Contract 19 of the Trembling Heart

Appearance: A small, heart-shaped locket of tarnished iron. When opened, instead of a picture, it contains a single, dried nightshade flower – its petals still tinged a sickly purple.

Lore: This contract is rumored to have been forged by a desperate individual seeking protection from a powerful supernatural threat. The fear bound into the agreement attracted a minor shadow entity, whose powers now suffuse the withered flower.

Stats: +2 Wisdom

Slot: Neck

Roleplay Emphasis: Afraid – The locket amplifies the wearer’s natural fears and anxieties. They are easily spooked, prone to panic, and see threats even when none exist. This heightened fear, however, also makes them more attuned to lurking danger and potential ambushes.

Costs:

• Initial Bargain: The wearer must offer a personal possession that represents a source of comfort or security. This item vanishes when the Contract is sealed.
• Recurring Cost: The wearer develops an irrational fear related to the circumstances of the initial bargain.

Magics:

• Shroud of Shadows (Action): As a reaction when frightened, the wearer can become partially obscured by wisps of shadow for one round. This grants a +2 bonus to stealth checks or AC against one attack.
• Whisper of Dread (Passive): The wearer has advantage on Perception checks related to detecting hidden dangers, ambushes, or hostile intent.

Tags: Common, Roleplay, Fear, Shadow

How to use for defense and offense in various environments:

• Defense:
  • Panic as Evasion: When fear takes over, the character’s jumpiness and erratic movements might disrupt enemy attacks, especially those relying on precision.
  • Hiding In Plain Sight: The Shroud of Shadows provides a momentary concealment boost, allowing the wearer to seek better cover or escape.
  • Early Warning System: Heightened senses give the wearer a chance to react to threats before others become aware of them.
• Offense:
  • Psychological Warfare: Play into the character’s fear to sow doubt and panic in enemies, potentially causing them to break ranks or make rash decisions.
  • Exploit Enemy Fears: The wearer’s heightened sensitivity to fear can also help them discern their opponent’s own anxieties, creating openings to exploit.

Environments:

• Urban/Social: The character’s jumpiness might make them a target in crowded or tense situations. However, it could also expose hidden intrigues or allow them to sense the ill intent of others.
• Dark and Dangerous Settings: The Contract’s strength lies in places filled with tension and unseen threats (dungeons, haunted forests, etc.).

Important Note: The Contract of the Trembling Heart amplifies negative emotions and could lead to a downward spiral for the wearer. Its usefulness is tempered by the roleplaying challenges it presents.

“Perception of Activation” for the Contract 19 of the Trembling Heart, exploring how it affects the wearer’s senses and grants extra-sensory perceptions:

• Sight
  • Perceived: The shadows within the locket swirl briefly, clinging to the dried nightshade like wispy smoke.
  • Description: This visual effect is subtle, barely noticeable unless the wearer is specifically focusing on the locket.
  • Positives: Provides a visual confirmation that the Contract’s magic is active.
  • Negatives: The swirling shadows can be disorienting, and the sight might trigger additional fear or paranoia.
• Sound
  • Perceived: A low, mournful whisper, barely audible, echoes within the wearer’s mind. It carries no discernible words, only a sense of lurking dread.
  • Description: This sound is constant while the Contract is active, though its volume fluctuates with the wearer’s level of fear.
  • Positives: Can reinforce the character’s fear-based roleplaying choices.
  • Negatives: The unsettling whisper can be distracting and mentally draining over prolonged use.
• Smell
  • Perceived: A faint scent of nightshade and damp earth lingers around the wearer.
  • Description: This subtle odor is most noticeable in still air and might evoke feelings of decay and unease.
  • Positives: Further reinforces the connection to the Contract and the shadow entity within.
  • Negatives: The unpleasant scent could make it difficult to mask the wearer’s fearful nature.
• Touch
  • Perceived: The locket feels slightly colder than normal against the wearer’s skin, as if drawing warmth from them.
  • Description: This sensation is constant but intensifies as the wearer’s fear grows.
  • Positives: Provides a physical reminder of the Contract’s presence and its effects on the wearer.
  • Negatives: The cold touch could be uncomfortable or even cause mild pain in extremely cold climates.
• Taste
  • Perceived: A lingering metallic tang and a hint of bitter nightshade fill the wearer’s mouth.
  • Description: This phantom taste waxes and wanes but never fully dissipates while the Contract is active.
  • Positives: Reinforces the ‘tangible’ nature of the agreement struck with the shadow entity.
  • Negatives: The unpleasant taste impacts the ability to enjoy food and drink.
• Extra-Sensory Perception
  • Dread Sense: The wearer gains an intuitive sense of nearby threats and a heightened awareness of hostile emotions directed towards them.
  • Whispers of Shadow: Vague, fragmented whispers occasionally pierce the wearer’s thoughts, offering cryptic warnings or hinting at lurking dangers. These are always tinged with an undercurrent of negativity and are difficult to interpret.

Recipe: Forging the Contract of the Trembling Heart

• Materials Needed:
  • Tarnished Iron: (small quantity) Represents resilience in the face of fear and the potential for fear to corrode one’s strength.
  • Dried Nightshade Flower: (one) Symbolizes the poisonous nature of fear and the darkness associated with the shadow entity.
  • Tear of Regret or Fear: (a single tear) A physical representation of the emotional sacrifice required to forge the Contract.
  • Lodestone: (very small shard) Adds a touch of ‘attraction’ to the item, drawing both threats and the shadows it offers protection from.
  • Nightshade Ink: A special ink infused with the essence of nightshade, used to inscribe the terms of the contract.
• Tools Required:
  • Smithing Tools: Basic set for shaping the locket.
  • Mortar and Pestle: To prepare the nightshade flower.
  • Ritual Implements: Incense, candles, or other tools associated with the crafter’s magical tradition (if any).
• Skill Requirements:
  • Smithing (Proficiency): To forge the heart-shaped locket.
  • Nature or Survival (Advantage): To safely find and harvest nightshade.
  • Arcana or Religion (Advantage): To understand the ritualistic components of binding the Contract and invoking the shadow entity.
• Crafting Steps:
  • Shape the Iron: Heat the iron until malleable and carefully shape it into a small, heart-shaped locket. The iron must remain tarnished, symbolizing the imperfection of fear.
  • Nightshade Preparation: Grind the dried nightshade flower into a fine powder using the mortar and pestle. Combine a small amount of the powder with the nightshade ink to create the inscription medium.
  • Inscribe the Contract: Inside the locket, write the terms of the Contract in clear, precise terms. Focus on the wearer gaining a heightened sense of danger at the cost of amplifying their natural fears.
  • Bind the Sacrifice: The crafter must willingly shed a single tear of regret or fear onto the locket. This tear represents the emotional price of the Contract.
  • Ritual Invocation: In a dimly lit place, arrange the items and perform a brief ritualistic invocation. The exact nature of the ritual depends on the crafter’s magical traditions (if any). Call upon a lesser shadow entity, offering the terms of the Contract in exchange for a sliver of their power.
  • Seal the Agreement: Place the prepared nightshade flower and the shard of lodestone inside the locket. Seal the locket shut. It will feel slightly colder than before as the shadow entity accepts the pact.
• Important Notes:
  • The crafting process carries an element of personal risk. Forging a pact with a shadow entity invites misfortune if the crafter is not careful or if the Contract’s terms are poorly worded.
  • The exact nature of the shadow entity summoned will influence the Contract’s temperament and the specific nature of the whispers the wearer experiences.

Locket of Flickering Fears

From whispers passed down through flickering torchlight and etched onto crumbling clay tablets comes the fractured tale of the Locket of Flickering Fears. Legends speak of a time long past, where shadows held secrets and whispers danced on the wind. In this forgotten age, a young villager named Elara lived a life of quiet contentment. But fate, a fickle mistress, had other plans.

One fateful night, a monstrous creature of nightmare descended upon Elara’s village, leaving a trail of screams and shattered lives. Elara, spared but forever haunted by the terror, sought solace in the heart of a forbidden forest. There, beneath a gnarled, moonlit oak, she encountered a cloaked figure with eyes like pools of obsidian. It was a Shadowbinder, a master of pacts with creatures of the twilight.

Desperate for protection, Elara bartered her peace of mind for a twisted form of security. The Shadowbinder crafted a locket of tarnished iron, its heart-shaped form a grim mockery of love. Inside, he placed a single, withered nightshade flower, pulsating with an unnatural chill. Thus, the Locket of Flickering Fears was born.

Elara wore the locket from that day forward. It granted her an uncanny awareness of danger – every rustle of leaves, every flicker of movement sent shivers down her spine. While it kept her safe, it also turned her world into a symphony of unseen threats. The whispers of shadows filled her every waking moment, fueling her fear until it became a constant companion.

Elara grew old, a recluse consumed by the dread the locket amplified.  The village she sought to protect eventually crumbled, succumbing not to a monster’s attack, but to the slow, insidious poison of fear. Elara’s story became a cautionary tale, a reminder that true safety lies not in fearing the shadows, but in facing them with courage.

Moral:  A bargain struck with fear can offer a false sense of security, ultimately consuming the very thing it seeks to protect.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu

• Emphasis: Madness, psychological horror, and the creeping dread of lurking dangers.
• Stat Block:
  • Sanity Loss: Using Shroud of Shadows or if the whispers become overwhelming risks a Sanity check (1/1d4).
  • Lore (Occult): A successful check reveals fragments of the item’s history and associated shadow entity.
  • Bargain: The GM determines a recurring sacrifice needed to maintain the Contract (a growing irrational fear, the character becoming withdrawn, etc.).
• Mechanics:
  • Whisper of Dread grants advantage on Spot Hidden or Listen checks made out of fear or in dimly lit locations.
  • Shroud of Shadows provides a +2 circumstance bonus to a single Hide or Sneak check when fleeing from a threat.
  • The constant whispers and heightened fear make it difficult to focus or maintain composure, imposing penalties on certain mental skill checks as the GM determines.

Blades in the Dark

• Emphasis: Gritty underworld dealings, risky ventures, and the consequences of tapping into supernatural forces.
• Stat Block:
  • Prowl: Used for stealth or noticing subtle threats fueled by fear.
  • Resolve: Resisting the whispers’ influence or succumbing to panic.
  • Vice: The Contract encourages the ‘Paranoid’ Vice, pushing the wearer towards isolating behavior and escalating fears.
• Mechanics:
  • Whisper of Dread grants a +1d to relevant Action Rolls, but with an increased chance for complication or attracting unwanted attention due to the character’s jumpiness.
  • Shroud of Shadows can be used to briefly vanish into the shadows and avoid a direct conflict, but at a cost determined by a Resistance Roll against the Contract’s influence.
  • The Contract might attract the attention of ghost hunters, rival crews, or the spirit bound within, leading to additional Entanglements throughout a Score.

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

• Emphasis: Fantasy heroics with a touch of dark reality and escalating consequences.
• Stat Block:
  • Item Rarity: Common
  • Requires Attunement
  • +2 Wisdom
  • Advantage: Perception checks to detect ambushes, traps, or hostile intent.
  • Action: Shroud of Shadows (1/day) become partially obscured for 1 round (+2 to AC vs. one attack or +2 bonus to a Stealth check).
• Mechanics:
  • The DM determines a recurring Flaw tied to the character’s growing paranoia, impacting roleplaying and potentially imposing disadvantage on non-combat skill checks.
  • Using Shroud of Shadows might require a Wisdom saving throw, with failure leading to the character taking a reckless action driven by fear.

Knave

• Emphasis: Simple mechanics, quirky characters, and the potential for fear-fueled chaos.
• Stat Block:
  • +1 Wisdom (or equivalent Knave ability)
  • Advantage on d20 rolls to detect danger or threats, but with a risk of humorous overreaction.
  • Quirk: The item constantly whispers unsettling things, encouraging roleplaying a fearful demeanor.
• Mechanics:
  • Shroud of Shadows allows hiding even in plain sight on an exceptionally good roll but might cause the character to flee the scene entirely if the roll is poor.
  • The GM can impose additional quirks or compulsions stemming from the Contract’s influence on the character’s fears.

Fate

• Emphasis: Narrative choices, proactive characters, and the consequences of embracing fear as a source of power.
• Mechanics:
  • Aspect: “Bound by the Trembling Heart” – This compels the character to behave fearfully, but can be invoked to find hidden threats or temporarily hide in a fear-driven frenzy.
  • Stunt: “Whispers in the Shadow” – Allows the character to roll their Notice skill at a bonus to detect danger, but the constant whispers might lead to a temporary consequence like “Jumpy and Overreactive.”
  • Consequence: Each use of the Contract might inflict a mild consequence like “Plagued by Nightmares” or escalate an existing “Fearful” consequence, amplifying the character’s anxieties and making other social tasks harder.

Numenera & Cypher System

• Emphasis: Exploration, the bizarre, and the lingering cost of manipulating supernatural forces.
• Mechanics:
  • Artifact: The Contract of the Trembling Heart is a minor Artifact with a Depletion of 1 in 1d8.
  • Cypher Ability: Shroud of Shadows (Level 2) – Temporarily become harder to hit in combat (shifts difficulty one step) due to erratic, fear-driven movements.
  • Cypher Ability: Whisper of Dread (Level 1) – Grants automatic success in detecting a single ambush or hidden danger but leaves the user momentarily Shaken.
  • Side Effect: The whispers become a recurring Intrusion, distracting the character or causing them to overreact in tense situations.

Pathfinder (2nd Edition)

• Emphasis: Tactical choices, character builds, and overcoming supernatural threats.
• Mechanics:
  • Item Rarity: Common
  • Requires Investment: The wearer must choose an alignment associated with fear or shadow for this item to resonate with them.
  • +2 Circumstance Bonus to Perception checks related to hidden threats and ambushes.
  • Cantrip-like ability (possibly tied to Intimidation): Shroud of Shadows – Become briefly concealed in shadows, gaining a bonus to a single Stealth check or imposing a slight penalty to a single enemy’s attack roll.

Savage Worlds

• Emphasis: Fast-paced action, cinematic flair, and the potential for fear-fueled chaos.
• Mechanics:
  • Hindrance: Timid (Minor) – Character is easily spooked, imposing penalties to Fear-related checks but gains a bonus to Notice when danger is near.
  • Hindrance: Nightmares (Major): The constant whispers disrupt sleep and might cause a Fatigue check in tense situations.
  • Power: Shroud of Shadows – Novice power linked to the Smarts skill. It obscures the character briefly, providing a bonus to avoid a single attack or escape. Raising the power increases its potency, but a failure on the Smarts roll might induce a panic attack.

Shadowrun

• Emphasis: Cyberpunk grit, magical threats, and the risky business of making deals in the shadows.
• Mechanics:
  • Quality: The Contract can be represented as a magical Focus, offering its benefits while magically bonded to the runner.
  • Drain: Using Shroud of Shadows requires a Drain Resistance test (possibly using Willpower). Failing the test might cause the runner to act recklessly or experience a crippling panic attack.
  • Resonance Signature: The Contract leaves a faint, psychic echo of fear that could potentially be detected by other magically attuned individuals.

Starfinder

• Emphasis: Spacefaring adventure, alien encounters, and the potential for ancient artifacts to hold unknown power.
• Mechanics:
  • Magic Item: The Contract is a minor magical item granting a bonus to Perception checks and a limited use ability to create a burst of obfuscating shadow.
  • Drawbacks: The whispers manifest as an intrusive sub-routine in the user’s comm unit or cybernetics, potentially causing the character to lash out in fear or anger. The Contract might also have a psionic component, making the user more susceptible to mind-affecting attacks.

Traveller

• Emphasis: Exploration, hard sci-fi elements, and the lingering consequences of risky choices.
• Mechanics:
  • Social Standing: The Contract grants advantage on attempts to notice danger or hidden motives (similar to the Streetwise skill) but might negatively impact the user’s Social Standing in groups that value composure and bravery.
  • Quirks: The constant whispers of the Contract could be represented by a recurring Quirk or Disorder, potentially leading the character to make hasty decisions driven by panic.
  • Psionics Potential: If psionics exist in your setting, Shroud of Shadows could be a minor psionic discipline with the risk of a Fear-induced backlash on failure.

Warhammer (Fantasy or 40,000)

• Emphasis: Dark, gritty worlds where fear and paranoia are a means of survival – perfect for the insidious influence of the Contract.
• Mechanics:
  • Chaos Corruption: In Warhammer Fantasy, using the Contract grants corruption points while also enhancing the character’s ability to detect threats and ambushes fueled by fear.
  • Fear & Insanity: In Warhammer 40k, the Contract is a piece of heretical tech or an artifact of a xenos origin, possibly linked to a Slaanesh entity. Using it risks attracting the attention of Inquisitors or driving the user to paranoia and madness.
  • Forbidden Lore: In either system, the Contract could slowly erode a character’s morality and make them more susceptible to Chaos/heresy. The Whispers of Shadows might contain forbidden truths about the Warp.