Powering this Ritual

[Gaelicwolf]

Hey all,

I'm working on a scenario and could use some help figuring out exactly how my deranged sorcerer is powering this ritual.

Some background:

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This Sorcerer was dating a young woman before she lost interest in him and found other lovers. She is a minor talent, with very minor precognitive abilities. The woman is flighty and has a string of lovers, including a Were-Bear and a focused practitioner. The Sorcerer decides that the only way to win her back is to perform a ritual to grant himself the powers her lovers had.

He was taught some fundamentally disturbing and corruptive magic by the leader of a cult, and is using human sacrifice in his ritual. The ritual is designed to allow him to permanently take on the powers of the individual he is sacrificing. This includes a Were-Form and a Focused Practioner's abilities.

After performing the ritual on himself,

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he is convinced by a Red Court Vampire (who secretly got him addicted to her saliva) that he needs to perform it again on the woman he is trying to win over. (In order to make them equals, of course.) [The vampire's eventual end game is to have him figure out a way to bind her consciousness and a White Court Vamp's 'Demon' to his lover's body in order to Walk in Sunlight and gain power never before seen. Players should be stopping this far before that point.]

So for the record, he needs to successfully perform this ritual 4 times. Twice on himself, twice on his previous lover.

I have the idea that he is likely to be summoning a demon and making a deal with it, as well as the power it will get from the human sacrifice. However, I don't know what else he should be using to power the ritual (not wanting to use storms like the Shadowman's rituals). Any ideas or advice would be great.

[Haru]

Well, I'd think it makes sense to adopt the ritual to the sacrifice. Werewolf? Better do the ritual during a full moon. For the Focused Practitioner you could do the ritual close to something related to the focus.

Basically, the ritual would then allow the properties of the sacrifice be distilled in its purest form, so the sorcerer can digest them. Of course, that could have side effects similar to summoning a demon, but kind of subvert the trope. If he sacrifices an aeromancer on a stormy cliff, the wind itself might howl in protest and come after him. Siphoning the werewolf out of the sacrifice might also siphon the human out of him and go into the nearest animal, creating a wolf-were with the memory of what happened to him.

The players could stumble upon those first. The wind spirit is wreaking havoc over the city, and the players need to find out why. The wolf-were is confused and kills people at random, and the players need to find a way to make him stop. The more of these side-effects you've got the players figuring out, the closer they will get to finding the sorcerer and putting an end to his plan.

[Sanctaphrax]

Mechanically speaking, human sacrifices can provide all of the shifts you'll ever need.

Narratively speaking, I suggest having him harvest power from the cult that taught him his magic. Have them perform religious ceremonies to empower his rituals.

The nice thing about this approach is that the cultists make it easier for the PCs to find out what's going on. Maybe one gets cold feet when the sacrifices start and starts looking for help. Maybe one is a braggart who can't keep a secret. And so on.

[Gaelicwolf]

Thank you, Haru and Sanctaphrax. Those are definitely great ideas.

Basically, the ritual would then allow the properties of the sacrifice be distilled in its purest form, so the sorcerer can digest them. Of course, that could have side effects similar to summoning a demon, but kind of subvert the trope. If he sacrifices an aeromancer on a stormy cliff, the wind itself might howl in protest and come after him. Siphoning the werewolf out of the sacrifice might also siphon the human out of him and go into the nearest animal, creating a wolf-were with the memory of what happened to him.

I like the concept of an 'innate backfiring' as it were due to the nature of the ritual, so that it always results in some sort of twisted  echoes of the original power stolen. It's a great way to sort of ominously have nature back-lashing against the inherent perversion of magic.

Narratively speaking, I suggest having him harvest power from the cult that taught him his magic. Have them perform religious ceremonies to empower his rituals.

The idea of drawing from cultists is good. Maybe I'll have him (and the Red Court Vamp who now holds his leash) steal a few of the cultists and/or recruit his own. I want to try to keep the Cult he learned this from a secret and have them remain in the shadows for a little while. (This will be the first scenario for my players, so i want to build to that reveal a little.)

Mechanically speaking, human sacrifices can provide all of the shifts you'll ever need.

While technically that's true, I do want to make sure that players get a grasp for just how much power needs to go into a ritual needed to permanently steal another creature's powers. Human sacrifice is a good base, but I feel like other elements might be needed to drive the idea home.

If anyone else has any ideas, feel free to continue to chime in. Ever if I don't use the ideas for this particular scenario/situation, it might help for later ones.

[g33k]

For an extra-icky dose of Evil, how about if the ritual *ISN'T* permanent?

Sure, you can steal shapeshifting from the were... but you need another human sacrifice every full moon to keep the powers "sealed" inside your own psyche.
Stolen aeromancer-powers slowly fade, unless you ritually-strangle someone (steal their air) regularly.
Etc...