Drake's HAF Grimoire

Custom Spells

Perluceo

Spell Command Word: Perluceo Phonetics: pɜː(r)luʧeo Pronunciation tips: emphasis on the “u” and the final “o” Kind of spell: Transmutation Advanced skill: Can be learned wordless and wandless by those who possess those skills at least at intermediate level Spell Creator: Deimos McDibble Casting: The spell trigger word is built from the Latin words “per” (through) and “luceo” (I shine) and literally means “I shine through”. The movement to execute with the wand are a counterclockwise circle around the center of the surface or the object to be affected followed by three quick taps of the wand describing the corners of an equilateral triangle shape pointing downwards contained into the circle as in the little sketch on the left. The taps start with the upper left corner of the triangle and move clockwise. They require a certain precision because they must be performed in rapid succession and if the triangle is not acceptably equilateral the spell won't work. The command word must be pronounced during the tapping movements as in the following list pronounce “Per” while performing the first tap pronounce “lu” while performing the second tap pronounce “ceo” while performing the third tap Spell effect: The power of the words force light to shine through surfaces making them one-way transparent. A single object of limited size (usually around 2' x 2' x 2' for beginners although it increases with experience) or a likewise section of a bigger object (such as a wall) becomes crystal like transparent and assuming that there is a source of light around, it allows the caster to see through it. Emphasis must be placed on the fact that this is an [u]one way[/u] effect so if it is used to make a wall section transparent the people on the other side will notice nothing amiss (on their side, the wall will keep being opaque). This spell has effect on both mundane and magical matter although some magical items might be warded against it. In particular, both anti transmutation and anti scrying charms can have an effect against the spell. Limitations: The spell cannot be cast from afar since the tapping of the wand need actual contact with the object to affect. The spell is known to go haywire if cast on mirrors. Actually if cast on the back of a non magical mirror, it works regularly but if cast on the reflective surface, the spell will immediately shatter the mirror. If cast on a magical mirror, the spell will rebound in a random direction and hit something else. Trivia: The symbols traced with the wand are alchemical in origin (the circle is the symbol of ether and the downward triangle is the symbol of phlogiston). This and the latin roots of the trigger words make of this kind of magic a probable spawn of the second half of the 17th century. An accurate description of the principles behind the spell itself are contained into a manuscript written by one of my illustrious ancestors, named Archimedes McDibble, which I happened to find in the McDibble library during this year's yule break from school. Archimedes was apparently an extremely gifted inventor but also a rather disorganized person and his workshop was described as an incredibly messy place. In order to be able to find lost items without having to move anything (since he had always at least three-.four different experiment running at any given time of the day) my ancestor started to devise a way to 'see through' things, so to say. Starting from what was amongst those pages I managed to reconstruct the spell as it should have been envisioned by my ancestor. The spell has several interesting uses amongst which watching unseen other people is only one. Want to see the content of a box without opening it? Want to search into a desk without opening the drawers? Want to see what a suspicious looking suitcase contains? Want to look for hidden niches or secret passages? Want to investigate the reason for which something sounds hollow? The Perluceo spell can be the solution to that... trapped locks are not a danger if there is a way to look inside without having to open it. From looking for hidden valuables to searching for a rat's nest , I found this spell rather useful while treasure hunting. - Deimos McDibble

Special Potions

Baba Yaga's Salt

Potion Creator: Andrew Christopher Doyle Ingredients needed for 4 Troy ounces of salt: A black iron cauldron with an internal mark that shows the level reached by one gallon of liquid Pure water obtained by melting of natural snow and/or ice: one gallon or two (see later) Flawless sea salt: 4.5 Troy ounces Dried Orthodontopsis bardunovii moss: two drams Dried scapania sphaerifera bark: three drams Dried Roots of Russian Belladonna (scopola carniolica): four and a half drams. (This native to Central and Eastern Europe looks a lot like a belladonna plant. It has nodding purple-brown flowers the same color as a a belladonna's but the fruit is more like a henbane's. It has more alkaloids than belladonna, which makes it pretty dangerous to use in potions. In Russian potion making, the Scopola roots are often used instead than mandrake roots.) Grindylow teeth - fifteen Blood of a Chuhaister - one gill or blood of Forest Troll - five sixths of a gill (What is really needed here is the blood of a big humanoid creature with a powerful metabolism. The Chuhaiser is a wild man-like being of the forests. He is very horrible to look at but he has a kind nature and treats people well and can even protect them from evil spirits. Since this being does not live in England, the more common albeit more dangerous forest troll blood can be used in its stead. It is probable that the blood of a giant or even an half giant could be used to prepare the salt, too, although I have no idea of the exact quantity of the blood required from them.) Flobberworm mucus: one spoonful Purpose/Effect: Sprinkled over badly cooked, burned, or generically disgusting food makes it actually tasty and palatable. Eventual poisonous or damaging properties of the food are greatly lessened although to turn something deadly into a safe meal the quantity of salt needed needs to increase. The material treated with the salt must be edible to begin with so no salting your home's furniture and subsequently trying to eat it. The salt is a pistachio green in color and counts as a potion as far as preparation technique and use are involved. Healing or generically healthy properties of food treated with the salt remain unchanged although the user is strongly advised against mixing it with magical substances like potions since the potion effects end up almost always somewhat warped by the salt's action. Curiously, the salt's taste is definitely disgusting if tried by itself. Preparation: The salt needs to be prepared under the light of the full moon. While this has nothing to do with Licantropy of any kind or shape, it is a fact that the pearly moonlight is an important ingredient for the potion creation. (The full moon appears often in the Eastern Europe potion making tradition.. Mainly because many Koldun sorcerers worked alone and without a proper lab and as much as it is darkly romantic being protected by night's inky wings it is also true that you need to see what you are doing while creating a damn potion. ) The first step is to crush the Grindilow teeth and the Scapania bark in a stone mortar into a powder almost of the consistency of roughly grinded coffee. It must be compact and rough enough not to change its shape if lightly blown upon. After this operation one third of the sea salt is added and mixed with the powder. One half of the dried Russian Belladonna roots are added to the Troll/Chuhaiser blood and left to soak in it for fifteen minutes. In the meantime, one gallon of water is put inside an iron cauldron and very slowly taken to a slow boiling point. At that point, the remaining two thirds of the sea salt are slowly added in very little quantities (no more than one drachm at a time) while the water is slowly mixed with counterclockwise movements of the wand. It is important that the water quantity remains almost one gallon during all the process so more water will need to be added from time to time given the fact that it is boiling. Once finished that operation, the dried moss and the remaining russian belladonna roots are added and the wand mixing gets switched to clockwise. The concoction needs to lightly boil for ten minutes, still making sure that the water in the cauldron is always almost one gallon. After that, the troll/Chuhaister blood with the other half of the roots in it is added to he potion. Next, the mixed salt-bark-Grindilow teeth powder is added to the water one dram at a time. During this last operation the potion maker will start to alternate clockwise and counterclockwise movements with his wand. Once the powder is finished a spoonful of clobber worm mucus needs to be added to the potion that, by then, should be a rather un inviting grayish mess. If everything had been done properly, the addition of the mucus will instantly turn the liquid color into a pistachio like green... Which means that what still needs to be done is only to let the potion slowly boil until all the water has evaporated and the sea salt, now turned bright green, remains inside the cauldron. Notes/Trivia: This is the result of a research I made over some of my grandfather Decebal Doyle's potion books. The paternal side of my family comes from East Europe and the figure of the man-eating, monstrously potent wizard crone named Baba Yaga is to this day rather prominent in that lands' folklore. Baba Yaga is said to have teeth made out of iron and being able to eat a whole man raw (although she prefers to cook them usually). While much of the evidence about that old legend's actions is probably grossly exaggerated, it was probably that she had a trick or two under her sleeve that allowed her to eat almost anything, living or not, that happened to cross her path. And if you lived alone in the icy Russian wastes, that was a very useful skill. Starting from what I found in those books and after some extensive research about exotic condiments, I came out with this product. Without having to necessarily eat your neighbor, this salt turns disgusting food into a tasty meal and can be used when forced to eat something you do not like or when you are guest in the house of someone who [i]really[/i] cannot cook. Also it can enable a Celiac to actually eat gluten or someone who really does not hold alcohol to drink a bottle of double malt whiskey without getting drunk. Essentially it allows people to eat 'prohibited' or unhealthy food and like it. Hell.. provided you own enough salt, you could eat rotten food and lick your chops. The main long term side effect of the salt is that abuse of it causes all the non salt treated food to taste like broccoli until a full month is passed without assuming it. Abusing it means making extensive use of it for at least four consecutive days. - Andrew Christopher Doyle

RubberMorph Potion

Potion Creator: Giacomo Torrinpietra Ingredients needed for 4 doses of potion (half a pint): A bronze standard cauldron One giant Amazonian Deathrap Seed and a silver dagger (or one pint of well preserved lymph) - see note at the bottom Undiluted bubotuber pus - half a pint Wartcap powder - six Troy ounces Three wooden spoons made of the same wood of the alchemist's wand blueberries (not required but heavily advised) - seventeen pure water mistletoe berries - seventeen Powdered oak bark Note: Both the bubotuber pus and the wartcap powder are skin-affecting, flesh-transmuting substances. While normally mixing them is not advisable given the extremely aggressive effect these two agents together have on skin, in this case and in this case only their combination has a quickening effect on the decay of the lymph's active magical mutagens. An interesting discovery has been that adding blueberries near the end of the potion brewing, the result obtained becomes actually palatable and sweet while without the addition of the fruit, the potion's taste is definitely revolting and very similar to that of decomposing flesh. The potion functions exactly the same with or without the blueberries so if they cannot be obtained and the Alchemist feels particularly brave, the liquid can be brewed anyways.. Purpose/Effect: The lymph in the seed of the Giant Amazonian Deathrap (see description at the end of the recipe) has notoriously the property of giving the flesh and bones of someone who assumes it into an extremely rubbery consistency and elasticity. The body becomes de facto as if it is made out of rubber and as such it behaves. The imbiber bounces against walls and becomes almost immune to damage from impacts of any kind. If sufficient pull is applied, the body and the limbs can elongate up to five times their original length (although elongating over three times is slightly painful). The issue with the substance is that the effect of assuming the untreated lymph lasts from five to seven months without interruption causing a long series of no little impairments (just as an example, having a rubber jaw and teeth means that you cannot chew properly and you are forced to live on semisolid food). The actual function of the potion/treatment is to cut down the duration of the “rubber” effect to an hour of time. Preparation: Mix the bubotuber pus with the wartcap powder into the cauldron and then add one half a liter of water. Heat up the cauldron until the mixture starts to boil and then begin stirring it counterclockwise with one of the wooden spoons for ten minutes while adding one pinch of powdered oak bark each minute. You will notice that the spoon will blacken and shrivel during this time. If everything is done properly at the end of the ten minutes you will have a sickly grey ugly smelling liquid and a completely useless spoon. At that point you should cut the deathtrap seed surface with the silver dagger and squeeze out the pearly looking lymph contained in it. Care is recommended in handling the seed since it will probably try to grasp the arm of its holder with its tentacles. As an alternative, it is possible to extract the lymph prior to the concoction of the potion but keep in mind that extreme care must be taken into preserving it in a vacuum sealed container since it dries and decays almost immediately if in contact with air. Add the lymph to the mixture together with another half a liter of water and start stirring it, this time clockwise, with the second spoon until its quantity is reduced by half. In this meantime, the potion will become dirty green in color and the spoon's wood will become brittle and at the end of the procedure a simple pressure of the fingers will be enough to crush it into powder. At this point, crush the mistletoe berries in a mortar, optionally adding a handful of blueberries. The result poultice must be added to the potion and mixed into it using the last spoon. It is extremely important to examine the last spoon after the operation.. its status must be absolutely perfect as demonstration that the concoction has lost all its aggressive properties. Especially since the last part of the procedure is to immerse the caster's wand into the liquid and stir it three times clockwise and five times counterclockwise. If everything has been done by the book, the potion will suddenly become blue in color if blueberries have been added or pearly white if they have not. If there has been some mistake and the last spoon has not been thoroughly examined.. the alchemist now probably needs a new wand.. Trivia: Have you ever met a rubber man? I mean a real man made of rubber? I did, once, at my father's restaurant. He was a distinguished old bespectacled individual who came one lazy august Saturday morning, accompanied by another tall and grim looking man who was none other that the actual Head of the Magical Creatures department at the ministry, a certain Dedalus McDibble. He and the rubber man were apparently in very good terms. The rubber man's name was Tiberius Turnwip and according to my information he is a rather knowledgeable botanist and a longtime friend of Mr. McDibble. His peculiar condition was not apparent from the outside but it became evident when he inadvertently tripped over a chair, fell down to the ground and.. basically bounced all the way to his table. I happened to be helping my father disposing his famous chocolates on a nearby buffet table and so I ended up being in the perfect position to stop the man's endless bouncing and help him back on his feet. Both he and Mr. McDibble offered their thanks for my intervention and as a reward, the man told me about the reasons for his predicament. Apparently, during the return trip after an expedition in the Amazonian Forest someone made a bit of confusion and some of the man's samples of a rare plant species named “Giant Amazonian Deathtrap” ended up classified as “exotic food”. At that point, the great skill of Mr. Turnwip's cook house elf and the notorious absent mindedness of the man caused him to eat inadvertently a salad made with, amongst other things, one of the aforementioned seeds. That was the start of my interest in that kind of substance. I have to confess that I was figuring that it could be used as a practical joke or a prank of some kind. Although since I didn't want it to be too impairing, I set out to find a way to limit its duration. On hindsight I have to recognize that owning a temporarily rubber body has its advantages as it allows you to withstand trauma and gives you the ability to stretch and literally bend backwards... it is an invaluable aid when you are trying something dangerous like an acrobatic maneuver with the motorbike or the broom. Bones can be repaired but in my opinion it is better not to break them altogether. - Giacomo Torrinpietra Giant Amazonian Deathrap - Insidia Viridis Maxima: (From the personal notes of Dedalus McDibble) This is a plant whose life cycle can be fully completed only into the deepest recesses of pluvial forests and I could add 'thankfully' because a fully grown specimen of this particularly impressive sub species of Devil's Snare can present a truly real danger for human and beast alike. Simply put, the plant is a gigantic version of his more common european breed, and its tentacles can have a reach of up to 70 feets and the diameter of a young tree trunk. A single fully grown Giant Amazonian Deathrap can constrict a forest troll to death which I can personally testify for having actually witnessed it. The plant is very aggressive and much tougher to destroy or cut than the more common devil snare version although it shares its distaste for bright lights. The good news about that dangerous plant is that it needs the damp darkness of the amazonian forests to grow properly and also it takes several decades, at least five, for it to reach full maturity.. this makes its infestation of civilized areas rather unlikely because the presence of one of these plants would get noticed before it was mature enough to start reproducing. The 'seeds' that the species produces are actually an extremely immature version of the mother plant (see picture) and they are equipped with little vines that actually react to sound, light and movement as if they were ordinary devil's snare vines. Dealing with these seeds is like having to battle with an angry octopus and the little tentacles are strong enough to immobilize a medium sized dog although they are almost never lethal since they do not squeeze harder than it is needed to maintain a firm grasp on their host... since the seeds function is to be carried around by jungle animale and dropped on a suitable place to grow and mature. Another peculiar charactersitic of the seeds is that they are extremely elastic.. they can bounce on solid ground and are almost impossible to harm with blunt imlement.. a cutting edge is needed to rip open their rubbery bark and expose the spongy interior soaked with pearly white lynpha. For more information about the full lyfe cylcle of this exotic plant I suggest reading Tiberius Turnwip's Magical Giants of the Plant Kingdom which contains the more updated, to my knowledge, research results about the Amazonian Deathtrap.

Magical Items

Master Clockwork Key

Item Creator: Federico Torrinpietra Purpose: This is an elaboration on the studies and designs of my great-great-great grandfather Berengario Torrinpietra, famous clockwork maker and spell smith. Old Berengario was famous for being able to build almost flawless time turners to the point that people came from all Europe in order to have the chance to buy some of his masterpieces. The man was also known for being relentless while at work and for being able to sit at his work bench for a day straight without feeling the need of resting even a single second. This particular project is about a very special winding key that can be used to 'wind up' living beings giving them the power to disregard hunger and tiredness for a limited period of time, giving them the extra hours or even days necessary to put to completion a specific work. Building Notices: The high level of magic attunement required for this particular artifact and the almost perfect symmetry required for the finished product makes finding a suitable alloy for building a Master Clockwork winding key a rather daunting task. The main reason for which my ancestor didn't manage to actually perfect his studies about that object was that it looked like that the only way to find the right material was to destroy and melt another metal made magic item. Old Berengario's main issue, it turned out, was that while he was an incredible clockwork artisan he was an absolute failure at potion making.. and so he failed to see the most obvious solution. Melting a silver cauldron that has been regularly used for advanced potion making for at least ten years by a skilled Alchemist appears to produce enough magic attuned silver to create a fully functional Master Clockwork Key. This certainly makes finding the material for building those objects rather difficult but not almost impossible as it would have been otherwise. Building the mold is another rather complex issue: considering that the key, to function properly will need to be almost flawlessly symmetrical. All in all, since silver is involved, the best material for making the mold is going to be graphite. Actually, good graphite molds are muggle-produced so for some of the less muggle connected families might be a bit of an issue finding them. An alternative could be fabricating a wax mold but keep in mind that one out of two of the Master Clockwork Keys created with a wax mold will be useless while with graphite molds you will have only an 8% chance of uselessness. Spellcrafting the Master Key is a really delicate matter. The complete list of enchantments to be cast on the key once it has been taken out of the mold and is still warm is not extremely daunting at a first look.. basically the key is enchanted with a protego spell first, followed by a rather complex Italian formula that contains a variant of the Healing and Reinvigorating spells that are used commonly in wizardly first aid. The reall difficulty in enchanting the key is that both the spell and the formula must be cast with flawless pronunciation without getting even a single consonant or wowel wrong and without changing the spelling rhythm. Even a single little error will cause the key to melt into an useless puddle of blackened silver. Item use: Ever arrived almost at the end of a piece of work being too tired to actually go on? Ever needed to pull out that extra hour of energy that you do not have? Ever been in absolute necessity of doing a miracle of energy? The Master Clockwork Key is your answer. When a clock is slowly losing its beat you wind it up. When a clockwork toy is dying you wind it up. So.. Why not wind yourself up? Why not give someone who needs it the bit of time that will help him reach his goal? You have only to solidly plant the key against yours (or someone else's) chest in correspondence of the heart. The key will remain on place by itself.. You will not need to sustain it. Then.. You can start turning it clockwise. It will make the tik-tik-tik-tik-tik typical noise of a winding key at work. One full turn means a whole hour of functionality.. weariness disappears and strength returns and the body feels fresh and active.. almost hyperactive actually. The more turns of the key, the more euphorical the effect... the subject becomes unable to stay still although since the key is used when there is a job to perform this is not usually a problem. After twenty four turns of the key, the magic starts to become unstable and additional turns have actually a chance of making the key detach.. a chance that increases after each turn. Berengario Torrinpietra himself assessed that the maximum number of turns one could do with the key would be 98. Important: After the effect of the key is finished the subject will revert to his tired state with the extra weariness accumulated in his forced activity bearing on his shoulders. The project/job on which he is working will be finished in time but he will be almost useless and in need of complete rest thereafter. The longest the activity, the more the rest needed. Ever tried to stay like whole days without stopping working for a second? Final comments: Abusing the MasterClockwork Key is not a good idea definitely but if one knows how to self restrain and uses it with intelligence it may make the difference between hitting a deadline or missing it completely. It teaches you to respect your body and your physical resources and if you learn that lesson it can become a great aid. My ancestor Berengario wrote that a misused key could eventually break the body of an athlete since the strain and fatigue that one can submit himself with it are enormous.. the key allows you to tap from your energies and go for whole days without sleep with is enough to have people go mad if you think about it. The key gives you power over your own body. As such, you must learn how and when to use it. - Federico Torrinpietra

Hamelin's Double Recorder

Item Creator: Kichirou Hanayama Description and Purpose: The so called recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The 'classic' recorder is distinguished from other members of the family by having holes for seven fingers (the lower one or two often doubled to facilitate the production of semitones) and one for the thumb of the uppermost hand. The double recorder saw use in medieval times and its success was due to the fact that it gave the possibility of simultaneously playing a tune and a drone or simple accompaniment. The tune and accompaniment can even be passed from one pipe to the other. The Hamelin's double recorder is enchanted so that if very specific tunes are played over it! it waves a powerful attractive charm magic on specific kind of low intelligence creatures within hearing range (usually critters up to the size of a cat or a little dog). As long as the musician keeps playing the instrument, the creatures will feel an irresistible urge to gather around him and follow him wherever it goes. They will not behave aggressively with him and will not go out of their way to attack anyone although putting oneself on their path might not be a wise move... by playing certain tunes on the instrument the musician can direct the critters in specific directions although they will never go willingly more than a handful of yards away from him. Once the music stops, the critters will immediately resume their normal behavior. It is interesting to notice that while the instrument will work on specific critters within hearing range, the victims do not need to be actually able to hear the music... the magic will work on notoriously deaf animals like snakes. Each kind of critter can be charmed by its own specific tune, of which the ones that have survived to this day are currently those for rats, cockroaches, crows, snakes and squirrels.. although nothing prevents enterprising musicians from researching more of them. Materials required: The wood for the double recorder must come form one single flawless tree branch. The additional complication is that the branch must be both big enough to create the instrument and have the qualities needed for being usable in wand building. Given the fact that the original inventor if the instrument was a wandering Mage, the best suited wood, by far, for building such an instrument is Maple Wood. I have often found that those chosen by maple wands are by nature travellers and explorers; they are not stay-at-home wands, and prefer ambition in their witch or wizard, otherwise their magic grows heavy and lacklustre. Fresh challenges and regular changes of scene cause this wand to literally shine, burnishing itself as it grows, with its partner, in ability and status. This is a beautiful and desirable wood, and wand quality maple has been among the most costly for centuries. Possession of a maple wand has long been a mark of status, because of its reputation as the wand of high achievers. - Garrick Ollivander The other important material to be used for the building of the instrument is enough high quality puffskein hair to construct the core for two wands. This particular material is widely known for its affinity for music related magic.. my own wand sports such a core and I can testify first hand its effectiveness. It is mandatory that the hair come from two different specimen of puffskein to avoid risks of priori incantatem effects. Building Notices: To sum up the building procedure for this particular magical instrument I will say that it is extremely akin to the one needed to build magic wands. The artisan building it needs to be an accomplished wand maker [i]and[/i] a skilled woodcarver since the body of the double recorder needs to be built without committing any single mistake. The puffskein hair needs to be incorporated in the wood by following the very same procedure for creating a wand. Immediately after the final enchanting, the instrument needs to be kept dormant for at least a month before being given to its new owner who must be a wizard proficient in playing the instrument The owner would be will play the double recorder.. if his musical skills are deemed adequate music will be heard, otherwise the recorder will emit dissonant noises. A bit like a wand the recorder 'chooses' it's favored owner and will work better for him. Like a wand, it can be 'won over' by a better musician and wizard. Trivia: I discovered the material about the manufacture of this interesting magical instrument three years ago, in the Private section of the Town Library of the German Town of Hamelin. While the reasons for which I was in that town are not pertinent to this submission, it is worth saying that the access there had been provided by my good friend Rudolph Krug, an accomplished wizard and famous lute maker whose help has been invaluable in this little research. Buried under a mound of old and dusty books I found the fragments of the diary of a man who claimed to have been the major of Hamelin town in the year 1284. In that period the city was suffering from a rat infestation and apparently the citizenship had managed to enlist against the stinky pests, the help of a certain Wolfgang Schulze.. a wandering mage who went around wearing pied clothings and owned a very special golden lacquered wooden flute. Due to several incomprehensions, tension eventually ensued between the wizard and the town and a prize eventually got placed on Schulze's head. After several years, the Pied Piper's body was found, turned into stone into his secret lair in the mountains together with some fragments of his notes about how to build wooden magical pipes. After some more research, I managed to find the notes themselves, much to my satisfaction. The double recorder is the result of my researches on Shulze's notes. It should be noted that Shulze's original flute was rumored to have much greater powers than those displayed by the item I present.. to the point if having influence even on human beings. Still these are only rumors. As it is only a rumor the one about the Pied Piper being turned to stone on the spot by something he should never have summoned with his flute - Kichirou Hanayama