Cinnabar frequently sent treasures to the Tya as part of his tithe, even though he was no longer one of them. He stored his spoils in his treasure house in Hell, and enjoyed showing off the most storied pieces for his guests. He had a pair of soulsteel hook swords forged by Alveua herself, a cloak made from the fabric of the sky at Calibration, a daiklave whose name (he hoped) might someday draw the famed Sublime Danger to his doorstep. A moonsilver crown that remembered its owners’ shapes. He had rings and scepters and orichalcum-nibbed pens. Most of them stayed in their displays, but this needle he contemplated now would remain on his person. It was both practical and awe-inspiring.

Marvelous Cinnabar walked the Sky Stitch Needle over his knuckles, contemplating the artifact as it flashed in the lamplight. A black thread trailed from it, though when he tried to determine its endpoint, the thread fell through his fingers like smoke. He’d taken it from a Rasping Fen, a Demon-Blooded guard-captain in Decanthus, after a night-long duel. 

It was Ajad who’d dangled the knowledge of it in front of Cinnabar, and fed him information on Fen’s vices and other weaknesses. Ajad was never so generous — somehow Cinnabar knew his arrival in Decanthus furthered some scheme she had in motion. She’d asked that he not kill Fen, but seemed quite satisfied to know the guard-captain hadn’t come out of the fight unscathed.

The others might have been concerned with whatever she was up to, but in this matter, Cinnabar was content with being a pawn. The spoils were excellent.

He sat at the desk in his quarters aboard the Sunrise Pandemonium and pricked the needle into the air. Despite nothing to push it through, it met resistance. The thread pulled through the spot as he drew the needle close and tucked it away in his coat pocket. As he stepped away from the desk, the thread followed. Though somewhere between the desk and the door to the main deck, it faded away. Cinnabar walked to the ship’s stern and looked behind him. His fingers touched the needle in his pocket and felt the coil threaded through its eye.

Atash sat nearby, mending a sail. He’d gained a few new scars in the months since they’d captured Nerim, and with it a measure of confidence. Sensing his captain awaiting his attention, the youth looked up and met Cinnabar’s gaze.

“Watch this,” said Cinnabar. He tugged on the thread in his pocket. 

Atash gasped. The world blurred.

Cinnabar stood in his quarters, exactly where he’d stuck the Sky Stitch Needle through the air.

It seemed such a small thing, though Ren had boasted it was a bristle from Isidoros himself: unmovable as the Yozi when properly deployed. Cinnabar chuckled at the thought of its uses. Returning safely to his ship during a raid, of course. Gaining access to a rival’s stronghold — ah, if only he’d acquired this before the Althing!

He paused, considering: if he pinned it through clothing — say he sewed a stitch in Kiera the Blade’s cuff — and the wearer moved, would he appear where they’d stood when he made the stitch, or where they ended up?

Chuckling, he went in search of his first mate to test it out.

Cost: 35sm, 3wp

Keywords: Aggravated, Perilous

Duration: Instant

The sorcerer casts a orb of coruscating emerald energy  at a point within medium range. No attack roll is required, but such power is reluctant to be commanded: the blaze doesn’t impact its destination until the start of her next turn, though its intended destination is clear to all observers.

On impact, the facsimile Green Sun erupts into a spear of all-consuming emerald light. This burning pillar extends out to close range from the point of impact and extends outward by another range band at the end of each round, maximum long range. It extends six range bands upwards. All characters who must succeed on a difficulty 5 (Wits + Resistance) roll or be permanently blinded. The difficulty is reduced  by 1 for each range band past the first between a character and the point of impact, minimum 2.

The emerald light is an environmental hazard with difficulty 5. Unlike most hazards, it inflicts five levels of aggravated damage on a failed roll, or five dice of aggravated damage on a successful roll. Characters damaged by it are exposed to green sun wasting (p. XX), and are permanently blinded if they suffer 3+ levels of damage. Those killed by it become shadows smeared across the landscape, leaving not even dust behind. The hazard deals uncountable damage to trivial characters, Might 0 battle groups, and most mundane scenery. It always counts as a source of recurring uncountable damage for Charms capable of defending against them. 

Once the hazard reaches long range, it releases a shockwave of burning ash and tainted air at the end of the next round. This is a lesser environmental hazard with difficulty 5, Damage 5L that extends out to short range from the emerald light’s edges. At the end of each subsequent round, it expands outward by one range band, but its difficulty is reduced by 1 each time. Once it reaches long from the blaze’s edge, it disperses. With that, the emerald light finally curdles and collapses, leaving desolation in its wake. 

Control: The sorcerer’s anima and eyes throb with emerald light. She can hurl the orb out to long range and is immune to being blinded by both the initial flash and the hazard. Characters with Ties of fear toward Ligier also treat them as applying to the sorcerer while interacting with her.

Distortion (15): This spell can only be distorted in the time between the sorcerer casting it and the blaze impacting its destination. If successful, the distorting sorcerer redirects the orb to a new destination before it impacts. The destination must be within the spell’s range and within medium range of the original destination.