AbyssalHearthstones/AbyssalLevelThree

Level Three Abyssal Hearthstones

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Darksky Star

by Telgar

Manse •••
Trigger: Concentration

A fist-sized sphere of black crystal with hundreds of tiny pinpricks of light inside, this Hearthstone is formed in the depths of the Starlight Crypt. The attuned holder of this stone adds 3 dice to all astrology/astronomy related rolls and can make readings of the Underworld's stars while in Creation or during the day. The difficulty of rolls made with this stone is always 1, no matter the reading made. Similar stones often form in Sidereal Manses, though they allow reading only the stars of Creation.

Blood-Lust Jewel

by WyldSpawn, inspiration by Ikselam

Manse •••
Trigger: Licking or kissing a wound.

This teardrop-shaped gem is colored a deep, opaque carmine, like congealing blood. If its wearer touches his mouth to an open wound, the wounded person will experience a surge of ecstatic, intensely erotic pleasure. When this power is used, the target must make an immediate Temperance check. If she gets even one success, she has managed to suppress her body's reaction and is able to act normally. If not suspicious right from the beginning, then three successes allow her a Perception + Awerness roll for realizeing, that magic was used on her. If she fails, her mind is clouded by pleasure and all her actions for the remainder of the turn are at -2 dice. Also the victim is addicted to the ecstatic feeling and wants more of it. Like every addicted, she is eager to fulfill the wishes of the owner of the Blood-Lust jewel to get her kick, but she is not a fullgrown junky, yet. As a rule of thumb, the longer addicted, the more she would do for her dealer. This means, that the victim is at the beginning not aware of her addiction. To realize it on her own, an Intelligence + Medicine roll with a difficulty of (6 - Temperance of victim) is necessary.

To overcome her addiction she has to make for (essence of the owner of the Blood-Lust jewel)x2 days in a row every day a sussesfull Willpower roll at difficulty 2. A succesfull abstinence does not mean, that the victim automatically knows that unjust was done upon her. The insight of this depends upon how she was treated by her dealer. If one Willpower roll fails, she has to start anew, being "kissed" by the jewel owner or not.

Every time she was "kissed" and fails her Temperance roll, a cumulative -1 is applied on the Willpower dice pool for overcoming the addiction, starting with the second time her temper fails. Of course any days of abstinence are wasted. If no dice remain in the Willpower pool, the victim becomes the ever faithfull slave of the jewel owner doing everything for her. Really everything, even killing herself. If the victim ever botches the Temperance roll, she becomes instantly the faithfull slave. A succesfull Temperance roll allows here to save up any days of abstinence she has cumulated. Three successes additionally remove a -1 penalty from the Willpower pool for overcoming the addiction and a legendary success (5 or more successes) give the victim a Willpower roll, with every success counting as an additional day for overcoming the addiction. If this Willpower roll results in enough successes for overcoming the addiction, the victim is instantly free and knows, that some magic has been done on her.

To use a Willpower point on any Temperance roll the victim has to be suspicious of the owner (and awake, of course). This means, that even a victim trying to overcome her addiction, can be tricked by the jewel owner (e.g. using sex) and therefore not be able to use a Willpower point on her Temperance roll.

Helping an addicted victim is hard, but healing a slave from her state is only possible by magic.

This power may be used while an Abyssal is drinking blood from a victim.

The Death-Speech Gemstone

Book of Three Circles, p. 116

Gemstone of Creeping Rot

by Ikselam

Manse •••
Trigger: Exhalation (Simple).

This lenticular stone looks to be composed of obsidian, mottled with pale markings that phosphoresce faintly in the dark. When attuned, it allows its bearer to breathe forth a cloud of spores that quickly spread into a carpet of horrid, creeping slime mold. Exhaling the spores consumes the character's dice action for the turn. The mold rapidly expands to cover an area up to fifty feet in radius. It smothers and kills any plants that it engulfs, and swiftly rots through wood and other organic materials. Any wooden object covered by the mold loses one point per turn from both its lethal and bashing soak values; this cannot reduce its soak below zero.

In addition, anyone who accidentally ingests or breathes in the mold's spores risks a grisly death as the mold germinates and spreads through their innards. Treat this as a disease with treated/untreated morbidity 2/4, and difficulty of treatment 2. Treatment generally includes a regimen of herbal tinctures to kill the mold, followed by purgatives to flush it out of the patient's body. Contagion-Curing Touch can cure the mold with a difficulty 1 roll. The mold's virulence is 1 for someone who just walks through it, 2 for someone who touches it, and 4 if it actually gets in the nose or mouth.

After its initial period of rapid growth, the mold continues to spread, albeit at a much slower rate. It immediately withers away if exposed to fire or direct sunlight (Solar anima banners at the 8+ mote level count as direct sunlight).

Shadow-Sewing Stone

by Ikselam

<b>Manse •••
Trigger: Dexterity + Crafts roll.

This many-faceted lens appears almost insubstantial, like a piece of solidified smoke. When attuned, it allows the bearer to manipulate shadow as a tailor manipulates cloth and thread. Shadows can be pulled off the ground or walls as sheets, braided into rope or nets, and suchlike. Things made out of shadow can be assumed to have roughly the same strength as silk, but of course weigh nothing and float through the air like drifting spiderwebs. Most shadows are rather transparent; very deep shadows are fully opaque, but are no stronger or heavier than lighter ones.

Use of this power requires a Dexterity + Crafts roll. This is a normal roll if the user wishes to do something simple like pull a shadow off the wall and hide under it, or grab a handful of shadow and swirl it about in order to confuse attackers. It is extended if he wishes to perform fine manipulation, such as braiding a shadow rope or stringing a shadow sheet across a corridor in order to hide a door. Anything made from shadows will immediately disintegrate if touched by fire or strong light. Non-Abyssal anima flares at the 8+ level can be assumed to produce "strong light"; regular torches do not.

Splinter of the Somber Domain

 <b>Manse •••

Gloomy, whispering darkness constantly surrounds this Hearthstone. It takes semi-physical, mist-like shape, twisting occasionally into ghastly apparitions, before spiralling into the stone. The stone doesn't seem to have any shape of its own - only the formless shadows it consumes. Despite its ephemeral substance, it is cold and heavy.

In Creation, the Splinter projects a small Shadowland around itself at all times, with a radius of five yards. This Shadowland confers the regular benefits and drawbacks to those who dwell in it. The dead regain Essence at a normal rate and ghosts are solid during the night. While in Creation, the Shadowland works as a one-way portal to the Underworld. In the Underworld, the Hearthstone offers no way back, and in fact only provides increased Essence regeneration to its user there. If the user enters the Underworld, she fades to shadows, but the Shadowland doesn't fade immediately. For up to a minute afterwards it can be used to follow her into the Underworld. Noone can be forced against his will to enter the Underworld through the stone's Shadowland, unless the user enters it herself and physically pulls a victim through. She can of course also persuade or fool a victim to enter as well.

The Hearthstone leaves no mark on Creation unless the user stays in the same place for more than a scene, after which death slowly starts tainting everything within its radius.

Still-Born Cherub Stone

by Resplendence - from Hearthstone Relay: Ick

 Abyssal Aspect
 Manse •••

Little good can be expected to come from a Hearthstone that takes the shape of a petrified skeletal fetus. Indeed, the stone kills any child the bearer sires in the womb of its mother, but it continues to grow quickly on the stone's dark Essence that feeds and warps its little dead body. Worse yet, the ghost of the unborn child is fettered to the undead fetus. Late one night about a month after the conception, a skeletal, pale mockery of a child is fully deformed, and claws and bites its way out through its mother's body. Since this is fatal for a mortal mother, the wailing, gore-drenched Cherub usually finds itself bitterly lonely. It immediately and unfailingly seeks out its father. Very few survive the hardships of Creation or the Underworld for very long, though.

Alternatively, if the bearer of the Hearthstone is female, she will give birth to a Still-Born Cherub herself if she is attuned during conception. The Cherub claws its way out through her body as usual, but the pains are no worse than regular birth pains, and the wounds close within a scene and leave no marks.

Still-Born Cherub

Image: Half fetus, half young child, all undead monstrosity. Most are skeletal and thin, but some are bloated. Most are human-shaped and only vaguely deformed, but some are grossly warped -- one Abyssal's pet undead daughter is little more than a child's head on six spidery legs resembling large, bony and clawed fingers. All Cherubs have small, sharp teeth and claws, deathly pale skin and dark eyes. They usually bear an uncanny resemblance to their Abyssal parent.

Personality: Still-Born Cherubs desperately seek out their parents first of all -- either their Abyssal one or the mortal, if she should rise as a ghost after dying horribly from giving birth to it. In the company of a parent they are cruelly mischievous, often found tormenting small creatures and suckling their blood. Their existence is almost pure torment though, and they are forever filled with a child's fear and nightmares. With discipline, they can become obedient to their parent, but they never develop any intelligence beyond that of a small child, except maybe an instinctual understanding of existence in the Underworld.

Notes: Outside the Underworld or a Shadowland, Cherubs quickly wither and die. Sunlight scalds them like boiling water. They are fully physical undead. If the body is killed, the ghost is usually so euphoric over the release from its tormented existance that it succumbs to the comforting embrace of Lethe.

Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2, Charisma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 0, Perception 3, Intelligence 1, Wits 2
Abilities: Athletics 1, Brawl 1, Dodge 1, Stealth 1
Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 1, Temperance 1, Valor 2
Willpower: 3
Essence: 1
Base Initiative: 5
Attacks: Bite (Speed 2, Acc 4, Dam 2L, Def 2), Claw (Speed 5, Acc 5, Dam 1L, Def 5)
Dodge Pool: 4
Soak: 2B/1L
Health Levels: -0, -1, -2, -4, Inc
Notes: +1 difficulty to hit due to their small size, but halved movement rate unless provided with special means of motion by deformities, such as spider legs or wings.

Stone of Decay

Book of Three Circles, p. 116

Stone of Wraithly Substance

by Ikselam

Manse •••
Trigger: None.

This white, tetrahedral stone is slightly porous, as though carved from bone. When attuned, it exudes a weak aura of death energy. As long as it is nighttime, all ghosts within five yards of the character automatically materialize at no cost, and cannot dematerialize until they leave the area of effect or day breaks, at which point they immediately become incorporeal unless they use another magical power to stay solid. In the daytime, ghosts within the area of effect may materialize at half cost.