Vermin Dreams Stay out of the woods!

1
This Artifact allows you to place wards to monitor an area.
Used by Walter Prescott, Created by Redchigh.
(The ward can be discovered if someone knows what they are looking for, but is otherwise inconspicuous and cannot be identified as a ward. You must use this Artifact obviously when activating this Effect.)

With miscroscopic vision or successful examination with science or occult, it becomes obvious that this is
not a naturally occurring stone but some kind of petrified resin unlike anything currently in use. You notice that the surface of the face is lined with minute geometric patterns (similar to modern computer circuit boards) With at least 4 successes on Occult, they recognize this as alien technology, perhaps carved after creation by someone else.

Upon touching any sapient entity's exposed flesh, it triggers a mind roll at 8. Failure or Botch means you are possessed by the artifact, and immediately are inflicted with a absolute hatred of humans, and overwhelming desire to flee to the nearest wilderness area and defend it from human incursion by force. On a failure, they may reroll to break free in 2 hours, on Botch it is 24 hours. Two botches in the same lunar cycle possesses them until the new moon. A possessed target will relentlessly hunt down the artifact if it is taken, though if it is not in their possession on the new moon they begin to recover over the next week or so. The artifact can possess multiple people, though only the person in posession of the artifact can use its powers. In the case of multiple possessed targets, they will work together to drive off the humans, before likely fighting over the artifact.
A single success will prevent this possession, as long as they maintain the artifact in their possession.

While asleep, you may tap into the creatures under your command and receive visions of sights and sounds the commanded creatures experience. You may also communicate with the commanded creature.

If the commanded creatures travel over 5 miles from the artifact, the effect ends for those individuals.

Commands are limited to
Sit (go to a described area the creature is familiar with and remain. If you set a specific condition that the creature is capable of noticing, you will be notified when it occurs. A single creature isn't particularly perceptive, though a horde certainly is)

Pester (They will follow a target they can see, and hop, jump, or fly as close to it as possible without touching it.)

Attack (Small numbers of the creature will attempt to attack the target(s) identified. Due to size, the damage is capped at 2, this is dodgable, and a small number might not be able to efficiently do damage at all.

Swarm (There must be a large number of individuals, such as 60+crows or thousands of bugs- and they will all attack at once, moving at the creatures normal speed. These masses are usually fairly large (20+ ft wide for the minimum size), and anyone caught in the swarm will take damage, capped at 4. larger numbers simply make the horde larger, and harder to get out of. Vision and sound is obscured when inside a swarm and disorientation is likely. You must be able to move entirely out of the swarm with a free action to be able to effectively dodge, but the most effective approach is shelter or fleeing.)


Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate. Select a target within 10 feet.

You place a ward, which is fixed to a target Object that can be moved and repositioned. You can hear and see through the ward as though you were standing at its location. You may have at most 1 wards running at once.

The ward requires Concentration to monitor, though it will remain active until you deactivate it. The ward can be discovered if someone knows what they are looking for, but is otherwise inconspicuous and cannot be identified as a ward.

You may declare a condition to watch for on an active Ward. If it occurs, you may roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 6, to notice it, even if you are not actively monitoring that ward.

You may communicate through your ward, though doing so will reveal its presence.

Possession of this Artifact causes the following Trauma to manifest over the course of a day: Territorial: If humans infringe on what you consider a private space, you must make a self control roll to not drive them out by force.. If you lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next month.

  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.

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Revision purchased with:
Gift from House Games of yore spent on new power: Vermin Dreams

Community Targeted Gifts

While it is difficult to exert one's own will upon an area utilizing Causal Diction alone; this cluster of interwoven living wood allows the user to encapsulate that Will in a more retrospective manner. It is not so much dictating the information of the are as it is bending the area's history to align with the user's view of the world. The wood bracelet itself reverberates when Causal Diction emanates outward in close proximity. Producing a kind of boosting affect that reverberates throughout the open air. Be wary of your surroundings.

Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. Investigate an area with a radius of up to 100 feet You must actively and obviously use a blank book to activate this Effect. At the end of your investigation, roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6.

You learn the following information about the area:

  • You can locate the source of any Alien energy or the presence of any Alien effects on the area. Specific information about the function of these effects beyond their general type is not forthcoming.
  • You learn how heavily trafficked the area is, what sorts of Animate beings have moved through the area and when.
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.

This Effect is obviously Alien and eye-catching across its range to those witnessing it, and you are obviously the source.

You cannot investigate the same area more than once per day.

  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a target Object within arm's reach. You must use up a silver coin, buried in order to activate this Effect. At the end of your investigation, roll Charisma + Occult at Difficulty 6.

You learn all the following information about your target:

  • Determine if this target is Alien in origin or whether it has any Alien energy or outside influences. You receive information about the type of energy, including the name of the relevant Source pool or equivalent.
  • You may learn how much sentimental value an object has and to whom.
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.

You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.

  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless must have eye contact without obstruction. Wont even work through glasses.. Roll Charisma+Occult at Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 8 with a -3 dice penalty. If they are incapacitated or unconscious, they fail automatically and their Outcome is 0.

If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes Mind damage equal to the Contested Outcome. If you deal at least 3 Mind damage, the target will gain constantly feeling of being omonously watched as a Trauma. This Trauma may be removed by Effects or mundane therapy, as normal. Affected targets are aware that they are being attacked and can generally tell who did it.

  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Gideon has had reason to practice. Great reason to practice, and his latest gift had been used to push his more finessed psychic abilities to their next zenith. Allowing him to dominate the mind of these rote beasts, their simple minds far easier to command than that of the people around him and besides. It was far less of a risk to expose that you could control the mundane monsters of the world than to dominate the mind of a person, and Gideon has learned through brutal, repeated, lessons that monsters can be just as.. if not far more threatening than any man you could run into. Though in doing so he retains the classical risk of his mind melding into that of his target Gideon is confident that his mental fortitude is greater than that of any thoughtless beast he may encounter.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate. Select a Creature within 20 feet. You must actively and obviously use An orb of souls to activate this Effect. Make a Trauma roll when you activate this Effect.

For the next day, you may issue specific commands to your target which they will be compelled to follow. All other Creatures which are the same species as your target will also be compelled to follow commands that you issue if they are within 20 feet when the command is given.

Your commands must be relatively simple and within the target’s intellectual grasp. You can make them endanger themselves or otherwise go against their self-preservation instincts. The effects of the command will fade after a day has passed.

If you use this Effect on the same Creature two days in a row, the effect lasts indefinitely.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see Souls explode from the orb surging out into the mouths and throats of the creatures effected.

  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • Your commands must be directly communicated to your target in some way, though this does not require a shared language.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.

"Pazuzu, Tongue plucked raw from gaping maw. Blood from vein let fall like rain. Behold these eyes, your bloody prize. And now the fall from vaulted hall. These bones! This flesh! Consume it all! Pazuzu! Pazuzu! Pazuzu!"

king of the south wind demons. Adherents believed Pazuzu helped humans ward off other demons, and, thus, representations of his face served as popular apotropaic amulets in the 1st millennium bce.

Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action. Select a target within 45 feet. Roll Charisma + Occult Difficulty 6. The target may contest by rolling to Dodge or Defend as a Reaction, Difficulty 6.

If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 4. Armor is fully effective against this Damage.

The target suffers a -3 dice penalty for the next hour or until the Injury is healed. This dice penalty does not stack multiple times on the same target.

If you successfully hit your target, the value of any Armor they are wearing is reduced by 2. For material armor, this penalty lasts until it is repaired. For intrinsic armor, it lasts until the end of Combat and any relevant wound is healed.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see Blood and Shadow exsanguinating the victim..

  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Stock Targeted Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Non-Alien Creature within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is a terrestrial animal.

For the next day, you may issue specific commands to your target which they will be compelled to follow.

Your commands can be complex and multi-layered, though they must still be specific. You cannot make them obviously endanger themselves or violate their instinct for self-preservation. The effects of the command will fade after a day has passed.

  • Your commands must be directly communicated to your target in some way, though this does not require a shared language.
  • If targeting a Sapient target that counts as a Creature due to an Effect, you must succeed a contested Mind roll. You roll at Difficulty 6, and the target rolls at Difficulty 8.
  • Targets with Body ratings higher than 10 require a Charisma + Animals roll resisted by the target’s Body. Kaiju and environment-scale targets are immune.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Non-Alien, Non-Sapient, Animate target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is undead.

For the next day, you may issue specific commands to your target which they will be compelled to follow.

Your commands must be relatively simple and within the target’s intellectual grasp. You cannot make them obviously endanger themselves or violate their instinct for self-preservation. The effects of the command will fade after a day has passed.

  • Your commands must be directly communicated to your target in some way, though this does not require a shared language.
  • If targeting a Sapient target that counts as a Creature due to an Effect, you must succeed a contested Mind roll. You roll at Difficulty 6, and the target rolls at Difficulty 8.
  • Targets with Body ratings higher than 10 require a Charisma + Animals roll resisted by the target’s Body. Kaiju and environment-scale targets are immune.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend one minute. Select a Dead target within arm's reach with at least half its skeletal structure remaining. 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.

Your target rises as an Animate being. The raised creature is totally mindless, with no memory of its past life or hint of its old personality. They cannot communicate. They will follow any command you speak.

The creature lasts for eight hours or until it dies again. It is revived at full health. Any Injuries it had in life are not accounted for when determining its penalties or progression towards re-death, though they may affect its ability to perform certain actions at GM's discretion.

Raised creatures have their Abilities set to the same that they were in life. Their Charisma and Intellect are set to 1, but their Dexterity, Brawn and Perception are the same as they had in life. A raised creature cannot use any Effects.

Destroying one of your zombies requires a called shot to the head or heart. All other Injuries zombies suffer result in Battle Scars only, limiting their mobility and effectiveness in other ways.

Your revived targets deal 2 Weapon Damage with their unarmed attacks.

If you do not have a sacrificial Injury when you activate this Effect, take a new Severity-1 Injury.

  • The called shot requires 4 Outcome dealing 4+ Damage or 6 Outcome dealing 2+ Damage.
  • The sacrificial Injury received from activating this Effect cannot be prevented by any means or healed before 1 day has passed. It is shared with all Effects that use sacrifice. This Injury does not requires Stabilization or cause Battle Scars when it becomes Severe.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Spend an Action. Select a Living or Animate target within arm's reach. You must actively and obviously use a melee weapon to activate this Effect. Roll Brawn + Melee at Difficulty 6. The target may roll Body, -2 dice at Difficulty 7, as a Free Action to resist.

If you succeed, the target receives a new Battle Scar of your choosing, limited by the contested Outcome:

  1. A Minor Battle Scar E.g. an aesthetic-only body modification (a disfigured face, a pig's tail), impacted hand or foot, or vocal changes that complicate communication
  2. A Major Battle Scar E.g. a disabled/removed hand or foot, an inability to speak, an impacted major sense, removal of a minor sense, impacted movement.
  3. A Severe Battle Scar E.g. a disabled/removed arm or leg, deafness, aesthetic changes that are nearly impossible to conceal.
  4. An Extreme Battle Scar E.g. removal/disabling both hands or both legs, blindness, a full-body deformation that leaves the target humanoid but makes it difficult to use clothes, vehicles, and equipment designed for humans.
Refer to the stock Battle Scars on the Character Sheet for specific systems.

All alterations you make must damage the target's knees.

This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.

  • Remember: A Contractor’s Body rating is reduced by 1 for each Battle Scar after their fourth.
  • You may opt to inflict a Battle Scar that is less severe than what your Outcome allows.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Exert your Mind (unless you have been recently attacked by your target) and spend an Action. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is undead, demonic, or another evil creature. You must actively and obviously use a gilded cross to activate this Effect. Roll Brawn + Alertness Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7. If they are incapacitated or unconscious, they fail automatically.

If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target loses that much Source. Once their Source is depleted, excess Outcome is applied as Mind Damage. If you deal at least 3 Mind damage, the target gains a Trauma of the GM's choice.

This trauma cannot be removed by spending Experience and undergoing mundane therapy. Affected targets are aware that they are being attacked and can generally tell who did it.

  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.