You place the windup key to the back of a toy, or similarly human representing golem. Twist for a minute until your hand begins to hurt. The toy will animate and grow in size to a friendly helper of the one holding the windup key.
This artifact relies on the cultural idea of toys, and the cultural idea of wind up toys, especially in the minds of children. The basic idea of these wind up toys is that you wind them up, then let them go and they move around doing toy things, seeming almost alive. This artifact takes that idea, and merges it with a few other ideas of ways to create useful servants to make an artifact capable of making useful friendly minions.
The ritual to create this artifact relies on a ritual involving
- A variety of children's toys which are popular in the shared imagination
- A collection of stories and myths about the Hebrew golumn
- Mary Shelly's frankenstein
- Carefully shaping the pattern of a wind up key while reading various relevant parts of these stories
Exert your Mind and spend one minute.
Summon a single enlarged animated toy 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.
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.
You may only use this Effect once per day.
A flow of digital code emits from the watch as a body forms out of it, revealing Task's body, which seems to glitch and distort as if parts of it are missing.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Summon the one and only Sapient Task at your location. They last until they are destroyed They are controlled by you. This Artifact may have at most one minion active at a time.
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
If killed, you cannot re-summon your minion until after your next Contract.
The Don places their right hand into their mouth before whistling, their hand visibly withering and weakening as Jimmy appears mysteriously and cinematically from around a corner like a sly devil who just secured a deal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNx0d-7Vyi8&t=45s
Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend an Action.
Summon the one and only Sapient Jimmy, The Don's Right Hand Man at your location. They last until they move more than 150 feet from you or are destroyed They are controlled by you. You may have at most one active at a time.
If killed, you cannot re-summon your minion until after your next Contract.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Withered Right Hand - He's my right hand... (You suffer a -1 Dice Penalty to rolls utilizing your right hand).
If you do not have a sacrificial Injury when you activate this Effect, take a new Severity-1 Injury.
Maddox waves a shiny trinket in the air, and it sparkles miraculously. She calls for Judas, and he answers the call, fluttering to her aid in exchange for the trinket.
Exert your Mind and spend two Actions performing the following ritual: Raise a trinket to the sky and call for a bird. You must use up an especially shiny object such as a rhinestone, sequin, or piece of jewelry in order to activate this Effect. You must maintain Concentration while activating this Effect, and it fails if you are interrupted.
Summon the one and only Sapient Judas the crow at your location. They last for two hours or until they are destroyed. They are controlled by you. You may have at most one minion active at a time.
If killed, you cannot re-summon your minion until after your next Contract.
A black rock with the symbol for "kimi" (Mayan symbol for death) heald by the caster releases a black smoke as they pray. the smoke solidifies into a solid obsidian skeleton once the prayer is completed.
When the skeleton attacks a ranged target they shoot obsidian arrows from their hands
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Summon a single Non-Sapient, Animate Obsidian Skeleton at your location. They last until they are destroyed They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. This Artifact may have at most one minion active at a time.
From their own shadow, shades rise. Fragments of lingering wills, a ghost of a child barely able to live in the first place. Their bodies drip void that splatters on the ground and evaporates into black fog, the same fog that rises off of them, and their eyes are an eerie, glowing white.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. 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.
Summon up to 3 Non-Sapient, Animate void-heart Siblings 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 3 minions active at a time.
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.
Any successful musician knows the value of a good roadie. The musician calls for a roadie, and one will promptly arrive. The roadie doesn't talk much, and they aren't too bright, but they can sure haul gear.
After a couple hours of work, the roadie will retire to smoke and get some sleep.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Summon a single Sapient roadie 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.
You may only use this Effect once per day.
The Vampire is able to turn one of their victims into a lesser vampire, a pale shadow of a full creature of the night but useful nonetheless. Having drained and killed their target, the Vampire performs a brief ritualistic bloodletting, wherein they spill their own blood into the target's mouth, forcing them to drink, and bonding them together as child and sire.
Shortly afterwards, the fledgling vampire will rise from death, hungry for blood and eager to serve.
Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend one minute. Select a Dead target within arm's reach that has died within the last hour. This Effect cannot be used unless you drained the target's blood while they were still alive.
Your target rises as an Animate being. The raised creature is totally mindless, with no memory of its past life or hint of its old personality. They cannot communicate. They will follow any command you speak.
The creature lasts until it dies again. It is revived at full health. Any Injuries it had in life are not accounted for when determining its penalties or progression towards re-death, though they may affect its ability to perform certain actions at GM's discretion. The raised creature must consume flesh every day or it will die again.
Raised creatures have their Abilities set to the same that they were in life. Their Charisma and Intellect are set to 1, but their Dexterity, Brawn and Perception are the same as they had in life. A raised creature cannot use any Effects.
Your revived targets deal 2 Weapon Damage with their unarmed attacks.
If you do not have a sacrificial Injury when you activate this Effect, take a new Severity-1 Injury.