Dante’s Urban Legend
Ritual · Vampire
People love to share urban legends. These dubious stories of modern folklore have limited veracity, but something powering the stories pushes the communities to preserve and propagate them through the generations. Tapping into the power of these stories, the thaumaturge can create a psychically-charged urban legend that discourages visitors to a specified house or location.
The caster recreates a popular urban legend upon the grounds that she wishes to protect. Tales shall arise in the community of something that happened to a friend of a friend recounting the horror of that location, such as a legend about a group of teenagers ambushed by the
hook-man and then anesthetized only to find a kidney missing. Overly excessive uses of this may attract the attention of hunters or malicious supernatural creatures, so this ritual is used with care.
Some believe that this is a minor breach of the Masquerade, as it encourages a belief of the supernatural. However, those that practice this ritual argue that Dante’s Urban Legend preserves the Masquerade by pushing away mortals from places they should not be, and upholds the tradition of Domain. A few Princes that have discovered this ritual have limited its use within their domains.
System
The caster must recreate the exact urban legend she wishes to propagate at the location. For example, she might need to steal some kidneys from a drunken mortal or kill a group of teenagers with a hook. Afterwards, she must sacrifice a point of blood to each entrance of the house or location.
Typically thaumaturges are careful to select an urban legend that does not remind others of vampires. Some will cast this ritual on the property of their rivals to make a point. Once the ritual is enacted, rumors will soon circulate among the mortals that the house is haunted or cursed, and therefore should be avoided by anyone with sense. Property values around the “haunted” house will plummet as neighbors move to avoid living next to the house that causes them nightmares.
These mortals rationally disbelieve in the supernatural, but they will feel disturbed by the thought of the location protected by the ritual and attempt to avoid it. Strong-willed mortals may feel curious enough to make a Willpower check (difficulty 8) to attempt to enter the building or area – failure means that they create some excuse to avoid entering. The duration of this ritual is one decade plus an additional year for every additional success achieved on the activation roll.