Draught of Earth's Blood
The Blood of Caine holds great mystical power, but it is not the only power. Raw magical energy flows through the universe like the blood of gods, pooling and welling at the convergence of ley lines and other places of arcane import. Such wells are known to magi as crays, and their energy as Quintessence. Although the Tremere can no longer manipulate raw Quintessence by will alone, save in the congealed form of vitae, a few thaumaturges still know how to distil universal power.
System: Casting this ritual requires the vampire to harvest Quintessence-laden matter, called tass, from a cray. This matter can take nearly any from appropriate to the cray's nature, from the mushrooms of a faerie ring to the soil of a spectre's haunted grave. Each cray has a rating (1-5) that determines its overall power. A cray only stores a maximum number of points of tass equal to its level, replenishing them at the rate of one point per day. Once a thaumaturge has gathered the tass, he must grind it down to paste or dust and boil it in an iron cauldron with one blood point for every two points of tass. While the vite and tass mix, the caster's player rolls Intelligence + Occult (difficulty 6). Each success produces two points of blood-tass that coagulate in the cauldron. Any unused tass not captured by the magic boils away and is lost. Blood-tass glows a faint ruddy hue and may be bottled or oherwise stored in smaller vessels for convenience. Thaumaturges who employ the ritual Principle Focus of Vitae Infusion may even store blood-tass in enchanted baubles. The sludgy mixture remains fresh for one month unless placed in a bauble, after which it loses all power. Vampires gain one blood point for every point of blood-tass they consume. Only thaumaturges derive the full benefit of such a meal, however. For the next hour, an imbiber who knows Thaumaturgy may spend extra blood points each turn to reduce the difficulty of casting rolls as if engaging in certámen (see above). The caster may not spend more total blood points in this fashion than he gained from drinking blood-tass.
