Oz brings the cigarette to his lips and taps the ash off its end with a casual flick, as if entirely unaware of the grotesque transformation about to unfold. A single flake of ash drifts downward—slow, serene, unaffected by gravity's urgency or the surrounding chaos. It hovers and twists lazily in the air, utterly unbothered by the screams, blood, or tension nearby.
Then, where that speck of ash touches the earth, flesh begins to grow—slow and deliberate at first, like muscle stretching beneath skin. Faces—flattened, stretched, and locked in silent torment begin to rise, pressed like frescoes against the ever-thickening mass. The wall expands outward in a straight line, up to 40 feet long and 10 feet high, forming a solid slab of compacted skin, muscle, bone, and cursed soul-matter. It’s flat enough to walk across... for the most part -- though the sensation underfoot is sickening.
Observers feel the air grow heavier, the world slightly wrong—like Hell has blinked into their reality for just a moment. And all the while, that first ashflake drifts to rest... as though it had nothing to do with any of this.
Oz didn’t learn this from a wizard’s tome or a back-alley occultist. He learned it from a creature that most would’ve overlooked—a frail, withered thing, ancient beyond comprehension but hollowed out by time. It wasn’t terrifying when Oz found it. It was hiding. Hunted by a third-rate monster hunter with more bravado than brains.
The thing could barely stand. Its claws were chipped, its eyes sunken and dull. But when Oz saw the hunter raise their weapon, something in him rebelled. Maybe it was pity. Maybe curiosity. Maybe a whisper of something older.
In gratitude, the creature offered him a secret—a technique older than most names, passed down not to preserve power, but to be rid of it. A method born in the Fifth Circle of Hell, back when Wrath still had shape and weight.
The technique hinges on equivalence: a tiny, forgotten thing—a piece of ash—can be traded, momentarily, for something vast and wrathful and real. The ash is a symbol. Burned, spent, weightless. Exactly the opposite of what it summons. That’s the balance. That’s the key.
The wall doesn't scream, but it wants to.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location within 50 feet. You must actively and obviously use Cigarrettes to activate this Effect.
Select one of the following alterations to create out of Human flesh, skin and faces, dense as a wall of concrete. originating at the target:
The alteration begins to form when you activate this Effect and finishes forming on your initiative in the next Round. Until it finishes forming, it is not guaranteed to function.
This alteration lasts three hours but may be prematurely destroyed or altered. Your alterations may be broken through with appropriate tools. Anyone attempting to break through must roll Brawn + a relevant Ability. A cumulative Outcome of 6 across all attempts breaks a hole large enough to move through. See the extended system text for GM guidance on various tools.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see a literal wall of corpses and suffering souls..
Calling on the Black Stone's connection to the deeps, the wielder may create tunnels in Earth or Stone - the depths of the Stone pulse & vibrate in an unnerving fashion before releasing a throbbing darkness that sinks into the ground, creating the tunnel.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location within arm's reach. You must be in an area abundant with natural earth and/or raw minerals.
Select one of the following alterations to create out of Earth/Stone originating at the target:
The alteration begins to form when you activate this Effect and finishes forming on your initiative in the next Round. Until it finishes forming, it is not guaranteed to function.
This alteration lasts indefinitely but may be prematurely destroyed or altered. Your alterations may be broken through with appropriate tools. Anyone attempting to break through must roll Brawn + a relevant Ability. A cumulative Outcome of 6 across all attempts breaks a hole large enough to move through. See the extended system text for GM guidance on various tools.
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
The spy can twist the urban environment to their whims, erecting fences, walls, and barriers as needed. They whistle and gesture to where the wall should be, and the surrounding materials fly into place.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location within 50 feet. You must be in an area abundant with man-made structures and materials.
Select one of the following alterations to create out of standard building materials originating at the target:
The alteration begins to form when you activate this Effect and finishes forming on your initiative in the next Round. Until it finishes forming, it is not guaranteed to function.
This alteration lasts one minute but may be prematurely destroyed or altered. Your alterations may be broken through with appropriate tools. Anyone attempting to break through must roll Brawn + a relevant Ability. A cumulative Outcome of 6 across all attempts breaks a hole large enough to move through. See the extended system text for GM guidance on various tools.
Charlie feeds a ticket into a slot in the front compartment of the Dead-Line, and the spectral train pulses with a resonant pressure felt by the souls of those around it. The environment begins to warp and split around it, twisting and extending in unnatural ways before settling into it's new form.
The railways are Charlie's playground, and she will frolic in them however she pleases.
Exert your Mind (unless you are Sculpting) and spend an Action. Select a Location within 50 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the Dead-Line's front car is currently summoned. You must use up a subway ticket in order to activate this Effect.
Select one of the following alterations to create out of subway tracks and concrete originating at the target:
The alteration begins to form when you activate this Effect and finishes forming on your initiative in the next Round. Until it finishes forming, it is not guaranteed to function.
This alteration lasts indefinitely but may be prematurely destroyed or altered. Your alterations may be broken through with appropriate tools. Anyone attempting to break through must roll Brawn + a relevant Ability. A cumulative Outcome of 6 across all attempts breaks a hole large enough to move through. See the extended system text for GM guidance on various tools.
You may sculpt your walls, domes, or tunnels as you create them, without any additional activation time or cost.
The twisting walls of the fibreglass labyrinth bend back on themselves in impossible spirals. "How much attention do you really pay to your surroundings?", it asks. "Is this the hallway you just walked down, or was that one turn to your right?". But there is another way of seeing, and where the City traps some, it liberates others. The liminal space is just that; a transitory phase between origin and endpoint.
You've learned to appreciate the journey, not the destination.
With every bite of bone and skin,
Man's temple groaned and swelled again.
For who would slow the city's spread?
It keeps us warm.
It keeps us fed.
Exert your Mind (unless you are Sculpting) and spend an Action. Select a Location within arm's reach. This Effect cannot be used unless the environment is generic enough to be forgettable (hallways, hotel rools, office buildings, etc.). You must be in an area abundant with man-made structures and materials.
Select one of the following alterations to create out of man-made construction materials originating at the target:
The alteration begins to form when you activate this Effect and finishes forming on your initiative in the next Round. Until it finishes forming, it is not guaranteed to function.
This alteration lasts indefinitely but may be prematurely destroyed or altered. Your alterations may be broken through with appropriate tools. Anyone attempting to break through must roll Brawn + a relevant Ability. A cumulative Outcome of 3 across all attempts breaks a hole large enough to move through. See the extended system text for GM guidance on various tools.
You may sculpt your walls, domes, or tunnels as you create them, without any additional activation time or cost.
While before I used my wit and planning to get my way, now I will alter the board directly.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location within 50 feet.
Select one of the following alterations to create out of Checkered Wood originating at the target:
The alteration begins to form when you activate this Effect and finishes forming on your initiative in the next Round. Until it finishes forming, it is not guaranteed to function.
This alteration lasts one minute but may be prematurely destroyed or altered. Your alterations may be broken through with appropriate tools. Anyone attempting to break through must roll Brawn + a relevant Ability. A cumulative Outcome of 6 across all attempts breaks a hole large enough to move through. See the extended system text for GM guidance on various tools.
The spy can twist the urban environment to their whims, erecting fences, walls, and barriers as needed. They whistle and gesture to where the wall should be, and the surrounding materials fly into place.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location within 50 feet. You must be in an area abundant with man-made structures and materials.
Select one of the following alterations to create out of standard building materials originating at the target:
The alteration begins to form when you activate this Effect and finishes forming on your initiative in the next Round. Until it finishes forming, it is not guaranteed to function.
This alteration lasts one minute but may be prematurely destroyed or altered. Your alterations may be broken through with appropriate tools. Anyone attempting to break through must roll Brawn + a relevant Ability. A cumulative Outcome of 6 across all attempts breaks a hole large enough to move through. See the extended system text for GM guidance on various tools.