Lau extends a hand, and a biting serpent made of shadow covers the target limb, before it is painfully consumed and vanishes into the void.
Lau, having made more of a name for himself, can now make sacrifices to his god.
In addition to Faith, you now have an additional resource in the form of Apep's Favour. You gain points of Apep's Favour through this ability dependant on the Severity of the Battle Scar caused. Minor is 1, Major is 2, Severe is 3, Extreme is 4 and Deadly is 6.
Spend an Action. Select a Living or Animate target within 45 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless you consider light level. If you are in dim light, the Battle Scar is reduced in effectiveness by one step. In daylight, it is reduced by two (Severe to Major, Major or Minor to none). Roll Perception + Occult at Difficulty 6. The target may roll Body, 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:
You may affect up to 3 targets within range.
All alterations you make must remove body parts.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
Edgar leans in close to the grappled or restrained target, using his thin pebbled tongue to extract a live maggot infesting his body, which he then inserts into an ear, a nostril, the mouth, or another orifice of choice - he then pronounces the terms upon which the maggots will mystically multiply, consuming the victim from within...slowly.
A curse learned from the vile pages of the Cultes des Goules, this effect relies on maggots that have come to live within the bodies of the Ghouls themselves, feeding on detritus & rotting flesh that lodges between the creatures teeth. These maggots are not generally harmful to the Ghouls, but if forced into healthy flesh they can be unnaturally voracious, made even more so by a Maledicta from the dread book - when the curse is fulfilled, the maggots multiply within the victim, eating him from the inside out in an excruciating process that can take up to a minute - of those killed by The Worm Turns, only bones remain.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living target within arm's reach. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is grappled or restrained. You must use up a live maggot in order to activate this Effect. Roll Brawn + Melee 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 6. The target's Armor is completely ignored.
When you activate this Effect, instead of occurring immediately, you may choose to delay its effects until the target takes a particular Action. For example: "when they fire a gun" or "when they swim in deep water."
Instead of dealing Damage all at once, the Injury caused by this Power starts at Severity 1 and worsens at the rate of one level per Round until it reaches the Severity it would have otherwise been.
In just few moments of reading this book, its enough for listeners to comprehend 3 pages worth of mind numbingly boring information that brings about feelings of intense drowsiness.
This classic book tells the story of the development of Income Tax from its beginning in 1799 to the present day and relates it to the social, economic and political history of the period.
There have been studies of Income Tax at various stages in its growth; studies of finance and taxation in general in which Income Tax has been closely concerned; studies too of some of the Chancellors of the Exchequer who have made significant contributions to the Income Tax system; but this is the first time an attempt has been made to encompass the whole 160 years or so of its life in one volume.
And a fascinating story it is too when set in perspective. The author shows how Income Tax was introduced to finance the Napoleonic Wars, how it was revived by Peel to pay for Free Trade, and how it underwrote Victorian prosperity and confidence. He then describes its immense expansion through two World Wars to its present position as a dominant feature of British finance. This book was first published in 1966.
Spend an Action. Select a Living target within 30 feet. Roll Intellect + Culture at Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, your target becomes drowsy for the next 3 Rounds, during which time they suffer an additional -2 dice Penalty to all Actions. At the end of their drowsiness, they fall asleep for Contested Outcome x 3 minutes.
Sleeping targets will not prematurely wake up on their own, but may still be woken up by sudden loud noises, being jarred or splashed with water, taking Damage, or similar rousing events. They will also awaken before dying of hunger, thirst, or suffocation. Drowsy targets always fall asleep, regardless of what happens while they are drowsy.
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
Mud is slammed into the lock or buzzer, and it opens, the door was technically mud once after all.
Spend an Action. Select a door, container, knot, or lock within arm's reach. This can be used on Alien targets.
You may lock, unlock, and/or open your target.
A kiss of the blade and Raphael awakens from the silent! The handle lights up when he speaks!
Exert your Mind and an Action. Select a Raphael within arm's reach which could fit inside a rolling luggage bag (50 liters).
Your target will become Animated indefinitely. You may choose to end the effect at will, as a Free Action. This Artifact can only maintain one animated object at a time.
Animated Objects have the following restrictions and capabilities:
The user presses a button on his glasses and petrifies anyone around the person he is looking at. (reduces dice pools to zero)
Spend an Action. Select a Location within 300 feet. Roll Perception + Alertness at Difficulty 6. All targets within 20 feet of the chosen Location may contest by Defending or Dodging.
If you succeed, all affected targets will be restricted at their location by a physical, tangible binding. They cannot move to a new location, and any physical actions they take suffer a dice penalty equal to twice the Contested Outcome (except attempts to escape or break the binding, which only suffer half this penalty).
Restricted targets may escape their binding by spending an Action and taking a Severity-1 Injury. Their movement is reduced by 10 feet until the Injury heals.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see Turns the person who he is looking at to stone.
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
Who wouldn't want one of the mad scientist's famous implants? All it takes is a little time and a few terrifying experiments, and you too could be a better you!
Warning: not fully tested on humans. Risk of dry mouth, upset stomach, or lost limbs. Do not consult your doctor before signing the liability release.
Exert your Mind and spend eight hours. Select a Living or Animate target within arm's reach. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you cause a major Battle Scar instead of an augmentation. Your target must make a Trauma roll to reap the benefits of this Effect. They may choose to Resist the Effect and not make the roll. The target can easily Resist.
You may add one augmentation to your target. Each augmentation counts as a Battle Scar and can have exactly one of the following Effects:
The augmentations you provide are not outwardly visible nor obvious.
By slowing the hands of one of their watches, the time-traveler may interrupt and slow a target's movement through time. The target appears to be moving in slow motion for the duration.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Animate target within 20 feet. You must actively and obviously use a watch or clock to activate this Effect. Roll Intellect + Science at Difficulty 7.
If you succeed, the target will suffer a dice penalty equal to the Outcome for the next 2 Rounds. Dice pools may be reduced all the way down to 0 by this penalty. This breaks Concentration.
You may activate this Effect as a Reaction to contest any Action a valid target is taking, reducing their Outcome by your own. Your command has no impact beyond disrupting their Action.
The mad scientist produces thorium cores that can be used to upgrade tools and other devices. The core supercharges the item, increasing its quality and rendering it indestructible for a period. However, once the core runs dry, the object is rendered less useful than it was before. The core crackles with blue electricity while active.
Spend 1 Action and use up this glowing blue disk. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. Cannot be used to improve Armor.
Lasts the next two hours. Your target receives 2 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +2 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice. While it is upgraded, the item cannot be destroyed.
After the Effect ends, any upgraded targets suffer a -2 dice penalty until they are either repaired or upgraded again.
Doc puts his hands on you and begins to mutter to himself in french. The effect is instant and horrible. You begin to remember all of the sins of your past, all the ways that you've wronged those who loved you. All of the terrible, evil things you've done on these contracts in order to survive. Doc seems to be in the grips of similar memories, tears running down his chin and dripping onto his hands that are pressed tightly against you. At the point where your mind feels like it's about to break, it's over. Just as quickly as it began. You feel your wounds begin to close.
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Living 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. Your target must make a Trauma roll to reap the benefits of this Effect. They may choose to Resist the Effect and not make the roll. Choose a specific Injury on your target that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Charisma + 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.
The Doctor examines their patient and gives a standard medical checkup, asking them questions, nodding to themselves, and muttering arcane medical jargon. The examination reveals an extraordinary amount of detail about any medical issues suffered by the patient.
Spend one minute. Select a Sapient target or a Creature within arm's reach. You must actively converse with the individual in question for one minute in order to gather any information. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Medicine at Difficulty 6. The target may Resist.
You learn all the following information about your target:
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.