It might just...make something up. What are we gonna do, count to make sure?
Mare Internum: An Exalted Quest
- Thread starter Crumplepunch
- Start date
Neither Yidaks nor Greater Dead are things in Exalted. That's homebrew specific to the Enlightenment hack, which is an overhaul of baseline Exalted Second Edition specific to the Ascensions and Transgressions campaign which is also a giant fanfic. This quest isn't related to Ascensions and Transgressions, nor is it co-written by the writers of that story. I strongly recommend the Exalted Third Core, What Fire Has Wrought and The Realm if you want a good grasp on the actual canon materials for Exalted.
And, obviously, Disco Elysium, for this quest specifically. I don't intend any rudeness or harshness, to be clear. This is purely meant to helpfully offer correction to a misunderstanding of attribution and to suggest some really really cool books (and a really really cool game) in the process.
EDIT: Also, Alchemicals post-date the split between Creation and Autochthon. By, like, a lot.
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1337Procrast
Fire Emblem Enjoyer
- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Well there are some alchemicals in creation as of current edition but they're pretty isolated things. Mainly ancient prototype stuff dug up added so people can play Alchemicals in Creation without needing to break the seal and deal with all that plot.
Sometimes you just wanna be a cool magic robot cyborg champion of a community.
Of course the figurehead definitely isn't an alchemical still. It's just another of Vesper's talking to herself episodes.
- Location
- Russia
Now That You Are Pure 104
- Location
- ?
"I'm going to head for that waterfall you mentioned."
FIGUREHEAD: Good, that's good. I hope you can get everything figured out.
"Bye for now."
You turn and walk up the beach, away from the galley filled with creepy demons and its talkative figurehead.
SAGACITY: You know, you only have the word of an obvious hallucination that there is even a waterfall in this direction. Awareness didn't see anything, which means you didn't see anything. The most logical explanation is that you are just imagining a waterfall.
Why would you imagine a waterfall? That doesn't make any sense.
NAVIGATE: Well, I for one am happy we are finally going exploring, even if there is nothing to find.
There is something to find though, there's a waterfall. Why would the figurehead make up something like that?
SAGACITY: You know what, never mind, carry on.
The walk up the beach is bracing. Chilly winds gust in from over the sea, and there is nothing to be see but endless ranks of jagged quartz rocks and grey sand. The cold air does you good, though. Your head feels clearer than it has all day, with only the occasional tingle and pop inside your skull to remind you that not all is right up there.
AWARENESS: Wait, there it is.
Sure enough, after some minutes of walking, you can make out the waterfall, a steady drizzle from some mountain stream high up in the dappled, quartz-faced cliffs, cascading down and puffing into water vapour in the breeze.
SAGACITY: What? That doesn't make any sense.
That's life, isn't it?
SAGACITY: No! Life makes sense, actually. That's the whole point of knowing things.
Well, whatever, there's a waterfall and we're going there.
SAGACITY: It has to be a coincidence.
NAVIGATE: I don't know, it's exactly where she said it would be.
SAGACITY: Where we said it would be. We're all the same person! This is ridiculous.
We probably shouldn't think about this too hard.
HAWK SWORD: A wise decision, my lady.
The waterfall seem like a tiny trickling of water barely worthy of the name, but as you grow closer you get a better idea of the volume of water cascading the cliff. It must be a decent sized stream up there.
It is as the figurehead described, a waterfall about half a league out, emptying into a tidal pool, surrounded by a semicircular alcove of white cliff face. The pool looks to be about waist deep on you, seperated from the sea by a shallow grey sandbank and the lowering tide of late afternoon. The waterfall itself empties to a raised dome of stone, sending up a fine white spray of mist.
Well, here we are, what now?
[ ] Enter the pool end get scrubbing.
[ ] Sit on the stone under the waterfall and meditate.
[ ] Reconsider and head back to camp, there has to be a more comfortable place to do this.
- Location
- the Republic
- Pronouns
- He/They
[X] Sit on the stone under the waterfall and meditate.
- Location
- Australia
All jokes aside, it looks like we've got some evidence that we've been here before! Our hallucination knew there was a waterfall here, even though we couldn't see it. So, we must have some connection to the island. Maybe the Raigi know of us, even.
Or it's being a water aspect that subconsciously lets us find fancy water-aspected places that resonate with us.
- Location
- Oregon, USA
Isn't that one of the one mote thingies for water aspects?
And you could explain the hawk sword predicting rain with that too. Hmm.
- Location
- Spain
Nah, most likely the figurehead was just the ship god, not an hallucination.
- Location
- Poland
- Pronouns
- He/Him
*after doing nothing but meditating*
You are clean now.
Soap: You are not. You stink. You stink so very bad.
Your soul is clean. You are at peace.
PRESENCE: If you meet people without noses and great empathy, I am sure they'll notice.
That's great.
PRESENCE: It wasn't a compliment.
You are clean now.
Soap: You are not. You stink. You stink so very bad.
Your soul is clean. You are at peace.
PRESENCE: If you meet people without noses and great empathy, I am sure they'll notice.
That's great.
PRESENCE: It wasn't a compliment.
- Location
- A nondescript grave
Thank you for pointing out some of the Ascensions specific terminology and general vagueness of my post to me. I have in fact skimmed all the current edition books out now.
In this case, I was more hinting towards (in escalating order of unlikelihood) a Hungry Ghost infestation, Nephwrack (there's been no trace of shadowlands so far to my recollection) or an actual full-blown Abyssal Exalt.
The Alchemical reference was more of an off-colour joke mistaking what I think are sorcerous automata or the hallucination of the figurehead (it seems a bit too chatty and casual for a ship god, referred to itself as just the figurehead & seems a bit too chummy with the demon spiders. Although that could just be the fact it is bored and wants to see the ocean again.) for an actual exalt.
Hasn't that been the most obvious options ever since we saw the undead armies at the siege?
- Location
- The North
I have my doubts. Vesper has an incredibly powerful ability to analyze and understand things. Craft is one of her specialties. My thought is that her ability to intuit things by analyzing objects sometimes takes the form of her hallucinating them talking to her, telling her things, etc. It's a very eccentric possibility, but this could just be how her Exalted nature manifests.
- Location
- ?
I've been slowing a lot on this quest in the last couple of weeks and that's because it's getting increasingly difficult for me to keep things fun. I don't want to fall into a lull of posting updates that I think are dull or substandard, and especially not if it is taking me several days to turn out bare-bones updates that will frustrate people who have been waiting for them.
I'm going to take a few days and hopefully return with this quest's original faster pace.
I'm going to take a few days and hopefully return with this quest's original faster pace.
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Now That You Are Pure 105
- Location
- ?
Making your decision, you strip down, removing your cloak, tunic, chestwrap and boots. You plant the sheathed sword in the sand.
"Stay put."
HAWK SWORD: Very well! I shall keep watch over your belongings.
The ocean breeze is bitterly cold against your bare skin, but though your senses register this, you feel no particular reaction to it. You pull off your ruined boots and pause when you feel something solid in the pocket of your britches. You remove it. It's the waxpaper wrapped package of lye soap that you picked up in the supply shed.
EMBASSY: How fortuitous. Apparently your larcenous escapade wasn't completely pointless after all.
STEALTH: Listen, larcenous escapades are their own reward. Not counting the stuff you steal during them.
After some consideration you take the soap and your water flask with you. Might as well fill it up with fresh mountain spring water.
You walk over to the edge of the pool.
You see a scarred woman staring back from the surface of the gently rippling water. She's holding a water flask and soap much like yours.
"Oh, it's you. You're the one who keeps fucking everything up. Well, what do you want?"
Write a short response. The first response to be quote posted by another quester will be adapted as the reflection's response.
CuttleFish2.0
Friendly neighborhood cuttlefish
- Location
- Seattle, Washington.
Who doesn't?
Now That You Are Pure 106
- Location
- ?
REFLECTION: "To kill the Scarlet Empress."
"What? Is she here?"
REFLECTION: "I don't know. Do you know?"
"No. What are you doing here if you're trying to kill her?"
REFLECTION: "I don't know. It seemed as good a place to look as any."
"Why do you want to kill her anyway?"
REFLECTION: "Because she's directly or indirectly responsible for everything that has gone wrong in my life."
"Huh, okay. Well, good luck with that. I'm going to go meditate under the waterfall."
REFLECTION: "Wait, aren't you going to ask me anything else?"
"Like what?"
[ ] Who are you?
[ ] How did you get here?
[ ] What happened to you?
[ ] No, I'd rather not know.
Now That You Are Pure 107
- Location
- ?
REFLECTION: "Like 'What happened to you?'."
"Alright. What happened to you?"
REFLECTION: "You'll have to be more specific."
"Well, okay. Why are you in the water?"
REFLECTION: "That's how reflections work."
"Got it. And the scars?"
REFLECTION: "Lots of places."
"Helpful. And how did you lose your memory?"
REFLECTION: "I didn't lose my memory, you did."
"Oh, that's right. Sorry, I got confused for a moment there."
REFLECTION: "That's okay, this is a pretty weird way to hold a conversation."
"Did the Scarlet Empress do any of that to you?"
REFLECTION: "Which? The reflection, the scars, or the memories?"
"Yes."
REFLECTION: "Yeah, some of it."
"Okay, this isn't going anywhere. How about you ask me something?"
Write a short response. The first response to be quote posted by another quester will be adapted as the reflection's response.
ThatGazzer
Minds Eye Bind
- Location
- PNW
- Pronouns
- They/Them
"Why did you save them?"
- Location
- Australia
"What are you trying to achieve?"
- Location
- Spain
I wanted to do the right thing for once.