[Chronicles of Darkness] The Investigation System

 Out of Character (OOC):

Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler

Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum


My comments are blue regarding my reviews of the system and my own personal recommendations. I think the new Investigation System is very cool and has a lot of potential and good advice. I find that I already have a similar method for Storytelling Investigation that is abstracted from the hard mechanics of this system. Ideally, the players should only be handed Clues when it will help them keep their stuff straight. They also make excellent props on index cards.

The Investigation System

The Chronicles of Darkness are tales of mystery, and protagonists are driven to uncover them. For a casual, momentary investigation that shouldn’t play a deep role in the story, you can use a single dice roll to represent the effort. However, investigations can become the foundation for extended scenes, for stories, and even for entire chronicles. This system allows for more depth than the standard dice mechanics. At its core, this system is about uncovering and accumulating
Clues, which serve to benefit later actions.

Usually, the investigation is a means to an end. Maybe the players’ characters need to stop a monster menacing the community.  Maybe they’re trying to uncover a mystical cure to a family member’s terminal illness. Even when the desired result is simply uncovering the truth, Clues help the characters establish and qualify the truth, which may mean the difference between being locked away for claiming the fantastical, and having hard data which can save lives and change fates.



Two Essential Rules of Investigation
These two rules are important for maintaining the integrity of investigations in your chronicle:

No Hard Answers
Don’t settle on hard answers up front. As Storyteller, don’t devote too much energy to coming up with all the potential Clues and answers ahead of time. This could put you in a position where you’re railroading the players, and forcing them to go along with your plans. Or worse, they could get frustrated as the puzzle pieces aren’t coming together in a way they expect. Improvisation is your best tool in investigation. Let the players have some say in the Clues they establish, and work with them to bring together the results in a way that makes sense for everyone. This will give them an investment in the story, and will take some responsibility off your shoulders. It will also help to cater the story to their specific interests and biases. When they succeed, ask them, “What do you find?” and let their answers inform the direction of your story. If you have a culprit in mind, that’s fine. However, let the players help guide the path to that culprit if at all possible.


No Binary Rolls
If your chronicle’s integrity or pacing would be negatively impacted by a failure, don’t let that failure act as binary stakes in an investigation. In popular fiction, particularly the kind the Chronicles of Darkness emulate, the protagonists will generally end up figuring out the mystery. This doesn’t intuitively map to the success/failure nature of Storytelling system dice rolls. Play with stakes. Maybe failure at a given stage means the protagonists still find their Clue, but the antagonist realizes he’s being pursued. Maybe finding that Clue takes longer than expected, so the culprit can get away with another stage of his plan. A good investigation story needs to maintain momentum, lest it become frustrating. In this system, Clues offer dice advantages for later rolls. Failure doesn’t inherently mean the Clue isn’t uncovered; it just means it can’t offer a dice benefit later. It may also have a Clue Tag that makes it less helpful or provides false information. It’s up to you to determine just why that is. Is the evidence tainted? Is there a mitigating twist?


Framing the Action
Unlike most actions in the Chronicles of Darkness, this style of extended investigation assumes the characters do a myriad of things across the course of the effort. It should never just be a series of rolls; you always want to give as much context as possible between each step, with each Clue.

This is more than just explaining Clues; you want to space out the events with action scenes, social scenes, and events that further the plot and maintain momentum. This serves two main purposes. First, it mixes up the action and offers variety. Second, it builds a sense of stakes. If the world turns while the investigation proceeds, then real things happen and time is of the essence. Sure, the characters might get closer to the murderer if they push the investigation forward. But what about the cultists threatening to tear into the fabric of reality? A Storytelling game is about choice, and this gives your players choices of what to engage.


Relevant Traits
In an investigation, characters may use a variety of game traits, Attributes, Skills, Merits, and otherwise. This is particularly important to note, because while characters all possess an Investigation Skill, many different character types can benefit an investigation without actually being investigators.


For example, lab technicians might assist in uncovering Clues with Science or Medicine without even a single dot of the Investigation Skill, and those Clues are very valuable when handed off to a principle investigator.


Having a number of specialists with a variety of Skills can make for a potent series of Clues, with numerous elements of which to take advantage.


The Investigation Skill
Investigation is still an integral Skill in investigation efforts. It allows characters to tie Clues together, and to utilize them practically. Characters may only draw from one Clue in a given action by default, or one Clue for each dot of Investigation she possesses.


What is a Clue?
Clues, in the scope of these rules, are a specialized type of equipment. However, the existence of a Clue isn’t always tied to an actual object with which a character can interact. Sometimes, a Clue is an important fact, or even a series of well-connected dots. Clues are different from most equipment in that their advantages are resources which can be expended. These resources, called elements, can be used for anything pertaining to that Clue or the investigation at  large. They may help a principle investigator pursue a culprit; they may help in the court room when seeking conviction. They could even offer valuable insights which could protect potential victims from the perpetrator. Once fully expended, a Clue cannot offer its benefits again. If the characters aren’t looking to solve a centralized puzzle with Clues, they can be stockpiled and used at other times.


For example, players may use these investigation rules in order to dig up blackmail material; each item of blackmail material would count as one specific Clue, and its elements could be used as Leverage in a Social Maneuver.


Clues can go above the normal +5 limit on dice bonuses; they’re limited only by the character’s Investigation Skill. Clues are best represented visually at your table. Index cards are a good place to start, with ticks or glass beads to represent the available elements on each. This way, players can see what their characters have to draw from. They can also be handed from character to character.

Investigation Quick Reference
• Step 1: Decide the Scope of the Investigation
• Step 2: Determine the Potential Clue
• Step 3: Establish Interval
• Step 4: Create the Dice Pool
• Step 5: Uncover the Clue


Step One: Decide the Scope of the Investigation
What are the characters ultimately looking for? What’s their end game? This will often take multiple Clues before it becomes viable. For most stories, one to five Clues should be sufficient, where five Clues indicates a consuming task. If you want the investigation to be the thrust of an extended chronicle, the target number should be at least half the number of planned chapters to allow for deviation in the plot, or up to twice the total number in a highly-focused chronicle.

Once characters reach the required number of Clues, they’re able to Uncover the Truth if that’s their goal. They can do so without any additional rolls if they spend a number of Clue elements (divided however they like) equal to the required Clues for the investigation.

Step Two: Determine the Potential Clue
Once the characters go digging for Clues, you have to determine what they find and what it means. Ask some simple questions of the player. “Where is she searching?” “What does she hope to uncover here?” “How does she think he did it?” Those are just some basic examples. Pay close attention to the context, and ask questions based on that. Consider what matters, what the character already knows, and what she values. Let the player’s answers guide the search for a Clue.

Step Three: Establish Interval
Next, you have to determine how long the search takes. This is governed in part by context, and in part by the needs of your story. Searching for a Clue is technically an instant action, but can take a span of time. If the end result of an investigation is the focus of an extended chronicle, you might want the players to stretch out their efforts.

For example. If the character is casing a room from which a monster fled, it might only take a few minutes. If she’s diving to a sunken ship to find a specific chipped goblet owned by the monster,
that could take an hour or more. Don’t be afraid to add story framing to the search for a Clue. In our previous examples, maybe the monster left behind a dangerous contaminant the characters have to overcome to case the scene. Or for our wrecked ship, perhaps the characters have to traverse shark-infested waters to get where they need to be. If the characters perform particularly well in these efforts, consider offering bonuses to the effort to find the Clue.

You can use out-of-character designations if you want to string an investigation out over an extended period.

For example, you may allow for one Clue per game session. This would support a “season arc” like in popular television shows. Every “episode” the characters can get a little closer to the final reveal. If the characters uncover the truth faster than expected, that gives you more time at the end of the arc to explore the ramifications and implications of the truth. If they’re moving quickly, you can offer side stories and personal exploration stories.

Here is where I defer to previous rules to help establish reasonable intervals:

Quick & Dirty - If someone is just spending anywhere between a Minute and an Instant Action to check out a place I have them roll Wits + relevant skill. Any Clues they uncover will maximum of 1 element and have the Incomplete tag unless they get an exceptional success. With the use of certain spells that reveal information quickly these can be mitigated. Failed rolls get the Tainted Tag. Sometimes a person spends a Reflexive action to get information about their surroundings. These are Perception checks and never yield clues.


Evidence Collection - Tweak (from CoD corebook): If you decide to take longer or have less time on Investigations I will apply a penalty or bonus.  Normal Investigations take 15 Minutes

o   Interval: 5 Mins - -2

o   Interval: 10 Mins -1

o   Interval: 15 Mins +0

o   Interval: 30 Mins +1

o   Interval: 60 Mins +2

Study & Contemplation - Most of this is done in a library, a lab, or in front of a computer. This interval usually starts around an hour and every hour they spend on the same roll they get an additional +1 to the roll (Max of spending 6 hours to get +5 on a single Investigation roll to get one clue). This would be the type of interval I would use for huge mysteries and major story arc. These rolls may include rolling Intelligence or Resolve and usually involve pulling on Social organizational merits, money, Libraries, and Labs. Some of these assets are expended for the Chapter and some remain or diminish from use.


Step Four: Create Dice Pool
By now, you should have an idea of what the character is doing to establish the Clue. This could mean research, forensics work, interviewing witnesses, or any other action pertaining to the investigation. Establish a dice pool pertaining to that action. Allow the player some input here; there’s a good chance she has a dice pool in mind already when determining her character’s action. Look to the suggested modifiers for some examples of what might modify this dice pool.

Step Five: Uncover the Clue
With the roll, the character uncovers the Clue. The dice pool depends on how the characters approach the pursuit. Each time the same Skill is used to uncover Clues in an investigation, the dice pool suffers a cumulative -1 penalty. A diverse, holistic approach always helps in investigations. Continuing with the same approach offers diminishing returns.

Dice Pool: Attribute + Skill (usually) + Skill Specialties
Action: Instant or Extended. 
Dramatic Failure: In addition to imposing a negative Condition at the Storyteller’s discretion, one Clue from the investigation gets the Tainted tag.
Failure: The character finds a Clue, but it gets the Incomplete tag.
Success: The character has uncovered a Clue. It gets a base element, plus any additional elements as needed (see below).
Exceptional Success: Not only does the character uncover a Clue with an extra element, she creates a Condition to benefit the search. Common examples include Informed or Inspired. Don’t be limited to those, though.
Suggested Modifiers: Crime scene over a day old (-1), over a week old (-3), over a year old (-5), tenacious questioning (+1), thorough canvassing (+2), personal grudge (-2), relevant superstitions (+ or – 1 to 3), too emotionally invested (-2), unrestricted access to the scene (+2), someone tampered with evidence (-1 to -5), crime aligns with investigator’s Virtue (+1), crime aligns with investigator’s Vice (-2), lone investigator (-1), rushed for time (-1 to -3)

Clue Elements
Most Clues start with a single element. Clues established with an exceptional success gain an additional element. Clues established by specialists gain an additional element. In this case, specialists are characters who have 4 or more dots in the relevant Skill, or a Specialty directly relating to the Clue. A character may only contribute a given Skill or its Specialties one time in a given investigation for this purpose. Some Merits or other variables can influence the number of elements a Clue receives.

Elements can be spent for +1 to a relevant dice pool, or as part of the effort to solve the investigation. A character can only spend elements from one Clue at a time, or Clues equal to her Investigation dots. She may spend any number of elements from a Clue, however.

Clue Tags
Clues can be tagged, like equipment. These tags influence how the Clue is used. If you’re using index cards or other visual markers for Clues, be sure to note any relevant tags. Here are some examples from the Uncovering Clues mechanics:

CLUE TAG: Incomplete
Incomplete Clues are useful, but not quite as much as others. Their elements may only be used to grant dice to other rolls to uncover Clues. They may not add to other rolls or be used as part of an effort to solve the final investigation.


CLUE TAG: Tainted
Your character has evidence that supports a strong narrative, but that evidence features reasonable doubt or potential holes. If a character has access to a Tainted Clue, ignore the first success on any actions pertaining to the investigation. Your character may have multiple instances of this penalty; additional instances are cumulative.

For example, with three instances of Tainted, you must roll four or more successes to succeed, or eight to succeed exceptionally. Any time an element from this Clue applies, it applies a -2 penalty instead of the normal +1 bonus. The element is removed from the clue as usual. This reflects the need to work out the Tainted Clue fully before it no longer hurts the investigation.

Uncovering the Truth (& Complications)
Once characters have the requisite Clues, they may Uncover the Truth. So long as they have the required number of Clues, this doesn’t require a roll; they have pieced together the puzzle. However, for every Clue short of the required total, the Storyteller adds one significant complication to the investigation. Clue Elements aren't used in this mechanic and no roll is required.

Some example complications are:
• The culprit has plausible deniability.
• The culprit has a viable escape plan.
• The culprit has a hostage.
• The characters risk legal consequences if they pursue the culprit.
• The characters risk professional or personal consequences if they pursue the culprit.
• The crime in question was a smokescreen for a greater conspiracy.

If possible, use input that came from the players during the investigation to determine the results. This doesn’t necessarily mean they get to determine the culprit, but they should be able to influence the finer details. After all, if they made hypotheses and assumptions during the investigation, and their efforts were successful, that should mean most of their theories rang true.

I plan to use the following formula for uncovering clues based on the rules above:
(Attribute + Skill + Merits/Equip - difficulties) + (+ or - the number of less or more time intervals from the base the dice roll is: 15 mins for subject investigations, 1 hr for research investigations) + (+ or - the relevance of the chosen skill to the ideal skill for this clue) = subjective/biased information based on skill and background of the investigation (number of clues depends on how intensive this investigation is, 5 being in-depth; Failures may still yield clues but they are misleading or fragmentary.

[Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition] New Legacy: The Midnight's Key

Out of Character (OOC):

Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler

Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum

New Legacy: The Midnight’s Key

Legacy designed by Hannah Nyland & Jerad Sayler

Nickname: Spooks (among themselves), Bogeymen (among others), Remnants (derogatory)

Description: The Midnight’s Key, as laughable as it seems today, were once a serious thorn in The Guardian of the Veil’s collective sides. The original practitioners of the Legacy were almost universally aligned with extremist anarchism, prominent voices in a small splinter faction of mages working towards the violent uprooting of what they saw as the corruption and tyranny of the Diamond Orders, of which they branded the Guardians the worst of the lot – ruthless secret police who deemed themselves judge, jury, and executioner.

But as they say, it’s the winners who write the history books. The name of said faction has long since been wiped from the public memory – among many, many other things. Some more vengeful Guardians blame the Free Council for their existence, but that’s as unverifiable as nearly everything else about their history. Many things are still said about them in the darkened corners of mage society, but those who do make sure to say them very quietly – the Guardians are always listening, and besides, the Legacy lends itself well to whispers:

They took counsel from their own shadows, and performed their rituals in the dead of night. They indulged in human sacrifice to bolster their magic when the tides started to turn, and many of their most passionate gave themselves up willingly to the knife. They only mastered Fate in order to defy it. They were barbaric. They were heroic. 

All of these things are true, and none of them are. Even modern members of the Midnight’s Key can’t agree on any of the fine details, with most believing wildly different stories from one another. It’s become a cipher for those in the know and of a rebellious mind, a projection that becomes whatever they need it to be.

These days, the Legacy has been domesticated into something more respectable under the watchful eye of the Guardians of the Veil. Practical as always, they collared the Legacy instead of destroying it, purging all but the least offensive of its precepts and putting it to their own use.  

So many of their secrets have been deliberately forgotten, to the point where it’s suspected that a Bogeyman today may even manifest their powers in markedly different ways than the originals did. These are the precepts that are still known unequivocally:

1) Go unseen and let no walls contain you. You hold the keys to every lock within yourself.  

2) Precision is the balm of the soul. Hone it, always. 

3) A blind eye shines brightest in the dark. Let your perceptions flow through your magic; sometimes one sense must be quieted for another to grow.

Organization: The Midnight’s Key are not an organization so much as they are a remnant. Access to tutors in the Legacy is stringently controlled and managed by the Guardians, and recruitment numbers are kept deliberately low, due to the Legacy’s rebellious history. The Legacy is paradoxically both a badge of honor and a red flag on any Guardian who takes it up.

While few, they are effective, acting as the Order’s private bogeymen, seemingly able to bypass any security system – and unseen, at that. Mage urban legends tell of the inexplicable intruder who puts a bullet through your head in your own warded Sanctum before you can so much as notice his gun.

Background: Members of the Legacy (and they are few in number) tend to have few connections with other Keys by design, and very little in common beyond exceptional service to the Guardians of the Veil.

Suggested Oblations: Cracking a lock or security system, Performing a significant task or working on a project while completely cut off from your mundane senses, Hobbies where precision and accuracy are important (sharpshooting, building, mathematics).

Yantras: Keys (+1/2, depending on the number and variety), Broken locks (+1), Lockpicks (+1), Blindfolds or Earplugs (+1), Succeeding on a Stealth check to go unseen or Larceny check to break into a secured area (+2).

Parentage: Mastigos, Acanthus, Guardians of the Veil

Ruling Arcana: Space. Secondary: Fate.

Related Skill Specialties: Stealth – Any. Larceny – specialties related to opening doors, or passing through security.

Requirements: Gnosis 2, Space 2, Stealth 2. Larceny 2, a related skill specialty in Stealth or Larceny. In addition, the initiate must have at least one merit representing precision in a particular area. This could be a mental merit like Eidetic Memory, an applicable social merit (knowing just the right people), or a physical merit such as expertise in marksmanship or precise sword-fighting – so long as there is a justification for how the merit relates to the concept of precision.

Initiation: Initiation involves a difficult solo infiltration mission in which the prospective Midnight’s Key temporarily has every sense cut off. Blinded, deafened, and unable to feel their way around, they must rely purely on their ability to see through their magic. Ultimately, Bogeyman believe that supernal perceptions rule over the mundane ones, and teach their initiates how to use it as a reflex. A well-trained student needs no eyes to see.

*Unless otherwise noted, a Midnight’s Key’s attainments can only be applied to themselves.

Attainments:

First Attainment O “Every Man an Island” – Functions as an inverse version of the Space 1 spell “Isolation”, without the penalty to actions. Space wraps around the Key in extremely subtle but unnerving ways, setting them slightly apart from others. Any attempts others make to interact with the target cost 1 Willpower to initiate. For example, it would cost 1 Willpower to deliberately begin combat against the caster; it would not cost a Willpower every round of that combat, but if the attacker left combat and re-entered it later while the spell was still active, they would have pay the cost again. Narratively, even if others can see the target, they will avoid interaction unless they have a very good reason or exceptional strength of will. This effect allows the Key to do things like walk into a private facility unchallenged, or flee the scene of a murder without being questioned by bystanders.

As with the original spell, the effect is unsettling, and may eventually cause breaking points or mild derangement in Sleepers exposed to a Midnight’s Key using this effect over a long period of time.  If people spend the willpower point their social and mental dice pools are penalized by the user's dots in Space as they struggle through their own attempts to ignore the Spook.

Primary Factor: Duration (Dots in Space)

Practice: Compelling

Withstand: Composure (in those that spend the Willpower points)

Requirements: Initiation.

Optional Component “Nothing to See”: Fate 1. Functions as a Fate version of the Mind 1 spell “Mask of Normality”, and an add-on to the Attainment Every Man an Island. Fate itself conspires against others seeing particular items or pieces of clothing on the Bogeyman’s person. Uncanny coincidences and distractions spring up when someone would ordinarily take notice; a man is distracted by his phone ringing just as he’s about to see the Midnight Key’s sniper rifle, or a clerk goes on her lunch break just as he walks by her till wearing an odd looking magical mask.

The caster can disguise a total amount of size equal to their dots in Fate; so a Fate master could hide a Size 1 knife and a size 4 suit of armor on his person with this attainment at one time, for example. The Potency is equal to the caster’s Fate dots, withstood by an onlooker’s Wits.

Primary Factor: Potency (Dots in Fate, duration lasts as long as the primary Attainment)
Practice: Compelling
Withstand: Wits (in onlookers)

Second Attainment OO “A Key for Any Lock” – Space 2. Functions similarly to the Space 2 spell “Break Boundary”, allowing the Key to bypass one piece of deliberate mundane or architectural security for purposes of infiltration. This means that unlike Break Boundary, it allows the Mage to pass through some solid surfaces, such as walls or fences, but it cannot be used, for example, to bypass a raging forest fire or naturally occurring chasm – something that Break Boundary normally allows. 

Primary Factor: Potency
Practice: Ruling

Requirements: Space 2, Gnosis 2/3, a second approved skill specialty in Stealth or Larceny.

Optional Component “Blind Man’s Eyes”: Unless deliberately suppressed, while the Bogeyman prepares to use "A Key for Any Lock" he gains the benefit similiar to the Space 1 spell "The Outward and Inward eye." This does not count towards Spell Control but he only sense the area immediately on the other side of the obstacle he is about to bypass.  The sensory range past the barrier is equal to what their normal perceptions would allow if they were already on the other side of the obstacle but would allow him to pinpoint anything moving in a room on the other side of the obstacle. These sensory inputs are usually more on the side of tactile instead of visual... The Attainment’s Potency is equal to the Bogeyman’s dots in Space.

Primary Factor: Potency
Practice: Unveiling

Third Attainment OOO “Wraith Walk” – Space 3. The caster further perfects the technique from "Every Man an Island," using Space to isolate themselves (but not their perceptions) spatially, becoming effectively invisible to the eye and soundless. Functions as the Forces 2 spell “Invisibility” coupled with Forces 2 “Control Sound” to render their movements silent.

Drawbacks: Normal drawbacks to Invisibility apply; certain other spells or sights can still pinpoint the caster’s location if other precautions aren’t taken – heat vision, for example. In addition, the Bogeyman is incapable of producing sound even if they want to. Speaking out loud or shouting for help is impossible while under the effects of this Attainment; others simply cannot hear it, no matter how sharp their perceptions are.

Invisibility: “This spell can render its subject completely invisible, masking it from all forms of light. Even cameras cannot detect the object, no matter what type of filter or lenses they use. This spell does not mask the sounds an object makes, although when combined with “Control Sound” (see above), the target can be made invisible and soundless.”

Primary Factor: Duration
Practice: Veiling

Drawbacks: Normal drawbacks to Invisibility apply; certain other spells or sights can still pinpoint the caster’s location if other precautions aren’t taken – heat vision, for example. In addition, the Bogeyman is incapable of producing sound even if they want to. Speaking out loud or shouting for help is impossible while under the effects of this Attainment; others simply cannot hear it, no matter how sharp their perceptions are. 

Requirements: Space 3, Gnosis 4/5, Stealth 3, Larceny 3.

Fourth Attainment OOOO “Perfect Precision” – Functions identically in mechanics to Fate 4 “Strings of Fate”, but instead of specifying something that they want to come to pass, the Bogeyman specifies a person or place they want to reach as their target. Their knowledge of Space is so finely tuned that they unconsciously hone and perfect it to create new pathways to their target where none previously existed.

Strings of Fate: “The mage specifies an event that she wishes to happen to the subject. If the event would be possible without magic or any effort on the subject’s part, it occurs as soon as circumstances allow as long as the spell’s Duration is in effect. If the event requires the subject’s participation or cannot take place without a change in circumstances, the spell introduces opportunities to work towards the event, at least once per week while the spell remains on the subject. If the event is simply impossible, the spell has no effect. For example, if a mage casts the spell on herself and specifies that she will meet with her mentor while they are both in the same city, they will “randomly” cross paths at first opportunity. If she casts it on a Sleepwalker ally and specifies that he will recover a stolen artifact (when, unknown to her, it has been moved) he will find travel tickets for the artifact’s new location, clues pointing there, or reasons to travel there. If she cast it on a student and specifies that he will become a doctor, circumstances will hint at a transfer to pre-med. (with Reach 1, new opportunities appear every day)”

Primary Factor: Duration
Practice: Patterning
Withstand: Resolve

Requirements: Space 4, Gnosis 6/7, a third approved skill specialty in Stealth or Larceny.   

                                                                                                 

Optional Component “No Place is Safe” - Fate 4. If the area or person the Bogeyman is trying to reach while affected by this Attainment is behind a Ward, Ban, or similar spatial protection that would normally prevent him from entering, he may attempt to impose a Fate exclusion effect targeting himself on the existing spell as an instant action by spending a point of Willpower. This is a Clash of Wills (typically a Gnosis + Fate vs. Gnosis + Space)  against the original caster. If successful, he passes through into the Warded or Banned space as though the protection wasn’t there. This could, for example, allow the Key to walk straight into a Warded Sanctum, but it would not allow him to cast Space magic inside it if there were a Space Ban over the area.

Drawbacks: On a failure on the Clash of Wills roll, the original caster of the Ward or Ban becomes aware that someone is trying to tamper with their spell. The Midnight’s Key is ejected back outside the defenses. No Place is Safe does not help bypass non-Space related defenses.  Even if the spell was relinquished by the original caster the Signature Nimbus of the Spook remains on the spell as a sign of tampering.

Primary Factor: Duration (dots in Fate). Once the duration expires the Spook is at risk of being trapped within the effects of a Banned area.
Practice: Shielding

Fifth Attainment “The Silent Path” – Space 5. Functions as a fusion of Space 5 “Forge No Chains” and a powerful variant on Space 4 “Cut Threads”. For the duration of the attainment (one scene), the Bogeyman’s existing sympathetic ties become practically imperceptible; those who aren’t deliberately looking for the sympathetic connections of that specific mage don’t notice them, and those who are must beat the Bogeyman in a Clash of Wills roll (Gnosis + Wits vs his Gnosis + Space) to pick them up.

Primary Factor: Potency (dots in Space)

Practice: Unmaking

The Midnight’s Key also gains all the benefits of the "Forge No Chains" spell with Potency equal to their dots in Space: he cannot forge sympathetic connections, and even blood, hair, and the like shed during the spell’s Duration do not link back to her. Her Space spells leave no tell-tale ripples in the Tapestry. Any attempts to scrutinize her Space magic or previously-created sympathetic connections with Mage Sight add the spell’s Potency (dots in Space) to Opacity.