Exalted - Troubleshooters, Inc.

Cthulhu_Wakes

Black Sun in a White World
Another dank, piss reeking alley in downtown Nexus. "It's here. Here, sir!" Grevard said, glancing over his shoulder at the profiles of his fellow Executioners. "Found it during the festivities early last night. Same thing: chalk scribblings, bloody handprints, right? Then we saw this." Grevard held the torch aloft, illuminating the wall in a greasy sheen of light. The man looked drawn and terribly wan in the light. Jin thought Grevard would swoon. He was too green by half.


How do I end up with these people? Johoda must still be sore about poker.


Bronze Jin shook his head. "Means nothing. More of that hullufv bullshit. I fucking hate nursery rhymes." It was the same, though. Someone had scrawled out the eerie little rhyme in shaky script. Twenty years in the Hooded Excutioners, and Jin still had never seen the likes of it. Even dealing with Bloody Hands didn't put the creep in him like this weird shite.


'Fall away, ashes


Fall away, skin'



"No, sir, didn't mean that. That crap's been here for a week or two. No, this." Grevard walked along the wall, splashing in wine-dark puddles, the light like some great palm wiping away sooty darkness. The usual gang signs, phallic representations of various factors, a creative interplay between the Emissary and the Empress. Typical shit. Reaching fingers of light drew out what rattled Grevard so, left him shaking.


Jin gaped at the revelation. Light bathed concentric chalk rings, wide as a gondola, on stucco walls, written as smoothly as elegant calligraphy. He walked closer to peer at the words, feeling hairs prickle on his neck. 'Kimiko' it said, again and again and again. "Fo-fourteen circles." Grevard said, remarkably calm. "Pinrose and Graceful Lion counted them. Haven't had to worry about anyone wiping it off, no one's come down the alley since last night. This, however, is new."


He gave the torch to Jin. Kneeling, Jin illuminated the dark black mass lumped at the bottom of the rings. Dead rats, dozens of them. He spat in disgust. He knew where this was going. "What was the little girl's name?"


"Kimiko." Comet affirmed as Grevard lost his nerve for speech, vomiting in the deep shadows cast by the torch.


"Yeah. How many have gone missing in the past year?" Jin asked, feeling a disturbing itch at the back of his throat.


"I dunno, forty? Fifty?" Comet said, looking the alley over with the rest of the scale.


"Try however many rats are in the pile. Must be a hundred. They been choked to death. Fingers in every gullet. I'll be damned if they ain't kids's fingers, too." Jin sighed, standing from his haunches. "Get word to the Council. I think its time to bring in them spooks."


_____________________________________________________________________________________________


My friends, I have been greatly inspired. Inspired enough to run a second game whilst my first flows on rather nicely. This one shall be markedly different in tone - focusing on horror. And cemented in one place - between the River Harlot's legs... Nexus. There are certain niches in Nexus to be filled, and Nexus itself is one giant opportunity for niches to be filled and money to be made. However possible. The PCs are a group of troubleshooters - wells dug, revolutions started, virgins converted, investigations handled, antiquities retrieved sort of folk. You work by contract and commission, you've only been at this for a few small, trifling cases. You're brotherhood of Terrestrail outcastes (ex-Realm, Lookshy, pure homegrown outcaste, whichever) and now is your time to shine.


3-4 players, MAYBE 5. Maybe. 3-4 is the ballpark I'm looking for, for now. This will be a game of intimate horror and mystery. Of course, I need sharp cookies. I want concepts that compliment. You're Terrestrials. Specialize in your aspects. Knock my socks off.


Concepts only, please. No need for a big page long intro. Give me short, sweet, to the point character ideas. When we get all the players sorted out, then we can worry about XP, artifacts, bonus points, etc., etc.
 
I call Earth Aspect!


Edit in the concept I pitched to CW:


Ryuhei: an Earth Aspect from Lookshy. His house was destroyed when it came out that Zaiten, his grandfather and head of the house, had made compacts with demons and even invited one into his body. The Lookshy sent demon-slayers to destroy the household and wipe that heresy from Creation. Only Ryuhei, my character, and his tutor survived. She raised him in the burned-out husk of their mansion, doing the best she could with him with


what she had. Studied Ivory Pestle style.


Then she passed away. Typhoid. Mortals are susceptible to it, and it had passed through the city this year. He was alone. She had always told him her dream was to see him travel, to use the power the Dragons gave him.


His travels took him to Nexus, where he discovered that his knack for cracking people over the head with a staff had lots of business applications.
 
I am thinking Water Aspect!


Relatively local. Some forgotten offspring of a one night stand who Exalted and then realized she could be more than some poor farmer's daughter. Discovering a talent with bureaucracy, she moved to nearby Nexus to get a better paying job.
 
Lookshy frowns on poison. Not even good breeding can spare you from scorn at practicing The Subtle Art.


How unfortunate for young Yushuto Fayd, then, that simply employing Ill-Lily Style is enough to get oneself branded a poisoner.


Criminally unfair, too. Only three of the six assassinations of which he stood accused were actually his doing, and he'd left no trail. He'd have minded less if they'd caught him legitimately, at least then they'd have to recognise the skill involved.


Luckily, his co-dependent relationship with a trio of exceptional mortal women has upsides, and with their help he escaped from Lookshy.


Nexus seemed like the natural place to hide, scrape up some money and connections. It may be a decision he and his girls come to regret.
 
Is there any way to get a fedora and a trench coat in Nexus? Because, if that is the case, I kinda wanna pitch in despite my lack of enthusiasm for DBs. This sounds like an interesting concept.


(It'd be a Fire Aspect in that case, with investments in Investigation and First Pulse.)
 
You had to go there, Tabby. :P


Anyhow! Glad there's been a keen interest already! Hope you guys are liking it as much as I am.
 
Sounds really, really cool and I would like to join, but I would rather give priority to other players that may not be in a game, or in very few and very interested in this one. :)
 
White Shinjo is a man obsessed, obsessed with finding out the truth of the matter. Crime lords both hate and fear him for he has unraveled crime after crim and put away many thugs, murderers, and more. The common people both respect and admire him for White Shinjo gives the criminal pause and makes them think twice.


It is whispered that the very areas where crimes take place speak to him, whispering in his ear of their dirty secrets. It is rumored that once White Shinjo didn't rest for a week in his relentless pursuit of a mass-murderer. And yet, it is also spoken that White Shinjo may very well have no heart for he gives no sympathy to those oppressed or harmed, only advice on how to not let it happen again.
 
Christ, if I had time I would be balls deep in this, with a red-haired fire aspect detective who wears smoked glasses and makes terrible puns at crime scenes.


"I guess the Neverborn declared his contract... Void."


*YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH*
 
Another Exalted game, in Nexus, with DBs as characters and a "noir" feeling to it. Hmm...sounds intriguing but I do not know if I'll have the time for it. Must resist... :)
 
Ok, this idea has positively stuck to my mind, so might as well develop a little more on the concept --


Sowun Iri used to be a small-time business owner. A restaurant or a tea house, maybe. When a new gang started to bother his block, though, he decided to take action, partly due to his own sense of justice and partly due to the request of his local peers. Though they managed to drive the gang out, Iri's family was eventually kidnapped and later killed. The discovery coincided with his Exaltation as a Fire aspect Terrestrial, branding the pain of loss onto his soul. As Iri left the gang's hideout, blood smeared on his fists and face, he forfeited his old, mundane life and dedicated the rest to beating crime out of Nexus by any means necessary.


But he still has to make a living, seeing as that steak dinners don't pay for themselves. For the last year or so, Iri has been contracting himself out to business owners suffering from protection rackets and such criminal uncleanliness. Even as he finds satisfaction in fighting those who would play dirty, he finds himself covered in the grime and blood of the underworld. His spirit is Exalted by the Fire Dragon, but if this keeps going, the fiery Essence might only burn him out.


While I'm still tossing around style ideas, First Pulse Style will definitely be there. A fighter, an investigator and, in a very strange manner, a philanthropist. His Motivation is To deal a decisive blow to the criminal underworld of Nexus. Intimacies of None. (Well, maybe steak dinners.) Virtue spread of Comp 2, Conv 3, Temp 1, Val 3 to begin with... The rest would be decided on whether he gets picked and how other characters will be, I guess. =p
 
Aw man. xD I was thinking of having Cascading Lotus owning/operating either a tea house or restaurant. e_e' A nice place where different parties of interest (to her) could gather.
 
A short while ago, Amilar Soros had it made. His status as a quickly rising star in Lookshy was as much due to his demonstrated excellence as it was to his lineage descending from the foremost house in Gens Amilar. His credentials formed a long list; Exalted by age 11, initiated into the Emerald Circle as a Sohei by 18, the ability to discuss obscure topics in history and essence theory, an aptitude for reconstructing events out of the sparest data, and a budding reputation as a superb swordsman. It was commonly understood that he was on the fast track to a position of high command, and he was the talk of many a gathering.


What the public didn't know about was his short and violent temper. For many years Soros managed to keep it in check; mostly by challenging people to non-lethal duels and winning them handily. This failed disastrously when Soros was gravely insulted by a Gens Maheka heir of similar stature, named Maheka Viera. In the greatest mistake of Soros' life, he challenged the young woman to a lethal duel, and proceeded to run her through in the ensuing affair.


Really, this was not the best course of action; especially considering that she was his fiancée.


Dueling is not legal in Lookshy. This law isn't heavily enforced for non-lethal fights or for mortals, but harsh punishments await for a Dragonblood who cannot restrain himself. Lookshy can't afford to lose any of its Dragonblooded and they prefer to take out any loose cannons before they can do any more damage. Luckily for Soros, Maheka was just gravely injured, not dead. This combined with his high status protected him from the worst punishments, but it also completely ruined his career and made him an outcast amongst his peers.


Since the event, his detractors now say that he has a Fire Aspect as a close relative, some even mentioning an affair between his mother Amilar Niera and an infamous philanderer from Gens Karal named Karal Develin. Soros never bothers to answer these claims, mostly because he knows they are true, and because he believes not answering is a better way of keeping it a sordid rumor.


This little historical event is the source of a lot of Soros' anger, though ironically, it is not because of his blood as the others claim. Soros worshiped his mother as he grew up. She was everything he aspired to be; a prodigious sorcerer, a world renowned intellectual authority, a master tactician, and a duelist who had not lost a duel in over a hundred years. He thought her to be a paragon, and when his snooping turned up her love letters, his worldview shattered.


Soros was unable to stand these depredations for longer than a few weeks and quickly decided to relocate somewhere where he would be appreciated. A few months of travel later found him in Nexus, which he found himself peculiarly suited to. He soon started to develop ties amongst the local Dragonblooded, to be as close to high society as possible. Soros also began to sell his services as a talented Dragonblood in many venues, necessary since he no longer had support from his family. He still duels, happy of Nexus' far less restrictive rules, and manages to live a comfortable existence, though he still yearns for more challenging pursuits.


inner_power_by_sakimichan-d533n03.jpg
 
Sorry that I'm late to this party, but I'd like to offer an idea, anyway! I'm thinking of an exceptionally delicate little flower (if you'll pardon the pun) of a Wood (or Air) Aspect with ridiculous perception - she ferrets out witnesses and picks up on conversations, notices all the 'unnaturalness' of a crime scene, the trail, etc - but can't stomach the actual gore, so she needs a bit of escorting to make it through the grisly bits. It means we'll always have that 'weak link' to add to the tension within the group, but I'm sure she'll be particularly strong/useful in her own rights, too...!
 
There are some great artists out there, if you know how to find them.


I also added a single line to his story that makes it a bit more poignant, if you missed it :P .
 
Clearly needs more Shakespeare. Anyhow! I think we'll let this stay open a little longer, squeeze in all the concepts we can, and late tomorrow night (because I've got a day long engagement on the morrow) I shall pick the concepts, get the forum requested, etc., etc. Good luck all!
 

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