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Mare Internum: An Exalted Quest

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Hey, good to see this is back. We'll have something to talk about with Brindle when next we see him.
 
Crumplepunch said:
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A perfect response.

Also, I really liked this chapter. You can really feel the weight on Second Rain, her accumulated damage, physical and mental, how tired she was, how hurt and despairing. The emotion was well-displayed, and the exposition within that conversation was fascinating without obviously being exposition, telling us more about who exactly was guiding her and what her life was like and how she was handling it, all with the environment and the words.
 
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Okay, so, the previous system of voices had some serious issues that were beginning to really wear on me pre-hiatus.

To remedy this I'm going to quietly drop some voices and introduce some new ones based on core Exalted Attributes. We'll be dropping Stealth, Athletics and Embassy.

WITS: Is interested in physical and mental reaction speed, as well as wits in the social sense. It's replacing Athletics, and will have a similar chipper attitude.
APPEARANCE: Is interested in your appearance, and the appearance of others. It will be replacing Stealth, because we never really used Stealth except that one time where we hid in a box.
MANIPULATION: Is interested in telling and detecting lies, and controlling the opinions of others. It's replacing Embassy because what do embassies have to do with anything.
 
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For A Better World 162
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    • glyph said:
    [X] I want to visit the sorcerer.
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    "I want to visit the sorcerer. He said he'd be busy after sundown."

    Lily's face crinkles in disgust at that.

    LILY: "With what? Summoning a demon?"

    "Yeah."

    LILY: "Pfeh. You'll want to steer clear of him if you can, lady."

    "Even so."

    You start walking back towards the cargo lift on the other end of camp. You really covered a lot of ground while you were going into hypothermic shock back there.

    NAVIGATE: We've gotten the hang of it by now.

    LILY: "Lady, I mean it. You, uh, begging your pardon, I don't think you've got your wits about you, and people have died in that man's workshop."

    "Hey, why do my legs hurt?"

    LILY: "You dropped hot water on them. Also I pulled an arrow out of one of them a few hours ago."

    "Right. What happened with the people who died? Mei said there were three."

    LILY: "Yeah, a legionary and two navy issues. I didn't get the details. Lots of rumors flying around."

    You step onto the cargo elevator, Lily follows after a moment of hesitation.

    WITS: She doesn't want to follow. She was thinking of not even coming onto the beach.

    The sea wind starts to pick up. You pull the horse blanket a little more tightly around your shoulders.

    CRAFT: This is a bad blanket. I think it's stuffed with straw.

    APPEARANCE: And it's not exactly a fashion statement.

    INTEGRITY: Still warm though.

    "What kind of rumors?"

    LILY: "I don't know lady, what do you think? He needs blood to feed his demons, mostly. The dragonlord was real steamed about it. She ordered him to banish some of them after the second death."

    "Seems like he's got some of them back now."

    LILY: "I don't know. The less I know about what that man gets up to the better. They say he comes from hell himself and he has a demon's face, that's why he wears the mask."

    "That's not why he wears the mask."

    LILY: "Oh yeah? You know something?"

    MANIPULATION: You should tell her. Then she might tell us something. Also she will be impressed. Don't you want to impress people?

    "I don't want to be gossiping about it."

    LILY: "Feh, fine, suit yourself."

    The elevator clanks to the bottom. The tide is at its lowest. The engineers seem to have vacated the area for the day.

    "Hey, I'll be getting a scribe from Fincher's unit for my official work. I guess you'll be working together."

    LILY: "Oh yeah? Anyone I know?"

    "No, I don't think so. You coming?"

    You head towards the beached galley. Lily hangs back, arms folded.

    LILY: "I'd rather not, lady, begging your pardon."

    "Suit yourself. Are you going to wait out here?"

    She nods.

    LILY: "If you're more than an hour I'm going to get the dragonlord."

    "She probably won't be pleased about that."

    LILY: "She doesn't seem pleased about a lot of stuff."

    You think about that.

    "Yeah, that's true."

    WAR: She's very forthright about her opinions of superior officers.

    PRESENCE: She's confident. Confidence is good.

    A makeshift gangplank of dark grey wood allows access to the deck. You climb up, your step wavering only a little. The deck is empty, slanted at thirty degrees, rigging carefully stowed.

    "Permission to come aboard." you say, to nobody in particular.

    A chittering sound responds. You stop.

    You can't pinpoint the location of the sound, and nothing in your vicinity could have made it. Scar tissue across your fingers and arms itches. An unfamiliar smell meets your nostrils, sweet and spice-like, with an afternote of spoiled meat.

    "Hello?"

    A long, low hiss, like an exhalation. Location is still indeterminate.

    SAGACITY: There is a demon present. If it means to attack, it will appear and strike suddenly.

    AWARENESS: How is it doing that? We can hear it, but we can't hear where it is.

    WITS: The moment it appears, we will have the advantage.

    [ ] Hold up your hands to show you mean no harm.
    [ ] Try to negotiate with the demon.
    [ ] Draw your sword.
    [ ] Ignore the invisible demon and head belowdecks.
    [ ] Leave the galley.
     
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    • For A Better World 163
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    • HelioA said:
    [x] Try to negotiate with the demon.
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    "Hello? Do you speak Realm? I was invited by your master."

    A series of wet clicks is your only response. The hairs on the nape of your neck raise.

    Silence. Even the air is still.

    "I'm going to go downstairs now, is that okay?"

    The demon appears.

    It seems to crawl from a tiny space at a distance too great to see and unfold itself. Spindly legs clad in shaggy stale-yellow fur clack to the deck of Sulco's Spite, one after another, twelve in all. It stands a little shorter than you at the shoulder, though its mass is greater. Strands of transparent slime drip from its crown of horn-like feelers and spatter onto the deck. A cluster of four alien eyes, like spheres of polished amber, sit above a very human-looking mouth.

    APPEARANCE: Wow, it looks almost as bad as you!

    Rude.

    DEMON: "Vish bradak nyur. Praket vish."

    SAGACITY: This is Old Realm, the tongue of gods, demons, sorcerers and the fair folk. If we ever knew a word of it, we have forgotten.

    "Nice to meet you too."

    DEMON: "Nyur! Praket vish!"

    "I don't understand what you are saying."

    PRESENCE: We're not going to get very far if we can't understand each other.

    SAGACITY: Spider-like demons like this are called Anuhles. They come in a wide variety of subspecies.

    MANIPULATION: Worth a shot.

    You point to the demon. It raises four legs in a defensive posture. The brushlike clusters of fur a the tips glisten threateningly. The sour-spice smell intensifies.

    "Anuhle?"

    The demon lowers two of its legs.

    DEMON: "Vree bradak. Anuhle."

    You point to yourself.

    "Vesper."

    DEMON: "Vish bradak Vesper."

    The demon jabs with one of its raised legs, pointing down the gangplank.

    DEMON: "Sutan san Vesper. Praket vish!"

    "I'm not going to praket vish! I was invited!"

    DEMON: "Sutan san Vesper! Sutan sen Second Rain!"

    You freeze. The demon chitters.

    [ ] Tell the demon you are Second Rain.
    [ ] Refuse to leave until you see someone in charge.
    [ ] Force your way past the demon.
    [ ] Praket vish (Leave).
     
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    • For A Better World 164
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    • TheMaskedReader said:
    [X] Refuse to leave until you see someone in charge.
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    "No, I'm not going to go until I get to speak to your master. I don't care what you call me."

    DEMON: "Nyur praket esh, rakraman vree!"

    "Rakraman?"

    The demon stamps each of its legs in sequence, scraping the deck with its stiff brushlike appendages.

    DEMON: "Rakraman! Praket esh nyur atam!"

    "I'm staying here."

    The demon chitters, steps towards you, then scoots back, hissing. Slime from its sense-organs trails on the wood of the deck.

    You hear a hatch swing open on your right and turn to see another demon emerging onto the deck. This one resembles nothing more than an oversized cockroach with elongated forelimbs and a lengthy, slender neck. Its compound eyes blink inquisitively at you in a way that compound eyes should not be able to do.

    DEMON 2: "Ah, mistress, forgive my tardiness. I was told to await your arrival, but was detained below by an errand."

    The first demon shuffles to face the newcomer, crouched low in what looks like it could be a deferential posture.

    MANIPULATION: This new one is in charge.

    DEMON: "Sensur rakmaran! Nyur praket valsh."

    The other demon snaps back in a noticibly harsher tone than the one it addressed you with.

    DEMON 2: "Sensur anoth tharan! Akmanadhan yuanathras praket nyur, thalak!"

    The first demon hisses, but bows its front legs lower.

    DEMON 2: "Shenak natar valsh: I am verrrrry sorry. Attrak. Attrak natar valsh!"

    The anuhle shuffles back to face you, slowly.

    DEMON: "I ammm vrrrrry sroy."

    [ ] No, really, I should be apologising.
    [ ] That's okay.
    [ ] So you should be.
    [ ] I refuse your apology.
     
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    • For A Better World 165
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    • Kymme said:
    [X] So you should be.
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    "So you should be."

    The demon parts its lips to bare its very human teeth but doesn't seem sure how to respond.

    "I am deeply insulted. I expect better of demons. I should be allowed to go wherever I want unquestioned."

    A memory fizzes at the back of your brain. A long lost experience, evoked by the moment. Have you had a dissatisfactory customer experience before?

    THOUGHT GAINED: The Customer Is Always Right.

    DEMON 2: "Kalathi bayuran tanak. Valsh tharan nyatrar."

    DEMON: "Praket vree?"

    DEMON 2: "Yasatsur, thanaran praket vish, thalak."

    SAGACITY: The second demon uses longer compound words. The Anuhle has a limited vocabulary, it seems.

    The other demon bobs up and down and then performs its materialization trick in reverse, pulling itself backwards through a hole in the air until it disappears from view.

    The cockroach demon claps its overlong forelegs, which sounds like wood blocks tapping together.

    SUCH: "Many apologies once more. I am called Such, one of the master's scribes. The workers have been discouraged from interacting with visitors, but Visenar took it upon itself to protect the master's territory from what it considered an intruder. It shall be reprimanded appropriately for its disrespect."

    [ ] I don't want it reprimanded.
    [ ] What kind of reprimand are we talking about?
    [ ] What kind of name is Such?
    [ ] Do you know what your master wants to talk to me about?
    [ ] Whatever, let's just go.
     
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