Hrffnygr’s Demon Associates

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Current demons

Sessy

SESSELJAE, THE STOMACH BOTTLE BUGS DEMONS OF THE FIRST CIRCLE, PROGENY OF THE KEEPER OF THE FORGE OF NIGHT

Stomach bottle bugs resemble fist-sized beetles with 10 legs similar to those of a grasshopper. They possess a dangerous appetite for tainted and putrid substances and spend most of their lives scouring the bodies of the Yozis of those things that might eventually build up enough to cause harm to their masters. The stomach bottle bugs sometimes discover veins of corruption that sicken the Yozis, and thousands perish only to have their tainted corpses devoured by their kin. New sesseljae are born from the poisoned waste until it is entirely consumed. Stomach bottle bugs not busy with such work haunt the taverns of the Demon City and plead for entry in childlike voices. They some- times manage to swarm the establishments, drinking the alcohol from every bottle and from within other demons. Many demons hate sesseljae for this and often kill them on sight.

a sessy beetle_by_art_bat-d5fcqav Sesseljae make excellent surgeons, although ma- nipulating flesh and bone is more like play to them, and they happily sing with their rear four legs while they draw a body together as though it were soft clay. The sesseljae can pass through the flesh of humans, animals and demons as easily as air and swim through it like water. This swimming sometimes stirs ripples in the bodies they inhabit, and a moving bug occasionally stumbles and awkwardly reveals a leg or mandible from within its host. Sorcerers typically carry sesseljae in their stomachs, as the demons may rest there indefinitely. This has the added benefit that the demon will suffer the effects of any ingested alcohol or poison in place of the sorcerer. Interestingly, sesseljae are allergic to pure substances: tears, seawater, silver, gold, salt and virgin’s blood. Such things can seal them from a location or even cause them harm.

Summoning: (Obscurity 1/2) Sorcerers summon stomach bottle bugs for their ability to heal people and to protect them from poison. Sometimes, without sorcery, stomach bottle bugs are called to Creation when a region is overcome with toxic substances. Forcing a sesselja to resist devouring a toxin requires its player to roll one die, with a success inflicting one point of Limit.

Motivation: To devour tainted and corrupted substances.

Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 1; Charisma 2, Manipulation 1, Appearance 0; Perception 2, Intelligence 2, Wits 2
Virtues: Compassion 4, Conviction 3, Temperance 2, Valor 2
Abilities: Athletics 1, Awareness 1, Dodge 2, Integrity 3, Investigation 1, Larceny 1, Martial Arts 1, Medicine 5 (Internal Surgery +3), Occult 1, Performance 1, Presence 1, Resistance 5, Ride 1, Stealth 4, Survival 1
Backgrounds: Backing 1

Charms:

Benefaction - target gains one bonus die to resist poison & disease, and stop bleeding (Sim 5m)

Cost: 5m; Mins: Essence 1; Type: Simple
Keywords: Obvious, Shaping, Touch; Duration: One scene
The target receives a one-die bonus to some sort of roll (any or all rolls only in the case of All-Encompassing Benefaction).

Creation of Perfection - the sesselja can perform medicine even if it is inside a target (Ref 5m)

Cost: 5m; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Shaping; Duration: One scene
The spirit becomes tangible to everything – material, immaterial, barely substantial or wildly conceptual, though concepts at least need a representation for the spirit to touch. A spirit might use this Charm to work Fate through the Loom of Fate, or to prune a concept wrapped within a Chrysalis of Preservation (see above). This uses the normal Craft rules. Conviction limits the spirit’s Craft score, but the spirit can call upon the Excellencies.

Landscape Travel - travels through flesh and bone as easily as if it were air or water (Ref 4m)

Cost: 4m; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK; Duration: One scene
A sesselja travels through flesh and bone as easily as if it were air or water. The demon may rest in a typical stomach without continuing use of the Charm.
For every two dots of Essence the spirit possesses, it grants itself one of three bonuses:
• One die to all Dexterity rolls associated with a particular form of movement, to a maximum of the spirit’s
Conviction.
• Double the speed of a particular form of movement.
• Grants itself a new form of movement, just as fast as it would be on land.

Materialize - can only be affected or harmed by specific powers and Charms (Sim 55m)

Cost: 55m; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Obvious; Duration: Varies
With this Charm, a god may become material by spending ([Essence + Willpower] x 5) motes. These motes are not committed, and a materialized spirit may respire Essence normally. A material god may dematerialize as a miscellaneous action at no mote cost. Normally, only gods and demons may learn this Charm. Elementals, Eclipse Caste Solars, Moonshadow Caste Abyssals and God-Bloods learn a Charm called Dematerialize. With Dematerialize, a naturally material being may become immaterial by spending ([Essence + Willpower] x 5) uncommitted motes. A being under the effect of Dematerialize may become material once again with a miscellaneous action at no mote cost. Materialize and its counterpart are exceptions to a number of rules and guidelines about spirit Charms. First, only the most unusual of spirits have restrictions on how they can use these Charms. There’s no All-Encompassing Materialize or Dematerialize, because the Charm itself is All-Encompassing in most cases. Second, when an Eclipse or Moonshadow learns Dematerialize, his player calculates the cost in motes from the character’s own traits, rather than using a version of the Charm with a mote cost defined by the spiritual tutor’s traits. The meaning and potential applications of this Charm are highlighted in the “Charm Concept: Material and Immaterial” sidebar below.

Spice of Custodial Delectation - allowing it to consume poison gives it one mote of Essence (Perm)

Cost: —; Mins: Essence 1; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None; Duration: Permanent
During any scene in which the spirit’s domain receives proper care, the spirit gains a mote of Essence. This can only be invoked if the care is performed by the spirit or by creatures within (its Essence x 100) yards, and those creatures’ qualifications matter: A priest’s ministrations net the spirit one mote for the scene. An occultist nets the spirit one mote per dot of Occult the occultist possesses. A group of otherwise unqualified individuals net the god one mote per dot of the group’s Magnitude.

Touch of Eternity - allow a mortal target to resist/heal as an Exalt does (Sim 10m)

Cost: 10m; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Obvious, Shaping, Touch; Duration: One scene
The target’s body and soul are reinforced with the resilience of immortality in the following ways:
• Rapidly stop bleeding as an Exalt does
• Resist poison and disease as an Exalt does
• Heal as fully and rapidly as an Exalt does.

Touch of Grace - heals a living or demonic target (Sim 3m,1wp)

Cost: 3m+, 1wp; Mins: Essence 4; Type: Simple
Keywords: Obvious, Shaping, Touch; Duration: One scene
Touch of Grace allows a spirit to pour its own ephemeral substance into cracks and wounds, mending them. Spirits might use the Charm to fix broken parts of their domain, to perform miraculous healings or perhaps to relieve themselves of minor damage. For every three motes a spirit spends powering this Charm, the target removes one health level of damage (one mote per level, if the damage is bashing). Recipients may even remain healed after the duration of the Charm has expired, if the spirit wishes.

This considerable power has weaknesses. Wounds that are too deep cannot be healed: a spirit may spend no more motes per usage than its ([lower of Essence or Compassion] x 3), and if the spirit can’t heal the target completely with a single use of Touch of Grace, the Charm has no effect. Also, damage of a supernatural nature, including all aggravated damage, can be healed only until the spirit uncommits the motes fueling the Charm—whereupon it returns.

Touch of Grace can cure Crippling, Poison or Sickness effects. To determine the mote cost, each counts as a number of lethal health levels equal to a Poison’s Toxicity, a Sickness’s Untreated Morbidity or a Crippling effect’s relative seriousness, as decided by the Storyteller on a scale of 1 to 5. Unusually powerful effects may count as up to 10. Supernatural effects, such as magical wounds, also return when the duration ends.

Touch of Grace has no effect on artifacts or on things that are in stark opposition to the spirit’s nature. For example, undead or demons usually cannot benefit from this Charm if it’s used by a god of the Celestial Hierarchy, and a water elemental may not understand how to heal a creature made of fire.

First (Ability) Excellency: Dodge, Integrity, Medicine, Resistance, Stealth
Second (Ability) Excellency: Medicine, Resistance
Third (Ability) Excellency: Medicine, Resistance
Infinite (Ability) Excellency: Resistance

Join Battle: 3
Attacks:

Scurry Into Someone: Speed 5, Accuracy 4, Damage –, Parry DV –, Rate 1
Leg Slash: Speed 5, Accuracy 4, Damage 1L, Parry DV 2, Rate 2
Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 4, Damage 1B, Parry DV –, Rate 1, Tags P

Soak: 0L/1B
Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incap
Dodge DV: 5
Willpower: 7
Essence: 4
Essence Pool: 75

Other Notes: Entering the body of someone who does not want a sesselja inside her requires an attack roll, although success causes no damage. Characters can take a miscellaneous action to expel a stomach bottle bug without a roll, but suffer one automatic level of bashing damage if the demon resists. The tiny bits of bone it carries away in the process are useful in making potent talismans against disease.

Marotte (mŏ-rōt)

MAROTTES, THE HOPPING PUPPETEERS DEMONS OF THE FIRST CIRCLE, PROGENY OF THE JEWELED AUDITOR

Descended from bilious threads of Gumela’s substance, an inactive hopping puppeteer resembles a knotted ball of phlegm-soaked cord woven from coarse hair. These creatures rarely remain still for long, however, as they are consumed with an instinc- tual desire to alter their surroundings. Typically, they unravel into dozens of gangly legs reaching up to 50 or 100 yards in length, extending from a coin-sized central gnarl. These thin legs stretch or draw tight individually, resulting in the demons’ eponymous gait. Nonetheless, the creatures are expert at manipulating their environment, pulling and lifting objects with elaborate block and tackle techniques, and displaying an idiot-savant mastery of architecture, landscaping, masonry and woodwork.

Puppeteers’ love of human babies is perilous, as they have no comprehension of how to care for them. Given the chance, they wrap an infant in a swaddle of idle legs and turn those branches over to the hapless child’s use. The thin slime that covers a puppeteer clings tenaciously to their limbs, and traces of it are rarely left behind. Vile in taste, this exoplasm is narcotic and highly addictive, although few mortals are unfortunate and wealthy enough to discover this. Such addiction is dangerous, typically leading to fatal attempts to swallow an inactive puppeteer.

Heptagram sorcerers call these demons marottes, based on records from the Dragon-Blooded sorcerers of the Shogunate. Citizens of the Demon City simply call them hopping puppeteers. Anyone who has watched them at work, comically chaotic in movement yet easily dangling dozens of construction pieces, can readily see why.

Summoning: (Obscurity 1/2) Puppeteers hate to be summoned, and if one breaks free, it will happily kick its summoner to death before rearranging the local landscape according to its demonic vision. Sometimes, when a concretion of hair develops into a bezoar, a puppeteer is drawn into Creation without sorcery and consumes it. A puppeteer cannot abide long periods of idleness even when bound. For every full day it is not allowed to craft, its player rolls one die with a success inflicting one point of Limit.

Motivation: To reshape everything to fit its ideas of Yozi aesthetics.

Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 4, Stamina 4; Charisma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 0; Perception 3, Intelligence 1, Wits 3
Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 3, Temperance 2, Valor 4
Abilities: Athletics 3 (Feats of Strength +10), Awareness 2, Craft (Earth) 5 (Architecture +2, Earthworks +2, Masonry +2), Craft (Wood) 5 (Architecture +2, Carpentry +2, Landscaping +2), Dodge 3, Integrity 1, Martial Arts 1, Resistance 4, Stealth 1 (Hiding in Small Places +3), Survival 1, Thrown 3
Backgrounds: Backing 1

Charms:

Essence Plethora - 10 extra motes of Essence in its Essence pool.

Cost: —; Mins: Essence 1; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None; Duration: Permanent
A spirit increases its Essence pool by 10 with this Charm. Spirits may take this Charm (Essence) times, and its effects stack.

Form Reduction Technique - fist-sized quiescent mass (Sim 1m)

Cost: 1m; Mins: Essence 5; Type: Simple
Keywords: Shaping; Duration: Indefinite
The spirit compacts its substance into a smaller shape; this shape doesn’t usually have traits or significantly useful qualities that the spirit could not otherwise call upon—it thus becomes the lesser creature in all respects, and could be a lower-Essence spirit, mortal, animal or any other living thing.

This Charm can’t emulate specific creatures; it mimics certain types of creatures or creates new ones. Unlike other Eidola, Form Reduction Technique actually remakes the spirit in every way that matters. No senses, spiritual or otherwise, will perceive the spirit as anything but what it’s become. This isn’t an Illusion effect. Short of extrapolation based on considerable knowledge of a given spirit—its exact speech patterns, for instance—there’s no way anyone can figure out the deception. Picking up those subtle cues requires a successful (Perception + Occult) roll, suffering an external penalty of the spirit’s (Essence + Occult + Conviction).

If the spirit becomes a creature with a smaller Essence pool than the spirit’s own, the extra motes go Elsewhere, and the spirit regains them upon resuming its normal form. This Charm shapes no equipment save the being’s divine panoply.

Host of Spirits - weaker limbs cannot actually detach, but may act to perform independent actions or to host stolen babies (Sim 3m)

Cost: 3m per copy; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Shaping; Duration: One scene or indefinite
Weaker limbs cannot actually detach, but may act to perform independent actions or to host stolen babies
The spirit animates a piece of itself into its full shape. Weak spirits create doppelgangers to fool or outnumber foes; powerful ones also create units of followers or avatars to send out into the world. (Conviction) copies can be formed per action, to a maximum of (Essence x Conviction) at any one time, and each costs the spirit three committed motes. These doppelgangers possess all of the spirit’s traits and other qualities, but two fewer dots of each Attribute save Appearance (Minimum 0), only the illusion of equipment, no Charms, motes of Essence or temporary Willpower, and only a single -0 health level. Each member of the Host has an Essence three less than the spirit’s (minimum 1). Such copies last until the end of the scene under the perfect mental command of the spirit.

With a touch, copies can be invested with motes or temporary Willpower by the true spirit, but never recover them once they’re spent or lost. If a copy meets the prerequisites, it can also be imbued with the spirit’s Charms, but the original will lose access to those Charms as long as the doppelganger persists. Charms return to the spirit upon a copy’s destruction, but not motes or Willpower. Essence 3+ spirits may spend one Willpower to allow another character to don one of the spirit’s copy bodies. Any basically humanoid creature smaller than the spirit may enter into a Host copy, riding it until she chooses to leave or the spirit releases the three committed motes. While inside, the inner creature sees as the copy would see, with the spirit’s senses. The inner creature may not, however, use any of her own Charms without disrupting the power, and all of her Physical Attributes and Abilities are considered those of the doppelganger, as well as its Essence score. Wearing a copy constitutes a perfect disguise, per the Charm Flawless Mirror (see Exalted, p. 228); if the character suffers any damage while wearing a Host copy, however, she’s exposed.

The spirit need not invoke a Host that looks exactly like it, but it will need other Charms such as Shapechange if the spirit wishes to alter forms more than a little. If the spirit decides its doppelgangers are exact, then onlookers seeking the original must succeed at a (Perception + [Awareness or Occult]) check with an external penalty of (spirit’s Conviction) to do so.

Landscape Travel - long strides across land double speed (Ref 4m)

Cost: 4m; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK; Duration: One scene
A sesselja travels through flesh and bone as easily as if it were air or water. The demon may rest in a typical stomach without continuing use of the Charm.
For every two dots of Essence the spirit possesses, it grants itself one of three bonuses:
• One die to all Dexterity rolls associated with a particular form of movement, to a maximum of the spirit’s Conviction.
• Double the speed of a particular form of movement.
• Grants itself a new form of movement, just as fast as it would be on land.

Materialize - can only be affected or harmed by specific powers and Charms (Sim 55m)

Measure the Wind - determine the Essence trait of all living creatures within Willpower (7) yards. (Ref 1m)

Cost: 1m; Mins: Essence 1; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK; Duration: Instant
This Charm determines the Essence trait of all living creatures within a number of yards equal to the spirit’s Willpower. This Charm also allows for a (Wits + Perception) roll to find hidden creatures within this range, and the difficulty of this roll is reduced by 2. This Charm recognizes what type of being each creature is—Exalt, spirit, ghost, etc. Finally, the Charm detects whether any creature the spirit examines is capable of killing a god permanently, as with Ghost-Eating Technique. Measure the Wind follows all Divination guidelines (see p. 148).

Ox-Body Technique (x3) - (Perm)

Cost: —; Mins: Essence 1; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Stackable; Duration: Permanent
The spirit gains extra health levels (one -1 and one -2). This Charm may be purchased (spirit’s Essence) times.

Wine of Infinite Heartbreak - a puppeteer subconsciously uses this Charm on anyone who partakes of its exoplasm (Sup 1m)

Cost: 1m; Mins: Essence 4; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Emotion, Social, Stackable; Duration: One week
A puppeteer subconsciously uses this Charm on anyone who partakes of its exoplasm, but the drug is the social attack with the shortfall of any resistance failure acting as the threshold of the attack. Given the drug’s relationship to the victim, “enslavement” typically means the victim tries to swallow the supply.

The spirit flavors a mortal’s Essence with divine power and drinks in the nectar of her joy. Repeated targets of this Charm become enthralled with the parasitic spirit, longing for the magical feeling of power and completion. This Charm supplements a social attack designed to build an Intimacy toward the spirit. If the attack is successful, the spirit invests a mote into the target for one week, and cannot retrieve the mote early. In exchange, it regains (target’s Essence x 3) motes. (The spirit can stack the effect to receive [target’s Essence x 3] motes for every mote still in the target, to a maximum of [Temperance] motes.) If the target has an Intimacy toward the spirit, the spirit also regains one Willpower point.

While this Charm is active, the target is counted as having at least as many scenes devoted to building an Intimacy toward the spirit as the number of motes invested in her. If the spirit has more motes in a target than her Conviction, she cannot even begin to break her commitment to the Intimacy while the Charm lasts.

Each victim’s hourly mote respiration rate is reduced by the number of motes invested in her. If this would bring her respiration rate to below 0 (as is always the case with mortals), she counts her permanent Willpower as one lower for each point below 0. Finally, if the target has an Intimacy to the spirit, and the spirit achieves a threshold on the original social attack greater than (target’s Temperance), the target also suffers from an Emotion effect that forces her to spend two Willpower per day to avoid feeling so devoted to the spirit that she’s practically its slave.

First (Ability) Excellency — Athletics, Craft, Dodge
Third (Ability) Excellency — Athletics, Craft, Resistance
Infinite (Ability) Mastery — Craft

Join Battle: 5
Attacks:

Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 5, Damage 6B, Parry DV 2, Rate 2
Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 5, Damage 3B (piercing), Parry DV —, Rate 1
(Note: With no “arms,” the puppeteer may not conduct Punch attacks, but it can parry lethal attacks with its Kick. The characteristics of thrown weapons vary according to whatever random object a puppeteer hurls at an opponent.)

Soak: 3L/5B (Slimy shell, 1L/1B)
Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/- 2/-2/-4/Incap
Dodge DV: 6
Willpower: 7
Essence: 4
Essence Pool: 85

Other Notes:
While most First Circle demons are treated as five mortal laborers for the purposes of construction projects, a single puppeteer counts as a workforce of 10.

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