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Hearthstone Relay

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The forty-fifth theme is Awkward Pauses

Thanks, pigeon!

Worded Grit Gem (LeumasWhite)

Earth Manse •

Trigger: Miscellaneous action (touching the stone)

This plain brown sphere is uncomfortable to hold, though whether because it's somewhat abrasive, a little too warm, or slightly too large for the hand depends on the carrier. When tapped lightly, it imbues the most recent voiced sentence with a similarly uncomfortable subtext, turning even the most harmless of statements into a dreadful faux pas. Mechanically, this subtracts 3 successes from the social roll based on said statement. If used more than once in a scene, this is lessened by one success each time.

Gem of Nebulous Reflection - DeathBySurfeit

Air Manse ••

Trigger: Concentration

This captivatingly beautiful sapphire refracts light in such a way as to seem almost mirrorlike from certain angles. Its bearer may concentrate on the stone once per scene, causing it to catch the attention of someone. Suddenly overcome by a strange nagging feeling, somewhere between dim recall and impalpable realisation, their next action is spent guarding, as they pause for thought. After three ticks pass, the sense fades and they are free to act as they wish once more.

Gem of Humiliation's Clever Edge - Ambisinister

Lunar Manse •••

Trigger: miscellaneous speed 6/-0 action, 1 wp

At first glance, this stone appears to be a poorly cut, semi-precious stone of negligible quality. A closer inspection by a skilled observer, a difficulty 4 Perception + (Craft air or earth) roll, will reveal an intense inner luster and deceptive precision. The stone's benefits are received by spending a willpower point and intentionally botching a roll, complete with all of the detrimental effects associated with a botch, in a flurry containg at least the botched action and the miscellaneous action to activate the stone. As the stone's wielder fails in an utterly embarassing manner, onlookers can't help but stop and observe. Some are overcome with pity, some laugh at his misfortune, others are just astounded by his sheer incompetency. With the exception of the stone's bearer, everyone within 30 yards that can percieve the character has their next action pushed back by 10 ticks. In addition getting a decisive maneuver or escape, the stone's bearer can take advantage of his stunned opponents and recieves a two die bonus to any actions involving them. In a similar vein, all of the observers recieve a -2 external penalty to any actions pertaining to the stone's bearer. As each observer's DV refreshes, the penalty is removed and the stone's bearer no longer recieves a bonus against him. This stone may only be activated once in any given scene, if activated again too soon, no one will fall for it.

Shatterpoise Rock (Paincake)

Fire Manse ••••

Trigger: Failing virtue roll.

The stone is deep burgundy and rough like sandpaper, nearly perfectly round. To protect the bearer of the stone in times of duress is the calling of this Hearthstone; it triggers when they fail themselves in public. It pulses a bright red that fills the area around it with blinding light for an instant; when the wearer fails his virtue roll the stone sends out the light and everyone in sight becomes squirmingly aware and party to his outrage/temptation/callousness/flip-floppery; at the same time they absorb its worst scarring and lose their action in their own shame. Every two witnesses subtract a die from his Limit roll.

Caught Breath Opal ArabianNinja

Sidereal Manse •••••

Trigger: Holding Breath

A mliky stone flecked with shiny fragments is glossy and wet appearing, but surprisingly rough to the touch, it is slightly oval shaped, no bigger than the joint of a mans thumb. The Caught Breath Opal's power is both profound and unique, in that it may cause Time itself to stop. For as long as the stones bearer hold their breath, they may still the flow of time for a number of seconds equal to his [Stamina + Endurance] x 3, afterwhich the stone forces him to exhale and he must wait at least [Stamina + Endurance] seconds afterwards before using this power again.

Essence Eclipsing Gem (Ikselam)

Solar Manse 5

Trigger: Concentration, reflexive.

This perfectly spherical hearthstone shines with the golden light of the sun. When attuned, it has the power to slow the flows of Essence around it, potentially crippling beings who rely heavily on Charms and other magic. When activated, the stone darkens to jet black, limned by a bright corona which appears the same no matter which angle it is viewed from. During this time, the speed of all Charm use is increased by 1 tick. For example, activating a Reflexive Charm would become a speed 1 action; use of a Supplemental Charm to enhance an action would increase the action's speed rating by 1. Consequently, it prevents instant-duration Charms from being activated more than once per tick.

The stone only affects Charms used by the character's adversaries, but he cannot pick and choose which ones it delays. Once it has delayed 5 Charms, it goes dark and cannot be reactivated until the next sunrise.

Comments

Hey, guys, let's not be stupid about the way this page is laid out. The archive links go at the bottom so that people who are visiting the page to see the current relay don't have to scroll past a bunch of crap that's not interesting to them. - willows

Lame stone, maybe it'll restart the relay. Feel free to clean up the prose a bit, someone. - LeumasWhite

It looks just fine to me. As a thought, though, how should an ST describe the use of the stone from a character's standpoint? ...DeathBySurfeit, adding another for good measure. Support your local relay!

Everyone goes dreadfully silent as they realize what could have been meant, even if they can't actually articulate it. Elaborate on that, I guess. - LeumasWhite

Too powerful?-Ambisinister

Ten free ticks to act with +2 dice against all of my opponents with -2DV, and no chance to resist? It's a brilliant concept for a stone, but I'm sorely tempted to call it too powerful, especially as the activation can be tacked on fairly easily to the end of any other flurry (because who cares about your DV when nobody can attack you). Personally, I'd add a resistance mechanic, make it only affect mortals, drop the delay to 5 ticks or any combination of the above...DeathBySurfeit

4 ticks at most, the action is a -6, but even that is death in Ex2 combat, especially in combination with the dice penalties and bonuses. You effectively have +6 dice against them, and there's nothing saying you can't just activate the stone again. Does the botch function as normal? Because that could balance the stone a bit. - LeumasWhite

Oh, it's a normal botch, complete with whatever horrible effect your ST inficts upon you as a result of botching. The stone is fairly self regulating, as the more you abuse it, the more your ST gets to abuse you. I did add in the caveat that it can only be used once a scene, because that makes total sense.-A.

Then I'd make it more explicit that the botch is a normal one, since it's implied that all it is is "utterly embarassing", which doesn't matter so much when you're stabbing people. - LeumasWhite

Neat little Stone there Ikselam, Would you like to pick the next relay theme? I havent got any ideas at the moment - ArabianNinja, who will post one eventually if you don't want to.

I had a much better one which involved botches, but it ended up not fitting the theme at all. Maybe I will trot it back out sometime, if circumstance allows. _Ikselam