Gifts for an Oracle

[roguerouge]

You're going to meet the oracles, a set of four elemental weirds in the arctic tundra. What do you bring as gifts to get them to answer your questions?

(I ask, because I have to have some idea of how to run this for my campaign. Think of this as a brainstorming thread.)

 

[Nifft]

Arctic tundra?! I'd bring something extra nice for the Fire Weird, as the desolate location must be particularly uncomfortable for him.

- Stuff from tropical lands (where water is liquid, air is moist, fire has stuff to burn, and earth isn't frozen all the time).

- Living animals for blood sacrifice.

- Tasty food (perhaps with ingredients from blood sacrifice).

- Incense.

- Magical toys, music boxes.

- New books, plays, and sheet music, because my god it must be boring up there.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Ear-muffs.

Also, perhaps a "pet" for each, some young domesticable "animal" that passes for a cute fluffy pet on whatever homeplane/world/land they each come from. This is a potentially difficult prospect for the Fire and possibly Water pets.

Or a delicacy of some sort? Again from their respective homes, things like "djinni delight" for the Air, "firedrops" for the Fire, "sandbull steaks" for the Earth, "liqueur of hydrovial" for Water. Or whatnot.

 

[Piratecat]

Secrets.

 

[fba827]

a magical device that helps them ward their lair from annoying people that come see3king them out...

Or any sort of magic item that might otherwise offer a little luxury or security/protection

If you can't think of anything like that, then any sort of powerful item could also make a good gift. It becomes less of "this reminded me of you" and more of "these are the lengths i went through to get something for you ... that's how important this is to me" type thing.

 

[Crothian]

My Companions!

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

The head of a sworn enemy. This is an especially touchy proposition if, for example, the Fire weird and the Water weird are sworn enemies.

 

[Inyssius]

Incense. Exotic wood. Magnesium, barium, sodium, phosphorus. Illustrated incunabula--precious, delicate, and rare. The blood of a demon. Faceted sunstone. The breath of a dragon. Mirrors. Light-catching lens arrays. Prismatic artifices of gemstone and glass. Radium. A salamander in a cage of brass.

Moon-dust. Starmetal. Molten rock from the depths of the earth. Phosphorescent moss or fungi. Living plants, seeds, rich soil from tropical climes. The bones of a titan. A pure-bred bulette pup. Dust from an elven tomb, runes from a mountain-home, a miniature city carved from white stone.

A bottled storm, a name, a sigh. A lillend's song. Exotic birds, dragonflies. A sealed glass phial of neon, or xenon. Fine lengths of silk, ethereal and resplendent. The web of a golden orb-spider, and a spider to weave more. A lightning-rod, crackling with St. Elmo's fire. Wind-flutes. Sculptures wrought from solid fog.

Blackwater from the depths of the sea, where no light has ever fallen. Exotic fish and other living things, aquatic and amphibious. The tears of a djinn. Water-lilies. A phial of water from a primal spring, from the River Lethe, from the River Oceanus. Scales from a river dragon. Mercury. Moonlight in a silver bowl.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

Inspired by two of the posts before me...

Something "impossible" to get that appeals to the "power" of their own element.

For example, for the water weird, the tears of a salamander (fire variety...no sneaking on amphibians).

This would:
1. Show that water can come from even the hottest fire.
2. Show that the players are serious enough to offer something difficult, and go to great lengths.



I like the idea of "an impossible element drawn out from it's opposing element".

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

You DO realize that because they're oracles, you're not going to surprise them, right?

I'd bring them something ephemeral that may, nonetheless, bring lasting joy.

A poem or song composed in their honor- and recited/performed in their presence, for instance.