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. 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.
Arthur Annuler dissolves into a cloud of black mist, the cosmic essence which is constantly leaking from his body. The cloud of mist remains conglomerated, like a single entity, and can squeeze through any gap in its formless state.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate.
You transform into A cloud of Black Mist for the next minute. You may end the effect early and return to your normal form at will. Your structure must remain relatively contiguous. Observers will view you as an unusual entity moving with a singular purpose.
While in this form, you can squeeze through any gap that is not air-tight, though this may take more than one Action at GMs discretion.
Damage from standard attacks is halved, but damage from AOE effects is increased by 1. You may suffer damage from wind and powerful gusts at GM’s discretion.
You cannot communicate, use equipment, or use Gifts while transformed. Your equipment does not transform with you beyond basic body coverings. You cannot carry any items while transformed.
David will reach into a seam, and pull out a ghost of the departed alongside one of their treasured possessions. David will wrestle the ghost, taking their possession from them, and the covetous spirit will dissipate, defeated. If David fails his check, the spirit will instead jealously hold on to its item as it flees back to the temporary seam in the air, disappearing back to the realm of the dead. When the effect runs out, the item will seem to disappear into thin air, as it is pulled back to the realms of the dead
David did some digging into more…unrefined necromancy, following his last encounter with such magics on a job. By using his spirit cellphone (see Thomas Edison’s spirit cellphone) to consult with a few ancient spirits of infamous necromancers past, he was able to learn a ritual to “plunder the treasures of the underworld”.
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute.
Choose an Object which could fit inside a regular backpack (up to 27 liters). It must be Non-Alien and generic. You cannot create explosives. You may create firearms.
Roll Brawn + Occult to fabricate your chosen Object. The Difficulty is assigned by the GM and depends on the specificity of your chosen Object. The created item lasts 2 hours.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see Theft from the spirits of the dead and the injured, creepy as hell appearance of the ghosts of the departed.
A gift from those in the space between worlds, allowing those who scatter it about themselves to fade between dreams and reality. When one tosses it into the air about themselves their form begins to shimmer for a moment before nearly completely dissipating, becoming translucent and seeming to blend the with the colors of the world around them in a sort of psychedelic haze that lulls the viewer into believing they saw nothing at all.
Use up this A bag of blue sand (unless you succeed on 1d10, Difficulty 7) and spend an Action.
You are obscured in one of the following manners. Lasts 30 minutes.
While this Effect is active, any Effect that would obscure you 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.
You may turn this Effect on and off at will during its duration.
control animals with my mind. you see me thinking very hard.
if it’s a large animal, i get 1.
if it’s a mid size animal, i get 2-4.
if it’s a small/tiny animal, i get a small mob.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Summon a single nearby creatures 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. You may have at most 1 minion active at a time.
You may only use this Effect once per day.
The chemist jabs a needle filled with viscous silvery liquid into his forearm. The affected hand begins to grow, fingers elongating and nails falling out to give room to razor-sharp claws. As the concoction spreads through his body the muscles swell and grow more dense, veins bulging out around them.
The serum itself is carefully crafted by Vincent and is custom tailored to his anatomy. It is still imperfect, overworking the body while it is in effect. It also has a chance to be rejected by the recipient's immune system, causing strife that may lead to internal bleeding or extreme exhaustion.
Exert your Mind (unless Severity-3 or deadlier Injury) and spend an Action. You must use up a biochemical serum in order to activate this Effect.
You transform into a mutant for 3 minutes. You have access to all of your Powers while you are a mutant, 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.
Your alternate form is its own deadly weapon. Unarmed attacks made in your alternate form deal +3 Weapon Damage (instead of the typical -1).
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.
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.
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 beastmaster closes their eyes and channels nature's bloody struggle for survival. When their eyes reopen, they catch the light and glow red like a dog's. While in this heightened state, they may sense heat signatures and triangulate the tiniest sound.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Your senses are enhanced in the following way. Lasts for three hours.
The Vampire may channel their inner beast and take the form of an animal. It is said they may transform into either a wolf or a bat. If used too often, the Vampire risks losing themselves to their beast forever.
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.
You transform into a vampire bat or a wolf until you transform into something else or choose to return to your original form. See the Extended System text for stats.
While transformed, you cannot use any equipment (including Artifacts and Consumables), and you do not have access to any of your Powers. Any equipment you are wearing transforms with you.
Injuries and Wound Level are carried over between forms. However, transforming can never kill you; you merely remain Incapacitated until your Injuries are sufficiently healed.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: A disfigured face with bat-like ears.
The magician reaches into their hat and focuses. Inside, light wells and flows like a viscous liquid. Then, they withdraws the item of their choosing.
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. You must actively and obviously use a top hat to activate this Effect.
Choose an Object which could fit inside a regular backpack (up to 27 liters). It must be Non-Alien and generic. You cannot create explosives. You may create firearms.
Roll Perception + Occult to fabricate your chosen Object. The Difficulty is assigned by the GM and depends on the specificity of your chosen Object. The created item lasts 2 hours.
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.