Latest revision as of 05:00, 29 June 2008

Scarlet Crane Style

Also known as Southern Crane Style and Searing Blade Style this is the most well known of the three Terrestrial Blade Styles and it is still widely practiced upon the Blessed Isle especially among the more martially inclined members of House Cathak and House Sesus. This Fire Aspected style originated during the First Age and was first developed by the renowned Terrestrial swordsman San Leifang who used it as the basis for the teachings of the Eternal Flame Battle Academy, which once stood in Chiaroscuro.

Scarlet Crane Style emphasizes swift decisive strikes. Short swords and chopping swords are considered form weapons for this style. Practitioners cannot use any armor that has more then a -1 Mobility penalty. Anything heavier interferes too much with the martial artist’s agility to effectively use this style’s charms.

Scarlet Crane Strikes First:

 

Cost: 2m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1; Type: Reflexive (Step 1)

 

Keywords: Combo-ok

 

Duration: Instant

 

Prerequisite Charms: None

 

With blinding speed and a violent shout the Scarlet Crane Stylist strikes startling his opponent and delivering his strike mere seconds before his opponent can react. When a character performs an attack action (but not a flurry) on the same tick in which others also act, activating this Charm allows the Scarlet Crane Stylist to act first before any of the other characters, applying the full results of her attack. Opponents use the lower of their DVs from before or after their action to defend against the martial artist’s attack.

Blazing Warrior Attitude:

 

Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental

 

Keywords: Combo-ok

 

Duration: Instant

 

Prerequisite Charms: Scarlet Crane Strikes First

 

Hesitation leads to defeat, which is why the Scarlet Crane Stylist is always prepared for battle. By invoking this charm the Scarlet Crane Stylist supplements a Join Battle roll. Instead of rolling as normal, the character receives a number of automatic successes equal to his Martial Arts ability. In addition the Scarlet Crane Stylist may also ready any weapons he has as a Reflexive action.

Searing Blade Prana:

 

Cost: 1m per die; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental

 

Keywords: Combo-ok, Obvious

 

Duration: Instant

 

Prerequisite Charms: Blazing Warrior Attitude

 

Focusing essence into her strike, the Scarlet Crane Stylist causes it to blaze with ghostly flame increasing the attack’s base damage by +1 per mote expended on the activation of this Charm up to a maximum of her Essence. In addition to increasing the base damage of the attack activating this Charm also causes the attack to inflict lethal damage.

Scarlet Crane Form:

 

Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; Type: Simple (Speed 4, DV -1)

 

Keywords: Form-type

 

Duration: One scene

 

Prerequisite Charms: Searing Blade Prana

 

Focusing her mind upon the eternal flame that burns within her soul, the Scarlet Crane Stylist then opens the pathways between her essence and her body, infusing her blows with her passion. For the rest of the scene the Scarlet Crane Stylist’s unarmed martial arts attacks gain an Accuracy bonus equal to her permanent Essence. In addition reduce the Speed of her unarmed attacks by 1 to a minimum of 4. Finally the rate of the Scarlet Crane Stylist’s unarmed attacks becomes equal to her Martial Arts ability. At Essence 4 characters using Scarlet Crane Form may reduce the Speed of their unarmed attacks to a minimum of 3.

Blazing Feather Corona:

 

Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental

 

Keywords: Combo-ok, Obvious, Illusion

 

Duration: Instant

 

Prerequisite Charms: Scarlet Crane Form

 

Focusing essence into her strikes the Scarlet Crane Stylist charges it with explosive energy that remains until she releases it in an explosive burst of burning light that surrounds her opponent in a haze of disorienting burning essence. Blazing Feather Corona may supplement either a parry or a martial arts attack. As long as the Scarlet Crane Stylist then makes contact with her opponent or her opponent’s weapon for even an instant then the essence invested in the Charm is released in a violent explosion.

 

If Blazing Feather Corona supplements an attack then, as long as the attack isn’t completely dodged, during Step 9 of Attack Resolution this Charm activates. If Blazing Feather Corona supplements a parry then it activates automatically during Step 9 of Attack Resolution unless the attacker rolls 0 successes on her attack roll. In either case the Scarlet Crane Stylist’s opponent suffers a -2 Internal Penalty to all actions for the next 6 ticks as a haze of motes in the shape of burning feathers surrounds the target hampering his movements and obscuring his vision. Multiple instances of this Charm stack, but the penalties inflicted by this Charm cannot reduce the victim’s Dice Pools to less then her permanent Essence.

Blazing Crane Strike:

 

Cost: 3m or 3m +1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental

 

Keywords: Combo-ok, Obvious

 

Duration: Instant

 

Prerequisite Charms: Scarlet Crane Form

 

Focusing her will, the Scarlet Crane Stylist channels her strength into a single tightly focused strike. Attacks enhanced with this Charm inflict piercing damage and are unblockable unless the opponent wields a weapon of some sort. Even Charms that would otherwise let a character parry a lethal blow while unarmed are ineffective against attacks enhanced with this Charm. Should an opponent have a weapon and successfully parry the Crane Stylist's blow the character may reflexively spend a point of Willpower to break her opponent’s weapon.

 

Any normal weapon can be broken instantly in this way, though non-extras who bear fine, exceptional and perfect weapons may reflexively roll their Essence to resist having their weapon broken in this way. Even a single success prevents the weapon from being broken. Exceptional weapons add a +1 Bonus to the roll and Perfect weapons add a +2 bonus to the roll to resist being broken. Artifact weapons of any quality cannot be broken by using this Charm.

 

If a weapon is broken by this Charm, then the attack may continue as normal losing three successes from the attack roll, to a minimum of one success, but otherwise resolving the attack as if the target had no Parry DV in the first place.

Dance of a Thousand Burning Embers:

 

Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Supplemental

 

Keywords: Combo-ok, Obvious

 

Duration: Instant

 

Prerequisite Charms: Searing Crimson Blade, Blazing Feather Corona

 

The Crane Stylist rains a shower of blows down upon her opponent, flowing from one strike into another with casual ease and making it extremely difficult for her opponent to defend herself. Dance of a Thousand Burning Embers can only supplement a flurry. Increase the Onslaught Penalty inflicted by each successful attack in the flurry by 1. In addition each successful attack gains a Damage bonus equal to the total Onslaught Penalty the target is currently suffering from.

Searing Crimson Blade:

 

Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Reflexive (Step 8)

 

Keywords: Combo-ok, Obvious

 

Duration: Instant

 

Prerequisite Charm: Dance of a Thousand Burning Embers

 

Lunging forward the Scarlet Crane Stylist lashes out with a ferocious strike as normal which seems to be the end of her assault. However by expending 5 motes of essence the character causes the wound she just inflicted to flare up with fiery essence in a burning echo of her previous attack. When activated this Charm allows the martial artist to reroll the post-soak damage of her attack. Apply the results of both rolls to the victim’s Health track as if he had just become the victim of two separate attacks.

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