Re: [DL] Ghoul, I need your help again (involving one of your ideas)

[Ghoull@aol.com]

In a message dated 1/10/00 6:08:14 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
darklord@dark-sky.net writes:

<< Ghoul, I decided to use your idea of escorting "Lo Pan's" pickled
 remains to Shan Fan... and somehow I get the feeling that my posse is
 going to open "The can of worms" so to speak... so I thought it would be
 appropriate if he had a cursed relic of some kind on him... something
 very cool but with wicked taint. >>

     OK...are you familiar with the Chinese practice of casting sticks to 
divine the future? There's a specific name for it, but I can't remember it 
off the top of my head (hexagrams?). Perhaps Lo Pan managed to swipe an 
especially potent pouch of divination twigs from his master before he ran 
off. Throwing the sticks onto the ground summons up an evil spirit (maybe 
even an ancestor of Kang's) who will answer a question about the future. The 
limitations of this relic are:

     1) It can only be used once a day.
     2) Although the ghost gives fairly straightforward answers to questions 
about the immediate future, its predictions become very vague and poetic when 
you start asking it about the big picture.
     3) The ghost doesn't live in the sticks when it's not being used. It 
will secretly hitch a ride inside whoever has asked it a question last. Treat 
this like the ghost is a manitou and its host is a harrowed. This particular 
spirit is an especially mean one with a taste for black magic, human 
suffering, and greasy noodles.
     4) If you want to be mean, the ghost only speaks ancient Chinese. Better 
hope that the group's martial artists don't get killed!

                    ---Ghoull