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 1 minion active at a time.
The dagger plunges into the chest of the squirming man. His final cries degrade into bubbling coughs as blood fills his lungs. Ancient words fill the air as the chant reaches its crescendo. The remains of the man fold in on themselves, rearranging into the winged forerunners of The Ones that Came Before. The army grows.
Exert your Mind and spend one minute. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you create an uncontrollable monstrosity that seeks only to feast. You must actively and obviously use a sacrificial dagger to activate this Effect. You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means.
Summon a single Eldritch Servant 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.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see the tearing of reality and subsequent spawning of the eldritch creature.
You may only use this Effect once per day.
Taking out a black feather, Celeste recites the incantation, "As Anasae." The feather ignites into purple flame, coalescing into a spectral raven.
Exert your Mind and spend one minute to activate. You must use up Feathers in order to activate this Effect.
Summon a single Raven 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.
Minions have 4 Body and can make ranged attacks at targets up to 30 feet away with 4 dice to attack. Your minions can move 20 feet per Round as Free Movement, and double that when performing an all-out Sprint. They cannot dodge or Defend. They have dog-level intelligence, but are capable of communicating information back to you. Any Perception checks they make are rolled with 8 dice.
Your minions can fly at their normal movement speed.
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.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Entomophobia.
Isaac focuses for a moment before a pulse emits from him as a soothing note can be heard. After a moment, a soft call can be heard as Long-tail descends from the sky.
(When riding Long-tail, the rider simply floats alongside them as they go)
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Summon the one and only Sapient Long tail 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.
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
If killed, you cannot re-summon your minion until after your next Contract.
I manipulate reality to create minions from reflective surfaces.
If a solid, it distorts and warps, expanding until 7 ft tall and into the form of a Wiendgo.
If a liquid, a pint of that liquid is required to create the body of the Wiendgo. The process is similar to that of using a solid surface as fuel.
In either case, the fuel is used up to make the body of the summoned minion.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend an Action. You must use up reflective surfaces (i.e. mirror, window, phone screen, reflective metal, 1 pint of water) in order to activate this Effect.
Summon a single Wiendgo 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.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see The fuel used for the activation of this gift will warp and distort, expanding until 7 ft tall and into the form of a Wiendgo.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Delusion of Grandeur and Short Fuse.
(Does a ritual that transforms the corpse a bird into a raven under the witchs' control.)
Under the moonlight the struggle of feathers breaks the cricket's chorus. Circe's mark etched into ground underfoot, a bound pigeon laying atop it. A young witch unsheathes her athame, it's silver blade reflecting the moon rays in the poor pigeon's eye. As the blade comes down with a sickening squelch, the pigeons' death throes echo throughout the woods, followed quickly by muttered incantations, the witch turns the blade on herself, allowing it to pierce her flesh, blood dripping on the fresh carcass below. The blade glows faintly, pulsing with an ethereal indigo glow as the pigeon's carcass begins to undergo a transformation, the blood mixing and rising into the air before shooting back into the lifeless body as it begins to twitch and turn violently, it's feathers and beak becoming an distinct ebony as it rises, it's newly feathered head looks at the young witch, giving her squawk and a bow. The witch smiles in delight.
Take a Severity-1 Injury and spend one minute. This Effect cannot be used unless you sacrifice a feathered creature under direct moonlight. You must actively and obviously use an athame or knife to activate this Effect.
Summon a single Raven 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 3 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.
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.