Summon an angry sea monster; Kill it for a significant charge.
Power: minor
Cost: 6 minor charges
Effect: If the ritual is successful, the caster summons an aggressive, uncontrolled “sea monster” (ie: a whale or giant shark) some time in the next few days. If the caster then kills the beast, he gains a significant charge. Like all charging rituals, getting a charge from Bounty is considered a violation of an adept’s taboo. If the caster does not kill the beast, the enraged animal tries to pick a fight with everything in the area.
Ritual Action: There are several variations on this ritual, from many different cultures. Within each tradition, the ritual varies somewhat for different types of whales or giant sharks, but they all boil down to this: track down and kill a sea monster. All forms of Bounty are split into two parts, which are usually spread over several days: a ritualized hunt/chase; and a ritualized confrontation/kill. Most versions of this ritual depend on traditional hunting methods, which expose the caster to no small amount of personal risk.
Inuit and Japanese traditions host some of the oldest forms of this ritual, but it has somehow been updated. A (relatively) modern whaling version uses techniques from Moby Dick. It is rumored that Captain Moore himself (perhaps in connection to his role as King of the High Seas) has updated the sharking ritual ala the movie Jaws: starting with large amounts of chum, moving to harpoon-and-barrel guns, and finishing with explosive bait.
Note: The first part of the ritual (which costs 6 minor charges) can be used to simply summon an aggressive “sea monster.” Ritually killing the summoned beast actually requires a second check (but no additional charges), which must be both below the caster’s Ritual skill (or his
Giant squids need to also be an option, as they fit very well in the role of “sea monster”.
Are you running some sort of UA pirate game?
If you can find a traditional hunting technique for bagging a giant squid, yes, but I couldn’t think of any, so I didn’t include them.
I’m writing up an old smuggler for the site that’s a True King of the High Seas. Also, I figured there should be a few sea-based rituals to counter all the land based ones… and ritually killing a sea monster seemed like a pretty good way to build a charge.
Traditional Hunting Method: Post-Modern-Style: Dynamite Fishing
Particularly since Jaws has entered the popular consciousness, then followed by all those horrible Giant Monster movies so popular on the Sci-Fi Channel.
Following the plot of one of those movies, that’s near as traditional as the modern age can produce.