Goblin Contracts

Once a changeling purchases a Contract from a goblin, it becomes hers and she can use it whenever she wants. Every time a character successfully invokes a Goblin Contract, the Storyteller notes down one Goblin Debt point for her. No one knows whether the goblin empowers the Contract directly, or simply brokers it on behalf of another entity, or the Wyrd itself — possibly leaving the changeling indebted to a dangerous partner, and making disposing of a goblin to avoid her Debt a risky prospect. Certainly, to the Lost’s knowledge, no such deed has ever resulted in a changeling shedding Debt without unpleasant consequences.

The Storyteller may spend Goblin Debt points at any time to:

• Subtract dice from the player's pool on any roll, at one die per Debt point. The player remains entitled to a chance die no matter how many Debt points the Storyteller spends.

• Spend five Debt points to give the character a Condition or Tilt. This effect should be related to the Goblin Contract, or the character's creditor. For example, a Contract that lets a changeling spy on others, or has the Queen of Eyes as its backer, could cause the Blinded Tilt.

• Spend 10 Debt points to give the character a Persistent Condition. This effect should also be related to the Contract or creditor as above.

• A changeling can never rack up more than 10 Debt points — subsequent points wash right off her. Instead, when she uses a Goblin Contract an eleventh time, she immediately gains the Hedge Denizen Condition. Goblin Debt has no further effect on her, because she has become a goblin herself.

Conditions

Hedge Denizen (Persistent)

Having relied on Goblin Contracts too much, the character becomes a goblin herself. She retains her normal changeling powers, except in these cases:

• Arcadian Contracts are the birthright of all denizens of Faerie, but the Hedge is its own in-between place. The character can still buy and use Arcadian Contracts, but pays for all of them as if they were in nonfavored Regalia and may not circumvent this via Pupil’s Devotion.

• Whenever the sun rises over the Hedge, the character can redistribute her Goblin Contract dots across any Goblin Contracts she wants. For example, if she had one 2-dot Contract and one 3-dot Contract, she can exchange them for any Goblin Contracts totaling 5 dots. Purchasing new dots in Goblin Contracts still costs 1 Experience each.

• Courts are changeling affairs, and the character no longer is one. The character keeps and can use her old Court Contracts, but cannot purchase new ones. She loses all other benefits of her Court Mantle.

Resolution: The character pays off one Goblin Debt. She cannot simply accept a disadvantage from the Storyteller to give away Debt points — she's a goblin now, and must pay her Debt the old fashioned way. Seeking out the goblin she entered into the Contract with, or any third party involved if that goblin is dead or otherwise gone, the Hedge Denizen performs a task for him at his request.  She must also find or lose herself, to either exit or delve deeper into the Hedge. Finding herself means losing 2 dots of Clarity and gaining another, after which she becomes a changeling with 9 points of Debt and resolves this Condition. Losing herself means dropping below Clarity 5 to resolve this Condition and gain the Goblin Queen Condition instead.

Goblin Queen (Persistent)

The character has risen far beyond ordinary goblins, and they scrape and bow before her. This Condition functions as Hedge Denizen, except as follows:

• The character's Court Mantle rejects her. She cannot invoke her current Court Contracts, nor purchase new ones.

• The character has so profoundly changed, even the Huntsman lost her scent.

• She cannot leave the Hedge, but she may carry pieces of the Hedge as a mantle around her, for up to a number of hours equal to her Wyrd, to travel into the mortal realm or Arcadia.

• The Queen gains a goblin retinue equal to her Wyrd, chosen by the player from the “Hobgoblin” section in chapter 5 of this book (see p. XX). She may expand her retinue through her actions, but these initial retainers will always be loyal to her.

Resolution: The Queen finds a human child and leaves him to take her place. The child immediately gains the Goblin Queen Condition, and his retainers serve as protectors until the child is old enough to rule. The child remembers who abandoned him. Once the character resolves this Condition, she becomes a changeling with 9 points of Goblin Debt.