Exalted III: Poorly-Named Game

Sanctaphrax

Sanctaphrax

Junior Member
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It's a beautiful day. Nobody and Kyros are at the Seven Spires Pagoda, doing whatever they do on an ordinary morning. The demonic guard that Kyros has placed in front of the pagoda has come to the manse proper. Apparently you have guests; Red Wire and her people are here with a makeshift wagon full of things to sell or barter. They're asking for Kyros. Actually, they might not even know Nobody is here. Which probably suits Nobody just fine. </p>


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<div class="ipsSpoiler_contents"><p>If you wanna do anything stealthy, Red Wire got [dice]18959[/dice] on her Perception + Awareness to notice shenanigans.</p></div>


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Kyros frowned as he looked up from the partially repaired wall. He hadn't been expecting visitors, let alone Red Wire. He had hoped he would be able to get through the day and complete another phase of the renovations, but every so often they had something that struck his interest.


Snapping his fingers once, a Blood Ape materialized and accompanied him down the road to Red Wire's group, just in case it was needed to carry something heavy.
 
Nobody watches intently from their perch on a nearby tree, casting an eye over the cart before resting their attention on Red Wire. They scrutinize her intently, searching for any sign that she's here for something besides barter.

[dice]19017[/dice]


[dice]19018[/dice]
 
Nobody is completely unnoticed, and listening to Red Wire talk to her underlings they're able to tell that she's here partly to evaluate Kyros's usefulness. From the sounds of things she's got a lot of projects on the go, and thinks the sorcerer might be useful for any number of them.


When Kyros arrives, Red Wire says


"Greetings, master of demons.


We've just finished a successful expedition, and our cart is full of things to sell. I doubted you'd come to us, so we're paying you a visit.


We've got food, to start with. Fish and whale-meat. Whale-bone, whale-oil, and whale-horn, too; as it turns out there are horned whales around here.


But that's not very exciting. You're probably more interested in the treasures of the Wyld."


She didn't need to tell you about the fish. You can tell from the smell.


"We met with the fey on their hidden island, and brought back these..."


She gestures to her people, who bring a small crate off the back of the cart and present it to you. There's a blade of gossamer there, and a bolt of multicoloured glowing cloth. There's a small metal box, and when you open it a little bird comes out and sings. When you close it, the bird disappears. There's a yellow stone that hurts when you touch it, and a small carving of a girl that moves whenever you look away from it.


"Anything catch your eye?"

Red Wire's got Guile 4, -2 for being unaware that she's being observed.


She's gonna try and read Kyros's intentions; gonna do anything to raise your Guile?
 
"Red Wire. Busy as always, I see. Kyros said, nodding in greeting. He turned and began to examine the more mundane items first, picking out an assortment of fish, whale horn and oil. These he would offer the going rate in payment, as he could both afford it, and thus had no reason to haggle.


Satisfied that he had secured the essentials first, his attention moved to the gossamer blade, the glowing cloth, and the yellow hurt-stone. "Curious." He said, picking up the blade and examining it closely. "What can you tell me of these items?" He asked.

Kyros currently has no ulterior motives beyond determining the nature and value of the items in question relative to their usefulness as sorcerous reagents or items of study.


Also, a quick Lore check on the three items to cross reference anything Red Wire tells me vs anything I might already know.


Adding 5 dice from my personal pool via Excellency, plus 1 auto success from Harmonious Academic Methodology if either of my specialties apply.


[dice]19105[/dice]
 
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"The knife is one of the famous gossamer blades of the Fair Folk. Lighter, stronger, and sharper than any mortal knife. Look at this:"


She pushes the knife into a nearby tree. It cuts the wood effortlessly.


"I think Gorvarach will want this one, so you might have to outbid him.


The cloth is made from sunshine and rainbows, or so I'm told. They say it'll never tear. Would fetch a pile of jade back home, but Pa-El would gouge me on transport and I'd rather sell it here.


The stone is made from solidified pain. I figure a demon-binder can find some use for that."


You know that the items are genuine and that Red Wire's not saying anything untrue about them. But she doesn't seem to know exactly what she has.


The blade will break if it touches iron. Red Wire might know that, but then again she might not.


The cloth isn't actually made from sunshine, but from the idea of sunshine; Raksha find it very hard to handle the light of Sol. And it'd be perfectly serviceable light armour. Red Wire would have told you that if she knew, you think.


And the solidified pain stone is odd; normally Raksha eat human sensations. Selling them back to humans seems out of character. If Red Wire's suspicious, she's hiding it.


As Red Wire speaks, she pays very close attention to Kyros' eyes. Where does his gaze linger? Is he attracted by pretty colours? By luxuries? By weapons and tools of power?

Gorvarach is another notable citizen. Bit of a thug, but he's respected for his fighting skills and his courage on expeditions.


Pa-El is the Terrestrial sailor/robber baron who found the route here.


This just occurred to me: feel free to add 2 dice for a one-point stunt whenever you do anything that you feel deserves it. If I'm impressed, I'll bump you up to a two-point or three-point stunt. You guys can do the same with my stunts; I don't plan on giving myself any 2-dot stunts.


I'll lead the way by giving Red Wire a 1-point stunt on her Read Intentions action. She rolls 9 dice and gets 3 successes. That meets Kyros's Guile, so she discovers that he "enjoys the finer things in life".


As for your roll...I think Occult is probably more fitting, but your pool's the same so it doesn't matter.
 
Kyros examines the dagger momentarily before moving on. It wasn't a Sword Grace, and the vulnerability to iron meant it would make a poor gift for Nobody. The cloth and the pain stone, on the other hand, those had intriguing potential.


"Gorvarach may have the knife if he wishes. It's a bit too... overtly violent for my tastes." He said, willfully ignoring the irony of the sentence when there was a Blood Ape attending to him.


"These items however, I think I will take from you." He said, holding up the bolt of cloth and the pain stone. "What are we pricing obscure bubbles from the Wyld these days?" He asked, ready to bargain.

Activating Harmonious Presence Meditation for pricing negotiations. Does it apply to the Socialize excellency for boosting Guile?
 
Seeing no immediate danger, Nobody slips down from their perch. With a whirl of the cloak they shuck the costume, and clad back in their everyday costume they shuffle into the back of the caravan, nod obsequiously to the fellow next to them, and start glancing over the things in the cart, signaling to Kyros that they'll reimburse him for the pain stone.
 
"They're not cheap, I'm afraid. We lost two people on this trip, and I've gotta pay the survivors pretty damn well if I want them to follow me out again.


65 koku for the cloth, 25 koku for the stone. Or you can have them both for 85 koku. I'll throw in the fish, the whale horn, and the oil, if you buy either...they're trivial in comparison.


You don't have to pay in Realm scrip, obviously. Silver, jade, cowries, barter, and favour-trading are all fine by me."


It's a very high price. Maybe not exactly unreasonable, since there's no market price for such oddities, but it's most of a year's income for you. You're confident Pa-El wouldn't give her anywhere near that much.


Maybe she's overestimating your wealth. This island is a great place for price-gouging; no matter how rich you are, there's often only one person selling. Or maybe she's hoping you'll offer her sorcerous wonders in exchange.


As Nobody approaches, one of Red Wire's men says


"Hang on. Who are you?"

Afraid Harmonious Presence Meditation doesn't apply to Guile, I'm afraid. It's for social influence rolls, which Guile isn't.
 
Tollens shrugs, slouches a little so as not to look intimidating. "Oh, I'm just a simple fellow, looking to pick up some fish oil after these fine folks are done with it, I've got a kid, you know, works wonders for the stomachache, only just teething..." They keep nattering on until the guard loses interest.

I don't know if I needed to roll for lying, but:


[dice]19159[/dice]
 
Kyros frowned at the listed price. Much too high for his taste. While he could afford it, if he really wanted to, he saw no need to pay that much when there were other options on hand.


"Halve the price, and I'll loan you a demon for any two tasks lasting no longer than a week." Kyros countered. "One for each item in question." He said.

Cha 3 + Presence 3 + Harmonious Presence Meditation's 3 dice + 5 bought with the Presence excellency = 14 dice for 6 successes


[dice]19160[/dice]
 
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"Sure.


I want that in writing, though. A demon of my choice for a task of my choice."


Meanwhile, everybody is ignoring Nobody. Objectively it's terribly suspicious for a seemingly ordinary person to be out here near the pagoda, especially since the island has very few ordinary people raising children. But Nobody is very very convincing.

Both rolls succeed clearly.
 
"A bargain is a bargain, Red Wire." Kyros said, his voice edging in to something resembling irritation. "I have no intention of reneging on our agreement. Accept, and we will be done with this."

Same roll as before, this time intimidating her in to accepting the deal. Giving myself a 2 die stunt 'cause Kyros is a scary Sorcerer with powers few understand.


If Red Wire does a Read Intention, she can freely see Kyro's intimacy of the same name.


[dice]19179[/dice]
 
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Red Wire throws her hands up in a conciliatory gesture. She seems dissatisfied but she's not gonna press the issue.


"Alright, have it your way.


I'll probably be back in a few days, to borrow a demon for my next expedition."


Her companions, meanwhile, look like they're about to run for their lives.


A moment later, you're 42.5 koku poorer and two mystical treasures richer. Red Wire says her thank-yous and departs.

Would've let it go without a roll, honestly. 9 successes of intimidation certainly doesn't hurt though.


And yeah, Red Wire will read your Intimacy.
 
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Nobody shuffles along with the caravan amiably, winking at Kyros to let him know that they've got it under control. As Red Wire's people turn to go to their next market, they pull an air of unimportance around themselves and sidle towards Red Wire's side, deftly lifting her purse.

Spending 3m for Easily-Overlooked Presence Technique, which will hopefully keep the guards off me if my pickpocketing attempt fails but will definitely keep Red Wire from noticing.


[dice]19205[/dice]


[dice]19206][/dice]
 
Nobody is unnoticed until they reach for Red Wire's purse. But when they grab it, they discover it's chained to her coat. Moreover, the purse has tiny bells attached to it.


They could probably cut the purse open and recover the money. But the bells might ring, and Red Wire would probably notice...

Easily-Overlooked Presence Method means that nobody gets a roll to notice you tagging along. But picking a pocket counts as overt action, I think. And Red Wire rolled 4 successes to notice your pickpocketing attempt.


Tie means I get to decide who wins based on stunts. Neither you nor she stunted much, so I'll give you a choice: steal successfully but get noticed, or let her keep her money and remain unnoticed. If you let her keep it, you can't retry immediately.
 
Satisfied that the deal was complete, Kyros handed the items to the Blood Ape for further study and experimentation at a later date, before making his way back up to the Pagoda. Once there, he would order one of his Neomah to and have it deliver a message to Red Wire, telling her to give him a day's notice before she needed the demon, and what she needed one for.


Once that had been taken care of, Kyros and the demon returned to his lab. There, among time books and scrolls he had gathered over the course of his travels, he began to investigate the pain stone and the shroud more closely.


Did the pain stone cause trauma, or simple discomfort? Could the prismatic cloth's colors be manipulated? What is the resilience of each object? Did the two interact in any meaningful way? If exposed to iron, would there be any negative consequence?


So many questions, so little time...

Int + (relevant knowledge skill) to investigate the properties of the two items. Since I'm in the privacy of my own lab, I'm going to add a full 10 dice with my excellency.


[dice]19222[/dice]
 
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Nobody curses to themselves silently and withdraws their hand. Damn cunning Guildsters. They'll wait and see where she goes next, hopefully somewhere important, and at the very least they can always get her somewhere she won't hear the bells.
 
Red Wire's group heads to the docks, where a variety of ships are moored. The island doesn't really have much in the way of buildings, but the docks are nicely built and there are plenty of ships. Shows where people's priorities are.


Gorvarach happens to be loitering there with a couple of buddies/minions, drinking some kind of alcohol from a clay bowl. There's blood on him, which Red Wire ignores. He's slightly drunk and seems to have a lot of money at the moment, so he happily buys the gossamer blade for eighteen cowrie shells.


Red Wire distributes the money as before, giving two shells to each employee and keeping eight for herself. Then she and her people head to their real destination: Pa-El's ship. The largest, finest, and most seaworthy vessel on the island.


There's a guard standing at the docks, allowing nobody onto the ship without an explanation. She carries a spear, and frequently reaches out with it to tap the dock. Might be a nervous tic, or it might be a precaution against invisible sneaks.


Red Wire gets past by saying she has things to sell, and two of her employees get past by saying they're ready to leave the island. They're rich now, at least by commoner standards, and they don't want to push their luck any further. Pa-El's ship is known to be the safest way off the island and the most expensive; these two are willing to pay.


Red Wire takes the remaining Wyld treasures onboard, and her companions lug a large sealed box that was never presented to Kyros.

You can't just walk past the guard. And the dock is a terrible place for stealth. To slip past, you'll need to beat her 5-success roll with a -4 penalty.


As for Kyros, with 13 successes he knows everything there is to know. Actually, in keeping with EX3's apparent philosophy...go ahead and make up whatever facts you want about the items. Within reason.
Meanwhile, Kyros' investigations are proving fruitful. Both items seem quite durable, particularly the cloth. Iron doesn't seem to affect either.
 
Tollens raises their hands in surrender, backing away from the guards with a smile to show no hard feelings. "Got to check, eh, keep vigilant, fellows?" they crack, so that the guards don't notice the tiny brown mouse run down Tollens' leg and in just behind Red Wire and co. Then they retire a safe way up the dock, pretend to be admiring the other ships, but actually withdrawing their senses to watch and listen through Nobody's Friend.
 
Kyros leaned back on the chair in his lab, satisfied with the results he had gotten. As he suspected, with the proper application of reagents and a bit of tweaking, the full potential of each of the fae items were brought out in kind.


The rainbow cloth, when deliberately creased, would shift in color to hues reminiscent of sunrise, sunset and noonday brightness. Each arrangement resonated with different faux solar energies, augmenting the wearer of the cloth.


The pain stone, when fashioned with an iron ring, nullified the pain inducing properties. Instead it began to emirate an aura which caused noticeable discomfort and anxiety. The feelings of unease grew stronger the closer you were to the stone and faded the further you were from it.


Placing the items in a secure location for later use, Kyros went down to the basement to prepare the summoning circle for later that evening, when he would either be summoning a demon for Red Wire, or different demon to help guard his Pagoda.
 
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Everybody present is surprised to see Nobody. But none of them makes a big deal of it, and nobody pays the mouse any mind. There are plenty of vermin aboard ships. Pretty soon Nobody's Friend is aboard, and Pa-El is meeting with Red Wire.


Pa-El is a short-but-imposing woman who habitually wears black jade plate armour, even on her ship. That would normally be dangerous, but the rules are of course different for the dragon-blooded.


She greets Red Wire politely and takes her helmet off to speak with her. Her face looks like that of a Westerner, but she has the deathly-pale skin of someone from the far North. Rumour has it that her father was a ghost.


The first few minutes of the meeting are taken up by introductions and arrangements for Red Wire's employees. Then the merchants get down to haggling over the prices of the moving statue and the singing box. Red Wire ends up selling them for one and a half koku, which seems unfairly low. But there's not much of a market for pretty things out here, and Pa-El has her over a barrel.

So are you just gonna sit down and concentrate to use your Familiar's senses, or do you plan to go somewhere first? You can't go too far, since the sense-sharing only works at Long range, but doing it here would be suspicious. You might get interrupted.


As for Kyros, he probably has a free evening. Red Wire isn't planning on asking for a demon tonight.
 
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Satisfied that the summoning circle was ready for use later in the evening, Kyros made his way back to his lab and gathered up the cloth and stone before handing it to a Blood Ape to carry.


Together, the sorcerer and his summon traveled down the road that lead to his Manse, stopping briefly to instruct his demonic attendants that no one was to be allowed entry while he was gone, and walked in to the harbor town, looking for the nearest craftsmen.
 
A chill crawls up Tollens' spine, so they come back to themselves to find the guards staring suspiciously at them. They wave cheerily and move on, shedding overclothes and going into the water for a dip, splashing around a bit but mostly concentrating on Nobody's Friend.
 
Kyros isn't terribly familiar with the local craftsmen, but there is one he knows. Iruvar Mallatosh, an insatiably curious man with an eclectic collection of skills. He could no doubt do what you need, and might even do it for free. He came to the edge of Creation to see wonders, after all.


Problem is, he's nosy. And talkative. Getting him involved in basically anything is asking for intrusive questions and occasionally trouble.

If you'd rather not go to Iruvar, roll Perception + Bureaucracy to find someone good. Difficulty 1, failure gets you someone unreliable or untrustworthy.


Not completely sure that that's the best dice pool for finding a good worker to hire, but I can't think of a better one.
Meanwhile, Nobody's Friend is watching Red Wire's employees leave. Once they're gone, the merchant opens the box. Unfortunately, it's high up on a table and the mouse can't see inside.


"Beautiful", says Pa-El. "Say what you will about the fey, they can make beautiful things."


"I know a guy on the Blessed Isle who'll give you five talents of jade for this, guaranteed. More if you negotiate well. Take some time to look them over and you'll agree it's worth it. I want three talents, and don't you dare try to gouge me here."


Pa-El smiles, and one of Gorvarach's friends ambles over to steal Nobody's discarded overclothes.

Perception + Awareness difficulty 1 to notice. Doing anything about it will prevent you from hearing the next part of the conversation. What do you do?
 
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