Demon of the First Circle

Cost: 20+ motes
Target: One First Circle Demon

This spell calls up one of the lesser inhabitants of the demon realm—a twisted, hellish world very different from Creation.

These wicked creatures resent being called into the burningly clean air and bright yellow sunlight of our own world, but a cunning sorcerer can shackle them into magical bondage. Shaping this spell is a dramatic action. It must begin at sundown, and it ends at the stroke of midnight. The actual spell costs 20 motes, opening the doorway to Malfeas and calling forth the target. The character can pay extra motes during the initial Shape Terrestrial Circle Sorcery action to help ensure successful enslavement of the demon, with effects as described as follows. The spell's cost and the extra motes are committed until the character takes the Cast Sorcery action.

Once the demon is summoned, sorcerer and demon engage in a contest of wills. This is represented by an extended opposed roll. Make one roll reflexively for each on each of the sorcerer's actions. The dice pool for each participant is (Essence + Willpower). The demon is at a -1 internal penalty to its dice pool for each five motes beyond the spell's basic cost that the sorcerer spent. Continue the contest of wills until either the demon or the sorcerer accumulates three or more successes more than the other. Until this happens, the demon is not vulnerable to attack and cannot attack by any normal means.

If the sorcerer wins, this spell exerts unnatural mental influence on the demon, binding it into servitude. The demon becomes loyal to the character and will serve him for a year and a day, or the demon becomes loyal to a task the character names and will serve it until it is complete—potentially, forever. In either case, the demon returns to Malfeas automatically when the loyalty ends. Demons do not ever spend Willpower to break free of this Servitude effect, and it is their highest—though not their only—loyalty.

If the demon wins the extended contest, the sorcerer's player may make a reflexive (Wits + Occult) roll at difficulty 3 to banish the demon back to Malfeas. If it fails, the demon is free in Creation, which often means an excruciating death for a sorcerer with few motes remaining.

The Exalt chooses which species of demon he summons. He can also summon specific demons by name, but he cannot use this spell to summon and bind demons who are already present in Creation.

This spell normally involves a great number of ritual implements and protective sigils. If the character dispenses with these tools, subtract an external penalty of one success from the first roll to bind the demon and—should he fail to win the opposed roll—an external penalty of two successes from the roll to banish it.