Fel Greeting (Royal Ice Drum)

The Fells are best-known, in the magical and martial communities alike, as the home of physical magic. That is not their only discovery, though. If anything, this spell was more vital in the formation of modern Phaelwelyehavne (“The Fells”) than all of the Hahdet techniques together.

This “spell” is technically an enchantment, worked on a bucket of water. The magician adds certain herbs and powders, and often a dye of some kind, for convenience’s sake. When the water is poured out on a flat, snowy surface, it spreads to form a perfect circle of non-slippery ice that reverberates when struck as if it were a drum-head. For older versions of the magic (referred to in The Fells as simply “Ice Drum”), this was all, but the version currently used has the ability to send its sound to a location envisioned by the performer, with obvious application for communication between separate valleys during the long winter months. These days, every community throughout the region has at least one drum-dancer, and even when its services are not required for official business, an Ice Drum may be used as an instrument for their own entertainment by the community. Naturally, Ice Drums of all kinds are much less useful during the summer melt.

The base difficulty is d8 (d6 for Ice Drum); attempting to craft a batch of water takes about an hour and costs two strain (one for Ice Drum). In either case, performing for about a minute costs a point of fatigue.