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Witness to Darkness (One Piece / Exalted)

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In which a pirate gains supernatural powers without eating strange fruit.

-- -- --

"Damn!"...
TPK

TPK

Hello, friend.
In which a pirate gains supernatural powers without eating strange fruit.

-- -- --

"Damn!" You hiss, slamming your hands down onto the thick wooden table. The map pinned to it tears where the marker pins try to stop the thick paper from moving, trying to stop you from ruining a week's work, and you make your clenched fists relax by force of will.

You lay them flat on the cool table and close your eyes as the burning disappointment inside your guts threatens to come out your throat.

So close. You were so close.

There were all kinds of big shot pirates on the Grand Line, but there were plenty in the East Blue too. Not as many, but still plenty to steal from. You'd been stealing from pirates for the past seven years, hoarding every single Belly you could get your hands on, but today was going to be the day. Today you were going to make the big score- a real treasure.

There was a pirate ship, a treasure transport for one of the big players further east making a 'secret' run through Arlong's territory. It'd docked at Conomi Island yesterday, and you'd waited to sneak inside until just before dawn today. Using every ounce of stealth you possessed, you'd snuck past the dozing guards and into the most secure cargo hold on the ship. The treasure chest had been unlocked.

It had been empty. More than a hundred-million Bellly. That was what a Devil Fruit was worth, and the margin would be enough to buy off Arlong and make him happy about it!

The crackle of paper brings you to your senses. Your map, crumpled in fists so tight that your nails are digging into your palms through the tough sheet, is most likely ruined.

You drop it, and the room goes dark.

So close, a voice whispers, and yet so far.

You whirl around, hand going to your waist, but you left your knife by the door- for all that you're no good with it!

. . . There's a thing on the window ledge, looking for all the world like a small boy in ragged and worn clothes, except that all of his face is covered in criss-crossed shadows. Save his eyes. His eyes are cold grey discs, like iron pennies.

I bring you an offer of freedom, and power.

which of the following do you prioritize more?
[] Social
[] Mental

choose a favored Yozi
[] Malfeas
[] Cecelyne
[] She Who Lives In Her Name
[] Adorjan
[] Kimbery
[] other (specify)
 
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[X] Social
[X] Kimberry


I really hope I don't need to point out how crazy awesome Kimbery's set ends up in the One Piece universe?

Suffice to say that the yozi with the ocean theme is going to be really good in the world where everything interesting happens within a few miles of the ocean.

Edit: Yozi theme options for those who don't know. Each will make us better when we act a certain way and better at working with certain mediums/themes/etc

Malfeas: RAGE, OPPRESSION, NUCLEAR FIRE AND RADIATION, SELF LOATHING AND TALKING IN ALL CAPS
Cecelyne: Law, legalism, the desert, infinity, eternity, hypocrisy.
SWLIHN: Optimization, efficiency, telekinetic stabbing, hierarchy and paperwork, rage against entirely logical disapproval of free will
Adorjan: Speedzooomzoomcontrarianmurderbuddha.
Kimbery: Water, the Ocean, Acid, Poison, Erosion, Passive Aggressive Behavior, Being the nightmare mother in law
 
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Don't know anything about Exalted but I like One Piece so I guess I'm just watching here.

Minor Nitpick East Blue is typically considered the Weakest Sea but I guess its entirely possible that things are different due to the crossover, viewpoint character not being in the know, or just GM Preference.

Thanks for the Explanation of Yozi in that case I'll vote:

[x] Social
[x] Kimberly
 
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LordPanther14 said:
Don't know anything about Exalted but I like One Piece so I guess I'm just watching here.

Minor Nitpick East Blue is typically considered the Weakest Sea but I guess its entirely possible that things are different due to the crossover, viewpoint character not being in the know, or just GM Preference.
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Partially in character and partially because of the whole average fish in a small pond thing. The definition of bigshot changes with the location and experience of the person saying it.

And a minor edit to fix the text color in the OP.
 
Please post a link to the Quest in the Index. A summary would be nice but entirely optional.
 
[X] Social
[X] Kimbery

A primarily social Infernal with the Ebon Dragon as Caste Yozi is terrifying. There are endless ways to mess with people's heads.

Since One Piece is an ocean world my vote goes to Kimbery as favored Yozi.
 
If you guys are going Social then go Adorjan or if necessary Malfeas.
 
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Yzarc said:
If you guys are going Social then go Adorjan or if necessary Malfeas.
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Why? It's fine to like those charms better and that's definitely a valid character generation approach (though for personal opinion I definitely love Kimbery more than either of those.)

But in terms of actual character advantage neither plays well to Nami's social strengths. Malfeas in particular synergizes poorly with Nami's fiend ED set in general. If you're not trying to add the complication of a hilariously inappropriate Malfeas charmset that should be the single easiest choice on the list to discard.

ED has much of the strongest social offense in the game. Malfeas and Adorjan both tend more toward charisma in charm requirements, and Malfeas in particular is almost hilariously awful for Nami's personality and preferred strategies. (It could be fun if we want to really push her far away, but it's hilariously suboptimal if that's why you're suggesting it.)

I mean, she's very much the emotionally manipulative trickster who lies to everyone and messes with your perceptions. She's not at all a "Go around ordering everyone to obey with pure force of personality." Look at her actions on the weather island for Nami being socially manipulative, or every crew she joined and tricked while working with Arlong.

As for Adorjan social, Theft as Release is pretty much all we'd really get out of that that we could use well. Maybe Tragic Love Amusement stuff or Dissonant Lies Made True, but most of those are explicitly tied to charisma.

Personal opinion is personal opinion, and it's perfectly wonderful to use it as a deciding factor. But it's also pretty individualistic. However, in terms of actual pragmatic arguments Kimbery seems to come out hugely on top when you consider that we already have a social strategy via ED.


Kimbery has crazy synergy with the setting (ocean is everywhere powerful sea monsters exist.) Kimbery also has some great social defense though it does get boarded behind Intolerable Burning Truths which would make Nami a little.... interesting maybe if we really go that route. (Not that ED isn't sufficient for becoming a social monster.)

But, let's look at Kimbery charms and see the best/most awful options for the One Piece world. None of this considers Kimbery's general awesome social defense suit, passive UMI abilities on par with Malfeas, interesting poison powers, etc.

Mother Sea Mastery: Super speed underwater, Swim 2-5 times faster than normal, no fatigue for swimming once she gets a bit of power (IE: She could swim around the world without stopping. Combine with a small Adorjan dip for super speed and she'd have every reason to say "Fuck the boat" and just dog-paddle the grandline. Basically gives her the full merman underwater package. Even if we don't favor Kimbery the benefits here justify the one charm dip.

Ichor Flux Tendrils: Or "Lulz devil fruits." because the ability to telekinetically attack people with the ocean pretty much shuts down a devil fruit powers or at least really gives us a huge leg up on a ton of them. Moreover it's a weapon that doesn't key off Nami's tertiary physical stats or low combat abilities. Meaning even if we dump fighty stuff we can still contribute importantly to battles. Might not always be available, but whenever we're near a boat or the ocean we'll have combat power getting near a logia user. (It keys off force of will+essence, both of which everyone should want to max anyway)

Fathomless Poison Haven: Oh look we can grant people immunity to harm from any liquids including poison. Not sure how it'll work with devil fruits, but potentially a setting breaking power by itself (And making people drown/pressure-proof is pretty nifty on a boat even if it can't cure that flaw.) (Also hah Impel Down arc if we get that far.)

Acid Slipstream Assist: Nami's the ship's navigator. This lets her move a beloved boat (like the Going Merry will become if we stick anywhere near canon) twice as fast as she can swim. Best Infernal charm to make a ship go where you want. Given that she'll be able to swim super fast, this gets pretty crazy.

Kimberry's Flaw of Invulnerability: We get PD as long as we're near the sea. IE: Almost always.

What Lurks Beneath: Summon sea monster. Look at some of the stuff that lives in the One Piece Ocean. Tell me you wouldn't want to be able to play with those things? This lets Nami call them at will from anywhere and have them appear in a few minutes.

+A lot of other stuff that's useful in general and not just because of One Piece's setting.

The way I imagine it, Nami's fiend caste ED charms will give us social offense, disguise and infiltration powers that hit Nami's core specialties as a thief. Kimbery matches her navigator character traits power, and gives us the power to be more than relevant in combat situations despite poor physical stats while also adding a ton of utility around the water and shoring up our defenses both socially and physically.*

Aside from that we'll want maybe 1-2 Cecelyne charms, a few SWLIHN bits like factual determination and some Adorjan, all of which could be done at chargen or spread out later.

*(Granted going full on Golden Years+Intolerable Burning Truths makes it fun to try to play a nice character, but Adorjan and Malfeas aren't much better in their social options there.)
 
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For those who don't know what the Intolerable Burning Truths are:

Mother Before Daughter: We can't betray beloved characters or ancestors. Note that 'betray' in this context means taking a course of action or inaction that does more harm than good, allowing for quite creative interpretations. Gives a bonus when navigating anywhere or tracking beloved characters that increases with the number of beloved characters. If I remember One Piece correctly that's pretty much a shoe-in for Nami considering why she joined Arlong in the first place.

Trust Is Naive: We can't believe anything bad about a beloved character. We can make friends and other positive connections very quickly, but only with people/things we never hated.

Existence Is Agony: We can't show mercy against enemies and if several courses of actions are available we have to choose the one that maximizes harm to non-beloved characters. We no longer care about the well-being of non-beloved characters, although we can care about strangers in the hope of making them beloved.

Never Forgive: We can't abandon or weaken negative feelings about other characters and refuse to believe anything good about them. On the plus side, attempts to persuade other people to think ill or harm the people we revile become unnatural mental influence.

Hate Springs Eternal: We can't help people we revile in any way, unless our life depends on it. We can hate an unlimited number of people and get a defense bonus against those we hate.

They can be taken separately and gibbousmoons may implement them differently in this quest.
 
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[X] Mental
[X] Kimbery

Social as primary would be nice, but Nami is the Navigator, she should be Mental focused for that, methinks.

well, it's up to the masses. And I'll be honest, so long as the GM deals with all the diddly bits to prevent this quest getting bogged down in details, I'm good.


also, I Really want to see what a full on Ebon Dragon chosen Infernal that is also Nami can do to the world.
 
Yog said:
What's that charm that allows you to go to Malfeas by traveling a desert for five days? Because this could be a fun voyage for Strawhats.
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Is not a charm, any Infernal can simply desire to head to Malfeas, and then begin to walk.

they reach it five days later, after crossing Cecylenes sandy desert.
 
Yog said:
Does it have to be by foot, or can they use transportation? And can they bring others with them?
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Most of the descriptions I've seen had the person on foot, but I've seen mentions of people Travelling by sand skiff, or even Yeddim. Would need a real Exalted player with knowledge of Infernals for confirmation here.

i just know that on foot and deciding to walk there can get you there.
 
[X] Social
[X] Kimbery

I always wanted to try out Kimbery, as her themes and charms have VERY interesting flavor. However finding a setting where you do not handycap yourself by choosing her is hard. One Piece though? Hallelujah, we are in the holy land. We will forge our own small family and through them, we will be queen of the sees (if Nami, if not King/Newkama?? you know what I speak of....).

This will be hilarious!
 
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