The secret Discipline of the Norvegi is little-known. They’re careful to hide it. It sometimes serves their purpose to be underestimated. The vampires who witness this Dsicpline in use are either gifted with a Norvegus coterie-mate’s absolute trust, or about to be his victim. Norvegi who find out that their brothers or sisters have compromised their secret are never understanding. Sensible Norvegi make ample use of the Obfuscate Discipline in conjunction with their powers. It’s a terrifying thing to see. In the space of a second, a Norvegus using the Discipline sprouts wickedly sharp, hollow protrusions made of blood, bone and solidified body fat. A fingertip extends into a spike so fast it can punch out an eye; a hand becomes a mass of foot-long blades, skin erupts in rough, jagged plates. And all of this happens in absolute silence, the only sound the grunts of the Norvegus’s victim as he becomes impaled on what was, less than a second ago, a bare hand, and the sigh as his blood vanishes, sucked into the Norvegus’s body by countless hungry mouths.
The Norvegi learn first how to create hundreds of tiny, hollow needle-sharp points on their fingers. The little plates that protrude from the vampire’s fingertips (and which look a bit like a flatter, paler barnacle in texture) aren’t big enough to cause damage, but they can pierce skin and suck in blood, meaning that when this power is activated, the Norvega can drink through her fingers.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: No roll necessary: this power activates automatically.
Action: Instant
In order to drink blood, the character needs to be able to touch and hold her opponent. She can drink through her fingers at the same rate as a vampire with fangs can drink normally – at a rate of one Vitae and one lethal damage per turn (see Vampire: The Requiem, p. 165).
Because the tiny capillaries on her fingertips don’t cause the effects of the Kiss, the vampire may need to grapple her opponent (as per The World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 157) in order to keep feeding. The site of such a feeding is inhumanly clean. The skin where such a wound is inflicted becomes dry and calloused, drained completely of moisture and slightly flaky and dusty to the touch for a few days afterward. Victims drained completely by a hungry Norvenga can leave an entire corpse in such a condition, practically mummified by the experience.
The vampire can also use the capillaries on her fingers to suck in blood from a container or from a puddle on the ground, again at a rate of one Vitae per turn.
The Norvega can now grow blades and spikes from her hands and arms, which look like a weird organic collection of stalactites and bony, serrated knives, all melted into one mess of blades and spikes. After the first time a Norvegus uses this power, the skin on his hands and arms begins to show scars and welts. These cannot be healed.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: No roll necessary: this power activates automatically.
Action: Reflexive
When activated, the blades remain on the character’s hand for the rest of the scene or until canceled, and cause 2 extra dice of lethal damage. The character uses Strength + Brawl to attack with the blades and spikes.
Because the blades grow from the muscles surrounding the character’s fingers, the character has difficulty manipulating objects with his hands. While these spikes are extended, he suffers a -2 penalty to all Dexterity-based dice pools involving handling or controlling things manually. Really fine manipulation (on a level with sewing or setting a watch, for example) is impossible.
If the character spends an extra Vitae in the same turn that he activates this power, he can use it in conjunction with the level 1 power, meaning that the blades can, if held under the skin of a victim, suck in blood. This hurts the one being drained. A lot.
Bloody, bubbling ichor bursts through the Norvegus’s skin and congeals into a hideous, thorny shell. This is practically impossible to hide (and it completely ruins tight clothing). The Norvegi use this power very sparingly.
Cost: Two Vitae
Dice Pool: No roll necessary: this power activates automatically.
Action: Reflexive
The armor created by this power lasts for the rest of the scene. It grants 2/1 points of armor to the character, but reduces the character’s Defense and Speed by 1 point each, since the shell is melded directly with the skin and slows down movement.
The Norvegus grows a vicious-looking spike of blood, bone and stale, solidified fat in the palm of his hand, which he can eject with lethal force.
Cost: One Vitae per dart.
Dice Pool: thrown attack (the dice pool is Dexterity + Athletics – target’s Defense as per normal)
Action: Instant
The dart counts as a normal thrown attack (see The World of Darkness Rulebook p. 67). The dart has a damage bonus of 1 and causes aggravated damage. Its short range is equal to the character’s Strength + Dexterity + Athletics, medium range is twice that and long range is four times short range.
The Norvega’s entire body explodes into an array of blades and spikes, some of which leave her body altogether, like a porcupine’s quills. The power shreds her clothes but impales anyone and everyone around her within a range of about five feet.
Cost: Three Vitae
Dice Pool: Strength + Brawl + Bloodworking
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The blades erupt inwards, causing three Health points of aggravated damage to the character. Failure: The points of Vitae are spent, but apart from a rippling under the skin, nothing happens.
Success: The character takes two points of aggravated damage from the eruption of his flesh. Everyone within a five feet radius of the Norvegus takes points of lethal damage for every success the player rolled. The explosion of blades is so fast, it gives no chance of using Defense, although armor protects against the assault as if it were a close combat attack.
Exceptional Success: The character causes an exceptional amount of harm, but suffers no damage herself.