Ritual of the Honest Consumption

Thaumaturgy, Level 1 Ritual

REQUIREMENTS		Thaumaturgy: Path of Blood, Level 1.
		Auspex, Level 2.

COMPONENTS		Between 1 and 5 cups, of any sort of transparent or semi-transparent material (glass, plastic, crystal, etc.)
		Two drops of the caster’s vitae for each glass.
		One drop of ipecac for each glass.
		One half teaspoon of powdered Amytal.

CASTING TIME

Thirty minutes, roughly.

RITUAL

The purpose of this ritual is a simple one: it allows those who have the gift of the Discipline of the Spirit at a powerful enough status to sense, without fail, whether someone is being honest, or false, in their words. It is speculative, and can be interpreted in many ways, depending on how the interrogation was done, and how the answer was given, but if the caster is shrewd enough, patient enough, and prepared enough, he can use this ritual quite effectively, and without it ever being known it was done (should that be the caster’s desire).

Preparation is what takes the most time, overall, within this ritual. Each glass must be washed and cleaned until it is of pristine condition, without even the slightest of blemishes. My own estimates have narrowed the washing of each glass down to five minutes per glass, but, of course, that is myself, and no one else… and does not include any time spent inspecting glasses for chips or cracks, replacing them, etc. Once each glass is so prepared, each should be set out in a straight row across a table, approximately two inches apart from each other, tops up. Then, the caster should speak the following words of preparation, concentrating as he does on the power of his vitae.
(Latin) "May the clarity of these glasses show the truth."
With this done, the caster must then, in a bowl meant for mixing such material, mix one drop of his own vitae, one drop of ipecac, and one half teaspoon of aula root, mixing thoroughly until it is completely immersed within it. The vitae bonds the caster to the mixture, the aula root serves as the symbolic component for honesty, as is was used by ancient tribes to derive the truth from an individual, and the ipecac serves as a rejection agent, should the ritual detect falsehood. With this done, the mixture should be placed in one of the glasses, smoothed out evenly along the bottom. Repeat this process for as many glasses as you have, no more than five. And then, the caster should place one more drop of his vitae within the glasses, atop the mixture, and repeat the following incantation.
(Latin) "By the words of those spoken that drink from you, may you discern the truth of their words, and reveal it to me."

The mixture should form a deep shade of crimson, and layer across the bottom of the glass, as if a part of the glass itself. This represents a successfully completed ritual. When the time comes to use the ritual, the process is as follows:
The glass/glasses must contain some form of drink, which can include blood or vitae.
The caster must speak the following words of incantation BEFORE the person he wishes to interrogate drinks, and, as well, before they speak the words that he wishes to know the validity of:

(Latin) "Speak truthfully, and feel no pain."

The caster must make sure that the person he wishes to interrogate drinks from the glass just after speaking what it is that the caster wishes to know the validity of. They can drink before this, and after this, but if the caster does not prepare himself properly, then he cannot discern the truth of the person’s words.

When this is done, the caster need only spend the necessary blood, rather than put forth the usual effort as well. If the person speaks the truth, they will not see any aura, just as if they had not spent the effort for the Perception of the Aura in the first place. However, if the person has spoken falsely, there will be a reaction. With mortals, they will become actually ill, but with both mortals and Kindred, their auras will flare up, and the caster will see an aura of someone who is ill, or sickly. Anyone using the Perception of the Aura on the intended person can see this as well. It will fade after a period of one minute, or after they take their next drink, so the caster must be quick.

MECHANICS

The player must roll for the success of the ritual only once; Willpower, Difficulty 6, and only one success is required. However, once the other person/people partake from the glass/glasses, the player must roll Perception + Alertness, according to the following table.

1 Person, Cannot Botch
2 – 5 People, close together, Difficulty 4
2 – 5 People, spread out through a room, Difficulty 6
6 – 10 People, close together, Difficulty 7
6 – 10 People, spread out through a room, Difficulty 8
11 People or more, close together, Difficulty 8
11 People or more, spread out through a room, Difficulty 9

For more than five people, the player may lower this difficulty by taking extra rounds to scan the room slowly, and by rolling for each round. This will lower the difficulty by one, and give the player up to three rolls, for which the successes are cumulative. Each success is one person’s aura seen, or, for mortals, one person seen looking ill.

Example: If three people are lying, and Ethan is looking through ten people who are spread throughout a room, and he takes three rounds to do this, he has three Willpower rolls to get three successes (as only three people are lying, so only they are visibly different).

A failure for the initial casting means the ritual fails, while a botch means that it will either work in inverse, or another bad effect determined by the ST. A failure for the perception means that he misses the people for that roll (if there are more rolls; if not, then he misses everyone), while a botch means that, no matter how many rolls there are, he sees nothing.