Veshenzi, The Jade Tempest
Artifact *** Direlance
Tags: Lethal, Melee, Chopping, Reaching, Two-Handed when on foot.
Not actually a Direlance, given the different tags, but it's what I started from and couldn't think of a properly 'exalted-y' name for the artifact version of a glaive. Direglaive? Grimglaive? I guess aping the pattern when you can't think of something better is what naming conventions are for in the first place...
Anyway, this is a glaive consisting of a blue jade head in a shape suggestive of a wing, and an Orichalcum shaft. My player wanted something wind-based, and when we were brainstorming ideas, he mentioned tornadoes, which led me backwards into the secondary theme of the weapon: excessive and overwhelming force.
Small confession time: half the reason I made this artifact's name a proper noun is that I was having trouble not repeating myself for the last evocation name.
Evocations of Veshenzi, the Jade Tempest:
Attunement bonus: A Solar or Dragon-blooded who attunes to Veshenzi may gain one point of Gale the first time time they make a Chopping attack with it that inflicts at least one point of withering or decisive damage each turn, to a maximum of 5 Gale. Other Exalts who attune to Jade Tempest must pay 1m or 1i to gain Gale in this fashion. Gale fades completely at the end of the scene, and the wielder also loses a point of Gale each time he begins his turn in initiative crash.
Buffeting-Wind Blast
Cost: 2m (+1m/die); Mins: Essence 1; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Withering-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: none
Even on a successful defense, those on the receiving end of Veshenzi's wrathful winds find themselves off balance and reeling. The Exalt may add a number of dice up to his current Gale to the raw damage of a withering attack. If this attack should miss, the Exalt may spend one point of Gale to roll dice equal to the damage added by this charm. Each success causes the target to lose one point of initiative, but this initiative is not gained by the Exalt.
Guardian-Zephyr Deflection
Cost: 1m per point of Parry or 3m per band of cover; Mins: Essence 1; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Buffeting-Wind Blast
The winds that stir around Veshenzi's wielder while he fights makes nigh impossible the already daunting task of striking him from afar. When parrying an attack from outside Close range, the Exalt may enhance his Parry at a rate of 1m per point, up to a limit of his current Gale, and subject to the usual dice cap. The Exalt may gain a point of Gale the first time each turn he uses this charm to successfully block an attack from a given source.
Alternatively, the Exalt may spend up to three points of Gale to create a wall of wind that serves as cover against ranged attacks originating from the far side. The wall covers one range band for every three motes spent on this power, to a cap of 9m which raises a wall large enough to cover out to medium range. Each point of Gale spent on this Charm increases the level of cover provided: one point provides light cover, two points gives heavy, and three is considered to give full cover. The cover provided by this wall does not block line of sight, nor does it block movement or attacks at Close range to a target. This wall lasts until the end of the next round.
Shredding Cyclone Slash
Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Guardian-Zephyr Deflection
Striking outwards with hundreds of razor-thin gusts of wind, the Exalt rolls a single decisive attack against all opponents within close range using his current Gale as the base damage for the attack. Before making his attack roll, the Exalt may also allocate a portion of his current initiative to each target to increase the base damage of this attack against that target, but may add no more than five to the base damage against any given target in this way. If the Exalt fails to hit any opponents with this attack, he loses initiative for missing a decisive attack for each character he targeted, but if he strikes at least one opponent, he resets to base as normal. At Gale 3+, this attack affects all opponents within short range instead.
Howling Gale Assault
Cost: 3m; Mins: Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Shredding Cyclone Slash
The Exalt strikes upward accompanied by a hurricane-torrent of air. This charm creates a special gambit attempt on a single target within close range. The decisive attack roll for this gambit is completed as normal, and its difficulty is 3. If this gambit succeeds, the victim is suspended at short range above the ground in a swirling updraft of wind until the end of the next round. A character suspended in this way is prevented from taking most mundane movement actions, as he lacks contact with any solid surfaces to leverage himself against. Characters may still defend themselves at a -1 Defense penalty, and may take any other action the Storyteller deems valid at a -3 penalty. If a character has some means of propelling himself that doesn't rely on pushing off a surface (such as the Solar charm Eagle Wing Style, or the wings mutation) then they make attempt a special disengage action at a difficulty equal to the amount of Gale Veshenzi's wielder had upon this evocation's activation. Additionally, the Storyteller may allow other characters to attempt this disengage action with the aid of grappling hooks, wire-tethered kunai, or other valid stunt.
Alternately, this evocation may be used on a battle group to disrupt their cohesion. The user must have Gale at least equal to the Size of the battlegroup to be targeted. If the gambit succeeds under these conditions, then the affected battlegroup's Drill is reduced to Poor as their membership is sent scattering by the blast. A successful Rally against difficulty 3 restores one level of Drill to the unit, but otherwise this effect persists until the end of the scene.
Veshenzi's Wrath
Cost: 10m, 5i, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Howling Gale Assault
This evocation may only be activated when the user has accumulated 5 Gale. Activating this evocation summons a great whirlwind of swirling air currents centered on Veshenzi's wielder, and extending out to medium range from him. This tornado is an environmental hazard with a damage of 5i/round, and is resisted with a difficulty 4 Stamina + Athletics roll by all characters in range except for Veshenzi's bearer. Any character driven into initiative crash by this hazard, or who fails the roll while crashed (even if it wasn't the hazard that crashed them) is picked up by the winds and flung out to the edge of the maelstrom where they land prone and take falling damage as if from medium range. Opposing characters yield a break bonus as usual but the user otherwise gains no initiative from this effect. Prone characters ignore the damaging portion of this hazard, and any character may fall prone in place of their reflexive movement action for the round rather than attempt the hazard roll.
The tornado lasts until the end of the second consecutive round in which Veshenzi's wielder does not either incapacitate a nontrivial adversary, or gain a break bonus. While it lasts, most mundane ranged attacks into, or from within the affected area are rendered impossible, but at the Storyteller's discretion, certain magical effects such as the Solar charm There is No Wind can bypass this effect. For the duration of the hazard, Veshenzi's wielder is considered to have the maximum 5 points of Gale, and no longer must spend them to activate the secondary effects of Veshenzi's other evocations. Once the hazard ends, his Gale stacks reset to zero.
