Embitterment "She suffered as she died, you know. So will you."

1
This Artifact allows you to temporarily transform into an Arch-Vampire.
Used by Lorelei, Created by Samurai_Yeehaw.
On Legendary Artifact Broken Thorn.
(Anyone who witnesses you activate this Effect or for its duration is very likely to be disturbed to see you draw your blade across your neck, splattering blackened blood across the floor, and transform with a swirl of black malice and a horrible noise into an even more monstrous form. You must obviously use this Artifact to activate this Effect. When activating this Effect, this Artifact is obviously Alien and cannot be concealed under your clothes or similar.)

When pressed against themselves, the wielder feels a wave of despair and loss overtake them rather than actually piercing their flesh. Dragging the blade across their body fully invokes the transformation, twisting and changing their body into an agent of their own suffering.

The Arch-Vampire has an innate feeling of 'wrongness' to look at. Porcelain skin with veins of blackened blood, and an ambient aura of black-fire malice.

Broken Thorn is a manifestation of the one who brought it into being, the vampire Lorelei. The blade was formed after Lorelei was forced to experience warmth and acceptance again and again, even as her monstrous self. A home-cooked meal mixed with human blood without judgement, a vision of Melody's old friends around her on the hospital bed after having saved her, the loyal attentions of a feline servant, and seeing the carefree joy of a little girl so much like her.

The vampire tore the dreams she had in life from her heart, corrupted as they were from loneliness and suffering, and fused them with the power she received from the Contract.

No one would hurt her again. Never again.


Exert your Mind and spend an Action. This Effect cannot be used unless you have drunk blood from a sapient being in the last hour.

You transform into an Arch-Vampire for 30 minutes. You have access to all of your Powers while you are an Arch-Vampire, 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 2 and your Dexterity is increased by 2. You do not suffer any Stress while transformed.

While transformed, instead of your normal clothes and equipment, you are equipped with: A red cloak, red gloves, dark metal armor plates (3 armor obvious), heeled black boots, the Broken Thorn, and, if held when activating this effect, the Tenebrae Magnus Gladius. The inner cloak is filled with knives in sheathes numbering 30 in total.

You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see you draw your blade across your neck, splattering blackened blood across the floor, and transform with a swirl of black malice and a horrible noise into an even more monstrous form.

Anyone who touches this Artifact will notice it warping their mind and may drop it. If they choose to hold or use it, they immediately receive the following Trauma: Broken Dreams - (Nightmares). If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next day.

  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

Community Activated Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate. Make a Trauma roll when you activate this Effect.

You automatically detect all Spatial Anomalies within 50 feet of you for the next ten minutes. You have a clear sense of both the distance and direction towards any detected items. You do not learn any details about the detected items.

Even while this Effect is not active, if any Spatial Anomalies come within 50 feet of you, you may roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 7 to detect them.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate.

You transform into Transparent slime-like substance for the next hour. You may end the effect early and return to your normal form at will. Your structure must remain relatively contiguous. It is not necessarily obvious that your transformed state is an unusual phenomena or that it is acting with singular purpose.

While in this form, you can squeeze through any gap that is not water-tight.

Damage from standard attacks is halved, but damage from AOE effects is increased by 1.

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.

You may turn this Effect on and off at will during its duration.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see Your whole body starting to melt.

After this Effect ends, you cannot move quicker than a walk for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour.

  • You may only switch this Effect on or off once per Round.
  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.

Exert your Mind and spend two Actions performing the following ritual: casting a 'blessing' in the form of a song, Zedman throws up gang signs which align to be actual movements of magic. You must actively and obviously use a Mic to activate this Effect. You must maintain Concentration while activating this Effect, and it fails if you are interrupted.

Summon the one and only Sapient Human with dimly lit golden eyes and an unnatural glow at your location. They last for two hours or until they are destroyed. They are controlled by you. You may have at most one minion active at a time.

  • Initiative: Minions act directly after you in Combat starting the Round after they are summoned.
  • Combat: Minions roll 5 dice to dodge, Grapple, or make Attacks Attacks. Their unarmed Attacks are melee range and deal +0 Damage.
  • Body/Mind: Minions have 5 Body. Your minions roll 7 Mind resistance dice.
  • Armor: Minions have 2 Armor.
  • Movement: Minions can move 30 feet per Round as Free Movement and double that when performing an all-out Sprint.
  • Intelligence: Minions have human-level intelligence and can speak your language. They can use equipment, Artifacts, and Consumables. However, they cannot Exert their Mind.
  • Actions: Any Perception checks they make are rolled with 5 dice. Your minion is able to Performance with a 9 dice pool. Any other roll is made with 5 dice. They can lift and haul as though they have 2 Brawn.
  • Powers: Your companion can Exert their Mind using your Mind and spend your Source. Your companion has access to Mythic Charisma. Only one of you can benefit from a given Passive Power at a time, and you can switch who has access as a Free Action. You and your companion cannot activate the same Effect on the same Round.
  • Unusual: Minions are obviously Alien to any observer.

If you die during a Contract and your companion goes on to claim victory, they may permanently sacrifice themselves to bring you back to life and safety. If this happens, you may refund this Gift to a minimum cost of 3.

If killed, you cannot re-summon your minion until after your next Contract.

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.

  • Your companion heals fully during each Downtime, but is not healed fully when you re-summon them.
  • Your companion is affected normally by Artifacts and Energy Transfer.
  • Exhaustion penalties and duration stack. If you activate this Effect or another Effect with Exhaustion, your penalty will worsen, and the duration is increased by one hour.
  • Your minions may count as additional targeting types based on their flavor. For example: Living, Computer, Creature, etc.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Roll Brawn + Alertness at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, you create a Barrier extending out 15 feet from yourself, which absorbs 2 times the next Outcome + 2 Damage. Only applies to attacks which originated outside the 15 foot radius, and protects anyone who is within that radius. You may choose to create a bubble barrier. If you do, no physical objects or entities can pass into your bubble until the barrier is broken, but you and the barrier cannot move. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. You may only have 1 active barrier at a time.

You must maintain Concentration while using this Effect. The barrier will fall if you are interrupted, or if it absorbs the full amount of Damage. When a barrier falls, you cannot use this Effect again for a minimum of 2 Rounds.

Exert your Mind and spend one minute to activate.

You transform into A Rat until you transform into something else or choose to return to your original form. You cannot transform into a flying creature. 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.

  • Creature Stats
    • Small (mouse up to regular house cat) Body 1. Brawn 0. Dexterity 4. Cannot injure others with attacks. Cannot die from falling damage. +3 dice to Stealth rolls.
    All creatures get +3 dice to any non-combat Action that they are naturally adapted for. All creatures Medium and larger may attack by rolling Body, dealing +0 Damage (+1 for “predators”). Gms and Playgroup leaders can apply other bonuses and effects to specific animals.

Stock Activated Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. You must use up at least a gallon of water in order to activate this Effect. Choose a specific Injury on yourself that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Brawn + Survival at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, the Injury is reduced in Severity by your Outcome. If you reduce its Severity to 0, the Injury is fully healed. Otherwise, it is partially healed and will heal the rest of the way at its natural rate.

This counts as a successful Makeshift Stabilization if the Injury was not already Stabilized; any Battle Scars caused by the Injury will remain.

  • Unstabilized wounds do not degenerate during treatment.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You must actively and obviously use a clock or watch to activate this Effect.

You phase out of reality for 4 Rounds. During this time, you cannot perceive or affect the outside world or take any Actions. You cannot move. Nothing can interact with you in any way.

When you phase out, you may bring up to 1 additional target in arm's reach with you.

  • You may use your Free Movement on the Round you phase back in, but you cannot take an Action.

Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. You must actively and obviously use a piece of clothing you wouldn't normally wear to activate this Effect.

You become disguised in a manner of your choosing. The disguise lasts for two hours, or you may end it early at will.

The new appearance may have a different sex, age, and race to your own, and you may alter height by up to a foot and your weight by 50%. Your disguise cannot directly mimic an existing person. You may change the appearance of your outfit. A disguise cannot affect your Attributes or other stats.

You may roll Charisma + Crafts to attempt to make your disguise Beautiful. If your Outcome is 6 or higher, non-Effect Charisma rolls where your good looks could help are rolled at -2 Difficulty. If you fail or botch, you are ugly instead, and non-Effect Charisma rolls are made at +2 Difficulty.

This Effect ends if you take an Injury or are stunned or incapacitated.

While disguised, you cannot use any Activated or Targeted Powers.

  • While you may alter your outfit's appearance, this does not grant or store equipment. This does not allow you to change the appearance of Artifacts or conceal their Alien appearance.
  • ‘Appearance’ includes voice, bone structure, skin quality, hair length and color, eye color, muscle tone, flesh texture, and generally anything perceivable about your body.

Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. This Effect cannot be used unless you drink blood directly from a human until it injures them. Choose a specific Injury on yourself that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Brawn + Occult at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, the Injury is reduced in Severity by your Outcome. If you reduce its Severity to 0, the Injury is fully healed. Otherwise, it is partially healed and will heal the rest of the way at its natural rate.

This counts as a successful Makeshift Stabilization if the Injury was not already Stabilized; any Battle Scars caused by the Injury will remain.

If your Outcome is greater than the Severity of the Injury you were attempting to treat, you may apply any excess Outcome to other Injuries on yourself.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see you drink blood directly from the vein.

  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • Unstabilized wounds do not degenerate during treatment.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action.

You transform into a flowing pool of water 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 water-tight.

Injuries from standard attacks are reduced to Severity 1, but Damage from AOE effects is increased by 1.

You cannot communicate or use equipment while transformed. Your equipment does not transform with you beyond basic body coverings. You cannot carry any items while transformed.

You have access to your Powers while transformed.

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.

  • The Severity-limiting effect from Squish does not stack with the Enhancement Tough from Mythic Brawn.