For those who want to get Secrets plucked from heaven, then most likely we will buy it as soon as we have 4 experience, as it is a very useful skill suitable for our pillars. So the plan Mistress of Transactions will not deprive us of Secrets plucked from heaven.
As far as I can see, the only one that relies on weak statistics is Godsight. And it is needed only to facilitate the search for other supernatural ones, but even if Godsight decides to let us down, we will be able to conduct search investigations with the help of a cult in this search, the ability to interrogate corpses will help us.
As far as I can see, the only one that relies on weak statistics is Godsight. And it is needed only to facilitate the search for other real ones, but even if Godsight decides to let us down, we will be able to conduct search investigations with the help of a cult in this search, the ability to interrogate corpses will help us.
The way I see it, Godsight is either necessary for the plan or it isn't. If it's necessary, then the plan is bad because we don't have the stats for it. If it's not necessary, then why are we taking this power we don't need and don't have the stats for?
Like I said, I like the general concept, I just don't like the idea of making one of our main powers something that we can't use effectively.
Enlightened Feelings give us the opportunity to interact with Twilight. Does anyone know what creatures from this space can give us and what we can offer them in return?
Specifically the ghosts and spirits parts of twilight. Mummies are especially good at messing with and dealing with ghosts, but spirits are eminently bribable through some animist logrolling. Both can do some immaterial surveillance in addition to whatever handful of tricks they have from very broad pools of ephemeral entity powers. (The STs probably have some takes here, so I don't want to fill in too much more from how I've normally seen it run.)
Enlightened Feelings give us the opportunity to interact with Twilight. Does anyone know what creatures from this space can give us and what we can offer them in return?
It's worth pointing out that Amkhata (creepy hybrid monsters with a hunger for Sekhem) also lair in Twilight most of the time. They can be significant dangers, but it's also possible to get them in your service if you're willing to feed them.
It's worth pointing out that Amkhata (creepy hybrid monsters with a hunger for Sekhem) also lair in Twilight most of the time. They can be significant dangers, but it's also possible to get them in your service if you're willing to feed them.
I was considering the option of taking Amhat into the service of the cult, but a lot of resources are being used for their constant maintenance.
Firstly, the summoning itself requires various parts of animals, and secondly, it requires making several throws.
"
It may require Dexterity to stitch the corpses of dismembered animals +
Craft, while knowing exactly where and when to conduct ritual
calls of the Intellect + Occultism."
There is no problem with the first one, but there may be problems with the second one.
Even if we summon her, we will need to supply Amhat with several hearts a day (one heart per Amhat rank) to restore the loss of their essence.
Of course we can sacrifice homeless people and criminals, but it will be quickly noticed by hunters. So it's better to own a charity crematorium to extract hearts and then burn the bodies. But all this requires an infrastructure that we do not have.
Specifically the ghosts and spirits parts of twilight. Mummies are especially good at messing with and dealing with ghosts, but spirits are eminently bribable through some animist logrolling. Both can do some immaterial surveillance in addition to whatever handful of tricks they have from very broad pools of ephemeral entity powers. (The STs probably have some takes here, so I don't want to fill in too much more from how I've normally seen it run.)
This is pretty in line with the basics of our own thoughts. Both the Spiritual and Ghostly frequencies are going to be of significant relevance in this game.
Okay, I'm going to be closing this vote this evening. At the moment, Plan: The Spy Who Smote Me has a lead of 3 votes over Plan: Mistress of Transactions, but there's plenty of time for that to change in the next few hours.
Alrighty! Work on the update proceeds, and we have something for one of you all to do. Mummies have great power when they awaken and this power, represented by their Sekhem, fades at certain intervals. These intervals are called Descent rolls.
I need a volunteer to go into this Rolz Room and roll 10d10 for your first Descent roll. You are trying to fail this roll.
Can anyone explain why mummies can't keep 3-4 sekhem vessels connected to the tomb network and force cultists to perform a return ritual every 5-10 years? It seems too obvious, but for some reason no one does it.
Can anyone explain why mummies can't keep 3-4 sekhem vessels connected to the tomb network and force cultists to perform a return ritual every 5-10 years? It seems too obvious, but for some reason no one does it.
Keeping that many Relics in your Tomb is going to piss off your Judge and invoke early Descent Rolls. You also only have limited control over which vessels get sacrificed vs which remain. It is possible to keep a small number of vessels on hand, but most will be sacrificed if connected to a Lifeweb, and a vessel not connected to a Lifeweb is simply destroyed if used to raise a mummy.
You and your cultists will also have to deal with all of the Curses of the Vessels simultaneously, and while you the mummy may be immune to part of those Curses or fully immune to your Guild Relics, only your Tepi (high priest) is immune to the curses of your Guild's Relics and every other mortal must suffer under the full Curses. It also makes your tomb a big and very detectable piñata of goodies for anyone who finds out about it or has abilities to sense Sekhem or magic. This includes other Arisen, Deceived, Lifeless, several kinds of Immortals or sorcerers, Amkhata, Horrors, and a bunch of other critters.
Your cult may not be able to fight off such beings without suffering serious losses, which can diminish support for such plans. Further, in many cases cultists are not super keen on waking mummies up because of the danger of a Memory 0 mummy and because Mummies in many cases take over everything and upset whatever power dynamics the mortals are creating. Both in the cult and out of it in the wider world.
Keeping that many Relics in your Tomb is going to piss off your Judge and invoke early Descent Rolls. You also only have limited control over which vessels get sacrificed vs which remain. It is possible to keep a small number of vessels on hand, but most will be sacrificed if connected to a Lifeweb, and a vessel not connected to a Lifeweb is simply destroyed if used to raise a mummy.
You and your cultists will also have to deal with all of the Curses of the Vessels simultaneously, and while you the mummy may be immune, only your Tepi (high priest) is immune to the curses of your Guild's Relics. It also makes your tomb a big and very detectable piñata of goodies for anyone who finds out about it or has abilities to sense Sekhem or magic. This includes other Arisen, Deceived, Lifeless, several kinds of Immortals or sorcerers, Amkhata, Horrors, and a bunch of other critters.
Your cult may not be able to fight off such beings without suffering serious losses, which can diminish support for such plans. Further, in many cases cultists are not super keen on waking mummies up because of the danger of a Memory 0 mummy and because Mummies in many cases take over everything and upset whatever power dynamics the mortals are creating. Both in the cult and out of it in the wider world.
Even as a woman out of time and with only the fragments of memory to go on, where everything is just a bit incongruous, the ride is particularly discomfiting. Things have changed since the days of the war, least among them the clothes.
Gracie's first offering is a long, plasticky coat to cover your form somewhat. She apologises profusely for not bringing more fitting garments, and there is a part of you which briefly considers censure, but it would bring nothing. You thank her for now, and get to work on more important things.
It takes some effort to fit your sarcophagus into the car's back seat. Gracie is of little help, aged as she is, but she operates certain mechanisms in the back seats to cause them to fold down. This leaves - barely - enough space to fit the stone coffin inside without bending the frame, though the car sags worryingly on its suspension. A blanket is thrown over it, and before long, the car is rumbling slowly along the back-roads of Suffolk with you in the passenger seat. Gracie is driving, in between casting glances of mingled reverence, fascination and faint disbelief your way, as if unable to believe that you're actually there.
You suppose that from her perspective, it has been rather longer than from yours.
The silence stretches, and as it does you realise that you do not know this woman as much as you might hope. Your memories are of little help; Alexander introduced her to you as one of several, and you interacted with her little during that last, dark mission on the continent. She had been a face in the background, moving things to and fro, and occasionally providing the insights of Sybaris to your mission - your Purpose, to recover the Keystone from the Germans.
But she is what remains, and you have rebuilt from less. You open your withered mouth to speak. "Where do you live, Ms. May-Wells?"
She visibly starts from her thoughts. "Aldeburgh. I… well. I moved there in the late forties to search for you," another glance and realisation. "It is 1999, Mistress. 20th of July. My house is a little out of the way and on the coast, so we shouldn't draw much attention getting there."
You smile a little, remembering a much younger Gracie sneaking beside you through the Belgian night. "Good," you say, then pause as your thoughts turn to the others you remember.
You don't even need to ask your next question. Your high priest and Tepi, is almost certainly dead; Alexander Ferrin was already in his late forties when you gathered your followers and crossed the Channel to follow your purpose. You think you had been considering some form of longevity for him; he was not dear enough to you to become Sadikh, but there were other ways. Or, you think there were.
The details, frustratingly, escape you. But you know that you never acted on those vague plans. Age will have taken him, and the only question that remains is how he spent the rest of his life, after he was left to guard your Tomb and temple. But you will want more time for that.
Instead, you ask, "Who were those men who took my coffin?"
Gracie grimaces. "An archeologist and his assistant, for the British Museum. Jones Bakker and his driver," she says. She cannot hide her disquiet at whatever had happened; her fingers turn white once more on the steering wheel. "I didn't have the resources and people to get you out from their hands. The best I could do was follow you when they took you from where you washed up near Felixstowe. I… I don't think they had much of any idea who they had found."
She stares down the road and into the distance for a long moment, before she looks at you again. "I am sorry, Mistress. We failed you, and your final command."
You could see that, but recriminations could come later. You certainly hadn't intended for your coffin and body to be cast into the Channel. Only a bare handful of your followers had been with you in that plunge into the vile pit of the Schutzstaffel, whether from death or having been left along the way to facilitate escape. You remember battling their blasphemous wizards and thrice-accursed creations. You remember calling down the stars on their compound, only to twice-die in the extraction of the Keystone your Judge had desired.
After that had been a wild escape, and the realisation that your life-force would not last you back to Britain. You could have broken and consumed the Keystone for its power - but that would have betrayed your very Purpose. And so you had Descended fully, leaving your final words to your followers.
"What happened?" you ask Gracie, gently. "Did we retrieve the Keystone?"
She shakes her head. You have to bite down the inhuman, bubbling rage that erupts inside you in response to this failure of divine mandate, but you allow no sign to appear on your features. You wait patiently for her explanation.
"After you Descended for the last time, we had trouble making it to the coast," Gracie answers. "There were arguments. Some people said we should just hide until we could wake you again. Some said we should abandon the Keystone and preserve you as best we could. There were fights, too. We didn't know what choice to make. Walter managed to keep us moving ahead of our pursuers for a while, but the Germans hadn't missed the attack. I think they thought it was an artillery bombardment. I don't know how many eventually tried to hunt us down, but…" Her expression darkens, old fear present in the lines on her face. "There were too many. Even with your blessings."
That last word plucks the threads of memory, and you recall the last blessing you gave to your followers, as your Sekhem waned. You recall you…
-[] …gave them the blessing of unity through the Utterance called Bound as Fingers in a Fist. Through this secret taught only to your Guild,- you enchanted amulets to allow your followers to communicate and maintain their cohesion, no matter if radios were jammed or their groups were swept apart.
Tier 1: Ab • (Subtle); Tier 2: Ren •• (Subtle); Tier 3: Ba •••• (Subtle, Unison)
Tier 1 (Ab 1, Subtle)
Choose up to four other characters you can perceive, as well as yourself; when those characters (and only those characters) partake in a Teamwork action and succeed, all characters involved gain a point of Willpower, so long as the Teamwork action was a meaningful effort (trivial actions don't suffice). With Ab 1, once per chapter when this effect occurs, you may immediately raise the Impression level of all enchanted characters towards one another by 1, including towards yourself. You may leave out this Impression rise in any relationship you choose.
Tier 2 (Ren 2, Subtle)
Enchant a number of amulets or pieces of jewellery up to the higher of your Sekhem or Ren. For the next six days, those wearing the jewellery can all instinctively intuit the others' locations, can telepathically communicate with one another over any distance, have a continuous passive sense of what all the others are doing in rough terms, add +2 to resist any form of mind-altering magic from those outside the network, and may each donate a point of Willpower to each other once per turn. With Ren 2, you may 'listen in' on any telepathic communication cross the network, and may selectively prevent information from being carried across the network, from and to any you choose.
Tier 3 (Ba 4, Subtle, Unison)
Characters within the scene are subtly bound together on a level below thought unless they resist with Resolve; all characters benefit from +1 Impression with regards to one another, and gain 9-again on teamwork rolls. The mummy may freely exclude characters from this effect and reimpose it upon them. Characters not affected by this Utterance apart from the mummy and others who participate in her Unleashing have -1 Impression against those who are affected, as the Utterance amplifies the difference between in-group and out-group. The mummy and any other mummies who participate in the Unleashing gain an additional +1 Impression against those affected, and benefit from 9-again on social rolls against the affected. With Ba 4, the mummy may make social manoeuvring attempts against the affected group without any of them noticing, as they experience her will as an internal desire instead of external orders.
-[] …gave them the blessing of protection through the Rite of the Sacred Scarab. The heart-scarab amulets would have given them protection, guarding them from harm and preventing the German wizards from defiling their corpses or employing necromancy to learn where their fellows had gone.
Tier 1 (Sheut 1)
Magically create a golden scarab amulet which protects its wearer (-2 to attack the wearer, immunity to poison and disease, making it impossible for anyone other than you to reanimate or interrogate the wearer if they die. If the wearer is your cultist, they also only take Bashing damage from most sources, like a mummy.) as well as making the mummy aware if the wearer dies. This magic lasts 1 month, and you may create as many as you wish, though their effects do not stack per character. With Sheut 1, the amulet also imposes a -2 penalty to any rolls to mentally, magically or spiritually harm the wearer.
Tier 2 (Ren 3)
Magically create an animate golden scarab the size of a human palm which you can command, and which can deliver a magical poison. Additionally, it can be created as you fall to Aggravated damage, and if it escapes the scene you can be reborn from it once more in a strange metamorphosis, as though the last instance of damage hadn't occurred. With Ren 3, you are constantly aware of the scarab's location and state of being, and can perceive through its senses if you so choose.
Tier 3 (Ka 5)
Summon a swarm of devouring scarabs which obey your commands to attack or refrain from attacking. With Ka 5, you may add extra elements to the swarm, such as increasing its deadliness, causing it to act as a liminal state between Twilight and the physical world, or causing it to grow as it deals damage.
-[] …gave them the blessing of concealment through the Utterance called Reflections Upon a Broken Image. Using the last of your power before it fell too far, you raised illusions and phantasms to cover the retreat of your followers from the compound you attacked.
Tier 1: Ka (Subtle) •; Tier 2: Ba •••; Tier 3: Sheut ••••• (Subtle)
Tier 1 (Ka 1, Subtle)
Take on the illusionary appearance of another character whose likeness you can see (via a statue/photo etc), or you may try to craft the appearance yourself with an appropriate roll until you use another Utterance or the likeness you are using is destroyed. With Ka 1, the mimicry is physically perfect as well - your weight, fingerprints and so on change, even down to genetic samples.
Tier 2 (Ba 3)
Become invisible for the scene, save through your reflections in mirrors, pools of water and so on. You may also make grapples and melee or ranged attacks through any such reflection you can see. With Ba 3, the mummy may touch one such reflection to instantly appear out of another that she can see, regardless of distance.
Tier 3 (Sheut 5, Potency 2)
Conjure grand illusions over a large area, deceiving vision, smell and hearing into accepting them as real. These illusions last until the next sunrise, or indefinitely within the mummy's Tomb. The mummy may concentrate on her illusions to 'animate' them consciously and have them react to stimuli, or may give commands ahead of time, at the price of the illusions not reacting when outside of those parameters. With Sheut 5, these illusions deceive touch and taste as well, conjuring phantasmal objects which feel real and seem to satisfy hunger, deal damage and prevent entry, though they still have no physical reality if one manages to see through them.
-[] …gave them the blessing of purity. The curses of the Nazi sorcerers had lingered, but with the Utterance named Rebuke the Vizier you gazed upon their worming enchantments and burned them away before you fell, freeing your cultists from their burden.
Tier 1: Ka • (Potency 3); Tier 2: Ba ••• (Potency 3); Tier 3: Ren ••••• (Potency 3)
Tier 1 (Ka 1, Potency 3)
Create a golden, shimmering barrier over your skin which allows you to oppose any incoming magic with a Clash of Wills, benefiting from this Utterance's Potency, before any standard resistance to the power. With Ka 1, you may double your Ka for the purposes of Clashes of Wills, and permit beneficial magic to pass your barrier without opposition.
Tier 2 (Ba 3, Potency 3)
Choose a target you can perceive, and become aware of all magic or enchantments upon it. You may then choose one such effect to try and destroy with a Clash of Wills, benefiting from this Utterance's Potency. This can't remove fundamental abilities like a vampire's undead animation, but it can cancel ongoing effects, such a vampire's use of Potence. With Ba 3, you may sustain this gaze for up to Ba turns, choosing a new target each turn at your will. You also double your Ba for the purposes of the Clash of Wills this Tier creates.
Tier 3 (Ren 5, Potency 3)
Choose a target you can perceive and a power you have witnessed them use which isn't a fundamental ability. If you succeed in a contest against them, whenever they use that power in the same Chapter, regardless of whether you can perceive them, you are aware of it and can reflexively Clash Wills against them to oppose the power.
If this Tier is unleashed while the first is active, the golden barrier bursts, forcing any other characters who attempt to use active supernatural powers on anyone but themselves within a wide area around you must succeed on a Clash of Wills against you or fail for Ren + Sekhem turns. With Ren 5, this secondary nullification effect persists for the scene.
You're not sure how much it helped. Memories of battle and war prick at your mind in sympathy; names and faces indistinct, but always the fear and strain of half-rest and battle. That knowledge keeps you in check through the next part of Gracie's tale. "We lost people fighting our way out north again. Eventually we were caught in Breda, in the Netherlands. It was only Walter and I who got away, and the Keystone… It got left behind. I don't know if it got blown up, or captured again but…" she trails off.
Your sigh is a deep growl of impotent anger and frustration that shakes the car as Gracie flinches away from your displeasure. You run a mostly skeletal hand down your face, nails clicking over lipless teeth. You don't need to breathe; you take a long one nonetheless. "So be it. The Vessel is not destroyed. I know that much. What happened next?"
Her expression is pinched and reserved, her voice quieter. "We managed to reach Knokke-Heist, a little town on the Dutch-Belgian border. We bribed a fisherman to run us across the channel with you lashed to the deck. As we went, though, there was a storm which came up from the south, and blew us up into the North Sea.
"The fisherman wanted to throw you overboard to save the ship. Walter tried to talk him down, but in the ensuing struggle the lines were cut, and then you were gone. We reached the shore after that, and made it back to your temple, but… everything fell apart. People drifted away, and some betrayed us. I stayed in Suffolk to try and find you. Walter too, at first, but," she shakes her head. "The dreams were too much for him. I only heard they found his body under the cliffs days afterwards."
Gracie lapses into silence as the car turns another corner, and you leave her in peace for now. Instead you turn your thoughts towards your self, and towards the future. You can feel the steady heat of your Purpose within - to seek the Keystone again, wherever it may be, in the name of…
Choose a Judge, and one associated Affinity.
[] Am-Khaibit
Called the Eater of Shadows, this being is Judge and waking nightmare for those who perpetuate crimes against humanity (such as murder on a large scale). Its visitors are confronted by a three-headed hound of ill-omen that stands taller than any man and snorts tendrils of black smoke.
-[] Deathsight
Effect: The Arisen are the dead of aeons past; from death they arise and to death they return. With her soul attuned to death, she sees beyond the veil.
The mummy automatically knows whether any character she can perceive is dead, undead, or has surpassed their natural lifespan.
The mummy adds her Sheut to her Defense against the attacks of all such beings, save other Arisen.
The mummy perceives and may physically interact with the ghostly and spiritual frequencies of Twilight, including harming beings there with her unarmed attacks.
By spending a Willpower point, the mummy may sense the Vice, Integrity rating, and Sheut rating of a single character she sees, or equivalent traits the target may possess.
-[] Ancient Horror Unveiling
Effect: All Arisen conceal horror beneath a fragile mask of humanity, but this mummy has honed their terror to a razor's edge.
The mummy may choose to impose her Sheut rating as a penalty on rolls to resist her Sybaris.
By spending a Willpower point, the mummy chooses a single character who can see her, and reveal her monstrous nature to their gaze alone. The victim sees her corpse form for at least the next turn, and up to the rest of the scene, and suffers from Sybaris. If the victim fails to resist it, the Arisen may choose to inflict either the Madness or Frightened Conditions upon them.
[] An-Hotep
Called the Bringer of Sacrifice, it is Judge to those who would commit violence in the cause of oppression or slavery. The Arisen say it appears to them as an ordinary sacrificial bull with eyes that betray a deep and palpable sadness.
-[] Beast Companion
Effect: In each incarnation, the Arisen is accompanied by a favored animal.
She chooses a beast companion simply by touching it, which binds it to her in loyalty; it remains such until its death, whereupon the mummy may choose a new animal. The chosen animal possesses normal characteristics for its kind, with the following additions:
The animal is immune to Sybaris and utterly loyal to the Arisen. It cannot be turned against her, commanded or magically bound by another character, or chosen by a different Arisen with this Affinity. When acting to execute her instructions or protect her, the animal's dice rolls are Blessed Actions. The Arisen can choose to exempt the animal from the effects of any of her Utterances.
The Arisen can communicate telepathically with the animal over any distance, and can reflexively ride the senses of the companion to see what it sees, hear what
it hears, etc. She may still benefit from any Affinities that augment her own perception when doing so.
The Arisen and the animal are always perfectly aware of one another's relative location and distance. Spending a Willpower point summons the animal immediately to the Arisen's location, appearing from round a corner, emerging from the shadows, or otherwise adding itself to the scene in a manner appropriate to its species.
When the Arisen spends Pillar points to reinforce her Attributes, she may choose to apply the same bonuses to the animal's Attributes as well. Furthermore, if the Arisen can see the animal, she may treat it as the origin point for her own Utterances.
The animal has the damage resistance and healing rate of the Arisen, and gains additional Health levels equal to the Arisen's Ba rating. The animal is considered an Inheritor for the purposes of Utterances and other Affinities.
-[] Opener of the Way
Effect: As her shadow leads her onwards, the Arisen walks paths few others might tread.
The Arisen adds her Sheut rating to Larceny and Survival rolls, and her actions never causes mundane traps or alarms to trigger unless she so desires.
By spending a Willpower point, she may cause any door, lock, or barrier she touches to unlock and open. If necessary, mechanical or electric parts activate to allow this action, even if they lack power. If lock or seal is maintained by supernatural power, she must succeed in a Clash of Wills against its origin, or become unable to unseal it via this Affinity for the Chapter.
She may also use this power to open supernatural gateways into other realms of existence, such as a door to the Underworld or the Shadow. However, this Affinity does not give the mummy the ability to sense such otherworldly portals by itself.
[] Heraf-Het
The one called Whose Face Is Behind It has a reputation for being one of the highest of Judges, as it adjudicates transgressions of fine distinction or that require wisdom to assess properly. It looks like a linen-wrapped humanoid with a pair of darkly feathered wings and a featureless oval for a face. When looked upon, its face reveals the faces of loved ones the observer has lost.
-[] Voice of Temptation
Effect: The Arisen's voice resounds with the alluring call to indulge one's worst excesses, drawing forth the venom of sin to the surface of those who hear her.
The mummy adds her Sheut rating to Social dice pools and social maneuvering rolls appealing to or invoking a target's Vice. If successful with such a social maneuver, she may also spend a Willpower point to open all remaining Doors.
-[] Familiar Face
Effect: The Arisen is welcomed as a friend in even the most distant lands.
By spending a Willpower point, the Arisen improves her Impression level with a single mortal by a number of steps equal to her Ren rating for the remainder of the scene, making her seem friendlier and familiar.
If used on a character with whom the Arisen has no meaningful preexisting relationship, the target believes the Arisen to be an old acquaintance of positive nature, with a good history together that the target has trouble recalling just at this moment.
[] Khem-Inhu
Called the Overthrower, Khem-Inhu is a higher Judge charged with assessing those who use or abuse the law to harm others. It appears as a pale-skinned Egyptian noble clad in the customary royal shendyt (linen waist tunic), its face and neck covered by a ritual death mask that takes the shape of an elaborately framed snake head. In one hand it grips a scepter, in the other, a scale.
-[] God King's Scepter
Effect: The mummy is tightly bound to her cult, beyond the usual threads of Fate and magic.
She treats all dice pools that would solely target members of her cult as Blessed Actions. She benefits from the Affinity for any kind of action — attempts to inspire or terrify her followers, punishment or attacks, the invocation of magic or the practice of medical treatment, etc — but if the dice pool would also affect any characters who are not members of her cult, she loses the bonus.
-[] Grip of Death
Effect: The Arisen's grasp is murderously potent, filled with the power of her savage shadow.
The mummy's unarmed attacks inflict lethal damage.
The mummy may add her Sheut rating to dice pools when establishing or continuing a grapple.
The mummy may freely cause any character she is engaged in a grapple with to be supernaturally silenced, unable to vocalize any sound. If she does this, characters suffer her Sheut rating as a penalty on perception rolls to notice her or her victim while grappling. She can also apply this penalty to perception rolls when in a non-violent grapple such as an embrace, bodily shielding someone, etc.
The mummy can rise to her feet from prone as a Reflexive action, even if struck with the Knocked Down Tilt. If she does so when prone in a grapple, she also brings her grappled victim up as well.
[] Uatch-Rekhet
Called the Rectifier, this Judge presides over those who curse the divine or work ill against the very cosmos (whether metaphorically, by actively inviting ruin or oblivion, or literally, as in the case of dark magic). Such transgressions show what happens when blasphemy becomes reality. It appears as a limestone statue of a hooded figure holding a scroll open with two scaly hands.
-[]Godsight
Effect: The mummy's sight is attuned to the cosmic mysteries of the World of Darkness - often providing more questions than answers, true, but insight remains valuable.
Upon seeing another being with a Supernatural Tolerance rating, the mummy can perceive the radiance of their soul, allowing her to judge their rough power in relation to her own. If the being is disguising its nature (e.g. a mummy in human form, a ghost using Mortal Mask, a werewolf in human form, a vampire using the Blush of Life), this requires a successful perception roll.
By spending a Willpower point, the mummy truly opens her eyes to the mystical, suffering a -1 penalty to all perception rolls targeting mundane or physical things, but adding her Ren rating to Clash of Wills dice pools to penetrate supernatural obfuscation, concealment, illusion, or misdirection for the scene.
In this state, occult events and entities conflate her senses in distinctive patterns of synesthesia, showing her how observed magic works. These hallucinations grant reflexive perception checks using Wits + Occult to notice supernatural beings and phenomena, including ongoing effects of supernatural powers, and she may make an Intelligence + Occult + Ren roll as an Action to examine such effects. Apply a penalty of –1 for simple or common effects, –3 for most effects, and –5 for rare or complex effects. If successful, her player learns a basic synopsis of what she just witnessed. If the mummy successfully examines a magical Condition or Tilt, she learns its Resolution conditions as well.
For example, upon encountering a vampire, a mummy might smell the strong scent of blood, hear distant screams and intuit that her quarry is a bloodthirsty undead monster. If the vampire later used a power to exert superhuman strength, the mummy would get a chance to spot the power use (and her player would learn the basic mechanics of what the power does).
-[] Soul Infusion
Effect: The Arisen can tap into the driving will of another's soul, transferring Willpower between them. She may use this Affinity on another character simply by touching them for a turn; if they're unwilling, she must establish a grapple first.
Each turn, the Arisen may reflexively drain a point of Willpower from the target. She may donate her Willpower points in the same way, granting the target one point for every two full points she loses — or for every one point if donating Willpower to one of her cultists. Draining a character's last Willpower point in this way, or attempting to drain a point when the target has none left, renders them comatose for the mummy's Ba rating in hours.
Any given character can only gain up to 10 points of Willpower through Soul Infusion per day.
As you feel the gossamer-light touch of your soul's mystic symmetries, though, you can also feel their power begin to wane. For a moment, the radiance within you flickers, lost in its own glare…
…before it finally dims, the rushing thrum of divinity in your ears slowing and falling towards solidity. The loss lingers for a tender moment, and then settles into a new and temporary equilibrium. Some of the feverish intensity abates, and you feel the worn leather of the car seat anew beneath you as the loss begins to draw you closer to mortality.
It is a stark reminder of your limited time, as Gracie's car crests a low hill and you look down towards sea, salt-marsh and a small town nestled between them. Your follower turns aside from the town proper and rattles her car down a long, narrow lane to a cottage which sits by itself, some distance away. The only sign of the town this far out is its little peaked roofs peering over the hills in between, and the gulls swirling in the air over its streets. Finally, she draws up to park and climbs out of the car, with quiet curses and a short wrestle with her walking cane.
Your first impression of the house is 'compressed'; short ceilings and winding hallways strung between small rooms, with subdued wallpaper across the walls. Like the cosy chambers of a warren, lit by golden end table lamps and ceiling lights. In this warren you are guided to clothes; you are not sure what to choose at first, the memory of your preferences muted by the far more abundant memories of fatigues and dirt stains.
Eventually you settle upon one of Gracie's armchairs in the living room, wrapped in one of her woollen sweaters and an ankle length skirt in soft red. The sweater is nice, but the skirt… You think you preferred pants?
"Would you like anything, Mistress?" Gracie asks you, seemingly on automatic, before her expression becomes sardonic. "Or should I…?" She says, clearly pondering the necessity of food for a Deathless creature. You think for a long moment, feeling at the hem of your sweater with a finger.
Eating is not necessary, but you remember it centering you. You need time to think. You manage a smile through your inner turmoil. "Yes, some tea. Jasmine, if you have any. And an apple." Gracie bustles away at your request. You take the moment to poke around a little; the room is arranged around a coffee table, a sofa behind the table, and your arm chair set slightly at an angle to it. There's a cabinet on one wall, and the kitchen doorway on the wall opposite. On the other side of the coffee table is a stand with what you realise is a television.
You fiddle with it, there are no dials like you are familiar with, only buttons. After a few experimental presses you figure out how to turn it on and marvel at the bright splash of colour which blooms across it. You spend the next few moments pressing through the channels, watching the colours flick by. The sounds are so much crisper and clearer than you remember. Your scrolling through the channels stops on a camera panning over a landscape of pine forest, a man's soothing voice speaking of the Yukon and the things that live in it.
You are settled back in your chair by the time Gracie returns. She glances at the television and then hands you the saucer with your cup and your apple. Not cut - and you surprise yourself with the small appreciation there. She remembered, when you did not. You tuck that away in your chest as Gracie settles in on the sofa and the both of you fall into a restful quiet, the television narrator filling the room. A half an hour rolls by to gather yourself and settle before you speak.
"Your hospitality is much appreciated, Ms. May-Wells. However, I assume by the fact that you have brought me here that my Tomb is not a viable location," you say, inviting an answer to the unspoken question. Gracie's lips thin.
"No, Mistress," she answers. "After you were… lost at sea, your followers splintered. Your Tepi, Ferrin - he said it might be best if you never came back. He had followers amongst those who remained in Britain and… It was only Walter and I and a few others against all of them. We were cast out, for all intents and purposes and barred from your temple and Tomb." It is easy to see this is an old wound for her, this betrayal. The revelation is not entirely a shock to you, but it is a bitter draught to swallow. Alexander Ferrin had been a diligent, competent leader of your cult, whether your eyes were on him or not.
You wonder now how you missed this undercurrent of dissent, this planned betrayal. Perhaps your purpose and the preparations to accomplish it simply blinded you. "Is he dead?" you ask placidly. The anger that curls in you is entirely your own this time, spiteful and venomous.
"Yes," answers Gracie, her voice clipped. "Leukaemia, sixteen years ago."
You hum, and sip your tea. "A pity. There's little point in using ghosts as examples."
She nods, clearly a little taken aback, but speaks up again to distract herself. "I did manage to save some things from the old bastard, though," she continues, and leaves the room for a few moments. When she returns she has retrieved…
[] a heavy file of papers.
A quick read reveals a tidy dragon's hoard. Old contracts now paid out, union dues saved after some groups collapsed, and what you're pretty sure is a dubiously legal signing of ownership over a cannery in Dunwich, Suffolk. The other gems that catch your attention are the scraps detailing old occult geometries, leads and legends you had half forgotten, and contact numbers for the Aldeburgh Fisherman's Union and the Dunwich Workers Association.
[] an album of photographs.
The most prominent figure is one Roger Hanning, Mayor of Ipswich, who became one of Gracie's close allies in the time since your Descent. Apparently he's one of her cousins and has side interests in ancient legends and the supernatural as a hobbyist historian; suffice to say from her descriptions, he'd be extremely well disposed towards meeting you. Ipswich itself is essentially the largest nearby town. Through him she's also gained stakes in businesses in Ipswich and contacts amongst the Ipswich police, his office, and the central Suffolk media sphere.
Ally (•••, Mayor of Ipswich, Roger Hanning), Cult (•), Safe Place (•, Gracie's House), Pusher (•), Resources (••, Stakes in Ipswich Businesses),Contacts (•••, Ipswich Police Department, Ipswich Mayor's Office, Central Suffolk Media).
[] a black-handled hammer.
Your hammer, Gledbreca. Coal-striker. You did not make it with your own hands, but you remember it was a gift from a smith whose face is now dust, and you remember using it to shape great works of bronze and iron for the Iceni tribe. Gracie explains that she hid it from Alexander, telling him it was lost in Germany. She also secreted away other useful things for you; a small store of investment funds created by selling melted down Nazi gold, several of your old project notes, and contact info for a group of mortals she knows in Aldeburgh that are interested in the supernatural, as well as the town council of Aldeburg.
Relic (•••), Cult (•), Safe Place (•, Gracie's House), Pusher (•), Resources (••,Investments), Library (•, Craft), Contacts (••, Aldeburgh Book Club, Aldeburgh Town Council).
A hammer with a head of dark iron and a haft of black wood the length of your forearm, its touch sends a faintly feverish heat shivering into your hand. Faintly visible along the handle are swirling patterns of inlay, their lines worn down by long use.
Power: The hammer remembers the heat of its forging, ignoring 1 Durability or physical armor when making attacks, and substituting any need for heat or forging when working metal.
By spending a Pillar point or a point of Willpower, the user may intensify its heat for the scene, causing the air to shimmer about its head. Any damage dealt by the hammer in this state is considered to be fire damage, and any Craft rolls which take advantage of this heat (e.g. beating metal into shape) benefits from the 8-again quality.
Additionally, the hammer is unnaturally heavy unless the one picking it up has 7 Strength or greater, it is too heavy to use effectively. The hammer's owner ignores this, but can use the hammer to pin another character to the ground; this imposes the Immobilised Tilt, and adds the owner's Sheut to the Durability penalty to escape. If the hammer is heated while immobilising a character, that character takes 2 fire damage per round until they escape.
Curse: The hammer also remembers the bitterness and hate of its first master. For the remainder of a Chapter after using the hammer in any roll, or to pin another character, the owner may not improve her Impression towards others, nor have others Impression towards her improved. For the Arisen, this lasts only for a scene, and the Maa-Kep are immune entirely.
Pusher (•)
Prerequisite: Persuasion ••
Effect: Your character tempts and bribes as second nature. Any time a mark in a Social interaction accepts your soft leverage (Bribes, gifts or other such favors), improve your Impression as if you'd satisfied his Vice as well as moving the Impression up on the chart.
You do not have what you want. But you have leads. Paths that can be taken to get what you want, people to talk to and clear objectives: Find the Keystone, regain control of your Tomb. Both of these are necessary to fulfil your purpose. Both will involve you talking to those Gracie still has the ear of and asking questions until answers fall out. And while you speak to these contacts, you'll need to keep watch for new recruits. You cannot achieve your task with one elderly lady supporting you.
As the sun dips beneath the land, you spend the time planning and plotting. You have priorities that need to be sorted out, both great and small. By the time of full-dark you have decided to prioritise...
[] …reconnoitering your Tomb and moving to regain control of it. Talk to your Contacts, consider your memories, spy upon the location of your Tomb in western Suffolk. All of these will need to be done.
[] … searching directly for the Keystone; checking newspapers for signs, calling your Contacts, wrestling with the 'computers' Gracie shows to you, and exploring around Ipswich and Colchester in eastern Suffolk.
Bungie: and with this Character Creation will be done. Thank the lord.
For this update you gain three Beats for fulfilling both of the Short Term Aspirations we set up for you: "Find out what has happened to my people during my sleep" and "Determine what resources I have to hand", and for making progress towards your Long Term Aspiration of "Fulfil my Purpose".
The priority you choose will determine your next immediate set of Short Term Aspirations.
Both options for what priorities to focus on align with your Purpose. Please vote for your Utterance, Affinity and Merit package as a Plan vote. Whichever Merit package you pick will essentially be the 'real' one - though it's not to say you couldn't build up other Merits later.
[] Plan
-[] Utterance
-[] Judge
--[]Affinity
-[] Merit package
The priorities vote is treated as a separate vote, largely to de-complicate things and give people something to vote for if they don't want to muck about with plans.
[X] Helel's smile among the thickets of the first garden
-[X] Bound as Fingers in a Fist
- [X] Heraf-Het.
- -[X] Familiar Face
- [X] an album of photographs
Bound as Fingers in a Fist are great for imperceptible espionage and coordination of actions.
The effect of a familiar face will allow increasing the level of our will increase the level of impression to the ideal, which makes it possible to roll dice every turn. That is, we will be able to persuade a person to do almost anything by spending one or two hours.
Choosing a "photo album" will allow us to correct the main drawback of our cult, namely the lack of legalization. We, through the mayor, will try to reach the main people of the city and through our diabolical charm convince them not to pay attention to the validity of our cult.
[X] …reconnoitering your Tomb and moving to regain control of it. Talk to your Contacts, consider your memories, spy upon the location of your Tomb in western Suffolk. All of these will need to be done
- [X] Use Bound as Fingers in a Fist to help with reconnoitering
- [X] Get in close contact with Mer by convincing him to use his influence to help take away the tomb
- - [X] use the ability of Familiar Face
- - - [X] hint at the vast possibilities of Helel, and then use sweet promises to win him over to your side (use a Pusher)
[] The snake's gaze piercing deception
-[] Bound as Fingers in a Fist-
- [] Uatch-Rekhet
- -[] Godsight Effect
- [] an album of photographs
There is also an opportunity to choose Uatch-Rekhet and get access to other supernatural communities, and in the future, by purchasing resurrection of the dead, we will be able to use the "Mistress of Contracts" plan. But this will have consequences due to the fact that dark magic is in the competence of Watch-Rehet, we will most likely be closed to cooperation with many creatures, for example, bloody bathers, magicians of low wisdom and many others.
