Exalted III: Poorly-Named Game

At first, the sailors seem disinclined to accept your surrender. But Pa-El raises a hand, and they stop dead. She kneels down, places her other, armoured, hand on Nobody's throat, and pinches the prone Solar's windpipe.


"You'll be...less cheerful...when we're finished with you."


She's breathing heavily, and there's clear anger in her voice, but her skin isn't flushed at all. Still corpse-pale.


She takes a moment to catch her breath, gestures to her sailors, and says


"Strip them naked, disarm them, bind them, and gag them. They have some kind of magic, so it's not safe to let them speak. Don't let them breathe on you. Keep your eyes on them at all times."


The sailors go about doing exactly that. Several keep knives pressed up against Nobody while they do it, to insure against a sudden change of heart.


As her people work, she says,


"People have tried to kill me before, and I've been reasonable about it. But you tried to do it while I was sleeping. You dishonourable little shit.


If I didn't have so many questions to ask, I'd just snap your neck."


Nobody except Nobody takes any notice at all of Nobody's Friend.


Kyros can see all of this. It occurs to him that he's got a couple of blood apes on the way, and that he might want to do something about that.

Since you've surrendered, it's too late for you to fight back. If you thought you were screwed before, believe me, this would be much worse.


Still, you can do stuff. To keep your knife while being stripped, roll Dexterity + Larceny with a -6 penalty against the crew's Awareness roll of




2
To instruct Nobody's Friend without being noticed, roll Manipulation + Survival - 4 against the same difficulty.


For other stuff, roll a pool that seems appropriate and I'll tell you whether you succeeded.
 
Kyros frowned at the unfortunate turn of events. With Nobody now captured, the situation had become all the more delicate. The Blood Apes would arrive in a few minutes and begin tearing up the place, but with Nobody in bondage, the original orders he had given would put her at unacceptable risk.


With a word and a gesture, he called forth one of his Agata, giving it instructions to fly to the Blood Apes with revised orders: Attack the ship, allow any who leave the vessel to go free, but ignore Nobody.


Hopefully in the ensuring chaos, the Night Caste would be able to slip free unnoticed.
 
Nobody shrugs but winks salaciously at the sailor who ties them up, tossing Deathprice over their shoulder so it shatters against the wall. With hands tied behind their back, the hilt's reappearance in their furled palm is easy to miss, especially with obsidian shards already littering the room.


As they lead Nobody out of the room, Nobody turns around to face Pa-El once more. They wink, ostensibly at the furious Dragon-Blooded but in actuality to get Nobody's Friend's attention, tilting their head towards the box at the same time. At the very least the mouse should be able to look inside, and Nobody can look through its eyes.


Facetiously exaggerating their movement, Nobody marches along with the soldiers, surveying them to see if any might be amenable to a bribe.

[dice]20759[/dice]


[dice]20760[/dice]


Read Intentions on all the sailors to see if anyone loves treasure more than they fear Pa-El, spending 5m for Deft Official's Way and 2m to mute it. 1m Personal, 13m Peripheral.


[dice]20761[/dice]
 
Pa-El's crew is not very bribe-able. They respect their captain a great deal and are not willing to cross her. But one of the sailors who just tied you up seems...resentful, somehow. He hesitates slightly to obey her orders, and doesn't seem to like doing so. Another, who's standing back because there's not room for everyone to participate in tying you up, fingers his jewelry in a way that signifies a really excessive love of wealth.


As they start to drag you from the room, Pa-El stops them. She walks up to you and wipes the wink off your face with a punch. And then she hits you some more. And more. And more. After a while she stops pummeling and gets more systematic; she calmly and carefully shatters your elbows, knees, wrists, and ankles with her gauntleted fist.


Once she's done, she goes to her desk and recovers a small silver syringe. She uses it to draw some of your blood, then transfers that blood to a small jar and stashes it in a drawer.


Then she says,


"Take them to the brig. Keep two pairs of eyes on them at all times. Once I'm dressed, I'm going to interrogate them."


The resentful sailor is among the ones who drags you off. The greedy one isn't.

Your roll to signal Nobody's Friend tied the crew's noticing roll, so I'll let you choose: send the signal but get noticed, or have it missed by both the crew and Nobody's Friend.


You successfully conceal your knife.


Normally you wouldn't be able to read the crew's desire for money without a bit of interaction, but 9 successes buys a lot of leeway.


Most of them are pretty loyal; they're slightly afraid, as mortals generally are of the Exalted, but it's mostly healthy loyalty. One young man is in love with her. There are two exceptions; one has a minor Tie of resentment towards her, while another has a defining Principle of "greed is good".


Pa-El's beating is worth five levels of bashing damage. The broken limbs increase your wound penalty to -4 for actions that specifically require the use of your limbs, and will heal in a week.


If you intend to wait for Pa-El to interrogate you, let me know so we can move ahead.
 
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Nobody certainly does stop smiling, though that has five parts to do with their broken bones and three parts to do with the fact that Pa-El now has their blood, indicating two things: one, that she might be a sorcerer who could track them with it, and two, that they'll have to break back in to get rid of that blood as well. Or, ideally, swap it with someone else's, but that's low on the agenda at the moment.


Even worse, Pa-El cut off their signal to Nobody's Friend; they can't be sure if the mouse saw it, but it's too risky to try again. They'll just have to hope that Nobody's Friend got the gist of it, or at least finds somewhere good to hide. If nothing else, the interrogation room might be close enough to keep an eye on Pa-El's cabin.

Nobody's Friend can miss the signal and do whatever a mouse in a strange and terrifying environment would normally do. I'll wait for Pa-El to interrogate me, and try to convince her I'm just a friendly fae who wants the box back. Unless someone else has a better plan.
 
Nobody's Friend panics, runs, finds a dark corner with some breadcrumbs in it, calms down, and happily munches away.


It takes a few minutes for Pa-El to get her armour on. And the sailors aren't interested in talking to you. If not for the terrible pain, you'd probably be quite bored. It's almost a relief when the jade-armoured Exalt appears at the door of the brig.


"So.


Who or what are you, and what the hell are you doing here?"
 
Nobody mumbles expansively through the gag, doing their best to convey general disinterest. Once Pa-El ungags them, they actually talk:


"Well, captain, if this is how you treat guests, I think you can be expecting the same hospitality from the Paper Court. But let's not get ahead of yourself. Now, I'm afraid this is all a misunderstanding. I'm not here to kill you, hurt you, maim you, or even embarrass you. I just want to rob you."


"You see, earlier you bought a small trinket. That trinket was given to your vendor by an entertainer of the Paper Court, who stole it from her master, who has sent me to retrieve it. I was going to wait until you woke up to buy it from you, but my employer was so eager to have it back that he sent me immediately along with one or two special trinkets of my own."


"Now, I'd like to do business. You know that there are some excellently unique treasures to be had here. Let's see if we can't find something more to your taste, and we can conclude this without further unpleasantness."

Spending 1m for Shadow Over Day to bring Guile to 5, and attempting to instill a Tie of Curiosity towards Nobody.


[dice]20854[/dice]


...dammit, I hope she's not specced into Integrity. Also, I'm pretty sure that Paradox is coming back in 3e, and Chejop Kejak himself is dumping a load on me.


[/dice]
 
"You poisoned my crew and threw a knife at my face. I'm sure you'd love to avoid unpleasantness now, but it's a bit late for that."


She turns to a member of her crew and says,


"Go get some iron. No sense letting this thing try any faerie magic."


As her man leaves, Pa-El turns back to you. But before you can speak, someone abovedecks screams,


"Monsters! Big red monkey things!"


and the captain is rushing away to defend her ship. She's in such a hurry, she almost forgets to lock the brig's door on her way out.


Nobody is left in the brig, ungagged, with only the resentful sailor for a guard.

Your influence bounces off Pa-El's Resolve. She's not curious.


But she doesn't even get close to beating your Guile, so she fails to see through your lie.
 
"I only poisoned them a little!" Tollens calls after her. They make a contemptuous tcha as the door slams shut. Tollens gives it a beat, then addresses the sailor.


"She just doesn't want to give up the goods. I mean, I've been in her cabin, it's not like she can't afford it. And judging by some of the outfits on your comrades, she's not averse to spreading it around a little."


"Not that you look like you've been on her good side lately. About the best I can say for you is she didn't send you up there to die on the front lines. All take and no give, am I right? Especially cooped up on this bucket for months, stinking of salt and sweat, when you're not on deck facing demons and fairies. Really, it's one thing for a Prince of the Earth to be so blase about these things, but you and I are hardly members of the Great Houses, are we?"


"Let me give you a little friendly advice, from one downtrodden pawn to another. I think whatever she's paying you, it's not half enough. I'm sure it was fine when she slapped you on the back, one sailor to another, all friendly like. But I don't think you're on her good side anymore. And, well, you don't want to get on her bad side. Just look where I am."


"Now, listen close, because those blood apes might come down here any minute. That's what they're called, I've had to deal with them before. Let me tell you, if you think I look bad now you should have seen the first time I got hairy with one. You know my friends need only say the word, and treasures will fall from the sky for them. I'm telling you now, the only reason they're giving Pa-El such a hard time is because she's Exalted, and supposed to be the one kicking them around. Help me out, we'll get out of this together, and I'll make sure you get your fair share. You can wear the sunset, drink the moonlight, whatever you'd like. But most importantly, you wouldn't have to answer to that brute."

First Nobody attempts an instill action to intensify that resentment. I'm treating this as a 2-point stunt; if you think no part of the whole speech qualify, let me know and I'll reroll.


[dice]20884[/dice]


Then Nobody bargains with the sailor, promising treasures like Deathprice or the Nobody costume if the sailor comes with him. I'm not really sure what to roll, or even if I have to (as opposed to you just deciding for the sailor). Probably Manipulation+Bureaucracy? Socialize? Presence?
 
"Yeah, she's horrible. Always harping on about some damn crusade that nobody gives a shit about. Dragging us along on her suicide mission.


And she's keeping us poor with her ridiculous rules. She could just take over here, you know? Nobody could stand against her except maybe that sorcerer, and he doesn't care. Sell all the deadweight to your bosses, make the rest work for us. But she won't take what she could get, and she won't let us do it either.


...


Really, I wish I could go with you. But the last guy to break a contract with her drowned on the spot. And, well, I doubt your bosses are any better."

Your roll is more than successful. And sure, we can call that a two-point stunt. It's a good speech.


You wouldn't have to reroll for a different stunt level, by the way. The number of dice is always the same.


You can only strengthen a minor Intimacy if you're exploiting another minor or better Intimacy, but as it happens you hit on a relevant Intimacy with that speech.


Convincing him to betray Pa-El would be a Persuade action with Manipulation + Presence. He's got a major Intimacy, which is enough as long as death isn't almost certain. So you just have to present him with a reasonable chance of survival, then beat his Resolve. Remember that he thinks you're a soul-eating trickster faerie.
 
Ukkoya


The waters ripple and part before the prow of Lorikeet. Lantern lights gleam from her port, starboard, and stern. At the helm, Captain Ukkoya squints at the approaching shapes. Ships in the harbor. "Alright, lads!" she calls.


Ropes creak and groan as the little boat on the side disengages. The men row ahead of Lorikeet to help moor her.


She had run low on supplies, having taken the long way around storms and other oddities on the sea. Hopefully the return on the haul would be enough to restock and cover shore leave.


The men on the docks give the signal. Ukkoya nudges Lorikeet towards them.
 
The Lorikeet pulls into the dock smoothly and without incident. Cheers and general sounds of relief come from the crew, who've been at sea for too long.


People are gathering to greet the new ship, and to see if there's some kind of profitable opportunity here. The first one to speak is a small woman who, judging by the quality of her clothes, is somewhat richer than the rest.


"Welcome, stranger!"

Let's say that the Lorikeet arrives the morning after Nobody's ill-fated infiltration attempt. I doubt you'd come during the night. Although you can if you want to.
 
Ukkoya


Even with sails rolled up, she makes for a fine entrance, a sleek vessel painted vivid orange-red, green, and blue. The crew douse the lights that carried them through the morning fog.


Seeing the assembled lot, Ukkoya smiles wide and adjusts her headscarf before descending the gangplank first, a swagger in her step. "Tis a fine harbour find welcome in! Captain Ukkoya Lodestone." She bows to the finely-dressed lady. Her feather earrings dance and sway. "And crew, of the trading vessel Lorikeet." The remaining men on board saunter down to join the crowd.


Ukkoya grins. "What of your name, good stranger?" It looked like there was business to be had here.

Makes sense.
 
She bows back.


"Red Wire. I'm with the Guild.


If you've got cargo to sell, then I've got money to buy it. And if you've got money to buy things, then I've got goods to see you."
 
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"Alright, listen. I'm going to tell you a secret. I'm not really a faerie. I'm human, just like you. My name is Tollens. The sorcerer Kyros sent me to get whatever Pa-El bought because he was pissed Red Wire didn't sell it to him. I only told her I was with the Paper Court because he's looking to do something big and nasty to her, and he doesn't want her getting wind of it."


"Now, you mentioned something about a crusade Pa-El's on. That sounds like information Kyros will pay dearly for. I think you'll find him a much more amenable employer, and he's never killed anyone who didn't really deserve it. Besides, those blood apes upstairs are his; if you help me escape, I promise they won't eat you, and Pa-El will be too busy with them to come looking for you. Besides, I do have a couple more tricks up my sleeve. Once we're off the ship, I'll make sure she doesn't even remember we were here."

[dice]20959[/dice] ((ignore that first roll, i forgot to click the willpower box))


Now I have to figure out how to get off Vanishing From Mind's Eye Method without this guy and Kyros both forgetting me. For that matter, I'm hoping my criminal contacts won't forget me too, or that's a whole dot of Merit down the drain. Maybe I can test Theft of Memory on him, if I find a suitable emerald in Pa-El's room.
 
The teacup in Kyro's hand began to fracture as he watched Nobody, though the Scrying stone, slowly reveal the truth not only about themselves, but also their true intentions.


When the Night Caste named Kyros himself, the teacup shattered, sending boiling hot tea everywhere, with the fragments of the cup cutting in to his hand. These were summarily ignored, as Kyro's fist continued to clench, grinding the broken cup in to powder.


Slowly, with great deliberation, Kyros placed the Scrying stone on the table, his hand shaking with carefully surprised emotion.


Standing up, he slowly walked over to a nearby wall that was going to be removed to make more space in the laboratory. There was a blur of motion, and his fist slammed in to the wall, sending a spiderweb of cracks running through the stone as his Caste Mark and anima burst in to existence. The sound echoed throughout the manse, drawing the attention of a few spirits he had summoned, though they wisely left once they realized who and what had happened.


Taking a deep breath to compose himself, Kyros returned to the table and picked up the Scrying stone, memorizing the features of the sailor in question for a later assassination.
 
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Ukkoya (in the morning, with Red Wire)


"I hope we've time for both then! When would you like to conduct business?" She turns her head slightly towards Lorikeet. A captain always liked to play host on her own ship.


With a Guild presence, it seemed word abroad about this island was true. A fellow merchant might reveal how profitable ventures into the Wyld around here were. And how costly.
 
Ellis:


"Huh.


Can you break one of Pa-El's contracts?"


You've just about got him, you can tell. He thinks this is the opportunity he's been waiting for. But you remember what happened to Virhimmit when they tried to welch on a loan from Pa-El. Their lungs filled with bloody water and they died over four agonizing hours.


Clearly, this guy is worried about suffering the same fate.

That roll will suffice. But you still need to give him some hope of surviving.


When you use Vanishing From Mind's Eye Method, everyone will forget you. That includes your contacts and Kyros and this guy. But it only lasts as long as you keep your motes committed. Kyros has sufficiently good Lore that he should be able to recover the memory given a bit of time.
Cirno:


"Why not now?"

Are you interested in getting into the details of your business, or would you rather gloss over it? If you just want to assume things sell for fair-ish prices, we can fold the details into your Resources rating.
 
Tollens frowns. "Well, I'd have to see. What else can you tell me about that deal, and about Pa-El? Could it have been sorcery or perhaps an artifact, or just her power as Exalted? If we can find and destroy your contract, we may be able to free you. Of course, if she has to see and know about the broken contract, we can be out of here before she even notices, no sweat."

That's not a power I'm familiar with (except as part of Water Dragon Style, maybe?) so I don't know what it's from, hence Nobody doing a bit of probing. If it's sorcery I can distort it, if it's some weird Bureaucracy Charm (that is water aspect, right?) or Artifact contract etc. then hopefully smashing the thing will end the contract. Rolling Intelligence+Occult to figure it out from this guy's description (remind me to ask his name casually when my hands are unbound to shake his).


[dice]20986[/dice]


Not great, but hopefully I can winkle something out. Best-case scenario, she manually drowned Virhimmit for crossing her, but the way he's asking, I don't think so.
 
"Look, I don't know anything about magic. If I had to guess, I'd say it's her."


The sounds of battle rage from abovedecks. Hard to tell who's winning, but you don't hear any humans screaming in horrible pain so chances are that things are going at least okay for Pa-El and her crew.

She didn't manually drown Virhimmit. Wasn't even near the island at the time.


You actually saw her use this power before, when taking the box from Red Wire. It's definitely not sorcery or an Artifact. And it's two-sided, so Pa-El can't safely break her word to this guy either. Though you don't know what she promised him.


One thing you remember is that Virhimmit didn't go down easy. You suspect that with a bit more toughness or some proper medical care, they would've survived.
 
Ukkoya (in the morning, with Red Wire)


"Seems we've a guest to accommodate!" Four of the crewmen quickly step forward. Extra duties meant extra pay. "Ah, excellent." To Red Wire, she says, "Join me for tea, madam? We've a strong red tea, well-sealed and well-traveled, if I may say so myself." The men would take some time to bring out the sample goods.


One boot on the gangplank, she turns back to see the rest of the crew are already mingling with the crowd. "Reconvene later, gentlemen!" She winks.

If there's story hooks, I'm happy to go into detail. Otherwise, we can gloss over.


Let's say the crew's pay got distributed before they underwent docking procedures.
 
Red Wire drinks your tea and buys your cargo. She's a fairly tough negotiator but not an unreasonable one, and you're no slouch at bargaining yourself. You get a pretty decent price.


As you talk, you get an idea of the economic situation on the island. It's a gold rush town of sorts, with people coming in constantly. Some people, including Red Wire, have done very well exploring the Wyld. Apparently Red Wire has contacts in the Paper Court, a Raksha kingdom not far from here.


Although Red Wire is making money, she's having trouble moving goods off the island. Most of the ships that come here don't leave; people mostly come here to be here, not to take goods back and forth. After all, merchant work means sailing the Wyld-tainted sea twice as much. At the moment, the only ships taking cargo are yours, Gollacha's, and Pa-El's. Pa-El being a Dragonblooded merchant who Red Wire apparently despises, and Gollacha being a small-time merchant without the money to buy much cargo. Red Wire doesn't really expect him to survive his next voyage.


At the moment, Red Wire mostly has whale parts to sell. But as she says,


"I'm planning another expedition into the Wyld pretty soon.


If you'll stay here for a while, I can promise you quite a haul. In fact, I might be able to take requests. Anything in particular you'd like me try and acquire?"

Let's gloss over the selling. The buying, though, we can do something with.
 
Ukkoya


"An enchanted map 'd be nice," she says, only half-joking. "We're usually in port but a few days, except during storms or when the wind shifts. " She smiles wryly over the unadorned rim of her cup, part of a plain but sturdy set in white, and it sets down. The Wyld had done something to the weather or the spirits, because there was no shortage of odd phenomenon around this island.


"If you're taking requests, well. My buyers tend to be suppliers, of teahouses or apothecaries." Ukkoya pauses, considering how willing they might be give customers something fair unnatural. "I'm sure they'd be interested in all manner of strange concoctions. If you happen upon such a thing, I'd be willing to buy, provided someone can advise on transporting it safely." Things could lose potency if not handled properly, or worse, turn too potent. "Would you know of such advisors?"
 
"A map would be tricky, but I'll see what I can do.


Anyway, you might want to stay here a little longer than that. This isn't like a Realm port; we don't have crate after crate of goods waiting for whatever ship comes by.


And if you're coming out to the ass-end of nowhere, you probably want high-value goods to make it worthwhile. Stick around for a month or two and you can fill your hold with miracles."


...


"Oh, we find strange concoctions all the time. Every time I go to the Paper Court, they offer me this glowing purple drink. I can certainly bring some back.


For advice on the occult, you probably want the sorcerer Kyros. Head inland down the half-cleared path until you see a pagoda guarded by monsters; he's in there. He's unfriendly and consorts with dark powers, but I believe he's trustworthy.


If you'd rather avoid demon-binders, you could try Iruvar or Silver Shield. Maybe Eremar the Eleventh. None of them are a match for Kyros, though."
 
Ukkoya


The captain lifted her eyebrows. Red Wire certainly had impressive contacts to call upon. "It seems only good business for my ship to stay a while then." She serves another round of tea. "So! To good business. May you find fortune on the seas." Smiling, she raises her cup in a toast to her new trading partner.
 
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