Garana-Tar was a friend of Arroin during the God Time. Some even
say that she was Arroin's lover at some time. Like Arroin, she was kind
and gentle and she helped others throughout the Great Darkness. However,
unlike Arroin and his mother, Chalana Arroy, Garana-Tar could not accept
that all life was sacred, so she took up arms against the evil that hurt
her friends.
Garana-Tar performed several deeds during the Lesser and Greater Darkness,
these included breaking Death when it was wielded by Bagog and Aranea,
blunting Death when she faced Grandfather Viper and draining the poison
from Arroin's wound when he faced Bagog. Her particular skill was in defeating
wounds caused by poison in its many forms. She quested far and wide in
order to face the deities that used poison and she found the means to overcome
their poison.
Garana-Tar survived the Darkness and was worshipped in a few small
subcults of Chalana Arroy and High King Elf. During the Gbaji wars, she
was summoned by the Theyalans to fight Gbaji, but she did not follow Arkat
when he became a troll. For this, she was imprisoned by Arkat and her cult
was forgotten save for a few healers who continued to pay homage to her.
The cult has the same Holy and High Holy Days as the cult of Chalana
Arroy.
Any initiate of Arroin or High King Elf may automatically join the cult on a 95% chance.
Anyone else may join the cult be convincing the examiners and rolling
the cult skills of Treat Poison, Brew (Poison Antidote), Poison Lore and
Shield Parry.
Poison Guard (Variable, temporal, Passive)
When this spell is cast, it adds the number of points in the spell to
the target's CON for the purposes of resisting against poison. This is compatible with Vigour, Strength and any other spell.
So, Algar casts Poison Guard 6 before a combat with scorpionmen, for the next 5 minutes
his CON of 13 is treated as being CON 19 when resisting poison. He is struck
by a sting which injects POT 10 poison, the chance of overcoming his CON
is (10 - 19) x 5 + 50 = 5% and fails with a roll of 20, so Algar takes
5 HP damage. He is struck again and the POT 15 poison has a (15 - 19) x5
+ 50 = 30%, and rolls 40, so he takes 7 HP damage. Without Poison Guard,
he would have taken 25 points of poison damage and would have been killed.
Priests of Garana-Tar may sacrifice for all 1 point Common Divine
spells, in addition they have the spells of Poison Purge and Poison Shield.
Poison Purge (One point, Ranged, Non-Stackable, Instant, Reusable)
When cast on a person who has been affected by poison, this allows the poison to be healed by the number of magic points cast with the spell. If there are multiple poison wounds, the healer decides which to heal first until the magic points are exhausted. So, Algar casts Poison Purge with 12 magic points on Andar, his companion, who has been struck by scorpionmen doing 7 and 8 points of poison damage, Algar heals the 8 point wound and as much of the 7 point wound as he can, in this case he heals 4 points of damage. If Poison Purge is cast before the poison has taken effect, it reduces the POT of the poison instead of the damage done. So, if Algar casts Poison Purge with 14 magic points on Drandar who has been hit by a scorpionman's sting with POT 18 venom, the Poison Purge reduces the venom's POT to 4, which does 2 points of damage when it fails to overcome Drandar's CON.
The sharp-eyed amongst you may have worked out that the benefits of casting Poison Purge before the poison takes effect are not as great as when casting it after the poison has taken effect. There is a gamble to take as to whether to cast the spell early and hope the patient survives or later and cure more damage. In a combat situation, most will cast the spell early.
When Poison Purge is cast with Cure Chaos Wound, it costs no magic points
to cure all the poison affecting the patient, as long as the poison was
caused by a chaotic foe.
Poison Shield (Stackable, Ranged, Temporal, Reusable)
This reduces the POT of any poison affecting the recipient of the spell
by twice the number of points in the spell. So, Algar casts Poison Shield
3 when fighting some more scorpionmen, any poison affecting him for the
duration of the spell will be reduced by 6 POT.
Garana-Tar is currently imprisoned in a cavern, the whereabouts
of which are unknown. Some initiates believe it is in the forests of Balazar,
for Garana-Tar was friendly to the Aldryami there and tried to stop Arkat
from burning the forests. Others believe the cavern is in Dorastor itself,
but this is unlikely as most think that Garana-Tar did not follow Arkat
the Troll to Dorastor. If anybody finds Garana's Cavern, they will be able
to perform a HeroQuest to free her, but they must evade the Black Guardians
who bar the way and must break the Poison Chalice that pours burning poison
into her mouth and onto her face. If they do this, then they will be able
to direct the cult however they wish as Garana-Tar will make them Chief
Priests of her cult.
[End]