Iron Maiden's Embrace

Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Crippling, Mirror (Armor-Shattering Strike), Obvious, Stackable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Dark Messiah Form

The prospective victims of the Abyssal Exalted wrap themselves in steel and hope it will save them. Rather than prying enemies out of this flimsy shell, it amuses the Chosen of the Neverborn to instead turn protection to torment. This Charm may enhance an unarmed martial arts attack, causing it to damage an opponent's armor such that buckles and plates are driven into the target's flesh. Should the attack successfully strike the target, then the target's armor raises its mobility penalty by one point and loses three points of bashing and lethal soak, and the attack inflicts one additional level of automatic, unsoakable lethal damage in step 10. The target may not remove her damaged armor without a difficulty 3 Dexterity + Medicine roll to extract the damaged portions from her flesh. Alternately, she may accept two additional levels of lethal damage as she rips the crumpled armor free. This is a Crippling effect.

Mundane armor is permanently damaged by this Charm (unless manually repaired), but magical armor realigns itself one scene after it has been successfully removed, sustaining no lasting damage. Iron Maiden's Embrace is ineffective against unarmored opponents.