Exalted Modern: Future Imperfect

[Rarkasha]

2:30 PM 02/23/09

You are all sitting together at Union Square, some uncomfortable, some relaxed, some ridiculously shiny. It is not a peaceful day, because it never is here. At times, nice, but never slow and peaceful. Today is a perfect 70 degrees, clear skies (for once), and it would be almost peaceful if it weren't for the screams and the car alarms. But those will have to wait.

All of you have gathered here as a meeting spot. You may have all traveled as a group, or gotten your circle together recently from all corners of the globe, but either way you still have a lot way to go from "Motley crew." Through unofficial channels, the Celestials of your group have been invited to an Exalted gathering. It is the first you've heard of in these five crazy years, and it is too good an opportunity to pass up. It's surprisingly normal, disguising itself as a small convention (on gardening, if you must know) taking place in the Argonaut hotel. Everything has already been paid and booked for, and you are to check in today.

Oh, right, the commotion. Who knows? But in each of you the familiar sense of something going horribly wrong twangs inside.

(Notes)
The horrified cries of the people around you affect your Compassion.

[The Rose Dragon]

Jane Swan, as she has always been, is unfashionably early. Mrs. Swan, the local celebrity and single mother, has two daughters who are always away with their grandmother, and she tends to be well-liked in her neighborhood due to her gift at settling most issues. No one ever notices how this person appeared literally two weeks ago, that they can never seem to access this grandmother even though Mrs. Swan gives her telephone number freely when asked, that the given phone number is hardly consistent and that no one even knows where she lives. The pattern spiders' work is so thorough that they will not care about such foolish details.

Jane Swan is actually a well-crafted resplendent destiny of the Pillar worn by Willow Wen, troubleshooter of Heaven. Three weeks ago, Yu-Shan caught word of the "National Exalted Convention", as one of the Heaven's Seers put it, and assigned Willow to investigate. While she was eager to return to Creation in an informal capacity after spending the last few months traveling across the world in official duty, she had little idea on what to expect and thus kept herself wary.

The voices of people in pain rises a pang of pain in Willow's heart, but she can't really afford to miss the convention. There will be others to help them - mortals who gave themselves to such duties. She will not let Creation suffer so a few can feel at ease - at least, not now.

[Blackjackg]

Gordon Kane sits silently, watching the others as he cleans the lens of his large camera with a high-thread-count cloth. It's not necessary, really, as the lens is immaculate; the action seems more ritualistic than practical. An untouched cup of Irish Breakfast tea grows cold on the table in front of him. He watches people coming and going through the square while listening to every word said by his companions.

At the sound of the commotion, Gordon develops a barely perceptible smirk which he quickly conceals. For a freelance photographer, screaming means news and news means work. He quickly stands and looks in the direction of the ruckus, itching to sprint toward it. He puts on a convincing affectation of concern. "Isn't anyone coming? Calamity striking, heroes of a bygone age, all that stuff?" He looks imploringly at each of his tablemates in turn before sprinting off toward the disruption on his slender legs.

[GryffonDurime]

Wayward Adamant is...well, it may, perhaps, be best to begin with striking and narrow down from there: well over six feet, with shoulders that rolled back just right and nicely-angled features and marble skin. He's dressed about one pocket-watch short of the Victorian era: long silk coat and vest over white collars and black trousers. He's standing about two feet from the rest of the group, cellphone in hand. At each scream, his eyes dart to the sound on the horizon. He turns, prompting his companions as best he can before exasperatedly hanging up.

Coat opens. Cellphone goes in, and a long cane with bits of jade and adamant comes out.

"So, are you heroes going to do anything about that--" he points towards the sound, shaking his head. He smiles and follows Gordon, twirling the cane. Essence flares at it's end as he does so.

[Justyn]

Ten minutes.

Justyn goes away for ten minutes to get a bottle of Mountain Dew, and everything goes to hell. Great, just great.

Sticking the bottle in his pocket and pulling out his cell phone, The Copper Spider beats a hasty -and Charm assisted- run to the scene while dialing up 911.

Using First Athletics Excellency to boost running speed. This is, of course, assuming that basic movement speed is (Dexterity + Athletics)

[Rarkasha]

As the group gets near the closest intersection, pushing their way past groups of frightened people, you can make out the sounds of fighting. Specifically, the sounds of gunfire, yelling, and some sort of high pitched whine that some of you recognize as essence being emitted by artifacts. A person flies out into this intersection, as if flung by something. He lands, improbably, on his feet and immediately begins firing with a pistol. A claw strider also charges out of the traffic at him, apparently bulletproof. Without pausing the man draws an odd looking Orichalcum Daiklave from thin air, immediately rending the claw strider. The mechanical guts of it reveal that San Francisco apparently had a store of automatons.

Only a Solar would be this bold, you might think. Especially the outfit. He wears a white collared shirt with a black tie, slacks, and a pair of sunglasses, like the worlds most badass office worker. He rounds this out by being somewhat short and looking rather Asian. He waves his sword in your direction (strangely, it has a trigger) and cheerfully says "You guys helping? We're fighting Mecha Godzilla and his flame breathing raptors. And it's as much fun as it sounds!" Clearly, a Solar who loves his job. Something tells you that a giant robotic lizard isn't all fun and giggles like he portrays it though. On the other hand, giant robots.

"Eric, stop chatting and fight this thing! I think the essence capacitors are almost full! Get it to stop firing at the buildings!" yells a woman off down the street the man was thrown from.

"I TOLD you, out here it's - arrgh, whatever," grumbles the Solar Eric as he jumps high into the air, back into the fray, pistol firing flaming bolts now.

(Notes)

You don't have to roll Join Battle yet, not until everyone has posted yet and agreed on what to do. On the other hand, it seems like the rest of your peers think this is a good idea, so feel free to go ahead of everyone else if you want.

[The_Snark]

"Well, I'm glad to see we have at least one actual hero," the fifth person present muses. "I was beginning to wonder if we were all going to stand around, asking one another who was going to save the day..."

He follows at what looks like a leisurely pace, but doesn't seem to have much trouble keeping up, for two reasons. First, his legs are noticeably longer than those of most humans. They are not alone in this: his arms, his fingers bear two extra joints (and the accompanying length), and his neck carries his head a good two or three feet away from his shoulders, depending on whether it's arching forward or not. The head is not human at all: no hair, large black eyes with no visible iris or pupil, a pair of slit-like nostrils in place of a nose, and a mouthful of translucent fangs. Incongruously, he's wearing a long white lab coat. As one bystander will tell his friends later today, he looks "like a cross between a doctor and a viperfish."

That's the other reason he moves quickly: he doesn't have to deal with the crowds. Even panicking people don't get in his way if they can help it.

"... Interesting." Brothereater doesn't seem inclined to jump into the fray right away. He peers down at the others with a close-mouthed smile on his face. "Do you think they need help?"

[Blackjackg]

Kane leaps into action, almost before the trouble starts. He charges headlong into the crowd and jumps onto the hood of a damaged and abandoned taxicab, where he prepares his camera and begins to take pictures. He's getting some good ones, too. The brash Solar being tossed into the street, the claw strider being cleaved by his daiklave, the fleeing crowd (the second picture is particularly good, with gears and bits of metal exploding upward from the blow like a mechanical fountain)...

"Alright everyone, this way." <click> "Calmly, please, no shoving." <click> "Nothing to see here." <click> "Mind the giant mechanical bugs." <clickwhirrrrrrrr>

As the crowd starts to clear, he pulls a roll of film out of his camera and replaces it as he hops down from the cab and starts in the direction of what has been described as 'MechaGodzilla,' pausing only once to glance back. "Coming?"

[Tome]

Spanky, wearing the face of some random pedestrian as she usually does when out and about with her makeshift circle, grins enthusiastically, an expression somewhat contrasting with the illusion of a somewhat plain ponytailed jogger her anima cloaks her in.

Spanky, a Waning Moon, has tried to keep her personal business a secret from the circle, but it's no secret to them who she is or what she does for a living. She would prefer it if the world at large didn't discover her Exalted nature though, hence the use of her disguise. Normally though, she has her mohawk, tattoos and piercings on full display, backed by a singularly lazy approach to fashion. Said approach being an old T-shirt and jeans with some sort of leather jacket.

"This is a f***load more exciting than that prissy circle-jerk ya' berks wanted ta' go to!" the punk rocker yells as she sprints blindly towards trouble, "keep up if you can!".

Her Anima effect is active

[Justyn]

"Sir? ...Sir?" the 911 operator said, "are you there, sir?"

Justyn stood nonplussed.

Now each of the individual elements he could except: Dinosaurs, those were real, and he had wanted to be an archeologist when he was younger; robots weren't that unusual, they used mundane ones making all sorts of things, and what few memories he had inherited from his First Age predecessor had some information on essence-based automata; and, well, he had been a Solar for about two and half years now, so he was kind of adjusted to that particular oddity.

But a Solar fighting robot dinosaurs just overwhelmed his "weird s***" buffers: His brain needed a moment to reboot...

...

...

...

There we go.

"Sir, are you..."

"Yeah, I'm here, I saw something really weird and needed a moment to adjust."

"You said that..."

"Yeah, I know what I said, but unless the San Francisco Police Department is equipped to deal with dinosaur robots, I doubt you can handle this."

"Dinosau-what!?"

"Look, that's not going to sound any less insane if I say it again, so just send down some people to deal with the crowds before we get a full fledged Jurassic Park / Terminator crossover going here. There are Exalted here, so we can handle the things."

"We?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm a Solar... did I forget to mention that?"

"You're a wha..."

The operator was cut off by Justyn flipping his phone closed, and stuffing it in his pants pocket as he pulled out his coveted and hereto unopened bottle of citrus drink. Quickly opening and gulping down the whole bottle, he tosses the empty bottle over his shoulder and into a trashcan; a disaster is no excuse to litter, after all.

"Alright, to quote a great hero:"

Justyn took a deep breath and closed his hands into fists, placing them with the knuckles together in front of his stomach, the mark of the Twilight Caste appeared on his brow, dispelling all doubt as to his status as one of the Lawgivers.

"Let's. Get. Dangerous."

Activating Solar Hero Form.
Personal pool: 17/17 (17)
Peripheral pool: 28/42 (28)
Committed: 8
Spent: 6
Anima: 6
Charm Used: Solar Hero Form
Active Charms:
*Solar Hero Form

[The Rose Dragon]

Willow really doesn't want to get involved with the entire scene. Her duty is to observe the convention and she is rather fond of her cover. However, the fools around her see fit to mess things up, so she has to go in and save the day as well.

Great.

She quickly shucks in Jane Swan as she draws her fans. She will wait to see whether he involvement is really necessary before joining the fight. It may be useful to see whether the Chosen of the Sun and the Moon will screw it up.

It takes a few moments before she notices Gordon Kane, Chosen of Secrets. Another Sidereal in the convention must mean there is something bigger going on than a simple meeting of Exalts.

[Rarkasha]

As you cross into the street, you take a good look at this "Mecha Godzilla." It's not a bad descriptor. It's similar to a Tyrant Lizard of course, unquestionably having been made sometime in the Second or First Age. The arms are much bigger, with daiklave sized claws meant for tearing down buildings perhaps. Some of you vaguely recall warstriders, though probably not with the spectacle in front of you. Currently, two small sized essence cannons on the snout fire away at the Solar, who effortlessly blocks the blasts and fires off bolts of golden returning fire at its head.

Meanwhile, you spot at least a dozen raptor sized automatons leaping from car to abandoned car. A tall, well tanned woman in a motorcycle suit flees from the scene, effortlessly carrying two terrified-looking civilians. Finally, another young woman is swinging a giant ball of moonsilver on a chain, smashing one of the smaller automatons with a single blow. The street is littered with broken glass, cars are lined up unattended, and there are scorch marks everywhere. It's pure chaos, love it or hate it.

Eric looks your way for a moment, then ducks as a jet of flame goes right for his glowing head. He pulls the trigger on his sword, causing essence to flare along the back edge and propel it forward, effortlessly cutting through the robot clawstrider. It completely pauses for a moment, then explodes. Eric is thrown back again, and again seems unharmed other than than looking a little foolish.

"Gh- why would it explode!? I bet a Twilight made these," he mutters, then yells to your group," Watch the mouth on the 'Zilla! It has some sort of huge essence cannon!"

(Notes)

Sorry for the wait. Time to roll your join battle pool. For simplicities sake, the allied NPCs will take their turns all at once and won't really have an effect on your combat, mostly destroying other clawstrider bots in the background and helping you against the giant laser shooting Tyrant Lizard. Remember that this game operates on action movie physics often. Stunts allow all manner of things to explode, and for property damage to not be a horrific nightmare of collapsing buildings all over and ruptured gas mains.

[Blackjackg]

"Alright then," Kane mutters as the immense mechanical beast comes into view, and as its gang of smaller robots crowd around. He lets his camera drop, trusting the sturdy strap around his neck to catch it. Glancing around for where the most interesting action is, he jumps lightly back over the bed of a pickup truck, putting the vehicle between himself and the clawstriders and, not coincidentally getting a better angle on the action.

Suddenly concerned by the flying debris, he brings to mind his martial arts training. His whole body relaxes and his movements become fluid and sinuous. As his feet dance an irregularly metered kata on the pavement, he again reaches for his camera.

Activating Snake Form, subtracting four dice from every attack against moi.

[GryffonDurime]

Wayward Adamant toys with his pocketwatch briefly--in reality, an Infinite Resplendence Amulet. In an instant, his coat took on the mercurial sheen of moonsilver and beneath, jade threads of his clothes beneath stiffening. All the same, a bright red glow came from the nape of his neck: anyone behind the Jadeborn would clearly see the light of a Hearthstone activating just as his cane-shaped mace flared to life as well. Fire licked the asphalt and clung tightly to Warward, covering him and contracting until all that was left was a great, firey ovoid.

And it hatched.

Claws like fire, wings of flame: Wayward Adamant let out a bright screech in immitation of the Garda bird, his talons pulsing with the same essence that had sheathed his power mace, veins of silver and colored jade playing through his incandescent form. One motion of his great wings, and he's almost level with the great mechanical behemoth.


Power Up Sequence:

Flurry:
IRA Activation/Power Mace Activation/Firebird Gem Activation. Speed 5, DV -3.

Essence: 65/67
Parry DV: 3
Dodge: 2
Soak: 12L/12B

[Justyn]

Justyn flexed out his fingers as he finished pulling on a glove, not much, just a winter glove for keeping hands warm, but it would hopefully be enough to keep his hands from being hurt; Exalts may be made of sturdier stuff than mortals, but there's no point in taking excess risks. Most people are quick to forget that you can hurt your hands punching things.

Something told Justyn that a robot dinosaur is one of those things.

With a bit of a smirk, Justyn exploded forward, closing the fifteen feet in under two seconds; small bits of debris flew out from under the soles of his shoes. In an instant, he was upon the claw strider automatae, and he wasn't going to let them get first blood. He landed on his left foot in his final stride and, before his enemy could respond, he twisted his body, his right arm swinging backwards, and then, faster than mortal eyes could see, he struck the machine. Backed by charms, his hand moved so fast that not sound nor air could keep up with it; the air distorted, sending booming shock waves out, which shattered the windows of nearby cars and buildings. A golden aura surrounded him, his caste mark burning on his brow.


Moving, attacking with Thunderclap Rush Attack (speed 3/dv -0); using Solar Hero Form's raw damage doubling effect for 1 mote.
Personal pool: 17/17 (17)
Peripheral pool: 26/42 (28)
Committed: 8
Spent: 8
Anima: 8
Charm Used: Thunderclap Rush Attack
Active Charms:
*Solar Hero Form

Defenses
Dodge DV 5
Parry DV 6

Soak: +11L/11B
Hardness: +3L/3B

Health:
-0 []
-1 [][][]
-2 [][][][]
-4 []
Incapacitated []

Attack [roll0]
Raw damage [roll1] successes counted twice

[Rarkasha]

Justyn's blow catches the clawstrider right in the face, crumpling its lower jaw. It staggers backwards in an eerily organic manner, but now it has a metallic silver jaw dangling by a few wires off of its face. Unfortunately, the mouth mounted flame piece is still intact, and whats more, this robot seems pissed. A pretty good achievement for a robot with half a face.

Several other robots now whip their heads around to face Justyn. It seems they have a rudimentary form of threat assessment, and they've designated him as thread number one. For the mechanically inclined, this must mean they also have some form of wireless, soundless communication. Fascinating.

(Notes)
As you can see, the 6 health levels of damage you made were not quite enough to take out the robot.

Okay, sorry for being slow about posting, I wanted to make sure I wasn't posting without giving the Rose Dragon time to respond. I'll try and keep things moving faster from now on.

Also, here is the new tick chart:

1
2 SB
3 CS
4 BE MG JS GK WW
5
6 WA
7
8
9
0