Tainted Source

Prime	●●●●
Extended	Mana
Covert	Unraveling
Duration	Lasting
Banishers, p.65 Rotes
Banishers :	Poisoned Well
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Poisoning a well used by your enemies has been a valid (if repugnant) strategy employed by humans in their struggles against each other from time out of mind. This spell poisons the Awakened version of the town well, the Hallow.

• Practice: Unraveling
• Action: Extended
• Duration: Lasting
• Aspect: Covert
• Cost: 1 Mana per roll

The total number of successes gained during the casting represents the amount of Mana that will be tainted when it is drawn from the Hallow. Tainted Mana is sluggish in the body of a mage, and responds more slowly when called upon. While a mage retains any tainted Mana in his pool, he can spend only one Mana per turn, regardless of his Gnosis rating. Additionally, tainted Mana cannot be used for Pattern Restoration^[1].

Mages viewing a Hallow with Mage Sight may notice the Hallow has been tainted with a single success on a Composure + Occult roll. The simplest way to cleanse a Hallow of its taint is to simply draw out the tainted Mana, but mages theorize there must be other ways of accomplishing the cleansing.

Use of this rote is an act of hubris requiring a degeneration check for mages of Wisdom 4 or higher (roll three dice).

Banishers Rote: Poisoned Well

• Dice Pool: Resolve + Occult + Prime

For Banishers without the ability to completely shut down a functioning Hallow, this spell acts as a fair deterrent to mages seeking to refresh their Mana from an unclaimed Hallow. Use of the spell against a claimed Hallow is much more challenging, but can still be used as a sort of preliminary attack against a cabal. This rote is commonly used by the Shepherds^[2] when they begin their citywide attacks against mages.