                                   RUMALI



   * The Radiance of Death: The Dakini can evoke a strange aura ar ound
   himself. It is barely noticeable to the eye, but is faintly dark and
   quite cold. Anyone who is close by the Dakini will feel the chill and
   a eerie sense of foreboding, as though someone had stepped on their
   grave. This power gives the Dakini three extra dice on Intimidation
   rolls. At the Storyteller's discretion, the Dakini may also get an
   extra die on Stealth rolls under some circumstances; this reflects the
   tendency many people have to try and ignore the things that disturb
   them.

   System: There is no roll, but a Blood point must be spent to activate
   this power.

   ** The Honored: The Dakini can set a mystical mark on a being whom she
   wishes to keep track of. As long as the mark is in place, the Dakini
   will always have a sense of how far away the Honored One is and in
   what direction. If she concentrates she can easily track the Honored
   One to its location. The Honored may only be used on one being at a
   time, but the Dakini may leave the mark in place for as long as she
   likes, and can remove it at will. The mark is invisible to the eye,
   but those who have developed Rumali to at least level 2 can sense it,
   and Aura Perception might be able to detect it.

   There is no known way to remove the mark without the assistance of the
   Dakini who set it, but at the Storyteller's discretion certain rituals
   or magicks might do it. Likewise, some magicks or rituals could
   temporarily block a Dakini's sense of where the Honored One is; for
   example, a Dakini who has Honored a Garou might not be able to sense
   the Garou's location while it is in the Umbra.

   System: No roll is required, but a Blood point must be spent to Honor
   someone, and the Dakini must be able to see them. They do not need to
   see the Honored One to remove the mark.

   *** Kali's Eyes: With but a look, the Dakini can wrack his vic tim
   with phantasms of her own demise. The Dakini must look into his
   victim's eyes and make a Manipulation + Intimidation roll with a
   target of the victim's Willpower, getting at least two successes. If
   he succeeds, the victim will undergo nightmare-like scenes of her own
   death. This is a very frightening experience; mortals who see through
   Kali's Eyes must make a Willpower roll with a difficulty of 8 to avoid
   fleeing in blind panic. Successes mean that the victim has retained
   her self-control, but the visions are naturally quite distracting, and
   the victim receives +3 to all difficulty numbers until the visions run
   their course. A botch causes the victim to curl up in a fetal ball and
   whimper. If this power is used on a Vampire, the unlucky Lick must
   make a Courage roll to avoid Rotschreck. The victim will experience
   one "death" per success that the Dakini received. The duration and
   content of the visions are entirely up to the Storyteller.

   The visions induced by looking through Kali's Eyes can be
   precognitive, and if a victim of the power can avoid panic or
   Rotschreck, she can sometimes discern the potentially lethal people or
   situations in her life.

   **** Kali's Blessing: The Dakini can tell her victim about deat h with
   such eloquence that the victim will resign himself to it, and even
   yearn for it. The Dakini must roll Manipulation + Intimidation with a
   target of her victim's Willpower, and get at least two successes. If
   she succeeds, the victim is plunged into a haze of sorrow, and
   melancholy, a resignation to and acceptance of his own death. In fact,
   the victim becomes passively suicidal and finds it difficult to take
   any action to prolong his life (Willpower roll, difficulty 8). The
   depression lasts 24 hours for every success the Dakini received.

   ***** The Glory of Death: Similar to the Radiance of Death, th is
   power allows the Dakini to evoke a weird aura around himself. This
   aura blazes with cold black light and is quite visible. It grants the
   Dakini three extra dice on all Intimidation rolls, and the strange
   cold energy enables him to do aggravated damage with his bare hands.
   In addition, the Glory of Death grants the Dakini three extra dice for
   soaking non-aggravated damage.

   System: No roll is required, but a Blood point must be spent to
   activate this power.

   ****** Dancing the Paths of the Dead: The Dakini can walk int o one
   corpse and exit another up to a mile away. This power acts as a rather
   gruesome form of teleportation. The Dakini may Dance the Paths of the
   Dead to bypass walls and other obstacles, make quick get-aways, and
   even to travel. He may also try to pull others through a corpse to
   him, by reaching into the corpse, grabbing the victim, and pulling her
   through the Paths to his own location.

   System: The Dakini must decide where he will emerge before he enters
   and make a Intelligence + Occult roll (difficulty 6). Failure means he
   goes nowhere, and is likely ankle-deep in rot and bone. A botch gives
   the Storyteller carte blanche to be evil (the Dakini gets trapped
   inside the corpse, Wraiths attack him, he gets lost on the Paths and
   is stuck in the Underworld, etc.). Pulling someone through requires at
   least two successes on an Intelligence + Brawl roll.

   The Dakini may only Dance through corpses that were at least roughly
   half his mass in life (large dogs, crocodiles, calves, horses, humans,
   elephants, etc.). The state of the body matters little, although if a
   lot of it is missing the Storyteller should feel free to raise the
   Dakini's difficulty. The Dakini cannot step through any body that
   still has a soul or is undead, so while they could Dance the Paths
   using a Tremere's or Giovanni's zombie, they cannot step into mummies
   or other Kindred unless said mummy or Kindred has been extinguished.

   ****** Honored Multitude: This power allows the Dakini to Hono r more
   than one person at a time. In all other respects it is the same as The
   Honored. The Dakini can never mark more individuals than her Rumali
   rating, however.

   ******* The Glory of Kali: With this power the Dakini can assu me the
   form of the Black Mother: a seven-foot-tall, black-skinned demoness
   with four arms ending in clawed hands, three eyes, and terrible
   strength. This form is the very image of Kali Ma in Indian art, and
   some Dakini keep necklaces of skulls around to wear in this form on
   special occasions. The Kali-form is distinctly female; interestingly
   enough, male Dakini who use the Glory of Kali still take on the female
   form.

   System: No roll is required, but three Blood points must be spent to
   assume the Glory of Kali. When in this form the Dakini's Physical
   attributes all increase by three and Perception increases by one (this
   is a mystical Third Eye, not a metis deformity), and all Social
   attributes drop to zero. The claws do Strength + 1 aggravated damage,
   and the Dakini may use the three Stamina dice gained while using this
   power to soak damage caused by fire and sunlight.

   ******** The Exalted: The Dakini can be amazingly subtle kill ers when
   the situation warrants; this level of Rumali is in large part the
   reason why. With it, a Dakini can make the Exalted One's life into a
   thoroughly dangerous hell of accidents, chance occurrences, and freak
   coincidences. Cars swerve to hit him, his tuna salad is contaminated
   with botulism, the tasty-looking Vessel turns out to be a Lupine, the
   fugu chef is hungover, the disgruntled employee starts shooting while
   he's in the office, he gets the wrong address and walks into a Sabbat
   Blood Feast, and so on. There is a pretty good chance that he will die
   as a result of one (or more) of these accidents. The Exalted is
   especially deadly if used in conjunction with Kali's Blessing.

   System: The Dakini must be able to see her victim, and must roll Wits
   + Occult, with a difficulty of the victim's Willpower. Two successes
   are required to Exalt someone, while a botch indicates that the Dakini
   has managed to open herself up to whatever bizarre, random events the
   Storyteller chooses to inflict. The Exalted state lasts for
   twenty-four hours. If the Dakini wants to extend the period, she must
   let the first Exalted state run its course, then sight her victim
   again and make another Wits + Occult roll.

   ********* Kali's Gift: At this level of Rumali, the Dakini beco mes
   capable of saving lives or ending them with only a thought. Those with
   Kali's Gift can, if they choose, save the life of a creature who is
   about to die by "borrowing" the death; that is to say, literally
   taking the death away from the creature, thus giving it another chance
   at survival. Conversely, the Dakini can use this power to slay
   instantly, by bestowing the "borrowed" death upon a chosen victim. The
   death can take many forms in mortals, but all of them are shockingly
   swift; depending on circumstances they can range from sudden heart
   failure,to spontaneous human combustion to getting shot. When Kali's
   Gift is bestowed on Kindred,the victim simply crumbles instantly to
   ash.

   System: To take a death, the Dakini must roll Wits + Occult, with a
   difficulty of 8. Failure means that the dying being passes away, while
   a botch means that the dying being has become trapped in this world as
   a ghost, and is understandably hostile toward the Dakini.

   A "borrowed" death may be kept for as long as the Dakini wishes; some
   have been known to carry a death around for decades, searching for
   just the right victim to give it to. However, only one death may be
   retained at a time.

   To kill someone by giving her a death, the Dakini must make a
   contested Intelligence + Occult roll with a difficulty of the victim's
   Willpower, and the victim rolls her Willpower with a difficulty of the
   Dakini's Intelligence + Occult. If the Dakini fails, or his victim
   gets more successes than he does, the death is harmlessly negated. If
   the victim fails or botches, she dies quickly. If the Dakini botches,
   one of two things can happen. The death can "rebound" back at the
   Dakini, who must then make a Wits + Occult roll with a difficulty of 9
   to avoid dying himself. Or, more eerily, the death can get loose,
   escaping the Dakini's power and wandering about on its own, perhaps
   developing sentience and a personality as it goes.
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