You place the windup key to the back of a toy, or similarly human representing golem. Twist for a minute until your hand begins to hurt. The toy will animate and grow in size to a friendly helper of the one holding the windup key.
If there is no toy, starting the process as if there were one will slowly make a basic enlarged teddy bear.
This artifact relies on the cultural idea of toys, and the cultural idea of wind up toys, especially in the minds of children. The basic idea of these wind up toys is that you wind them up, then let them go and they move around doing toy things, seeming almost alive. This artifact takes that idea, and merges it with a few other ideas of ways to create useful servants to make an artifact capable of making useful friendly minions.
The ritual to create this artifact relies on a ritual involving
- A variety of children's toys which are popular in the shared imagination
- A collection of stories and myths about the Hebrew golumn
- Mary Shelly's frankenstein
- Carefully shaping the pattern of a wind up key while reading various relevant parts of these stories
Exert your Mind and spend one minute.
Summon a single enlarged animated toy at your location. They will last until they are destroyed. They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. This Artifact may have at most 1 minion active at a time.
After you finish activating this Effect, you cannot move quicker than a walk (max 15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour. Exhaustion’s penalty and duration stacks with multiple activations.
You may only use this Effect once per day.
Loosing a translucent arrow of inky blackness from your technical marvel of a weapon, you resist the urge to smile as you hit your mark dead-on. And dead really is the operating word, as your former obstacle crumples soundlessly to the floor. The satisfaction of a job well done almost overrides the stinging marks on your face. The shadows need more from you than just competence.
[Disfiguring]: Possession of this artefact causes the wielder to manifest inky-purplish-black pockmarks across their face. While summoning the arrows for this bow, the marks will sting ever so slightly, as the user's skin decays to fuel the weapon. It is slight enough to be barely noticed, even over long periods of time, but this bow does indeed use the archer as its ammunition.
This Artifact can be used as a bow. It is roughly the same size as a bow but can be collapsed into a keychain sports motorcycle and concealed. Collapsing or expanding it costs a Quick Action.
Attack by rolling Dexterity + Athletics, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +1 Weapon Damage. Attacks do not require a successful called shot to do damage.
Possession of this Artifact causes the following Battle Scar to manifest over the course of a day: Disfigured - Shadow Decay. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Battle Scar heals over the course of the next day.
You also gain the following effects:
When removed from it's sheath and offered a prayer, Caliburn glows with a golden light and becomes anathema to those that resist god. Able to smash through any defense powered by God's light this sword has laid dormant in the vaults under Vatican city for a millennia until the time to hunt monsters has come again!
This Artifact can be used as a great sword / giant axe. It is roughly at least twice as large as a great sword / giant axe and cannot be concealed on your person or disassembled for storage.
Attack by rolling Brawn + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +5 Weapon Damage.
You also gain the following effects:
Grigori embeds a red signet gem inside the pommel of his massive sword. The gem is made from his blood and linked to him so that the sword may always be found.
This Artifact cannot be broken.
If this Artifact is lost and in no one’s possession, it finds its way back to its creator during the next Downtime.
This Artifact's creator is always aware of the direction and distance to this Artifact.
This Artifact's creator must have it with them to have restful sleep. They cannot regain Mind or Source while separated from this Artifact.
A new small rectangular piece of amber is embedded into Caliburn. It's a reliquary from a long dead monk said to have healing powers. The sword has absorbed this ability and can offer it to grigori.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
Any Injury you receive heals quickly, reducing its Severity by one level every 6 hours. Any Injuries you receive while this Effect is active do not deteriorate over time. However, any Battle Scars caused by such an Injury will remain unless it is Properly Stabilized as normal.
You may Exert your Mind and spend an Action to reduce the Severity of one of your Injuries by 2. Does not affect Injuries suffered as an activation cost for Effects.
All Injuries you receive are considered Properly Stabilized. You may also choose to heal any Battle Scar on yourself that may not have been caused by an Injury. Doing so takes one day, and the Battle Scar affects you fully until that time.
The user throws the harpoon, propelled like a rocket by its junkyard modifications, and the spine explodes with a jet of briny water to aid the propulsion. If the user flexes their hand and pulls, the waterjet pulls the Harpoon back into their grip like the retracting of a chain.
This spear was made of the spine of the fish woman Jorge and his crew ate that one fateful night, when starving they engaged in the sin of mythological cannibalism.
This Artifact can be used as a javelin. It is roughly at least twice as large as a javelin and cannot be concealed on your person or disassembled for storage.
Attack by rolling Brawn + Athletics, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +3 Weapon Damage.
You also gain the following effects:
Jorge consumed the Kuliltu, and made its spine into his harpoon. Ever since that fateful night where he partook of its body with the crew, he’s felt it like a part of his own body. Flesh of his flesh and blood of his blood.
This Artifact cannot be broken. If this Artifact is lost and in no one else’s possession, it finds its way back to its true owner during the next Downtime.
By default, the creator of this Artifact is its true owner. The true owner may formally bequeath this Artifact onto another person within arm’s reach, after which they are its true owner. If this Artifact has no living true owner, anyone may spend one day attuning to it to become its true owner.
This Artifact's true owner is always aware of the direction and distance to this Artifact.
A rigid, titanium body, laid into a traditional hickory handle. Subtle rubber grips.
A replaceable steel head - swing it, and it makes a keen noise.
The head spikes out cruelly, seizing and twisting itself into the wood - gripping its fibers closely to itself tighter and tighter - pulling itself into the bricks behind - until it snaps.
And then it lets go, and sidles away with bits of bone and tenderized viscera matted in its head.
This Artifact can be used as a sword / axe. It is roughly the same size as a sword / axe and just as difficult to conceal.
Attack by rolling Brawn + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +5 Weapon Damage. The target's Armor is reduced to 1/2, rounded up against this damage.
You also gain the following effects:
Swing a punch at the side of this prick's head.
Oof. It's solid. And... your hand feels wet. Take a look.
6 Nails crucifying your mangled hand. Huh. Then it hits the side of your head.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You have 4 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack.
Your Armor cannot be destroyed or shredded, and it always provides a minimum of 2 Armor regardless of any Armor penetration. Your Armor cannot be circumvented with Called Shots.
When you take Damage from a source which is within 5 feet, deal back as much Damage as your Armor prevented.
Any time your Armor prevents damage, your total Armor rating is temporarily decreased by 1. Whenever you go two Rounds without preventing any damage, it is restored back to its full value.
The rod glows with red light, and the injury being targeted glows the same color.
The one who wields it feels the power of the symbol of Asclepius compel them to move towards the compulsions of the Hippocratic oath.
If the target is dead, and the wound is treated by this, the wound is restored.
The rod is focused on the wound in question. The participant gets a deep sense of the wound, and can stitch together flesh, and restore lost blood.
This rod was made by drawing on the symbolic power of the Asclepius, and the promises and powers inherent in that symbol.
The ritual making it involves
- The symbol of the Asclepius
- The Hippocratic oath
- Several references to healing miracles
- Images of people whose lives have been saved by the wielder
The ritual leans heavily on the power, and obligations associated with the Hippocratic oath. It forces the wielder to adopt the tenants and behaviors associated with healers and doctors in the shared cultural understanding.
Do no harm.
Help all who come.
The power of this rod draws on the individual, and when reversing the pain forces the user to experience it.
Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. Select a Living or Dead target within arm's reach. You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. If you fail or Botch, you receive one Mind Damage and a new Trauma. Choose a specific Injury on your target that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Intellect + Medicine at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, the Injury is reduced in Severity by your Outcome. If you reduce its Severity to 0, the Injury is fully healed. Otherwise, it is partially healed and will heal the rest of the way at its natural rate.
This counts as a successful Makeshift Stabilization if the Injury was not already Stabilized; any Battle Scars caused by the Injury will remain.
If your Outcome is greater than the Severity of the Injury you were attempting to treat, you may apply any excess Outcome to other Injuries on the same patient.
If you begin healing an Injury on a target that has been dead for less than a minute, and your healing reduces their Wound Level to a non-lethal level, their life is restored.
Anyone who touches this Artifact will notice it warping their body and may drop it. If they choose to hold or use it, they immediately receive the following Battle Scar: Weak Stomach: The rod draws on the vitality of the one wielding it, causing them to have strong reactions to smells.. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Battle Scar heals over the course of the next day.
Anyone who touches this Artifact will notice it warping their mind and may drop it. If they choose to hold or use it, they immediately receive the following Trauma: Committed to life: Whenever you see someone die, who you could bring back to life, you must make a self control roll to not immediately attempt to save them using this rod. This is rolled every someone dies near you and Passivist: You must make a self control roll to directly attack anyone in a way which will cause harm. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next day.
The artifact can't be broken. There is a stylized "Heal the world for me- Vel" Inscribed on it.
The true owner can summon the artifact back to them as they need it, and it appears. No flash of light or noise, it is reached for, and it is where the owner wants.
The true owner can tell when someone else is using it, and is aware of the user's appearance, direction, and distance.
This is an enhancement built on top of other artifacts to enhance how strong they are.
The true owner can change the identity of the person who is the true owner by wiping away their signature, and writing the name of the new owner.
The ritual for making it involves using
- a variety of hard materials (iron, titanium, etc)
- a history book
- a family tree diagram
This Artifact cannot be broken. If this Artifact is lost and in no one else’s possession, it finds its way back to its true owner during the next Downtime.
By default, the creator of this Artifact is its true owner. The true owner may formally bequeath this Artifact onto another person within arm’s reach, after which they are its true owner. If the true owner dies or is destroyed, their ownership ends. If this Artifact has no true owner, anyone may spend one day attuning to it to become its true owner.
If the true owner of this Artifact ever dies, it immediately disappears. At least one week later, it will appear to A potential hero. Someone willing to live a hard life to make the life of other's safer and easier and reveal its power to them. They become its new true owner.
If this Artifact is in no one else’s possession, its true owner may Exert their Mind and spend two Actions to bring it to themselves.
The rod glows with green light, and the participant being targeted glows the same color. The energy has some kick back, causing a shadow of the harm of the poison on the wielder of the rod.
The rod is burns with purifying energy that drives the malady from the target. It draws from the symbol of the Asclepius.
This rod was made by a ritual focused on the symbol of the Asclepius, and experimenting with it. Vaccines, anti-virals, stories of miracle cures were all part of the creation process.
Exert your Mind (unless In a hospital, Clinic, or other healthcare setting) and spend 1 Action. Select a Living target within arm's reach.
You may cure any Non-Alien diseases, toxins, or poisons afflicting your target even if you have not diagnosed or fully understood it. You may cure diseases or poisons even if they are not treatable through modern medicine. During treatment, the malady you are treating does not progress or cause additional Damage or other effects.
This device is a piece of chrome the size and shape of the back of a spoon. When placed against the skin, small hypodermic needles sprout from the device and attach it to the user's bloodstream. There, it filters and releases lifesaving drugs into the bloodstream, granting complete immunity from contracting new diseases and added resiliency in all other cases.
WARNING: The immunizing drugs have been shown to reduce inhibitions in test subjects.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You get +2 dice to any Body resistance rolls you make. You also gain the following effects:
The mad scientist can craft steel helmets that protect their wearers from mental influence and attack.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You get +0 dice to any Mind resistance rolls you make. You also gain the following effects: