Through a bizarre ritual, Lorenzo can rent an improved version of an item. He must set $10,000 worth of cash on fire, and place the item to be upgraded in the fire as well. It will quickly burn, and will send rainbow-colored sparks up into the sky. After a short time, the new, upgraded version of the item will be delivered in the form of a metal capsule that falls out of the sky and lands near you.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. This Effect cannot be used unless you have sky access. You must use up $10000 cash (or equivalent currency) in order to activate this Effect. Cannot be used to improve Armor.
Lasts the next day. Your target receives 3 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +3 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice.
These contracts bear the logo of the Inderpal Agency - they come prefilled with the various stipulations, consequences, & basic parameters, though much is left blank to allow customization by the end user. To activate, the contract is merely finished & signed by the respective parties. The contract remains, but it's power is expended after activation.
The default penalty is "Oathbreaker" taking the form of a elaborate henna marking on their face that cannot be removed. Other penalties may be selected in it's place if desired. Attempting to break the stipulations results in a splitting migraine & a cold sweat.
These Contracts are written with the same Ferro-Fluid that emits from the R.I.S.H.I. device or generated by the R.I.S.H.I. as a digital NFT
Standard CPS Contract
Upon agreement by the Close Protection Specialist & the Client (Hereafter referred to as "CPS" & "Client" respectively) the following Contract is established:
-The Client agrees to pay the designated rate per day the CPS is contracted to provide Close Protection services, in addition to reasonable expenses incurred by the CPS as well as any up front retainer if one was requested. This payment will be in British Pounds unless the CPS agrees to an acceptable alternative. The Client agrees to pay the full amount negotiated promptly, either per week of ongoing services or within five business days of a concluded agreement. The CPS may allot more time or waive payment if desired.
Responsibilities of the CPS
-The CPS will take any action required to ensure the life, safety, & freedom of the Client, up to & including personal injury, incarceration or loss of life. If the client is somehow abducted while under the CPS's protection, the CPS will dedicate every effort to secure the Client's freedom, with the normal pay structure being frozen during this time (the Client will still incur reasonable expenses, to be paid upon their release provided the efforts of the CPS contributed to their freedom).
Responsibilities of the Client
-The Client agrees to divulge any pertinent information requested by the CPS. Requested information is to be truthful, accurate, & delivered promptly. Information gained in this manner is considered confidential & the CPS is prohibited from sharing it with any third parties without the Client's permission.
-The Client agrees to a Non-Disclosure article regarding any actions or services taken by the CPS while under Contract unless the CPS gives express permission for those details to be shared with a designated third party. This NDA includes any form of recording or similar, any written record of actions taken by the CPS, any information that would be gained under questioning or interrogation, or any other means not listed here. The only information the Client may share without permission is public facing information (Amarjeet Inderpal, Inderpal Agency), that they did in fact hire the CPS & if they would do so again.
Stipulations
-If the Client chooses to engage in illegal activities that could endanger the reputation of the Inderpal Agency, the CPS may terminate the Contract. Doing so requires a notification be delivered to the Client explaining the reasoning behind the Contract termination as well as the refund of any payments made by the Client within five business days. If a Contract is terminated in this manner, all Conditions & Stipulations upon both CPS & Client are rendered void.
-The CPS will continue to provide services & be bound by the above stipulations until a designated objective has been completed or previously defined time period has elapsed. Once services have been rendered or if the contract has been terminated (either through non-payment or the above stipulation), the CPS will be free of all stipulations of this Contract unless hired again at a later date. A verbal agreement to reinstate previously negotiated services shall be all that is required from the Client should the CPS choose to offer it - new stipulations, costs, or other parameters will require a new Contract to be signed.
-If either the CPS or the Client break the terms of this arrangement by action or inaction, they will invoke a penalty clause, becoming Marked in the process.
You may make an oath with a Sapient target. Communicate the oath's terms to the target, including the requirements and penalties for each participant. If all agree to the terms, you must and all participants must sign the contract to seal the deal.
Record the oath as a Condition. If a party breaks the oath, the Condition ends and they suffer the oath's penalty.
When crafting your oath, you may incorporate any of the following penalties:
The target cannot be compelled to agree via a direct threat of violence, another Effect, or another oath. If you would like to use clever wording to mislead the target, you must succeed a contested Intellect + (Culture or Influence) roll.
When crafting your oath, you may opt to enforce compliance. If you do, any participant that wishes to break the deal must take 3 Mind damage and succeed a Self-Control roll. They may attempt once per day.
The target may be at any range, but you must still be able to communicate the terms to them, and they must be able to sign the contract.
May either vomits out, or extrudes from her skin a greenish fluid that the moves and soaks into the surfaces she touches, breaking them apart.
She can do this slower and with less powerful enzymes to not tax herself as much.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Non-Sapient Object or piece of an Object or structure within arm's reach no larger than a duffel bag (35 liters). Roll Intellect + Medicine 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.
When activating this Effect, you may spend an extra minute and maintain Concentration. If you do, it has no Exertion cost, and you may destroy an object which has up to 3x larger dimensions, or up to 27x larger volume than the normal maximum size.
Both cuffs start glowing a ghostly shade of cyan soon after the chains connected to each cuff start to glow in a similar manner and a ethereal chain extends from the existing chain and wraps around the target
Spend an Action. Select a target within arm's reach. Roll Charisma + Occult at Difficulty 6. the target may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.
If you succeed, your target will be restricted at their location by an intangible, ethereal binding. They can still move their arms and use Effects, but cannot move to a new location.
Restricted targets may attempt to break the binding and escape by spending an Action and rolling Mind at Difficulty 7. Breaking free requires a total cumulative Outcome of twice the original Contested Outcome.
Your bindings affect intangible beings like ghosts.
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
With carefully modulated tones, subliminal rhythms, or a pulsing beat that bypasses conscious thought, Cloe implants ideas directly into the minds of others. Her suggestions ride the waveform of sound, influencing behavior through emotional resonance and hypnotic undertones. The message feels like it was always their idea echoed from within.
Exert your Mind and spend at least one Action. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. Your target cannot be engaged in Combat. Communicate a command to your target. Roll Charisma + Influence 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 their best understanding of the letter and 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.
This Effect ends if you are stunned, fall asleep, go unconscious, are incapacitated, die, or if your total Stress ever exceeds 5.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Glitching Reality Effect: Whenever you're in a chaotic or noisy environment (crowds, overlapping sounds, corrupted data streams, etc.), make a Self-Control roll. On failure, you experience overwhelming sensory distortion and must focus entirely on reestablishing internal rhythm—often through beatboxing, tapping, or isolating a "clean" sound. You suffer -2 dice to all actions not related to this focus until you succeed on a new Self-Control roll or find a quiet space..
At times, a quick investigation and a bit of pleading to your benefactor is all you need to solve the case. In turn, there's a decent chance you might be thrown that small scrap of evidence that blows the case wide open.
Brief visions granted to Frank by the spirit of film noir (as opposed to the whispers). Typically used as a last resort once an investigations reached a dead in, there's a great shame involved in utilizing glances. It's like confessing that you've got nothing left, that you're not good enough for the case... not without this crutch.
Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. Investigate an area with a radius of up to 100 feet At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Investigation at Difficulty 6.
You learn the following information about the area:
You cannot investigate the same area more than once per day.
The psychic can glean various important details about a person simply by engaging in a short conversation with them.
Spend one minute. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. You must actively converse with the individual in question for one minute in order to gather any information. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Influence at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
Any information you gather is spoken aloud in conversation and made publicly available.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.
The Toon performs some sort of cartoonish act of violence. This may be handing someone a bomb, hitting someone with a cartoon mallet, burping a burp that is so noxious it melts flesh, or anything else as long as it is cartoonish.
The attack is more of a throwaway gag than a plot element, so any props or properties of the attack are incidental and disappear immediately. Animated mallets evaporate in a puff of smoke, fire does not spread, and electricity cannot power devices.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target within 45 feet. Roll Charisma + Performance 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 4. Armor is fully effective against this damage.
The musician pours their heart and soul into their music, giving others some much needed perspective and solace and all around good vibes. This can be a temporary easing of the mind, but with prolonged music therapy it can even permanently cure psychic damage.
Exert your Mind to activate. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You cannot target yourself. This Effect cannot be used unless you continuously play music for your target during the activation. Over the course of one Downtime, your patient must communicate with you and reveal at least one of their Traumas to you, including the details of those Traumas and the circumstances of how they were acquired. After the full treatment time has elapsed, roll Charisma + Performance at Difficulty 6.
Your target may Resist. If your treatment is successful, you may remove one of the patient's revealed Traumas without incurring any Experience cost.
Once per day per target, you may choose to use this Effect to stabilize the Mind of a target within arm's reach. Treatment takes 30 seconds but will not remove any Traumas. If you are successful, restore 2 Mind damage.
You may choose to use this Effect to temporarily relieve any number of the patient's Traumas (including mental Conditions). In this case, Treatment takes an Action and the effect lasts two hours. If the Patient is currently experiencing an episode, Difficulty is increased by 2.
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.
Through years of practice, the mobster is able to shatter someone's kneecap without much effort.
Spend an Action. Select a Living or Animate target within arm's reach. You must actively and obviously use a melee weapon to activate this Effect. Roll Brawn + Melee at Difficulty 6. The target may roll Body, -2 dice at Difficulty 7, as a Free Action to resist.
If you succeed, the target receives a new Battle Scar of your choosing, limited by the contested Outcome:
All alterations you make must damage the target's knees.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.