Tears of Marduk

Level 3 - Storyline Rituals

Description: In their battles with the Tremere, Medieval Assamites learned the hard way that they were no longer the only masters of the power of vitae. Their enemies had learned to turn the power of vampiric essence against the vampire who had spilled it. Even a few flecks of blood spilled by a victorious warrior could spell his ruin if the Tremere's sneaking allies were able to scavenge the battlefield later. Worse, the Tremere had learned to steal vitae with a touch, or even from afar, either to strengthen themselves in battle, or effect the ruin of their enemies later.

As a defense, Assamite Sorcerers learned to crystallize the blood that fell from their warriors' battle wounds. Based on Crystallize the Liquid Form (Path of Transmutation level 2), any blood that leaves the subject's body immediately crystallizes and transforms into drops of pure, uncut garnet. Obviously, it is impossible to feed vitae to ghouls while "Tears of Marduk" is in effect.

System: This ritual can be cast on only one individual at a time. Regardless of whether the sorcerer is casting this ritual for himself, or another childe of Haqim, the steps remain the same. The sorcerer requires a garnet the size of his thumbnail, raw or worked (polished or faceted), it makes no difference. The caster must chant over the garnet for fifteen minutes, making sweeping gestures with his hands, and invoking djinn of water and stone. The sorcerer must drink from a victim sated with Khalif; when he feels the headiness of the Khalif laced blood, he must swallow the crimson gem. After an hour has past, he then cuts the object out of his belly, licks it clean and pockets the gem or if the ritual is for another Assamite, he hands the garnet over to the subject. If the ritual is successful, the possessor of the enchanted garnet is fully protected from having his or her blood stolen in liquid form for a number of night equal to the player's successes on the casting roll. Remember, it is the garnet that bears the enchantment, if the possessor hands the stone to another Assamite, then that assassin gains the benefits; should the stone be lost, well, only another of Haqim's blood could gain the benefits in the proscribed time, but the unlucky fool will not likely receive the benefit of the "Tears of Marduk" again, anytime soon.

Errata: While the blood remains solid garnet indefinitely, it is still part of the vampire who lost it. While effects such as Taste of Vitae (Path of Blood level 1, and Blood Walk cannot be used, the garnet can be used for other mystic purposes. The size of the garnets depend on the rate at which the vampire is losing blood. Engaging the Vessel of Transference will result in the container being filled with a single chunk of garnet, while a bleeding wound would result in a stream of small crystals falling to the floor. It might be amusing to witness Theft of Vitae used: A torrent of ruddy red gemstones flies from the victim, hitting the caster in the mouth (no damage, but what a surprise!).