Hammer in the Woods
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Name:Hammer in the Woods Attributes Colleges Abilities Backgrounds Charms |
Hammer in the Woods serves as court astrologer and chief administrator for the Tri-Kahn in Chiaroscuro. Most think she is mortal, but the Tri-Kahn and some of his closest confidants know she is an eclipse caste solar. He typically asks her to bind oaths of allegiance from key nobles. None of them know that she is really a sidereal of secrets disguised as an eclipse, not even the other solars in the court with whom she is working. She is also part of the Gold Faction, working with the Cult of the Illuminated.
Appearance
Like many born in the Haltan Republic, Hammer's coloring matches trees, with her skin a dark bark brown and striking arboreal green eyes. She is short, slight, and somewhat mousy looking.
Using her Shining Masquerade, Hammer can mimic the essence flare of an eclipse, a sparkling white and gold triple vortex. If necessary, she can use her Eclipse Exalt Ways charm to mimic the true eclipse anima power, as well as its appearance.
Limitations
As a sidereal under cover as an eclipse, Hammer suffers through some restrictions that prevent her from using the full extent of her power. In the first place, showing her caste mark would blow her cover, which greatly limits her usable essence pool.
Like all sidereals, most people (even exalts) cannot remember her presence, unless she dons a metaphysical disguise called a "resplendent destiny" (in her case, one under the sign of the Treasure Trove). With this disguise in place, people will remember her; however, if she acts against character (including showing her caste mark or other supernatural giveaway) she may gain Paradox. Enough of that accumulates and she will get punished by the pattern spiders that weave fate.
Typically, if force into a case where essence sufficient to cause a caste mark to show is used, a sidereal will (reflexively) drop a resplendent destiny. In such cases, usually those around don't remember the sidereal's actions that happen after that. This can also sometimes generate paradox.
Tactics
Hammer relies on two different martial arts styles and various charms to provide soak and dodge ability. Because she can only spend peripheral essence in dire emergencies, she relies on a number of essence regeneration charms. She will never allow her real anima to flare without dropping her resplendent destiny, but will do so only as a last resort.
Preparation
If given time to fully prepare for combat, Flax will cast the following charms before combat begins:
| Charm | Charm Cost | Cumulative Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Defense of Shining Joy | 5 motes, 1 willpower | 5m 1w | Provides 8 dice reflexive dodge |
| Hungry Ghost Form | 5 motes | 10m 1w | Gain motes on damage. |
Once combat starts, Hammer will usually activate the following:
| Charm | Charm Cost | Cumulative Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orichalcum Sheathing Stance | 5 motes, 1 willpower | 15m 2w | Increases soak to 15B/13L |
| Sidereal Shell Games (optional) | 9 motes, 1 willpower | 24m 3w | Usually make soak 23B/21L and target -8B/-8L, could steal dice from specific pool or damage dice instead |
| Blinding the Boars (optional) | 5 motes, 1 willpower | 29m 4w | Add to difficulty to attack you |
| Deadly Starmetal Offensive | 5 motes | 34m 4w | Gain claw weapons |
When defending
Until Defense of Shining Joy is up, Hammer will use all actions to dodge. This will continue until Orichalcum Sheathing Stance is up as well. Once those are ready, she'll use the reflexive dodge and soak they provide and actions will be used either to activate charms or attack.
When attacking
Hammer may take a few turns before attacking, but when she does, she will usually split her pool and make vanilla attacks. If she has the essence to spare, she might use Consuming Entropy Strike or Shrouded Claw Attack.
She will have used Systematic Understanding of Everything to gain +1 on unarmed Martial Arts attacks. Her bracers also give her two extra damage dice.
Persistent effects
The following are always on, permanent effects:
- Thanks to World-Shaping Artistic Vision, if she is in a city, her target numbers on all tests are reduced to 6.
- Automatically gain 8 motes on any roll that uses Temperance for any reason.
- Automatically gain 8 motes on making any Bureaucracy roll that helps your agenda.
- Automatically gain 8 motes on any roll that uses Conviction for any reason.
- Automatically gain 8 motes on making any Socialize roll that changes the local situations in your favor.
- Automatically gain 6 motes on any roll that uses Compassion for any reason.
- Automatically gain 6 motes on making any Performance roll that generates positive feeling towards you.