Trial By Fire - Exalted 2e IC Thread

[jaydude]

Annika smiled at Heaven. "If you think you can make her more willing to talk, feel free." she answered, assuming that he was going to use his sorcery to try and dispel whatever had caused the Voice to vomit up those slugs.

Having said that, Annika looked back at the Abyssal again, making sure she hadn't escaped.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Annika had no need to fear the Abyssal escaping. Not with Sirocco, still in her War Form, looming over her. It was often easy to forget that no matter whre Heaven went, Sirocco wasn't far away... especially in a hostile place like this.

 

[Kalin Scarlet]

Heaven nods to Annika and sits just outside the doorway. "Make sure she doesn't wader off, ladies..." He glances up at Sirocco, thoughts of her question from their journey coming to the fore. He considers giving her a lesson, but decides that it would be best saved for later. Heaven begins a silent chant, his essence focusing into the palms of his hands.

Spoiler

Heaven commits 20 motes to the casting of Sapphire Countermagic, attempting to shatter the spell affecting the would-be assassin.

 

[Sherwood]

Your prisoner can hear the conversation between all of you, and as Heaven approaches her, her eyes widen in fear. She shakes her head back and forth, "No! Don't do it! He will know! He will know and will punish me, not only for my failure but for betraying Him! Please! I beg of you, just kill me quick and end my pain now."

 

[jaydude]

Something told Annika that the Abyssal might not be lying, and she held up a palm towards Heaven, wanting him to abort whatever sorcery he was about to perform. Though as far as she knew, it could be too late for that, seeing as Heaven had committed his Essence to it.

"Is she telling the truth? Are there charms or spells that warn their caster when they've been broken?" she asked, thinking that the Abyssal's master might try and go through the circle to get to her. If that was indeed the case, Annika would rather put that moment off for as long as possible.

 

[Kalin Scarlet]

Can I make an Intelligence+Occult(Sorcery) roll to determine if that's accurate?

 

[Sherwood]

Can I make an Intelligence+Occult(Sorcery) roll to determine if that's accurate?

Feel free to roll.

 

[Kalin Scarlet]

Magical Knowledge Roll: 5 intelligence + 5 Occult + 3 Sorcery = 13 rolls

9 successes

 

[Sherwood]

With your mystic knowledge, you do know that if this Master of hers has some kind of token or connection to her, it is possible for some magical effects to reach across hundreds or even thousands of miles of Creation to be able to scry on her position, or to use some magical effects on her. The good news is, such magics are rare and very powerful, so unless her boss of the unspoken name has such power, she might be fine.

With Annika's Stone of Surface Thoughts, you can tell that her fear is genuine, and she seriously believes that she is about to be punished in a way that makes death preferable.

 

[Kalin Scarlet]

Heaven grits his teeth as he continues the process of casting. Thinking about it, there was the possibility that another exalt could be scrying on them at this moment. With this in mind, he looked towards the woman that had tried to kill Darian, and feels a surprising pang of guilt for possibly putting her in danger.

"It's possible someone is watching her,yes. I can't say whether they are capable of attacking her from a vast distance or not, though. However, if they were, I'd imagine they'd have done something already..." He says, looking to Annika for a solid decision.

 

[jaydude]

Seeing Heaven look at her, and recalling the fear she had sensed in the Abyssal, Annika quickly came to a decision.

"Hold up!" the Night caste ordered Heaven. "I'd rather not have to deal with her master and Filial Wisdom at the same time."

 

[Kalin Scarlet]

Heaven nodded in acceptance, despite feeling this was more than likely the worse of the two options. With a clap of his hands, the massive wave of essence dispersed harmlessly, and left Heaven drained. He fell forward but managed to catch himself, climbing to his feet slowly. After a moment, he moved closer to Sirocco, holding onto her gently waist gently to hide how much the now wasted spell had taken out of him.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Sirocco leans in towards the Abyssal. "I sure hope that your 'Master' enjoys giving you cruel punishments. Because right now, am feeling pretty inventive about giving you some of my own ideas of cruel punishments." And that is delivered with a beak that's ready to snap small pieces off the Abyssal's hide, and feed them back to it...

 

[jaydude]

Annika gave Heaven an apologetic look, having seen that he had clearly wasted a lot of essence and energy. She glanced at Sirocco, mentally noting the Lunar's apparent capacity for brutality, before turning her attention to the Abyssal.

"I'll let you know now, I plan to have that charm of your master's removed sooner or later. So I suggest that you start reconsidering your loyalty to him, and considering the idea of co-operating with us. Who knows, any information you provide might allow us to kill your master before he can inflict any sort of punishment upon you. And if you still don't want to work with us, you can rest assured that things between us will not be as pleasant as they are now."

 

[Kalin Scarlet]

Heaven groans, rubbing Sirocco's shoulder calmingly. "Calm down, Sirocco. We just interrupted the spell to save her life...sort of. I doubt threatening it over again is gonna work." After glancing between his two allies, he turns to the Abyssal assassin. "Uhm, I don't know what your master is capable of, whether he is watching or if he's capable of causing you harm from wherever he lies, but I promise I'll do what I can for you to keep you safe, if you come with us quietly and cooperate."

 

[Sherwood]

The captive woman glowers, then points her chin down at the mass of arrows still sticking out of her. With a pained gasp and a wet, bloody cough, she says, "If you don't plan on doing something about this, you might as well kill me now before I bleed to death. Either way, I don't have much choice in what you do to me. Taking these cuff off of me would do the trick; I can heal from this with the help of my Essence."

Using the Gemstone of Surface Thoughts, you can tell she is trying to find a way to escape, but doesn't hold much faith in her ability to do so with so many Exalts keeping an eye on her. There is still an undercurrent of fear of what will happen to her from this Master of hers when he finds out she's failed in her mission and has been captured.


In the airship, Relza gives Viktor a tour of the city, pointing out various landmarks and features the might be of interest to you. All of this is done with the relative safety of the Platform's cloaking device. If it were not for that, Relza explains that any flight over the city would be dangerous with the Goblin King and his other Exalted allies in the area. Viktor can see that the winged goddess is almost glowing in her pleasure of having one of 'her' ships working once more and taking to the air about the city. "I suppose it is time to go back to the Tower now. This test flight has been successful, and with a bit of work on the other ships, I can look forward to the day that the skies of Rathess will once more be filled with travelers, coming and going as they wish. Thank you for this, Viktor. I owe you a great favor."


Down in the hospital, Darian has been marveling at how well her eyes work, and is getting used to having them. You notice that as your body adapts to the implants, distance vision is a bit blurry, but seeing something close up is less of a problem. (Once you spend that last point, your distance vision will be 20/20, just like your close in one.) It has been some time that you have spent here, and it is probably a good idea to return to the Flying Tower to gather up the others and decide on your next step.

 

[jaydude]

Annika didn't want to remove those soulsteel manacles - and make it possible for the Voice to use her Essence - if she could help it. She turned to Heaven and Sirocco.

"Look around. See if there's anything here we can use to bind her wounds, or at least tie her up with." she instructed. She herself would look around, though she'd remain in the room, still not letting the Voice out of her sight.

 

[Sherwood]

In the Tower, Sirroco, Annika, and Heaven find sufficient cloth to bind the wounds on the assassin, keeping her chained up to maintain control of her. This takes some time, and as you finish up this, the bunch that went to the hospital come back. Darian looks like she is feeling well, and seems to be a bit distracted as she looks around the room in amazement. It does not take long to learn that the priestess has a new set of eyes, granting her the ability to see for the first time! From the way that Aredin is hovering over her, he looks just as plead as his wife.


Up at the top of the landing platform, Relza directs Viktor to bring the airship in for a landing as you can see the rest of the Circle coming up to the top, looking around for the mechanic of the group.

Now that everyone is back together, what do you wish to do?

 

[jaydude]

"I was wondering when you lot were going to return." Annika said with a smile when she, Sirocco and Heaven were joined by those who had gone to the medical facility. It wasn't long before she noticed that, besides her wound being healed, Darian's eyes looked very different than before. Had they really managed to succeed with fixing her sight? Her new eyes and the look on Aredin's face certainly suggested so.

"Hey. Recognise me?" Annika asked, looking at Darian, knowing that while the Zenith caste might remember her voice, she would have no idea what the Night caste - or anyone - looked like.

Once that was done, and everyone had reassembled at the top of the tower, Annika would tell everyone about her questioning of the Voice, and everything she had learned from it.

 

[Rykon]

Aredin stayed silent, knowing his wife would want to settle accounts with her assailant on her own. He'd support her course in such matters but did find himself distracted with wandering thoughts.

Filial Wisdom, Whisper, Abyssals... Why does this all feel so familiar, I couldn't have been involved with this mess before, could I? Still, I wanna know more about these other Exalts Whisper mentioned. Ones that align with Filial Wisdom are liable to be equally antagonistic to our goals. Given this master of the abyssal knows both of us and of Filial Wisdom, should I assume they are nearby? Perhaps the source of the dangers in the deeper parts of the city...

 

[Psychie]

When the group manages to break Darian away from the latest marvel that she is looking at, she finds herself looking down at the woman that tried to kill her. For a long moment, she says nothing, and just gives the other Exalt a glare. Then, she kneels down next to her head. "So, you are the one that tried to end my life. I should be angry. I should try to take your head off, only to be held back by my friends and loved ones. But I will forgive you - just this once. Because of your botched attempt at my life, I am now able to see the world in a way that I have never done before. For that reason only, I thank you." She stands up, still eyeing the manacled woman.

"Why did you try to kill me? Who sent you?"

 

[Sherwood]

The Abyssal warily eyes Darian, knowing that it may not take much for the forgiveness she offers to fade away and end up in Voice getting herself tormented. With a heavy sigh, she says, "I already told them," she points with her chin to Heaven, Sirocco and Annika, "that I was sent by Filial Wisdom to kill you. I don't know why he singled you out. He never told me his reasons, but he did want you dead."

 

[Psychie]

Darian looks around at the others in confusion. "Me? Why me? Do you mean he wanted all of us dead, not just me? Or was I the singular target for this attack?"

 

[Sherwood]

Another groan of pain comes as Voice shifts her position on the floor. "No, he wants all of you either dead or kneeling at his feet, but for some reason, he ordered me to end your life specifically. He never gave me a reason; I'm not sure he knows with as crazy as he is."

 

[Psychie]

Darian looks at Voice with little in the way of sympathy for the pain she is in. "Hmmm. Interesting. I will have to bring this up to this Filial Wisdom when I see him." She turns to walk away, then stops. "Wait. He knows we are here. How? We never announced ourselves that we were here."