Secret Santicor(e|n) 2022: d12 Spirits of the Deep Sea

So it's December, and that means it's time for Secret Santicor(e|n)! Basically everyone submits prompts, it gets shuffled around, and you write a blog post for whatever prompt you get. Here's a post for Loch at Nothic's Eye!

A fishy fishy fish for my dishy dishy dish.

As a quick explanation, the spells on each spirit are the spells a Summoner (as in YAGH) can cast if they make that spirit their familiar. [SP] is how many Soul Points you invested into casting the spell.

d12 Spirits of the Deep Sea

1. Sardoz Who Is Many: Takes the form of countless small grey spheres. Has dominion over currents. Finds joy in disorienting those who think themselves in control. May assist in a quest to disrupt someone sufficiently self-assured. Spells:  Create a hurricane or whirlpool affecting an area [SP]x10 feet in diameter, electrically shock something for [SP]d6 damage.

2. Bivali: Takes the form of a single mussel among hundreds on a vanishing island. It filters knowledge from the ocean waves, gathering lore from the seas. Will trade its knowledge for information that has yet to reach the waters of the world. Spells: Know the current location of something within [SP]x200 miles, ask someone within [SP]x200 miles a question and hear their answer.

3. Carcer: Takes the form of a massive hermit crab crawling the dark paths between oceans. Its decapod servants tend to prisoners it keeps in the sunken ship it carries. Whether someone warrants imprisonment is determined by strict adherence to a code it claims not to have created (although none know where else it could have come from). Negotiation for early release is unlikely, but it will allow visitation in certain conditions. Spells: Immobilize someone’s feet for [SP] turns, bind someone’s arms for [SP] turns.

4. Benoit: Takes the form of an octopus-like cephalopod with (usually) between 6 and 30 arms depending on its mood. Helps those who have been washed out to sea. Has learned many skills from those grateful, and may be willing to teach one skill in exchange for another. Spells: Heal someone [SP]d6 HP, repair a [SP]-foot cube of damaged objects.

5. Nemat: Takes the form of a roundworm roughly an eighth the size of the thing it is trying to eat. Single-mindedly searches for whatever it currently has a craving for, then devours it. It mostly craves corpses and ocean flora, but some have created curses to make their target enticing to Nemat. Spells: Nemat cannot be reasoned with, and will not make a pact with anyone.

6. Medusa: Takes the form of a giant glowing sea jelly. It and its court of smaller jellies emit an aura of nonviolence, enforcing a sort of peace within its realm - wherever its realm has happened to float. Any within Medusa's domain which seek to harm another will find themselves fighting paralytic toxins. Devouring prey for survival, it seems, is not considered by Medusa to be violence and is not affected by this aura. Fighting back against a man-eating monster, on the other hand, is extremely difficult in Medusa's domain. Spells: Give someone a penalty of [SP] to all checks requiring use of their body for one minute, prevent all nearby attacks for [SP] turns.

7. Scylla: Takes the form of an extraordinarily long, dark-red hagfish. Those who greet it with respect and deference are blessed with safe passage on their travels. Those who treat it rudely may find themselves vomiting blood and phlegm. Spells: Reroll a random encounter up to [SP] times, make someone vomit up [SP] HP worth of blood and phlegm and force them to pass a MOVE check TN 11+[SP] before they can walk.

8. Hecate: Takes the form of a bright purple sea pig the size of a cow. Can see and speak to those remembered by the people it meets. It will gladly allow these “ghosts” to speak through it, but will not freely offer that the ghosts are merely reconstructions from these memories. Spells: Learn the [SP] most prominent people in someone’s memories, ask a person in someone's memory a question.

9. Otohime: Takes the form of a young sea turtle made of pearl. Generally kind, but a bit pretentious and not very self-aware. Longs for companionship and will offer eternal life to those who would stay with it. Stores the years of its companions in its shell, and will age anyone who offends it. Spells: Age someone [SP]d4 years, freeze time for one object for [SP]d4 minutes.

10. Orochi: Takes the form of a black and red sea anemone. Wants to eat foreign plants, animals, and other food - and drink, if possible. Will attempt to trick, threaten, or coerce in order to obtain this. Spells: Pull [SP] people 30 feet closer to you, deal [SP]d10 damage to everything close to you.

11. Echidna: Takes the form of a 7-armed, rainbow-colored sea star. Whenever Echidna is injured, ravenous monsters spring up from the wounds (which then instantly heal over, as is normal for spirits). Echidna is constantly moving from hiding spot to hiding spot, in a desire to avoid creating more misery. Spells: Summon [SP]d4 HD worth of friendly monsters which disappear at midnight, destroy [SP]d10 HD worth of monsters created from Echidna.

12. Khepri: Takes the form of a brilliantly glowing mola. Judges those dying, and grants those it finds particularly righteous a second chance at life. Will only join someone on a selfless quest. Spells: Return someone who has just died to life (costs SP equal to 1 + the number of times you've cast this spell on them), blind everyone nearby with bright light for [SP] minutes.