Terremotto

Spell of the Day

Terremotto is a fifth level evocation with variable casting time and an instant duration.

Upon casting, the wand begins to absorb all forms of energy. Solar, kinetic, thermal, even radio waves start to charge the wand. The effect is not significant and the only indication the spell is working is that the wand will have a slight decrease in temperature. The energy is released when the castor touches the wand to the earth. A kinetic wave is sent out, rippling through the ground. The power this wave carries is proportional to the charging time.

Charging for one minute will tickle bare feet next to the wand.

Charging for a day will crack concrete where the wand touches.

The discovery of this spell at the turn of the last century was considered minor. Two decades later, a boy in South America by the name of Lumaco found it in a library book and enjoyed showing it off to his friends. Sometime in 1920, Lumaco cast terremotto then misplaced his wand. Wand tracking was not as sophisticated as it is today, so the wand remained missing. The Chilean Magical authorities found the wand and reunited it with Lumaco on May 22nd, 1960. He tried for hours to get the wand to cast even the most simple of spells, but it would not work. In frustration, he threw the wand out the door. A little after 3:00 in the afternoon, he went outside to pick it up, and the moment his finger brushed the wand, forty years of stored energy released in a massive kinetic wave. Lumaco was unharmed as he was at the epicenter. But the tide of destruction destroyed 40% of the houses in Valdivia, leaving 20,000 homeless. While people in Valdivia were beginning to recover, the terror was about to start for thousands across the Pacific. The induced tsunami first hit Hawaii, killing 61 people. Hours later it would batter Japan, the Philippines, China, New Zealand, and Australia, causing 7,000 deaths and $800 million in damages.

The United Nations announced a moratorium on terremotto in 1975, and it has had no recorded uses in the United States since that time.