[IC] [M&M 2e] Exalted: The Dawn of a New Era

[Kaworu]

Exalted: The Dawn of a New Era
Chapter 1: Perpetum Mobile

Detroit, 20th of May 2021

The City of Detroit had it better, of course. Once a seat of prosperous car industry, now it was a total economic collapse. The streets were empty, so were the factories, once upon a time producing cars after cars. Who could had left for Canada or other big cities in the US. Who could not… well, their life weren’t so pretty in this cemetery of a metropolis.

However, this was about to change, and rather soon.

Everybody in the US had heard the new TV commercial about “a total technological change”, “technology as you have never seen before” and “a new chapter for us all”. Of course, nowadays, in an era of Space-X, Google, Microsoft, Apple and start-ups in every corner of the Earth, it could mean everything… or nothing.

Still, it was a curious case, so many people went to investigate. When the True Stone, company responsible for their mysterious invention, announced a grand presentation in Detroit, where it had headquarters, the technological industry was interested, even if only tentatively.

You, however, were there for wholly different reasons.

Revelynne Lafayette, a Chosen of Jupiter, had approached every single one of you. She herself has an order from her Patron to gather a set of individuals with Exaltations and gather them during this technological presentation. Maiden of Secrets was… well, secretive about what this technology was or why she wanted the Exalted involved, but her order was an order and Ravelynne had to comply.

Her Goddess was very well informed, after all, so she was sure that there was a reason and justification for all this.

So now, you, a group of Exalted beings, were sitting in the room, watching the crowd grow more dense and slowly filling all the seats. When everybody was seated, a person appeared, on a stage in the room, facing the auditorium with a microphone. Next to him was a giant shape covered in a coverlet, big and white, hiding it from curious looks and gazes.

“Welcome” the man in a suit and tie, with short, black hair and modern-looking glasses on his nose had said “My name is Arthur White and I will be your host today.”

“As you probably know, the company I am representing, True Stone, has made a brand new invention. In fact, we have made something so spectacular, that we themselves have a trouble with coming to terms with, not ever talking about people who aren’t involved in our research” he explained.

“For many years, people tried to find a mean of getting free, accessible and inexhaustible energy source. Even though we have fotovoltanic batteries, know the technology of nuclear reactions and can turn wind into electricity with the help of turbines, every one of those solutions had it’s own drawback and was no true alternative to carbon-dioxide energy, let’s call it.. But now…” he stopped for a moment for better effect.

“Esteemed quests” – he continued, coming closer to the coverlet and holding it with his free hand, the second grabbing his mic “We, the True Stone Company, have the pleasure and honor to present you with…”

He started taking away the coverlet. Behind it, there was a machinery of purest gold, working with no sound. Some parts were moving, some not. It was in a shape of a perfect cube with some parts stinking out. It was kind of beautiful, in a modern-art way.

“…the Milestone, a new and unlimited energy source!“

The room was filled with dubious noises. Everybody was aware that “zero-point energy” machine or something could not exist, yet the man was claiming otherwise. What a moron! It was all just a fraud, for sure! The scientific community surely would be merciless, only if they would be able to get hold on this equipment and “scientific” theories behind them.

“Please, come closer and investigate…” said the presenter, not in any way discouraged by the cool reaction he got. Either he was well-trained, or just sure of himself.


Okay, so:

Sorry that there is not much happening in the first post, I just wanted to establish the context of what is going and... I feel like I have written too much already? They are though various stuff you can do:

1. I need, first and foremost, to know where are you in the room. It is kind of big, the chairs are facing the podium, you can be in the front, back, middle, staying by the wall etc. This is very important considering the contents of second post I have planned.

2. You can investigate the machine, either using some skills (Knowledge: Technology, for example), Supersenses, some powers etc. You are free to do it.

3. Finally, you could roleplay your first meeting that took place before this post, when Revelynne contacted you for the first time.

And I promise, the Action! will begin soon after... :-)

[Lord Raziere]

Earlier:
Whether she meets them separately or all at once, she will try to gather them all in one place, appearing in a green suave suit and a sunglasses so she only has to say this speech once, but will repeat it if need be:
“Greetings. I am to introduce myself to you as Agent Green, Chosen of Secrets of the Sidereal Exalted and member of an organization known as the Moira by the order of Jupiter, the Maiden of Secrets. My orders are to gather you all to help and guide you going forward. As you can tell by the title and code name, I am and will be keeping secrets from you. Its not personal, its just business. There have been growing concerns that the advent of the internet, the Exalted will not be secret for much longer and I am to ensure the transition is smooth as possible, hopefully with your help. I do not know why I or any of you specifically were chosen for this. I do not expect you to accept or to do so blindly, you can choose to walk away from this if so desired and no action will be taken against you, and it is expected of the Exalted to have their own goals and feeling on matters anyways. If you have memories of past lives that make you feel negatively about this, I understand, the issue will not be pressed.

We were recommended to investigate a particular unveiling of a new technological marvel by the True Stone company. I do not know why, but if a Maiden says so, it must be important. Only I am truly duty-bound to do this, but Jupiter generally has good reasons for what she does. That is all."

Now:
She raises an eyebrow while seated....to the side on the left edge of the seats but in the mid-point between the stage and the exit. It was Gold, or more probably, Orichalcum. Already she was seeing Twilight Caste fingerprints all over this. She will come walking up, disguised in a resplendent destiny as an interested investor looking for the next big innovation, the other Exalts being her entourage she brought along and begin examining the Milestone while asking
"...How does this work exactly? Can you explain it in detail?"


Search Roll:
[roll0]
Sense Motive on the presenter:
[roll1]

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]Thorn is applying his knowledge of art and magic to this, if this is the wrong course alright then. If he's wrong he won't get very far and that will be understandable considering it's being passed off as tech. Use the more related test between the craft and knowledge, I figured Art may be applicable.

Notice: [roll0]

Craft (Artistic): [roll1]

Knowledge (Arcane Lore): [roll2]
Detroit, Michigan - 20th of May, 2021 AD

The day had started out well so far for Broken Thorn, having donned his guise and made his way with the others to the conference. After arriving Thorn positioned himself close to the stage at the beginning of the presentation, apart from Ms. Green. He of course knew that wasn't her name but that was as far as he had gotten with her so far...


“Greetings. I am to introduce myself to you as Agent Green, Chosen of Secrets of the Sidereal Exalted and member of an organization known as the Moira by the order of Jupiter, the Maiden of Secrets. My orders are to gather you all to help and guide you going forward. As you can tell by the title and code name, I am and will be keeping secrets from you. Its not personal, its just business. There have been growing concerns that the advent of the internet, the Exalted will not be secret for much longer and I am to ensure the transition is smooth as possible, hopefully with your help. I do not know why I or any of you specifically were chosen for this. I do not expect you to accept or to do so blindly, you can choose to walk away from this if so desired and no action will be taken against you, and it is expected of the Exalted to have their own goals and feeling on matters anyways. If you have memories of past lives that make you feel negatively about this, I understand, the issue will not be pressed.

We were recommended to investigate a particular unveiling of a new technological marvel by the True Stone company. I do not know why, but if a Maiden says so, it must be important. Only I am truly duty-bound to do this, but Jupiter generally has good reasons for what she does. That is all."

Thorn sat in his chair with a thoughtful expression on his face, wearing his suit of choice and thinking things through a bit more thoroughly in his Throne. This had been the second time Thorn had met Agent Green, though the first time she had explained her business to him. He was unsure what to think of her so far, he was unsure whether it was wise to go along with the whims of the ever mysterious Sidereals who appeared to know not only of what he was but what he had been doing since the 60s. He was silent in thought for a few moments before speaking, taking the lead amongst the others in the room. He was unfamiliar with them but the scent of one of them was familiar.

"Though you say you do not know, if I may ask for a moment... why us? Was it your gods that have decided this? When you had come to me I fully expected you to try to shoot me. My predecessor certainly had a difficult time with your kind, and what he had become was certainly not in the best interests of your... order? I've been out of the loop for a few years so I'm not up to date with the politics of late, but our kind is still the 'enemy' are we not? Or have you decided it is easier to deal with us as assets now? Certainly it would be a more pleasant arrangement if we can agree to work with one another than go back to tearing eachother apart."

It was noticeable at this point that Thorn spoke with a sort of crystalline tone to his voice, something that he put effort into to sound more normal, though it shone through somewhat. Though what really gave it away was that he seemed to be speaking the language that each of them had been raised on down to the accent. To him it was Coptic Arabic. what he was comfortable with. An interesting trait gained over the century or so he'd been alive, having fractured his voice so long ago so that he could speak to and understand the world before him...


Coming back to the present, Thorn listened with rapt attention to the press conference before eventually approaching the stage at the urging of Mr. White and crouching infront of it to get a good look at its exterior. There was certainly a reason he had been asked to look into this with Ms. Green and the others, and certainly if it was magic the exterior was as important as the interor. "How does this...?" Thorn put his head to the side of the machine without touching it and listened thoughtfully, trying to discern what was moving inside. This machine was Orichalcum right? That couldn't be right though. Unless the manufacturer was Exalted he wasn't sure where they would get this much. Unless this was something they stumbled upon rather than built? Entirely possible this was a relic, he may not be as familiar with the methods of the future as it may be but he certainly understood the past and the idea of free energy stunk of the past.

[Rhyvurg]

Then:
Marcus was wary of being approached by strangers who knew his name, but he had to admit that it would be better to have more connected friends in this world, and so he had hesitantly showed up at this meeting. Seemed a motley crew this Maiden had wanted gathered, must be some strange things ahead if this is what she thought would be needed. The redhead was kind of cute though, that didn't hurt. When she talked about this tech that was being revealed, he mentally shrugged. Maybe some security guards, maybe a squad of Terrestrial specialists if things went down hill, shouldn't be too dangerous.

Now:
Marcus is at the back of the room, keeping his back to the wall. He's watching exits and overt security more than he's watching the show, but when the mortal pulls off the sheet, Marcus channels the innate perfection of the Sun to see what insights he might glean from observing it's function.


Solar Excellency, Boost for +12 Knowledge (Technology)
[roll0]

[Kaworu]

- Oh, I certainly can – answered the presenter – You see, there are many components. We got some machinery changing the energy of the source into electricity by the means of motion, some cooling mechanism, oil for the moving parts etc. However, what lies at the heart of this machine is both very simple and very innovative. You see, we are using as the source of…

However, the presenter got no chance to explain what exactly the energy source was. At the same time, the doors to the room burst open, and in them stood a very peculiar person. She had long, straight, raven-black hair, shin the whitest of ivory and blood-red lips. What was the most peculiar, however, was her equipment – a full plate armor of black steel that seemed to suck in all the light and a great-blade. With her entry, the back of the room filled itself with a mass of clanking, animated skeletons, fastly filling the room.

The crowd wasted no time. People began screaming and running around, begging their Gods for mercy, and not believing their very own eyes. There’s been a general havoc, as people started panicking.

The skeletons did not attacked anyone… just yet, but you could imagine that they would in due time, which could be any second now! Marcus was in the best position to attack them or the lady, but Ravelynne and Broken Thorn had to move through the moving, panicking masses – plus they were pretty far away.

GM notes:

Marcus can attack skeletons at any time, but he would need to take down at least 2 to attack the Deathknight.
Ravelynne and Broken Thorn have to move – if they would need to pass through people, the test of Strength, Acrobatics or something else would be necessary.

Also, roll Notice to hear the skeletons moving behind the doors. Marcus was closer, so his ST is 15, Ravelynne and Broken Thorn were further (plus the crowd was still noisy) so they have to roll 20.

Marcus did not gain any kind of insight into the working of the machine.

MAP:

[----------]
[-----M----] <- STAGE
[--P-RB----]
------------
------------ <- EMPTY SPACE
ccccc—-ccccc
ccccc--ccccc
ccccc—-ccccc <- PEOPLE & CHAIRS
ccccc--ccccc
ccccc—-ccccc
------------
-----SSS---- <- EMPTY SPACE (BACK)
---MSSSSS---
#####-D##### <- DOORS

Legend:
M – Machine
P – presenter
R – Ravelynne
B - Broken Thorn
M – Marcus
S - Skeletons
D – Deathknight

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
Well this was certainly unexpected. What appeared to be a deathknight in full regalia had walked into the room with a host of the dead, and hadn't started killing yet. Or atleast Thorn assumed she hadn't, he didn't actually know what had happened between the entrance and the stageroom so far all he knew there was a massacre waiting outside. Thorn turned to Agent Green and asked as quietly as he could and still be understood by her and the presenter, "This isn't one of your people by any chance is she?"

If she wasn't, would there be a point in trying to talk him down? Thorn had known deathknights and they weren't exactly stable by design as evidenced by the one that had just entered the room.

[Rhyvurg]

Marcus looks over at the rather dramatic entrance, and at first he's not sure if he should intervene at all, he had no idea who this was or what she wanted, and revealing himself seemed a little brash. A fight would draw in the rest of the group. For now he keeps his blade hidden and approaches the deathknight. "Why are the prettiest woman always the most dramatic?"

[Kobold-Bard]

Blind Prism
Defence +10, Hero: 6/6
Conditions: -
Active Powers: Force Suppressing Barrier 10, Witness to Darkness 10, Exalted Healing 36

Arlene had been warned about Sidereals; arrogant, rude and principally responsible for why the world is so **** these days. So getting ambushed by one did not sit well with her at all. She had the air of one of those greedy charity collectors with buckets, trying to bully her into coming along by saying it's "her" choice to help when it really isn't. This Agent, whatever she called herself, was lucky Arlene was already intending to attend the unveiling at the (very polite) request of P’vordzaget; a demon prince of She Who Lives Within Her Name and the foremost expert on essence technology in Hell.

Blind Prism didn't think much of the others the Sidereal had gathered. The man listening to the cube was a traitor, a nazi, a deserter, a wimp, and a bunch of other insults she didn't care to think of. She'd probably have to kill him tbh, and that would be for the best. The other was at the back, channelling that tacky gold essence again. So low-class and brash, it made her neck itch, she wouldn't be surprised if he smoked as well.

Without getting out of her seat she looked over the cube under her magical senses, checking it for an essence signature and looking under the hood.
Super Senses 10 - Essence Awareness & X-Ray, both Extended.

When the doors fly open Prism cloaks herself in an essence barrier but otherwise doesn't respond; based on the purile "banter" from the man at the back she's in no immediate danger.

------
Note: Prism is an a-hole, not me. Also no obvious powers until I know the situation on Exalted secrecy.

[Lord Raziere]

Past:
"The Maidens...don't tell us why things need to happen or why things to need to need to change why at this time and not another time. They are as mysterious to us as they are to you. However there are certain factors we believe that may have influenced their decision: the internet for one. It is quite simply going inevitably reveal Exalts anyways. Another factor is that a connected global society due to the coming challenges needs to work cooperatively. This includes Exalts. The primary mission of the Sidereals, which has been to keep the supernatural secret for millennia....is thus about to End. It is a time of transition. The spirits are unchanging, but humans are as always a different story. I come to you because I have faith that our concerns transcend ancient history of some past Exalts and the patrons they come from. I am not doing this blindly just to follow her orders: I want to make sure the good things about this world survive the change. That secrets are revealed in a manner that does not cause harm. As for why you...I really do not know. Jupiter named you three without giving me a reason then sent me on my way...."
She looks at Thorn
"....didn't I see you once in the 60's? Where was it? Lots of wars during that time. Decolonization was a pain to manage. Endings and Battles were overworked and kept trying to pawn their work on me...memories a little cluttered so much had to be done...."
Between the Moon Landing, nuclear crisises, assassinations, coups, wars, social movements, there was so much to do, so little Sidereals to keep it all from blowing up. Honestly it was a miracle they kept it all together.

Present:
She whispers back to Thorn.
"No. As far as I know, Abyssals are still enemies. Working with Infernals is one thing, Abyssals entirely another, their mission is to murder existence. Not something the Sidereals work with. She is probably here for the cube, infinite energy source means something that could be to kill a lot of people which the Abyssals are all about."
She turns and pulls two gossamer pistols out her coat, seemingly from hidden unseen spaces without any hint of them being there before.
"Whatever is done, we can't let her have it. Also we should figure out what to do about the civilians. They're defenseless and could be used to bolster her numbers if they fall. They need to get out of here."
She falls into a battle ready stance and looks around the room for any fire exits, things of that nature so they can get out another way.

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]

"The Maidens...don't tell us why things need to happen or why things to need to need to change why at this time and not another time. They are as mysterious to us as they are to you. However there are certain factors we believe that may have influenced their decision: the internet for one. It is quite simply going inevitably reveal Exalts anyways. Another factor is that a connected global society due to the coming challenges needs to work cooperatively. This includes Exalts. The primary mission of the Sidereals, which has been to keep the supernatural secret for millennia....is thus about to End. It is a time of transition. The spirits are unchanging, but humans are as always a different story. I come to you because I have faith that our concerns transcend ancient history of some past Exalts and the patrons they come from. I am not doing this blindly just to follow her orders: I want to make sure the good things about this world survive the change. That secrets are revealed in a manner that does not cause harm. As for why you...I really do not know. Jupiter named you three without giving me a reason then sent me on my way........didn't I see you once in the 60's? Where was it? Lots of wars during that time. Decolonization was a pain to manage. Endings and Battles were overworked and kept trying to pawn their work on me...memories a little cluttered so much had to be done...."

"You wouldn't happen to have been involved in ARTICHOKE, OFTEN, or SCANATE would you?" Thorn was rattling off the names of a couple programs that had courted him at one time or another over the past decades. He'd hidden himself well but that only went so far, word of a miraculous man that could talk people into doing just about anything had reached the government at a few points and intelligence officers sought him out for their own purposes. Even going as far as helping him to patch up his identity in the eyes of the government after they had met him.

"It's entirely possible we've met before, though I do know your kind trade in identities and the mind does fuzz over a bit around you without the right preparation... I wonder. Was your order involved in North Africa? I walked away after the war- sorry the Second World War, fell apart but I know there were some organizations looking for me. Either for my knowledge or... the other reasons."

"That's not good," Thorn muttered upon learning that this was as completely unexpected as it seemed. "Alright, do you want me to get them out?" She already had her pistols out so she would probably want him to clear them, especially if the deathknight charged with his sword, if they won't just make a run for it. "Or, I could try to grab the box?"

Unlike the others that were preparing to open fire Thorn drew one of the marked cigarillos from a tin in his coat, lit it, and took a short drag carefully holding it in his mouth. Social acceptabilities and indoor smoking laws be damned, he was probably going to need this when the shooting started. The gun was second priority.

[Kaworu]

“Hands up everybody, and no funny business! ” shouted the Deathknight “Do as I say and do quickly and nobody is going to be hurt. Otherwise…” she let the tread of using violence hang in her unspoken words.

“I want this engine and I want it now. Or maybe you would like to taste my steel? ” she asked as more skeletons entered the room.

The presenter gulped loudly, thinking of what to do. But had he really any choice?

GM notes:

If you do nothing, the engine is being handled down to the Deathknight. There’s no bloodshed, but also no energy source for you.

If you oppose her, the fight ensues.

MAP:

[----------]
[-----M----] <- STAGE
[--P-RB----]
------------
------------ <- EMPTY SPACE
ccccc—-ccccc
ccccc--ccccc
ccccc—-ccccc <- PEOPLE & CHAIRS
ccccc--ccccc
ccccc—-ccccc
-----SSS----
----SSSS---- <- EMPTY SPACE (BACK)
---MSSSSS---
#####-D##### <- DOORS

Legend:
M – Machine
P – presenter
R – Ravelynne
B - Broken Thorn
M – Marcus
S - Skeletons
D – Deathknight

[Rhyvurg]

Robbery and death threats, that'll do. Marcus flexes his shoulders, his long coat splitting down the back, and holds out his hand, drawing Heartstriker from thin air. "You use steel? A lady like you deserves something better. If you like, you can have a taste of mine."

[Kobold-Bard]

Blind Prism
Defence +10, Hero: 6/6
Conditions: -
Active Powers: Force Suppressing Barrier 10, Witness to Darkness 10, Exalted Healing 36, Slave-Spawn Summons 4

"Best of luck with that you scatty, badly-dressed albino. Servants of Sondok and Florivet, ascend!"

Prism stands and raises a hand covered in rings to the sky. In front of her 9 bonfires of green flame erupt from the floor and from each crawls out an enormous creature resembling a gorilla with bones jutting out of their elbows and teeth the size of a smartphone; their red fur matted and scorched. The smell is awful, even by the standards of a room filled with the undead. Beside her from another flame emerges a 10ft long wasp with giant pearls for eyes and shimmering rainbow wings.

As the flames die down leaving smouldering circles in the once highly polished floor, Blind Prism mounts the giant wasp and points at the Deathknight.

"There's your dinner, go get it."

The monstrous gorillas roar with delight and rage and charge into the crowd of skeletons to get at their prey.

---
Full: Cast Slave-Spawn Summons (Summon) to conjure 9 Blood Apes and one Agata.
Free: Mount the Agata.
When we roll initiative I'll pay a hero point to Seize The Initiative and go first. Demon's actions will follow that.

Blood Ape (60pp):
Strength 20 (20pp)
Constitution 20 (20pp)
All-Out Attack feat (1pp)
Attack Focus - Unarmed Feat (1pp)
Elusive Target feat (1pp)
Rage feat x2 - double bonuses, 10 rounds (2pp)
Takedown Attack (1pp)
Teamwork feat x3 (3pp)
Super-Strength power 5 (10pp)
- Super breath power feat (1pp)

Agata (60pp):
Dexterity 20 (20pp)
Constitution 12 (4pp)
Charisma 16 (12pp)
Defensive Roll feat (1pp)
Favoured Environment feat - when being ridden (1pp)
Interpose feat (1pp)
Uncanny Dodge feat (1pp)
Dazzle power 6 - Visual (12pp)
Flight power 4 - 1 mile = 600mph (8pp)

[Lord Raziere]

Revelynne:
"...Thorn take the Cube, now. Civilians, Please escape to the nearest exit, for your own safety!"
She will walk forward, pointing her guns at the skeletons, breathing in and out as she says:
"Gossamer Gunslinger Stance: Hail of Nightmares"
Then begins firing them, her multi-colored guns firing bullets that bounce off the walls and ceilings and evade her allies and civilians to attack the skeletons themselves, homing in on them fated to meet enemies and enemies only, raining down in an sudden oddly precise shower. Every single bullet guided to its destination.


Diplomacy roll to convince the civilians to get out of here while projecting a clam and in control disposition.
[roll0]

Using: Gossamer Gunslinger Stance
Damage, Area (Perception, Visual), Selective, Ricochet 2, Homing 3, 20 points, rank 7

Attack Roll:
[roll1]
Damage:
[roll2]

If they miss, due to how my power works I will maintain this current attack as a free action into the next round to try and roll again to hit them, then fire off a second attack while maintaining the first with Homing, which I can do up to 3 rounds if the first attack does not hit.

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
"Alright," Thorn stretched his arms out and opened a gate into his Throne underneath the cube with little show. Green light flowed from his hands into a circular hole in the world, rimmed with little green fire, and he moved as quickly as he could to push the object inside into a cell in his reliquary. "Now, perhaps with that out of the way..."

With the Energy Cube removed, Thorn readied himself to close the portal as the Regent went about securing it on the other side. He wanted to make sure the fire exit wasn't blocked in some way, for all he knew he would need to start directing the civilians into his hidey hole in reality. "Perhaps we can do away with the skeletons and have a more reasonable discussion?"

[Kaworu]

The fight began.

The people screamed even more. Now not only there was a lot of skeleton eager to get at them, but also some monstrous, stinking-as-hell, blood-red apes. Ravelynne tried to speak some reason into them, but all for naught. With the assault of seemingly unnatural and demonic forces her voice seemed too quiet and too rational – cause for all they knew, what they have just witnessed was completely irrational.

Maybe that’s why, instead of running to the emergency exit, some of them just cried, while others had fallen to their knees and begged God to help them?

At least the device was all set, safe in alternate reality. The scene without it looked kind of small and empty, depressive even, but it was a good decision to hide it well – at least the Deathknight would not get her hands on it.

Speaking of, the Abyssal was really fast. Before everyone could even blink – more or less as the same time Blind Prism mounted his Agata – she was already at Kirnan, deadly blade in her very arms.

She had stricken well, but the body of a Solar was naturally immune to any metallic attack, including the Soulsteel swords.

“Wha…?” she had asked, surprise showing in her face. “Tell me, why my blade has no effect on you?” she continued, ugly smile on her face It seemed that the problem, if anything, had only make her more willing to take the fight. “You are not a… Sun child?” she inquired in a sudden realization. Her eyes got open wide with realization… and excitement.

In the meantime, the skeletons attacked Blood Apes. The swords they were carrying in their undead hands struck, but the power of the attack was nothing for the summoned demons. Blood Apes were knows for their endurance and strength and no second-class necromancy could damage them so easily.

The next thing everybody know was a rain of multi-colored, made-of-dreams bullets that Ravelynne unleashed at her enemies. The skulls, bones and armor of skeletons got pierced really well. In fact, they did not stood a chance against her assault. In a few second they were all gone, laying broken and lifeless (erm… more lifeless than before?) on the floor.

Kirnan tried to attack the Deathknight with his golden weapon, but he missed terribly. The lady looked at him intensely, studying his strike, weapon, posture and all other elements of his attack, trying to measure his potential and abilities.

The enemy remained unmoved by the speech of Broken Thorn. “You wanna talk? I will give you talk. Gimme the machine now, and we all can go our own ways. Do not, and there will be bloodsheed. There’s no much middle ground in this situation, is there?” she asked.

Finally, the Blood Apes attacked the Deathknight. Their giantish hands were strong and heavy, but her armor was heavier still. She did not even realized she had been attacked, focusing too much on the “Sun child”. Still, she was just one enemy, her skeletons were taken out, and she was alone against 4 other Exalts. Things were looking bright for the circle, as least for now.

INITIATIVE ORDER:

Blind Prism – first due to Hero Point
Deathknight - 29 [5]
Summoned demon, Agata – 25 [7]
Skeletons – 23 [4]
Ravelynne – 21 [2]
Kirnan – 18 [1]
Broken Thorn – 13 [3]
Summoned demons, Blood Apes – 5 [6]


ROLLS:
1 - http://kostnica.eu/roll/5f4021756dba6/
2 - http://kostnica.eu/roll/5f402222b16d8/
3 - http://kostnica.eu/roll/5f4022ab05b7e/
4 - http://kostnica.eu/roll/5f40233fa0ddc/
5 - http://kostnica.eu/roll/5f4023e81288f/
6 - http://kostnica.eu/roll/5f4024715712b/
7 - http://kostnica.eu/roll/5f4024b6c534e/

8 – Skeletons attack Blood Apes http://kostnica.eu/roll/5f41696e140db/ 13 DC 10 + DEF (0?) hit
9 – Blood Apes defend from Skeletons damage (DC 15+1=16) http://kostnica.eu/roll/5f4169cfad210/ 24 vs 16 – success, no effect
10 – Ravelynne attacks Skeletons. The DMD is +7, the DC would be 15+7=22, their Toughness bonus is +1, so they are… automatically taken out?
11 – Kirnan attacks the Abyssal - http://kostnica.eu/roll/5f416ec01a270/ 8 She defends
12 – Broken Thorn hm… just speaks? :-P
13 – Blood Apes attack The Abyssal – damage bonus +9 less than 12 (Impervious Protection), so she is not getting damaged

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
Thorn is trying to calm and direct the audience to the emergency exit. Additionally the presenter into the portal into his Throne.
Diplomacy: [roll0]
I have the Beautiful Voice feat which allows me to make diplomacy checks during combat, I'm not using it on the Abyssal because there's not much point yet.

"Bloodshed?" Thorn clapped his hands and the portal turned to fire. "Perhaps you're right, perhaps there is no middle ground, but you're not in control here. You should have moved faster. If I don't like where this goes I'll throw the box into Elsewhere. You can kill me all you like and it's gone."

"Audience? Audience." Thorn clapped his hands again and clarified the portal, looking at the audience and trying to calm them he urged them to make their way to the exits. "Audience, If you don't want to fight please make your way to an exit. You'll be safe. Trust me."

And then the Presenter. He directed him towards the portal on the stage he had dropped the generator into.

[Rhyvurg]

Kirnan smiles at her. "You have much strength, but little wisdom. My blade will act to shield me of it's own accord, no metal can touch me. Now, lovely girl, shall we dance?" He bows and flourishes his sword before turning to the side and putting one arm behind his back, a stance suited for a foil or epee, not the katana he was holding. "You strike well, but let's see your defense." The tip of his sword dips low, then stabs upwards at her torso.


[roll0]

[Lord Raziere]

Revelynne
She puts the guns away, appearing behind the death knight like a stalking nightmare
"Death Knights only want entropy and destruction. As if I'd allow such a thing to fall into your hands."
Revelynne slashes at the death knight, her fists like the claws of a beast from darkest dreams quick and vicious while trying to hit her pressure points so she can put the death knight to sleep or at least make her drowsy. Any advantage in a fight.


Movement Action:
Inescapable Nightmare Pursuit:
Stance, Limited to Pursuing One Person, Powers: Speed 6, Teleport 2, Permeate 3, Water Walking, Air Walking 2, Strike 4, 20 points, rank 4

Switch for Attack Action:
Peaceful Repose Touch:
Sleep, linked with Strike 5, 20 points, rank 5

Attack Roll:
[roll0]
Damage:
[roll1]

Sleep:
The Death Knight must make a DC 15 Fortitude saving throw. If they fail they are dazed, if they fail by 5 or more, they are stunned and by 10 or more they fall into a deep sleep. The target makes a fortitude check to recover from being dazed or stunned each round, but checks for deep sleep each hour, but may be awoken by a loud noise, taking damage or an aid action to wake them.

[Kobold-Bard]

Blind Prism
Defence +0, Hero: 5/6
Conditions: - Flying (Agata)
Active Powers: Mind-Hand Manipulation 10, Witness to Darkness 10, Exalted Healing 36, Slave-Spawn Summons 4

Prism collapses her invisible shield into an equally invisible spinning saw blade, and launches it at the the Abyssal to take her head off.

---
Free: Sustain Slave-Spawn Summons
Standard: Attack with Mind-Hand Manipulation (Telekinesis - Damaging, Subtle)
Attack - [roll0]
Damage DC 25 vs Toughness, Surprise Attack so Deathknight has no Dodge Bonus and takes -2 Defence.

Standard: Blood Apes make a teamwork attack
Attack: [roll1] Actually +28 so should be [33] (I forgot the Demons had Feats)
Damage: DC 23 vs Toughness

[Kaworu]

Blind Prism attacked with all his might, taking a telekinetic shoot at the Abyssal. The lady in black didn’t even try to dodge, since her Soulsteel plate armor protected her from even this powerful damage. Neither did the attack of Bloody Apes did anything to her. She seemed to be a really tough enemy indeed.

She smiled an awfully creepy smile at Kirnan, putting her blade to a sheath at her back. Still smiling, she tightnened her hands into fists and focused for a brief moment. Her fists became emblazed with a dark energy, something between an aura and a flame. Before he could even blink, she hit him with her full strength with this black energy gathered around her palm. He could feel an icy cold radiating from the point of strike to the rest of his body, but he was too strong to let that feeling overcome him – instead, it washed over him like water over a duck.

The Abyssal looked surprised, but it only widened her awful smile. She certainly had a challenge in front of her, and it seemed that she liked challenges.

Next was the turn of Ravelynne to try and attack the enemy. Sadly, the Deathknight gracefully dodged her attack, not even blinking. While making her drowsy seemed a good idea, she was too good a fighter to let her be touched by this attack, it seemed. Or, rather, the Sidereal was not quick enough this time, it appeared. Whether she would sleep if hit was a different matter, one that nobody could predict just yet.

Neither was good enough an attempt by Kirnan to attack the dark lady. She did another graceful, even lazy dodge, not even sweating a bit. The smile she gave to her main opponent was a mocking one, this time.

At least Broken Thorn was successful at something he wanted to do. Now that skeletons were out of the question, and Blood Apes seemed to not attack them, and the first shock had vanished, it was quite easy to persuade the crowd to do as told- especially for someone as charismatic as Thorn. The people started to go – at a fast speed, let us underline – into the portal. While it would take them some time to all go through it, for now they seemed to be quite safe.


INITIATIVE ORDER:

Blind Prism – first due to Hero Point
Deathknight - 29
Summoned demon, Agata – 25
Skeletons – 23
Ravelynne – 21
Kirnan – 18
Broken Thorn – 13
Summoned demons, Blood Apes – 5

ROLLS:

1. Deathknight attacks Kirnan (17 vs 10, HIT) http://kostnica.eu/roll/5f4fd14b8c475/
2. Kirnan defends against Fatigue (25 vs 18, SUCCESS) http://kostnica.eu/roll/5f4fd2afc4d06/
3. Ravelynne attack Deathknight (10 vs 19, NOT a hit)

[Rhyvurg]

"Very good, you're adapting. But you're having a time of it making your strikes count, maybe I could give you some lessons sometime, perhaps after dinner?" He switches to a more measured stance, putting more emphasis on defense that attacking, but still flicks his blade at her, trying to keep her attention on him.


Defensive Attack, defense bonus is 15 until my next turn, -5 attack bonus
Accurate Attack, +5 attack bonus, damage DC for this attack is 20
[roll0]

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
I'm using beautiful voice. I'm not attempting to talk her out of combat yet, I don't want to rain on that parade yet. I'm just seeing if I can get her to reveal the plan.

Diplomacy: [roll0]

"Welcome!" A man quite resembling Thorn, save the white suit, stood before the group that had entered the portal. The box was nowhere to be seen, hidden in the reliquary, as they found themselves in a grand hall of green marble and hieroglyphics. The hall was furnished lavishly in the styles of the 50s and was quite comfortable, even warm. Though this was perhaps going to be skewed by the fantastical and bizarre situation the audience had found themselves in. "Make yourselves at home, if you have any questions I'll be happy to answer them, I'm sure this situation will be resolved soon enough."

Back in reality, Thorn stood watching the fight readying to open fire if things turned. He hadn't intended to direct the Audience into his Throne but it had happened so he would live with that. "Are you sure you don't want to talk? We can't give you the box, but perhaps you'd be willing to look the other way today? Walk away and live another day to bring destruction later? What would you even use a box like this for? It doesn't appear tuned to your kind."

[Kobold-Bard]

Blind Prism
Defence +0, Hero: 5/6
Conditions: - Flying (Agata)
Active Powers: Constructive Convergence of Principles 14, Witness to Darkness 10, Exalted Healing 36, Slave-Spawn Summons 4

Annoyed that the angry cow managed to deflect her attack, Prism changes tactics and whispers into her hands. Sickly green light seeps out between her fingers as she raises her cupped hands. Throwing them forward Vitriol-tainted brass chains fly from her palms and coil around the Deathknight, seeking to immobilise her.

---
Free: Sustain Slave-Spawn Summons
Standard: Constructive Convergence of Principles (Create Object) to create chains around the Deathknight
Defence: Reflex vs DC 24 or unable to move
DC 29 to break the chains

Standard: Blood Apes make a teamwork attack
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: DC 23 vs Toughness

[Lord Raziere]

Revelynne
She will try to hit her again but this time for a different effect: Dream Ravager Hand, raking at the Deathknight with her fingers curled like a beast claw to try and not only claw at her flesh but reach in and claw at her mind, to attack her strength of will and thus her psychological will to fight and not give up.


Drain (Willpower) Touch 10, Linked with Strike 10, 20 points, rank 10

Attack Roll:
[roll0]
Damage Roll:
[roll1]

Willpower Drain:
Target must make a fortitude save, if the save fails they lose 1 point per rank in drain in the affected trait. the lost points return at a rate of 1 point per round.

[Kaworu]

The Deathknight grunted as the word spoken bi Kirnan. She had struck a blow with her fist again. However, there were subtle differences Kirnan could see as a warrior himself – whereas before her touch against his skin was brief, subtle even, now she had put a lot, lot more effort and – well, force – into her strike. She had missed with this attack, and luckily, because he could seen – almost felt – the power of her blow.

The Agata that Blind Prism summoned hovered in the air, unsure how to strike best the enemy. His rider was unsure too – or at least it seemed – because he did not attack, even though he had the possibility. Why was that? Only the Incarnae know…

Next was Ravelynne. Her idea to attack the mind of the Lady in Black instead of her body was an interesting idea, even thought it was poorly executed. She had missed her with her claws. In fact, she did not even come close! Oh damn!

Kirnan’s attack was a direct hit, at last! He had struck hard, he knew it… yet it was still too little to damage the enemy?! Of what was she made?!

The Lady in Black ignored Broken Thorn’s remarks. In fact, the was a fury – and strange passion – in her gaze as she looked briefly around, to better measure her opponents and their capabilities. Was she perhaps in some kind of… battle trance?

The last one of the warriors were the Blood Apes, but again, the Deathknight barely seemed to realize they were present.


INITIATIVE ORDER:

Blind Prism – first due to Hero Point
Deathknight - 29
Summoned demon, Agata – 25
Skeletons – 23
Ravelynne – 21
Kirnan – 18
Broken Thorn – 13
Summoned demons, Blood Apes – 5

ROLLS:
Deathknight attacks Kirnan - http://kostnica.eu/roll/5f6ba4dfcd61d/ ROLL: 13 vs 15 miss

[Rhyvurg]

"Temper temper, your passion is getting the better of you, and not in a fun way. Can't we just talk about this?" Not wanting to be on the receiving end of that any time soon, Kirnan adopts a fully defensive posture.


Defensive Attack feat and Defensive Stance action, +7 defense until next turn.

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
You said to try again so here we go. Beautiful voice is being used.

Diplomacy: [roll0]

As the last member of the audience crossed the threshold into his domain, Thorn closed the portal...

Alright back to the battle. Abyssal battle trance. Not unbreakable, though Abyssals were never exactly reasonable. It wasn't impossible he could appeal to honour perhaps? "How passionate for the way of the warrior you are. Certainly more than the kin of yours I've met over the long century, honed against the immortal. Perhaps we can talk this out and come to a better agreement than we would find in random bloodshed? You're certainly not at advantage against four of us, your servants gone, your masters absent, and your prize absent. Come, lower your arms and let us speak."

[Kaworu]

Broken Thorn, after sending all people to safety, decided to talk some reason into the Abyssal.

Usually, this would be an utter nonsense. Luckily, Thorn was not unusual. He was an Exalt.

His voice, magically enhanced by the Essence of She Who Lives In Her Name. Voices Like Crystal Facets made him know the exact pitch, the subtle trembles of the voice, the tone and words which would be the most soothing – and expanded that to cosmic proportions.

As such, the enemy turned into friends instantly.

The Abyssal lowered her guards, looking at Thorn unblinkingly for a long moment. Then, she took a few breaths and…

- My name is The Deadly Dancer With a Blade of Obsidian Who Will Walk Upon Bones of Her Foes. Let’s talk. – she did raise a hand to a handshake.

[Rhyvurg]

Kirnan's sword lowers a bit. It'd be great if she really meant to stop fighting, but at the same time he wasn't prepared to believe her just yet.

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]

Broken Thorn smiled and looked at the abyssal. This was good, he'd probably have to smooth this over with Green but this was a good beginning.

"Alright, I'm glad to hear that. I am Broken Thorn of the Red Nile, Exaltation of the Anathema."

Thorn looked at the others, hoping they would accept a possible arrangement rather than continuing the bloodshed, and jumped off the stage so they were closer to eye level.
It was entirely possible Green would use this as an opportunity to drop the Abyssal though and he would have to accept that if it happened.

[Kaworu]

Abyssal smiled, showing her perfect, white teeth.

- Now, that we are friends and you do not wanna fight me, I suppose you will give me the Heartstone? - she asked, eyeing the place where the perpetum mobile vanished - We are good, so you will grant my wish, won't you?

[Rhyvurg]

"We can talk about that, but how about you tell us what you want it for first." Kirnan is still on edge, she's talking peacefully now, but that could change any moment.

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]

Broken Thorn smiled and gesticulated mildly with his hands as he began approaching the Knight.

"Yes, let us talk about what you would need it for? I certainly don't have a use for it, so it would be up to Ms. Green here. I certainly assume you would have a use for it if you made a show here."

It looked so far that at the very least they could learn what the plan was for it, though Thorn hoped to avoid further bloodshed. This wasn't the first Abyssal he had met, most of them weren't very reasonable, but most of them could in some way be reasoned with. He supposed that if he was... working for the good guys? Not that he considered the sidereals the good guys, that maybe he could reason with the Abyssal and work with her. They all had goals, even if they'd been beaten down by the dead ones, and on some level wanted freedom in some way. The question is did she, or was she company straight through?

[Lord Raziere]

Revelynne:
She keeps herself in a battle ready stance
"The Sidereals know of the Abyssals. Last I checked, You serve the Neverborn and the Death Lords. Such beings only desire the destruction of all that is. I do not think I need to explain to anyone why this is undesirable."
Her eyes narrow
"But go ahead, state your desires why you want it. I make no promises about believing you though."

[Kaworu]

- We need this energy source - stated the Abyssal - As to for what purpose, I can't tell. My partner seemingly believes me to be incompetent - said the lady. There was an easily discernable resentment in her voice.

At the same moment, two new persons appeared in the doors leading to the conference room. Both of them quite famous.

Dorothy, Genki

The traffic was quite heavy today, especially considering the gathering at True Stone Industries. Because of it, you both were late. Hoping that it was not too late to miss the presentation - in case of Dorothy - or to sing - as was the case with Genki - you both left your cars and went into the building.

Something was off.

There were people screaming, running away from the room where the gathering took place. At the same time, there were not as many people as some would expect. Anxious, you rushed forward.

When you entered the conference room, you realized that there was something really, really off. Inside were just a few people - including one Abyssal with a freakish, giant sword - and no bystanders, but a lot of awfully smelling red monkeys and skeletons laying around them.

What the hell did happen there?

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Dorothy had made a point of being on time for the presentation and saw it through to the point where the the fancy new device was swallowed up into a glowing green rift in spacetime.

Being ostensibly a normal invitee and not knowing enough to act appropriately, she left along with the other guests in the midst of the skeleton fight. One could notice easily enough that the woman in the copper-colored pantsuit was less panicked than the other mere mortals, but she didn't really have the presence to calm and lead the group with that courage. She could only keep watch over them as they evacuated the building.

"Hello," is all she says to Ms. Tojo for introduction as the performer rushes in to help. She runs down the empty hallway alongside her. "It was this conference room down here. They were presenting a new kind of engine when a group of armed monsters burst into the room, presumably to steal it." The Inventor Queen probably has a better idea of the device's significance than that, but those details don't seem to matter except to establish its narrative role as a macguffin.

By the time they get there, Dorothy has missed the part of the conversation where the device was called a Heartstone, but is just in time to hear the phrases, 'Neverborn,' and, 'Death Lords.' She briefly entertains the notion that this whole fiasco was orchestrated by an ambitious confederation of metal bands.

"Um, excuse me," she says from the doorway, "am I to presume that we are past the point of simply returning the device to its owner? Or, indeed, the point where we would wait patiently for it to be replicated and made available for legitimate purchase?"

[Lord Raziere]

Revelynne:
She regards the current situation and the newcomer. This would have to be carefully done.
"Right, because "We need it for reasons I can't say" is a great negotiating position. Your asking for a lot of trust for someone who barged in here with a small army of undead, Abyssal. Pardon me if I'm not inclined to give it to your entropic ends."
She turns to Dorothy.
"Ah yes, your Dorothy right? A Twilight caste? I'd say we are past that. I am Agent Green, Chosen of Secrets. The plan for me and my recent associates was simply to observe the Hearthstone and figure out what to do about it. Such an invention like this could change the world drastically and its probably best we figure out a way for it to change it for the better. There is no denying the numerous benefits it could have- or the pain it could cause if it powers weaponry. This one here-"
She points to the Abyssal
"-Came in here demanding it out of nowhere, the prototype before it could be replicated. My associates and I simply acted in response to keep a violent Exalt associated with entropic beings from forcefully taking it. I myself find little value in objects aside from what end they can serve or result they achieve. As long as the good this invention does outweighs the suffering it causes, it will be worthwhile to see it distributed fairly to the public in my eyes."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Ms. Price stares uncomfortably at the mention of her Exalted caste, trying to decide whether it would be better to play dumb, or to ask how Agent Green knew about that, or to introduce herself and ask the names of the other likely exalts, or even to simply nod in acknowledgement. Naturally, she ends up doing none of those things; by the time she's decided to trust the agent, the moment has passed and looping back to introductions would just make things more awkward.

"That sounds right," she says. "Do you need help taking her into custody, then, or with recovering the prototype from wherever it went?"

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]

Broken Thorn focused on the Deathknight before him, talking her down was the priority for the moment.

"You certainly don't look incompetent to me, you've been smart enough to listen certainly and brought... How many skeletons? How many graveyards did you need to go through to find that many of enough quality to raise? I remember that was a problem with the Knights I had worked with, solid enough remains were always a problem during the war considering the way we went about that... I wonder. Perhaps your partner undervalues your contribution? Have you considered contract work?"

Certainly there were worse ideas than rambling. She wasn't a blood crazed monster as far as he could tell. He continued his approach, this could work.

[Rhyvurg]

The newcomer makes Kirnan's hand tighten on the grip of his sword again, but she doesn't seem to have come here for a fight. "Not to rush anyone, but sooner or later more mundane authorities are bound to arrive, we shouldn't dawdle."

[Kaworu]

- We did not rob any graves – The Dancer explained -Magick was used. My partner is a master when it comes to necromancy and seemingly researched a new spell. Was saying something about quantum physics. To be honest I do not understand any of that.

- If you will go with me, I think he could explain some things to you. But mind me, he’s a buffoon. Sometimes it is just better to ignore him, I have found.

- As to the Hearthstone, it was my job to retrieve it. I am not gonna go back empty-handed. So give me the machine and go with me, if you need to. Talking is good, but the results are expected from me, not having a bunch of new friends. – there was a hint of dangerous gaze in her eyes. Just a hint, though.

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]

Broken Thorn shut out the rest of the room, and focused his energies outward through his voice.

"Hrm, I doubt Green here would like that, though perhaps we could reach an agreement with you and the buffoon. I have the artifact nicely kept away in my throne, I could go with you, perhaps the others could join us. We could sit down and work out an agreement of some sort. At the very least you seem a reasonable sort so even if he can't be reasoned with we can work something out. I doubt you'd want to carry it back in your hands anyhow."

[Rhyvurg]

Kirnan nods. "I can agree to that. We can also try to determine what exactly it is."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"I would say that the presentation explained that much pretty well," Dorothy says. "At least, well enough for our purposes. It's a perpetual motion machine. I'd question whether they truly discovered a deposit of orichalum and engineered it from there, or whether they're just dressing up some ancient artifact to pass it off as their own work, but I can look into that on my own time."

Dorothy is already wondering if the question is actually relevant here. Perhaps the Deathlord is after it for some property that the presenter was unaware of? She has only a passing awareness of what those, 'entropic beings,' are about, though. Who knows how much they've changed in the thousands of years since her old texts were written, assuming those texts were accurate to begin with.

[Kaworu]

- As long as I will have the machine, you can go with me. I see no reason not to - was all the Dancer said. She looked briefly at agent Green, giving her a kind-of challenging look, but nothing really hostile. Then she went out of the room, not looking back at you.

In the hallway, she went to one of the walls and grabbed something from inside her armor. What she was holding later was a piece of charcoal-black chalk.

- When I will outline a door, it will only last for one minute. After that, it vanishes. I suppose it would be better if you go first and I will follow you at the close. Any questions? - she asked.

[Lord Raziere]

Agent Green:
She shakes her head
"Oh no. I'm not going anywhere with you, Dancer. Explain why I should you trust you, because if I can't, there is no way I'm doing that. Hate to be that person, but I have absolutely zero reason to go along with anything you want and there is a high probability that what you want is something destructive or detrimental. Your trying negotiate without giving your position or what your goal is. Thats a non-starter. Tell us why your doing this or no deal- and even if you tell us, that doesn't itself guarantee a deal goes through."

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]

"Green, Green, Green. We haven't known eachother for very long, but surely the least we can do is hear them out? Of course they would want destruction but the same can be said of all for one reason or another. Golds want to bring destruction to their enemies, Silvers want to bring destruction to their enemies, Bronze want to bring destruction to their enemies. Star and Rust want to bring change to the world, another form of destruction. Bone though, that's always a bit different, they all have their own reasons and their own goals. I'm curious what theirs are. The machine is nice and safe and..."

Thorn opened the portal again and urged the civilians within to leave the battlefield and seek the exits. Save the presenter, he was held for the moment.

"Surely, we can meet the buffoon, learn why he wants it and come to an agreement at the very least with Miss Dancer here."

Thorn began approaching Dancer and looked on at her chalk curious as to her magics. Teleportation was not unknown to him, but the methods always varied a little.

[Rhyvurg]

Kirnan smirks. "Don't worry Green, I'll get you home before curfew." He waits for Dancer to open the door. Never a dull moment after taking the Second Breath.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Ms. Price does not seem enthusiastic about the situation. It might just be that she's not enthusiastic about anything, period, but the way she raises her eyebrows at different points in this exchange would seem to suggest that she's on the same page as the green agent.

"For what it's worth, I am also rather uneasy about walking through strange dimensional portals. No offense to either of you," she says to both the dancer and the guy with the pocket throne room. Walking into traps is a viable strategy for secret agents and adventurers, but less so for people with day jobs. She gets out her tablet. "However, I do have a car and a means of concealing its destination, if you would like to conserve your motes and not risk being tracked home by mystical bloodhounds."

If the dancer's response is something along the lines of, 'what bloodhounds,' Dorothy is prepared light up like a Christmas tree and give a disheartening lecture on magical signatures and residual gateways that may or may not completely describe the means Ms. Green's agency uses to keep track of people like her.

[Kaworu]

The Dancer looked at both Agent Green and Dorothy. After a moment of thinking, she broke her chalk into three more-or-less equal pieces. She tossed one of them to Ravelynne, the second to the Solar and she kept the third piece.

- My companion is not in Creation. He is in the Underworld, so your car will not help us. As long as you do not have any means to pierce the plane barrier, you have to use this. Kept it, if I would wanna ambush you or something, you could always escape to this world on your own. I am afraid this is the only safeguard I am able to give you. – she explained.

This was followed by questions - Are we done yet? Or are there more issues?

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"I see," says Dorothy. Somehow, the destination being on another plane of existence is more convincing to her than the chalk. "I appreciate you humoring me. I look forward to seeing where this goes."

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]

"The underworld? Why I haven't been there in... It's been quite a while. Quite a cold place, but not entirely unpleasant. Hrm. If you would rather Miss Green you could wait out the trip in my Throne, and come out nice and rested once we've settled matters."

[Lord Raziere]

Revelynne:
She crosses her arms.
"Fine. I'll go with you. But if this turns out badly, don't say I didn't warn you."
She will go through the portal. She'd be a fool to not take this opportunity to learn more about they're planning.

[Kaworu]

The Dancer nodded, then came closer to a wall. With the piece of black chalk in her hand, she has outlined there a door – just a square, basically. When it was done, she had made an additional, black point in the center. She had moved her hand towards her mouth and bitten her thumb a little, producing some droplets of blood. Then, she pressed the thumb against the black dot.

Immediately, the black color started to spread from the central point, quickly filling the borders of the square completely. Then, after a short time, the blackness disappeared, showing the Underworld.

From what you could see from the door, it was dark inside. A cold wind blew from the hole in space, unnervingly tearing at your clothes. The building, as shown from the portal, was a ruin of gray, fractured concrete, broken windows, and black, twisted iron – it was recognizable as the exact same building, but a bit different at the same time.

- If you do not have means of transportation. It will take us fifteen minutes of walking to go to my comrade. I hope this is fine with you? - asked the Dancer.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

The nerd in the copper suit watches the ritual with interest. She'll likely have to replicate it later.

"I have many faults, but not quite that degree of laziness," she says. "We'll be fine, I'm sure."

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]

"I have a bicycle but I doubt that's what you mean, I'm fine with walking."

[Rhyvurg]

Kirnan follows the rest, his hands in his pockets. "Nothing wrong with a little walk."

[Kaworu]

You began the march against the sunless world. When you have left the building you were in – the mirror reflection of the one in the Creation – you have seen a whole new, ruthless reality.

The gray, heavy clouds have hidden the weak light from the surface of Earth. Everywhere were buildings of concrete, broken glass and steel, twisted in impossible shapes, like clawy fingerr reaching for the skies, as if to tear it apart.

There were also people. Not many of them, but the longer you have walked in this world, the more of them you saw. Dressed in rags, with long, sunken, hungry faces and hopelessness in their eyes. They were in various shades of gray and black, never white, never clean. Their half-translucent bodies were hovering slightly above the ground, and their robes were flying behind them, sometimes moved by slight wind, sometimes by a tornado you could not feel.

It was like a disaster had struck this land. No, not struck – like a disaster was always a part of this plane of existence. Forevermore, with no beginning and certainly no end in sight.

It was quite depressing.

The Dancer moved through this sad land, seemingly knowing where you are going and seeming unmoved by the sights.


~*~

After about a quarter of an hour, you have moved to a place that in your world could be a public park, but in this, it was just a plain of dead tress and thorns. In the center of the park, you have seen a peculiar, nauseating view.

There was a big portal made of slightly moving, pulsating muscles and big, purple veins. At the very tom, there was a metal box, injected into the mass of meat. The whole sight was like something from a horror movie – revulsing and wicked to a level of exaggeration.

And, before this whole thing, there was a small figure in once-white doctor’s robes, now tainted with dirt and old blood. He had a little goatee and moustache, black, short hair and pale complexion. When he had heard you moving, he turned your way. He had blue eyes, the only think about him that was truly pretty without the hint of a danger or humorous, twisted parody.

- Ah, Dancer. Took you long, didn’t it? - he asked, not without being slightly mean – And… who are your companions? And the stone, do you have it?- he went straight to business.

[Rhyvurg]

Kirnan keeps a hand on his sword as they pass through this blighted place, his blade and longcoat glimmering with traces of the sunlight used to craft them. He had to remind himself that these were not living beings, but rather dead ones, and beyond any help. The portal however...that made him grip his weapon a little tighter. What abomination was this? What twisted mind would think something so hideous was a good idea?

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]

Thorn approached the man before him, trying to get a good look at what exactly it was that he was working on. This mechanism seemed somewhat infernal in nature to him though the man working on it definitely had the air of deathknight. As Broken Thorn approached the man and offered his hand to shake, passing Ms. Green he attempted to sign a message to prepare to her with his hands behind his back before offering his to the man.

"Hello, Mr... Sorry I didn't catch your name. My name is Broken Thorn, and I'm currently the custodian of this Hearthstone-(?)-you-said. Ms. Dancer here came to claim it and I thought it would be worthwhile to find out what it was exactly that you had wanted to use it for, before I handed it over, and see about striking a deal. You look a reasonable sort, and I thought you and Ms. Dancer might be interested in coming to some form of agreement before coming to blows again."

Broken Thorn had been taking long gances around him and just about everything in this realm. He had long feared treading the land of the dead, eventually to be made into the tools of the real Anathema. If he could he would offer a path out to dead, though he doubted that was possible in the current state of the world. An interesting machine you have there. A gate of some sort I assume?

He'd draw this out as long as he could before Green inevitably opened fire on the abomination.

[Lord Raziere]

Revelynne
She is silent and just letting Thorn speak. This was probably the Underworld. Best to just wait and see how much intel she can get.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Dorothy doesn't seem terribly impressed by the underworld as a whole. It's depressing, to be sure, but not really surprising. Either her expectations were unreasonable to begin with, or this plane had been tamed alongside creation as it assumed its now-static shape.

Similarly to Kirnan, she stares up at the meat arch with a look of undisguised disapproval. This would be the mustached doctor's doing, no doubt. In Dorothy's life, she'd had no more encounters with necrotech than with anything else abyssal-related, but it's not like necrotech is all that hard to recognize conceptually.

Still, if such a thing must exist, it is already right where it belongs. Even as the Inventor Queen, the underworld would fall pretty far outside her jurisdiction. She holds her tongue and lets the agents do their thing.

[Kaworu]

- Ah, yes – the man shaked the hand of Thorn – My name is The Most Skillful Necromancer Who’s Mastery of Life and Death Shall Bring the World to Its Knees… not exactly my first choice, but you cannot say no to a Deathlord, can you? - there was again a hint of mockery in his voice – As to what we have there, it is truly ingenious in it’s simplicity. This gate, that you see behind me = he pointed at it with his thumb, completely unnecessarily – is a Gate of Life, powered by a Creation-made Hearthstone and located in the realm of the dead. After putting your Hearthstone in it, I am gonna go to Creation and using my magic, raise – in the very same space – a Gate of Death powered by the Underworld-made Heartstone. Then I will make a simple quantum entanglement of both Gates, spatially canceling the difference between the two realms… within the portals, of course. Now that you understand, please, give me the thing – he hold his hand toward Thorn and moved it, impatiently.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Interesting. You've certainly shown some technical prowess."

Without asking, the copper lady strides past the necromancer like she owns the place and approaches the arch itself. Her anima flickers to life as she addresses the object, rendering her unmistakable as one of its builder's peers.

"I am impressed, Underworld Gate. Your creator tells me you await the construction of your counterpart. How will you know when she is ready?"

[Rhyvurg]

Kirnan sighs, it seems there will be no avoiding a violent end. This sounded like nothing but a Deathlord's scheme to march their armies into the world of the living, there was a reason free travel between the two realms wasn't possible. "It's certainly an impressive endeavor..."

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]

"Oh. I see. You're trying to make a Shadowland and march on Creation. Certainly a less straight forward plan than the Deathknights I met during the war, and you need the Hearthstone to tear the initial hole. Certainly ingenious, not what I'd do, I'll admit I'm not as knowledgeable as I could be in quantum entanglement. Merits for creativity. Plenty of potential for widespread destruction."

Broken Thorn draws a cigarillo and lights it as he examines the pulsating flesh and the somewhat more immaculate man infront of him "I unfortunately can't hand over the hearthstone, yet. Ms. Green here would need some variety of agreement as to its... use. But that would be up to her."

"I wonder, what school of Necromechanics did you go to? Was this idea derived from the cancer collegias in the undereast or the carrion tombs somewhat more south of here? I had a colleague from the collegias when I was studying in Malfeas, who had an idea for a self-perpetuating cancer that he claimed could turn a city into puppets in about 21 days. This seems quite original though.

[Kaworu]

The Gate answered to Dorothy. ”I will know” came to her. ”Just know. When it will happen, it shall be obvious.”

At the same time, Skillful Necromancer looked at Thorn. In his gaze, there was a mixture of disdain, dissapointment and sense of superiority - You are mistaken. By a far shoot. – he explained, his voice somehow cold - I am not trying to “create a Shadowland”. Shadowland is a permanent fusing of Creation and Underworld, which works differently depending on the time of day. It also is area-wide and irreparable – unless you are a powerful Solar sorcerer, it is. What I try to create is something very, very different. A two-dimensional, contained break between words, not their fusion. Something that can be turned off and on as you need. Something that will work, if let to be, all the time, no matter the position of the sun. Something that will not contaminate the whole land. – he continued.

- And for a moment, I took you for a man of learning... – he clicked his mount, unsatisfied.

[Rhyvurg]

"Very well, it won't create a Shadowland, but all the same, why make it at all? What is it's purpose?" Kirnan was just waiting for the other shoe to drop, for this man to reveal his patron as the Lion or the Mask, that the gateway would be the start of an invasion of the living world.

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]

"I am a man of learning, what I lack is knowledge of your field. Quantum entanglement seems a rather recent idea, and my knowledge of modern academia only extends so far. Sorcery is my field. I assumed your intent was to create a shadowland as that would cause maximum casualties and near-permanent damage to creation. If that isn't your intent I wonder what the point of your gate would be? Certainly access to creation, but for what reason if your intent isn't to drag it down?"

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Dorothy keeps talking to the archway. People were never really her strong suit. She and the necromancer probably have that in common. At least he doesn't seem to mind her messing with his invention like this.

"Will it be obvious enough for us to see? How might I keep an eye out for the event?"

[Kaworu]

Another answer came to Dorothy. “Yes, it will” continued the Gate “Manual operation is required.”

At the same time, Skillful Necromancer continued his talk with Kirnan and Thorn. “You, Solars...” he sighed, even though one of his interlocutors clearly wasn’t a Solar “Always blaming us, Deathknights, accusing of treason, murders and carnage. Did it come to you for just a moment that we might NOT be all like that?” he asked, rolling his eyes.

“Okay, for your information – no, we are not trying to make some kind of Shadowland and no, we do not wanna invade Creation. Did you had a proper look at the ghosts in there?” he demanded “Poor, forgotten, starving souls? You know that there are not currently any ancestors cults in the world? No cults means no players and offerings, this means no food for them. They cannot die – not from starvation, at least – but they still feel the hunger, cold, loneliness and pain. But oh, why so noble and shiny Exalted of the living world should care, huh?” there was a nasty glimmer in his eyes.

“What I wanna do is to create gates between worlds and let the souls of the dead to pass through. This will give them the warm sun, food, shelter and at least a substitute of being alive.” Necromancer explained “And now be so kind and give me the hearthstone.” he moved his hand impatiently.

[Rhyvurg]

"How sure are you that that is all it will be used for? That no Deathlord will try to take it from you?"

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]

"Fascinating." Broken Thorn had a certainly queer expression on his face as he contemplated the words of Deathknight before him.

"I'm not a solar, but this sounds like a noble goal to me. Certainly I've noticed a shift and the dead are often ignored, I'm unsure if it's a wise plan to allow the hungry dead back into the world, but you have my support. Honestly I always assumed they were still receiving patronage through alternative means, I remember a few quaint traditions in South America, though that isn't the point. If it was up to me I'd hand you the artifact and assist with the ritualism, but I fear if we did it without the backing of Ms. Green here we'd get an airstrike on the other side at best."

Broken Thorn flourished with his hand and turned his attention to Agent Green, "What do you think?"

With the words of the warrior amongst them he wondered. That was a good point. What's to stop another Deathknight from moving in and using it to upend the idea?

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Dorothy finds the answer a little vague, but that's to be expected. It's only natural that the arch wouldn't intuit what she wants as well as her own creations would. "I see. If you don't mind, when you do contact your counterpart, could you tell her to light up the sky so that I might find her and come visit? It does not need to be anything specific. A version of your creator's anima banner should do."

Even as she makes that request, it occurs to her that she doesn't necessarily know how much essence this thing really channels in its operation or what it's really capable of. Given that everyone here already knows how exalts work, she goes ahead and calls upon the full power of her caste excellency.

A fountain of gold and pink light shimmers around Ms. Price as the knowledge of her exaltation floods into her mind. This anima display might be a huge social faux pas in the underworld, but if the necromancer is anything like Dorothy, he might not care about a social faux pas.

Expertise checks for knowledge!

1. To determine the arch's function firsthand and, if it makes sense to do so, to program in the light show function she's requesting: [roll0]

2. To recall some information about the formation of hungry ghosts and how such a being is typically dealt with. As her main thought, she'd want to consider a way to get a ghost's soul to pass on rather than exist in undead limbo at all. [roll1]

[Lord Raziere]

Agent Green:
She has been listening patiently and will now speak, she adjusts her sunglasses to begin.
"A seemingly compassionate plight, deathlord. My counterpoint: Let these souls pass into the cycle of reincarnation and all these problems will be solved by just.....living actual lives. Sure they won't remember anything. But! Everything must end someday. These souls you care for are in pain because they haven't passed on. Because they cling to life they have already lost. Sure you can keep them sustained on worship and sacrifices, feeding their half-lives forever, but to what end? Its questionable if ghosts are the actual person that they once were....or just the half of their soul that is unable to grow, unable to move on, playing their lives endlessly and repeatedly without end.

All the while taking prayer away from the world. Slowly, inevitably leading it towards its doom by siphoning away essence that would go to maintaining the living world to maintain its static shadow. You may not be making a shadowland, but you are potentially pulling prayer away from the gods, who admittedly don't really need it either they just have it for pleasure but at least they do work and if they don't have it well....it will just be transferring the suffering to some other place while maintaining something that doesn't have any use except as caring for people that should've passed on long ago. So tell me why should we allow this deathlord to try and set up a glorified yet dour retirement home?"
She glances around
"Like I'm sorry if this sounds cold, but I'm just giving you the proper perspective of what this is here. Sure its compassionate for you to do this, but there is reasons why the Sidereals haven't done this before."

[Kaworu]

“I do not have diodes” answered the Gate “And besides, I would need all the energy to sustain my main function. But fear not, I am big and the effect I was made to perform shall be quite visible”.

At the same time, the anime of Dorothy flared up. Knowledge filled her mind, almost overwhelming in its scope and deepness.

She did know first-hand that the gate could not be displayed to emit any kind of light, but she supposed that the gate between worlds – her Exaltation did not remember something similar in any of the ancient Ages – would probably either suck light from Creation or enlighten Underworld – just like a window between a very bright outside and a very dark room, just in both ways.

As to hungry ghosts, she had more luck. They were souls of poor people, who had unfinished business when still alive – and because they could not solve their problems, they stayed the way they were instead of moving forward and reincarnating.

There were some possibilities to help them – the most obvious was to find their “anchor” and help them with resolving that issue on an individual basic. Other was use of Necromancy or Celestial circle level Sorcery to summon a ghost, and then make them go to Yu-Shan.

The other solution… well, if somebody would kill them – like, provide them with a Final Death – then they would not be suffering anymore. And at least some people considered that a proper solution. The more extreme of Exalts.

Going back to the Necromancer…

Skillful Necromancer looked coldly at agent Green. The fake-ish, mocking smile has all faded from his face, now revealing only pure contempt.

- Oh yes, Sidereals and their great solutions to every problem there is. I vividly remember the last time it happened. The Great Prophecy. The killing of all Solars and most part of Lunars. The Jade Prison. Souls of deceased Solars, all in the Underworld. Funny stuff, some of them then became Deatlords and some of those finally broke into your little Jade Prison. Good thing their calculations were imperfect, or there would be no Solars nowadays at all. Feeling proud of that, I presume? – there was pure nastiness in his question.

- But, okay, let us listen to the most enlightned Sidereal, who knows always better that the other people. What kind of solution to this problem you propose? Something quick, fast, efficient, available at hand? Are you gonna make psychotherapy sessions for every ghost out there and help him pass away? Maybe you gonna learn Celestial Sorcery and summon every one of them and give them order to go to Yu-Shan? Come on, share your great and perfect knowledge with us. You are a Visier after all, are you not? – it could not be more clear what Necromancer thinks of her. And it weren’t nice thoughts.

- Returning to your questions, Solar – he nodded at Kirnam - Yes, a Deathlord could use this technology. However, this demands 5-level Hearthstones on both sides. And it can be always turned off from either side. Like a telephone, you need a receiver and a sender. It can look all mighty and powerful, but actually the solution is very volatile and fragile. With the exception of the gates themselves, of course, but they themselves without energy source are just… well, a necromantic archways. Nothing more, I assure you.

[Rhyvurg]

Kirnan shakes his head. "That doesn't prevent a Deathlord from using your gate, it just means they infiltrate their armies in among the other ghosts."

[Lord Raziere]

Revelynne:
She is actually taken by surprise.
"Great Prophecy? What the hell is that!? We have no records of this. We knew that Solar and Dragon-Blooded civilizations fell at some point, but why was lost to us. Are you claiming that you lived before the change to the Third Age!? To think that ancient Sidereals might've done that....I can't begin to imagine why. If what you claim is true, no Sidereal currently alive could possibly confirm it. Our lifespan is a set 5000 years, and most Exalts due to their adventurous lives don't live past 100. The theoretical oldest of our order would've been chosen at the dawn of current civilization. We knew there Sidereals before because the Maidens told us but....as far as I know, no Sidereal of the previous order was alive by that time. You'd know more of those ancient times than us, Deathlord.

But even if what you say is true, the matter is only relevant to you, is it not? The rest of the world has forgotten and moved on. Do people fight wars and conflicts over ancient history? No they do not. What you say may be important in a historical context if its something we can confirm being true but hardly cause for any other than updating the textbooks. A lot of humanity's current ancestors pointlessly killed each other over seemingly important things in the past, what is one more? Now I have the deepest apologies for your plight. You were killed by the Sidereals and that sucks. It always does, and you've been existing here for who knows how long in this dreary place, feelings all sorts of things about it: anger, bitterness, sadness, boredom, all so you can someday do whatever it is you want to do despite your ghostly state.

But at some point, the past must no longer be relevant. If humanity keeps defining ourselves by what has come before, how will we ever move forward? History can be learned from, certainly but we must take care not to chain ourselves to it. For most people, who killed who long ago isn't relevant at all. It may be relevant to the history of Exalts and scholars, but let us not involve and thus harm anyone else in it, hm? I'd like to know more of this ancient history, even if the account is biased as all accounts are, it would be invaluable information about ages before this one.

As for the ghosts, that is different. I'm Chosen of Secrets, taking care of this is more of the Endings department, I believe they have agents to use a shadowlands level necromancy spell to simply make a ghost pass on to Lethe. But even that would take a while. But perhaps one of my companions has other solutions? The strength of Exalts is that each kind has different strengths and weaknesses, different ways they can solve problems. I'm sure we can figure out something if we combine our talents and resources."
She seems to take out a notepad and pen to take notes, jotting down what the Death Lord said about ancient history.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"The psychotherapy idea might be more realistic than you think," says Dorothy as she wanders back into the conversation. "I understand that ghosts tend to be pretty forthcoming with the troubles that bind them in place. With the right training, a team of mortal ghost busters could address most of them without the need for sorcery. Sowing cults would just make the problem worse, as old ghosts become more entrenched and new ones start showing up in greater numbers."

She continues. "Necromancer, I think you may have given in to a temptation that's common for people like us. We get a project into our heads and tell ourselves stories about how great it will be and how many problems it will solve, until we're blind to all of the new problems we create and perceive anyone who doubts us as obstacles. Heaven knows I've done it. I'm not opposed to the gate in principle, but ultimately it's just a convenience for you."

"I think we've gotten sidetracked from the original reason we've gathered here. The hearthstone. Simply put, it doesn't belong to you. It's also not ours to give to you. There are licenses. Jurisdictions. We need to figure out where it came from and, if possible, to return it to its proper owner. Once we've done that, you can deal with them, properly this time."

She freezes for a moment as she realizes that maybe her tone got away from her. "...in my opinion," she finally adds.

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]

And there sat Broken Thorn, in the middle of an argument with the hearthstone theoretically at hand to do with as he wished. For all anyone knew he had plugged it in already and began using it. Not that he had or would. Very good points on both sides. At this point he was on the side of the necromancer, but he realized their goal was unrealistic.

[Kaworu]

The Skillful Necromancer listened to Revelynne, being quite focused on what she had to say. When she finished, there was a long moment of uncertain feeling on his face. And then…

He busted with laughter.

His voice was cracking, his hands embraced his waving belly, and his face was wet with tears. He was laughing long and loud, barely keeping himself on his two feet.

It was lasting for some time.

When he finished, he took a few deep breaths and tried to straighten himself.

- You mean… you mean… you mean you do not remember? Nothing at all? - he asked, trying hard to not laugh again – Oh my! What a story!

- Okay, so… uf… I have every memory of my Exaltation. Neverborn cannibalized the memories of my Solar history, but I remember everything that had happened to me in my various Abyssal experience. Thus I also know about the Great Prophecy. It was quite a thing in Second Age, but it began at the end of the First one. If you are ignorant, o how witty and smart, all-knowing Sidereal, then please, lemme enlighten you.

- At the beginning of the First Age, Solars were welcomed as the greatest heroes and Gods-made rulers of all Creation. But, as they power grew, so did their decadence, recklessness and even madness. Disturbed by that, all Sidereals gathered at the Loom of Fate and made what we call Great Prophecy. The Prophecy showed three possible outcomes. The Golden Path, in which Solars, guided by Sidereals, returned to the noble road and rules Creation in peace. The Oblivion Path, in which Creation is destroyed by it’s greatest heroes. The Bronze Path, in which Dragon-Blooded, with Sidereals as the puppet masters, defeated Solars and took ruleship of the world. Only Broze Path could be taked for granted. Only it was the sure road. Golden Path was uncertain, and if it failed, the world would cease to exist.

- So what did the noble and visonary Siderals? You have killed all the Solars, good part of Lunars, you invaded Lytek’s office, inprisoned Solar exaltations and created a fake religion and tyrannical empire of Dragon-Blooded. And, of course, you have became the hidden masters of the universe. You have even bronek the constellation of Mask, just to avoid any legal repercussions from Yu-Shan. If the Maiden of Secrets didn’t intervene, the harm would be ever-lasting and unfixable.

- Great plan, really – he clapped his hands in a gesture of mockery - But when the Great Contagion and armies of Fair Folk attacked, there was nothing to protect the world from harm. If the Scarled Empress didn’t activate the Sword of Creation, that would be the end. And, of course, all Solar exaltation, contained and enclosed, was a very easy target for Deathlords. This is how Abyssals came into existence. From stolen and twisted Solar exaltations.

- So you see how fragile is your intelligence, I assume? How empty your plans? How scheming is your kind? How blind and mistaken? – he asked.

-Yes, we could not always look into the past. But when the past and the present are identical, we should think about what was to discover what will be. And the past of Sidereals is just as wicked and misguided as is their present. So forgive me if I am not looking into cooperating with you. You are a bunch of literal backstabbers. And you will be treated as ones.

-As to the rest of you – he eyed Kirnam and Dorothy - You can try transporting psychotherapist there. You could cross the barrier between worlds only because you are Essence users – all other people could not use the Black Chalk. I also care not to whom the Hearthstone belongs. I operate in a state of higher needs. Perpetum mobile? Seriously? I wanna save lives, not people from paying electricity bills. And please, think of what will happen, if people will have access to this technology. I can imagine a powerful, Essence bomb, much, much worse than what had happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And if the technology will be made public – oh, believe me, it will – it will happen sooner or later. The world is not ready for that. Not when there are so many differences and inability to cross them between people of this age. Do not be misguided, the free energy that Solar is offering will be used to do wrongs sooner or later. He’s just too blind to see it.

- But, of course, it is my solution that is wrong and wicked, isn’t it? – he asked with a nasty glimmer in his eyes.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"'That Solar?' So another Twilight is behind this..." Dorothy mumbles as a note to herself.

"I'm sure I can work something out, transportation-wise. It would be an interesting campaign. The dead seek the guidance of the living for closure, like a seance in reverse." A horribly amused look crosses her face, then she suddenly closes her eyes and sharply inhales. She has to actively stop herself from sitting there iterating on ideas in her head.

"Still, we cannot give you the hearthstone. Even if we trust you, you in turn are still beholden to your own masters. If I recall correctly, their chief concern was to bring Creation to its end. That would make your mention of essence bombs especially apt. It is a disaster waiting to happen, at least as much in your hands as it is in anyone else's. I think you know that."

She stares at her broken piece of chalk and twirls it in her fingers.

"That's besides the point, though. Technically, one could make that argument for any hearthstone, any magical material, any old First Age artifact. In this case, we know the dead can afford to be patient. We can afford to make an arrangement where your masters won't shove you aside and use your invention to take over the world. That, and I prefer follow the law as best I can. Call it my own character flaw if you like."

It's impossible to tell whether that last part was supposed to be a joke or not. Dorothy has a weird sense of humor.

[Lord Raziere]

Revelynne: Extrapolate (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JveQT6DfYk&ab_channel=Banim)
As the deathlord finishes his speech, she finishes taking her notes, having transcribed his entire speech word for word to be analyzed later. She then looks up with a grin of all things.
"Thank you, Mr. Skillful Necromancer was it? For your contribution to history. This will be very valuable.

Though I can't help but notice something you mentioned in your speech that I didn't know about. This Great Contagion....you speak of it as if it was an unexpected variable in the Sidereals plan. But you see....normally? This is impossible."
Her grin only grows wider as she spreads her hands outwards.
"Why? Because normally plagues and diseases are under the purview of gods under Saturn's command and monitored by the Chosen of Endings. So of course the regulation and security on such things is pretty tight. If we knew of a plague coming from the plague gods we would have ample warning. Everything the gods do, mortals do....all recorded in the Loom and so even if they hide it, we can find the cause, the origin point. But there are things it can't predict. Things beyond its reach.

One of these things is the Underworld. The other is Malfeas. Both are beyond its reach- for good reason.

And its perfectly possible for a plague to be made outside Sidereal control- so if the Sidereals didn't see it coming, its because it was made outside Creation. Now to be fair it could've been the Yozis that did it- but that honestly makes no sense. The Yozi's nature is that they seek to escape from their prison, forever and ever. They will never succeed, but they will always try. Unleashing a plague upon Creation? Doesn't line up with that. No matter how many people die in Creation it will never free them from their prison. They know that, we know that. Therefore there is no point to them doing it.

However what does make sense? The motivations of the Neverborn, those whom you serve. They wish for all of Creation to die, so that their own fetters may be removed, as they are attached to and hate Creation, because they created it before they died. I notice you gloated with particular pride at the Great Contagion part, and since the Fair Folk were part of it and there is no reason for anyone else to sic them on Creation, I think its pretty clear that it was the Death Lords themselves that unleashed the Great Contagion and the Fair Folk Invasion in an attempt to destroy it, as well as to get revenge on the Sidereals for what they did to the Solars. The Sidereals wouldn't screw up their own plan, the Solars were gone, and the Dragon-Blooded wouldn't ruin their own position of power and the Lunars wouldn't be so foolish as to put Creation at risk. What does this mean?"
She points dramatically at Skillful Necromancer
"Not only are the Death Lords aren't to be trusted-they have unleashed a weapon on Creation before to try and destroy it!!!"

[Kaworu]

- Yes - was all the Necromancer said to the accusation of Agent Green - It was a Neverborn thing made with help and execution of the Deathlords. But please, do not think yourself smart and witty, cause you are not.

- First thing first, it is a really ancient history, and only concerns us as to things that didn’t change in all this time. Like, the ignorant pride of Sidereals. Secondly, in a time it was happening, Deathknights didn’t exist yet. So do not blame us for that. Next thing, Deathlords were born out of sad and miserable souls of Solars, who after your little… political operation, let’s call it, went to the Underworld. There they got a chance at power and revenge from the Neverborn. Funny thing you mentioning your beloved Maiden of Endings. Surely making sure no soul escapes reincarnation is in her purview, is it not? And it is YOUR job to make that happen? Well, it is funny how you could overlook a big portion of Solars escaping into the Underworld and not care if Deathlords are born or not. Well, another example of your own incompetence, even though you see no fault of your own. Tell me, how it is to be so cynical? – he asked with a vicious smile upon his lips.

- And yes, even if you have full and unrestricted access to the Loom of Fate, there are thing you cannot predict. And things so powerful that Sidereals alone cannot take responsibility and attempt to change it. It is for this reason there are only 100 Sidereal Exaltations. Enough to cooperate with and direct other Exalted, but not enough to run the Creation alone. Surely you can do this basic arithmetic? The whole system of Unity of Heavens, as it was once called, was made with the Solars and Lunars taken into the equation. And Creation could not run smoothly if all Solars’ Exaltations were imprisoned and Lunars somewhere at the edges of the world. You, Sidereals, changed everything in your prideful, ignorant, “we know it better” fashion, and then wondered why it is not working. You are pathetic.

- The last thing is, neither I nor Dancer are under any Deathlord orders. We are working from our own motivation. So please save your moralities, we have much less sins than your kind. And even thought it is the beginning of the Fourth Age, the things with Siderals are the same, just like there were back in the First One.

- You are right. This is ancient history. But history that was not analyzed successfully and no lesson was learned… this is not an ancient history. This is a modern-day reality.

- As I explained – he turned his attention to Dorothy - we serve no Deathlord and the hearthstone will not fall into their possessions. I do not know what I have to add it this topic. As to the “some troops will go into Creation using this Gate” I have no better answer than this – yes, it is possible, but it is ultimately a collective responsibility. You cannot punish all the souls just because some of them might wreak havoc. It is just not just. You have every right to punish everyone who will be corrosive to Creation, but you cannot treat by default every soul we wanna save as a criminal or terrorist. It simply will not do.

He shook his head, looking at you all -What it is in my argumentation that’s so hard to understand?

[Rhyvurg]

He shook his head, looking at you all -What it is in my argumentation that’s so hard to understand?

"Well, for me it's why you keep trying to lay blame for the actions of dead Sidereals at Green's feet. You're asking her to take responsibility for choices she had nothing to do with. Would you try to make me responsible for the actions of every Dawn that came before me? Why? No one chooses to become a Sidereal, they are born with the Fated Exaltation, you're laying guilt on her for things she's had no choice in, including the actions of the Maidens, as if she has any sway over them. And you seem strangely confident that a Deathlord can't come here and take this gate from you by force."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"You are putting words in my mouth," says Dorothy, seemingly growing bored. "You should not have had to. I probably droned on too much as it was."

Another possible joke, though this time it came out way more passive-aggressively than intended.

She doesn't have anything else to say. It's pretty clear to her that the real quarrel is between the necromancer and the Sidereal agent; Dorothy is just getting splashed with residual antipathy at this point. She's much more comfortable passively observing the spirited history lecture.

[Lord Raziere]

Revelynne:
She shakes her head
"First of all, I'm not treating these souls as criminals. Making them pass to Lethe? Allowing them to move on from the torments and pains that keep them repeating and lingering when their time has passed? That is a kindness. To quote Gods of Pegana:
"O Mung! O loveliest of the gods! O Mung, most dearly to be desired! thy gift of Death is the heritage of Man, with ease and rest and silence and returning to the Earth. Kib giveth but toil and trouble; and Sish, he sendeth regrets with each of his hours wherewith he assails the World. Yoharneth-Lahai cometh nigh no more. I can no longer be glad with Limpang-Tung. When the other gods forsake him a man hath only Mung!"

Saturn is much like Mung in that regard. Your only prolonging your own suffering by remaining. And again, I am not responsible for the actions of long dead Sidereals. If you think I condone something akin to genocide on the Solar Exalted, your sadly mistaken. If you really think I did, would I be walking around with two of them?

You freely admit that the Death Lords unleashed such a weapon on the world indiscriminately. And you expect me to trust someone like you who serves them and the Neverborn? At the very least, the Abyssals are no more trustworthy than the Sidereals by your logic. I sense that my companions tire of this conversation. I fear we may be boring them with ancient history."
How to resolve this? Take anymore time here and it'll just be sad. All ancient history nonsense aside, the options are:
1: Entrust the Abyssal with the cube.
2: Do not Entrust Abyssal with the cube.
3: Third option?
"....Dorothy, do you think its possible to replicate this cube we have to put into something we use as a deterrent? We make a second cube, give this Abyssal that second cube then put the first into something to make sure we have insurance to make sure that they're doing what they say they're doing. If they try pulling a fast one we simply respond in kind and if they are truly doing for this for the souls wellbeing we can just let them be. Does that sound agreeable to anyone? Or do any of you have a better plan?"

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]

Ah. Broken Thorn smiled. They actually had a solution and something could be brokered now. Something he could help with if their Solar had an idea.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Well, yes and no," Dorothy says when she's pulled back in. "You mentioned that the core of the device is a hearthstone, correct? As magical devices go, it's fairly basic, but it's not a standalone item. To create one, one must first create a manse, built upon some natural confluence of essence. Specifically, one in creation, which I imagine is the connection that our esteemed necromancer's invention relies upon."

She pauses for a second to think. Her anima flares again as she calls upon her caste's signature excellencies.

"If we had access to the manse to which this artifact is connected - most likely, wherever its would-be inventor discovered it - I might be able to create a second hearthstone as its sister, or I could build a monitor to locate it and any other hearthstones bound to the site." She almost mentions the idea of a kill switch - one could annul a stone's power by destroying the manse - but that would probably be laying it too thick.

I'm not sure if I should be rolling to check my theories here... I'll just post my questions and possible plans in the OOC, and her powers can tell her whatever we come up with as a group. :smalltongue:

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
"With enough work that sounds reasonably possible, have you twinned a hearthstone before? I'll admit I haven't seen that accomplished before... though..." Broken thorn thought for a few moments before opening a hole into his Throneworld. What isn't always possible within creation and its warped shadow, could be possible elsewhere correct? If we were to locate the manse perhaps it could be drawn out enough to accomplish this.

[Kaworu]

The Exalted ones, after a long discussion with Necromancer and themselves, finally decided – they wanted to help open the Gates.

Of course, it wasn’t too simple. Their condition was this: they will create a proxy for the hearthstone and they will give the Deathknights the proxy, keeping the original stone with them. In such a way, if something would happen – like an invasion of the Underworld – they could just disconnect the hearthstone from the proxy, thus ending the connection between worlds the Gates would establish.

The Skillful Necromancer agreed with no discussion – he wanted the Gates to work, and how exactly would it be achieved was not his concern.

So the circle of Exalted, and two Abyssals entered the dimension in which Thorn’s Infernal Palace has been located. They took to work immediately.

With more than enough of magical metals, especially Soulsteel, they added to the perpetum mobile machine a transmitter – in a form of a little, sticking-out antenna (it looked silly, but was working properly – they could always change the design later). Next, they have created a receiver in a black-and-golden box with a lot of green streak, the last benefit of vitrol Thorn has provided.

They had worked for some time – they needed first to make some plans and mathematical equations, then to build the machine. But, finally, the process was over and they had it – the mixed-material proxy they worked so hard to get.

Skillful Necromancer had wiped his brow, smearing machine oil over his forehead. The Dancer looked with an interest over his shoulder, her anima mark black-and-bloody on her head, as she used her Dark Excellency to try to understand the prototype she had been looking at.

The Abyssals shook hands of their co-workers, seemingly satisfied with the results of their shared effort. Some smiles were exchanged, just like patting each others backs.

They, they returned back to Creation, in order to finally put the proxy in its right place. Skillful Necromanced has sing a short song in the weird language of Neverborn, and the slot for hearthstone in the Gates of Flesh has changed, ready to accommodate the proxy. He had levitated towards it and put the machine in place.

Back on the surface, the Exalted of Creation were by the perpetum mobile, hands over switch that would enable the energy to flow freely towards the Abyssal’s creation.

- Any grand speeches? – asked the Necromancer, landing among the others.

[Kaworu]

- Ah, silly me – said Necromancer, looking at the lot – There also a second Gate needed. How could I forgot? – he asked his allies – A minute, please.

He went to the closer wall and holding his black chalk in his hand, had drawn an outline of doors, and then disappeared between them, before making a gesture towards others to follow him.

When all did, they appeared in Creation again. The Sun, the warm air, the colors – they did not realize how much they had missed it all.

They could have seen the Skillful Necromancer, waving his hands and singing in the forgotten language of Neverborn. Before their very eyes, a Gate of monumental proportions, made of marble-white and scalpel-sharp bones had risen. At the very top, there was a skull with a wide smile and a hole in the forehead. The Necromancer had flown up again, this time placing inside a single, black hearthstone that seemed to suck all the light inside and not letting it go.

- Now we are ready – he announced – Who wanna flip the switch?

Malfeas

Princess of Timeless Depths waited, patiently.

Of course, waiting had been much, much more easy since she had become a Devil-Tiger. Certainly being immortal played a big part in her own capability for patience.

So did being accustomed to the flow on time in a very intimate way, like nobody was before her.

She looked through the window of her undersea palace. All around her coral building, the acidic embrace of her Mother was being felt. No native demon was swimming in the Holy Sea, just children of Sea that Marches Against the Flames.

Just like it should be.

She looked at her closer proximity. Even though she had been inside a literal palace, the room in which she was currently was furnished rather poorly. A mat under her legs to rest on, small table made of light-yellow wood in front of her, and a set of equipment necessary to prepare green tea – or ocha, as it was called in her native language. She currently was after a brief tea ceremony and was sipping her warm, organic drink.

It was quite tasty.

When she put down the cup, she closed her eyes and breathed slowly, putting herself in a meditative state. Her third eye, accustomed to moving through time and space, opened gradually, letting her experience a vision she was waiting for.

A small smile appeared on her lips. Things were just going to be a lot more interesting.

Back in Creation

When the Circle, accompanied by two Abyssals finally activated the Gates of Life and Death, at first nothing too ordinary happened – or at least nothing unexpected. In the skeleton Gates of Death, there appeared a pitch-black hole in reality, showing ghosts of Underworld and the dark twin of Creation. For a brief moment the ghosts were looking at the Gates, seemingly not believing their own eyes, and then slowly they had moved closer, a new hope shining in their eyes.

Skillful Necromancer looked at this with a smile upon his lips.

Then, things went sour.

Nobody knew fully what exactly happened. For a moment, there was a gust of cold wind, not fitting at all with the sunny weather. Then, a forcefield of green energy and flames engulfed both the hearthstone the Necromancer put in the skull and the perpetum mobile the Exalted worked so hard to modify.

Next moment, the Gates made a long, whizzing sound, just like a piece of machinery that’s about to broke. The hole in reality flickered and erupted with a nauseating energy, making even the mighty Exalted to fall on their knees.

When they looked up, the Gates were functioning no more. Instead, there’s been a much wider hole between worlds, and it seemed that they had just created Shadowlands. And even though the sun was still shining, hungry ghosts appeared everywhere.

The last they knew before the undead attacked was a loud, high giggling, belonging to an invisible female.


Okay, so! :-D

1. You are surprised and both Abyssals seem too.

2. The Eruption is Nauseate 12 Area effect. Please, roll for overcoming that.

3. The hearthstone, perpetum mobile and proxy are all covered in forcefield and flames. The forcefield is 12 Forcefield with Impervious. There’s also Flames that deal 6 Damage to every melee attacker. Both effect are obviously Infernal – the first is a Charm of She Who Lives In Her Name, the second of Malfeas.

There are also undead all around you.

Good luck! :-)

[Rhyvurg]

Kirnan's Reflexive Sidestep Technique had him reaching for his sword as the gate opened, but he was unprepared for the full extent of what happened. Coughing, he staggers back, trying to get away from whatever that was.

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
Broken Thorn stood laughing as the nausea enveloped him, his body breaking down and leaking tar out of his mouth and eyes "Oh, you got me. You got me good. I thought it would make a shadowlands and I helped you do it. I thought I was doing something good for once and here we are, surrounded by the starving dead."

Broken thorn listened to the giggle as his arms began erupting in pain, he patted the necromancer on the shoulder "Oh, I had such high hopes. Perhaps balance could be found. Ha."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Ms. Price groans and hisses through her teeth as everything she and her fellow super-tech had put together goes completely wrong. She feels a pit open up in her stomach, but her overpowered constitution just writes it off to emotional dread. "Ugh... I suppose it was naive to assume this would all just work as advertised..."

She straightens up and swipes a series of golden symbols out from her tablet and into the air. Her anima swiftly returns and envelops her in shielding light as she casts the inventor queen's gaze at the enemies spawning nearby. She asks a number of general questions aloud - some might be obvious if she looks around and thinks about it for a second, some may be answered by teammates and abyssals, and the ones left over can be looked up by her tablet's browser if it can find a satellite connection.

"Where in creation are we?"

"Are there any fire hydrants nearby?"

"Can an artifact sword defeat a hungry ghost?"

...and, as an aside, "Miss Green, do you have any particular protocols for this situation, or will you help us improvise?"

Turning on her Anima power and making a knowledge check about the hungry ghosts.

Any further actions depend on whether the shadowland spawned in a populated area. If the Necromancer had the foresight to build his gate somewhere isolated, then this situation isn't that bad.

So... what is the lay of the land in the immediate area? An abandoned warehouse? A downtown basement? An arch built outdoors?

[Lord Raziere]

Agent Green:
".....I told you so. I warned you all, but did you listen? Noooooo. and why would be protocols for this!? This seems too highly specific to have those! Unless you mean shadowlands in general, which is generally: kill all the dangerous undead, perform funereal rites to make ghosts pass on, then salt the earth to purify the land itself. Any solution would be nice, but I'm going with gunning them all down!"
She will conjure gossamer dual pistols, one blueberry and pink colored the other lime and lemon colored and begin firing at all the hungry dead filling the fields with guided bullets criss-crossing through them as they bounce off the ground and curving in various different directions to create a storm of bullets coming at all the hungry dead she can see, a veritable hail of fated guided death.


Roll against nauseate:
[roll0]

Attack Roll:
[roll1]

Gossamer Pistols
Damage, Area Perception Visual, Selective, Ricochet 2, Homing 3:
[roll2]

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
Black poisons continue to spill from his body, but Broken Thorn regains a bit of reason. "Got it. Hold them off, if we can shut the damned thing off that should be our first goal right now. If we can close the bridge we can atleast stop the progression."

The cloth of his arms slowly begin to bubble, green fire spreading forth from them as the Huz begin to awaken in his body.

[Kaworu]

Even thought the necromantic eruption from the Gates hold some members of the Circle at bay, it seemed not to have an effect on the Abyssals. As soon as the hungry ghost started to appear, the Dancer was upon them. Before, when you saw her fightning in a building, there was a lot of skeletons around her and she had to contain herself. But now, in the open area, surrounded by enemies, she had a chance to show her true abilities.

She was moving gracefully, life autumn leaves dancing on the wind. Her big sword was just like a natural extension of her own hand, striking fast and in the exact place she wanted to. Not every ghost she attacked was falling to the ground, but a big portion of them were. She was also avoiding their attack in her dance to the music only she could have sensed, but actually, it was more a part of her attack than a defensive maneuver – her thick Soulsteel armor was defense enough.

Because Dancer was busy, she had no time to talk to you, but the Skillful Necromancer had. His long, slim hands were engulfed in a black, necromantic energy, as he was shooting dark missiles at hungry ghosts.

- I do not comprehend... This had no right to happen… none at all… The warp should be… contained inside the gates… not erupt…. And this sickening burst… the effect on this land… and most of all… this green barrier… I did not plan for this… – he explained best he could, in breaks between shootings. He seemed truly shocked, but it also could be that the fight was keeping his mind from completely encompassing what was happening around him.

At the same time, Dorothy got her answers to questions she had asked.

- You are in Detroit, Michigan. Current status in Creation: Shadowland. Amount of hydrants in a 100-meter radius: 4. Artifact sword can’t kill a hungry ghost, but special Charms can. Also, due to you being in Shadowland, hungry ghost are partially material. Typical attack have a chance of succeeding.

The greenish forcefield-fire aura was still blocking the access to Gates and proxy. They did not cast shadows, but the flames were flickering, and the sound of them burning Essence around reminded you of a childish giggle, mocking you and your actions.

And just then, some bystanders were trying to stand from the hit of the sickening energy. They were frail looking, putting hand on their aching stomachs… and the hungry ghost saw them too. They turned, slowly, and moved towards the innocents, probably with a very nasty intents.

The dream-bullets of Agent Green reached the ghosts, busting their heads and limbs. It seemed that the bystanders were safe… at least for the next few seconds. There was no end to the undead, and while they were not dangerous to the Exalted, mortals were in a lot of danger right now – especially considering the fact that they still were nauseated, i.e defenseless.


Nauseate effects:

Kirnan – 14 (sickened: -2 to attack rolls and checks; nauseated: only single move action per round)
Thorn – 17 (sickened: -2 to attack rolls and checks; nauseated: only single move action per round)
Dorothy – 34 (ok)
Ravelynne – 25 (ok)

(Minimal value: 22)

GM NOTES:

The ghost are not dangerous… to you, but they are some bystanders, who are in danger. You can kill ghosts as they are appearing, but there seems no way for them to stop appearing anew different than using the proxy… which is still protected by Malfean Charms.

I am also considring giving the nauseated characters single regular or move action, but not both of them/ no full actions. Otherwise Thorn and Kirnan might be taken out of the fight for the whole duration of the fight, which would be (1) disadvantegous for you as a group and (2) boring for their players. Please, tell me what you think :-)

[Rhyvurg]

Kirnan shakes his head as the effect clears, then looks around to take in the situation. Hungry dead, necromancer who didn't see this bamboozle coming, and innocent bystanders. Green ended several, but more were coming. Time to go to work. Kirnan draws his daiklave as his longcoat splits down the back, turning into a pair of wings that carry him up over the ghosts, then down into the thick of them. Maybe a closer target would draw their attention.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Dorothy just kind of nodded in agreement with Green and Thorn. Her tablet's nav report gives her an extra thought to shout after to Kirnan as he takes his initiative: "Don't let them leave the shadowland! We can fight them as long as they stay here!"

Despite having been one of the exalted for decades, Ms. Price has yet to really arm herself for combat. She presses the button to summon her limo from the conference center's parking lot, but it will take some time to arrive, especially given the new alterations to the environment. She'll focus on the rogue gates for now.

She runs to the nearest hydrant as fast as she can go in dress shoes. "Someone clearly sabotaged it!" she shouts to Necromancer over her shoulder. "We need to cut the power! Let's see how these barriers hold up to conventional firefighting..."

As she approaches the hydrant, she contacts its spirit and issues commands that are probably inaudible to everyone else. On the Inventor Queen's authority, she grants it the power and permission to direct its spray at the green fires enveloping the offending structures. One imagines that a fire hydrant, being a public servant by design, will want nothing more than to assist in this matter given the chance.

She's using animate objects! The hydrant only gets 15 character points, but that should be enough to mimic a firefighter with a hose and whatnot.

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
Broken Thorn regained control over his form as he approached the flame. This was hellfire. Was it his? He reached out and grasped it, it didn't feel like him. His was a bit more artful than a wall of fire... but he might be able to lower it with enough effort and turn the damned thing off.""

Black poison continued to bubble off of his form as he reached out into the fire and began to bend it to his will, trying to breaak. He reached out and felt the barrier. Where had it come from? "Ribs crack, bones break, the fire inside bends... smoke sinks into all and the world boils as a ripe fruit. What comes after? Brandy. We make of the world what we want..."

[Kaworu]

The chaos at the park continued. The Exalted, in an unlikely alliance of the Circle and Abyssals, fought the never-ending armies of hungry ghosts. Who will prevail?

The Dancer and the Necromancer, still engaged the undead, probably not being able to think of something else. The warrioress danced, swinging her heavy sword here and there, and her friend stood in place, sending missiles of necromantic energy at the enemies.

At the same time, the Circle had some ideas of how to deal with the problem at hand. Broken Thorn, as the most knowledgeable in the field of Infernal magic, used his own talents to nullify the flames that's been surrounding the proxy. It worked fairly well and now, at least, other Exalted could approach the force-field without getting themselves burned.

Then, Dorothy issued her commands to a fire hydrant. It moved a little bit, like a tree pet by a wind. It was not able to move from the place it was set, but it was certainly alive. Soon, a stream of cold water moved at the proxy. Since the hellfire was no longer there, and the forcefield was of a different nature, the hydrant did not accomplish too much. Still, it was a nice idea at the moment.

Next, Kirnan moved into the battle, landing in the midst of enemies. Some of them focused on him, some on the bystanders. It was easy to see that the hungry ghosts were not able to think too much and behaved more like animals than souls of people – or maybe, as zombies in typical horror movies. As such, it was kind of hard to manipulate them – but hey, now in the center of it all, it would be fairy easy for the Solar to defend the innocents!

Agent Green still shoot at the enemies, her dream-like bullets hitting them fast and hard.

What a shame, that there still were so many of the undead...

[Rhyvurg]

Kirnan sets his feet, adjusts his grip, then sends his blade into a flurry of strikes and arcing throws that carves a swathe through the massed undead. "We need a plan to stop this beyond just fighting them..." He can't see the others from where he is, but they would be able see the light of his anima erupt from the middle of the throng of ghosts.

[Lord Raziere]

(OOC: Sorry I haven't been responding, I don't have an excuse)

Revelynne:
She tries to assess the situation. Clearly this wasn't wasn't working.
"Yeah, there is too many. We're going to have to get....creative."
First, to figure out how all this works. She focuses, trying to tap into any knowledge or powers of Sidereal foresight she can muster to figure what to do in this situation, her eyes glowing with the light of stars and her Chosen of Secret caste marks glowing green on her forehead as she tries to look through the Loom for answers.


Checks to figure out how to get rid of the shadowland:
Knowledge (Arcane Lore): [roll0]+15
Precognition Notice check: [roll1]+3
Postcognition Notice Check [roll2]+3

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

With no more fires to put out, the hydrant sits still for lack of anything more to do. Dorothy lets it return to normal so she can animate something else. She then joins Mr. Ritter at the base of the shielded tower.

"The hellfire listens to you. That's helpful." The man is seemingly bleeding foul-smelling tar and reciting poetry, but it seems to be working, so there's no sense questioning it. Dorothy adjusts her glasses to regard the forcefield, now that it's more clearly visible. "Do you have any thoughts about the shield itself?"

Without warning or hesitation, she reaches out and touches the forcefield with her bare hands to test it and feel how it works, trusting her anima to absorb the brunt of any energy surge it produces. Even if it burns her hand and blows her back ten feet, she'll brush herself off and calmly continue her analysis, happy to have that information.

"If we can find a gradient in its output, we may be able to locate the projector or a weak point."

A fresh crafts check to identify the shield and discern how it works: [roll0]

...and a Perception check to feel the force field itself: [roll1]

The perception check, besides any new ideas you might suggest based on the knowledge/crafts roll, is mainly an attempt to discern:
1. From which direction the force seems to be projecting
2. Whether it feels "softer" in some places than others

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
For a moment he seemed to be mumbling in egyptian as his curse briefly faltered, then he returned to what was most comfortable for the listeners. "This wasn't me, but it's like me. Fire is easy, if I can do anything I can make it listen, the force behind it though... That's more existential."

Broken Thorn reached into the barrier but didn't breach it. "Gradients, projector, weak points."He felt out, math was never his strong suit, but he knew those words by other names. Everything followed the same rules deep down.


Notice: [roll0]
Knowledge (Arcane Lore): [roll1]

[Kaworu]

Agent Green reached out to the Loom of Fate for help with issues at hand.

First, she saw how to get rid of the forcefield. It was strong, yes, but if all Exalted present would at the same time strike it, there was a high chance of breaking throught it. Combined attack was the solution. Once broken, the force field would not reappear and the proxy could be easily turned off.

But, she also saw something else. Not in the future. In the past.

She was in a traditional Japanese room, looking at a beautiful lady in kimono. Her long, black hair was shining, as her anima flared to life. She was giggling, looking at the havoc she had created with her Infernal Charms. At her foredead, there was a caste mark – the face of clock. Revelynne saw such a caste for first time in her career of being Exalted – and she was a Champion of Jupiter for some time.

Who was this woman, exactly?!

When the vision faded, the woman looked at the Gates. She know that, once the power would be turned off, the shadowland would fade immediatelly. This is why this... Japanese warlock... had put so much effort in blocking their access to proxy and Gates. Cause once the heartstone would be put out, all the disaster would stop.

This was their chance... and their challenge.

At the same time ,Dorothy was working with her understanding of the force field. To her Exalted intellect and perception, little things could escape.

The force field was... well, perfect. No discerntable weak points, everywhere its power was exactly the same – which was powerful. Yet, there was a weak point... after a fashion. Where the field itself was perfect – after all, this was a creation of She Who Lives In Her Name – the Charm was not. It was just a one-time magic. Either the field would stay up, or, broken by a physical force, it would go away immediatelly.

It's was either on or off, just like a switch... that demanded a lot of strength to be turned off. But still.

The Broken Thorn, who was a little bit more familiar with Infernal magic, came to this exactly same conclusion. Breaking throught would not be easy, but possible – what's more, once done, it was a perfect solution to their problems.

At the same time...

Kirnan still fought with the hungry ghosts. Some of them, pretty midless, still attacked humans and did not react to his actions. Some looked at his bright, Solar anima – he certainly catched their attention, but they did not look very aggressive at the moment. More like... surprised?

Yes, there were some who decided to attack him, perhaps understanding came to them throught their enormous hunger for fresh meat.

At the moment, three of them came at Kirnan. He had advantage over them and the first movement belonged to him. Also, they were maybe a challenge and danger for mortals, but not much for him. Still, if he would be overcomed – and there was much, much more hungry ghosts around him than the 3 aggressive ones – it could get out of hand.

[Lord Raziere]

Revelynne:
As the visions end, she says
"Wait what? What was that caste mark....?"
She shakes her head. More important things needed to be done, the mystery of the clock caste could wait. She turned to the force field and yelled
"I have foreseen what to do! We must strike the forcefield of the Gate in one combined strike! That will take out the forcefield, then once we take out the hearthstone the shadowland will abate!"
She will charge forward to strike with her fists at the forcefield using her Dream Ravager Hand technique, as to ravage and take energy from the forcefield itself in strike to break it.


Attack Roll:
[roll0]

Dream Ravager Hand Strike Damage: (the drain willpower part is irrelevant here I feel)
[roll1]

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Dorothy nods and draws her tablet to check on her own best source of physical force. "Limo," she says, a command to be relayed to her vehicle, "disengage safety protocols. Come as quickly as possible. Prepare to assume combat mode."

In a parking structure a block or two away, a limosine that was slowly navigating its way to an exit flashes it brights and revs it engine. It has a ground speed of 800 kilometers per hour, and it wants to use as much of that speed as it can to get to its master. It scrapes between cars with squealing tires and a showers of sparks. It sends already-panicked civilians diving aside to get out of its way. It breaks its windshield on the lever arm by the ticket booth on its way out.

While that's happening, Dorothy turns around to see Kirnan's situation. "Hmm. That might be an issue. Hang on. Kirnan!" She holds up a hand to excuse herself from the force-field party, calls out to Kirnan and runs off in her heels to extricate him from the fray so he can come help with the objective. As she does so, she's overcome with a certain elation. To join another Solar in battle against the creatures of darkness feels like she's satisfying some deep, primal urge.

Sigils in various languages earthly and otherwise flow through the light of Dorothy's anima banner as she channels her essence into her custom handheld computer. The tablet springs to life, jumps out of her hands, and perches on her shoulder with a set of little gripper-feet.

Upon coming to a set of hungry ghosts in the street between Kirnan and the rest of the group, she need only snap her fingers and point. Her created pet charges up its flash and does the rest.

Mechanically, Dorothy says something to her Limo as a free action, then switches powers to Animate Objects again, then uses her standard action to animate her tablet, then uses her move action to run towards Kirnan.

Then, her tablet tries to attack an enemy. The blindness attack is a 15-foot cone with a reflex DC of 20 and the Light descriptor, which should be fun to use against hungry ghosts if they happen to be crossing the street to get to potential victims on the sidewalk.

If they're not bunching up like that and she's just getting in melee with one or something, the tablet might use Discharge Touch instead. For dramatic purposes, I imagine Dorothy and Kirnan fighting back-to-back when she breaks out that move, him swinging his massive magical buster sword and her juggling her unnaturally hazardous robot familiar. If it comes up, Discharge Touch is an Electric attack with +10 on the attack roll and a toughness DC of 25.

Meanwhile, her limo has speed 6 and was told to come to her and to ignore the usual algorithms that keep automatic vehicles from getting into accidents. One imagines it should get here in time to serve as Dorothy's contribution to the big combined attack. :smalltongue:

[Rhyvurg]

Kirnan takes a breath. "Thanks! Come on, Green seems to have a plan, we hit the barrier with everything we've got, at the same time." He indicates the Sidereal with his sword.

Readied action to attack the shield at the same moment everyone else does

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
Flaming green bees, the Huz, began bubbling breaking out of Broken Thorn's body in swarms. They formed a cloud over him before charging into the barrier."Oh, that's all it needed..."


Notice: [roll0]
Knowledge (Arcane Lore): [roll1]

I forgot to take these out of my post before I posted, they don't actually relate to anything right now.

[Kaworu]

The Exalted gathered around the force field, guided by the Sidereal and her visions. They had waited a few seconds, to get coordinated, and attacked – everyone at the same time.

Powers of various nature and color erupted from their bodies, flying fastly in the direction of the proxy. The forcefield weaved, trying desperatedly to hold against the outlash, but it was obvious it would not hold. The green surface of the power shattered into a hundred little shards, in which the Exalted could see wicked reflections of themselves.

After being liberated from the influence of She Who Lives In Her Name, it was pretty easy to come closer and put the heartstone out of the proxy. When they have done it, a long, deep sound, like a dying whale, came out of the Gates. At the same moment, necrotic Essence stopped pouring out of them. The hungry ghost stopped, looking around, surprised to see themselves in such a situation as they were. After a few seconds, they stopped disappearing into nithingness, slowly, to reappear again in the Underworld – this time not so terribly hungry, just sad and confused.

- It seems we have succeded... - said the Necromancer, looking at the chaos his invention had caused – I really have no idea where it all came from... – he scratched back of his head.

- Neither I do realize – explained the Dancer. She was looking at the Gates, the proxy and the heartstone. On her foredead, the black-blood mark of her Caste, the dark rising sun, was easily visible. She was using her own Dark Excellency in hopes of explaining this situation. All in vain.

- We should look to the bystanders... – she added, looking around. Even thought they all fought with the hungry ghosts, they were injured people in the park. There was simply too many of them ghosts for the Exalted to take good care of everyone and everything.


Everyone is getting 2 Hero Points – one for taking care of the field and second for protecting the innocents.

You can heal the injured ones, talk with the Necromancer about future of his invention and what ar you gonna do with the heartstone etc. Agent Green could communicate to other the exact contents of her visions etc. Generarly, this post is kinda “lazy” - just please try to summary all that happened and your reaction to that.

Next post gonna change the scene and show... something different :-)

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

https://i.ibb.co/K0Pn07z/DP.jpg (https://i.ibb.co/K0Pn07z/DP.jpg)Dorothy Price
The Inventor Queen (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2333375)
Defense: +5 | Toughness: +5
Fort: +15 | Ref: +15 | Will: +15
Speed: Rank 0 (30ft) | Initiative: +0
Notice: +5 | Hero Points: 6 | Damage: 0

"Right. I can do some basic triage and transport those who cannot wait to the hospital," she says. "Ms. Green, if there is anything we need to do to manage knowledge or media coverage of this event, now would be the time to let me know. I can help construct a neuralyzer if you need it."

She shuts down her excited limo's combat AI and gives her anima banner a chance to calm down as she assesses the injured bystanders. She asks her questions dispassionately, clearly well-intentioned but still somehow off-putting. "What happened?" "Are you hurt?" "Everyone who needs it, I can take to the emergency room now." Mr. Ritter will probably give the better assessment of everyone's needs and injuries, and will probably do a better job of introducing himself and explaining the help he's offering.

The emergency transport the inventor queen offers is nothing short of absurdly fast. Thankfully for anyone concerned with preserving the secret of magic, passengers in the back seat are comfortably nestled between tinted windows and are unlikely to notice the non-euclidean tunnel that acts as her shortcut to the hospital.

She exchanges names and contact information with the party and with the abyssals, if they have any. She discusses with the group how they might investigate the leads they have on the invisible saboteur, and how they might investigate the origins of the power stone itself. For now, she takes the stone back into custody and stashes it in her own lab for safe keeping. If Thorn offers to use his own extradimensional space, she declines. She doesn't believe that he's responsible, but feels obligated to consider him a suspect due to the circumstances.

[Rhyvurg]

Kirnan breathes a sigh of relief, flexing his shoulder. It had been a while since he'd been in such a prolonged fight, most adversaries folded faster than this. He stalks back and forth through the area, making sure no ghosts or wounded mortals had been missed. He doesn't dismiss his sword right away, he might still needed it if those fool Abyssals haven't learned their lesson.

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
Broken Thorn, or rather Mark, pieced his body back together. The Huz returned to their hives through his ultraterrestrial form, and the black poison of his body reformed back into a human shape. Slowly he gathered a crowd, of those who hadn't been ripped apart or drained, and gave his grand speech of a greater time before them and that such incidents were heralds of the adversary seeking to destroy the great works of the world. Not adversary as traditionally would be his kind, but of the true adversary. Each of them he handed one hundred dollars and a calling card, offering them protection and work away from such threats in the future if they so desired. And somehow this seemed to work. They were terrified, but he was a persuasive sort. The nearby hospital would be sufficient, assuming they weren't cursed. If they were... this would be dealt with.

"Good luck," he uttered as several left with Ms. Price. They would need it.

And then he turned to the Black Suns, "Please, take a seat..."

He suspected them of misgivings but he didn't believe it was their fault the experiment had turned out as it had. It was exactly what he expected of them, but their kind wasn't capable of channeling hellfire, even with his assistance. This was something else. He didn't entirely trust them, but he had a thought. "I'm... unfamiliar with your lords beyond a certain degree, though I suspect they would be displeased both with failure and your restoration of the lands beside us. I'm not suggesting striking out on your own, but if you are inclined I can offer a place of sanctuary where you could continue your experimentation free from the influence of those who care as little about the welfare of the dead as you believe us to be. I have considerable resources."

[Lord Raziere]

Agent Green:
She will breathe a sigh of relief and say
"Now thats done....I had this other vision....of the past...."
She explains seeing that kimono-wearing woman with the strange caste mark
"It....wasn't like any Exalted Caste I've ever seen, and I've seen much. She had a clock of all things on her head. Her anima was sickly green which means she was some kind of Infernal? Thorn do you have any idea who that could be?"
She asked, knowing that he was not only Infernal, but perhaps the only Exalt who was older than her here.

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
He wasn't exactly happy at the suspicion placed upon him over the shadowland, he understood it but he wasn't happy about it. A brand new hearthstone touched by so many exaltations would have done wonders to stabilize his home.

"A clock you say?" A bakelite chair materialized under Thorn as he took a seat, "The infernal exaltation is more... malleable than those of other varieties, given time and effort we can change and create of our own as I have. I don't believe we were designed this way, at least in intent. A quirk or side effect of us being changed so thoroughly. Most of us don't live long enough to do this, our creators certainly don't intend us to get to this point, so it's not entirely known even amongst ourselves. One day you simply realize you can. If another of my kind has made this realization and walked away as I had, they would certainly be dangerous. Not only because of the resources they could have built in this time, but in their knowledge and the sheer unknown of what they could have become. From my understanding of those I met, my growth inward is a rather tame application of this change. Like building a house out of the components of an atomic bomb when you could just build the bomb. We weren't intended to exceed ourselves, but those who do don't think small."

He paused, "I'm rambling, give me a moment to collect my thoughts. This exaltation is familiar to me, but I need to remember who that 'mask' belongs to."

(continues when I get the roll results)


Broken Thorn has eidetic memory,
I'm rolling Arcane Lore for a knowledge check but if that's not acceptable he has jack of all trades, simply remove the skill bonus.
Knowledge (Arcane Lore) [roll0]
(That would be a +5 rather than +20 if it's not arcane lore that applies)

[Kaworu]

Thorn looked into back of his mind, trying to find some data about the mysterious Exalted. However, whoever that was, he did not know her. The theory of her being a Devil Tiger was legit, looking at the things Agent Green said about the vision, but who that was, what were her aims and, more importantly, what mysterious powers she had access to was beyond him.

Actually, there were only 50 Infernals originally, but over time the number of known Green Sun Princes has shrinked somehow. There were rumors about them achieving Enlightment and liberating themselves from the shackles of Yozis, but beyond guessing about their identity and nature, the rest of Infernals had nothing solid to base their theories on.

Some even said that the "lost incarnations" dated back to the Second Era. If this would be the case, there was obviously no way to say something sure about them in modern age.

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
"No..." he uttered after a few moments. "I don't think I've met them if they're my kind. Perhaps one of the forgotten like me, but I don't remember any with a clock caste. Familiar in its difference perhaps but if I've met them it was before their change. There are only so many of us, if I had seen their face and access to the records perhaps, though as I said they don't enjoy the thought of us growing beyond them. Names and faces are missing. In the records and in our minds."

Broken Thorn stood up, "I'll admit I am unfamiliar with the vision of the starchildren, is there much to them in your circle?"

[Lord Raziere]

Revelynne:
She actually doesn't seem to suspect him at all.
"I see, thank you. At least its not a caste of Sacheverell or something. As for my visions well...sometimes I intentionally look into them, or at least what the Loom shows me probably could happen or has happened. Some of our older sources say it used to work differently before the dawn of this current age, but not how exactly. As a Chosen of Secrets my vision is probably one of the wider than other Caste, but to be honest I'm probably not as good at it as I should be.

Much of my training was in Quicksilver Hand of Dreams Style, due to my dreams at the time which changed the usual curriculum for a Secrets. A Sidereal as young as I was, was not supposed to know Sidereal Martial Arts yet. Normally we are taught to be more investigators, sorcerers, secret keepers, spies, and what can be unflatteringly referred to as criminals such as conmen, I'd say we're taught to be masterminds but all Sidereals are "supposed" to be that in some way, perhaps start us out with a Celestial Martial Art. When I finished training in the style, my visions was said to be relatively weak by my other instructor, though I'm better at searching the past than the future as it has already happened and therefore can be more thoroughly searched. The rest of my circle are more focused but are better about using them."
She considers the situation before them.
"To be honest I made a mistake by not just checking the Loom earlier. I could've figured out whether good intentions was behind this the first time an Abyssal wanted to negotiate. I wonder if a more thorough and cautious Secrets would've planned all this out and figured out how to prevent it before it ever happened. I was reckless, and to focused on warning to come up with a proper plan, perhaps go along with the group while making preparations to prevent something from happening more smoothly. Stupid, stupid stupid...."

[Kaworu]

The two Abyssals looked at each other, listening to the exchange between their companions.

- We do not know much about Infernals. We have some... memories from the Second Age related to them. Common operations aimed at destroying, or at least destabilizing Creation. We are... not exactly proud of having those in our heads... – explained the Necromancer.

- But we are thankful for your offer of staying somewhere safe – he continued, looking at Thorn – We will have to think about that. The turn of event certainly did not go according to our plans.

- I think we should return the heartstone to the rightful owner – the Dancer had thrown in -The only reason we needed that were the Gates and now that it is obviously a failed attempt, this is the only right course of action, I believe. Oh my, I feel like such an idiot for trying to steal it in the first place... – there was a hint of guilt in her voice.

- I think so too... – admitted the man.

Some time later...

The Exalted, afterseeing that everybody was safe and on their way to hospital, went back to the main building of the True Stone corp. The humor of Abyssals was certainly down after the unforeseen events, but there was a glitter of hope in their eyes for finally doing something right.

When their arrived, though, it all went dark.

At the main entrance to the structure, there was a lot of people, moving nervously. The Exalted could see blue uniforms of policemen, their yellow tape and criminalistics technicians in white robes, all gathered at the site. What's more, there were a few ambulances and a corpse in a black, big foil bag, being moved out of the main gates.

- What the...? - asked the Dancer, steeping forward.

- It's them, them! - shouted the Presenter, known to the heroes from before, pointing at the pitch-black attire of the two Abyssals – It's were them! Please, arrest them! - he explained loudly, looking at the policemen around him. They took their pistols aznd pointed them at the Undead Exalted. It was dubious whether they could cause any damage to the Chosen, but situation got from tragic to stresful in a matter of mere seconds.

The Dancer stopped in the middlestep, looking at her companions with raised eyebrows. On her right, the Necromancer raised his opem palms, showing a lack of violent intents.

It was very confusing, at least for the Abyssals.

[Lord Raziere]

Agent Green
She turns to the police and thinks: Well. This is a pickle. Okay they're Exalted, so probably not going to be killed by bullets. they're Abyssals to. Even if she somehow persuaded the Abyssals to get taken to jail and held on trial, how long would hold before they tire of staying there? And if she lets this run their course, how many police officers would get killed or injured before they get the message? But if they don't fight, they wouldn't know of the Exalted and not to fight them, which would also be bad, the world remaining ignorant of their prowess could lead to a lot of foolish actions. She needed to somehow defuse this before it out of hand.
"Excuse me officers, if I may... I don't recommend starting a fight with those two people there. I assume your eyewitness here told you of the events that transpired? What exactly is their story? Do you even have a warrant for these two arrests? or any idea as to the real nature of the people you pointing your guns at?"
She knows that undead appeared right at the presentation and the Exalted fighting against them weren't exactly subtle about showing off their combat abilities. The question was if the police officers actually believed the presenters story or if they think the presenter is just seeing things in a panic or something.

[Rhyvurg]

Kirnan has since sent his sword back Elsewhere and stands with his hands in his pockets, curious as to how this will unfold. He doubted mortal police were any real threat to the Abyssals, but how they might react to being shot at is another story. Green however seems to be the optimistic type, if she thinks she can talk the cops out of arresting them that easily. "Tempting fate there, Green."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Have you two never had to deal the authorities before?" Dorothy asks the two deathknights as though no one but them could hear her. "You do understand that blatant robbery is illegal in most of creation, even if you return it and apologize. I should think that they would like a word with you."

She cranes her neck to see the bodybag being loaded up. "Oh dear," she says, finally connecting the two events that she had somehow mentally written off as unrelated. "On second thought, it seems you'll need a lawyer. Neither of you actually killed anyone earlier, did you?"

Even while she's listening for their responses and to the rest of the conversation around her, she's already back on her tablet, looking up the profiles of defense attorneys from the law firm her company uses. Her powers can tell her a lot about legal theory, but comes up short when it comes to modern legal practice; she wouldn't be confident trying to defend them herself.

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
"Should I call my legal team? I don't think there's anything explicitly illegal about today's events." His strange sounding crystal omni-lingual voice probably didn't help with that line of thought. "Laws for thee and not for me? No. One moment" Half mutterings. Would false identification help? He didn't have any for law enforcement on hand but Green might. Worst case and they needed to be contained he had his offer already made...

"We can lower our weapons right now right? There's no threat right now."

[Kaworu]

One of the police officers, a bald man with black moustache in his 40s, came closer to Agent Green.

- Miss – he began – Those two are accused of killing a man. If they will come peacefully with us, it will be for the best for everybody, I think. We have the right to arrest them, plus photos and videotape from the security of this building. As to their nature... – he went silent for a moment – We have a good evidence of them being... dangerous. And I had been on the wireless and heard of a commotion in other part of the city. For all I know, I assume they are responsible for that too. They really have a lot on their plates. If you are their friend, I would advice you, Miss, to find a good lawyer. They will need it...

At the same time, Dancer turned to Dorothy – We did not kill anybody... today... – she explained with ridiculous honestly - We try to avoid it when possible, but sometimes our... choices are limited. Please, understand, our powers were made to make us perfect killers, the voices in our heads whisper dark secrets and wishes, and there's this course we bear... it kills people on it's own, at random. Sometimes... diplomacy is not enough. In the grandeur of things and our plans, single deaths are... counted in the offer, let's say – she was not ashamed, but there was a true sadness in her voice. How long has she lived? How many people was she forced to kill? How this long existence, filled with violence and even sometimes madness had affected her?

At the moment, the presenter choose to speak. It took a lot of mental energy out of him, he was shaking and on the verge of tears, but still, he stood and looked his enemies in the eye – It was them, them! I swear! First, they come in here, with skeletons, trying to steal our heartstone – huh? He knew what the “True Stone” was called? - and then they returned, this time to kill! It's them, them and their friends! Please, arrest them before they will escape and kill more people! That's what they are, that's what they always are! – he was agitated, but certainly not mad, just extremely sad and shaken. There was also more that a hint of anger in his words.

The policemen came closer, with guns pointed at the two Abyssals. As to the Chosen of Death, they still stood still - I do not know what is happening there... – Necromancer tried to explain - But I am sure it is just a misunderstanding...

Obviously, nobody listened to him.

[Rhyvurg]

Kirnan takes a step forward with his hands raised slightly. "Officers, there's no need for violence, these people have not harmed anyone today, and as for what they allegedly stole, I believe you will find it outside, where innocent people were attacked, and these persons aided in saving them."

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
"Lower your weapons, officers," Broken Thorn made clear in their first tongues. This would get out of hand, again, if it didn't stop now. "Consider what that man said, Hearthstone, have you ever seen a Hearthstone, how does he know what that is? How would he have one? What's happening here today? More than you've been trained for. You're heroes of the law, yes, but not this law. Not this law specifically. This law is greater, and we are here to enforce it. We will deal with them."

Broken Thorn pointed towards a nearby vehicle, "We can all lower our weapons, I will guide them from here and to a nice court where we can determine what happened today."

It wasn't English, it came out oddly, but it sounded like English and that was usually enough. Unless they spoke arabic, in which case one of them would ask why he was speaking arabic.

[Lord Raziere]

Revelynne
"So you all saw all of it then?"
She says
"The undead, the people fighting them, including me and everyone here? Then, coming here knowing your dealing with forces that you do not know of, instead of giving in and calling the man crazy or the videos edited, you march right up us and demand an arrest, on real evidence, knowing what you know? Hm. Braver than I thought you'd be."
She'd thought mortals would try to cover this up in some manner. Maybe she wouldn't have about mortals getting traken over by Exalts as much as she thought. She puts her hand into a pocket weaving the threads of fate then pulls out an FBI Badge.
"Unfortunately, this is beyond your jurisdiction. I'm with the FBI, and this is a matter of national security. These beings which you do not yet have the clearance to know about yet, and are quite dangerous more to you than I. I assure you, I have the situation well handled, and they will not get off scot-free."


Disguise Check with Resplendent destiny Morph:
[roll0]

[Kaworu]

Police officers listened to what Kirnan and Boken Thorn had to say – to the first one they answered couldly, but to the second, they had a wishful look about them.

- Listen, mister – on of them said to Kirnan – We do what we do. You claim they are innocent, the witness claim it were them. Maybe you are right, maybe not, it is not for use to decide. We need to arrest our suspects and the court will decide their blame and possible punishment. Law is the law, you know.

The Broken Thorn spoke. Their reaction was much, much more different. The policemen looked at the Exalted, at one another, they took step forward, step backwards, looked ashamed at their feet…

- What you speak of is nice, mister, really. But… it is not how the world is working, you know? If we would let them loose, we would lost our jobs. We have families to feed. Bills to pay. If what you speak of is true, they will go unpunished in a court. Even if we wished to let them go, we simply cannot. It’s not for us to decide... – they spoke, avoiding Broken Thorn’s eyes.

Then Agent Green took her turn, pretending to be from the FBI. The policemen, quite happy, let her take care of Abyssals. It seemed they knew nothing about the happenings in the other part of the City – at least nothing they could believe – but they were none-the-less glad that the weird people in onyx-black armors were taken care of.

- What? – shrieked the Presenter. He seemed half-mad with grief – Are you letting them go just like that?! – he again pointed accusingly at the Exalted ones -You cannot! It’s a game, a play, I say! They ARE guilty and I know it! I am not stupid, oh no! First the two of them come and try to steal the hearthstone, then, when they could not, they send more of they kind to finish the job! It’s obvious, obvious! – tears of sad and anger streamed down his face - And this time, they succeded! They are all like that, them Abyssals! – another “huh?” moment, he knew who they are? - They kill and destroy and profane! Always! If they could, they would destroy the whole world! And when they could not… they... – more tears, it seemed the man has lost it. He sat down, on the street, burying his face in his hands - They killed my grandpa! – even if he wanted to say something more, the cry made him unable to. So he sat there, shaking with waves of sadness, finally loosing it.


You can try to calmd down the Presenter and ask him about his grandpa if you would like.

The police won't be a problem now that they think Agent Green is from FBI.

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
"Not unpunished, but the truth of their actions will be seen. Good or Evil, Light or Dark, Right or Wrong." Broken Thorn, or Mark he supposed now, smiled as they yielded to the FBI ruse. If it was a ruse. "As I said, higher law. My English, I apologize is a bit broken right now. Today's events were taxing on my vocabulary."

Mark approached the crying man, the presenter amongst the crowd, if he would allow him. "I'm sorry to hear you and your family have suffered. If you would like, you could come with me and have your story heard away from danger and the eyes of the ununderstanding. Even see your work actually used if you wish. The black suns are not... many, though they may be known, if you have suffered there may be a path to justice for you."

[Lord Raziere]

Revelynne:
She puts away the badge.
"Look. That flash of the badge there wasn't to save the Abyssals. It was to save the police officers and the prison the Abyssals would be put in. Modern society hasn't developed a way to deal with Exalts. You put an Exalt in a mortal prison, that prison is going to be broken out of with at least half the inmates worshipping them as newfound gods, any of the remainder dead from defying the Exalt, and lots of broken walls and dead cops by the end of the week. Letting mortals publicly find out what Exalts are capable of the hard way will start this off on the wrong foot, make the transition more violent. Basically imagine the Supervillain Problem from superhero comic books, but without the narrative giving the random police officers immunity to dying so that it remains kid friendly when they break out."
She turns and pushes her sunglasses upwards a bit looking at the Abyssals.
"But if they have done an injustice to you in the past, it should be investigated and sorted out in some manner..."

[Kaworu]

The presenter listened to what the Exalted had to say to him, but was seemingly indifferent. The only thing he wanted to say was “I just wish them dead”. Outside of that, he just sat on the street and cried, his face buried in his hands.

The policemen had nothing to do – if the case was “FBI-ed”, they could do nothing more. Actually, they seemed quite happy with that – Abyssals looked for them like they were too dangerous (or at least strange) for them and to let others cake care of them was all they could want.

They put a blanket over presenter, though.

When the Chosen inevitably went away, the Necromancer wiped the sweat off his brow – Thank you. It saved us a lot of trouble. And whether you believe it or not, we didn’t killed this guy’s grandpa.

- It is sad, though, isn’t it? – asked the Dancer, seemingly deep in thoughts -I thought we are the only Abyssals in this city. And what happened with the Gates was obviously meant to grab our attention, so the other ones could attack and kill. It was… deliberative… – she continued - I wish I could talk with this man and ask him some questions. I do not think we have the whole picture. But… with things as they are now, it would be hard for us to do – the Dancer admitted.

- Either way, there are more Abyssals in this area. They can be dangerous, especially if they are working for a Deathlord. We should carefully plan what we want to do next -she explained - If you have any idea as to how to find them or what to do with them when we will do, we are open. Any suggestions?

[Rhyvurg]

Kirnan leans against a wall, crossing his arms. "We could bait them out, do something that will get their attention so when they intervene, we can corner them. If they want to open a gate from the Underworld, we might be able to use that, make them think you're trying again."

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
"Bait might work, though if they're capable of subverting our work they may be able to tell it's bait. We could bait them with something real of course... Though I doubt any of us want a repeat of today's events."

"What would Abyssals, other than our friends of course, want that wouldn't lead to mass destruction if we lost control of the situation?"

[Kaworu]

- I do not know – the Necromancer answered Broken Thorn - But if they are after this top-notch heartstone, we might get a change to grab their attention. Say I would create a simple emitter of Essence-rays, to show them light a lighthouse where we are? They might have come after the stone, if it’s what they wanna. We could create a trap for them, when and where we will be at an advantage. What do you think?

- I dunno… – the Dancer bite her lip – Isn’t it potentially dangerous? Wouldn’t it be better to just hide the thing… or destroy? We know where the manse is located, if some of you have the Singing Staff, we could destroy it once and for all. I believe it would be for the best...

The two Abyssals looked at the other Exalted, seemingly unsure as to what do next. Whose plan was better?

[Rhyvurg]

"Destroying the stone should be plan B, because there's no turning back once it's done. Baiting them has risk, but anything we do about this would be risky. At least this way we have a chance to be ready."

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/27/ad/ca/27adca1722ca28321c3d599c9afe9a40.jpg"Mark Ritter"
(Broken Thorn of the Red Nile) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2266289)

| Initiative -1 |
| Defence +0 |
| Toughness +10 |
| Fortitude +10 |
| Reflex -1 |
| Will +5 |
| Damage 0 |
| Notice +20 |

- Super Senses 8 [Analytical (Taste), Infravision, Microscopic Vision, Rapid (Hearing and Vision), Scent, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision)]
"There are risks of course in a trap, but I agree that it may be the best course, if we spring it in the right place perhaps they would show themselves."

[Kaworu]

The Necromancer nodded, seemingly satisfied. The dancer did it to, just slower and apparently thinking deeply.

- I suppose you would like to do it at your own Infernal palace? - the Necromancer asked Broken Thorn - I have a little cubby hole in the Underworld, but I do not presume you would find it very amusing. Unless you really wanna? I also hope you have nothing against the necro-technology, unless you would like to create the emitter yourself...?