One of two remarkable things about Ernesto was that he turned out minor artifacts like a factory, all centred around the unbearable, often imagined, gripes with people that he swore were the source of all his woe. Once he’d dealt with them it would be smooth sailing, he said. Selling the trinkets kept him in beer and skittles at least.
Maybe there was something to this, maybe someone got sick of him being a poor sport, or maybe making things that jab at people who are willing to violate rules isn’t a great idea. The second remarkable thing about Ernesto was the brutal and public nature of his murder, he was found carved up on a public beach one morning, his eyes missing and a deck of cards crammed into his mouth. It went unsolved and no one ever found his artifact stash. He must have had one though, over the years a steady trickle of his products have made their way into occult underground circulation.
Artifact: Liar’s Pants
Power: Minor.
Description: A pair of old-fashioned grey or black slacks, style and cut varies. Rolled up and tucked inside the fabric in the area behind the belt loops are several pieces of paper, each revealing an unadmitted lie made by their creator.
Effect: Gain a +10% shift to all Lie rolls while wearing the pants. Every time you tell a successful lie (something serious enough to require a roll on the Lie ability or a substitute identity) add the result of the roll to a tally. When that tally hits 100 the pants burst into flame, dealing 1d10 wounds. Doesn’t matter if someone else built up most of the tally, pushing it over the edge is what counts (also, why are you wearing other people’s pants?). The magickal impulse behind the fire dies out quickly but that doesn’t stop other things from catching alight off it or deal with the agony of melted nylon.
Artifact: Geas Coins
Power: Minor.
Description: A defaced Kennedy half dollar, the obverse side has been restamped so JFK faces right. If it has been used and defaulted against the letters ‘B’, ‘T’ and ‘Y’ disappear from the word ‘LIBERTY’. Geas coins are perfectly balanced as far as chance goes but feel wonky in the hand, all attempts to find the centre of balance fail. You definitely can’t make it walk across your knuckles.
Effect: If something is staked on a coin toss with a geas coin then the flip is binding (even something as mundane as deciding where to eat). Going against the outcome provokes a rank 3 Self check as the defaulter or defaulters are seized by an embarrassing existential dread. Going along with it provides a +10% shift to their next roll. Geas coins have 1d10 charges, using a single charge per flip, but burn out straight away if defaulted against.
Artifact: Loaded Dice
Power: Minor.
Description: A pair of six-sided dice that have been ‘cancelled’ by a licensed casino, defaced by having a hole drilled through them. Inserted into each cavity is a live .22 Short cartridge, glued in place with a flaky, brown epoxy.
Effect: Pitch them in the direction of someone you can see, both cartridges go off wrecking the dice but causing no other damage. If that person has cheated (breaking any agreement, implicit or otherwise, through dishonesty counts) in the past 33 minutes they are hit with a minor blast. It’s not very impressive with the default roll result of 12 (causing 3 measly wounds), but the user can gamble for additional damage as per ‘The Evil Eye’ entropomancy blast.
Description: A pair of old-fashioned grey or black slacks, style and cut varies. Rolled up and tucked inside the fabric in the area behind the belt loops are several pieces of paper, each revealing an unadmitted lie made by their creator.
Effect: Gain a +10% shift to all Lie rolls while wearing the pants. Every time you tell a successful lie (something serious enough to require a roll on the Lie ability or a substitute identity) add the result of the roll to a tally. When that tally hits 100 the pants burst into flame, dealing 1d10 wounds. Doesn’t matter if someone else built up most of the tally, pushing it over the edge is what counts (also, why are you wearing other people’s pants?). The magickal impulse behind the fire dies out quickly but that doesn’t stop other things from catching alight off it or deal with the agony of melted nylon.
Artifact: Geas Coins
Power: Minor.
Description: A defaced Kennedy half dollar, the obverse side has been restamped so JFK faces right. If it has been used and defaulted against the letters ‘B’, ‘T’ and ‘Y’ disappear from the word ‘LIBERTY’. Geas coins are perfectly balanced as far as chance goes but feel wonky in the hand, all attempts to find the centre of balance fail. You definitely can’t make it walk across your knuckles.
Effect: If something is staked on a coin toss with a geas coin then the flip is binding (even something as mundane as deciding where to eat). Going against the outcome provokes a rank 3 Self check as the defaulter or defaulters are seized by an embarrassing existential dread. Going along with it provides a +10% shift to their next roll. Geas coins have 1d10 charges, using a single charge per flip, but burn out straight away if defaulted against.
Artifact: Loaded Dice
Power: Minor.
Description: A pair of six-sided dice that have been ‘cancelled’ by a licensed casino, defaced by having a hole drilled through them. Inserted into each cavity is a live .22 Short cartridge, glued in place with a flaky, brown epoxy.
Effect: Pitch them in the direction of someone you can see, both cartridges go off wrecking the dice but causing no other damage. If that person has cheated (breaking any agreement, implicit or otherwise, through dishonesty counts) in the past 33 minutes they are hit with a minor blast. It’s not very impressive with the default roll result of 12 (causing 3 measly wounds), but the user can gamble for additional damage as per ‘The Evil Eye’ entropomancy blast.
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