Verdant Blade
Archons sometimes have to take Kindred either for judgment or (more likely) for questioning. Carrying a heavy wooden stake is fairly conspicuous, though, and it lets your target know that you don't want him dead. Several Quaesitors developed the Verdant Blade in the 1800s. Its use is limited largely to that group, though a few other archons have learned it. The ritual temporarily enchants any sharp object - a sword or large knife, a bone, a piton or tent spike - to paralyze Kindred staked with it as though it were wooden. The weapon or item must be placed in a vat or tub along with a freshly cut tree branch, several ounces of sap and a gallon of water . When the ritual is complete, the weapon will paralyze a vampire when driven into its heart. This effect works only once ; once the weapon is removed, it must be enchanted again if the caster
wishes to use it to stake another Kindred.
System: The caster must expend a blood point when making his Intelligence + Occult roll, and must spill a second blood point into the vat with the items described above. The chanting that follows takes 25 minutes. If the roll is botched, the weapon is not enchanted and will shatter on impact. The item or weapon must still be large enough to use as a stake (a large knife or a sword will work, but a pen will not). The ritual does not make the actual staking process any easier, and the weapon is not considered enchanted in any other respect.
