Bone of Lies

Level 4.

This ritual enchants a mortal bone so that anyone who holds it must tell the truth. The bone in question is often a skull, though any part of the skeleton will do - some Tremere use strings of teeth, necklaces of finger joints or wands fashioned from ribs or arms. The bone grows blacker as it compels its holder to tell the truth, until it has turned completely ebony and has no magic left.

This ritual binds the spirit of the individual to whom the bone belonged in life; it is this spirit who wrests the truth from the potential liar. The spirit absorbs the lies intended to be told by the bone's holder, and as it compels more truth, it becomes more and more corrupt. If summoned forth, this spirit reflects the sins it has siphoned from the defeated liar (in addition to anger over its unwilling servitude). For this reason, anonymous bones are often used in the ritual, and the bone is completely buried after it has been used to its full extent. A specific bone may never be used twice for this ritual.

System: The bone imbued with this magical power must be at least 200 years old and must absorb 10 blood points on the night that the ritual is cast. Each lie the holder wishes to tell consumes one of these blood points, and the holder must speak the truth immediately thereafter. When all 10 blood points have been consumed, the bone magic ceases to work any longer.

Jamie's Comment: This ritual was written by the same people who believed that neonate Giovanni could bitch slap random 500 year old wraiths with impunity. As written, it would only work on the bones of wraiths, rendering more than 99% of the bones out there useless for the purpose of this ritual, and irritating a 200+ year old supernatural creature in the process. Rather, it probably calls upon the self destructive portion of the subject's psyche (the Shadow, or Khabit). In any case it is more akin to Necromancy by this write-up.