[Exalted] The Dragon's Spite

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[X] Try The Risky Ritual - There's a method described there, for a more… unorthodox shutdown of elements of the spell wall which is only meant to be done in emergencies. There was lots of red text warning about how that shutdown isn't safe. But it'll be fast even if it puts Rena in peril.

I'm voting for this mostly because I love how sorcery is depicted in this quest, and an emergency shutoff ritual is something I'd really like to see.
 
[X] Break It - Rena knows Death of Purple Irises. Cause enough damage to the local geomancy, and she might be able to cause the energies to vent rather than be contained. It'll be reliable but risk destroying the precious anchor.
 
[X] Break It - Rena knows Death of Purple Irises. Cause enough damage to the local geomancy, and she might be able to cause the energies to vent rather than be contained. It'll be reliable but risk destroying the precious anchor.
 
[X] Drain It - It's already weakening, and every time it has to lash out at something approaching it, it'll be using power that Wood can't replenish. And there are demons here to use as soul-servitor fodder. It'll be safe, but shows Zed she's a soulthief.
 
[X] Break It - Rena knows Death of Purple Irises. Cause enough damage to the local geomancy, and she might be able to cause the energies to vent rather than be contained. It'll be reliable but risk destroying the precious anchor.
 
Alright, I'd like to take a moment to remind people of a few points.

Rena came here for two things: occult power and money. This is a quest where one of the principal mechanics is how much Debt we're in, and where Rena came to this city (and indeed this Direction) because she lost almost everything she owned back home and wound up flat broke. That jade statue represents an unparalleled fortune in pure jade and historical significance.

And people are voting to break it... why? Because the local god might not like us anymore if he sees we can rip souls out?

Guys. We're playing a pulp sorceress. Not only is soul-ripping just the kind of thing a a lot of sorcerers do, which gives no indication yet that we're sleeping with fae princes and the like; if we were worried about whether people would like us or not for doing it, we probably wouldn't have become a soul-stealing chaos witch in the first place. Rena values three things: her personal safety, the restoration of her fortunes and her handsome gentlemen. But she already has two handsome gentlemen, and this one she doesn't fully trust regardless, so if he decides to make an issue out of how she casts? She'll just have to either steal his soul, seduce him into compliance or kill him.

The paranoia of "oh, don't let him find out we're a soul thief!" is ridiculous, because if he's going to become our patron - which is exactly what we came here for - he's going to find that out in very short order no matter what. Flinching away at the last minute and "playing it safe" by sacrificing one of the biggest hauls we've seen since we got to this dry dusty hellhole of a city is both pointless, wasteful and quite likely to end in us being in more danger because we didn't earn enough from the expedition to pay back the debt we're in. Yeah. Remember that? We went into debt in order to fund this venture. We owe people money, and the Jansi of Cahzor are not terribly patient or forgiving people. Worry less about "what if this single Terrestrial god gets angry with us if he sees we're a sorceress who does what a lot of sorceresses do, in a way that doesn't even involve direct use of Chaos", and more about what might happen if we show back up at the Dragonblooded Jansi Houses we owe money to and go "um, well, I found more than enough wealth to pay you back several times over, but I blew half of it up so I can't pay back the loan you gave me, sorry!"
 
[X] Drain It - It's already weakening, and every time it has to lash out at something approaching it, it'll be using power that Wood can't replenish. And there are demons here to use as soul-servitor fodder. It'll be safe, but shows Zed she's a soulthief.

It's ok Zed. She's hot, and that means she's morally ambiguous and you can fix her.
 
[X] Drain It - It's already weakening, and every time it has to lash out at something approaching it, it'll be using power that Wood can't replenish. And there are demons here to use as soul-servitor fodder. It'll be safe, but shows Zed she's a soulthief.

Okay, he's hot, but he's not jade-statue-hot (and that's blue jade, yikes!). Also soulthiefs are cool, he'd have to be a square to care.
Not to mention, I don't trust the guy in the first place. There's something fishy about him, it's good that we have him under contract.
 
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[X] Drain It - It's already weakening, and every time it has to lash out at something approaching it, it'll be using power that Wood can't replenish. And there are demons here to use as soul-servitor fodder. It'll be safe, but shows Zed she's a soulthief.
 
[X] Drain It - It's already weakening, and every time it has to lash out at something approaching it, it'll be using power that Wood can't replenish. And there are demons here to use as soul-servitor fodder. It'll be safe, but shows Zed she's a soulthief.
[X] Try The Risky Ritual - There's a method described there, for a more… unorthodox shutdown of elements of the spell wall which is only meant to be done in emergencies. There was lots of red text warning about how that shutdown isn't safe. But it'll be fast even if it puts Rena in peril.

I'm okay with either of these. Draining it is the practical choice, while the risky ritual would (as someone else pointed out) be fun to read about.
 
[X] Drain It - It's already weakening, and every time it has to lash out at something approaching it, it'll be using power that Wood can't replenish. And there are demons here to use as soul-servitor fodder. It'll be safe, but shows Zed she's a soulthief.

Nomnomnom.
 
[X] Drain It - It's already weakening, and every time it has to lash out at something approaching it, it'll be using power that Wood can't replenish. And there are demons here to use as soul-servitor fodder. It'll be safe, but shows Zed she's a soulthief.


Well this one is obvious.

The only downside here is making Zed distrust us - but we already had him under contract, and the statue is arguable near as valuable as our alliance with Zed anyway.

And let's be honest here, if we are going to be working with Zed from him on, he will catch on what Rena does sooner or later. He isn't stupid, and being on constant guard when he is around isn't going to be trivial.

At least this way he sees Rena using her magic, questionable as that may be, in a productive way.
 
[X] Drain It - It's already weakening, and every time it has to lash out at something approaching it, it'll be using power that Wood can't replenish. And there are demons here to use as soul-servitor fodder. It'll be safe, but shows Zed she's a soulthief.
 
[X] Drain It - It's already weakening, and every time it has to lash out at something approaching it, it'll be using power that Wood can't replenish. And there are demons here to use as soul-servitor fodder. It'll be safe, but shows Zed she's a soulthief.
 
[X] Break It - Rena knows Death of Purple Irises. Cause enough damage to the local geomancy, and she might be able to cause the energies to vent rather than be contained. It'll be reliable but risk destroying the precious anchor.
 
[X] Drain It - It's already weakening, and every time it has to lash out at something approaching it, it'll be using power that Wood can't replenish. And there are demons here to use as soul-servitor fodder. It'll be safe, but shows Zed she's a soulthief.
 
[X] Drain It - It's already weakening, and every time it has to lash out at something approaching it, it'll be using power that Wood can't replenish. And there are demons here to use as soul-servitor fodder. It'll be safe, but shows Zed she's a soulthief.

It's back, yayyyy. Also Rena's totally morally conflicted sorcerous ways.
 
[X] Drain It - It's already weakening, and every time it has to lash out at something approaching it, it'll be using power that Wood can't replenish. And there are demons here to use as soul-servitor fodder. It'll be safe, but shows Zed she's a soulthief.
 
[x] Drain It - It's already weakening, and every time it has to lash out at something approaching it, it'll be using power that Wood can't replenish. And there are demons here to use as soul-servitor fodder. It'll be safe, but shows Zed she's a soulthief.



Interested to see his response. We need to know more about him before we get further
 
[X] Drain It - It's already weakening, and every time it has to lash out at something approaching it, it'll be using power that Wood can't replenish. And there are demons here to use as soul-servitor fodder. It'll be safe, but shows Zed she's a soulthief.

I'm happy to see the quest come back!
 
Broken25 said:
Well this one is obvious.
The only downside here is making Zed distrust us - but we already had him under contract, and the statue is arguable near as valuable as our alliance with Zed anyway.
And let's be honest here, if we are going to be working with Zed from him on, he will catch on what Rena does sooner or later. He isn't stupid, and being on constant guard when he is around isn't going to be trivial.
At least this way he sees Rena using her magic, questionable as that may be, in a productive way.
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Well, theoretically, it's warning him we're a soul thief ahead of time before we come into conflict, which could be a problem if he's planning to betray us, but I'm not sure that'd be the deciding factor in any fight we had, anyway.
 
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Yeah, I'm convinced. Even if Zed learns Rena's a soulthief, a contract is a contract.

vote changed to

[X] Drain It - It's already weakening, and every time it has to lash out at something approaching it, it'll be using power that Wood can't replenish. And there are demons here to use as soul-servitor fodder. It'll be safe, but shows Zed she's a soulthief.
 
[X] Drain It - It's already weakening, and every time it has to lash out at something approaching it, it'll be using power that Wood can't replenish. And there are demons here to use as soul-servitor fodder. It'll be safe, but shows Zed she's a soulthief.

This is what he gets for being so hot.
 
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