The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

[pfm1995]

Adorei's hair and robes are blown forwards by the Outlander's gleeful charge, but the only sign he notices is the frown that touches his lips. His eyes are locked on the dead. The corporeal dead are hardly his specialty - they're quite useless, when you have the kinds of resources his House can draw on, and lead to unfortunate questions besides - but he's been taught the theory. As they fall from their cocoons and struggle to their feet he's watching them, looking for signs of intelligence, of strategy beyond the mindless want he expects from the Hungry Dead. Beyond that, he's watching numbers, distances, planning his approach and how to reach the tree above them.

It's only when he's satisfied that he moves, daggers leaping to hand.

Spoiler: Actions

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Adorei, because I am bad at making competent characters, does not have the awareness excellency and so has no Join Battle boosters.

(6d10)[5][6][3][5][8][8](35)

[Ascension]

"Don't run too far!" Walda taunts the false Pellervo (who is proven doubly false, now, since Walda's threats would never cow the genuine article). "You wouldn't want to miss the preview we're about to give you of the fate which awaits you!"

Walda's moon-blessed swords fly from their sheaths into his hands in a flash. A faint shiver of motion runs down the length of the twinned blades, bright Phaessa and shadowed Deinon alike, and when it reaches their tips, their points flex, the movement half mechanical and half biological in aspect, before curling into cruel hooks.

He points Phaessa towards the wretched, less-than-human dead and sights along the back of the blade. The creatures are horrific in appearance, but they seem uncoordinated, both in their individual movements and as a unit. Walda greets them with contempt.

Spoiler: Join Battle

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Not spending anything on this, just including the stunt bonus. (10d10)[8][7][8][7][3][8][5][7][5][7](65)

If Walda wins Join Battle (which I think will only require beating the spider-zombies here), his blades will become Waxing.

[Sticks]

Spoiler: Initiative Tracker

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Outlander: 11 <===Currently up!
Walda: 10
Decks:9
Corpse-Spiders: 8
Adorei: 5

Adorei's familiarity with the theories of Necromancy make him more of an authority than many would be comfortable with. To the ghostly-aligned Terrestrial, it is clear that these are not mindless, nor are they undead. The shambling, shuffling dried husks are instead shells or vehicles, and something inside is forcing them to act. That said, they do behave in a simplistic, predatory manner similar to the average mob of zombies, and they are unused to doing so. That said, they are unlikely to break and flee.

These valuable observations do cost Adorei time, however, and Outlander flies past him, ready to do battle with the foul creatures filling the glade. The battle for the Heart of the Frozen Glade has begun!

[Inspector Valin]

The quadrupedal corpses form swiftly into a mob, starting to spread outwards towards the three openly visible Exalts, ready to make this a battle.

And that's when the fourth member of the party rapidly reappears, emerging from the undergrowth.

The Outlander jumps high above the clearing, twirling her staff before bringing it down before her. She vaults into the midst of their opponents, landing upon the first mock arachnid boots-first. She doesn't stop moving, bounding forward right into the midst of their foes with rapid kicks and punches designed to scatter the creatures' unified front. She's a blur of brown and glinting silver amidst the frozen glade, dealing swift mercy to the puppet beings one after another. She won't give them so much as a chance to threaten her friends.

Spoiler

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So. Rampage Berserker Attack!
7m. 3i. 1wp. Adding Fists of Iron, via Protect Your Friends to ignore 4 points of soak on each attack, Ferocious Jab to add 1 damage for each point of Onslaught (and this is going to get some Onslaught going presumably) and since this is 'going all in', 10m Excellency.

So, for a recap, this is a Withering Flurry charm! Every point of threshold success makes the Outlander strike the battlegroup an extra time. I'm gonna roll basic damage for one hit here, and roll whatever additional damage I get in the OOC. If they're still standing after this, at least their defense is very likely to be at 0 for a round, right?

And don't forget! Surprise attack thanks to BBF makes their defense -2 against this.

7m - RBA - Personal
1m - FoI - Peripheral
1m - FJ - Peripheral
10m - Excellency - 6m personal, 4m Peripheral

(27d10)[7][8][8][3][3][1][1][10][4][10][3][8][5][2][5][4][3][8][5][9][5][4][1][7][8][1][3](136) Attack
(10d10)[5][8][6][6][4][4][4][7][6][4](54) Damage - ignoring 4 points of soak.

[Sticks]

The Outlander's all-out-assault is more than these horrors can handle. Limbs snap, necks crack and ribs pop as she lays into the mass of corpses. Ichor and chitin burst inside desiccated flesh as the whole horde is pummeled into submission.

When Outlander's attack ends, the clearing is stilled...for a moment. Several corpses on the outskirts, those who had been subjected to the first of the assault, before Outlander built up a head of steam, begin to stir. A horrible gurgling creaking noise emanates from them as long, cruel-hooked limbs burst out of their sides. Half a dozen of the corpses rise up, arms and feet dangling horribly as eight legs raise them off the ground, reaching eye-level with the gathered exalts. With a terrible gnawing sound, the heads fall away, revealing a dark cavity in the stump of the neck. Sharp fangs and numerous eyes glint within that hole, echoed on each of these beasts. It seems the corpse-spiders are not all done.

Spoiler: OOC & Rolls

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Round 2! JB time for the Corpse-Spider cadre!

Corpse Spider A (3d10)[2][9][1](12)+3
Corpse Spider B (3d10)[6][1][5](12)+3
Corpse Spider C (3d10)[3][10][5](18)+3
Corpse Spider D (3d10)[8][3][5](16)+3
Corpse Spider E (3d10)[6][10][10](26)+3
Corpse Spider F (3d10)[5][1][10](16)+3

(Those who's charms require winning Join Battle will still count as winning if they beat the Battle-group, even if a Corpse-Spider beats their initiative with JB.

[Ascension]

Walda grins approvingly as the Outlander annihilates the whole horde of walking corpses in a single furious assault. Even as fresh horrors burst from the desiccated dead like pupating insects bursting from the shell of their larval forms... which may very well be exactly what is happening... his confidence doesn't waver.

"That's two deaths for these corpses!" he crows, loud enough for him to hope the false-Pellervo can still hear. "How long do you wager it'll take us to reach their third?"

He runs towards the nearest of the spider-things, flourishing his blades. The shadows around him shift and deepen, dancing to Deinon's tune as he twirls his left-hand sword. The dark is coming, the waning moon warns. Your end is near.

Walda had thought about holding himself back against these pathetic corpse-things, despite his promise to put on a show for false-Pellervo. He could stand to recover some of his strength after the effort he exerted in tracking and in his show of defiance against the face-stealer. But after seeing Outlander's ferocious speed in play, his blood is up. His pride in his own swift-striking style demands that he follow her lead. His instincts tell him that the monstrosities' new forms won't fall as easily as their withered shells did, but he is compelled to try.

Phaessa darts out, fast and low, its hook catching his chosen foe's foreleg and sweeping it out from under the arachnoform abomination. That won't cause it to fall - it has another seven firmly on the ground - but Walda doesn't need it to fall. He just needs it off-balance. He swings Deinon on an upward arc, a rising slash at the corpse-spider's chest with the sharpened back of the blade. Even if the strike is parried or dodged, it will force the monster up and back, setting up the next stage of Walda's attack. He ducks in under the imbalanced creature and punches straight up with Deinon's crescent guard. Walda showcases the fundament of his training as he follows through with another swift jab with Phaessa's guard, then he strikes again with his left, alternating punches. He keeps the flurry going until sweat stings his eyes and he feels the first acid bite of fatigue in his muscles. Only then does he step back and let the spider-beast fall back onto its forelegs.

He sneers, flicking liquid shadow and abominable viscera from Deinon's blades. Could even such an awful, improbable creature survive an assault like that?

Spoiler: OOC and Rolls

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Motion of Myriad Legs (3m, 1wp) to make three Decisive attacks against Corpse-Spider... let's say C? Not putting anything on Excellencies; I'm going to trust in the heart of the dice (and Onslaught).

Walda is at Initiative 10; the round-up benefit of Motion of Myriad Legs takes the damage of each of his three attacks to 4, and the Waning benefit of Phaessa and Deinon takes that damage to 5, but the final version of Lunars dropped MoML's ability to ignore Hardness, so this is going to look very silly if the corpse-spiders have Hardness 6.

If any of these attacks do damage, Corpse-Spider C's Onslaught penalty does not refresh when its turn comes up.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Attack 1 (benefitting from no Onslaught): (12d10)[5][1][2][1][6][10][5][10][4][5][5][8](62)
Damage 1: (5d10)[10][1][5][7][8](31)L

Attack 2 (benefitting from Onslaught 1): (12d10)[2][6][8][9][6][4][4][5][6][10][1][5](66)
Damage 2: (5d10)[9][9][9][10][10](47)L

Attack 3 (benefitting from Onslaught 2): (12d10)[9][5][10][4][5][3][9][9][1][9][10][5](79)
Damage 3: (5d10)[5][7][6][1][5](24)L

[Malozing]

Decks grumbles as the Outlander and Walda tear through the enemies. They better save some for me! Leaping forward, Decks extends his claws and lands on top of the closest monstrosity. Front claws grip the spider-corpse as the leopard begins to rake its prey with its hindlegs.

Spoiler: OOC

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Okay, withering attack for now.

Spoiler: Dice

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Attack (13d10)[6][9][2][2][8][5][4][2][9][9][9][5][7](77)
Damage (12d10)[2][8][2][10][10][1][4][3][8][7][10][8](73)

[Sticks]

Walda's blades carve through the corpse-spider with contemptuous ease. The dry, brittle corpse-within-a-corpse crumples to the ground in a pathetic heap.

Meanwhile, Decks vicious assault has driven another of the monsters back, dry flesh crumpling under the furious assault of his hind-claws, spindly legs buckling under his weight.

Spoiler: OOC

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Walda felled Corpse-Spider C outright. Decks' attack on Corpse Spider E has crashed the creature, dropping it to the bottom of the initiative chart and placing every enemy below the Exalts. Adorei is up next.

[pfm1995]

Even as he moves, Adorei's eyes never leave the battle. Seeing the corpses burst asunder after the Outlander's pounding doesn't do more than raise an eyebrow - he'd want to look at these later, should he have time - and as both Walda and Decks chose partners from the group he changes tack with lightning speed. He spins like a dancer, weight going from heel to heel to toe as he sheds momentum, and then once he's turned and steadied he leaps.

He'd trained this on mansion walls and in back alleys, but the theory should be the same here. Two steps on the trunk of the nearest tree send him surging upwards and before gravity can punish his impudence he springs off to catch a low branch. He doesn't waste a moment, even though his shoulders are screaming, and starts to brachiate forwards on the upswing.

Over the battle proper, he has enough momentum to curl forwards and catch a branch with his feet; hanging suspended he spreads his arms wide and from his sleeves a veritable shower of knives fall like shining stars onto the spiders below.

Spoiler: Actions

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Stunting staying at short range and making a withering attack at spider C. Hopefully the movement here isn't stretching things too much.

4m Excellency

Spoiler: Rolls

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Attack - (17d10)[92]
Damage - (15d10)[98] Base 9, Overwhelming 1

[Sticks]

Spoiler: OOC

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Adorei hits Spider F, and does enough to crash it.

Adorei's rain of knives strikes true. A dozen or so blades pierce the flesh of a carcass and the beast within seizes up, its movements becoming even more stilted and unnatural as the knife-points dig into hidden joints and tendons.

The corpse-spiders have been on the back-foot, but now they can bring their diminished numbers to bare. Two pounce on The Outlander, another rushes Decks, mandibles chattering in anticipation while theone under him twists to reach the Lunar with disturbing creaking and snapping noises and the spider Adorei struck begins scaling a hanging line of silk to reach him, foreclaws swinging at the upside-down dragon.

Spoiler: OOC & Rolls

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Okay, the corpse-spiders are going to do their creepy horrible best.
Outlander and Decks are each receiving one Withering and one Decisive attack. Adorei is facing a Withering Attack.

Spoiler: Spider A & B vs. Outlander

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Withering Attack:(6d10)[2][4][1][9][6][7](29)
Withering Damage: (7d10)[5][9][7][6][4][9][1](41)
Decisive Attack: (6d10)[3][3][4][7][1][7](25)
Decisive Damage: (4d10)[6][5][7][5](23)

Spoiler: Spider D & E vs. Decks

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Withering Attack:(6d10)[7][4][10][1][2][4](28)
Withering Damage: (7d10)[7][10][5][1][1][3][7](34)
Decisive Attack: (6d10)[7][8][5][4][4][9](37)
Decisive Damage: (4d10)[2][4][1][5](12)

Spoiler: Spider F vs. Adorei

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Withering Attack: (6d10)[8][8][6][4][4][10](40)
Withering Damage: (7d10)[1][8][6][5][8][7][6](41)

[Inspector Valin]

The Outlander twirls her staff, swatting at the spiders as they pounce on her - striking one in the mandibles even as the far side of her weapon bats the other out of its jump. The humble staff is an excellent weapon for defense against multiple opponents, as the grinning Solar can happily attest

Spoiler

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Simple stunt. 8 defense against the 1st with it, 7 against the second

[pfm1995]

Adorei flinches in startled panic at the spider leaping for his face, his whole body twisting backwards away from the creature. Fortunately, that's enough to send it sailing past him, bare inches between his nose and its flailing limbs. Unfortunately, that's also enough to dislodge his footing - with a startled 'wark', Adorei starts to fall out of the tree. He lunges, desperately, and at the last moment manages to kick off his former perch and sink his dagger into the trunk of a nearby tree. The force of his fall jerks his shoulder painfully, but he's still in the air and still alive.

Spoiler

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Spending 4m to add 2 to Adorei's defense.

[Malozing]

Ears turning toward the approaching enemy, Decks growls. Don't they know how to wait for their dang turn?! The leopard leans his weight to the right and rolls onto his back, taking his prey with him. With his prey's legs flailing about in the air, Decks uses the trapped spider as a shield. As he feels the second one land, his hindlegs kick hard against his prey, trying to buck the second bug off.

Spoiler: OOC

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That boost Decks' parry to 5. Can someone save me from hell? I have to read 7 chapters and write 7 papers a week for my courses.

[Sticks]

The corpse-spiders utterly fail to make a dent in the collected chosen. No slavering fangs pierce living hide, nor long limbs grapple their divine forms. They had their chance, now it's up to the Chosen.

The Outlander's defense throws back her assailants, and in that moment she sees a figure emerge from the tree-line on the opposite side of the glade. At first she thinks the figure is too far away to make out clearly, but immediately it is clear that indistinct appearance is caused by the figure shifting forms. Their eyes meet, and match. Frizzy curls fall out from her hood, warm copper skin that would always be out of place in the cold north, disheveled furs with a hint of flowing silver...The Outlander sees her exact mirror, looking back at her with a look of confusion, want, fear..and hunger.

Spoiler: OOC

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None of the Corpse-spiders hit, we're at the top of the round, everyone regains 5m...but a new challenger has entered the field (to be referred to as ???). Outlander is up first. ??? is presently at medium range.

[Inspector Valin]

That... was not something the Outlander had expected. Forgetting the surrounding spiders for a second the traveler tilts her head briefly, regarding her mirror image with curiosity. It's close. If it wasn't for the expression, she'd think she was looking in a mirror. Nonetheless she can see that trace of fear in its eyes. The Outlander chuckles, pointing at the apparition. "Heh. You think you can be me, demon?"

With those words, and a brief cry, the Outlander spins in place - pivoting around her staff. The silver of her outfit shines brighter than ever as her molten gold essence begins to flow through it, illuminating ancient glyphs as the fabric gives way to rings of shimmering metal. The outfit is one with its wielder - hugging her body more tightly, seeming to accentuate her muscles, but not stopping her movement one bit. Once she's come to a stop, the now transformed figure looks back to her counterpart - far more evidently armored in silver than before, with the sign of the Sun burning proud atop her forehead. The Outlander's even grinning as she gestures for the creature to join her. "You're going to have to prove it."

Spoiler: OOC

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Due to a misunderstanding, I didn't get that after battle started you couldn't activate Argent Handshake Mein, locking Unison down if you don't cough up first thing. With Sticks' permission I'm doing that now since it's a reflexive, and then using my actual action to shift into Quicksilver Host Mein - and using Fluid Battle Evolution to spend 3i more to activate Increasing Strength Exercise reflexively. That's 5m newly committed, 5i spent total

[Malozing]

Decks rolls again and shoves the monster into the ground. The cat shakes his head violently side to side, trying to wrench the creature's head from its body. The corpse-spider shrieks and thrashes in an effort to dislodge the leopard. However, each bucking motion, Decks digs his teeth and claws deeper. Hemolymph begins to leak out around the leopard's jaws, dripping onto the lush, green ground.

Spoiler: OCC

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Okay, I really need to remind myself of Decks' charms... Oh, well. That will happen later. Decisive attack with 5m Excellency.

Spoiler: Dice

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Attack (15d10)[9][3][8][7][10][10][4][3][10][10][7][2][4][2][9](98)
Damage (23d10)[7][6][5][1][7][8][6][6][2][6][7][4][8][5][5][6][4][7][4][1][7][3][4](119)

[pfm1995]

Hanging suspended from his dagger driven ten feet up into the bark of a tree, Adorei lets out a shuddering breath and surveys the battlefield. It's been years since he's come this close to dying this many times in a week, and from the pounding of his heart and the way he's panting he's out of practice. His eyes are wide, though, and his exaltation is singing in his veins. Merchant and sometimes-saboteur he may be, but there's a weight to this that draws his blood like a loadstone does to iron. Below, he watches as the Outlander's tattered garb shifts into something worth a mansion on the Isle, and his eyes narrow. Well, that explains the glints of silver. He's not the only one watching, though - the strange woman who even now is changing shape, the spiders down below, they've all turned to look. As for his own dance partner, it still hasn't turned around from its failed leap.

There's opportunity here. Time slows. Adorei gathers his legs under him.

Gaia blinks, and there's nothing but bare bark and a lonely dagger hanging suspended in a tree.

Spoiler: OOC

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Attempting to establish stealth into the forest, hoping that doesn't net me the open ground penalty. From there, Adorei will be moving towards the shapechanger - the one that isn't part of the party at least.

Using Flowing Shadow Stance (2m, personal), Nothing But Shadows (3m, peripheral) and a 4m excellency (personal), and one point of WP. Add two successes, reroll sixes until they cease to appear, all opponents take a -3 to their opposed roll (in addition to whatever they take due to circumstances), and if they all fail Adorei gains a point of initiative. If this succeeds, Adorei will enter Ebon Shadow Form (4m, personal) and all enemies will lose a point of initiative. Unclear whether Adorei gains that or not.

Spoiler: Roll

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(5d10)[4][5][8][8][10](35) + 3
Rerolls - (5d10)[2][4][10][2][4](22)

[Sticks]

Decks' assault is more than any corpse-spider could hope to stand against. The horrid creature is ripped apart, dessicated limbs and ichor flying as the cat-lunar does his grisly work.

Adorei indeed vanishes from sight, but while he remains in the silk-bound forest, he is within the unknown Lunar's lair. She tenses, crouches, a hand reaching out to touch the tendrils of thread, attempting to ascertain where each of the four intruders may be, seen or unseen...

Spoiler: OOC & Rolls

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Decks destroys another corpse-spider, killing a non-trivial foe if that matters for any charms.

The unknown Lunar is attempting to detect Adorei via Vibration-sense. She gets a bonus via her Enhanced Sense (touch). For the sake of ease, I'll say that the Corpse-spiders are unable to perceive him automatically. There's no way they'd be able to match what I'm guessing his pool is.
Lunar's Roll: Perception+Awareness+Specialty+Merit(2), no charms to throw at this.

(12d10)[8][9][6][5][7][7][4][3][8][4][7][8](76)

Edit: Whoops, forgot Adorei's penalty to her roll, so subtract the last three dice of her pool, whatever they are.

[Sticks]

The stranger Lunar straightens up, a look of fear and disgust crossing Outlander's stolen face. She sighs, then fixes Outlander with a stare devoid of...anything. The hunger, fear, anger, it all vanishes as the two sets of matched eyes meet each other. There is a sickening CRACK as the doppleganger's head twists about, long blonde hair draping down as her neck snaps. CRACK the horrid sound rings out again as her head twists again, now fully upside-down. SNAP! her body hunches forward, spine bending horribly as hairy arms, two, four, six of them burst out from her sides as her legs meld into one bulbous mass. A nauseating tearing noise accompanies a set of huge fangs sprouting from within the hair, cutting a bloody mouth open as they go. Perhaps most horrible of all, accompanying these dramatic mutations there is the pop pop pop of eyes budding on the distorted face, each one exactly like Outlander's. All other traces of humanity meld horribly into white chitin covered in a thick layer of fine, bristling, needle-like hairs that seem to give off a silver aura. Amid the cluster of the eyes, an indistinct moon appears, wavering between Full, Crescent and Eclipsed.

Spoiler: OOC

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The Lunar is using Hybrid Body Transformation, enhanced by Chimera Soul Expression, and reflexively activating Deadly Beastman Transformation enhanced by Terrifying Ogre Alteration.
Edit: Whoops, also Invulnerable Moonsilver Carapace.

[Ascension]

Walda glares across the battlefield, hardly trembling as the face-stealer undergoes their terrible metamorphosis. He feared them only as long as they wore Pellervo's shape. In this newer, truer guise, they're simply a monster, and Walda lost his fear of monsters years ago.

Were he more introspective, the revelation that his opponent is a fellow Lunar might at least give him pause, even if her appearance didn't. He might see in the corpse-spiders some grim resemblance to those of his Moonblades who were strengthened or broken by Pellervo's trials, warped into something more or less than human. He might even see loyalty, rather than blasphemy, in their refusal to die. But he does not look deep enough to see their similarities; the notion of kinship with these creatures only deepens his revulsion, strengthens his determination to see them all slain.

He twirls his right hand sword, Phaessa, and shifts his stance to lead with it. Was it shining quite so brightly a moment before? The gleam of its moonsilver is dazzling; the black viscera of the corpse-spider Walda so recently slew seems to evaporate off the blazing brand, entirely unable to dim its gleaming.

"Wait your turn," he barks at the chimeric Lunar. "We'll get to you soon enough."

He dashes forward, charging one of the corpse-spiders tangling with Sunshine. He knows she doesn't need his help to fight them, but the quicker they're through with the chaff, the sooner they'll be able to take the fight to the other Lunar. His hook swords dance in his hands, prodding and pulling at his chosen foe, bullying it, pressing it off-balance.

Spoiler: OOC and Rolls

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Withering Attack on Corpse-Spider B, no Charms.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Attack: (15d10)[1][10][4][10][8][8][1][9][10][2][7][6][10][2][8](96)
Damage (Base 17, Overwhelming 4): (17d10)[3][9][3][7][8][10][3][6][3][10][3][7][10][9][5][9][9](114)

[Sticks]

Walda's attack hurls the corpse-spider back, cutting deep into its flesh-shell. The brittle flesh crumples beneath his blades, biting into the thin chitin beneath and drawing a shriek from the monster as it retreats from Outlander.

The retreat is short-lived, however. Seeing their matron take her battle-form, the corpse-spiders form up and make a desperate bid to gain any kind of advantage over the assembled chosen. Two hurl themselves at Walda, another at the Outlander, while the one up above abandons its fruitless search for Adorei and drops on Decks. They know they are likely to die, but that is their role, and they know it.

Spoiler: OOC & Rolls

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The remaining Corpse-Spiders are making withering attacks on the three visible Exalts. Spider A and B are attacking Walda, Spider E is attacking Outlander, and Spider F is attacking Decks.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Vs. Walda
Spider A: (6d10)[7][6][3][9][4][4](33)
Damage: (6d10)[6][5][7][1][1][1](21)
Spider B: (6d10)[9][9][8][6][9][9](50)
Damage: (6d10)[5][2][8][4][9][6](34)
Vs. Outlander
Spider E: (6d10)[3][8][2][9][1][5](28)
Damage: (6d10)[8][7][10][1][6][4](36)
Vs. Decks
Spider F: (6d10)[4][1][9][10][1][9](34)
Damage: (6d10)[1][9][7][8][5][6](36)

[Ascension]

The moon spirits bound within Walda's blades shift phase again, even as the corpse-spiders launch their counterattack. Phaessa's gleam dims, and the spreading shadows of the oncoming night twist around dull Deinon's blade. The left-hand sword trails a ribbon of darkness behind it as it springs into motion, and Walda dances and twists amidst the gloom. Chitin sparks against moonsilver again and again as Walda's ever-moving swords weave a wall of metal between him and both of his attackers.

"I must say, though," he continues his taunting, "I'm getting a little bored of these guys already! I know better than most that appearances are important, but I don't think you can win a fight through pure ugly! Don't they have anything else going for them?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Base Parry 6. Walda's using Agile Beast Defense against each attack for 1m, granting him +1 Defense since they're at (much) lower Initiative and granting him 1i for each successful defense. Factoring in a +1 Stunt bonus, that puts his probable defense at 8 against the first attack and 7 against the second (due to Onslaught).

[Malozing]

Decks yowls when he feels a corpse-spider land on him. The leopard bucks and turns in tight circles. When his jaws draw close to a leg, Decks grabs it and jerks his head to throw the bug off.

Spoiler: OCC

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This raises Decks' defense to 5.

[Inspector Valin]

Outlander can't help but gape at the creature's transformation. Her usual smile fading from her, the oft jovial warrior bats the oncoming spiders away harshly with her staff. There's no room for play or hospitality after watching her bones snap and limbs twist. Now the strange Solar is not just invested in the fight - she's grown deadly serious.

Spoiler

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Stunt, no motes! That makes Outlander's defense 8 pre onslaught. (5 base, 1 speciality, 1 medium weapon, 1 stunt)

[Ascension]

As soon as his attackers let up in their onslaught, Walda goes on the counteroffensive. He tosses his blades up and catches them in reverse grip, allowing him to step in close to the nearest corpse-spider, inside its guard. He fires off a blindingly fast series of attacks, punching with Phaessa and Deinon's bladed crescent guards and stabbing up into the spider-thing's underbelly with their dagger pommels. Old blood and fresh viscera rain down, spattering his hair and clothing, but somehow the dishevelment does nothing to detract from his charm. When his momentum is spent, he throws the corpse-spider aside and blows its Lunar mistress a mocking kiss.

"Next?"

Spoiler: OOC and Rolls

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Decisive attack on Corpse Spider A, let's say 4m Dex Excellency for a little... I won't say "insurance" after my last roll, I'll just say... I've got my fingers crossed.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Attack: (16d10)[6][1][7][1][2][4][4][1][8][6][6][4][2][9][10][3](74)
Damage (Initiative 26 after taking into account the 2i for his successful defenses with Agile Beast Defense): (26d10)[2][9][3][6][5][3][6][6][7][10][3][10][6][10][5][2][1][2][2][2][5][6][3][3][1][8](126)

[Sticks]

The Spider falls. The remaining spiders, foiled in their attack, press on with a primordial desperation and hunger. The looming shape of their master looks on unfeeling with all-too human eyes.

[Inspector Valin]

The newly metallic Outlander is itching to confront her macabre doppelganger, but the press of spiders is holding her back for the moment. She frowns - it's time to be practical. Silently the Solar warrior sweeps her leg across the ground, trailing through the brush as she kicks towards the skittering creature's bizarre limbs. It's the obvious weak spot - if she can knock the thing off balance, the uneven terrian should make it harder for the monster to regain its footing, giving her a nice easy chance to strike.

Spoiler

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Fists of Iron Technique backed Withering Attack - ignoring 4 points of soak. No Excellency. I think it's just Spider E left in melee with Outlander?

Spoiler: Attack

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(17d10)[4][6][1][3][4][9][5][1][2][6][10][5][7][4][1][4][6](78) Attack
(11d10)[2][8][10][2][8][10][8][4][8][1][7](68) 11 base damage, ignore 4 soak

[Sticks]

The corpse-spider's chitinous legs snap as the Outlander sweeps them. All four human limbs break at the joins, while the four spider-legs break off at the torso, lacking the protection of desiccated flesh. The abominable creature flops to the ground, wriggling, but no-longer a threat.

[pfm1995]

Footsteps silent in the thick snow, Adorei flits from tree to tree in a blur of silk and shadow. It's all reflex, this, muscle memory from long evenings spent hunting and being hunted through the family orchards, and the greater part of his attention is trying to track what's going on in the glade by sound and what few glimpses he gets through the branches. Another spider down, it sounds like, and as he reaches his destination he takes cover behind a tree and freezes.

On the far side, not thirty paces away, the twisted monstrosity stands with it's lumpy back to him. A knife drops from his sleeve into his hands and he sets it spinning through his fingers with a flick of his wrist as he thinks. Costs, he mulls, and benefits of stepping back in? The costs are self-evident; more than exposing himself, he'd be actively goading whatever this fey-touched creature is into attacking him - he's too honest with himself to think that he'd kill the creature in one blow. He'd been too busy trying to dodge death by spider to see more than a glimpse of its transformation, but even the partial memory is enough to set his stomach turning. There was another bonus to staying hidden, he realized as he fought back the fear: if the fight drags on and one of the party wound up being injured? Well, it'd make his life much easier but, and he frowned slightly, best to banish the thought. Thoughts like that had a bad habit of showing on your face at the worst moments; it's best not to think them at all until the time comes to act.

Benefits, then. Whatever paltry goodwill he earned from fighting alongside the barbarians might be enough to ease some of their anti-Realm sentiments, though doubtless they'd find a way to take issue with his methods - as if how you killed something mattered once you'd decided to do so. There's also the issue of risk avoided; if one of their party was wounded or, Heaven forbid, died and he hadn't done anything? He swallowed. That could get very ugly.

The knife spun in his hands. What to do?

---

There's a crack like the snap of a whip as a dagger flies out of the treeline carried on a razor wind, snow swirling in its wake.

Spoiler: OOC

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Decisive attack on the Chimera! Only charm here is a full 5m excellency, which also rerolls sixes until they cease to appear because DBs have nice excellencies. Man, E3 and Throat-Slitting Shadow Atemi can't come soon enough.

As a reminder, this should also be a surprise attack (-2 Defense penalty) and because he's in Ebon Shadow Form Adorei will reset to 6 initiative rather than 3.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Attack - (16d10)[6][2][1][3][3][10][5][3][9][5][9][1][6][10][3][1](77)
Rerolls - (5d10)[10][2][8][1][10](31)
Damage - (16d10)[7][5][2][10][2][2][8][10][10][6][6][1][7][9][4][7](96)

[Sticks]

Adorei's aim is true. The dagger, small though it may be, is expertly aimed. It lodges in the middle of the creature's thorax, painfully stabbing into the tender flesh between hard carapace. Several eyes flick backwards, setting their attention on Adorei. A stinger so tiny should not bother a great beast such as this...so what could such a sting do against a greater beast?

With a horrible scraping cracking sound, the creature begins to grow. Its legs push outward, becoming thick as tree-trunks. Its hair drapes down like the strands of a willow, cascading to the web-covered forest floor as its abdomen pushes against the canopy. The hodge-podge Exalts now face a true monster of the ancient world.

Spoiler: OOC

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The Chimera is activating Towering Beast Form augmented by Mountainous Spirit Expression. She is now legendary size, with all that entails.