Blood Talons, just as soldiers around the world, tend to fetishize (in both the literal and metaphorical sense) their weapons and armor. The following are some examples of fetishes created and employed by the Suthar Anzuth.
Blood Talon Fetishes[]
Bloodwort Bag (Talen)[1]: This fetish is made from moss and the blood of the fetish-maker - the Blood Talons have a lot of use for this. When activated and pressed into an open wound, it cleans it of natural infection and heals one level of lethal damage. It is normally stored in a small pouch. Any herb spirit can empower this talen.
Durability 1, Size 1, Structure 2
Action: Instant
War Draught (Talen)[2]: This rough, fiery whiskey is bound with a spirit of rage or violence. Blood Talon warriors often drink this whiskey before going into battle to "put the fire in their blood." A werewolf drunk on War Draught fights harder and longer than his more sober-minded brethren: for the duration of the scene, the Uratha reduces all wound penalties by 1, and he adds +1 to all his attack rolls. Drinking one does of war draught counts as two alcoholic beverages for determining the effects of intoxication (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 177).
Action: Instant
Ephemeral Shot (Talen)[3]: Many Blood Talons prefer the traditional weapons of war: swords, spears, axes and so on, but some prefer to modernize their tactics. This talen allows the tribe's sharpshooters to bring the latest in modern warfare to the spiritual battlefield. An Ephemeral Shot resembles a single shotgun shell (similar but rarer talens exist in the form of full magazines for automatic weapons) carved out of a cloudy, wax-like substance that may be solidified ephemera. Any sort of spirit may be bound into it, but the most common is a gun-spirit or a violence-spirit. When activated, the Shot becomes partially ephemeral itself, allowing the character to damage non-manifested spirits or ghosts with the firearm. In the case of a full magazine of Ephemeral Shots, the entire magazine must be activated at once as a single instant action. If the bullets are not all fired by the end of the scene, they evaporate back into Twilight.
Action: Instant
Hero's Blood[4]: This simple fetish is a small vial of blood collected from an Uratha who died bravely in battle. Glyphs of heroism are etched into the glass, and the whole thing is usually attached to a leather thong so the fetish can be worn around the neck or a wrist. A spirit of valor is bound into the blood, which has the additional side effect of causing the owner's heart rate to accelerate slightly when he holds the fetish. Whenever the character enters Death Rage and would suffer the effects of a fox-ridden Rage, he may spend a point of Essence to instead go into berserker frenzy.
Action: Reflexive
The Serenity of Battle[5]: A Blood Talon's calm amidst the chaos of battle sets her apart from most other warriors. This fetish reminds her of this essential truth, "The din of battle is a calming song." It most often formed from a brass bell, without a clapper. Activating this fetish adds +2 to all Composure rolls during a fight. The effect lasts for one turn per success on the activation roll; the fetish is powered by a snake-spirit.
Durability 2 (reinforced to 3), Size 0, Structure 3
Action: Reflexive
or
Subtle Armor[6]: In the old days, when a pack of Uratha girded for war, they could don armor and carry weapons with relative impunity. today, with the increased urbanization of society and the glut of surveillance and law enforcement found in cities, walking down the street in a flak jacket tends to attract almost as much negative attention as taking the war-form in public. This fetish was developed to allow packs of Blood Talons to maintain a low profile while still protecting themselves. Subtle armor resembles modern body armor (flak jacket for the two-dot version, full riot gear for the three-dot version), decorated with symbols of stealth and cunning and various natural objects representing the spirit bound into it. This spirit is usually a chameleon-spirit or another animal with a deceptive appearance, such as a stick insect or a king snake. When the fetish is activated, any human viewing the armor must make a Wits + Composure roll to perceive the armor as what it really is. This roll suffers a penalty equal to the successes on the activation roll (treat as 3 if the owner spends Essence to activate the fetish). Failure means the mortal sees a bulky but otherwise innocuous article of clothing, such as a large jacket or a set of football pads. This effect lasts for a scene.
Action: Instant
The Devil's Right Hand[7]: Stories of cursed guns are common, especially in the American West. According to lore, the pistol that would come to be known as the Devil's Right Hand began life as a Walker Cold owned by a cruel U.S. cavalry officer named Uriah James. Uriah was a commander in the Indian Wars, and although it was never proved in a military court, it was something of an open secret that he and his men employed horrific terror tactics in their campaigns against the native tribes. When Uriah finally died, they say his soul was so wicked even the Devil was shamed to have him, and so his soul slumbered in the gun he'd worn on his hip for so many years.
Whether the original gun truly was possessed by the ghost of Uriah James or not, Blood Talons west of the Mississippi took a shine to the story, and several "replica" fetishes have been crafted over the years. The gun is always a heavy revolver, though specific make and model varies, with a spirit of cruelty or bloodlust bound to it that makes the weapon seem as though it might leap into its owner's hand at any minute. The Devil's Right Hand may be loaded with regular bullets, but should the chambers run empty, it can be activated to fill the cylinder with semi-tangible bullets formed out of ephemera. Because the ephemeral bullets are only quasi-real, the gun's damage rating is reduced by 1. In addition, the owner may activate the fetish and cause the spirit bound within to surge into wakefulness, firing a blistering hail of bullets. Treat this attack as a medium burst autofire attack, even though the revolver does not hold 10 bullets. After using this ability, the fetish falls inert for 24 hours and cannot be used as anything but an ordinary gun.
Action: Instant
Charging Bear (Klaive)[8]: Skill and finesse are all well and good, but some Blood Talons favor sheer brute force and stopping power. This klaive is usually fashioned in the form of a large, heavy bladed sword, although some warriors carry versions made as large axes or maces. The weapon is richly decorated with bear motifs, and often sports a large claw or tooth hanging from the pommel on a leather thong. Bear-spirits are obviously the most common used in these fetishes, but any strength-spirit will do as well. When wielding a Charging Bear klaive, the owner may choose to subtract a number from his Defense and ass the same number to his next Weaponry-based attack. The owner cannot reduce his Defense to less than zero, and cannot use this ability in the same round in which he uses a maneuver that denies him his Defense (such as an All-Out Attack).
My Brother's Shadow[9]: When a Blood Talon warrior dies, his packmates sometimes choose to honor his memory by crafting one of these fetishes. My Brother's Shadow is a small, easily portable representation of the fallen pack member; a photo is acceptable, but traditionally the pack members carve a small statue or paint a portrait themselves. A spirit of remembrance is placed into the fetish, representing the bond that will never be forgotten. Any pack member may hold the fetish and automatically remember in perfect detail any event that he and the deceased pack member shared, with no roll required. In times of great need, the fetish may be called upon to conjure forth the memory of the dead warrior to fight alongside his brothers. When the fetish is activated, a shadowy reflection of the deceased werewolf manifests, looking exactly as he is remembered by the viewer (characters who have no memory of the deceased see only an indistinct shape). This shadow-double is not the ghost of the dead werewolf, merely an ephemeral construct. It never speaks, cannot use Gifts, rites or fetishes, and is incapable of taking any action other than fighting alongside the fetish's owner. The double possesses ephemeral versions of any equipment the dead Uratha carried, which lack any supernatural properties and cannot be used by other characters. The double fights for one scene, then dissipates. The immense energy required to call up this double means that the fetish may be used only once per story.
Action: Instant
References[]
- WTF: Tribes of the Moon, p. 43-45
- WTF: Lore of the Forsaken, p. 153-154
- ↑ WTF: Lore of the Forsaken, p. 153
- ↑ WTF: Tribes of the Moon, p. 43
- ↑ WTF: Tribes of the Moon, p. 44
- ↑ WTF: Tribes of the Moon, p. 44
- ↑ WTF: Lore of the Forsaken, p. 154
- ↑ WTF: Tribes of the Moon, p. 44-45
- ↑ WTF: Tribes of the Moon, p. 45
- ↑ WTF: Tribes of the Moon, p. 45
- ↑ WTF: Tribes of the Moon, p. 45