Awakening the Verdant Thorn

Koldunism Level 3

Created by the Telyavelic Tremere, this ritual binds a vengeful forest spirit into a slender stake of rosewood. If driven anywhere into a vampire's flesh, the stake takes root in her fertile vitae and rapidly blossoms into an unnatural mass of vines and thorns. The vines entwine the vampire, drinking her blood to grow in strength. Unchecked, the writhing growth can drain a hapless Cainite dry.

System: In order to enchant the stake, the caster must harden its point with fire and spend an hour chanting supplications to the Siela. He must then plunge the shaft into his own heart, inflicting one level of unsoakable lethal damage. If the roll succeeds, the stake absorbs one blood point each turn that it remains lodged in the heart. The caster retains full mobility and may remove the shaft at any time. A failure leaves the caster paralyzed as normal, while a botch has the added unpleasant effect of triggering the ritual's magic.

A stake enchanted with this ritual has a ruddy hue and feels sticky, like a freshly cut sapling. If the stake inflicts at least one level of lethal damage to a vampire, it immediately begins growing, drinking one blood point each turn until the Cainite's pool is empty. Players of characters attempting to pull the shaft free must succeed in an opposed Strength roll against the number of blood points the stake has already consumed (including during the initial enchantment). For instance, if the stake drank three blood points from its caster and two more from a victim, the stake would have an effective Strength rating of 5 when someone tried to pull it free. The stake cannot have a Strength higher than 8, and will not grow in the diluted vitae of ghouls. Vampires reduced to zero blood points by this ritual obviously cannot activate Disciplines or perform feats that require blood. Stakes enchanted with Awakening the Verdant Thorn still only paralyze vampires if they penetrate the heart.