Book of Bone and Ebony
Book of Bone and Ebony
Book of Bone and Ebony
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The next time the target <strong>of</strong> the spell looks into a mirror,<br />
the message comes flowing out <strong>of</strong> it to be read. Once the<br />
bloody words are understood, they lose cohesion <strong>and</strong> begin<br />
to run down the smooth surface <strong>of</strong> the mirror. At this time,<br />
if the target <strong>of</strong> the spell chooses, she may wipe clean the<br />
mirror <strong>and</strong> lightly cut her fingertip. Using it as a stylus, she<br />
may write a short message on the mirror, <strong>and</strong> it will be seen<br />
by the necromancer when next he looks in a mirror.<br />
There are additional spells <strong>of</strong> the three necromantic<br />
circles that take advantage <strong>of</strong> mirrors’ strange qualities.<br />
Invisible Doorway, <strong>of</strong> the Shadowl<strong>and</strong>s Circle, costs 18<br />
motes <strong>of</strong> Essence <strong>and</strong> a lethal health level. It allows the<br />
caster to open a doorway between Creation <strong>and</strong> the<br />
analogous position in the Underworld through any reflective<br />
surface. Anointing it with his blood, the crimson<br />
becomes the shining quicksilver blood <strong>of</strong> the Malfeans <strong>and</strong><br />
the surface becomes a portal, which remains open for three<br />
turns. After this use, mirrors shatter, ponds boil <strong>and</strong> silver<br />
tarnishes. White Shard, a Labyrinth Circle spell, costs 28<br />
motes <strong>and</strong> allows the necromancer to communicate faceto-face<br />
between two specially treated mirrors. The<br />
communication afforded by White Shard lasts for up to<br />
half an hour. The Barless Gate is <strong>of</strong> the Void Circle <strong>and</strong><br />
costs 42 motes to cast. With it a necromancer may step<br />
between any two mirrors in the Underworld in a form <strong>of</strong><br />
instantaneous travel. Invoking the Barless Gate violently<br />
shatters all spiritual or physical wards barring such travel<br />
at the recipient’s gate.<br />
BONE PUPPET DANCE<br />
Cost: 16 motes<br />
Target: One creature<br />
Considered requisite among those who wish to be<br />
known as masters <strong>of</strong> the walking dead, this spell is completed<br />
by the utterance <strong>of</strong> a single syllable <strong>of</strong> comm<strong>and</strong>, the<br />
sound <strong>of</strong> which burns through the air to br<strong>and</strong> itself<br />
invisibly on the center <strong>of</strong> its target’s ribcage. Once the<br />
br<strong>and</strong> is made, the necromancer comm<strong>and</strong>s complete<br />
obedience from the skeleton, <strong>and</strong> any living flesh around<br />
that skeleton is in for a nightmarish time.<br />
The skeleton will immediately begin attempting to<br />
enact the necromancer’s will, moving to attack its owner’s<br />
friends, bearing a message to the East or performing back flips<br />
for the necromancer’s amusement. The inherent difficulty in<br />
controlling another being causes any action attempted by the<br />
skeleton — who otherwise acts with its host’s dice pools — to<br />
be at a dice penalty <strong>of</strong> the host’s Essence.<br />
If the host does not wish to be the necromancer’s<br />
servant, as is likely, he must to act against the actions his<br />
skeleton is carrying out. He may exert control over his<br />
body with little mental effort, but even as he drives his<br />
body through force <strong>of</strong> will, his skeleton is resisting. His<br />
bones burn <strong>and</strong> scream, unable to perform as their necromantic<br />
master dem<strong>and</strong>s. Every action taken by the host is<br />
at -1 die, <strong>and</strong> every turn in which he wrests control from<br />
121<br />
CHAPTER FIVE • NECROMANCY<br />
his tormented frame, he suffers two levels <strong>of</strong> lethal damage<br />
as his bones blister his muscles <strong>and</strong> claw at him from<br />
within. This damage can only be soaked by natural soak<br />
(<strong>and</strong> is unaffected by hardness ratings that do not reasonably<br />
affect wounds coming from within the body).<br />
The effects <strong>of</strong> this spell last for a number <strong>of</strong> hours equal<br />
to the necromancer’s player’s successes on a Charisma +<br />
Occult roll. Trying to control a body that resists requires<br />
more <strong>of</strong> the spell’s available power, so every turn in which<br />
the host painfully controls his own body reduces the<br />
remaining hours <strong>of</strong> servitude by one. When this number<br />
reaches zero, the spell ends. If the host is killed as a result<br />
<strong>of</strong> attempting to remain in comm<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> his body, the<br />
skeleton claws its way free <strong>of</strong> the flesh which restrained it<br />
<strong>and</strong> becomes a permanent zombie under the control <strong>of</strong> the<br />
necromancer (see Exalted, p. 299).<br />
A necromancer can cast this spell upon an already<br />
extant skeleton to animate it as a permanent servant, or<br />
she can target a skeleton that is already animate, ripping<br />
control from its current master. This technique is so<br />
spiritually abusive that it inflicts the caster’s Essence in<br />
dice <strong>of</strong> bashing damage, soakable only with Stamina, to<br />
the necromancer from whom she took the skeleton.<br />
BONFIRE VISIONS<br />
Cost: 13 motes<br />
Target: One bonfire<br />
Although abysmally rare in the Underworld, the<br />
bones <strong>of</strong> a creature that once lived must be collected before<br />
the necromancer may cast this spell. Splintering the bones<br />
<strong>and</strong> piling them on the ground, the necromancer hurls a<br />
ball <strong>of</strong> blue flame into the pale white kindling, which<br />
bursts into flame. The fire is large but controlled <strong>and</strong><br />
always burns a pale blue-white. The light is drowned out by<br />
the strong rays <strong>of</strong> the sun, <strong>and</strong> in Creation, the fire will<br />
soon go out. But in the Underworld, the light <strong>of</strong> the bonfire<br />
burns brightly. Ghosts can see the clear light for miles<br />
through the dreary Underworld, <strong>and</strong> they are drawn to it.<br />
Any ghosts who peer into the flame during the hour<br />
in which it persists can look in upon any <strong>of</strong> their Fetters<br />
with perfect clarity, without the requisite Arcanoi. This is<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten a boon for which ghosts are willing to pay, either in<br />
goods or in services.<br />
DEATH FLIES TWO SAILS<br />
Cost: 14 motes (seven committed)<br />
Target: One sailing vessel<br />
There is no safety in sailing upon the Sea <strong>of</strong> Shadows.<br />
Spectres float on the boundless black waves, vile shadows<br />
are able to seep in with the smallest leak, <strong>and</strong> hekatonkhire<br />
lurk in the depths <strong>and</strong> do not always slumber. A necromancer<br />
with this spell need fear none <strong>of</strong> those things.<br />
St<strong>and</strong>ing with her feet in the lapping waters <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Underworld’s dark ocean or its murky rivers, she sings an<br />
eerie lullaby to the depths. After seven minutes, the song is