A voice slithers through the air—too quiet, too close, too wrong. It speaks no language, yet it is understood. It does not command, yet it compels. Those who hear it are not merely shaken; they are hollowed out, stripped of certainty, left staring into the abyss of their own self-doubt and despair. The utterance turns the weight of the mind against itself: targets are stricken, their body betraying them as unseen forces tear through flesh and bone, bypassing armor as though it were never there. The pain lingers—more than just a wound, it’s a poisoning of resolve, a slow bleed of will to live and persevere.
Spend an Action. Select a Living target within 50 feet. Roll Charisma + Influence Difficulty 6. The target may contest by rolling to Dodge or Defend as a Reaction, Difficulty 6.
If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 2. The target's Armor is completely ignored.
The target suffers a -3 dice penalty for the next hour or until the Injury is healed. This dice penalty does not stack multiple times on the same target.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see whispers in no language in particular reach everyone in range, raising thoughts of doubt and self harm (triggers "Failure").
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 1.
Regeneration
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
Any Injury you receive from a source other than Destruction of the amulet heals quickly, reducing its Severity by one level every day. Any Injuries you receive while this Effect is active automatically count as a successful Proper Stabilization and do not deteriorate further. Any Battle Scars caused by such an Injury will heal with the Injury.
As long as at least half your body remains intact, you cannot die and remain at Incapacitated, regardless of how many Injuries you take. It is clear to observers that you are still alive.
You may also Exert your Mind and spend an Action to reduce the Severity of one of your Injuries by 2. Does not affect Injuries suffered as an activation cost for Effects.
Injuries you receive from Destruction of the amulet are increased in Severity by 1.
Kelby can touch the red gem on the cover of the Horrible Tome and say a short incantation in Latin to summon a ghost that has been bound to the Horrible Tome. These ghosts take the form they had in life, though noticeably paler and transparent. Though they retain their personality and will, the ghosts must obey any commands given by their summoner.
Anyone that dies within 150ft of the Horrible Tome is bound to it after death and can be summoned. (PCs exempt)
The only ghost currently bound to the tome is Hank, Kelby's dead boss from his convenience store job. He is a 60ish year old man with a keen interest in gambling and the occult.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Summon a single Sapient ghost 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 one minion active at a time.
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
The mask when put on bestows the user with the supernatural drive to keep going despite any injuries.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
Your Body and Mind Penalties are reduced to 0.
While Incapacitated, you may Exert your Mind to take a single action.
The device is pressed to the ocular canal, and the trigger pulled. There's a snapping sound, and blood begins to leak around the rubber gasket around the eye. It is exceedingly unpleasant. The person being treated experiences a rapid fever during the procedure, and can feel the needles moving inside of them.
Their body changes. A chime indicates the end, and the device can be removed, the needles around bloody.
Exert your Mind and spend 30 minutes. Select a Living target within arm's reach. The target can easily Resist.
You may add one augmentation to your target. Each augmentation counts as a Battle Scar and can have exactly one of the following Effects:
The augmentations you provide are not outwardly visible nor obvious.
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see Needles piercing into the subject's eye - when the device is removed, blood running down their face, their eye completely bloodshot.
The user pours ink across the canvas and after watching it sink and seep into the sketchbook, must then makes a formal request for what they would like to see.
Time Walk: The ink seeps into the page and begins to move on its own, translating from the watchful eyes of shadows past into a complete picture upon the sketchbook page.
Got a Bad Feeling About This Place: Areas containing traps and ambushes are cleanly drawn together- to such detail that the user can recognize what the area looks like, while also being intuited upon the rough direction and distance.
Other: Pathways and passageways, whether hidden or overt, are clearly illustrated and labeled on the page.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Investigate an area with a radius of up to 1 mile 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. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Crafts at Difficulty 6.
You learn the following information about the area:
You cannot investigate the same area more than once per day.
Standard issue in the Future Soldier's home time, the Personal Shield Generator (PSG) projects a protective energy barrier around the body. It absorbs damage far better than traditional armor, but its battery is quickly drained. When depleted, the PSG must spend a few seconds recharging.
When struck, the normally-invisible field of the PSG flashes, revealing a bright yellow honey-comb pattern encasing the body.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You have 6 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack.
Your Armor cannot be destroyed, and it always provides a minimum of 2 Armor regardless of any Armor shredding or penetration. It cannot be circumvented with Called Shots. When shredded, it returns to full potency in one hour.
Any time your Armor prevents Damage, your Armor rating is temporarily decreased by 2. Whenever it goes five Rounds without preventing any Damage, it is restored back to its full value.
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 Coffin" can only be used to store things commonly found in coffins, such as bodies, clothes, jewelry, photos, weapons, coins, and similar.
This Artifact holds 5 times what it normally could inside of it. Objects stored inside are weightless. Unless you are storing something commonly found in coffins, this Artifact behaves as its mundane counterpart. This Effect cannot be used unless you are storing something commonly found in coffins.
Living things can be stored in this Artifact. They will have access to anything else inside and may attempt to break free, damaging or destroying the Artifact in the process.
If this Artifact is destroyed, things inside may get out, and it will cease to function until it is repaired.
When scanned or investigated without opening, the contents of this container appear normal and unremarkable.
On a Downtime, you may change this Artifact from one type of container to another. Maximum once per Downtime.
If anyone other than you opens the container, it appears empty. Others can still destroy it to get at the contents.
The spy can do up their passport to appear as any valid form of identification.
This Artifact can change its appearance. When not transformed, it is roughly the same size as a passport but can be collapsed into a wallet and concealed. Collapsing or expanding it costs a Quick Action.
Spend a Quick Action to activate. This Artifact changes its appearance into a chosen Object. This lasts until you decide to end the Effect, which may be done as a Free Action.
The new object's appearance can mimic specific items (such as a particular painting, a certain person’s ID, etc), but must be of a similar size and weight to this Artifact.
The new appearance is illusory; it will hold up to scrutiny, but its composition is not altered and it gains no new functionality. Any attempt to use it for a function which it cannot perform (for instance, making bread look like a knife and then trying to stab someone) will cause the illusion to fail or allow a Perception check to see through the illusion, at the GM's discretion.
When used as identification and scanned, the scanner will act appropriately and bring up appropriate generic information. Further searches for the identity in the computer will turn up no results. This will not open security doors on its own.
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.