Terror-Spreading Art

 

Corpse-Fed Radiance

Cost: 2 motes

Duration: One scene

Type: Simple

Minimum Conviction: 1

Minimum Essence: 1

Prerequisite Charms: None

Ghosts are most comfortable in the dark of night, but that does not mean they always wish to go unseen in the darkness. Some ghosts wish to be seen, either to terrify the mortals who behold them or to illuminate the steps of those foolish enough to trust the dead as guides. By releasing 2 motes of Essence, a ghost can cause herself to glow with radiance as bright as the setting sun. Two or more ghosts acting in unison can combine their radiance, and when seven act in concert, the effect is as bright as the noonday sun in the Far Southern deserts. A ghost may choose to display any color, from the hideous green of grave mold to the warm gold of afternoon sunshine. When performed in the living world, the Corpse-Fed Radiance is visible even if the ghost is dematerialized.

 

Black Breath Of The Abyss

Cost: 8 motes

Duration: One scene

Type: Simple

Minimum Conviction: 1

Minimum Essence: 2

Prerequisite Charms: Corpse-Fed Radiance

Darkness is more potent than light. Every dead man knows this. Thus does Black Breath of the Abyss surpass Corpse-Fed Radiance in the hierarchy of ghostly skills. When summoned, the Black Breath of the Abyss is more than just a cloud of darkness. It is an utter absence of light that boils out of the ghost's mouth, ears, nose and eyes. Devouring any normal source of light, the cloud extends for 10 feet around the ghost. If the ghost expends a Willpower point, the cloud will move in any direction of his choosing. Those caught in the cloud are utterly blinded —except ghosts, who can see through the darkness clearly. No light can penetrate its inky depths, and those trapped within subtract two successes from all attack rolls. The boundary for the Arcanos' effect is as insubstantial as air and can be crossed simply by moving out of the area of effect, but the disorienting effect of the total darkness makes this difficult.

The Black Breath of the Abyss cannot be dispelled by normal light, though it will fade away in due time. The manifestation of a Solar anima banner within the cloud of darkness will also dispel it.

 

Painting The Sunset Picture

Cost: 4 motes

Duration: One scene

Type: Simple

Minimum Conviction: 2

Minimum Essence: 2

Prerequisite Charms: Black Breath of the Abyss

Mere light is not always enough to work a ghost's will. Storytellers among the dead use illusions to illustrate their tales, and artisans of terror regard well-crafted images as the most basic tools of their trade.

The illusions the dead craft by Painting the Sunset Picture are simple ones — a single image in three dimensions, with a basic color palette, immobile and faintly transparent. They can be as large as the ghost creating them wishes, though most of the Restless Dead prefer to keep their creations man-sized or smaller. Often, the images flicker or blur, revealing their artificial origins.

Painting the Sunset Picture requires a successful Wits + Craft (Pandemonium) roll against a difficulty of 1. More complicated illusions, such as the image of a tree individual leaves or a detailed reconstruction of the Palace Sublime are more difficult, and may reach as high as difficulty 3. The illusion's appearance may move as fast or as slow as the ghostly creator wishes.

A ghost can sustain a Sunset Picture for an hour if she wishes by feeding it a point of Willpower. She can also create multiple illusions simultaneously, each with their own cost in Essence. Sunset Pictures that have run their course slowly fade away into transparency. The illusions of Painting the Sunset Picture are visible even when created in the lands of the living. The ghost need not materialize to make the illusions visible.

 

Midnight Canvas Unfurled

Cost: 5 motes + 1 Willpower; 5 motes/additional sense

Duration: One scene

Type: Simple

Minimum Conviction: 3

Minimum Essence: 2

Prerequisite Charms: Painting the Sunset Picture

Any ghost with a modicum of training can create a simple illusion. It is far more difficult to create a complex one, one that moves, speaks and gives the appearance of life. Midnight Canvas Unfurled is the tool of choice for these masters of illusion, and it serves them well. By utilizing this Arcanos, a ghost may craft an illusion that exists in three dimensions and is capable of movement.

With a successful Wits + Craft (Pandemonium) roll by his player, the ghost summons the fleshed out illusion. The difficulty of this Charm is the same as that of Painting the Sunset Picture; the larger and more complex the illusion is, the higher the difficulty. By spending 5 additional motes of Essence, the master of the illusion can cause the illusion to affect a sense beside sight. Sound is most often used, but true craftsmen among the dead take delight in creating illusions so complex that they fool the living. These phantasms will even obey their creator's wishes to move or speak, so long as the wishes are simple. The image lasts a single scene, unless sustained with an investment of Willpower. A single point of Willpower will extend the illusion's lifespan to an hour.

Only the past masters among the dead have ever created a Midnight Canvas larger than a behemoth, though the Deathlords do so with some regularity and disdain. However, the artisans of the dead have compensated by learning how to add other touches of realism to their creations.

The illusions of Midnight Canvas Unfurled, like those of Painting the Sunset Picture, are visible even when created in the lands of the living. The ghost need not materialize to make the illusions visible. They can be seen, even if he cannot.

 

The Ichor Cauldron

Cost: 6 motes

Duration: One hour

Type: Simple

Minimum Conviction: 3

Minimum Essence: 2

Prerequisite Charms: Midnight Canvas Unfurled

This Charm gives the user the ability to summon large quantities of any sort of foul, harmless fluid out of thin air, and it can be employed to terrify, disgust or disturb with equal ease. Those using it can summon up to (their Conviction rating x 10) gallons of any harmless fluid they choose — blood and squirming but harmless maggots are acceptable, acids and flammable oils are not. This liquid manifests on the walls, floors, ceilings and other surfaces nearby, at the ghost's discretion.

The uses of this power can be as benign as filling a pot with water or as malicious as making blood drip out of walls. The fluid will remain in place until it dries up or drains away, but in that time, it will have no visible source, and its flow cannot be stemmed. While the ichor that is created cannot be directly harmful, it can have dangerous secondary effects, such as rendering a steep staircase slippery or smearing the ink on a precious document.

 

Messenger Of The Grave

Cost: 4 motes, 1 Willpower

Duration: One hour

Type: Simple

Minimum Conviction: 3

Minimum Essence: 2

Prerequisite Charms: The Ichor Cauldron

This Charm creates vermin and gives them brief life. The Messenger takes the form of a deathwatch beetle, rat or other small creature. Instantly responsive to the will of its creator, the creature scuttles forth to work his will. At the end of an hour, the Messenger will shrivel and die, but its life can be extended another hour by the expenditure of another point of Willpower by the ghost who summoned it. Messengers can be killed as per normal creatures of their type; a simple sword thrust or even a well-placed boot heel will do for most.

Creating a Messenger requires a Wits + Pandemonium roll. The difficulty is 2 for an insect or similarly small creature, difficulty 3 for anything else up to the size of a large rat. Nothing larger can be created through the use of this Charm. The Messenger appears at the ghost's feet and goes forth into the world to do his bidding. While the Messenger has enough rudimentary intelligence to obey the ghost's mental commands, it is not a familiar and still cannot be pushed beyond its innate capabilities. For example, a summoned rat may be able to climb walls, but it's still not going to be able to transcribe a document or make complex judgments about humans.

Messengers may have fangs or claws, but even those created in the image of a poisonous creature such as a spider do not have venom. A ghost need not be materialized in order to use this Charm. Her odious minion will appear in the world of the living unless this Charm is used in the Underworld or in a shadowland at night.

 

Six Plague Summons

Cost: 20 motes, 2 Willpower

Duration: One hour

Type: Simple

Minimum Conviction: 3

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisite Charms: Messenger of the Grave

One rat. One spider. One serpent. A single example of any of these species can be overlooked, swatted or stepped on. A flood of them, however, is not so easy to dismiss. Six Plague Summons lets a ghost create and send forth an entire horde of vermin, which will happily swarm over, devour or trample anything before it. All that is required is the investment of Essence and Willpower and a successful Wits + Pandemonium roll (difficulty 2 for anything up to a mouse in size, 3 for anything up to a rat). A Six Plague Summons can include anywhere from a half-dozen to thousands of creatures, depending on the success of the initial roll. The more successes scored, the more creatures, with the number going up by a factor of five for each success.

Number of Successes          Approximate Number of Creatures Summoned

0                                  1-10

1                                  50

2                                  250

3                                              1250

4                                  6250

Successes beyond four produce what is, intents and purposes, for all numberless swarm.

The downside is that a plague thus summoned is extremely difficult to control. The ghost who brings it forth can give it some rough direction ("Go east!" or "Chase him!") but not much more than that. Vermin brought forth through this Charm are also ravenously hungry, making them even more difficult to control. Fortunately, the plague lasts one hour and one hour only and cannot be extended beyond that. A ghost need not be materialized in order to use this Charm. In fact, her festering swarm always appears in the world of the living, unless she invokes this Charm in the Underworld or at night in a shadowland.

 

Hand Of The Wind

Cost: 3 motes, 1 Willpower

Duration: Instant

Type: Simple

Minimum Conviction: 1

Minimum Essence: 1

Prerequisite Charms: Corpse-Fed Radiance

Not all of the dead are content to paint pictures in the air. Some wish to affect the lands of the living in a more tangible way. Hand of the Wind lets these ghosts reach out with more-than-ghostly force.

By exercising this Arcanos, the ghost fortifies his being with his will for an instant. During that time, he is capable of one action that affects the world of flesh as if he were a part of it. Whether that consists of striking a blow, stealing a trinket or pushing an archer lining up a shot is entirely up to the ghost. Any action the ghost takes is subject to an appropriate roll (The player of a ghost trying to snatch a First Age relic out of an enemy's hand would have to roll Dexterity + Larceny, for example, while the player of one seeking to pick up an abandoned dagger and hurl it would roll Dexterity + Thrown). The ghost himself cannot be struck by mortal weapons during this time, as he is not actually materialized.

Note that Hand of the Wind can be used for only one action at a time, though with a loose definition of "one action." Picking something up and throwing it is considered one action; holding a pen and writing a several thousand line epic poem is not. In general, there is not enough time for characters to split their dice pool. Hand of the Wind cannot be used in the Underworld. Its uses are limited to the living world and during the day in the shadowlands.

 

Strike Of Dead Hands

Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower

Duration: Instant

Type: Supplemental

Minimum Conviction: 2

Minimum Essence: 2

Prerequisite Charms: Hand of the Wind

What Strike of Dead Hands gives a ghost is physical power, pure and simple. By adding brute force to a blow enabled by Hand of the Wind, the ghost suddenly makes his interactions with the world of the living that much more devastating.

Strike of Dead Hands lasts, like its antecedent, for just one attack, but it is far more potent. Any attacks or Strength-based actions undertaken with this Arcanos have one additional automatic success, and any blow struck has additional lethal damage dice equal to the ghost's Strength rating, meaning that the ghost's Strength effectively doubles for the purposes of damage on the blow. Ghosts can use this Charm to strike blows with weapons, and a ghost armed with a daiklave can be a menace to an Exalt who cannot attack spirits. The ghost has no fine control of Strike of Dead Hands and, thus, cannot temper a blow or pull a punch when using it.

 

Flying Time Technique

Cost: 8 motes, 1 Willpower

Duration: Instant

Type: Extra Action

Minimum Conviction: 3

Minimum Essence: 2

Prerequisite Charms: Strike of Dead Hands

By exploiting their ghostly nature, the dead can cause the distortions of time, space and speed peculiar to nightmares to become manifest reality. The ghost possessing this Charm can move with incredible speed, cover impossible distances and strike many times as time for her victim slows to a dreamy crawl.

Though the special effects of this Charm are of nightmare sensory distortion, the mechanical effect is one of extra actions. The player of the ghost invoking the Arcanos rolls Intelligence + Craft (Pandemonium). For every success, the ghost gains an extra action that turn, but the number of extra actions cannot exceed the ghost's permanent Essence. These extra actions cannot be saved from turn to turn. Other than its unusual special effects, Flying Time Technique is a normal Extra Action Charm and subject to the usual restrictions.

 

Ebon Grasp Of Oblivion

Cost: 16 motes, 3 Willpower

Duration: One scene

Type: Simple

Minimum Conviction: 3

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisite Charms: Black Breath of the Abyss, Strike of Dead Hands

One of the ultimate powers of the dead, Ebon Grasp of Oblivion strikes mercilessly and takes its victims back with it into the depths of the Abyss. Emerging from the ghosts facial orifices like the Black Breath, the Ebon Grasp mauls those it strikes, savaging their flesh and spirits. Those who are struck down by the Ebon Grasp are seized by it and taken, screaming, into the depths of the Underworld.

All who are within a five-yard radius of the ghost's mouth and eyes (other than the ghost activating the Arcanos) are subject to the Ebon Grasp's hideous effects. Each turn the Ebon Grasp touches a target gives the cloud a reflexive Strength + Brawl attack against the victim, using the summoning ghost's statistics. A successful attack does Strength + 2 lethal damage. If the target is reduced to Incapacitated or below, the next turn the cloud picks him up and begins dragging him into the Abyss. This process takes two turns to complete, during which time he can be rescued by a contested Strength roll against the cloud. Victims who are not rescued are drawn into the Abyss through the physical form of the summoning ghost, a disturbing and obscene process. The Ebon Grasp can be fought like any other physical threat. It does not dodge, has a soak of 6L/12B, has eight health levels and takes no wound penalties. It uses the characters Traits and acts on initiative 10. The Ebon Grasp of Oblivion ignores all attacks that do less that its soak, and weapons not made from the Five Magical Materials, subjected to Elemental Enchantment or otherwise enhanced do only bashing damage to the Ebon Grasp.