Oaths & Cuses

An oath of peace is one where a powerful creature or king demands that the person swearing the oath will commit no violence against them or any of their servants. There is almost always a time limit to such an oath. Sometimes the time limit can be weeks or months, but other times it may be years or centuries. An oath of peace is central to the story presented in this book.

An oath of protection is one in which a powerful individual is sworn to come to the aid of another in a time of great need. One of the most famous of these oaths Introduction 15 in mythology is the oath that the Achaean kings swore to Menelaus, husband of Helen. The kings swore to assist Menelaus if anyone ever threatened Helen. When Menelaus called upon the kings to fulfill their oaths, the Trojan War was the result. An oath of protection requires the swearer to answer a call for aid as quickly as possible. Once the threat has been neutralized, the oath is fulfilled, and there is no further obligation. Failure to answer the call, or even allowing the other party to come to harm, will cause the oath giver to be branded an oathbreaker, and they too suffer the Curse of the Tracherous.

An oath of service is an oath sworn by one individual to another. The swearer is required to perform one task, which does not need to be specified when the oath is sworn. Unlike the oath of protection, this task could be of any type: it may even require evil deeds, such as assassination. For this reason, most people are hesistant to ever swear such an oath, viewing it as a last resort. When the oath swearer is called upon, they must answer as quickly as possible. Once the task has been completed, the oath is fulfilled and there is no further obligation. Failure to answer the call, or refusal to complete the task, brands the swearer as an oathbreaker and makes them subject to the curse of the treacherous.

Any person afflicted with this curse will slowly transform into a harpy. It is sometimes invoked by powerful fey creatures such as hags or nymphs when an oath is unfulfilled, though sometimes the gods might punish a mortal with this curse. The only way to stop the transformation is through powerful divine magic.

Curing the Curse

Casting the greater restoration spell once per day for three days is required. Each time the spell is cast, the transformation is slightly reversed. However, the spell has no effect once the subject is completely transformed at the end of week 4. Missing a casting requires the whole process to begin again.

Harpy Ability: Luring Song

The harpy sings a magical melody, and every humanoid and giant within 300 feet that can hear the song must succeed on a DC 11 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed until the song ends. The harpy must take a bonus action on its subsequent turns to keep singing, but it can stop singing at any time. The song ends if the harpy is incapacitated.

While charmed by the harpy, a target is incapacitated and ignores all other charm effects. If the charmed target is more than 5 feet from the harpy, they must attempt to move toward the harpy by the most direct route. The target doesn't avoid opportunity attacks, but it may repeat a saving throw before moving into damaging terrain, such as lava. A charmed victim should also repeat a saving throw when it takes damage from another character, as well as at the end of each of its turns. If a creature's saving throw is successful, the effect ends. Targets that successfully save are immune to this ability for the next 24 hours.

A person cursed in this fashion will slowly transform into a medusa. This curse usually comes from bargains made with devils and demons: a mortal might have been asking for beauty or eternal life, but instead was granted the terrifying form of a medusa. Sometimes, ancient fey creatures such as hags will transform a victim into a medusa, often simply for amusement. The transformation can be stopped with divine magic, but without intervention the victim will transform within a few weeks.

Curing the Curse.

Someone must cast the remove curse spell on the creature once per day for three days, and each time the spell is cast, the transformation is reversed a little. The spells have no effect once the subject has been completely transformed, and if a casting is missed the process must restart.

Medusa Abilities.

These abilities are described in the medusae entry.

Final Transformation.

After 5 weeks have passed, you may choose to follow the rules described in the table above, but you may also allow an affected player to re-create their character with the medusa playable race, using the same level and class that they were before.

This curse is visited upon someone who takes any magical item from the grave of a hero blessed by the gods. Those afflicted by this curse cannot eat. After a number of days equal to their Constitution score, the cursed character will gain one level of exhaustion every day until they die from starvation. It is impossible for the person to get rid of the magical item that they stole, even by returning it to the correct grave. It will always return to their possession at midnight.

Curing the Curse

Casting the remove curse spell on the affected creature will remove this curse. The curse can also be removed by finding someone who will take possession of the stolen magical item willingly. To do this, the cursed individual must be truthful about the item’s provenance. This would require a DC 20 Charisma (Persuasion) check on someone with an Intelligence score of 10 or less.

This curse afflicts those who abuse guest friendship or break powerful oaths. Those who violate the tenets of guest friendship are at risk of being cursed by the offended host or guest. Breaking an oath made to the gods will almost always cause the offending mortal to be cursed, but a person might also become cursed for breaking an oath to an especially powerful king, or even a pious beggar. The effect of this curse is directly related to the injustice of the offense.

Dispatching the Erinyes.

The curse of the treacherous manifests itself in a manner that is unique to Thylea. The Furies, the three queens of the erinyes, gather in the Room of Far Sight in Praxys to determine the severity of the offense. When they have agreed upon a necessary response, they dispatch 1-3 erinyes to punish the target. These erinyes will hunt and try to capture their quarry until they have been defeated. Those captured by erinyes are taken to the Island of Oathbreakers in the Nether Sea, where they must live out the rest of their miserable lives.

Hunting as the Erinyes.

The erinyes are dispatched from the Island of Oathbreakers, and they must first track down their prey. This takes d100 hours. Every erinyes dispatched in this manner possesses a rope of entanglement. She also has a temporary special ability that allows her to cast plane shift at will. She is only able to cast plane shift on her quarry, and only if the target is restrained by the rope of entanglement. If these requirements are satisfied, then the target must make a DC 16 Charisma saving throw. Failing this saving throw causes the target to be banished to the Island of Oathbreakers in the Nether Sea