Dice Into the Ruins - Exalted 3e OOC

[Purr]

With everyone on the back of the Fat Cat Express, the large Lunar is now ready to travel. Do you plan on taking to the air, or sticking on the ground for now?

Psychie

Would using the Charm Lodestone Reckoning Manner combined with the Merit Direction Sense help The Circle get to Rathess? Or is it a waste of time and effort? O Mighty Fat Cat has Wits 5, Survival 1. I've put the details in the spoilers below.

Lodestone Reckoning Manner (p. 287, Lunar)

Spoiler

Cost: 1m, 1wp; Mins: Wits 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Archetype (Perception)
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None

Uncharted lands and perilous seas yield their secrets to the wayfaring Lunar. She spends a scene plotting a course and rolls (Wits + [Sail or Survival]) with (higher of Essence or 3) bonus dice and double 9s, banking all successes. She may add up to (Essence) banked successes as non-Charm successes on Survival rolls to forage or find shelter along the journey, or Sail rolls to navigate hazards at sea. This Charm can only be used once per journey. It ends once all banked successes are spent.

A Wits 5 repurchase doubles 8s on this Charm’s roll, and lets the Lunar use it instantly, without needing to plot a course; the banked successes, and any Charms enhancing Lodestone Reckoning Manner, are available to her whenever she travels. She can only do so once per day.

Archetype: A Lunar whose spirit shape is migratory can learn this as a Perception Charm.

Direction Sense (•)—Innate (p. 160, Core)

Spoiler

The character is never completely lost, and is able to naturally determine her orientation relative to the five Poles. In addition to always knowing her facing and acting as a living compass, she lowers the difficulty on attempts to navigate toward a fixed, known location or to retrace her steps by 2.

 

[Rykon]

Also, who has possession of the hearthstone from the manse here?

I'm a bit embarrassed to say in all the scatterbrained chaos lately I can't seem to recall or find the effect of the stone, but I've no qualms about letting the person who'd most benefit take the stone. Given the irony of this journey, I'm a bit more interested in picking up a manse or hearthstone in Rathess.

Would using the Charm Lodestone Reckoning Manner combined with the Merit Direction Sense help The Circle get to Rathess? Or is it a waste of time and effort? O Mighty Fat Cat has Wits 5, Survival 1. I've put the details in the spoilers below.

Just to bump this issue a bit, aerial travel like this shouldn't present a terribly difficult set of obstacles for one with Da Chonk's skills, but as always this will be more about how big a deal our ST intends to make the journey itself versus being more of a footnote before exploring the ancient capital.

 

[Sherwood]

I'm a bit embarrassed to say in all the scatterbrained chaos lately I can't seem to recall or find the effect of the stone, but I've no qualms about letting the person who'd most benefit take the stone. Given the irony of this journey, I'm a bit more interested in picking up a manse or hearthstone in Rathess.

IIRC, the stone lets the bearer detect any deliberate lie that is told.

 

[Psychie]

IIRC, the stone lets the bearer detect any deliberate lie that is told.

You are correct.

Would using the Charm Lodestone Reckoning Manner combined with the Merit Direction Sense help The Circle get to Rathess? Or is it a waste of time and effort? O Mighty Fat Cat has Wits 5, Survival 1. I've put the details in the spoilers below.

With time spent plotting out your trip, you manage to bank up 6 successes for your trip. Are you going to travel airborne, or go on the ground for now?

 

[Purr]

Oh! Um, looks like it's useful enough to roll! Okay! I'm going to prove how much I don't know about this game again (ha ha) and ask:

So... how do I use these six successes, please?

Is that a good roll given how far away Rathess is?

What does O Mighty Fat Cat know from using this Charm and Merit together?

 

[Psychie]

The successes can be used to supplement any Survival roll above and beyond the normal dice pool you would roll. It can be used to find shelter, food, water, and assist you in finding your way, anything that might be covered under a standard Survival roll.

Even at your best speed in the air, it will take you some time to get to Rathess, even assuming that nothing happens to slow your trip.

The best way for you to use the Merit and Charm together is that it will add stunt dice to your Survival pool to help keep you on course and not inadvertently get lost.

And let me get all fortune cookie on you and say that it shows your wisdom to know when you need to ask for help!

 

[Purr]

And let me get all fortune cookie on you and say that it shows your wisdom to know when you need to ask for help!

Psychie A fine compliment and I thank you for it!

My first notion is to have Da Chonk fly, especially under the cover of nightfall so that The Circle are as hard to trace as possible, leaving no tracks for the Wyld Hunt to follow and so forth.

However... I don't know Creation at all. If there is something in my character's Lunar background or something that perhaps his fellow Solars know that would make flight undesirable, we can definitely start the journey using different methods.

Using what O Mighty Fat Cat knows at this moment, which is the safer bet? To leave immediately by land perhaps? Or to wait until nightfall and fly? Or something else entirely? Are there waterways that would aid us?

What about burrowing underground, covering up the hole, and reappearing somewhere far from the manse? That would cost us time, but it would make it quite difficult to track The Circle, I would think.

Then from there, begin travel at speedier pace. At the moment, stealth is the foremost priority in my mind - speed can come later.

Thoughts?

 

[Rykon]

My first notion is to have Da Chonk fly, especially under the cover of nightfall so that The Circle are as hard to trace as possible, leaving no tracks for the Wyld Hunt to follow and so forth.

Thoughts?

Sure. Let em follow us to Rathess, I'm sure they'll have a great time dealing with all the stuff between them and us, much less what we may end up finding ourselves.

 

[Purr]

Sure. Let em follow us to Rathess, I'm sure they'll have a great time dealing with all the stuff between them and us, much less what we may end up finding ourselves.

Rykon This is what I mean by my not knowing Creation.

Rykon, what do you know that I don't here? For starters, if Da Chonk flying us here in the daytime was a good idea, why is it a bad idea to fly away at nighttime?

My cup is empty. Feel free to fill it.

 

[Rykon]

Rykon, what do you know that I don't here?

Just realistically speaking here...

1. 3000 miles of overland travel is hell and a half with a full caravan of people to feed, much less when faced with the threat of desertion and the like. Even if they had celestial level transportation magicks from Second Edition to multiply their speed by 10. That's still 10 days by horse 30 days on foot at 10x speed given that they have that angry mob of people following them around. One way by air takes us about 3 days.
2. There's still the matter of the wilderness becoming more and more like a jungle and much less like a deciduous forest or meadow biome. Running into bears becomes running into dinosaurs, dragons, and fantastical beasts that make Australia look like a pet store. Even with Wisened Dragon-Bloods and maybe a Sidereal at the helm, the threats average back out to a scouting mission in a rainforest or regular Australian wilderness for normal folks like us.
3. Rathess has been allowed to fester for a thousand years or so give or take. Whatever our ST has decided to place there is not liable to give them any more hospitable treatment than we would get. This gives us the overall advantage when we're traveling in a much smaller, more circumspect group. I've seen what Second Edition placed there a few times and they aren't the welcoming sort. What we would likely know in character is that the once ancient capital is not currently inhabited by civilized humans and hasn't been for a long time. So whatever's there must be incredibly dangerous to keep the treasure hunters at bay.
4. If by some miracle the literal stars align to have a force that size catch up to us, much of their resources (motes/willpower/money/favors/morale/etc.) will have been spent and they will become vulnerable in so doing. This crew is very capable of handling a scrap, especially with exhausted targets far, far away from their home field.

Therefore... they pursue us at their own peril.

 

[Purr]

What we would likely know in character is that the once ancient capital is not currently inhabited by civilized humans and hasn't been for a long time. So whatever's there must be incredibly dangerous to keep the treasure hunters at bay.

Huh. I am getting Mayan or Incan vibes of past powers long gone. I'm also geting a few Hyborean vibes from Robert E. Howard's Conan - those vibes are much darker and no less dangerous. I likey! =)

3000 miles of overland travel is hell and a half with a full caravan of people to feed, much less when faced with the threat of desertion and the like.

So the Wyld Hunt is strictly ground-based? Where basically running from some Exalted version of Atillah the Hun with magic and outrageous numbers against us? If that is the case, I see right where you're coming from!

Therefore... they pursue us at their own peril.

And that, good sir, is music to my ears! O Mighty Fat Cat can make their lives hell by traveling in one way or another? Sign me up! I'm all for it!

3 days by flight one way is very tempting. Do you then suggest we wait till nightfall and fly under the cover of darkness? Or should we leave immediately? Again, what are your thoughts?

 

[Rykon]

So the Wyld Hunt is strictly ground-based?

Remember, the Wyld Hunt is a Lynch mob militia. It is led by Dragon-Blooded, but it still depends on the rank and file mortals. Flight capabilities for an army are beyond exceedingly rare and most of that ability is limited to the Haslanti League in the north with their airboats.

The closest we might see to this would require a very complicated and draining combination of magical resources and I dare not tempt fate by explaining the silly little recipe.

 

[Purr]

I had no idea that playing a Lunar, especially one capable of flight, would grant us such benefits! Thanks again, Psychie , for allowing me to join up in our game here together! =)

Remember, the Wyld Hunt is a Lynch mob militia. It is led by Dragon-Blooded, but it still depends on the rank and file mortals.

Rykon I think this is the clearest definition I've heard of what the Wyld Hunt is in Exalted 3.0.. Concerning the name "Wyld Hunt," I have seen everything from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons' Deities and Demigods eye-opening antagonists complete with the Master of the Hunt to the terrifying force in White Wolf to the masterful Witcher 3: Wyld Hunt video game. Every time, the Wyld Hunt is something different and Exalted 3.0 is no exception.

So... we are basically being tracked down by an Exalted-powered Salem-style witch hunt? I have little understanding of what Dragon-blooded can do (it would not have surprised me to learn creatures called "dragon-blooded" could spend points somewhere to grow leathery wings and fly like dragons). I don't have a much greater understanding of Lunars or Solars.

All I know is I am even more glad to be playing O Mighty Fat Cat with the concept (a big-hearted jungle-born Luna-worshipper and explorer who is a courier by trade). What a "wyld" ride it has been so far! I look forward to more! =)

 

[Purr]

I am also proud of this!

Spoiler: This

"Proud to be the 400th on @BackerKit for SIDEREALS: Charting Fate's Course for Exalted Third Edition. Thanks @theonyxpath"

Hee hee! =)

 

[Rykon]

I have little understanding of what Dragon-blooded can do (it would not have surprised me to learn creatures called "dragon-blooded" could spend points somewhere to grow leathery wings and fly like dragons).

They are Exalted and human just like a Solar or Lunar, only instead of glowy skygod magic, they use elemental dragon magic that is less of a random gift and more inherited by literal bloodline. They also have a lower power ceiling than we do and thus tend to mount these hunts because they are afraid of our potential and the threat it presents to them and their status as the dominant force in the current age of Creation.

Kevin Kerwin was a Dragon-Blooded, but he was what is called an "Outcaste" because he wasn't part of one of the big family trees in the Blessed Isle or part of one of the houses in the city-state of Lookshy. Aredin made reference to this when he was provoking Kerwin in large part because it seemed odd to him that Kerwin, who had previously made the choice of remaining Outcaste (and thus being unaffiliated with the major world superpowers) bowed to the whims of larger groups of Dragon-Blooded.

 

[Purr]

Kevin Kerwin

I see what you did there! 8D

Aredin made reference to this when he was provoking Kerwin in large part because it seemed odd to him that Kerwin, who had previously made the choice of remaining Outcaste (and thus being unaffiliated with the major world superpowers) bowed to the whims of larger groups of Dragon-Blooded.

That does seem unusual, doesn't it? Makes me wonder if someone in the larger groups has some kind of hold on him.

 

[Chowlett]

IIRC, the stone lets the bearer detect any deliberate lie that is told.

I would expect our Eclipse to most benefit from that, Rykon . Aredin also has our highest Socialise (3 - we're not really the social type!). If you actively don't want it, then I could see it fitting Glade's character ok too.

 

[Rykon]

I'm fine with taking it. Should prove interesting when it comes up.

 

[Psychie]

IC post is finally up.

 

[Sherwood]

Sweet.

 

[Purr]

What is your plan?

While I like Psychie's recommendation of landing outside of town, as the one who knows least about Exalted, I am open to everyone else's thoughts.

Psychie Does O Mighty Fat Cat know the name of the town or at least the locale? Should I make some kind of roll to determine this?

What time of day/night is it and about how far away are we from Rathess now, please?

 

[Psychie]

The time of day is late afternoon, with about an hour and a half of sunlight left before sunset.

At this point, you are not aware of what the name of this town is. There are many locations that are just not big enough to make it onto a map of Creation out there, and while you have traveled far and wide, this is on the outside of your experience of places you've been.

You are still several days of travel away at your current pace.

 

[Purr]

The time of day is late afternoon, with about an hour and a half of sunlight left before sunset.

At this point, you are not aware of what the name of this town is. There are many locations that are just not big enough to make it onto a map of Creation out there, and while you have traveled far and wide, this is on the outside of your experience of places you've been.

You are still several days of travel away at your current pace.

O.K.. Thanks, Psychie!

How about everyone else? What should we expect, folks?

 

[Sherwood]

Landing outside of town has the advantage of being less conspicuous. We may be able to blend into the population easier that way.

That being said, we can always say the hell with it and just go ahead and make a grand entrance to the place and flaunt our status as Exalted.

Personally, I would lean more towards the first option. We don't know how these townspeople will react to us as Exalts, and it might make getting supplies a difficult thing to do.

 

[Sherwood]

Psychie Do any of us know anything about this town from this far out? You only stated that Fat Cat didn't know anything, but not the rest of us.