Cascading Energy

This spell is a part of the Electric Shock spell chain and can be found in the Electric Shock rune stone.

There is a sight that those who have lived in wet climates know well. On summer nights when the air is thick and the sky is restless, lightning comes not as single strikes but as something alive, arcing across the horizon in great cascading chains, one bolt spawning another, connecting point to point across the sky as if the energy itself is searching for somewhere to go, finding it, and searching again. It does not discriminate. It does not pause. It follows the path that energy always follows, the one that is the nearest, the easiest, the most available. It is breathtaking and it is terrifying and it does not care which of those it is to you. To call upon Cascading Energy is to make that imagery and turn it into a terrifying weapon. When this spell is cast a bolt of raw life energy erupts outward from the navitamancer, the caster themselves untouched, and strikes the nearest target within range. From that target it arcs immediately to the next nearest target, and from them to the next, cascading outward in an ever expanding chain of violent electrical energy that follows the path of least resistance across the battlefield without pause or preference for friend over foe. Each target struck takes 5d12 magical damage as the full force of the cascade passes through them.

Each target in the cascade's path may attempt to evade. However the cascade does not strike with equal precision across its entire length. The first strike is focused and fierce with the full power of the spell behind it. As the energy cascades outward it disperses slightly with each jump, becoming harder to aim but no less violent when it connects. The evade difficulty for each target in sequence is as follows:

• First target: Hard Evade -3
• Second target: Hard Evade -2
• Third target: Hard Evade -1
• Fourth target: Hard Evade
• Fifth target: Normal Evade
• Sixth target and beyond: Easy Evade

Should any target successfully evade the cascade ends at that target. The energy dissipates, having finally found a gap it could not bridge. Should no target evade the cascade continues until no further targets remain within range of the last struck target. The cascading lightning does not arc back to hit a target it once struck a second time. If no new targets remain that it can reach, the lightning arcs off into the distance, its power dispersing. The navitamancer does not guide the cascade beyond releasing it. It goes where energy goes. A wise navitamancer considers the geometry of the battlefield carefully before casting, including where allies stand, where enemies cluster, and which path the cascade will naturally follow. A careless one may find it threading through their own party before finding an enemy worth striking.