Way of Water
Back to Koldunic Ways
This way was practiced primarily among koldun with havens near some sort of water source, from the Plain Lakes to the Black Sea. With their powers, these koldun confounded many Turkish invasion attempts along the Danube River, sinking their ships and drowning them under mystical riptides. When employing the powers of this way, a koldun’s eyes change color to vivid, almost glowing aquamarine.
1) Pools of Illusion
Travelers have told tales of receiving warnings of future events, cries for help and even divine intervention from spirits that manifested themselves from a water source. Water spirits have been recounted the world over, from river cannibals to the lovely mermaids and lorelei that beckoned men to watery deaths. Even King Arthur received his prized sword Excalibur from such a spirit of water, known as the Lady of the Lake.
At this beginning level of the Way of Water, a koldun has the ability to create a three-dimensional illusion along the surface of a water source. Koldun during the modern nights sometimes invoke this power of illusion to prey on the superstitions of the mortal world.
System: The player makes a Wits + Koldunism roll (difficulty 5) in order to create an illusion of her choosing. The illusion can speak and walk, but it is intangible and cannot leave the boundaries of water. This phantom image lasts for several seconds, after which it will slowly dissipate.
2) Watery Solace
Should a koldun desperately need shelter, from enemies or the rising sun, she may opt to sink below the cool, dark, protective waters. As the vampire walks into a source of water, she sinks below its surface, protected by the magic of the liquid. Though a koldun can immerse herself into nearly all water sources, she cannot move around within it; water currents mystically avoid the koldun’s dead body at her original interring point.
System: Unlike most powers of Koldunic Sorcery, this power does not require the expenditure of a Willpower point; the player must accumulate two successes on her Wits + Koldunism roll (difficulty 6) to successfully submerge the character in the water. The amount of water must be at least a foot in depth and as large as her body for a koldun to rest there. This power acts like the Protean Discipline power of Earth Meld; after invoking Watery Solace, a vampire is completely concealed from the rays of the sun. Those looking straight down into the water where a koldun melds may make a Perception + Alertness roll (difficulty 8). On a successful roll, they catch a glimpse of the slumbering koldun and can attempt to attack or rouse her.
3) WaterWalk
No longer bound by the laws of physics, a koldun has the ability to walk along the fluid surface of water. So long as she invokes this power, the vampire may walk the water’s surface as if it is as solid as earth.
System: The koldun may walk across the surface of water for a number of scenes equal to the number of successes the player scores on a Wits + Koldunism roll (difficulty 7). This does not prevent the creatures of the seas or lakes (or any body of water the koldun traverses) from interacting with her. The Storyteller may find it appropriate to have dolphins torment her, or a hungry shark could surprise the vampire and take a bite at her from beneath. It is also possible that the koldun will be spotted by individuals in boats, fishermen or even people swimming in her general vicinity.
4) Watery Minions
The koldun of the Middles Ages often invoked these minions from the moats surrounding their castles to deter the marauding Turks. These servants are comprised completely of water, ascending from a watery source. Once primed by this power, the minions follow only very simple instructions from the koldun, though they do so without hesitation. Some of the Turks surviving raids on a koldun’s keep told stories of weirds, dragons and dire wolves roaming around the armalisti castles.
System: The player spends a point of Willpower. For every success he scores on a Wits + Koldunism roll (difficulty 8), one Watery Minion rises from its source and forms into any shape the koldun desires. The Storyteller determines appropriate Traits as well as the number of health levels for these minions if they have the ability to attack and defend. As they are composed of water, bashing damage does not slow the minions, though fire related attacks gain an extra two dice to damage. All of these Watery Minions last for one night.
5) Doom Tides
Many Turkish ships lie below the Black Sea, destroyed by mighty whirlpools invoked by koldun. Victims fight to keep themselves afloat or else find themselves sucked into whirling tides, suffocating until they can swim free from this vortex. Some of tonight’s koldun entertain themselves by creating swirling riptides in pools to surprise late-night swimmers.
System: The player spends a Willpower point and rolls Wits + Koldunism (difficulty 9) to create a whirlpool. For every success she scores, the width of this maelstrom increases by 10 feet. Doom Tides have a base Strength l5; this Strength increases by increments of five for each success the koldun scores beyond the activation roll. Victims must make a Strength + Survival roll (difficulty 8; Potence adds successes) in order to pull free from the riptide. This effect remains for one scene.
