This Ritual allows the caster to magically animate a ritually-prepared stake to attack a target on its own.

Ingredients: A mundane stake from a tree planted in a cemetery, wax, and twine steeped in nightshade

Process: The stake must be encased in a sheath made from the twine. The stake is dipped in the user’s Blood, then placed into the sheath which must be  sealed with wax. 

System:  When the caster next draws the stake from the sheath, the stake animates, growing eight spider-like wooden appengages. The splinter servant moves on its own and has the following statistics:

• Three health levels
• Attack and Dodge Pools and Initiative score equal to the user’s dots in the Occult Skill
• Immune to Mental and Social powers
• Can move three steps per action 

The Splinter Servant attacks the closest vampire, other than its creator, unless the caster spends a simple action concentrating to direct it toward another target. Its attacks do one level of Normal Damage (two levels on a critical win). The Splinter Servant may use a Staking combat maneuver instead of an attack.

Duration: Until destroyed or rendered inert (simple action) by its caster