The Convergence of Sky: An Exalted campaign.

[Malozing]

Decks lets out a loud "MMMMROW," and dashes off after Rukhsara.

[Ascension]

"I can be shiny, too, you know," Walda says, letting a trickle of essence bleed out of him, just enough to light the crescent moon on his brow. "And people are just a bit more used to my kind of glow."

He squints down into the dark and adds, "But I'll hardly say no to a fresher pair of eyes."

He yawns.

"Didn't get much sleep last night, watching out for Pellervo."

He slides down into the hole with careless ease, however.

"This still shouldn't be much of a problem for me, though," he says. "I don't live in it like our leopard friend, but by the goddess Luna's decree, my spirit shape is a great stoat. A sort of weasel, you see."

He flashes a toothy smile, which glints in the moonlight of his caste mark.

"We're built to chase our prey down burrows."

Up closer, in the light of his caste mark, what can Walda make of the burnt and dug-out portion of the tunnel?

[pfm1995]

"Wait, NO!" Adorei shouts as Decks goes haring off into the forest while he tries to find a way through to follow him. "Gods and Yozi both damn you." he mutters when he can't find an opening, and after waiting a moment until he can't even hear his fellow exalt he shakes his head and trudges back to the main group. "The cat bolted into the woods." He says, by way of explanation. "What's this you've found?"

[Sticks]

The clearing: The tunnel isn't deep. Walda can feel the sturdy webbing curve slightly at the bottom, making footing somewhat tricky, but it doesn't seem to go much further. Perhaps this is a bolt-hole? Or maybe the tunnel has been sealed off just below. At any rate, someone has burned away one side of the webbing, and stashed a sturdy hide sack in a rough hole. The soil in here is very cold, not enjoying the insulation of the webbing, but there are root-tendrils poking into the hole, piercing the bag and pushing against the webbing. The land here is very much alive.

In the bag, Walda finds an odd mix of goods. There's salted fish, of a kind he's unfamiliar with, but smells familiar to the Outlander. She often had fish like this in the summer after the villagers found her. There are apples, wrinkled and brown, likely from earlier this summer, but badly aged now. There's an ivory torc, sized for a man's neck and carved with fighting mammoths. There are a set of steel hunting knives, one forged with an impressive pattern in the steel, like raindrops on a still pool, the handle is wrapped with a soft leather and the guard is hidden by thick strands of long coarse black hair unfamiliar to the northerners, though Adorei knows it to be horse-hair. At the bottom of the bag, beneath scraps of dry wood, a worn flint-stone and bits of leather string, is a small velvet pouch full of silver chips and shards. Digging through it, there's enough to pay for a comfortable month in any northern city and a thick bronze ring, cheaply made but sporting an exquisite quadrilateral gem. Something about the ring seems familiar to the Outlander, but she cannot place it.

The Deep Wood: Decks' running carries him away before Adorei's words can reach him, though the thick webbing muffles practically all sound anyway. Running on a trail of silk, the paws of a predator-cat make no sound at all, the impact absorbed by the fabric. There are many twists and turns, Decks sees a fork in the trail several times, each time his quarry is just vanishing down one way or the other, a faint glint of silver reminding him the nature of who he seeks. At one such juncture, Decks finds himself alone, Rukhsara nowhere in sight, just a high domed clearing, less than a quarter the size he just left, and four paths to choose from, counting the way back...if he can remember the way back.

Spoiler: OOC (Decks)

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Decks can choose what to do, picking a path, trying to go back, or keep looking for Rukhsara in this tangle. Orrrr do something unexpected, the way cats often do.

[Malozing]

"Mrrrr?"

Decks scans the clearing, ears twitching. This made no sense. Rukhsara would never ignore him, especially when she has to travel so far from the rest of their tribe to find him. Decks slowly paces around the clearing. Occasionally, he pauses and looks down a path. The tip of his tail flicks side to side as he thinks.

Where is that stupid Dragon? He was supposed to be following. Decks shakes out his fur in frustration and walks to the middle trail. Rearing up on his hind legs, the leopard begins to scratch away the silk strands and bark off the nearest tree to the path. Once he is sure his mark is quite visible, Decks continues down the trail.

[pfm1995]

"Hm. Looks like some kind of cache." Adorei says, bending down for a closer look. "Food, basic gear, and enough valuables to trade for anything you might immediately need. That doesn't explain why it was burned, though, or who left it and why they haven't been back."

[Inspector Valin]

The Outlander chuckles as she follows in Walda's wake. The discovery the Lunar makes though is strangely mesmerizing to her. She is lost for a while with the ring, running her finger across the gem. Everything here is familiar to her, the belongings feel almost like a mirror of her own pack, but this... this she can't place. Eventually she notices Adorei talking and shakes her head. "They're long gone. Those had to be picked months back." She gestures to the pile of apples, frowning. "This is a stockpile, not just buried treasure - someone was planning to stay here for a while, and was just worried about their campsite being discovered while they were gone. I can understand that. But why did they leave it all? A bunch of apples, maybe they had to leave this place earlier than planned... but who just abandons perfectly good knives like that?"

[Ascension]

"They didn't come back because they couldn't, most likely," Walda guesses. "Killed, taken captive, pursued... any or all of the above."

He shrugs.

"This is a harsh land, even when there aren't giant spiders around. But their loss is our gain."

He opens his own light pack and begins shoveling everything of value from the cache into his stores. When he gets to the knives, he pauses a moment, then looks up toward Adorei, giving him a feral grin.

"Would you like to take these, dear friend, or do you require that the knives you plant in our back bear your dear departed Empress's seal of approval?"

[Sticks]

Decks: Decks may have marked his trail well, but he's lost sight of Rukhsara completely. Finding his way forward, or finding his way back won't be easy, as all the trees look and smell the same. The one thing that seems different about these woods from the clearing or the entrance to the woods is the air. There's no breeze in here, but the air isn't still. Nothing is moving, but there's a palpable hum to the air, the earth, the trees, as though they were pulsing with life. There's also a distinct taste to the sensation, a way the smell of the forest looks. The sounds feel rough and the earth feels loud. There's Wyld in these woods.

Spoiler: OOC

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Decks is going to have to make an Extended Action (Exalted pg. 189) to navigate the forest. Decks must make a decision, whether to go forward and try to find their goal, the heart of the Frozen Glade, or to retrace his steps and find the rest of the circle. As Decks marked the trail partway in, finding his way back will be simpler. The Glade's essence has provided a natural Wyld zone, at least to the level of the boardermarches, so going forward after Rukhsara is more difficult. As to the consequence of failing to meet the goal before the terminus arrives...well, that would be telling.
Find the heart of Frozen Glade - Mental Attribute + Survival

Goal Number - 10
Difficulty - 2
Interval - 5 minutes
Terminus - 3 rolls

Or

Find the Circle - Mental Attribute + Survival

Goal Number - 10
Difficulty - 2
Interval - 5 minutes
Terminus - 4 rolls

You are free to make multiple rolls in one post, and count one stunt for all rolls, provided the stunt accounts for multiple intervals.

The Clearing: Indeed, the pack seems to have been left by a previous inhabitant, likely the one who left the cold fire-pit behind. Perhaps they stashed the pack there because they feared pursuit, perhaps they just didn't want to be burdened on their way into the forest. At any rate, finder's keeper's. Decks has been gone for several minutes now, and the light is starting to dim. 'Dusk' is not far off, and none of the Exalts know what happens in this silent forest at night.

Spoiler: OOC

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Sorry to cut Adorei off, pfm1995. Feel free to continue the banter in your posts. If the three Exalts in the clearing decide to push on, they will also have to make the Extended action. The woods only get more confusing from here on, and it's easy to get turned around. This distrustful, ad-hoc group makes their rolls independent of each other. Adorei's successes don't add to Walda's, and so-on. The consequence for failure is separation from the group. The group's terms are as follows:

Find Decks - Mental Attribute + Survival

Goal Number - 12
Difficulty - 2
Interval - 5 minutes
Terminus - 4 rolls

Or

Find the Heart of Frozen Glade - Mental Attribute + Survival

Goal Number - 15
Difficulty - 3
Interval - 5 minutes
Terminus - 5 rolls

[pfm1995]

Adorei tutted, relaxing into the mask of a tutor who's ward just flubbed an easy question. "As always, oh thief and murderer and dearest friend besides, you misunderstand me and mine. Why would I ever knife you in the back, when there are so many who stand ready to stab you wherever they can? This glade's inhabitants, shikari, even your own master apparently - I ever and always only seek a solution that benefits all parties involved." As he speaks, he passes a hand over the proffered knives and disappears them up a long sleeve. "That said, I will of course accept your most generous gift. More knives are always useful and, as I'm sure you're aware, ones with Her Scarlet Majesty's blessing are a rare commodity these days."

Word games are all well and good, but the looming shadows of the trees are a signal that any frippery has a time limit. "Might I suggest camping here for the night? The cat seems the most skilled at wilderness survival out of all of us, he can undoubtedly find a way back. Contrariwise, ourselves stumbling blindly through a forest at night seems a recipe for any number of disasters."

[Malozing]

Hmm. If the others are going to cower in the first clearing, I might as well find the manse that Mask wants us to find.

Decks flicks his tail once.

Yeah. Then I can place my stone in! That will pay Mask back for healing me. They used this manse’s power to do that after all. And then there is no chance for that stupid city boy to steal the glory.


Coming across another fork in the trail, the leopard sniffs each branching path. One smelt of evergreens and growth while the other — Decks couldn’t place the scent, but it made his fur stand on end. He pads down the first path. Keeping his nose to the air, the Lunar tries his best to follow the sharp, fresh scent.

Spoiler: OOC and Roll 1

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I am just going to post this up without the other rolls because I don’t want to contaminate all my rolls with the bad luck that I am trying to purge.

Perception 4 + Survival 3 + Stunt 2 with Keen Senses doubling 9’s
(9d10)[3][8][1][9][4][4][2][7][6](44)

[Ascension]

Walda tuts at Adorei as he climbs out of the bolt-hole.

"The Scarlet Dynasty must not be so much a den of vipers as I have heard, if you find it so remarkable for a man to have enemies."

He gestures back at the torn pack in the bolthole, now empty but for its withered apples and a scant handful of other trash.

"The bright idea of resting in a spider's den doesn't seem to have turned out well for the last fool who tried it. I say we go catch up with Decks, then together we may be able to find this forest's heart. And if we don't make it all the way before darkness falls..."

He gestures to his brow where his caste mark still faintly glows.

"We can make our own light."

[pfm1995]

Adorei arches an eyebrow. "Hm, and if we get separated? What tasty morsels we would be, walking through the woods all lost and alone. But, if you truly feel you're up to spending another night awake..." He gestures with one hand towards the path he and Decks had wandered down earlier. "The cat went that way. After you."

[Malozing]

Deeper in the wood, the air somehow becomes more still than before, and the off-putting scents of death, decay, and the hint of something else begin to overwhelm the smell of evergreens. Decks pauses as the trail splits into three, sneezing. His fur poofs out as the leopard examines each path carefully. None of the ways forward hold a whiff of the fresh smell of evergreens, and amber eyes narrow as Decks settles on his hunches.

This place sucks! He shakes his coat out and glowers at the middle distance. His tail whips about violently as he thinks, and with its movements, the tail wafts a faint odor of wood smoke and apples. That is different.

Closing his eyes, Decks carefully wafts the scent again. It's old, but someone came through here weeks, maybe a month, ago. With nothing else to go on, the Lunar follows the faded scent trail. Hopefully, this person knew where they were going.

Spoiler: OOC and Dice

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Okay. Let's see if my rituals to increase my good luck worked. Using 4m to boost my dice pool up from 9 to 13, my lucky number. 9's are doubled
(13d10)[7][1][5][9][7][6][10][5][10][5][10][4][1](80)

[Inspector Valin]

"Why would we get seperated?" The idea briefly puzzles the Outlander, until with a sinking expression on her face she starts to answer her own question. Decks has already gotten away from the group after all. And Adorei and Walda's inability to stand each other makes it clear there's reasonable odds of them trying to keep their distance on the path. If something happened, even something as mundane as a heavy storm. "Never mind. Just... don't. No sense being careless until we know what we're dealing with for sure." With a sigh, the Solar takes the lead down the path towards Decks. If Fluffy's gotten himself in trouble...

[Ascension]

Walda drags a hand down his weary face.

"You don't understand," he mutters to Adorei. "I'm too tired to rest now. I need this to be over with."

He pushes past the Outlander to take the lead as the three start on the path Decks disappeared down.

"I'm going to shift again," he tells the others. "I should be able to scent the leopard. If you can follow me while I follow his trail, then we shouldn't have any problems."

He glances to Adorei and shrugs.

"Or you can lose me like you lost the cat, and all your doomsaying can come true. Either-or."

Walda shrugs off his humanity again, but this time the form that is revealed is something truer than the skins of his prey. His great stoat form is an ermine as big as a mid-sized dog, long-bodied, sleek, furred all in white but for a tuft of black at the tip of his extended tail and a subtle streak of summer-brown near his left ear. His wolf form would be easier for his friends to see against the webbed forest's omnipresent background of spider silk, and its nose is ever-so-slightly better at following scents, as well, but Walda's spirit shape is nimbler, better able to leap and climb and dart down burrows, and should Adorei's fears come to pass, Walda feels more confident facing the danger that may come as an ermine.

With incongruously innocent chirps and squeaks, Walda scurries forward, holding his body low to the ground, pointed nose furiously snuffling for any sign of a big cat's scent. Decks' soft paw pads might not leave much trace behind on the silk-strewn forest floor, but his musk should be unmistakable. As a guarantee, Walda taps into a fraction of his Lunar essence, sharpening his ermine form's already keen senses past their natural limits. He is become an uncanny hunter to stalk this uncanny wood.

Spoiler: OOC and Rolls

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Great Stoat Form at last! Now everyone can see how cute-but-deadly Walda really is inside. Base senses 6 (one above Walda's own Perception + Survival pool, which his dice caps allow), Keen Nose for double 9s, and he's also going to drop 2m of Perception Excellency on each of his four rolls (8m total). With the stunt bonus factored in as well, that takes each roll to 10 dice.

1: (10d10)[9][2][6][3][2][8][4][3][1][4](42), Double 9s
2: (10d10)[10][8][3][5][8][8][3][4][5][4](58), Double 9s
3: (10d10)[1][3][6][1][3][7][8][3][6][10](48), Double 9s
4: (10d10)[3][5][1][9][7][3][7][1][5][7](48), Double 9s

[pfm1995]

"Well, now we have a ferret." Adorei quips as Walda's form settles. He spares a glance at the Outlander. "If it turns out that you can turn into an animal as well, we'd practically have a full circus."

After that, though, Adorei doesn't have the luxury of talking. Draped in heavy cloth as he is, every loose branch and waft of webbing catch and tug at him like Gaia's grasping fingers and it takes all his concentration just to keep up with the other two. That said, when they do rest he does make a point of taking the high ground, using the trees to get a birds-eye view of what few trails wind their way through this forest. It's not easy, it hardly helps and it carries the very real danger of whatever else might be in the trees, but at least it helps him feel useful.

This far from civilization, he can't help but think that being useless is a death sentence.

Spoiler: Rolls

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(7d10)[10][9][5][1][1][6][8](40)
(7d10)[8][8][1][3][4][6][9](39)
(7d10)[5][7][6][2][6][5][3](34)
(7d10)[3][2][6][2][4][10][5](32)

[Inspector Valin]

The Outlander can't quite hide an adoring chuckle as Walda takes the lead. She laughs back to Adorei at the suggestion of her turning into an animal. "If I could, I think even I'd remember that." She places a hand briefly to her pack, feeling the ring from the campsite even as the group presses on. With Adorei taking the high ground and Stoat Walda taking an early lead, the Outlander tries to stick between the two of them as best she can. Her peripheral vision has always been pretty good - if there's signs of a branch in the trail, some abnormality or other path that might slip by fast skittering Walda, she will hopefully spot it.

Spoiler: OOC

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Playing it safe time. 2m of excellency on each wits + survival roll. Don't have double 9s but should help the group.

(9d10)[4][1][6][10][3][7][2][2][5](40)
(9d10)[9][2][9][4][10][8][2][4][3](51)
(9d10)[8][8][4][1][6][8][3][6][7](51)
(9d10)[1][3][3][4][7][3][10][7][6](44)

[Sticks]

Spoiler: OOC

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Well done all. Decks succeeded early, and as a group the other three managed to successfully follow. Adorei would have been separated on his own, but Walda and Outlander's help guaranteed his success. Nobody got separated, so any reveals will come to the group as a whole.

Decks: The scent-trail holds true. Whomever passed this way did so a long time ago, the smells of smoke, apples and human sweat are at least two months old, but in this still forest nothing seems to have disturbed the trail. No animals have been this way since the previous traveler, no breezes have come this far. Broken twigs, snapped spider-silk threads, it all makes a clear path to an experienced tracker, doubly so for one that can smell and see as keenly as a large cat. From what Decks can gather, the old user of this path was running, his strides long and hurried.

In little time, Decks finds himself on the lip of a shallow basin. The edge is disturbed, as though something crashed through here and slipped. While before the forest was a tangle of silk among the trees, here the webbing is neat, carefully layered and ordered, forming a smooth oval between the canopy and the basin. Walls of silk enclose this basin, and in the middle is a vision out of a dream. An outcropping of rocks stands half the height of a man, with a burbling spring at its base. Rising high from the outcropping is a willow tree taller than any Decks has seen in the north. Were it not growing out of the middle of the basin, it would tower over the rest of the forest, likely visible from the entrance of the gorge. Long full-leafed tendrils trail down to the ground, stopping just above the gently rippling pool of the spring. The bark is knotted and coarse, with deep crags and recesses full of shadow and a smell of healthy, growing earth. The scent-trail Decks followed is cut off completely, so overpowering is the smell of growing plant-life here. Perhaps the most unusual thing about the willow, however, is the fact that it, the outcropping and the spring, are all devoid of webbing.

Moving into the basin and circling the tree, Decks sees a dark hollow where the rocks part. Inside is a shallow cave, deep enough for several people or a few large animals to stand in comfortably, and inside that is a raised dais, a cylinder of white ice containing a faint green glow.

The Others: It was a close thing. At one point Adorei's tree-branch scouting almost separated him from his companions, indeed, he lost sight of them, but a rare glint of sunlight reflected off his silver mirror and caught Outlander's attention through the foliage, and she was able to halt Walda long enough to regroup. Fortunately, during that time Adorei had managed to spot what looked like a game-trail, and Walda's ermine nose confirmed Decks' recent presence. Hurrying along after their absent comrade, the three also reach the basin. They see the orderly arrangement of the silk, the massive willow and its refreshing spring, and a detail that occurs to the human-formed Exalts before the low-slung quadrupeds of their group. High in the canopy are bundles of silk, large ones, distressingly human-shaped ones, but thin, twisted and sagging, all life drained out of them in this place practically bursting with vitality. There is no scent to follow, but it is clear they are in the lair of...something.

And while they have not seen any signs of life thus far, it is possible that whatever lives here has noticed their passage, and is marking them even now.

Spoiler: OOC & Rolls

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An unknown presence is lurking nearby. Anyone may attempt to spot it, but there is no way to know who or what it might be. That presence is using Subtle Chameleon Practice to remain hidden.

Spoiler: Stealth Roll

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(16d10)[1][1][2][3][6][4][4][3][5][7][10][4][4][5][3][10](72) +2 non-charm successes

[Malozing]

Decks approaches the icy structure, reaching up with a single paw. Slowly, the fur recedes from the paw, and Decks is standing in the green glow. He pulls out his soapstone and looks between it and the emerald light. The Northerner presses the stone against the light, hoping he was doing it right.

[Sticks]

A brief flash of green light, a hissing sound, a rush of cool vapor and the soapstone is absorbed into the ice. Decks feels his skin crawl, as though millions of ants briefly cover every inch of his body, and then the feeling passes. A small shock-wave emanates from the pillar, as lichens, mosses, tiny blue-veined plants and minute ice-blue flowers erupt from every crag and crevice of the cave. The soapstone ejects from the pillar, lands at Decks' feet, and rolls a full circle around him, the new growth flattening and springing up under its passage. The soapstone comes to a rest facing what Decks can only assume is due east, back the way he and his companions came, all the way back to Mask's cell.

The three at the Basin's edge feel in their packs or hands, wherever their soapstone is kept, the small shards given by a god twitch, indicating the direction of their return.

[Ascension]

Walda remains in his ermine form, ears and nose twitching, as he, Sunshine, and Adorei enter the willow tree's secret glade. Let Adorei make his snide remarks, let him think whatever he wants. Walda knows he's cute, in this form as well as in his human shape. He knows, too, that cuteness can be a weapon all its own. If Adorei forgets that Lunars are among those mighty enough to be termed Anathema by the fearful rulers of Creation, not mere circus animals, then he takes one step closer to his grave.

Walda is certain Decks came this way, certain of the testimony of his nose, but the trail goes cold as the vivid bouquet of plant life in the willow's basin overwhelms all else. His eyes narrow in the closest approximation of visible frustration he can manage with mustelid features. He misses the disconcerting cocoons in the willow's branches, and misses, too, the tug of the soapstone in his pack (banished to Elsewhere with his animal transformation), focused as he is on the loss of the trail.

He scampers forward to the edge of the basin, leaping and twirling in a manic dance. It's not a sudden bout of madness, but an effort to better understand his surroundings, and to break through the monolithic wall of plant-scent pervading the glade. There must be something animal here amidst all this vivid life, if not Decks then something native to the glade, something prey or predator, something the Exalts ought to be aware of. As ermine-Walda spins through his dervish dance, he constantly sniffs, vigilant for any subtle variance in background scent depending on his nose's orientation. He begins to assemble a three-dimensional map of the glade's scent-scape in his mind. And what, in that panorama, seems out of place?

Spoiler: OOC and Roll

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Going to do another Perception + Awareness roll to search for the hidden Lunar (and/or Decks), boosted by great stoat Senses and Keen Nose. I'm also going to drop 4m Excellency from Peripheral - this requires stunting in any other Attribute to raise Walda's dice cap by at least one; I hope the above description will either work for Dexterity or Intelligence, either would be fine here.

Spoiler: Roll

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Stoat Senses + 4m Excellency + Stunt:
(12d10)[9][5][8][7][10][6][9][2][3][7][6][9](81), double 9s

[Malozing]

Decks grins and shifts back into his totem form. Picking up the soapstone in his mouth, Decks trots out of the hollow with his head and tail held high.

I didn't need Adorei. This is was easy.

[pfm1995]

Entering the glade, Adorei stops at the edge to scan it for threats and, it had to be said, just to appreciate it. In his time on the Isle he'd seen truly grand manses, arboreal palaces grown over the course of decades by geomancer-horticulturalists, and while this couldn't compare it has a certain rough beauty that still took his breath away - for a moment. Reflexes and instincts long-ago beaten into him are screaming that they were being watched, that this was not safe, and he tears his attention back to the matter at hand.

He's so keyed after the long trip through the shadowy, web-strewn forest that the soapstone twitching has him whirling around, knives suddenly appearing in his hands. After another moment staring at the trees he relaxes, slowly. "Did anyone else feel that?" He asks in a half-whisper. "Also, is anyone else thinking what I'm thinking about..." he gestures with a knife at the hanging, body-shaped sacs in the tree. "...those? I suppose now we know what happened to the people who left the stash. Walda..."

He sputters off mid-sentence, staring at the dancing stoat. "What in the name of all our ancestors is he doing?"

[Inspector Valin]

"Why are they up there? It can't be convenient to feed, and they have to have been hung... is this thing sentient enough to be claiming trophies? To try and warn us off?"

The Outlander hangs back near the rim of the clearing with Adori, placing a hand to her belt as the soapstone starts to vibrate. This is their destination right enough, but she's not in a hurry to wander into the midst of quite such an intimidating looking area. Instead her eyes follow Walda as the diminutive stoat starts scampering across the vegetation. She chuckles at Adorei's words, murmuring quietly to the dragon without looking away. "I think he's going to try and find the spider and fight it like that! He likes being daring - maybe killing it while small and fluffy is a challenge for him."

Or more likely, he's trying to find whatever creature is at the heart of this lair. Hopefully the monster won't notice such a small creature. All the same, the Outlander stays tense, keeping her eyes on Waldastoat. If trouble does erupt, she'll be ready to charge to help her new friend.

[Sticks]

There is a new tension in the clearing even Walda's war-dance cannot break. Cavorting as he is, Walda's ploy seems to have worked. As the stoat mesmerizes the rabbit into the open, so the Lunar has piqued the curiosity of all who see him. Decks' eyes find the dancing mustelidae, and though he has not seen Walda's full transformation before, the leopard-lunar knows his companion. Adorei and Outlander spy Decks walking around the great willow, but Walda is distracted.

Not far off, a shape is hovering just off the ground. A woman with pale skin made paler by her long show-white hair cascading down her back, moonsilver tattoos abound on her arms, her eyes are grey, full of ancient fathomless wisdom. A silver ring of moonlight anoints her brow...until it shifts. Before Walda's bright black eyes, the ring fills, becoming a shining silver disk. The woman's white, feathery hair becomes coarse and black, her arms stretch, knotting with muscle. Her face becomes craggy and dour, the eyes losing their wisdom and filling with feral cunning, her bosom shrinks, then stretches, becoming a broad male chest bristling with furious testosterone. Pellervo the Fierce glares down at the stoat, eyes full of that familiar fury...but absent any recognition. Instead of swaggering, snarling or delivering some cutting remark, the veteran lunar instinctively attempts to fade back into the silk-wrapped trees, the threads parting to accommodate his bulk...but he stops dead, eyes locked with Walda's. Like a midnight animal surprised by a lantern's flare, he stands stock-still, waiting to see what comes next.

[Ascension]

Walda, in his stoat form, leaps one last time after spotting the shifter, the impostor Lunar. He leaps, and he twirls, but he keeps his eyes locked on his target, spinning around the axis of his unwavering glare. A bark of triumph turns into a laugh as he shifts back into his human form in midair. His foot alights on the silk-carpeted ground, and he throws out his left arm. With the remaining momentum from his spin, the outstretched finger of his left hand swings perfectly to point towards the shifter hiding in the shadows.

"I saw you shift, face-stealer!" he crows, heedless of the irony of a Lunar Exalt leveling that accusation at any other being. "I know you aren't the real Pellervo!"

His grin is broad and toothy.

"And that means we've had this backwards. I have no reason to be afraid of you..."

His eyes gleam with a cruel light, all the more chilling

"...and you have every reason to be afraid of me."

Spoiler: OOC and Roll

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I think we've lost sight of something important in this game, and that's that how extra Waldaharjaz is built to be.

This is a roll to Instill a Tie of Fear of Waldaharjaz in the mystery Lunar(?), backed by both Terrifying Bestial Visage (5m) and 2m of Appearance Excellency out of Personal. If the enemy is affected by this roll, then they can't Join Battle against Walda without paying 1 WP, and if they do pay that price, their JB is still penalized by one.

Spoiler: Roll

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Appearance (5) + Presence (3) + Terrifying Bestial Visage (3) + Excellency (2) + Stunt (2) = 15
(15d10)[7][7][3][6][5][8][9][2][1][3][6][2][5][2][1](67)
If Walda's Appearance 5 exceeds the base Resolve of Fake Pellervo, it could grant bonus dice... I'll roll 3 just in case.
(3d10)[3][8][10](21)

[Sticks]

'Pellervo' straightens up, a look of real fear crosses his craggy face. The effect is honestly quite comical, this man who instills such justifiable fear in Walda being afraid of him. The imposter reaches out a hand and pulls firmly at a fistful of silk threads, then ducks backwards into the trees, allowing the silk to close behind him. Walda can still see Pellervo's hulking form, but his attention, and the attention of everyone else is divided by a horrible rustling, cracking noise from above.

The bundles of silk are splitting open, long, cruel blades or fangs splitting the tough silk. Bodies begin to fall, dried, emaciated husks impact on the forest floor, heads lolling and limbs creaking in a macabre pastiche of life. Dozens of the horrible figures rise to their feet or on all fours, and once upright they begin shuffling towards the four exalts.

Spoiler: OOC & Rolls

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Okay! Walda handily beat the imposter-Pellervo's resolve. They chose to retreat for now, but the effects of Terrifying Bestial Visage will persist if there's an opportunity for them to Join Battle later.

That said, you'll now have to content with...not a horde, but certainly a troop of horrible corpses.

JB: (6d10)[8][2][10][5][10][3](38) +3

[Malozing]

Decks, seeing Walda running about the glade, starts padding over to the stoat. With ears angled forward and tail held high, it is clear the leopard is happy. However, with Walda's sudden shift and exclamation, Decks stops with his tail puffing out slightly. Amber eyes follow Walda's pointing finger, and upon seeing the mysterious Lunar, Decks bares his teeth in a growl.

For a moment, the cat feels a sense of pride when the other Lunar runs, but it is short-lived. As the various undead emerges, Decks falls into a crouch with his ears flattened against his skull and tail fully poofed out. Letting out a roar, he shows off his fangs and flexes his claws.

Spoiler: Join Battle

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(9d10)[5][4][10][6][7][10][1][4][9](56)+3

[Inspector Valin]

"WHOOO!" The Outlander cheers as 'Pellervo' scarpers. Walda really does have their enemy on the run. The falling corpses don't seem to dent her enthusiasm one bit, she turns to Adorei and offers the Dragon Blood a merry wink before jumping forward, ducking through the undergrowth to try and keep some cover as she makes her way towards Walda's position. Best to try and draw the threat away from their less combative friend as much as possible.

Time for a spectacle.

Spoiler

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Blinding Battle Feint! Mostly to make this more dramatic.

(12d10)[5][9][9][10][7][6][3][1][6][8][8][7](79) Dex + Stealth + Stunt. Not activating Unison for this.