Exorcisms in Mordent

The dead in Mordent are unable to pass on to the afterlife without some form of assistance. Under normal circumstances, the spirit of the recently deceased can only remain tethered to the mortal world by some strong emotional connection. Common examples include the guilt & shame from a scandalous crime, an unrequited lover's aching melancholy, or the pain & wrath of a victim unavenged. Such powerful attachments, often fueled by negative emotions, can prevent the spirit from moving on until the matter is somehow dealt with by the living.

Another possible reason for spirits to remain in the world of the living is due to dark magic. Something like a curse or a necromantic spell will actively entrap a spirit that otherwise would have been at peace. This is likely the cause for Mordent's saturation of ghosts & other incorporeal undead. Lord Godefroy's repeated use of the Apparatus has severed the normal routes by which the recently deceased would have journeyed to their respective afterlives. There is also the fact that Mordent is a Domain of Dread & has been designed by the Dark Powers for this purpose to fuel their own agendas.

In Mordent, for a spirit to move on some form of assistance must be rendered. Destroying a spirit in combat by reducing it to 0 hit points only destroys the manifestation on the Material Plane. Depending on the spirit's power, it can take anywhere from several weeks to only a few hours to gather itself into a new form in the Deep Ethereal in order to return to the Material Plane. To permanently deal with a spirit, an exorcism is often the only option.

Phase I - Discovery

For a spirit to be exorcized, one must learn as much as possible about the nature of the spirit & the reason for the haunting. These can be best described as three points: shape, truth, & motive.

Shape

The forms that spirits take in order to haunt the living can be vast. Often they take the shape of one of the many kinds of incorporeal undead, such as ghosts, specters, or wraiths. While similar, each kind of manifestation has unique traits that can help to identify which form the spirit has taken. For example, both specters & wraiths can both drain the vitality from their victims with their Life Drain attacks, but wraiths can raise the recently deceased as specters under their control. Another example is that both banshees & ghosts can terrify their victims with a Horrifying Visage, but banshees have their deadly Wail while ghosts can attempt a Possession.

Aside from encountering the spirit in person, a party of adventurers can learn about the spirit's shape through a variety of methods. Interviews with witnesses about their own encounters with the spirit or researching local records about past hauntings can provide some clues as to the nature of the spirit. Whether or not spells like Detect Evil & Good or features like Divine Sense can identify what type of undead the party is dealing with is up to the DM's discretion.

Truth

The truth refers to the origins of the spirit. A party of adventurers must learn the identity & history of a spirit if they hope to perform a successful exorcism. Such information can help determine the shape or motive of the spirit as well. Some may attempt to interview the spirit directly through rituals like a séance, a spirit board session, a taroka reading, or even casting the Speak with Dead spell. Whether this is successful is often determined by the summoner's ability to control the spirits & the truthfulness of the spirits in question.

Information regarding the truth of a spirit can be plentiful, but sometimes misleading. There could be a popular folk tale explaining the origins of ghost haunting the nearby moor or an official record describing a ghost as being a violent criminal executed for their heinous acts. However, folk tales are often the products of exaggeration & omission by a storyteller more interested in a good narrative. Official records are not immune either, as the context of an event may not be recorded, or details misrepresented by officials with their own agendas. Often times, the players must discern the truth from multiple accounts.

Motive

Spirits are often bound to the Material Plane by either a strong emotional bond or foul magic. This creates roughly two categories of spirit motivations: the restless & the corrupted.

Restless are those that do desire to move on, but something is hindering them. Once the hinderance is removed, the spirit is often willing to let the exorcism proceed. For example, the ghost of a maiden simply wants her family to know her death was not a suicide, but that she was murdered by her former lover. Another may be that the home the ghost haunts was cursed, so a ritual must be performed to cleanse the house of evil. Some restless can be easily appeased, while others may have motivations contrary to the goals or morals of the party.

Corrupted are spirits that either have such powerfully negative emotions or have forgotten their own true motives that they vindictively attack anyone they perceive as a threat. These spirits are much more difficult because they can not be appeased. For example, a wraith seeks to eliminate an entire bloodline of its former rival, but its keeps expanding its vengeance to include the rival's distant relations, associates of the rival, or even people that resemble the rival. The spirit keeps shifting the goal posts rather than find solace. In some cases, the spirit may need to be reminded of their own truth in order to accept their motive is wrong & allow themselves to be exorcized. Others may be too far gone & will fiercely fight to remain a destructive force plaguing the living.

Phase II - Ritual

When the adventurers have completed the discovery phase, or as much of it as they could in the time allowed, they must then perform the actual exorcism ritual. This can be done in roughly two parts: the summoning & the exorcism.

The Summoning

The spirit that needs to be exorcised must be present for the ritual to begin. Performing a summoning similar to those conducted at a séance should work in most cases, though a powerful spirit may attempt to resist. This is where the discovery phase can prove very useful, as the exorcist can use the information gathered to compel the spirit to manifest, such as calling the spirit's hitherto forgotten name or revealing the secret circumstances of their demise.

The nature of the haunting can also aid an exorcist in the summoning. If the spirit is bound to a particular location, object, or person, then the exorcism need only be performed in the presence of the spirit's preferred haunting grounds. However, if the spirit is a wandering type not bound to anything specific then the use of the spell Magic Circle or a similar spell may be necessary to keep them at the exorcism.

How to Run a Summoning

Each creature participating in the exorcism's summoning ritual must make a d20 roll. If the creature is a spellcaster, then it may add its spell attack bonus to the roll. If the creature is not a spellcaster, then using a skill modifier like Intelligence (Arcana), Intelligence (Religion), or Charisma (Persuasion) is appropriate. A creature can also choose to use its action to Help another creature with their roll, giving the helped creature advantage. The average of all the rolls must match or surpass a contested Charisma saving throw by the spirit.

Certain factors can modify the average rolled by the exorcists:

• If the summoning is performed in the location that the spirit haunts, or in the presence of the object or person that the spirit haunts. (+2)

• If the spirit's physical remains are used as a part of the summoning (+2)

• If the spirit's true name when it was alive is used in the summoning (+1)

• If significant details of the spirit's life or death are revealed during the summoning (+1)

• If the spirit's motive for haunting are revealed during the summoning (+1)

• If an object of sentimental value to the spirit is used in the summoning (+1)

• If a false motive for the haunting is presented during the summoning (-1)

• If false details about the spirit's life or death are used during the summoning (-1)

• If a false name for the spirit is used during the summoning (-3)

• If physical remains that do not belong to the spirit are used during the summoning (-5)

The Exorcism

Once it is summoned, there is a brief moment where the exorcists can attempt to negotiate with the spirit to simply move on to the afterlife. Characters can make Charisma skill checks during this moment, aided by having taken such actions as appeasing the restless spirit, helping it complete its unfinished business, or revealing its motive to be a corruption of its original desires. If successful, the spirit will not oppose the rest of the ritual, moving on from the Material Plane to its final destination.

If the spirit refuses to go quietly, it will enter into combat with the exorcists. The exorcism ritual itself is treated like casting a ritual spell. For the ritual to succeed, at least one creature must be concentrating on the exorcism for the duration. The duration is 1 minute or until the spirit is reduced to 0 hit points. On its turn, a creature that is concentrating on the exorcism uses its action to continue the ritual. If the creature receives damage, it must make a concentration check. If there are no creatures concentrating on the exorcism at any point, the ritual must be started again & the duration reset.

Once the spirit moves on, the exorcism's duration is up or the spirit reduced to 0 hit points, its manifestation dissolves into a thematically appropriate particulate. A good-aligned spirit may turn into glowing, golden dust while an evil spirit disintegrates into sulphureous embers.