| Pop Goes the Weasel (• • • Life, • • Forces, • • Prime) The Orphans Survival Guide 139 |
| An unpleasant way of dealing with traitors: A Hollow One repeats
the tune over and over again, staring deeply into her victim's eyes.
If he cannot look away (say he's tied to a chair or something), his skin
slowly begins to heat. Sweat bursts from his pores. His body
temperature rises. His eye bulge. His bladder boils.
Clear out! After an agonizing minute or so, the Darkling claps her
hands an the "weasel" pops. Icky-poo. [The victim must be immobilized for the duration of the the spellcasting; as the orphan's player makes an extended roll (difficulty 7, or 8 if they are in public), her target suffers indescribable pain, but little physical harm. The actual damage "stacks" -- each turn, the mage's player records her successes. At the end of the casting time (which can be as long as the Darkling wants it to be), the successes are added together and applied as aggravated damage. The result will kill most human characters instantly. Each roll reflects about 30 seconds of repeating "pop goes the weasel"; this in itself could drive most victims crazy. [If the victim can break free before the mage finishes her torture, he sustains only one Health Level per turn; if he can soak aggravated damage (as a werebeast can), he would try to "absorb" that one Health Level, and come out really mad, but none the worse for wear. Each turn the Hollow One chants her spell, however, the victim loses one die from his Dice Pools -- the pain becomes too much to bear. [As the spell continues, the victim's body boils from the inside out. At the climax, it bursts like... well, you figure it out. Yes, this is vulgar as hell. This spell does not work on spirits or the undead, who have no intrinsic body heat to raise.] |