fictitiouswhimsigot | Tree of Monstrous Divinity (MP shop)

The tree is dark, the tree is ugly. It is a thing of bowed limbs and countless crevasses. Cracks and knobs in the wood reach out like eyes and open like hungry mouths.

It radiates a dark want. An unholy desire.

But the fruit is beautiful. There are so many- a thousand different kinds, shifting from day to day and hour to hour. Every color and shape imaginable is present. A cure for every ill and a balm for every pain is there, if you watch and wait.

If you give the tree what it wants, those things can be yours.

Traditional payments for the tree are written prayer, whispered secrets, beloved photographs, precious relationships and, in a pinch, blood.

This is formally an MP shop. The tree offers blessings that hold back or repel death, cure or heal injury or illness, break enchantments or curses or return to the dead to life.

Sample blessings:

1 MP

A simple bracelet woven from the tips of the lightest branches. The dark wood conveys a +1 tool bonus to evade the attention of ghosts or resist their ghost magic.
A bright and shiny apple that conveys a +2 tool bonus to resist a specific illness that is neither rare nor frequently fatal, like a cold or chicken pox. This benefit lasts about 2-3 books after the apple is consumed.
A twisted purple fruit that smells faintly spicy. This can restore the vigor and health of most domestic animals, returning them to the prime of their life and health. One use.

2 MP

A glittery blue pomegranate. It splits neatly into two parts and, if the halves are pressed together, returns to whole. It never spoils or goes bad. You gain a +1 tool bonus to attempts to heal physical injury or illness, so long as you give someone a seed from the fruit. The seeds are notionally endless, but you can declare that you’ve run out- or feed the whole fruit to someone, to increase the tool bonus to +3.
A star shaped and slightly hairy looking fruit that tastes absolutely dreadful. If someone under the effects of a curse of some kind, this fruit lessens the severity and side-effects of that curse. It can temporarily allow them to rewrite Afflictions, Wounds, Superior Skills or tweak the context of the Sickness issue. The duration of this effect depends on the perceived severity of the curse- if the character’s arc centers on the curse, then it usually lasts 1-2 chapters. If it is something that is a recurring problem they face, but their story centers on other things, then it may last until the end of the current book- or longer, if the book ends soon. If the curse feels minor enough, this can actually permanently alter the curse. This is a one use effect.

4 MP

A shriveled fig that can return the dead to life. If given to a ghost or similar undead creature, they become a living person once more. This can also be given to a dying person, or offered up ceremonially to someone a character knows who once died. The dead person returns, cured of whatever killed them in the first place. However, this is a taxing and very unnatural effect. All characters revived by this fruit bear a serious wound representing the way the forces of death continue to seek them out, the trauma they suffered as part of their return, or a way that death changed them. This can be healed with time and effort, as normal. If a character revived wishes, they may also use the moment of their resurrection to rewrite or reorganize their skills, or tweak bonds or afflictions to represent the change. This is a one use effect.

This is another version of the Tree of Monstrous Divinity miraculous perk, intended to be used as a mundane replacement. Access to this MP shop can be the reward for a Bindings 4 or Shepard 3 quest, in lieu or in addition to a perk.