Spell:Infallible Messenger

Source: Book of the Emerald Circle by Brian Hon/Limited Reagent

Cost: 5m, 1wp

Circle: Emerald

Type: Simple

Keywords: Charm-OK, Scrying

Duration: Instant

The sorcerer conjures up minor construct of Essence, called a cherub — multicolored humanoid figures only a few feet tall with six glittering blue-chrome wings. The sorcerer speaks or whispers his message, which can be no more than an hour in length, into the cherub's ear. It can carry one action worth of social attacks.

The sorcerer then names or describes the message's recipient. The cherub is very good at finding its target. Only the vaguest description is required; If "That one orphan from yesterday" is said, for example, the cherub will mystically intuit exactly who the sorcerer means. The construct is very difficult to deter; it automatically succeeds on all rolls to find its target and determine its identity. If a magical effect contests this, the sorcerer rolls (Essence + Willpower) to oppose it. The cherub does not, however, have supernatural senses, and it cannot find people who are obscured from scrying.

The cherub travels a thousand miles an hour, allowing it to traverse the world in less than a day. It can bypass any barrier and make its way between planes of existence without fail. The construct is incredibly difficult to notice while it is travelling, imposing an external penalty on all rolls to perceive it of -(10 + Essence). The cherub, as a thing of pure Essence, is an invalid target for any attack that is not countermagic. When the cherub finds the recipient, the message is perfectly delivered to his ear (using the original sender's voice) and then dissipates.

Infallible Messenger is perhaps the most widely known and used spell in Creation, and certainly so in the Realm. In the Dynasty, a number of sorcerous cabals and Great Houses have produced variants on the spell which replace the cherub with some other similar messenger... perhaps some doing so for the sake of aesthetics, perhaps others because a few whisper that the cherubs themsleves are sworn to the Scarlet Empress and answer to her All-Seeing Eye.