Abyssals - Dark Future - IC

[Random Word]

As the journey drags on Epiphany gets bored with exploring. Much as she would like to resume her staring contest with the hateful sun, the whispers are adamant she remain hidden. She is loathe to admit it, but the light of the harsh Southern sun is extremely uncomfortable and she's glad to be in the shade. She sits on the shadowed side of one of the metal beasts until they approach an encamped army and an impressive collection of metal people. The voices in her head scream at her to conceal herself better, and she grudgingly slips off the back of the metal beast, rolls underneath it, and grabs hold of one of its large exposed bones - how reassuringly familiar - to pull herself up before cloaking herself in the deep shadows of Oblivion. It's coated in some kind of slippery black blood, but her claws allow her to effortlessly secure herself.

Spoiler: Mechanics

Okay, let's see if I can sort this out.

2 Successes from Unseen Wisp, 1 Success from Orb of the Unseen Predator, 2+? Successes from Gemstone of Shadows (The wording on that one is really weird - it seems like it's up to you how many successes it grants, but it starts at 2 and goes up from there depending on the level of darkness? I'm fine with it just always being 2 because that seems like a silly rule to adjudicate.)

Dex 5 + Stealth 5 + In Shadow 3 + Stunt 2 (Stunt bonuses doubled by Shadow Cloak) = 15 dice; 10 + 5 = 15 total successes

 

[Psychie]

[At this point she's up to 15 dice + 3 auto successes + -2 external penalty to observers; should I roll this one?]

Yes, please. With this many people, there is a chance that one of them will see you, and you might roll crappy.

 

[Sherwood]

Whisper is careful to keep her eyes and ears open, hoping to catch a hint on how this encounter will be going.

 

[Psychie]

Stern Whip of Industry makes contact with the other members of the Exalted of these outlanders, telling them what has happened and how he came into contact with you. His good word seems to put the other Exalts from Autochthon somewhat more at ease when dealing with you, but you can tell that not all of them are just blindly accepting his endorsement, and are eyeing you with caution.

As you wait, a different Exalt approaches you. This one appears to be female, made mostly of starmetal. She says in heavily accented Firetongue, "Greetings. I am Shining Diamond of Fate, and it has been assigned to me to be your contact with our people. Please, be at ease. Industry has spoken well of you, and I would like to learn more of you and your people."


While this is going on, Epiphany is lurking about the place, listening in and looking about, and it is quickly apparent that you have remained undetected by these Autochthonians. In one of the temporary structures, you are able to see a large map of the area, showing symbols of different military units on the march across Creation, many of them heading to the city of Gem. You know little of the science of war on a large scale to know what these symbols mean, so you don't know how many soldiers you are looking at here.

What else do you wish to do while you are unobserved?

 

[Random Word]

As the metal beast lumbers into the base the voices in her mind gibber. Yes, cower in the shadows where you belong. Should they see the horror that is you, this envoy will be in vain. Leave this to your less hideous siblings. Cower not in shadow. Bare your soul, and show these children of our wayward brother the beauty of Oblivion. Placating the voices in her head would be considerably easier if they didn't constantly issue contradictory directives. Still, a two thirds majority was about as coherent as they ever were, so she waits impatiently while the initial pleasantries are exchanged and then when the metal people have left she can no longer contain her curiosity and slips into a nearby structure.

Epiphany flits silently between shadows in the temporary operations centre. She listens to conversations to see if she can comprehend the stranger's language, admires their beautiful maps, examines the implements of their trades, and rifles through their things. The voices are blissfully silent until suddenly they speak: MORE. Give yourself to us. Dance, puppet. She grimaces and sighs. This part is always awful, but if she ignores them they'll become completely unbearable.

She closes her eyes and reaches deep inside herself and through sheer force of will wrenches open the gate that links her soul to the depths of the void. Only a tiny fragment of the things beyond can fit through the gate, but even so her mind simply cannot contain the immensity of what pours forth. It manifests as a splitting headache; colours pulse, her vision blurs, and it takes everything she has to remain conscious against the onrushing tide of searing pain. She bites down on her tongue and tastes blood.

There is no room left in her mind for anything except the perfect clarity of the purpose that now drives her and the all-encompassing knowledge of every form of warfare to have ravaged Creation since the moment of its inception. She is gripped by a ravenous hunger for every scrap of knowledge about the designs of the Traitor's servants on Creation, and she devours every map, document, conversation, supply crate, tool, and weapon she can find as she sweeps through the building to sate it.

Spoiler: Mechanics

Spending 1 WP to act according to the revealed will of the Neverborn, and substitute one ability with her Whispers rating for a scene. I'm guessing the revealed will is going to be: 'Find out what those sneaky traitors are up to', and the Neverborn are going to give her 5 dots of War to do it with, but I can rework the stunt if it turns out they'd rather give her Lore or Occult, or completely different orders entirely.

 

[Sherwood]

Hey Psychie We still going on with this one?

 

[Psychie]

Sorry, I've been crazy distracted. Give me a bit, and I'll have some IC posts up for you guys.

 

[Sherwood]

As you wait, a different Exalt approaches you. This one appears to be female, made mostly of starmetal. She says in heavily accented Firetongue, "Greetings. I am Shining Diamond of Fate, and it has been assigned to me to be your contact with our people. Please, be at ease. Industry has spoken well of you, and I would like to learn more of you and your people."

Whisper nods. "I am pleased to meet you, Shining Diamond of Fate. I am Whispers From the Darkness, and I serve my Mistress, Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Nightmares. It is her desire that we establish friendly contact with your people, with the benefit of the positive exchange of goods and ideas. We have much knowledge of the area of Creation that your forces are moving into, and would be willing to provide you and your people this information as a show of good will on our part."