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[IC] Exalted: One Hundred Kingdoms, One Hundred Woes (Chapter 4)
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I probably could have saved them the conflict, here. Still, if they insist on fighting... no Terrestrials are going to slaughter MY charges.
She slipped around the corner, unnoticed by any of the combatants, so focused were they on each other. Slipping free of the fate she had woven for herself, she slid Conveyor of Demure Justice and Quieter of Beating Hearts out of her scholar's satchel, and fell back into the identity of Viridian Phoenix, her scholar's dress slithering off of her lithe form to reveal her elegant robes.
It's good to be myself again.
"But, if you would die to see Demons run rampant, Iselsi Ajoris, then we will gladly oblige you."
Sand grinned, taking his tetsubo into both hands. Thorn readied an arrow.
"The rest of you, unless you wish to join this demon and her concubine, I suggest you stand aside."
Tiran's tears ran down her cheeks. She reluctantly gripped her sword. "Li, for Heaven's sakes, talk some sense into him! Make him move!"
Spear God Li's looked directly into Tiran's eyes.
"Lady Tiran, it is you who must be talked sense to if you think your brother deserves arrest. Allow him his freedom and I will gladly slay that demon myself."
Kiko took a step back, placing her back against the inn's wall. "But one thing that most people forget, even the Dragon-Bloods, is why they call it the Wyld Hunt. You see, after the Usurpation, the Chosen of Luna fled to the edges of Creation."
"And then they kept running."
"From the Wyld they struck out at times, and the Dragon-Bloods would respond with their hunts. But now, without their precious Scarlet Empress, they stumble. And we are ready to rip out their throats!" Shouting out the last part, the robe around Kiko vanished. For a heartbeat she just stood there. Then loud ripping sounds came from her and as she cried out four spider legs erupted from her back. She visibly grew as well, reaching seven feet tall as her skin took on the texture of chitin. And when she looked at everyone again, she stared with eight eyes.
"It appears we have two demons to purge from Creation this eve!"
Tiran shouted, her tears flowing freely. "Ajoris, help us kill these two demons or get out of the way! Please!"
The Terrestrials reflexively backed away. Sand looked behind him. "Get ready men!"
Archers revealed themselves from the rooftops and Fort White guardsmen began to assemble behind the Terrestrials.
"What did we tell you?" said the bored Toxic Thorn, pointing at the assemblage. "You'd be foolish now to see that the Realm has come to do anything but save the good folk of Helz from demons like these."
The guards were stern faced, rallying behind the ersatz Wyld Hunt.
Li whirled, going back to back with Ajoris... Deep Torrent faced the Dragon-Blooded, while the Spear God faced Maiden and Kiko.
"Ajoris..." Li growled through gritted teeth, "even we can't fight two demons and your people at the same time! Do something! Make a deal with your sister!"
Blood trickled down her face, past her lips and dripped to the ground from her chin.
"You're interrupting important things," she announced to the Dragon Blooded -- to the Wyld Hunt, "And I'd no intention of leaving anyone hurt today."
Now, when she spoke, a disembodied chorus joined her, shouting nearly enough in unison with her words.
"Put away your weapons," she said (Lay aside your weapons), "And leave me alone. Or I will kill all of you." (I will kill you all !)
She didn't expect they'd pay heed to her threat, and so the Maiden fell into her battle-readied stance, something unstudied and unnamed but nonetheless perfect.
Viridian Phoenix peeked around the corner of the ally, watching her cornered Exalts, surrounded by guards and Dragon-Blooded.
Even she couldn't resist a flinch when she saw Kiko transform. Nothing she had read could have prepared her for a sight like that.
As long as Li doesn't side with The Hunt... it's his death if he does so.
She gathered Fate around her, pulling it taut as a bowstring. She crouched slightly, released her grip on Destiny, and flew into the air like an graceful arrow, her robe fluttering in the air as she landed on the inn roof behind the archers.
Her fans caught the light as she flipped them open, but only she saw the momentary beauty, as everyone focused on the confrontation in the square below.
"It seems that I must choose my traveling companions more carefully in the future. Biting Gale, I will not interfere. I see now that I was mistaken to trust these two."
Ajoris turns and says in a whisper, "Li, whatever you do, don't fight." before stepping out of the way.
Slowly he moved up from his stance and raised his spear, leaning upon it again like a walking stick. He hadn't noticed that he'd neglected to remove the burlap sack from its blade.
He did not know what Torrent could possibly be thinking, but he stayed close to him. At least he wasn't stopping the demon-hunters from killing the two beasts.
Spear God Li moved cautiously, staying within arm's reach of Ajoris.
Biting Gale nods. "I knew you were an honorable and pious man, Ajoris Deep Torrent. Please make sure your god-blooded friend does not get in the way of our business."
More and more Fort White guards were assembling behind the Terrestrials. A few of them seemed shaken by the ghostly voices, but the Dragon blood's indifference rallied their courage.
Tiran wiped the tears from her eyes and suddenly she was a different woman - she was the woman Li remembered from the woods. Toxic Thorn was poised, and Sand had a grin on his face.
Ajoris makes a discrete gesture towards Li's forehead, "Gale won't stop until you are dead. Tiran won't stop him and she may assist him, it's hard to guess."
"And I won't fight because I don't believe that the Maiden or Kiko deserve death, but dying with them won't help anyone. That is why I strongly suggest we stand here and don't interfere."
Compliant in the face of utter confusion, Li simply nodded to Ajoris, folding his arms with the spear tucked into the crook of his elbow, hands obscured by his sleeves.
She rushed forward and pushed herself in front of Maiden. "RUN! I'll hold them for as long as possible!" She turned to face the Dragon-Bloods and scowled. "I had hoped for a differnt end to my story. I wonder how many of you I will take with me into the afterlife?"
"You hunt the anathema?" she called out. (here for anathema !) "Then hunt me!" (come get me !)
Daiklave still in hand, the Maiden darts almost headlong into a building, stopping only at the last moment to leap onto the rooftop. She keeps moving -- she's hoping some of them will give chase.
"Ajoris!" he said with a sudden turn, startling his friend who was so intently focused upon the current situation, "Where is Kaila?"
Deep Torrent simply looked at Li and shrugged, a bit speechless.
"Heaven and Earth! Some bodyguard I am! She probably ran in terror! Who knows what kind of trouble a woman in an emotional state might be getting into! Ajoris, we must find her!"
If we're lucky, they'll follow her. Sure, a spider-monster is an obvious threat... but that chorus of speaking mouths was a nice touch to make a distraction. Now... how to keep them all from getting separated?
She sighed, as she watched the situation in the square unfold, Li questioning Ajoris furiously about where Kaila was.
She's not here anymore, boys. Just me.
Kiko is the one in trouble... and possibly the one who would benefit most from my guidance. I can't let her fall.
Viridian Phoenix moved closer to the edge of the building, her billowing sleeves snapping in the wind as she snapped her fans shut, prepared to jump into action at any moment.
Ajoris sweeps his gaze across the street before glancing at the rooftops, alert for other surprises, "In fact, I'll bet she's closer then you think, life's weird that way."
Unsurprisingly to Ajoris, there was no reasoning with Li... in an instant, he was headed for the rooftop of the Inn to find a better vantage point.
"Also, in a way, by slaying the mosters for the weak you weaken them farther." Before Li could say anything in response to that, Kiko kept talking. "What I mean to say is that they'll never learn to be strong. As long as you live, things will be fine. They'll learn to rely on you to protect them from the horrors outside their village. But one day you won't be there. Maybe you'll have moved on. Maybe you'll be dead. It won't matter; they'll cry out for you but you won't come. And they will fall. People become soft and weak when the few protect them from all their problems. You need to teach them to be strong to do them the most good."
Kiko sighed. "I'm sure you won't listen to me though. Because I'm a 'Demon'. Because I'm 'Anathema'. But maybe one of the ideas I've planted here today will take root, and someday may blossom."
He lighted on the edge of the roof, gazing out to the streets teeming with soldiers (who Ajoris was attempting to calm down)... and then he turned to see a woman, her robes vibrant and flowing despite the lack of breeze, a war fan in each hand. Spear God Li immediately swiveled to a fighting stance at the sudden appearance of this supernatural creature, spear at the ready.
"Who in blazes are you?"
If he had responded, he would have said: A fine speech, a tad too wordy, but shouldn't you be more concerned about the four Princes of the Earth about to kill you?
As Ajoris turns to address the gathering crowd, he thinks that much of the content did mirror his thoughts and beliefs almost exactly; regardless of the delivery there was nothing he could fault about the message. Regardless, now is not the time for introspective musings.
He speaks to the crowd, "Alright, get going. This isn't a safe place to be, return to your homes, the show's over. Let them do what needs to be done without worrying about collateral damage."
"Remember what I have said today, Jade dogs! My Exaltation will haunt you!"
She was swallowed in sand, thorns, and immolating flames.
Gale watched the Maiden scowl and leap to one of the rooftops of Fort White.
"Kill the other demon! Send her back to the Underworld with her companion!"
Sand and Thorn nodded, themselves leaping to the rooftops.
Sand raised Shalecracker, and he gave a grin of anticipation. His voice rumbled like an avalanche: "Die, Anathema."
With that he charged forward, swinging his great weapon in an extremely deadly arc - which the Maiden seemed to deflect with little effort. It seemed like her blade had been there for an eternity, waiting for Sand's club to impact it so she could commit herself to a new course of action.
"I've already died once," the Maiden remarked as Thorn sighted up and fired two quick arrows, which the Abyssal also deflected with ease.
Time for Join Battle!
Crushing Sand joins battle (1d10=10, 1d10=8, 1d10=6, 1d10=7)
Toxic Thorn joins battle (1d10=10, 1d10=3, 1d10=6, 1d10=2, 1d10=3, 1d10=1, 1d10=3)
Darth Maiden joins battle (1d10=6, 1d10=6, 1d10=2, 1d10=1, 1d10=3)
Strangely enough, Sand sets the reaction count at 4, so he will act on tick 0. Thorn will act on Tick 2, and the Maiden will act on tick 4. This is somewhat bad for the Abyssal.
Sand rushes forward and tries to give the Dusk Caste a smack on the noggin. Assuming Salt doesn't want to risk a swing powered by the First Melee Excellency, the Maiden uses her perfect parry, deflecting Sand's grand tetsubo, the Shalecracker, aside. He is down 3 motes of Peripheral essence, Salt is down 4 motes from Peripheral or Personal (his choice).
Thorn aims two shots at the Maiden, whose DV is lowered -1 thanks to Sand's attack. The attacks are at 12 and 11 accuracy, respectively, which she bumps up to 16 and 15 by spending 4m of personal essence. Salt's DV would be down -2 for the second attack, coming out to I think 4 (I'm calcing the parry DV up as 6, correct me if I'm wrong).
Once again, I'm assuming you don't want to futz with the possibility of taking the possibility of serious damage from Fowling arrows so I will assume you perfect parry both arrows, taking out 8 more motes of essence from either of your pools. If this is not what you want to do and want to instead see if the dice are on your side, tell me and I'll post rolls / modify this post.
As it is, we move to Tick 4, the Maiden's acting Tick. They have been jumping around and dodging this whole time, so don't worry about distance (within reason). Sand is set to go again on tick 6 (two ticks after the Maiden) and Thorn is set to go on tick 7.
Mote pools:
Sand: 21/36 motes (not really discerning from the two types. the dragonblood don't care about anima flare)
Thorn: 16/32
Salt: -4, -4, -4 divided how he likes from his pool (unless he wants to change action)
"Who am I? I don't think that is the question you should be asking, Spear God Li. Who are you?
Who is the man who defeated No Shadow, who slew The Serpent of Boundless Rage, and who wields Black Soil? Why does the man wearing his name let the Dragon-Blooded attack a maiden who asked for aid?"
It was her turn to strike back with the fury of the Underworld as she dragged her sword along the stone roof, ripping it forward, flipping sparks towards Sand's eyes.
Unfortunately for the Duskchild, the Terrestrial shifted his girth (he moved like an earthquake, slowly and deliberately) and her blade flew wide. She cursed as Sand reared up.
"Pathetic demon-powers won't save you," he said, swinging his tetsubo around with the force of a rockslide.
The Maiden who Laments had never been hit with such a blow before. It was like a mountain bearing down upon her as she felt the club hit her and throw her into a chimney behind her, which crumbled into stone as the ash of her anima covered everything, leaving a trail as she hit.
Thorn was too stymied by the Anathema's monstrous aura and the cacophony of wailing ghosts swirling about her - the Princess of the Earth's arrow sailed far too wide.
Darth Maiden takes a swing at Sand (1d10=2, 1d10=8, 1d10=9, 1d10=1, 1d10=4, 1d10=2, 1d10=2, 1d10=8, 1d10=1, 1d10=1, 1d10=7, 1d10=1, 1d10=5, 1d10=5)
Stunt (1d10=4, 1d10=4)
Unfortunately even with a two-die stunt the maiden fails to breach his DV. The boon of the situation is that she will act again on tick 8 due to her quick-speed Daiklave. It's Sand's go and will try and pound the maiden to paste.
Sand attacks + 1die stunt (1d10=2, 1d10=7, 1d10=10, 1d10=10, 1d10=8, 1d10=5, 1d10=4, 1d10=6)
Surprisingly he bypasses the Maiden's Parry DV of 5 (remember she takes -1 because of her attack) by just 1 sux, meaning Sand is set to deal a whopping 15 dice of bashing damage after soak. Here's hoping he rolls poorly...
Levels of Bashing Damage (1d10=1, 1d10=7, 1d10=5, 1d10=5, 1d10=4, 1d10=1, 1d10=7, 1d10=5, 1d10=3, 1d10=4, 1d10=9, 1d10=7, 1d10=4, 1d10=8, 1d10=7)
Not as poorly as the Maiden would have liked. She takes 6(!!) health levels of damage, filling her single -0, her four -1s, and dipping into one of her -2s. She's suffering a -2 internal penalty from a severe whack on the head. Sand recovers himself two motes from a successful stunt, and he will go again on tick 12.
Thorn is up next on Tick 7. She is severely affected by the black anima flare of the Dusk Caste, and her Valor virtue is nowhere near high enough to resist the effect. The Maiden gets +2 to her DV against Thorn, which is canceled out by her wound penalty. Her parry DV is down to 4, which Thorn will hope to penetrate with a well-aimed arrow.
Thorn aims a shot (1d10=9, 1d10=4, 1d10=3, 1d10=5, 1d10=4, 1d10=5, 1d10=3, 1d10=3, 1d10=2, 1d10=9, 1d10=5, 1d10=6, 1d10=6, 1d10=4)
Apparently the Anathema is more terrifying than expected and her arrow misses horribly. She will go on Tick 12.
Tick 8 is the Maiden's tick, it's her action. DV refreshes.
EDIT: I fucked up on onslaught penalties (thanks rainfall!) but the outcome is the same.
Mote pools:
Sand: 23/36 motes
Thorn: 16/32
Salt: -16 total
The Maiden tries to bring down Sand (1d10=6, 1d10=7, 1d10=10, 1d10=10, 1d10=2, 1d10=4, 1d10=5, 1d10=8, 1d10=4, 1d10=6)
We're looking at a whopping 10(!!) sux on the first swing, and
The Maiden tries to bring down Sand (1d10=10, 1d10=9, 1d10=5, 1d10=3, 1d10=5, 1d10=4, 1d10=1, 1d10=2, 1d10=6)
7 sux on the second swing, more than enough to breach his DV of 4 and then 3 for the second attack.
the 6 sux carry over to the damage roll. The maiden has a raw damage of 17 lethal dice on the first attack, soaked down to 4 damage dice total, and down to 3 (minimum essence) on the second roll. Let's see how she does...
Damage (1d10=8, 1d10=7, 1d10=4, 1d10=10)
a spectacular 3 levels on the first attack, draining 3 motes of essence and putting Sand down into his -1s.
Damage (1d10=3, 1d10=1, 1d10=9)
He takes another level of lethal damage, putting him into over half his -1s. He's a meaty fellow. The next action is set on Tick 12, where ALL of our combatants will be set to act. The maiden gains back 2 essence for her stunt, and 3 from her Soulsteel daiklave.
Sand: 20/36
Thorn: 16/32
Maiden: 19/51
"Spear God Li doesn't save demons, Lady... you are totally confused."
Wow... is he really this dense?
"Anyway, I'm up on the roof because I'm looking for a helpless girl. Not looking for her up here on the roof of course, it's so I can see better."
Okay, yeah he is.
"I'm flattered that the word of my deeds has reached so far... but it will not deter me from asking your purpose here!"
Gods.
"Is this truly what you've fallen to, Spear God Li? The maiden has been cursed by demons, and yet she still fights against them. You see men who are nothing but demons at heart, and you let them live? You would allow them to slay a spirit with such true nobility as hers?
You are not worthy to know my name."
She turned, leaping off of the roof with effortless grace, her robes fluttering around her as she landed on the roof of a far building, moving towards the battle.
The Earth-aspect's tetsubo sailed into her blade and she laughed, plucking some of the ash from her anima and dashing it into Sand's eyes.
"Still think my Demon-powers are no match for you?" she gloated as she slid the blade into the gap of his defenses, once again drawing lifeblood - sweet, red blood - and laughed as she flicked it to the stone roof. Thorn watched in abject horror, but the Earth exalt's face was impassive. The man truly was like a mountain.
She is going to repeat what she did last turn, using the second excellency to buy successes. Since this is all happening on the same tick, when she is attacked these extra 4 sux will apply to her parry DV as well (that is how I am ruling it anyway, the rules are sketchy on this subject).
Sand's Dodge DV is 4 for the first attack, 3 for the second attack. He will use his Dodge Excellency to see if he can raise that up. His Dodge is 3 with no specialties, so he only gets 2 dice. He elects to spend 1m, hopefully he'll roll well.
Pitiful Dodge Excellency (1d10=10, 1d10=8)
He does, oddly enough, and his dodge DV shoots up to 7 and 6.
Maiden attacks + 2 die stunt (1d10=7, 1d10=5, 1d10=1, 1d10=9, 1d10=6, 1d10=3, 1d10=1, 1d10=2, 1d10=8, 1d10=1, 1d10=9, 1d10=2)
8 sux, she beats his DV by 1 for the first attack.
Maiden attacks + 2 die stunt (1d10=1, 1d10=2, 1d10=4, 1d10=10, 1d10=2, 1d10=3, 1d10=7, 1d10=9, 1d10=8, 1d10=8, 1d10=10)
Her second attack is identical, with 8 sux, beating his DV by 2.
Her damage is 12 and 13 respectively, which he soaks fully, leaving the Maiden down to 'ping' damage.
Sand takes health damage (1d10=2, 1d10=3, 1d10=5, 1d10=8, 1d10=9, 1d10=2)
Sand takes another 2 health levels of damage, filling up his remaining -1s. Maiden drains 3 motes from his pool and regains 7 (4 from the stunt).
Sand, meanwhile, is going to try and crack the Maiden's head open like a melon. He has 20 motes left (this is before drain) and is going to spend 2m for 4 dice via the First Melee Excellency, kicking his accuracy up to a whopping 10. The Maiden's parry DV is applied in full, minus her wound penalties, meaning her PDV is actually 8. He is going to be hard-pressed to hit her.
Sand attacks + stunt (1d10=4, 1d10=7, 1d10=3, 1d10=5, 1d10=7, 1d10=1, 1d10=2, 1d10=4, 1d10=7, 1d10=7, 1d10=3)
As predicted, his attack is laughable, 4 sux isn't going to cut it, and the Maiden parries his blow.
Thorn is also up for quite a challenge. Against the wood-aspect, the Maiden's DV is an impressive 10 due to her anima. Thorn is going to use her first excellency and squeeze 4 dice into two arrows, bumping her accuracy to 14 and 13 (-2 and -3 for multiple action penalties).
Thorn arrows (1d10=1, 1d10=3, 1d10=8, 1d10=8, 1d10=7, 1d10=10, 1d10=6, 1d10=7, 1d10=8, 1d10=10, 1d10=2, 1d10=5, 1d10=8, 1d10=4)
Thorn arrows (1d10=2, 1d10=9, 1d10=8, 1d10=5, 1d10=6, 1d10=4, 1d10=10, 1d10=3, 1d10=3, 1d10=3, 1d10=7, 1d10=2, 1d10=5)
Thorn rolls impressively on the first attack, matching the Maiden's DV of 10. However, defense has primacy so the Maiden deflects the arrow. The second one once again sails wide.
Maiden is set to go yet again on tick 16, Thorn on tick 17, and Sand on tick 18.
Sand: 14/36
Thorn: 18/32
Maiden: 7/51
"Ajoris!" Li yelled down at his friend, pointing in the direction Phoenix had leaped, "Flying Woman up here! Probably a bad sign!"
As Deep Torrent paused for a fraction of a second to wonder at Li's words, the Spear God was already giving chase, jumping from rooftop to rooftop as he attempted to catch up with the strange apparition.
"Hey, get down here, lady! You don't want to mess with those guys!"
Landing on the edge of a rooftop, Phoenix glanced disdainfully down at Li.
"I would much rather no one suffers this day, Spear God. As suffering has already happened, it is my duty to prevent more from happening."
"You know... that's a great idea. So let's sit here and let those guys put an end to all the suffering that demon over there causes!"
Li's comment on a Flying Women reached his ears. Ajoris made his decision. Leaping quickly and surely, he scales the nearest building. Flipping up onto the rooftops, Ajoris spies Li and the purported 'Flying Woman' nearby. Jumping quickly between rooftops he lands near the two.
Panting slightly from exertion Ajoris asks, "Li, what is going on?" Without waiting for a response he turns to the woman, "Excuse me, but who are you and what do you want?"
"Li, surely you've seen in your travels that appearances can be deceiving. Who here has brought destruction and death to the village? The Maiden, or those so-called Demon Hunters? Shall I tell you of their sins? The destruction they have visited upon innocents merely for not understanding their so-called 'Immaculate' texts?"
Please. Don't let him call my bluff.
Phoenix twirled her fans around her, once again turning towards the conflict. The Maiden was in trouble... she needed to get over there soon.