[Act 4] The Negotiation [The Resurgent]

[Tikor]

The Loom, Mayor's backroom, Night of the Third Day of Calibration, between RY 767 and RY 768


The table has 12 chairs around it, 5 on each long side and 1 at each end. The chairs are of the type of hardwood found just outside the city, as is the table. Both are exceptionally carved, but clearly the work of mortal hands. Petrin Clubfoot sits at one of the end chairs. Noisy Cricket and Winter Breeze are seated on opposite sides.


The door is closed behind you after everyone led here by Gytherial enters by a servant. You are all offered seats, none of which are the other end seat.


You hear the door open again and Petrin Clubfoot say "Ah, Ragara Innaru, I'm glad you decided to come."


Ragara Innaru looks like the below picture, only with a giant 2-handed Goremaul strapped to his back instead of the katana. He seems tense, but isn't making any physically threatening movements, all his weapons are sheathed (or strapped as the case may be) but he still has them.


-----------


I don't think the mortal guard was capable of asking him for his weapons...


The other thread will be locked shortly.


Balthazar are you wearing your collar? Noisy Cricket are you wearing your bracers?<p><a href="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2009_02/43452_Earth_Aspect_Warrior_122_750lo.jpg.60ec1559cf933f104f2afbc62cb2f6c1.jpg" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="23451" src="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2009_02/43452_Earth_Aspect_Warrior_122_750lo.jpg.60ec1559cf933f104f2afbc62cb2f6c1.jpg" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p>

 

[NoisyCricket]

Noisy Cricket, starting to unrelax


Feeling the weight of the world begin to descend again as all of these people enter, along with all of their tugging, Noisy Cricket takes a calming breath.


The essence of Creation flows in through his nose, permeating his lungs, through his lungs, to his blood, through his blood, to the rest of his body, and the old essence is breathed out. He is reminded that he is connected to all things through that essence, and that will things and moments may come and go, there will always be essence.


Nothing truly bothers the blissful sage.


"Greetings everyone. I hope you have all had your rice."


---------


While I would love to say that I am wearing my bracers, I would have to say that he would know better (Or Toku Saru would) than to walk into a party with artifacts clearly visible (assuming general traveling clothes).


I am still attuned to them.


Also, do I need to reactivate my form charm? I would rather have that up, and if need be, I will excuse myself to do so.


EDIT: As per discussing with Tikor, I do need to reactivate my form charm now. There is now flavor above.


Also, I think Wyuli will get my attempt at a Japanese custom (or so I've been told).


My current essence and Willpower:


Personal: 1/11


Peripheral: 24/28


WP: 4/5

 

[kaliket]

Balthazar, At the Mayor's Table


Balthazar follows Gytherial through the passages. After several tuns she enters a doorway and sidesteps to reveal Mayor Clubfoot, "Irritating Pepper," and a girl. Balthazar bows to Mayor Clubfoot. He feels the familiar tug to "Irritating Pepper" and to the girl.


Balthazar attempts to keep a curious look off his face. I wonder, will I feel kinship to every new person I meet. No matter. This girl is not my enemy.


He seats himself near the middle of the table facing the door. The door closes as Rillard, Isomaru and the others choose their seats.


The mayor does not begin speaking immediately. He appears to be waitin for something. After several moments, the door opens again.


"Ah, Ragara Innaru, I'm glad you decided to come." The Mayor greets the new comer pleasently.


Balthazar meets Gytherial's gaze and cocks an eye-brow.


And what trap have you led us to, woman?


Balthazar offers a silent prayer for guidance to Hiroko.


***


I am wearing my Collar of Dawn's Cleansing Light. Its an ornate necklace concealed under my garments. I'm attuned to it. although that does less than I thought.


I'm curious about the girl, but that can wait.


I use Mastery of Small Manners from personal essence to get motivations.


I am wary of the Ragara, but welcome the opportunity to confront a Dragon-Blooded.


Essence


11/12


28/29


WP 6/6

 

[Kalarix]

Rillard, dragged by the currents


Having followed the rather rude woman to this back room in the mayors mansion, Rillard's suspicions are somewhat put at ease when he enters the room. He finds himself among a group of people who all seem to be his lifelong friends. He's still uncomfortable as there's a rather dangerous looking man in the room now, clearly a dragon blooded with enough weaponry for a town garrison.


In this uncertain situation, Rillard elects to remain standing behind his chair. Leaning forward, hands on the back of the chair, Rillard addresses the room.


"Ok, now that we're all here, does someone want to tell me what exactly is going on?"


---------------------

 

[Tikor]

The Loom


Petrin Clubfoot opens his mouth to answer Rillard's question when a blast of light appears above the table. The brightness dims into the transparent image of a humaniod that seems the cross of a monkey and a man. The image is clearly male and wears only a rough lioncloth. The monkey/man is floating in a cross-legged sitting position with a contemplative look on his face, eyes closed. You hear a voice without the image moving:


"You are here to settle your differences. I request your differences are settled in a manner that leaves the city of Gateway intact. In exchange for honoring my request I will support any other terms you agree upon for it is the providence of Exalted to decide the Fate of Creation. Hiroko and I will be watching."


This image fades slowly and at the last second of visibility you see Jolu-lu's eyes open and the god rise from his seated position.


Petrin Clubfoot says under his breath "He does like his entrances."


Ragara Innaru speaks up authoritatively: "Shall we begin?"


-------------------


Jolu-lu was the god of a monkey tribe that inhabited this section of forest before the founding of the city of gateway. Needless to say the tribe died off around the founding of the city when their habitat was destroyed. After the founding of the city Jolu-lu was out of work so he was transfered to the position of city-god for the newly founded port and his nature became much closer to humanity, but he retains much of his monkey origins.


Just to be super-clear, Jolu-lu did not materialize, he only projected his image from de-materialized space to talk with you briefly. Dematerialzed beings can automatically observe (but not physically interfere with) materailized beings.


Hiroko and Jolu-lu have already met in de-materialized space, and seem to have hit it off from his favorable mention. An inter-exalt meeting in Gateway merges their interests nicely.


Roll Intelligence + highest(Lore, Occult, Socialize) or Intelligence + lowest(Lore, Occult, Socialize)


If you chose highest:


at 3+ Lore: You recall the Solar's Creation ruling mandate and find Jolu-lu's Fate of Creation line appropriate.


at 3+ Occult: You remember the Bureau of Destiny is in charge of the fate-planning of Creation and Jolu-lu's Fate of Creation line inappropriate.


at 2+ Socialize: The Fate of Creation line makes it seem like Jolu-lu has a bit of contempt for someone...


If you chose lowest:


at 2+ The Fate of Creation line makes it seem like Jolu-lu has a bit of contempt for the Bureau of Destiny, and favors the Solar's Creation ruling mandate. You struggle with the veracity of Jolu-lu's claim given the opposing forces you remember.


Please post your results.


Balthazar, here are the motivations:


Jolu-lu: protect his city


Petrin Clubfoot: protect Gateway


Ragara Innaru: Seal a favorable deal, try not to die


Gytherial: Watch, don't be seen


Players: Please put your motivation for the scene in your next post so Balthazar can know them.


Guards/servants: Evade notice, fight/run like hell if trouble breaks out respectively.


Everyone roll Perception+Awareness and you have the opportunity to use any supernatural Awareness charms you see fit.


Everyone roll Join Debate (Wits+Awareness).

 

[kaliket]

Balthazar, The Negotiating Table


Balthazar smiles inwardly while maintaining a neutral outward expression. Without his friendship to Hiroko, he would not have noticed the nuance of Jolo-lu's arrival. With probably the largest group of Solars seen in Creation since the First Age at table with a Dragon-Blooded representative of the Realm, Jolo-lu is understandably agitated and wary. Decades of war have begun this way, and he's protecting himself by remaining incorporeal.


Balthazar's hearts thumps along merrily. He and Aruna-Naja had discussed a scenario such as this during his last voyage to Kerkeis. He is ready to seize the opportunity. He centers himself by recalling the feeling of being at sea. Him at the wheel with the majesty of The Lady In Green at his command. A sense of sureness and focus washes over Balthazar.


***


Int (2) + Social (4) = 4 successes


Join Debate: Wits (4) + Aware (1) = 2 successes

 

[Tikor]

-------------------

Without his friendship to Hiroko, he would not have noticed the nuance of Jolo-lu's arrival

1-die stunt on the Intelligence+X roll.

Balthazar's hearts thumps along merrily. He and Aruna-Naja had discussed a scenario such as this during his last voyage to Kerkeis. He is ready to seize the opportunity. He centers himself by recalling the feeling of being at sea. Him at the wheel with the majesty of The Lady In Green at his command. A sense of sureness and focus washes over Balthazar.

2-die stunt on the Join Debate roll.


Balthazar auto-remembers Aruna-Naja via Connections: Gold Faction.

 

[Tikor]

------------------------

In this uncertain situation, Rillard elects to remain standing behind his chair.

1-die stunt on Join Debate for waryness ^^

 

[kaliket]

***


Perc + Aware = 1 success


Rolls modified for stunting:


Int (2) + Socialize (4) + stunt (1) = 5 succeses


Join Debate: Wits (4) + Aware (1) + Stunt (2) = 2 success

 

[NoisyCricket]

Noisy Cricket, at the table


Noisy Cricket drums his fingers idly, tapping out a kata's rhythm he knows instinctively.


Low kick to the left, fall back onto the right foot, grab the offered fist and pull it past me, my leg greets the stumbling leg, allow the opponent to fall, releasing him back to the world...everything is just a battle, which is just a dance. Thinking too hard on this and why it is happening is pointless. I accept that it is happening.


Thus prepared, Noisy Cricket smiles, ready to listen, wait, and speak.


-------


Intelligence(3) + Lore(2) = 2 successes


Wits (3) + Awareness (2) = 1 success


My current essence and Willpower:


Personal: 1/11


Peripheral: 24/28


WP: 4/5

 

[Tikor]

NC, 2-die stunt on Join Debate.

 

[NoisyCricket]

NC, 2-die stunt on Join Debate.

No extra successes

 

[Kalarix]

-------------


Join Debate : Wits (3) + Awareness (3) +1ds = 7


Rillard rolled the following in his 7 dice:


1, 6, 10, 10, 7, 9, 10


Using 7 as the target number, the roll resulted in 8 successes.


lol, looks like dice are treating me well...


Int (3) + Occult (0) lowest = 3


1 success


...maybe not

 

[Tikor]

-------------------


As soon as we get Join Debate rolls from Isomaru and Winter Breeze we'll get this scene rolling. Since this is a big combat, I'll need everyone to keep the posting frequency up for smooth sailing. Alternatively we can set up some Vent time if we're dragging too much.

 

[NoisyCricket]

-------


Just updating Personal pool after the stunt dice.


My current essence and Willpower:


Personal: 3/11


Peripheral: 24/28


WP: 4/5

 

[Mnemonsyne]

Winter Breeze, Curious.


Sensing the addition of more bodies to the room, Winter tips her chair back, bracing it with one knee against the edge of the table, her arms crossed over her chest. "Well, that was interesting. It's not often that I hear a disembodied voice in a room full of, well, bodies. Anyone care to tell me who...or what, that was?


-----------------------------


seeing as how Jolu-lu had no REAL body, I'm sure she had no idea he was there


Join debate: Wits(4) + Aware(5) = 6 successes

 

[Kalarix]

Rillard, losing patience


The man with all the weapons, speaks up authoritatively: "Shall we begin?"


A blind girl sitting at the table, one of those Rillard feels close to, interjects with her questions.


"The girl asks an *excellent* question, 'what was that'" Rillard turns to the warrior "...begin just what exactly? Here we are in the back room of a party being held at our illustrious mayor's mansion," Rillard gestures to Petrin, "to which I've been invited for who knows what reason along with these recent aquaintances of mine. Who I conveniently met just yesterday."


"In answer to your question, that was some image of a monkey man speaking in our heads there. He says we're here to 'settle our differences'. WHAT differences?! I barely know the most of you, and the half you of I do know I like all right enough."


-------------


Rillard has no lore or occult and failed his rolls to determine what was going on. I might be activating a charm here, but I don't have the book available and I forget the specifics :-p


He's also under the assumption that no one else here is a solar.

 

[Tikor]

----------------


I'm hoping to use the tick system to resolve the order of everyone's questions/inquries/demands/arguments. Please simply stunt your Join Debate action and save further actions for your turn(s) in the Debate. Winter Breeze, Rillard, you have been officially retconned. Both of those questions make good Social attacks (that likely won't be defended against if you choose the right target).

 

[Wyuli]

----------------------------


4 successes! Logging in to forums is hard. ><

 

[Tikor]

-----------------


Social combat begins! A few reminders:


We are in long ticks here. You could write a few paragraphs as your stunt and it would be perfectly acceptable, since the time is much longer than seconds. We'll have a discussion as to whether we want to keep the long tick/short tick distinction after this scene, consider it strictly in effect for now.


I will want everyone to be fully cognizant of all 10 steps of combat resolution for each attack this combat. Once everyone's on the same page in future combats with regards to attack/defense order/resolution then we can start glossing over the uninteresting bits. Yes, this does mean you do not roll your attack until step 3, after the opponent has declared his defense in step 2. It's like untapping before your main phase in magic, one of those things you just have to conform to for the system to work.


This is not currently mass social combat (though it could turn into one if you get Petrin Clubfoot out into the main party again) and thus Socialize is not used except for unexpected attacks (time for collecting rumors has passed). Your three attack choices are Presense (do what I say 'cause I said so, single target) Performance (do what I say because the advertisement told you to! *smile*, aoe) and Investigation (Asking pointed questions, single target). Notice the speeds/rates in the corebook. In fact, this might be an excellent time to read those 10 pages in the corebook if you feel you're kinda fuzzy on Social Combat.


Some things not explicitly spelled out in the corebook that I run subconsciously (this might be added to later): Investigation can only attempt to find out fact. It cannot (directly) compel behavior, damage/build intimacies (a subset of compelled behavior), affect emotion, create illusions ect. Both Presence and Performance can find out fact ("I order you to tell me what you know", "Everyone tell your local Immaculate anything you know about the Anathema!" respectively) as well as do all of the other social combat attack resolutions Investigation can't. Presence and Performance don't have the out of social combat uses Investigation does, though.


[ Now ] - Tick 0 -- Rillard


- Tick 1 --


- Tick 2 -- Winter Breeze


- Tick 3 --


- Tick 4 -- Isomaru


- Tick 5 -- Petrin Clubfoot


- Tick 6 -- Balthazar, Ragara Innaru, Noisy Cricket


- Tick 7 --


- Tick 8 --


- Tick 9 --


- Tick 10 --


- Tick 11 --


- Tick 12 --


- Tick 13 --


- Tick 14 --


- Tick 15 --


- Tick 16 --


- Tick 17 --


- Tick 18 --


- Tick 19 --


- Tick 20 --


- Tick 21 --


Rillard, please rewrite your attack as if Winter Breeze had not yet spoken being sure to mechanically state if you're activating any charms or declaring a flurry. State who you are targeting in step 1 (who the single target is, or the room in the case of aoe). Yes this does mean you hit the other Solars with Performance attacks - ostensibly if you're telling the truth they'll already agree with you and not declare a defense in step 2, but that is the implication of the system. You can even note which Ability you think you're using, though this is open to ST checking/interpretation. I'll get back to you with your target(s)' step 2. We'll roll your dice in step 3.


Winter Breeze, Isomaru please do the same as Rillard after his attack has been fully resolved, in order.

 

[Kalarix]

Rillard, losing patience


The man with all the weapons, speaks up authoritatively: "Shall we begin?"


Rillard steps forward and interjects before anyone begins anything, "...begin just what exactly? Here we are in the back room of a party being held at our illustrious mayor's mansion," Rillard gestures to Petrin, "to which I've been invited for who knows what reason along with these recent aquaintances of mine. Who I conveniently met just yesterday."


"Some image of a monkey man speaks in our heads and says we're here to 'settle our differences'. WHAT differences?! I barely know the most of you, and the half you of I do know I like all right enough. However, as I appear to be roped into a negotiation, I've got a difference to settle here to start. The one difference I see is the other gorilla in the room," Rillard waves a hand dismissively towards the man who spoke up earlier "has decided to come to this table armed."


Rillard remains standing and crosses his arms across his chest with a glare at the armed thug.


-----


Targeting the DB


You tell me what I'm rolling here, no charm activations

 

[Tikor]

-----------


This looks to me like at least a 1 tick (maximum 3) monologue action (SC analouge to the aim action in combat) with either a Presence or Investigation attack at the DB (your choice, it could go either way). Any way it goes the DB will declare his MDDV in step 2 (he doesn't really want to give you any info he doesn't have to) unaided by Charms, so you can decide your exact step 1 and proceed to step 3.

 

[Kalarix]

Rillard


-----


I don't think Rillard particularly aiming, and the gist of my attack is that the DB is attempting to start or lead some negotiation, where we settle our differences, and he's the only armed (and quite dangerous looking) person in the room. Ultimately looking for him to disarm himself like the rest of us. Secondarily Rillard wants more info, but is more concerned with the playing field first.


I'd go with presence on something like that, but feel free to correct


Char + Pres + (1 stunt?) = 10


3 successes


I'd really like the steps to SC on the forum in brief form so I can look at them (along with the SC combat equivalent actions) :-p

 

[Tikor]

-----


I'm taking your intention as "Compel the DB to disarm himself" since you chose Presence. If you want to request/demand/inquire about something else this action you'll have to flurry.


The reason I bring up aiming is because 1) you talk about other things besides the DB disarming himself leading up to that request and 2) it would be tactically useful at this point since you wafflestomped the Join Debate Roll if you wanted more accuracy dice.


Thank you for reminding me about the stunt die, in fact I'll give you 2. We're now in step 1 again if you reconsider the monologue action. If you decline the monologue action we're at step 3 (rolling another stunt die).


I've added something to the quick reference thread you might enjoy.

 

[Kalarix]

-----


Thanks!


I say secondary just as one of Rillards general motivations for the scene, the attack is just to disarm (hah social disarming attack), so no flurry.


I hadn't really though of the monologue system that way. Rillard is (as noted) fairly impatient at this point so I won't go back and aim at this point, will remember in the future.


1 further stunt die yielded 1 more success, total of 4.