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War of Despair (Exalted 3e) - IC

WlfSamurai

Maelstrom Engineer
Chapter 1: The Nightmare Continues

Lookshy

Chumyo Karal Takeda and the other five members of the General Staff sit atop their dais and listen. Taimyo Karal Saia, Taimyo-yin of The First Field Force, runs her fingers over the table map in front of them. So simple. The land, the sea, even the walls of her beloved Lookshy. All modeled by hand in plaster. Meticulous craftsmanship captures every detail. Except the living dead that sit inside the walls even now.

“Chumyo,” Saia says. “Esteemed Council members. My report is short, as it has been for weeks. The dead have not moved from the spot they broke through the Lookshy Wall at. They sit camped. Motionless. The Juggernaut sits outside our effective range.” She clenches her fist. “They are waiting for something. There is some plan — some…thing they’re hoping happens. They’re just biding their time.”

Chumyo Karal nods. “Yes,” he says. “We agree. Does that conclude your report?”

Saia straightens. “Yes, Chumyo.” She bows and turns to leave. Then, she stops and turns to face the Council again. “No. Permission to speak freely, Chumyo.” A nod gives her the permission she seeks. “We can’t just sit idly by and wait for them to make their move. We have to do something. Let me take a small force of my best Rangers and infiltrate the enemy’s stronghold. At the very least we can gain intelligence. Uncle, let us do this. Maybe we can end it swiftly.”

Nexus

Gennis and his boys leap from the balcony onto the zombie troops below. They had been told by the boss to create a distraction on this street. This was as good a way as any.

The clang of steel on rusty worm-eaten steel echoes of the ruined building flanking the street. It’s followed by screams and otherworldly hisses as the battle continues.

An abomination saunters down the street toward the fighting. Puss and maggots ooze from it's stitched together parts.

Todora Castle in the Hundred Kingdoms

“Sir,” says the Junior Officer. “This is as many farmers and peasants as I could muster.”

General Kael sets his jaw. He had heard, but it didn’t matter at this point. Across a blood-soaked plain, littered with Todoran bodies, the dead shamble toward their walls. Behind the ghosts and zombies, giant skeletons of dead behemoths stomp toward the city. He shakes his head. “Get them armed and set them on the walls.” The Junior officer leaves to fulfill his orders and General Kael leans on the parapet. “What do we do now?” he asks himself.

The Deep East

Zombies tear strips of flesh off the dead bushmen. Behind them, living bushman warriors battle between jungle trees with the horde of dead. It’s too much. Warrior after warrior falls and is consumed.

Then, a towering half-man, half-raptor crashes through the brush into the undead. He moves with speed and vicious efficiency, systematically tearing the undead soldiers apart. He's a flash of scales as he picks his way through the zombies dispatching each as he goes.



Links to the RP threads:
OOC Thread
Character Thread
Chapter 1
 
Nexus

When the clamor of fighting began, more of the nearby mindless dead moved towards it, seeking the blood and breath of the living. Once the neighboring street was clear, a figure stepped out of the shadow of a building there and snapped open a beautiful white fan which bore the image of a blue circle bisected by a single horizontal line. A young man on the roof above raised a yellow flag and vigorously shook it side-to-side above his head. At this signal, a line of previously hidden forms emerged along roof tops up and down the streets, each hefting a large sack or urn towards the edge. As they moved along the edge of the roofs, this collection of those generally considered too frail or weak for combat, they poured salt down to form a line between street and wall. Below, on the street level, smaller and more agile figures darted from doorways or broken windows, carrying bags as large as they could, each with a large hole cut in a bottom corner. The quickly growing grid of salt would cut off the dead from either retreat or most of their reinforcements, creating a zone where the living could move much more freely.

It was a good strategy, but initiated primarily as a distraction for a series of carts that moved out from previously barricaded warehouses and into the open, trudging down a now-empty street towards the previous headquarters of the Guild. Several bodyguards watched the front and rear, as hired laborers on the backs of the cards poured a steady stream of salt along the sides of the road. Hadria Salar nodded as she snapped close the war fan that bore the symbol of her house and joined her guards, eyes smiling as she considered the twelve-story tower that she would soon call her own.
 
Sasha kneels down in the scrub next to Rann as they take a look at the mass of the dead surrounding Nexus, and she ponders the best way to deploy her forces. They had only one hundred and twenty fighters, but they were well trained and equipped, battle hardened, and led by a pair of Exalted, and that is not something to turn your nose up at.

Soon, the warrior points. "There. Do you see it? The line of undead is thinner, less dug in, right along that stretch of the wall."

Rann takes his spyglass and looks where his Captain indicated. "I see . . . something of what you say. You have always had a better eye for this than I do. You realize that once we make our move and get to the wall, we'll be trapped unless the city defenders deploy some lines to pull us in."

"I have a hunch that when they see us hitting the dead from behind, it will bolster their nerve enough to assist in a counter attack. We'll get into the city, one way or another. Lets move."
 
Todora Castle in the Hundred Kingdoms

"We survive, General. That is what we do," Ozric Vold declared grandly as he stepped up next to the general. His wild white hair fluttering the in wind, his frame clad as ever in the exquisite silks and cloths he favored for doing sorcery and fighting in. He had talked his way past the rear gate guards with his curious entourage, but then again anything was better than the walking dead.

"I offered my aid before, you declined. Do you still desire to balk at the generosity of the Scavenger King?" He quipped, remarking on the title General Kael had addressed him as in his previous refusal. Vold showed no sign of affront at the implied insult, more amusement and actual acceptance of the title.

"This time, I give, no strings attached, no tricks or contracts," Vold said as he rested his hand on the general's shoulder. "The Hundred Kingdoms must stand together or we will all die."

With that he gently turned the general towards the city to show him the crates of finely made weapons and armor he intended to provide to the remaining troops and gathering militia. Beyond those were crates of food and great jars of fresh water, oil and salt. Moving amongst them were the imposing forms of muscular demons and elementals aside from a few men and women clad in the black and orange of Voldsworn retainers. The Sorcerer King had brought quite the shipment of goods along with spirit laborers that would now fulfill their other role as warriors for their master.

Ozric Vold was no general, but he was rich as sin, a fine craftsman and terrifying occultist. The sheer number of what were obviously bound spirits materialized and ready to aid in the fight was clear. It was no army, but enough to make trying to take this city a rather difficult proposition possibly. He'd invested a great deal of time and effort into binding as of late, knowing the stakes of this terrible war.

"So, General Kael, I ask you not to bend the knee. I've put my fate with yours here within your walls. Be my friend," Ozric said with a calm smile and offered his hand to him.
 
Great Forks

The barrier holds. No one knows for how much longer, but it still stands firm. Inside its perimeter, massive walls have been raised, with men lining the battlements. Far too few.

Just inside the gated archway, two men stand in a heated argument. One is visibly upset, gesturing wildly at the one in front of him. The other stands at relative ease, a remarkable feat given his massive stature and heavy armor. This large man is Lumen Magna, the Knight of Solerus, and the other is the commander of Great Forks' garrison forces.

"You cannot leave again, Lumen! The city is too vulnerable to attack! We need as many men on guard as we can muster, especially those with your ... unique talents." The armored man chuckled, but then cut himself off and stared down with a heavy look. "I must save those I can. There are villages outside your walls, caught in the path of the undead armies, with only the hope of their unimportance to protect them. It is my duty to aid them, for they are as much part of Creation as this city."

The commander sighed, and decided to relent. "Alright, Lumen, you can leave. But we need you back as soon as possible, and we can't give anyone to go with you." "That's fine. Myself is all I should need. I will be back in two hours to be let out of the city." With that, Lumen turned back towards the city, started walking, and paused. "No, I think I am ready now. As much as it pains me, the villagers will only worry if they know I'm gone. If they question my absence, tell them I have volunteered to stay on watch at the walls." He stood, as if collecting himself, and then turned and strode out of the city, off to another village, another rescue mission.
 
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Nexus

Sun Wukang
Essence
Essence: 1
Personal: 13 (13)
Peripheral: 13 (33) [5 attuned, 13 committed,2 spent]
8 mote to Ebon Shadow Form, 5 mote to Sensory Acuity Prana, 2 spend to dampen all mote
Willpower: 5{/slide}
Ebon Shadow Form

Cost: 8m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form, Mute
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Nothing But Shadows, Seven
Points of Weakness Strike

The martial artist’s outline begins to distort and flicker, as if it were a shadow cast by a candle’s unsteady flame. She moves with eerie speed and unnatural grace, making her enemies question whether she is even human. If her anima banner flares, it seems shapeless and dark, an umbral mantle enveloping her in its depths. Any enemy who fails an opposed roll to spot her when she enters stealth loses a point of Initiative, and she adds (her Stealth/2, round up) to her base Initiative when she resets after making a decisive unexpected attack. She also adds +1 to her Defense. If the martial artist is killed while in the Ebon Shadow Form, her body evaporates into an acrid black smoke, leaving behind no physical remains by which she might be identified.

Special activation rules: Whenever the martial artist makes a Stealth roll in combat that beats the opposing rolls of all enemies in the combat, she may reflexively activate Ebon Shadow Form. Enemies within range lose Initiative for failing their roll as described above.
Sensory Acuity Prana

Cost: 5m; Mins: Awareness 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None

A breath of Essence seals the five senses into a more perfect form. The Solar’s senses are heightened and attuned to minute motions and sounds, dim and noisy conditions. She can differentiate between subtle tastes and textures with only the slightest variation. Thus sharpened, it is more difficult for characters to escape her notice, or to deceive her hunting senses. For the rest of the scene, the Exalt’s Awareness rolls benefit from double 9s. If the effect of any Unsurpassed (Sense) Discipline applies, reroll 6s until they cease to appear. Use of Sensory Acuity Prana comes without the danger of sensory overload; the Charm helps the Solar manage her senses more effectively.
Basic Combat Values
Evasion DV: 5
Parry DV: 5 (for both styles)
Resolve: 4
Guile: 3
Join Battle: 8d10+3

Green Jade Razor Claw (Spring Razor) acc: +5 (+5 dex +5 MA) dam: +10 (12) def:+0 OW: 3 att: 5 (tags: Lethal Brawl Conceable Worn)

Natural Soak: 4
Armored Soak: 0
Total Soak: 4
Hardness: 0

Health Levels
[ ] -0
[ ][ ][ ] -1
[ ][ ][ ][ ] -2
[ ] -4
[ ] I


As Gennis and his boy starts their attack a shadowy figure on the highest roof in the vicinity started to scan undead's movements. Wukang's eyes flickered for a moment with the essence and quickly died in a shadowy pool that was covering his body as he tries to discern valuable targets among the undead forces and checks if they too the bait or not. Wukang's current mission was simple, give a hand to bait team by attacking commanding or otherwise dangerous undead enemies and extend the bait until other plans in the vicinity complete. If bait failed to draw any important target than move to closest area that needs help and handle elite undead forces as he sees fit.
 
Nexus: Hadria & Sun

Hadria, your salt plan seems to do the trick. Gennis’ men fighting one street over only adds to the success as their clang of steel on steel draws the attention of the undead forces in the area. The wagons make their way to the Guild tower.

One wagon stops. It’s Cyrus’ and his men. He tells them to wait and he stalks up to you. “I just decided. We’re taking this one and leaving. Don’t try to stop us. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”

Sun, you see the whole picture. Hadria, her guards, the salt, the wagons moving down the streets. And of course, Gennis and his men battling in the street. What you also see from up on your perch that they don’t is the Abominations moving to attack Gennis and his men. The Abominations stand eight feet tall and their bloated flesh has been sewn together from bits of people. The shamble down the street toward Gennis’ group, one from each cross-street.
 
Nexus: Sasha

“Wait!” Rann says, grabbing your shoulder. He has the spyglass to his eye and looking in the opposite direction. “Captain, look. A cage cart.” He hands you the spyglass and points. “There.”

Sure enough. You see a cart with a cage filled with Nexus locals who have survived in the city. It looks like the cart is locked up tight. It’s coming out of a gate further down the opposite side of the wall. A group of zombies drag the card and guard it.

“What do you want to do?” Rann asks.
 
Todora Castle in the Hundred Kingdoms: Vold

General Kael nods and stares at what’s ahead. “It would seem … I misjudged you, Lord Vold. Your aide is appreciated, of course.” He turns to you. “If we survive, I’ll buy you a drink. Now, do you have a plan? Because those,” he points to the Behemoth skeletons, “are not something we can deal with.”
 
Sasha glowers, considering the odds. Then, in a firm voice she says, "We free them. Between you and me, we should be able to handle the bulk of the zombies, but have our archers pepper them with arrows before we close in and soften them up. Once the prisoners are freed, we'll help them back into the city. I'll use my explosive arrows to keep the undead off our backs as we scale the walls. Get our bannerman up to the front. Let the world know that the Black Company is here, and we are not a force to be lightly dismissed. Move at my signal."

She moves forward at a crouch, until she is close enough. Then, with the Company at her back, she stands and raises up Moonlit Huntress, her powerbow. Knocking an arrow, she aims at the center of a group of guards far enough away from the wagon as to not hit it, and focuses her Essence into a blazing arrow of explosive destruction. With her power peaked at max, she fires. A thunderous detonation rocks the countryside, scattering corpses left and right. In a powerful voice and with a brightly burning anima, she calls out, "Forward for the Black Company!"

OOC How many guards are we dealing with? Basically, I'm using my Nova Arrow Attack for the explosion, adding in an additional 10m for the Archery Excellency, all 16 motes spent from Peripheral Essence, giving me a bright anima at full power.
 
Great Forks: Lumen

You stand on a hill a few hours outside of Great Forks. The hill rolls down into a plain below that stretches to a forest line a few miles away. Nestled at the foot of the hill below you, a small hamlet burns. You can hear screams of death and the din of battle.
 
Nexus: Sasha

There are a dozen or so zombies/skeletons guarding the cart and a large undead group around the walls they’re moving through. Basically, they are a battlegroup (size 2, drill poor, might 1). Roll your attack and then a join battle roll.
 
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This will be my first ever combat dealing with the 3E rules and mass combat, so bear with me if I have a dozen questions each step. The Charm Nova Arrow Attack does non-specific damage to an area, doing a max of 10 dice of damage. Does the +10 Damage of the Powerbow add to this, along with my 3 Strength, giving me a total of 23 dice?

Edit: Actually, it seems I need to roll my Join Battle first, then, the damage dice done is equal to my Initiative. So I only have the 6 successes of my Join Battle roll, and I didn't need to spend my extra 10m on my Archery Excellency.

So, on six dice of damage, I then rolled four successes with an added dot of Willpower added in for good measure for a total of 5 damage, and everyone in the blast radius gets thrown into the next range band.
 
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OOC I am also assuming a level 2 stunt from my description, giving me a Willpower back.
13 Personal
17 Peripheral
6 Willpower
 
The Initiative damage thing is only for decisive attacks. They don't apply against battle groups, withering attacks are all that are required, so you get your 23 dice, minus soak.
 
The Initiative damage thing is only for decisive attacks. They don't apply against battle groups, withering attacks are all that are required, so you get your 23 dice, minus soak.
The Charm is a decisive attack, so I don't believe I get the whole 23 dice. Nova Arrow Strike does a max of 10 dice of damage, but I don't know if the base damage of the bow and Str add into the decisive attack or if they only add to my initiative pool. Here is the crunch of the Charm:
This is a non-standard decisive attack that targets no particular character directly, but the range band they’re standing in. The shot lands without a roll, and everything at close range to the arrow is subject to an explosion that can’t be parried, only dodged. The explosion has an attack pool of the Solar’s Initiative (maximum 10 dice), and rolls decisive damage equal to the Solar’s Initiative. If this attack is successful against at least one enemy, then it resets the Solar’s Initiative to base. It can expressly be used to blow up inanimate objects, scenery, and siege weaponry without affecting the Solar’s Initiative.
 
Nexus:

The Quicksilver Falcon sighed, stopped, and spun around in a fluid motion. As she turned, she flipped open her fan and began to wave it lazily towards her face. The long silk sleeves of her black robe barely rustled with the motion. Lady Salar gave a quick nod to her one of her more loyal servants, telling them to continue ahead. A small knowing smile played across her lips as she walked a few steps closer to the would-be mutineer, showing him he had her full attention, "No, Cyrus, I don't think so. You're going to follow through with our previous agreement and help me take the Guild's base. After that, you will receive twice what you've earned for your little change of heart, and will be guaranteed safe passage out of Nexus with your life and belongings. You may accept this new deal, or you'll find that the dead aren't the other thing you should be worried about."
Hadria gave a light giggle and shook her head, as if he'd just told a superb joke. "I think you already know me better than to believe I only have one contingency plan."

I'm assuming Cyrus and company fall under the locals and/or recently hired goons category. If they were part of Followers, she'd be way more worried.

If he agrees, she's going to bind the oath. If he doesn't agree, she'll try and deal with him one-on-one.

I assume this is a persuade action, based on an assumed intimacy of greed or other desire for wealth. It's also kind of a threat? But probably more mechanically a persuade, she just likes to combine carrot and stick. I've yet to roll dice on RPNation, so this'll be the time I figure out how that works.
 
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Lumen

"Damn! I'm too late! The undead have arrived!"

Lumen stood on the hill and stared in horror and defeat as the village burned. But as he stared, he felt a light within him. A light that burned, burned like the fire in the valley, burned like the Unconquered Sun himself! "No! I cannot accept failure now, not while survivors may yet live! I will save those I can, even if I may not count myself in that number! BY THE MIGHT OF THE UNCONQUERED SUN, I SHALL EMERGE VICTORIOUS OR DEAD!"

With that cry, made to the heavens themselves, Lumen charged full tilt towards the village, desperate to save those he could, so that his duty could be fulfilled.
 
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Todora Castle in the Hundred Kingdoms
Ozric smiles at that and pulls out a curious little paper cylinder, striking its head upon the wall. The items sparks and flares in bright red light before he tosses it high into the air beyond the wall where it starts to drop.

"First, we mobilize the delightful band of soldiers I have elected to be the patron of. Next?" He turns and spouts off orders in Old Realm, causing the demons and elementals to start to organize and muster. "We get my own supernatural agents in play. We should be so lucky they are but skeletons. No rotting meat to sicken men nor fetid gore to spread plague or make slippery the field."

"Bone, even that of a behemoth breaks... and burns." He looks towards the large jars of oil again with a calm grin. "I assume they were brought to be siege breakers. How long do we have before they reach us?" Ozric asked as he now starts to do a mental count of the behemoths. Realizing he may very well have to take to the field with fists of hardened bronze to break those bones himself.

"Outside of that, we need to spread salt in manners to force the enemy into choke points. I will leave the martial planning to experts like yourself and the Diamond Hounds. But I think I can formulate something more solid for hampering those monstrosities. The dead do fall into my purview," Ozric said and snapped his fingers as long haired man approaches with a cask of scrolls. Ozric opened the cask and reading the Old Realm along the sides of his collection of occult scrolls focused upon the undead. Finally settling upon an Sijianese scroll made of blackened bronze with the seal of the great funerary city upon it. He tosses it up into the air and catches it, pulling it open now as he leans to the side of it to regard the behemoths. He didn't bother to mention he'd had the scrolls stolen some time again from the ruins of Sijan by some very brave and very expensive thieves.

Stunting to do an occult check for the best means to undo those behemoths. I'm assuming Occult+Intellience? I will spend on Excellency as well to max it out if I can find a viable answer.

http://www.coyotecode.net/roll/lookup.php?rollid=161309
12 Successes
10 Personal Motes spent
 
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Outside Todora Castle in the Hundred Kingdoms

The group restively sat on their horses. On the side of the hill, they could just see over the lip and make out enough details of the castle and the undead force waiting beyond. Cleon sat in the middle of the mercenaries, patiently waiting for the signal. Finally, the flare went up, and Cleon cleared his throat.

"All right. You've gotten through worse before with me, and we'll do so again. For the start, we punch through and link up with Vold and the locals. Keep the charge together like I trained you, and stay clear of the behemoths."

Cleon didn't lead from the front so much, but the others had learned faith in him. While charismatic, they had learned to respect his intelligence for command, victory and survival making up for a multitude of sins. And they had felt immeasurably strengthened by his brutal training regimens, after griping about it.

"Form the wedge." Immediately, and seamlessly, the mercenaries fell into formation. Cleon drew his daiklave, and the mark of the Unconquered Sun blazed on his forehead. "Charge!"

Right - mass combat.
Starting with the Strategic Maneuver check.

Intended Stratagem: Ambush

Spending 6m peripheral for War God Descendant, Holistic Battlefield Understanding and Redoubt-Raising Gesture.

The Diamond Hounds get effective size 4 for the battle (with accompanying increases to stats), I only need a threshold of 2 successes for Ambush now, and penalties for unfamiliarity with the enemy are negated (just to be safe).

Int + War + Specialty: 11D10 = [8, 10, 6, 1, 5, 3, 1, 10, 9, 1, 3]
Four Glories Meditation: 1D10 = [5]
6 successes total.

Join Battle: 5D10 = [3, 4, 1, 10, 3]
2 succ + 3 = Initiative Rating 5
 
Just to save time and keep things moving, I've assumed that his Resolve is 3 (since 2-3 is the norm) and ignored the Intimacies, since he may be able to counter them (and I have yet to hear if she correctly leveraged one). This is assuming just a one-point stunt. Absolutely no Essence spent.
Manipulation+Presence: 12D10 = [6, 1, 5, 5, 1, 5, 2, 8, 8, 1, 4, 7], so 3 successes. Honestly, a really shitty roll for 12 dice, but he should still be convinced if his Resolve is 3 or less (if less, she'd have more dice against him, and the threshold would be higher).
 
Nexus: Sasha

BOOM!

The arrow explodes on contact sending dirt and zombies everywhere. Brilliant light flares illuminating the evening gloom. Rotting body parts and sinew and innards rain down around the crater. The undead that are not torn to shreds and still standing see you and your group. They surge forward gnashing their teeth and hissing. The zombies knocked down work to stand up.

You just get your initiative pool in damage, +1 health level damage for having four damage dice. You don’t add your weapon’s stats to it.

The undead battlegroup is initiative 3. They move from long range to medium range as their action. Their magnitude is now 9. It's your turn. Also, what orders are you going to give your men?

Initiative:
You - 4
Rann - 3
Your men - 4
Zombies - 2
 
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Sasha waves her men forward. "Archers! Ready, loose! Pikemen, stand ready to defend the archers! Rann, lets go!"
OOC Since I'm a Dawn caste, I should have a 4 for my Initiative.
 
Nexus: Hadria & Sun

Hadria, Cyrus stares at you a long while. The look on his face makes it clear that he had not expected that at all. He puts a hand on his hip and rubs his chin.

“Yeah,” Cyrus says. His voice is meek. “Okay. Yeah, that sounds okay.” He looks at you for another long moment and then, shaking his head, heads back to his wagon. He and the men pushing with him follow the other wagons.

Then, you both hear screams above the din of battle. The Abominations one block over have made it to Gennis’ men. They’re moving through them, tearing them apart.

You hit the nail on the head with 2 resolve. And yes, he has a greed intimacy that you leveraged.
 
Great Forks: Lumen

You charge down the hill into the village and find rotting corpses roaming the streets murdering the locals. In the square, a woman screams while her flesh is torn from her neck by a zombie. Another corpse is reaching into a dead man and scooping his intestines into its mouth. Another woman is rocking back and forth as the fever takes her. She’s missing a chunk form her cheek where the dead bit her.

The walking dead haven’t noticed you yet.

In the midst of the carnage, a young woman, fierce eyes, lithe body, wrapped in leathers, strolls up along side you. “Who are you and what are you doing in this village?” she asks. Something about her seems different.
 

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