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View Full Version : Journal A Motley Crew of Anathema: An Exalted Campaign Journal



ZxxZ
2016-04-03, 02:14 AM
The characters:

Paradise Panther, Dawn Caste
Concept: MD, with a Minor in PAIN
Panther was a gladiator of some sort. We think. He's quiet on his past. He's pretty quiet in general, preferring to speak with his Smashfists. He claims that his skill in medicine comes from a long time of punching people to near death, healing them to start again. He has no compassion and never backs down from an insult.

Golden Axe of Destruction, Eclipse Caste
Concept: Smooth Talking Egomaniac
Axe was raised on a small Snail farm in the East. One day, wild barbarians pillaged his home. The response was simple, beat their skulls in with a Snail shell. After his exaltation, the remaining barbarians began worshipping him. He can talk his way out of most situations and has a deep love for learning, as well as his Orichalcum Hatchets. He lusts for a method to find immortality and a way to replace the Scarlet Empress as a God King.

Mmenon Keigo, No Moon Caste
Spirit Animal: Strix
Concept: Gun Toting Detective
To know Keigo, one must first know his father. Mmenon Ren exalted as a Fire Aspect and was deeply ashamed that he alone was not blessed by the dragon of the earth. He arranged a strict methodology of teaching for Keigo, which Keigo immediately blew off to play with chemistry sets and draw pictures of Owls. Ren arranged a marriage to a Water Aspected Immaculate for Keigo in an exchange for wealth and political gain. The girl and Keigo weren't that interested in each other. Eventually it became clear Keigo would not exalt, and Ren took him into the woods, beat Keigo to near death, and accidentally set the entire forest on fire with his Anima. After surviving the ordeal, Keigo was exalted by Luna, and lead to the Silver Pact who trained him and supplied him with his Magitech Revolvers.


Macabre Herald of the Keening Mourners of the Unrepentant Damned, Midnight Caste
Concept: Repentant Undead Paladin
When on his deathbed at the site of a battle long forgotten, the man who would become Herald was approached by an emissary of the First and Forsaken Lion with an offer to continue living and spread the word and intention of the Neverborn. Rather than die alone and forgotten, he accepted. Not long afterwards, he realized absolutely how insane the Neverborn actually were after he began hearing their voices in his head. He grabbed onto some artifacts that belonged to his predecessor, secured his previous incarnations Manse in a southern Shadowland and fled, hoping to redeem his lost soul

Assassin Thrashing Wind, Chosen of Endings
Concept: Eccentric Kung Fu accountant/advisor
Born and raised in the Mausoleum City of Sijan, Wind was approached by a man who had been brutally mauled by a restless spirit. The man asked for a merciful kill, and lacking anything nearby to use, Wind strangled the dying man. Wind's next course of action was to research the spirit in question, find his wife and bring it to the spirit to end its suffering. It was all a set up by the Bureau of Destiny for the first of many tests for the Exaltation process. Now 400 years later, Wind has been assigned his first major field operation: Keep track of a group of Anathema, keep track of their essence, and keep them alive and the nearby area not completely destroyed


The Story began directly in combat. We would deal with how we got into this situation later, right now the group was surrounded by soldier from the Immaculate Order. After several rounds of slaying, their Commander, a Fire Aspect showed himself with a surprise attack on Panther, blowing all of his motes on one supreme alpha strike. That devastating blow, with around 30ish dice being tossed was met in the way only Exalted can meet such a terrifying force. Spending 8 motes on a perfect dodge. The majority of the surrounding monks died from the flaring anima of the Dragonblooded who we had figured by now was incredibly stupid. Wind backed off, for the "Great" protection of a fluffy shirt and jewelry doesn't do anything against a raging inferno, in addition to his lack of weapon making any attack a costly affair. The Fire Aspect took 2 hatchets to the skull from Axe and dropped the following tick. The last several Immaculates charged, backed up by a previously invisible Wood Aspect, who's plan of attack was the shoot lasers out of an instrument. Wind, now free to act on something worth his time, slid up to the Wood Aspected musician and "Reduced him to something that could very well be mistaken for Ragu. Other Tomato pastes are available". The next course of action was to set the stage. The group had been approached individually by several people clad in violet who told them each "I represent an interested party. We hope to see the progression of your unique skills and the impact you make on the world. If you wish to know more, there is a small fishing village to the northwest. If you arrive in one week, you should be able to meet with another who will provide more information". Keigo asked if the man who approached him was Wind. Wind denied this enthusiastically after rolling Paradox for someone seeing through his Resplendency. With a gesture and a fancy quip, Wind summoned the Calibration Gate and invited the Circle into Yu-Shan for a meeting with "The Interested Party"

ZxxZ
2016-04-04, 12:56 AM
Doing this piece by piece, we meet infrequently and for around an hour at a time due to work and school constraints. Despite us having been through a couple sessions, it was only recently I decided I wanted to try writing this down as Exalted is only matched by Paranoia for hilarious awesome moments. It was at the start of this session that Wind made the transition to full on DMPC. Originally the intention was for him to give some exposition, introduce some new concepts, then immediately get nailed by the Worf Effect (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheWorfEffect). As all the players were new to Exalted, and one was new to RPG's in general, and everyone loved Wind, I decided it wouldn't be bad to keep him around to help everyone. Sidereals are supposed to advise after all.

The session began with a brief negotiation with some of the Celestial Lions who needed some talking to to allow Herald into heaven. Between the fact that near everyone in the circle had high Appearance and the fact that the Lion's didn't want to make a scene, it was decided that they had no real reason to stop us. Wind had already notified Lytek that some Exalted were visiting. The circle visited the Lotus dome so Wind could file his report on their Essence use with Wayang. Keigo nearly failed his valor roll upon witnessing the Escher like landscape of the loom, while despite having 5 valor, Panther had to spend willpower to stay in the vicinity. A brief introduction with Wayang went, before the circle was sternly asked to leave the Lotus Dome and never return. Making fun of a powerful god's "Weird Puppets", asking if they could put a Pattern Spider into a jar to keep, and attempting to climb onto the Loom were the highlights. The party took a Dragon Boat to Wind's Manse, a small palace. The place felt more like a small office than a home on the inside and was decorated with Macrame webbing, mirrors and stars. As expected, the doctor picked up an Astrolabe and broke it. Wind told him that his home was fragile and if he continued to break things that he would get fired for having his house detonate several square miles of heaven. Eventual consensus was to lock the Doctor and Axe into the Dojo until Lytek arrived. Lytek came bearing gifts, providing the circle with some cheap artifacts to continue the quest. Panther traded in his armor for a set of Gunzosha Commando Armor which had been modified to catch and integrate his Smashfists. Axe received a belt with the head of a lion on it which roared and buffed his stamina. Keigo recieved a mask that improved his Perception and Investigation skills. Herald had been promised a meeting with the Unconquered Sun, but as the games were heating up received a note that told him that if he spread the Worship of the Unconquered Sun, destroyed the monstrance that corrupted his Exaltation, and killed a Deathlord his soul would be redeemed. After some tedious hand shaking and brief goodbyes after insulting lytek's goofy hair, the next stop was Nexus to start building a powerbase.