Spellbound Autumn

Court Contract

Lords of Summer 79
Autumn
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To bring this Contract in line with the other Contracts from Lords of Summer Prerequisites have been either added, or adjusted.

The season of lengthening nights and falling leaves is possessed of magic that is more than simple symbolism. Changelings who use the Contracts of Spellbound Autumn call upon the season’s affinity for sorcery and otherworldly phenomena.

Contract Levels

• Warlock’s Gaze

The character detects the presence of the supernatural; even those beings, objects and effects that are deliberately concealed.

• Prerequisites: Mantle (Autumn) • or Court Goodwill (Autumn) ••
• Cost: 2 Glamour
• Dice Pool: Wyrd + Occult Skill (vs. Composure + Wyrd, in the case of supernaturally concealed persons, effects, or things)
• Action: Instant (and possibly Contested; resistance is reflexive)
• Catch: The character physically makes contact with a non-allied supernatural being other than another changeling when activating this clause.

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: The character falsely detects the presence of one or more supernatural creatures, objects, and/or phenomena, as well as failing to detect any such presences that are truly in his vicinity.
• Failure: The character either rolls no successes or fails to exceed the successes accrued by a character concealed by or concealing a supernatural effect, and does not detect any supernatural creatures, objects, and/or phenomena. He is aware that the clause was not successfully enacted.
• Success: The character scores successes in excess of those accrued by a character concealed by or concealing any supernatural effect, if any, and detects any non-concealed supernatural creatures, objects, and/or phenomena within a number of yards equal to his Wyrd. (Note that the character may succeed against some subjects and fail against others, depending upon how many successes are scored by each character in the contested roll. The character using this clause, however, rolls only once and compares his total successes against all other nearby individuals using supernatural powers of occlusion.)
• Exceptional Success: No additional result, beyond the possibility of penetrating especially strong methods of supernatural occlusion.

•• Barrow-Whisper

The changeling learns how to utter the sepulchral tongue of the unquiet dead — to hear and be heard by such restless shades.

• Prerequisites: Mantle (Autumn) •• or Court Goodwill (Autumn) •••
• Cost: 1 Glamour
• Dice Pool: Wyrd + Expression Skill
• Action: Instant
• Catch: A ghost in the area wants to communicate, either with the character specifically or with anyone who will listen.

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: The character’s presumption angers any nearby ghosts, who will do what they can to inconvenience, harass, or even harm her.
• Failure: The character is unable to communicate with or otherwise perceive the presence of any ghosts in the vicinity.
• Success: For the remainder of the scene the character can hear and be heard by (though not see) any restless shades in her presence.
• Exceptional Success: As a normal success, but the ability to hear and be heard by ghosts lasts for the entire night, should the character wish it.

••• Smith’s Wisdom

By studying an unknown object of power — whether a token or something else — the fae learns its abilities and intended purpose.

• Prerequisites: Mantle (Autumn) ••• or Court Goodwill (Autumn) ••••
• Cost: 3 Glamour
• Dice Pool: Intelligence + Occult Skill + Mantle(Autumn)
• Action: Extended — 5 successes required per dot of the item (Storyteller’s discretion for items without dot values); each roll represents four hours of uninterrupted study.
• Catch: The character has stolen the item from a friend (the theft must be malicious; items left unattended in the hopes that they will be taken don’t count) or been freely given the item by an enemy.

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: The character radically misinterprets the object’s abilities and implicitly believes his assessment to be correct, to the point of being willing to stake his well being or that of his allies on it.
• Failure: The character accrues no further successes in his attempt to discern the item’s function and powers, and suffers a –1 die penalty to all subsequent rolls to unravel the object’s secrets. This penalty is cumulative for multiple failures.
• Success: The character scores one or more successes and grows closer to learning the purpose of the item in question. When the Storyteller rules that the appropriate number of successes has been accrued, the character learns the object’s supernatural capabilities. Note, however, that this does not necessarily equate to being able to actually make use of these powers.
• Exceptional Success: No additional effect, beyond accruing five or more successes toward uncovering the item’s mystic secrets.

•••• Arcadian Commandment

The character gains the power to speak with the authority of a True Fae to a hobgoblin or other such minion of the Gentry, even those normally incapable of understanding speech.

• Prerequisite: Mantle (Autumn) •••• or Court Goodwill (Autumn) •••••
• Cost: 3 Glamour and 1 Willpower
• Dice Pool: Presence + Wyrd vs. Resolve + Wyrd
• Action: Instant and Contested
• Catch: The character knowingly comes unarmed and unarmored into the presence of the creature to be commanded.

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: The character automatically earns the enmity of whatever creature she is attempting to command. It immediately reacts in a manner appropriate to its nature.
• Failure: The character either accrues either no successes or fewer successes than the creature she is trying to command, and cannot exert any influence over it.
• Success: The character scores more successes than the creature she is attempting to command. For the remainder of the scene, she may compel the being to any course of action that doesn’t directly endanger its wellbeing, or that of the Gentry that created it and/or acts as its direct master, if applicable. If the changeling sends the creature out of her direct presence to perform a task, it will do so to the best of its ability, subject to the parameters outlined above, until an hour is up, whereupon the creature will immediately break off from the task. The creature is aware that it has been supernaturally compelled and may pursue revenge or other action against the character, if such is in its nature.
• Exceptional Success: As above, save that the creature may be dispatched on a task taking up to a full day and night, and will believe its actions to have been of its own choosing, unless the character’s influence is subsequently pointed out to it.

••••• Oathbreaker’s Honesty

The changeling manipulates the power of a pledge to violate its strictures without falling under its Sanction.

Prerequisite: Mantle (Autumn) •••••

• Cost: 5 Glamour and 1 Willpower dot
• Dice Pool: Resolve + Wyrd
• Action: Extended — one success per level of bonus or penalty involved in each factor of the Pledge (in other words, a –3 penalty Alliance Task factor would require three successes, and a –2 Poisoning of Boon Sanction another two successes); each roll takes one turn.
• Catch: The changeling is begged to enact this clause by someone who will knowingly come to disaster (loss of life or loved ones, loss of Clarity to the point of a descent into madness, etc.) on account of his betrayal.

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: The character immediately falls under the Sanction of the Pledge, just as though he’d broken it normally, and may never again attempt to circumvent this pledge. The spent Glamour and Willpower dot are lost (the Willpower dot may, however, be re-purchased for eight experience points).
• Failure: The character fails to circumvent the pledge and loses his Glamour and Willpower dot, as above, though he may later attempt to cheat the Pledge if he so wishes.
• Success: The character accrues successes toward the process of sidestepping the Pledge. When sufficient successes have been scored, he may do so for the remainder of the scene or an hour, whichever is less, without incurring the pledge’s Sanction. As above, the character’s Willpower dot may be re-purchased for eight experience points.
• Exceptional Success: No additional effect, beyond scoring numerous successes toward circumventing the Pledge.