huh.. just started re-reading Keychain and noticed that this is set before Secret met up and traveled with the King of Uncloaked Steel.
Is that still going to happen now? I do wonder what Steel will think of the SI.. and if not.. then Secret will need to get a new weapon as she got Cluivarihe from him... well i'm sure the SI would be able to magic up something interesting for her to wield..
I have no idea what is going on except the wizard is an si and the death exalt us speaking about her own world in game mechanic terms she shouldn't know. I really feel like I started the story in the middle. Does anyone know what is going on?
So, our main point of view chap, ol' Andi, has gotten himself into trouble again.
Basically, at some point, his SI ran into the Dimensional Witch Yuuko from XXXHolic.
Yuuko, you see, runs a shop. Said shop grants wishes.
Yes, she is exactly as dangerous as that sounds. She generally means well, but from my understanding, due to how her powers work she basically has Equivalent Exchange as a power limiter. She quite literally cannot do anything for someone without extracting payment. IE, the only thing she could offer her assistant on his birthday without demanding payment was telling him 'Happy Birthday'.
Mind you, she is -also- immensely powerful and the like when she has an opportunity to bring her power to bear. She just often can't.
Hence she finds assistants useful. Watanuki is her current (much beleaguered) assistant, personal chef, maid, butler, servant, etc.
And Andi apparently wandered into her shop and made a wish. Soooo, now he's off on a multiverse jaunt to stop a chunk of reality from going bonkers or something (the God-Machine is confusing and I'm not up to date on that fluff)
Incidentally, one other reason she doesn't get directly involved is that it allows for excellent training for said part-timers, as well as keeping them out of some trouble. Watanuki, for example, her current main assistant, came to her because he has the double-whammy problem of being able to see spirits -and- attracting the things in droves. The price to stop his 'I smell really tasty to demons and youkai who want to eat me' is 'work for Yuuko'.
When the story begins, Andi is just getting back from his first assignment: Namely, he went to another dimension, The New World of Darkness, to punch an eldritch chunk of that reality known as the God-Machine, which is going a bit nuts, in the -face-. Most likely because the damn thing is basically a multiversal threat, and Andi's wish means he gets to go stop it. *shrug*
First job wasn't a smooth job, though. While he was in the nWoD, after finding out he's a Mage, he got captured by vampires really fast, who mind-fucked him and turned him into a servant/blood factory because it turns out extra dimensional Mage blood is -hella- delicious. Eventually, he got rescued by the local Mages (who are a different variety of assholes, but most of them don't want to devour his blood at least), he got some training, shit went down, reality nearly got destroyed, and he went back to Yuuko's shop for a spot of tea before going off to another dimension to do it all over again.
So, Tuesday for the WoD, really.
Anyhoo, his second jaunt, and where the story picks up, is him dropping into Exalted. Specifically, he's in Keychain of Creation, a delightfully affectionate teasing parody of the setting where folks are at least semi-aware that they run on game mechanics.
Except the Fair Folk.
They are /fully/ aware they run on game mechanics /and/ are in a comic. And are terrible soul eating trickster fairies.
Unfortunately, Yuuko's spell sling-shotted him into the Underworld (Creation's Afterlife) instead of Creation itself. Worse, it was the West, so it's...just a lot of water. Undead water.
However, the Si is a WoD Mage, so, well...he made a boat. Out of ice. Then ran into Secret, one of the most adorable woobie Abyssal Deathknights in the setting. And just found out all the Essence/Magic floating around Creation is -hella powerful-.
They've been chatting, and it looks like Andi's gunning for the local God Machine instance as well.
Then he broke her brain a bit by being a quite powerful sorcerer, then revealing he's hunting what is possibly a Primordial, aka an aspect of reality. And all that -without- having a chunk of ancient spiritual superweapon grafted to his soul! Which is unusual from her point of view, since that sort of thing tends to result in, or the result of, Exaltation.
To sum up: Dimension Travelling Mage is on a Mission to Kill God, and his next stop is a version of Exalted where people are aware of at least some of the game mechanics.
So, our main point of view chap, ol' Andi, has gotten himself into trouble again.
Basically, at some point, his SI ran into the Dimensional Witch Yuuko from XXXHolic.
Yuuko, you see, runs a shop. Said shop grants wishes.
Yes, she is exactly as dangerous as that sounds. She generally means well, but from my understanding, due to how her powers work she basically has Equivalent Exchange as a power limiter. She quite literally cannot do anything for someone without extracting payment. IE, the only thing she could offer her assistant on his birthday without demanding payment was telling him 'Happy Birthday'.
Mind you, she is -also- immensely powerful and the like when she has an opportunity to bring her power to bear. She just often can't.
Hence she finds assistants useful. Watanuki is her current (much beleaguered) assistant, personal chef, maid, butler, servant, etc.
And Andi apparently wandered into her shop and made a wish. Soooo, now he's off on a multiverse jaunt to stop a chunk of reality from going bonkers or something (the God-Machine is confusing and I'm not up to date on that fluff)
Incidentally, one other reason she doesn't get directly involved is that it allows for excellent training for said part-timers, as well as keeping them out of some trouble. Watanuki, for example, her current main assistant, came to her because he has the double-whammy problem of being able to see spirits -and- attracting the things in droves. The price to stop his 'I smell really tasty to demons and youkai who want to eat me' is 'work for Yuuko'.
When the story begins, Andi is just getting back from his first assignment: Namely, he went to another dimension, The New World of Darkness, to punch an eldritch chunk of that reality known as the God-Machine, which is going a bit nuts, in the -face-. Most likely because the damn thing is basically a multiversal threat, and Andi's wish means he gets to go stop it. *shrug*
First job wasn't a smooth job, though. While he was in the nWoD, after finding out he's a Mage, he got captured by vampires really fast, who mind-fucked him and turned him into a servant/blood factory because it turns out extra dimensional Mage blood is -hella- delicious. Eventually, he got rescued by the local Mages (who are a different variety of assholes, but most of them don't want to devour his blood at least), he got some training, shit went down, reality nearly got destroyed, and he went back to Yuuko's shop for a spot of tea before going off to another dimension to do it all over again.
So, Tuesday for the WoD, really.
Anyhoo, his second jaunt, and where the story picks up, is him dropping into Exalted. Specifically, he's in Keychain of Creation, a delightfully affectionate teasing parody of the setting where folks are at least semi-aware that they run on game mechanics.
Except the Fair Folk.
They are /fully/ aware they run on game mechanics /and/ are in a comic. And are terrible soul eating trickster fairies.
Unfortunately, Yuuko's spell sling-shotted him into the Underworld (Creation's Afterlife) instead of Creation itself. Worse, it was the West, so it's...just a lot of water. Undead water.
However, the Si is a WoD Mage, so, well...he made a boat. Out of ice. Then ran into Secret, one of the most adorable woobie Abyssal Deathknights in the setting. And just found out all the Essence/Magic floating around Creation is -hella powerful-.
They've been chatting, and it looks like Andi's gunning for the local God Machine instance as well.
Then he broke her brain a bit by being a quite powerful sorcerer, then revealing he's hunting what is possibly a Primordial, aka an aspect of reality. And all that -without- having a chunk of ancient spiritual superweapon grafted to his soul! Which is unusual from her point of view, since that sort of thing tends to result in, or the result of, Exaltation.
To sum up: Dimension Travelling Mage is on a Mission to Kill God, and his next stop is a version of Exalted where people are aware of at least some of the game mechanics.
...
Well, twins mother may not count as god-blooded, but *looks at Wild Hunt, sidereal troops, Galli1 (and probably some other totally not members of nonexistent secret society of White Veil) and pair of bandits with attuned artifacts* I'm pretty sure there are.
1. 100% sure about this one. She is lunar's constant follower/party member. And only one WV common member that got name and (if unmentioned) backstory which instantly make here non-extra.
...
Well, twins mother may not count as god-blooded, but *looks at Wild Hunt, sidereal troops, Galli1 (and probably some other totally not members of nonexistent secret society of White Veil) and pair of bandits with attuned artifacts* I'm pretty sure there are.
1. 100% sure about this one. She is lunar's constant follower/party member. And only one WV common member that got name and (if unmentioned) backstory which instantly make here non-extra.
Looking at Wyld Hunt... Nope. No enlightened mortals, all are dragonblooded, even the immaculate monk show a Earth aura and is trained in Earth Dragon style, a celestial martial art unavailable to unexalted mortals.
The White Veil society..? Nope, none had been using the White Veil style which is a terrestrial martial art and thus usable by enlightened mortals.
Sonorous Aria, mother of Marena is a godblooded and thus is not an elightened mortal although she DO have probable access to the terrestrial circle of magic. Marena did make an allusion in Keychain #254.
Galli is indeed a follower of Racer and a White Veil member, so there is a possibility for her to be an enlightened martial artist especially since Racer is shown using mainly martial arts and he has Moonsilver Bracers, an artefact really useful to exalted martial artists. Since Racer do have a "certain" admiration for the female side of the world, it is likely that he has enlightening-type charms to initiate mortals in terrestrial martial arts.
The sidereal troops are a bit more troublesome. The sentai-like team (i almost felt a posing sequence at one moment with all of them going power rangers) are made of dragonblooded. All of the archers however are normal mortal troops and do not show any kind of essence tricks.
So apart for Galli (who still don't show any kind of essence charms in the webcomic), i would say that nope, there aren't any enlightened mortals in Keychain.
Looking at Wyld Hunt... Nope. No enlightened mortals, all are dragonblooded, even the immaculate monk show a Earth aura and is trained in Earth Dragon style, a celestial martial art unavailable to unexalted mortals.
This was exactly what i was talking about. There is a DB in green armor with bow and a monk. The monk is also a DB since he is using a CELESTIAL-level martial art that only an exalt can learn.
The white veil? Yes, i'm joking a little. As i said, there is clearly NOT a shred of white veil style shown. (really, there is not. Maybe one or two were martial artist as the casualties from the undead were low.)
However, for the archers, i do maintain that they are normal. There is no sign of any essence used and they don't show any particular superior skill or even special equipment. The various background that enable to have troops are generally about normal, non-enlightened or unexalted mortal. I grant you, it's stupid to use mortals against exalts, but you saw that they used ranged troops and let the exalts do the close range work. I think it's an acceptable strategy since the sidereals try not to draw too much attention.
The white veil? Yes, i'm joking a little. As i said, there is clearly NOT a shred of white veil style shown. (really, there is not. Maybe one or two were martial artist as the casualties from the undead were low.)
1. IIRC they were called ninjas or something. While it's possible that they were called so by being pure mortal... not much chance.
2. Role of unenlightened mortal in White Veil is spy, informant, poisoner or intrigue specialist. Not somebody who combats zombie horde on streets barehanded.
1. IIRC they were called ninjas or something. While it's possible that they were called so by being pure mortal... not much chance.
2. Role of unenlightened mortal in White Veil is spy, informant, poisoner or intrigue specialist. Not somebody who combats zombie horde on streets barehanded.
1. IIRC they were called ninjas or something. While it's possible that they were called so by being pure mortal... not much chance.
2. Role of unenlightened mortal in White Veil is spy, informant, poisoner or intrigue specialist. Not somebody who combats zombie horde on streets barehanded.
The same goes for the enlightened mortals White Viel does not exist so they clearly can't use their style in public. Also it is crap at any fight where the enemy knows there is a fight going on.
The same goes for the enlightened mortals White Viel does not exist so they clearly can't use their style in public. Also it is crap at any fight where the enemy knows there is a fight going on.
Well, nonexistent organisation obviously don't have connections everywhere as it obviously don't recruit heavily among upper class as it doesn't exist. And said nonexistent connections can't allow to learn another style to complement it for those nonexistent people that specialise in combat or bodyguard duty...
Well, or just use advantages of essence 2-3 awakened mortal over essence 1 unawakened mortal in fight for life.
Well, nonexistent organisation obviously don't have connections everywhere as it obviously don't recruit heavily among upper class as it doesn't exist. And said nonexistent connections can't allow to learn another style to complement it for those nonexistent people that specialise in combat or bodyguard duty...
Well, or just use advantages of essence 2-3 awakened mortal over essence 1 unawakened mortal in fight for life.
Game mechanics aside in fluff for a mortal learning one style is a massive endeavor for a mortal, you don't collect them. Especially without making it obvious what you are spending your time doing.
Game mechanics aside in fluff for a mortal learning one style is a massive endeavor for a mortal, you don't collect them. Especially without making it obvious what you are spending your time doing.
Matron N - obviously not inducted in non-existent White Veil society and can't be master of White Veil style
Her bodyguard M - obviously not inducted in non-existen White Veil society and just dabble (and totally not master of) in martial style that is totally suited for bodyguard (and totally not for cases when non-existent White Weil style wouldn't do)
And that's basics. When Lunars and God-blooded highly connected in Yu Shan get involved it's even more interesting.
Body Control (7 Dice = (8 6) 1 2 (8 4) 5 4 7 = 2 Successes ; Will last one month. Extensive control of bodily functions. Requires 1/8th the normal amount of food, water, and air. Heartbeat operates at 1/8th speed. Heals at 8x speed.)
Bending (Still operating. Allows moderate control and manipulation of inanimate liquids within ~20 yards of himself)
Motonic Conversion (Still operating. Allows absorbtion of death energies as a creature of death.
Ball 2 Ding!
I'd just flew in from outside existence and man my arms were tired. Stamina + Athletics = 7 8 2 (10 1) 6 8 = 3 Successes
But I kept them up, maintaining the push of the spell.
We'd been sailing for a good while now, just a bit over two weeks. I'd cast a solidly powerful Body Control spell earlier to control my metabolism and body functions and reduce the amount of food and water I'd need, and I was thankful for that. I don't think I can drink the water even after removing the salt content, and straight up creating water from nothing was beyond me. But that wasn't something I wanted to test without some measure of a safety net.
Thankfully, Secret had a charm that removed her need to eat, though given the Abyssal Exaltation it was entirely possible for her to eat the local materials. Perfect Recall: 7 Dice = 5 6 7 3 4 (10 10 6) 1 = 2 Successes
None of the books I'd read mentioned anything about the Underworld's food and the Abyssal's connection to such. But I hadn't read all if the books all the way through, so it's perfectly possible that even with magically perfect memory I wouldn't be able to remember anything about it. But given that living things couldn't subsist on the materials down here in the Underworld but Abyssals were expected to live down here, it was a logical assumption.
Corpse Needs No Food
Permanent enhancement. Doesn't need to eat. Unable to eat anything but lifeblood. Ingrained use of an effect. Built off of another effect.
+Incomplete Clue (2 Elements): Abyssal Charms
That said, the Mystery… wait, no wrong terminology. The charm that Secret was using was interesting, though I doubted I could work that sort of magic into myself. It was basically reconstituting her organs into a metaphysical state resembling that of a Vampire's… well, Vampire's as I was accustomed to them at least.
"Hey."
"Wa'sup?" I responded without turning as Secret approached from behind. She'd been taking the time to break down her boat a bit and store the stuff below deck.
"Any idea how much longer until we hit land?" The pale young woman came to a stop beside me, standing only a little bit shorter than my own marginal height of 5'6". She brushed her long, straight black hair back over an ear as her eyes scanned the mists around us, "It's pretty boring out here."
"Don't ask me," I shrugged slightly, "I can make the ship move but you're the one who actually has a map."
Not that I didn't agree with her. It was boring as all balls out here. Outside of the sun rising and falling, literally nothing had happened. Not even exaggerating, no wind, no waves except what I generated, no nothing. Just an endless dark sea and pale sky above our heads. I was making due by trying to extrapolate details about the various things I could see based on the information my Mage Sight could grant me.
Calender of Setesh
An ancient mechanism meant to turn the wheel of time in a consistent manner in the Underworld, which otherwise lacks true casualty. It moves the pale sun and stars of the Underworld and is fueled by prayer.
+1 Incomplete Clue (1 Element): Calander of Setesh
That ancient mechanism in the distance for example, the Calendar of Setesh according to Secret, was infuriatingly and tantalizingly close to understandable but just beyond my ability to figure out. At least from this absurd distance. If I was closer I might have been able to figure out something more than what Secret had been able to tell me.
"It's hard to know. I thought we'd have arrived by yesterday," she muttered defensively.
I could only shrug, "I could be aiming wrong, or there could be large scale currents that I'm not noticing, or we're not going as fast as we expect, or any number of things. I'm not too concerned just yet."
She glanced at me, "How are you okay with not drinking this long?"
"Magic."
That got an eyeroll even as I grinned, "But seriously, it's a spell that lets me control my physiology. If it goes on too long I can do a spell to recharge myself, but that's an inherently living spell and I don't want to risk cocking it up when I'm running on Death Essence." I wasn't mainlining the stuff thankfully, but it was still pretty risky to use death mana to power a spell meant to affect your living processes. Surprisingly, there was just so much of the stuff in the air around me that I was actually recharging slowly without opening myself to the power.
Good because it meant I didn't have to spend an hour doing fuck all to recharge my mana stores, bad news because holy shit that is a lot of power. These people operate on this? Just holy crap.
"Good point…" she murmured, touching her hand to her chin in thought. After a moment, she looked back at me, "Do you have any magic that could let you figure out how close we are?"
"Hrm… I could probably try…" It'd be a little bit of a stretch, with four spells running I was already just beyond the limits of my ability to maintain them. It'd be a brief little spell though, so it shouldn't be too much of a strain on me. With the spell to maintain the boat relinquished, I still had my metabolic control, motonic converter, bending, and the shielding spell hiding Secret running. But since I didn't have to worry so much about power now…
Letting my arms drop, the perpetual wave the Ice Ice Baby was riding on fell and the ship cruised to a stop. With a small grunt, I rolled my shoulders as I tried to build a spell in my head.
"Okay, so… let's see…" I bounced Prometheus in my hand a few times as I considered what I was trying to do, "In the Underworld so… hrm… not worth it to use a different spell."
Raising my watch, I focused on it, running power through the symbols painted on its face once more, "Runtime Start:: #Arcanum <Mind>, #Practice<Knowing>; Yantra(Mantra, Mandola, Tool) ; Variables(Set) ; Enact:: Find Thoughts." 8 dice = 9 3 3 2 8 5 (10 2) 6 = 3 Successes ; Wisdom 3 Successes vs Paradox 2 Successes
A little circuit-gear flared into existence around the face of the watch before fading as the magic took hold. The magic pinged even as I exempted Secret from the spell. The digital compass on my watch appearing and spinning briefly before locking on to the next nearest mind at… huh. I'd have thought…
My surprise must have shown on my face because Secret leaned over curiously, trying to get a better look at my watch, "What is it?"
"… um… how far away is the horizon?"
"Seven miles," Secret said, almost by rote, though she didn't seem all that surprised that I didn't know…? "That's how far the Pattern Spiders let people see before they start not putting as much detail, why?"
I'd asked because Creation, and likely the Underworld that based itself upon it, was flat. So the idea of a 'horizon' was strange. But it had to be true, otherwise you'd be able to see land from any distance, and even the likes of mountains from absurd distances. So what was holding it back aside from diffraction in the air? Literal fucking magic. It probably didn't come up as much in the other parts of Creation, but the West was a huge ocean… the horizon was probably a fair bit more important of a concept there… here. Hoo boy that's weird to think. Last place I was was basically just my world with a couple subtle differences, this was an entirely new world that had previously been fictional.
"The next closest mind is about eight miles thataway," I pointed with my other hand, just slightly off center from the direction we'd been traveling in.
Gonna… take some adjusting. Gotta admit.
"Oh… oh!" Realization hit her like a lightbulb, her pale face brightening as she started to beam, "Great! This is boring." Secret straightened out, crossing her arms as I raised my own once more, shifting the waters around us to start the ship moving.
A realization seemed to hit her and she spun back, waving her arms quickly, "Not that you're boring or anything! It's just–"
I couldn't help it, I laughed, "It's alright, I've been pretty boring. You've been nice company, but I'll be happy when we get to land as well."
We honestly hadn't been talking much. I'd taken the time to paint some runes onto her pale skin and enchant her with the best shielding technique I could come up with. That spell had worked astoundingly well, to the point that I don't think I'd be able to recreate it when it ran out in two weeks. Not as strong as it was at very least.
But outside of that and some mostly empty conversation about what the Underworld and the Deathlords were like, we were still mostly uncomfortable with another.
Well, she was understandably uncomfortable with me and I wasn't exactly sociable unless I rewrote my brain to be such. But with as many spells as I had running already, doing so would've been silly. She was adorable, but I wasn't particularly good at making friends.
Secret sighed, wrapping her arms around her waist loosely and looking out at the waters, "So how long until we get there?"
"A few hours," I guessed, I couldn't get a good gauge on how fast we were going right now without casting another spell, which was already a strain on my ability to hold the imago's in my head.
She nodded, "Good."
-oOo-
"Well that's a pretty place…" I murmured, looking over the island we were closing in on. Palms and tropical-seeming bushes near the coast, bleeding away to thicker forests the further in one went. I glanced at Secret, "Any idea what it is?"
"That's Lakshadi, it's… um… it's the home of Dragon King ghosts."
I blinked.
Then I blinked again, turning to look at Secret in confusion, "But… Dragon Kings have perfect reincarnation." It wasn't completely perfect, but when a Dragon King died, their soul was reborn in a hatchling. They started out completely feral, but as they aged they became more sane and regained more of their memories. Sure, without proper training and education they could remain feral functionally forever, and that was unfortunately natural state of them in the current times due to the sudden and terrible cataclysm that took out so many of their elders and population, they didn't have a population capable of educating the new ones… but still. "How the fuck do they have ghosts?"
"I… don't know?" she said hesitantly, glancing at me uncomfortably as she rubbed her arms before looking back at the island. It was big, stretching across most of our view with its small mountains and significant amount of forests… but pale forests. It was still in the Underworld, but it had a still and quiet beauty rather than a living and vital one… it was like a snowy field rather than a vibrant forest. Which let me tell you is weird as balls to see in a tropical style forest. "All they told me was that there were ancient ghosts that were like big lizards or little dragons and that they would be hostile…"
Staring at Secret in surprise for just a moment, I opened my mouth before closing it with a click and frowned at the island, "Fair enough."
"Hey!" the young woman bristled, "I can't know everything about the Underworld! You're the one with Occult five!"
"No, no, I understand. It's not your fault, I'm sorry if I gave that impression." I apologized, waving my stupidity off. It was extremely unfair to expect her to know everything about the setting, let alone something occult like that when even master scholars couldn't know a fraction of the things. "This bugs me, but that's because it goes against what I've learned. That just means that one of us is misinformed, and I'm definitely leaning towards me being wrong here. You've got an actual education in this stuff and I'm working off half remembered texts from years ago."
She frowned at me, grumbling, "Well it didn't sound like that."
My lips pressed together tightly and I sighed through my nose. Great, open mouth, insert foot. I'd been caught off guard by the whole 'Dragon King Ghost' revelation and made an ass out of myself. I didn't know if it was because my setting knowledge was incomplete or if the setting was different than I knew of or if something had been changed by the God Machine or what. But regardless, it just meant I needed to deal with it as it came, same as I had with Demons and Angels in the World of Darkness as well as my own abilities. One step at a time, do the math and all that.
"Sorry," I apologized again, at least a measure more contrite this time. "I'm just unhappy because I live or die based on my foreknowledge and ability to prepare. Mortals need to stack things in their favor to even have a chance. And being blindsided by things like this is terrifying." I could only have so many spells running and I was already pushing my limits. I could put up maybe two, maybe three more in a pinch before I started tearing myself apart with every casting or venting Abyss into my surroundings. Which would be bad. If I prepped improperly and got blindsided, I could get attacked in a way I wasn't prepared for and just torn to itty bitty bits, either by my own hubris or by whatever it was that was attacking.
"You sure don't look scared," she noted unhappily.
"Fear is the mind killer. And it's also about as helpful as a sack of rocks." The Ice Ice baby jerked slightly as we went over a sandbank I hadn't been able to see on our approach, but both Secret and I had good sea legs and didn't fall. I let out a breath, "Honestly, I can deal, but it was an unpleasant surprise. I'm sorry if it seemed like I was taking it out on you, that wasn't my intent at all. Even the knowledge that they're Dragon Kings is a huge help. Thank you."
Secret shuffled in place, the defensive anger bleeding into awkwardness as she glanced away from me. After a moment she muttered, "Apology accepted."
I sighed in relief as the Ice Ice Baby came slowly up onto the beach, beaching the ship on the beach, so we could beach while we beach and various other memes.
Letting my arms drop, I rubbed my aching shoulders with a hand. And now we were at land, potentially hostile land that could have terrible, horrifying things awaiting us. Valor roll = 5 1 = Botch!
Hah… hahhhh… yeah, was not looking forward to this. I bit my lip glancing over at Secret and hoping that she might be willing to make the first move, but… if anything, she seemed even more worried than I was. Her hands were grasping her elbows as she stared out at the island we'd beached ourselves on, chewing her bottom lip as crimson eyes darted about… Compassion = 10 7 3 3 = Success
Well fuck that noise. Clapping my hands together, I forced the cheer for her sake, "Well… let's go say hi then."
"But-!" Secret started, making me freeze and look at her quickly. And some part of me couldn't help but go 'What is it now?' "These… the Dragon Kings… they hate the Deathlords…"
I processed that for a moment before giving her a warm smile, "Good thing we're not associated with them then, hm?"
Secret opened her mouth, then closed it, seemingly reassured before that bled away with a sign of resignation, "That's nice and all, but I'm an Abyssal, there's no way they're going to believe that I'm not with the Deathlords."
While that was true, the same could be said of Mages not believing I was with the Vampires. I couldn't help a little grin at that, a measure of confidence returning to me, "Let me handle that part."
Walking up to the rail of the ice ship, I vaulted over it and dropped the half dozen feet to the sand, knees bending to absorb the shock. I could practically feel the sigh from her as she leaned over the railing, "Didn't you just say that you need to know what you're getting into in order to survive?"
That was completely true, but while I was worried and afraid, I also drew strength from the fact that someone needed to be strong for. If anything, her doubts reaffirmed my determination. I smiled up at her, "An unknown number of Dragon King ghosts are on the island with potentially antagonistic attitudes due to who you used to work for. First order of business is contacting them and determining how hostile they are. Second's determining their goals. And finally, giving them what they want in exchange for what we want."
"Which is?" she asked, vaulting over the railing herself, landing far more gracefully than I could have managed.
With a thought, I released the spell that allowed me to bend water into nothingness, freeing some space in my Pattern for another imago. "Not dying, and getting to Creation, hopefully in that order." I grinned just a bit at her.
"And how are we going to do any of that? I'm…" she hesitated for a moment before admitting, "I'm not that good at talking to people or fighting… or much of anything really…"
"Magic, magic, magic, and probably talking fancy words at ancient ghosts of learned dinosaur kings using magical crystal technology and mystically biologically engineered organisms."
And the kicker was that stuff like that made perfect sense in the Exalted lore.
That earned me a dry look, "… seriously?"
"Actually? Yes." I then proceeded to deliberately misinterpret what she was asking as I started walking onto the island, "Unless I continue to be misinformed, Dragon Kings are pseudo reptilian, a species of enlightened sages that use strange organic plant technology as well as crystal technology."
"That's not- ugh," she facepalmed before starting to walk after me, "I'm never going to get a straight answer from you, am I?"
"I'm pretty solid with mental and death based magics, ghosts might be dangerous but this is something I should be able to handle." I said, completely contradicting her prior question with an example. Should being the operative word here. I had no idea how my magics would interact with the local ghosts and I hoped that things would work smoothly without requiring magic. "But right off the bat? No, you're probably not. I like messing with people."
If they didn't… well…
Secret rolled her eyes, a little smile on her face, her grasp on her own elbows less of a death grip and more of a casual thing to do with her hands when she lacked pockets.
Prometheus slipped into my palm in a subtle, well-practiced motion.
If worst came to worst, I could always set things on fire.
-oOo-
… that looked surprisingly… human? Well, human-natured in construction. If I remembered correctly, Dragon Kings made structures with minimal use of right angles… but that thing was practically a mosque in design, though it was subtly different, it had a more hexagonal base… it was set at the end of a grassy path through pale palm trees… and behind it was a small… settlement? I wasn't entirely sure the proper terminology, but it was a moderately sized place with a decent sized Aztec-style pyramid, and a fair number of these towers about a hundred yards tall and about a quarter of that wide, with dozens of balconies along the outside… those are probably their apartments, the pyramids their temples on which they'd sacrifice people's hearts to the Unconquered Sun… this mosque and those like it scattered about the settlement… I didn't know. I couldn't remember anything like it from my readings. We'd been following the sight of them through the forest and path for a little while now. It was honestly quite beautiful, but it lacked the vibrant beauty it should have had, instead having that still and quiet beauty of a world of silence.
Oh, and there were about a dozen vaguely dinosaur like beings in robes walking to meet us on the path. They were surprisingly intimidating all considered.
"Hail!"
Not that I'd let something as trivial as that slow me down. Not when Secret was practically shaking beside me like a leaf. Metaphorically that is, she kept glancing at me, and then away, her body language very clearly expressing her desire to not be here. That and if I could meet Prometheans in discourse, I sure as hell could meet some Dragon Kings.
I breathed in, tracing the lines in my skin and soul with power as the spell formed, connecting to Prometheus as well as all of my limited knowledge of persuasion as we moved to meet the Dragon Kings, I was going to magically speak the truth. Words of Truth = 7 dice = 8 5 5 9 (10 5) 7 8 = 4 Successes
There were three kinds of them approaching us. Two of them flanking the others were big, over seven feet tall and built like a brick house, each with a head like a triceratops and carrying almost aztecian war clubs, and with heavy crystalline armor. They had these short horns and blunt muzzles, and both of them had relatively short tails of about three feet with a clublike tip. Four of them had long necks and almost avian heads, with legs like a velociraptor's, claw included. Those were about my height, with little scales and a crest of feathers, each of them carrying some sort of crystal… something. I could've used magic to determine what it was, but now wasn't the time. But the majority of them looked like humanoid pterosaurs, though they stood a little shorter than me, and their wings were somewhat shrouded by their robes, I'd bet they had a wingspan four times my height.
"We were hoping to make trade!" I called as I came to a stop, Secret pausing just a little behind me as well.
Alright, thankfully between Universal Language and Words of Truth, I didn't need to worry about being understood or them thinking we were lying. Catch was that I couldn't lie. But I could deal with that. Didn't protect me from social flubs, but at least I could be social.
I felt a tingle of magic across my skin, and I eased my Mage Sight open in response. I caught the tail end of the effect pressing against me, the circuitry of a mental connection fading. I'd have known if it was affecting my mind, so a reading myster- charm.
"Who are you?" the lead one, one of the pterodactyl like ones, questioned, coming to a stop, flanked by its brethren.
"I am Kenobi, a mortal spellcaster, " I said, putting my left hand to my chest, my grip on Prometheus tighter than it honestly should have been even as I gestured to Secret behind me, "And this is Secret, an Abyssal seeking to escape the hold of the Deathlords."
One of the big burly reptiles growled at the word Deathlords, and a spike of obvious wariness shot through the others. Not surprising, but they also seemed uncomfortable, what with the fact that I was telling the Truth.
"You speak like a Chosen of the Sun," one of the other pterodactyl like ones stated warily. Each of the more raptor-like Dragon Kings had these crystal pistol-like things lined up with Secret and I.
"An emulation only, unfortunately. So long as I speak the truth, you'll know it. And any lies will be obvious by the absence of such. For example," pressing my left hand to my chest again I spoke, "I am a woman." More narrowed eyes from them before I continued, "I'm a man."
The Dragon Kings all glanced amongst each other, aside from the two burly ones, they kept themselves focused on Secret and I. Actually reminded me of Gangrel vampires in a coven, and surprisingly I found that comforting. That said, we were at a distinct disadvantage here… I noted that all of them had little patches of missing scales or feathers, having a roughly sickly appearance… they all died from disease? That wasn't enough. I needed more information.
A quick little imago, a brief little Knowing and Unveiling spell with a good scope and range. I took a few moments to tap into the metals and foci in Prometheus as well as link the spell to my own focus. 8 dice = 7 5 4 2 1 3 8 4 = 1 Success ; +1 Clue: 2 Elements
The spell barely settled into place, and I could barely feel it connect to the Dragon King ghosts, their simple power rebuffing any attempts. Hell, it did bounce off some of them. But those it did settle into told me a lot. I could see their age and the anchors they had to the living world, something every Ghost inherently had to have. They were all functionally the same age… and the anchors I could see were simple, their living brethren, their culture, their faith in the Unconquered Sun… Okay, so what did that tell me?
Turning back to us, the lead Dragon King asked, "What do you seek?"
"To return to Creation safely and escape the Deathlords." I gestured at Secret for the second half of that even as I pondered and pointedly ignored the desire to make a Monty Python reference. Investigation roll, Intelligence + Investigation + Clues: 10 Dice = 9 8 1 5 (10 3) (10 10 8) 9 3 9 3 = 8 Successes "And I think we can help one another." They all died from disease hundreds of years ago, functionally simultaneously… that meant they'd almost certainly all died because of the Great Contagion. But they'd done so on purpose, or at least had chosen to die and remain as ghosts instead of reincarnating, likely in an attempt to retain enough of their consciousness and memories to educate their feral brethren… but the utter lack of any living Dragon Kings here meant that they weren't able to for some reason or another.
"And how is that?" The burly Dragon King that had growled earlier demanding, gesturing with its spiked club. The motion made Secret step closer to my side, nearly in front of me, her hands half raised as fists. Even without a weapon, she'd moved to protect the defenseless mortal… I had a moment of rather intense gratefulness at that despite it being unnecessary.
I glanced at the speaking Dragon King, "Unless I miss my mark… you want to get to Creation to the corresponding reflection of this village and educate your still feral brethren and thus preserve your race and culture…" I trailed off, watching their reactions. There were more than a few narrowed eye ridges at that, as well as tightening grips on their guns, but no outright hostile reactions, "With some effort, I should be able to reach into Creation. In return for shelter and teaching, I'd be happy to open up a relatively permanent gateway for you."
Secret's head jerked towards me, eyes wide. Probably at my admission I could probably jerk us to Creation. But I made a little gesture with my left hand, wordlessly asking her to let me continue. I hadn't offered or tried earlier mostly because I wasn't sure if I could, and I didn't know what was on the other side. But here, I might just be able to. Especially given that these appeared to be sages, and would likely be able to help me if something weird happened.
"You are capable of such?" the lead pterodactyl questioned.
"I believe so, but I cannot be certain." I admitted. I had to. I could not lie while maintaining the effect.
"What of the Deathknight?" the leader asked, nodding his head at Secret so close to me, "How do we know she is not controlling you?"
"She has not used any social magics on me, and I believe she is incapable of doing such at this time." I said as calmly as I could manage, trying to think my way through explaining this and being truthful without giving too much away, "I have numerous reasons to believe her when she says that she seeks to escape the grip of the Deathlords, and very little to believe that she is lying to me."
They glanced amongst one another once again, before the lead pterodactyl, an interestingly bright pink one compared to the other greens and purples, stepped forward, "Do you swear not to harm us or our kin?"
"I swear that I have no harmful intent towards you or your people."
Eye ridges narrowed, "You refuse to swear not to harm us?"
I shook my head sadly, admitting, "I cannot in good conscience do so. If I must fight you to protect my companion I will do so and refuse to be bound in such a way to prevent that." Secret's eyes jerked towards me in surprise, but I kept my own gaze locked on the lead Dragon King.
One of the burly Dragon Kings bristled at that, "You dare-?!"
"Would you swear upon the Unconquered Sun to not attack someone unconditionally when they would not swear the same for yourself and your clutch?" I countered, meeting the other ghost's gaze without flinching, "I do not expect things to take that turn, but I take my oaths seriously. I will not swear something that will prevent me from protecting my companion."
The large Dragon King growled once more, hefting its spiked club upwards slightly; my hand tightening around Prometheus as my thumb touched its lid; Secret tensing up like a tightly wound spring, her eyes locked on the large ghost…
But the pink pterodactyl-like Dragon King extended a wing out between the two of us, breaking line of sight. The two of them glared at one another in a contest of wills for a long moment before the larger Dragon King backed down with an unhappy snort, lowering its spiked club. It was only then that I was able to relax my grip on Prometheus. The pink Dragon King retracted its wing and turned towards me, yellow eyes boring into me across the dozen yards separating our two groups, "If you are able to follow through with your promise, we will be forever indebted to you for enabling us to save our wayward people… but until that time, you and your companion will be under guard."
I looked at Secret out of the corner of my eye to make sure she was okay with this… and found her eyes flicking back and forth between the two Dragon King ghosts that had been speaking. Her hands were clenched at her sides and she was subtly shifting her weight back and forth on the balls of her feet, seemingly torn… Compassion = 8 4 3 2= 1 Success
My left hand leaned out to brush the back of my knuckles against her own, giving her a little start. Crimson eyes glanced at me in surprise and I gave her a small smile, as reassuring as I could make it. Her eyes flicked down to my hand, which I turned slightly in an offering. Flicking her gaze back up to my own questioningly, I just raised my eyebrows slightly and kept smiling. Almost hesitantly, her hand came out to grasp mine, cool and rough with callouses. Her grip was strong, and a little, almost timid smile crossing her face as she gripped my hand tightly.
Turning my attention back to the Dragon Kings, I bowed slightly, Secret mimicking my movement, "That is acceptable. We are grateful for your hospitality."
The Dragon Kings approached cautiously, weapons still trained on us as they moved to encircle Secret and I. Her cool hand tightened in mine and I squeezed back reassuringly. The two largest of them took up on either side of us, two of the raptor-like ones behind us and two ahead, the other six taking up positions all around us. The leader, almost hilariously shorter than me by a full head, stepped up, "I am Pterock Rambena, lead researcher of the Lakshadi colony."
I bowed my head slightly, "I am called Kenobi, mortal spellcaster. I shall be in your care."
"Come then," the roughly humanoid mystical dinosaur turned around, heading back towards the mosque-like structure, "We shall see whether you are capable of what you say or not, mortal."
"Thank you." I said simply, following after the Dragon King.
"Kenobi…" Secret whispered, still holding tightly to my hand and standing close as we were shepherded by the Dragon Kings.
"Yes?" I whispered back.
"What's going on?"
I blinked. Then it hit me. My Universal Language spell had been cast on myself. She hadn't understand a word of what the Dragon Kings side of the conversation.
Over seven feet and half a ton of scales, teeth, claws, muscles, and over 700 years of ghostly experience made threatening gestures at them, one of them an Abyssal without a weapon and only having Dodge charms, the other a mortal. Without knowing what they were saying, she had plenty of reason to be wary.
Over seven feet and half a ton of scales, teeth, claws, muscles, and over 700 years of ghostly experience made threatening gestures at them, one of them an Abyssal without a weapon and only having Dodge charms, the other a mortal. Without knowing what they were saying, she had plenty of reason to be wary.
Heh, will Kenobi guide Secret to the "Bla,bla Solah Powah!" charm? She is, essentially, the sanest Exalt around with being Great Curse freed by Neverborn. Can be interesting spin on Keychain plot.
Heh, will Kenobi guide Secret to the "Bla,bla Solah Powah!" charm? She is, essentially, the sanest Exalt around with being Great Curse freed by Neverborn. Can be interesting spin on Keychain plot.
According to what i read and heard, you need a Zenith to plead to the Unconquered Sun and an Epic quest to recuperate the Monstrous Celestial Portion holding the Exaltation of Secret which is in the hands of the Silver Prince.
There may be an out-of-the-box solution, but i can't think of one for now.
According to what i read and heard, you need a Zenith to plead to the Unconquered Sun and an Epic quest to recuperate the Monstrous Celestial Portion holding the Exaltation of Secret which is in the hands of the Silver Prince.
There may be an out-of-the-box solution, but i can't think of one for now.
There is no real set method to turning an Abyssal Exaltation to a Solar one. Certainly, it's an epic quest to do so, but anything on the topic from the books describe themselves as 'guidelines' rather than straight mechanics, with any 'rules' being more in line of what the actual aftereffects of redeeming an Abyssal Shard are. There are certain constant themes that are done with redemption arcs/quests, due to their very nature, but nothing along the lines of "Step 1... step 2... ? Profit/Redeem."
More to the point, the OC knows about the great curse(s), resonance tactics bullshit and can blab. Although telling secret while on the underworld is probably a terrible idea ofc.
