The dagger plunges into the chest of the squirming man. His final cries degrade into bubbling coughs as blood fills his lungs. Ancient words fill the air as the chant reaches its crescendo. The remains of the man fold in on themselves, rearranging into the winged forerunners of The Ones that Came Before. The army grows.
Exert your Mind and spend two Actions performing the following ritual: Chanting to the Ones that Came Before. This Effect cannot be used unless A human was sacrificed within the past hour. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you Creates an uncontrollable monstrosity that seeks only to feast. You must actively and obviously use Sacrificial Dagger to activate this Effect. You must maintain Concentration while activating this Effect, and it fails if you are interrupted. You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means.
Summon a single Eldritch Servant at your location. They will last until they are destroyed. They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. You may have at most 1 minion active at a time.
You may only use this Effect once per day.
Bill places his corn on the cob in the ground, and from that cob the beast emerges. The corn shakes rapidly, as though it is going to hatch, before it starts to grow wildly. The cob expands to immense size, cracking down the middle to reveal a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. The husk stretches and reshapes itself, forming a shambling mound of legs and wings. Roots rise from the ground and tangle amongst the husk, contributing to the beast's body and limbs. The head is definitively formed by the cob, while the body is a constantly shifting and difficult to discern pile of roots and husk. Entirely, the beast is around the size of a horse, it's colours no different from the corn it was grown from. The beast is capable of launching its cob head at targets 50 feet away from it, the head quickly regrows afterwards (though, any damages done to the head remain even after the head regrows). When the beast is destroyed, it rots into the ground, its body reduced to an inedible black mold.
Bill discovered this gift the morning after his stay at The Vermillion Manor. While harvesting his freshly grown corn, he attempted to hold more than what he could carry, and accidentally dropped a singular ear of corn. He thought nothing of it, until the corn began to jitter on the dirt unnaturally. He backed away in fear, and watched as the once innocuous corn sprouted into a true monster. A monster that listened to his commands. A monster that belonged to him.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You must use up A full corn on the cob, with husk intact in order to activate this Effect.
Summon the one and only Sapient The Corn Beast at your location. They last for two hours or until they are destroyed. They are controlled by you. You may have at most one minion active at a time.
If killed, you cannot re-summon your minion until after your next Contract.
You may only use this Effect once per day.
The werewolf howls and their pack arrives...
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Summon up to 3 Non-Sapient, Animate albino wolf dogs at your location. They last for two hours or until they move more than 150 feet from you or are destroyed. They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. You may have at most 3 minions active at a time.
A giant playing card depicting a skeleton gets put on the ground by a mythical force. A group of skeletons appear at the location where the card was placed.
The skeletons carry old swords which they use to attack
Good card for a hog cycle deck
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Summon up to 3 Non-Sapient, Animate Skeletons at your location. They last until they move more than 150 feet from you or are destroyed They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. They will attack any Nonliving Animate targets they encounter immediately and will ignore your commands to do otherwise. You may have at most 3 minions active at a time.
The air is struck with the stench of decay, the pallor of something long dead. Zack’s arms spread wide, their flesh contorting and splitting as masses of flies pour out, buzzing with a fell drone as the clouds usher from their throat and eyes. Black clouds surround Zack as they fall silent, the air only left with one sound: the droning of Abbadon.
Take a Severity-1 Injury and spend an Action. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you the swarms take Zack as food, attacking them and any allies they may have.
Summon a Swarms of Mosquitos at your location, plus enough additional minions to bring you up to the maximum of 2 minions. They will last for two hours, or until they are destroyed. They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. You may have at most 2 minions active at a time.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see The mosquitos and swarms of pestilence emerge from the skin, mouth, and eyes of Zack. His skin flares with pustules and warps as he activates the power.
Bummer & Lazarus - a pair of mongrel stray dogs much beloved by the denizens of San Francisco who wandered the streets of that fair city at the same time as the illustrious Emperor Norton the First. With the long wait for a successor now over, the spirits of these noble canines may be summoned up once more by the current Emperor, arriving from any nearby dumpster, alleyway, or similar when called. While clearly ghostly, they still yet serve the Empire!
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Summon the one and only Sapient Ghost Dog at your location. They last for two hours or until they are destroyed. They are controlled by you. You may have at most one minion active at a time.
If killed, you cannot re-summon your minion until after your next Contract.
The Vampire is able to turn one of their victims into a lesser vampire, a pale shadow of a full creature of the night but useful nonetheless. Having drained and killed their target, the Vampire performs a brief ritualistic bloodletting, wherein they spill their own blood into the target's mouth, forcing them to drink, and bonding them together as child and sire.
Shortly afterwards, the fledgling vampire will rise from death, hungry for blood and eager to serve.
Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend one minute. Select a Dead target within arm's reach that has died within the last hour. This Effect cannot be used unless you drained the target's blood while they were still alive.
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 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. The raised creature must consume flesh every day or it will die again.
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.
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.
Any successful musician knows the value of a good roadie. The musician calls for a roadie, and one will promptly arrive. The roadie doesn't talk much, and they aren't too bright, but they can sure haul gear.
After a couple hours of work, the roadie will retire to smoke and get some sleep.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Summon a single Sapient roadie at your location. They last for two hours or until they are destroyed. They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. You may have at most one minion active at a time.
You may only use this Effect once per day.
The mobster knows a guy they can call for a hired goon, who arrives about a minute later. The goons are dumb as bricks, but tough nonetheless, perfect for sending a message when you need to keep your hands clean.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You must actively and obviously use cell phone to activate this Effect.
Summon a single Sapient goon at your location. They last for two hours or until they are destroyed. They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. You may have at most one minion active at a time.