Emily lets out a breath, and with her claws, slices the insides of her arm, allowing the blood (for power) to spill to the ground. She then mixes a vial of virgin's blood (for tempting), and mixes it with the dirt (for binding). In a pinch, she can smear it on the floor, but the creatures that speak though the blood to her do not appreciate this as much.
They whisper to her the desires of the land and those in it. Those who desire to hurt, those who desire to change, those who desire to move.
Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend a minute. Investigate an area with a radius of up to 1 mile At the end of your investigation, roll Brawn + Alertness at Difficulty 6.
You learn the following information about the area:
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see Blood tendrils lift out of the ground, wrapping around her hand, caressing her. You can hear all of the sounds of things that died while having strong emotions in it.
If you do not have a sacrificial Injury when you activate this Effect, take a new Severity-1 Injury.
You cannot investigate the same area more than once per day.
When removed, no one can hear it but Emily. But she can. That keening cry, of a babe separated from its mother. It's grating, but she could follow it anywhere.
She can also cry out, and unless held, it will collapse into blood and reform in her paw.
Part of her is in there.
This Artifact cannot be broken. If this Artifact is lost and in no one else’s possession, it finds its way back to its true owner during the next Downtime.
By default, the creator of this Artifact is its true owner. The true owner may formally bequeath this Artifact onto another person within arm’s reach, after which they are its true owner. If the true owner dies or is destroyed, their ownership ends. If this Artifact has no true owner, anyone may spend one day attuning to it to become its true owner.
This Artifact's true owner is always aware of the direction and distance to this Artifact.
If this Artifact is in no one else’s possession, its true owner may Exert their Mind and spend two Actions to bring it to themselves.
This Artifact's true owner must have it with them to have restful sleep. They cannot regain Mind or Source while separated from this Artifact.
Emily lets out a snarl from deep within the folds of her fabric. She draws her paw back, and then strikes the ground. A spike of blood shoots out of her paw, tunneling though the ground before emerging in a location with sudden and remarkable violence. It heads up about five feet before exploding outwards into tendrils of blood, punching though flesh, bone, and steel without care.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location within 40 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless you are in alternate form. You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. If you fail or Botch, you receive one Mind Damage and a new Trauma. The area within 25 feet of the chosen Location immediately and obviously becomes imminently dangerous. Roll Brawn + Melee at Difficulty 6. Targets inside the radius may attempt an appropriate Reaction at GM’s discretion. Finding a physical barrier to use as cover will cut total Damage taken in half (applies after Reaction roll but before Armor).
If the Outcome is positive, your blast hits all targets (besides a single chosen species or type of Animate being) within 25 feet of the chosen Location with Damage equal to your Outcome + 8.
The vial is poured from the shadows, forming a ring around the object. Next, blood is poured from her own wrist, and mixed.
The whispers tell her secrets.
Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend a minute. Select a target Object within arm's reach. At the end of your investigation, roll Brawn + Investigation at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see Tendrils of blood caraessing the object, whispering secrets. You can hear all of the sins committed by those who held the object.
If you do not have a sacrificial Injury when you activate this Effect, take a new Severity-1 Injury.
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.
Emily collapses to her knees for a moment, and she locks her paws together. Her claws piece her own flesh, and she remembers, just for a short time, the night that she drank from the Red Grail.
The transformation starts from the blood that stains her claws, the fluid roiling for just a moment before it begins to run up her claws, paws, and her arms. The blood turns into thin, fluttering fabric that moves softly almost by itself. It covers her, wrapping her in many layers, obscuring her form. Her arms and legs and tail are lost in the fabric, her face shrouded in shadow. Digging though the fabric might not even find her at all... although the fabric caresses those who do.
And yet...
Everyone who looks at The Priestess knows she has an ever-present smile.
It is said that those who die at the hands (or paws) of one of the Hedonistic Priestesses always die with a smile on their face.
Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend two Actions performing the following ritual: kneeling, and digging your claws into your own flesh.. You must maintain Concentration while activating this Effect, and it fails if you are interrupted.
You transform into a Red Grail Priestess for 3 hours. You have access to all of your Powers while you are a Red Grail Priestess, and you can use your equipment. The Injuries and Battle Scars of your Alternate Form and your true form are tracked separately.
While transformed, your Attributes are the same. Your Stress is reduced by 2.
While transformed, instead of your normal clothes and equipment, you are equipped with: Long, red flowing robes that are constantly in a sensuous motion. One of her hands, wrapped in cloth more blood-red than blood, holds a shield made of thin crystal. It sings a wonderful, keening sound when struck. She wears the Reaper's Skull over her muzzle. On a belt, hidden within the robes, are various injectors of recreational drugs.
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
If you do not have a sacrificial Injury when you activate this Effect, take a new Severity-1 Injury.
Emily's conjugality with the Grail has both hardened her against more mundane trials and demonstrated to her several ways of returning a sensation upon one who offers it.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You get +4 dice to any Mind resistance rolls you make. You also gain the following effects:
Emily makes an offering of her own blood (for power) and a virgin's blood (for tempting) to the Grail... and it consumes her. For a moment, the blood leaks from her amulet before spreading over her, turning to red silk as it does, wrapping around her.. and then collapsing in on itself. She emerges in her new desired location as a chrysalis.
She may also make a prayer to the Grail at one of their temples - drinking freely and consuming all pleasures, and travel to another.
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Location which you can perceive and pinpoint in some way - through sight, GPS coordinates, etc.
You are transported directly to the chosen Location. Anyone who is touching you as you Travel will be brought along with you. You must wait an hour before activating this effect again.
Emily crushes the vial in her paw and her pendant glows, and for a moment, she makes a sacrifice, attracting the attention of entities great and powerful to deepen her connection with all beings.
Exert your Mind and spend one minute.
You may understand and communicate to Creatures, humans, and Sapient beings as if you are fluent in a relevant language for the next hour.
This also includes understanding any recorded communications from the relevant targets, including writings, scent trails, etc.
Communicating with a being cannot directly damage your Mind or cause Injury. All rolls to resist Effects that rely on communicating with you are made at -1 Difficulty.
Emily takes a deep breath of the target - or something with its scent - and her amulet flares for a second. And her blood stirs.
In the target, blood stirs in harmony. Some of it brightens, manifesting if it wasn't already there. Removing it all requires removing a good amount of insides as well.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target within arm's reach. You may select a target at any range if you use up something with the scent of the target.
Your target is marked with bright blood. The mark can only be discovered with a deep medical inspection or Effect. Removal inflicts a Severity 1 Injury on the target.
You are aware of the marked target's vital status, injuries, direction and distance from you. This lasts for the next month, or until either the mark is removed, or you choose to end the Effect. This Artifact can have up to 3 marks active.
You may use any Awareness Powers on a marked target at any range.
After you finish activating this Effect, you cannot move quicker than a walk (max 15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour. Exhaustion’s penalty and duration stacks with multiple activations.
The piercing glows with a weak green shimmer, the eye which the piercing adorns glows green as well. Moments later, a noticeable tremor goes from the user through the ground and walls into the weapon the user looks at as it breaks or disintegrates in a green wave of light.
This piercing was made from blessed metal, dedicated to a goddess of both peace and destruction whose name has been lost in the eons.
This artifact was loaned to one Jacob Sterns by the British Museum.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action or Reaction. Select a Weapon within 20 feet no larger than a duffel bag (35 liters). Roll Perception + Occult Difficulty 6.
If your Outcome is 4 or higher, the target will be fully and completely destroyed, leaving behind no meaningful remains. If your Outcome is less than 4, the target will be partially damaged, and any attempts to use it will suffer a dice penalty equal to your Outcome.
The piercing glows with green light for a moment and the user's eyecolor on that side changes to green for the duration of the effect.
To effectively remove weapons you need to know where they are. The user of this artifact will be able to see through solid matter to find weapons.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
You may perceive things within 75 feet of you with perfect clarity as though there were no walls or obstacles blocking your view for the next 30 minutes.
Others near you may choose to observe what you are perceiving by engaging in physical contact.
You may perceive through up to 15 feet of material. The Difficulty of all Perception rolls made through a wall are increased by 1 per wall.
The piercing flashes and a green shockwave expands from the eye of the user, pushing all targets to the edge of the area. If a target tries to approach, repeated waves will hold them back.
To be able to enforce peace you must be able to not currently be under attack.
Spend an Action or Reaction.
Create a repulsion field which extends out 45 feet from you in every direction, and lasts for the next 5 Rounds. Any Animate targets within the field cannot move any closer towards you. If they were within 45 feet from you when you activated the effect, they are immediately pushed back to the edge of the repulsion field.
You must maintain Concentration during this Effect.
When you activate this effect, you may designate any number of specific individuals to exclude from the Effect. Anyone designated in this way is unaffected by the repulsion field, and can approach you as normal.
You must remain standing in the same location while this Effect is active. Moving to a new location will interrupt your Concentration and end the Effect.
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
The usual white tone of the eye with the Piercing takes on a significant green color, like bleeding out of the artifact, whenever it's used to see through darkness or the wearer concentrates on seeing far away things.
The final part of the ultimate defense against attackers is the ability to see in the dark, a necessary ability to remove weapons beyond walls in hidden armories.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
Your senses are enhanced in the following way.
Any senses which have been heightened cannot be overloaded. Battle Scars you receive cannot affect these senses.
As told by the tales of old, the spirit of the Kitsune commands the elements of fire.
Exert your Mind (only for extinguishing a fire, no cost for starting one) and spend an Action. Select a target within 20 feet which has both fuel and oxygen available (if you are starting a new fire).
You may start or extinguish a fire as large as a firepit's fire at your target. Your fires require fuel and oxygen in order to continue burning.
Lighting a target on fire deals 4 Damage each Round on your turn, starting in the Round after the one in which they caught fire. This Damage is reduced by Armor, but the target’s Armor rating will be shredded by any Damage dealt, destroying material Armor once it reaches 0.
You may extinguish flames as a Reaction. This does not extend to explosives.
The Kitsune are a natural spirit, that is known for their charisma. To manipulate, seduce, and charm. To do this, they must be able to communicate with anyone they come across.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You may understand and communicate to Creatures, humans, and Sapient beings as if you are fluent in a relevant language.
This also includes understanding any recorded communications from the relevant targets, including writings, scent trails, etc.
woo
This Artifact can be used as a handgun. It is roughly the same size as a handgun and just as difficult to conceal.
Attack by rolling Dexterity + Firearms, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +4 Weapon Damage.
You also gain the following effects:
Chuckling, I feel for the right temple of my glasses. "Really, Jared, I'm surprised you're not a fan!" I say, casually walking behind him. He barely turns to continue our discussion of Weezer, and in an instant Denouncement is through his heart. "You've been poked by me, fool." I whisper gruffly before he fades. I flick the blood off the rapier and return it to my face before sitting down with a cigarette.
This Artifact can be used as a thrusting sword. It is roughly the same size as a thrusting sword but can be collapsed into Dahmer-style eyeglasses and concealed. Collapsing or expanding it costs a Quick Action.
Attack by rolling Dexterity + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +4 Weapon Damage.
You also gain the following effects:
A manifestation of the user's regret and shame, per the Maddening on Umbra's Spite, is cultivated and weaponized. It pools from the hands and infests the next shot in the chamber of the gun. It wraps around, subsumes, and completely coats the round until it's barely recognizable- only as a silhouette of its former self.
The bullet becomes so changed that it will no longer be capable of dealing damage, but instead becomes a compressed round of pure emotion. When it hits a target, that emotion suddenly rushes directly into the target's mind, projecting one or more of the user's regrets, shames, and most disappointing moments. The sheer quantity of information overloads the brain or processing center and forces it to essentially reboot, temporarily forcing a few moments of paralysis in which the target is unable to move or resist.
Regrets Include: the creation of Umbra, the multiple times she's been kidnapped, etc.
Shames Include: having to cover herself in shit to shield her scent from hunting dogs, being kidnapped by Paula and stuffed in her trunk, etc
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living or Animate target within 300 feet. Roll Perception + Firearms at Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Body at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, your target becomes drowsy for the next 3 Rounds, during which time they suffer an additional -2 dice Penalty to all Actions. At the end of their drowsiness, they fall into a state of sleep paralysis for Outcome x 3 rounds. During this time, they remain fully conscious and aware of their surroundings but are incapable of taking any actions.
Sleeping targets will not prematurely wake up on their own, but may still be woken up by sudden loud noises, being jarred or splashed with water, taking Damage, or similar rousing events. They will also awaken before dying of hunger, thirst, or suffocation. Drowsy targets always fall asleep, regardless of what happens while they are drowsy.
An affected target's dreams while they are asleep will involve you in some way, and will reveal you as the source of their sleep as well as reveal secret information about yourself to them.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see an unfavorably presented echo of the user's past. The user may be able to control how this power interacts with their target, but the runoff that results from firing this weapon always has a random negative effect on those unseasoned in the supernatural world. Anyone that witnesses this power activation will very briefly gain a context-less supposition of the user forcefully downloaded into their head based on the user's regrets and shames. For example, if the user once had to kill a child for whatever reason (even if it was completely justified), normal passersby will gain an impression of that knowledge (typically a biased one against the user) and will tend to react negatively toward them; usually with fear, outrage, or disappointment. This impression can take the form of memory flashes or may simply manifest as inexplicable emotional sensation.
Luci communicates her desire to augment an item through visual art, using the surrounding shadow and darkness to help form the swirls of pure energy that infuse themselves into the items she desires.
On firearms, her shadow will slink along the barrel and firing mechanism, making it far more efficient and adding its own kick to the fired bullet, making it deadlier while also assisting to manage recoil.
On melee weapons, the shadow slinks along the weapon with either barbs or thorns.
On other mundane items, their shadows become slightly more pronounced and may even shimmer if looked at closely enough. This improvement strengthens the bonds of the item with more supernatural or mundane energies, allowing it more freedom, efficiency, and durability.
This Artifact has been upgraded.
This Artifact receives 2 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +2 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice. While it is upgraded, the item cannot be destroyed.
Upgraded weapons count as any material your opponent might be particularly vulnerable to. Upgraded Armor cannot be circumvented by called shots. Upgraded Devices do not run out of fuel or energy.
The shadow of the user's regret and shame, per the Maddening on Umbra's Spite, is cultivated and weaponized. It pools from the hands and infests the next shot in the chamber of the gun. It wraps around, subsumes, and completely coats the round until it's barely recognizable- only as a silhouette.
The bullet becomes so changed that it will no longer be capable of dealing considerable damage, but instead had become a darkbang. It shares the traits of a flashbang- discombobulating and stunning adversaries.
It blinds them with darkness instead of light and smoky black tendrils will manifest and effectively act as a spider web, making any actions more difficult for the target. Inhaling it produces a similar effect mentally- fogging up the target's mind.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate. Select a Animate target within 300 feet. Make a Trauma roll when you activate this Effect. Roll Perception + Firearms at Difficulty 7.
If you succeed, the target will suffer a dice penalty equal to the Outcome for the next 1 Round. Dice pools may be reduced all the way down to 0 by this penalty. This breaks Concentration.
After the Effect ends, the target will be at -1 dice to all actions and cannot move faster than a walk or Concentrate for the next minute.
You may only use this Effect once per day.
The guiding hand that knows all things from the Umbral Plane assists Luci, mostly in regards to her aim while altering the actual trajectory of her bullets with what is essentially an aimbot.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact and engaged in combat with firearms.
+2 dice to all firearms rolls.
Possession of this Artifact causes the following Trauma to manifest over the course of a day: The user hallucinates the shadows of their regret, shame, and disappointment related to her own actions and those she has killed. She will need to roll self control to not wash that that from the user's hands whenever the opportunity presents itself. If you lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next month.
You also gain the following effects:
Luci's firearms are typically very overturned and overdesigned. She's secretly a huge comic book fan and her new revelations in regards to her ability to create items using the energies of the Umbral Plane have opened up the ability for her slightly childish imagination to go wild with possibilities.
Luci takes an exceptional amount of time sketching out a full blueprint for the weapon of her desire- typically inspired designs from comics or movies that she personally finds cool. And per her own Fabricate power, she spends time manifesting the item through the use of her own shadows, however she takes extra time to refine the details and give the firearm its own personality. Each and every single one of these has a little bit of Luci and her creative intent inside of them.
This Artifact can be used as a heavy sniper rifle. It is roughly at least twice as large as a heavy sniper rifle and cannot be concealed on your person or disassembled for storage.
Attack by rolling Dexterity + Firearms, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal 3 Weapon Damage +0 Bonus Damage. The target's Armor is fully effective against this damage.
You also gain the following effects:
Standard issue in the Future Soldier's home time, the Personal Shield Generator (PSG) projects a protective energy barrier around the body. It absorbs damage far better than traditional armor, but its battery is quickly drained. When depleted, the PSG must spend a few seconds recharging.
When struck, the normally-invisible field of the PSG flashes, revealing a bright yellow honey-comb pattern encasing the body.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You have 6 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack.
Your Armor cannot be destroyed, and it always provides a minimum of 2 Armor regardless of any Armor shredding or penetration. It cannot be circumvented with Called Shots. When shredded, it returns to full potency in one hour.
Any time your Armor prevents Damage, your Armor rating is temporarily decreased by 2. Whenever it goes five Rounds without preventing any Damage, it is restored back to its full value.
"The Coffin" can only be used to store things commonly found in coffins, such as bodies, clothes, jewelry, photos, weapons, coins, and similar.
This Artifact holds 5 times what it normally could inside of it. Objects stored inside are weightless. Unless you are storing something commonly found in coffins, this Artifact behaves as its mundane counterpart. This Effect cannot be used unless you are storing something commonly found in coffins.
Living things can be stored in this Artifact. They will have access to anything else inside and may attempt to break free, damaging or destroying the Artifact in the process.
If this Artifact is destroyed, things inside may get out, and it will cease to function until it is repaired.
When scanned or investigated without opening, the contents of this container appear normal and unremarkable.
On a Downtime, you may change this Artifact from one type of container to another. Maximum once per Downtime.
If anyone other than you opens the container, it appears empty. Others can still destroy it to get at the contents.
The Skeleton Key slips easily into any keyhole and turns without a fuss.
Spend an Action.
You may lock, unlock, and/or open any number of doors, containers, knots, or locks within arm's reach of you. Cannot be used on Alien technology.
If you successfully operate a lock, you may choose to destroy it, rendering it inoperable.
The Predatory Raiment has a cloak feature that allows its owner to hide themselves and their equipment with active camouflage. When viewed, they look like a slightly shifted and shimmering version of the surrounding environment.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are not at all wet and you are wearing this Artifact.
You and everything you are carrying is obscured in one of the following manners. You may Spend an Action to change the way in which you're concealed.
While this Effect is active, any Effect that would obscure you or your equipment specifically from other, additional senses fails automatically.
If someone discovers you, this Effect will not help you hide from them for the next minute. This Effect does not end early when you activate an obvious Effect, attack, or receive an Injury.
The spy can do up their passport to appear as any valid form of identification.
This Artifact can change its appearance. When not transformed, it is roughly the same size as a passport but can be collapsed into a wallet and concealed. Collapsing or expanding it costs a Quick Action.
Spend a Quick Action to activate. This Artifact changes its appearance into a chosen Object. This lasts until you decide to end the Effect, which may be done as a Free Action.
The new object's appearance can mimic specific items (such as a particular painting, a certain person’s ID, etc), but must be of a similar size and weight to this Artifact.
The new appearance is illusory; it will hold up to scrutiny, but its composition is not altered and it gains no new functionality. Any attempt to use it for a function which it cannot perform (for instance, making bread look like a knife and then trying to stab someone) will cause the illusion to fail or allow a Perception check to see through the illusion, at the GM's discretion.
When used as identification and scanned, the scanner will act appropriately and bring up appropriate generic information. Further searches for the identity in the computer will turn up no results. This will not open security doors on its own.