The Holy Grail

The half-orc templar of Sowden have been searching for the fabled Holy Grail of Lefort for years. They've whittled down the location to be somewhere within the jungle of Boar Valley, which the King of Sowden has named the Green Grail.

At the center of the jungle lies an ancient temple, long abandoned by its Viperian council. Viperian shamans, wearing red (blood-dyed) cloaks with patches of white spots, care for the Holy Grail deep within the temple. 

Viperian fresco of a dire fungus

In actuality the Grail is an inverted psychedelic mushroom, its shaft sprouting up into a cap that grows outward like a chalice. An unlimited supply of clear jelly pulsing with purple energy sits in the grail, slowly infusing with the mushroom's psychoactive chemicals. The tendrils of the mushroom grow deep underneath the jungle for miles and miles, potentially expanding under most of the island. 

The 2d4+1 shamans (stats as viperian wizards) sip from the Holy Grail as part of their spiritual rituals. The jelly causes time dilation and hallucinations for 1d6+1 hours (I particularly like Goblin Punch's rules). However, this amount of time feels like 20+1d20 hours. The passive effects of the Grail align with common psychedelic experiences.

While intoxicated on the Grail you can cast Prophecy, Scrying, Sending, or Speak with Dead once a day, no roll-to-cast or spell caster levels needed. 

If you choose Prophecy you commune directly with the Prince instead of your God. The Prince is one of the unique incorporeal spirits of Lefort. His origin is unknown, but rumors say he's a magician who gave up his physical body for immortality.  When visible he manifests as the ancestry of his viewer, with long shoulder-length hair, a skeletal frame, and a charismatic face.

THE PRINCE

AC 16, HP 43, ATK 2 touch mind +6 (1d8), MV near, 

S +0, D +3, C +3, I +3, W +3, Ch +4, AL N, LV 9

Incorporeal. Invisible, except to those intoxicated on the Holy Grail. Only damaged by magical sources. Immune to hostile spells of 2nd tier or lower.

Telepathy. Can read the minds of all creatures within near.

The shamans of the Green Grail revere the Prince as an enlightened figure, becoming permanently ritually intoxicated on the jelly in order to commune with him at all times. They'll only let strangers drink from the Grail if the Prince says the strangers are worthy. They're deemed worthy if the Prince thinks he can leverage them for power or transportation.

In all outward appearances the Prince presents himself as a benevolent teacher. He's, in fact, an Outsider stuck in an incorporeal form the creatures of this plane cannot comprehend without the Holy Grail. The Prince seeks to be taken out of the jungle and introduced to a nearby village or city in order to start a new religious movement and gain a following. One of these new followers is bound to know how to send him back home, or at least make him corporeal. Or so he hopes.

The viperian shamans do not want the Prince to leave. And the templar will do anything to get their hands on the Grail once it leaves the jungle.

Mushrooms of the Green Grail

The Holy Grail can be moved and taken with whatever party of adventurers wants to risk their safety for magical psychedelics by cutting the grounded root of the mushroom. If the jelly is poured out of the mushroom cap and completely disconnected from the fungus it becomes a primordial slime, the closest the Prince can manifest a physical body on this plane. So be careful transporting this thing. 

The primordial slime is hostile, and grants the benefits of drinking the Holy Grail if you're somehow able to eat its jelly matter while it's still alive. If the primordial slime is killed, the Prince is killed, and the Holy Grail is simply a psychedelic mushroom shaped like a chalice.

Listened to "Sketches of Brunswick East" by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and "Birds, Bees, The Clouds & The Trees" by Harrison.


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