UPDATE: Vathia Haze / Clarity

[Mooncalf]

Two new rituals have been added and their tomes are for sale in the magic shop.

Some advanced ritualist who has ties with magic shop owners has discovered a way to manipulate the vathia in a particular physical area. They have discovered rituals which both hinder, and enhance the power of the vathia.

Vathia haze can be cast on any area (building floor name, for example), and it will prevent all seeker powers from being used on anyone in that area. Vathia clarity, on the other hand, will list all the names of the player characters in the area in question (human or vampire).

The catch is that these rituals block one another, depending on the quality of the ritual performed. For example, if I completed a vathia haze ritual on the target area of the deserted bar, and I had 10 "actions" remaining in my ritual, then the vathia haze could be broken and replaced if somebody decided to perform a vathia clarity ritual on the same area, and beat my score of 10 actions remaining. In addition, the spells weaken each hour, so while I might not have been able to break down a vathia clarity ritual cast on my private abode on my first try, if I waited a couple of hours, the "score" would be a little easier to beat. The hazes and clarity spells will vanish entirely once the "power" (score) reaches 0, which can take anything between 1 hour and 48 hours, depending on how good the spell was in the first place.

Seekers using powers on people located in areas protected by a vathia haze will receive a message informing them that they are unable to track anyone in this area, as it is protected.

This system will also be used quite heavily in the forthcoming chapter, where ritualists will battle to either block or enhance Crow's vision of each particular district, thereby influencing the chapter outcome. More on that later.