Shaft of Belated Quiescence

This particularly vicious ritual is cast on a stake that is meant for the heart of a vampire. During a five-hour ritual, the caster must carve an ornate series of symbols onto a Sharpened shaft of rowan wood, coat the stake with her blood, and blacken it in an oak-wood fire. The darkened shard then becomes one of the most feared Kindred-slaying weapons known. A simple hit with the stake, even in the leg or arm, causes the tip to break off inside the victim and begin burrowing into the victim's body. The point then slowly works its way to the heart. The victim of this attack may not even know what is occurring until it is too late. The point will reach the heart in about one to 10 days (roll a die). During the time of the stake's journey, the sufferer will occasionally feel sharp pains. These pains grow closer together and more unbearable as the tip nears its unmissable target. Damage caused by the thing's journey isn't enough to remove health levels from a vampire, but will harm a mortal or ghoul. One of the only ways to be rid of the thing is to dig for it - a very grisly process that won't necessarily work. The vile thing may actually try to elude the operator, automatically burrowing away from the open wound. The 'surgeon' does more and more damage as he digs deeper after it. Needless to say, this weapon is a death sentence for a mortal, and may well destroy a Kindred, because who knows where the vampire might be when she is immobilized...