Eight-Legged Harvest Promenade
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Exalted: |
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Chapter 2 |
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The Circle With No Name |
Basic Information
Name: Eight-Legged Harvest Promenade
Type: Terrestrial Martial Art
Requirements: Martial Arts 2, Athletics 2, Stealth 2
Form Weapons: Ropes & Fighting Chains, Kamas, Daggers & Short Swords (Reverse Grip), Throwing Knives & Darts, Nunchaku, Shruikens, and Improvised Weaponry.
Form Armor: None.
Charms
The Spider’s Web
Cost: 3m
Mins: MA 3, Ess 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-Ok
Duration: Until next action.
Prereq: None
The grass spider lets his prey struggle with his web while he avoids his enemies. If a grass spider controls a clinch, he retains his full DV as if he had made an attack with a -1 DV penalty rather than falling to DV 0. Additionally, a spider always knows where to step in his own web, as a result if the Grass Spider initiated a clinch he may use this charm to end it even if he does not control the clinch.
The Spider’s Fangs
Cost: 3 motes
Mins: MA 3, Ess 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Ok
Duration: Instant
Prereq: None
The grass spider pounces on his prey from hiding and kills in one blow. The grass spider can make a pouncing attack on anyone within his jumping distance, effectively taking a miscellaneous action and martial arts attack without need for a flurry. If the attack is a surprise attack, add the attacker's martial arts score to raw damage. The attack must be a martial arts attack, and may not be a clinch.
The Spider’s Hairs
Cost: 2 motes per attack
Mins: MA 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-Ok, Stackable
Duration: Instant
Prereq: None
The hairs of a spider scratch and blind their enemies while the spider continues his assault on his victim, the victim is helpless to resist the continued attacks. The Grass Spider's use this tactic especially at range against their foes, disabling them while they close the distance for the final blow. When a ranged attack supplemented with this charm strikes an opponent the opponent suffers a -1 internal penalty on all actions for a number of actions equal to the Grass Spider's martial arts score. These penalties are stackable over multiple attacks and over multiple actions, however the maximum penalty a victim can suffer is equal to The Grass Spider's permanent essence rating. This charm can be used with any ranged attack, even if it is not a martial arts attack. (The duration of the penalty is still based off martial arts.)
Eight-Legged Harvest Promenade Form
Cost: 5m
Mins: MA 4, Ess 2
Type: Simple (Speed 3)
Keywords: Form-Type
Duration: One Scene
Prereq:The Spider’s Web, The Spider’s Fangs, The Spider’s Hairs
The Grass Spider adds his martial arts rating to his stealth and athletics for the scene while donning the hauntingly silent and graceful movements of a spider. Additionally, the martial artist gains the ability to stick to surfaces that would otherwise defy the laws of physics. The Grass Spider's limbs may stick to any solid horizontal or vertical surface as if he were a spider, allowing him to stick gracefully to walls and ceilings. This ability requires no effort while the user remains still, however movement or engaging in combat while sticking to a surface that would otherwise not support the user requires a reflexive Dexterity + Martial Arts or Athletics check (difficulty 1). While this charm is in effect the martial artist's unarmed attacks (including clinches) do lethal damage, and he may parry lethal attacks while unarmed without a stunt.
The Spider's Silk
Cost: 3m (Each rope created counts as an action and costs 3m)
Mins: MA 4, Ess 3
Type:Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-Ok
Duration: Instant
Prereq: Eight-Legged Harvest Promenade Form
For one mote the MA can produce a strand of essence silk. The silk can become sticky at any point along its length by controlling the essence. It can be used as a grappling hook, a garrote wire, can increase grapple range by Essence yards can add Essence dice to a clinch attempt, can add Essence dice to disarm attempts, etc. The idea is that all characters have rope, Grass Spiders have better rope. This length and strength of web can be split among as many strands as the Grass-Spider wishes. For example, a Grass-Spider with Essence 5 could create 5 yards of very strong, sticky web which added 5 dice to a clinch attempt or two 2-yard strands and a 1-yard strand which added 2 and 1 die each. It is also possible to mix and match, so long as the totals for any statistic do not exceed the user's Essence. This means the same Grass-Spider could also create a 3-yard strand which added 2-die to clinch attempts and a 2-yard strand which added 3-die to clinch attempts. Finally, once Grass-Spider purchases this charm, she becomes able to use it as part of any athletics stunt, swinging from building to building or saving herself from a fatal plunge off of a cliff. When used in a non-combat fashion, the dice that would ordinarily be used to provide combat bonuses may also contribute to length - with an appropriate athletics stunt, an Essence 5 Grass-Spider could create 10 yards of webbing.
Delusive Arachnid Trap Prana
Cost: 4m
Mins: MA 4, Ess 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-Ok
Duration: Instant
Prereq: Eight-Legged Harvest Promenade Form
The grass-spider is a clever hunter, known to dig elaborate tunnels under the plains, waiting to feel the vibration of a small animal or unfortunate farmer passing over. Then, the grass-spider strikes, bursting from the ground, seizing its prey, and disappearing as quickly as it showed. The martial artist takes a pointer from his muse, exploiting the territory to disappear even in the midst of the combat. The martial artist channels Essence to create a temporary fugue, causing his prey to momentarily lose of track of him. Then, he disappears, hidden and waiting to strike again from a location unknown to his opponent.
This charm supplements an attempt to re-establish surprise in combat. The martial artist may add his martial arts score to the required roll. This charm does not create an obstacle to hide behind - it cannot be used in situations where re-establishing surprise wasn't feasible to begin with. For example, this charm couldn't be used when dueling a single opponent in the middle of a salt flat with no visual distractions for miles in any direction.
Venomous Maw Projection
Cost: 5m
Mins: MA 4, Ess 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Ok
Duration: Instant
Prereq: Eight-Legged Harvest Promenade Form
The grass-spider is a sensible hunter, not an honorable one. Better to live to hunt again than go out in a blaze of glory. When cornered or not wishing to risk close combat, it can squeeze its venom glands together, launching a stream of venom towards it prey. The poison is absorbed through the skin, weakening the prey and making it an easy target for the grass-spider's final approach.
At this level of mastery, the martial artist has established such a strong connection with the animal she emulates that she may begin to mimic even its more arachnoid behaviors. Upon learning this charm, the Grass-Spider develops a pair of venom glands in the back of her throat. They are completely internal and impossible to notice (they would be apparent upon any sort of autopsy, although very few coroners would understand their significance). She may voluntarily compress these glands to project a thin stream of venom at her opponents. This venom has range of (Essence) x2 yards. The martial artist makes a martial arts attack. If the attack hits, the venom begins to set in. The venom has a toxicity equal to the Grass-Spider's Essence, a damage of 6L, and a penalty of -5. ((Let me know if this seems off. I spent awhile trying to decide on these numbers, and they basically correspond to coral snake venom from the core book (pg. 132))).
Many Grass-Spiders use this charm prior to combat, coating their weapons in the venom and imbuing the poisonous properties of this charm on their armed martial arts attacks.
Grass Spider Essence Venom
Cost: 7m, 1 wp
Mins: MA 5, Ess 3
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-Ok
Duration: Instant
Prereq: The Spider's Silk, Delusive Arachnid Trap Prana, Ranged Charm
The martial artist refines his ability to harness his venom glands, and begins to understand that this venom, like all things, is simply Essence. This allows him to channel the venom into his attacks in much the same way he would do with excellencies. This charm augments a martial arts attack made by the user. When channeling the essence into an attack, the venom is converted into destructive energy.
Upon a successful attack, this charm deals additional damage as the venom is delivered directly to the soul of the victim. The attack deals damage as normal, but when a martial arts attack does damage, an additional (Essence) damage dice are added to the attack. These (and only these) damage dice are aggravated.
This attack is somewhat notorious as a Grass-Spiders trademark - if it kills an opponent, only a charred, unidentifiable husk is available. All non-magical attempts to identify the body fail automatically.
Bloodstained Plentiful Harvest Methodology
Cost: 5m, 1 wp
Mins: MA 5, Ess 3
Type: Multiple Action
Keywords: Combo-Ok
Duration: Instant
Prereq:The Spider's Silk, Delusive Arachnid Trap Prana, Ranged Charm
When engaging multiple prey, the grass-spider does not despair. The Dragons have gifted the spider with eight limbs, and the grass-spider makes use of each one, skilfully striking at each opponent as though each limb had a mind of its own.
As the martial artist's mastery of the style grows, she becomes increasingly in tune with the grass-spider. In addition to developing the venom glands mentioned before, the also experiences psychological changes. Having achieved an understanding of how the grass-spider fights, the martial artist uses Essence to partition her mind into segments controlling each limb independently. This greatly enhances her ability to multitask, permitting the martial artist a single attack with each available limb. What counts a limb is limited only by the creativity of the user. A particularly... imaginative.. application of this charm nearly led to The Champagne Vagabond being kicked out of the Order. That isn't easy to pull off.
Spider Tricks The Dragon
Cost: 10m, 1 wp
Mins: MA 5, Ess 5
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Ok
Duration: Special
Prereq: Grass-Spider Essence Venom, Bloodstained Plentiful Harvest Methodology
A legend says that in the beginning of Creation, a dragon, confident of its power, attacked one of the early grass-spider god-spirits it had grown tired of. The two fought, and though the dragon sustained multiple bites, it stood the victor as the injured grass-spider retreated hastily to the elemental pole of Wood. Smugly, the dragon claimed the great plains for itself. Its victory did not last long - the dragon was found dead shortly after the battle, killed belatedly by the grass-spider's venomous bite.
The best kept secret of the Hallowed Order of the Grass-Spiders, the master has achieved such an intimate understanding of the connection between Essence, poison, and hunting that he may readily convert the victim's other humors into venom. Furthermore, he may predetermine how quickly the poison will spread. He does so with a simple strike - any unarmed attack will do. With a successful Larceny stunt, the Grass-Spider may even disguise the attack as strong gesture such as a playful punch to the arm or a firm handshake. With a successful attack (does damage) or stunt (successful disguise), the Grass-Spider may delay the damage caused by the attack. This is usually done with some sort of clause ("10,000 steps") or ("the next full moon"). There is no practical limit on the duration of the delay, but it must be well defined ("a little bit after sunset" would not be viable). Additionally, using the charm in this fashion makes it considerably more deadly - armor is useless against this internal assault. The attack is soaked only by natural defenses. Furthermore, it deals more damage than a conventional attack - the Grass-Spider's Essence is added to a delayed attack (if the attack was disguised as an innocent gesture, only Essence damage is dealt).
The Three Elite Fiends have taken great pains to ensure the utility of this charm as the ultimate assassin's tool. As an exception to normal motonic physics, charms may be combo'd with this charm without being obvious or requiring a vocal trigger. This only applies to two-charm combos; adding a third charm to the mix makes the combo behave according to the usual rules.
The Spider's Eyes
Cost: 5 motes
Mins: MA 4, Ess 3
Type: Simple (Speed 5)
Keywords: Combo-Ok
Duration: Scene
Prereq: Eight-Legged Harvest Promenade Form
Spiders have many eyes and they see many things, practitioners of Eight-Legged Harvest Promenade are no different. The many eyes of a Grass Spider see everything. This charm is broken into 3 separate parts, the first purchase of this charm allows the practitioner to learn one of his choice; for and additional 4 experience the Grass Spider may choose another of the powers. A true master of this power allows nothing to escape his glance and has access to all 3 powers. Each power must be paid for separately, however another charm activation is not needed. (Activating all 3 powers for a scene would cost 15 essence, but could be performed in 1 simple action.)
- Eyes of the Spirit: Eyes of the Spirit allows a Grass Spider to see unmanifested spirits, ghosts, and other incorporeal beings in Creation. Furthermore the Grass Spider can hear the voices of any spirits which he can see.
- Essence Sight: Essence Sight allows The Grass Spider to see patterns in essence , the user can literally see motes of essence and essence based effects. The power makes all charms treated as obvious and any creature with essence of 4+ is immediately recognized as a supernatural creature. However, characters using stealth are not automatically revealed by their charms, artifacts, etc. (See Exalted Page 222 for explanation of Essence Sight) A character can make a Intelligence + Occult roll to analyze targets of this charm.
- Sight In 8 Directions: With this charm activated the Grass Spider cannot be surprised by any means as the trained spider's eyes miss no detail and cannot be ambushed.
This charm is not considered part of the primary charm tree, mastery of this charm is not required to obtain mastery of the style.
The Spider's Carapace
Cost: 4 motes
Mins: MA 4, Ess 2
Type: Simple (Speed 5)
Keywords: Combo-Ok
Duration: Scene
Prereq: Eight-Legged Harvest Promenade Form
The spiders carapace is a strong and flexible armor that protects the spider from harm, however it is an exoskelaton that protects a soft inside rather than a natural toughness of the spider. The user of this charm adds his essence score to his bashing, lethal, and aggravated soak as well as his bashing and lethal hardness. This soak functions like armor and can be pierced (not natural soak), but does not count against charms that do not allow the use of armor. (Such as martial arts charms.)
This charm is not considered part of the primary charm tree, mastery of this charm is not required to obtain mastery of the style.