sing this Arcanos, a Spectre can learn to see the Skinlands on the distant side of the Shroud. Unless a Spectre knows Shroud-Rending, the Shadowlands will always be empty to her save for wraiths and other Spectres. Once this Arcanos is hers, the Spectre can witness mortals going about their daily lives and see what effect she has upon them. Shroud-Rending allows a Spectre to see through the Shroud; the reverse does not hold true (until the highest levels). Nihils form in areas where this Arcanos is used frequently.
Use the Investigation Ability for retests with the Shroud-Rending Arcanos.
Innate Abilities
Hold Back the Curtain:
This Art Allows the Spectre to extend her activity in the Skinlands past the standard duration of an Arcanos. It grants no other ability.
System: The player must make a Static Physical Challenge in order to extend her contact with the Skinlands for an additional two Minutes.
Threshold:
This art cannot quite cross the threshold of perception between the lands of the Quick and the Dead. The character can see the Skinlands and its inhabitants as if through a thick fog, but cannot hear events, nor interfere with them.
System: The Player must make an Extended Physical Challenge. The number of successful challenges indicates the number of minutes the Spectre can peer through the Shroud at the Skinlands around him.
Basic Abilities
Echoes:
With this art, the Spectre can hear faint snatches of sound from the Skinlands. Sound quality is always poor, with distorted, echoing voices and fluctuation volume the norm.
System: The Player must make a Static Mental Challenge, preferably in the vicinity of a Nihil. Generally only snippets of conversation can be heard as through a bad, hollow-sounding phone connection filled with static. If no one is speaking when the Spectre chooses to eavesdrop through the Shroud, she instead hears whatever ambient sound is predominant in the corresponding location in the Skinlands. Without this art, a Spectre cannot hear anything going on in the Skinlands.
Fleeting Glimpses:
This art allows a character to see a small area of the Skinlands for a brief time.
System: A Static Mental Challenge must be made by the Spectre. A successful challenge indicates that the Spectre can see clearly the area of the Skinlands around him. It costs on point of Angst to use this power.
Intermediate Abilities
Virtuality:
With this art, the Spectre can clearly see and hear events in the Skinlands through the Shroud, as if combining the skills contained within the two preceding abilities of this Arcanos.
System: By making a successful Static Mental Challenge and spending an Angst point, the Spectre can combine both the Basic arts of Shroud-Rending.
Transparent Memories:
The culmination of Shroud-Rending is the ability to perceive the Skinlands with razor-edge clarity. All senses can register the Skinlands and its inhabitants, although the Spectre is still beyond the Shroud and cannot physically interact with mortals without using additional Arcanoi.
System: The Spectre must make a Static Physical Challenge if trying to perceive going-ons through the Shroud. This serves best as a method for eavesdropping or targeting other Arcanoi.
The other use for this power is limited form of Telepathy. To do this, the Spectre makes a Mental Challenge against his target. This art costs two points of Angst and a Being Trait. If successful, the spectre can ask the target three-yes/no questions.
Advanced Abilities
Nightmare:
The Spectre may rend the Shroud over a sleeping mortal, allowing the dark influence of Oblivion to flow over her victim. Needless to say, this doesn’t make for restful dreaming.
System: Nightmare costs one point of Angst and one point of temporary Being, then an Extended Static Physical Challenge (difficulty equal to the local shroud rating). If successful, the mortal experiences terrible nightmares. For every two successes (rounding down), the mortal’s sleep is disturbed for the night, and he suffers a –1 trait penalty to all actions until he gets a sound night’s rest. While this penalty is cumulative over multiple uses of Nightmare, Nightmare itself can only be used on a single victim once per night. Mortals who suffer penalties to their trait pool equal to their highest attribute can be assumed to have experienced nervous breakdowns. Such unfortunates require medication and temporary institutionalization, and will probably be prescribed a dream-suppressant medication. Continuous use of Nightmares can cause long-term damage to a victim’s mental health.
Keep in mind that this power is not the Arcanos Phantasm. While the demoniac dreams cause by Nightmare do tend to reflect the Spectre’s Being, the Spectre has no control over or knowledge of the content of nightmares caused by the use of this art.
Lurking Presence:
With this art, a Spectre can tear a vicious rip in the Shroud, one that can intrude into the awareness of the waking Quick.
System: This art costs a point of temporary Being and three points of Angst, and enter into an Extended Static Social Challenge (difficulty equal to the local Shroud rating). The number of successes obtained equals the number of turns that the target is no longer affected by the Fog (treat as willpower 1 for Fog effects). Repeated use of this art in an area can lower the local Shroud rating permanently.
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