Remove ads

[Exalted, ?] Most High

Reader mode
[X] Counter-Infiltration

"Hey Nilul. What am I best at?"
"Being incredibly reckless?"
"Close, doing the impossible."
"And why is this- no."
"I wonder how impossible it is to convince two Infernals we're their allies."
 
Hm, if you guys take advantage of this XP modifier enough, you could get enough Solar XP to buy one more Evocation before the Polemgaos fight, as well.
 
[X] Counter-Infiltration

Nilul gets to face her fears, we get to uncover Infernal plots at the heart of the Realm, in addition to the chance at more prestige and money. We entered into the tournament knowing it would be risky, and none of the players seemed to have a problem with the prospect of dealing with Ayala and Fei Ling before Nilul found out. Backing out is just anticlimactic.
 
Orm Embar said:
[X] Counter-Infiltration

Nilul gets to face her fears, we get to uncover Infernal plots at the heart of the Realm, in addition to the chance at more prestige and money. We entered into the tournament knowing it would be risky, and none of the players seemed to have a problem with the prospect of dealing with Ayala and Fei Ling before Nilul found out. Backing out is just anticlimactic.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

To be fair, you don't really need money, so it's mostly just the prestige. Unless you're planning on buying a Realm Legion or something.

Ridiculously Average Guy said:
[X] Counter-Infiltration

"Hey Nilul. What am I best at?"
"Being incredibly reckless?"
"Close, doing the impossible."
"And why is this- no."
"I wonder how impossible it is to convince two Infernals we're their allies."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I think she would probably say training.

And be correct.
 
[X] Forbearance
This gets us what we need from tournament and keep Nilul safe and reasonably happy. We may be an asshole but there is no reason to endanger our (annoying) friend.
 
[x] Forbearance

Red option is red... did right by me so far.

Besides, this offers the best risk to reward ratio. The only issue is that if the Infernals have too high essence compared to Nilul, they can see through Loom-Snaring Deception.
 
While the story potential is greater in the Counter-infiltration option, I once again feel that in this instance it is Better Red than Dead. I may be wrong, but I'm honestly OK with one supercrazy fight, and then back to school. If we had our own Astrological buffs I might think otherwise, but meh.
[x] Forbearance
 
aja318 said:
[X] Forbearance
This gets us what we need from tournament and keep Nilul safe and reasonably happy. We may be an asshole but there is no reason to endanger our (annoying) friend.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Well, there's finding out what the Infernals are up to. Finding out if there's more of them around. Finding out the Infernal plot we're in the middle of. Diverting Infernal attention to a nonexistent cabal leader...
Reckless_Sun said:
[x] Forbearance

Red option is red... did right by me so far.

Besides, this offers the best risk to reward ratio. The only issue is that if the Infernals have too high essence compared to Nilul, they can see through Loom-Snaring Deception.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Why would they? She has Breeding 6, she's presumably been exalted for significantly longer than Ayala's <5 years of service.
 
Last edited:
I'd vote for your negotiations at knifepoint plan guile. Is it actually an option now that things are consolidated by rihaku?
 
Last edited:
[X] Counter-Infiltration

Sounds like the most fun since I don't want to start a fight with the infernals without knowing what they're after and I really want us to finish the tournament. It can redeem us for the last tournament we were in where we lost before qualifying.
 
[X] Forbearance

I'd consider counter-infiltration if we had a great stunt, but we don't, and that option absolutely needs one. We've got a bad hand and it's time to fold and walk away. Though perhaps not without a consolation prize if we beat Polemgaos.

Though, Rihaku did say Zao would assume we had a good reason for doing so. Does Ulyssian think he'd consider Nilul's concerns about the Infernals to be such a reason? In general he seems to approve of the cautious, low-key, long-term preparation options, but he did send Uly out to the Tournament in the first place and some kind of explanation, even if only by implicit hints, will have to eventually be given to satisfy Dynastic curiosity.
 
[X] Counter-Infiltration

Ugh, I wanted to bail earlier, but we've already bitten the 'trust Nilul' bullet apparently, and I just can't resist the opportunity for LABYRINTHINE INTRIGUE AND DECEPTION that Counter-Infiltration offers. We specced for disguise, we chose to enter the tournament; what's the point of that, if just fuck off and back out at the first real challenge? As for the 'oh, we're just here for the essence' argument... that's largely OOC. Ulyssian knows it's a possibility, but he didn't decide to enter the tournament because he couldn't be bothered to meditate. He did it because it gets influence for him and Zao, making things easier for us down the road, no matter what path we pursue. We've already proven ourselves willing to kill and risk ourselves to preserve Zao's influence, back when we fought the Immaculates.

And you know what? Above and beyond all other considerations, I think Ulyssian wants this. The desire for validation and personal excellence are integral parts of his psyche. He would want to test himself against the best the Realm has to offer, even if it's risky and there's no guarantee of success. He's been putting himself to the grindstone (more than usual, anyway) in preparation for the tournament for the better part of two months. Backing out now because Nilul wants to is just cowardly, in my opinion, and as touching as that bonding seen was... you know what? She's not being rational about this. She's lived the entirety of her life in fear of these kind of people, but she can't run forever. The Dragon casts a long shadow. As for persuading her... I'm not sure how to come at that argument. Inspiring the desire to excel and stand firm in others is firmly within Solar thematics, though. Maybe frame leaving and running away again as the Dragon winning? How can she live her own happy life in its shadow?
 
Last edited:
Rihaku said:
Hm, if you guys take advantage of this XP modifier enough, you could get enough Solar XP to buy one more Evocation before the Polemgaos fight, as well.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That'd require about 5000 (minus the stuff that's already been written after the XP update, leaving us with 3000 words to write not including quality modifiers) words, if my calculations are right.

So, would we want Divine Dragon Speed or Ordering the Constellations? Both seem pretty useful.
 
Last edited:
Cavalier said:
[X] Forbearance

I'd consider counter-infiltration if we had a great stunt, but we don't, and that option absolutely needs one. We've got a bad hand and it's time to fold and walk away. Though perhaps not without a consolation prize if we beat Polemgaos.

Though, Rihaku did say Zao would assume we had a good reason for doing so. Does Ulyssian think he'd consider Nilul's concerns about the Infernals to be such a reason? In general he seems to approve of the cautious, low-key, long-term preparation options, but he did send Uly out to the Tournament in the first place and some kind of explanation, even if only by implicit hints, will have to eventually be given to satisfy Dynastic curiosity.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I think Zao will probably get why we did it. But approve of Uly ducking out too? That I'm not sure of.
 
Dark Lord Bob said:
That'd require about 5000 (minus the stuff that's already been written after the XP update, leaving us with 3000 words to write not including quality modifiers) words, if my calculations are right.

So, would we want Divine Dragon Speed or Ordering the Constellations? Both seem pretty useful.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

You can't get those, the Essence requirement is too high. But "pretty useful?!" - Come on! A Rampage Berserker analogue in Melee is one of the most ridiculously overpowered Charms you can get, once you have damage-adders! This is how you get hundreds of Initiative without relying on Dragon Tongue retrieval AoE withering shenanigans.

Jorlem said:
@Rihaku In the interests of those who come upon this quest later, would you be willing to threadmark the Q&A posts with Nilul?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yeah, probably.
 
Not sure which to vote for yet but may as well theorize about how to to accomplish counter-infiltration a bit anyway.

Convincing Nilul: Don't have much for this beyond her mentioning not want to live like a trapped animal, which while somewhat applicable to the current situation, is still a bit of a stretch.
Detection Justification: I would go of a mix of "Oh, you disguised yourself as a mortal? I've done that too!" coupled with "In fact, the Yozis and I are deeply acquainted, you could even say we've known each other... for Ages."
Faction: Probably best not to get too complex with this one, I'd say go for an independent very martially inclined solar (not much need to fabricate there) with very little concern about anything else, possibly with some vaguely defined link to the Empress if Nilul can feed us enough to make it seem convincing.
Her Identity: The Scarlett Empress, Back from the dead! Or we could go with something more dull, maybe a 3rd circle we know for some reason? Pretty iffy on this bit.
What to Say: Keep this simple, we came here because we were interested in the tournament and how the best of the DBs stack up, and they better not mess with that... or else. In fact it may be better if they vamoose right now, as we don't want to deal with their nonsense. Basically take the position that we don't care about them in particular but we're perfectly willing to kill them if need be. Then see how they react to that in order to formulate further options.
 
Nilul's mom is the Scarlet Empress, who is allied with the Infernals, so I think they'd be pretty surprised to see her here and not in Hell!?
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top