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Cost: 30 motes
Duration: One turn of the sun
Target: Caster
This spell causes a large pair of burning golden wings to grow from the back of the caster, supported on a golden frame and composed of hundreds of burning feathers. This spell remains in effect until the sun either rises of sets, and the casters castemark burns fiercely during the entire duration of the spell. The sorcerer's wings have a span of about twenty four feet, and burn brighter than the fiercest bonfire, visible for miles during the day and for far greater distances at night. While the sorcerer is not harmed by the wings, they can get quite uncomfortably warm for those nearby and uncautious use can cause fires. The wings are so large that their use is restricted in tight spaces, but the character need not keep them fully extended at all times. It only requires a Simple action to carefully fold the wings behind ones back, the end result only adding a foot to the characters effective height.
While the wings are useful for overland travel, allowing the sorcerer to travel at (Strength + Essence) x 10 miles per hour in such situations, the spell was designed more as a tactical battle aide. When used in combat, the character can fly at (Strength x3) + (Essence x5) yards per turn and still take another action. The character can climb (Dexterity x5) yards per turn while flying, and dive at triple that rate. Under normal circumstances, the character must move at least 10 yards per turn. Hovering in place is a difficulty 3 Dexterity + Athletics roll, and requires a dice action every turn to maintain. The manuverability of the wings is also quite impressive, allowing the sorcerer to make hairpin turns or stop on a dime, but these manuevers also require Dexterity + Athletics rolls. In general, a character can only attack a given target once every other turn unless he executes a hairpin turn with a difficulty 2 Dexterity + Athletics dice action. Landing does not require a roll, but ascending into flight is a Dexterity + Athletics roll that gives the character five yards of height per success.
In addition to giving the character greatly enhanced tactical movement, the wings themselves are useful in combat. The wings themselves can be used as Tower Shields if the character has enough room to use them, subtracting one success from melee attacks and two successes from ranged attacks. The character is also immune to mundane arrows that don't somehow avoid the wings, the wooden arrows instantly combusting to ash. The wings themselves are white hot, and anyone who attacks the Sorcerer without a weapon while his wings are extended suffers 10L damage. By flying exceptionally low and clipping anyone in his flight path, the Sorcerer can also inflict this damage on gathered masses of targets. A difficulty 2 dodge roll will avoid all damage from this attack, but anyone unwilling or unable to make the roll suffers 10L damage as the Sorcerer passes overhead. However, attempting this manuever exposes the Sorcerer to the attacks of any prepared targets with a ready weapon. Outside of such manuevers or when making actual attacks against opponents ready to fight back, however, the Sorcerer is generally proof from non-ranged attacks.
The Sorcerer does not simply gain wings, but also the instinct to use them. He gains a general "Flying" speciality, with a rating of 3, which stacks with any normal speciality dice he might have. These dice can add to any relevant dice pools, not being attached to any one ability, and specifically add to all Athletics and Dodge rolls made while the character is aloft. Every hour of flight or scene of combat requires a Stamina + Endurance roll, with a difficulty determined by the storyteller, to avoid fatigue.
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