Calling To The Vættir

Necromancy ritual

Casting Time: 90 minutes
Range: within 20 feet of an appropriate burial place
Components: V, S, M (wine or mead poured onto the ground, gifts for the vættir worth 500 gp, 2d6 hit points of the caster’s blood, and the wound can’t be healed until an agreement is reached with the vættir)
Duration: up to 28 days

“Come forth from your mound, sleeping hero. Come forth for the honors I would bestow and the honor of those who dwell in your shadow. Come forth by the blood I spill and the gold I give you. Come forth and aid the children of your land.”

You call for aid from a vættir—one of the dead and undead ancestors or former occupants of the land. You must be related to the creature, must have lived nearby for at least a year, or must have a relative of the creature present at the ritual of their own free will. Entreaties can raise the vættir from their barrows to protect, bestow blessings, or remove curses. The vættir, however, are greedy and demanding allies. They’re also difficult to send away once roused, requiring a successful Charisma (Persuasion) contest at the least, bribery or even a sacrifice at the most; the specific price is determined by the GM.

The ritual summons an undead creature from beneath the earth. Typically, a vættir is summoned, but sometimes other undead answer the call, depending on the nature of the ancestor interred. You can ask the creature to perform one task, such as defending you against attack, bestowing or removing a curse, retrieving a stolen object, avenging an insult, providing information, or a similar favor. The undead will keep at the task until it’s completed or until 28 days have elapsed. The task must be within the undead’s power to accomplish or it simply ignores the request and returns to its repose. For example, a vættir can’t journey to the elemental planes to retrieve something.

Persuading the vættir to undertake the task requires explaining why you need it done and how it also benefits the vættir to help—blood relations are strong motivators here—followed by a successful Charisma (Persuasion) contest opposed by the vættir’s Charisma (or a Bluff contest if the caster lies). Vættir usually awake with an indifferent attitude; disagreeable, but not outright hostile. If the vættir is not persuaded to help or is offended, it’s likely to attack. It may cast bestow curse or geas on you, or rise from its mound to demand tribute, or physically attack you and any associates nearby. At no time during this process is the vættir under your control. The ritual simply gets it to listen to you, but it makes its own decisions.

The creature typically returns to its barrow or grave when the task is done and it’s collected its payment, tribute, or praise. If anything has been stolen during its absence, it’s certain to seek recompense or revenge against the person who called it out.

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