Werewolf: The Forsaken - Blank It

156
Chapter II: Character
respond (represented by turning his back on the ritualist),
but that response isn’t required or magically imposed.
Dice Pool: Harmony
Action: Extended (10 successes per Rank of the spirit;
each roll represents one minute)
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The rite fails immediately and the
subject is likely further offended.
Failure: No successes are gained.
Success: Successes are accumulated. If the required
number is gathered, the rite has no game-mechanical
function. It serves purely as a way to apologize profusely
and at length. Spirits who receive the Rite of Contrition
tend to be less ill inclined toward a werewolf who performs
it. If the performer currently suffers from Social dice-pool
penalties when dealing with the rite’s subject, the rite may
reduce those penalties by a die or two.
Exceptional Success: Numerous successes are accumulated.
If five or more are gained than needed, the rite is
particularly well performed, which may hasten the spirit’s
forgiveness. The ritualist could gain a +1 bonus to Social
rolls in regard to the subject for a month.
Rite of Dormancy (••)
The Rite of Dormancy allows a pack to leave a locus
they’ve claimed for a short time without worrying that it
might be discovered or stolen by a rival pack or by other
creatures that haunt the night. The rite causes a locus to
“sleep,” greatly reducing its flow of Essence and making it
much harder to find. This rite compels the intercession of
spirits that represent a long sleep, such as bear-spirits or others
in their sleepy late autumn incarnation. The rite is best
performed only on loci that the pack can control; although it
could technically be used to temporarily shut down loci outside
their territory, the local spirits who use the locus are likely
to reactivate it almost immediately after the pack leaves.
Performing the Rite: The ritualist begins by invoking
the appropriate spirits, who congregate around the
locus’ spirit reflection. He chants in the First Tongue in a
low, monotone growl and anoints the locus’ physical form
with the juice of crushed evergreen needles, pure water or
some other substance meant to obscure scent.
Dice Pool: Harmony
Action: Extended (10 successes per dot of locus rating;
each roll represents one minute)
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: All successes are lost, and the
locus remains active. The rite cannot be attempted again
for 24 hours.
Failure: No successes are added.
Success: Some successes are gained. If the required
number is accumulated, the locus goes dormant for a period
of no more than one lunar month. When a locus is dormant,
any attempt to find it mystically suffers a –4 penalty.
The locus cannot be tapped for Essence while it’s dormant,
nor does it grant its ambient Essence bonus to anyone
within its area of influence. A werewolf or spirit who finds
the dormant locus can revive it with an offering of one Essence
point, in a sense “priming the pump.”
Exceptional Success: Considerable successes are
gained. If five or more successes are gathered than needed,
the duration of the locus’ dormancy can be extended by
an additional lunar month.
Bind Human (•••)
There are two main functions to this rite: to secure a
location against unwanted human intrusion and to bind a
human to a particular location. Neither variant ritual is entirely
foolproof even against a human who knows no magic.
Humans aren’t bound by bans as spirits are, and their actions
simply cannot be as constrained as spirits’ can be.
When this rite is used to bind a person to a given location,
the ritemaster must provide for a single means of escape from
the bond, and he must express that means to at least two others
— neither of whom have to be the bound mortal. The means of
escape can be all but impossible, but it cannot be a true logical
impossibility. Usually, the means of escape is phrased as, “Once
you have accomplished this task for me, you may depart.”
When used to secure a location against mortal intrusion,
no “password” is required, although the ritemaster may
choose to nominate a specific action that allows a human to
pass through normally. For example, a werewolf might set up a
ward that bars all humans save those who carry a crow feather
somewhere on their person, and then gives a crow feather to his
wolf-blooded lover in the event that she needs to reach him.
The ward isn’t directly evident save when a human
attempts to cross it. The human feels a faint nausea, a
headache, a sense of vertigo or even a combination of such
unpleasant sensations. The subject is unable to step beyond
the area unless he successfully resists the ward’s effects.
Performing the Rite: To secure an area against
mortal intrusion, the werewolf takes a form that has claws
and uses them to draw a series of sigils (using a muddy
mixture of water and ash) on every path of entry into the
area. In a built structure, this includes doors and windows.
Outdoors, the sigils are repeated every few meters to form
a rough boundary around the area.
To keep a mortal bound in an area, the werewolf uses
his claws and a muddy mixture of earth and water, but this
time he must clearly mark out the precise boundaries of
the area, putting the sigils on the inside of the boundary.
In either case, the affected area cannot be larger than a
radius of 50 yards. A werewolf may typically use this ritual to
bind a human inside a house or within a campsite, or to ward
a small building. This ritual takes an hour to complete.
Dice Pool: Harmony
Action: Extended (20 successes; each roll represents
10 minutes)
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: All successes are lost. The ward
cannot be attempted again for 24 hours.