Exalted Essence: The Young Exalts and the Sea IC

[jaydude]

For IC stuff.

 

[jaydude]

EbonChevalier Psychie Random Word Rykon Sherwood

The Principality of Kyoma. A Realm satrapy of the West, a centuries-old symbol of Dragon-blooded supremacy, now a ruin in its early stages.

It began in the evening, ironically enough on the seven hundred and sixty-eighth anniversary of the Realm's founding. Celebrations of this most auspicious date were widespread across the principality's coastal capital, from cheerful family dinners in finely-decorated homes, to a grand festival taking place within the central square, to an even more lavish banquet at the ruling prince's palace. The mood in the city was joyous, none within - even those chosen by the various Incarnae - suspecting that terror and destruction would soon envelop them.

It emerged from the ocean as the various festivities were reaching their zenith. A gargantuan golden whale, floating within the sky, its dorsal half and fins adorned with brightly glistening feathers. Its mere existence silenced all who were aware of it, and as several thousand people watched in quiet terror, it drifted towards the prince's palace. It stopped there, and then all within the city would hear loud rumblings reverberating with sorcerous power, noises that some would recognize as words of Old Realm:

"DO YOU SWEAR ALLEGIANCE TO THE GREATEST OF TWILIGHTS?"

Further silence followed for a few minutes, the whale continuing to float in place. Then, an immense volley of countless energy blasts erupted out from somewhere on the top of the whale creature's head, to rain down across the city in a mass of explosions.

Sojiro and Ijara​

As the sounds of destruction come to a stop, both of you climb back up to your feet, taking in the carnage around you within the prince's palace. Multiple blasts hit the building; the prince rests upon the ground in front of you, his head almost smashed open by a stray bit of blasted rock. The arm of the satrap can be seen resting upon a small layer of rubble; with her having taken one of the blasts full-on, it's all that's left of her. Countless other dead - servants, guests, the occasional member of the late prince's family - are strewn about the area.

Both of you have only seen the monster that did this in the flesh for the first time just now, but you both recognize it. Aigaion. Hane Kujira. The Feathered Whale.

What do you do now?

Maya, Tulak and Garret​

The three of you were in the central square - near the gates leading to the prince's palace - when the rain of blasts began. Now you emerge from the basement of the house you took shelter in to find a scene of utter chaos. Where before there was nothing but joyous celebration, now there are corpses, ruins, fires from fallen torches and masses of people running in the vague direction of the docks.

What do you do now?

 

[EbonChevalier]

Maya, Tulak and Garret​

The three of you were in the central square - near the gates leading to the prince's palace - when the rain of blasts began. Now you emerge from the basement of the house you took shelter in to find a scene of utter chaos. Where before there was nothing but joyous celebration, now there are corpses, ruins, fires from fallen torches and masses of people running in the vague direction of the docks.

What do you do now?

It’s with some effort and the help of Garret that the door is opened. Debris and bodies had piled against the doors during the chaos. As Tulak steps over the corpse of a old woman he looks upon the fresh ruins of the city. He’d wanted this satrap brought low and taken into the fold of a unified west. And for the wealth it generated to enrich its people. Not the pockets of the petty “princes of the earth”. But now none would have the riches it brought. And as Tulak loooked upon the destruction wrought he wondered what did this. But that was a question that could be answered letter folk about him were dead or dying. “Who yet lives?!” He looked around for survivors able and not.

 

[Sherwood]

Maya shakes her head to try and clear the ringing in her ears to little effect. She lets out a pained groan, and forces herself to get to her feet, after making sure her disguise was still intact. With a shaky voice, she manages to croak out, "I do," as she staggers out of the basement. Looking around at the devastation, she feels a chill run down her spine. "By the Great Maker! What did this?"

 

[Random Word]

The Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier has little to say on the subject of being caught in the open by a flying Behemoth: Its position can be succinctly summarized as "Don't". If you must, don't group up and don't stop moving. As she is hurled bodily through the air by the force of the blast that reduced the Satrap to charred fragments of flesh, Ijara contemplates the annotation she will add to her personal copy if she survives this: Be careful what you wish for.

When she had prayed to Mars for a conflict fit to make her cousin's name as a hero, she had something rather less grand in mind. Destiny provides, she thinks to herself wryly. One shoulder collides with something solid that nonetheless yields to cushion the blow before letting her fall. and speak of the Demon, she observes as she looks up, Cousin Sojiro. She reaches up to grasp his arm clumsily as she falls, taking the opportunity to twine his destiny with the Banner Ascending. Someone's going to have to be the rallying point if they're to have any hope of salvaging this mess.

She lands hard on the stone and rolls as best she can, quickly recovering her feet. She draws a deep breath to refill her abruptly emptied lungs and with her best veteran Fanglord's mien addresses the honour guard in disarray about the edges of the room, "Rally to Lord Tepet if you want to live! Get your wits about you!"

She turns to Sojiro and salutes crisply, "Shale of Medo, sir. Your orders?" Her loose robe is out of fashion for this season, but not egregiously so - or at least it wasn't before it was spattered with the viscera of a Satrap, which is something of a faux pas in any season - and well made. It has the scarlet collar bands of a discharged staff officer, and the white tassel of a registered sorcerer with the scarlet tip and small Jade-leafed bead indicating she has discharged her mandated duty to the Empress with distinction. A bright orange bird the size of a sparrow flutters over to settle in her dark red hair, currently tied back into a practical braid, chirping happily amidst the chaos. She channels the Spear to display the deamonor - and scars - of a seasoned veteran, and looks unperturbed by the stench of seared flesh.

Don't throw up. Don't throw up. Do. not. throw. up.

[Spending 1m to give Sojiro the destiny of a Heroic Soldier. He can declare Ijara's Essence dice of his choice a success once per scene when acting in accordance with his Destiny.]

 

[Psychie]

Once Garret helps to get the opening to the street cleared, he steps out and surveys the damage and the resulting carnage. With a careful step, he walks out into the street, trying to get a mental handle on what was going on. "Out of all the travels I have made, I have never seen anything like this before!" Garret looks to the other two survivors near him (Maya and Tulak), saying, "We can't stay here, its not safe. We have to find somewhere away from the bombardment that caused all of this harm and regroup. All that are here are the dead."

 

[Rykon]

"Evacuate the people!" Sojiro bellows as he regains his footing. "We will be fine. Get the women and children to the garrison. See that our citizens are safe and the artilleries ready to return fire. Go!" He shook off the disorientation from the barrage as he called out orders for the surrounding forces. With the Satrap in pieces, it fell to the Exalted to organize against this sky-faring disaster. Sojiro turned to Ijara and spoke more directly, "We need a way up there to start harrying this beast and draw its attention away from destroying the city. What do you have for me?" While they conversed Sojiro braced himself against an uncollapsed wall, eyes intently focused on Aigaion to assess both its next move and his own means of ascending to face it.

 

[Random Word]

[Question for the ST - does this city have artillery?]

Ijara is slightly taken aback, but tries not to show it. Questioning the manifest will of the Dragons is frowned upon, but she's very uncertain what one Daiklave is going to do to something that size. Then again, they weren't Chosen to sit back and let people die. So, up it is.

"At once, sir. There will be a brief but intense light," she says by way of warning. She steps forward into an area conveniently cleared by the reduction of everyone present to a fine paste. Still not throwing up. She turns to Misja, the tiny flaming sparrow now perched on her shoulder and gives her a look that says this is awkward but it's an emergency and we won't make a habit of it and I did create you so you owe me. Misja's eyes glower back at her like two smoldering coals as she snorts flames derisively, but after a moment she hops off, Ijara covers her eyes, and the room is filled with a brilliant burst of light and heat, prompting cries of fear from those still struggling to evacuate. When the light fades Misja stands perched on the rubble in her full majesty, thirty foot wings of flickering flame extended. Ijara pulls free the belt cinching her robe and threads it around Misja's broad shoulders in an impromptu harness, then climbs on her back. Without Misja's blessing the heat would be intolerable, with it merely a comfort at altitude.

Ijara looks up at the behemoth blotting out the sun above and tries not to panic. She looks to Sojiro over her shoulder and tries to keep her voice steady, "At the ready, sir."

 

[EbonChevalier]

Maya shakes her head to try and clear the ringing in her ears to little effect. She lets out a pained groan, and forces herself to get to her feet, after making sure her disguise was still intact. With a shaky voice, she manages to croak out, "I do," as she staggers out of the basement. Looking around at the devastation, she feels a chill run down her spine. "By the Great Maker! What did this?"

“That.” Tulak pointed towards the behemoth currently blotting out the sun. “And inspite of its power we can’t just leave. There are people here in need of help. We have to at least try to save some people.”

 

[Sherwood]

There was no time to panic. Too many lives, even if they were Creation-born, were on the line, and as a champion of Autochthon, she couldn't sit idle and do nothing. She had to act.

Looking about her for any signs of survivors, she calls out, "The city has, or at least had, a strong point in case of sea borne attack. If there is anything still standing, it will be there. Quickly! Help those that still live."

As she speaks, Most Assurant follows her own orders and begins to hunt for anyone that are wounded but ambulatory.

 

[jaydude]

Should any of you look up, you'll see the behemoth still within the sky, ponderously circling above the city. It lifts its tail, and even within the darkness of the evening sky, you can see what appear to be a swarm of several hundred winged creatures fly out from underneath, dispersing across the city in groups (pods?) of twelve.

Sojiro and Ijara​

From the ruined palace, you see a couple of the pods bank around and start flying towards you. It'll take them a few minutes to reach you, though.

Maya, Tulak and Garret​

By now, other survivors who took shelter within their basements are starting to emerge, and of course there are those already running around and screaming. As the three of you attempt to instil some sense of order and direction in the people, a pod of the creatures spawned arrive on the scene, further adding to the confusion with their presence. Looking at them from a closer distance, you see that they're golden, cetacean-esque winged quadrupeds the size of small horses, with large tails that end in fluke-like feather patterns.

The creatures don't move to attack the people, but they soon notice the three of you and move closer, half of them remaining into the sky, the other half walking towards you on reptile-like legs. One of them opens its mouth in a low growl, revealing sharp, orca-like teeth on each half of its jaw.

 

[Psychie]

Garrett locks eyes on the growling monster and slowly maneuvers himself to be in between the creatures and his fellow survivors. Reaching over his shoulder, the big man draws his daiklave and then embraces his bestial side and changes into his hybrid form, a large humanoid elephant.

In his deep gravelly voice, he says, "Six on one? Doesn't seem fair. You might want to go get some more of your ilk to make this interesting."

 

[Sherwood]

Most Assurant looks up at the now transformed elephant man and says, "Don't tempt them; they may just take you up on that offer and get more than we can handle."

She looks over at the six monsters eyeing them and lets out a glare. It would seem that if they were to live through this, she will have to reveal her own Exalted nature, because bio matter how tough this Lunar is, he'll probably need the help to take out these things.

Taking a deep breath, the Champion of Autochthon releases the Essence she had committed to maintaining her disguise and activates her arm-mounted cannon. Gears and flywheels spin, and her left hand transforms into the Essence cannon. "Combine attacks on one target at a time. Better to have five healthy targets than six wounded ones that will try to retaliate against us."

 

[jaydude]

It says something about the current panic that whatever beliefs in the Immaculate Philosophy they might hold, none of the satrapy's people bat an eye at Garret transforming into an elephant monster, or Most Assurant turning one of her hands into a portable cannon.

The creatures - Aigonites, as Ijara might identify them if she was around - don't respond to Garret's taunting. They do respond to him and Most Assurant readying their weapons however, roaring and moving forward to attack.

Psychie and Sherwood , give me Join Battle rolls if you please. EbonChevalier , feel free to do the same if you like.

 

[Sherwood]

Join Battle roll

6 successes on the roll

 

[EbonChevalier]

Tulaks brows raised at the sight of Tyler young woman’s strange transformation. He would have words with her about that later but for now the battle was to be joined! He took Ishmael from his back and swiftly leveled it at the abominations. “The hunt is on!” (4 successes on join battle)

 

[Rykon]

Sojiro draws Aramitama with a residual electric snap. He takes cover to brace for potential impact. If these pods can change direction in mid-air, it'd be best to approach after these were dealt with. Assuming that it won't just send more. "Look out. We have incoming. It knows we're here."

 

[Psychie]

Join Battle roll for Garret

6 successes

Spoiler

Health Levels
-0 [ ][ ]
-1 [ ][ ][ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ][ ]
Incap [ ]

Essence: 1
Motes: 5 / 3

Virtues
Major - Courage
Minor - Discipline

Intimacies
Major - Courage - "I will stand against the enemies of Creation to protect that which I care about."
Minor - Courage - "I may not win, but I will never lose."
Minor - Discipline - Self control is a must

Defense: 5
Natural Soak: 3
Armored Soak: Moonsilver Breast Plate: +3
Total Soak: 6
Hardness: 4

Resolve: 2

Moonsilver Grand Daiklave
Accuracy +1, Damage +3, Defense +2, Overwhelming +2
Tags: Artifact, Melee, Reaching, Two-Handed

 

[jaydude]

Most Assurant, Tulak and Garret​

[I did the Aigonites' Join Battle roll in my previous post. They only got two successes, so you all get to act before them. There's no initiative order within Essence; who goes when is up to the three of you. Once you've all taken your actions, the Aigonites can do theirs.]

Power Tracker:​

Garret: 0
Most Assurant: 0
Tulak: 0

Aigonites (Size 1, Hardness 3): 0

 

[Psychie]

With a raised eyebrow at the sudden transformation of the woman, Garret returns his focus to the six monsters in front of him. He charges forward at one of the monsters, then feints over to a different target, and with a mighty swing, he drives his blade towards the creature in a Withering Attack, trying to keep the thing off balance.

Spoiler

Rolling for a Withering attack on critter #1 - 6 successes

Hybrid Body Transformation Active
The Lunar sheds the mask of humanity and becomes an enormous, beastfolk-like creature. Commit 2 motes. Gain one bonus die to all rolls; this die does not count toward the dice limit. Additionally, gain the benefit of your animal spirit shape’s special abilities, and add her Essence in automatic successes to all actions that fall within the scope of your animal spirit shape’s milieu (dodging for a mongoose, goring for a bull, etc.). Your hybrid shape can take on whatever appearance you like, which need not involve a full transformation of your body and may subtly change each time it’s invoked.

Flow Like Blood Active
The Exalt moves in time with the flow of battle, slipping between swords with dismaying ease. Commit 1 mote for the scene. The Exalt adds 1 to her Defense against attacks at close range and steals 1 Power from her attacker after successfully defending. First, generate Power from the attacker’s Overwhelming rating (p. XX), then steal Power.
Cunning Prey Reversal (Lunar): On Step 5, if the Lunar successfully defended, she steals the attacker’s Overwhelming rating in Power.

Health Levels
-0 [ ][ ]
-1 [ ][ ][ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ][ ]
Incap [ ]

Essence: 1
Motes: 5 / 2

Virtues
Major - Courage
Minor - Discipline

Intimacies
Major - Courage - "I will stand against the enemies of Creation to protect that which I care about."
Minor - Courage - "I may not win, but I will never lose."
Minor - Discipline - Self control is a must

Defense: 7 [8]
Natural Soak: 3
Armored Soak: Moonsilver Breast Plate: +3
Total Soak: 6
Hardness: 4

Resolve: 2

Moonsilver Grand Daiklave
Accuracy +1, Damage +3, Defense +2, Overwhelming +2
Tags: Artifact, Melee, Reaching, Two-Handed

 

[jaydude]

Garret's blade pierces the monster's skull like a knife through butter. It groans, then collapses dead in front of the Lunar.

Six successes against a Defense of 4 generates 3 Power.

Edit: Also, since these are mindless enemies with poor Drill who aren't benefitting from a commander, they actually suffer 3 Damage.

EbonChevalier and Sherwood are left to move this round.

Power Tracker:​

Garret: 3 (Moved)
Most Assurant: 0
Tulak: 0

Aigonites (Size 1, Hardness 3, 3 Damage taken): 0

 

[Sherwood]

Seeing that the big Lunar was able to eliminate one of the creatures, Most Assurant shifts her aim to the next closest monster and unleashes a blistering blast of Essence from the muzzle of the Essence Pulse Cannon on her arm.

That sucked. Only one success.

Spoiler

Health Levels
-0 [ ][ ]
-1 [ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ]
I [ ]

Essence: 1
Motes: 5

Virtues
Major - Loyalty
Minor - Discipline

Intimacies
Major - Loyalty - "One must strive to serve the greater good for the people."
Minor - Discipline - Order is the bulwark against chaos.
Minor - Loyalty - "The loyalty I show to my comrades defines me."

Defense: 5
Soak: 1 (+1 from Hearthstone)
Light Armor - Chain Shirt - +1 Soak
Hardness: 3

Resolve: 4

Essence Pulse Cannon
Accuracy +1, Damage +3, Overwhelming +2 - Heavy, Artifact, Powerful
Artifact: Artifacts are ancient weapons and armor with fantastical effects. Increase all weapon or armor stats (Accuracy, Damage, Defense, and Overwhelming, or Soak and Hardness) by one.
Powerful: Enables a point-blank attack for ranged weapons. Decrease the wielder’s Defense by 1 until the start of her next turn. Gain two bonus dice to withering attacks or decreases an opponent’s Hardness by 1 for the purpose of making decisive attacks.

 

[EbonChevalier]

"Fly Ishmael!" Tulak throws his Longfang to the hide of an unharmed monster!

 

[jaydude]

The Aigonite Most Assurant shoots at jumps to the side, narrowly dodging the Alchemical's blast. Tulak's target isn't so fortunate, dropping out of the air as Ishmael extracts itself from the carcass and flies back into the Water Aspect's hand.

The Aigonites then move, positioning themselves so that they're within Melee Range of all three of you. Those closest to Most Assurant and Tulak merely growl at them for the moment, but the ones near Garret roar and bite at him, as if trying to avenge the one he just killed.

Spoiler: OOC - Mechanics

[I can't see anything in the corebook about battle groups being able to attack multiple targets a turn, so just a withering attack against Garret for now. Their base combat pool is eight dice, with an accuracy bonus of one success, and the More of Us quality allows them to add three more dice to that, in addition to automatically gaining 1 Power at the end of every round.]

[Six successes on the roll. With the use of both Flow Like Blood and reserve Stunt dice, Garret is able to boost defense up to 7 for this round. No power yet though; I'm going to have the Aigonites get it at the end of the round, once their turn's been resolved.]

And with that, we go (back) into our next combat round. EbonChevalier , Psychie and Sherwood , go ahead and declare your actions.

Power Tracker:​

Garret: 3
Most Assurant: 0
Tulak: 2

Aigonites (Size 1, Hardness 3, 6 Damage taken): 1

Edit: Recalculated a number of things.

Edit 2: Fixed up things and resumed previous flow of combat.

 

[Random Word]

Ijara can hear in her soul the thrum of distant threads of coming strife and killing intent redirecting themselves towards her as she stands in the flickering light of Misja's fiery wings. The enemy falls like the rain in drops without number. So, this is what it's like to stare down death, and to decide whether to stand fast or flee. Is this what her family felt staring out over the tundra at that golden monster? Lesser blood might flee, but she is pleased to find the song of battle invigorating.

She hears the electric crackle of Sojiro's daiklave and feels him step back, but her attention is firmly fixed upwards. With a look of anticipation she draws a red silk thread on two spools from her pocket and threads it around her fingers to make a cat's cradle, calculating trajectories and essence flows in the traversal of knots and patterns all while looking up at the seemingly endless rain of foes and the impossible bulk of the behemoth floating casually high above. The open roof forms a natural chokepoint, she need only make that quartet of murderous ire into a beautiful symphony of death.

Fabian Red-Palps, a tiny spider of red jade and matte black starmetal, climbs around a corner that isn't there to alight on her shoulder opposite Sojiro. "What do you have for me?" she asks hungrily.

It whispers softly in Old Realm, "Before they were slaughtered, the savants of the Black Turtle Shogun observed Aigaion directs the Aigionites with channels of rarefied air essence, to which they are highly sensitive as their mundane sensory organs are largely vestigial. They use the flow of air essence to judge space and their trajectories in flight. The geomancy of the House of Azure Kites suffered significant disruption in the bombardment, and one of its primary dragon lines runs directly through the palace. If you..."

"Yes," she hisses triumphantly, impatiently snatching the crimson thread of destiny Fabian carries in its mandibles and weaving this auspicious foreseen future into her cradle, her fingers becoming a blur as she computes new possibilities, "I feel it." Fabian bows and vanishes from whence it came.

"Lord Tepet, I advise you to stand clear. I will draw the enemy's attention, for much of the city is defenseless and we are not. Please intervene when my work is complete." As she speaks a stack of large fiercely glowing mandalas in blue and white form in the sky above the gaping hole in the ceiling, rotating and shifting in response to the dancing of her fingers. From the position of the stars, the geomancy of the area, the location in the Immaculate Calendar, the disruptions induced by Aigaions own fearsome aura, and the favours owed her predecessor in the Bureau of Seasons, she computes how best to bridge the gap between the dragon line beneath her, now starved for air essence to feed the manse, and the channels guiding the Aigonites to their victims below. She subtly shapes the trajectories, making some longer and some shorter, to maximize the number who arrive simultaneously in the initial wave.

After half a minute of tense concentration, the mandalas snap into alignment and a gentle downdraft quickly escalates into a howling whirlwind centred on Ijara, her braided hair and robes whipping about her in the gale, her fingers continuing their calculations seemingly oblivious as she draws a tiny portion of the power now flowing through her to fuel her sorcery.

"Ensure our visitors receive a warm welcome," she yells over the winds to Misja, who obliges by breathing great gouts of flame out to cover large sections of the hall, further narrowing the landing zone for the enemy. Almost immediately the flames are whipped up by the roaring winds into a swirling inferno. Ijara's eyes shine feverishly in the reflected light of the corona of fire.

She completes her calculations as the enemy begins their descent through the breach, a hail of glittering obsidian butterflies flying forth from her outstretched hands to match their killing intent, slicing them into ribbons of flesh and creating torrential sheets of whatever passes for their blood, sizzling as they fall into the flames. "There's always an ending," she whispers softly to the world.

Spoiler: Mechanics

Ijara wants to pull as many of the falling enemies towards her as she can, and wants to Build Power. Misja will also Build Power by preparing the battlefield and donate the power to Ijara.

Let me know if and how you want me to roll for attracting enemies, but I'll roll for the bits I know now.

Ijara has Force 4 + Sagacity 5 + Stunt 2 = 11 dice; 8 - 3 = 5 + 1 Power
Misja has Primary 12 + Stunt 2 = 14 dice; 3 - 3 = 0 + 1 Power

I'm assuming Ijara has 10 Will whenever she's had more than a few minutes to prepare, as building Will takes only maybe 30 seconds and lasts for a full Session, which could be one or more days or the span of a few hours, but it seems sensible for any Sorcerer to have the habit of rebuilding it at the earliest opportunity as soon as it fades.

Spending 5 Will on Death of Obsidian Butterflies.
She'll make a Decisive Medium weapon attack against all targets she can see out to Long Range while wagering 7 Power + 3 Will. That will be 10 damage dice + 1 success.
Attack pool: Force 4 + Sagacity 5 + Excellency 5 + Stunt 2; 9 hits + 1 Accuracy = 10 hits. Defense of 4 means 6 bonus damage. 10 + 6 = 16 dice + 1 success; 11 hits + 1 autosuccess = 12 HLs of damage.

So it turns out Death of Obsidian Butterflies isn't actually good against Battle Groups in Essence. I am only slightly regretting my life choices right now . Rykon will save me.

1m, 7 Power, 8 Will expended. 0 Power and 2 Will Remaining.