Five Boons of Ivy (Short Powerbow •••)
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By DarlothDarloth

Green Jade Short Powerbow, Artifact •••

Five Boons of Ivy is a short, compact powerbow strung with five different types of ivy, one growing in each direction of Creation. The string never wilts or suffers any penalties from environmental effects, as it is equally at home in all possible conditions, and the limbs of the bow are carved from various woods and inlaid with green jade to depict the many different leaves that ivy has across Creation.

Evocations of Five Boons of Ivy

Grasp of the Helix
Cost: 1m; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Dual, Dissonant
Duration: One Scene (special)
Prerequisites: None

Grasp of the Helix activates on hitting with a withering or decisive attack, and creates a twisted vine of tough, woody ivy trailing behind the arrow, connected at their end either to the bow itself or the ground at the user's feet (if it could ever possibly support a growth of ivy). If they are fighting from midair, or from a perfectly smooth stone or glass surface or similar, they will not be able to use that option.

If the user chooses to target a location rather than an entity, it follows the same rules that it must be theoretically possible to attach ivy there, and this attack is made as a Difficulty 1 decisive gambit against a defense of 1. If they somehow do not succeed, the vine failed to attach at the other end.

This woody vine prevents the target (and the user, if the tether is attached to the bow) from moving further away than the rangeband they were originally at when this charm was used, and that range is called the tether length. It does nothing to prevent them moving closer in and does not impede their actions, though at the Storyteller's discretion, having a rope of ivy attached to you may stop you from moving freely in many other ways, such as going too far inside a building or falling down a pit, even if you would not otherwise break the typical range condition imposed by this evocation. Indeed, this can be used to create temporary rope in a non-combat situation, as long as the rope is tethered to something at both ends.

While the ivy rope is supernaturally strong, it is by no means unbreakable. Any miscellaneous combat action by an edged weapon can cut through it, or someone close enough (including the target) may make a difficulty 3, min str 3+ feat of strength to snap it. If somehow either end becomes loose (perhaps the soil was transmuted to air, or the target teleported?), the vine immediately withers away. It will remain attached to its target even when they apply any movement effect up to but not including teleportation.

The attuned owner of the artifact may maintain up to Essence tethers attached to the bow with no risk of having the bow yanked out of their hand or tripping them up or any other negative stunt effect - the ivy simply stretches and retracts as necessary to prevent this. Any further tethers must be attached to the ground, and those tethers have no such protection.

Dissonant: Those dissonant with jade have no protection against the tethers being used against them, even if they are attached to the bow, but they still suffer the cap of Essence for the maximum number that may be attached to the bow.

The user may as with any evocation reflexively stop sustaining any given instance of this effect, and the tether will immediately wither to nothing.

This evocation is automatically unlocked when the artifact is attuned.

Creeping Vine's Feelers
Cost: 1m (+3m optional); Mins: Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Grasp of the Helix

This evocation may be activated to make a Decisive gambit to fire a bow-attached tether into another target within range. If the target is inanimate, then it is made at Difficulty 1 (potentially modified by environmental conditions) and has no negative accuracy penalty for being at Close range. There is no initiative check, the gambit automatically deducts the cost and succeeds.

If the target is animate, then this is a Difficulty 1 decisive gambit which must exceed their defense and then succeed the initiative roll as usual.

Success on either mode transfers the end of a tether from the bow to the new target, maintaining the current maximum tether range. At this point the user may choose to spend an additional 3 motes to shrink the range of the tether by one band, to a minimum of Close, but not if this would put the other end of the tether further away than the new maximum tether reach.

Creative use of this evocation multiple times with multiple tethers can result in a character being constrained to movement along a line one range band in length (min 2 tethers connected to widely separated points) or to a single point (min 3 tethers perfectly placed in an equilateral triangle, though 4 is more reliable.)

Reprisal of the Wood Ivy
Cost: 2m; Mins: Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Grasp of the Helix

Whenever any of the user's tethers are broken, whether attached or not, this evocation may be reflexively triggered to cause them to explode in a burst of toxic spines, pollen, fine hairs or other unpleasant plant substances. This affects only the tethered target, no matter who actually broke the tether. It may not be used if the user is reflexively decommitting motes to cause a tether to wither, but it CAN be used if the user spends a miscellaneous action cutting one of her tethers - in this case, the coiled end will snap towards the target under the tension and disgorge its poison.

This subjects the target to a poison with the following profile:
Damage: 3i/Round, (B in Crash), Duration: (Essence + 3)
Rounds, Penalty: -2.

Dissonant: Any who are dissonant with jade may not activate this charm unless the target of the tether is the one breaking it. If they attempt to activate it when cutting the tether themselves as a miscellaneous action, they are subjected to their own poison.

Wood-aspected dragonblooded with at least one level of anima banner may activate this evocation for 1m less.

Flexibility of the Water Ivy
Cost: 3m/per (+optional 1wp); Mins: Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Creeping Vine's Feelers

Special Activation Rules: Only on your turn, despite being Reflexive.

By paying 3m per tether, the user may add or subtract one range band from as many tethers as they pay for within sensory range, whether attached to the bow or otherwise. When used to shorten a tether that was already at maximum extension, they must spend an additional +1 willpower per such target affected, but this causes any retracting tethers to contract with an abrupt jerk may pull targets off their feet, and those targets must reflexively make a difficulty 4 Strength + Athletics check or be pulled immediately to the new range-band, and fall prone. The Storyteller is encouraged to apply the Prone penalty even against people pulled up into the air or between two or more tethers, to represent the sudden lack of freedom of movement, and to allow the Rise from Prone action to negate it to represent regaining footing or balance, even if they are now dangling in midair. Similarly, charms that interact with the Prone condition should typically apply to this vine-inflicted condition also. If the user uses this charm to lengthen a tether attached to their bow, they may immediately move to the new range limit.

Furthermore, if the user is affecting themselves with this charm, they never fall prone, and if they are not affecting any targets, they may contract themselves one range-band towards a tether target without paying the willpower cost. This cannot be performed with a standard reflexive movement action, and cannot allow the user to move any quicker than usual, but can be used to avoid other limits on movement actions, such as rising from prone and then retracting a tether to pull them out of range without requiring a disengage roll.

Water-aspected dragonblooded with at least one level of anima banner may use this evocation for 1m less per tether.

Ire of the Flame Ivy
Cost: 5m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene (or until severed)
Prerequisites: Grasp of the Helix

Sending a pulse of fire essence along the connected pathways of ivy connected to her bow, the user of this evocation may kindle a fire that spreads forth from dark red ivy leaves that immediately grow to surround their target. For as long as the target remains connected, they suffer 2L/round at the start of their turn, resisted as environmental damage with a difficulty of (2+Essence), which counts as fire damage.

This Evocation is incompatible with Rebuke of the Frost Ivy, and will cancel that evocation immediately if used on a target suffering from any of its effects.

Fire aspected dragonblooded with at least one level of anima banner may use this evocation for 1m less.

Rebuke of the Frost Ivy
Cost: 5m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene (or until broken)
Prerequisites: Grasp of the Helix

Sending a pulse of icy Air essence along the conduit formed by a bow-connected tether, the user may temporarily entomb a target in a prison of icey, frozen solid ivy. The user makes a special Essence + Archery control roll against the target's Strength + Resistance. This prevents that target from moving or acting, as if they were the target of a Restrain grapple action, for each of the net successes the user rolled. If they lose or tie the control roll, move immediately to the aftereffects section below, though the tether is NOT broken as with a success.

While entombed in frozen ivy, the target gains Hardness 8 and +8 soak. If they are attacked but not damaged, the rounds of control reduce by one as usual, but if they are attacked and successfully damaged the remaining frozen ivy is immediately broken. Either way, the tether connecting to them will be broken as the frozen ivy is shattered.

On the target's turn immediately after breaking out of the ivy (or immediately if they win the control roll) reflexive movement actions requires a Miscellaneous action to perform, as they are impeded by the cold remnants of the icy grasp.

This Evocation is incompatible with Ire of the Flame Ivy, and will cancel that evocation immediately if used on a target suffering from any of its effects.

Air-aspected dragonblooded with at least one level of anima banner can use this evocation for 1m less.

Strength of the Earth Vine
Cost: 3m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Grasp of the Helix

This evocation allows the user to sheath a given bow-connected tether in a protective coating of earth essence for a moment, making it significantly stronger. It must be activated when someone attempts to break the vine before any rolls are made, either with a feat of strength or a miscellaneous action, and it increases the difficulty of that feat of strength by the user's Essence, or requires the miscellaneous action-taking character to spend (user's Essence) additional initiative hacking away at the vine before it finally breaks. They are not required to spend this initiative, but the vine will not break if they do not, and the miscellaneous action will be wasted.

An Earth-aspected dragonblooded with at least one level of anima banner may use this evocation for 1m less.

Bounteous Hedera Mudra
Cost: 7m; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Dissonant, Resonant
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Creeping Vine's Feelers

Performing the Mudra of Bounteous Regrowth, the user inspires a single bow-tethered target's ivy to spread out. It immediately makes a decisive Archery attack with a free full excellency but no additional charms against all hostile targets within Short range of the target. Any targets may defend normally, and any struck take no damage but are tethered to the original source-target. While these tethers count as connected to the bow whenever the source-target is, they do *not* count against the limit of bow-tethers the artifact may maintain. Targets may not move further from the source-target than they originally were when they were tethered, as with typical tether range mechanics.

Dissonant: Those dissonant with jade do not get the benefit of a free full excellency on their attack.

Resonant: Those resonant with jade who have supplemental archery charms that do not increase the damage of an attack or apply additional effects to the target may use them on this attack roll, though any range-increasing effects cap at medium and all charms must be paid once for each target to be affected.

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