By Karen Kuhn, for the Spooks bloodline.
This Discipline appeared at the same time as the Spooks, and is exclusively associated with them. Unconfirmed reports of other clan members learning this Discipline state that they all found themselves unable to lie, with fatal results when one was asked what he really thought of a Toreador's party.
* Serendipity: This is described as the ability to be in the right place at the right time. Once learned, it is constantly in effect. Examples of its working are as follows:
1) Rich heir escaping from wicked aunt who wants to sacrifice him to demons runs into the character.
2) The secret plans of a master villain out to blow the world up get delivered to the character instead of the henchman.
3) Character happens to be in court for a parking ticket when a group of plumbers is being sentenced for an inept burglary.
Serendipity is also useful for escaping certain death. The character can walk away unscathed from these situations. This works only if the character has a million to one chance or less of surviving. It does nothing if the chance is 999,999 to one or greater.
** Smelling a Rat: This allows a character to find out who it would be worthwhile to investigate. The character spends a Blood Point and rolls Perception + Investigation (difficulty 6). For each success, the character knows one person has a guilty secret, and where to start looking. This ability focuses on the degree of guilt felt by the parties. For instance, if two NPCs, A and B, were the subject of this Discipline, and A felt intensely guilty over stealing a penny from the church collection plate in kindergarten, while B doesn't really care that he diablerized the prince, a character who only rolled one success would feel that A needs to be investigated, while B can be ignored.
*** Blackmail: Despite its name, this does not necessarily result in blackmail. On a successful Perception + Empathy roll (difficulty 6), the Spook can learn if someone has useful information on whatever she is currently investigating. A successful Manipulation + Streetwise roll (difficulty 6) lets her determine how to get the person to tell all.
**** Truth: At this level, the Spook can force another to tell "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" on one question. This can be as vague, however, as answering "What things do you not want me, or anyone else, to know?" The Spook spends a Willpower point, and rolls Manipulation + Investigation (difficulty 7). If the character rolls five successes, that victim is thereafter unable to avoid telling the truth to anyone who asks, permanently. Spooks refer to victims who this has happened to as stool pigeons. Nosferatu especially hate this ability, as Spooks have a nasty habit of finding a Nosferatu, asking them what secrets they have, and then refusing to pay for the information.
***** Verity: At this level, a Spook is able to cause an entire room of people to speak nothing but the truth (Great fun at primogen meetings). The Spook spends a Willpower point and rolls Manipulation + Intimidation (difficulty 6), with each success affecting two people.
****** Film the Past: The Spook can, by going to a place with a camera or camcorder, record scenes from what took place at that location. The scenes can be no farther in the past than when the equipment was first invented. For example, you can't photograph the trial of Charles I, since the camera wasn't invented then. Similarly, you could photograph scenes from the Civil War, but couldn't videotape them. Spend a Blood Point and roll Perception + Investigation, with the difficulty dependent on the distance in the past. Two successes are necessary to get non-blurry pictures, while four are necessary to get understandable speech.
******* Scenes from Yesteryear: Like Level 6, but can film scenes regardless of when they took place.
******** History: Like Level 7, but can film events from anywhere in the world from any place. The Black Hand recently attempted to steal the tapes showing life in Enoch. Investigation of why this happened resulted in many fascinating revelations, which will be serialized in the next issue.