adventure Jack O'bear Expulsion Ritual - Adventure seed

[MC Thorkrim]

Hi!
I bring an Adventure seed. 🙂

This idea that came to me when I saw the image.
Ritual to drive out "jack o'bears" and make them the others problem.
If you are not going to develop and direct the adventure, better not continue.

The PCs come to a clan or mountain village, depending on the area and culture.
It seems that there are preparations for some kind of festivity and everyone is busy but happy.
When see the PCs arrive, the people receive them with great joy and invite them to participate in the party.
No one asks for money or barter; everything is free, food, drink, even shelter.
Complete hospitality.

All free? Well, they prefer foreigners for the ritual.
It is a great honor, they just have to run around the area a bit.
One of the PCs (the most appropriate) should put on the "rare bear" costume.
The other PCs must flee from him along the path that leads them away from clan / village.

Everything seems like a normal representation until the mythical world gains strength.
The "bear" PC begins to feel a compulsion to catch and devour his prey, he could even feel the caress of Chaos.
Meanwhile, his prey, the other PCs, transformed into heroes that maybe not recognize, feel the urge to get him away from there.
Everything will end when they guide the beast to innocent travelers camped on the road or the edge of another village or clan, where the "bear" PC will find unaware victims.

Is this how the story ends or will they take the risk to change it?
What will happen to the "jack o'bear" PC if he devours human flesh during the Ritual?

Photo owned by National Geographic.

 

Edited August 1, 2020 by MC Thorkrim

[EricW]

Pretty evil - seeking salvation at the expense of others is what Vivamort did when he begged Wakboth to save him from his chaos wound, no matter what the cost.

Maybe a Krjalk ritual? Even though the villagers drove off the monster, what they did was monstrous. The "payment" for participating in such a foolhardy ritual would likely be chaotic, say the Krjalk "conversion" spell (secret chaos feature, no obvious taint if you are lucky) cast on all the players and any villagers who participated, maybe more than one casting on the "bear"?  

The PCs might not even realise what has happened to them, they might just think they have been empowered by the ritual.

[MC Thorkrim]

Yes, pretty evil. 😉
You have pointed out interesting details.

Clan members must know this Krjalki conection, so they have volunteers (pariahs) who are in charge of the ritual and suffer the consequences.
Of course, if only foreigners participate, much better. Like you, I think PCs shouldn't know what kind of ritual it is.
But if the PCs in charge of keeping the beast away manage to catch it before it devours a single victim, they can save themselves from the mark of chaos.

Although the idea that they think they have been empowered by the ritual plus an encounter days later with a band of Storm Bull initiates is tempting. 😄

[Puckohue]

Is there a way for the adventurers to cleanse themselves from Chaos later?

[Akhôrahil]

This might be the only good thing that has ever been done using Jack o' Bears!

[HreshtIronBorne]

1 hour ago, Puckohue said:

Is there a way for the adventurers to cleanse themselves from Chaos later?

I onow of a HeroQuest in Prax that our group uses to cleanse chaos features. The cleansed ones quest from the rq2 Prax material. Can't remember which book it first showed up in. 

[g33k]

Presumably, they face a chronic/continuing Jack-o-Bear problem that they "solve" in this way...

 

I think it rather sounds as if the village/clan/whatever is having a slow slide into Chaos.

They are trying, as much as they can, to push the effects off onto outsiders.  But when they cannot, they take it onto themselves each year...  The cumulative effect (however slight each increment) must be telling.

 

[Akhôrahil]

1 hour ago, g33k said:

Presumably, they face a chronic/continuing Jack-o-Bear problem that they "solve" in this way...

I think it rather sounds as if the village/clan/whatever is having a slow slide into Chaos.

It looks a bit like propitiatory Malia worship, but that's something that can work when you're out of options. For a value of "work".

[jajagappa]

2 hours ago, HreshtIronBorne said:

The cleansed ones quest from the rq2 Prax material. Can't remember which book it first showed up

Pavis.  It's part of the Zola Fel cult IIRC.

[MC Thorkrim]

4 hours ago, Puckohue said:

Is there a way for the adventurers to cleanse themselves from Chaos later?

In addition to the previous answers, we can think that since Chalana Arroy has the power to heal chaotic wounds (https://www.chaosium.com/runequest-cult-chalana-arroy/), adventurers can conduct a Hero Quest to rid themselves of the Chaos stain they've gained through ignorance and deception.

[Sir_Godspeed]

This is some nice, rural horror material. Creepy local community messes with visitors. Good stuff.

[Akhôrahil]

9 hours ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

rural horror

Good call, certainly some shades of Wicker Man here.

[soltakss]

On 8/1/2020 at 10:58 PM, EricW said:

Pretty evil - seeking salvation at the expense of others is what Vivamort did when he begged Wakboth to save him from his chaos wound, no matter what the cost.

Only evil if it affects your own people. Using strangers is fine, they are not real people anyway.

That is what being a scapegoat means, you are tarnished by other people's sins.