Capítulo 3 (CtL - SoD)

Anterior: Capítulo 2

# Chapter 3: Things of Legend

> “Now, I have suffered enough for the red shoes,” she said;
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> “I will go to church, so that people can see me.”
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> And she went quickly up to the church-door; but when she came there,
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> the red shoes were dancing before her, and she was frightened, and turned back.
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> —Hans Christian Andersen, “The Red Shoes”
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Many changelings return to the mortal world with tokens pilfered during their escape, items imbued with strange power by intent or coincidence. In the lands of the Fae, thought and desire can stain the environment. The sword used for murder can develop its own thirst for blood. A mirror might reflect a perfected image of the viewer for fear of its owner’s violent rages. These items may have storied histories, along with curses and blessings all their own.

Some say that the very things we treasure own us. It is certainly true of some particularly powerful tokens that the item’s destiny can overwhelm a changeling’s, reworking the story of their lives to serve the item’s legend for good and, more often, ill. There are, of course, ways to avoid the fates prescribed by these tokens, but even that ends up a worthy story.

## Storytelling and Legendary Tokens

Items are the true stars of any number of folk tales and myths. The iconic sword, Excalibur, is at least as important to the legend of Arthur as Merlin, the Knights of the Round Table, or even Arthur himself. The Holy Grail, and more recently, Tolkien’s One Ring or Lovecraft’s Necronomicon, hold central roles in their stories. Characters are caught in the gravity of the item itself, pulled into its orbit and their lives are secondary to the item’s story. If one bearer falls, or grows old, another takes up the item and acts as its agent, fulfilling its promise or acting as the harbinger of its doom.

There is a certain resonance to be found in basing your chronicle around a powerful token — or a collection of them. Characters can make their entrances and exits, but the overall arc of the story remains largely undamaged. If one character dies, another can be drawn in. The focus may waver, but Storytellers can inexorably draw the story back around to the item’s eventual goal. As a wise man once said, the destination doesn’t really matter, for the journey is the worthier part.

Using a token as the focus of the chronicle may even help certain players to develop their character more thoroughly. Constraints, after all, can prove to be the spark of creativity. The token can become a starting place for enterprising players. How are they drawn to the legendary item? What do they know about it? How do they feel about that item, and what do they think should be done with it? How has it affected their lives, directly or indirectly?

Fate can be an interesting concept to explore, the idea of predestination versus free will, and what happens when a character’s destiny is derailed as they are pulled into the latest echo of a story that may be older than time. Avoiding a fated end through cunning and trickery has its own powerful allure.

But one must be careful. If the item looms too large in the spotlight and overshadows the players’ characters, things could get ugly fast. It’s a rare player who is willing to completely abdicate their autonomy in favor of becoming supporting cast for an inanimate object. Players are, after all, the stars of the story. The Storyteller must be careful to balance the destiny of the token and the participation and contributions of the characters. Tokens should be chosen that amplify the themes of the game and the features of the player characters. Destiny can all too easily become an excuse for forcing characters into a mold their players don’t intend.

The Lord of the Rings is, at its core, the characters’ story. The ring is the impetus, and it remains the driving force of the plot, but Frodo and the rest of the Fellowship are still free to act, create and destroy, grow and change and die within the framework of the quest. They are people responding to the item, but it is their struggles that make the story interesting. The characters’ responses to the One Ring have the effect of defining the ring. They make it real. Likewise, an epic token has no power without the players having the freedom to let their characters make it real.

## Legendary Tokens

These tokens fall beyond the reach of five-dot tokens, and may not be acquired using Merit points. They must be delivered by the story. Legendary tokens are powerful, yes, but their effect on a chronicle is more insidious than that. Each token bears its own destiny that affects all those with whom it comes into contact. Their owners do not necessarily know the stories of these tokens. Learning their histories may be the only chance a changeling has of avoiding the fate of the token. Those who treat them like any other item are doomed to fulfill their roles.

### The Apples of War

There was once a failing kingdom, governed by a just king. The king watched helplessly as his people’s crops land ran fallow, and his subjects starved. He sent word to all the corners of the world that he would give any reward if only the cause could be found. Not long after, a shepherd arrived and volunteered to watch over the fields, to discover the culprit.

Late in the night, the shepherd spied a strange, Hirsute Man stealing across one of the fields, stripping the freshly planted seeds from the plowed land and devouring them. The shepherd boy and his dogs ran the seed-thief down and captured him. Proudly, the shepherd presented his prisoner to the king, who promptly ordered the odd man’s execution. But the king’s son was sensitive and frightened of death. He took pity on the Hirsute Man and released him. In gratitude, the man dropped three seeds in his hand and there, before the prince’s eyes, three apples grew forth, each a different color. All he asked in return was that an orchard of apples be grown and set aside for his use.

The three apples were gold, silver and copper. Each apple provided its master with a different gift. The golden apple split and a horse burst forth, saddled and ready for the prince to ride. The silver apple spawned a trio of cavalry, prepared to follow the prince into battle. And the copper apple contained a troop of soldiers, who awaited the prince’s orders.

The prince rose to power and became king, protected by his hussars and soldiers, and he set farmers to work nurturing and maintaining an orchard of apples for the Hirsute Man. The orchard was placed off-limits, its fruit sacred. Each year, the farmers watched wistfully as the beautiful harvest was allowed to rot, left in the field for the Hirsute Man. After a time, the king went to war with his three precious apples, calling upon his warhorse, his cavalry and his soldiers, who were unmatched in any of the neighboring nations.

As the war was nearing its end, the queen walked among the bountiful apple trees in the forbidden orchard, and came across a hairy peasant preparing to eat an apple pie. Horrified at the sight of the Hirsute Man, she shouted for the guards, and told him that he would be punished for trespassing in the orchard. He bowed and apologized. But, he told her, it was she who was trespassing.

The queen laughed, and had the Hirsute Man clapped in irons and taken to the dungeons. After he was led away, she smelled the apple pie. It did smell delicious, and surely the king wouldn’t begrudge her one small piece of pie made from the orchard’s apples. They usually went to rot anyway.

Across the world, as the king and his soldiers were flanked by their enemies, backed against a wall, the king’s soldiers collapsed into piles of copper leaves. The brave hussars burst into clouds of silver leaves. The king’s warhorse likewise exploded in a spray of gold leaves, and the king collapsed on the ground. His enemies executed him on the spot.

When word reached the queen, she knew what had happened, and she went to beg forgiveness from the Hirsute Man, but he was already gone, released by a guard who took pity on him, in return for three apples.

The Apples of War are not actual apples. Rather, they are sculptures, their colored paint flaking and peeling off the rusted metal underneath. Each apple provides the user with the ability to summon a specific creature or creatures. The creatures themselves have a slight goblinesque cast to their features, and their skin has a hint of a wooden tone.

#### The Golden Apple — Warhorse

This apple bears the Mantle of royalty. It provides its bearer with a warhorse resplendent in banners and tack bearing the heraldry of the summoner’s Court. If the summoner has no Court, the banners instead have an apple in a circle. The apple itself becomes a rod, topped with a small apple that gives the summoner authority over the warhorse and obliges it to follow his commands.

**Attributes:** Intelligence 1, Wits 3, Resolve 3, Strength 4, Dexterity 3, Stamina 5, Presence 3, Manipulation 1, Composure 2

**Skills:** Athletics 4, Brawl 3, Survival 2

**Willpower:** 6

**Initiative:** 5

**Defense:** 3

**Speed:** 19 (species factor 12)

**Size:** 8

**Health:** 13

**Weapons/Attacks:**

 Bite
 Hoof
 \* **Special:** Knockdown (see World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 168)

#### The Silver Apple — Cavalry

The second apple provides an elite guard. Three mounted cavalrymen appear, ready to lay down their lives for their master. They are, like the warhorse, clad in the colors and raiment of the summoner’s Court. Each rides a warhorse identical to the one summoned by the gold apple. Any Contracts the changeling knows that generally affect only himself may instead affect one of the cavalrymen.

**Attributes:** Intelligence 3, Wits 4, Resolve 3, Strength 3, Dexterity 4, Stamina 3, Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Composure 4

**Skills:** Animal Ken (Horses) 3, Athletics (Ride Horses) 4, Brawl 3, Weaponry (Mounted Combat) 3

**Willpower:** 7

**Initiative:** 8

**Defense:** 4 (2 with chainmail)

**Speed:** 12 (10 with chainmail)

**Health:** 8

**Weapons/Attacks:**

 Sword

**Armor:**

 Chainmail

#### The Copper Apple — Infantry

The third apple spawns a compliment of eight foot soldiers, prepared to assault the very gates of Arcadia at their master’s command. As with the creatures summoned by the other apples, they wear uniforms emblazoned with the insignia of their summoner’s Court. Any Contracts the changeling knows that generally affect only himself may instead affect one of the foot soldiers.

**Attributes:** Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 3, Strength 3, Dexterity 4, Stamina 3, Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Composure 4

**Skills:** Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Intimidation 2, Survival 1, Weaponry (Sword) 2

**Willpower:** 7

**Initiative:** 7

**Defense:** 3 (1 with chainmail)

**Speed:** 11 (9 with chainmail)

**Health:** 8

**Weapons/Attacks:**

 Sword

**Armor:**

 Chainmail

Each apple’s summoned creatures remain for one scene, or until they are dead, whichever comes first. If one of the creatures is killed, it explodes in a burst of leaves the same color as the apple from whence it came. The apples take one week to regenerate their compliment of creatures, regardless of how many are killed.

**Action:** instant

**Mien:** The chosen apple sloughs off its paint and takes on an organic form, its flesh new and shiny. It splits, its flesh tearing along a seam and the summoned creature (or creatures) issue forth from within, growing from a thick puddle of molten metal on the ground.

**Drawback:** The character’s skin grows rough and stiff, like the bark of an apple tree. The user suffers a –1 penalty to all Dexterity related rolls for the rest of the scene. This drawback is cumulative per apple. If the character activates all three apples at once, he suffers a –3 penalty.

**Catch:** The character swallows a handful of apple seeds, which begin to burst and grow inside her stomach before they are digested, causing the character to suffer from a –2 penalty to all Stamina related rolls for the next six hours.

**Fate:** The apples are never found. They are always given in return for some pledge or sacrifice, such as the orchard reserved for the Hirsute Man. Each keeper of the apples has, whether intentionally or not, broken the pledge. Sometimes it’s hubris, sometimes it’s simply a force beyond their control, but when the pledge is broken, the countdown begins. The next time the apples are sorely needed, they lose their power and become inert metal sculptures. It is not always clear that the pledge has been broken, or when the apples will fail, but it is inevitable.

### The Lovers Entwined

Some say that the Fae are incapable of love. It is true that their fluid natures make them seem capricious, even cruel to mortals under their care, but these puzzle rings bear mute witness to the depths of the Fae heart.

So the story goes, two Fae fell madly in love and, as Fae are wont to do, threw themselves into it with a passion that ran far afield into obsession. The two lovers gave each other everything. The rings are forged from the very flesh of their hearts. Each ring is made up of parts of both hearts, wound and braided into an elaborate puzzle. Their love was a powerful thing, a force of nature that battered everything around them, inspiring jealousy and hatred in friends and enemies alike. Together, the two lovers were nearly unstoppable, strengthened and emboldened by their union.

They began to play games with one another, conquering kingdoms to present to each other as tokens of their affection; killing or maiming favored servants out of jealousy. At first, the lovers were so lost in each other that they were entirely ignorant of their growing cadre of enemies. Then, as such things often go, one of them tired of the game.

One lover faltered, their attention wandering and settling on another of the Fae. Their tryst was short-lived, but explosive. When the other lover discovered it through the rings, it tore their entire domain apart as a bitter war broke out. The lovers died at each other’s hands, and the rings were tainted by their deaths.

The rings are completely dependent on one another. Both must be worn to have any effect. When both rings are worn, the wearers may benefit in a number of ways.

First, the lovers may feel one another’s presence. As a reflexive action, the wearers may concentrate and know the location and status of their beloved. Second, they may draw strength from their union. When the token is activated, one wearer can, as an instant action, draw upon the other’s Willpower to bolster their own. This is a two-way exchange, and either wearer can use the other’s Willpower in such a fashion. Third, and most powerful, the lovers may call upon one another’s abilities. Upon activation, any Contracts possessed by the lovers are considered to extend to both parties for as long as the wearers can bear to keep the conduit open (see drawbacks, below).

**Action:** special

**Mien:** When active, both rings gleam with an inner light. The golden bands take on a crimson tone and, as powers are channeled through them, they even begin to bleed.

**Drawback:** Echoes of the original lovers’ jealousy affect the wearers. When one of the wearers activates the token, she must make a Wits + Composure roll. If the roll fails, she suffers from intense jealousy for the rest of the scene. (Treat as a specialized form of the Suspicion derangement. See page 98 of the World of Darkness Rulebook for more information.) When the Contract sharing aspect of the token is used, both wearers suffer 1 Health Level of bashing damage each round that the conduit is kept open.

**Catch:** By holding the ring close to his heart and pledging his love to the bearer of the other ring, the wearer falls completely into the role of the Entwined Lover. For the rest of the day, he is subject to the Suspicion derangement or, if he already suffers from the mild form, it blooms into Paranoia for the duration.

**Fate:** Though the rings appear to be an expression of the love between two people, the cycle must be repeated. Love gives way to temptation and tragedy. The wearers of the rings are destined to repeat the lovers’ actions; each pair of wearers has died at one another’s hands.

### Shears of Atropos

Three sisters are said to weave the tapestry of fate. The maiden, mother and crone are, according to some changelings, a trio of strange, thoroughly unpredictable Fae. Whether the trio took on the role of the fates or inspired their legends is unknown, but Wizened who have escaped them truly believe their Keepers were the fabled weird sisters themselves.

A few of them returned with tokens stolen from the fates, tapestries that give hints to the future, thread spun on the loom of destiny and scissors alleged to be the very blades used to cut a thread free and end some poor soul. While all of these tokens undeniably have their power, the true shears of Atropos have dominion over life and death.

The scissors snip a life short by any number of expedient, coincidental means: freak accidents, sudden illness, murder by an unconnected party, the only thing that can be sure is that the death will not be traced back to the user. The victim may be hit by a speeding delivery van, or caught in the crossfire of a convenience store robbery. He may decide to take a trip and take the passengers and crew of a commercial airliner with him to his grave. More than one user of the shears has lost loved ones due to the sorts of perverse coincidences that cause their victim’s demise.

The victim’s death is not the true final expression of fate upon his life. By using the power of the shears, the character is twisting fate, breaking the pattern that has already been woven.

When the scissors are activated, the character must cut a photograph or other likeness of the target in two. The character then rolls a chance die. If the chance roll is successful (a 10), the target dies within 24 hours. The scissors’ effect only works on mortals; other supernatural creatures answer to other fates. The method of death cannot be determined, only that they will die.

**Action:** Instant

**Mien:** The rust falls away from glittering silver blades that reflect a starlit sky even if the shears are used underground. Sometimes, the eyes of Atropos can be seen, staring from the depths of the shears. When the scissors are used to cut, they singe the edges of the portrait, which drips viscous black pitch as the magic takes hold.

**Drawback:** Each time the shears successfully alters a mortal’s lifespan, the user must test against Clarity as for any other slaying. Even the most addled souls are shaken by such a cavalier method of killing mortals.

**Catch:** After stabbing himself in the hand, the character takes one point of lethal damage and spends one Willpower point. The wound itches wildly and he suffers a 2-dice penalty on any roll requiring concentration for the rest of the day.

**Fate:** It is not for humans — or those who used to be human — to decide when the thread of fate should be cut. Those who take up the responsibility to choose the final destinies of their fellow humans find themselves slowly but utterly erased from the tapestry. The fate of one soul does not end with their death. Every person touches the lives and destinies of those around them. When one thread is cut short by the shears, every other thread it should have been woven through is left without its support, causing a sort of ripple effect. Everyone whose life would have been affected by the mortal that no longer exists forgets the culprit entirely. Eventually they fade from the world of mortals as if they never existed. Only the sisters remember the creature thus forgotten, and they will follow her to the ends of the earth to regain the shears.

### Lachesis’ Bones

Where Atropos’ role is to determine where the journey ends, Lachesis is the sister who determines the twists and turns the path will take along the way. It is comforting to think that every life has been planned, that each step we take has a purpose. The Lost who served the sisters shrug and say it isn’t so.

They say that everything comes down to a roll of the dice.

These dice, worn and yellow with age, seem to bear that out. Whether they belonged to Lachesis or not is unknown. Certainly no changeling has volunteered to ask her, but it doesn’t matter. The truth is that they are Lachesis’ bones regardless of fact. The story has been repeated so often that it has become true.

According to the legends, one of Lachesis’ servants, tired of his durance, challenged his mistress to a game of chance, gambling for his freedom. But, he told her, he would provide the dice for the game. She agreed, for her own inscrutable reasons, and the game commenced. He handed her a pair of dice he had carved himself, from the bones of another servant. Lachesis told her servant that she was impressed by how well he had captured her own favorite dice, made from the bones of dragons, in his carving. She rolled well, but he knew that she would. When his turn came, he subtly switched his handmade dice with the ones that belonged to Lachesis, quietly stolen before the game.

He rolled the dice, his head full of dreams of freedom and home, and the dice obliged. His Keeper recognized the switched dice immediately, but fate had already been written. He was free, and there was nothing to be done. In her rage, she screamed for him to give back the dice and flee, and neither of them noticed that the dice he handed over were carved from human bone, rather than dragon.

Unfortunately, the story goes on to describe how the escaped changeling used the dice to nudge things in his favor constantly, pushing here and there at the expense of… well, everyone else. Finally, he gathered a number of enemies within Lost society and without, and they came for him. He rolled the dice, but nothing happened. Either their power was not strong enough to rewrite a fate with such weight behind it, or they simply chose to leave well enough alone.

Every once in a while the dice resurface, just often enough that they aren’t forgotten. Once per session, the character can activate the bones, and call for any single roll to be re-rolled. Any roll is fair game, even those of the Storyteller or other players. The dice do not allow a character to determine the exact details of what will happen. They simply allow things to be nudged in another direction. In the case of rolls with long-term effects, a successful Wits + Occult roll a character can get a general idea of what will happen in the patterns on the dice and their arrangement, like a seer throwing the bones.

**Action:** Instant

**Mien:** The bones themselves do not change. They become no less worn, but everyone in the vicinity experiences a sense of déjà vu, as the fabric of destiny is rewoven. Anyone in view of the bones instinctively knows that they are the source of the shift.

**Drawback:** Even fate attempts to reach a certain level of equilibrium. After successfully using the bones in a scene, the character’s next action suffers a –3 penalty.

**Catch:** Using the bones to help a stranger.

**Fate:** The bones’ destiny is manifold, and tied to the intentions of the roller. Those who use the bones for charitable acts, to help strangers and make the world a better place find themselves beneficiaries of the kindness of others. Those who choose greed are destined to lose everything, as the dice fail when they are needed most.

### The Bell of Veritas

Truth is a rare commodity in the lands of Arcadia. Deception and intrigue are the backbone of Fae society. Many of the True Fae are so capricious, so alien, their minds shifting so quickly, that they could not tell the truth if they tried. One might say something she believes utterly, only to contradict herself mere moments later or even within the same sentence, because she also utterly believes the exact opposite.

The Bell of Veritas was created as a measure to discover the truth, the final and absolute truth. As long as we live, what is true is mutable, even in creatures as relatively static as humans. It is a small mind that can only hold one truth at a time. Even when one is being “honest,” small things are held back, lies of omission and shame.

Only those beyond consequence can be believed, or so thought the creator of the Bell. So long as the arm of justice or vengeance could reach her, a person could not be relied upon, even in the sanctity of the confessional or strapped into the torturer’s chair. So the Bell was created to call back those who have gone beyond the pale, if only for a short time. The dead may be bound in ways that cannot affect a mortal, though they are beyond most legal remedies and, indeed, the worst has already happened to them... at least so far as they know. Where a living murderer might dissemble, his ghost brags of the accomplishment. Where an old miser might hoard and protect his savings, his ghost might even be willing to lead a canny changeling to it, if only to look upon it one more time or keep it from going to the filthy, greed-stricken relatives who killed him.

The Bell is dirty and cracked, stained with the muck and ruin of centuries. Oxidation stains and tarnish cover the metal, leaving it almost indistinguishable from the mud, dirt and fungus in which it was found. The punky wood of the handle is black, spongy and leaves some of itself on the hands of all who touch it. The clapper has long since rotted and fallen away. Shaking the Bell makes no sound at all.

When the Bell is rung near a corpse, regardless of age, the ghost of that person is summoned, as long as it has not moved on to whatever afterlife awaits it. If the Bell is activated when there are no corpses present, it summons a random nearby ghost.

Regardless, the ghost becomes visible to those present for the token activation, but remains in its Twilight state (i.e. she cannot be touched or touch others, without the use of additional Numina). If another person arrives after the token is activated, he cannot see the ghost. The ghost can hear and be heard, and stays present for the remainder of the scene. In addition, the ghost is bound to speak the truth, but only as far as she knows it. A ghost who never saw her killer cannot confirm his guilt. A ghost may resist the binding with a successful Resistance roll, but the Bell also provides a +2 bonus to Empathy rolls to detect when the ghost is lying. See the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 208 for more information on ghosts, their statistics and Numina.

However, ghosts are witness to many things. Conspirators meeting in a dilapidated, condemned house might be overheard by the resident ghost discussing secret plans. A ghost might know what really happened to cause Jessica to stop speaking after she went into that mineshaft.

**Action:** Instant

**Mien:** The Bell retains its mottled, aged appearance, but a clear, tinkling chime issues forth from the ghostly clapper within. The temperature in the room drops 10–20 degrees, and the breath of all those present becomes visible, even those who don’t breathe.

**Drawback:** Ghosts can hear the Bell even after it fades from the changeling’s ears. Each time the Bell is activated, the Storyteller should roll a chance die. If the roll succeeds, the Changeling attracts a ghost who haunts and distracts him for the rest of the day. The Changeling suffers a –2 penalty to all rolls requiring concentration until the ghost departs.

**Catch:** The changeling is related to the ghost being summoned.

**Fate:** The Bell of Veritas allows characters to deal with the dead even if they are not prepared. Calling ghosts to your side is risky at the best of times, especially if one has no control over which ghost they call. While some ghosts are lonely and happy to be in the company of the living, others are bitter and angry about their fate. Either one can be dangerous in its own way. Every user of the Bell has died by violence or accident, killed by the very ghosts he interrogated over the years.

### Plague Flute

“It is 10 years since our children left,” reads the only entry in the town’s ledger that mentions the incident. The townsfolk never speak of the lost generation. Their parents were not told by their parents, who never learned the story from their grandparents and on through the ages to the time when the Plague Man came. Mortal history did not record the horrors that the small village witnessed, and even the stories passed down from one changeling to the next are told in hushed whispers in the safety of a sunny day.

When the Plague Man came, he unleashed a horde of rats upon the village and went before the Bürgermeister. “Give me your half of your winter stores to feed my children and we will leave your village peacefully,” he said. The Bürgermeister conferred with the village elders, but they knew they would not survive the barren season if they gave over so much of their harvest. At the elders prodding, the Bürgermeister gathered the village’s strongest young men and sent them to drive the strange man away.

The next day, the man returned to the Bürgermeister’s chambers and told him, “Thank you for providing my children with such a generous feast. I’m afraid they are still hungry, however. We still require half your winter stores to ensure that my children will be able to survive our journey after we leave your village.”

The Bürgermeister refused. He bade the Plague Man leave their village and move on, for they had no food to spare. The Plague Man shook his head and smiled his yellow, pitted smile. “If your harvest was so sparse that you cannot feed my children, I will help you. You will have all the food you need this winter, for you will not have to feed your own children, either.”

Through the night, each family heard the piping of a pan flute, and each of the village’s children began to fall ill. Within the week, all of them had succumbed to the black plague. Over one hundred children had fallen, buried and gone. The villagers sought out the Plague Man, determined to take their vengeance upon him.

“Have you come to share your winter harvest with me?” he smiled. They raised their torches, gathered their meager weapons close and prepared to get their vengeance when the Plague Man produced his pan flute from within the folds of his ragged clothes. He played a mournful tune, and the ground around him burst open. The villagers wailed in shock as their children crawled forth from the earth and stood with their new master.

As the rats streamed out of the village, the Plague Man marched at the front of a parade line of the dead, playing his song on the pan flute.

The Plague Flute is no longer in the hands of its original owner, said by some to be a True Fae and by others to be a particularly nasty hobgoblin. Either way, the Plague Man wandered Europe in the middle ages, slipping in and out of the Hedge, bringing death on the wind. Other legends suggest that he lost the pan flute to a savvy changeling who failed to destroy it, no matter how many times he tried. The stories suggest that he buried it deep within the thorns of the Hedge.

The pan flute is a fairly simple design, made of a pale, bleached wood with beeswax stuffed into the ends for tuning, wrapped around with a leather thong. A rat’s leg and a black feather hang from the leather.

When played, the flute has two different effects, depending on the health of the target. If the target is a living mortal, the player must roll Manipulation + Expression – the target’s Stamina. If successful, the target contracts a horrible disease that causes them to slowly waste away. Once contracted, the victim suffers one point of lethal damage each day unless she succeeds on a Stamina + Resolve roll. Eventually, she is all but certain to succumb to the plague and die. The only way to cure the plague is for the flautist to eat a meal made by the hands of someone who loves the victim.

Once the target is dead, the flute has the ability to raise the corpse as a zombie distinctly under the flute player’s control. Zombie servants are not very capable, socially, but they make for reasonable foot soldiers.

**Action:** Instant

**Mien:** The sounds coming from the flute become hollow and sepulchral and it becomes apparent that the flute is made of bone rather than wood. As the song is played, the rat’s leg begins to twitch, answering the call of the song. A distinct miasma accompanies the flute’s song, and everyone who hears the song feels a high, cold void in the pit of his or her stomach.

**Drawback:** Such close proximity to the sickness within the pan flute has its risks. The character becomes feverish for the rest of the night, suffering a –2 penalty to all Stamina rolls.

**Catch:** The character must anoint the flute in rat’s blood.

**Fate:** Eventually, the cycle spins ‘round and those on the bottom find themselves on top. Controlling the undead requires your full attention. The pan flute’s players are destined to inevitably let their guard down and lay the flute aside in the presence of their enemies. Once the flute is out of their masters’ hands, the character’s rotten servants are slaves to his will no longer.

The servants raised by the Plague Flute are relatively weak as zombies go. If the Storyteller chooses, they can be customized using the rules from Antagonists, p. 26. Otherwise, they use the following rules:
**Power:** 3
**Finesse:** 1
**Resilience:** 4
**Health:** 7
**Initiative:** 1
**Physical Integrity:** 10\*
**Size:** 5
**Speed:** 1
\*Physical Integrity is a special trait describing the state of the zombie’s undead body. A zombie created from a corpse with all of its limbs and no missing parts starts with an Integrity of 10. Missing both legs or both arms would indicate a starting trait of 5. Physical Integrity limits the maximum number of dice in the zombie’s dice pool. This trait also describes the overall functionality of the zombie, meaning that the reduction of integrity is not necessarily decomposition or losing limbs. Zombies raised by the pan flute simply lose their animating force after a time.
Every (Resilience) day, zombies lose one point of Physical Integrity. Under most circumstances, Physical Integrity cannot be replenished once it is lost. Once all of a zombie’s Health points are depleted, subtract any damage done from the remaining points of Physical Integrity. Once this trait reaches zero the zombie is neutralized. A zombie with one point of Physical Integrity left usually represents the classic decapitated, but still dangerous, zombie head.

### The Kingmaker Blade

The Kingmaker blade has been called by many names throughout history. Each bearer named the mystical sword as if, by doing so, they could tame its power and subjugate it to their will. One lord was feared while Wisprazor swung at his side. Another held Justice aloft as a symbol of his might when he made pronouncements. The sword has endured while dynasties rose and fell, empires crumbled and faded into history.

According to legend, a mermaid loaned a diamond sword to a young prince to aid in his quest to save his beloved from a hideous fairy. He swore to return the sword as soon as the princess was saved. The sword was so sharp that no armor could withstand it, and it transformed its wielder into a master swordsman. He fought his way to the fairy’s castle, rescued the princess and returned to his kingdom with his new wife to find that his father had fallen ill while he was away. The king passed, and the prince was crowned. The years passed, and the king never fulfilled his promise to return the borrowed sword. The queen gave birth to a daughter who was unsurpassed in both beauty and purity. One night, she went to her father, the king. She begged her father to show her the beautiful crystal blade, and he did, for he had ever been unable to deny his sweet daughter. She asked to hold the sword, and he permitted it. Then, the king’s daughter, radiant in the coruscating light of the sword, drove the blade into her father’s heart. As his blood spilled on the marble floor, she leaned in and whispered the name of the hideous fairy in the king’s ear. The child the king and his wife had raised was not their daughter, but a terrible double, a fetch sent by the hideous fairy to gain vengeance on the brave king who had once bested him.

The sword was taken to the fetch’s Fae master, where it was kept as a trophy until it again appeared in the mortal world, in the hands of the liege of a small domain. Summer reigned in that domain for nearly a century thanks to the Kingmaker blade, passed from one member of the Court to another. As years passed, eternal summer gave way to a perilous drought, and the people rose up and ended the dynasty, restarting the cycle of seasons.

The sword itself appears to be made of frosted, pitted glass. Its hilt and pommel are the dull grey of a storm-tossed sea. When the Kingmaker is activated, the wielder gains a +2 to all Expression and Persuasion rolls intended to inspire or rally the troops. The wielder also gains +3 dice to all Weaponry rolls using the sword, turning an average swordsman into a master. The sword is so sharp that it ignores armor up to rating 3.

 The Kingmaker

When using the Kingmaker, the changeling’s arm moves as if operating independently of her body. She is, quite literally, pulled along at the whim of the sword. While she directs the sword, it can be said to do most of the actual fighting itself.

**Action:** Instant

**Mien:** The blade takes on an unearthly clarity as light spills forth from the heart of the sword. Blood and gore boils off the blade, leaving it pristine even in the heat of battle. When the Kingmaker Blade strikes, it is accompanied by the crash of waves on rocks.

**Drawback:** The Kingmaker Blade is a beacon for those who would wrest power from the bearer’s hand. If the blade is used in melee, it acts as a magnet for attackers. Enemy combatants must make a successful Willpower roll (or spend a Willpower point) to attack a target other than the sword’s wielder.

**Catch:** When used to inspire or lead the downtrodden.

**Fate:** The bearer of Kingmaker is destined to rule. The sword itself is merely a means to that end, but none who have possessed the sword for any length of time have failed to become king of their domain. They may rule for years. Their reign may be brutish and short. They may be a good king, renowned and celebrated by their people, or a tyrant, reviled and spit upon. All are cursed to be brought low by their own child. The sterile lost are no exception. Too often, people read prophecies literally. The child may be a favored protégé, or adopted heir, but more than once, it has been even more symbolic than that: the very domain that he has nurtured and shaped. Even good kings are blamed for their people’s bad fortune.

### The Cauldron of Rebirth

A giant once ruled Britain. Before Arthur, Bran the Blessed, also called the Blessed Raven, held the throne of the island nation. The king of Ireland, Matholwch, came to Bran, and asked for his sister Branwen in marriage. Bran approved, and the wedding was set. Unfortunately, Efnisien, brother of Bran and Branwen, became angry that he wasn’t consulted on the decision. He raged and raged, slaughtering the king of Ireland’s horses, which angered the visiting king.

Bran, to assuage King Matholwch, gifted him with a great cauldron, telling him to boil the horses in it, one after another. Each dead horse that was placed in the Cauldron was resurrected, as strong and hale as they ever were. Matholwch was appeased, and the wedding went on as planned. After he and his bride returned to Ireland with the Cauldron, though, Branwen found herself quite unhappy. She was made to work in the kitchen and live like a servant, rather than as Queen. Over time, she tamed a starling and sent it to her brother, who promptly set out to rescue her.

Bran’s journey ended in the spark of war. The two nations began to battle, but the Welsh were extraordinarily outmatched, for Matholwch still had the Cauldron of Rebirth. When Irish soldiers died, they were placed in the Cauldron and rejoined the fight as strong and capable as before, but unable to speak. In the end, the stories say, Efnisien sacrificed himself in the Cauldron to drain its power, crack it and end the war.

But the stories are not true. The Cauldron was not destroyed when Efnisien was thrown into it. It disappeared for a time, into the Hedge or Arcadia, well away from mortals and their wars. Many cauldrons have appeared over the years, sold by con men and charlatans as the authentic Cauldron of Rebirth. Each of them sworn to bring the dead back to life, and some of them even did. Zombies or worse, ghosts trapped in the wracked and boiled wreckage of their former bodies, unable to do anything but scream.

The true Cauldron has only reappeared a handful of times since it became known as the Celtic grail. Most recently, it was in the hands of a Darkling Bokor in New Orleans, who used it to resurrect more capable servants than his more traditional methods allowed. The Bokor disappeared, and local Lost whisper that he was killed by a strange group of loyalist changelings serving a Fae known only as the Cuckoo.

The Cauldron is made of pitted, roughly shaped iron, blackened by countless fires and covered in a patina of rust. It is large enough to fit an average-sized man, if he sits. Corpses placed into the Cauldron must have been dead for less than 72 hours, or it has no effect. The boiling water causes the dermis to loosen and separate from the body, like a snake shedding its skin. As the skin sloughs off, it reveals new, living flesh. The magic of the Cauldron protects the subject within from being cooked alive once they are resurrected. The act of rebirth leeches much of the water’s heat away.

If a living person is placed in the Cauldron when it is activated, the subject placed within takes 10 points of lethal damage, and the Cauldron is rendered for 13 months. Most owners assume that it has lost its power, and abandon it or die.

**Action:** Instant

**Mien:** Rust blisters and peels away from the Cauldron, leaving it as black as pitch. Any corpse up to twice the size of a man (Size 10) sinks into the glowing, boiling broth within. No fire is necessary to cause the water to boil; it begins as soon as the token is activated. The smell of boiling meat is at once appetizing and disquieting.

**Drawback:** The character will never again be able to see the resurrected person without visions of their corpse and the lingering smell of their boiling flesh in their nostrils. The character suffers a –2 penalty to all rolls involving social interaction with the reborn.

**Catch:** The character must cut himself, dripping his blood into the Cauldron, which sizzles and pops, devouring the sacrifice of life. The character takes two points of lethal damage, which must be healed normally.

**Fate:** The Cauldron has its own destiny.

It is foretold that someday, someone will find the body of Bran the Blessed and reunite it with his head, which is said to be buried under White Tower in London. The Cauldron will make the Giant King’s return possible. Servants and believers in the Blessed Raven hunt tirelessly for the Cauldron, following leads and reports, whispers and rumors, hoping to find the first piece of the puzzle that will culminate in their liege’s return and the ultimate salvation of Great Britain. When the pieces of Bran are reunited and placed in the Cauldron to boil, it will shatter once and for all, and the King of Britain will return to his duties and bring a new golden age to the isles.

### The Eye of Knowledge

Once there was a god of magic and wisdom, victory and intellect. Odin, the king of the Æsir, was willing to sacrifice everything in his pursuit of wisdom. His search for wisdom led him to the very base of the tree that held the heavens aloft. There, he came across the Well of Wisdom, and he knew that he must pay a price for the wisdom he would receive. The king tore his own eye from its socket and tendered it forth, sacrificing it into the well so that he and the other Æsir might gain wisdom.

The Eye is said to remain at the bottom of the well to this day, as payment. But others say it is no longer there, stolen ages ago by a crafty hobgoblin who replaced it with another eye, taken from another god. The hobgoblin, it is said, carried the Eye away from the mortal world and into the Hedge. Obsessed with the beauty of the glittering grotesquerie, he fashioned it into a necklace, so that all might share in its glory.

With his prize kept so close, the hobgoblin became known for his sudden bursts of insight, strange knowledge that seemed to find him at the oddest moments and desert him just as quickly. He learned to harness the Eye’s gifts and became the favored advisor of a Fae queen. The hobgoblin kept the Eye a secret from his mistress, for she kept a collection of them, and he did not want to lose his treasure. The queen, whose name was Zilasa, was known for cruelty so great it won her renown even among the True Fae. The changelings who suffered as the queen’s servants were desperate, broken things, but cunning.

One of her servants realized the secret the hobgoblin was keeping, and after a particularly bad beating administered by the hobgoblin—who was showing a profound knowledge of torture that evening — he shouted to his queen that the hobgoblin was hiding an eye from her, a beautiful eye that would be the crown jewel of her collection.

The risky move paid off, and the changeling snatched the necklace and his freedom in the ensuing chaos, bringing the Eye to the mortal world.

The lands of Arcadia exist under different Contracts, each domain’s negotiated separately. Water drips only because it has agreed with the Fae lord of the realm that it should do so. As long as the Eye was kept in Zilasa’s domain, the creatures and spirits, the very elements had no obligation to sound the alarm. But the moment it was returned to the mortal world, the Eye cried out like a babe, lost and wondering where its mother could be. The world knew that the bargain of the Æsir had been breached. The servants of the Æsir set forth immediately to recover the Eye, though they had no way of knowing where to find it, only that it was once more at large. As the Eye slips back and forth between the Hedge and reality, it skips and skitters across their consciousness, the sense of it by turns attenuated and amplified.

The Eye is a slightly ovoid white glass marble shot through with whorls of scarlet and crimson, secured in a simple leather necklace. When the wearer activates the Eye, new horizons blossom and the way seems clear. Knowledge that, only moments before, seemed out of reach is suddenly well within the wearer’s grasp. The player may trade one Mental Skill for another, for the rest of the scene. For example, if a character has Academics 4 and Medicine 1, he could use the Eye of Knowledge to temporarily gain the benefits of Medicine 4 and make do with Academics 1, instead.

**Action:** Instant

**Mien:** The glass marble that adorns the necklace softens and becomes an eye, still wet and full of vitreous humor. The optic nerves are withered and knotted around the leather strap that makes up the rest of the necklace. Clear but pearlescent fluid seeps from the Eye, wetting the wearer’s chest and shirt. The wearer’s eyes become a clear and crystal blue for the duration of the scene.

**Drawback:** Though the character gains knowledge that he would not otherwise have, it is a draining experience. For a number of hours equal to the number of dots the character gained, all Mental skills suffer the –3 Unskilled penalty. In the example above, the character gained 3 dots in Medicine, so they would suffer the drawback for three hours.

**Catch:** Burning a raven’s feather.

**Fate:** The Eye of Knowledge is a stolen thing. Though it was replaced by the hobgoblin, the two eyes were not equal in value. Servants of the Æsir, scattered though they are, still haunt the forgotten places of the world searching for the pilfered organ. They fear that the bargain will not hold, and that when Ragnarok comes, the gods will not have the cunning and wisdom to emerge victorious. Looking around, many think Ragnarok must be near, and the Eye is fated to return to the Well of Wisdom before the end, one way or the other.

### The Vajra Shakti

Once there was a majordomo who served his master so faithfully that he was given more freedom than any of his brethren. He did not see his Keeper as cruel or capricious, but rather as his savior, for the life he left behind was no life at all. The changeling carried out his master’s will, completing every task set before him, accepting every burden without question. He was allowed to visit the Goblin Markets in the Hedge with no chaperone, and he never once thought of escape, until his master returned from one of his outings with a new prize.

She was the most beautiful woman the changeling had ever seen. Her beauty dwarfed even that of the other Fae who visited his Keeper’s domain. For a year, the majordomo’s tasks suffered as he was distracted by thoughts of the pure and breathtaking young woman. He watched his master, so kind to him, beat her and mistreat her for her disobedience. Finally — thankfully, he thought — she escaped. She disappeared one night into the wild shifting forests of the Hedge, and the majordomo watched her go from his window. He did not raise the alarm. He did nothing. It was the first time he had defied his Keeper, and it was so alien to him that he spent the rest of the night examining the way it made him feel.

The skies darkened when his master awoke without his favored but willful concubine by his side. Clouds roiled and rain battered the estate in razor sheets. Hail shattered windows and lightning rent the sky in twain. But there was no thunder. The majordomo’s Keeper stalked the halls of the estate, hunting for his missing servant, though he knew she was gone. After some time, he summoned his majordomo.

“You will find her,” he said. “And when you find her, you will deliver wrath in my name.” He presented his most faithful servant with his own chosen weapon, a protean thing like its owner, capable of serving as mace, sword or spear.

“This weapon is vajra, it is the thunder of my rage,” the Keeper said, and as he gripped it, the majordomo could feel the thing tremble each time lightning struck, feel his bones shake with the suppressed anger of it. And so the majordomo set out with the thunderous wrath of his Keeper, set to hunt the woman he had allowed to escape. He knew the Hedge well, and it knew him and liked him as much as it liked anyone, so it did what it could to ease his journey. Too soon, he caught the girl.

The vajra, so steeped in its owner’s rage, was infectious. Throughout his journey, the majordomo felt more and more like the tempest he had left behind. His blood burned and he began to feel a need to do violence to the girl that he somehow knew did not belong to him.

Cornered, the girl begged for her life, pleading with the majordomo to return with her to the world he had never missed. But the rage within him was strong, and he drew the vajra. It immediately shifted from mace to sword, and arched a bolt of lightning into the heavens, and the majordomo felt his master’s eyes watching over them. Shaking with echoed rage, he raised the sword and smiled sadly at the girl.

“I have never failed my master,” he said. The escaped woman closed her eyes and thought of home as thunder rolled. But the blade did not touch her. The majordomo dropped to one knee, the sword buried to its hilt in his chest. He smiled again, and died, his essence wound into the weapon.

The woman took the thunder and added her own, turning the anger in the blade into the fury of a summer storm. She vowed to return the blade to its owner one day. She ran, unaware that the majordomo still watched over her, as he always had.

The vajra takes the basic form of its Indian equivalent — a short rod with elaborate, scepter-like projections on each end. The entire object is carved from what appears to be one solid piece of bone. The columns are covered in a relief of tiny, delicate-looking figures. The sculptures appear to be traditional Hindi figures at first glance, but close examination reveals them to be surreal, fantastic creatures. Men with dog’s heads, skeletons melded with architecture and other, stranger sights. In its basic form, the vajra acts as a mace. Against all the odds, the tiny figures are sturdier than they appear. They do not chip, crack or fall off, despite the violent treatment they are subjected to each time the weapon is used in combat.

When activated, the wielder may transform the vajra from mace to sword or spear. It remains in the new form until the wielder wills it back to its default form.

 Vajra (Mace)
 Vajra (Spear)

**Action:** Reflexive

**Mien:** The figures begin to writhe on the weapon, reworking and rebuilding at astonishing speed. Entire structures are built up or torn down in the blink of an eye, as they reconstruct the weapon into its new form. Each form is functional but fantastic, looking like a dream of Hieronymus Bosch and working like a masterwork. Despite its ossified appearance, the vajra is as durable as steel. When the vajra strikes, it cracks like thunder.

**Drawback:** The wielder of the vajra feels the thunder within. They are subject to stormy extremes. For the rest of the day, the character falls into a tempestuous rage at the slightest provocation, suffering a –3 penalty to all Composure checks.

**Catch:** When used to defend another.

**Fate:** The vow of the escaped woman is as ingrained into the vajra as the relief on its surface. The majordomo’s protective urge has turned, and become poisonous. The only way he knows to protect the woman he loves is to destroy his former Keeper. The vajra seethes with hatred for its original owner, and has a mind of its own when he, or any of his servants, are near. It rattles with it, vibrating with the tension of its abhorrence. The vajra yearns to be buried in its master’s chest. When the time comes, it will have its day.

## In Dreams

The dreams of changelings aren’t like the dreams of mortal men, and neither are they like the dreams of the things that go bump in the night. Touched by the Wyrd, the dreams of changelings are vivid, emotional experiences that can serve as warnings to the approach of the True Fae, cure the mind of illness and grant ephemeral paradises that vanish with the dawn. Dreams are created whole cloth from possibility in much the same way the tides of magic flow in Arcadia. With effort, changelings can even step into the dreams of humans and shift the possibilities they find there. With time they can create dreams from nothing and place them in a bottle to let loose on unwitting, and sometimes unwilling, people. Oneiromancy commonly serves as needle and thread to the tapestry of dreams and, unsurprisingly, there exist other more magical ways of meddling in dreams. The Contracts of Dream are one method with which changelings use their fae powers to control dreaming minds, but they are far from the only method. Goblin Contracts, tokens and baubles — artifacts of dream that only exist in the lands of sleep — can all be used to influence the shape and tide of Morpheus’ kingdom.

### Shared Dreams

Oftentimes, the motley pledge taken by a group of changelings contains a secondary pledge that allows the motley to share and monitor each other’s dreams. Sometimes motleys become so close in thought, their Wyrd becomes so intertwined, that the result is the same, even without the dreaming pledge. The motley share dreams and can easily enter and exit those dreams, moving through a kaleidoscope of shifting desires and mental landscapes. For most motleys this is as far as it goes. The sharing of dreams further reinforces the oath of loyalty that was formalized with the motley pledge. A few motleys take it a step further. When every member of a motley is a capable oneiropomp the sharing of dreams becomes more than just a bonding experience. Working in concert, the motley can create shifts in dreams far more radical than they could accomplish alone, just like members of the motley protect and aid each other in their waking hours. By working together, a motley approaches the power the Gentry hold over dreams, but it requires dedication and practice. The following rules are available only to motleys in which every member has the Empathy Specialty Oneiromancy.

### Many Hands Make Light Work

The bonds of motley pledge are more than just words. They are backed by the power of the Wyrd and it’s the shared Wyrd of a motley that gives it strength in dreams. Whenever a motley works in unison to influence dreams each character may use the highest Wyrd rating found within the motley for any rolls that call on Wyrd. Further, a practiced motley can move in and out of the dreams of other members as easily as they can their own. The motley can also make changes to each other’s dreams with less fear of disrupting the dream. While dream riding (see Changeling: the Lost, p. 194) the sleeping minds of their fellows, motleys only disrupt a dream with a dramatic failure. Motley members can also scour shared dreams more easily in preparation for dreamscaping. Any roll made to scour the dream of another member of the motley gains a +3 bonus. Finally, the combined Wyrd of a motley is a fair substitute for the raw magic of the Hedge. If the motley sleeps in one place they needn’t slumber in the Hedge or a Hollow to enter the dreams of another. Instead, each member may spend two points of Glamour, but the entire motley must enter the same dream. While the above generally makes life easier for changelings, it’s oneiromachy where the power of shared dreams truly shines.

### Oneiromachy and Dream Bastions

Oneiromachy usually pits the will and skill of one oneiropomp against another. Not so with motleys that share dreams. To attack one changeling is to attack them all, which gives experienced motleys a fairly large advantage when it comes to dream battle. Not only can the motley use the highest Wyrd of the group as outlined above, they can also bolster the defense and attacks of other members of the motley. During each turn of oneiromachy, in place of taking an action, a changeling can instead augment the attack or defense of another member of the motley. This is considered an instant action and uses the normal action for that character during the turn. Characters can perform an augment action at any point during the turn, even out of initiative order. The target of the augmentation gains a +2 bonus to attack rolls or a +1 to armor for each other character that concentrates on him. The visual component of these augmentations takes whatever form the oneiropomp decides upon to help their companion. A dream-sword might burst into flames dealing extra damage or a gauntleted fist bearing a shield might appear to protect their friend from harm. By focusing their attention in this manner on one member of the motley, changelings have an even chance to at least drive off even the most dangerous oneirovores that come to haunt them in their sleep.

Not even the most skilled motley of oneiropomps has much of a hope of defeating the true masters of dreams: the Gentry. The best that most changelings can hope for when they encounter one of the True Fae in dreams is to escape and sometimes even that doesn’t work. Combating creatures of possibility in the shifting landscape of dreams is like attacking a dragon with a teaspoon. But when attack fails, defense can win. A number of skilled oneiromancer motleys have discovered they have the capabilities to construct permanent defensive structures in their shared dreams that are strong enough to turn aside the wrath of the True Fae. Changelings call these dream havens Bastions.

A Bastion can take whatever form the shared consciousness of the motley decides upon, but the most common form is that of a castle. From inside stout walls of imagination, changelings attempt to drive off marauding True Fae with dream slings and arrows or sandbagged machinegun nests. A Bastion represents a solidified dream that doesn’t respond to outside attempts to reshape it and protects the sleeping minds of the changelings within from outside influences. Only by battering her way through the walls can a True Fae reach her quarry.

#### Merit: Bastion (• to •••••; special)

**Prerequisites:** Must belong to a motley, Wits Specialty in Oneiromancy.

**Effect:** A motley must have at least three members to construct a Bastion. Like a shared Hollow, a Bastion is created through experience point expenditure by the troupe as a whole rather than a single individual. The general shape and look of the Bastion can be decided by the motley as a whole, but the details depend on the changeling with the highest Wyrd rating. A Bastion is psychoactive in the same way as the Hedge and adapts itself to the highest Wyrd present. A changeling of the Autumn Court might cause the Bastion to decorate itself in gold, red and brown of fallen leaves, and the walls take on the look of burnt wood. Bastions are created by dreamscaping the shared dream of the motley (see Changeling: the Lost, p. 195). This creation process is an extended action instead of a contested action and is performed as a Teamwork action with a target number of 20. Each roll of the extended action represents one full night of work. Once constructed, the Bastion is a permanent addition to the dreams of the motley, even dreams they don’t share with each other. No matter what the dream is about, the Bastion will always appear in some way, either as a prominent feature or just a misty image in the distance.

Mechanically, a Bastion is built in basically the same way as a Hollow and the maximum rating of any single feature is 5 dots. Bastion Size and Amenities both follow the same rules as those presented for Hollows (see Changeling: the Lost, p. 94). Unlike a Hollow, Bastions only have one external door, which acts more as a useful point of reference than an actual portal in and out of the Bastion. Only members of the motley that created the Bastion may enter it (peacefully anyways) and they may do so simply by picturing themselves inside as an instant action. Once inside, a changeling may not leave the Bastion until the dream has ended.

In place of Wards, Bastions have Battlements. Each dot of Battlements is worth 10 points of damage that a besieger must overcome to win entrance. Only environmental attacks (see Changeling: the Lost, p. 198) have any effect on Battlements.

Once a single dot of Battlements is reduced to zero, the dot rating of the Bastion Battlements is reduced by one.

Repairs can be made to the Battlements either instantly with experience point expenditure (new dots x2), which represents the changeling putting a bit of herself into the Bastion or through the same sort of extended action Teamwork roll that created the Bastion in the first place. Repairing a single dot of Battlements requires 10 successes and each roll is equal to one night.

In addition to increased protection, each dot in Battlements past the first allows more changelings the opportunity to strike back at their attacker from arrow slits or other similar defensive positions. Only Personal Attacks that take the form of ranged weapons may be used from the Battlements.

 ••
 •••
 ••••
 •••••

### Goblin Contracts

How badly do you want it? That’s the question Goblin Contracts pose to changelings. Is the object of your desire or your quest for power more important than the consequences?

Goblin Contracts that deal with dreams are no less treacherous than those that directly impact the waking realm. These Contracts might deal with the ephemeral, but the consequences remain quite real.

#### Dream Rendering (••)

In Faerie, the True Fae can take a passing fancy and shape it into reality through the power of the Wyrd. A changeling that learns the Contracts of Dreams gains some of this ability thanks to Cobbl e thought (see Changeling: the Lost, p. 126) but most of the items she snatches from dreams soon fade away in the lands of waking.

This Contract allows the changeling to break down the objects gained from Cobblethought into the pure stuff of possibility and use the dream-stuff to modify tokens so they can be used while slumbering.

In order to use Dream Rendering, the character must first have successfully pulled an object out of her own unconsciousness using Cobblethought.

**Cost:** 1 Glamour

**Dice Pool:** Wits + Wyrd

**Action:** Instant

**Catch:** The changeling is naked.

##### Roll Results

**Dramatic Failure:** The changeling pays the Contract’s price but gains no benefit. The object gained from Cobblethought vanishes, even if the character managed an exceptional success on the roll.

**Failure:** The Contract fails to work and the character pays no price.

**Success:** The character succeeds in breaking down the object gained from Cobblethought into the dream stuff of possibility. In this form, the dream-stuff resembles brown cotton candy and is equally tacky to the touch. The character can then augment an existing token by weaving, wrapping and hammering the dream-stuff into place until it merges with the token. This requires a Dexterity + Crafts roll. Assuming everything goes to plan, the token can then be used by the changeling that owns it even while asleep. Dream-stuff persists for one scene before vanishing.

Such close contact with the magic of possibility infests the changeling, reminding her of her durance. The next time she sleeps, the changeling has intense flashback nightmares about her time in Arcadia that she can’t snap out of, even through the use of oneiromancy. These dreams are powerful enough to make the changeling wonder whether she really ever escaped at all and require a roll for degeneration on 5 dice (regardless of current Clarity rating).

**Exceptional Success:** The character manages to extract enough dream-stuff to augment two tokens, though each still requires a successful Dexterity + Crafts roll to complete.

 Modifier
 +1
 +2
 –1
 –2

#### Sandman’s Bargain (••)

One of the problems with altering dreams is the tight-rope act that changelings must walk between changing a dream to suit his purposes and maintaining enough dream integrity so that the entire thing doesn’t collapse. This Contract can be used while in dreams to ensure stability at the possible cost of real damage to the oneiropomp.

**Cost:** 1 Glamour

**Dice Pool:** Resolve + Wyrd

**Action:** Instant

**Catch:** The changeling stayed awake for at least 24 hours prior to activating this Contract.

##### Roll Results

**Dramatic Failure:** The changeling pays the Contract’s price but gains no benefit. The dream the changeling was attempting to modify immediately ends and he suffers one point of lethal damage from the trauma of the dream’s collapse.

**Failure:** The Contract fails to work and the character pays no price.

**Success:** For the duration of the current dream, the oneiropomp can make any changes he likes to a dream with no chance of disrupting it. No matter how abrupt, unusual or drastic the changes are, the dream remains stable. This will also keep a scoured dream from ending if the Intensity is reduced below 0.

A dream touched with this Contract not only seems more real to the dreamer, but also to the changeling that invades it. Any damage taken by the user during a dream that has been stabilized with this Contract becomes actual, lethal damage.

**Exceptional Success:** As above, but any damage suffered during the dream is considered bashing rather than lethal damage.

 Modifier
 +1
 +2
 –1
 –2

#### Mad Trespass (•••••)

Changelings are paranoid. Everywhere they look they see signs that their Keepers are coming to retrieve their missing property. Nearly every pledge they take is intended to make the job of finding them more difficult. More than a few changelings have wished they could turn the tables on the Gentry and spy on them. This Contract fulfills that wish.

**Cost:** 1 Glamour + 1 Willpower

**Dice Pool:** Composure + Wyrd

**Action:** Instant

**Catch:** The changeling was freely given some gift or boon by the target or one of its loyal servants.

##### Roll Results

**Dramatic Failure:** The changeling pays the Contract’s price but gains no benefit.

**Failure:** Contract fails to work and the character pays no price.

**Success:** This Contract only works while the changeling is dreaming. To proceed, the changeling must first scour his dream (see Changeling: the Lost, p. 195), reducing the Intensity to 0. While his sleeping minds lies in a fallow state, the changeling speaks the name or a Title of the True Fae he intends to spy on and activates the Contract.

Upon activation, the changeling’s dream begins to rebuild itself to show the named Gentry and her immediate vicinity. The oneiromancer’s point of view follows the True Fae no matter where she travels for the duration of the dream. Everything the True Fae sees and hears is clearly distinct and audible to the changeling. For all intents, the changeling exists as an undetectable shade that can neither influence his surroundings nor be influenced by them.

The price for this Goblin Contract is particularly steep. When the character awakes from his dream, his Keeper knows exactly where to find him until the following dawn.

**Exceptional Success:** With an exceptional success, instead of following the Gentry, the dreaming changeling can shift his point of view and explore the Domain or area of the Hedge the Gentry is currently in. If the True Fae leaves that Domain or the Hedge, the dream shifts its focus back to the True Fae.

 Modifier
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#### Sleepwalker (•••••)

The realms of sleep operate under a different set of rules than reality, if any rules exist at all. In dreams, even humans are capable of performing the impossible. In dreams, flight, mighty feats of strength and other such incredible acts are considered normal. This Contract draws on the Wyrd-fueled dreams of changelings to allow the Lost to impose some of the rules of dreams over reality.

**Cost:** 1 Glamour + 1 Willpower

**Dice Pool:** Wits + Wyrd

**Action:** Instant

**Catch:** The dream to be devoured is that of a child.

##### Roll Results

**Dramatic Failure:** The changeling pays the Contract’s price but gains no benefit. The prepared dream is wasted.

**Failure:** The Contract fails to work and the character pays no price. The prepared dream is wasted.

**Success:** Not just any old dream will work for the purposes of this Contract. A changeling must prepare the dream to be used through dreamweaving (see Changeling: the Lost, p. 196) with a specific effect in mind. When the changeling activates this Contract, she must devour the prepared dream as part of the cost. Each use of this Contract requires the creation of a new dream. Dreams may be prepared to produce one of the following effects.

* **Dreams of Might:** Any one Attribute chosen by the changeling at the time the dream was created is boosted to superhuman levels. Increase a single Attribute by 5 (ignoring the usual restrictions) for the remainder of the scene.
* **Dreams of Glory:** Any one Skill chosen by the changeling at the time the dream was created is enhanced by the Wyrd. Increase a single Skill by 5 (ignoring the usual restrictions) for the remainder of the scene.
* **Dreams of Flight:** The changeling gains the power to fly for the remainder of the scene. Flight speed is double the usual Speed of the changeling. An interesting side-effect of this particular dream is that normal humans don’t tend to notice the changeling while she’s flying or if they do, the Mask extends to cover this unnatural act by providing some visual explanation of flight (such as a parachute or a hang glider).
* **Dreams of Vanity:** The changeling becomes almost irresistible to members of the opposite sex (or preferred sex). For the remainder of the scene the character gains the Striking Looks Merit at four dots, has her Persuasion and Socialize Skills increased by three (ignoring usual restrictions) and exudes an intoxicating scent that is different for each person who smells it. Oddly, this particular dream has no effect on individuals that already truly love the changeling.
* **Dreams of Dominance:** Everyone within line-of-sight of the changeling considers her the absolute final authority on all matters. Short of suggesting suicidal courses of action, or actions that violate the moral code of an individual (i.e. would require a Morality or Clarity roll), any command given by the changeling will be followed immediately. Even people that are unable to communicate with the changeling because of language differences or deafness will follow her lead. Unlike the other dreams, this particular usage of the Contract persists until either the next dawn or until the changeling gives the same person contradictory orders.

While under the influence of this Contract, the changeling exists in a sort of waking-slumber in which the sharp edges of reality are dulled and blurred by the overlap of dreams. All Perception rolls suffer a –3 penalty.

After the effects of this Contract have ended, the changeling will be unable to sleep (by any means, including magical effects or unconsciousness due to injury), or to dream, for 36 hours. All traits are halved (round down) during this period until the changeling is able to sleep.
**Exceptional Success:** As above and the prepared dream may be reused.

 Modifier
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Much of the information in this section assumes a character knows what she is looking for already. Information on dreams can be gathered from books of lore obtained at Goblin Markets, discussion with other changelings well-practiced in the arts and lore of oneiromachy, and, if all else fails, from an Intelligence + Occult roll. This last option will present only the most basic of information about what goes on in dreams and should serve as an impetus to seek out more knowledge in-game rather than replacing the research process.

### Tokens

Tokens that touch on dreams have a certain insubstantial feel about them, as though they were somehow more delicate or fragile than other tokens. Their miens inspire passing fantasies in the form of pleasant daydreams or not-so-pleasant waking terrors.

#### Tenebrous Mirror (•)

To changeling eyes in the waking realm, the Tenebrous Mirror is a circle of darkness bound by a thin band of silver. In dreams, the token shimmers with colors, constantly reminding the sleeping changeling of its presence.

This token can be used in one of two ways:

Changelings that activate the Mirror while awake can peek into the dreams of others, similar to the manner in which they might ride dreams. The user can’t make any changes to the dream, but they may still analyze the dream, learn about the dreamer and search for Dream-Poison by observation (see Changeling: the Lost, p. 194). The point of view is always that of the dreamer. Using the Tenebrous Mirror in this way requires close physical proximity to the dreamer.

The token can also be used from inside dreams. When a changeling practices oneiromancy, the Mirror translates into dream-stuff and travels along with its owner. The changeling can use the Mirror to look into the waking world and see what is happening near a dreamer. The Mirror shows anything within 20 feet of the sleeper and the point of view can be shifted by panning the Mirror as though the changeling were moving a video camera. A changeling can even use this power to monitor his own sleeping body, which can be particularly handy if he had to sleep in the Hedge

**Action:** Instant

**Mien:** Humans see a tarnished hand-held mirror that’s lost its reflective backing and is little more than an oval of glass with a cheap, wooden handle. Those who’ve never felt or witnessed the glories of Arcadia are put off by the reflection, which seems hazy and indistinct, giving the impression that the person the viewer sees within the glass isn’t real and never has been.

**Drawback:** The Tenebrous Mirror always appears in the dreams of its owner in the most obvious way, even when he might wish it wouldn’t. A dream of a pleasant romp through the countryside might feature the token as the sun, shining with all the colors of the rainbow. These effects are always out of place for the dream and could mark the changeling as unusual like other beings able to look into dreams.

**Catch:** After using the Mirror, regular sleeping patterns can be disrupted, causing the user to feel fatigued regardless of how long he slept. This produces a mild lapse of concentration that imposes a –3 penalty on all Perception checks made the following day.

#### Chimaeric Armor (special)

Hedgespun Rainment in the form of various types of armor is a fairly common type of token owned by militaristic changelings, who quickly come to rely on the protection their armor provides. These same changelings are often dismayed to find their valued token is of no use whatsoever in dreams, the armor having been left behind in the waking realm along with their body. The solution to this problem is Chimaeric Armor.

Chimaeric Armor is usually created by using the Goblin Contract: Dream Rendering (see above), though some stories insist that changelings have found entire sets of armor while asleep that returned with them once they awoke. Origins aside, the fact remains that Chimaeric Armor makes the transition from waking to dreaming and continues to provide protection for its owner. A token that benefits from Chimaeric Armor provides the same Armor Rating in dreams as it does in everyday life.

The cost of augmenting standard Hedgespun Rainment with the Chimaeric Armor quality increases the total Merit cost of a token by one dot. So, for example, a token of fine, silver mail that is also Chimaeric Armor would become a three-dot Merit (two dots for the Hedgespun Rainment plus one dot for the Chimaeric Armor). The Chimaeric Armor quality of a token must be activated before sleeping to have any effect.

**Action:** Instant

**Mien:** Tokens that have been augmented with Chimaeric Armor continue to look like whatever they did before the augmentation, with one subtle difference. The apparent condition of the object changes upon the expectations of those humans that view it. A suit of leather armor made from the skins of hobgoblins that appears as a bomber jacket to human eyes still looks like a bomber jacket. The condition of the jacket can range from pristine to near-rags, depending on the preconceptions of whoever is looking at it.

**Drawback:** The intrusion of bulky armor into the fluid landscape of dreams does come with a price. The Armor imposes a –2 penalty on all rolls made while dreaming.

**Catch:** Sleeping in the Armor isn’t exactly comfortable. This discovery comes quickly when the owner wakes to find himself covered in bruises to the tune of two points of bashing damage.

#### Drowsing Coil (•••)

This token is a ring made from the thorny vines of the Hedge in the form of a spiral that winds around the finger. While wearing the token, a changeling needn’t enter the Hedge or bind herself to a pledge in order to enter the dreams of a human. Instead, the changeling must have direct line-of-sight to her target (a live-feed camera will do) before entering into sleep to enter his dreams (see Changeling: the Lost, p. 193).

**Action:** Instant

**Mien:** The ring appears to be a well-crafted golden band with an onyx setting. Viewed out of the corner of the eye, the onyx seems to glow with a faint, greenish light, but as soon as full attention is paid to the gem, the glow is revealed as an odd reflection of light.

**Drawback:** The skin on the finger where the Drowsing Coil was worn becomes irritated and a rosy rash forms. Any contact with the rash is extremely painful and even moving the finger too much causes discomfort. All Dexterity rolls made for the next six hours that require the use of that hand suffer a –2 penalty.

**Catch:** The thorns of the Hedge vine dig into flesh as though seeking the soul within. The wearer takes one point of lethal damage.

#### Oneiroi Quill (•••)

The ancient Greeks believed that dreams were delivered from the god Hypnos by winged messengers called the Oneiroi. Two in number, the Oneiroi were brothers with the visage of demons and black wings that lived in a cave that leads to Hades. Dreams passed from the gods to be carried to mortals from one of two gates. One gate was made of horn and issued true dreams and prophecies. The other gate was made of ivory and issued false dreams and nightmares. Accordingly, Oneiroi Quills come in two varieties.

All Oneiroi Quills are made from black feathers; the difference in the two types can be identified by the shaft. Quills with ivory shafts are used to create nightmares and other unpleasant dream imagery that turn the sleeping hours of the night into a sort of personalized hell. Quills with horn shafts are used to inspire dreams of prophesy or uplifting dreams of personal triumph that serve as a sort of positive impetus for the sleeper.

In either case, the token is used in the same way. The user creates a dream for a specific target by scribing the details of the dream in ink created from the ashes of a burnt piece of goblin fruit on an object. The object in question must then be ingested by the target within 24 hours for the dream to take effect. For this reason, most changelings that own an Oneiroi Quill choose to write their dreams on something edible and easy to write on, like an apple or even a few words at a time on a bag of chips. The ink is absorbed in a few minutes by whatever material it is written on and is impossible to detect. Dreams created by a Quill are similar to those manufactured by Dreamweaving (see Changeling: the Lost, p. 196), but always automatically override the Intensity of other dreams.

Dreams written with an ivory-shafted Quill always become nightmares, regardless of the intentions of the user. The nightmares created are so intense that the sleeper gains no benefit from a full night’s rest and also negatively impacts the dreamer’s personality the following day, imposing a –3 penalty on all Social Skill rolls.

Dreams written with a horn-shafted Quill are always pleasant and peaceful, granting the sleeper the benefits of a dreamscaped healing dream (see Changeling: the Lost, p. 195). The owner of the Quill may attempt to provoke a prophetic dream by investing an additional point of Glamour into the token while scribing the dream. This requires a successful Intelligence + Occult roll and risks disrupting the dream. If the number of successes rolled are greater than the Intensity of the natural dreams of the sleeper for that night, the dreamscape collapses and the sleeper gains no benefits from the crafted dream.

**Action:** Instant

**Mien:** An Oneiroi Quill appears to be an ordinary fountain pen and can even be used as such by changelings. Humans that attempt to use the token find that it behaves erratically, randomly spewing forth gushes of ink that create a sort of Rorschach ink blot pattern.

**Drawback:** Although the token never actually wears down, it does become blunt after use, which requires the owner to sharpen it. Inevitably, the owner jabs himself with the sharp point the next time he uses it, which causes one point of lethal damage.

**Catch:** The ash of burnt goblin fruit can cause deliria in the user if breathed in, resulting in unpleasant mental side-effects. For the next 12 hours, the user suffers from the phobia derangement (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 97). The particulars of the phobia are left for the Storyteller to determine, but are different each time.

#### Thief of Dreams (•••)

This token is a chunk of clear crystal about the size of an apple, weighing next to nothing. Outside of dreams the token is useless for anything other than a fairly impressive (though not terribly effective) paperweight. It’s only in dreams that the true value of the Thief of Dreams becomes apparent. A changeling that uses the token while asleep can siphon off the energies of emotion that run rampant in dreams and convert that energy into Glamour.

To properly use the token, a changeling must first enter the dreams of a human. The color of the crystal changes in the land of Nod, symbolizing the type of emotion most prevalent. Dreams of anger cause the token to turn red, dreams of lust a warm pink and dreams of sorrow a cold, bluish-black color. To utilize the Thief of Dreams, the character rolls Wits + Empathy. Each success allows him to add one point of Glamour to his pool, but each roll reduces the Intensity of the dream by one. Changelings that belong to a Court that is sympathetic to the prevalent emotion gain an additional point of Glamour each roll as usual.

The loss of energies harvested by the Thief of Dreams doesn’t directly harm a human, but it does cause an uneasy rest. Humans whose dreams are harvested by the token gain no benefits for a full night’s sleep and repeated use of the Thief of Dreams on the same target has the potential to eventually cause mental damage in the form of derangements. If the same human is targeted by the token for a number of nights running greater than her Composure rating, she gains a temporary mild derangement (Storyteller’s choice) that persists until she is allowed to sleep for a full week without her dreams being tampered with.

**Action:** Instant

**Mien:** In the light of day, this token appears to be a large refracting crystal that throws displays of colored light on the walls if set in the sun. Oddly, this particular crystal seems to display a visible spectrum of nine distinct bands, though this always turns out to be observer error when a recount is performed.

**Drawback:** Bloated by the glut of Glamour harvested from dreams, the changeling has difficulty drawing Glamour from emotion while awake. For the next eight hours the changeling may not gain Glamour from any source except by using the token in dreams.

**Catch:** Upon awaking, the color of the dreams harvested tinges the vision of the character, as though the character were staring out at the world through tinted lenses. This imposes a –3 penalty on any sight-based Perception rolls until the following dawn.

### Baubles

There exist a few, rare tokens that can travel into dreams with their owners and changelings that are willing to pay the price of a Goblin Contract that can attune tokens to the dreaming state. But these creations are intruders in the sleeping realms, even more so than changelings, who are partially children of the Wyrd. True dreaming artifacts are something else completely. They are items born of dreams that only exist in the misty realms of sleep. Changelings call these artifacts baubles, and experienced oneriomancers both long for and dread the appearance of one in dreams. Possession of a bauble gives an oneiromancer power over dreams that outstrips even the dominance displayed by the True Fae, but that power is both fleeting and dangerous.

Baubles cannot be made, bought or stolen: only found. They float along on the tide of dreams and no one can predict where one might show up. Worse, a changeling might encounter a bauble and not recognize the treasure for what it is. Baubles aren’t flashy objects of power that call attention to themselves with obvious displays. They are subtle items that fade into the background, are easily overlooked and only appear in the dreams of humans. Discovery of a bauble requires an oneiromancer to dissect the dream in which it hides. Most often, baubles are discovered when a changeling is analyzing a dream for any prophetic qualities and discovers an anomaly that piques her interest. Characters that are actively searching for a bauble roll Wits + Occult + Wyrd with a penalty equal to the Intensity of the dream. Stronger dreams make it easier for a bauble to hide among the sleeping imagery. Even with a success, a bauble can only be found if one exists to find.

#### Luck of the Draw

The odds of randomly stumbling across a bauble in the midst of an average night’s dream riding are extremely low. Changelings have better odds of winning the lottery or finding a specific grain of sand on a beach. These odds can be improved, however. Baubles are drawn to specific dreams that resonate with their nature. A bauble born from the nightmares of war, for example, is drawn to similar nightmares, but a single dream about war doesn’t suffice. A changeling that wishes to attempt to draw a bauble must spread her nets wider. She must inspire dreams in a broad base of dreamers to create the right kind of current to attract a bauble, and she must repeat this feat time and time again. A single night’s worth of dreams only creates the faintest of stirrings in the dreaming streams. The process must be repeated night after night before the changeling can have any hope of success.

Each bauble has a draw rating that indicates the breadth and length of a specific type of dream a changeling must create to attempt to draw a bauble to her. The most powerful baubles have the greatest mass appeal to their nature and are, correspondingly, the hardest to draw as the changeling works against the flow. Motleys may work in concert to create dreams appropriate to the nature of the bauble, but only one member can claim the prize. Storytellers are encouraged to make the process of drawing a bauble more than just a dry exercise in numbers. Anything can happen in dreams.

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#### The Prize

Once a changeling has managed to find or (more likely) draw a bauble to her, she can claim it as hers. For a time. Dreams defy ownership and a changeling can only hope to hold onto a dream — even a dream as solid as a bauble — for so long. A changeling may lay claim to a bauble by touching it and spending a point of Glamour. The bauble remains with the changeling for a number of weeks equal to her Wyrd. Once time runs out, the bauble vanishes back into the sea of dreams. Each time the changeling returns to sleep, the bauble will appear in her possession and it cannot be lost, stolen, sold, traded or destroyed. For all practical purposes, the bauble is temporarily part of the changeling. This merging isn’t always easy on the changeling owner. The influence of a bauble can disrupt the delicate sense of reality changelings work so hard to maintain. All Clarity rolls made by a changeling that owns a bauble suffer a –2 penalty. Finally, characters may only claim ownership of one bauble at a time.

With bauble in hand, a changeling will turn her thoughts on how to use the precious item she worked so hard to find. Ownership alone comes with its perks. While in possession of a bauble the changeling gains a +5 bonus to all oneiromancy and oneiromachy rolls. She can increase or decrease the Intensity of a dream by one, once per dream, as a reflexive action and she doubles her dreaming Armor and Defense. Along with these bonuses, each bauble has one or more effects particular to it that can affect the dreaming landscape or the dreamers in that dream. These effects require no expenditure to activate and are considered instant actions. Any rolls required to generate an effect are not considered oneiromancy or oneiromachy rolls and so don’t benefit from the +5 bonus conferred by ownership of a bauble. Each bauble also has a catch, usually in the form of an activity, which must be paid along with a successful roll to activate the bauble’s effect. Unlike a regular token’s catch, which allows a non-fae entity to use the token, a bauble’s catch is a price exacted on any fae user.

#### Dragons in the Mists

The Gentry don’t like baubles, not one little bit. For some reason they can’t use them and are highly affronted by the fact that changelings can. The True Fae are also put off by the power owning a bauble gives changelings over dreams; power the True Fae believe only they should wield. Since the Gentry can’t claim a bauble and can’t steal or coerce one from a changeling, they keep a weather eye out for the sort of mass dream disturbances — eddies in the tides of dreams — caused by changelings attempting to draw a bauble. The True Fae can follow dream eddies back to the source, which makes drawing a bauble something of a race. Will the changelings manage to draw the bauble before the Gentry find them? Only time can tell. Of course, not every effort is noticed by the True Fae, but enough are to make changelings wary of the possibility.

#### Catalogue of Dreams

Below is a list of sample baubles for use in your chronicles or to provide inspiration for the creation of new baubles. Each listing includes a description of the bauble, the nature of the bauble (what draws it), the draw rating, the effects, a catch and any required rolls to activate it.

##### Bloom of Health

Physicians always advise the sick or wounded to get plenty of rest to assist the body in the healing process. The doctors might not be referring to actual sleep, but resting the mind as well as the body is rarely a bad idea. People with friends or family members that are seriously injured or ill many times have hopeful dreams while they sleep that their loved one has miraculously recovered from their malady. The sick share these dreams, enjoying slumbering visions of their cancer suddenly going into remission or their sight returning to them while they slept. These dreams produce powerful emotions of hope that stir the sea of dreams, and it is from these stirrings that the Bloom of Health was born.

**Description:** This bauble always appears as some kind of flower, most frequently as a bouquet of peonies or a single blossom of yarrow.

**Nature:** The Bloom of Health is drawn by dreams of recovery from sickness or injury, especially the dreams of those with life-threatening conditions.

**Draw:** 3

**Roll:** Resolve + Wyrd

**Effect:** The oneiromancer can cure a sleeper of a single disease or heal an injury. This requires the owner to pluck the petals of the Bloom of Health and feed them to their target. No physical disease or injury is beyond the scope of this bauble to heal, though some effects might require considerably more explanation than others. A patient that has somehow regrown a leg during the night hours might lead doctors and other humans to ponder exactly how the trick was done. These sorts of miracles can lead to the sort of attention that changelings are usually eager to avoid, lest their Keepers hear of it and come to fetch them. Unlike other baubles, the Bloom of Health can only be used once before it escapes the claim of a changeling. Once plucked clean of its petals, the bauble vanishes from the dreamscape. Although it’s been tried, the Bloom of Health cannot resurrect the dead. The dead have no dreams.

**Catch:** The character ages five years upon activating the bauble, donating his own life energies to the person he heals.

##### Nod’s Sword

Next to dreams of death, dreams of helplessness are among the most common to the sleeping minds of people everywhere. These dreams play up the psyche’s sense of inadequacy or feed on perceived vulnerabilities of body, mind or character. Not all dreams of helplessness feature violence, but the ones that do are strong and pure in the fear they engender. A man might be forced by his sleeping consciousness to witness the torture of his family while he remains shackled by nothing more than his own cowardice. Another dream might feature personal injury from faceless persecutors against whom the dreamer is unable to lift a finger, no matter how hard he tries. Then there are the dreams in which no defense is possible and every attempt to defend either oneself or loved ones ends in dismal failure. It’s from these dreams that Nod’s Sword was born.

**Description:** This bauble usually appears in the form of a short, stabbing blade with wicked curves and jagged edges, though it might also appear as a more modern weapon like a Desert Eagle or a .357 Magnum.

**Nature:** Nod’s Sword is drawn by dreams that feature a fear of violence, especially violence against which the dreamer has no defense.

**Draw:** 5

**Roll:** Strength + Wyrd

**Effect:** During oneiromachy, personal attacks that use the bauble as their focus completely bypass any Armor or Defense of the owner’s targets. Wounds inflicted by Nod’s Sword cause damage to both body and soul. For each two points of Willpower lost from dream wounds, the target suffers one point of lethal damage. The locations of these real world wounds mirror the injuries suffered during dream combat. An oneiromancer that is ejected from a dreamscape other than his own as a result of wounds caused by Nod’s Sword is unable to enter that same dreamscape for a month and a day. Used against the True Fae, this last effect is magnified. If one of the Gentry is defeated by the bauble, she is barred for all time and may never enter that sleeper’s dreams again.

**Catch:** While using the Sword, the owner must always attack with all his might, giving no thought to defense. Correspondingly, the user is allowed no Defense against attacks that target him directly.

##### Pilgrim’s Ticket

Recent vacationers have happy dreams about the places they’ve visited and whole towns of people in Third World countries dream of moving to a better place. Going to a new place conjures images of sandy beaches, an improvement in living conditions or just the pleasure of travel itself. The history of mankind can be viewed through the lens of travel, the desire of people to see what’s over the next hill or forge a homestead out of the wilderness. Dreams of travel are hopeful, wistful and sometimes melancholy, all at once. All of that emotion tied to a single concept causes substantial waves in the sea of dreams. It is from these dreams that the Pilgrim’s Ticket was born.

**Description:** In recent times, this bauble generally takes the form of an actual airplane, bus or train ticket. Other versions can appear as maps with great blank spaces representing areas yet to be explored or miniatures of horses, carriages and other common means of conveyance.

**Nature:** The Pilgrim’s Ticket is drawn by dreams of travel, especially dreams in which the destination represents the fulfillment of a cherished wish.

**Draw:** 1

**Roll:** Wits + Wyrd

**Effect:** Much like the Contract, “Dreamsteps” (see Changeling: the Lost, p. 127) this bauble allows the owner to physically move through dreams as a means of travel. The Pilgrim’s Ticket will transport the owner and anyone riding the dream with her to anyplace in the world of which the owner has at least seen a picture. Travel time is near instantaneous. The actual destination is determined by the nearest sleeper to the chosen location. Changelings couldn’t appear on a deserted isle, for example, unless there just happened to be someone catnapping within sight of it. Obviously, this mode of travel comes with some inherent risks as the changeling can never be exactly sure about the circumstances they will find when they leave dreams. Any human that sees the changelings suddenly appear out of thin air will assume the travelers just walked into view rather than suspect anything more unusual is at work.

**Catch:** The character must intentionally remain awake before using the bauble for one hour for every 100 miles they will travel through dreams and they must calculate the culmination of that time to correspond with the next dawn.

##### Scepter of Hypnos

Any number of songs or poems has described the joy of being lost in a dream, likening it to the perfect state of being. Realistically, though, not every dream is so pleasant that the sleeper would want to be lost in it. The mind forms dreaming mazes that turn in upon themselves, always returning the sleeper to a place or tableau that she might rather have avoided. No matter how the dreamer twists and turns, she is always brought back to the same place, only to turn away and begin the process again. A feeling of being trapped or lost accompanies the sleeper on her fruitless quest to escape her dream and, when she wakes, the dreamer often feels less rested than she did before falling asleep. Dreams of being lost, of being trapped or harried with no escape gave birth to the Scepter of Hypnos.

**Description:** This bauble always takes the form of a foot-long silver rod that is etched with complex geometric designs that seem to have no beginning or end.

**Nature:** The Scepter of Hypnos is drawn by dreams of being lost or trapped.

**Draw:** 2

**Roll:** Composure + Wyrd

**Effect:** The owner of this bauble can target a fellow oneiromancer or just a regular dreamer and trap her in a twisting maze of dreams. This can either be a literal maze with walls formed from the details of the dreamscape or it can be an illusion of the dreaming senses, trapping the target in a repeating loop of images from which the target can’t escape. Neither oneiromancy nor an effort of will to wake from the dream allows the target to escape. Even being reduced to zero Willpower as a result of oneiromachy provides no relief. Only when the owner of the bauble awakens or if the target takes lethal damage from a real world source, is she released. While trapped in the dream, the target only sees what her captor allows her to see and the owner of the Scepter can change the details of her prison at any time. The sole exception to this rule is oneiromachy. If the target is assaulted in any way, she is able to pick out her attacker among the shifting paths of dreams and respond to defend herself. It is even possible to trap the Gentry in a single dream through use of this bauble, but be warned that the Keeper in question is not likely to be amused when he finally escapes.

The Scepter can only target one dreamer at a time and any other dreamers that are currently sharing the same dream remain unaffected by the maze. They may enter the maze, if they wish, but it seems flimsy and insubstantial, and they can easily navigate their way through or out of it.

**Catch:** The owner of the bauble must plant himself in one place in the dreamscape and may not move an inch, even to defend himself from attack. If he does move, the maze shimmers away to nothing and the target is released.

#### Somnambulant Reaper

Everyone dreams of their own deaths sooner or later. These dreams nearly always end with an abrupt return to consciousness just before that train runs over your car or you hit to bottom of a cliff. You awake bolt upright in bed, body flush with adrenaline and awash in cold sweat. Of course, everyone knows you can’t actually die in your dreams. That’s just an old wives tale. Or is it? People are commonly heard wishing they might die peacefully in their sleep, but who says a slumbering death is peaceful? Time has no sway in the realm of sleep and that minute between your heart stopping and your dream ending can go on and on. The Somnambulant Reaper was born from these kinds of dreams and strengthened by those who have actually died in their dreams.

**Description:** The Somnambulant Reaper generally appears as an old, rusty scythe, but has also been known to show up as the steering wheel that punched through your chest in your dream accident or other similar items that are a common cause of personal death in dreams.

**Nature:** This bauble is drawn by dreams of death, especially dreams that involve the death of the dreamer.

**Draw:** 4

**Roll:** Manipulation + Wyrd

**Effect:** The changeling can instantaneously change the current dream of his target to a nightmare. The details of the nightmare are created by the sleeping mind of the target, but the changeling can alter them to result in his target’s death. After witnessing her own death, the target does not wake up but instead spends the rest of the dream trapped in her dead body. She slowly loses all sensation until her consciousness finally fades, at which point she enters a coma. The victim of the attack may spend a point of Willpower each day at dawn to fight the coma (coma victims don’t regain Willpower) and after three days, she will return to consciousness. If the target can’t pay the Willpower cost, she still awakes after three days but is near catatonic (–5 penalty to all rolls) until someone can convince her she is alive. This traumatic experience results in the hysteria (severe) derangement (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 97) with the focus on death that slowly fades away after a week.

Use (not ownership) of this bauble requires a roll for degeneration on two dice.

**Catch:** The changeling must slash his wrists in the dream, allowing his blood to wash over the bauble. This results in two points of lethal damage to his actual body and a pair of scars on his wrists that persist for a week.

### Dream Locales

Oneiromancy lore suggests the land of dreams isn’t actually a real place at all. It is the shared unconsciousness of every man, woman and child that sleeps and dreams. Each dreamscape has its own geography, landscape and style, and passing from one dream to the next is less like travel than it is like a shift in reality. All the same, there are a few places that can only be visited in dreams. These dream locales are at once a part of the shared dreamland of humanity and outside of it. Humans sometimes visit the locales while they sleep, but never recognize the locales for what they are. Changelings and other accomplished oneiromancers can purposefully seek out the locales and attempt to learn from them.

The process of traveling to a dream locale isn’t as easy as twisting a fallow dream into a facsimile of the desired destination. Oneiromancers must search through dreams for signposts that lead to the locales and follow those signs like a hunter might follow the spoor of his prey. For starters, most changelings never actually attempt to travel through dreams at all. They simply ride out a single dream or drift through the dreams of their motley. Intentionally moving from dream to dream is more taxing. In order to tread the paths of dreams, a changeling must spend a point of Glamour to travel from one to the next. Navigating dream travel requires a successful Wits + Empathy + Wyrd roll with a penalty equal to the Intensity of the dream they are currently riding.

Once the process of moving through dreams has been mastered, a changeling must discover the signposts that will lead him to a dream locale. This requires a roll to analyze the dream. With success, the character can pick up the subtle variations of dreams that are brought on by proximity to a dream locale. If no such variations appear, he must move from dream to dream until they pick up the trail. Following the signposts once the beginning of the trail has been found is an extended Wits + Wyrd roll with a target number of 15. Each roll is equal to a different dream that must be traveled to, which requires further Glamour expenditure and a separate dream navigation roll. If any roll results in a dramatic failure, the trail has been lost and the character must start over from scratch. Returning from a locale is much simpler. The oneiromancer can just will himself to wake.

Below are descriptions of two dream locales and what changelings that manage to find them might learn while there.

#### The Door

Dream-seekers that manage to find the Door always find it in the midst of natural surroundings like a forest or a field of daisies where it’s completely out of place. The Door has no obvious means of support and looks the same from both sides: plain, boring, solid wood. The doorknob is made from copper and when a character touches it, they receive a mild electric shock. The shock isn’t enough to cause damage, but does become uncomfortable if the doorknob is held onto for too long. The Door opens easy when the knob is turned, to reveal a landscape of the elements in turmoil. Lava boils
down the sides of a volcano, the wind sweeps ash and debris
through the doorway and lightning illuminates the spectacle
with constant crackles through the darkened skies.
The Door leads to the dreams of elements, to a place
where they are supreme and the meddling influence of
humans on their passions is unknown. Beyond the Door,
changelings can converse with the elements through the
hiss of steam, the patter of rain and the keening of wind
through the trees. In this place, learning the Contracts of
Elements is easy for any changeling, regardless of Court
or seeming. Characters that make their way through the
Door and commune with the elements may roll Resolve +
Composure. With a success they manage to translate the
experience into practical knowledge and may learn the first
dot of any specific Contract of Elements for free. Characters
that already know the Contracts can still profit from the
experience, and, while witness to the majestic fury of the
elements, may buy new dots of the Contract for half the
normal price (meaning one-fourth in some cases).

#### The Well of Dreams

The Well of Dreams stands in the middle of a gloomy courtyard that seems to stretch on forever in all directions. The Well itself appears differently to different people. One oneiromancer might see the Well as a natural spring, another as a classic above-ground well, complete with wooden bucket, and the next as a pump-action drinking fountain of the kind you might expect to find in campgrounds or parks. The water within the Well of Dreams is cool and liquid black. The Well isn’t really the source of all dreams; rather it’s the place that dreams go when the dreamer wakes up. The water is the collective dreams of humanity and contains a dream from every human ever to walk to face of the Earth.

Those willing to partake of the water experience no sensation of drinking, but are instead inundated with a mish-mash of images drawn from a thousand different dreams. Oneiromancers can attempt to draw the dreams of a specific person from the Well. This requires the changeling to spend a point of Glamour, roll Wits + Empathy + Wyrd and speak aloud the true name of their target. With success, the changeling drinks from the Well and experiences one dream of the named person. Each visitor to the Well can only every experience any given dream one time. It’s important to remember that the Well contains the dreams of the dead as well as the living. If a character wants to experience a dream of a historical figure, as long as they can recite the true name of that person, they will receive the dream.

The details of these dreams are left for the Storyteller to determine, but the dream should always have come at an important time in the life of the person named. Treat the dreams as though the changeling were riding a dream to which he can’t make any changes, though he may analyze it, learn about the dreamer or search for dream-poison as usual (as detailed in Changeling: the Lost, p. 194).

At the end, the two of them met on a pier that faced east. They hadn’t arranged it — it simply seemed the right place to be. A faint smell of blood lingered about him, even though he’d cleaned up after that last, brutal fight. Or perhaps it was just the salt in the ocean air.

They stood there a time, not talking, watching the sky turn. There was plenty to think about. Swords and oaths broken, gunpowder burnt, traitors revealed, hunters thwarted, friends lost and friends won.

“I wonder what comes next,” he said at last.

“Of course you do.” Her smile was characteristically wry. “It’s always ‘what’s next?’ with you. ‘What are my next orders?’ ‘Where am I dispatched now?’ ‘Who is the enemy?’ Always the soldier. Always the Knight.”

He shrugged, a little. It seemed the thing to do.

She sighed a bit. “Honestly? I’ve been thinking the same thing myself. Everything’s different now. It seems as if… well, as if the story should have ended here, and yet here we are, watching the sun come up. I don’t know.”

“Don’t think of it in terms of stories,” he said, his voice dipping deeper toward iron. “They always did, and they didn’t see anything larger. They didn’t know what to do when the princess was rescued… or devoured. They just wiped the slate clean and started a new story.”

She watched a gull wheel overhead. “Do you think we could do that?”

“We could.” He shrugged again. “Or we could write an appendix, or we could just admit that stories are only half of it. We’re only part like the Others. The rest of us can keep going without a script.”

She smiled, and leaned her head against his upper arm. “I’m glad you made it through all this with me,” she said.

“I’m grateful too,” he said, his voice warming like copper. “Whatever comes next, I want to see.”

The wind came at their backs from the city, carrying the emotions of the newly awake, the fragments of dreams still remembered, the musty smell of life, bearing all its charges into the rising sun.

Próximo: Capítulo 4