The mage can scour another person’s Pattern just as she can scour her own, changing
fl esh and blood into Mana. This causes Resistant Damage to the target (see p. 124
of Mage: The Awakening).
The mage must touch her target (with Prime 5, this spell can be cast at sensory range). The target experiences searing pain as fl esh boils away into magical energy. Each success inflicts one
point of lethal Resistant Damage and gives the caster one point of Mana.
If Scour Other’s Pattern is cast upon a mage, however, the target can reap one benefit from this attack. The mage can attempt to take the Mana freed by the attack into her pool. The target makes a reflexive Stamina + Gnosis roll. If this roll succeeds, the target mage adds one point of Mana to her pool per two successes, up to her usual maximum. The caster is thus denied these points.
This spell cannot be successfully cast more than once on the same target per scene. Use of the spell requires a degeneration roll for mages of Wisdom 4 or more (roll three dice).
Silver Ladder Rote: Lash of the Aether
Sometimes a Sleeper needs to learn that mages aren’t to be trifl ed with, and sometimes a mage needs to learn his place. The mages of the Silver Ladder don’t relish using this spell — it’s painful and the wounds take days to heal. But that is sometimes exactly what a hubristic spellcaster needs to realize that magic cannot solve all his problems.
