011 - Trauma Bonding

Ritual: Trauma Bonding

Cost: 1 significant charge.

Ritual Action: Go through a traumatic experience with someone: something that triggers a mutual stress check which causes you both to gain a failed notch. Afterwards (within 3 hours seems to be the cut-off) you must each deglove, exchange and then attach the skin from your left ring finger to each other’s. No third party may assist and the attachment must be performed by the person “donating” their finger skin.

Seal the deal by telling each other your darkest secret, something that would severely hurt you if the wrong people were to learn it. If either of you don’t have one or already know the other person’s the ritual fails.

Effect: If the ritual works the the new skin will take and heal nicely over a normal timespan. No scars, although it might look a bit freaky depending on differences in size, skin tone or age. It also does the following:

First, you both count as proxies for each other.

Second, the newly skinned finger can be used as a dowsing rod to find its new twin. It can still be fooled by magickal cloaking and obfuscation but otherwise idle twirling will point you in the right direction.

Third, once per week you may spend 1 minor charge to see through the eyes of the person you are bonded with for 33 seconds (no more, no less). For some reason this acts as a power sink and any other charges you are carrying dissipate as though you are an adept who has violated taboo. The reskinned finger of the other party will throb painfully while this is happening.

Mark the failed notch gained for the purpose of this ritual. If either party loses this notch or blabs the secret they learned or dies then the ritual effect ends and the body will reject the foreign skin (probably necessitating medical intervention).