lawrence@encore.UUCP (Scott Lawrence) (07/19/85)
There are other, more subtle means of control... In my campaign I left a cursed scimitar in the hands of a skeleton ( former commander of an ancient army ) lying in an old tomb. When the tomb was opened, the skeleton attacked - after dispatching it one of the party picked up the sword to carry it off ( it had a *large* ruby set in the hilt, and was quite obviously in perfect condition after several hundred years ). The character was ( alas ) Good - that night he woke screaming from nightmares in which he dreamt of slaughtering the rest of the party while they slept. He was unable to get back to sleep that night, and so very tired for the next days travel ( deeper into hostile wilderness ) - same thing next night. The party became concerned at started back to town.. By the time they arrived the afflicted character was a wreck, having been afraid to try to sleep for some days, and suffering badly from sleep deprivation. It took some doing, but they eventually found a sage who knew the story of the sword - in order to appease the sword and stop the dreams the sword must be used to kill a person ( human ) every day. Follows a quest to destroy the curse... Some of my players read this group so I can say no more...