[HoE] RELICS

[Hector Ugarte <hugarte@netdex.com>]

Well for all you HOE starved relic mongers here's one that should whet
your appitite.

Magic Bullets.
Stories have ciculated around the Wasted West of "magic" bullets.
Apparently not all bullets are just bullets. Wasters have found the
handfull of .22 bullets they found that morning have some how changed to
their 9mm or vice-versa. How this change happens no one is exactly sure.
One thing that goes along with the tale is that the change isn't
instantanious. One hour your short rounds, wishing you had a couple
more, the next time you dig through your ammo pouch there's just a few
more rounds you never knew you had. Another rumored bonus is that the
bullets seem to hit live targets better. But knowing the tall tales that
have sprung up recently no one really takes that last rumor seriously.

System:
The magical bullets really do change shape. If you keep these special
bullets next to another bullets of a differnt calibur, they will change
size to conform to the bullets they lay next too. This process is very
slow and not that noticable. It takes approximatly 1d4 hours for the
bullets to change shape. the bullets also have a built in bonus of +1 to
the shootin' roll.


Spoiler space

















O.K. Here's the REAL deal. The bullets are actually living things not
some supernatural blessing. The bullets change their shape by collecting
the surrounding material and adding it to their mass. To mimic the
bullet microscopic filaments extend from the "magic bullet" to the
normal bullet. This gives the critter the size and calibur it should
change into. As mentioned before this is a long process, hence the 1d4
hours it takes to change shape. The +1 to hit is only applied to living
targets, as the little critters home in on the body heat of living
things. 
Now damage. Damage is applied as normal, but if an ace is rolled make
the victem roll a hard(9) vigor check, if the victem is a player roll
secretly Marshal, if the check is made apply damage as normal, If the
check fails roll normally for wind but do not apply damage as the bullet
has become lodged in the wound. The lodged bullet burns. This sensation
can be felt in the flesh of the victem. The most intense burnig can be
felt in the tissue immediately surround the lodged bullet. This wound
can only be healed by magical means. As the weeks pass the burning
sensation fades, but for every week that passes have the victem roll a
hard(9) vigor check. If every the victem fails this check they become
deathly ill. The tissue around the around the bullet starts rapidly
becoming tumorous. These tumors buldge and finally break the suface of
the skin.
The victem now has the Ailin': Fatal hinderance as the become afficted
with cancer.

It gets even better guys! For now though I wish to share with you people
on the list this little bit of evil. Any questions or comments are
welcome. Along with any suggestions on how to improve or balance these
"relics" better.
-ruben