Occhiod D'Uomo Morto

Level II Rituals

Description: To cast this ritual, the Necromancer needs an eye from a corpse whose absent soul became a spirito or a spettro. The eye is ritually prepared in a process involving incense, the new moon and a period of midnight chanting. The chanting climaxes when the Necromancer removes one of her own eyes and replaces it with the one from the corpse (fresher is better). Kindred healing takes over at that point, sealing the eye within the socket.

System: If the ritual succeeds, the Necromancer permanently gains the Shroudsight ability (see p. 164 of Vampire: The Masquerade). This ability is always active and does not require a roll.

Furthermore, if it was a spettri corpse, the vampire can hear the vague murmuring of any spettri in the area. This ability isn't very precise, rather than mind reading, it's more like trying to overhear a low-voiced conversation in the next room. With a Perception + Occult roll, the Necromancer can glean a very vague impression of what the area spettri are up to. Botching this roll may well earn the Necromancer a new derangement (at the Storyteller's discretion), as listening in on the conversations of the evil dead is not a habit conducive to mental health.

This ritual has some major drawbacks, the first being that its proper result is hideously ugly. Unless the vampire wears sunglasses or finds some other way to conceal her eye, her Appearance is reduced by one dot.

Also, dead or rotted tissue is not the best for normal perception. Any mundane visual Perception rolls are at +1 difficulty (possibly more if the corpse had bad eyesight in life). ON the other hand, this very blurring offers some protection against Dominate and Eyes of the Serpent: These Disciplines are used against the dead-eyed Necromancer at +1 difficulty.

More importantly, however, the spirito or spettro whose body was desecrated knows it, and very likely hates it. The ghost can find the Necromancer possessing his eye anywhere, and all wraithly powers used against the Necromancer by that particular ghost or spectre are at -1 difficulty.

Reference: CGR 75-76