Of oak and ash and mistletoe

Robert Dale, the creator of Brymstone, drew on Celtic myth to devise these spells, which originally appeared in White Dwarf magazine in mid-1980s. I was going to convert them from RuneQuest - but to what? I'm sure roleplayers will have no difficulty making the spells fit whatever rules they are using. All the spells listed below are non-stackable and reusable.

JACK-IN-THE-GREEN
Range: 60m
Duration: 15 minutes
Cost: 3 POW
This spell evokes a nature spirit to fight for the caster. The Jack-in-the-Green appears as a tapering column of leaves and twigs about 2m in height, which glides and rolls along the ground. It attacks by engulfing its victim and engaging in spirit combat at the same time as it rends, tears and strangles. The latter attacks will cause the victim 1-6 1d6 wounds each round, with armour protecting only if he makes his luck roll. Being engulfed means that the victim cannot effectively wield any weapon larger than a dagger. Neither, however, does he need to direct any attention to fighting the Jack – he can damage its body with his dagger every round, even while fighting back on the spirit plane.

JACK-IN-THE-GREEN
INT: 2d6
POW: 3d6+4
Hit Points: 2d6+10
Movement Class: 12

Destroying the Jack physically will drive it off. If its POW is reduced to 0 it is gone for ever. It can be dispelled with dismiss elemental. The Jack's spirit attack is always to destroy. If it slays its victim physically, it will continue to hold his spirit in combat so that it can destroy him utterly. After destroying a victim in this way, it returns to the earth from which it came.

THE BIRDS OF RHIANNON
Range: 30m
Duration: 15 minutes
Cost: 2 POW
The caster conjures up images of the magical birds of Rhiannon, whose sight and song is so beautiful that any being glimpsing them will stand entranced until the spell fades. Affected beings will not even defend themselves if attacked. A character must roll POWx5 or lesson d100 to be looking elsewhere when the spell is first cast. If the characters do manage to avoid glimpsing the birds they must then keep their eyes closed. If they don't do this, they must make the POWx5 roil each subsequent round. Once a victim has glanced at the birds, he is subject to a POW attack (using the caster's POW at the time the birds were evoked) to see if he becomes entranced. The caster himself cannot see the birds, and so is immune to their charms.

THE HOWL OF OSSAR
Range: 200m
Duration: instantaneous
Cost: 3 POW
Any creature hearing the howl is subject to a POW attack. If the caster wins, the creature runs in stark terror for two minutes (in a random direction) and is demoralized for a further three minutes. (Ossar is the chieftain of the hounds of the Wild Hunt, and his howl is said to presage death for those who hear it.)

CORPSE CANDLES
Range: 0.5m
Duration: 45 minutes
Cost: 1 POW
This spell creates a ball of vaporous light which hovers above the caster's head. The light radiating from this source creates a twilit zone 15m in radius. The spell gains its name from the pallid look this light gives to those illuminated by it. (Note that if the caster later becomes invisible, the light will continue to pinpoint his location.)

THE CHARIOT OF THE MORRIGAN
Range: touch
Duration 15 minutes
Cost: 2 POW
The caster is lifted by the winds and flown where he wishes with the speed of the north wind (here arbitrarily defined as 100km/hour). The spell can be reversed to affect someone else – if the caster overcomes his victim's POW, he can fling him where he wills. The spell cannot be used to fly more than one person at a time.

HEROLIGHT
Range: 10m
Duration: 5 minutes
Cost: 1 POW
This spell confers the powers of the heroes of old, transforming the recipient into a raging berserker. Attack chances are doubled, STR increases to species maximum, CON is raised by half again (as from vigour), and 2 is subtracted from Strike Rank. However, the character cannot parry, cast defensive spells or use his Defence; his concentration is solely on attacking. While the spell is in effect, the character will be surrounded by a glowing, crackling aura, and anyone fighting him must roll POWx10 or less on d100 or become demoralized. (Note: this spell should not be extended. If it is, the character’s body will start to warp, costing him 1-6 points from APP. He will also lose his or her mind and remain berserk even after the herolight spell has faded. Treat the character as fanatical and unable to distinguish friend from foe.)

PWYLL'S CHALICE
Range: touch
Duration: 15 minutes
Cost: 1 POW
The user of this spell can detect truth from falsehood in written material - a page which contains falsehood will be seen by the caster to have tiny demons swarming on it. It should be remembered, however, that there is little in the world that does not contain some element of falsehood, so the spell will only detect relative truth from relative untruth.

THE SPEAR OF LLWCH
Range: 110m
Duration: 1 Melee Round
Cost: 1 POW
This spell doubles the recipient's attack chance and damage with a spear for a single throw. The spell is not compatible with multimissile or fire-arrow. It is compatible with speedart but the speedart bonuses are added after making the adjustments for this spell. (Llwch was said to possess a spear which never missed and always killed its target.)

READ THE LEAVES
Range: touch
Duration: 15 minutes
Cost: 1 POW
The caster of this spell can examine some possible future paths and identify potential crises by examining the cast of a dozen dried hazel leaves. Like divination, the information is not always accurate or of obvious clarity. The ritual is rather like consulting the I Ching, and practice does make perfect. (Note: This spell will never provide false information, it merely answers the question ambiguously. In the case of non-player characters, you could simply roll INTx5 to see if the character makes proper sense of the signs. Players must actually decipher the clues and riddles you give them. The information provided is at your discretion, but it should be worth the expenditure of a POW point.)

THE CAST OF FEATURES
Range: touch
Duration: instantaneous
Cost: 1 POW
To use this spell, a character must possess a representation of a human head carved half-size in elder wood. This is the focus through which the spell's power explodes into our world. The caster must first activate the spell while holding the head, then throw the head at his intended victims. The head then explodes, and each being within 2m of it will take 1-3 2d8 wounds, with armour protecting as normal. The carved head is destroyed by the explosion, so a new one must then be prepared – a process which takes some four days. A character can possess only one such head at any given time. (It will be useful to consult the throwing rules in the RuneQuest rulebook. Note that a fumble when the caster is throwing the head means that it explodes in his hands.)