Tainted Moon Gifts

Blasphemies p. 138
Auspice, Lodges & Tribes
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Some of the more dramatically twisted weapons on the arsenal of the Bale Hounds are perversions of Luna’s own blessings. The Tainted Moon Gift list is a fine example of the auspice choirs turned against Mother Luna in a sickly sweet violation of the natural order. The werewolf must have access to one of the Flayed Ones, a Lune that has been bound and tortured, in order to learn these Gifts. For more information, see the “Merit: Flayed Lune,” p. 136, and “the Rite of Dead Light,” p. 145.

Gift List

Bloody Moon (•)

Under the full moon, the corrupted Lunes teach the Bale Hounds to tap the full potential of their Rage. For a Hound, entering Death Rage is not a struggle for control or a surrender to murderous urges. Death Rage is the only time that the Asah Gadar truly feels like herself.

This Gift is permanent once learned. It does not need to be activated and requires no expenditure or dice roll. Bale Hounds with this Gift suffer a –2 penalty on all rolls to avoid entering Death Rage, but are all the more dangerous when Death Rage comes. The werewolf with this Gift gains an additional +1 to Strength, Dexterity and Stamina, above and beyond the normal bonuses associated with Gauru form.

• Cost: None
• Dice Pool: No roll is necessary.
• Action: N/A

Gravid Moon (••)

The Bale Hound who uses this Gift appears more vital, more alive and more human — at the expense of those around him. Using this Gift steals the vitality from others, changing their spark of life into a mask for the Hound. The people whom this Gift afflicts don’t realize the effect the Bale Hound has on them. Passersby become weak, bitter and depressed, sick people or infants die and even the Hound’s packmates feel out of sorts and restless. Meanwhile, the Bale Hound appears normal, trustworthy and even happy.

• Cost: 1 Essence
• Dice Pool: Manipulation + Subterfuge Skill + Glory
• Action: Instant

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: The character becomes suffused with the positive energy in the area, but instead of reflecting the energy, she absorbs it. The character must immediately check for Death Rage; even if she keeps herself under control, she feels nauseated for the remainder of the scene (–1 on all rolls unless she subsequently enters Death Rage).
• Failure: Nothing happens.
• Success: The character siphons off the positive and life-affirming energies and feelings from those in the immediate area. This grants him an extra die per success on all Social interactions for the remainder of the scene, but also drains Willpower from any ordinary humans within a radius equal to 10 yards per dot of the Bale Hound’s Primal Urge. The Willpower drain affects those with the lowest Willpower ratings first (so if the Bale Hound has two successes for the Gift and there are three people within the radius with Willpower 3, 5 and 8, the first two lose a point of Willpower). If the drain would afflict someone who is currently out of Willpower, the Gift inflicts a point of bashing damage instead. The werewolf gains no Willpower or Health by using this Gift. The drain is merely a by-product of the Gift’s effect. The werewolf cannot gain more dice to Social rolls than he drains Willpower; if he uses this Gift in an area where only one human is within range, he gains only one die to his Social pools. Supernatural entities are not affected by the draining effect of this Gift. The Gift may be used only once in any 24-hour period.
• Exceptional Success:No effect beyond a greater Social bonus.

Broken Moon (•••)

The Elunim police the Uratha for violations of Honor, seeking balance between human and wolf, Rage and temperance. After the flaying rites of the Bale Hounds, the Lunes look at the broken moon as just further evidence that balance is unnatural, and they are quite happy to teach the Asah Gadarhow to upset it. Successful use of this Gift forces other werewolves into Death Rage. The Bale Hound need only glance at the target to activate the Gift.

• Cost: 1 Essence
• Dice Pool: Presence + Expression Skill + Honor versus Resolve + Primal Urge
• Action: Contestedwarning.png"Contested" is not in the list of possible values (Extended, Instant, Reflexive) for this property. ; resistance is reflexive and unconscious.

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: The Bale Hound immediately enters Death Rage.
• Failure: Nothing happens.
• Success: The target automatically enters Death Rage, changes to Gauru form and attacks the first thing at hand.
• Exceptional Success: No extra effect.

Sickle Moon (••••)

Under the crescent moon, the Asah Gadar’s warped Lune servants show them how to silence any spirits that might ally with their prey. Use of this Gift requires that the werewolf see the spirit, either by peeking into the Hisilor using the TwoWorld Eyes Gift (a manifested spirit is also vulnerable). A spirit’s Defense does not apply to this attack.

• Cost: 1 Willpower
• Dice Pool: Strength + Occult Skill + Wisdom – spirit’s Resistance
• Action: Instant

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: The Bale Hound’s attack on the target spirit not only fails, but alerts every spirit in the area as to what just happened. Even in areas populated by spirits that despise the Forsaken, the Hound won’t remain masked for long.
• Failure: Nothing happens. The spirit notices the attempted attack with a successful Finesse roll.
• Success: The spirit is wracked with searing pain as its Corpus sloughs away like diseased flesh. The spirit suffers one point of damage per success on the Bale Hound’s attack.
• Exceptional Success: Damage is applied to the spirit’s Corpus and Essence, making it possible for a Bale Hound to completely destroy a spirit with this Gift.

Dark Moon (•••••)

The Irralunim help the Forsaken to surmount minor obstacles, but many Irraka suspect that these Lunes are much more powerful than they let on. The no-moons would be distraught, then, to find out the Gift that their patron choir grants to the Bale Hounds. With a touch and a single word in a language no Forsaken understands, the Bale Hound can strike an Uratha blind, deaf and insensate. Locked in a world of silence and darkness, completely cut off from any sensory information whatsoever, the victim must struggle to maintain his sanity and his control. Death Rage offers release, because in Kuruth the victim’s conscious mind takes leave — but the victim has no way to know who he might kill during this frenzy.

• Cost: 1 Essence and 1 Willpower
• Dice Pool: Wits + Subterfuge + Cunning versus Composure + Primal Urge
• Action: Contestedwarning.png"Contested" is not in the list of possible values (Extended, Instant, Reflexive) for this property. ; resistance is reflexive and unconscious.

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure:The Bale Hound falls unconscious as the Gift reverses itself upon her.
• Failure:Nothing happens.
• Success:The target loses all sensory input, becoming blind, deaf and unable to smell or feel the world around him. This is disturbing enough for human beings, who typically flail and scream incomprehensibly when afflicted by the Dark Moon. Werewolves, though, must immediately check for Death Rage and continue doing so every minute. These rolls incur a cumulative –1 penalty, meaning that in five minutes the Uratha has a –5 penalty to avoid Death Rage. The sensory deprivation lasts for one minute per success on the Bale Hound’s roll.
• Exceptional Success: When the Gift’s effects wear off, the target must immediately check for a derangement (Resolve + Composure; failure means the target develops a new derangement, probably involving fear of the dark).