Obambo

Nothing escapes the light fingers and clever wit of the obambo. If they find an object of interest, even if it is without value, they store it away in jars or pots for the day when it might come of use. Born from ghost stories and dreams of taking relics from forbidden places, obambo love delving into places which no one else dares explore.

The obambo have an uncanny talent with mystical objects and are natural collectors, but unlike their distant cousins the sluagh, obambo vastly prefer fieldwork to haunting the stacks. They’re well at home wading through deep swamps or crawling into narrow caves to find a specific artifact or inscription, and while they share a love of the occult with their whispering kin, the obambo greatly prefer practicing it than cataloging it. A sluagh who acquires a forbidden tome might peruse it before carefully placing it on a locked shelf; an obambo would be far more likely to crack it open, light some candles, and try it out to see what actually works. The fact that the sluagh population is higher than the obambo population is no doubt simply a coincidence.

Meetings of this kith often include complicated, detailed, sometimes day-long rituals. True to form, some of these practices will be genuine while others are entirely manufactured to obfuscate the truth from any prying eyes. Once the formalities are out of the way, a vigorous exchange of ideas begins, often accompanied by (dangerous) practical demonstrations and even some bartering for choice items and secrets. Being invited to share in such a gathering is a profound honor, and if that trust is abused, will seldom be offered again in this lifetime or the next.

Although the obambo are friendly enough on the surface, those that spend time with them know they are actually one of the most secretive kiths of the Land of Ancient Dreams, capable of appearing friendly and talking a great deal without actually sharing much personal or sensitive information. They place their trust very slowly, and so the number of people who actually know them well is quite limited and cherished. Professionally they gravitate any work that lets them move around and preferably runs a lot of interesting items through their hands, though whether that means they become freelance museum appraisers, pawn shop owners, auction house acquisitions experts, or antiquities smugglers depends on the obambo in question.

Obambo
[No Symbol Available]
Name	Obambo
Plural	Obambo
Pronounced	oh-BOM-boh
Dream of...	Treasure Hunters
Affinity	Prop
Birthrights	Clever Hands, One False Move
Frailties	Vengeful Heart

Kith Notes

Appearance

Because they tend to get their hands dirty but don’t particularly seek out glory, obambo often dress in plain, utilitarian clothing that’s rugged and better still has lots of pockets. Obambo like to layer their outfits, and will often wear more than two jackets, a couple of shirts or even dresses, giving them a very unique look. What they lack in clothing style they often make up for with their accessories. Obambo deck themselves with all manner of trinkets, rings, amulets, necklaces, and other adornments, often homemade and blessed to ward off evil or offer special protection. Determining which ones are genuine and which ones are clever replicas is a good way to impress an obambo, too.

Revelry

Obambo find Revelry interacting with their collections, and often see their artifacts and trinkets as family members imbued with souls or energies as much as they themselves possess. They have a sometimes disconcerting habit of speaking to them and ascribing them personalities and traits. They also gain Glamour from discussing or presenting their collection to others, and become notably more animated in the company of other collectors and especially other obambo, often attempting to out-do each other with displays of knowledge or prized relics. An obambo’s Unleashing fills the air with the stale air and musty scent of forgotten tombs and causes a feeling of dread to run down the spine, as if some great trap is about to snap shut.

Kith Mechanics

Affinity

Prop

Birthrights

Clever Hands

An obambo instinctively knows if she enters a supernatural location; she can also tell if an item is magical if she touches it, though not necessarily what kind of magic it has or how to activate it. She subtracts -2 from the difficulty of any rolls to identify magical items by sight or to learn information about one in her possession, and does not need to research an item to make such rolls – simply touching it potentially offers the same information for her as another kith might get spending hours digging through a library. This insight does not apply to places or people, only objects. Obambo also cannot botch Kenning or Occult rolls.

One False Move

Should an obambo trigger a trap, set off an alarm, or activate a cursed item, she may immediately spend 1 Glamour to take back her action, instead witnessing a brief flash of what would have happened if she acted. The danger is still there, and the obambo does not necessarily know where it comes from or how to disable it, only that one specific action definitely triggers it. She also only knows the immediate consequences – she might know that opening a window sets off an alarm, for example, but not who is on the other end of the alert. This talent cannot be used to take back the actions of others, which is one reason obambo tend to lead from the front when investigating dangerous areas.

Frailty

Vengeful Heart

An obambo must succeed on a Willpower roll (difficulty 8) not to take immediate, vicious action against someone who hurts a person she cares about, or to resist an opportunity to retaliate against someone who betrayed her trust. This action need not be physical violence, though it certainly can be, but it is definitely cruel and designed to inflict maximum pain, damage, and/or humiliation.

References

• Changeling: The Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition Player's Guide, pp. 89-90