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Contract of Fleeting Night

Under the cover of night, the wicked feel free to cavort, the night predators hunt for blood, and the freakish & ugly make their rounds while the eyes of society are closed in sleep. The Contract of Night manipulates disgust, vice, and wicked things.

Secrets from the Dark •

The character is able discern one thing that the subject finds most disgusting or repugnant.

Prerequisites: None
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wits + Wyrd – subject’s Composure
Action: Instant
Catch: The clause’s subject finds the character quite disgusting.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The character receives an erroneous impression, believing the subject is disgusted by something that he definitely is not disgusted by.
Failure: The character senses nothing.
Success: The character acquires knowledge of one thing the subject is disgusted by. See the list of suggested modifiers below for guidelines on what thing the character learns.
Exceptional Success: The character learns two things from the targeted level, if there are two such things to be discovered.

A Darkened Mirror ••

The character can draw out the dark side within someone, turning him into an object of disgust. This clause is a great way to mess with the beautiful courtiers of the Sun Court.

Prerequisites: Mantle (Moon) • or Court Goodwill (Moon) •••
Cost: 2 Glamour
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Subterfuge + Mantle (Moon) – subject’s Resolve
Action: Instant
Catch: The character is standing on a buried mirror.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The clause turns on the character, imposing a -2 to all Presence and Manipulation rolls for one scene.
Failure: The character fails to invoke the contract.
Success: The character causes a chosen subject to look disgusting. The clause amplifies the subject’s flaws & diminishes his attractive qualities. If the subject has a warts or moles, they appear larger. The bags under a subject’s eyes may become more pronounced. A subject’s bad teeth may look even worse. A subject that is normally quite beautiful looks simply plain. A subject that is plain-looking turns ugly. The subject suffers a -2 penalty to all Presence and Manipulation rolls for one scene.
Exceptional Success: The subject’s features become hideously exaggerated and/or deformed, imposing a -4 penalty to all Presence and Manipulation rolls for one scene.

Dance of the Bacchanalia •••

The character uses the potency of glamour to enter a state of heightened debauchery.

Prerequisites: Mantle (Moon) •• or Court Goodwill (Moon) ••••
Cost: 5 Glamour
Dice Pool: Composure + Mantle (Moon)
Action: Instant
Catch: The character wears a wreath of grape vines on their head.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The character loses himself in delirium, suffering an appropriate derangement (determined by the Storyteller) until the next sunrise.
Failure: The character enjoys himself, but recovers no points of Willpower.
Success: To use this clause, the character must become a slave to his passions for at least an hour without interruption, indulging his sense of gluttony, lust, or rage. The character may gorge himself on tasty treats, have a Viagra-induced sex romp, or have a crazy bare knuckle brawl. It is only necessary that the character is actively engaging a form of sensual pleasure. The spike of glamour employed in this clause heightens this sensual pleasure to an unimaginable degree. For each success, the character recovers one point of Willpower. However, the sensory overload from using this clause is both physically & mentally taxing once the character stops partying. In addition to any effects resulting from the character’s actions, the character feels a sudden heavy fatigue, collapsing into sleep. The character is literally comatose for a period of eight hours, plus one additional hour per success.
Exceptional Success: The same as above, more successes result in increased effects.

Taste of the Forbidden Fruit ••••

The character causes an individual to temporarily lose their inhibitions and sense of morality. The Court of Night likes using this clause to stir up trouble or potentially court new members.

Prerequisites: Mantle (Moon) ••• or Court Goodwill (Moon) •••••
Cost: 2 Glamour; add 1 Willpower to affect a supernatural subject
Dice Pool: Presence + Seduction + Mantle (Moon) – subject’s Resolve
Action: Instant
Catch: The character holds a live venomous snake in his hands.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The character suffers a severe derangement as if they had failed a degeneration roll. This derangement lasts for one scene.
Failure: The character fails to affect the subject.
Success: The subject loses their sense of restraint and moral judgment for a number of hours equal to the number of successes. The subject is not suddenly compelled to do evil. Rather, his perception is altered, rendering him unable to distinguish between right & wrong. This altered perception is very much like the morality-numbing effect the Hedge has on mortals. The subject is not bothered by activities that he would normally find lewd or disgusting. The character acts as he normally would, but without regard to the social or moral outcomes of his actions or the actions of others. While this clause is in effect, the subject does not make any degeneration checks regardless of his actions. However, the Storyteller should make note of any acts against Morality trait that the subject commits. When the clause ends, the subject is suddenly struck with the full weight of what he has done. The player or Storyteller makes the appropriate rolls, starting with the most serious sin (or breaking point, etc.) down to the progressively least serious. If the subject’s Morality trait rating drops to the point that a later-occurring sin would no longer be applicable, then no further checks are necessary.
Exceptional Success: The same as above, but the clause lasts for the next 12 hours or until the next sunrise, whichever comes first.

Howling at the Moon •••••

The character turns someone into a ravenous beast, driven to satiate their most basic desires.

Prerequisites: Mantle (Moon) 4
Cost: 3 Glamour + 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Persuasion + Mantle (Moon) vs. Composure + Wyrd
Action: Contested and Extended (subject’s Willpower in successes; one roll is made each turn); resistance is reflexive
Catch: The character howls like a wolf under a full moon for at least three minutes.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The clause backfires, affecting the character for one scene instead of the subject.
Failure: The character rolls fewer or equal successes than the subject. The character makes no headway.
Success: The character rolls more successes than the subject and makes headway. If the character reaches the required number of successes, the subject feels the immediate impulse to seek out & fulfill his Vice. He abandons other responsibilities and rational thinking to obey the urge. The character will disregard social sensibilities & manners in pursuit of his Vice, behaving like an animal. See the list of suggested modifiers below for guidelines on the effect’s duration.
Exceptional Success: The character rolls many more successes than the subject and makes great headway.

Contract of Eternal Night

At dusk, the darkness of night crawls out of the holes & crevices. Shadows grow longer & more abundant. The night encroaches to swallow up the light, and the beasts of night are roused. The Contract of Dusk manipulates darkness, shadows, & nocturnal creatures.

Owl’s Keen Eyes •

The character gains the eyes of a nocturnal creature, able to see with little light even over long distances. This clause enables the character to use low-light vision, just as a nocturnal animal. The character’s visual range remains the same even in darkened conditions, such as dim light or moonlight. The character does not receive penalties for operating in poor lighting conditions or darkness. This clause lasts for one scene.

Prerequisites: None
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
Catch: The character tucks a feather plucked from the head of an owl behind each ear.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure:
Failure:
Success:
Exceptional Success:

Fear the Dark ••

The character can command the darkness to hinder his enemies, as if they were walking through a nightmare.

Prerequisites: Mantle (Moon) • or Court Goodwill (Moon) •••
Cost: 2 Glamour
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Intimidation + Mantle (Moon)
Action: Instant
Catch: A child screams in terror at the sight of the character.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The darkness turns against the character, applying a -4 Speed penalty for the scene.
Failure: The character fails to command the dark.
Success: For each success rolled, the subject of the clause suffers a -1 penalty to all rolls involving movement (running, jumping, climbing, etc.). The subject’s Speed is also decreased by -1 per success. The subject’s speed can be reduced no lower than 1. Shadows & darkness becomes substantial & viscous around the subject. The character feels as though he is moving underwater in darkness. This clause is only effective under moonlight or in total darkness. If the subject is standing in sunlight or within bright artificial light (street lamp, ceiling light, spotlight, etc.), the clause has no effect. The light must be a strong ambient light to dispel the effects of darkness. A candle is not bright enough, and a flashlight is too narrowly focused to be effective. This clause lasts for one scene.
Exceptional Success: The same as above, increased successes result in increased results.

Nocturnal Swarm •••

The character can summon a living cloud of darkness to descend upon his enemies, obscuring their senses and assaulting them like a plague of nocturnal insects.

Prerequisites: Mantle (Moon) •• or Court Goodwill (Moon) ••••
Cost: 3 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wits + Animal Ken + Mantle (Moon)
Action: Instant
Catch: The character consumes a live nocturnal insect harvested from the Hedge.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The character absorbs the darkness. The character feels a thousand crawling critters underneath his skin for the rest of the scene, imposing a -2 penalty to all action rolls.
Failure: The character fails to invoke the contract.
Success: A cloud of darkness emerges around the character, filling the air like a swarm of insects. The cloud extends in a roughly circular fashion, a 1 yard radius plus an additional number of yards equal to the character’s Wyrd. The cloud blots out the ambient light, applying a -2 concealment penalty to all characters inside the cloud or characters outside directing attacks into the cloud. In addition, subjects also feel a creepy tingling sensation all over their body, as though they were covered in cockroaches or other creepy crawlers. There are no tangible bugs in the cloud, but the sensation is certainly there. Subjects within the cloud must make a successful Composure check reflexively each turn before taking actions. Otherwise, they are too distracted by the bugs to do anything else. This clause lasts a number of turns equal to the number of successes rolled.
Exceptional Success: The intensity of the cloud is strengthened, actually scraping & stinging the subject’s skin. A subject suffers 1 point of bashing damage per turn exposed to the cloud.

Child of the Night ••••

The character becomes an embodiment of the night, transforming into a swarm of small bats. This ability is typically used to inspire fear or as a means of escape.

Prerequisites: Mantle (Moon) ••• or Court Goodwill (Moon) •••••
Cost: 3 Glamour
Dice Pool: Composure + Occult + Mantle (Moon)
Action: Instant
Catch: The character swallows the blood of a bat.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The mishap occurs during the transformation. The character feels a sharp pain in his joints, and suffers two point of bashing damage.
Failure: The transformation does not take place.
Success: The character’s breaks apart, transforming into dozens of rat-size bats. Though in a fragmented form, the swarm of bats is considered a single entity with a shared Health score equal to the character’s Health. The swarm moves together with a collective consciousness and cannot break off in many different directions. The character can still be damaged normally by attacks to the swarm. In this form, the character flies at his Speed +5 and can change formation to move as needed. The character can also see normally in the dark, applying no penalties for operating in dim lighting or darkness. However, because of the limitations of the bats’ size, the character cannot manipulate physical objects or cause any damage.
Exceptional Success: The character can fly at his Speed +10 and applies a +2 defense bonus. This defense bonus does not apply attacks that could conceivably damage many of the bats at once, such as an explosion.

Boogeyman’s Sidestep •••••

The character uses the connections of the Wyrd to reach through the darkness, stepping through a shadow in one location then instantly reappearing from a shadow in another location.

Prerequisites: Mantle (Moon) ••••
Cost: 3 or 6 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wits + Stealth + Mantle (Moon)
Action: Instant or Reflexive
Catch: The character holds the eyes of a teddy bear, taken forcibly from a child.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The character finds himself transported into a scary & dangerous part of the Hedge. The character cannot use the contract again until a day has passed.
Failure: The character fails to invoke the contract.
Success: The character teleports from one location to another within a number of yards equal to the character’s Wyrd x 10. The shadows used must be large enough for the character to step into or fall through. The character cannot use his shadow. The character does not have to know where exactly he is going: only needing to decide on the approximate distance & direction he intends to go. Since the exact destination is somewhat random (at the Storyteller’s discretion), the character must accept the circumstances of where he appears.
Exceptional Success: The character appears at the most advantageous position in the direction chosen. The character must still appear from a shadow of sufficient size.