Maze's challenge manifests itself in a simple game of navigating an area, embodying an explorer who wants players to get past the conditions in the region and make it out safely. The true challenge is the entire forest is against them, and they must get out before the rabbits, the plant life, or any other factors make that goal impossible.
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Maze summons a region of flowers, shrubs, and undergrowth around the area and brings his world wherever he is, which looks like a cell-shaded forest. In this zone, a number of things occur:
+ A dense undergrowth of vines and shrubs seems to blanket the forest floor, while those in the sky are accosted by small dragons that would actively slow down anyone they see. Doing so at the behest of their father; Maze, who hatched them.
+ A number of bunnies with red scarves lurk around and hassle anyone who is foreign to the location with harmless traps in an effort to exhaust them. Selectively trained by Maze, they were taken in at the behest of his friend Shimizu Tsukihi.
+ Drifting on the winds is a toxic pollen that induces an almost drunken intoxication, similar to drinking a heavy amount of alcohol. Causing dizziness, mental sedation, and limited inhibitions.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You may choose not to pay this Effect’s activation cost. When you activate this Effect, if it is active from a previous activation where you didn’t pay, that Effect ends. This Effect cannot be used unless Atlas is active. You must actively and obviously use Rangers Cloak to activate this Effect.
You create a hemispherical dome of forest undergrowth, shrubs, and plant spores originating at your Location, with a radius of 200 feet. and lasting for 5 minutes. The area inside your zone is affected in any number of the following ways:
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
With a drawing tool in hand, he would focus on any features he could add to himself—maybe longer eyelashes, maybe some defined muscles, anything. Then he'd draw them onto that person, namely himself, in a dust cloud of movement, finishing the picture with said additions, soon vanishing away as it becomes more of a feature rather than a visual portion of the picture.
Exert your Mind and spend 30 minutes. You may only target yourself. The target can easily Resist.
You may add one augmentation to your target. Each augmentation counts as a Trauma and can have exactly one of the following Effects:
The augmentations you provide are not outwardly visible nor obvious.
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
Your alteration "heals" over the course of the next month, after which it is fully cured.
Slide over a glass of their favorite drink and dare to ask how they are. People'll tell their bartenders anything. It's the cheapest therapy around.
Exert your Mind to activate. Select a Living target within arm's reach. Over the course of one Downtime, your patient must communicate with you and reveal at least one of their Traumas to you, including the details of those Traumas and the circumstances of how they were acquired. After the full treatment time has elapsed, roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6.
Your target may Resist. If your treatment is successful, you may remove one of the patient's revealed Traumas without incurring any Experience cost.
Pulling a long black feather from their coat pocket, the mage begins to shrink and lose form as they become a small, assuming corvid - with piercing blue and green eyes that illicit a strange sense of reverence.
Brandishing a wolf's claw like a dagger, the mage begins to twist and morph into the shape of a large, sleek wolf, heterochromatic eyes glowing bright blue and green each. The mage bares their teeth, then leaps into the fray.
Exert your Mind and spend a Quick Action. You must actively and obviously use a token of the desired creature to activate this Effect.
You transform into a raven or a timber wolf until you transform into something else or choose to return to your original form. See the Extended System text for stats.
While transformed, you cannot use any equipment (excluding Artifacts and Consumables, which you can use), and you do not have access to any of your Powers. Any equipment you are wearing transforms with you.
Injuries and Wound Level are carried over between forms. However, transforming can never kill you; you merely remain Incapacitated until your Injuries are sufficiently healed.
While transformed, you are obviously unusual, unnatural, or alien, and the average person will take a special interest in you.
Zephyren gathers mystical energy into his hands and cups them so that the wings on the objects he's holding align. Blowing on them causes the spirit of a firebird to materialize and fly at the target.
On the firebird:
It's said that the firebird brings bad luck to its captor, though Zephyren's luck is horrible enough that he wouldn't notice a little more of it. Besides, he's chucking it at someone else, so if anything the bad luck with transfer to them first. It's not an actual firebird that appears, just the energy of it, gathered from the air.
On energy:
In his childhood, people would always talk about 'qi' and how it flows together to create a unified being. Apparently, deities also have 'qi', as if it is one of the foundations of the universe. He's had some practice trying to manipulate it through tai chi, though he was never really good at it. Zephyren's enhanced senses, combined with this gift's affinity with the firebird, have allowed him to pinpoint and gather the scattered energy of perished firebirds. Bringing them together, he can nearly mimic their rebirth for just long enough to enact their wrath on those who threaten him.
On voices:
Zephyren hates to admit it, but he doesn't bode well with people raising his voice at him. The noise grates at his ears, and he starts to get flighty. It's because being yelled at usually entails worse consequences in an Asian household. Words are never enough and Zephyren can only start to expect the worst. Now it's even worse because he's found that the emotion behind someone raising their voice spikes the surrounding qi.
Spend an Action. Select a target within 50 feet. You must actively and obviously use any two objects with a wing drawn on each one to activate this Effect. Roll Perception + Occult Difficulty 6. The target may contest by rolling to Dodge or Defend as a Reaction, Difficulty 6.
If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 4.
You may use this Effect to Defend against any melee, projectile, or firearm Attacks within range or Clash against any Attack targeted at you. Using it to Defend deals no Damage but does not cost Exertion.
The target suffers a -3 dice penalty for the next hour or until the Injury is healed. This dice penalty does not stack multiple times on the same target.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Qi spike: When someone raises their voice at you, roll Self-Control to avoid entering fight-or-flight mode.
Due to your background, you are very strong and skilled.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in unarmed combat.
+2 dice to rolls for Attacking, Defending, and Clashing without a weapon. Unarmed attacks do +0 Weapon Damage (instead of -1). The target's Armor is reduced to 1/2, rounded up against this damage.
You also gain the following effects:
The survivalist spends a moment setting up a makeshift booby trap. The tripwires and pressure plates are so expertly hidden, they can only be noticed by those who have fallen victim to them before.
The victim is hit with a tiny curare dart. Pain wracks their body as a potent neurotoxin spreads through their veins.
Exert your Mind and spend 30 seconds to trap a region of any shape that contains your current location and fits entirely within 300 feet. This trap lasts one day or until triggered or disarmed. You must use up a dart in order to activate this Effect. Roll Intellect + Survival Difficulty 6.
The trap looks like a tripwire, a pressure plate, or a hidden switch. Only those who have seen this trap before can identify it as a trap. Anyone who is aware of the trap may intuitively avoid, trigger, or destroy it.
Any Living target that enters the chosen region will trigger the trap. The target may contest by rolling Body, Difficulty 6.
If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 2. The target's Armor is completely ignored.
The target suffers a -3 dice penalty for the next hour or until the Injury is healed. This dice penalty does not stack multiple times on the same target.
Instead of dealing Damage all at once, the Injury caused by this Power starts at Severity 1 and worsens at the rate of one level per Round until it reaches the Severity it would have otherwise been.
The aquamancer dissolves into a flowing pool of semi-solid water. Anything they were carrying is left behind in a damp pile. While transformed, they may squeeze through tiny gaps, and are extremely resilient against most standard attacks.
Resolidifying is exhausting.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
You transform into a flowing pool of water for the next minute. You may end the effect early and return to your normal form at will. Your structure must remain relatively contiguous. Observers will view you as an unusual entity moving with a singular purpose.
While in this form, you can squeeze through any gap that is not water-tight.
Injuries from standard attacks are reduced to Severity 1, but Damage from AOE effects is increased by 1.
You cannot communicate or use equipment while transformed. Your equipment does not transform with you beyond basic body coverings. You cannot carry any items while transformed.
You have access to your Powers while transformed.
After this Effect ends, you cannot move quicker than a walk (15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour.
The Ninja is so attuned to the sounds of their surroundings, they may focus their mind to "see" using the subtle acoustic vibrations.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Your senses are enhanced in the following way.
The spy is able to transform an ordinary ballpoint pen into a monitoring device that is inconspicuous enough to blend in to most settings, but advanced enough to allow 360 degree surveillance as well as audio capture, which is sent to their smartphone.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location within 10 feet. You must actively and obviously use a ballpoint pen to activate this Effect.
You place a ward, which is fixed to its initial location. You can hear and see through the ward as though you were standing at its location. Your wards last 3 hours. You may have at most 3 wards active at once.
The ward requires Concentration to monitor, though it will remain active until you deactivate it. It can be detected with a roll and destroyed through mundane means.
The detective can learn a lot by watching someone for a minute. Each subtle detail, every unexplained stain, reveals something about where the target has been. Ocassionally, they'll drop a business card, or explain how to contact them. The detective is listening.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend a minute. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target does not know you're watching them. At the end of your investigation, roll Charisma + Investigation at Difficulty 6.
You learn a single specific piece of information, chosen from the following list, about your target:
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.