Exalted 3e: Dead of Night

[D. Rex]

Karyn will move to get a better look at the rings, and will try to see if she can line up a view of the sun through the ring and see what she can spot.

You had to say something about a botch, didn't you?

The ring moves easily, like mirror that was freshly oiled. Looking through it, you see nothing. But... you can feel something tug at you from within, as if expecting something.

You will need to commit 2 motes of essence to use this artifact.

 

[Sherwood]

With a confused expression on his face, Jontom will do his best to describe what he sees to the others, knowing that he is not the brightest person around and hoping that someone will have a clue as to what this means.

 

[Psychie]

The ring moves easily, like mirror that was freshly oiled. Looking through it, you see nothing. But... you can feel something tug at you from within, as if expecting something.

You will need to commit 2 motes of essence to use this artifact.

I will go ahead and do so, knowing that my Essence will recover soon enough.

 

[D. Rex]

As Karyn let's her essence flow into the ring... it seems to come to life. Inside the ring, it fills in like a bubble. Then another, slightly smaller, right outside it. Like a flat disc of essence just hovering. Then another! The transparent discs appear, each one slightly smaller than the last. Looking like a series of lenses. With each movement of the ring, some appear or disappear.

Looking through, you can see why. The essence lens are trying to get a focus. With these you could see across creation!

Pointing it to the sun, the lens adjust themselves so that the sun fills the screen. The lens even becoming darker, to see through the Suns mighty glare.

And you are left seeing a perfect orb of light and fire. You know that with but a thought you can zoom in or out.

When Jontom points out the lights, you are able to take a closer look at them. Even with the lens... the light orbs where as bright as the sun itself. But this close of a view they were impossible to follow.

With but a thought, however, a tiny bubble appeared on the side of the lens. Following the orb while the main ring was pointed at the sun.

You could see it clearly for a brief few seconds before the tiny lens shown nothing but clouds. It had no shape. It was like a little sun itself. But something about it felt so familiar... information naggled within your head, trying to place a name as if it was a person. Havern... you thought. That was Havern. You dont know how you knew this. And you dont know who Havern was. But it was a name. Sounding in your head like trying to recall an old acquaintance from kindergarten.

Those things... the next one you saw come. Jixxy! The name popped into your mind, just as the other one did. Any of the others looking through the screen would feel the same recognition.

These... these were souls. Brilliant Solar Shards.

 

[Sherwood]

Jontom lets out a low whistle. "Karyn? Are what we are seeing . . . Exaltations?"

 

[Psychie]

Can I make a Int + Lore roll to try and figure it out?

And hopefully not botch this time?

 

[D. Rex]

Can I make a Int + Lore roll to try and figure it out?

And hopefully not botch this time?

Yes you may.

 

[Psychie]

Int + Lore 10 dice

And I'm rolling like crap with only 2 successes.

 

[D. Rex]

Int + Lore 10 dice

And I'm rolling like crap with only 2 successes.

You are sure those are exaltations. But there is more than that. You really can recognize them, you know their names but not much more than that. You know there is some common factor lurking in your memory... but you can't place a finger on it. The memory just out of reach due to ages past. But you can gleam that there is a common link between all of you, including the exalted souls looking for rebirth. A link that goes beyond just being a Solar.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Luanna meanwhile, after watching the essence of the Elemental Pole of Earth, and being mesmerized by it, goes out to look for something to give Red Tusks to eat. He's been running, and fighting, and he needs to refill his energy.

 

[Sherwood]

Jontom scratches his head. "Well, shit. We got up here, faced some demons, and can see . . . . what? The Unconquered Sun releasing more Exaltations? Is that what is going on over there? Perhaps . . . we need to gather up the newly Exalted. Karyn, can you see where the Shards are going? Is it somewhere that we can get to without having to use the Gateway once more?"

 

[D. Rex]

Luanna meanwhile, after watching the essence of the Elemental Pole of Earth, and being mesmerized by it, goes out to look for something to give Red Tusks to eat. He's been running, and fighting, and he needs to refill his energy.

Taking one look over the edge of the platform to the sides of the mountain... down a great set of stairs that go down the mountain like a spine. you see a rocky barren pocked with ruins much like the temple but skeletal enough you could see through them, if they weren't simply pillars remaining. And just as bare. Not the song of a bird, the bleat of a goat, or skitter of a mouse.

There were small clumps of brown mountain weeds, but nothing that could feed a hungry boar. It was as if hungry beings already scavenged the mountain. Likely the demons... and likely more demons further down.

But you weren't without options. Though none promising. Red Tusk may have to hold his growling stomach for a while. Or you could look where the spider had made its hollow, web was kind of edible. Maybe a carcass of something left behind or a sac of eggs further back. And the old wood furniture keep its stomach from growling, though it might give a bit more than indigestion.

 

[D. Rex]

Jontom scratches his head. "Well, shit. We got up here, faced some demons, and can see . . . . what? The Unconquered Sun releasing more Exaltations? Is that what is going on over there? Perhaps . . . we need to gather up the newly Exalted. Karyn, can you see where the Shards are going? Is it somewhere that we can get to without having to use the Gateway once more?"

From what you and Karyn can see, you lose the exaltations below the cloud line, as if the fade from sight. Trying to track them that way would be an almost impossible task, especially for how far and how fast. Not to mention how many others must have already been sent.

 

[Random Word]

The things you learn watching sunsets on the Imperial Mountain. She should have tried it sooner. "So is that where the Solars have been kept since the Princes of the Earth banished them? Inside the sun? Then does that mean the sun only let some of them out a few years ago? Gods, I wonder how many of us there are in there. Makes sense to let them all out before he's imprisoned."

 

[Pumpkin Spice Cyanide]

Mors tried to make sense of what was happening.
Immediately after the fight they found themselves bearing witness to a scene he was less than able to fully comprehend.
Was it possible that exalted were quite literally falling out of the sky?
Was it surge in exaltations? A normal occurrence? And all of them localized enough for them to see firsthand from this elemental pole.
Mors had more questions than anyone had the answer to. The prospect of solars being actually housed within the sun himself was a concept hard for him to wrap his head around.

"What purpose have we here?" He interjected firmly. He'd yet to be informed of the scheme behind their use of the gate and felt the air of uncertainty in the group he added to. Reflexively, he grew irritated when confronted with things he was unsure about. His tone conveyed that.
He didn't like not knowing what he was looking at or where the objective lay.
Mors felt he'd been in the dark long enough.

 

[Psychie]

Karyn looks to Mors, and calmly says, "I do not know how it is that you were Exalted, but the rest of us share the fact that we were all told by the Unconquered Sun on our Exaltation that when He sets today, it would be his last unless we could find Him first. I had thought that we might be able to get some answers up here on the top of Mount Meru, and I had remembered the Gateways used to connect the far reaches of Creation, so we used our Essence to activate it."

She points at the Sun, saying, "Using this artifact, it is clear to me that the Unconquered Sun is sending forth more Exaltations. I can see them as they are released. I am at a loss on what to do next. Perhaps . . . If we were to find a way to gather the various Solars together, it would make for one hell of a powerful force. It might even be what it is that He expects us to do. I had thought that there would be more answers up here, so right now, I just don't know."

 

[Sherwood]

Jontom shrugs. "I don't know. I was hoping you would have some answers since you were the one smart enough to identify the Gateways as what they were. I guess we could try and do something sizable to get the attention of the other Solars down there, but it would also signal the Wyld Hunt and they will be down on us like a sledgehammer. Let spread out and do another search. There has to be something up here to give us a hint on what to do next."

He then sets out to try and find something, anything, to try and give him some guidance.

Spending a WP point for the auto success. Total of 4. Not as good as I was hoping for.

 

[Psychie]

Karyn shrugs. "I don't know what we may have missed, but I'll look, too." She breaks off from the group and starts to search the area in the opposite direction that Jontom is going, hoping to spot something that he might miss on his side.

3 successes

 

[D. Rex]

Sherwood
Psychie

Are you searching the sun or the temple?

 

[Psychie]

Out and about on the grounds around the temple.

 

[D. Rex]

Out and about on the grounds around the temple.

Are you sure?

 

[Sherwood]

Rykon Psychie

Are you searching the sun or the temple?

I think you mean me and not Rykon. I'll be looking through the artifact telescope at the sun and surrounding sky.

 

[Psychie]

Are you sure?

Yes. I'm hoping to spot a clue around the grounds.

 

[D. Rex]

I think you mean me and not Rykon. I'll be looking through the artifact telescope at the sun and surrounding sky.

Of course. You and Psychie. My pardons.

 

[Sherwood]

No worries.