Ritual of the Inner Compass

Thaumaturgy, Level 3 Ritual

REQUIREMENTS		Three Points in any path of Thaumaturgy
		Thaumaturgic Path: Movement of the Mind, Level 2

COMPONENTS		1 - Twine, roughly one foot in length, with knots roughly every two inches.
		1 - Small piece of magnetized iron ore.
		OR
		3 - Feathers of a trained homing pigeon.
		3 - Pints of the castor's vitae.

CASTING TIME

Six Hours, not including preparation time.

RITUAL

The purpose of this ritual is so that a Tremere, when lost, disoriented, or even kidnapped, can almost immediately find their way back to someplace they have a frame of reference from, allowing them a much greater chance of returning to their haven before the rising of the Sun, or returning to their haven at all. A warning to all who believe this ritual is simplistic in nature; though it is only an intermediate-level ritual, the preparation involved is very lengthy.

For three days, twice a night, six hours apart, the site/landmark/object/etc. must be cleansed in a quick and general way, and the following words of preparation must be spoken:

(Latin) “Through night, through time. Show me the path, show me the way.”

Immediately following the second time, each night, the castor should place the knotted twine and the magnetic ore (or one of the three feathers, one each night) in front of the site/landmark/object/etc. Then, upon a large platter, the castor must pour one pint of his own vitae (if using the feathers, placing the feather into the vitae), and, concentrating on the power of his vitae, speaking the following incantation:

(Latin) “Let this be my anchor.”

Dipping his finger into the platter of vitae, the castor places a drop of vitae onto the site/landmark/object/etc. At this, the vitae (and the feather, if applicable) will dissipate, should the ritual be successful to this point.

On the fourth night, the castor must spend roughly six hours completely cleaning, polishing, and otherwise cleansing the site/landmark/object/etc. After this is completed, he should place the twine (and the ore, if applicable) before the site/landmark/object/etc., and, concentrating on the power of his vitae, speaks the following incantation:

(Latin) “Through night, through time. Show me the path, show me the way. Let this be my anchor. Let this be my light.”

If this is successful, the twine (and ore, if applicable) should dissipate. Now, whenever the castor chooses to activate this ritual, he will be able to get a good approximation of the distance and direction he is from the site/landmark/object/etc., usable three times before he must recast the ritual upon the desired site/landmark/object/etc.

When the castor wishes to activate the ritual, he must spend a bit of his vitae, and, concentrating on the power of his vitae, speak the following incantation:

(Latin) “I am lost, and do not know my way. May my guide come now, and show it to me.”

At this point, the castor will gain a rough approximation of the distance and direction he is from the site/landmark/object/etc.

MECHANICS

During each of the three nights, during the second cleansing ritual, the player rolls the character's Willpower, Difficulty 8. Only one success is needed to assure the ritual's success for that part; a failure means it has to be attempted again, and a botch means another night must be spent cleansing the site. On the final night, Willpower, Difficulty 8, must be rolled. It can be rolled multiple times, until three successes are gained, and the only thing this takes up is more time.

On the activation of the ritual, the Willpower Roll, Difficulty 7, determines the accuracy that the character can sense the direction of and the distance to the site/landmark/object/etc. Please see the below table for more information.

TABLE 1-A

Results for The Ritual of the Internal Compass


BOTCH		Character is between 120 and 220 degrees opposite the correct direction, and/or between 30 miles too short or too far.
FAILURE		Character has no idea of the distance and direction.
1 SUCCESS		Character knows distance within 15 to 20 miles,* and within 90 degrees of direction.**
2 SUCCESSES		Character knows distance within 10 to 15 miles,* and within 45 degrees of direction.**
3 SUCCESSES		Character knows distance within 5 to 10 miles,* and within 30 degrees of direction.**
4 SUCCESSES		Character knows distance within 5 miles,* and within 15 degrees of direction.**
5+ SUCCESSES		Character knows distance within 1 mile, and within 5 degrees of direction.

* - If under this distance, Character has no idea of the distance.
** - If under 5 miles, the accuracy is increased by an additional 50%.