Contain Spirit
Get In Here!
“The dead do not become wise simply because they die. Most remain exactly what they were. Frightened. Angry. Lonely. Cruel.”
Every culture that deals with the dead eventually invents the same desperate question.
If a spirit can linger, wander, haunt, possess, or whisper into the living world, can it also be trapped?
Contain Spirit is one of the oldest surviving answers.
The spell draws incorporeal undead and disembodied spirits into an ordinary hollow container, severing their ability to roam freely while preserving enough awareness for communication and interrogation. Unlike exorcisms or banishment rites, the spell does not destroy the spirit or force it elsewhere. It confines it physically within the world.
That distinction matters enormously to necromancers, priests, and historians alike.
The containers used for the spell vary widely by tradition. Rural priests often favor glass lanterns, clay urns, or small lockboxes etched with protective prayers. Scholars prefer reinforced reliquaries lined with silver leaf and scriptwork. Warlocks are infamous for using deeply unsettling vessels chosen specifically to humiliate or psychologically torment whatever they imprison.
Despite appearances, the value requirement for the container is not arbitrary. Cheap or poorly made vessels struggle to withstand prolonged spiritual pressure. Cracked pottery, warped tin, or rotten wood often fail catastrophically during containment, particularly when holding hostile entities.
Experienced spirit binders become obsessive about container quality for this reason.
Once trapped, the spirit remains aware of nearby events through distorted sensory impressions. Most perceive the world indirectly through sound vibrations, reflected images, emotional resonance, or ambient life force. Many spirits describe the experience as existing underwater behind glass, able to sense but unable to touch.
This partial awareness is what makes the spell so useful for interrogation.
Unlike many truth compelling enchantments, Contain Spirit forces honesty structurally rather than mentally. The imprisoned entity must answer truthfully if questioned in a language it understands, though it retains complete freedom regarding tone, omission, and cooperation. Ancient spirits are notorious for exploiting this distinction through technical truths, incomplete context, or deliberately malicious interpretation.
Entire legal traditions developed around this problem.
In several kingdoms, spirit testimony obtained through containment magic is considered admissible only when multiple scribes record answers simultaneously under clerical supervision. Some courts ban the practice outright, arguing that questioning the dead invites manipulation from entities no longer bound by mortal ethics.
Necromancers, unsurprisingly, disagree.
The spell became foundational to spirit research because it allowed prolonged observation of incorporeal beings without requiring constant combat or unstable summoning rituals. Much of modern understanding regarding hauntings, possession, unfinished death states, and postmortem memory persistence originated from controlled containment studies.
This has not improved the spell’s reputation among ordinary people.
To many common folk, Contain Spirit feels profoundly unnatural regardless of intent. The sight of a lantern whispering with a dead child’s voice or a sealed mirror answering questions in the reflection of a long dead murderer unsettles even experienced adventurers. Superstitions surrounding trapped spirits are nearly universal. Some believe spirits grow more hateful the longer they remain confined. Others insist imprisoned ghosts attract additional hauntings simply by existing nearby.
Certain stories claim spirits trapped too long begin influencing dreams around the container regardless of magical safeguards.
The spell’s interaction with banishment magic is particularly important. Once confined, spirits become significantly more vulnerable to further binding or exorcism rituals. Most professional exorcists therefore treat Contain Spirit as a preparatory tool rather than a final solution. Capture first. Remove safely afterward.
This practical approach dramatically reduced casualties among clergy tasked with dealing with hostile undead.
The spell’s limitations prevent total dominance over incorporeal entities. Spirits with sufficient force of personality can resist containment entirely, and those who succeed become temporarily immune to repeated attempts by the same caster. Veteran ghost hunters learn quickly that failed containment often enrages a spirit far more than direct confrontation would have.
At higher levels, the spell becomes especially feared because multiple spirits can be chained into connected containment simultaneously. Entire haunted battlefields have reportedly been pacified temporarily through coordinated group castings involving linked vessels arranged in ritual circles.
Such work is considered extraordinarily dangerous.
Not because the spirits always escape.
Because sometimes they start talking to each other.
“If the jar starts answering questions nobody asked, throw it into the river immediately.”
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The Last Home
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