Wonder: Piège à Loup lantern

 

Wonders

Wonders is a catchall term I’m using for what are often called magic items in other systems and settings. Wonders artifacts, relics, and all the various objects described in part V: Mysteries, Horrors, and Wonders in the Honor+Intrigue rulebook such as the creations of Alchemists, Apothecaries, Magicians, the inventions and contraptions of genius Craftsmen and Scholars, the dark castings of Sorcerers, and any other special objects that inventive GMs may decide to create and include in their campaigns. In my campaign I include relics like the Sword of Solomon, the bones of Saints, and nails from the True Cross. Just like in the real Early Modern world there are also fakes, frauds, and hoaxes to fool the gullible. 

To inaugurate this category I've included a wonder that the PCs have encountered and used in my own campaign. 

Wonder: “Piège à Loup” lantern

Legend says that a werewolf can be trapped or held by means of the “Piège à Loup”. 

Illustration of a Piège à Loup being used to trap a werewolf hung from a gallows

A Piège à Loup (English: Wolf Cage or Wolf Trap) is a lantern of unusual baroque designed. If the lantern is lit with a blessed candle, then no lycanthrope within the illumination of the lamp will be able to exit the illumination of the lamp. They are trapped as if in a cage of light. 

Two lanterns are known to exist. One is in the collection of objects in the museum-like Wunderkammer room in Amsterdam, Holland. The other is in the vaults beneath the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

Game Mechanics: A lycanthrope in beast or semi-beast form must succeed in three Daring rolls (or Flair) to exit the circle of illumination: Daring, Daring-2, and Daring-4. Each success moves the creature closer to the edge. The GM may describe this with the light forming chains, bars, or bonds and the creature howling and fighting to get free. If in their normal human form, the creature need only succeed in an easy roll of Daring+1 to exit the area of illumination, but a keen observer may notice a hesitation even on the part of a human form lycanthrope who succeeds in their Daring Roll.

In my H+I campaign I added a reference to a Piège à Loup in the Discours des Sorceirs.