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Quicksilver Hand of Dreams

The concepts and symbols of the Quicksilver Hand of Dream are as listed in Scroll of the Monk, with one exception: they can be taught by any practitioner to new members who meet their requirements. The Bureau watches the style carefully, but its strange nature guarantees that they cannot be absolutely sure how many people know it.

Limitations

Characters must have a Awareness score of 3 in order to learn the Quicksilver Hand of Dreams, as their natures must be fluid enough in body and mind. In addition, the Quicksilver Hand of Dreams both provides access to and requires a special Trait, which the character must develop in order to advance along it. This Trait is called Arcane, and applies as follows:

Arcane costs Current Rating x2 XP to increase, to a maximum rating based on the Charms the character knows. It shrouds the character's nature, occluding her and making her over into a dreamlike figure. Any attempt to remember details about the character suffer a -1 die penalty per dot of Arcane. People replace memories with their own desires, hopes, and fears, turning the person into almost anything else. This penalty stacks fully with that of Arcane Fate, even within resplendent destinies, and affects everyone equally, be they mortal, Exalt, spirit or fae (only those with perfect defenses against their minds being altered are immune, and then only as long as their defense lasts). Even longstanding friends will find that they cannot closely remember you. Some of those who learn this Style find that Arcane compliments their own Arcane Fate marvelously - others, however, are frightened by its permanency and fear increasing their power.

Quicksilver Hand of Dreams uses no weapons or armor; the character must fight completely unarmed and unarmored until she learns Gossamer Understanding.

New Keyword: Arcane. This Keyword denotes that the Charm requires the character to have a certain rating in Arcane in order to purchase it. The required rating is listed in the keyword.

Charms

Student's Sutra of Dreams: Once there was a maiden who slept.

The Quicksilver Staircase</b>

<b>Cost: None, Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 4, Type: Permanent 
Keywords: Permanent, Enlightenment
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: None
As she slept, she fought and loved and saw the world, and none could awaken her. 

This Charm functions identically to that of the Quicksilver Staircase in Scroll of the Monk, page 139. In addition, the character permanents applies half her Essence as an external penalty to any attempt to affect her dreams against her will. If such effects succeed automatically, she instead adds her Essence in dice to resist them.

The Quicksilver Staircase also grants the character an Arcane score of 1, and allows her to increase it with experience, to a maximum rating of 3.

Dream Ravager Hand</b>

<b>Cost: 4 motes, Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 4, Type: Simple (Speed 5) 
Keywords: Combo-OK, Compulsion, Arcane (1)
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: The Quicksilver Staircase
For in her dreams, she had a lover who truly knew her, though she did not see him. 

The character reaches into her target's thoughts and steals a dream. The character makes an unarmed attack with an added accuracy bonus of her Essence, against the target's Dodge MDV. If the attack succeeds, the character removes the target's dreams from her, causing them to crystallize into a silken ball that she may hold in her hands. Those dreams have a soak of the target's Willpower + Essence, and health levels equal to the target's Wits rating, and can only be seen or affected by a character who can see immaterial spirits, or a character who possesses the Quicksilver Staircase.

As long as the dream-ball remains intact, the target is unable to dream. Sleeping allows her to rest, but provides no Willpower recovery. The target can make a Perception + Integrity roll each night, at a difficulty of the martial artist's Essence. Success allows the target to see the character, and know she holds their dreams, as well as giving them a vague idea of the martial artist's location. Upon waking, they may take whatever action seems appropriate.

The character may keep the dream ball for as long as she keeps her motes committed, up to a maximum number of nights equal to the successes by which she beat her opponent's roll. Dreams kept in this way may also be used as exotic components in certain rituals; this has no detrimental effect on the target, who regains the ability to dream one day after the dream-ball is destroyed or reforged.

Gossamer Understanding</b>

<b>Cost: 10 motes, Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4, Type: Reflexive 
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Shaping, Arcane (2)
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: The Quicksilver Staircase
She searched and searched but did not find him. 

The character gains the ability to craft dreams into physical objects. For the duration of this Charm, she may work dreamstuff as though it were normal materials, using whatever Crafts score would best apply. This follows the usual rolls for crafting, except that dreamstuff allows characters to create exceptional objects at the cost of regular ones, and perfect objects at the cost of exceptional ones. Only the dreams of exceptional people (as determined by the Storyteller, but generally high-potential heroic mortals and Exalts) can be used to craft perfect dreamstuff. Characters may also craft artifacts, with the dreamstuff counting as a First Age exotic ingredient.

Objects forged from gossamer tend to dissolve slowly. They follow the same rules as gossamer objects forged by the Fair Folk. Characters may use gossamer weapons and armor as form weapons and armor for Quicksilver Hand of Dreams Style, as long as the weapons are Martial Arts weapons and the armor has no Mobility or Fatigue penalties higher than 1.

Dreamwalker Kata</b>

<b>Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4, Type: Simple 
Keywords: Obvious, Arcane (2)
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Dream Ravager Hand
She questioned everyone in her dream - no one escaped her queries. 

Reaching to her target's head, the character opens a shimmering portal into her thoughts. The character rolls her Wits + Martial Arts + Essence, at a difficulty of the target's Willpower rating. If she succeeds, she may enter their dreams. Inside, the character may either watch or shape her target's dreams. Shaping them requires one mote per change made, and another successful roll. The target may resist this with a successful stunt, although her base die pool is 0 before Charms, Merits or stunt bonuses apply, and only Charms that specifically function in dreams may be used.

The character's actions may provide a bonus or penalty to rolls to recover Willpower in the morning, depending on her actions, but no other benefits or penalties may be applied. As a general guideline, the character may add a bonus or penalty of up to three dice, with one die per successful change made. At the end of the scene, or if the target is forcibly woken while the character is in her dreams, she rematerializes at the character's side.

Quicksilver Hand of Dreams Form</b>

<b>Cost: 12 motes, Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5, Type: Simple 
Keywords: Obvious, Form-type, Arcane (3)
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Gossamer Understanding, Dreamwalker Kata
As time passed, she forgot him and did not know why she wept. 

The Exalt enters the shifting, strange motions of the Quicksilver Hand of Dreams. For the duration of the scene, she gains the ability to make tiny changes in her relation to reality, giving her actions the quality of dreams. With a one-die stunt, the character may reduce the difficulty of an action by 2, to a minimum of 1, as she modifies what is required to accomplish. With each two-die stunt, she may ignore all external penalties to the action as well. Acting in this way provides no benefit for successful stunts.

In addition, the character gains the fluid mobility of dreams. She adds her Essence rating to all Move, Dash, and Jump actions, and applies it as bonus successes on any attempt to escape from bonds, traps, clinches or restraints.

Finally, purchasing this Charm allows the character to increase her Arcane rating as high as 5.

Elder Sutra of Dreams: The maiden awakened into daylight,

Inescapable Nightmare Pursuit</b>

<b>Cost: 8 motes, 1 Willpower, Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5, Type: Simple 
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Arcane (3)
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Quicksilver Hand of Dreams Form
tears streaming down her cheeks,

The character brings the nature of nightmares into reality, and her power seeps into the world around her. The character chooses a single target, who must be capable of dreaming, and whom the character must be able to see. As long as she moves towards that target, her movement rate for each tick is 1 yard higher than her target's movement was that action. Furthermore, she may move through physical objects, striding calmly through walls, across lakes, and over trees. No force can stop the character's advance. Finally, the character can instincively and automatically sense her target if they become hidden.

If the character does not advance towards the target, she gains no benefits from this charm for that tick. If a character does this while inside a solid object, she is trapped until she resumes her advance.

Ephemeral Presence Technique</b>

<b>Cost: 10 motes, Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5, Type: Reflexive 
Keywords: Combo-OK, Arcane (3)
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Quicksilver Hand of Dreams Form
and as she rose from her bed and blinked the last tears away,

The character continues to slip away from reality, using her power to become a thing made half of substance and half of dreams. As long as this Charm is active, the character adds two automatic successes to Resistance rolls against environmental actions, reduces environmental penalties to her own actions by two, and applies a -2 external penalty to any attempt to affect her in any way. However, the character is made partially of dreams, and takes a -1 external penalty to any attempt to affect objects or beings that are not capable of dreaming.

Fantasy</b>

<b>Cost: 20 motes, 2 Willpower, Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5, Type: Simple 
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Arcane (4)
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Inescapable Nightmare Pursuit, Ephemeral Presence Technique
she saw that her lover stood waiting.

The character creates a powerful illusion. This Charm functions as per the Charm 'Fantasy' in Scroll of the Monk, page 144, except that spending Willpower equal to a story's stunt rating only allows a character to become immune - it does not end the fantasy completely.