Shadow Summons

Cost: 15 motes Target: Template:Living creature

This ritual begins at midnight and continues until moonset. The sorcerer paints a pentagram of pitch and bile. He also needs an arcane link to his target. Walking the edge of the pentagram counterclockwise, the sorcerer chants the name of his target with the Dirge of Shadows. This incantation is completed 55 times.

As this is done, the victim's shadow is torn from her body and drawn to the caster. On the 55th repetition of the chant, the caster hurls a knife into the center of the pentagram, just as the shadow passes over that center. The knife pins the writhing shadow to the ground.

The shadow is trapped from moonset to sunrise. The sorcerer may use it in two ways. First, it may be used to deliver a message. The sorcerer speaks as long a message as he desires, provided he finishes by sunrise. Then he snatches up the knife, and the shadow speeds back to its owner, reattaching itself. When this happens, the target hears the full message.

The sorcerer may instead destroy the pinned shadow by mixing his Essence with the light of the rising sun, burning away its substance. This inflicts excruciating pain on the victim, who is immobilized in agony for one minute while the shadow fades away. For the rest of the week, while the shadow reforms, the target receives an internal penalty to all actions equal to the sorcerer's permanent Essence. This wound penalty stacks with all other wound penalties. The pain fades after one week, though the shadow takes a full month to grow back to its full size and darkness.