brazen bull?

[Joël of the FoS]

Just heard of this antique execution device, wow, that's evil!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazen_bull

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Who could use such a thing on the core? Drakov? Gundar?

Joël

[alhoon]

I've already had Tepestani inquisitors use it...
Remember this nice undead fire spirit that you can see only from the corner of your eye or something? I have a couple plaguing Tepest because of that.

I would see the Banites of Nova Vaasa using it. And Strahd. And Drakov. And Jaquiline. And all cruel/too strict darklords which is half of them.
Well, except Azalin. He would use it for something more than just execution device. Perhaps to create a ghost or something.

[Manofevil]

The inqisitor used that device in the movie "Red Riding Hood'.

[Cam]

For a while I have had a half-thought-out idea for a campaign scene involving a brazen bull. It may feature in my current campaign.

Drakov would totally use one of these. I envision him commissioning some fine artist/sculptor/musician/engineer to make him one. The idea would be to engineer the acoustics so that the screams from inside the device sound like bull noises, which I'm sure Drakov would find hilarious.

So anyway, the PCs arrive at Drakov's abode for some official function -- an audience with some high-up person in the Falkovnian government, maybe even Drakov himself. As they walk in they see/hear the brazen bull in use. It's already started when they arrive. At first they'll probably just think it is enchanted or is a machine that sounds like a bull. But when the show ends and the bull noise stops, Drakov's servants will open up the belly of the beast to remove the victim and maybe throw in a new one. And right then the PCs' Falkovnian government appointment will show up. The PCs will be there to make some sort of deal or bargain with the Falkovnian government, and they'll have to do so against the awful backdrop of just having witnessed what the Falkovnian regime is really like.

Pretty awful. It might be too awful for me to put into my game, in fact. But that's Drakov, right? I guess I might do it as a cut scene or view into the past or vision in a crystal ball or something, rather than as a scene where the PCs actually have to be present.

[Hazgarn]

Imagine one of these becoming so steeped in ethereal resonance from all the pain of its dying victims that it takes on a malicious life of its own... Construct? Undead? Something in between that will constantly keep your players guessing?

[alhoon]

Dread Construct I would say.
Although a 4th magnitude ghost animating the bull after a woman witnesses the execution of her husband and son before she's thrown in would work too.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Brazen bull? Why not a brazen hawk, given Drakov's falconry fixations? The acoustics would need adjustment, that's all.

[steveflam]

The inqisitor used that device in the movie "Red Riding Hood'.

I was trying to remember what movie I had seen it in.

Thanks Manofevil.