Cry That Slays Light
Representing the penultimate sacrament of Abyss Mysticism, this ritual tears a vortex of the Abyss that blossoms upward and outward to shroud the sky from horizon to horizon. All beneath lies in unnatural parody of midnight, even under the brightest light of sun or moon or stars. The brightest flames below dim their brilliance and warmth, if not their devouring hunger. Use of this ritual imperils the mystic’s body, mind and soul, and only one casting has been seen in the past millennium. It is unknown if any Abyss mystics capable of such a feat still walk the earth — apart from the Shadowed One.
System: A Cainite wishing to shout the Cry That Slays Light must spend one week in absolute silence. She may not utter the briefest syllable or she must begin her quiet meditations again. During this time, she spends all waking hours mentally repeating a litany of hatred for the sun and moon and the Creator of light — bringing her wrath to the edge of sound without ever giving it voice. Once the ritual is complete, the vampire’s player rolls Intelligence + Occult (difficulty 8). A botch results in the vampire’s banishment into the Abyss for a century per 1 rolled, during which time the vampire gains at least one derangement and loses all blood but never falls into the release of torpor.
When the imprisonment ends, the Cainite returns to the Earth in a frenzy that may last weeks or even longer. Failure on the casting means the caster fails to channel the dark energies properly and nothing happens. Success means the vampire hears the whispers of Ahriman proclaiming the syllable that is opposed to all being. The syllable remains in the vampire’s consciousness and cannot be telepathically extracted or mystically removed by any power short of divine intervention. At any time in the vampire’s unlife, he may shriek this syllable to turn day into night. For one hour, vampires may walk openly without fear — utterly immune to Rötschreck and protected from the sun by the undulating curtain of shadow above. The syllable then passes from the mystic’s memory unless he casts the ritual once more to rediscover it.
Side Effect: Upon actually invoking the Cry That Slays Light to blot out the sun, roll the mystic’s Road rating (difficulty 4). Each success allows the vampire to retain one dot of her road. If this sudden degeneration reduces the vampire’s Road rating to zero, she rampages under the cover of darkness and kills everything and everyone she can find. When the darkness ends, it subsumes her into its being and her hunger is added to the Abyss.
