Into the Chasm
Other Lasombra elders step from shadow to shadow and audaciously claim to “Walk the Abyss.” To the mystic who knows this ritual, such hesitant journeys are as the tottering steps of a child. For as the Shadowed One did before them when his eyes first darkened with understanding, the mystic may stride wholly into the Abyss to be anywhere, everywhere and nowhere.
System: The Cainite spends an hour painting a circle of glyphs with three points of her own vitae. The circle must be as wide as her outstretched arms and may adorn wall or floor, as long as the surface is smooth and unbroken, like polished stone or glass. Her player then rolls Intelligence + Occult (difficulty 7). Failure means the glyphs burn black and vanish in a cloud of foul smoke, wasting the blood and effort. A botch or success opens the portal, causing the oily black of Obtenebration to spiral into a gaping maw of liquid darkness. The portal lasts a number of turns equal to the number of successes rolled. On a botch, the portal remains open for one turn only and disgorges a number of Hungry Shades equal to the number of 1’s rolled (use sample statistics on p. 179). These monsters attack everyone present and may not be controlled. Anything may pass through a successful portal while it remains open, willingly or otherwise. If multiple characters wish to travel together, they must maintain unbroken contact as they enter and throughout their journey. Otherwise, some may become lost in the void or emerge at very different destinations than their companions.
The Abyss is infinite in its darkness. Those with the Protean power Witness of Darkness or any levels of Obtenebration may perceive the shapeless murk in all its dizzying, impossible geometry and thus see the approach of Abyss spirits, vortices or other travelers. Those without such powers are truly blind and must rely on their other muted senses to perceive anything. The only clear sensation is one of soul-numbing cold that inflicts one die of lethal damage to living beings per minute of exposure.
In addition to serving as a profound spiritual experience for Abyss mystics, travel in the void serves a more utilitarian purpose. The shadow realm intersects all shadows and all darkness, allowing a traveler to emerge from any patch of darkness large enough to contain her. She need only break the enfolding silence to speak the name of her destination. Her player rolls Wits + Obtenebration (difficulty 6 for those with the Occult specialty Abyss Mysticism; difficulty 8 otherwise). On a success, the shadow-space stretches and tears around the character, disgorging her at her destination with a feeling of falling from a great height. A character must have seen or visited a destination to name it. Failure increases the difficulty of the next navigation attempt by one, to a maximum of difficulty 10. A new attempt can be made every minute until the character succeeds. A botch means the character’s navigation difficulty increases by one and she attracts hostile Hungry Shades as a botch in casting the initial ritual. One character may lead others provided all maintain contact, though this requires the expenditure of one Willpower point from every person led in this manner before they step into the portal. Once a passenger lets go of the group, she must find her own way out. It is worth noting that no denizens of the Abyss bear blood, so any vampire who remains trapped within will eventually starve into torpor and an eternity of forgotten nonbeing.
Side Effect: Vampires who walk in the Abyss risk bringing a fragment of its alien malevolence back with them to the material world. After every sojourn, roll Willpower against a difficulty of trip’s duration in minutes (maximum difficulty 9). A failure means the vampire gains the Flaw Animate Shadow (p. 208), while a botch means the vampire gains the Flaw Harbinger of the Abyss (p. 209). It is possible to gain both Flaws from repeated journeys. Passengers in the Abyss may also develop Flaws from their sojourn, though all such curses fade with the coming of dawn. Only the mystic opening the way risks the eternal mark of that which lies Beyond.
