Spell:Curtain of Quartz
Source: Book of the Emerald Circle by Brian Hon/Limited Reagent
Cost: 10m, 1wp
Circle: Emerald
Type: Simple
Keywords: Component, Commitment (5m), Obvious, War
Duration: Up to (Essence) scenes
The sorcerer's Essence coalesces into a huge, perfect crystal of quartz, floating in front of her. With a single touch, it chimes then shatters, forming a shimmering globe of quartz fragments (Essence x 20) yards around, centered on the sorcerer. She may direct the curtain as she wishes, moving it up to (Essence) yards per tick reflexively, up to a maximum distance of (Essence) miles from her current location (she cannot control the curtain once outside of that range, although it does stay in place). It cannot go further than (Essence) yards from a solid surface. The spell lasts up to (Essence) scenes. If the sorcerer drops the spell's commitment, the curtain lasts until the end of that scene.
The crystal fragments confound the senses: they capture light and refract in back in dazzling and distracting displays to confuse the eyes; they clink and chime in tinny melodies, distracting the ears; even the sense of touch is affected by deep bass harmonies—only the senses of smell and taste remain untouched. Therefore, all Perception or Awareness rolls that use sight, sound, or touch suffer a -(Essence ÷ 2) external penalty to detect anything within the quartz curtain. Furthermore, the confounding nature of the curtain cause everyone within to suffer a -1 external penalty to all rolls and DVs, as an environmental effect. The curtain is also distracting enough to provide those within it sufficient cover to reestablish surprise. Finally, the area covered by this spell's effect is considered mystically obscured from scrying.
The sorcerer is immune to the penalties of her own spell automatically, and none within can use it to reestablish surprise against her. She can further choose up to (Willpower) other targets to also enjoy this benefit at the time of its casting. If she chooses to cast this spell in long-ticks, she may choose up to immunize up to (Essence) Magnitude units.
When this spell ends, the fragments of quartz drop to the ground, beautiful but lifeless, and too few to form any kind of environmental hazard. Gathered and sold in bulk as pretty decorations and trinkets, the fragments are worth Resources 1. If they are picked through to find the most precious shards, polished and cleaned, a character can potentially get Resources 2 from selling the leftover crystals.
Component: The sorcerer must be able to touch the quartz crystal that she forms. If she cannot, the Essence quickly destabilizes; the crystal grows cloudy, cracks, and falls apart into a pile of sand at her feet.
