Q&A With Mel:Hm, you mention that powerful creatures mean powerful weapon Effigies... Check up on that Werewolf thing, then tell me, do you have any experience with this "binding" you mention? Could we, perhaps, hunt down a powerful creature outside of our current missions, and capture it, make it our familiar/sentient magical weapon?
Well, they're not necessarily
powerful weapons. Sometimes they can do neat tricks, but that's about it. Like Abdullah's axe, which I've heard never needs sharpening and is always hot enough to fry an egg on.
I've also heard he got it by fighting a twelve metre lamia of earth and fire to a standstill, in the caldera of an active volcano, and binding it in a seven-hour ritual after it passed out.
I kinda couldn't do that. Abdullah scares me a bit. I'm not sure he's still all human.
Most weapon effigies are just weapons. They're harder to break, harder to blunt, usually better than a mundane weapon of the same kind, but just weapons.
EDIT: Actually, a high-profile target, like a powerful creature, would be a bad idea. Too obvious. How comfortable would you be with taking in a minor creature and taking care of it, training it, that kinda stuff. Do effigies change as a creature gets stronger?
Most supernatural creatures are pretty static. The ones that aren't are either really big (like deities) or really dangerous (like vampires). Anything that can get stronger usually does so pretty fast, and they almost always go on rampages and/or slip their bindings. Also, they get stronger by feeding on spiritual energy. I'm not really a fan of it.
What does binding entail, and could we summon beings from effigies?
Binding is usually just a formulaic ritual, depending on what you want to bind.
I, uh, have about as much magical ability as a piece of gravel. I can bind creatures, and release creatures I bound, but very little more. It's like the difference between being able to follow a recipe without burning yourself and being able to cook properly, you know? What you might call
actual magic isn't really within my reach.
I do know a lot of bindings though! I probably know more than any of the Council's other contractors. Also, most spirits that don't hate humans get along with me unusually well. I try to be nice to them in return. Between the two, I'm still useful to the Council even though I'm a bit of a squib.
But yeah my ability to use creatures in a fight is limited to pointing them in the other direction and hoping they don't kill me. And it's not always much fun trying to stuff the genie back in the bottle, either... Yeah, I just stick to what I know. It's safer.
--If they cannot be easily summoned:
Find a creature that is likely to have a Weapon Effigy. Bind them. Easy as that.
Effigy Weapon Get!
It sounds easy in my
head, but it's gotta be an intelligent creature whose defining characteristic is fighting, but that I can take or trap down by myself. I was thinking of trying to find maybe a scorpion spirit, but I'm pretty sure its effigy would just be a claw or tail charm, which aren't much good as weapons. Maybe I'll
remember something useful later... I can definitely do it, but it'd be a bit of an undertaking. I think I'd have to do it by ambush if I wanted anything of much size.
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Topic: Tuition Fees/The Supernatural/Freelancing: Get Some Light Exorcise [ISG] (Read 28667 times)