The Unseen Age of Darkness

Why hello there, I did not expect you so soon.

This will be the first post in a series of several (I hope) about my forays into the world of Call of Cthulhu as a Keeper, as I torment my players with spells, investigations and cultists of my own. Most of these things are for Keepers only I fear. If you, however, should be player (and only that) I would suggest you recommend this page to a friend who is a Keeper and turn away your gaze. The powers described might compell you to do things you might regret.

Concerning myself, I am a young fool who has only recently started dabbling with these forbidden arts and am therefor still prone to making mistakes. Still I will endeavor to share with you what I know and what I have come across. On the designated pages for each topic you will find a collection of links forwarding you to the respective posts on this blog in which the spell, person or whatever it might be, is to be found.

And as a sign of good faith I will share with you a spell I have recently discovered. Just something easy and light to start off with.

Spell – Petrification 

„Touch of Ghatanothoa“

Ingredients: ‚The Moss of Mu‘ (Cladonia fimbriata – Trompetenflechte) ground to powder together with a hand full of small stones

During or directly after casting the spell, the powder needs to be applied to the target.

If the spell was a success (costs at least 5 magic points; 20% starting value for success which can be increased by further 3% per magic point additionally spent – and 1D4 sanity) petrification will begin similar to the effect the Curse of Ghatanothoa has on his onlookers.

A CONx5 roll has to be made. Upon failure the target loses an amount of DEX points according to the body-part in question (though only one roll will have to be made even if the powder hits several parts of the victim’s body). If the DEX of the target reaches 0 he will be completely petrified and his skin will (have) turn(ed) to stone, trapping his consciousness still alive inside the stiff confinement of his/her/its own body (just as the sight of Ghatanothoa would have)

However, as this is only a replica of the effect the pressence of this particular Great Old One would have, this spell might be revocable. As it is only seldom practiced, and even then only under dire circumstance no form of returning those of stone back to those of flesh has been recorded so far.

Body part hit                                                       Amount of DEX lost

Head                                                                                     1D3

Torso                                                                                     1D8

Pelvis                                                                                     1D8

Arms                                                                                      1D4/1D6*

Legs                                                                                      1D6

*the higher dice roll refers to the target’s ‚dominant arm‘ – should there be no such thing, count the lower value in either case. Limbs unlike arms, tentacles or pincers for example, take 1D6 points of DEX loss

Feel free to tinker with it at your own leisure... and risk.