Life ****, Forces ***, Matter ****, Prime ***)
Welcome to the '90's, where Blood is Life, Life is Blood, and both Life and
Blood contain both quintessential energy. (And, these days, a bonus package of
the distinct possibility of virulent blood-borne pathogens, making blood from
any source a biohazard until proven otherwise). The Verbena know it, any good
healer knows it, and you better believe that the creatures of the night know it
as well... though in the latter instance, the biohazard label does not
necessarily apply.
Here at ACME, we know that where blood may be shed, you can never be too careful or too responsible. While most people would not deliberately create a biohazard, the fact remains that in any accident which breaks the skin, blood will flow. Where the wounds of an untreated victim create biohazards, the Blood of Apollo provides blood that becomes virtually self-cleaning of any blood-born pathogens through shifting the released energy from the infrared range into the ultraviolet range.
At Acme, we're also aware that there exist certain bloodthirsty types refuse
to respect common rules of propriety and personal boundaries. In short, some
refuse to take no for an answer, taking, instead, the very Life/Blood that keeps
our valued customers numbered among the living. We all know that a person
sufficiently drained of Blood is likewise drained of Life. Unfortunately, by the
time you learn that the so-called blood-sucking lawyer you've hired to defend
you in night-court really is a blood-sucking lawyer, or that the stranger you've
met at Fasching who invited you out for a quick bite has an unconventional
interpretation of what should be bitten, it might be too late.
Unless, of course, you carry the seeds of light which destroy the darkness
within your very being. The Blood of Apollo, a bio-energetic enhancement,
creates a blood-born catalyst that remains inert within the confines and
standard temperature of the human body. Contact with kindred vitae (or a
prolonged loss of body heat), stimulates emission of electromagnetic radiation
in the ultraviolet spectrum, converting the catalyst and a proportionate amount
of vitae-derived quintessence into radiant energy.
The typical matter conversion and energy release can be described as a modified
Bell curve across three time-constants: for every unit of blood taken from the
victim, one unit is released in the first frame, two units are released in the
second time frame, and one additional unit is released in the third time frame.
So, what does this mean in plain English? Why, you are what you eat, except when
it eats you first! (Hey, there ain't no such thing as a free munch!)
Vinnie the Vamp spies beautiful Belle at the Grateful Dead concert and decides
to take her backstage to neck. (Little did he know that Belle was expecting
trouble from Sanguinary Sam and had eaten a Sun-Kissed Orange for lunch.) Vinnie
ignores Belle's pleas and puts the bite on her wrist; she lapses into a bit of a
trance, and he drains 2 units of her lifeblood. In the next moment, as her blood
cools and reacts with his vitae, Vinnie starts to feel the burn; he hasn't yet
made the connection or figured out she's too hot for him to handle. He takes 2
points aggravated damage from the blood he's already ingested yet drinks another
unit from Belle. In the next instant, he takes 5 points of heartburn: 4 from the
first sip, plus one from the second. Since his insides feel as though they are
on fire, he wisely breaks off feeding to attend to the more pressing matter of
self-preservation; the blood within him continues to burn for 4 more points (2
from the third round of the first sip, plus 2 for the second round of the second
sip). At this point, Vinnie is seriously concerned; he's taken 11 units of
aggravated internal damage when he starts to run, and the final turn of the burn
leaves him down by a total of 12 points.
How it works:
Life, Matter, and Prime create a complex transmutation, altering the endothermic
properties of the blood, creating the biocompatible UV catalyst
Forces transforms the heat lost from the blood into ultraviolet radiation and
provides nominal amplification of the effect
Prime channels the quintessence in the blood and the vitae into amplifying the
ultraviolet radiation
Base difficulty: 7 (Coincidental)
Successes required: 1+ (more is better)
If ingested as a fruit, (typically an orange or some other citrus fruit) the catalyst remains active for 24 hours.
Not to be taken for more than 2 weeks without consulting a physician.
When applied as an intravenous prophylactic treatment, the catalyst remains
active in the blood for a week, after which at least day must then be spent to allow the body to rest to avoid pattern damage (as per Better Body).
The effect may be made permanent (as a merit) with 5 or more successes and
the expenditure of XP