Ophidian Kata Rings Vision

As you extend your anima into the bands, a vision fades in, replacing what you see…

A man stands at a table made of pure marble, intently working a detailed, intricate design into a snake made of golden metal, lying rigidly straight on the table's surfice. Arrayed on the table, four identical, completed snakes stare lifelessly into the room, a vast workshop filled with forges, fantastic tools and raw materials scattered about haphazardly. The man is young and not particularly handsome, short black hair ruffled over a furrowed brow. His lips neither smile nor frown, framed by a black mustache that wraps down to his chin line. He works calmly, but with inhuman speed, working an orichalcum tool into the snake, rapidly expanding the design. As he finishes, he says "It is time."

Two clockwork servants made into the shape of burly men, approach, carrying opposite ends of a long metal pole, with a clear crystal brazier hanging from it. The coals within it glow an incandescent white, nearly blinding, but not impressing the servants, who lift the pole to let the brazier hang behind the man, who begins to chant. The air seems to crackle as he raises the completed snakes in one hand and holds them over the brazier. As the light plays over the surface of the snakes, streaks of energy begin to race within them. With a quick motion of his other hand, the man twists the stiff metal of the snakes around each other, then drops them into the brazier. As soon as they hit the coals, the snakes animate, writhing together in the heat, slowly reaching a dull red glow.

As the snakes continue to heat, the man produces a stack of extremely thin ivory cards, each with an elaborate pattern cut all the way through it. He holds each up to the light of the brazier, the incandescence shining through the pattern, leaving afterimages. One after another, he throws the cards into the brazier, where they immediately ignite with a very loud hiss and are consumed by the snakes. As he holds up each card, he says a single word before tossing the card into the fire. You hear only the first word: "mantis". The words spoken for other cards are drowned out by the sound of the prior card burning. Some of the patterns on the cards look vaguely familiar, but you can't place them.

After 25 cards have been so consumed, the mechanical men turn, taking the pole with the brazier on a slow march out of the room. The man walks with them, chanting over the brazier and they leave the workshop, walking slowly onto a wide stone street. The sun is just about to rise, but the workshop lies in the shadow of a huge step pyramid, toward which the trio stride with a purpose. Joined by two creatures you now recognize as the flying variety of Dragon King and five humans in white robes, the group walks up the long flight of stairs to the top of the pyramid.

Though the man barely notices, the view at the top is amazing. The pyramid stands at the center of a wondrous city, home to thousands of tall crystal buildings, at least two other pyramids and a tall spire to which are moored numerous flying vehicles. Outside the city walls, a lush jungle rolls as far as the eye can see. Those on the pyramid, however, only have eyes for the brazier. The man walks to the center of the platform, while most of the others align themselves on its west side, with the brazier in the middle. A human is stationed at each corner, and the remaining one prostrates himself just underneath the brazier, chanting prayers.

As one, the two Dragon Kings don crystal gloves and approach the brazier, along with the man. As the man reaches out his arms, palms straight up, each dragon king pulls a snake from the brazier and they drape them over the man's wrists. As his flesh burns, the snakes wrap around, eating their own tails, and pulling tight. The man immediately puts his palms to the ground, and lifts into a handstand. Two more snakes are extracted and wrapped around his ankles. Even as the red hot metal burns him, the man reverses himself into a kneel, ready to receive the last snake. The dragon kings each grab one end and wrap it around the man's neck. He winces as it burns him and tightens around his neck, but gives no other sign of pain.

Suddenly, the man whirls to his feet, just as the first rays of the sun break the horizon. They glint from the glowing metal of the snakes as the man starts to perform numerous martial arts kata, leaving contrails of light in the air. As the sun continues to clear the horizon, the man covers at least twenty different martial arts styles. You recognize snake, mantis, tiger and some others, but the majority are completely foreign to you. It occurs to you as you watch that the contrails left behind by the man's movements bear a strong similarity to the patterns on the ivory cards. The man's movements get faster, until the sun completely clears the horizon, when he completely freezes. A second later, the man's anima erupts from him, a red-orange and violet eagle, crying out and spreading its wings. The mark of Twilight blazes on his head. The eagle burns for nearly a minute, until suddenly being sucked into the snakes, leaving the blazing caste mark on the man, and perfectly cool golden snakes around his wrists, ankle and neck.

One by one, the humans approach the man, each carrying a pillow. As each one passes, the man slides one of the bands off his scorched flesh and places it on the pillow.

As the vision fades, you become sure of the following:

• You are attuned to the bands (committing three motes)
• These bands must be used as a set
• These bands enhance all martial arts forms
• While a form is active, you:
  • may inflict either lethal or bashing damage with unarmed attacks (including with form weapons)
  • parry lethal attacks without a weapon
  • gain +2B/+1L/+1A to your natural soak
  • if you attune to orichalcum, all unarmed Martial Arts attacks against demons, ghosts and the walking dead that actually inflict damage do additional dice of aggravated damage equal to your permanent Essence. These damage dice are applied separately after resolving the normal damage for the attack and can be soaked, but not otherwise defended.
• These bands have additional capabilities as well, but you can neither access them, nor discern what they are. You are certain that more of their power could be unlocked if could identify the city in the vision and knew something about working metal.