Book of Bone and Ebony
Book of Bone and Ebony
Book of Bone and Ebony
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EXALTED • BOOK OF BONE AND EBONY<br />
118<br />
NOT QUITE NECROMANCY...<br />
The masters <strong>of</strong> the shadowy powers <strong>of</strong> the Underworld<br />
aren’t the only ones who raise zombies <strong>and</strong> skeletons<br />
or speak with the dead. Mortal thaumaturges (see the<br />
Exalted Players Guide, Chapter Three, for more information)<br />
can, with much effort, achieve some similar effects.<br />
The most common method for imbuing a corpse with<br />
a semblance <strong>of</strong> life <strong>and</strong> the ability to obey one’s instructions<br />
is to use the Art <strong>of</strong> Summoning to conjure a nemissary.<br />
Knowing whether a specific ghost has the ability to manipulate<br />
dead flesh is generally a matter <strong>of</strong> experience, but<br />
it may be represented with a difficulty 2 Intelligence +<br />
Occult roll. A thaumaturge may instead attempt to summon<br />
any ghost with a nemissary’s abilities. This adds 2 to<br />
the difficulty <strong>of</strong> the summoning, as the summoner is<br />
casting a general call into the Underworld <strong>and</strong> fishing for<br />
the most qualified ghost.<br />
JAWBONE ECHOES (RITUAL •)<br />
Jawbone Echoes is used to speak with the dead — not<br />
with spirits, but with the corpses themselves. Its influence<br />
is weak <strong>and</strong> fleeting, however, <strong>and</strong> the thaumaturge willing<br />
to use this ritual to speak with a corpse at length is <strong>of</strong>ten<br />
a lone thaumaturge. The ritual requires a single mote <strong>of</strong><br />
Essence or one Willpower, spent as the name <strong>of</strong> the ritual<br />
is repeated face to face with the body. The thaumaturge<br />
then kisses the corpse, straining to kiss ever more deeply<br />
until a sickeningly sour taste hits the tip <strong>of</strong> his tongue. The<br />
thaumaturge may then ask one question <strong>of</strong> the corpse <strong>and</strong><br />
get one answer. The corpse knows only what it experienced<br />
in life <strong>and</strong> what happened to it after all potence left<br />
it with its hun <strong>and</strong> po souls. The jawbone must be present<br />
<strong>and</strong> in one piece for this ritual to be effective, <strong>and</strong> the ritual<br />
can work even if only the jawbone is available.<br />
GARROTE AND MURDER MANSION (RITUAL ••)<br />
The thaumaturge must begin this ritual by carefully<br />
making chalk from the bone <strong>of</strong> the subject corpse. The<br />
chalk is used to lay out the floor plan <strong>and</strong> make a rough<br />
image <strong>of</strong> the body’s former house, home or haunt. The<br />
thaumaturge must know <strong>and</strong> whisper one hundred<br />
fondnesses that the corpse’s former hun held while she<br />
forms the images, making this ritual expensive in knowledge,<br />
if not in silver or jade. The ritual takes approximately<br />
an hour <strong>and</strong> costs one Willpower. The body will then<br />
animate <strong>and</strong> follow the thaumaturge’s comm<strong>and</strong>s. Use the<br />
template for the common zombie (see Exalted, p. 299),<br />
except that a zombie raised by Garrote <strong>and</strong> Murder Mansion<br />
constantly exhales air from an unknown source. An<br />
ear laid close to the zombie’s mouth will hear the<br />
thaumaturge’s voice whispering the one hundred<br />
fondnesses, repeated ad infinitum.<br />
The chalk drawings are gradually blown away by an<br />
intangible wind, disappearing entirely over the course <strong>of</strong> a