Koldunic Rituals

Like Thaumaturgy, Koldunic Sorcery grants its koldun access to rituals. Though magical, these rituals are not Hermetic and are incompatible with any form of Tremere or Giovanni magic. Most rituals require a blood sacrifice on top of any other specific components.

System: The player must make a successful Intelligence + Occult roll, difficulty 3 + the level of the ritual (up to a maximum of 9) and shed blood in order to cast any ritual. Whether the blood belongs to the koldun or not is unimportant; one blood point must spill per ritual level to cast this spiritual magic. A koldun cannot learn or use a ritual of a greater level than the koldun's level in Koldunic Sorcery. Each ritual takes 10 minutes per level unless otherwise noted, so a level three ritual takes 30 minutes.

### **Level One Rituals**

#### **Aport Object**

This ritual allows the koldun to magically enchant an object. The next time the koldun desires the object in her hand, all she has to do is speak a magic word and the object appears in her hand.

System: The koldun infuses the object with one blood point of her vitae during a 10 hour ritual. For the rest of the objects existence, the character can roll Willpower (difficulty 6) to have it appear in her hand.

#### **Become One with the Land**

This ritual allows the koldun koldun to attune herself to a specific plot of ground; the area covered may not exceed 10 square miles but may be less than that. The koldun combines her own blood with several handfuls of earth from the land she wishes to claim. By covering her body with this mixture before going to sleep for the day, the vampire is able to absorb the essence of the land into herself. The koldun can only attune herself to one plot of land at a time.

System: The vampire combines one of her blood points with some natural substance (such as animal blood, tree sap or soil) and covers her body in the mixture. The number of successes determines the duration, intensity or range of the desired effect. During the effects of this ritual, land from this area may be used as home soil.

#### **Defense of the Sacred Haven**

This ritual prevents sunlight from entering an area within 20 feet
(six meters) of this ritual’s casting. A mystical darkness blankets the
area, keeping the baleful light at bay. Sunlight reflects off windows or
 magically fails to pass through doors or other portals. To invoke this
ritual’s protection, the koldun draws sigils in her own blood on all the
 affected windows and doors. The ritual lasts as long as the koldun
 stays within the 20-foot (6-meter) radius.

System: This ritual requires one hour to perform, during which
the koldun recites incantations and inscribes glyphs. One blood point is
 required for this ritual to work.

#### **Domino of Life**

A koldun wanting or needing to simulate a human characteristic can do so once Domino of Life is cast. For one entire night, the koldun can
 eat, breathe, maintain a normal body temperature, assume a human flesh tone, or display some other single trait of humankind she desires. Note
that only one trait can be replicated in this fashion. The koldun must have a vial of fresh human blood on his person to maintain this ritual.

System: Using this ritual adds one die to the koldun’s dice pools
 when attempting to pass as human. Unless onlookers are especially wary,
 the Domino of Life should fool them into thinking the koldun is mortal — not that they should have any reason to suspect otherwise.

#### **Enlightenment**

All things in nature contain one spirit of some kind, called lèleks (pronounced LAH-lek; Hungarian for "spirit"). Koldunic sorcerers must first be able to recognise a nature spirit before they are able to manipulate them into servitude properly. This ritual is requisite cast often, thereby reinforcing the koldun's attunement to the land and nature. Many of the old koldun did not simply trust that their attunement to the land wold remain intact. Rather, they dedicated one night out of the week to completely reconnect with the spirits of their land. These lèleks are more recognizably "felt" rather than visually perceived. A  lèlek traveling on a breeze close to the koldun might instill a static sensation in the back of the sorcerer's neck. Healthy trees might seem to have a faint verdant glow about their trunks. Whichever may he believes to perceive these spirits, the koldun awakens to a new sense after casting this ritual.

System: The koldun's player spends one point of blood and makes the roll. Each success he accumulates increases the duration of his attunement to the nature spirits of the four natural elements.

1 success  One hour

2 successes  One night

3 successes  One week

4 successes  One month

5 successes  One year

#### **Hospitality**

This is a simple Koldunic ritual, but an important one. This ritual, enacted nightly, allows the koldun to "awaken" the spirits in her haven. These spirits "manifest" themselves in objects, which assume sentience and individualism, often displaying unique personalities in the process. Thus, a koldun's gate might speak to the vampire in a dull, grating voice, complaining about the weight of the castle on its keystones; a mirror might slyly praise the vampire, while a knout might cackle with glee and bed to be laid across a victim's back. The koldun may command any such house-spirit to silence, and the spirits generally display servility and obsequiousness. However, if ill-treated (or if treated politely by an intruder), the spirits may fail to warn the koldun of intruders in his domain.

System: The koldun spills one blood point on any entryway into his domain and recites a five-minute incantation. The effects last for one night.

#### **Incantation of the Shepherd**

This ritual enables the koldun to mystically locate all members of her herd. While intoning the ritual's vocal component, he marks a slow circle in the ground with blood. At the end of the ritual, she can see a picture in the circle of where each of her vessels are and gains a subliminal sense of direction and distance. She can choose who she wishes to see by stating their name.

System: This ritual give the character the location relative to her of the members of her herd. If she does not have the Herd Background, this ritual locates the closest three mortals from whom the koldun has fed at least three times each. This ritual has a maximum range of 10 miles times the character's Herd Background, or five miles if she has no points in that Background.

#### **Illuminate the Trail of Prey**

This ritual causes the path of the subject’s passing to glow in a
manner that only the koldun can see. The tracks shine distinctly, but
only to the eyes of the koldun. Even airplane trajectories and animal
tracks shine with unhealthy light. The ritual is nullified if the target
 wades through or immerses himself in water, or if he reaches the
destination of his journey. The koldun must burn a length of white satin
 ribbon that has been in her possession for at least 24 hours for this
ritual to take effect.

System: The koldun must have a mental picture of or know the
 name of her prey. The individual’s wake glows with a level of
brightness dependent on how long it has been since he passed that way —
old tracks burn less brightly, while fresh tracks blaze.

#### **Mephistophelean Minx**

Old wives tales tell of the inherent perils of allowing a cat near sleeping children for fear that it will suck out the child's soul. The koldun casting this ritual substantiates these tales by enlisting any small feline into his service, as the cat will search out any sleeping individual it finds and mystically draw out some of his soul.

System: The player makes a normal activation roll. By feeding a cat one point of his blood, the koldun brings the feline into temporary servitude. Once the blood is fed to the cat and the ritual is cast, the cat will immediately seek out any child in the area who is asleep. The cat will then crawl up to the victim's face and mystically draw out some of his spiritual "essence". This essence will funnel through the cat, acting as a conduit to the koldun, who will then temporarily gain a point of Willpower that may be spent at any time during the night. This Willpower point must, however, be spent in the same night it was stolen, otherwise the "essence" will mystically dissipate and return to its rightful owner. Every point of blood spent in feeding the cat spurs it to visit another victim, resulting in another point of temporary Willpower. Willpower gathered in this way may not exceed the koldun's permanent Willpower trait.

Alternatively, the Koldun may feed one point of blood to multiple cats, thereby reducing the amount of time he must wait for one cat to complete multiple tasks.

Storytellers may decide how much time it takes for the feline to hunt down a suitable slumbering victim. A child who has had her essence stolen for three nights in a row dies before waking the next day.

#### **Preserve Blood**

This ritual allows a koldun to preserve blood in a specially enchanted container. This ritual was very useful before refrigerators and it is still used heavily. The ritual requires a covered earthenware container large enough to contain the amount of blood the koldun wishes to store.

System: The container must be filled with one point of kindred blood and buried in the earth for two nights. The following night, the container must be dug back up. The blood that was in the container is absorbed into it during the two nights it is buried. After this, the koldun can store blood in the container. It must be sealed with wax after the blood is pored in. The container may be carried but, if broken, the blood will spoil at a normal rate. The container may be opened at any time, but may not be resealed containing the same blood. The earthenware container itself can be used again, but the entire ritual must be reenacted.

#### **Purity of Flesh**

The koldun cleanses her body of all foreign material with this
ritual. To perform it, she meditates on bare earth or stone while
surrounded by a circle of 13 sharp stones. Over the course of the
ritual, the koldun is slowly purged of all physical impurities: dirt,
alcohol, drugs, poison, bullets lodged in the flesh, and tattoo ink are equally affected, slowly rising to the surface of the koldun’s skin and
flaking away as a gritty gray film that settles within the circle. Any
jewelry, makeup, or clothes that the koldun is wearing are also
dissolved.

System: The player spends one blood point before rolling. Purity
of Flesh removes all physical items from the koldun’s body, but does not
 remove enchantments, mind control, or diseases of the blood.

#### **Reawakening the Dead Water**

The koldun must drop one point of blood into pool of water and then
drink the equivalent of one blood point from that source. The koldun
will be able to ingest this water without difficulty.

System: If the ritual is successfully performed (with at least
one success), the koldun regains a point of temporary Willpower. This cannot
 raise his Willpower above its normal maximum. This ritual can only be
performed once per night.

#### **Recreate the Homeland**

This ritual allows a koldun to create earth that acts as her home soil though it can only create one handful at a time. Recreate the Home Land is most useful to the Tzimisce who must have soil from their home to sleep in.

System: The koldun mixes one blood point of her blood with one handful of soil which reciting a short incantation. When it is done, that handful of soil is now identical to the soil from her homeland.

#### **Wake with the Evening's Freshness**

This ritual allows a vampire to awaken at any sign of danger, especially during the day. If any potentially harmful circumstances
arise, the koldun immediately rises, ready to face the problem. This ritual requires the ashes of burned feathers to be spread over the area
in which the Kindred wishes to sleep.

System: This ritual must be performed immediately before the vampire goes to sleep for the day. Any interruption to the ceremonial casting renders the ritual ineffective. If danger arises, the koldun
awakens and may ignore the Humanity/Path dice pool limit rule for the first two turns of consciousness. Thereafter, the penalty takes effect, but the koldun will have already risen and will be able to address problematic situations.

#### **Will o' the Wisp**

This ritual allows a koldun to produce a supernatural ball of light. The ball of light travels as the vampire mentally commands. The ball of light, referred to as a Will o' the Wisp, can be made to travel anywhere within sight of the koldun and perform tricks.

Among the things the ball of light can do are: glow brighter, glow dimmer, divide into many smaller balls, fly about, bathe someone in its magical glow, swirl, remain stationary or perform whatever maneuver the koldun can imagine. This ritual is useful as a diversion or simply a light source.

System: This ritual requires a small branch from a willow tree. The koldun must poor a point of blood on the ground and with the willow branch, draw the Koldunic rune for light. When the rune is complete, she must throw the branch into the air whereupon it bursts into the ball of light. The light lasts as long as the koldun concentrates upon it.

### **Level Two Rituals**

#### **Blood Walk**

A koldun casts this ritual on a blood sample from another
vampire. Blood Walk is used to trace the subject’s Kindred lineage and
the blood bonds in which the subject is involved.

System: This ritual requires three hours to cast, reduced by 15
minutes for each success on the roll. It requires one blood point from
the subject. Each success allows the caster to “see back” one Generation
 (to a limit of the Fourth Generation — the Third Generation do not give
 up their secrets so easily), giving the caster both the true name of
the ancestor and an image of his face. The caster also learns the
Generation and Clan or bloodline from which the subject is descended.
With three successes, the caster also learns the identities of all
parties with whom the subject shares a blood bond, either as regnant or
thrall.

#### **Donning the Mask of Shadows**

This ritual renders its subject translucent; her form appears dark
and smoky, and the sounds of her footsteps are muffled. While it does
not create true invisibility, the Mask of Shadows makes the subject much
 less likely to be detected by sight or hearing.

System: This ritual may be simultaneously cast on a number of
subjects equal to the caster’s Occult rating; each individual past the
first adds five minutes to the base casting time. Individuals under the
Mask of Shadows can only be detected if the observer possesses a power
(such as Auspex) sufficient to penetrate Obfuscate 3. The Mask of
Shadows lasts a number of hours equal to the number of successes rolled
when it is cast or until the caster voluntarily lowers it.

#### **Impassable Trail**

The koldun can travel through even the densest woods without leaving any sign of her passing. The vampire will still leave a trail for vampires or Lupines with powerful olfactory senses, but this will be all.

System: The koldun must soak two deerskins in two points of blood for one night. After that night, the koldun recites a 15-minute incantation. After that, anytime the skins are tied to the koldun's feet, she leaves no physical signs of her passing except for smell. It may be used one time for each success gained on the roll and each use lasts only for one night.

#### **Invoke the Lesser Sign of Power**

The koldun may invoke the authority of the spirits which are the
source of her magical birthright. She must concentrate for a single turn
 and then make the Lesser Sign of Power with her hands. If the ritual
succeeds, her eyes glow with power.

System: For one hour per success, the koldun gains a -2
difficulty reduction on all Intimidation or Leadership rolls made
against mortals, provided that she can make eye contact with them.

#### **Recure the Homeland**

The koldun calls on the power of earth to heal grave wounds she may have received. The koldun must use at least one a handful of dirt from her homeland.

System: The koldun must mix each handful of earth with two points of her own blood to make a healing paste. One handful will heal one aggravated wound.

#### **Service for Souls**

In casting this ritual, a koldun summons the attention of nature spirits to his person, enticing them by offering a part of his own essence to them. These spirits are vital in their own right, and they have mystical powers that aren't easily defined, they are free to act as they will. If they do accept the koldun's essence, they are bound to perform the duties as part of a Koldunic Sorcery ritual would require. Otherwise, they may roam free to live their lives.

System: The koldun's player spends a blood point and makes his roll in order to awaken the spirits from their natural settings and attract their attention. Then the koldun enacts this ritual, spending at least one more blood point. For every blood point he spends, he may bring one nature spirit of the land into servitude. Although they do occupy space in his body (and thus count toward maximum blood pool), these blood points remain "inert" within the koldun's body and unavailable to him. He cannot use them to fuel disciplines, heal wounds, etc. for as long as he intends to keep the nature spirits bound to him.

The lèleks summoned by the sorcerer may take any number of actions, but they may not typically affect physical objects other than those they inhabit. Even these are singular. The spirit of a tree may affect only that one tree, as opposed to all trees. Most often, these spirits are used as spies, emissaries or witnesses to some pact between the koldun and a greater spirit. They remain bound to the koldun for as long as their original agreement or until the Fiend chooses to relieve the agreement or until the fiend chooses to relieve the lèleks of duty, whichever comes first. At such a time, a lèlek will disperse into the night air, absolving the koldun of the promised vitae.

#### **Sign of the Moon**

This ritual makes the claw and fang attacks of lupines less effective. For one night, the koldun will not take aggravated wounds from lupine attacks but will take aggravated wounds from silver.

System: The koldun mixes two blood points with one hand full of silver dust and covers her body with the resulting concoction. At the end of the ritual, it is absorbed into the body. For the rest of the night, claws and fangs of lupines do lethal damage.

#### **Step of the Terrified**

This ritual lets the koldun slow down any specific foe. The harder the victim tries to run, the slower she becomes. During the first turn, she moves at half her normal speed. If she tries to speed up, she slows to the point that she cannot move faster than walking speed. This ritual is often used to catch tricky prey or terrify an opponent. The koldun is often able to walk while the victim is trying to run, and still catch up with her.

System: The koldun must have a small clump of dried mud, preferably square on all sides. She then sets it on the ground and draws a circle around the mud and a triangle around the circle both in her own blood. This ritual take two turns to enact.

#### **Ward versus Ghouls**

Wary koldun created this ritual to protect themselves from the
minions of vengeful rivals. By invoking this ritual, the caster creates a
 glyph that causes great pain to any ghouls who come in contact with it.
 The Kindred pours a point’s worth of blood over the object he wishes to
 ward (a piece of parchment, a coin, a doorknob, etc.), and recites the
incantation, which takes 10 minutes. In 10 hours, the magical ward is complete, and will inflict excruciating pain on any ghoul unfortunate
enough to touch the warded object.

System: Ghouls who touch warded objects suffer three dice of
lethal damage. This damage occurs again if the ghoul touches the object
further; indeed, a ghoul who consciously wishes to touch a warded object must spend a point of Willpower to do so.

This ritual wards only one object — if inscribed on the side of a
 car, the ward affects only that door or fender, not the whole car.
Wards may be placed on weapons, even bullets, though this usually works best on small-caliber weapons. Bullets often warp upon firing, however,
and for a ward to remain intact on a fired round, the player needs five
successes on the Firearms roll.

#### **Warding Circle versus Ghouls**

This ritual is enacted in a manner similar to that of Ward versus
Ghouls, but creates a circle centered on the caster into which a ghoul
cannot pass without being burned. The circle can be made as large and as
 permanent as the caster desires, as long as she is willing to pay the
necessary price. Many koldunic chantries and havens are protected by this
 and other Warding Circle rituals.

System: The ritual requires three blood points of mortal blood.
The caster determines the size of the warding circle when it is cast;
the default radius is 10 feet/3 meters, and every 10-foot/3-meter
increase raises the difficulty by one, to a maximum of 9 (one additional
 success is required for every increase past the number necessary to
raise the difficulty to 9). The player spends one blood point for every
10 feet/3 meters of radius and rolls. The ritual takes the normal
casting time if it is to be short-term (lasting for the rest of the
night) or one night if it is to be long-term (lasting a year and a day).

Once the warding circle is established, any ghoul who attempts to
 cross its boundary feels a tingle on his skin and a slight breeze on
his face — a successful Intelligence + Occult roll (difficulty 8)
identifies this as a warding circle. If the ghoul attempts to press on,
he must roll more successes on a Willpower roll (difficulty of the
caster’s Koldunic Sorcery rating + 3) than the caster rolled when
establishing the ward. Failure indicates that the ward blocks his
passage and inflicts three dice of bashing damage, and his next roll to
attempt to enter the circle is at +1 difficulty. If the ghoul leaves the
 circle and attempts to enter it again, he must repeat the roll.
Attempts to leave the circle are not blocked.

#### **Withering Agony**

By pulling the spirit from a sick tree and coaxing it into the body of a mortal or Kindred, the koldun infects his victim with a physically debilitating malady. When infected, the victim will decrease in weight, caused by the exfoliation of a thick sap-like substance from his pores. Hair will fall out, and skin will degenerate to an ash gray. Bones are more brittle, and breath comes in laborious gasps.

System: The koldun's player spends a point of blood and makes the appropriate roll while the character marks his victim with a bloody glyph. A spirit inhabiting a sick tree is then enticed to flee the dying wood and make its new home inside the marked victim. Over the course of a night, the adverse effect of his ailment will take effect, causing the victim to suffer a -2 to all Physical and Social dice pools. The afflicted also suffers one health level of unsoakable bashing damage due to the atrophy the body endures. This damage may be offset through rest or blood expenditure normally thereafter.

Kindred are similarly affected, suffering both the penalties to their Physical and Social dice pools and the associated damage. They also lose one additional blood point on top of the normal one point spent at the beginning of the night.

Withering agony lasts for one week.

Note: Although mortals and kindred aren't normally affected by nature spirits, the lèlek infecting victims are dying spirits and do not "join" with a host so much as they "invade" their health, similar to a virus.

### **Level Three Rituals**

#### **Conjure Lesser Demon**

Simply put, the ritual allows the koldun to evoke one of the lesser demons that haunt the Slavic lands. These "demons" have no connection to infernal beings; they are most similar to the spirits revered by werewolves. Nor do the demons attempt to make a pact; the relation between koldun and demon resembles that between a master and a vassal (albeit a highly malicious, intractable vassal). All Slavic demons have names, which must be learned by the sorcerer, and all must be "sworn" to the koldun by accepting a point of her blood. A koldun may "retain" a number of demons equal to her Charisma or Intimidation score (whichever is higher). Demons are not "bound" to the koldun; she must coax or (more likely) cow them into performing services.

A lesser Slavic demon can appear in virtually any shape; many take the shape of normal animals, though some appear freakish indeed. It is recommended that the Storyteller be familiar with Werewolf: the Apocalypse or have access to the Axis Mundi for information on spirits.

System: The koldun spills three blood points on open earth and writes the Koldunic name for the spirit she wishes to summon in the pool of blood. The number of successes determines how friendly the spirit is to the koldun.

#### **Cowing the Servant**

The Tzimisce enjoy the feeling of control over their servants, even
more so when those servants quake with fear. This ritual heightens the
normal devotion of a ghoul, revenant, or other blood bound servant. The
koldun mixes a sheep’s brain with soil from his domain and a point of
his own blood, while chanting an ancient Slavic incantation. Then, he
forces the servant to eat the foul mixture.

System: For one week per success, the difficulty of any roll made for the koldun to manipulate the servant is reduced by -1.

#### **Friend of the Trees**

This power causes those who try to follow the koldun through the woods to become entangled in roots, branches, and vines that just seem to be in the way. The power has the subtle effect of causing trees to animate slightly to provide this protection. Those trying to follow the koldun will only be able to move at half their normal speed.

System: The koldun must plant an acorn and "water" it with three blood points. It takes a few minutes to finish the ritual and recite the incantation.

#### **Incorporeal Passage**

Use of this ritual allows the koldun to make herself
insubstantial. The caster becomes completely immaterial and thus is able
 to walk through walls, pass through closed doors, escape manacles, etc.
 The caster also becomes invulnerable to physical attacks for the
duration of the ritual. The caster must follow a straight path through
any physical objects, and may not draw back. Thus, a Kindred may walk through a solid wall, but may not walk down through the earth (as it
would be impossible to reach the other side before the ritual lapsed).
This ritual requires that the caster carry a shard from a shattered
mirror to hold her image.

System: This ritual lasts a number of hours equal to the number
of successes scored on a Wits + Survival roll (difficulty 6). The caster
 may prematurely end the ritual (and, thus, her incorporeality) by turning the mirror shard away so that it no longer reflects her image.

#### **Mirror of Second Sight**

This object is an oval mirror no less than four inches (10 cm) wide
and no more than 18 inches (45 cm) in length. It looks like a normal
mirror, but once created, the vampire can use it to see the
supernatural: It reflects the true form of Lupines and faeries, and
enables the owner to see ghosts as they move though the Underworld. The
caster creates the mirror by bathing an ordinary mirror in a quantity of
 her own blood while reciting a ritual incantation.

System: The ritual requires one point of the vampire’s blood.
Thereafter, the mirror reflects images of other supernatural creatures’
true forms — werewolves appear in their hulking man-wolf shapes, magi
glow in a scintillating nimbus, ghosts become visible (in the mirror),
and so on. Sometimes, the mirror also reveals those possessed of True
Faith in clouds of golden light.

#### **Raze the Lèlek**

A koldun casting this ritual may destroy inanimate objects by severing their spirit from their material shells. By severing an object's spirit, objects like stone pillars turn to chalk and dust, cell phones malfunction and break into a small pile of wire and plastic, and clothing frays to become tatters of cotton and leather.

System: By expending the appropriate number of blood points, a koldun may rend a spirit from its inanimate housing, a koldun may rend a spirit from its inanimate housing, permanently. He may do so to any object within his line of sight.

The number of successes the player achieves determined the degree of the koldun's success and the size of the object he may destroy.

1 success  A fountain pen

2 successes  A cell phone

3 successes  A television

4 successes  A sofa

5 successes  A small car

Rumors of elder koldun using this power to great effect persist, especially among young Tzimisce, practically becoming legends in the telling. One such legend involves a Fiend reducing a rival's very haven to brittle shale, while another suggests that a jealous Tzimisce transformed a scorned lover into a pillar of salt before she could turn against him. None of these tales have been substantiated, however.

#### **Rotten Wood**

This ritual protects the caster against wooden stakes and similar wooden weapons. It makes wooden objects so rotten that they crumble to dust.

System: The koldun must ingest a paste made of wood fibers and three points of blood after which she recites the incantation. For the remainder of the night, all she has to do is speak a one word magical command to turn any wooden object she touches to dust.

#### **Turn to Toad**

This ritual turns the koldun or a subject of her choice into a toad.

System: The koldun mixes the blood from a frog or toad with a human blood point and anoints herself or her subject with the mixture. If the koldun turns herself into a toad, she can return to her form at anytime. If used on a victim, he remains in that form for (12 – Willpower of victim) days.

#### **Ward versus Lupines**

This wards an object in a manner identical to that of the Level Two
ritual Ward Versus Ghouls, except that it affects werewolves.

System: Ward versus Lupines behaves exactly as does Ward versus
Ghouls, but it affects werewolves rather than ghouls. The ritual
requires a handful of silver dust rather than a blood point.

#### **Warding Circle versus Lupines**

This ritual is enacted in a manner similar to that of Ward versus
Lupines, but creates a circle centered on the caster into which a lupine
 cannot pass without being burned. The circle can be made as large and
as permanent as the caster desires, as long as she is willing to pay the
 necessary price. Many Tremere chantries and havens are protected by
this and other Warding Circle rituals.

System: The ritual requires three blood points of mortal blood.
The caster determines the size of the warding circle when it is cast;
the default radius is 10 feet/3 meters, and every 10-foot/3-meter
increase raises the difficulty by one, to a maximum of 9 (one additional
 success is required for every increase past the number necessary to
raise the difficulty to 9). The player uses a handful of silver dust for
 every 10 feet/3 meters of radius and rolls. The ritual takes the normal
 casting time if it is to be short-term (lasting for the rest of the
night) or one night if it is to be long-term (lasting a year and a day).

Once the warding circle is established, any lupine who attempts
to cross its boundary feels a tingle on his skin and a slight breeze on
his face — a successful Intelligence + Occult roll (difficulty 8)
identifies this as a warding circle. If the lupine attempts to press on,
 he must roll more successes on a Willpower roll (difficulty of the
caster’s Thaumaturgy rating + 3) than the caster rolled when
establishing the ward. Failure indicates that the ward blocks his
passage and inflicts three dice of bashing damage, and his next roll to
attempt to enter the circle is at +1 difficulty. If the lupine leaves
the circle and attempts to enter it again, he must repeat the roll.
Attempts to leave the circle are not blocked.

### **Level Four Rituals**

#### **Beyond the Wall of Death**

This ritual was created by a koldun toward the end of the medieval struggle against the Warlocks, in an attempt to preserve the knowledge possessed by fallen sorcerers. After this ritual is cast over the dead body of a newly slain koldun, its spirit will appear to the koldun. As long as the koldun is aware of the specific sorceries that were possessed by the recently deceased, he can entice it to mentor him in these Ways.

System: The player spends a blood point and makes the necessary roll. While standing over the body of a recently deceased koldun and chanting his name, the koldun summons the spirit into his presence. The koldun must have prior knowledge as to what powers the spirit possessed when it was itself a koldun before he asks to be mentored in the Ways. On a successful roll, the spirit will grudgingly abide to mentoring the koldun, as long as the character is explicit in his question and the player has the experience enough to buy the specific power. The spirit will mentor the koldun in only one level of a Way, but, before moving on to its final rest, it will grant enough knowledge of the Way so that the Koldun no longer requires a mentor to continue his progression. Once the spirit has completed its task, it will be banished from existence, and it will not be accessible again.

A spirit will be compelled to instruct the koldun only in other powers of Koldunic Sorcery and its ritual, not other Disciplines. Neither will it reveal other knowledge.

This power does not work on a subject who has been diablerized.

#### **Heart of Stone**

A vampire under the effect of this ritual experiences the
transformation suggested by the ritual’s name: his heart is completely
transmuted to solid rock, rendering him virtually impervious to staking.
 The subsidiary effects of the transformation, however, seem to follow
the Hermetic laws of sympathetic magic: The vampire’s emotional capacity becomes almost nonexistent, and his ability to relate to others suffers
 as well.

System: This ritual requires nine hours (reduced by one hour for
every success). It can only be cast on oneself. The caster lies naked on
 a flat stone surface and places a bare candle over his heart. The
candle burns down to nothing over the course of the ritual, causing one
aggravated health level of damage (difficulty 5 to soak with Fortitude).

At the end of the ritual, the caster’s heart hardens to stone.
The caster gains a number of additional dice equal to twice his
Koldunic Sorcery rating to soak any attack that aims for his heart and is
completely impervious to the effects of a Shaft of Belated Quiescence.
Additionally, the difficulty to use all Presence or other emotionally
manipulative powers on him is increased by three due to his emotional
isolation. The drawbacks are as follows: the caster’s
Conscience/Conviction and Empathy scores drop to 1 (or to 0 if they
already were at 1) and all dice pools for Social rolls except those
involving Intimidation are halved (including those required to use
Disciplines). All Merits that the character has pertaining to positive
social interaction are neutralized. Heart of Stone lasts as long as the
caster wishes it to.

#### **Incubus Visage**

During less progressive times, people born with defects or abnormalities were thought to be touched by demons and devils while in the womb, so they were treated as outcasts. Similarly, Tzimisce koldun would cast this ritual as a punishment for sexual of theft crimes committed by their boyars. The koldun seduces one of his bound nature spirits to warp the physical features of a mortal or Kindred, distorting facial features by elongating the nose, bulging the eyes, extending the teeth and chin. Mucus runs freely from the nose, saliva drools out of the mouth, boils and pock marks break out over the entire body, open sores drip yellowish ooze and a hump swells between shoulders. Very soon, the victim resembles the most hideous of mortal beings and is relived by society.

System: The ritual must be cast on the night of a half-moon, and the koldun must ingest and spend one blood point from a boar, along with a piece of the victim's skin. For every success scored, a victim will suffer the adverse effects of Incubus Visage for one phase of the moon, for a maximum of another half-moon phase. The victim's Social Attributes drop to zero, and he gains the Flaw: Eerie Presence (see Vampire the Masquerade, p.302).

#### **Firewalker**

This ritual imbues the vampire with an unnatural resistance to fire. Only a foolish vampire would actually attempt to walk on or through fire, but this ritual does grant an advanced tolerance to flame. Some Sabbat use this ritual to show off, while other thaumaturges use it only for martial concerns. To enact the ritual, the caster must cut off the end of one of his fingers and burn it in a Thaumaturgical circle.

System: Cutting off one’s finger does not do any health levels of damage, but it hurts like hell and requires a Willpower roll to perform. This ritual may be cast on other vampires (at the expense of the caster’s fingertips...). If the subject has no Fortitude, he may soak fire with his Stamina for the duration of this ritual.

If the vampire has Fortitude, he may soak fire with his Stamina + Fortitude for the duration of the ritual.

This ritual lasts one hour.

#### **Invisible Chains of Binding**

This ritual allows the *koldun* to create a supernatural force that holds a
victim immobile. the victim is actually chained with
invisible and intangible chains that force him to remain
where he is. the victim may try to move, but the
chains are too strong to break

**system:** The *koldun* spends four blood points and recites an incantation that
takes 5 minutes. Victims can try to break the chains by
getting two successes in a strength roll (difficulty 8).
up to four victims may be chained through the use of this ritual.

#### **Merging of the Souls**

Before they had revenants at their disposal, Tzimisce koldun learned to amalgamate the ghouls and lèleks in their war, thereby enhancing the ghoul's physical prowess. Many of these ghoul hosts end up either with multiple personalities, abnormal physical features or are altogether destroyed by the dangerous rigors of merging with a nature spirit. Still they make efficient brutes, useful for keeping unquiet peasants in line and even finding use in the modern nights.

System: The player makes her roll and spends a blood point, from which is used to mark the ghoul. By marking one of her ghouls with this extra pint of vampiric vitae, a koldun entices a nature spirit to "join" with the ghoul. One of the ghoul's Strength, Dexterity or Stamina may be increased for every nature spirit that merges with him, for a maximum of three spirits and three points. Enticing more than one spirit into a ghoul requires marking him with more than one point of vampiric vitae. Any more than three nature spirits attempting to "join" with a ghoul will cause his consciousness to be shoved out from his control, and is something with no place in nature. For each lèlek beyond the third used to augment the ghoul's body, the ghoul gains a derangement of the Storyteller's choice or loses one point of Appearance, which lasts as long as the augmentation itself.

A ghoul's Traits may be increased above and beyond their normal maximum of 5 with this ritual to 6 for as long as this ritual lasts.

This ritual lasts for one night per success that the koldun's player scores on his activation roll.

Normal mortals are unable to withstand this sort of transmutation process. Not only is their blood too weak to sustain the amalgamated spirit, the lèlek would immediately warp the victim's psyche, causing it to change into an inanimate object in nature. Kindred are too far outside the realms of nature to properly benefit from the merging of lèlek, so this ritual does not affect them.

#### **Mirror Walk**

The koldun can step into any sheet of glass large enough for her to crawl through, and use it as a supernatural portal and transport to the any sheet of glass large enough for her to exit. The vampire may use this ritual to transport from place to place, but it is especially useful during escapes. The mirror "liquefies" when the koldun steps through, forming ripples. Once the vampire has stepped through, it reverts to its original shape, but the vampire cannot be seen.

System: The koldun must prepare ahead of time a green emerald, usually on a ring. The koldun crushes the emerald and stirs it into a bowl contain four blood points and a handful of earth. She must stir it counter clockwise for 30 minutes while reciting the incantation. During the ritual the liquid turns white. At the end of the ritual, the emerald will reform itself at the bottom of the bowl. Anytime the koldun wishes to go through a mirror, she needs it hold it in front of her as she approaches the mirror. She may take one object, up to the size of a person, including a person, through the mirror as long as she has contact with it in her other hand. If anyone tries to enter after the vampire has stepped through, but before the mirror stops rippling, the individual is cut in half. Half ends up in front of one mirror, while the other half ends up in front of the other. The Storyteller may wish to allow the individual a roll using Dexterity + Dodge (difficulty 7) to see if he makes it through without getting killed.

#### **Reconnect the Earth**

Koldun have a very distinct connection to the land. It is this connection that allows them to practice Koldunic Sorcery. Performed as often as weekly, this ritual reconnects the koldun with eldritch magic of the old world.

System: After spilling four points of blood onto a patch of dirt then ingesting this soil, a koldun may lower the difficulty of any Koldunic Sorcery rolls she makes over the next three nights by one. Multiple uses of this ritual have no effect - the koldun gains no greater benefit if he uses this ritual more than once in three nights.

#### **Respect of the Animals**

The koldun who casts this ritual may travel through the wilderness without danger from animals. Animals will not be afraid of the vampire, nor will they dislike her. Animals will accept the vampire as an equal and allow her to pass, though they will not aid the vampire in anyway.

System: The koldun must soak an article of clothing in four blood points while reciting this ritual. After the ritual is cast, any time the koldun wears that piece of clothing; she has the Merit Inoffensive to Animals. The clothing must be physically visible when worn for this ritual to work.

#### **Ride the Beast**

This powerful ritual will pull a fellow Kindred out of frenzy and even separate the vampire from his Beast for a time.

System: The ritual takes only 10 minutes to perform, and the caster does not have to see the subject, but she must imbibe a full Blood Point of the frenzied character's blood (it can have been drawn earlier) and push an iron spike through her own hand (causing two health levels of damage that can't be soaked). It does not require four blood points to be spilled. Upon completion of these acts, the subject suddenly emerges from frenzy, and often becomes uncharacteristically passive.

In truth, his bestial side has been separated from his psyche for a number of nights equal to the number of successes score for the ritual. During this time, the subject cannot frenzy, cannot regain Willpower, can only use one Blood Point per turn regardless of generation, and cannot even feed without making a Courage roll. In addition, the vampire must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 7) to use any Discipline. Legend states that some Kindred have starved into torpor after having been subjected to this ritual. The subject doesn’t need to be in a frenzy, nor does she need to be willing, but the caster may never use this ritual on herself.

#### **Ride the Spirit**

This ritual allows a koldun to bind a spirit in an object. This can be done to imprison a spirit but is usually used to create a fetish. Fetishes created in this manner are nearly identical those created by werewolves (see Werewolf: the Apocalypse pages 273-275. The koldun must first summon a spirit or find a spirit willing to become a fetish. It will usually require something in return, as being bound to an object is not a thrilling experience for them. If they are not willing, the koldun can try to force a spirit to be bound into an item but the spirits usually become very displeased and will take any opportunity to escape or thwart the koldun.

System: The number of successes rolled determines the maximum power level of the fetish to be created. If the spirit is not willing to be put into the fetish, the koldun must spend a point of Willpower and beat the spirit in a contested Willpower roll (difficulty 6). To activate the fetish, a koldun rolls Willpower (difficulty the fetish's power level + 3). A botch on the roll frees the spirit and destroys the item. The powers and mechanics of the fetish are left for the Storyteller to determine. This ritual does not require blood.

#### **Soul of the Land**

This extremely powerful ritual grants the caster an almost complete identification with her domain. She becomes "one with the land" and, through this intimate connection, instantly knows of anything that threatens the land or its creatures. She can tell if something is wrong with the soil (and thus give advise on how to ameliorate the problem). Additionally, she knows the location of any hostile forces, can predict weather patterns that affect her domain, and can exercise subtle control over the features of the land itself. She can cause trees to move slightly to obscure paths through forests, change the course of streams or widen them to make crossing difficult or cause boulders to rise out of the earth to block a mountain pass.

System: This ritual only works on the koldun's home soil. Become One With the Land can be cast prior to this to affect that same area. The caster buries herself in a grave near the center of her domain, remaining within the earth for one day. Upon arising the following evening, she imbibes an infusion of her blood (four blood points) combined with the soil in which she has lain. The effects last for a week. Periodic expenditures of blood (four blood points per week) can maintain the connection indefinitely. If a week passes without the caster spilling her blood into the ground, the connection breaks; the caster must repeat the ritual to reestablish her tie with the land. The Storyteller should assist the player in determining the precise manifestations of this ability so that its uses don't wreak undue havoc on the story.

#### **Ties that Bind**

Before a koldun can learn a new way, her teacher performs this ritual and removes one of the koldun's ribs (through vicissitude or other means). A mystical symbol representing the particular way the koldun intends to learn is inscribed onto the bone, and then implanted back into the body. Koldun cast this ritual to symbolically lend part of themselves to the essence of the land. In return, they are granted the ability to practice the spiritual magic that is Koldunic Sorcery.

System: This ritual is cast by the teacher of Koldunic Sorcery on his student. The teacher must remove one of the ribs of the student and soak it in his own blood for one hour while chanting an incantation of the ancient ways and the way that is being taught to the student. At the end of the incantation, the student must inscribe the symbol for her new chosen path and then implant it back in her own body. Successfully casting this ritual allows the koldun student to spend one less Experience Point for the first level of the chosen way per success scored on the activation. It has no effect on learning levels beyond the first.

#### **Ward Versus Kindred**

This has the same effect as the Level Two ritual Ward Versus Ghouls but works against Kindred. This does not affect kuei-jin (see Kindred of the East). It requires that the koldun use four of her own blood points in making the glyph.

#### **Warding Circle Versus Kindred**

This has the same effect as the Level Two ritual Warding Circle Versus Ghouls but works against Kindred. This does not affect kuei-jin (see Kindred of the East). It requires that the koldun use four of her own blood points.

### **Level Five Rituals**

#### **Blood Contract**

This ritual creates an unbreakable agreement between the two parties who sign it. The contract must be written in the caster's blood and signed in the blood of whoever applies their name to the document. This ritual takes three nights to enact fully, after which both parties are compelled to fulfill the terms of the contract.

System: This ritual is best handled by the Storyteller, who may bring those who sign the blood contract into compliance by whatever means necessary (it is not unknown for demons to materialize and enforce adherence to certain blood contracts). The only way to terminate the ritual is to complete the terms of the contract or to burn the document itself. One blood point is consumed in the creation of the document, and an additional blood point is consumed by those who sign it. No other blood is required.

#### **Conjure Greater Demon**

This ritual is similar to Conjure Lesser Demon, except a mighty entity of the Old Country appears. Such a being is not generally subject to intimidation; it must be coaxed to serve and has no qualms about destroying the koldun should the offer not be to its liking. For this reason, koldun rarely use this ritual.

System: This ritual requires five blood points to be spent, and the name of the spirit to be conjured must be written into the pool.

#### **Dominion**

This ritual makes a highly effective defense. It requires three hours to setup and lasts for an entire week. The ritual is cast upon a specific location no larger than 500 cubic feet. The ritual prevents the uses of Animalism, Auspex, Dominate, and Presence performed by anyone except the caster within its bounds.

System: This ritual requires the koldun to soak five iron disks in blood. Each disk must be soaked in one blood point while reciting the incantation. At the end of the ritual, four of the disks must be placed on the walls of the room and one on the floor. There may be more or less disks used depending on the number of walls in the room.

#### **Elemental Savior**

During the centuries-old conflict with the Warlocks, some Tzimisce koldun desperately needed their lèleks to effectively aid in the fight, and they eventually created this ritual to make that possible. Once this ritual is cast, a nature spirit will become physical, in the form of an animated element in nature, The most common form that these spirits took was that of a man-sized mud golems. When in this form, the lèlek can obey only basic,  one-sentence commands. It was not long after the koldun created this ritual that the Warlocks came up with their own form of elemental manipulation, which more than evened the odds in this blood feud.

Years later, in the modern nights, when this ritual was rediscovered and cast, the lèlek was surrounded by artificial, man-made creations and took the form of a large concrete golem, made up of concrete, asphalt and rebar.

System: A spirit already in the employ of the koldun (through some other ritual) will readily take to an elemental form after the koldun bleeds four points of vitae onto the object he desires to have animated and the player makes a successful roll. Once the spirit animates an element, it will respond only to simple, one-sentence instructions from the koldun.

A lèlek can remain physical for a single night before it is forced out of its elemental state and return to the spirit world.

Dexterity 3
 **Willpower:** 2
**Health:**
 **Abilities:**Brawl 2
 Attacks:
Melee Strike (Strength+Potence, bashing)

#### **Eyes of the Beast**

The vampire is able to mystically see through the eyes of an animal for 24 hours. The animal must be chosen and touched on the head by the koldun for this ritual to take effect. The koldun will then see whatever the animal sees, but will have no control over what the animal looks at or does. The koldun must close her eyes in order to see what the animal sees.

System: The koldun must touch the animals head while reciting this 5 minute incantation. No blood is required for this ritual.

#### **The Inmost Tug**

This ritual allows a koldun to manipulate the emotions of a being bound in a Blood Bond. For example, the love instilled by a Blood Bond could be debased to lust, or refined to fraternal devotion. This ritual can even be used to warp a Blood Bond into fear, hate or other negative emotions.

System: Unlike most Koldunic Rituals, this requires no blood sacrifice or other dross; it can be activated with a single word and a gesture. By making a Manipulation + Empathy roll (difficulty of the victim's Willpower) in addition to the roll to activate the ritual, the koldun can manipulate the emotions caused by a blood bond.

#### **Shadow Walk**

This ritual allows the koldun to cross the Shroud into the Shadow Lands. The koldun ritualistically kills herself and reawakens in the Shadow Lands.

System: The koldun recites an incantation over a ritualistic dagger. At the end of the incantation, the koldun stands with her back to a pool of water, stabs the knife into her own heart (it does no damage) and falls backwards into the water. As she hits the water, she is taken through the Shroud to the Shadow Lands. She must do the same ritual to get back. This ritual does not require blood.

#### **Stone Slumber**

This ritual creates a nearly impregnable protection for a sleeping vampire. The caster must begin the ritual two hours before dawn. At
sunrise, once the ritual is finished, the caster becomes solid stone.
Just like a stone statue, the koldun can be transported from place
to place, even in direct sunlight, and will remain suspended in that
state until the following sunset.

System: The caster must mix two blood points with ground up stone
 or earth and drink the concoction after reciting a simple incantation.
The transformation takes two hours during which time the vampire must
remain perfectly still. Awakening from this form requires the
expenditure of three blood points. The caster is completely protected
from stakes and most type of flame and heat, but pieces can be broken
off. Most kinds of communication and telepathy are impossible, as the
vampire's mind is dormant

#### **Umbra Walk**

This ritual allows the koldun to pass through the Gauntlet into the Umbra. The koldun casts this ritual while standing on a mirror in a circle of salt.

System: This koldun must use a mirror at least 3 feet by 3 feet. She stands on the mirror and spills salt in a circle around her while reciting the incantation. When the circle is complete, she is pulled into the mirror and appears in the Umbra. She must reenact the ritual to leave the umbra again. This ritual does not require blood.

#### **Ward Versus Spirits**

This has the same effect as the Level Two ritual Ward Versus Ghouls but works against Spirits. It requires that a handful of sea salt to be stirred into the blood and requires five blood points.

#### **Ward Versus Wraiths**

This has the same effect as the Level Two ritual Ward Versus Ghouls but works against Wraiths. It requires that a handful of powdered marble from a tombstone to be stirred into the blood and requires five blood points.

#### **Ward Versus Demons**

This has the same effect as the Level Two ritual Ward Versus Ghouls but works against Demons. It requires four blood points and one blood point worth of holy water.

#### **Warding Circle Versus Spirits**

This has the same effect as the Level Two ritual Warding Circle Versus Ghouls but works against Spirits. It requires that a handful of sea salt to be stirred into the blood and now requires five blood points.

#### **Warding Circle Versus Wraiths**

This has the same effect as the Level Two ritual Warding Circle Versus Ghouls but works against Wraiths. It requires that a handful of powdered marble from a tombstone to be stirred into the blood and now requires five blood points.

#### **Warding Circle Versus Demons**

This has the same effect as the Level Two ritual Warding Circle Versus Ghouls but works against Demons. It requires four blood points and one blood point worth of holy water.

#### **Warrior's Heart**

The koldun using this ritual may temporarily increase her abilities and attributes as a warrior.

System: The koldun must spend five blood points and write her name in the earth. This ritual grants the koldun two dots of Strength, one dot of Dexterity, and one dot in Stamina. The koldun's Courage is also increased by three points. Even beyond this, the vampire gains two extra points in her Brawl and Leadership Talents. The effect lasts as long as her name is written in the earth. After 20 minutes, though, she takes one unsoakable level of lethal damage per minute until her name is erased. After the effects disappear, she must rest within two hours or she will take one level of unsoakable aggravated damage every 10 minutes until she rests. She must rest for at least one hour.

### **Level Six Ritual**

#### **Change the Home Soil**

This ritual allows the koldun to change his homeland, usually only useful if the koldun is Tzimisce. For instance, if the koldun's home land is Berlin, Germany but she spends most of her time in Los Angeles, California, she can change her home land to Los Angeles forfeiting her rights to Berlin in the process.

System: The koldun must spend one Willpower point and mix six points of blood with six handfuls of the soil from the area that she wishes to make her homeland. She must then consume the mixture in its entirety. After the mixture is consumed, she recites a short incantation naming her old home and her new one. Her homeland is then changed. She does not get the new land and her old land to call home, only the new one.

#### **Create the Vozhd**

This ritual, combined with Vicissitude, enables its practitioner to create a vozhd war ghoul (see Book of Storyteller Secrets for the creatures statistics). The koldun must gather a sizable number of ghouls - at least 15, though 20 or more are commonly employed. The ghouls may be human or animal, and all must be force-fed a concoction of each other's blood (a blood point of the mixture will suffice). Once this is done, the ritual begins.

System: The ritual consists of a continuous chant, which the koldun must utter while using Vicissitude to mold the ghouls into a composite creature. The casting Tzimisce does not have to be the "sculptor" of the vozhd, though most prefer at least to participate in the flesh shaping. The ritual takes (the number of ghouls used - 7) hours to cast, and the caster must maintain the chant without interruption for the duration of the casting. If this requires the caster to remain awake after daylight, she must make the rolls to do so.

#### **Destruction of Mortal Bonds**

This is an incredibly powerful ritual and should be used with discretion. This simple incantation takes 10 minutes to recite and requires that the caster drip six blood points (not necessarily hers) onto the object to be opened.

System: During the 10 minute incantation, the koldun lets six blood points flow over the seal to be opened. That seal can never be closed again. This includes manacles, handcuffs, chests, boxes, windows, doors, safes, zippers, wounds, walls, books, eyes, mouths, throttles, holes in the earth, and the mouths of volcanoes. It also opens dimensional boundaries that are tied to physical objects, and permanently destroys wards. Not included are Blood Bonds, mental control or slavery. Storytellers must arbitrate in all cases.

#### **Embracing the Demon**

Many centuries ago, a renowned brood of koldun was known to barter directly with powerful evil spirits, and it eventually wound up being destroyed by these untrustworthy creatures. Although it may seem senseless to risk life and limb to enlist a "true" demon into one's employ, the benefits reaped by the koldun who were not torn apart almost totally eclipsed this peril. Following this mode of thought, koldun of the modern nights have re-adapted this ritual of demon-conjuring by requiring the body of newly dead neonate, one that was blood bound to the koldun. When summoned, the demon inhabits the dead body, thereby removing it from its natural element and reducing its overall power. Doing so ensures that the demon will not have enough to simply destroy the koldun on a whim. However, the host body grants it enough of its mystical energies to perform most of its "required" tasks.

System: The koldun must first sacrifice a blood bound neonate. The fledgling vampire cannot have spent any more than 20 years as Kindred (otherwise the dead body will delay too rapidly for it to host a demon properly). Then the koldun's player makes his roll, spends a  blood point and casts this ritual, all the while chanting the name of the demon he wishes to summon. The demon, in turn, will be drawn from its infernal realm and forced into the newly dead vessel body. As long as the vampire was blood bound to the koldun before she was destroyed, the demon summoned into her body will not have the capacity to readily defy its master.

Once it is within the vessel body, the demon may perform any of a number of tasks, from performing as an efficient bodyguard to serving as a mentor for teaching new Disciplines. It possesses all of the physical characteristics (Attributes, Talents, etc.) of the demon. It is considered subject to the blood bond, and it cannot actively harm its master, even though it almost certainly resents him.

The demon will be physically weak for the first few nights after the summoning, as it grows accustomed to coping without the full range of its tremendous power, and it will be restricted to the limit of the body. Within a week, it will "grow" into the body, causing it to take on demonic features. Its Attributes and powers may also increase with time (at Storyteller discretion). Over the course of a month, the body will degenerate into an unsuitable vessel for the demon, caused in part by both the dead body's decay and its inability to accommodate the demon's increasing powers. After a month has passed since the demon's summoning, the vessel body will fall apart, and the creature will be released from its servitude and immediately sent back to where it originated.

A demon summoned into a vessel body that was not blood bound before it was killed may consistently attempt to break free from its term of servitude. The koldun must make a Willpower roll every night that the demon remains in the vessel body. While a failed roll causes the koldun's sway over the demon to slip, immediately releasing it from its mortal chains, a botched roll will ultimately end in a bloody conflict between demon and koldun, of which the outcome is almost assuredly in the demon's favor.

Mortal vessels are wholly unsuitable to properly host a demon for any length of time, and any test of this restriction will always result in the body melting into puddles of flesh and viscera almost immediately after this ritual is cast.

#### **Transfer Essence**

This ritual transfers the koldun’s soul, Mental Attributes, Charisma, Manipulation, Abilities, and vampiric Disciplines into a new body. The body must be that of a freshly killed human. The old body crumbles to dust.

System: Ahead of time, the koldun must place six of her blood points into a container and enact the ritual. After that, if the koldun wishes to transfer to a new body, she coats her eyes and the body’s eyes in the blood and feeds the rest of it to the body. The koldun then makes a Stamina + Medicine roll (difficulty the number of hours the body has been dead). If successful, the transfer takes only a few moments. If failed, the dead body crumbles to dust. If botched, the koldun meets final death. This ritual cannot be used on a body that has been dead for more that 10 hours.

### **Level Seven Ritual**

#### **Chill of the Wind Saber**

This ritual enables the koldun to create a sheet of telekinetic force so thin and so accurate that it can decapitate anyone. The effects of this ritual are additionally terrifying because all the viewers see is the head separating from the body. The effects of this ritual are deadly to almost any creature with a head, including vampires.

System: The koldun must use seven blood points to draw a circle on open ground large enough for her to lay in. She must then lie down inside the circle and concentrate on the identity of the victim while reciting the 15 minute long incantation. At then end of the incantation, the koldun must cut her own throat with a piece of glass enough to do one level of lethal damage. The koldun and victim then compete in a contested roll. The koldun rolls Perception + Empathy (difficulty 8) and the victim rolls Dexterity + Empathy (difficulty 9). If the victim loses the roll, he loses his head.

#### **Divorcing the Soul**

This is a devastating ritual that separates one's spirit from its physical element, although the spirit is kept imprisoned in the body. The affected individual cannot use or regain Willpower, all of her Abilities and Virtues drop to one, and she becomes almost incapable of creative thought. She has no motivation, little emotion (Empathy 0) and is twice as susceptible to mind attacks and control if Dominate, Presence or the like are used against her. She becomes lethargic, careless, depressed, and slow. The true strength of this spell is that it can be used on a nearly limitless number of people.

System: During the ritual, the koldun drops seven blood points or more in a circle around the subject while reciting the chant with each drop. The target could be a single person, a house, an office building, a city block or even a city. The caster must be walking (one blood point per pace), so after the initial seven hour incantation, the ritual can take anywhere from 10 minutes to several years to complete. The enchantment stays in effect until one of the points of blood is destroyed. Still, even if the blood is dispersed over a wide area, it is only a matter of time before one is disturbed.

#### **Shadow of the Wolf**

This powerful ritual actually lets the koldun become a Lupine for one night. The player must develop a separate Lupine character using the characters basic statistics. The type of Lupine depends on the exact nature of the ritual. There are several variations of this ritual; each imbues a different form. The koldun is subject to the same limitations and advantages that all Lupines possess.

System: The exact nature of the ritual is up to the Storyteller. It requires three blood points of human blood, three blood points of wolf blood, and one blood point of the koldun's blood. Beyond that, it’s up to the Storyteller. It is recommended that the Storyteller be familiar with Werewolf: the Apocalypse if he is going to allow this ritual.

### **Level Eight Rituals**

#### **Bone of the Kindred**

This two-night ritual creates an enchanted weapon made of bone or ivory. The ritual requires the lifeblood of a Kindred. The blood is absorbed into the weapon and cannot be used for any other purpose. The enchanted weapon inflicts aggravated wounds. When in use, the weapon seems to "drink" any blood that is on it.

System: This ritual requires 36 consecutive hours to complete. The total number of kindred blood required is eight blood points. In battle, a sword will inflict Strength + 4 dice of aggravated damage and a dagger or knife will inflict Strength + 2 dice of aggravated damage. Both are difficulty 5 to wield. If an arrow is created, it does damage based on the type of bow used +1. For example, a small bow has a base damage of 2 but when using arrows made with this ritual it has a base damage of 3. Eight blood points must be used per arrow created.

### **Level Nine Rituals**

#### **Dracul**

Besides the obvious prerequisite (Koldunic Sorcery 9+), the caster must have a Vicissitude score of 6+ to employ this ritual; only two Tzimisce, including the Dracon of Byzantium, are known to have used it. This ritual imbues the Fiend with primordial energies of the Old Country, transforming the vampire into a hideous dragon.

System: The koldun's Strength rating triples, her Stamina doubles, and he sprouts a scaly hide equal to Class 4 Armor. The dragon may drink blood normally, and may also choose to consume the flesh of slain foes; an entire human corpse (12 health levels) may be chewed up and eaten per turn, provided the dragon does nothing but eat. For each Health Level of flesh "digested," the koldun may regurgitate a fiery acid inflicting one Health Level of aggravated damage per "point" invested in it (maximum of six Health Levels vomited per shot). The koldun gains an additional five "Bruised" Health Levels, but all difficulties to hit her are reduced by one (she's enormous).

#### **Weapon of the Kindred Soul**

This ritual creates an enchanted weapon must like the "Bone of the Kindred" weapon from the above. The ritual requires the lifeblood of a Kindred who is also an expert in the use of the weapon to be enchanted. As above, this blood is absorbed and may not be used in any other way. The weapon created by this ritual becomes the vessel for the slain Kindred's soul and Willpower. The koldun conducting the ritual has a great deal of control over the weapon's new personality and goals, and commonly imbues the weapon with an overriding desire to protect the koldun.

System: This ritual requires nine blood points from a vampire and is created like "Bone of the Kindred" though it takes 48 hours. The weapon maintains all of the Abilities, Disciplines, etc. of the Kindred slain to create it, but all of its memories seem distant and unimportant. The weapon is given a new name during the ritual, and can communicate with its user telepathically. In effect, the weapon is a freethinking being with its own goals, Abilities and mystical Disciplines.