Path of Spectral Fire
Description: The fire of the Underworld is known as barrow-flame and burns cold rather than hot, in all other respects, it functions just as fire does in the world of the living.
As one of the more obvious manifestations of Oblivion, it causes aggravated damage to wraiths and is capable of destroying them. Barrow-flame exists solely in the Underworld, and as such cannot harm the living.
This cold fire often manifests in the shadow-lands corresponding to real world locations in which disasters are soon to strike. It is known among the dead that the characteristics of a given barrow-blaze can foretell much about the cataclysm to come.
Among necromancers, rumors of a path devoted to barrow-flame have circulated for centuries and instances of its manifestation in conjunction with first the Cappadocian Clan of vampires and then later, the equally vampiric Giovanni Family are the stuff of necromantic legend.
It is likely that a certain amount of parallel evolution has occurred among practitioners of the pale art and multiple variants of the following path probably exist. This ‘Path of Spectral Fire’ was developed by a morbid member of the eldritch Tzimisce of Bulgaria and it is practiced almost exclusively by its cabal.
As a purely spiritual fire, the barrow-flame generated by this path has two distinct effects.
In the Underworld, each turn that a wraith is exposed to the flames, it may roll it’s Stamina rating against the difficulty listed below to resist the damage. The wraith must try to resist damage each turn it is exposed to the barrow-flame. If a soak roll if failed, the wraith takes from one to three Corpus Levels of damage. If the soak roll succeeds, the wraith takes one fewer Corpus Levels of damage per success. If a wraith botches this roll, it is harmed in some special way and loses the use of one of its senses or the mobility of one of its limbs. For a vampiric necromancer to attack a foe in the Underworld with barrow-flame, he must expend a small portion of his blood essence.
The manifestation of barrow-fire in the world of the living is extremely difficult because of the spiritual barrier known as the Shroud. A vampiric necromancer can overcome this obstacle by expending a portion of his immortal will, thereafter he may attack the living with barrow-flame for the remainder of the scene. As a manifestation of Oblivion and a purely spiritual byproduct of the Underworld, barrow-flame cannot harm the flesh of corporal beings, but rather attacks their soul.
The spiritual damage inflicted by barrow-fire may be soaked with a victim’s willpower pool in correspondence with the attack’s intensity, as seen below.
The soul is incredibly resilient, and damage done to corporal beings is stripped first from the victim’s temporary willpower pool. When all temporary willpower are exhausted, the barrow-fire has destroyed a portion of the soul, resulting in the permanent loss of that willpower rating. As each successive attack burns through temporary willpower, it slowly eats through the victims permanent willpower pool. When all permanent willpower have been consumed by the barrow-fire, the victim’s soul has been utterly destroyed by Oblivion.
Mundane beings leave behind a soulless physical shell that will die without constant maintenance by someone with knowledge of medicine.
The results vary with each species of supernatural being. The Curse of Caine is not so easily destroyed and vampires enter torpor to emerge at their appointed time with one point of permanent willpower.
Garou and similar creatures are spiritually related to umbral beings and may receive a reprieve through their mother the Earth. Barring such a miracle, they revert to their breed form and wither away, similarly to mundane beings without medical maintenance.
Changelings are immortal fey souls reborn into mundane flesh to shield them from the Winds of Banality. As eldritch beings, it is possible for them to use various charms to defend themselves. In the event they fall to the cold fires of Oblivion, they lapse into their mundane lives with no memory of their fey existence. However, the charm of fey existence cannot be so easily snuffed and quests by their fey allies may restore them once more to Arcadia’s grace.
The Magi are usually more than capable of defending themselves from attacks of this sort, provided they have the correct mystical spheres. Should they fall to an attack of Oblivion’s fire, they enter a permanent episode of Quiet. As the Avatar is a superior soul, the individual mage may emerge on his own or his fellow magi may heal the spiritual injury with their arcane arts.
The Restless Dead know well the dangers of barrow-flame and will react accordingly. Should a wraith’s corpus be consumed by Oblivion’s fire, then it enters a destruction harrowing and may or may not emerge depending on its individual circumstances. But it is more likely than not, that it will return in its appointed time and will seek vengeance against the vile necromancer who wields the unholy fires of the Underworld.
The barrow-flame conjured by the ‘Path of Spectral Fire’ must be unleashed to have any effect. Just so, a ‘Burning Finger’ does not burn the vampiric necromancer or cause aggravated wounds, rather, until it is unleashed, it merely produces light. Once the ‘Burning Finger’ has been unleashed, it begins to consume the victim and the necromancer has no further control over it.
Similarly, unless the necromancer expends a point of his willpower, the illumination is confined to the Underworld and only those who have died may perceive it. In either case, the illumination of barrow-flame is likely to draw wraithly attention and is far from subtle.
In the mundane world, the only sign that the necromancer has become a conduit for Oblivion’s fire are seen in his eyes, as the windows of the soul, they reveal him as the source of the spiritual fire. Other supernatural beings may sense something amiss and may have specialized senses for detecting the use of this unnatural power.
System: The player spends a blood point and rolls Charisma + Occult = to a difficulty of the Path Level +3 if necromancy is an in-clan discipline or Path Level +4 for those embraced without necromancy.
Unless the necromancer expends a point of temporary willpower, the light provided by this path is invisible to mortal senses, but allows the necromancer to see, equal to its luminosity, in either the world of the living or the underworld. Once a temporary willpower has been expended, the light provided by barrow-flame becomes visible to all and when it is unleashed upon a victim, all will be able to see and perceive it. The expenditure of a temporary willpower allows the barrow-flame to manifest in the living world for one scene only, when the scene ends, the necromancer must chose to expend another temporary willpower if he wishes to affect the mundane world again.
The number of successes determines how accurately the necromancer places the barrow-flame in his immediate area. One success is all that is necessary to conjure the cold fire into his hand, whereas five successes are required to place the un-fire anywhere in the vampire’s line of sight.
Individual descriptions are not provided for each level of the path. The chart below describes the path level needed to manifest a specific quantity of barrow-flame.
For all corporal beings subject to the destructive power of this path, the permanent willpower pool is used to soak damage; however, wraiths use their corpus to soak the damage done by barrow-flame. The difference between these two different ways in which characters soak barrow-flame is meant to reflect the distinct difference between spiritual beings and corporal beings.
Mortals must roll courage at a difficulty equal to the barrow-fire's intensity, because their immortal soul is under attack, but supernatural creatures need not do so; specifically, vampire's need not roll Rotscheck because this attack-form is not a threat to their immortality and cannot harm them or their possessions physically.
Burning Finger ( maximum area = 1 finger / soak difficulty 3 / damage per turn = 1)
Burning Fist ( maximum area = 1 hand / soak difficulty 4 / damage per turn = 1)
Burning Body ( maximum area = 1 body / soak difficulty 5 / damage per turn = 2)
Burning Bodies ( maximum area = 1 close group / soak difficulty 7 / damage per turn = 2)
Pyre of Corpses ( maximum area = 1 room / soak difficulty 9/ damage per turn = 3)
