Undisturbed Bath of Conscience

Artifact: •••
Speed: +2 (+5, if attuned to jade)
Accuracy: +1
Damage: +5L
Defense: +1
Attunement: 5

In it’s inert form, Undisturbed Bath of Conscience appears to be an 12 inch rod of ornate blue jade, with a softly glowing sapphire mounted in the center of the haft. Anyone attuning to the staff receives the a vision, ater which the user knows:

You are in an ornate bedroom, woken from abruptly from sleep by sounds outside your door. You move from your bed, grabbing an intricately carved staff from under your bed, when the door burst open. Faster than you can follow, the room is filled with oddly beautiful but undeniably malevolent people. (The attuner recognizes these creatures as the Fair Folk that were running the town.) The most evil looking of them sidesteps your blow and runs a razor thin, almost dainty, blade through your neck. As your head falls to the floor, you see the creature grab the amulet that had been around your neck and crush it in his bare hands. The magic from the stone in the amulet crackles and fades, and you can feel the connection to the manse beneath you fade along with your life.

As the vision fades, you know the following about this artifact:

The artifact can exist in two forms: the small rod you originally saw and a quarterstaff. Spending one mote will transform the staff from one form to another. If attuned, the item will revert to rod shape. When used as a staff in combat, it has the statistics listed above.

Made using blue jade, this weapon offers jade’s material bonus (additional +3 speed) when properly attuned (double attunement cost for non-terrestrials).

Flowing Water Defense: An attuned user may harness its watery nature by activating a defensive stance based on the flow of water. Every turn spent in this stance costs 1 mote and reduces the attack pool of the user by one die; however, anyone attacking the user while in this stance subtracts four dice from their attack. Activating this power is a reflexive action.

Wave of Guilt: By spending 3 motes, the user can make the staff send out slow waves of energy, like ripples in a pond, for the rest of the scene. These waves can be seen only by the user or creatures with abilities and charms that allow them to see essence flows (e.g. Some spirits, an exalt using the All-Encompassing Sorcerer’s Sight charm, etc). The waves flow like water around all present, and become turbulent when touching someone fostering guilt. Anyone who can see these waves, including the user, may make a Manipulation + Investigation roll to analyze the waves to determine who present is suffering from the greatest load of guilt.

Essence Capacitor: A dimly glowing gem is set into the center of the staff. Up to 10 motes of essence may be stored in this gem; however, this essence can be used only to power the other functions of the staff. The gem may be recharged by anyone attuned to the staff by spending two motes for every one to be stored. In addition, the gem can be made to glow as brightly as a torch for a scene by expending 1 mote.

Mundane Resources Cost: •
Power: •••
Usefulness: •••
Game Impact: ••
Script Immunity: ••
Drawback, Component: •