Pierce the Murk
Level-One Ritual
It is a simple fact that understanding flows from perception and darkness thwarts perception. Most individuals incorrectly assume no answers are to be found in the dark, but that is simply because they do not know how or where to look. This ritual resolves the first paradox, attuning a mystic’s eyes to the primordial darkness even as they forsake light.
System: The mystic invokes the Obtenebration power Shadow Play and concentrates, focusing the manipulated shadows to gather into a sphere. She holds this intangible sphere in one hand and gazes into its depths, while her player rolls Perception + Occult (difficulty

. Success means the vampire permanently gains the Merit Darksight (p. 206), while a botch results in the mystic permanently gaining Darksight as a Flaw. A failure means the Cainite fails to comprehend the lesson and must try again another night.
Side Effect: When a vampire uses Darksight obtained from this ritual, her pupils appear to grow in an inky stain that envelops iris and white in pure black. Those who botch this ritual obtain blackened eyes for the rest of their unlife along with their warped perceptions.
The Shadow of Hands That Serve
Level-One Ritual
This ritual summons the smallest beings that dwell in the Abyss and grants them brief existence in the material world as servitors of the mystics who invoke them. Such entities are not demons or ghosts or true spirits, but rather something else that defies comprehension or classification. All that is certain is that they hate light, hunger for life and bear a malign cognition that would shatter the sanity of any who truly understood it. Although the creatures summoned with this ritual are harmless, they make excellent spies and are so called the Eyes of Ahriman.
System: The vampire crushes and extinguishes a candle in his fist, suffering one level of aggravated damage and prompting an immediate check for Rötschreck (difficulty 4). If the vampire can maintain control, his player rolls Intelligence + Occult (difficulty 6). Botching this roll results in a further level of unsoakable aggravated damage. If successful, however, the vampire tightens his fist until blood drips from his fingers. The blood blackens and burns as it falls, undulating and extending horrible tendrils to reclaim the wisps of acrid smoke. When the blood lands, it shrieks in pain and births a momentary gateway to the Abyss. Out of this brief rift emerges a globe of shadow substance the size of a child’s hand. As the vampire opens and upturns his burnt and bloody palm, the orb flies to his hand and licks it clean with extruded tentacles. The creature endures one night per success on the casting roll before returning to the Abyss. Until this time, it serves the vampire’s spoken will with unquestioning if unimaginative fervor. It can crudely communicate with material beings in images and emotional impressions, but only while in physical contact.
A level-two version of this ritual exists, known as The Heart That Beats in Silence. This ritual follows the same rules and process, save that the summoned being is twice as large and possesses greater mastery of Obtenebration, allowing it to attack its caster’s foes physically. A vampire may not summon more beings through castings of The Shadow of Hands That Serve and/or The Heart That Beats in Silence than his Occult rating.
Side Effect: None
EYESOF AHRIMAN/
HEARTOF SILENCE
Attributes: Strength 1/2, Dexterity 5,
Stamina 1, Charisma 1, Manipulation 3, Appearance 0, Perception 3, Intelligence 2, Wits 3
Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 3, Brawl 3,
Dodge 3, Intimidation 2, Stealth 5 (In Shadows +1)
Disciplines: Obtenebration 1/3
Willpower: 3/5, Health Levels: Equal to Willpower
Other Notes: Traits in italics or after a slash represent the greater power of a Heart of Silence. Both types of creatures may freely invoke their Obtenebration without spending blood, although they must spend Willpower in place of blood to enhance a power (such as lengthening a tentacle grown with Arms of Ahriman). They can fly at 30 yards per turn and are always assumed to be in shadow form as per Tenebrous Avatar (Dark Ages: Vampire, p. 200). They suffer no wound penalties, but the touch of fire or sunlight instantly destroys these creatures. Communicating with a material being requires contact and a successful Wits roll. Each success transfers one set of related images or one emotion directly into the target’s psyche.
Transubstantiation of Essence
Level-Two Ritual
Supplanting her accursed blood with the substance of the Abyss, a mystic may devour the shadow essence to accelerate her healing.
System: The mystic devotes a full turn to meditating; her player spends one Willpower point and rolls Stamina + Occult (difficulty

. A botch inflicts one level of aggravated damage. For every success rolled, the vampire may spend one blood point to heal two levels of bashing or lethal damage. For the purposes of this unholy healing, the vampire may even surpass normal generational limits on blood expenditure. The Abyss takes its due, however. Whenever the vampire feeds, the Abyss consumes the blood until it has taken a total number of points equal to twice the number of health levels healed. No blood actually enters the vampire’s system until the cost is paid in full. Moreover, this ritual cannot be used again until the Abyss receives its toll and never more than once per night.
Side Effect: The taint of the Abyss never fully leaves a vampire’s blood after casting this ritual. As a result, the mystic’s vitae thereafter has an unnatural darkened hue. This effect is purely cosmetic, though few sights are more disturbing than the ebon tears of a weeping Abyss mystic, save perhaps the horrors that make her weep.