Remove ads

Exalted: Out Of The Eater

Reader mode
[X] Tell him you're afraid of what the army'll do if they win or, worse, if it seems like they might lose. There's so many helots here and the troops are taking all the food. You don't know how you'll make it through if they decide to just...deal with you all here.

Switching to this as a strategic vote because I don't want "you want to be different" to win.
 
ZerbanDaGreat said:
Imma keep it real witchu Alexius - they probably will. In fact I would predict that there is absolutely no way you get out of this alive without a literal miracle, and even then if the Abyssalists are right 'get out alive' is a bit shaky too (do you get outright resurrected or does your Deathlord go "do yeh fear death Jack Sparreh" just before you cark it, I can never remember).
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It's a "Do yeh fear death?" moment more than anything.

There's some people who lean towards a resurrection type of deal so they can do stuff like play the Headless Horseman or show up on an enemy's door and go "You didn't bury me deep enough", but canonically you're only mostly dead and not truly and sincerely dead.
 
Last edited:
[X] Tell him you're sorry you thought ill of him, he's been good to you and you have precious few friends as it is. That you- that you care about him too. Even if he could do better than you. Even if you might drag him down, get him killed. Even if you're barely human.
 
[X] Tell him you're afraid of what the army'll do if they win or, worse, if it seems like they might lose. There's so many helots here and the troops are taking all the food. You don't know how you'll make it through if they decide to just...deal with you all here.
 
[X] Tell him you're afraid of what the army'll do if they win or, worse, if it seems like they might lose. There's so many helots here and the troops are taking all the food. You don't know how you'll make it through if they decide to just...deal with you all here.
 
As an additional point to my crusade for telling him about how we do appreciate him; should anything happen (and I assume something will because that's just how stories work) I think that this is the only thing we may regret not saying, should we and Jason be separated temporarily or permanently.
 
ZerbanDaGreat said:
Oof. Man. I'm pretty sure Alexius' dream of 'freedom' was just being passed through Lethe, aka having his identity scoured off his soul with paint-stripper and being reborn as a completely different person. Understandable for someone in Creation but woof.

[X] Tell him you're afraid of what the army'll do if they win or, worse, if it seems like they might lose. There's so many helots here and the troops are taking all the food. You don't know how you'll make it through if they decide to just...deal with you all here.

Imma keep it real witchu Alexius - they probably will. In fact I would predict that there is absolutely no way you get out of this alive without a literal miracle, and even then if the Abyssalists are right 'get out alive' is a bit shaky too (do you get outright resurrected or does your Deathlord go "do yeh fear death Jack Sparreh" just before you cark it, I can never remember).
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Technically they just hit 'pause' on the exact moment before your soul exists your body.

[X] Tell him you're afraid of what the army'll do if they win or, worse, if it seems like they might lose. There's so many helots here and the troops are taking all the food. You don't know how you'll make it through if they decide to just...deal with you all here.

Like others have said: we're probably gonna die. Only question is when and how. It would be hillarious if after all the speculation about Abyssals we ended up as Lunars or something, but it doesn't look like we're headed that way, given all the Underworld and ghost homebrew we know is being used for this quest.
 
[X] Tell him how you used to dream of being different, of being something other than what you are. There are no Dragonblooded among the helots but as a child everyone hopes don't they? That maybe it'll be true for them. Maybe it'll be true for you.

I wonder if Jason's a spy.
 
[X] Tell him you're almost looking forward to Xauma's arrival in a perverse kind of way. They're monsters sure, but let's be honest: being eaten alive would almost be a relief in and of itself, wouldn't it? Maybe they'll tear off your head, at least it'll be fast.
 
[X] Tell him you're afraid of what the army'll do if they win or, worse, if it seems like they might lose. There's so many helots here and the troops are taking all the food. You don't know how you'll make it through if they decide to just...deal with you all here.
 
[X] Tell him you're afraid of what the army'll do if they win or, worse, if it seems like they might lose. There's so many helots here and the troops are taking all the food. You don't know how you'll make it through if they decide to just...deal with you all here.
 
[X] Tell him you're sorry you thought ill of him, he's been good to you and you have precious few friends as it is. That you- that you care about him too. Even if he could do better than you. Even if you might drag him down, get him killed. Even if you're barely human.

If Alexius is going to die, then at least he'll have one connection before then.

That "Freedom is an Ending" line made me think even more of Sidereals. I think that a Sidereal Dodge charm to suddenly be somewhere else might be one of the few things that could save him.

On options:
  • Dead mortal/decoy protagonist is still possible.
  • Water seems like the most likely Dragon-blooded option.
  • I don't see him exalting as a Solar.
  • There's enough of a Luna connection for a Lunar exaltation, but as which caste?
  • An Abyssal Day caste would have the ability to escape, hide, and become someone else.
  • For Infernal exaltation, his longing for freedom and feeling that he isn't a real person would resonate with the Ebon Dragon, and Adorjan would be good for maintaining that Freedom.
  • An Endings caste Sidereal exaltation would fit his feelings, and Sidereal weirdness and heavenly rescue might be necessary to save him.
 
[] Tell him how you used to dream of being different, of being something other than what you are. There are no Dragonblooded among the helots but as a child everyone hopes don't they? That maybe it'll be true for them. Maybe it'll be true for you.
 
Last edited:
Hmm, just started reading this. So, slave/untouchable huh?

Should become a criminal, travel, and get a fake identity of someone just a step above.
 
Indivisible said:
[X] Tell him you're sorry you thought ill of him, he's been good to you and you have precious few friends as it is. That you- that you care about him too. Even if he could do better than you. Even if you might drag him down, get him killed. Even if you're barely human.

If Alexius is going to die, then at least he'll have one connection before then.

That "Freedom is an Ending" line made me think even more of Sidereals. I think that a Sidereal Dodge charm to suddenly be somewhere else might be one of the few things that could save him.

On options:
  • Dead mortal/decoy protagonist is still possible.
  • Water seems like the most likely Dragon-blooded option.
  • I don't see him exalting as a Solar.
  • There's enough of a Luna connection for a Lunar exaltation, but as which caste?
  • An Abyssal Day caste would have the ability to escape, hide, and become someone else.
  • For Infernal exaltation, his longing for freedom and feeling that he isn't a real person would resonate with the Ebon Dragon, and Adorjan would be good for maintaining that Freedom.
  • An Endings caste Sidereal exaltation would fit his feelings, and Sidereal weirdness and heavenly rescue might be necessary to save him.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Eh, most Exaltation types depend on our abilities or attributes, meaning out choice for starting Charms is limited. Before considering which type will give us what powers, let's look at the abilities we currently we:

1. Digging ditches.
2. Be miserable.

We have poor physical stats due to severe malnutrition and forced labour (Jason is considerably more fit than us, and I doubt he's as fit as the average soldier), our social skills likely suck given we knew not one person before Jason showed up and this wasn't even our original home, leaving us potentially with only decent mental stats. Exaltation will give a slight buff to our attributes, but not enough to matter on its own.

Infernal Charms don't care about abilities or attributes, and a Lunar would let us have a spirit shape that could probably escape before anyone even knew what to look for, but an Abyssal, Solar or Sidereal would leave us with mostly Excellencies and the weakest Charms (though a Sidereal rescue team would be helpful).

It is amusing to me that five updates in and we still don't even know what splat we'll be...
 
Yonatan said:
Eh, most Exaltation types depend on our abilities or attributes, meaning out choice for starting Charms is limited. Before considering which type will give us what powers, let's look at the abilities we currently we:

1. Digging ditches.
2. Be miserable.

We have poor physical stats due to severe malnutrition and forced labour (Jason is considerably more fit than us, and I doubt he's as fit as the average soldier), our social skills likely suck given we knew not one person before Jason showed up and this wasn't even our original home, leaving us potentially with only decent mental stats. Exaltation will give a slight buff to our attributes, but not enough to matter on its own.

Infernal Charms don't care about abilities or attributes, and a Lunar would let us have a spirit shape that could probably escape before anyone even knew what to look for, but an Abyssal, Solar or Sidereal would leave us with mostly Excellencies and the weakest Charms (though a Sidereal rescue team would be helpful).

It is amusing to me that five updates in and we still don't even know what splat we'll be...
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This is not even slightly how Exaltation works. Exaltation gives you the powers your player wants you to have, the narrative would benefit from, that would thematically fit you, that would help you escape your circumstance, that would do whatever a given confluence of factors requires because it's a game about mythic heroes, and there is no Solar Exaltation that is going to fuck you over with Charms because you are a dirt farmer, unless that's what the player wanted to play. A classic Solar Exaltation is being a peasant nobody who manifests a suite of Melee and Resistance and Dodge Charms and kills ten thousand men with the jawbone of their murdered donkey because fuck you I'm a Solar.
 
If Exaltation depended on your skills, the most classic Solar story of the peasant's widow or daughter who picks up the blade of their father and defends herself or what she cares about wouldn't make sense and that would be sad. :(

[X] Tell him you're sorry you thought ill of him, he's been good to you and you have precious few friends as it is. That you- that you care about him too. Even if he could do better than you. Even if you might drag him down, get him killed. Even if you're barely human.
 
[X] Tell him you're sorry you thought ill of him, he's been good to you and you have precious few friends as it is. That you- that you care about him too. Even if he could do better than you. Even if you might drag him down, get him killed. Even if you're barely human.
 
[ ] Tell him how you used to dream of being different, of being something other than what you are. There are no Dragonblooded among the helots but as a child everyone hopes don't they? That maybe it'll be true for them. Maybe it'll be true for you.

was going to go with this

[X] Tell him you're sorry you thought ill of him, he's been good to you and you have precious few friends as it is. That you- that you care about him too. Even if he could do better than you. Even if you might drag him down, get him killed. Even if you're barely human.

but it's sadder if even that is beyond him.
 
[X] Tell him you're sorry you thought ill of him, he's been good to you and you have precious few friends as it is. That you- that you care about him too. Even if he could do better than you. Even if you might drag him down, get him killed. Even if you're barely human.
 
TenfoldShields said:
The outer layers of your skin next: sheets of half-translucent tissue, white as fine muslin, curling away in ribbons. Hair gone like a dandelion puff in a gust of wind. The red meat beneath the surface, the glossy tendons and milky-clear cartilage detaching and slithering into the deep. Purple-grey viscera slipping from beneath bleak ribs and muddy brown eyes floating free, rootlike nerves trailing. Everything sloughing off, the burdens falling one by one until you're just a skeleton. Just so many polished ivory bones, acid-etched with things unsaid, things you could never say, will never say. Your head tipped back, flayed jaws gleaming, tongue melting into so much scarlet mist. And then the salt water chews that up too, erodes it into so much fine-grained dust, snow-white grit carried away on tidal forces. The line of destruction sweeping up over your sockets and you have no lids left but you feel like you close them anyway. It's over. You can stop now. You can rest now.

Freedom is an ending.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
O.O

that's

um

[X] Tell him you're almost looking forward to Xauma's arrival in a perverse kind of way. They're monsters sure, but let's be honest: being eaten alive would almost be a relief in and of itself, wouldn't it? Maybe they'll tear off your head, at least it'll be fast.

tell me about the wolfmen, tenfold

(also we're totally going to the Speaker session; we're already a dead man walking, might as well be one with a spot of hope still)
 
I like apologizing for the correctly perceived slight, but the grovelling is a bit much, so forming connections through likely shared worries instead!

[x] Tell him you're afraid of what the army'll do if they win or, worse, if it seems like they might lose. There's so many helots here and the troops are taking all the food. You don't know how you'll make it through if they decide to just...deal with you all here.
 
[X] Tell him how you used to dream of being different, of being something other than what you are. There are no Dragonblooded among the helots but as a child everyone hopes don't they? That maybe it'll be true for them. Maybe it'll be true for you.

Our protagonist will almost certainly exalt, so it would be interesting to see his attitudes about the Dragonblooded (and other exalts?) before hand.
 
[X] Tell him you're almost looking forward to Xauma's arrival in a perverse kind of way. They're monsters sure, but let's be honest: being eaten alive would almost be a relief in and of itself, wouldn't it? Maybe they'll tear off your head, at least it'll be fast.
 
Vote Closed.

Ccccaalling it just in case, it's near enough that I probably should. "Army" wins, update tonight or tomorrow.
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top