Delphyrion crushes a clock and watches as the quartz debris tears holes into the space-time continuum. They peer into the bounds between the living and the dead, the seams that separate parallel timelines, and the space from one dimension to the next.
Contractors draw their power from their parallel selves, so naturally upon death, said power disperses once again to take a new form. Something about the Law of Conservation of Matter.
They reach into everywhere and nowhere and pluck the bits of potential and ambition that the Harbingers once saw for the dead Contractor.
And they breathe it upon the corpse, for better or worse.
The act of living is quite... fickle.
What constitutes living, if not just existing? Am I not living, now that I barely exist in this realm? How cruel. In order to be remembered in this world, you HAVE to leave something behind. Something notable enough for someone alive to acknowledge. Your life and death will always rest in another's hand.
So let's conduct a little experiment. From here on out, you're... not quite alive, but you exist. Go and figure out your place in this cruel world, see how valuable you are now that people realize they've taken you for granted. Be seen.
And realize that once again, you're trapped in a mortal shell, with more shackles than before. You'll understand what it's like to be fundamentally different. Even more so, you're another one of my endless projects now.
Exert your Mind, spend one minute, and select a specific place, person, or item within arm’s reach. Select a Dead target within arm's reach with at least half its skeletal structure remaining. This Effect cannot be used unless Delphyrion is not in direct sunlight. You must use up a quartz clock in order to activate this Effect.
Your target rises as an Animate being. They remember their past life and retain their same personality. They can communicate as they would have been able to in life. They may roll Mind, Difficulty 8, to resist any commands you give them.
The creature lasts until it strays at least 80 feet from the chosen place, person, or item 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 all their Abilities set to 0. Their Attributes are all the same as they were in life, except Dexterity, which is fixed at 1. A raised creature cannot use any Effects.
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
You may only use this Effect once per day.
Put the cross on the wound and start to pray. A golden light flow from your hand and closes the wound.
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You must actively and obviously use a cross or holy emblem to activate this Effect. Choose a specific Injury on your target that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Intellect + Occult 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. Your patient is required to pray to a god as faithfully as possible once a day for the next month. If they violate this rule, your treatment is immediately reversed.
As the gift is activated Aiden's eyes turn a bright red as his augments begin to take a visual scan of the target as well as identifiying their species, medical issues and any medical problems.
Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. At the end of your investigation, roll Intellect + Alertness at Difficulty 6. The target resists by rolling Body at Difficulty 7.
You learn all the following information about your target:
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
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 cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.
As you look across the room, the glasses lends slightly glow, as they show you into the past, to see who has died, how, and when. When push comes to shove, you can ask to see more; it plays out in front of you like a 1940's cutscene, the grey look of auras showing what is magic and alien.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend a minute. Investigate an area with a radius of up to 100 feet At the end of your investigation, roll Intellect + Investigation at Difficulty 6.
You learn the following information about the area:
You cannot investigate the same area more than once per day.
Nocturne of the Hollow Mind gently coaxes the listener into a deep, dreamless sleep—leaving their body pliant and mind hollow. In this vacant state, the caster’s will slips in like mist, guiding the sleeper's movements as if they were a marionette on invisible strings. The spell is as elegant as it is unsettling, a perfect tool for those who prefer quiet control over brute force.
Spend an Action. Select a Living target within 30 feet. You must actively and obviously use My Guitar to activate this Effect. Roll Charisma + Performance at Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, your target becomes drowsy for the next 30 seconds, during which time they suffer an additional -2 dice Penalty to all Actions. At the end of their drowsiness, they fall asleep as long as you maintain Concentration.
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.
The target can be compelled to take physical actions and use their senses by other Effects, and they will still remain asleep throughout. If this occurs, they will be obviously sleepwalking to anyone who observes them.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
Cassie's phobia of touch combined with his magical condition allows her to force others away.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
All Animate targets within 50 feet are pushed back until they are 50 feet away.
This Effect cannot move anything heavier than 500 pounds.
Affected targets may use a Reaction and roll Dexterity or Brawn + Athletics to hold on to a nearby anchor, if available. A complete success increases their effective weight by whatever they hold onto.
Pushing a target straight upward requires you to be directly beneath them and halves the range. GM’s may ask for a Dexterity + Athletics roll when repositioning yourself around a target to get a desired angle. They may React to reposition or anchor themselves as normal.
You may maintain Concentration after the initial activation of this Effect to continue the push on the target. Lasts up to one minute.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see the barrier extends outwards, and it causes excruciating pain to those pushed away by puppeteering their flesh.
The Witch summons a crow, whispers a message to it, and sends it off to deliver her words. Half an hour later, the crow arrives at the recipient and repeats her message aloud in its croaking, animal voice.
Spend an Action. Select a target any distance away from you. You must have a specific target in mind, but you require only an intuitive understanding of them, such as their name, face, or Location.
You may send a single message to your target. It can be as complex or as large as you like. It takes at least 30 minutes before it is received.
The message may be intercepted while in transit, and may be overheard, read, or otherwise understood by anyone near either you or the recipient. You must share a common language for your target to understand the message.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
All it takes is a flick of your hair and a bat of your eyelashes, and you’ve got their attention.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. A number of Sapient, Living targets within 50 feet who can perceive you through no greater than your Charisma rating are affected. Audiences or mobs with a singular focus count as one target. Roll Charisma + Performance at Difficulty 6. All affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.
If you succeed, the targets will keep their full attention focused on you for Contested Outcome in Rounds. They will automatically fail any rolls related to noticing anything other than you.
If you pass from their perception and they are unable to pursue you, the Effect ends. If they can follow you, they must do so for 2 Rounds or the Effect will end. The Effect ends early if the target is Injured or violence occurs nearby.
This does not affect the target’s opinion of you or their mood, and they may take any Actions while affected (including attacking), as long as that action centers on you. Fascinated targets cannot Concentrate.
The spy is able to transform an ordinary ballpoint pen into a monitoring device that is inconspicuous enough to blend in to most settings, but advanced enough to allow 360 degree surveillance as well as audio capture, which is sent to their smartphone.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location within 10 feet. You must actively and obviously use a ballpoint pen to activate this Effect.
You place a ward, which is fixed to its initial location. You can hear and see through the ward as though you were standing at its location. Your wards last 3 hours. You may have at most 3 wards active at once.
The ward requires Concentration to monitor, though it will remain active until you deactivate it. It can be detected with a roll and destroyed through mundane means.
The Skeleton Key slips easily into any keyhole and turns without a fuss.
Spend an Action.
You may lock, unlock, and/or open any number of doors, containers, knots, or locks within arm's reach of you. Cannot be used on Alien technology.
If you successfully operate a lock, you may choose to destroy it, rendering it inoperable.
Perform the Five Point Technique via a series of quick pressure point hits on the target’s chest. As you do, channel your chi and speak a condition involving the number five. If the target cannot stop you from performing the technique, their heart will take a direct hit when they fulfill the chosen condition.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living target within arm's reach. Roll Dexterity + Brawl Difficulty 6. The target may contest by rolling Body, Difficulty 6.
If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 2. 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.