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
Expend a point of Battery and spend one minute. This Effect cannot be used unless It is used on a toy with arms and legs which the artifact consumes.
Summon a single enlarged animated toy at your location. They will last for two hours, or until they are destroyed. They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. This Artifact may have at most 2 minions 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.
Most people assume Baphomet is Vita’s familiar. He's not. He’s older than that term. He’s not here to serve—he made a deal. One that stitched his fate to Vita’s heartbeat. When she made her wish, the realms cracked open, and something lonely and fanged slipped through. Now he won’t leave. He eats her leftovers, naps on ancient artifacts, and commits minor crimes when unsupervised. She wouldn’t trade him for anything.
When summoned, Vita’s shadow stretches unnaturally long, curling at the edges like smoke. A soundless pressure ripples through the air, like a breath being held too long. From the darkness coils a black-furred cat with star-flecked markings and an infuriating grin. Tiny horns glint above his eyes, and when he takes flight, leathery wings unfurl from his back like forgotten pages of a forbidden book. He lands with the weight of inevitability and the smugness of someone who’s always right.
Baphomet isn’t a summon. He’s a consequence. A fanged pact stitched into Vita’s soul when she gave up her voice and made the mistake of longing out loud. Bound not by spell or leash, but mutual understanding, Bapha walks the line between infernal companion and spiritual parasite. He's not just intelligent—he’s opinionated, meddling, and deeply invested in keeping Vita alive, mostly because he doesn’t want to go back. Where she goes, he follows, uninvited but indispensable. Their connection is deeper than magic. It’s blood, debt, and unspoken love, forged under moonlight and written in claws.
Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend an Action.
Summon the one and only Sapient demon cat at your location. They last 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.
If you do not have a sacrificial Injury when you activate this Effect, take a new Severity-1 Injury.
Edith whistles sharply with her missing fingers that briefly appear as ethereal phantoms. Suddenly, a Bernedoodle appears by her side. His coat is a muddy brown and white. He wears a jingiling collar around his neck, with a name tag reading "Jupiter".
His eyes glow a gentle green and little wisps of foxfire dance around between the curls in his fur. When he tries to communicate, ghostly hands that mimic Edith's own materialize in front of him, signing in perfect pacific northwestern ASL.
Artemis has awakened a latent power in Jupiter. The Fates had already decided these two would be together for their entire lives, and she could sense the hound's desire to help his mother. He is under her personal protection, having earned her respect for his dedication to Edith, and as such, when he is summoned, death is only a temporary set back.
On "death" his powers wane and one of Artemis' nymphs whisks the little hunter back home, no worse for wear.
If the two are separated he disappears back home as well, since Jupiter's power is founded on their relationship, it cannot be sustained without his beloved mother present.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Summon the one and only Sapient Jupiter, the Hunting Dog 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 minion 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: Missing Fingers (non dominant hand).
Lily opens a pouch on her dress which suddenly appears, pulling out a small kangaroo. Once deployed, the kangaroo quickly grows to full size.
Exert your Mind and spend one minute.
Summon a single Kangaroo at your location. They will last until they are destroyed. They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. You may have at most 2 minions active at a time.
You may only use this Effect once per day.
Kirk fires the pistol at the ground, ripping into the deepest reaches of hell. Clips, his old friend, crawls up into reality from this place and clambers onto Kirk's back. Clips, while not wholly existent once his form connects with Kirk's, has a facial structure of a healthy person, despite having the oddity of a pierce wound on his cheek, which seems to be locked in time, as if Clips was removed from reality the second he were to die. Clips, nicknamed because of his over insistence on using scissors for everything, has ugly hair and other features, with facial hair that seems like a bear hacked at it in a maniacal frenzy.
Exert your Mind and spend two Actions performing the following ritual: Kirk pulls a weapon out and loads one singular bullet into the magazine. After saying a short prayer, he fires the weapon into the ground, piercing into the dirt/ground, opening a hole into hell. You must actively and obviously use a firearm to activate this Effect. You must maintain Concentration while activating this Effect, and it fails if you are interrupted.
Summon a single ghost soldier at your location. They will last until they are destroyed. They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. You may have at most 1 minion active at a time.
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.
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 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 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.