Path of the Pyre

Necromancy -x- Giovanni

Introduction

The underworld is a place where emotions literally carry weight; where as in the Skinlands, matter and energy are expressions of the same primordial forces, the land of the dead is composed of emotions and plasm. In the physical world, fire is the great purifier: it consumes matter and generates energy in the form of heat. In the underworld, plasm can "burn" as well, smoldering into pure, emotional energy. This effect is known to wraiths as "Barrow Flame," but most necromancers speak of these ghostly flames as the "Fire of Hades."

The Path of the Pyre allows the necromancer to call forth the passion-fire of the underworld, burning his foes, be they physical or spectral in form. There have been reports that the Asian vampires possess blood magic similar to this path, allowing them to summon forth strange, blue fire. Whether the Giovanni learned these secrets from clandestine dealings with the Chinese Chi’ng Shi necromancers is unknown, although this theory is exceedingly unlikely.

Nether Light

This spell allows the necromancer to view nearby ectoplasm by faintly kindling a small bit of emotional energy into a soft radiance from beyond the shroud of death. When the necromancer evokes the Nether Light, any entity or object in the underworld that is composed of plasm will begin to glow visibly within the underworld and the Skinlands alike.

System: To invoke Nether Light, the vampire must expend a blood point and roll Perception + Occult (difficulty 7). All ectoplasm becomes visible within a radius of 3 yards for one turn per success. Ghosts with special stealth powers (Enshroud, for instance) may confound the Nether Light: the Ghost receives a Wits + Stealth roll, opposed by the Necromancer’s Perception + Occult roll. If the ghost succeeds, it remains invisible to the Nether Light effect.

Corpse Candle

Corpse Candle infuses emotional energy into some bit of inanimate "matter" in the underworld, causing it to burn away and shed visible light. The light emitted is visible in the land of the dead as well as in the living world. Unless the necromancer also has some means of seeing into the underworld, however, he will only gain the benefit of momentary illumination in the land of the living.

System: Spend a blood point. If the necromancer already has some means of seeing ectoplasmic objects (i.e. he is using Nether Light, or another necromantic power that allows him to see into the underworld), then no roll is necessary. If the necromancer cannot see the object he is attempting to enflame, then he must score 3 successes on a roll of Perception + Alertness. For one minute per point of Perception the vampire possesses, a bit of the physical "stuff" of the underworld burns and illuminates the Skinlands and the spirit world like a torch.

The torch-fire is very real to ghosts and other spectral beings in the underworld (including necromancers traversing the underworld). Such creatures suffer 1 health level of aggravated damage each time they pass through the ghostly fire. The flames do not burn individuals in the living world, however, unless they are coexisting in the Underworld via Dead Hand (Ash Path 3) or similar arts when they pass through the fire.

Spirit Burn

Spirit Burn allows the Necromancer to invoke the Fire of Hades, summoning the bluish white flames of the underworld (called Barrow Flames by many ghosts who have been interrogated on the matter). By focusing her emotional outrage and infusing it into the plasm of nearby ghosts (or the transubstantiated flesh of physical travelers in the underworld), she may cause them to burst into unholy flames, their plasm burning away like dry wood.

System: Spend a blood point and roll Wits + Empathy, difficulty 7. If 1 success is scored, then one spirit within visual range of the necromancer suffers 1 aggravated health level (i.e. 1 level of Corpus damage). With 3 successes, 2 health levels are inflicted. 5 successes invokes 3 levels of damage. The damage continues to burn on successive turns, losing 1 health level from the total damage each turn that the flames continue to burn.

To properly aim the Spirit Burn attack, the necromancer must be able to see the target (such as through Nether Light or a different necromantic path).

Soul Fire

Like Spirit Burn, Soulfire summons the Barrow Flames as an offensive weapon. What separates this power is that the flames may manifest in the living world. Those struck by the bluish-white fire are burned spiritually, rather than physically. While ghosts will burn visibly, those in the Skinlands will simply appear to double over in pain, as if suffering a heart attack. Individuals capable of seeing into the underworld (or possibly vampires with a high enough Auspex rating) will see a mortal target of Soulfire surrounded in a wreath of burning, ghostly fire. The Fire of Hades burns the target’s very soul into Oblivion, and those killed (or brought to final death) by Soulfire never return as wraiths.

System: Summoning these flames costs a blood point, and requires a roll of Wits + Occult (difficulty of the local shroud, or default to 7). Once summoned, the Necromancer may place the flames with a successful Dexterity + Alertness roll (difficulty 8). These flames deal aggravated damage to ghosts, as well as to those in the living world. On the first turn, the full damage is inflicted based on the successes on the Wits + Occult roll as shown on the following chart. On subsequent turns, the target suffers half of the damage that he suffered the previous turn (round down).

Successes Damage

1 success 2 dice

2 successes 3 dice

3 successes 4 dice

4 successes 5 dice

5 successes 6 dice

All damage is Aggravated, and not even Fortitude can resist the scorching fire. Only a Willpower roll (difficulty 8) can reduce the damage: each success on the target’s Willpower roll reduces the damage inflicted by 1 health level. A target brought below Incapacitated by Soulfire will never become a ghost: his soul has been eradicated by the hellish fire.

Forge the Soul

The last power on the Path of the Pyre is also the power that requires the greatest precision. Rather than crudely burning away a target’s soul, the necromancer may focus the Barrow Flames on a spirit’s personality and consciousness alone, leaving the ectoplasm intact. The result is far from pretty: what remains are essentially the raw materials for crafting objects in the underworld: mindless soul-stuff ripe for forging.

When assaulting a spirit through Forge the Soul, the necromancer reaches out, as if to grab the wraith. In the Shadowlands, the necromancer’s hands seem to be wreathed in bluish flames. When the vampire’s hands "touch" the spectral plasm of the ghost, the flames engulf the spirit for a moment, causing excruciating pain and burning the ghost right to the core of his being.

Forge the Soul does not cause spectral objects to spontaneously appear: the necromancer must have some way of physically manipulating the ectoplasm in order to shape it into the desired form. What this power does is reduce a ghost to the basic building blocks of the underworld—plasm. This, of course, destroys the ghost, sending its consciousness straight into Oblivion.

System: To invoke this power, the necromancer must force his hands into the physical space in the Skinlands that corresponds to the area occupied by the spirit in the underworld. He then expends 1 Willpower point and roll Strength + Occult, difficulty of the Shroud (default to 7). A single ghost may be targeted by this power each turn, and the necromancer must be able to see the spirit in order to strike it. The spirit receives a straight Stamina roll (difficulty 6) to resist, with each success countering one of the vampire’s successes.

For each success the vampire scores, the ghost loses 1 permanent point of Willpower. A spirit reduced to 0 Willpower in this way becomes a mindless husk of ectoplasm, resembling a roughly sculpted, slightly scorched statue. The most disturbing feature of such husks is the vacant pits where the wraith’s eyes once rested.

Successes beyond those required to burn the spirit’s Willpower spill over, affecting the ghost’s Corpus (their ectoplasmic "body"). For each success beyond the target’s Willpower, one of the spirit’s health-levels is burned away. A spirit with no Willpower or Health Levels left (a standard ghost has 10 "health levels" worth of ectoplasm) is reduced to a pool of sludge that is completely unworkable.

For each Health Level that remains after the "tempering," the necromancer has roughly a square foot of material to work with (plasm can be stretched or contracted very easily). If the necromancer can physically touch the ectoplasm (such as when traversing the underworld through Ex Nihilo, or by using Dead Hand), he can work the left-over corpus with a standard Dexterity + Crafts roll (difficulty 6 if the appropriate tools are also available, difficulty 8 if he must improvise tools, 9 if the necromancer has to hand-craft the plasm).