Exalted III: Poorly-Named Game

Nobody's Friend sniffs around for a way to clamber higher up, perhaps onto a rafter or shelf or something. For their own part, Tollens notices something out of the corner of their eye, but lets it go.

Got plenty of overclothes, and Appearance 2 means they're alright walking around in unders. It's not like that's the Nobody costume or anything.
 
You can't actually control Nobody's Friend right now. You need Spirit-Tied Pet and Survival 5 to do that.
Pa-El says, in a friendly voice,


"I have a counter-offer: you give me the box and everything in it for free."


"...Is this some kind of joke?"


"Don't try to fool the Dragonblooded, Red Wire. That never ends well.


I can read the price you'll take right off your face."


"..."


"The Paper Court didn't actually sell this stuff to you, did it?


They asked you to deliver it to the Blessed Isle. And if it doesn't get there, they'll hunt you down and rip your soul out.


Am I right?"


"...


Pretty much."


"Well, it'll get there. I hope they paid you for the delivery, because I'm not paying you again.


Actually, you should be grateful that I'm taking this stuff for free. I could get in deep shit if the Realm found out that I was running deliveries for the fey.


If I wasn't so nice, I'd just sell it all in Coral or Wu Jian or someplace. And then you'd be doomed..."


Pa-El smiles. Red Wire fumes. Then Red Wire says,


"I want a magical contract. One that'll drown you if you don't deliver the goods."


"Sure, sure."


The meeting ends with Pa-El drawing up a contract, writing in blood that she calls from thin air. The smell frightens Nobody's Friend, who promptly returns to Nobody.

Alright. So there you have your first real plot hooks. What you do with them is up to you.


If you just kick back and don't do much, the next event of interest will be Red Wire requisitioning some demonic help for her next expedition. We can skip ahead to that, if you want.
 
Kyros grit his teeth at the notion that he would have to socialize with Iruvar in order to get the results he wanted, but at the moment he didn't have much choice. He would just have to avoid any questions that he didn't want to answer, and see if he could move the process along as fast as possible.
 
Tollens wades back to shore to pick up Nobody's Friend, chastising it gently over being such a baby. They look around for their clothes, but seeing nothing and noticing Gorvarach's man with wet hands, guesses he's trying to get a rise out of them. They wink at the thug and set off back to the Pagoda to tell Kyros what they've heard.
 
Tollens makes it back to the Pagoda without incident. But when they get there, the demonic attendants tell them that Kyros has gone to see Iruvar.


When Kyros enters Iruvar's little shack, the craftsman looks up from the notes he's writing and smiles broadly.


"Kyros! Always an honour!


What brings you to my humble abode? Some grand work of sorcery?"

Chances are, not much is going to happen during the meeting with Iruvar. Just introducing another NPC. Feel free to play out the conversation with him and the later one with Nobody at the same time.


If you've got a material demon with you, it'll affect the scene. Iruvar finds demons fascinating, but unlike Red Wire he has a healthy fear of death.
 
"Iruvar." Nodded Kyros at the craftmen's greeting. The Erymanthus at Kyro's side let out a low growl at the informal tone Iruvar took with it's master, but was silenced when Kyro's raised a hand.


Holding out a wooden box containing the rainbow cloth and the pain stone, Kyros opened it to show Iruvar the contents. "I have two items here that I wish you to ply your skills towards." He said.


"The stone must be fitted with an iron ring, it must encircle it completely and must be tight enough that it will not fall loose. Be careful when handling it, as it's painful to the touch." He said.


"As for the cloth, it must be cut and fashioned so that it can be worn as either a scarf, a robe or a sash. It may change color when being worked, but that is to be expected."


Kyros closed the box and handed it to the Blood Ape, who gingerly accepted the package that was comically undersized by comparison.


"You will, of course, be compensated for your efforts." Kyros continued. "Material goods are, of course, the standard. But I am also willing to perform an exchange of favors, to be negotiated at a later date."
 
Iruvar is looking at the demon with interest, but whenever it looks back he flinches. When it hands him the package it growls, and he retches at the smell of its breath.


"Favours! Yes, I think I would like that. I have some questions that need answering, and some experiments that I can't perform alone...but I'm getting ahead of myself. I need to think about what to ask for.


Anyway...


What exactly are these items? Where did you get them? What are you expecting me to accomplish with them?"


He digs up some appropriate tools from the pile of junk at the back of his hut. Someone stole from that pile once, and Iruvar burned their hut down with them in it.


"This'll take more than a day, but unless these things have some kind of magical problem attached I should be able to do it reliably enough. Just step over here, let me measure your fingers and your torso..."


Iruvar keeps poking the stone, as if to verify that it hurts just as much each time. When he measures you he pays oddly close attention, as if trying to work out whether there's anything special about the body of a sorcerer.

If you wanna leave and pick up the items later, you can. Or you can stick around, never letting the items out of your sight.


Either way, feel free to skip ahead to the end of the process after answering or deflecting those questions.
 
"They are items of the Fair Folk, procured by Red Wire." Said Kyros, as he allowed Iruvar to take his measurements. The Erymanthus loomed over the craftsmen during the process, looking for any sign of treachery which would give it an excuse to eat Iruvar, but it found none.


"All you need to do is fashion them according to my specifications, no more and no less." He continued, once the craftsmen had gotten his measurements. "I expect no outstanding complications involved with the items, and will return in two days time to reclaim them." He said. "If there is nothing else, I bid you good day."

I'll leave and pick up the items later.
 
That night, Iruvar wakes to an obsidian knife at his throat. Nobody's golden slit-eyed mask gleams in the darkness, gilt on their cloak the only thing standing out on the black cloak against blacker night.


"I know you are a professional," they whisper. "I know you would never even dream of speaking to others about the work you do or the clients you keep. I respect that highly. I hope our mutual respect continues to prosper." Then, with a flick of the cloak, Nobody is gone.

A threaten action to keep Iruvar from talking about Kyros or his commission. I'm rolling Manipulation+Socialize for the gentility of the threat; let me know if I should reroll with something else.


[dice]19693[/dice]
 
Iruvar doesn't say anything. But he definitely gets the message.

Manipulation + Presence would be better. But don't bother rerolling; even if we ignore the last 4 dice so you're just using straight Manipulation, you got 5 successes and succeeded easily.
 
Making his way back to the Pagoda, Kyros informed one of his demon attendants to remind him of his appointment with Iruvar in two days. Once that had been settled, he retired to his budding library for the evening.
 
It was late when Nobody returned to the Pagoda, but the light was still burning in Kyros' library. A gust of wind nearly blew the candles out; when they flickered back to life, Nobody sat in one of the chairs, mask in their lap.


"You would never guess what that merchant was holding out on us with. She went to Pa-El with this box that some Fae gave her to get to the Blessed Isle, and she wants that two-koku tyrant to take it on her next supply run. Personally, I'd quite like to have a look inside that box, but if you'd like we can stay here and take charge while Pa-El is gone. Either way, I think I'll go and test Pa-El's security for her tonight. Don't wait up."
 
Kyros closed the book with at Nobody's appearance and placed it on the table. "I feel that consolidating our our strength here will prove to be more advantageous in the long run." He said. They had already put the time and effort in to securing the location and were only halfway done refurbishing it. It seemed a shame to just leave.


Nevertheless...


"I must admit, I am curious what's in the box. I trust you'll be able to find a way to take a peak without raising a fuss?" He asked.
 
There's no way the guards aren't drawing weapons when they see an Agata.


Also, are really riding the Agata when it shows up? Because if you are, they're gonna see you.


I guess you could try hiding while riding the world's flashiest mount, but I think I'd call that a -6 penalty. Which is roughly what I'd give you if you tried to hide while screaming constantly.


You can keep your roll as-is if you're just using the Agata as a distraction to approach from the dock. I'd say that negates the usual -4 penalty.


As for the casting, you do have to roll for it. People get to roll to notice you each action. Bear in mind that the mist affects you if you're in its radius, and that people are gonna scream and Join Battle as soon as they get the first whiff of poison mist.


You can't quite blanket the entire ship in mist. It's about three range bands long. So some people are gonna be unaffected. But you can get both of the guards without hitting yourself.


Lockpicking roll succeeds easily.


Don't be afraid to give yourself 1-point stunt bonuses.


And being hidden only gives you 1sm per turn.


Initial guard rolls are 6 and 2.
 
Nobody smiles. "I believe so, if you'll lend me a small assistance..."


Several minutes later, the guards on the Flower draw their swords at the sight of two glimmering lights in the distant sky. As the jeweled wasps approach, they keep their weapons readied, scanning the sky and peering at the demons for any signs of riders. None of them spares a thought for the flicker of motion as Nobody slips right past them. Opalescent fog billows from their mask, drifting around the feet of the guards and insinuating its way into their minds. As the men stumble and keel over, Nobody makes their way to Pa-El's cabin. Caressing the lock open, Nobody cracks the door and slips Nobody's Friend inside to search for the box.

Okay, I think this should be a more reasonable description. 3m to use Blinding Battle Feint so I can Join Battle with stealthiness, and spending that 1wp for Mists of Eventide (assuming I recover the other wp from casting it successfully). And I'll make another Stealth roll for evading anyone else on the ship.


[dice]19927[/dice]


10 Initiative.


[dice]19928[/dice]


....wow. Guess I'm taking the "dead men tell no tales" approach.


[dice]19929[/dice]


Mists of Eventide fires off without a hitch.
 
As soon as the guards inhale the numbing mist, they scream.


"Attack! All hands on deck!


Watch out, there's some kind...of...poison..."

One gets 5 successes to join battle and none to resist the poison, one gets 0 and 1. Both take 3 dice of initiative damage in their first turn. That's 4 damage for the first and 2 for the second, so the initiative count looks like this:


Nobody 10


Guard 4


Guard 1


The book doesn't explain how actively searching for a hidden character in combat works, or what advantages it has over just passively rolling Awareness while doing other stuff. But given how well-hidden you are, I don't think it matters much. They're doomed.


Skipping over that fight...Pa-El gets 5 successes to notice you when you enter her cabin and 5 successes to Join Battle. She enters the fight with Initiative 8.


You should roll Join Battle too, this is a new fight. Pa-El might spend wp for some rerolls if she barely loses Join Battle.
They run to escape the center of the cloud, desperately looking for its source as they do so. They don't find it, and within seconds they're unconscious. But by then they've alerted the ship as a whole, and Nobody can hear sailors rolling out of hammocks belowdecks.


Apparently Pa-El was one of the ones awoken, because as soon as Nobody opens the door to her cabin they see her, unarmoured, putting on a jade gauntlet. There's a very brief pause. Then violence ensues.
 
Nobody spares only a split second before blurring into motion, Deathprice flying through the air at Pa-El's face. The Dragonblood flinches, and by the time she's done batting away obsidian shards Nobody is nowhere to be seen.

3m for Blinding Battle Feint:


[dice]19990[/dice]


8 Initiative, clash! Also Pa-El has to reroll to renotice me, Blinding Battle Feint automatically conceals me.


[dice]19995[/dice]


EDIT: Forgot to add close range bonus for my attack. Unfortunate reroll.
 
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As Kyros stares into the stone, the glimmers of light that reflect off the gem gradually begin to take shape. After a few minutes, the sorcerer's mind is no longer in the Pagoda; it's aboard Pa-El's ship, watching a battle begin.

Pretty sure Pa-El can still see Nobody. Blinding Battle Feint lets you hide if you win, not if you tie.


Anyway, she'll Clash Nobody's attack with a withering Smashing punch. After all bonuses and a 6m Excellency she's rolling 24 dice. She gets 8 successes, and unsurprisingly hits.


Damage total is 12. She gets 5 successes on damage, which combined with the three automatic damage for a Clash attack is just enough to Crash Nobody. And of course Nobody falls prone from the Smashing attack.


Initiative:


Pa-El 20


Nobody 0


Pa-El obviously goes first next turn, and throws a Decisive punch enhanced with another 6m Excellency. 19 dice total. You're facing a -2 penalty for losing the Clash, -1 for being prone, and -1 for onslaught. Pick out your defensive Charms before looking at her roll.





[dice]20019[/dice]


Lucky you. Except if you were really lucky you wouldn't be Crashed and prone...
If she hits, you take 20 dice of bashing damage. If she misses, she loses 3i.



Nobody's attempt to disappear is foiled by a small but incredibly strong hand grabbing ahold of their coat. Pa-El yanks on their sleeve, throwing Nobody off balance while she smashes a black-gauntleted fist into the Solar's head. Blood and water explode outwards from the point of impact, making a mess of the luxurious cabin.


As Nobody drops to the ground, Pa-El drops to one knee and adjusts her grip to seize her adversary's head. She then swings her armoured hand down like a hammer, striking again and again with the calm focus of a carpenter pounding in a stubborn nail.


Kyros can immediately see that Nobody needs help. But the ship is a ways away...getting there in time won't be easy.
 
Impossibly unhindered by their situation, Nobody's blade flashes into place just in time to knock Pa-El's fist aside. Thrusting feet into Pa-El's chest, they push off into a backwards somersault to land on their feet. As they rise, another spume of iridescent mist issues into Pa-El's face, and she coughs as the sedation sets in.

Spent 10m for a full Excellency and 2m for Dipping Swallow Defense, bringing Parry to 10 and giving Nobody 1i.


On Nobody's action, rise from prone and breathe into Pa-El's face. Spend 3m on Excellency.


[dice]20025[/dice]
 
Kyros tapped his finger against the wood of his desk, thinking things over. Truthfully, he hadn't expected Nobody to attempt a frontal assault on the ship, but he had only recently met the individual, so maybe he didn't know them as well as he thought he did.


Regardless, his options were limited. He didn't want to expose himself just yet, but he also couldn't leave Nobody on their own. Coming to a decision, he clapped his hands twice, and a pair of Blood Apes materialized before him.


"In the Harbor, there is a ship docked that belongs to Pa-El. Nobody has currently engaged her in combat. Go the ship and attack everyone, including Nobody. Should anyoneone leave the ship, do not pursue. You are free to eat anyone whom you slay onboard the ship." He said. There were a pair of grunts, and the demons vanished once more.


Having the demons attack Nobody was an unfortunate necessity for his cover story to work, and allowing anyone who left the ship to escape unscathed would hopefully minimize the death and collateral damage and allow Nobody to escape.


He couldn't have it look as though he was attempting to protect Nobody, but a pair of blood-hungry demons attracted to violence and running amok? Well, a truly tragic event, but their presence was a documented fact and the people of the Harbor town should have known better than to enact violence like that.


Content that he had a serviceable excuse incase Pa-El came knocking, Kyros turned back to the Scrying stone and watched the results.
 
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The battle continues as the demons travel towards the ship.


Pa-El exhales with great force as the cloud travels towards her face. It's a brave attempt to keep the cloud away, but it doesn't work; the poison reaches her and she wilts slightly.


"What"


She steps towards you and throws a slashing strike at your eyes with her unarmoured fingertips.


"are"


She follows it with an upward punch to your gut with the gauntleted fist.


"you?"


And then just goes completely wild, throwing strike after strike almost too fast to see.


While Pa-El is pummeling you, a man bursts through the door. You can't see much of him because of the punching, but you think it's Pa-El's first mate. He shouts,


"Captain's cabin!


Stand back, ma'am!"


And as Pa-El steps away from you, a burst of fire heads your way. Crazy bastard's using a firewand aboard a wooden ship.

By the book, the poison you breathe out only affects people who breathe it in. The poison you create by casting can affect people by skin contact. And I think anyone who got mist breathed into their face would hold their breath.


That kinda makes the poison breath useless. But the Mists of Eventide is already massively powerful as a control spell, so maybe that's okay?


...


For the sake of helping the game move along, I'll rule that it affects Pa-El. You need all the help you can get. But don't take this as precedent. I'd appreciate comments on how to handle this.


Worth mentioning, by the way, that Mists of Eventide is apparently getting a nerf in the final book release.


Anyway, Pa-El spends 2m on her Excellency and gets 4 successes to resist the poison. She's affected for 2 rounds. So she won't be using a decisive attack. Instead she throws a withering attack with no Excellency. As usual, spend motes before viewing roll.





[dice]20051[/dice]


If she hits, and I expect she will, she does 13 + extra successes - soak dice of damage.
She then takes no poison damage.


Then Pa-El's first mate arrives, rolls 2 successes to join battle, and attacks you witheringly with a firewand. He spends a willpower for an extra success. You have a -1 onslaught penalty.

[dice]20054[/dice]


+1 success, 10 total.


If he hits, and I expect he will, he does 15 + extra successes - soak dice of damage.
He's at short range.


Anyway, can I get you to include your current mote expenditure and everyone's Initiative total in your posts?


Pa-El has spent 21m and regained 10m, so overall she's down 6m from her Peripheral pool and 5m from her Personal pool. Her anima is not showing. At the end of this round, her Personal pool will be full again.


Intitiative, before resolving withering attacks:


Pa-El 17


First Mate 5


Nobody 1


Incidentally, if you look at my rolls you'll see a 12-success roll that I made before remembering that Pa-El is dealing with a -3 penalty and adjusting her actions accordingly. I would call you lucky, but when I rerolled with 15 dice I still got 12 successes. At least it's not Smashing anymore.
 
Nobody parries as deftly as they can, but the dagger's blade is simply too small to catch more than half the attacks. As Nobody hears the door slam open, though, they turn and slash at the empty air, the blade deflecting the stream of fire to both sides and narrowly missing the Solar. As the flames dissipate, the poor sailor is met by the sight of Nobody whipping silently towards him, Deathprice already in the air and on its way into his chest.


A card flicks over the thief's shoulder and into Pa-El's face, even as Nobody retrieves their dagger for another round. Snatching it out over the air, she reads three words in High Realm: Nobody was here.

Alright, nitty-gritty. Nobody figures they can't really do much about Pa-El and really doesn't want to get burned, so they invest minimal effort into defending against her and a bunch into parrying the firewand, paying 2m for Dipping Swallow Defense and 8m+2m into a muted Melee Excellency, raising their Parry to 10. Therefore only Pa-El hits, with 6+13-6=13 dice of damage (good Sol).


[dice]20314[/dice]


So that's Pa-El at 24i (Yu-Shan have mercy), Nobody at -4i, First Mate at 5i. Nobody spent 12m on that defense, but muted it.


Then Nobody makes a withering attack, after regaining 5m.


[dice]20316[/dice]


If they hit, Deathprice does threshold + 10 - soak withering damage, hopefully crashing the guy.


Nobody is now at 1 Personal, 20 Peripheral. (I was keeping track on the Character Signup sheet.)


Initiative before attack:


Pa-El 24


Nobody -4


First Mate 5


If I want to roll that card as a social action (Instill whatever Obsession would be as a Minor Tie), what should I use? Actually, would doing that count as a miscellaneous action? If so I'll probably undo it, I can't afford any penalties right now.


(Also, shouldn't Pa-El's Peripheral pool fill before her Personal? Or does she have some Charm that switches it up?)
 
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The first mate has Evasion 3, and soak 3. He stunts for +1 Evasion, so he takes 10 dice of initiative damage. In other words, 1 damage. Because you killed the dice's father.


Pa-El's gonna try a withering smashing attack with a 6m excellency. That's 21 dice, for a result of





[dice]20394[/dice]


When she hits you, she'll do 13 + extra successes - soak damage. And she'll knock you prone.
She then loses 1i to the poison. Duration's over, penalty's gone. She'll be switching to decisive attacks now. The good news is I'm not running her as a QC, so she doesn't add her +5 weapon accuracy to decisive attacks.


The rest of Pa-El's warriors arrive now. They're a Size 1 battle group with Average drill, and they get 2 successes to join battle. Then they'll delay their action to let the First Mate command them. He gets 5 successes, so they roll 16 dice to hit you. Since you're crashed, the damage is decisive and lethal.

[dice]20399[/dice]


Damage is 10 + extra successes - soak. Your defense is penalized by onslaught and by being prone.
The state of the battle is


Pa-El 21


First Mate 4


Crew 3


Nobody -2


Before calculating the results of the attacks.


The first mate is at short range. Everyone else is close.


Pa-El has spent 11m personal and 1m peripheral. After this round, it'll be 7m personal. You're right about the mote recovery, I misread the rules.


Social influence would be a miscellaneous action. Probably using Manipulation + Presence.


...


Let me apologize to you for how this has gone. Solars aren't supposed to get wrecked like this. But the dice are almighty, in the end. I promise not to make your likely defeat fatal.



The sailor staggers away from the blade, bounces off the doorframe, and catches on an ornate writing desk to keep from falling. It's not pretty, but it keeps his skin intact.


As Nobody recovers their knife, Pa-El grabs them by the shoulder and pulls. The pull is precisely timed to interrupt a shift in the Solar's center of gravity, and carefully aimed to make them land on the shards of an ink-bottle that fell to the floor and shattered earlier in the fight.


Right about then, a young man shouts


"Don't worry, captain! We'll save you!"


and more of Pa-El's crew comes in through the door. Most of them just woke up, and it shows, but their knives are sharp and they know how to use them. The first mate shouts orders, telling them to form a tight circle around their captain and you, and they do so. Suddenly Nobody is surrounded by a circle of jabbing blades, each seeking to pierce their vulnerable flesh.
 
Nobody is an accomplished thief. They have broken into fortresses, stolen from palaces, and assassinated kings. But they are also an accomplished spy used to working in life-or-death situations, and they know when to fight another day.


The spy throws down their knife so that it shatters on the floor, reforming discreetly in their waistband. They raise their arms in the air, signalling surrender, and slowly move to set the mask down without any sudden movements. As they do, Nobody's Friend scurries down Nobody's sleeve to hide under the mask.


To break the tension and distract the soldiers, Tollens breaks into laughter and claps. "Good game, good game," they roar genially even as blood drips down the back of their head. "Oh, wait until they hear about this one!"Taking advantage of the distraction, Nobody's Friend slips towards the shadows.

The mouse will wait until people are gone or inattentive, then look into the box. If what it finds is small enough to steal, it'll do so; conversely, if the box is small or light enough, it'll push it through the window. Then it'll hide underneath the gangplank, for Nobody to pick up later.


Roll to distract them, hopefully playing on any Intimacies of curiosity they'll have towards Nobody, with Manipulation+Socialize:


[dice]20621[/dice]
 
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