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A few more pointers on summoning spirits:
-- Spirits are crafty, but not dishonest. They might try tricks to make you pay slightly more or disadvantage your bargaining position, but they will never cheat you, and their gifts don't Monkey's Paw Backfire at the drop of a hat. They are interested in doing business.
-- You don't set the terms for the incantation: you just ask for its help. IT sets the price, and you can never know that price until you summon it. Knowing the exact spirit you want MIGHT help, but that takes research.
-- Once you know the price, you have a small window to haggle. Then you have to pay it or the spirit will try to kill you.
-- Spirits will not ratchet up the price dependent on the situation, as >>/quest/661821 suggests. Everything has a known value, and any exterior factors will not affect it. It's based on raw amount of power used, not the way it's used. Spirits want to reach an agreement as much as the sorcerers do, so they can go home again. But if you can't pay you can't pay.
-- Prices are almost always payable. They might be high even unto the point of life-ruining, but usually the tasks with prices you truly can't pay are self-evident.
-- A spirit's task can't be reassigned. Once you've summoned it you can't tell it to do something else unless that was in the terms of the request from the beginning. No trying to weasel out that way.
-- Spirits are very powerful. Fighting one unprepared is almost certain death.
This is all in an effort to create a system of magic that is useful but not to be taken lightly. A magic system that tries to undermine its user every time it's used ceases to be useful, but the consequences for overextending are severe.
It will not backfire on you as long as you respect its rules and know your limits.
That many sorcerers refuse to respect rules and see themselves as limitless is where it gets tricky.
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