Level Six Rituals

Level Six Rituals

Raise the Dead: This ritual allows the Thaumaturgist to do just that--resurrect a dead being, allowing it once again to dwell on the world of the living. This is not a "resurrection" in the truest sense, however; the creature is not alive, nor is it undead, but is in facet as dead as the day it died. The corpse is animated by a spirit the caster forces into it during an eight-hour ordeal. This ritual involves the pouring of black candle wax over the throat and heart of the corpse. The wax is what initially binds the spirit to the body. The corpse must also be branded on the forehead with a mystical symbol meaning "debtor".

The entire ritual must take place within a circle of salt, the diameter of which must equal the length of the corpse from head to toe. Furthermore, the ritual requires complete darkness, save for the candle’s light. The body used must be fresh enough to have tissue still remaining on the bones, for the bondage of the spirit lasts only while the tissue remains (decomposition continues at the normal rate); the fresher the cadaver, the better. This is a tortuous existence for the spirit trapped within the rotting frame, and most resurrected beings will wish release as soon as possible. This is the Warlock’s main bargaining measure to get the spirit to do her bidding, for only she holds the power to release the spirit. Other than that, the immured being may do as it wills with its new body. Obviously, the spirit used must have been summoned or obtained beforehand. Statistically, the creature has Physical Traits equal to half those the possessed in life. While the spirit is trapped within the corpse, its Traits are halved as well.

A destroyed vampire cannot be raised by this ritual.

Ritual of Holding: This is simply a way of extending the effect of another ritual. Use of this ritual adds six hours to another ritual in order to extend its duration or enhance its effect. Of course, this spell’s results differ for every ritual to which it is added. Example: It will lengthen the reach of Blood Walk to extend to include the subject’s progeny, and perhaps those whose blood he has tasted as well. It will cause the container of Engaging the Vessel of Transference to exchange only one Blood Point for two Points that it takes. It may render a ward virtually indestructible. It may make it impossible for Cleansing of the Flesh to eliminate the Shaft of Belated Quiescence. It may keep a spirit trapped by Raise the Dead indefinitely immured in the corpse. The caster can make suggestions as to how it should work, but the Storyteller is the final arbiter of the extent of the "holding".

Utter Destruction of Bonds: This is an incredibly powerful ritual, although many do not realize the extent of its potential, and it must be used with descretion. This simple incantation takes a mere 10 minutes to recite, but requires that the caster’s tongue be removed, crushed and smeared on the object to be affected. The tongue is to be removed at the very end of the ritual, so there is no point in cutting out and saving one’s tongue in one’s free time. This action subjects the Thaumaturgist to three aggravated Health Levels that cannot be soaked, and he will be unable to speak for at least three days (or however long it takes to regrow the tongue). It also costs the character a point of Willpower to bring himself to do it. However, this ritual opens any designated object, and that object will never again be able to be closed. This includes manacles, handcuffs, chests, boxes, windows, doors, safes, zippers, wounds, walls, books, eyes, mouths, throttles, holes in the earth, and the mouths of volcanoes. It also opens dimensional boundaries that are tied to physical objects, and permanently destroys wards. Not included are Blood Bonds, mental control or slavery. Storytellers must arbitrate in all cases.

The "Gift" (Sabbat): This ritual allows a vampire top grant part of her own Disciplines to another by laying her hands on the target. The exact Discipline(s) and number of points given is up to the granter of the "Gift". The ritual requires five minutes per point transferred, and the vampire must make an Intelligence + Occult roll (difficulty 6) to judge how much of a Discipline has been transferred. If the vampire succeeds, she judged correctly and knows when to end the ritual. If she fails in the roll, she stops too soon for the full "Gift" to be given or waits too long and grants too much. If a botch is rolled, the Thaumaturgist loses the points to be given, but the receiver does not get them. They are lost.

The "Gift" is used infrequently, as would be expected. It is used most frequently by the eldest of the Assamite antitribu to pass along all the disciplines to her fellow clan members before she is ritually slaughtered. The "Gift" is also used occasionally as a form of reward or boon. The vampire granting the "Gift" must pay the same price as if she had never had the Discipline before to increase it. So, even though the vampire had a rating of five in Potence before the "Gift", she now has a rating of three. If she wants to increase her Potence again, it will cost her the normal amount for a vampire of her clan.

Iron Mind (Sabbat): This ritual makes its target invulnerable to Auspex for one night. The ritual requires an earring, hat pin, or other object containing iron to be worn on the head. The object must have the ritual cast upon it. The object then creates what would be called "psychic static", blocking all uses of Auspex against the person wearing the object. The individual using the Auspex will know something is wrong, but not what.

Spider’s Web (Sabbat): The vampire is able to create a web that resembles an actual spider’s web in all respects, except the web is big enough to fill a large room, and sticky and strong enough to capture and hold victims. The vampire spins a web using her hands, spreading it out to make a web of any shape desired. The vampire is able to use this web to coat a haven for protection or some other area to trap food. It is not possible to use this webbing as a form of attack, because the web comes out slowly and must be woven into shape.

The vampire is immune to any webbing she has created herself and cannot get stuck in it. A victim is allowed to try and pull loose by scoring three or more successes on a simple roll using Strength (difficulty 6; Potence works normally). A person may make a simple roll using Dexterity + Dodge to see if he can avoid stepping into the web when he tries to get past it. The material component is a black widow spider that must be crushed and eaten.

Mass Grave (Black Hand): Most members of the Black Hand first reach Enoch via this ritual, which is similar to Shadowland Passage except that it can affect an entire group. Everyone going to the Shadowlands must be buried together in one grave, using dirt mixed with the remains of at least one freshly killed sentient creature.

Evade Curse (Assamite): One of the first successes of the tajdid research program, this ritual enables the character to tolerate the blood of other Kindred for a short time. The ritual takes five minutes while feeding, and the effects last a number of turns equal to the successes on a Stamina + Occult roll (difficulty the number of Blood Points taken +2). The Kindred Blood Points should be marked with a "T" on the character sheet; they will be the first Blood Points to be used for healing, Quietus powers, Thaumaturgy rituals, or other purposes. On the next turn, the character’s immunity to the Curse ends; remaining Blood Points which are marked with a "T" are lost, and the character suffers an equal number of aggravated wounds.

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