The pickaxe's head seems to quietly resonate from the lightest touch, ravaging any hardened material it comes in contact with.
This Artifact can be used as a great sword / giant axe. It is roughly the same size as a great sword / giant axe and just as difficult to conceal.
Attack by rolling Brawn + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +7 Weapon Damage.
You also gain the following effects:
The user yanks on the top and tiny particulates of various diseases stream out toward the target. Thousands of different plagues and illnesses permeate the body and cause the target to wither and runes made of sores form across their chest. The gown makes the shoulder of the wearer weak and prone to dislocation. The diseases will be cleared by a simple red delicious apple, decreeable by reading the runes.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living target within 25 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target has hurt anyone. Roll Intellect + Medicine at Difficulty 6. Your target may resist by rolling Body at Difficulty 8.
If you succeed, the target is afflicted with a Condition that causes any number of the following symptoms:
The affliction is not treatable by modern medicine. It may be diagnosed by rolling Intellect + Occult at Difficulty 6, and can be cured by eating a ‘red delicious’ apple.
Anyone who touches this Artifact will notice it warping their body and may drop it. If they choose to hold or use it, they immediately receive the following Battle Scar: shoulder subluxation. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Battle Scar heals over the course of the next day.
The nail glows, inserting itself into the lock, unlocking it.
Spend an Action. Select a Non-Alien door, container, knot, or lock within arm's reach.
You may lock, unlock, and/or open your target.
If you successfully operate a lock, you may choose to destroy it, rendering it inoperable.
ancient aztec spear brandished with all sorts of valuable materials and an obsidian head.
This Artifact can be used as a thrusting sword. It is roughly the same size as a thrusting sword and just as difficult to conceal.
Attack by rolling Dexterity + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +4 Weapon Damage.
Possession of this Artifact causes the following Battle Scar to manifest over the course of a day: Mixcoatl`s Markings You are covered in full-body indigenous Azteca tattoos. (You are remarkable & incredibly recognizable, and your appearance may cause social complications). If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Battle Scar heals over the course of the next day.
You also gain the following effects:
The oracle dons the Witherheart Mask, which glows with a strange green mist. This mask is clearly magical, though seemingly only to predict the future as the oracle begins to speak their prophecy.
On mythology:
Cassiopeia has always been interested in the occult, to the point where she's done a double major involving Psychology and Classical Mythology. She's also incredibly curious about conspiracy theories, often going down lengthy rabbitholes, though part of her keeps a distance from it in that she's only reading a fictional story. With this gift she could very well bring them to life, and she's doing it all for the funsies.
On prophecies:
One has seen enough self-fulfilling prophecies in everyday life to know that people are very easily influenced by their own wills to stick to a path or stray from one completely. Though, it inevitably ends up the way it was predicted. If you were driving a car and trying not to hit a tree on the road, your focus is so solely on the tree that you veer towards it anyway. Cassiopeia is making use of this age-old hubris, this fallacy that "I'm not like them, I won't end up like this". She's not any better than this, of course she falls into this cycle too, but at least she's aware that it does happen.
On wordplay:
If she's going to use her arsenal of words learned from 4 years of being an Arts student, it's only fair to allow the listener some level of free will. Let them play their cards against what they perceive to be Apollo's blessing, when in reality it all relies on Cassiopeia's competence.
Exert your Mind and spend at least one Action. Select a Human target within 20 feet. Your target may be actively engaged in Combat. Communicate a command to your target. Roll Charisma + Occult at Difficulty 6. The target may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.
If the contested Outcome is positive, your target will be compelled to follow your command to the letter-- but not necessarily the spirit-- of the command until they have completed it or for your Contested Outcome in hours. You cannot issue another suggestion to the target until 10 minutes after they have completed the first command or 10 minutes after a failure.
The target is unaware that they are under supernatural influence and feel they are acting of their own free will. If you fail, they realize that you were attempting to influence them supernaturally with your command.
Your command can be an order to take an immediate Action and a conditional request. You cannot order a target to "do nothing," and they are free to take other Actions as they fulfill your request. Your command cannot be obviously self-destructive. The Effect ends if following your command would cause a target to cross one of their Limits in a way that would necessitate a Trauma roll.
You may activate this Effect as a Reaction to contest any Action a valid target is taking, reducing their Outcome by your own. Your command has no impact beyond disrupting their Action.
MUD GOLEMS.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Summon up to 3 Non-Sapient, Animate Mud Golems at your location. They last until they move more than 150 feet from you or are destroyed They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. This Artifact may have at most 3 minions active at a time.
The "Reaper" Assault Helmet is the signature piece of the Future Soldier's arsenal. It has a sleek, design and is made of a mysterious matte-metallic alloy. The wearer's face is exposed normally, but when activated, a blue holographic visor flickers to life in front of the eyes. This HUD contains information about the soldier's ammunition and shield status, but more significantly can detect enemy combatants. Anyone nearby who is holding a weapon is painted with a red dot that follows them in real time. This allows the Future Soldier to fire at painted targets in the dark, detect ambushes lurking around corners, and grants an overall tactical advantage.
Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action.
You automatically detect all people wielding weapons within 300 feet of you for the next hour. This includes any who come within range during the duration. You have a sense of how many valid targets are nearby, as well as their distance and direction.
The survivalist has depended on the Bug-out Bag for so long, they've formed a powerful bond with the pack. This bond renders the pack unbreakable, and grants the survivalist an understanding of what direction it's in at all times.
This Artifact cannot be broken. If this Artifact is lost and in no one else’s possession, it finds its way back to its true owner during the next Downtime.
By default, the creator of this Artifact is its true owner. The true owner may formally bequeath this Artifact onto another person within arm’s reach, after which they are its true owner. If the true owner dies or is destroyed, their ownership ends. If this Artifact has no true owner, anyone may spend one day attuning to it to become its true owner.
This Artifact's true owner is always aware of the direction and distance to this Artifact.
The Skeleton Key slips easily into any keyhole and turns without a fuss.
Spend an Action.
You may lock, unlock, and/or open any number of doors, containers, knots, or locks within arm's reach of you. Cannot be used on Alien technology.
If you successfully operate a lock, you may choose to destroy it, rendering it inoperable.
The airship of solitude is the mad scientist's lair and preferred mode of travel. Not only does it include a full science laboratory, it can be collapsed into an incredibly small canvas cube and easily transported. The mad scientist may pilot the ship alone or rely on its autopilot features for ultimate convenience.
This Artifact can be used as a blimp. It is roughly the same size as a blimp but can be collapsed into a phone-sized canvas cube and concealed. Collapsing or expanding it costs a Quick Action.
This blimp has full science laboratory, bullet-proof envelope, and ample parachutes. Any roll to pilot this vehicle receives +2 dice.
You also gain the following effects:
Dazzle Glasses are advanced "black-tech" espionage gear. They can be styled as any sort sunglasses. When the wearer is recorded, they will quickly flash a non-visible laser into the recording device, destroying it after only a moment of footage is taken.
This Effect activates whenever you are recorded. It does not require an Action or Exertion. Select a Non-Sapient Object within 20 feet no larger than a duffel bag (35 liters). Your target should be intuitively based on the triggering event. Roll Perception + Culture Difficulty 6.
If your Outcome is 4 or higher, the target will be completely destroyed and can no longer function, though it may still be repaired. If your Outcome is less than 4, the target will be partially damaged, and any attempts to use it will suffer a dice penalty equal to your Outcome.