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  1. - Top - End - #181
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    pfm1995's Avatar

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Well, I guess I'll get to introduce them to the modern miracle that is 'fire'. Adorei hums, and sets out in the direction of camp himself.

  2. - Top - End - #182
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Walda snorts a laugh.

    "I do know that not all Icewalkers serve the Bull. Nearly a quarter of my Moonblades are Icewalkers by birth. They did once march at his whim, but he took them too far from their homes, and too far from their traditions. They didn't want to fight his war any longer."

    He gives the Outlander a toothy grin.

    "And I'm much more handsome than he is, of course. So! With that in mind, why would I hesitate to trust you? It's true you pack quite a punch, but, should worse come to worst, I've beaten an Icewalker Solar before."


    He follows that boast with a wink.
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  3. - Top - End - #183
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    HalflingWizardGirl

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    That boast takes the Outlander back a bit. She gives Walda a probing look, unsure of whether to take his proud words seriously before chuckling a little. He'd matched her blow for blow, hadn't he? "Maybe. But I'll bet it wasn't easy. Unlike me, they probably knew what they were doing"

    "Most people assume I'm either with Yurgen, or I'll act like Yurgen. Take charge, shift the order of things, flatten anyone in my way. Not exactly a welcome guest." The stranger sighs. She's not used to having someone to talk about this stuff with. She takes a seat on the ground by her tent, looking down at the ground. "I don't want that. Never wanted that. But people don't usually just take my word for it. So I try... not to get involved in things like this, or let people know what I am. Usually."

    She glances up at the Flashing Blade of the Moon with a slightly grim chuckle. Travelling with this group, even her usual faint chance of anonymity is pretty much gone.

  4. - Top - End - #184
    Orc in the Playground
     
    PirateGuy

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Decks trots into the camp with his tail poofed out; the rabbit hangs limply within his jaws. He drops the meat next to the fire before transforming back to his human form.

    “Adorei has been preening in the woods with a mirror,” Decks grumbles loudly, cluelessly interrupting Walda and the Outlander’s conversation.

    He begins the process of field dressing the lagomorph.

  5. - Top - End - #185
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Walda is unperturbed by Decks' interruption, keeping his focus on the Outlander.

    "What do you want to do, then, if not take charge or whatever?"
    he asks. The question holds no veiled judgment, no implicit criticism, merely curiosity. "Your power... our power..." A tilt of Walda's head includes Decks in that statement. "...sets us apart from ordinary people. Even sets us apart from the Dynasts of the Realm. Even if you were to choose not to use your strength, it would still help define you. You would not be ordinary, you'd be an extraordinary person who chose to play at normalcy. And, of course..."

    Walda leans back, glances over at Decks, and musters his smuggest grin.

    "...you should definitely stop punching people so hard if a mundane life is what you seek."
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  6. - Top - End - #186
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    pfm1995's Avatar

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    "I'm surprised," Adorei drawls, striding back into camp himself, "I'd been told that the wild tribes of the North hold their ancestors in even higher regard than elsewhere in Creation. Though, perhaps not so surprised that you'd fail to recognize such filial duties, given the lot your ancestors left you with."

    So saying, he sat and prepared his own dinner. Trail rations, hard-traveling sausages and cheese and a spiced and watered wine paired with the above - it wasn't bad, though that it needed to be spiced at all was an indictment. Absentmindedly, he tuned in to the other conversation.

  7. - Top - End - #187
    Orc in the Playground
     
    PirateGuy

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Decks' poofed tail begins to lash about when Walda prodded at the leopard's pride, but Decks is soon distracted by Adorei's comments and actions.

    "Don't presume how we honor our ancestors! We don't need any mirrors to do so, idiot." Decks pops a bloody raw lung into his mouth, eyes watching for Adorei's reaction.

    "Let me guess. You don't do watch duty," he continues while setting the fully skinned and gutted rabbit on a stick to roast. Decks turns to Solar and the other Lunar."I will take the last watch if you two don't mind."

  8. - Top - End - #188
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    "Maybe also don't presume that all the 'wild tribes of the North' are just the same," Walda cautions Adorei, a touch of ice creeping into his usually lighthearted tone.
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  9. - Top - End - #189
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    pfm1995's Avatar

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    "I would be more than happy to take a watch." Adorei says, in between bites of his meal. "And while the distinctions between larger groups such as Whitewall, the Haslanti League, the Icewalkers, etc. are well known to me, smaller distinctions within them are not - their cultural, economic, and political relationships are both broadly generizable and extremely provincial, so they frankly aren't worth the attention until I find myself needing to deal with them directly. For example, I intend to make inquiries into the Kathaashi when I have the chance, if only to better understand this group here."

    Also because if there were any left alive they could prove a pressure point, but that would be rude to say out loud.

  10. - Top - End - #190
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    MonkGirl

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    The watches decided, three of the four Exalts retire to the tents. Walda's watch is first. The midnight sun is quickly obscured by thick clouds that bring cold breezes and flurries of snow. Walda's vision is obscured, but the watch quietly for several hours. As his watch nears its end and his eyelids begin to flicker, he thinks he sees a figure out in the snow.
    Sorry for making things complicated!
    -Me

  11. - Top - End - #191
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Keeping watch has given Walda entirely too much time alone with his thoughts tonight... worries about the Moonblades' safety should the Fae prince return for Mask, frustration with Adorei's naked contempt for the people of the Threshold, wonder at Sunshine's naivete... so the appearance of a mysterious figure in the snows actually comes as a welcome diversion. With a faint rustling sound and a moment of metamorphosis, Walda trades the weakness of his weary human eyes for the night-vision of his owl form. On silent wings, he flutters closer to the shape he glimpsed.

    If an humble lemming or rat cannot hide from the senses of an owl on a night like this, what hope has anything large enough to draw a human's notice?

    Spoiler: OOC and Roll
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    Rolling with the Owl statblock's Senses stat in place of Walda's Perception+Awareness, with the extra dice counting-as Charm dice.

    I'm... not actually entirely sure how the Night Vision and Wide-Range Vision Merits are supposed to interact with each other? "Night Vision: Owls can see in dim conditions as though in broad daylight, and reduce the difficulty of Perception-based rolls in deeper darkness by one." and "Wide-Range Vision: An owl can swivel its head to an incredible extent, adding one die on vision-based Perception rolls, or three dice opposing Stealth." I think the effect, intended or not, would be that vision-based rolls in darkness would probably end up with a buff rather than a penalty, at least if rolled opposing Stealth, but... ehh?

    Just to be safe, I'm only rolling base Owl Senses + Stunt on this; if the Wide-Range Vision bonus becomes relevant, I can toss it in, and if there should still be a penalty from the darkness, I could knock dice off.

    Spoiler: Roll
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    (10d10)[7][6][8][9][7][7][6][10][4][1](65)
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  12. - Top - End - #192
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    MonkGirl

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Walda's keen owl eyes do not fail him. The figure before him is a man, powerfully built and resolute stands in the snow. Moonsilver tattoos dance across his body. He looks up, black eyes meeting Walda's avian ones. There is recognition, but no familiarity there. As fearsome as ever, Pellervo the Fierce is there, shimmering silver in the weak moonlight and flying snow. With a flash, he seems to vanish, no footprints remain to mark his passage through the fresh and falling snow.

    Spoiler: OOC & Rolls
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    Pellervo is making a stealth roll with an excellency.
    [roll0] +2 successes.
    Sorry for making things complicated!
    -Me

  13. - Top - End - #193
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    The chill that runs through Walda's body has nothing to do with the snowy weather. Ever since he stole away from Pellervo the Fierce's camp, he has been dreading the day when his shahan-ya might track him down.

    His first impulse is to run again, and to keep on running. He could leave behind Mask's chosen... the trio might slow Pellervo down... wing his way back to the Moonblades as swiftly as he can fly, and lead them back on the march, headed away from Pellervo, away from Pellervo's people, as quick as they can travel.

    Yet... if Pellervo is traveling alone, then there is no chance an army can outpace him. If the man is purely bent on vengeance, then Walda knows him well enough to know that there will be no escape from him, only a question of when and where the confrontation will take place. And, with that in mind, it would be safer to force that confrontation to happen far away from the Moonblades. Without the need to protect his mortal comrades, with three other Exalts at his side... he might just have a chance.

    He doesn't waste time searching for Pellervo. His top priority now is making Sunshine, Decks, and Adorei aware of the threat. He wheels and flies back to the camp at top speed, crashing into the Outlander's tent without even pausing to assume human form first. He screeches out a warning to rouse the Solar from sleep.
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  14. - Top - End - #194
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    MonkGirl

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Spoiler: OOC NOTICE:
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    Due to the great server shutdown of December 2019-February 2020, we continued the game briefly on Discord. Below are the unabridged accounts of what happened...all in one tent.


    The Outlander's dreams are troubled. She is walking down a spiraling staircase, on either side is a white whirling void, flecks of snow shoot past at incredible speed, never touching her skin or disturbing her hair.

    As she descends, the stairway gradually narrows, its hard white steps clacking under her reindeer-skin boots and their hardened leather soles. Soon she is subconsciously walking toe-to-heel, then spreading her arms to keep balance. There's a platform ahead she walks towards it, her toes spreading to stay upright and stay above the void. The platform is wide and flat, covered completely in intricate carvings, their details too fine to make out. She begins to make the wide step from the inch-wide stairs to the platform, when a hand grabs her shoulder. She turns and sees an old man, dressed in robes of fine, faded silk that stretch across broad shoulders and a wide belly, his grey hair sticks up in a spikey mess. His face is stern, but not unkind, and his grip is strong. He shakes his head at her, and points forward. She turns back to the platform and sees a huge mouth agape, huge curved fangs drip with venom, a forked tongue flicks...


    "KREEE! KREEE!"

    She opens her eyes, a large white bird with silver-edged feathers is flapping about her tent, the motion is silent, but the bird is calling up a terrible racket.

    "Arrrgh!"

    Between the owl and the night terrors, the Outlander's days have seldom started worse. Robbed of her usual equinimity, she scrambles to her feet, swiping at the strange bird. "What do you want with me, huh?"

    The owl darts back from the Outlander's swipe, narrowly avoiding being batted out of the air. With a soft silver glow, the owl's shape hastily shifts and expands, revealing none other than Waldaharjaz, arms out in a warding stance, eyes wild with a greater fear than the present misunderstanding would seem to occasion.

    "I'm trying to warn you!" he urgently whisper-shouts, "Pellervo the Fierce is here!"

    "He is? Huh."

    The Outlander calms at the sight of Waldaharjaz, though she still seems somewhat distressed. She glances upwards, as though she can see something Walda doesn't. "Was he the big guy? Like... bigger than you can see big? Fanged jaw the size of a hill? Forked, poison tongue?" It's not like prophetic dreams to be quite so immediate, but you never know. Best to check.

    "What? No," Walda replies, but then he thinks. He never saw Pellervo display such abilities, but would such a transformation truly be beyond the capabilities of Luna's Chosen? Maybe... "I... don't think so?"

    Walda has never known Pellervo to utilize such a form, but the veteran lunar is the strongest individual he’s met. It’s not impossible.

    "Huh." Despite this caveat, the Outlander seems inclined to go with Walda's inital view. If a man is capable of turning into a giant all consuming monstrocity, it seems unlikely that he would refrain from doing so for an extended period of time. She takes a deep breath, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "So, why is he important? Are you saying I should punch him? Go say hello to him? You woke me up - so you must want me to do something, right?"

    Cat ears pricking, Decks is awoken by the sound of urgent voices. Judging by the low position of the midnight-sun, it’s only a short time away from his shift on watch.

    "We... should probably run. If we can." Walda looks around nervously as if Pellervo might materialize inside the tent at any moment. "He... was my teacher, for a time. We did not part on good terms. And he's much stronger than I am."

    The Outlander mutters with a sour look. "I don't like running. It usually means you still have to fight, just with sore feet." Still, she at least gives it some consideration. She takes a second, pondering the matter, before offering Walda her counterproposal with a grin. "Plus, there's a whole group of us now. We've seen each other fight already - what do you reckon to you and me taking Pushoervo on together? And if Decks and Adorei joined in..."

    Decks pads his way into the Outlander's tent, following their voices. Perking up at the word fight, he shifts. "You planning on a taking on someone?" He gives the other two a big, feral grin.
    "My claws could use some sharpening."

    "Is there a reason we are not just... inviting him in?" Adorei had stumbled out of his tent during the commotion, and was now busy straitening his hair. "We have food to share, and space away from the wind. Walda, who knows this 'Pellervo' - I assume another Anathema - best, feels we cannot fight. I doubt we can run, given he has apparently already found us and not all of us can turn into owls. So, it seems talking would be best - if you could start a fire, I will put on some tea."

    Walda blinks in astonishment at the easy confidence with which Decks and the Outlander speak of fighting against Pellervo. It's naivete, probably; they don't know what they're talking about... and yet. Perhaps...

    Then Adorei brings forward his suggestion, and Walda's surprise turns into laughter.

    "Invite him for tea?!" he exclaims, "What a wonderful idea! I'm sure Pellervo would find your heart to be the perfect accompaniment to a nice pot of tea and a bowl of rice."

    He fixes Adorei with a sharp glare.

    "Nellens Adorei, if you fear Anathema, then we, we here, are not what you fear. But Pellervo is."

    Adorei curled a lip, beating down the petty urge respond with something caustic. Truthfully, he was scared - seeing the light of true panic in Walda's eyes set his heart to beating and palms to sweating and his instinctive, knee-jerk reaction was to find the nearest deep, dark hole and pull it in after himself. But they were in the middle of the tundra, and there were no holes. Further, these were animal instincts running through his blood. Primal, uncaring of strategy or substance beyond immediate survival. Stupid. Standing here in the midnight snow, he was surrounded by creatures who's instincts were far sharper than his own - pitting his against theirs would see him dead before the sun rose. But, in a greater sense, this was also true of his people as a whole: the Great Houses of the Scarlet Empire, and before them the Shogunate, had ever stood as men amongst beasts. They had developed many tricks to cope.
    .
    Adorei took a breath and let a sliver of the power of his blood flow through him. Like stepping naked out of a sauna, in the midst of a northern winter - his blood was kin to this frozen place, but entirely other and indulging it filled him with a cool peace. His heartbeat slowed, the fog of exhaustion still lingering from a day's march and too little sleep lifted, and he met Walda's eyes with a level voice. "When I first saw your men charge across the plains, I noted most of all those who waited at the back." The cripples, those broken twisted creatures who under any other could expect nothing but a slow death in the snow. There was a story there, and it was one he'd need to learn soon. "You've kept them with you, for some time, I think. They would have eaten into your supplies, slowed your march, and yet you did not leave them." He took a step closer. "They are a weakness, and if this Pellervo had wished to truly hurt you he would have made you choose between leaving them behind to be massacred or facing his wrath. He did not." Adorei took another step, and now they stood almost chest-to-chest. "I stake my life on the belief that he does not mean to kill you, or any of us, and my proof is that we are not already dead. This is a message, or a test of some kind, and by acting like a started doe you are failing it. There is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and if talking fails we can always go back to spilling blood - only if we do then we will know where he is, instead of just somewhere out there." He waved an arm vaguely at the darkness outside of their ring of tents and stepped away.

    "Besides, at least this way we'll be facing him on a warm stomach."
    Sorry for making things complicated!
    -Me

  15. - Top - End - #195
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    MonkGirl

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    As Adorei steps away from Walda, the gathered Exalts' attention is drawn to the tent-flap. During the heated debate, the wind had been tugging and pulling at the loose fur-lined leather, the ties left undone as first Decks then Adorei entered the cramped, musky interior, but that has now changed. Like a vacuum drawing in air, all eyes were inexorably pulled to the sudden absence of motion. The tent-flap is still, the sunlit night is silent, save for the gentle hush of falling snow.

    Peering outside, there is nothing in sight of the tent opening. The fire is nothing but black hissing logs muffled by a steady patter of smoke-stained snow that melts in an instant, gently glowing coals struggle to remain lit under the soft, relentless deluge of white powder.

    Were there anything out here, it would be impossible to miss its motion, but equally impossible to notice anything sitting still...
    Sorry for making things complicated!
    -Me

  16. - Top - End - #196
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    "Well..."

    Walda stares out into the too-still night. He couldn't keep track of Pellervo with an owl's eyes, and he certainly can't see him now with his human vision, but he knows, he is certain, that he is being watched.

    "If you wish to test your theory, Adorei... be my guest. Best put the kettle on before the coals fully die out."
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  17. - Top - End - #197
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    pfm1995's Avatar

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Adorei let out another deep, slow breath before fixing his face into what his aunt called a 'public mask'. A subtle thing, simple enough to be taught to children as a prelude to truly mastering their expressions, the mask is the neutral spirit any manner of cocktails may be built off of - though none of them may look or feel exactly natural. Adorei doesn't know if he can do natural right now, without also showing what might be fatal weakness. So he fixes his cheeks and his eyes, relaxes his brow, and steps out into the snow to put a kettle on the fire.

    Kettle and water - not snow, but good clean water - and a metal sieve designed to trap the leaves while they stew are all set into place. He'd always preferred his tea strong and bitter, so the leaves go in while the water is still heating and will need to stoop for a fair few minutes. Plenty of time to set other things up. Returning to his tent, Adorei both does his hair up properly with a Nellens hairpin and secretes more than just his emergency knives about his person. Girded for battle, he steps back into the snow.

    "The tea will be ready in a moment," He calls out into the night, "should you wish to join our fire. You would be welcome, as a guest."

  18. - Top - End - #198
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    MonkGirl

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    In the weak light of the midnight sun, Adorei's misty breath is the only thing breaking the stillness.The crackling of the freshly-stoked fire is the only sound. Soon the tea is ready, the hardy little tin pot-lid rattles with scented vapor. Adorei, ever-prepared for social events, is able to procure five small cups from his kit. Still, no new figures make themselves known.
    Sorry for making things complicated!
    -Me

  19. - Top - End - #199
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Walda ventures outside, knowing that a tent will be no shelter when Pellervo sees fit to strike. He's certain the older Lunar is simply biding his time, making his prey sweat, but, despite all his knowledge of the foe, he has no counter to offer beyond bluster and bravado...

    ...so bluster and bravado he brings.

    "Afraid of tea then, are you, Pellervo?"
    he calls out into the night. "I wish I'd known that sooner. Would've saved me a lot of trouble!"
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  20. - Top - End - #200
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    MonkGirl

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Nothing happens. No Lunar warlord is in evidence. A gentle breeze disturbs the tent-flaps. Everyone gets the sense that the unlikely group of Exalts are truly alone in the snow.
    Sorry for making things complicated!
    -Me

  21. - Top - End - #201
    Orc in the Playground
     
    PirateGuy

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Decks pokes his head out of the tent and scans the horizon for any signs of this Pellervo.
    Spoiler: Dice Roll
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    Perception + Awareness + Sunt (9d10)[2][6][5][3][10][7][2][5][9](49)

    "Huh. Are you sure you didn't panic over a mirage?"

  22. - Top - End - #202
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    pfm1995's Avatar

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    "Hmph." Adorei huffs. "Waste of a good pot of tea." He takes a deep sip, then takes the cup and turns back to the tent. "Wake me when it's my watch."

  23. - Top - End - #203
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    MonkGirl

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Walda's watch comes to an end, and Decks takes up the post. It is doubtful that Walda will get much sleep, given the shock he received earlier in the evening, but with the phantom Lunar failing to emerge, it seems all is quiet for now.

    Decks has a rekindled fire, a pot of cooling tea that is growing in potency the longer it steeps, and little to see out in the tundra, but it's his watch.

    Spoiler: OOC
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    Obviously, everyone determines if their characters sleep or not, but I'll assume they do unless they say otherwise. Anyone who does not get at least one shift of rest must roll to resist fatigue in the morning.

    Decks may attempt to perceive anything in the night as part of his watch, and take any other actions.
    Sorry for making things complicated!
    -Me

  24. - Top - End - #204
    Orc in the Playground
     
    PirateGuy

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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Decks circles the campsite; his ears twitch towards every little sound. Amber eyes study the dark wilderness beyond the glow of the rekindled flames. Everything points to a quiet watch for the Lunar.

    He huffs and begins to play with the cooling ash surrounding the fire, turning his paws a light grey color. The even, relaxed breathing of his new allies tells Decks that they are in a deep sleep. Well, Walda isn't resting at all. That Pellervo must be a fierce fighter.

    He huffs again and begins to pace around the campfire—this time, his tracks taints the white snow with smears of grey. Decks takes a moment to study ashy pawprints, and an idea pops into his head.

    The leopard rushes back to the fire and begins to coat all four paws in ash. Once satisfied with the coating on each foot, Decks quietly stalks to the Adorei's tent.

    Carefully, Decks pushes a flap open just enough for his lithe form to slip into the Dragon-blooded's space. Amber eyes immediately turn to the slumbering Nellens. Once he ensures Adorei hasn't awakened, Decks walks over to the Dragon-blooded's belongings.

    The Leopard Lunar paws through the Dynst's clothes and other belongings, leaving ashy pawprints on everything. He loops around the tent's interior to clean his paws off before leaving the way he came in.

    Spoiler: OCC
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    Alright, Decks is using Nest-Raiding Slyness in an attempt to steal Adorei's form with a sacred hunt. We'll have to see if he succeeds.
    Spoiler: Dice
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    Stealth 3 + Dexterity 5 + Stunt 2 (3d10)[9][1][5](15)
    (5d10)[4][9][1][10][4](28)
    (2d10)[8][2](10)

  25. - Top - End - #205
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    BlueWizardGirl

    Join Date
    Jan 2008
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    Georgia, USA

    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Earlier, Waldaharjaz muttered "He's no mirage, and you'd best all be careful" as he returned to his tent.

    Throughout the night, he lies fitfully awake, entirely unable to sleep with the threat of Pellervo's vengeance hanging over him. He can't fathom how the others... even Adorei, who by all rights should be terrified of any Anathema warlord... refuse to pay heed to the danger they're all in. Again and again, his restless thoughts circle back to the Moonblades, wondering if he should leave his new comrades to return to his blood brothers... but it's possible that's actually what Pellervo is counting on; hoping that Walda, in his panic, will lead his erstwhile shahan-ya straight to the bandit clan.

    Paranoia paralyzes Walda.
    Current Games:
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    GMing The Lotus Blossoms! [Exalted 3E] (OOC)
    Playing Waldaharjaz in The Convergence of Sky [Exalted 3E]
    Playing Rivers in Welcome to Thorns [Exalted 3E]

  26. - Top - End - #206
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    pfm1995's Avatar

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    Dec 2014
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    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Adorei's sleep was restless, though that was nothing new. The susurrus that backlit all his waking thoughts rose like a tide when he slept, resolving from a dissolute mass into specific voices, specific thoughts, specific ideas - when Adorei slept, he dreamed the dreams of dead things. Tonight's was more coherent than most.

    He was short, he could tell that immediately, and not a he at all. Sitting at a table, in a seat purpose-made for a child, and surrounded by children seated in more of the same. Boys and girls both - no school was this - of a variety of ages and all staring morosely ahead. Suddenly fearful, though he didn't know why, he-she ducked their head and their long, tangled rats-nest of hair cascaded into their eyes. They were there to eat dinner, he realized belatedly. Their silverware was screaming.

    Their silverware was screaming, a high-pitched wail on the far-edge of human hearing, and no-one seemed to take any notice of it. Was this... normal, here? What was this place? Each knife and fork was cast wholly in a glistening silver metal, a metal that Adorei dimly realized he recognized. It was the same metal Ephodion was shot-through with. Soulsteel. Someone had cast forks and knives and spoons and plates, enough for two-dozen children, out of soulsteel. Sudden fear clutched his heart, and he drew a little closer to his host. He didn't want to be here, he realized. He didn't want to meet the owner of this place, to meet these children's matron, to meet her new...

    "Are we all ready for dinner, darlings?"

    ...Mother. All of the children stood as one, their eyes downcast, and waited for the woman to take her seat at the head of the table. Adorei, or whomever's eyes he was seeing through, refused to look at her directly. She was a distant breeze heralding sweet sickness and like sheep all the children shifted unconsciously away from that end of the table. The woman didn't seem to notice, or care. Instead she sat primly, straight-backed, and the children did the same. She bade them eat. There was no food on her plate.

    Throughout the meal each child's eyes only left their plate when the woman asked them a direct question, which she did seemingly at random. There was no consistent subject, or even theme, either - Shogunate poetry, abstract philosophy, anatomy and medicine, she flitted from topic to topic without rhyme or reason and didn't seem to care whether the answer was right or wrong. The whole event had the air of a macabre production, a play where the lead actress had played her role so many times she couldn't be bothered to care any more. That is, until one of the children asked her a question.

    It was a curly-haired boy seated near the new Mother at the head of the table, which meant he was only a few years older than him-her. Cute, in his way, though not very kind. None of them were anymore. He was tall - he'd been growing, which might have explained his question. He asked if he could have some more food. The muted sounds of knives on plates stopped as the children froze, even the screaming stopped as the new-Mother turned the full weight of her attention on the child that dared to speak without being spoken to. He-her gulped.

    "Weak." The New Mother pronounced him. "But weakness is always relative, children. Remember that. You want more?" She gestured at the table, at the plates of the other children. "Take it." Oh, how clever the New Mother was, Adorei dimly realized, as the boy lept across the table for him-her - damnation and salvation in a sentence, and always the control. She owned these children, body and soul. Well, perhaps not in soul, for as the hands closed around their neck Adorei and the girl both felt the strangely-soothing pull of Lethe. It was time to wake up.


    Adorei woke in a cold sweat, shivering in the arctic air, one hand across his mouth and the other holding a knife. It was reflex, now, to muffle the screams. Slowly, warily, he glanced around his tent and at the ashen paw-prints covering everything. Barbarians. What was this meant to do, scare him? This didn't tell him anything he didn't already know - at least on the surface. Best check with his watchmen, just to be sure there was nothing beyond petty vandalism here. And some of the things he'd stepped on, they were silk! Ruined, now, without a very talented washer-woman. There would need to be revenge for this, oh yes.

    Relaxing back into his bedroll, Adorei let the turning gears of plots and plans chase the last horrors of the dream from his mind.
    Last edited by pfm1995; 2020-03-05 at 11:54 PM.

  27. - Top - End - #207
    Orc in the Playground
     
    PirateGuy

    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Location
    Somewhere on the trail

    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    As his watch comes to an end, Decks shifts forms. The fur retreats, but it doesn't reveal Decks' human face. Adorei's build forms next to the fire, only a tail and leopard patterns on the neck distinguish this Adorei from the true Adorei. Decks sits next to the teapot and pours himself a cup of tea. He holds the cup in an exaggerated dainty pose with his pinky extended and calls out to Adorei.

    "Hey, Dragon! It's your watch."

    Decks couldn't keep the canary eating grin off his/Adorei's face.

  28. - Top - End - #208
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    pfm1995's Avatar

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    Dec 2014
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    USA

    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Adorei stopped short at the sight, then narrowed his eyes. "For future reference," he hisses, "the appropriate way to hold a cup of tea is to cup it in both hands, so that neither can easily hold a weapon. Now, would you like to see something?" Adorei reaches into the breast-pocket of his coat and pulls out a small bone pipe with jade inlay. "Looks expensive, doesn't it?"

    In a single explosive motion, he turns and hurls it out of the camp. "Now." He says calmly, raising an eyebrow, "before I wake everyone up shouting about how you broke into my tent and stole a priceless heirloom, perhaps you would be so kind as to explain what you were doing in there?"
    Last edited by pfm1995; 2020-03-08 at 09:04 PM.

  29. - Top - End - #209
    Orc in the Playground
     
    PirateGuy

    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Location
    Somewhere on the trail

    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Decks yawns, sharp teeth glinting in the firelight, and drains the tea. His lips pull downward at the bitterness before settling into a smirk.

    "I was bored. Besides, why carry around such a gaudy and useless thing?"

    He shifts back into a clouded leopard and begins to grooming.

  30. - Top - End - #210
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    pfm1995's Avatar

    Join Date
    Dec 2014
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    USA

    Default Re: The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

    Adorei closed his eyes for a moment and let out a pained groan. All the thought and deliberation a dog uses when it decides to lick its balls. He changed tack. "I'm a little surprised," he began, recomposing himself, "that you're so willing to freely make enemies. After all, of all of us you're the most easily replaceable."

    He wet his lips. "Waldaharaj may be an aggravating thief and murderer, but he has natural charisma, a large group of men at his command, and can shapeshift. The Outlander is likely the best fighter among us by a large margin, as well as being associated with our patron in a way I don't fully understand. I provide access to more civilized realms, and the knowledge and resources therein. You provide..." He shrugs. "Hunting? Keeping watch? These are things I can train a hound to do. What value do you provide?"

    "When we reach the center of the upcoming manse, one of us will give up our keystone in order to redirect power to the Mask's prison. All you've done tonight is give me even more incentive to attempt to guarantee that that person is you - assuming you don't fall prey to whatever has claimed that manse in the intervening period, of course. And if that suits you, then so be it - you can go back to being that last remnant of your dying culture and fade away into irrelevance. If you intend to continue with this journey, though? Perhaps you might put a little more effort into not being quite so misanthropic. Consider it a bit of friendly advice."

    Spoiler: Rolls
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    Lets roll some dice! I'm not sure how much control I have over the exact intimacy I'm trying to instill, so I'll just say I'm trying to instill a positive principle or tie towards not being openly antagonistic. Hopefully this will be supported by a pre-existing intimacy Decks has relating to needing to stop the Realm from gaining power, since that effort is what's under threat here.

    Spending 4m for two bonus successes.
    Spoiler: Rolls
    Show
    Manipulation and Socialize - (9d10)[4][9][7][2][5][2][5][8][8](50) + 2

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