base 50, +1 Touch, +2 Size increase, +3 Corpus, Ignem, and Mentem requisites)

Required Lab Total: 1 season (160), 2 seasons (120), 3 seasons (107), 4 seasons (100)