As you center your focus on your own shadow, it begins to envelop you and bend the light creating an obscuring mirage. In the light this may appear like a heat shimmer. In darkness it may appear as swirling mists. The less light there is present to bend, the more successful the effect. Some rumors suggest practitioners that have mastered this technique can completely disappear from sight.
Wrapping oneself in shadows is mentally and physically draining. With increased training practitioners are able to withstand the effects without the taxing exhaustion. As with any gift that brings one closer to the void, extreme caution is advised lest they find themselves careening into the depths rather than skirting in the shallows.
During the duration of this technique, the user effectively does not cast a shadow, regardless of near by light sources.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
You and any clothes or equipment you are wearing are partially obscured from sight for the next 10 minutes. All attempts to detect you using sight are rolled at a -3 dice penalty, and all attempts to detect you where sight would assist are rolled at -1 penalty.
Entering Combat or being Injured will end the Effect. When the Effect ends, it is disabled for 1 hour.
You may turn this Effect on and off at will during its duration.
After this Effect ends, you cannot move quicker than a walk (15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour.
This small, durable vial made of tempered glass holds a fine powder of a yellow-brown hue. As a full action, Winter can remove the rubber stopped, pinch one nostril shut, and inhale the dust through the other.
One round after use, eyes glaze over a milky white, and skin takes on a cold, ashen pallor. Eye sockets grow deep an sallowed, and the figure appears similar in appearancec to days-old corpse.
While active, the user seems to function on a motor instinct that is not their own, as if something else is guiding their limbs and reinforcing their muscles. This allows for heightened feats of strength and manual dexterity beyond the individual's standard limits.
However, the price is the sense of unearthly cold that grips the body after the duration of the drug's effect. For the first few moments, the numbing, biting cold freezes the joints and making walking painful. Even when the body regains proper motor functionality, the numb sensations causes whole body aches which persist for an hour.
Use up this small vial of taupe powder (unless you succeed on 1d10, Difficulty 7) and spend an Action.
You transform into takes on a zombie-like appearance. for 30 minutes. You have access to all of your Powers while you are takes on a zombie-like appearance., and you can use your equipment. Your Battle Scars, Injuries, and physical Liabilities are carried over between forms. Reverting from your Alternate Form cannot cause your existing Injuries to kill you. Instead, you remain Incapacitated.
While transformed, your Brawn is increased by 1 and your Dexterity is increased by 1. Your Stress is reduced by 2.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see looks like a zombie.
After this Effect ends, you cannot move quicker than a walk (15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour.
A normal arm with skin over the robotic inside
Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action.
You gain an additional limb that functions as a standard human arm and hand. Lasts two hours.
Each additional limb you posses can take one Quick Action per Round without incurring a -2 dice penalty to your main Action. Any Battle Scars that affect or remove your additional limb will heal in a single week.
You may turn this Effect on and off at will during its duration.
Your extra appendage is not connected to your nervous or circulatory systems, and you will not take damage if it is hit by an attack or destroyed.
Zephyren has always been hyperaware of his surroundings - when this effect is active he's so supernaturally high-strung that he doesn't ever seem to stop moving, even when his feet are planted on the ground. This somehow keeps him safer from attacks, though in this feverous anxiety, he isn't able to do much else.
On protective measures:
Quick decisions save lives, and Zephyren's decision is to panic and flitter around like a bird with clipped wings. It's not that noticeable but people can probably see it if they look hard enough. It varies in effectiveness each time, and he's not happy being put into such a turbulent state of inertia, but what can he do about it? This is all just to survive. Can't fulfill his promises to himself if he's dead.
On fevers:
Zephyren always feels like he has a fever whenever he gets anxious - his face heats up to the point even he can feel it, and he knows that his face must be incredibly red. It feels like he's in a dream, a trance, he's not really in control of himself, but he sees everything happening and it's all incredibly overwhelming.
On inertia:
Is it because he recently learned of this term, or is it because a phoenix's cycle is in perpetual motion? Is this a manifestation of that? He doesn't like this one bit.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Roll Perception + Occult at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you create a barrier around yourself, which absorbs the next Outcome +4 Damage. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. You may only have 1 active barrier at a time.
The barrier will fall after two hours, or if it absorbs the full amount of Damage. When a barrier falls, you cannot use this Effect again for a minimum of 2 Rounds.
A simple white tablet, dissolved sublingually. The blend of rare and difficult-to-cultivate nootropic herbs and spices (but, like, real ones, and not scam supplements) creates and strengthens the neural pathways in the brain relating to speech and language development, allowing the user to develop proficiency with new dialects at a vastly accelerated rate.
Use up this pill and spend one minute.
You may understand and communicate to humans 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.
Whenever you encounter a Language you could commune in with this Effect, you immediately understand which language it is, the dialect, region, and other details about it.
If you use this Effect to spend an hour speaking with a native speaker of a human language you don't know, you may Exert your Mind and roll Intellect + Culture Difficulty 7. With Outcome 4 or higher, you permanently learn that language and accent.
Holding your arm out as if holding a bird and calling the eagle’s name, Aurelia, will cause the bird to appear in a puff of smoke about 5 feet from you, landing on the raised arm.
Her talons might hurt if she lands too hard, but she means well.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Summon a single Eagle at your location. They will last until they are destroyed. They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. This Artifact may have at most 1 minion active at a time.
You may only use this Effect once per day.
When you activate this Effect, roll a single D10. if the result is 5 or lower, you receive a Severity-1 Injury and a Minor Battle Scar.
The time-twister spins a dial on one of her watches, slowing time for everyone but her and one other person.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You must actively and obviously use a watch or clock to activate this Effect.
Lasts 1 minute. Whenever you use your Movement, after all other calculations, the distance you may travel is doubled.
Outside of Combat, any non-Gift, non-movement Actions you attempt take drastically less time to complete, as long as your personal speed is a factor in the Action. Total time reduction is determined by the GM and capped at 90% (executing the Action takes no less than 1/10th the normal time).
While using this Effect, you may carry one other being without affecting your Encumbrance, so long as you maintain contact with them for the duration and they consent or are grappled.
The toon shouts a catchphrase, strikes a pose, and then zips away at a high speed, leaving a cloud of dust behind. While moving, they look like a blur.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Lasts 1 minute. Whenever you use your Movement, after all other calculations, the distance you may travel is doubled.
The vampire sucks a copious amount of blood from a human and replenishes their own cursed flesh.
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. This Effect cannot be used unless you drink blood directly from a human until it injures them. Choose a specific Injury on yourself that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Brawn + Occult at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, the Injury is reduced in Severity by your Outcome. If you reduce its Severity to 0, the Injury is fully healed. Otherwise, it is partially healed and will heal the rest of the way at its natural rate.
This counts as a successful Makeshift Stabilization if the Injury was not already Stabilized; any Battle Scars caused by the Injury will remain.
If your Outcome is greater than the Severity of the Injury you were attempting to treat, you may apply any excess Outcome to other Injuries on yourself.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see you drink blood directly from the vein.
The mobster knows a guy they can call for a hired goon, who arrives about a minute later. The goons are dumb as bricks, but tough nonetheless, perfect for sending a message when you need to keep your hands clean.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You must actively and obviously use cell phone to activate this Effect.
Summon a single Sapient goon at your location. They last for two hours or until they are destroyed. They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. You may have at most one minion active at a time.
The magician waves a handkerchief over an item, and it disappears! They may produce the object later by fluttering a scarf.
Spend a Quick Action. You must actively and obviously use a scarf, sheet, or handkerchief to activate this Effect.
You may withdraw an item from your stash, or add an item that is within arm’s reach to your stash. You may only stash targets which are in your possession, grappled, or otherwise controlled by you.
You may store Objects in your stash, each no larger than something which could fit inside a briefcase (15 liters), and you may store up to 3 things at a time.
You may choose to equip any equipment you withdraw at no additional cost.