Dragon Temple
At the edge of civilization, just outside what is known and explored, hides a lingering remnant of the Dragons. The answers it holds contradict themselves. Past and present meet along with a thousand alternate histories, none of which feature man.
Enter the Caverns
For those who find the hidden ruin, the entrance is at once easily access and surprisingly difficult. The rocky terrain gives way to reveal a sinkhole leading into a deep water filled cavern. The initial drop extends 35 yards along a jagged stone wall to the water surface where further debris lurks just below the surface.Once within the lightless pool, explores must find their way through the submerged tunnels to a secret chamber hundreds of feet away. There, to those who can see it, hides the entrance to the Temple.
Cloaked in once potent magic, it can be pierced with Mage Sight or similar power that beats its potency of 5. Revealed an explorer sees a doorway made of an iridescent bronze metal inscribed with alien runes marginally resembling those of High Speech. The doorway floats several feet from the ground, immovable by any force incapable of destroying it (Durability 10, Structure 17, counters magic with a dice pool of 10). The door keens slightly, like a distant cry.
Fossilized Magic
Passing through the doorway, leaves one into a cavern filled with bones. Bones line the walls, form tables and chairs, cover the floors and ceilings. None resembles anything human. Spines, horns, and claws point to beasts of an ancient age: dinosaurs, great reptiles and stranger creatures. Each composed of pure Tass.Time magic reveals the Temple to be millions of years old. And built a few days ago. They register as radioactive, tainted with fallout. And dead from sheer old age. Frozen to death. And burned by fire.
Decayed metal structures sit in the center of some chambers, the metal flaking away at the slightest touch. The only other exit point involves activating one of these machines, one shaped like the door they came in. Unfortunately the original long ago crumbled into a pile of rusty flakes. A dim Twilight version lingers but repairs requires an Intelligence + Science roll at -4 penalty.
The spirit realm doesn't exist here but in Twilight flickering specters of reptilian humanoids fill the halls, working on ghostly remains of strange machines. These specters vanish if interacted with, never registering an intruder's presence.
The same can not be said about the bones themselves.
Guardians
Those who wander this temple attract the attention of the bones. These animate skeletons resemble creatures such as velociraptors, giant crocodiles, and pterosaurs.Attributes: Power 6, Finesse 4, Resistance 5
Speed: 21 Defense: 0 [Armor 2]
Initiative: 1 Size: 7
Traits:
- Savage: Dice pool 10, 2 Lethal.
- Pounce: Dice Pool 10 vs. Strength + Stamina or the victim is knocked down and pinned.
- Antimagic: instantly counter spells with a dice pool of 10.
Legacy: The Circle of Four
They left the comfort of their communal fires to guarantee the safety and prosperity of their tribe. Often they left with only a knife on hunts that could last many months. They were the first frontiersman. Shamans who forged paths into the wilderness and shadow. They were the original trackers. Hunters who located the enemy and tracked game. They were the explorers who made first contact with alien spirits and the foreign tribes of man. They were the most skilled survivalists amongst the Thyrsus.
Settlements grew and man began to struggle against their natural place in the pattern. The Circle's mission changed. They still sought to deliver man from the dangers of the greater world, but it became apparent to the Circle they must also deliver man from themselves. The struggle between man and their place in the world slowly began to erode the natural wonders and wild beauty of the world, and the possibilities that it represented.
The Circle's crusade fell on deaf ears. People became less concerned with community, and they became more focused on themselves. The wild lands disappeared from Europe, and the Circle disappeared with them. The last known iteration of the Circle was in the New World. They formed secret medicine circles in several native societies, but they finally faded with native cultures.
Now their legacy is all but dead, their works lost and many of their artifacts either destroyed or erased from time. A series of linked Wendings remain as do a few strange relics and creations. Their true legacy however is the workings of the soul, a Legacy that lives on to this day thanks to one who undid their final works.
Parent Path: Thyrsus
Attainments:
1st Attainment: Eyes of the Scout
Requirements: Prime 2 (Primary), Spirit 2, Trained Observer 3In their solitude, members of the Circle gained the ability to refine their mage sight into a keener sense. By studying an individual, their mage sight reveals the deeper meaning behind their personal resonance. What is their emotional state? Have they eaten today? How long has it been since they last had sex? With enough time, all things can be uncovered. Resonance is not static. Every individual's resonance evolves over time, but every person's resonance does have a unique quality. A pattern woven by the long history of their experience. How much time is required for what information is up to the Storyteller. The dice pool is Wits + Investigation + Prime.
Optional: Requirements: Matter 2
The members of the Circle can track their prey by the tracks they leave behind. Even in the hardest of substances, a being's trail is left imprinted in resonance. Finding pressure releases in soft mud to reveal information about your prey is an art. Finding the same information in the edges and gullies of a hand print, foot print or scent perceivable only because of magically heightened sense can be a surreal sensory experience. To the scout, every surface a person touches leaves evidence of their passing and of their identities. The scouts ability to perceive the flow relies on their connection to the supernal. The tail is fresh for a number of hours equal to a mage's Gnosis. Every hour after, they incur a -1 penalty to a maximum of -5. The dice pool for tracking Wits + Survival + Prime.
2nd Attainment: The Chameleon's Soul
Requirements: Prime 3, Spirit 3A scout's resonance is extremely difficult to perceive. Their resonance begins to blend in with that of the world around them. The scout gains a benefit similar to the Occultation Merit, except it makes his resonance blend in with the natural world. His aura seems off to those analyzing it, and his spells seem almost natural to the world. He gains the benefits of the Occultation Merit equal to 1/2 his Gnosis rounded down. In addition, he can temporarily disguise his resonance to appear as someone else's who he has analyzed previously. This requires a Wits + Survival + Prime roll.
Optional: Requirements: Life 3, Matter 2
The scout can use his sense of the world's pattern to blend into his surroundings. By altering the very nature of his own pattern, his body and clothes become transparent. He is little more than a glimmer in the corner of the eye, or a passing shadow. This ability is not true invisibility, but it does make it very difficult to keep track of the scout. Close up it is easier to tell something is around, but from even a few yards away the scout can completely fade into the background. When activated, the scout's Gnosis is subtracted from all rolls to perceive the scout. Activating this ability requires a Wits + Stealth + Life roll.
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