Quicksilver Eel

Level 3. / The Thaumaturgic Library of Phineus

By mixing various alchemical substances in his laboratory, the thaumaturge creates a device which can burrow into the flesh of a mage and steal his will. The ritual produces a writhing ball of quicksilver about the size of a man's fist. It must be placed in a non-porous container for transport. A glass flask with a stopper works best.

When the user (who need not be its creator) finds himself int he presence of a mortal mage, he releases the device from its container. (In a combat situation, he might lob the glass flask to smash at his enemy's feet.) When released, the device comes to a semblance of life, resembling a silvery liquid tadpole with a face full of dagger-like teeth. The device launches itself at the closest magician, burrowing through clothes or shoe leather into his flesh. It then works its way up the victim's skeletal structure from within, riding up the spinal column into the brain. From there it begins to devour the victim's will and with it his ability to wield magic.

The ritual was devised by Epistatia for use in weakening or even destroying the mortal mages she must sometimes hunt down. She finds this manifestation of her creativity endlessly fascinating. She sometimes sits by a victim's side as the device takes its toll on him, verbally taunting him as his willpower flickers away like the wick of a dying candle.

System: If there are no magicians (characters with dots in any path of hedge wizardry or other supernatural powers) within a hundred feet of the quicksilver eel when freed, it beelines in a random direction until it finds one or loses its potency. The device remains potent for a number of days equal to twice the successes of the players roll to invoke the ritual. The eel harms the magician by devouring his individual will, thought by hermetic magi to be the seat of all magical power. The victim suffers no wounds when the eel burrows into him, although he can certainly feel it swimming up through his flesh and sinew. For each day it remains installed in the target's brain, it permanently lowers the magician's Willpower by one. Any path, numina or other mortal supernatural Trait rated equal or higher than the character's Willpower is also reduced by one at the time.

If the victim's Willpower drops to 0 while the quicksilver eel is still active, he rolls Stamina. Failure means instantaneous death, as the tissues of his brain dry up and crumble to dust. One or more successes allows him to linger as a mindless, drooling husk of his former self.

If the eel survives its victim, it may be extracted from the body. If distilled down, it provides 2 points of vis for every point of Willpower it devoured. The type of vis matches that most often used by the victim.