Free Sending
Free Sendings are something between a magical force and an entity. To bind a free sending, a character must offer Experience, no other currency is of interest to them. To reflect this, each sending has an Experience Factor. The binder determines what Rank he wishes the sending to operate at, and multiplies this number by the Experience Factor. The maximum Rank is 20.
Unless specifically noted in the description, free sendings manifest in the Astral Plane. They can only be interacted with by entities who are able to enter the Astral or who are manifest there. A few sendings have a physical form, and they can be interacted with normally.
It requires no more than a Free Act to invoke a sending, but may not performed in a Pulse that the binder has made or plans to make a Magical Fire Action. The free sending is not available to be bound again until at least the season has changed after they were invoked, and possibly longer.
If the sending has not been called before the season end festival, the binder recovers 20% of the Experience spent. This keeps happening unless they invoke it or until they recover 80% of their initial expenditure, whichever comes first.
The location of the free sending is personal to whoever binds them at that location and cannot be shared. The sending will always be found at that location by the binder, if they are available. This does not stop others from finding the sending, and they may even find it in the same place. Nevertheless, the discovery personal to each binder.
Knowing the location of a free sending does not provide any ability to get there.
The Children Dressed in the Clothes of Poppies
Experience Factor: 200
This is a free sending which appears as a multitude of children dressed in brightly coloured clothes, some wearing masks, some holding toys in their sticky little hands. They will run screaming riotously to their targets. They have the following ability when invoked:
They can cause up to (Rank/5, minimum 1) targets to become confused. The duration of the confusion is indefinite, lasting until they successfully make a WP check according to the schedule below:
| Rank | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| 0-4 | 4 x WP |
| 5-9 | 3 x WP |
| 10-14 | 2 x WP |
| 15-19 | 1 x WP |
| 20 | ½WP |
The victims may not attempt to recover for one Pulse after they are afflicted. Once they make their WP check, the target is unaffected by the magic.
Confusion is contagious to all members of a Mind Speech community and to the caster of an active Telepathy spell. A D10 is rolled for each confused target. On a roll of 1-4, they continue doing whatever they did last round, whether or not it is sensible. On a roll of 5-7, they move a hex to the left, then two to the right. On an 8 or 9, they pick flowers or admire the decor, and on a 10, they will attack their nearest ally, believing them to be possessed or replaced by a face-dancer.
Legal targets of the free sending are considered to be anything that can plan. This will not include automata, non-sentient undead, lower order animals and most constructs.
- Example
Merco has decided to spend 3,000 Experience to bind the free sending to him at Rank 15. If he does not invoke it before the next solstice or equinox, he will recover 600 Experience. If he has still not used it by the following season end festival, he will recover another 600 Experience. This will continue until he invokes the sending or he receives 80% of the Experience spent, in this case, 2,400.
| Adventure | Season | Location | Aura | Nature of Magic | Value | Cursed etc.? | GM |
| Magical | Free sending | Quest | 
|
The Pale Queens of Torment
Experience Factor: 600
This is a free sending which appears as three hauntingly beautiful women. They are pale to the point of translucency and each wears a tall white head dress.
Each Queen can cause a target to be afflicted with torment by pointing at them. Each victim must Resist vs Backfire. If they fail, they may only perform a Pass Action every second Pulse. If they succeed, then they reduce all Strike Chances by 30 and take twice as long to perform actions. When not pointed at by a queen, a victim may attempt to recover from the effect by making a WP check according to the schedule below:
| Rank | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| 0-4 | 4 x WP |
| 5-9 | 3 x WP |
| 10-14 | 2 x WP |
| 15-19 | 1 x WP |
| 20 | ½WP |
Each Queen can only point at one target in any given pulse, although, by the use of a Free Act, the binder may direct each of them to a new victim.
Legal targets of the free sending are anything that can suffer torment but does not include most undead or constructs.
| Adventure | Season | Location | Aura | Nature of Magic | Value | Cursed etc.? | GM |
| Magical | Free sending | Quest |
|
The Jackals on the Edge of Twilight
Experience Factor: 200
This is a free sending which appears as pack of jackals. They have moon-coloured speckles on a dark blue coat, their eyes are large, dark and glitter under starlight. The fur on their legs becomes darker so that their feet are almost completely black.
This sending can only be called an hour either side of sunset. When invoked, a number of jackals equal to (Rank2 + Rank)/2 will appear from the west and are physically manifest. As many as three jackals may occupy a single hex.
- Movement Rate
Running: 300
| PS: | 7 | MD: | 20 | AG: | 24 | MA: | None | EN: | 8 | FT: | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WP: | 9 | PC: | 23 | PB: | 9 | TMR: | 6 | NA: | Fur absorbs 3DP | ||
- Weapons
- Bite: IV 62 SC 100%, DM [-1],A Class, Close, Rank 5.
When the jackals attack from a rear hex, they ignore the PS difference of their target, SC increases to 140%, DM increases to [+4], and they subtract 5 from the result of their Strike Checks. Further, possible Specific Grievous Injury results less than 67 are applied, with 31 to 50 always being considered 51-52.
The jackals share something of the nature of twilight, and do not force their opponents to fall prone if they enter into close with them. Assuming a prone position does not remove the jackals' special ability with respect to rear hexes.
| Adventure | Season | Location | Aura | Nature of Magic | Value | Cursed etc.? | GM |
| Magical | Free sending | Quest |
|
The Unforgotten
Experience Factor: 300
This is a free sending which appears only in the recent memory of their target(s). They are unseeable by any means, unless an observer examines their recent memory, where they will be revealed. Unless the observer has some special ability, this may only be done while closing their eyes. This makes them impossible to target by spells, although they may be engaged with weapons if the opponent can get close enough to engage in Melee. They may not be closed with.
Unforgotten are summoned to a point within 20 feet of the caller, and move in the same way as a Phantasm does.
One of the Unforgotten may be bound per 3 or fraction Ranks of the sending. Each of the Unforgotten may cast the Phantasm spell (at the Rank of the sending). Although they do not need to concentrate on the Phantasm, each one may only cast one Phantasm spell at a time.
The Unforgotten may be bound to a place which may be released in the same kinds of ways that a ward may be triggered. In this case, the Rank is reduced by 5. The sending will not be detected unless an observer has some ability to examine their memories.
| Adventure | Season | Plane of Origin | GM |
The Iron Sparrows of Issarkhaddon
Experience Factor: 200
This free sending calls Rank2 sparrows from the iron towers of Issarkhaddon for 1 minute, appearing above the head of the invoker. These may be split into 1 flock per 3 or fraction Ranks so long as a flock contains no more than 100. Each flock may be directed to one or more targets, requiring a Pass Action or a Free Act at the player's discretion.
- The sparrows have
- a flying movement rate of 30 miles per hour (+1 mile per hour / Rank)
- a TMR of 13 + 1 per 2 Ranks
- an immunity to direct magical attack, meaning that they take no harm from a Fireball but may be harmed by the consequences of an Earth Tremor spell cast to bring a ceiling down.
- a Strike Chance of 60% (+4 / Rank)
- a damage calculation of 1 rollup D10 + the square root of the flock size as A Class damage.
- penetrating attacks that reduce the Protection value of armour by 1/ 2 the Rank of the invocation.
A victim attacked by a flock of 25 or more will be unable to Cast magic unless they are not inconvenienced by Cold Iron.
Each sparrow has 1 EN & 1 FT, so will be banished when each of them takes 3 points of damage or more. Damage in excess of this value has no effect on the rest of the flock.
