YOUR DEATH: Her? Honestly, I don't have that much to say about her. She doesn't visit often. But you should ask them about her.
Her finger indicates up, towards the distant sky, where, veiled behind a layer of swirling dark, your stars shine on, undeterred.
THE CAPTAIN: She is an insubordinate servant loyal only to treasure.
THE LOVERS: She is the one who never loves you back.
THE GAUNTLET: She is what you don't know how to sacrifice, and so, a weakness.
THE SORCERER: She is a churlish thug, heir to a tribe of wanton savages and chaos-eaters.
That's kind of an unflattering picture they're painting of her. It makes you second-guess if you even should stick by such an unpleasant-
THE CROW: In all of Creation, she alone is safe to trust.
And her name, you finally remember, is Ciara Cold Eyes. You are pretty sure she hates you.
YOUR DEATH: It's a good thing you managed to dredge this one out from the wreckage of your spirit, isn't it? Well, she also seem to be actually taking care of you, again, so our time is running short.
But is there enough of it left for one more question?
YOUR DEATH: Ask.
[ ] Who am I?
[ ] What is this place?
[ ] Are you really my death?
[ ] Do you have any games here?
It pleases me that this utterly frivolous question has been chosen. I'd like to see Death-chan (I make no apologies) thrown for a loop, if possible. She seems so weary, don't you think? I'd like to show her something new, for once.
Yeah, there are. They're called "beastfolk"; they have a variety of origins (sometimes related to Lunar shenanigans), and they vary between individual people who are animal people for idiosyncratic reasons and whole ethnic groups of animal people. There is a nation in the Ex3 corebook that is split between serpent-people and raiton-people (raitons are archeopteryx) with a cultural divide on what is expected of each kind. An important point the books make repeatedly is that beastfolk are, in the metaphysical sense, human beings; they have unique physical traits that are often hereditary, but they're fundamentally just people, with the same soul and tracing back to the same origins with forked paths along the way.
A corollary of that last point is that beastfolk can Exalt as readily as the next human. It's notionally possible that Ciara is a wolf-person who became a Lunar whose associated animal is, fuckin', a frog.
Your Death raises an eyebrow into a thin, golden arch. A light chuckle escapes her mouth, which she covers belatedly with alabaster fingers. Unused to this kind of reaction, you react with a nervous smile.
YOUR DEATH: You wish to play games with me?
Well, if all you're doing here is waiting to resuscitate by Ciara...
THE SORCERER: Unfamiliar with the sublime arts of sorcerous healing, she will likely be forced to rely instead on more primitive medicine, nursing you back to health with the primal heat of her bestial bodies, and repulsive pastes of mountain lichens, administered mouth to-
You really want to play games with your Death, yes, to pass time and get to-
THE SORCERER: -as yet untempered by civilisation, and unintroduced to genteel mores, savage people are guided by the most wanton and unrestrained lusts.
Your Death observes you with idle amusement as you stare at your stars and ask them why are they like this.
THE CAPTAIN: He is compromised, ma'am. It's the consequence of a failed internal discipline, and a loosening of external chains of command. This is how you end up lusting after a subordinate, which is a violation of-
No. Stop. That's- that's not even the part you are objecting to. That's not the problem!
THE LOVERS: Correct.
She would be the one to know. You sigh in relief, glad to have her on your side.
THE LOVERS: The problem is that the only kind of love you can imagine is a kick to the stomach, and being spat upon. Which no one ever would want to do with you, either.
Okay, that's just uncalled for. Whatever you are feeling towards Ciara is far more refined and respectable than some perverse, crude lust. At least you hope.
THE GAUNTLET: And you are right. What you are feeling is love, pure and unalloyed.
Love! This is wonderful news, and you hold onto it. Love is one of those sweet words that marks what is good in Creation.
THE GAUNTLET: Love is a chain running from your neck to her hand. Love is the moment of hesitation that invites total defeat. Love is a leaden weight from which you must free yourself, before it drags you all the way to the bottom.
You stare at your stars accusingly. They shine back at you, unperturbed. You realize you have some hang-ups about this entire matter.
THE CROW: Yes.
THOUGHT UNLOCKED: Trouble at the House of Serenity.
Why is he the one to tell you this?
THE CROW: I shine upon the self-aware.
The implications of this statement are awful, so you do your best to repress them immediately. Your mind is well-drilled in this operation. You turn back to your Death.
[ ] Am I always like this?
[ ] Are they always like this?
The look your Death gives you is long, and some could almost interpret it as sympathetic.
YOUR DEATH: I do, actually, have some games.
SOCIALIZE (EXTRAORDINARY): CHECK SUCCESS
From the averted gaze of those violet eyes, you infer that the answer to your question is no, and they are not the problem. You frown - this makes little sense to you. If the voices of your compromised stars are not the problem, then what is?
THE LOVERS: You are.
Then why didn't she tell me this directly?
THE LOVERS: Unlike me, she doesn't want you to hurt.
INTEGRITY (EXTRAORDINARY):
CHECK SUCCESS
THE LOVERS: Because as long as you're hurting, you're still alive. It's your best, and only weapon against her.
You face her. From the emptiness of her home, she produces a thick leather bag that you recognize for a travel set of Collapse, a distant and simplified relative of Gateway, popular among merchants and vagrants on the long trade routes that limn the outer edge of the Threshold. She unties the loop holding the sack closed and unrolls into a playing field, weighed down with small chunks of carved stone attached by string to each corner. Glass tokens, emerald and amethyst, clatter out. You catch one before it can vanish below you and help her sort them out.
Your Death: Best three of five?
You nod. She makes you guess which hand hides a token. You wind, and pick the side. The rules of the game are in your fingers; for a time, nothing disrupts the heavy quiet of the bottom of the night.
WAR (LEGENDARY):
CHECK FAILED
You lose the first game in sixteen moves, and the second in twenty one. Then, you pause and stare at the board for a time, taking your time in order to come up with an effective counter-strategy. You employ it, and lose the third one in five.
THE SORCERER: Impossible! Best four out of six?
Before you can make that offer, your Death wipes the tokens away from the board. Above you, the dark thins; you watch your stars dissolve in the illuminated grey of a day about to rise.
YOUR DEATH: Our time is at an end.
The sensation of ascending back towards the waking world is familiar by now. As are the first pangs of bodily pain welcoming you again among the living.
YOUR DEATH: But I would be a poor hostess if I did let you leave without a gift.
You find it in your hands when you emerge back from this midway realm: a token of green glass between your fingers. A recovered piece of yourself.
From now on, we will be using a modified Exalted Essence list of abilities, instead of the provisional traditional one I've been using earlier. The main modification is that I will break Sagacity into Lore and Occult again, to better reflect the nature of the quest.
From now on, you receive a +1 bonus to checks from skills to which you are astrologically attuned (Navigate, Embassy, Presence, Occult, Awareness). Furthermore, select three skills to specialise in, also resulting in a +1 bonus. Note that the below is not a comprehensive list of all skills that exist, only ones that are available to you.
[ ] Awareness: arts of seeing, noticing, and paying attention.
[ ] Craft: knowledge of how things are made, how they are unmade, and what significance rests in the act of creation.
[ ] Embassy: the ways of politeness, empathy, and falsehood.
[ ] Presence: the power of the voice, posture, and will imposed on others.
[ ] Integrity: the core of the self, and the ability to reflect on that self.
[ ] Navigate: the way of finding ways.
[ ] Occult: hidden knowledge, forbidden knowledge, sorcerous knowledge, exalted knowledge.
[ ] Lore: lesser knowledge.
[ ] Stealth: practices of rogues, cheats, and tricksters.
Thought Cabinet is where you store and process your Thoughts. They are dregs of your personality floating up to the surface of you, rare moments of self-reflection, or various insights you are currently processing.
According to the sage @Crumplepunch: each thought offers a set of penalties and/or bonuses while you are thinking about it. You cannot unequip thoughts during this time. After thinking about it for the allotted time, you will receive some kind of information about the results of your thought, along with a different set of bonuses and/or penalties, and possibly other benefits or modifiers. You can unequip and equip completed thoughts whenever you rest (such as right now).
You currently have two slots in your thought cabinet. You can acquire more later.
[ ] Emptying the Holds
You have suffered what should be a mortal blow, and somehow managed to shrug it off. This is troubling, because usually people don't live through being killed this thoroughly, and yet here we are. There is a number of questions this invites, starting with "am I dead sure I'm still alive?", then going through "how was that even possible?" and "maybe this is just a hallucination of a dying mind?", and ending with "what if I am, for all intents and purposes, absolutely unkillable by normal means?" You get a feel that the answers may come in handy.
Medicine -2 (Infuriating violation of the laws of physique)
Fortitude +2 (Built different)
24 hours.
[ ] Peaks and Valleys
You have, indisputably, achieved the Celestial Circle of Sorcery, also known as the Sapphire Circle. According to the latest estimates, there are between a hundred and two hundred entities wielding such power in all the realms of existence. Furthermore, there is also a voice in your head (or possibly in the sky) which is heavily suggesting that you are better than most of them. On the other hand, your first attempt at wielding the amazing cosmic power that is your due almost got you killed, and you weren't even particularly surprised by that outcome. Ponder this paradox.
Occult -1 (Creeping self-doubt)
Integrity +1 (An inkling of perspective)
8 hours.
[ ] Those Violet Sorrows
You are on a first-name basis with your Death, or at least it feels that way. She also calls you a "sister", and you find it difficult not to see her with the kind of sympathy usually restricted only to the closest kin. This is unfortunate because, unless she was particularly dishonest with you, she is nothing but a metaphor, which means that your kindness is wasted on her. Still, there may be some use in trying to find out how, exactly, you two became so very familiar, and familial.
Embassy +1 (I see Death as people)
12 hours.
[ ] Most Deceitful Star
The Crow represents the end of illusions and dreams. It is inevitability and the recognition thereof. Among all the stars that could shine on you, this constellation in particular casts a light of bare truth and unquestionable honesty. You are not on the best terms with the Crow, and are in fact convinced that he is full of shit and trying to lie to you. Setting aside the concerning tendency to anthropomorphize and hold conversations with celestial bodies, there is an interesting question to be asked about your frustrations with concepts such as "impossibility," and "recognition of one's limits".
Occult +1 ('Impossible' is just a word)
Presence -1 (Somewhat unreasonable)
12 hours.
[ ] Trouble at the House of Serenity
Your relationship with the House of Serenity, also known as the Cerulean Lute of Harmony, can best be described as somewhat vexed. You have received the blessings of Venus wrong. Your desire exists under the sign of Jupiter. When it comes to love, your stars take on an Abyssal aspect. You are rapidly running out of ideas for good metaphors for all of your many psycho-sexual hang-ups. Seek help.
Integrity -1 (Thoroughly compromised)
Occult +1 (Rampant sublimation)
24 hours.
On the one hand, resolving this seems helpful. On the other hand, it's an interesting and cute set of hangups to have, so maybe we should leave it be a while?
[X] Embassy: the ways of politeness, empathy, and falsehood.
[X] Presence: the power of the voice, posture, and will imposed on others.
[X] Lore: lesser knowledge.
[X] Emptying the Holds
[X] Trouble at the House of Serenity
[X] Embassy: the ways of politeness, empathy, and falsehood.
[X] Presence: the power of the voice, posture, and will imposed on others.
[X] Occult: hidden knowledge, forbidden knowledge, sorcerous knowledge, exalted knowledge.
[X] Emptying the Holds
[X] Peaks and Valleys
[X] Peaks and Valleys
[X] Trouble at the House of Serenity
Awareness and Integrity because we want to know more about the world and ourselves, respectively. Occult because we should probably try to do better with our sorcery. Sorcery seems pretty important to whatever we have going on, here.
[X] Occult: hidden knowledge, forbidden knowledge, sorcerous knowledge, exalted knowledge.
[X] Lore: lesser knowledge.
[X] Presence: the power of the voice, posture, and will imposed on others.
YOUR DEATH: You barely know what "yourself" is, anymore. But yes. there are other, fringe benefits to your wicked little plot. A general cosmic realignment across two different skies, and a new kind of cosmic justice to counteract some very old, and very grave sins. But, ultimately, it's about your guilt.
