Echoes (CTL)

Echoes are the native powers of Fetches.

Overview

Echoes are powers endemic to the Fetch. Some, being more powerful than others, require that the Fetch’s changeling, and thus the Fetch itself, have a higher Wyrd. Most echoes function only in the presence of changelings; some can only be used on the fetch’s own counterpart. All Fetches, upon creation, may use Attuned to the Wyrd, and gain an addition Echo per point of Wyrd.

Known Echoes

• Amplify Curse (Wyrd 3): This requires the fetch to touch the changeling, or, in the case of the character that the fetch was built to replace, that it simply lays eyes on its original. The player must spend one point of Glamour. Any numerical penalties associated with that changeling’s curse are doubled for the remainder of the scene.^[1]

• Attuned to the Wyrd (automatic): Unlike mortals, fetches are capable of seeing past the Mask. In addition, fetches can sense changelings coming before they see them. This sensation is general; the fetch cannot differentiate between Lost, but can tell when a changeling is in the same area (within a 50-foot radius). The exception, of course, is the changeling that the fetch is impersonating. The fetch can immediately tell if that particular changeling is within this distance.^[2]

• Call the Fae (Wyrd 5): For an expense of 10 Glamour, the fetch can send up a beacon to the Others, usually as a last resort. The Fae might choose not to respond, but then again, they might jump at the chance to reclaim a servant (possibly gaining an edge over an adversary). Requires that the Fetch make some kind of loud sound.^[2]

• Cracks in the Mirror (Wyrd 3): By spending one point of Willpower and one point of Glamour, any damage inflicted upon the fetch from any source is also visited upon its counterpart. The fetch and the changeling have to be within line of sight of each other when the power is activated, but they may separate thereafter without dissolving the bond. Regardless of the type of damage inflicted on the fetch, it heals from the changeling like bashing damage. The damage is still counted normally for purposes of killing the changeling, though.^[1]

• Craft Fetch-Beast (Wyrd 4): By sacrificing an animal (Morality 4 degeneration check), fetches can create beasts like themselves out of dirt, refuse, dead flesh, and the like. The player rolls Dexterity + Crafts as an extended action. Each roll requires one day of work, and the target number is the Health rating of the fetch-beast. Once the target number of successes is reached, the fetch spends Glamour equal to the fetch-beast’s Health, and the creature comes to life. From there on out, the creature behaves like a member of its species, save that the fetch-beast sometimes displays a disturbingly acute intelligence and shows almost no interest in other members of its species. The fetch-beast obeys its creator without question, and is not subject to communication or control by any supernatural powers that normally work on animals.^[1]

• Craft Second Fetch (Wyrd 5): The fetch can create a duplicate of itself, a hollow shell that becomes activated should the fetch die. The system for this is the same as for Craft Fetch-Beast, except that the sacrifice required is a chunk of flesh from the fetch’s own body (inflicting three points of lethal damage). If a fetch with a prepared duplicate dies, the duplicate awakens within 12 hours of the death, fully healed and refreshed. A fetch can only have one duplicate at a time, though upon activation the duplicate (or rather, the fetch) can create another.^[1]

• Death of Glamour (Wyrd 4): The Storyteller spends 10 points of Glamour and rolls Resolve + Wyrd (obviously, this Echo takes several turns to enact due to the Glamour expenditure). If the roll succeeds, no Contracts function within a 50-foot radius and all beings that can hold Glamour, including the fetch itself, lose one point per turn. The changeling weakness to iron, however, also ceases to function during this time, so this power can be of some small benefit. This Echo lasts for one turn per success.^[2]

• Enter the Hedge (Wyrd 1): The fetch can enter the Hedge the same ways that a changeling can.^[3]

• False Seeming (Wyrd 2): The fetch can grant itself a seeming for a brief time. This seeming looks similar, but not identical, to the changeling that the fetch was made to impersonate. Using the False Seeming drains the fetch of five points of Glamour, however, and the fetch cannot regain Glamour while this Echo is active. In addition, when the False Seeming fades (a number of hours equal to the fetch’s Wyrd), the fetch suffers a point of lethal damage. The fetch can reactivate the False Seeming at that point, if the fetch has enough Glamour to do so.^[1]

• Feast of Shadows (Wyrd 2): The fetch can consume the shadows of living beings in order to heal itself. Capturing a shadow requires a roll of Dexterity + Wits – the victim’s Resolve + Wyrd. The victim loses a point of Willpower from the shock. The shadow regenerates itself within one scene, or sooner if the victim regains Willpower before the scene is over. Once the fetch has captured the shadow, the fetch can consume it. The shadow begins at the same Size rating as the person who cast it, but loses one point of Size per turn whether the fetch is eating or not. The fetch heals one level of bashing damage per turn spent eating the shadow, one point of lethal damage for every two turns and one point of aggravated damage for every three turns. The fetch can choose what order to heal this damage in, if applicable. The fetch can consume shadows only from living beings with souls (e.g. werewolves, changelings, and mages, but not vampires). Stealing a shadow from a supernatural being has a benefit, though; add the being’s power trait (Gnosis, Primal Urge or Glamour) to the effective Size of the shadow.^[3]

• Hall of Mirrors (Wyrd 2): The fetch sends its changeling into a confusing nightmare world, in which everyone bears his own (Masked) face. This requires the fetch to touch the changeling, and for the player to spend one point of Glamour and one point of Willpower. For the remainder of the scene, the changeling sees his own face (minus the mien) on every non-changeling the changeling sees. Clothing does not change, and so a man looking at a woman and her child sees them both as they are… with his face. This power is useful as an escape tactic, but also to drive a changeling mad.^[4]

• Heart of Wax (Wyrd 1): Made of Glamour and inanimate matter, the fetch feels no pain. By spending a point of Glamour, the fetch can ignore wound penalties for the rest of the scene.^[5]

• Intimidation (Wyrd 5):  By spending a point of Glamour and making eye contact with its target, the fetch can attempt to intimidate that person into following its instructions. The fetch rolls Presence + Intimidation + Wyrd versus the target’s Resolve + Composure + Wyrd. If the fetch gains more successes than its target, the fetch may give the target a short command (no more than one sentence) that the target must obey, unless the command is suicidal in nature.^[6]

• Match (Wyrd 1): The fetch has an intuitive sense of the changeling’s actions and mindset, even beyond the connection usually present. The fetch and the changeling always act on the same Initiative (both roll and use the higher result), and any ties on contested actions go to the fetch.^[3]

• Mimic Contract (Wyrd 2): This Echo only works in the presence of the fetch’s changeling counterpart. The fetch spends one point of Glamour. On the following turn, the fetch can use any Contract that the changeling possesses.^[3]

• Mirror Trap (Wyrd 5): The fetch can turn any mirror into a prison for a changeling. The fetch must touch the mirror’s surface and spend some time in deep meditation, opening the portal. The player spends a point of Glamour and rolls Manipulation + Wyrd; this is an extended action (can be made instant by spending one Willpower dot). Each roll requires 10 minutes of meditation, and the target number is equal to the fetch’s Wyrd rating. If the changeling enters the mirror, she finds herself trapped in a perfect replica of whatever the mirror currently reflects. Observers on the other side cannot see her, and the glass is indestructible (from her side). She can see out, however, and can use Contracts that do not require touch or acknowledgment to be effective. She can enter the dreams of others as usual (see p. 193 of Changeling: The Lost), and this might provide a way out, if she can convince someone to break the mirror. If the mirror is broken, the changeling falls to the ground, bleeding from gashes in her face and hands but alive (she suffers three points of lethal damage from the glass). While in the mirror-prison, the changeling has no need of food, water or sleep, but she is trapped. If someone covers the mirror from the other side, she is lost in darkness, silence, and numbness — complete sensory deprivation. Such treatment is likely to drive her mad in short order (Resolve + Composure rolls to avoid derangements are appropriate, at whatever intervals the Storyteller wishes).^[5]

• Myriad (Wyrd 4): The fetch can call its reflection out of a mirror or any other reflective surfaces. This requires that the fetch touch the mirror (and the expenditure of one point of Glamour). The fetch-duplicate is then able to animate other reflections. The duplicates are not as powerful as the original. They possess the same Echoes, but if they suffer bashing damage equal to the original’s Stamina or a single point of lethal or aggravated damage, they disintegrate. They are capable of any action that the original is, but they halve all dice pools (rounding down). They can spend Willpower or Glamour, but they only have the original’s pool to work with (meaning that a fetch with a Glamour pool of 10 who creates four duplicates now only has six points remaining, and all five of them have to share it). If the original fetch is killed, but one or more duplicates still exist, the fetch can spend a dot of Willpower to save itself — one of the duplicates becomes the fetch.^[5]

• Normalcy (Wyrd 1): This Echo is permanent and never needs to be activated, although the fetch can turn it off for a scene if the fetch so desires. The fetch is completely undetectable by fae magic. As far as the perceptive magic of the Fae and changelings are concerned, the fetch is simply a human being. The fetch must turn this power off to use other Echoes (with the exception of Attuned to the Wyrd). This Echo cannot protect the fetch from its creator’s magic.^[3]

• Oathbreaker by Proxy (Wyrd 4): The fetch can see the pledges that the changeling has sworn, and can fool the Wyrd into thinking that the changeling has broken them. To use this power, the fetch must first understand the pledge; this requires that the player rolls Intelligence + Wyrd while looking at the changeling. The fetch then takes an action that breaks the pledge, as defined by the pledge’s tasks (see Chapter Three of Changeling: The Lost). The changeling immediately suffers the sanction of the pledge, but whatever that sanction, no matter how dire, it only lasts for one day. The fetch, then, suffers the sanction itself — permanently. The only way for the fetch to avoid this fate is if the changeling dies before the sanction is lifted.^[5]

• Obscured Dreams (Wyrd 2): The changeling must spend an additional point of Willpower to enter the fetch’s dreams. Also, the fetch with this Echo often realizes what is happening much sooner. Roll Wits + Composure for the fetch. If this roll succeeds, the fetch realizes the oneiric connection between itself and the changeling right away (and can therefore enter the changeling’s dreams later).^[5]

• Revoke Catch (Wyrd 1): The fetch can muddle a changeling relationship with his Contracts, if only briefly. The fetch touches its target, and the player spends one point of Glamour. The catch on all of the changeling’s Contracts is revoked for one scene; no matter what the application of the Contract or the circumstances in which he uses it, he must pay the cost.^[5]

• Secondhand Blessing (Wyrd 1): By spending a point of Glamour, the fetch can enjoy the same blessing as the changeling the fetch was built to impersonate. It has this blessing for only one turn per dot of Wyrd the fetch possesses, however, and can use this power only once per scene.^[5]

• Shadow Attack (Wyrd 3): The fetch’s shadow or reflection comes to life for a second and attacks the changeling. This requires the expenditure of two points of Glamour by the fetch. The attack must be close combat, and inflicts bashing damage unless the fetch has a way to inflict lethal damage with its bare hands. The changeling’s player rolls Wits + Composure (Danger Sense applies) as a reflexive action; if this roll fails, the changeling does not receive his Defense against the attack. A fetch can make only one Shadow Attack per scene.^[5]

• Shadow Boxing (Wyrd 2): The fetch can predict its changeling’s next move with disturbing precision. Spend one point of Glamour for the fetch. For the remainder of the scene, the changeling receives no Defense against the fetch (though Armor is unaffected).^[5]

• Shadow Step (Wyrd 3): The fetch can draw upon the shadow-stuff of its creation to teleport limited distances. The fetch must find a shadow large enough to step or fall into, and the Storyteller spends a point of Glamour. The fetch disappears into the shadow and reappears from any shadow of comparable size with 100 yards. The fetch can use this power to escape from a pursuer, circumvent a locked door, or gain a tactical advantage over an opponent (appearing behind her, for instance). The teleportation normally requires an instant action, but with the expenditure of three points of Glamour, this action is reflexive. The fetch does not have to see where it is going, but if it cannot see its destination, the fetch gains no protection from unfavorable circumstances there.^[3]

• Shadow’s Warning (Wyrd 2): The fetch always seems to know how to dodge and when to parry in a fight. Add the fetch’s Wyrd to its Defense rating. This Defense is subject to normal rules; i.e., it doesn’t protect the fetch from guns (except at point-blank range), it drops due to multiple attackers, etc.^[5]

• Spying Eyes (Wyrd 3): By spending a point of Glamour, the fetch can see through the eyes of its counterpart for one turn. This quick glance amounts to a still picture of the changeling’s surroundings. Only usable if the fetch and changeling are within five miles of each other. ^[6]

• Strengthen Mask (Wyrd 1): With a glance (and the expenditure of one point of Glamour), the fetch strengthens its changeling’s Mask to the point that not even other fae can see through it. This effect only lasts a number of turns equal to the fetch’s Wyrd, but that’s often enough for the fetch to do some damage. This power only works on the changeling that the fetch was made to impersonate.^[7]

• Summon Shard (Wyrd 1): By touching a pane of glass, the fetch can summon a mirror-like blade. This requires the expenditure of one point of Glamour. The blade inflicts one lethal damage, or two lethal damage if the fetch pulled the blade from a mirror. The blade fades at the end of the scene.^[8]

References