Getting through Customs the hard way.

[Kyeudo]

I'm currently running a 1 on 1 game of Exalted, with a player who is crazy enough to decide to play a slave who Exalted on the Blessed Isle. This, of course, makes his first goal to get off the Isle before the Wyld Hunt tracks him down.


So, what obstacles does he face trying to get off the Isle? Spirits using Read the Wind at ports? Essence Flare Pillars? Does he need paperwork to board a ship?

 

[cyl]

There is a precedent: Filial Wisdom (CoTD: the East), and he managed to escape when the Empress was still there, with a security tightened.


Now it's more loose... he can bargain / buy / sneak his way out easily.


Him being discovered is not a good idea as the imperial marine is quite efficient, and if he is spotted while getting on a ship the ship will be targeted and he'll just die.


What are his main abilities and what Caste is he ?

 

[Persell]

Don't forget the Cult of the Illuminated. They have some key holdings on the Realm, and are specifically designed to smuggle Solars from certain ports to Cult-protected territory. I can't remember off-hand many of the specific details, but it should be too difficult to look up.

 

[Kyeudo]

There is a precedent: Filial Wisdom (CoTD: the East), and he managed to escape when the Empress was still there, with a security tightened.
Now it's more loose... he can bargain / buy / sneak his way out easily.


Him being discovered is not a good idea as the imperial marine is quite efficient, and if he is spotted while getting on a ship the ship will be targeted and he'll just die.


What are his main abilities and what Caste is he ?

He's Dawn Caste, got Archery 5 and 3 specialties in Longbow as his best ability, and favors Resistance, Survival, Athletics, Dodge, and Awareness. Oh, and he's packing a Long Powerbow and a Monkey Stone.

Don't forget the Cult of the Illuminated. They have some key holdings on the Realm, and are specifically designed to smuggle Solars from certain ports to Cult-protected territory. I can't remember off-hand many of the specific details, but it should be too difficult to look up.

I don't have the Blessed Isle book, so I'm a little sunk on looking up anything specific.


I'm just trying to figure out what the standard security precautions and common troubles he'd run into, like what measures the Realm has in place to keep Anathema and Lookshy spies out and what troubles he might run into trying to find a ship heading south. Does the Realm only allow foreign trade in certain ports?

 

[wordman]

Oh, and he's packing a Long Powerbow and a Monkey Stone.

How did he come to control a manse, and where is it?

 

[strawberryleaves]

He's Dawn Caste, got Archery 5 and 3 specialties in Longbow as his best ability, and favors Resistance, Survival, Athletics, Dodge, and Awareness. Oh, and he's packing a Long Powerbow and a Monkey Stone.

What does he have for Sail and Stealth?

 

[Brickwall]

They ARE going to do a thorough inspection if he has visible weapons (like a 5-6 foot bow), and if they turn out to be magical (which they will), I hope you're faster than the guys at the nearest Immaculate outpost. And they're fast. Hell, people will be wary of you if you carry weapons at all, especially magical ones. If they're not jade, you can't walk in a town without getting people on your case. Nevermind the spies.


Basically, unless you have incredibly amounts of help, even in this time of tumult, you're not getting away with that skillset and those possessions. Even if you kill the guys there, you've got a navy to deal with, and by slaughtering a coastal village, you've made yourself Priority #1 for the entirety of the navy. Yes, ALL OF IT. And the Inland Sea is not lightly patrolled.


He's boned unless he wants to leave his weapons behind, or unless he makes a lot of useful friends really quickly.

 

[cyl]

If he has a bit of ressources he can try to bribe his way out too.


Smuggling also exists within the Realm, if he has a bit of contacts he can use them.


But actually, I'd seriously advise you to RP this part, making it really tense, but letting him off without a fight (because if he fights, he's dead).


He can't have a low profile, so you need to provide one for him if you want him to stay alive...

 

[Kyeudo]

How did he come to control a manse, and where is it?

In essence, he fell through the roof of an underground manse. It's contrived, I know, but since he's the one that decided the Blessed Isle was the challenge he wanted, I let him have this one easy, since he probably won't end up keeping the manse for long.

What does he have for Sail and Stealth?

3 dots in Stealth, with Dex of 3. No dots in Sail.

They ARE going to do a thorough inspection if he has visible weapons (like a 5-6 foot bow), and if they turn out to be magical (which they will), I hope you're faster than the guys at the nearest Immaculate outpost. And they're fast. Hell, people will be wary of you if you carry weapons at all, especially magical ones. If they're not jade, you can't walk in a town without getting people on your case. Nevermind the spies.

How dense of Immaculate outposts are we talking? A few per province or a few per square mile?


How responsive are the spies these days? The All-Seeing Eye is noted as having most of its internal spy networks dismantled.

Basically, unless you have incredibly amounts of help, even in this time of tumult, you're not getting away with that skillset and those possessions. Even if you kill the guys there, you've got a navy to deal with, and by slaughtering a coastal village, you've made yourself Priority #1 for the entirety of the navy. Yes, ALL OF IT. And the Inland Sea is not lightly patrolled.


He's boned unless he wants to leave his weapons behind, or unless he makes a lot of useful friends really quickly.

He's not at a coastal village yet. He's roughly 75 miles inland.

If he has a bit of ressources he can try to bribe his way out too.
Smuggling also exists within the Realm, if he has a bit of contacts he can use them.

He's an escaped slave. Resources 1 is the best he can hope for at the moment, and he has no strings to pull in the Realm at the moment.

But actually, I'd seriously advise you to RP this part, making it really tense, but letting him off without a fight (because if he fights, he's dead).


He can't have a low profile, so you need to provide one for him if you want him to stay alive...

I'm not exactly following you there. What do you mean by providing him with a low profile?

 

[Brickwall]

Immaculate Monasteries are everywhere. They're ubiquitous enough to be schooling places for all Realm citizens, including the farmers and other peasants, according to CoCD: BI. As such, I doubt anyone lives more than an hour's travel from one. In other words, about as common as churches in the present day, if we only had technology up to horses.


As it stands, he's not getting out of there on his own.

 

[cyl]

Unless he starts robbing people for money to get a temporary ressources 3 to pay his trip to a smuggler, but good luck finding one when you're an escaped slave...


Your guy is so dead :lol:

 

[Thorn Darkblade]

Use the Cult of the Illuminated for Sidereal dues ex machina. Works every time.

 

[strawberryleaves]

Getting to a coastal town or city shouldn't be too difficult--travel by night, and avoid people. Awareness and Survival helps here. Once there, however...the powerbow is going to be a pain to conceal. If you're kind, you'll have the character run into some hapless DB with an appropriate item on the way to the port.


The player will most likely think of a way to sneak onto an outgoing vessel. If he thinks of diversions for the Watch (setting fire to the guardhouse, shooting some of the mortal town guards, then sneaking away with shouts of 'Anathema!' drawing the DB response away from the docks), so much the better. If he did his homework, he would have identified a likely passenger to 'share' the cabin with. Either the passenger will be amenable to helping the character out for future considerations, or for fear of the character dragging him down as well (helping a slave to escape isn't a charge most non-DBs can shrug off).


If everything goes to crap, have some mysterious figure (or group) intervene, then provide an escape route. Make your player wonder exactly who--or what--he now owes a debt to...and when they intend to collect. As for their identity, well, that's up to you. Gold Faction, Lunars, House factions, Lookshy agents, other Solars, deathknights, Infernals, the Fair Folk, or something else altogether.

 

[Kyeudo]

Use the Cult of the Illuminated for Sidereal dues ex machina. Works every time.

I've never used the Cult of the Illuminated before, mostly because I don't know enough about their general dogma to handle the cultists. Is it like general christian symbolism, replacing references to Jesus with Solars, or what?

 

[Thenlar]

The basic gist of the Cult is that there was some crazy guy who had visions saying "The golden warriors will come and make the world a super-awesome place again!"


The Gold Faction saw this and said, "Hey, close enough." They infiltrated the cult, planted some ideas in the prophet's head and viola, the awaited golden warriors have come in the guise of Solar Exalted. They have a few major training camps hidden where they train mortal troops and Exalts and try to indoctrinate them that "Solars are good. They are heroes. They save people. And they listen to Sidereals. ALWAYS."


Critically for you, the Gold Faction / Cult is actually somewhat active on the Isle, on the lookout for Solars.


There's actually what I believe is the captain of the guard in the city of Sion (yes, right by the Palace Sublime) named Oak whose dad is a Gold Faction Sidereal. He -has- smuggled Solars out of the Isle before, and if they can find your player, they'll probably try to get him out also.

 

[Requiem of Forgotten Lore]

You know after reading all this, I realize in hindsight that I should have had my Solar play out how he got off the Isle or at least a write up of how he got off. Missed so much by focusing on something else.

 

[cyl]

Hmmm


There is also another way, IIRC in the Dawn caste book there was a solar "slave" within the core of the Realm who served a DB mistress fully aware of his nature and hoping to take advantage of his power. Don't remember the guy's name, but he was one of those mentionned at the end of the book.


This guy had a serious list of contacts, maybe a meeting between the two (or one of his agents; he has a big influence among slaves and peasants) could help him out and give a cool "don't worry man you're not alone" feel.


You could probably use this to make an interesting sessions and get him out of the hell you've dropped him into

 

[Kyeudo]

You could probably use this to make an interesting sessions and get him out of the hell you've dropped him into

It was his idea, not mine. I offered the Scavenger Lands.


So far, no one knows he's a Solar, so he at least has that to his benefit. Assuming he doesn't flare his anima, how hard will it be for him to hide his Exalted nature? Do the local spirits nark on every Anathema they come across to the local Immaculates? Or do they need some reason to suspect him to be more than human?

 

[Heaven's Thunder Hammer]

If he avoids charm use, he will make himself much harder to detect to spirits, DB's and the Bronze Faction.

 

[cyl]

It was his idea, not mine. I offered the Scavenger Lands.


So far, no one knows he's a Solar, so he at least has that to his benefit. Assuming he doesn't flare his anima, how hard will it be for him to hide his Exalted nature? Do the local spirits nark on every Anathema they come across to the local Immaculates? Or do they need some reason to suspect him to be more than human?

Your player likes to get spanked I have no other explanation :lol:


Spirits can identify him with Measure the Wind, so if there are watchers (and there will be) he's blown.


question : how do you want him to get out ?

 

[Haku1]

You could always pull a Lyta.


She exalted in an Immaculate Order monastery. Slaughtered the students AND teachers there and ran off.


Was picked up by a sidereal, who went "good girl... nice girl... here, let me hide you so we can sneak off the Blessed Isle."


And they did... and then they went off to do all kinds of kick-ass adventures in the west which don't end well for any dragonblooded encountered. :lol:

 

[Kyeudo]

question : how do you want him to get out ?

Not a clue. I've been playing this game mostly by ear, since I figure that once I throw the first major plot complication at him, namely the manhunt caused by him killing a Dragon-Blooded, everything will go to crap and head in a completely unexpected direction. That's why I'm trying to figure out what kind of security he's facing on his way out.


Either he'll be resourceful and manage to get out alive, or he won't, end up dead, and I can deploy one of two contigency plans.

 

[RedMantis]

Will your player feel cheated if he doesn't escape "on his own"?


If he's in a port scoping out the ships when an old man waves him over into the back of a noodle shop to make him an offer on behalf of the Cult, will he feel that you're taking it easy on him? This sounds like a possibility since he CHOSE to start on the Isle, he sounds like one of those "by my hand!" type of players.


If that's the case then maybe have him meet a small god that the immaculate have trapped in a cage on the road. Sort of like a message to other upstart spirits. The character can be bribed with information in exchange for the spirit's freedom. Kind of like Mad Mardigan in Willow. Then the character has the choice to ignore the spirit and press on if he's uppity, then you can bring him face to face with how daunting the task is and see if he goes back to the spirit's offer. When freed, the small god would give him enough information that he can track down the contact for the Cult of the Illuminated.


It will feel like much more of an accomplishment than a Sidereal walking up and herding him into an essence masking box.

 

[Kyeudo]

Well, my player has officiall gone and done it now. He's engaged the local Immaculate monk and his Henchmen (sent to bring back the assumed murderer of a dynast) and burned enough Peripheral Essence he's showing a Caste Mark.


So, I'm trying to figure out the best case scenario here. If he manages to take out 6 heroic mortals and a young Wood Aspect Immaculate, the very least that will happen is that someone will figure out he's more dangerous than he appears to be and send a more significant force to hunt down the murderer. That's the easy part to figure out.


The harder part to figure out is the secondary effects. If he spends enough Peripheral Essence to go full iconic anima banner, how many villages are likely to see? I haven't a clue what the Realm's population density's like.


How cooperative is the average spirit in the Realm? Are most of them brown-nosers? Are they looking for any way they can to get back at the Immaculates? Are they more "I don't care for the Immaculate Order, except when they can hear me"? I need to know so I can figure out if any of the local spirits who surely know about the battle tip off the Immaculates.


Is there any information on how accurate the Loom of Fate is at pinpointing major Essence use? How quickly would it ping in the Bureau of Destiny that there was a Solar loose on the Blessed Isle?


I'm so very much starting to wish I had the cash to get the Blessed Isle book.

 

[Haku1]

Think of it this way... there is a high noon showdown between two gunslingers. The villagers/mooks are cowering behind their doors and windows, peeking out and prayng that the good guys win.


In this case, the good guy being the dragonblooded. So if he goes full on iconic, they'll see. And so will EVERYONE in a few miles radius.


Depending on how big the village/town/city is... ALOT of people could be seeing the flare of one of them anathema!


The Loom of fate won't pick up the essence usage that fast, this being the Realm which is full of essence users... some of whom occassionally spend lots of motes.


As for the spirits. A number of them WOULD have bought into the IO, and are toeing the official party line. They get steady amounts of worship, they don't get beat up, they don't have to fight essence-users. They're sheep.


And then, you've got the connivers, spirits who have an angle... who see possibilities with the Scarlet Empress gone and the dragonblooded drawing lines, and they're willing to work with the highest bidder or the guy with the biggest gun.