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Miko 427 of the Cloud Ascendant Shrine

—

by

Dale
in

Lore

  • Crafted during the early architectural expansion of the floating spires, these consecrated wraps were traditionally woven by shrine maidens dedicated to the spirits of the high mountain winds and cloud-shelf boundaries.
  • Maiden rituals involved continuous meditative chants during the weaving process, drawing ambient blessings into each strand of blessed thread to assist travelers negotiating vertical shrine ascents.
  • When whole shrines were hoisted into higher elevations, maidens used these garments to navigate steep cliff faces, swaying suspension bridges, and towering stone pillars without fear of losing their footing.
  • The garments are believed to hold the memory of ritual boundary lines, recognizing surfaces that lead toward the sky and providing mystical traction to the wearer’s extremities.

Description

  • The item consists of two long, immaculate white silk ribbons interwoven with bright crimson cords, edged with sacred zigzag paper streamers and miniature brass bells that chime faintly when moved.
  • When wrapped firmly around the wrists, palms, shins, and ankles, the silk tightens to fit the contours of the wearer’s limbs like a second skin while remaining pliable and light.
  • The fabric leaves the center of the palms and the pads of the toes exposed, allowing direct contact with physical surfaces while emitting a subtle, warm crimson aura when in contact with stone, wood, or sheer cliff edges.
  • Soft spiritual runes are visible along the red binding cords, pulsing with a faint glow whenever the avatar begins ascending vertical obstacles.

Detailed Stats

  • Item Tier: Tier 1
  • Rarity: Common
  • Item Hit Points: Avatar Maximum Hit Points plus 10 (Resilience 10 multiplied by Tier 1)
  • Armor Check (AC): +1
  • Weight: 1 pound
  • Material: Consecrated silk, blessed cordage, brass ward bells
  • Suggested Value: 45 Silver

Gear Slot

  • Leg Slot (covers shins, ankles, and integrates around the foot base without preventing standard footwear)

Passive Magic

  • Spiritual Foothold: The blessed fabric anchors to vertical terrain, granting a +2 bonus to physical checks and skill checks involving climbing cliffs, ascending chains, navigating steep slopes, or scaling architecture.
  • Purified Ascent: Reduces movement penalties caused by slippery, wet, or moss-covered surfaces by half when scaling vertical terrain.
  • Feathered Balance: Falling damage taken by the avatar from failed ascents is reduced by a flat 4 points, provided the avatar is conscious and actively grasping at a nearby surface.

Activable Magic

  • Dance of the Updraft: By using one action to perform a short, somatic ritual chant while touching a vertical wall, the avatar gains a mystical adhesion effect that allows normal movement speed while climbing sheer vertical surfaces for 1 minute (requires attunement; usable 2 times per day).
  • Shrine Maiden’s Leap: As an action, the wearer may channel power through the ribbons to propel themselves vertically upward to a ledge or handhold up to 15 feet above without needing a running start (usable once per combat encounter or once every 10 minutes outside of combat).

Tags

  • miko, climbing, sacred, ribbons, tier-1, common, leg-slot, somatic, movement, silk, footwear, shrine-maiden, agility, balance, vertical-traversal, warding, brass-bells, spirit-magic, wall-climb, blessed-wraps

Acquisition and Commerce of Sacred Shrine Wraps

  • Mountain Shrine Outposts and Pilgrim Supply Stalls:
    • Located along steep pilgrim trails, mountain switchbacks, and near the lower access points of floating spires.
    • These small, family-run roadside stalls cater directly to travelers, monks, and climbers needing consecrated gear to ascend higher elevations.
    • Purchasing cost: 45 silver (or 4 gold, 5 silver) to standard travelers; guild or associated faction members receive a 10% discount based on character tier (40 silver, 5 copper for a Tier 1 character).
    • Selling to shopkeeper: Merchants haggle around a 10% baseline per character tier, typically offering 40 silver, 5 copper, with payment deposited directly into the character’s World Bank account.
  • Urban Artisan and Haberdashery Boutiques:
    • Situated in the merchant quarters of coastal and interior state cities, operated by specialized tailors and textile weavers who craft ritual and utility garments.
    • These storefronts take custom orders and display completed enchantments on mannequins, requiring shoppers to examine the items under the guidance of the resident crafter.
    • Purchasing cost: 45 silver for general patrons; 40 silver, 5 copper for registered guild artisans or recognized faction members.
    • Selling to shopkeeper: Tailors inspect the wear and integrity of the silk, paying roughly 40 silver, 5 copper into the seller’s World Bank balance after verifying the item’s magical resonance.
  • Underground and Port City Black Markets:
    • Operating in back alleys, hidden dockside warehouses, and secluded cantinas where items are exchanged without questions or official records.
    • Merchants here deal strictly in physical coinage rather than World Bank ledger transfers, catering to outlaws, smugglers, or travelers seeking untracked gear.
    • Purchasing cost: Sold at full price or marked up due to high demand, typically ranging from 45 to 55 silver in physical coin.
    • Selling to shopkeeper: Underground brokers pay standard merchant rates of 40 to 45 silver in physical coin, but will pay up to 80 to 90 silver if the buyer specifically requires unrecorded consecrated goods.

Tactical and Environmental Applications of Sacred Shrine Wraps

  • High-Altitude Cloud Cities and Mage Tower Spines:
    • Defensive Applications: When navigating the narrow bridges, suspension cables, or exterior walls of twenty-story floating towers, an avatar relies on the wraps to secure immediate footholds on slick masonry washed by condensation. If blown backward by sudden high-altitude gale winds or pressured by flying beasts, the wearer can drop flat against the tower’s sheer exterior, allowing the crimson threads to grip the stones and prevent a fatal plunge into the void below. During an ambush on exterior catwalks, the user can intentionally step over the ledge, clinging to the underside of the floating discs or masonry foundations to break line of sight, gain total cover from ranged bombardment, and force pursuers into hazardous drop maneuvers.
    • Offensive Applications: In aerial battles against avian monsters or airborne raiders, the avatar uses the vertical adhesion to run directly up the outer curve of floating bowls and towers to gain superior elevation. By activating the rapid vertical leap, the wearer vaults onto higher structural perches or directly onto the decks of incoming skiffs and zeppelins, striking downward with their primary weapon to exploit high-ground leverage while maintaining stable, slip-free footing on rounded, wind-swept surfaces.
  • Mountainous Cliffs, Canyons, and Volcanic Slopes:
    • Defensive Applications: In jagged mountain passes or brittle volcanic basalt ridges, crumbling footholds represent constant hazards. The wraps distribute the user’s weight evenly across small rock fissures, mitigating the risk of triggering rockslides. When pursued by ground-bound beasts or larger predators incapable of vertical scaling, the avatar rapidly retreats straight up a ninety-degree canyon wall, putting vertical distance between themselves and the threat while staying braced against the cliff face to resist ranged projectiles or falling debris.
    • Offensive Applications: The avatar maneuvers stealthily above enemy encampments or monster dens situated within ravine floors. Clinging securely to overhangs or descending headfirst along cliff faces, the wearer can line up ranged attacks, drop alchemical vials, or cast spells from angles foes cannot easily target or counter. The sudden vertical leap allows the combatant to bound between opposing cliff walls or drop directly into the center of an enemy formation with controlled momentum, immediately springing back out of reach after delivering a strike.
  • Dense Jungles, Giant Flora, and Toxic Canopy Forests:
    • Defensive Applications: The jungle floor often teems with aggressive predatory flora, venomous insects, and caustic sap pools. The wraps allow the wearer to completely bypass contaminated ground terrain by ascending towering, moss-slick tree trunks. When attacked by venom-spitting creatures or constricting vines, the user maneuvers along the underside of massive branches, utilizing the natural bark as a physical shield against incoming projectiles while remaining completely stationary without expending grip stamina.
    • Offensive Applications: In canopy ambushes, the avatar stalks hostile patrols by running horizontally along thick boughs and vaulting upward through the branch network. The wearer drops rapidly from vertical perches, using the fabric’s natural descent absorption to land silently behind sentries, execute an attack, and immediately ascend the nearest trunk before surrounding foes can establish a defensive line.
  • Subterranean Megacities, Cave Complexes, and Deep Mines:
    • Defensive Applications: In pitch-black subterranean caverns where ground collapses and stalactite falls occur, the wraps enable an avatar to climb ceiling formations to avoid ground-level tremors, lava channels, or burrowing beasts with tremorsense. If cornered in narrow mine shafts, the combatant uses the wall adhesion to scale upward, avoiding sweep attacks, cleaving blows, and ground-based entrapment zones while forcing adversaries to fight in awkward, upward-facing postures.
    • Offensive Applications: By moving silently across cavern ceilings and upper stalactite fields, the wearer positions themselves directly above heavily guarded subterranean outposts or subterranean monster nests. From this inverted vantage point, the avatar unleashes downward strikes, drops heavy explosive devices, or leaps down directly atop priority targets, bypassing reinforced barricades and front-line shield bearers entirely.
  • Coastal Cliffs, Harbor Wharfs, and Sailing Vessel Rigging:
    • Defensive Applications: Maritime combat is frequently complicated by wet, spray-slicked wood, rocking hulls, and surging waves. The wraps neutralize footing instability caused by ocean spray on ship decks, allowing the avatar to remain firmly planted during violent storms or hull impacts. If boarded by sea marauders or assaulted by aquatic leviathans attempting to sweep the deck, the user rapidly ascends the ship’s mast or outer hull, escaping sweeping tentacles and boarding nets.
    • Offensive Applications: During naval boarding operations, the wearer navigates high ship rigging and yardarms at full speed, jumping across to enemy vessels to scale their exterior hulls from the waterline up. This allows the combatant to bypass fortified gunwales, infiltrate the captain’s quarters or upper decks through unexpected exterior vectors, and cut critical rigging lines while securely braced on vertical timber masts.

Perception of Activation:

User’s Perspective

  • Sight: As the somatic activation chant is completed, the intricate runes woven into the crimson cords ignite with a concentrated, warm red-orange luminance that traces the contours of the wearer’s shins, ankles, and feet. Upon stepping onto a vertical or inverted surface, tiny crimson sparks and glowing contact crests bloom beneath the soles, outlining exactly where the spiritual adhesion grips the stone, wood, or ice.
  • Hearing: A resonant, harmonic chime rings directly against the wearer’s ears, produced by the brass ward bells vibrating at a high frequency. The sound of turbulent rushing winds, grinding stone, or creaking wood fades into a muted hum, replaced by a rhythmic, soothing pulse synchronized with the avatar’s heartbeat.
  • Touch: A pleasant, dry heat radiates inward through the consecrated white silk wraps, stabilizing the muscles and joints of the lower legs. As feet make contact with vertical masonry, the user feels a distinct magnetic pull—an unyielding, steady grip that makes vertical stone feel as stable and level underfoot as flat ground, eliminating any sensation of strain, slip, or shearing pressure.
  • Smell: A crisp fragrance of burning mountain cedar incense, fresh ozone, and crushed ceremonial herbs fills the user’s nasal passages, cutting entirely through foul environmental odors, bog rot, or choking volcanic fumes.
  • Taste: The air crossing the palate takes on a clean, mineral sweetness reminiscent of purified alpine snowmelt and cold mountain air.
  • Extra-Sensory Perceptions:
    • Mind’s Eye Gravitational Alignment: The internal sense of equilibrium recalibrates instantly; the avatar experiences true down as being perpendicular to whatever surface the feet are resting upon, completely neutralizing vertigo, acrophobia, and balance disorientation.
    • Surface Resonance Awareness: The avatar senses micro-fractures, moisture pockets, structural stress points, and weight tolerances in the climbable material up to ten feet ahead through the spiritual conduit of the wraps.
    • Spiritual Lineage Echo: A brief gestalt impression of past shrine maidens scaling high peaks flickers through the mind, projecting intuitive somatic movement paths across sheer walls.

Observer’s Perspective

  • Sight: Spectators see the white silk tighten seamlessly against the wearer’s legs as the crimson bindings glow with a sharp, fiery intensity. When the user takes a step up a sheer ninety-degree wall, a glowing ritual sigil flashes beneath each footfall, leaving a momentary crimson trail of light that fades after two seconds.
  • Hearing: Nearby creatures hear the rhythmic, high-pitched ringing of tiny brass bells echoing against the surrounding rock faces, accompanied by a soft sound like rustling ceremonial paper streamers fluttering in an unfelt breeze.
  • Touch: Anyone standing within five feet of the ascending user feels a faint draft of warm, rising air and a light static prickle across their skin, akin to the aura preceding a high-altitude lightning discharge.
  • Smell: Observers catch a distinct whiff of smoldering shrine incense and ozone that briefly lingers in the air along the path the climber ascends.
  • Taste: Characters in close proximity may notice a faint, metallic dryness on the back of their tongue as the ambient magic concentrates around the wraps.
  • Extra-Sensory Perceptions:
    • True Sight Feedback: Viewers utilizing True Sight perceive a vibrant ultraviolet and crimson shroud radiating upward along the climber’s limbs, revealing a focused spiritual weave anchoring the avatar firmly to the physical plane.
    • Tremorsense Disturbance: Burrowing or ground-monitoring entities perceive the user’s physical footsteps diminishing dramatically in weight signature, registering as light, rhythmic surface touches rather than full-bodied impacts.

Positives

  • Neutralizes slipping hazards caused by slime, condensation, rain, oil, and loose moss.
  • Eradicates physical exhaustion associated with prolonged vertical climbing, allowing steady travel at standard walking velocity.
  • Removes cognitive panic, dizziness, and situational penalties caused by extreme heights and disorientation.
  • Provides predictive insight into unsafe handholds, crumbling masonry, or brittle cliff edges prior to committing full weight.
  • Leaves both hands completely free to wield weapons, ready shields, or cast spells while moving along vertical walls or ceilings.

Negatives

  • The bright crimson glow and ultraviolet aura eliminate the possibility of total visual stealth in dark environments, tunnels, or nighttime operations.
  • The continuous chiming of the brass ward bells alerts nearby vigilant sentries and predatory beasts with sensitive hearing.
  • The distinctive scent of burning sacred incense and ozone can be tracked by hounds, feral trackers, or creatures hunting by scent.
  • Sudden termination of the activation duration while positioned on high vertical structures abruptly reinstates standard gravity, immediately exposing the user to falling hazards if handholds are not secured.

Recipe: Consecration of Cloud-Ascendant Shrine Wraps

Materials Needed

  • One Tier-1 Magic Crystal (intact, coin-sized and weighted, functioning as the primary arcane battery catalyst to bind the enchantment).
  • Ten yards of raw, unblemished spun mountain silkworm thread (tightly woven into two equal strips).
  • Six yards of braided hemp cord, steeped in crushed vermilion mineral dye.
  • Six ounces of High-Altitude Pine Resin (extracted via a Fluid Collector from living alpine evergreens).
  • Four ounces of purified spring water drawn from an active mountain shrine font.
  • Four consecrated miniature brass bells, cast without seams and polished with ritual chalk.
  • Two strips of ritual shide paper, inscribed with somatic binding characters.
  • Sacrificial Component: One pair of mundane climber’s wraps or rope bindings (consumed during the process to transfer foundational structural durability into the finished garment).

Tools Required

  • Standard Weaver’s Hand Loom and Bone Spindles (used to combine the consecrated silk with the vermilion cords).
  • Fluid Collector (needle-syringe extraction apparatus used for gathering and measuring precise fluid quantities).
  • Brass Inscription Stylus (tuned for channeling arcane focus into fabric and metal surfaces).
  • Stone Crucible and Small Burner (for heating the resin and mineral dye mixture).
  • Consecration Basin (for purifying and steeping materials prior to final assembly).

Skill Requirements

  • Crafting (Weaving/Tailoring): Minimum Skill Level 3.
  • Arcana / Spell Crafting: Minimum Skill Level 2.
  • Religion / Ritual Inscription: Minimum Skill Level 2.

Crafting Steps

  • Purification and Steeping of the Base Fabrics:
    • Cleanse the stone basin with consecrated spring water, ensuring all foreign residues are completely eliminated.
    • Submerge the woven white silk strips into the spring water mixed with two ounces of vermilion dye, reciting the introductory purification stanzas for thirty minutes.
    • Remove the silk, press out excess moisture using clean linen, and allow the strips to air-dry while exposed to direct sunlight.
  • Reagent Preparation and Catalyst Extraction:
    • Using the Fluid Collector, draw six ounces of fresh resin from high-altitude pine timber and deposit the fluid directly into the stone crucible.
    • Heat the crucible over the burner until the resin liquefies into a clear, viscous binding agent.
    • Introduce the mundane climber’s wraps into the heated mixture, stirring continuously until the sacrificial cloth dissolves completely, releasing its structural essence into the fluid base.
    • Place the Tier-1 magic crystal into the center of the crucible for three minutes, allowing the liquid to absorb the ambient mana from the crystalline matrix without cracking the crystal’s outer lattice.
  • Weaving and Thread Consecration:
    • Mount the purified silk strips onto the hand loom, integrating the vermilion cords along the outer margins.
    • Dip the bone spindles into the infused resin, using them to weave reinforcing cross-stitches along the entire length of the leg wraps.
    • Inscribe somatic runes of adhesion and spiritual footing along the red cords using the brass stylus, channeling conscious intent through the conduit of the tool.
  • Affixing Wards and Final Binding:
    • Thread two seamless brass bells and folded ritual shide paper streamers onto each completed wrap at the upper calf anchor points.
    • Place the Tier-1 magic crystal against the primary central knot of the wraps and hold it firmly while reciting the ritual activation chant for ten consecutive minutes.
    • Channel focused magical energy until the crystal flashes once with a bright violet hue, indicating that its latent arcane charges have successfully tethered to the woven conduits.
    • Inspect the wraps for uniform tension; the completed item will pulse with a faint crimson warmth across the inner lining, signifying that the enchantment is complete and ready for attunement.

Maiden of 427 Cloud Steppings

In the early turning when the big floating rocks did not have names yet and the great breath of the sky-mother was very angry with the dirt below, there sat high up a shrine of wood that did not touch the grass of the valley. It was placed upon the stone that floats where the big birds make their nests and scream at the morning brightness. In that high place lived the maiden whose name has been eaten by water-bugs, but the scribe calls her the four hundred twenty-seventh daughter of the temple of the white robes. She was small of body, but her head was filled with the ancient songs that make the wind listen and stop biting the faces of the holy folk.

In those days, the path from the down-dirt to the up-shrine was made of nothing. Men who walked with two legs could only look up and weep because their fat fingers could not hold the slickness of the wet pillars when the great white clouds came to wash the mages’ houses. Many pilgrims who carried copper bowls and fat goats to give to the high spirits slipped upon the green moss and fell down into the dark ravines, making a very bad sound upon the stones below. The spirits of the high air were not happy, because their bellies were empty of roast mutton and their altars had only cold raindrops upon them.

The maiden saw the weeping people at the bottom of the gray rock-pillar. She went to the altar where the white silkworms ate the leaves of the ghost-tree that grows only where the air is very thin and makes men cough red water. She took the long shiny hair from the worms and began to pull it with her small fingers, speaking words that have no letters in our tongue. For forty days and forty nights, while the great gas orb in the sky turned from bright yellow to deep shadow-purple, she did not shut her two eyes. She braided the white cloth and tied into it the thick ropes dyed with the red stones crushed from the deep hole of fire.

Into the knots she tied four small pieces of brass that were taken from the singing bowls of the dead priests. When she blew her warm breath upon the metal, the little bells made the noise of water running over gravel, and the cloth became very stiff, like the dried skin of a river lizard, yet soft like the inside of a woman’s sleeve. She spoke into the red cords the true title of the stone-spirit that holds the world up, but because the ink was mixed with vinegar, that line cannot be read by the eyes of the living.

It is written that on the morning when the great storm of lightning shook the floating bowls of the sorcerers, a terrible green beast with six arms and the head of a hungry vulture flew down from the great heights where the sky ends. The beast landed upon the high shrine and began to eat the sacred rice cakes and broke the wooden pillars with its heavy tail. The old priests shouted and threw their sticks, but their feet were old and slippery, and they fell off the wooden platform, tumbling through the fog into the wide ocean below where the big fishes live.

Only the maiden remained upon the edge of the sky-step. She sat upon the cold floor and wrapped the consecrated white bands around her feet and legs, pulling the red cordage until her blood stopped moving into her toes. She jumped off the edge of the wooden floor into the empty air, but she did not drop down to become red paste on the valley floor. Her feet found the sheer basalt side of the floating stone, and she walked straight upward upon the ninety-degree face as if she were walking through a flat field of barley. The little brass bells rang very loudly, and the mountain winds blew her hair, but her feet were glued by the spirit-power to the slick basalt.

The big vulture-thing saw the girl walking on the vertical wall and became very angry in its belly. It jumped from the shrine roof and opened its great wings to dive upon her with its long iron claws. But the maiden did not run away into the shrine door. She made the short somatic shout of the fourth circle and pushed her feet against the stone. The holy wraps gave a great push of red fire, and she vaulted fifteen spans straight into the open wind, landing on the hairy back of the flying monster.

With her small knife of bone, she cut the thick tendons of the beast’s wings while singing the purification verse of the third season. The beast cried out like a sick dog and lost its balance in the air currents, rolling upside down as it plummeted toward the jagged rocks of the low land. But the maiden did not fall with the dead monster. As they tumbled past the sheer wall of the third floating disc, she extended her right leg and touched the slippery bottom of the floating bowl. The consecrated silk seized the inverted stone immediately, catching her whole body and holding her upside down beneath the sky-city while the dead bird broke upon the cliffs below.

She hung there beneath the stone like a spider of the ceiling, looking down at the wide world where the big rivers looked like tiny silver snakes. She climbed up the curved belly of the floating rock, step by step, unbothered by the great height or the turning of the moon around the gas star, until she stood again upon the clean floor of the high temple.

When the other people of the valley saw that she had walked upon the empty air and climbed the slick walls without falling, they came with many wagons of timber and ropes to build new stairs. But the maiden took off the sacred wraps and laid them upon the stone altar of the mountain spirit, where they remained warm to the touch for seven hundred turnings of the seasons. It is said by the scribes who came after the great fire that whenever a traveler wears the true wraps of the maiden, the stone will always remember her light footsteps and refuse to let the traveler drop into the jaws of the earth.

Moral of the Story True devotion and disciplined craft provide an unyielding foundation upon the most perilous precipices, teaching all mortals that when one’s spirit is correctly aligned and properly bound, even the sheerest abyss can be traversed as if it were a level road.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Dungeons & Dragons

Miko Wraps of the Cloud Ascent Wondrous Item, Common (Requires Attunement)

  • Item Profile:
    • Item Type: Wondrous Item (Legs / Feet)
    • Weight: 1 lb.
    • Rarity: Common
  • Properties:
    • Spiritual Foothold: While wearing these blessed silk and cord bindings, you gain a climbing speed equal to your walking speed, and you have advantage on Strength (Athletics) and Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks made to scale vertical surfaces or maintain balance on narrow perches.
    • Purified Ascent: Difficult terrain composed of slick stone, ice, or plant overgrowth does not cost you extra movement while climbing.
    • Soft Landing: When you take damage from a fall, you can use your reaction to reduce the falling damage by an amount equal to five times your proficiency bonus.
  • Activable Magic:
    • Dance of the Updraft: As an action, you speak a short somatic prayer to focus the wraps. For 1 minute, you gain the ability to move up, down, and across vertical surfaces and upside down along ceilings while leaving your hands free. Once used, this property cannot be used again until you finish a long rest.
    • Shrine Maiden’s Leap: As a bonus action, you channel spiritual force through the wraps to make a standing high jump up to 15 feet into the air without needing a running start. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks from creatures you leap away from. You can use this feature twice per short rest.

Call of Cthulhu

The Tassels of the Ascendant Kagura Occult Artifact and Relic of the Kami

  • Item Profile:
    • Physical Description: Twin braided ribbons of faded mountain silk bound in coiling vermilion threads, hung with four tarnished brass warding bells and paper folded in zigzag crests.
    • Concealment: Worn under heavy trousers or tall boots; exposes a faint scent of burning cedar and ozone when active.
    • Sanity Loss to Bind: 1D3 Sanity points upon attuning to the spiritual entity anchored within the ribbons.
  • Mechanics:
    • Kinetic Anchor: Grants a flat +20% bonus to the investigator’s Climb skill and a +10% bonus to Dodge or Jump checks when traversing narrow scaffolding, rooftops, sheer cliff faces, or rigging.
    • Somatic Levity: The wearer ignores movement penalties from wet or mossy surfaces during environmental pursuits and reduces any physical falling damage by 1D6 points.
  • Occult Activations:
    • Spiritual Ascent: The user spends 3 Magic Points and performs a quiet one-round chant. For the next 10 minutes, the user can walk directly up sheer vertical walls or scale brickwork at normal walking speed without requiring Climb checks, provided the surface can bear their weight. Activating this power in full view of mundanes may provoke a 0/1D3 Sanity roll for the observers due to unnatural visual distortions.
    • Bell of Distraction: As an instantaneous reaction when attacked or pursued, the wearer can vigorously shake the brass bells (costing 1 Magic Point). Opponents within 10 feet must succeed on a Listen or POW check; failure imposes one Penalty Die on their next attack or maneuver roll against the wearer due to piercing resonant frequencies.

Blades in the Dark

Ghost-Silk Shrine Bindings Arcane Utility Gear (1 Load)

  • Item Profile:
    • Load: 1 Load (Light)
    • Classification: Arcane implement / Infiltration apparatus
    • Visual Style: White ceremonial silk wraps with crimson braided cords and muted copper bells that softly whisper into the ghost field.
  • Rules and Mechanics:
    • Passive Advantage (Grip of the Kami): When you make an Action Roll to Prowl or Finesse along vertical architecture, sheer exterior masonry, slippery rooftops, or industrial girders, your position is improved (a Risky position becomes Controlled; a Desperate position becomes Risky) or your effect level is increased from Standard to Great.
    • Ghost-Strand Adhesion (Active Feature): When you scale sheer, featureless surfaces or move horizontally along ceilings, take 1 Stress to activate the bindings. The ribbons adhere directly to the surface across the ghost field, granting you full wall-running and wall-clinging capabilities for the duration of the obstacle without requiring climbing gear or standard handholds.
    • Spiritual Cushion (Armor Feature): You may mark your Special Armor (or take 2 Stress) to completely negate physical harm or impact consequences resulting from a fall or an environmental structural collapse.

Knave

Maiden’s Consecrated Strides Relic Gear (1 Item Slot)

  • Item Profile:
    • Item Slots: 1 Slot (worn on legs/feet)
    • Durability / Usage: 3 Quality dots
    • Item Type: Wondrous Footwear / Climbing Implement
  • Game Mechanics:
    • Footing of the Shrine: The wearer can traverse difficult, slick, or sheer inclines without needing special gear. The character adds a +2 bonus to any Dexterity or Strength ability checks made to climb walls, scale stone cliffs, or balance on perilous ledges.
    • Absorb Impact: The wraps absorb shock; whenever the character takes falling damage, subtract 4 from the total damage dealt before applying wounds to inventory slots.
    • Ascendant Walk (Active Spell-Like Effect): Once per day, the wearer can speak the somatic activation verse to gain the ability to walk directly up vertical walls and along ceilings at normal movement speed for up to 10 minutes.
    • Wear and Tear: If an inventory slot containing the wraps is wounded from incoming combat damage, mark 1 Quality dot. When all 3 dots are filled, the sacred cords snap, and the item becomes non-functional until repaired by a craftsman with appropriate ritual materials.

Fate

Ribbons of the Wind-Step Maiden Extra / Character Aspect Gear

  • Item Aspects:
    • Sacred Consecrated Shinto Silk Wraps
    • Defier of Sheer Precipices
  • Item Stunts and Mechanics:
    • Spiritual Grip: Gain a +2 bonus to Athletics rolls when actively climbing sheer walls, navigating narrow ledges, or overcoming vertical obstacles.
    • Ascending Kagura: Once per session, or by spending 1 Fate Point, you can move across vertical surfaces or along ceilings as easily as walking on flat ground for the remainder of the current scene without rolling Athletics to maintain your grip.
    • Feather-Fall Ward: When taking physical stress or consequences resulting strictly from a fall, you can check one fewer stress box (or reduce the consequence severity by one step if the consequence resulted entirely from impact).
  • Troubles and Compels:
    • Chiming of the Warding Bells: The brass bells chime when active, allowing the Guide Manager or opposing characters to invoke or compel the item to complicate stealth efforts or alert nearby adversaries.

Cypher System and Numenera

Aero-Tether Shrine Strides Artifact (Level 2)

  • Form: Twin ribbons of treated synthetic white silk intertwined with vermilion smart-cables, terminating in micro-resonance bells.
  • Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (checked upon completing an active wall-running duration).
  • Passive Effect:
    • While worn around the lower limbs, the wearer’s effective level for all tasks related to climbing, balancing on narrow surfaces, or mitigating slipping hazards is eased by one step.
  • Activated Effect:
    • Surface Vector Shift: The user expends 1 point from their Speed Pool (or activates the artifact directly). For the next 10 minutes, the ribbons project a focused gravitational inversion field directly beneath the user’s feet, allowing them to walk or run along sheer vertical walls and inverted ceilings at their normal movement rate.
    • Shock-Damping Discharge: When the wearer suffers falling damage, the artifact automatically absorbs kinetic energy, reducing the damage suffered by 4 points.

Pathfinder (Second Edition)

Miko’s Ascendant Leggings Item 2 | Evocation, Magical, Primal

  • Item Statistics:
    • Price: 35 gp
    • Usage: Worn (footwear/legs)
    • Bulk: L
    • Access Requirement: Trained in Athletics
  • Properties:
    • While wearing these consecrated wraps, you gain a +1 item bonus to Athletics checks made to Climb, and you ignore non-magical difficult terrain caused by slick surfaces, loose gravel, or vertical moss while climbing.
  • Activate — Maiden’s Wall-Run:
    • Action Cost: Two Actions (Concentrate, Somatic)
    • Frequency: Once per day
    • Effect: You speak the sacred verse, causing the crimson cords to ignite with soft light. For 1 minute, you gain a climb Speed equal to your base land Speed. During this time, you can move across vertical surfaces and ceilings without needing to keep your hands free.
  • Activate — Shrine Spring:
    • Action Cost: One Action (Flourish)
    • Frequency: Once per 10 minutes
    • Effect: You make a High Jump up to 15 feet vertically without making a check and without requiring a 10-foot stride beforehand. This movement does not trigger reactions triggered by movement from your starting square.

Savage Worlds

Shrine Maiden’s Cloudwraps Minor Arcane Relic

  • Item Profile:
    • Weight: 1 lb.
    • Category: Personal Gear (Legs/Feet)
    • Requirement: Novice rank
  • Static Modifiers:
    • Surefooted: The wearer gains a +2 bonus to all Athletics rolls made to Climb walls, balance on narrow walkways, or scale hazardous cliff faces.
    • Impact Dampening: Subtract 4 points of damage from any damage roll caused by falling.
  • Arcane Features:
    • Wall Walker: As an action, the wearer may spend 1 Power Point (or activate the relic with an innate spirit check) to activate the Wall Walker power on themselves for a duration of 5 rounds. This allows full movement along vertical surfaces and ceilings at the character’s base Pace.
    • Spiritual Spring: Once per round as part of regular movement, the character may jump an additional 2 inches (4 yards) vertically or horizontally, ignoring difficult terrain at the jump’s launch point.

Shadowrun (Sixth World)

Tengu-Step Miko Focus Bandages Qi Focus (Rating 2) / Enchanted Clothing

  • Item Profile:
    • Item Type: Qi Focus / Bound Ward Clothing (Footwear/Legs)
    • Availability: 4 (F)
    • Karma Cost to Bind: 4 Karma
    • Cost: 6,000 Nuyen
  • Mechanics & Modifiers:
    • Acrobatic Traction: Adds +2 dice to all Athletics tests involving climbing vertical structures, scaling urban architecture, or traversing slick or narrow surfaces.
    • Adept Power Integration (Wall Running & Freefall): When bonded to an Adept or Mystic Adept, the focus sustains the equivalent of the Wall Running power and 1 rank of the Freefall power without increasing the user’s Power Point strain.
    • Activated Kinetic Bound: The user may spend a Minor Action to activate the focus’s kinetic warding. For the next combat turn, the user gains a +2-meter bonus to vertical jump distance and ignores difficult terrain penalties caused by mud, wet masonry, or loose debris.
    • Arcane Footprint: In the astral plane, the focus projects an active, bright magical aura. Street samurais or unawakened wearers only receive the baseline physical traction bonus (+1 die to climbing tests) and do not gain magical wall-running or shock dissipation.

Starfinder (Second Edition)

Miko Grav-Strides Item 2 | Hybrid, Magical, Tech

  • Item Statistics:
    • Price: 450 Credits
    • Usage: Worn (Legs/Feet)
    • Bulk: Light
    • Capacity / Usage: 20 Charges / 1 per round of activation
  • Item Traits & Modifiers:
    • Magnetic-Spiritual Vectoring: You gain a +1 item bonus to Athletics checks to Climb vertical tech-structures, hull plating, and natural terrain. You treat vertical surfaces as standard climbable terrain even if they lack obvious physical handholds.
    • Inertial Dampener: When taking falling damage, you can expend a Reaction to reduce the effective falling distance by 20 feet, mitigating resulting damage.
  • Activated Abilities:
    • Zero-G Wall Trot:
      • Action: Single Action (Manipulate)
      • Cost: 1 Charge per round
      • Effect: The hybrid field projects a localized gravity attraction line beneath your feet. You gain a climb Speed equal to your base land Speed, allowing you to walk freely along vertical walls, starship hulls, and ceilings while leaving your hands free to wield ranged weapons or manipulate console gear.

Traveller (Second Edition / Mongoose 2E)

Ascendant Grip-Wraps Advanced Specialist Rigging / Gravitic Textile

  • Item Specifications:
    • Tech Level (TL): TL 12 (Specialist / Psionic or High-Tech Equivalent)
    • Weight: Negligible (0.5 kg)
    • Cost: Cr 1,500
    • Power: Internal micro-cell (30 minutes continuous active adhesion)
  • Game Mechanics:
    • Micro-Anchor Matrix: While worn securely around the lower limbs, the user gains a DM+2 to all Athletics (Dexterity or Strength) checks made to scale vertical bulkheads, cliffs, building frames, or hull superstructures.
    • Micro-Grav Surface Adhesion (Active): When the micro-switch is triggered, the micro-grav weave generates a localized directional clamp. The user can traverse vertical walls and overhead surfaces at standard walking speed without needing to make continuous skill checks, provided the surface is solid structural material.
    • Impact Deflector: If the wearer falls, the integrated kinetic baffles discharge automatically, subtracting 2D6 from the total falling damage suffered.

Warhammer (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition)

Consecrated Bands of the High Shrine Magical Trapping (Blessed Leg-Wraps)

  • Item Profile:
    • Encumbrance: 0
    • Availability: Exotic / Rare
    • Location: Legs / Feet
  • Rules & Modifiers:
    • Blessing of the High Mountain: The wearer gains a +10 bonus to all Climb and Athletics tests made to scale vertical cliffs, fortified walls, or navigate slippery ledges.
    • Surefooted Ward: The wearer ignores all movement penalties imposed by mud, ice, water-slicked stone, or loose rubble while moving upward.
    • Impact Absorption: Subtract 4 points of damage from the final total of any damage suffered from a fall before applying wounds or Critical Hits.
    • Activated Kagura Leap: Once per day, the wearer may channel the spiritual power woven into the crimson cords to make an immediate vertical leap of up to 4 yards without taking a running start, moving out of melee engagement without provoking free strikes from engaged foes.