Level 3 •

Ritual of the Unearthed Fetter (V)

This ritual requires that a necromancer have a fingerbone from the skeleton of the particular wraith he’s interested in. ‘When the ritual is cast, the fingerbone becomes attuned to something vitally important to the wraith, the possession of which by the necromancer makes the casting of Sepulchre Path powers much easier. Most necromancers take the attuned fingerbone and suspend it from a thread, allowing it to act as a sort of supernatural compass and following it to the special item in question. Ritual of the Unearthed Fetter takes three hours to cast properly. It requires both the name of the wraith targeted and the fingerbone already mentioned, as well as a chip knocked off a gravestone or other marker (not necessarily the marker of the bone’s former owner). During the course of the ritual the stone crumbles to dust, which is then sprinkled over the fingerbone.

Din of the Damned (GS)

This ritual is similar to the Level One Ritual Call of the Hungry Dead in that it makes the sounds of the underworld audible in the physical realm. However, Din of the Damned is an area-effect ritual used to ward a room against eavesdropping. Over the course of half an hour, the necromancer draws an unbroken line of ash from a crematorium along the room’s walls (this line may pass over doorframes to allow entrance and egress). For the rest of the night, any attempt to listen in on events inside the room, be it simple (a glass to the wall), electronic (a laser microphone), or mystic (Heightened Senses), gives the listener an earful of ghostly wailing and moaning and the sound of howling winds.

Drink of Styx's Water (BMST)

The necromancer robs a grave and steals the corpse's skull. He saws off the top of the skull; the sawn-off piece, flipped over, forms a cup shaped piece of bone. He covers this with clay, making a bowl, which he proceeds to fire in a kiln. If any blood descendants of the corpse eats from the bowl during a meal with the necromancer, any promises the subject makes to the necromancer gains otherworldy enforcement. If the subject fails to live up to them, he is visited by a Spectre, which torments him relentlessly unless he makes good on them or offers the necromancer acceptable compensation. In addition to robbing the grave, the modeling and firing of the bowl takes at least 4 hours, depending on how fancy the necromancer wants it to be look. It may be reused until destroyed.

Replace the Tattered Flesh

Necromantic surgeons, through the use of this ritual, may "heal" grievous wounds brought upon themselves and others. This ritual is primarily used on the battlefield, when a Kindred has no time or blood to spend on healing.

System: The Necromancer must have strips of treated flesh from a corpse. One cadaver may generally provide up to ten such "Flesh-Aids." The Necromancer, prior to using the flesh, cures it in a vat of brine, iodine, and blood for 24 hours. Any type of blood will work, but corpse blood is the best (the Occult roll difficulty is reduced by one if blood from a cadaver is used). One point of blood is required for every Flesh-Aid. After the curing process, the necromancer may then heal bashing, lethal, or aggravated wounds by grafting the treated flesh onto the recipient. The wound is healed automatically, but the individual now has an unsightly patch of dead skin (different from his own) on his person. For every three Flesh-Aids that are used on an individual, their Appearance temporarily drops by one. The dead skin takes one week from when they are applied to subsume into the normal skin of the recipient.

Incendiary Bones

This power was developed in the Mausoleum to help protect Giovanni holdings. It has since been spread around to other Giovanni households and is now widely known. It lets a Necromancer infuse a skull with one of the banes of the Kindred, fire. The skull may then be used as a sort of grenade, exploding at the point of impact and saturating a small radius with intense heat. Needless to say, this is a rather dangerous ritual for a Kindred to use, especially if the "SkullBomb" gets batted back at her...

System: One skull is required for every SkullBomb the Necromancer wishes to create. She then lights a candle and places the skull over, then mutters some words in Italian and Greek. The skull begins to shrink, and after five hours it is ready to be used. It will have shrunken to about the size of a softball, and an orange glow can be seen inside it. If the skull is tossed at something hard enough, it will explode (Dexterity + Throwing, difficulty 6, two successes are required). The SkullBomb does six levels of aggravated damage at the point of impact, with the explosion being reduced by one level for two feet of distance from the impact (e.g., an individual six feet away from the impact takes three levels of aggravated damage).

A SkullBomb stays viable for a year after it is created, after which it fizzles out and becomes useless. The skull may not be reused.

Eyes of the Dead (SotB)

The caster may see through the eyes and hear through the ears of a corpse. No length of time is needed on the death of the corpse. Note, to have both senses, one must spend 2 bloodpoints instead of one.

Level 4 •

Cadaver's Touch (V)

By chanting for three hours and melting a wax doll in the shape of the target, the necromancer turns a mortal target into a corpselike mockery of himself. As the doll loses the last of its form, the target becomes cold and clammy. His pulse becomes weak and thready, his flesh pale and chalky. For all intents and purposes, he becomes a reasonable facsimile of the walking dead. The effects of the ritual wear off only when the wax of the doll is permitted to resolidify. If the wax is allowed to boil off, the spell is broken.

Peek Past the Shroud (GS)

This hour-long ritual enchants a handful of ergot (a mold that grows on grains prior to harvest in cold, damp weather) to act as a catalyst for second sight. By eating a pinch of the magical mold, a subject gains the benefits of Shroudsight (Ash Path Necromancy Level One) for a several hours. Three doses of the enchanted ergot are created for every success. Ergot is normally poisonous to some degree; this ritual removes its toxic properties. However, a botch renders the ergot highly and instantaneously toxic, inflicting eight dice of lethal damage on any subject who ingests it including vampires.

Call Upon the Shadow's Grace (ClB Giovanni)

Use of this invasive ritual allows the Giovanni to peer into the aura of death that surrounds all living things. This ritual temporarily opens a channel for speaking with the Shadow of its subject. Not as powerful as the Shadow of a Wraith, it can reveal damning aspects of the person's actions and can drive the person to acts of desperation.

Drink of Lethe's Waters (BMST)

The necromancer acquires an object once owned by, or symbolic of, a particular wraith. The object must be able to be damaged by water; the necromancer leaves destroys it by leaving it to soak in water. During the soaking, her periodically spits in the water. After the object has been destroyed, the necromancer conjures up the wraith or otherwise arranges to be in her presence. The wraith loses all memory of her identity, becoming highly susceptible to suggestion on the part of the necromancer. The wraith's memory loss continues for one night per success. It may not use Pathos point to counter any action from the necromancer. Its Willpower drops by the number of successes scored; it may not replenish its Willpower pool while the effect lingers.

Stay the Zombu

With this ritual, a Necromancer may place a ward of protection on a corpse, preventing it from arising as a Zombu and being used in another Necromancer's schemes. This power is commonly used on Giovanni family members who died without receiving the Embrace. It is also used by independent Necromancers on mortal loved ones that have died.

System: This spell must be cast within a week of the death of the subject or it will never work. The Necromancer places a small brass ring inlaid with sigils (Intelligence + Crafts roll, difficulty 6, the ring takes three hours to make) on the corpse's right index finger and crosses their arms over their chest. This means that the Necromancer must have access to the body, so if it's buried it has to be dug up. The caster must then chant wards of protection for five minutes while walking slowly around the body. If the roll is successful, then the body may not be resurrected using the Bone Path or anything else. These powers fizzle out when used on the corpse.

The brass ring subsumes into the cadaver's finger and stays there permanently; it may not be removed. Cutting off the finger does not negate this ritual.

Expel

A power common to exorcists, this power lets a Necromancer banish any and all wraiths from a particular building. The wraiths stay out for a variable period of time, most of the time they will get bored and find another house. If a house is a Fetter for a wraith, chances are it will stick around the house and try to get back in when the spell ends, and it won't like the caster that much either. (Note: Discretion must be used with this spell. While a mansion might be able to be fully affected, the Sears Tower will not be. It's simply too big. On large buildings, the Necromancer may cast the ritual on two or three floors at a time.)

System: The Necromancer must find the exact center of the household prior to beginning this ritual. She then draws a circle on the ground with chalk and fills it with sigils, then sits down and begins chanting. Any ghosts in the house immediately realize the chanting for what it is, and will do anything in their power to stop the Necromancer (unless they want to be expelled). The caster must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 8) in addition to the Occult roll to see if she continues the ritual during the taunting, or gets interrupted. On a successful casting, the wraiths in the house are expelled for one week per success on the Occult roll. This includes wraiths that were forced to stay in the house through Necromantic means. The expulsion may be increased by three months with the expenditure of a temporary Willpower point, or by a year and a day with a permanent Willpower point (only one or the other may be bought). If the caster fails the roll, nothing happens, but he may try again, albeit with less concentration (the Occult roll difficulty is increased by one, in addition to the angry wraiths who are still in the house. This penalty is cumulative for repeated failures). On a botch, the Necromancer may not try to cast the ritual on the house again for one month, in addition to the flaming-mad wraiths.

Wraithly Prison

Wraithly Prison is just that: a container that wraiths may not escape once they've been put into it. It is meticulously crafted and may range in size from a briefcase to a large walk-in refrigerator. Naturally, most wraiths object to being imprisoned, and woe is a Necromancer who lets a wraith out of its cage. Getting the wraiths into the prison can be challenging, depending on how skilled the Necromancer is and how cunning the wraith is. Some cruel Necromancers have been know to force mischievous wraiths into a prison, and then unleash a Specter inside and shake it up.

System: The caster chooses an item to be the prison. A suitcase will hold one wraith (painfully), while a closet may hold quite a bit more. The caster spends one week preparing the prison, both in the real world and the Underworld. The preparation requires ten points of corpse blood, some bone powder, filings off of a tombstone, and a quarter-sized faceted ruby, which is the power source for the prison. The ruby must be affixed to the prison somehow. After the prison is ready, the Necromancer makes his Occult roll. Success starts up the ruby and allows the Necromancer to start stuffing ghosts into his prison. These wraiths cannot escape until the Necromancer allows them to or until the ruby is destroyed. A failure on the roll means more or less nothing. Botching the roll means that the prison is permanently broken and can never work.

Level 5 •

Grasp the Ghostly (V)

Requiring a full six hours of chanting, this ritual allows a necromancer to bring an object from the Underworld into the real world. It’s not as simple as all that, however — a wraith might well object to having his possessions stolen and fight back. Furthermore, the object taken must be replaced by a material item of roughly equal mass, otherwise the target of the ritual snaps back to its previous, ghostly existence. Objects taken from the Underworld tend to fade away after about a year. Only items recently destroyed in the real world (called “relics” by wraiths) may be recaptured in this manner.

Chill of Oblivion (GS)

Performed over the course of 12 hours, this ritual infuses the Necromancer or a willing subject with the very cold of the grave. The ritual’s material component is a one-foot cube of ice, which is slowly melted on the subject’s chest (inflicting three health levels of bashing damage on mortal subjects). The subject must lie naked on bare earth for the entire duration of the ritual. Once the ritual is completed, its effects remain for a night per success. An individual affected by the Chill of Oblivion treats aggravated damage from fire and high temperatures as if it were lethal damage. Furthermore, he may attempt to extinguish any fire. The subject’s aura is laced with writhing black veins that resemble those left by diablerie and may well be mistaken for such by any observer who is not familiar with this ritual. The subject also radiates a palpable aura of cold that extends to about arm’s length from him; this can be extremely disconcerting to mortals, though it causes no damage, and its game effects minor those of the Flaws: Touch of Frost and Eerie Presence. Finally, the mystical nimbus of the ritual draws hostile ghosts to the subject, who may plague him, with unwholesome acts.

Chair of Hades (BMST)

The necromancer acquires a corpse's femur and tibia bones--decreasing the difficulty of the casting if he robs the grave himself. He wraps the bones in coarse cloth and then encases them in wood or metal so the their lengths match and they become capable of bearing weight. He then builds a chair, each encased bone forms one of its legs. If a blood descendant of the corpse sits in the chair, she loses all desire to do anything but sit in the chair. She leaves the chair only to quickly fulfill basic bodily needs. Even if the victim is forcibly removed from the chair, she does everything she can to sit in it once more. Lasts until the chair is destroyed. In addition to the time it takes to acquire the bones, the construction of the chair takes at least 8 hours.

Unattach Fetter

A rather harsh power, this ritual erodes any passion a wraith has for a Fetter. This ritual is mostly used when a Fetter cannot easily be destroyed (it's a mage, Lupine, Kindred or whatever). The wraith notices it's happening, but generally can't react until it's too late. The loss of the Fetter may cause a Harrowing for a ghost, but it will be mad at the Necromancer indefinitely.

System: The Necromancer locates a wraith's fetter through coercion or the Ritual of the Unearthed Fetter or whatnot. He then starts the ritual, which requires a shoe box-sized portion of dirt from a cemetery and a bone from a corpse (any corpse). The caster chants for about fifteen minutes and then bleeds three blood points into the dirt. After another hour of chanting, the caster beats down the dirt with the bone. If the Occult roll is successful, the wraith has lost all emotional ties to the Fetter in question. An unfortunate side effect of this ritual is that the ghost always seems to know who did it.

Garb of Hades

The body must be dead no longer than 30 minutes and this allows the necromancer to use the body of this dead person. Their own body is left in a torporlike state. This does not allow the caster to attain the abilities of the body inhabited, though their own abilites may be used.

Level Six

Corporo

This ritual can be used as a great tool for dealing with the dead. It allows a Necromancer to make a ghost corporeal again, if just for a short period of time. The ghost can touch (and feel!) things, and is considered a physical being for the duration of the ritual. It is not biological, though, so it can't eat, drink, copulate, use the restroom, etc. The wraith may speak with loved ones, tie up loose ends, take a hot shower, etc. Staying corporeal for longer periods of time may be dangerous for a wraith, however, it takes a sort of "Flowers for Algernon" realization that it will eventually be a ghost again. Necromancers have to be careful to who they cast the ritual on; while it may be an excellent reward for wraithly servants, the wraiths may thereafter pester the Necromancer to make them corporeal again. Or, worse, they might tell their dead friends. Necromancers generally only use this ritual on their most favored wraiths, and they usually consider it a rather large boon.

System: The Necromancer must be in the immediate vicinity of the wraith and the subject must be willing (hardly a problem). The caster then pricks his hand repeatedly with a sharpened human jawbone (losing two blood points in the process). Then, he places the hand on a stone surface (it may be a wall, a large enough rock, a statue, whatever) and murmurs some arcane chants. The handprint of blood remains behind, and if the Occult roll is successful, begins glowing a bright orange-red (which may be seen in the Underworld). If the ghost then places his hand on the bloody print, he becomes corporeal. This lasts for one hour unless the Necromancer chooses to make it longer. A temporary point of willpower makes it last the rest of the night, while a permanent point extends it by one week. When the time is up, the handprint fades, and so does the wraith. The Necromancer must make a different handprint every time the ritual is used, and each handprint can accommodate only one wraith.

Thy Masters Will

This allows a zombie(zombu) to "program" a single zombie to perform a more complex task. They can now fetch someone or something for you. They can even be told to repeat certain actions when something triggers them. One must write out the implicit instructions and place them in the creature's chest cavity. You may want to sew him back up after you're through. A good set of mortician's tools is helpful.

System: Allows a necromancer to program a zombie that he has already created with The Bone Path level three. The programmed zombie can carry out a series of orders that do not require free thinking or free will. For example; a zombie can be told to go to someone and kill them but the zombie would not be able to find them by itself or determine when it was a good time to do this. It requires the necromancer to place a written set of instructions within the zombie's chest cavity.

In Memoriam

Good necromancers understand that sometimes you get further with honey than with vinegar. It is sometimes best to "befriend" the wraith that you are trying to control rather than force him to your will. That is where this handy ritual comes in. It is known that wraiths need to draw upon a reserve of power in order to use their mystical abilities, a power they refer to as Pathos. Normally, a wraith's Pathos is restored by the energies created when those in the living world invoke the wraith's memory. This ritual invokes the memory and enhances the power given, giving your bodily challenged friend the extra reserves he needs to carry out your commands… in mean, requests.

System: By building a small shrine to the memory of the target wraith, the necromancer can confer upon him a certain amount of Pathos. Roll Intelligence + Occult: difficulty five. Each success gives the wraith one point of Pathos It can only be cast once per week and the necromancer must spend an hour at the shrine built for the wraith, comptenplating on the wraith in question. Having an intimate or important item that once belong to the wraith as part of the shrine lowers the difficulty by two.

Level Seven

Preparing The Spirit Vessel

Now, one problem you may have with your new found friend is that you want to keep him in one place. Binding them is good but it's not permanent. You are going to live forever, so you might as well bring them along for the ride. You have all heard stories on how the great necromancers in Venice have had some wraiths bound for centuries. Want to know how they did it? Of course you do and I'll tell you. You see, a proper vessel must be prepared. You must be in possession of one of the wraith's fetters and have a splinter from the lid of its coffin (or other internment device, such as stone from a sarcophagus or a chip from the put they are keeping the ashes in). Then you prepare a vessel. It could be anything, a bottle, a chair or even a room. (I fondly remember placing the wraith of the Ventrue Primogen of Chicago; one Mr. Ballard, into a piggy bank. I gave it as a present to his arch rival Al Capone, Al still thanks me every time I see him.) The ritual takes an entire night to complete and is quite exhausting. When it is done you have a friend forever.

System: This ritual allows a necromancer to permanently bind a wraith. The necromancer must have a splinter of the wraith's coffin (or other suitable alternative) and one of the wraith's fetters. After an eight hour ritual and the expenditure of a permanent Willpower point, the vessel is prepared. Any time after that the necromancer can perform the level four power of The Sepulchre Path: Haunting. Another permanent Willpower point is expended and the roll made. If the Haunting is successful the wraith is bound to the object or place for all eternity.

True Calling

So you've got your new friend's undivided attention and you've tried being nice to them but they still aren't very cooperative. Well maybe you're not speaking to whose really in charge. I'll let you in on another secret, all wraiths have a problem with multiple personalities. It seems that our transparent comrades have two personalities, one that is more or less the way they were in life and one that feels a need to be bad, really bad. The bad side they refer to as their Shadow. Now the wraith's Shadow may be self destructive and have poor manners but sometimes they are the ones you need to talk to when a particularly brutish job needs to be done. The best part of this ritual is the casting of it. These Shadows are attracted to pain and suffering, so all you have to do is go down to the rack and bring home a vagrant or two. After you get your friend the wraith to sit still, proceed to perform ritual torture on some living victims. This will attract the wraith's Shadow in no time.

System: Once again the wraith must be bound with Haunting and you must know the wraith's true name. The necromancer must also have a human or vampire victim (actually any type of corporeal victim that can feel pain). During the casting of the ritual the necromancer rolls Manipulation + Intimidation: difficulty the torture victim's Willpower. Every round that this goes on the wraith rolls his own willpower and must have more success than the necromancer or the wraith's Shadow immediately takes control. The necromancer does not control the Shadow, he just gets to talk to it. Also, the wraith may disagree with any bargain made with its Shadow and refuse to have any part of the deal after it regains control of its Shadow.

Level Eight

Unto The Void

You've tried and tried but you still can't get your new friend to cooperate. Well, you can't always be Mr. Nice Guy. This is a very nasty ritual, don't cast it unless you're truly sure that you want to make the wraith in question pay dearly. Don't bluff, this sort of thing is very serious. The wraith must already be bound and you must know its true name and be in possession of one of its fetters. After a strenuous ritual, taking a full three hours to complete, the wraith is cast into madness, an abyss from which they may never return. No, they don't like this… not one bit.

System: After binding the wraith using the level for power from the Sepulchre Path: Haunting and coming into the possession of one of the wraith's fetters, a necromancer may cast this three hour ritual. When it is complete, roll Intelligence + Occult: difficulty is the target's Willpower. If any successes are gained the wraith is immediately cast into the Tempest and experiences The Harrowing. Of course, the wraith may do anything in its power to disrupt the ritual.

Level Nine

Exorcism Ex Nihlo

Some days, you just get sick and tired of spooks altogether. When this happens it's time to clean up and start all over again. This ritual will clean out any area that wraiths are haunting. It will even expel wraiths that have been bound by other necromancers. Of course you would never cast this on an area owned by a fellow family member without their permission.

System: This ritual will make any area up to and including the size of a large building, totally free of wraiths. It requires a full compliment of ritual components, including; bells, incense and candles. It takes three hours to cast, after which the necromancer rolls Intelligence + Occult: difficulty six. Wraiths are unable to return to the area for as many months as the necromancer rolls successes. Wraiths can resist this by spending a willpower point for each hour they wish to remain in the area.