As the parasol covers you , you begin to suffocate , as your shadow disappears from view.
When your shadow falls on the screen , you are violently forced to the ground ,
and forced into the ground at an angle equal to that of the screen to the natural surface your shadow would otherwise fall upon.
People run screaming from the Demon-Master as the grogs are slowly strangled by shadow hands.
:mrgreen:
We had a group of mercenaries (grogs + 1 companion) turn to stone over winter unless they had bathed in fresh dragon blood that year. It was very bothersome as they couldn't really kill a dragon a year...
My Merinita suffered from this one.
The Curse of Mary McCormick
At the end of the twelfth century, Cigfa received the firstborn child of a farmer from Cardiff in exchange for helping him find out whether his wife was true to him. To her delight, she soon discovered the boy was gifted. She had the child nursed by Mary McCormick, a humble girl who had pledged to serve her for a year and a day in exchange for the freedom of her brother. The boy had sought her out two years earlier to get her help in winning the heart of a girl named Rose, but he'd forgotten all about her as soon as he'd laid eyes on the sorceress. Cifga had gotten so annoyed about his persistent declarations of love that she turned him into a dog and kept him in the pen with the others. When Mary undertook the journey to Dolwyddellan to save her brother, she was determined not to get befuddled by the faerie in the woods. Unlike her brother, she did not look to the fae for favors. She put her faith in the Lord. Thus, when Cigfa demanded her services in exchange for her brother's freedom, she agreed, knowing that the Lord would keep her safe. When she found out the child she had to care for had not been baptized, she decided to do so herself. Just as she named the boy Sebastian, Cigfa walked in on her. The enchantress realized immediately that her plans to teach the boy the secrets of the druids were thwarted, for the God of the Christians is jealous and greedy. He will never let go of anyone, unless it is to doom them to the eternity of hell. Cigfa became furious and cursed Mary, telling her that if she wanted to be a servant of the Hebrew God, she should look the part. She changed the girl into a dove, and Manx devoured the frightened bird.
There were no witnesses to the crime, but over the next couple of days, Cigfa fell ill. She tried to heal herself, but no amount of corpus magic could bring her relief. Than, on the seventh night after the incident, she dreamed. In her dream, she was visited by a flock of doves. She knew at once they weren't mundane birds, for they showed her no fear. One of the doves flew towards her, and she extended her arm to allow it to sit down. The dove landed on her arm, and it asked her who she was. Cigfa answered it. “I am the Lady of Yvaine, the faerie enchantress of the Dolwydellan woods.”
“Than it is you I’ve been looking for,” said the dove, and it changed its shape into that of the servant girl Mary McCormick. Her dress was in tatters and her body was scarred where Manx’ teeth had mauled her. Cigfa stared at her in fascination as she spoke, for the girl’s head had quite nearly been ripped from her body, and was hanging down from a single tendon.
“Do you know who I am?” asked the girl.
“I do. You are Mary McCormick, she who stole my child from me, and gave it to the God of Death.”
“I did you no harm, and yet you've repaid me thus. Are you not human, that you feel no remorse at such a vile deed?”
“I did unto you as you deserve.”
Mary’s almost decapitated head swayed to and fro, as if to nod. She beckoned to the flock of doves, blood dripping from her mutilated hand, and they came to her without hesitation. She spread her arms like Christ on the cross and the birds nestled themselves on her body, fighting amongst each other for the best spots. They pecked at her open wounds and drank her blood, and when there was nothing of Mary left to feast upon, they took to the air.
Cigfa watched as the doves gathered above her, where they flew side by side in strange patterns around her. Than all at once the birds stopped moving and dropped from the air. As they fell, their wings reflected the sunlight as if they were made of metal, and their bodies hit the ground with a heavy thud. The doves formed a perfect circle around Cigfa. She suddenly felt nauseated. The stench of iron was overwhelming, and as she approached the fallen birds she knew she had found its source. It was like they were attacking her, befuddling her mind to keep her from crossing the border they had made around her. As she touched one of the doves, a violent jolt went through her body. It threw her back to the middle of the circle, where she huddled in silence until dawn came to wake her.
The next day, she ordered her servants to remove all traces of iron from the castle and she recovered from her illness right away. From that day, woe befell all those who dared to bring iron anywhere near the lady of the castle.
Greater Malediction: Iron Sensitivity
Mary's Curse has three effects:
First, Cigfa feels nauseous and weak
when she's in the vicinity of iron, and she
suffers a -3 on all rolls. Second, the touch
or iron causes +0 damage each round.
Finally, she cannot enter places that are
warded from faeries with iron, like farms
protected with a horseshoe above the
entrance.