These Contracts provide the changelings who wield them power over aspects of fear.
Contract Levels
• Witches’ Intuition
The character dredges knowledge of one fear from thesubject’s mind or subconscious.
- Suggested Modifiers
- +1 The character has a pledge with the target. — The character discerns a fear currently in the forefront of the target’s mind.
- –1 The character learns a fear not currently concerning the target.
- –1 The character learns a specific kind of fear (i.e., Halloween monsters, school-related, etc.).
- –2 The character discovers a fear the target recognizes but generally keeps hidden.
- –3 The character finds a fear the target hides even from herself.
- Action: Instant
- Catch: The Contract’s subject does not know the character’s name.
Roll Results
- Dramatic Failure: The character fails to discern one of the subject’s fears. Worse, the next time the character speaks to the subject, the character will accidentally let the subject know one of hers.
- Failure: The character learns no fears.
- Success: The character acquires knowledge of one of the subject’s fears. See the list of suggested modifiers below for guidelines on what fear the character learns.
- Exceptional Success: The character learns two fears of the targeted level, if there are two such fears to be had.
•• Tale of the Baba Yaga
Through the course of conversation or oratory, the character makes a concept as supernaturally frightening as she can, instilling individuals or entire crowds with an unnatural fear of that thing.
- Suggested Modifiers
- +1 Spooky ambiance (graveyard, skeletal orchard)
- –1 Every five people in crowd/at party not subject to the Contract
- –1 Comfortable, safe ambiance (lit dining hall, kindly dean’s office)
- Action: Extended (one success per person to scare; each roll represents five minutes of fright-mongering)
- Catch: The unnatural fear the character evokes is based upon a myth, urban legend or actual threat with which all subjects of the Contract are familiar.
Roll Results
- Dramatic Failure: The character does not influence her subjects as desired. Instead, they find her silly, and she suffers a –1 die penalty to all Social rolls to influence them for the rest of the scene or night (whichever is longer).
- Failure: The character fails to induce supernatural fear.
- Success: The subjects develop a temporary fear of the intended topic. Without further stimulus, this only manifests as some jittery conversation, on-edge whispers and a few people getting a thrill from the story. Should they be faced with a believable manifestation of that fear, this Contract evokes a supernaturally strong fear in all affected individuals. They are afflicted with mind-numbing terror, fleeing from the built-up monster for one turn per success. If they cannot flee, they cower (but are not denied Defense).
- Exceptional Success: The character’s seed bears a rich harvest. Add the character’s Wyrd rating to the number of turns the subjects must flee or cower.
••• Heart of the Antlion
The character uses her Contract with Autumn to steel herself against all manner of fear, natural or supernatural.
- Suggested Modifiers
- +1 The character invokes the clause in a supportive environment (i.e., surrounded by friends, in a comfortable sanctum or under the reassuring sun).
- –1 to –3 The character invokes the clause when she is already nervous (i.e., surrounded by zombies, in a vampire’s haven or lost in a misty graveyard at night).
- Action: Instant
- Catch: The character consumes a spider or other vermin that has literally been scared to death.
Roll Results
- Dramatic Failure: The character becomes more susceptible to fear. Add two dice to any external attempts to scare her until the next sunrise.
- Failure: The character gains no special fortitude.
- Success: The character becomes strong against fear. Mundane attempts to frighten, scare or intimidate her automatically fail. Supernatural attempts to frighten her suffer a penalty equal to the number of successes scored on her roll. This lasts the rest of the scene.
- Exceptional Success: The protection lasts until the next sunrise.
•••• Scent of the Harvest
The character reassures friends and allies, protecting them against fear just as she protects herself.
- Suggested Modifiers
- +1 The character’s allies are in a supportive environment (i.e., surrounded by friends, in a comfortable sanctum or under the reassuring sun).
- –1 Each point of dice penalty to rolls that would cause supernatural fear (to a maximum of the character’s Wyrd).
- –1 to –3 The character’s allies are already nervous (i.e., surrounded by zombies, in a vampire’s haven or lost in a misty graveyard at night).
- Action: Extended (one success per subject; each roll represents one minute of support)
- Catch: Two of the subjects’ greatest fears are each other.
Roll Results
- Dramatic Failure: The attempt to bolster the character’s allies fails. The character cannot try again until the next sunrise.
- Failure: The character makes no progress.
- Success: The character makes progress. If she reaches the required number of successes, she completes the effort. Affected allies are completely immune to mundane efforts to scare them, and supernatural efforts suffer a dice penalty equal to the dice penalty the character took invoking the Contract. This lasts the rest of the scene.
- Exceptional Success: The protection lasts until the next sunrise.
••••• Mien of the Baba Yaga
The character takes on the aspect of one of her subject’s great fears.
- Suggested Modifiers
- +1 The character has been building up the subject’s fear.
- +1 The locale has appropriate ambiance (e.g., abandoned school for the fear of a teacher).
- –1 Someone has been bolstering the subject against this fear.
- –1 The locale is unsupportive of the fear’s appearance (e.g., Freddy Krueger at a sunny picnic).
- Action: Instant
- Catch: One of the subject’s great fears is actually the character.
Roll Results
- Dramatic Failure: The character temporarily sees the subject as one of the character’s greatest fears. She suffers one point of bashing damage.
- Failure: The character fails to become her subject’s nightmare.
- Success: The changeling, to all observers, takes on the aspect of one of the subject’s great fears. The character cannot see what this is without a reflective surface. The subject of the Contract suffers
points of bashing damage out of fear equal to the successes rolled, and may only flee or cower in fear for a like number of turns. He is not denied his Defense. This visage may frighten others as well, but holds no special power over them. (Except that it might, if used with Tale of the Baba Yaga, above.)
- Exceptional Success: The subject of this Contract loses a point of Willpower and loses access to his Defense until the end of the next turn.
