25 Lotus Petals

victim’s nerves with frenetic lightning
Essence, making him thrash wildly. She
performs a normal unarmed Martial Arts
attack. The damage of this attack cannot be
soaked by any means. Instead of inflicting
Health Levels of damage, for each damage
success rolled, the target suffers one turn
of palsied twitching. Each affected turn, the
victim must succeed at a reflexive Stamina +
Resistance roll, reflexively opposed by the
Exalt’s Essence + Lore, or lose his action for
the turn and count as two people for effects
that count people present (such as this
Style’s Form Charm). If an affected character
botches this roll, he loses consciousness
for the remainder of the scene, and in the
first turn of his unconscious thrashing, he
deals his own Strength in dice of damage to
himself. Multiple applications of this effect
increase its duration, but have no other
benefit.
FRAGRANT SAP AWAKENING
Cost:
10 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One scene
Type:
Reflexive
Min. MA: 5
Min. Essence: 5
Prereqs: Roiling Vernal Tempest
Form
Of the fourth oppressor’s sorrow she
forged a sword, and quenched it in his
youth.
The Exalt charges her hands with the
green-gold light of sunlight through young
leaves, and fills them with the resilience
and strength of saplings. She may deal lethal
damage with unarmed attacks, and parry
lethal attacks without a stunt. She adds
her Lore to the base damage of unarmed
attacks (and attacks made with the Style’s
weapons). Finally, when someone is
wounded with an attack enhanced by this
Charm, his wound penalties are doubled
for the martial artist’s Essence in turns, due
to the sticky Essence residue the attacks
leave. Multiple applications of this effect
do not accumulate in severity, but do add
additional duration.
BLOOM UNTOUCHED BY STORM
Cost:
7 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type:
Simple
Min. MA: 5
Min. Essence: 5
Prereqs: Fragrant Sap Awakening
She smiled as she worked; her heart was
steeled to their cries.
The willow knows what the storm does
not. With this, the Exalt learns not only to
escape harm, but also to resist it. She may
reflexively block any attack, even those she
is not aware of, with an unarmed Martial
Arts parry. With each successive block
attempt, she yields more adeptly; each
attempt adds a die for each one before it.
This bonus is lost if the character performs
a non-reflexive dice action. If this Charm
would add more dice than the character’s
Dexterity + Martial Arts, convert two dice
into automatic successes for each die in
excess instead.
DAZZLING SPEAR-OF-HEAVEN
STRIKE
Cost:
12 motes
Duration: Instant
Type:
Supplemental
Min. MA: 5
Min. Essence: 5
Prereqs: Fragrant Sap Awakening
The fifth, she made into a spear, bright
with its own soul.
The Exalt can perform an unarmed Martial
Arts attack at twice her offensive dice pool
against any target she can see. She performs
a slow, stylized gesture, and tosses a bolt
of hazy whiteness toward her target. Using
this technique automatically causes the
Exalt’s anima to flare to the iconic level,
and has the same effect on the victim,
if applicable. The attack is composed of
pure Essence lightning, and it can only
be soaked by Stamina and magical effects
that add to natural soak, or effects that
specifically soak attacks without a physical
component. Furthermore, everyone within
three yards of the target suffer (target’s
Essence) dice of damage, which bypasses
soak in the same manner. The Exalt herself
is no exception to this.
UNANTICIPATED CLOUDBURST
ADVANCE
Cost:
9 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type:
Supplemental
Min. MA: 5
Min. Essence: 6
Prereqs: Crackling Disaster
Kata, Dazzling Spear-of-
Heaven Strike
The sixth oppressor offered a secret
instead of himself; the maiden took them
both.
Over the endless forests of the East, rain
can come and go in the time it takes to blink
one’s eyes; it drowns men between their
breaths. With this Charm, the Exalt learns
the secret to this power, and can move with
the swiftness of terrified lightning. Using it,
the character can perform a Martial Arts
attack against all the possible targets, or
some of them, within a circle (permanent
Essence x 5) yards wide. The centre of this
area can be any place the Exalt can see and
has an unobstructed path (not neccessarily
straight) to; she traverses the distance and
returns to her starting point before her
motion can be detected. Her attack is so
swift that it is perfectly defended from
detection, and has no physical component;
it cannot be parried except by Charms that
specifically block immaterial effects.
These powers were intended to be more
independent, but also yet better to combine
and recombine. The heavy reliance here on
area effects is deliberate; this is a war style,
not a duelling style.
THE ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE
TWIN BRIAR TEMPEST
Cost:
20 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One Scene
Type:
Simple
Min. MA: 6
Min. Essence: 6
Prereqs: Bounty of Exquisite
Rain, Unanticipated
Cloudburst Advance,
Bloom Untouched by
Storm
So nourished, so armed, she departed and
departed, and the hearts of all followed
her in grief.
The Exalt’s power thrashes out from her
like a bramble of light; it is moves so swiftly
that its memory strikes just as hard as its
truth. While this Charm is in effect, all the
Exalt’s actions take place twice; attacks are
only rolled for once (resolve consequent
effects such as damage rolls, defences, and
counters separately) and their cost is not
incurred twice; the successes for defensive
82