https://tgchan.org/wiki/RNG_XALT.qst

Earn XP by posting in this thread, preferably with complex actions and additions to the game's continuity. For faster resolution of tactical combat and anything else that's more about a series of individually simple yet consecutively contingent responses, use the Discord server.

Any action you want me to take seriously and provide mechanical resolution for should include rolling a bucket full of ten-sided dice. That's dice 30d10 in the "Email" field. Or more than thirty, if you'd like.

Alright, the simple mechanical stuff out of the way first. After the Resolution with Morse's Resonance Eruption, she needs 3 weeks to train up the following things.

Shapeshifting Knack: 2 weeks in Lute's Chancel and talking with the Sandpoint Devil for Deadly Beastman Transformation 11 exp

Bruise Relief Method: 2-4 days of training. 10 exp

Halting the Scarlet Flow: 4-8 days training. 10 exp.

And spending a week practicing Craft (Water) with anyone that will teach her

Total EXP spent 33/32 (33 with this post)and all the time she's not training is spent bothering Morse, attempting to socialize with Malice, Lute, Bridgette, The Immaculates (mostly learning what their specific views on Anathema are and any stories they might have to steal from, as well as thanking them for giving her a sense of direction.), and the rest of the town people in roughly that order.

In truth, she's trying to socialize with Morse too, but that's mostly a bother.

Also, since I needed to mark down the changes, I forgot to apply this.

Prehensile Tail: 2 points
Thick Skin (Flavored as really thick fur): 2 points
Night Vision: 1 point
Talons: 2 points

So River's rough stat block while fully loaded in DBM Form

Str: 4 Per: 4 Cha: 3
Dex: 5 Int: 1 Man: 1
Sta: 5 Wit: 4 App: 3

Weapons:
Claws of the Silver Moon:
Speed: 5 Accuracy: +2 (base 12 dice) Damage: +7L/OVW 2 (base 11 dice) Defense: +2 Rate: 3

Defense:
Parry DV: 6 (5 dex+5 MA+2 Punch)/2
Dodge DV: 4 (5 dex+3 essence)/2

Soak 7 bashing 4 lethal

In particular, who's spent time patrolling the surrounding area, or gathering, compiling, and updating available maps, or anything like that?

>>919912
The blood ape lumberjack's directions are out of date, since the landscape has been distorted by the addition of that chunk of Creation. As a direct result, Bridget misjudges the distance and lands in what could usefully be described as a miles-wide oxbow lake severed from it's source - formerly part of the Avarice River.

She splashes down more than a mile from shore in water over a hundred feet deep. It's moderately cold below the mist-shrouded surface, but that's nothing Hardship-Surviving Mendicant Spirit and Stamina 5, Athletics 5, Resistance 3 can't cope with - just a few hours of frustration without solid enough footing. After swimming to shore, and one or two more mountain-crossing leaps, she's close enough to feel Cecelynian essence radiating from that manse which controls one of the more stable passages between the Hrotsvitha, the Spawning Forest and the city of Malfeas.

The lumberjack's information on who owns that manse is also behind the times. Within the past few days, some castoff exalt from House Sesus killed the previous landlord, plundered a vault in the basement, crowned herself Queen of the Bathhouse, started minting coins with her own face on one side, a weird lumpy scorch mark on the other. Her sword burns with green fire, her shield is illegally blue, her armor searing red, her hair dazzling gold - seems nobody can agree on anything about her appearance except that it's intensely colorful. She walks unseen, but where she has been a trail of sweet-smelling smoke often lingers.

There's a long queue of demons waiting in line to get through the gate. Many of them wear armor made from eyes and tentacles, which are not only sapient, but can speak Rivertongue well enough for Bridget to understand. At least one of those living armors is happy enough to share the previous paragraph's gossip and rumors about the political situation. Procedures at the gate have changed, and nobody seems to agree on all the details of what the new costs and contraband rules are, so there's been a lot of delay.

An eight foot tall two-headed centipede wearing elaborate robes, possibly some mid-ranking bureaucrat, gets in an argument with one of the human guards. The angry demon spits a glob of tarry stuff which starts visibly corroding the guard's armor, then a tree-trunk-sized energy cannon on the roof of the manse fires a bolt of green sunlight, reducing the demon to a cloud of ash and flying chitin fragments. Remainder of the crowd barely reacts, apart from a momentary pause in the music to assess what just happened.

rolled 3, 7, 1, 4, 10, 2, 8, 5, 4, 10, 1, 6, 5, 10, 3, 2, 10, 1, 5, 10 = 107

---

>XP expenditures during the month of downtime:
27 xp, First Kimbery Excellency (1 day)
3 xp, Linguistics 2 to 3 (instant)
9 xp, Blue Vervain Binding (3 days)
11 xp, Stone Skipping Spirit (6 days)
50 xp, 10 days total.

BVB provides translation between a group, but it can also be used to teach linguistic dots as a training effect, if any other PCs want em.

>Other Stuff Lute's been up to besides training:
Lute showed Rivers how to spot chancel doors, and introduced Rivers to the Sandpoint Devil, so she might train her lunar arts within the wyld pocket. A formal introduction in order to qualify for the freehold's hospitality involves being left tied and bound as "bait" for an "ambush", dressed in simple linens, with a letter pinned in the subject's hair. (Allowances may be made for those without limbs to bind, or hair to pin) An image of a bird should be worn- in the carved head of the hairpin, in a locket or other jewellery, or painted or tattooed somewhere on the body.

It was considerably harder to convince Rivers that the dress was a necessary part of the ritual than being tied up.

The Infernal Vizier also met with Morse to share secrets and lore, as the deathknight had been ever so interested in discovering what in the world sidereals are. As a result, the dread bard is now aware of the Five-Score Fellowship, and a more accurate retelling of history than the blatant propaganda she was first taught (that is not without it's own biases and manipulation, of course). Lute's presumably learned some interesting things about the land of the dead, as well. Much of this conversation took place under the aegis of Screaming in Silence, of course.

Lute also spent time with Bridges the Sun and Moon, working to wear down her intimacy of fear towards Morse, and trying to broker a peace between the two. In general, trying to foster intimacies that would allow the group of celestial exalts that have come together to cooperate seems a good idea.

Reinforcing the budding mortal cult indirectly worshiping Sandpoint Devil in ritual attempts to ward off arson. Some artwork with embedded social attacks encouraging the behavior couldn't hurt!

Organizing Adorjan defenses among the mortals also seems pretty important. There's people lost and bereft and in need of new purpose in life, and there can be no silence without death.

Probably some time spent working with Red and Gold, though I'm not sure what the next step in his grand plans are.

(That's probably plenty to fill a month with? If anyone wants to get more detailed with any PC-PC stuff, we can).

>In particular, who's spent time patrolling the surrounding area, or gathering, compiling, and updating available maps, or anything like that?
Hmm, with Efficient Secretary Technique and/or scouting trips about the airship, Lute seems like the best positioned for updating maps / gathering intelligence on the area. Defensive patrols seem like they would be best suited to bound demons through Red and Gold.

Because BVB is a thing now, spending 3 exp into training debt to buy Old Realm and finally know what people are saying. And also ease of communication with Malice.

Umbrageous Waxwing Dell
Wood Aspect Dragon-Blooded (Lookshy)

Iconic Anima: Whorls of lily of the valley, blossoms swaying in an unfelt breeze
Motivation: Learn the dances of lost Saigoth

Strength 2 Dexterity 5 Stamina 3
Charisma 2 Manipulation 2 Appearance 3
Perception 3 Intelligence 2 Wits 4

Compassion 1, Conviction 3, Temperance 2, Valor 3

Essence 2, Willpower 10
Personal 14, Peripheral 37 (27 Base + 10 from Skinmounts)
2/14 Personal committed (Silken Armor)
18/37 Peripheral committed (10m Wicked Stepmother Boots, 4m Jade Short Powerbow, 4m Builder Bugs)

Aspect: Archery, Medicine, Performance, Ride and Survival
Favored: Integrity, Awareness, Martial Arts

Abilities / Skills:
*Archery 2
*Awareness 1
Bureaucracy 1
Dodge 3
*Integrity 1
Linguistics 3 (Native: Rivertongue, Others: High Realm, Low Realm, Old Realm)
Lore 2
*Martial Arts 3
*Medicine 5
Melee 2
*Performance 5 (While Under Fire +2)
Resistance 3 (Wicked Stepmother Boots +2)
*Ride 0
Sail 2
Stealth 1
*Survival 5
War 2

Charms:
Wind-Carried Words Technique
Elemental Bolt Attack
Infection-Banishing Prana
First Survival Excellency
Hostile Environment Preparation Method
First Performance Excellency
Invisible Street Performer Technique
Third Resistance Excellency

Mutations, Merits and Flaws:
None

Backgrounds:
Arsenal 3 (2 allies, 11/11 dots: ••• Builder Bugs, •• Jade Short Powerbow (Spring’s Lesson), •• Horn of the Ways, •• Purifying Mercy Stone, • Stone of Breath, • Swaying Grass Dance Style manual)
Artifact 3 (••• Wicked Stepmother Boots, •• Silken Armor, • Fivefold Harmonic Adaptor (Moonsilver-Jade) )
Artifact 2 (•• Skinmount Amulet x2)
Breeding 3
Connections 1 (Guild)
Destiny 3 (Twins Raised Apart)
Manse 3 (The Respite of Alpine Amenities: Air Aspected, Gem of Elemental Travel, Maintenance, Comfort Zone, Magical Conveniences x2, Central Control, Essence Vents, Mela's Sweet Whisper, Minor Traps and Tricks)
Resources 3 (The Respite of Alpine Amenities)

Mundane Equipment / Resource Purchases:
Medical Supplies
Chiaroscuran Glass Knife

Intimacies:
Dance (Unrealized Passion)
Wicked Stepmother Boots (Stubborn Pride)
Cathak Othok Dythyk (Friendship)
Fanged Flair Effulgence (Exasperated Loyalty)
Karal Tin Otter (TBD)
[Calamari God’s DB] (TBD)
Her Ordained Role (Duty) [A negative intimacy]

BP Spent:
+18 Free with Chargen
-5 raising WP to 10
-6 Medicine, Performance, Survival 5
-4 Breeding 3
-3 Three Background dots

Revised character sheet for my DB, replacing the previous draft >>919901. This also includes slight tweaks to the manse, so >>920201 is out of date.

Arsenal Budget is 5 + 3 * (Pooling Lookshian allies), which works out to 11 with FFE and KTO assisting. With Calamari God's character it would be 14, in which case I would have three more dots to spend. (Maybe another hearthstone, or Wound Healing Needles?)

rolled 5, 1, 4, 9, 5, 10, 9, 5, 2, 1, 9, 8, 6, 7, 5, 9, 1, 4, 1, 6, 8, 5, 10, 4, 4, 4, 2, 3, 7, 7 = 161

---

Exp spent (not finalized):
4 <- 1 Stamina (18XP, 3 Weeks)

Embri's superiors are somewhere between "utterly frustrated at the level of incompetence and mental degradation in their covert ops field unit" and "incapacitated from laughter at the tales of the antics of their unit and the weirdos they encountered". If she hadn't caused many of them to bust a gut with their hyena imitations, they would have treated her as a potential rogue agent and put her down immediately, but the morale boost to their day gave them the patience to comb her report and found it... eh, passable.

Decisions have been processed through the enormous, mountain-spanning webway of religious resistors, mortal memory banks, Anti-Gremlin security protocols, and overheating CPUs - Centralized Pantheon Understudies. Oh and the second-largest bureaucracy on the underside of Creation, but definitely not the densest. Or safest. And certainly neither the epitome of sanity or doorway to Wyld horror.

Eventually, votes are tallied and the upper heads agree: despite her obvious malfunctioning, Embers in the Softly-Lighted Halls of the Good and Graceful is still the best candidate for Operation Controlled Burn's Field Relations Officer. She has made successful contact with surprisingly many of the minor players on the scene, while relatively uncompromised by the major players. She will need 'serious repairs' but is otherwise capable of further deployment... for now.

The operation is designed to poke and prod at the skirts of the recent cataclysm, looking for 'cavities' of corruption and insanity to fix, and ultimately opportunities to exploit for the explicit purpose of productive asset gathering. Best case scenario, they annex a province and pretend to look dumb while desperately mining the necessary materials. Worst case, someone manages to throw a god-cat at a Seal and all hell breaks loose. Embri will be their distraction and if necessary their diplomat, while other Alchemical Exalted agents make contact with the entities Embri has reported, and slowly build up an information network.

In other words, just another day at work.

Embri is sent for 'invasive re-education' to keep her new 'cover story' from devolving into a complete delusion that overrides her core protocols, but it is otherwise kept on a subconscious trigger so at necessary moments she may play dumb to a ridiculously deceptive degree; while someone is grilling her on her origins she'll hold that trigger down as if her life depends on it, and after a short period without origin story requests her grip on her delusion will loosen until she remembers herself truly. While her mind is reworked, a thorough analysis of her body has revealed a disturbing level of physical and neural degradation, and not just in terms of that giant hole in her abdomen or her current delusions. The engineers decide they need to concentrate their efforts on reinforcing the physical weakness as it appears closest to total cascade failure. What little they are allowed to glean from her adventure reveals a disturbing unwillingness to use tools despite her obfuscation powers for fear of running out of ammunition during a long campaign, and given the open specifications of her next mission they are inclined to agree with her motives for conservation but not the actual act. They petition requests to other departments for a solution to this issue, though they are forced to pretend their Adamant is someone else. Alternatively, they might get experimental and request an extra week for Embri in the pools, with the intention of installing an Alloyed Reinforcement of Flesh. You don't really care as much about ammo conservation if you can tank hits long enough to line up shots, after all.

>>919615
>>919623
For bookkeeping purposes, I'm gonna transcribe some stuff from Discord for Fanged Flair Effulgence. Open to revision by strgy or JL as needed.

>Arsenal 2
With 2 allies (KTO and UWD), the budget is (3+2*2) = 7 dots.

2-dot Gemstone of Deep Drink
2-dot Toolkit for lawship repair.
1-dot Air compressor, magitech equivalent of an omen engine (for air hokey table)
1-dot Jade hearthstone amulet
1-dot freshwater pearl

With Calimari God's DB, this budget would increase to 9, giving two more points to spend. (Maybe on a 2-dot windslave disk?)

>Retainers 2
Incomplete character sheets for the npc mortals, to be expanded as needed.

At least some of these mortals are romantically and/or sexually involved with Cathak Othok Dythyk.

5 non-heroic mortals

6/4/3 to spend on Attributes
18 ability dots, 1 favored ability
5 background dots
21 BP

Common Abilities:
Archery 1
Bureaucracy 2
Craft (air) 2
Craft (other) 1
Linguistics 1 (Native: Rivertongue, Others: Old Realm)
Lore 2
Occult 1
Resistance 2
Sail 3
(15/18 spent, 3 more points vary by character, before BP)

Everyone’s mundane equipment comes out of FEE’s Resource 4. They’re armed with firewands (or possibly the infernal equivalent so it’s easier to resupply in hell?)

Bodyguard:
Wits 4, Perception 4, Awareness 3

Cook:
Craft (water)

Weather Shaman:
Occult favored, Transcendent Desert Creature, Creature of Darkness, Enlightened Essence

Initiate level Art of Geomancy
Adept level Art of Elemental Air / Art of Weather Working (merged by house rules)

Fire Summoner:
Occult favored, Master level Art of Elemental Fire

>>926058
Attracting Madelrada's full attention through prayer would require a festival involving at least a hundred dedicated celebrants and, ideally, many additional casual participants. Ten days minimum, since she's E10, and she probably won't use maximum haste in the course of her approach without an actual emergency.

For mapping purposes I'm going to break the region up into hexes twelve miles wide and a hundred feet thick. Minimal exploration is a day's work for a party of competent mortal scouts in open terrain, two days in difficult terrain (such as forests), three or more days in extreme terrain - assuming they can traverse it at all. Even with rapid movement or senses able to observe the entire hex much more quickly than that, accurately committing the information to paper takes time and skill.

The transplanted section of Creation is 21 hexes, three of which are mostly water. At minimum, you'll want to update local maps with the new border. Scouting out the 20 adjacent hexes of Hrotsvitha might be a good start on defense-in-depth. That's just for ground level; long as we're on the subject of depth, there are layers of catacombs under the ground, which will take much longer to explore, and beyond there's the opposite face of the shell. In a mature forest, canopy level is high enough to count as a separate hex. Ancient primordial forests might have more than one such layer. Then, there's the possibility of Jacint's basalt causeways arcing through the sky up above - it's possible to map large airborne features from the ground, given either a 1-dot artifact range-finding scope, or two widely-separated vantage points and knowledge of trigonometry (four dots in Lore to derive the formulae as you go, or a specialty in surveying, or any intro-level First Age math textbook) but you might miss details, and definitely can't establish a real territorial claim that way.

Establishing metaphysical ownership over a hex (after chasing off rival claimants, of course) and maintaining basic government services takes a lot of work - conveniently, the pathfinder kingdom-management Build Points map roughly to the Guild's dirham, a 16-pound ingot worth about 1/25th of a talent of jade. Claiming a hex costs a dirham, and maintaining that claim costs another per month, but decent farmland produces two dirham worth of surplus food per month (averaged out over the course of the year - more in the season of fire, less in the season of water) and almost any other economic activity is at least enough to break even. Setting up the infrastructure for those activities costs a few more dirham worth of work, though, as does building fortifications, or maintaining a military, or the administrative and logistical overhead of denser urban areas.

Fortunately, you don't necessarily need to pay in cash. A single first circle demon bound by sorcery can do the work of five or ten mortal laborers (different species vary in suitability for particular tasks) with no need for food or wages. A Magnitude 2 army of demons produces a dirham's worth of labor per month, or roughly one dirham per demon per ten years.

How many more does Seven Broken Wings Of Red And Gold intend to summon, and to what purposes will they be set?

>>926072
The cook has three dots in Craft (Water) and one dot in Melee. Mastery of a thaumaturgical art requires four dots in Occult, and for nonheroic mortals that fourth dot must be bought with BP.
>firewands (or possibly the infernal equivalent so it’s easier to resupply in hell?)
If you're using algarel, demonic acid equivalent of firedust, whoever's in charge of the armory needs a dot in Craft (Vitriol) and Wits 2 to understand safe handling procedures - more is better. Initiate-level alchemy would let you brew it in-house from common Malfean materials.

rolled 4, 6, 8, 6, 4, 4, 1, 1, 10, 5, 7, 4, 5, 9, 6, 1, 10, 9, 1, 8, 4, 6, 10, 8, 5, 4, 7, 3, 5, 10 = 171

---

>>925949
>She splashes down more than a mile from shore in water over a hundred feet deep.

She seems to be in the habit of jumping into puddles she doesn't want to leave her companions in. She really ought to start looking before she leaps.
This might have presented a more serious problem for the Disciple of Mela had the blood ape not been a strong swimmer- seeing the trajectory had them headed towards the middle of a lake, Bridget was able to cast them mid-flight to land a little closer to shore.

>a few hours of frustration without solid enough footing
Assuming a mote recovery of 6m per hour, that's 18 motes...
>two more mountain-crossing leaps
That of course is 20m 2w, leaving Bridget with:
19/26/4 Personal Peripheral and WP.

>At least one of those living armors is happy enough to share the previous paragraph's gossip and rumors about the political situation. Procedures at the gate have changed, and nobody seems to agree on all the details of what the new costs and contraband rules are, so there's been a lot of delay.
How nice of it to share! And it shares a language with her too! Deciding to press her luck, Bridget dons the sun's armor and asks what the fastest way to secure some medical grade bone wine would be.

Activating IKB for 6m, leaving her anima flaring and her mote pools at 13/26/4.

>>926184
>cast them mid-flight to land a little closer to shore
That wouldn't normally be possible - or rather, taking other actions mid-leap would result in terminal-velocity fall damage - but the one-die benefit of the stunt off that previous water landing means it can be done just this once. The two-die benefit, meanwhile, means you can edit in some convenient but plausible feature, such as a vendor selling bonewine on the near side of the gate. You also recover either 4m or 1wp from the stunt award.
>How nice of it to share! And it shares a language with her too! Deciding to press her luck, Bridget dons the sun's armor and asks what the fastest way to secure some medical grade bone wine would be.
Another 4m or 1 wp stunt award, though that's very close to the minimum needed to qualify.

>anima flaring
The crowd that barely flinched at disintegration quickly flies into screaming panic at the sight of that golden brand on Bridget's forehead. "Medical? Well, you can buy pretty good bonewine by... holy shit, it's a gigantic copper spider!"

Glancing behind herself, the only spider Bridget notices is barely the size of a pony, and mostly matte black with occasional reddish-brown tufts, a color scheme more associated with iron than any sort of copper alloy. Where Bridget is from, even babies know that kind of thing. This particular spider-demon was simply waiting in line between a pair of heavily pregnant hairless lavender humanoids; all three are now cringing and groveling (yet carefully maintaining their relative positions in line) rather than posing any sort of obvious threat to anyone.

The human guards are shouting at each other in Low Realm, but Bridget picks up the occasional Rivertongue loan-word. Seems they're fetching weapons and moving to a defensive formation, and something about "unclean." Except for that guy who got the caustic tar spit on him - he needs medical attention, which has now became a lower priority for whoever would normally provide it.

Xanin wanted for this all to go smoothly. After her swift but brutal taking over of the area around the hot springs, she had been smoothing things out.

And now all of a sudden there was an Anathema, lit up like a Calibration tree, not even 200 yards away, and her soldiers had already noticed, so it wasn't like she could get out of dealing with this. So, she strode out of her watch station, the demons averting their eyes to avoid gazing at her azure shield, and standing aloft like a crimson statue, pointing a silver handle at Bridget, with a crown as radiant and golden as the Solar's own anima with a cigar hanging out of her mouth.

"So, Anathema, you're causing a stir in my new outpost. Normally, I'd let you pass as a human and representative of creation on account of not looking for your particular brand of demon in Malfeas, but you've gone and advertised yourself like you were looking for a fight and riled up my men.

"So even though I'm working more closely with the locals than the immaculates might prefer, unfortunately for you, there are still some duties expected of a prince of the earth, and driving you back at least so far as whatever pit you crawled out of is one of them.

"I'll at least be merciful and fight you in single combat as opposed to risking the fine mortals under my command and trying to encircle you."

And like a flash of light, she leapt from the elevated platform and landed in front of Bridget, a wave of heat flying past her like a shock wave.

rolled 8, 7, 9, 3, 7, 6, 9, 1, 10, 4, 1, 8, 3, 4, 1, 6, 9, 10, 4, 8, 10, 6, 2, 8, 8, 8, 2, 3, 8, 7 = 180

---

>>926194
Strength 6 + Athletics 4, minus two for the mobility penalty on artifact superheavy plate, plus a two-die stunt, would mean you can jump twenty yards horizontally. One or two motes on the First Athletics Excellency could provide another four yards each. Since you're starting from a high place, spending two motes through that shield could provide a little bit more horizontal distance by gliding, and possibly enough time to take some action in mid-air - descending at least fifty yards would be enough for a full Aim bonus (including the Sand Serpent Jewel) to be applied to an attack which also enjoys a "high ground" DV modifier by virtue of taking place while you're still in mid-air.

How tall is the manse? Who (if anyone) is manning the infernal essence cannon while you descent to confront the anathema?

>>926196
Five successes on Join Battle.

rolled 1, 7, 8, 10, 10, 4, 6, 7, 8, 4, 2, 5, 6, 9, 9, 9, 6, 4, 3, 1, 2, 8, 7, 9, 2, 8, 5, 7, 2, 9 = 178

---

>>926194
Alright, time to do something incredibly stupid. I'm going to try to stand between the dragonblood and the anathema.

DoM pushes her way through a crowd of demons and rushes in front of Bridget, mayfly mask still constricting her speech, begging bowl in one hand, the other hand waving wildly.

>How tall is the manse?

The Manse is an irregular 7 sided pagoda with 5 tiers, each 40 feet tall internally. This is surrounded by a wall that's 50 feet tall at the boundary of the manse's area with 12 gates that divide the manse's path into 11 sections. The gates operating on a timer so that two are open at any given time opposite each other and they change every 10 minute.

In this regard, it always takes 50 minutes from start to finish to get from the outside to the inside or the other way around, regardless of what entrance you start from.

Xanin is starting on the 50 foot wall, so ~17 yards, but as stated in the discord, the distance was already about 20 yards horizontally, so mechanically it's all good either way.

>Who (if anyone) is manning the infernal essence cannon while you descent to confront the anathema?

The same person that normally mans it, a Tomescu (replacing a Blood Ape after one disastrous half hour of having one at the helm)

>>926085
Red and Gold doesn't really intend to stop any time soon. Two demons in any given day is about the rate I'd expect to try and maintain, mostly tomescu and marottes, with perhaps a heranhal and neomah to round things out.

The tomescu are set to the task of patrolling the area, serving as security mostly in the surroundings of the town unless something urgent requires them further away. The marottes are set to building defenses on the outskirts of this bit of Creation, with one or two perpetually working on the temple complex once a functional forge is prepared for the heranhal to do more detail oriented work. Given a month to work at it, even simple things like trenches and basic earthworks should make the prospect of defending this place much more reasonable. Unfortunately, we don't have the infrastructure or manpower to do so, but at least this should be a start.

Red and Gold himself will spend much of the time instructing the locals on their new home, and the many dangers. Mostly honestly. He'll leave out any information about the Reclamation itself, of course, but information about their surroundings has to be conveyed truthfully if they're going to survive here for long. That'll be difficult even with him spending every evening at the local hospitality establishment explaining these things.

Hopefully by providing enough volume of information, some of it will eventually soak in.

>>926085
>Attracting Madelrada's full attention through prayer would require a festival involving at least a hundred dedicated celebrants and, ideally, many additional casual participants. Ten days minimum, since she's E10, and she probably won't use maximum haste in the course of her approach without an actual emergency.
On the one hand, getting that started as soon as possible might be wise, but with the population reeling from recent disasters, Lute is not sure they can sustain a ten day festival, yet. There's some necessary putting together of broken pieces, logistical and social groundwork that will need doing first.

Lute’s certainly willing to help with the mapping efforts (craft(air) is certainly applicable), but we'll need people with survival scores doing the actual scouting. Which will mean collaboration with Morse, Rivers, and/or Bridget, or compiling maps from the reports of Red and Gold's summoned demons.

Lute’s pleased to be finally working alongside Green Sun Princess who aren't hellbent on getting themselves killed as quickly as possible.

Okay, to summarize the fight.

Disciple of Mela tried to step in and stop the fight, but ultimately was ignored.

Xanin tried to intimidate Bridget into leaving on threat of "I will kill you for real" to which Bridget ignored.

Bridget responded with "I need to get some medicine for a fallen Immaculate and come in peace." Xanin retorted with the fact that walking up to an area controlled by Realm Soldiers with a Solar Anima banner is stupid, just get someone else to buy the medicine since now people know your face and that you're a Solar. Bridget didn't leave.

So, Xanin started the fight proper by carving several verses about Anathema onto her hands face and every square inch of exposed skin. Bridget proceeded to try and grapple only to get burned by the Beamklave.

Then Xanin failed to cut off Bridget's hand and leave a lightsaber wound through her eyes, but still left enough deep wounds to force her to flee from her -4 health box filled with lethal damage, leaving the DoM to wait in the line to get into the 50 minute path to the temple to buy the Bone Wine.

>>926226
After bounding into the brass forest, Bridget slowly made her way just out of view from the Manse. There, she meditated for a few moments, the flame of the Unconquered Sun flowing through her being. Somewhat steadied by it warmth, existence forgetting the most recent exploits of Sesus Xanin and her blade, Bridget ascended into the treetops to watch and wait for her companions to secure the needed supplies.
Mechanically invoking Soul Fire Resurgence 4 times over the course of several actions, healing her -4 health level and the first -2 health level.
Currently at 10/26/4
Injury box filled to the first -2 level.

rolled 10, 4, 4, 9, 5, 7, 1, 10, 8, 9, 4, 6, 7, 4, 4, 7, 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 3, 7, 8, 1, 10, 5, 3, 4, 3 = 164

---

>>926236
DoM considers chasing after Bridget to help, but stops herself. She has a job to do. She'll turn and respectfully approach Xanin. Not sure what I can convey with sign, but the message will be something like, "I have come from the nameless village, which is beset with violence and suffering. One of my fellow monks is dying, please help us!"

rolled 7, 4, 3, 10, 10, 5, 8, 10, 8, 6, 4, 4, 4, 10, 5, 3, 4, 5, 4, 8, 9, 6, 6, 2, 7, 3, 3, 8, 5, 8 = 179

---

Embri has undergone changes before. But this one was long overdue.
Her body's endurance is upgraded to phenomenal levels. The engineers are simply dumbfounded at the physical degradation she suffered from supposedly top-notch maintenance within an Autochthonian nation. They are certain this was an intentional and malicious act.
For a ninja, she didn't have many stealth techniques installed. Again, the engineers are convinced this 'Adamant' thing is merely a joke, and this unfortunate Exalted was built to fail by a Tripartite who reeeally hated one of her past incarnations. They are quick to grow her an Optical Shroud and put her assassination skills to good use.
Some general overhaul to her general systems to take the strain off her systems - HEY WHO PUT AN IMAGE OF A RUBBER CHICKEN IN HER BACKSIDE?! Okay this is definitely sabotage now. (2 general charm slots)
And now that Embri has enough structural stability to install another augmentation, they decide she can wait another week if it means getting an upgrade to her sniping abilities. That bow, strong as it is, will not hit if the timewarped arrow is not aimed properly in the first place.

And after all her new upgrades are finally installed does they realize
they forgot to plug the hole in her abdomen.
...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hyOLydRFfU
Embri attempts to craft a stable housing and camoflage for her jar in her abdomen with the help of the engineers - one which will only open if she presses specific points on what looks like regular skin.
(If Embri somehow fails to construct a proper home for her jar, she'll secure the heart in the outpost and just bring frost-venom-tipped arrows between resource runs.)

>"I have come from the nameless village, which is beset with violence and suffering. One of my fellow monks is dying, please help us!"

Xanin had to give a bit of a look. "The air is safe enough for conversation on this side of the boundary, and in the gates themselves it isn't harmful in the slightest, so you can take off the mask.

"But, since the situation seems to have grown bad enough for you to be knowingly working with an Anathema, I'd like a status report from your side of things."

Now that the fight was over, her green jade blade retracted into its adamant grip and was tied once more to her armor and she tried to adopt a more sympathetic tone, like a concerned mother or teacher trying to be more friendly than authoritarian.

>>926236
Compassion applies, since you took those wounds in the course of trying to help somebody. The way the dice turned out, those four willpower actually recovered everything but the -0.

>>926236
Creaks, cracks, a horrid metallic rending sound, then some crunches and thumps. Brazen bark peeled away from the trunk, someone using it as a handhold now fallen to the ground. Bug-headed humanoid with parchment-colored skin dusts itself off, straightening plain scholar's robes, stands back up, mutters to itself in Old Realm "alright, forget the subtle approach, never works out for me anyway," then cups long-nailed hands into a cone, leans back, and shouts up at Bridget in Rivertongue, "Honored Prince of the Earth, are you accepting students? I know how to produce that liquor which you seek, each step from seed to cup!"

rolled 1, 10, 9, 2, 6, 7, 1, 5, 5, 6, 2, 9, 1, 3, 5, 5, 7, 9, 7, 1, 1, 10, 1, 5, 6, 8, 3, 4, 6, 10 = 155

---

>>926340
Is this the same scene? If so, Bridget has Monkey Leap Technique and Iron Kettle Body active, otherwise... well, thenthen the not active I guess.

Bridget nimbly leaps from branch to branch to ground, a handful of brass foliage collected on the way down. Her caste mark sparkles across her third eye, making it clear the nature of her second breath.

"You mistake my nature. Knowledge is shared freely as duties allow. How quickly can you work?"

Bridget is not a Prince of the Earth, but otherwise she is "accepting students"- after all, is it not the duty of the solars to teach and lead? If this creature can create bonewine quickly enough, that might prove vital to the monks recovery.

>>926220
When next they meet, the reflective vizier applauds the efforts of seven-winged fiend to enlighten and educate the mortals. Alas, if only her own skills in such matters were what they once were.

Lute’s lamenting the dots in socialize that got cached if for BP in her akuma conversation, and dropping a suitable opening for Red and Gold to activate Verdant Emptiness Endowment.

>>926341
>You mistake my nature. Knowledge is shared freely as duties allow.
The erudite mantis-beastman (or whatever it is - with no dots in Occult nor formal training in demonology, Bridget is limited to guesswork) apologizes, and humbly inquires as to what title would be appropriate.
>How quickly can you work?
Growing tree-grain with nothing but dirt and human fingerbones to start from would take months, but if you've got access to some sorcery that accelerates plant growth that won't be a problem. Brewing a batch of substandard bonewine might be just barely possible in less than a week, but if you need it immediately you're in luck: this particular naneke happens to have forty gallon barrel of "Masterful Scholar's Motionless Shipwright Vitrification Vintage," a bonewine-based brew which actually fits your peculiar medical requirements even better than the basic stuff. Left over from another project, having trouble finding a buyer.

rolled 4, 9, 1, 4, 9, 6, 8, 3, 9, 2, 4, 6, 7, 6, 2, 2, 10, 4, 5, 9, 7, 10, 8, 10, 10, 9, 10, 8, 10, 5 = 197

---

>>926362
[...] apologizes, and humbly inquires as to what title would be appropriate.
"One indicateing you address me."

>if you've got access to some sorcery that accelerates plant growth
"Yes."

>if you need it immediately you're in luck: this particular naneke happens to have forty gallon barrel of "Masterful Scholar's Motionless Shipwright Vitrification Vintage," a bonewine-based brew which actually fits your peculiar medical requirements even better than the basic stuff. Left over from another project, having trouble finding a buyer.
"Suspicious."

Bridget, as eloquent as ever, finds it hard to believe she would be approached in the woods by a stranger who happens to have just what she needs. More curious still is that they even knows what she needs in the first place.
Her caste mark should make it apparent what type of exalt she is, so either the individual is unable to see, uneducated on the members of the exalted host, or purposefully acting ignorant for some reason. Of course, she doesn't mind being called a Prince of the Earth- she has the utmost respect for Gaias chosen crafters.

rolled 9, 7, 2, 5, 5, 7, 10, 6, 2, 1, 5, 7, 2, 2, 5, 4, 4, 2, 10, 5, 4, 6, 2, 3, 2, 4, 6, 5, 7, 9 = 148

---

>>926320
DoM peels off the mayfly mask and takes a minute to wheeze and gag. It scurries up her arm and latches on just above her elbow.

DoM fills Sesus Xanin in on the situation up til Arberus' appearance. "The butcher shop had been demolished in the violence. Shortly after the sun turned green, a monster rose up from the rubble. It looked like nothing that has ever crept or slithered on all the lands of creation. We tried to confront it, but it commanded the townspeople to eat us, and they immediately obliged. They converged on us and began seizing, biting, striking us with whatever was on hand, possessed with mad vigor. That is how I received this knife wound. Horrid tendrils began growing from the ground, enveloping buildings. Another demon appeared to assist the first. I tried to restrain it, but I ended up separated from the village and my fellow monks in the attempt."

"I found my way back to the village, through that forest of metal trees. When I returned, I found that my fellow monks had been spared for some unknown reason or purpose. But one of the disciples is dying to wounds festering with otherworldly infection. The anathema who accompanied me... she said something called bone wine could save him, and offered to transport me here so that I could retrieve it. I took the offer for help warily, but I could see no other choice."

DoM fills Xanin in on all the other important details too, like how her Sifu claimed that the horrible tooth monster had died, and that she's not sure how he knows but she trusts his wisdom.

"Well, this is extremely unfortunate news. I'll have to double check my personal men for the cult's influence." She was annoyed, but adept at hiding it.

"But, assuming the best case scenario and that the Anathema you came with was telling the truth, I do have a quantity of bone wine in the stores of this forward operating base. It will take some time to travel through the gates to get it, but if you had time to travel this far out, then a two hour delay shouldn't be the final nail in the coffin. And while I should charge you, I'm not heartless to the plight of humans in this literal hell, so I'll loan it to you on your honor."

"But, in return, I do have a question that I want you to answer honestly, no trick question and no obvious answers. You have a closer eye than I do on the situation as it develops, and since it seems like multiple Anathema have converged into a circle, in your opinion, should I risk my men's lives declaring a Wyld Hunt to try and kill them before they get too entrenched?"

For her part, she did seem to be genuinely asking, and avoiding making her preference for not doing that known. After all, Anathema were an unknown quantity, and she could hardly risk destroying the town because of the Immaculate Dogma, but she didn't want to come off as too weak to her men to hold fast in her duties as a prince of the earth, and a group of Anathema keeping the town in their control would bode poorly for her small kingdom carved out of hell.

"Here is my opinion on the matter, and of course I will defer to your superior judgement. Many people will die if the anathema are confronted. I will go to the village and deliver your ultimatum, which will hopefully scare them off. If I do not return within a week, begin organizing the wyld hunt."

rolled 7, 5, 9, 6, 10, 5, 10, 3, 6, 1, 2, 4, 6, 1, 10, 4, 5, 8, 1, 9, 3, 2, 1, 7, 6, 3, 7, 9, 8, 3 = 161

---

When Embri found her way to the base, her report included witnessing a strange 'obsidian river', likely the result of a sorcery-induced volcano warping into existence. Though it took time to relay and process the information through the nation-states, they eventually replied with a curt "harvest it now". Around the same time, a small group of scouts returned confirming the river's existence, though they were near its end and could not harvest more than the shards they could safely store in pouches and containers, and have not confirmed the areas where the obsidian vein is still intact as sheets and tubes.

But they have been busy; they've reported that a specific airship, the Fanged Flair Effulgence, has been moving towards and away from the general area they estimate the river to coalesce from, a clear sign that they have discovered the vein and may be the patrol ship or the cargo freighter in this scenario. A quick summary of ship's description and Embri realizes where she has seen it before. With the knowledge of the ship's (former) captain and habits still in her mind, Embri sets out with a small group of professional engineers (glorified miners who are in the ninja village to reap creation a new one), intent on disguising them as crewmembers with the intent to harvest the obsidian themselves. And possibly steal the ship if they can manage it.

Embri spends some time stalking the crewmembers on shore leave, identifying which ones are shy and clothed enough to be replaced with decoys, and then uses her gown and wiles to lure these fools into dark alleyways where they can be seduced into consuming her fruit of the loam (literally), with the instructions to "stay here and act like a bum until your food runs out or someone orders you to leave. You never saw me". No sense murdering civilians just to steal their clothes and bounty, but if anyone pushes her disguise will still be intact.

Eventually, it's time to leave and Embri sneaks onboard the ship while the Autochthonian agents in crewmens' clothing walk their way through the boarding plank. They've all been given basic instructions on how to pilot this thing, so hopefully they won't screw this up. Hopefully.

"Well, that's certainly brave of you. I don't imagine that this is anyone's first desire, and I know that the prospect of working with Anathema will require some amount of 'getting used to' but I think that it will be the best course of action going forwards.

"But, with that out of the way, it won't go any faster or slower if you stay out here, and for as heretical as the geomancy of this building is, it is actually quite remarkable. I don't imagine you would wish to go with me to acquire the Bone Wine for the fallen monk?"

>>926382
>I don't imagine you would wish to go with me to acquire the Bone Wine for the fallen monk?
DoM looks down at her robe - still wet, grimy and tattered. She winces at the pain of her still-fresh stab wound. And as she looks around at all the trading, the music and merriment surrounding the dynast, she experiences a strange feeling of bitter resentment bubbling up inside of her. She doesn't let it reach her expression, though. Perhaps the anathema's influence is reaching me after all.

"I would like to come inside, yes. Is there a place that I may sit down?"

"Inside the gates, there's the ground, but beyond that unfortunately not. This whole place was designed as a temple, and apparently that's significant, and most importantly built into the geomancy, so the options of changing things are slim. But, there is a medicinal spa if you'd like that wound checked over and cleaned up before you leave."

As Xanin walked with the Disciple, she explained some of the important facts of life in the near future. Like how they have found themselves cast into Hell with the demons, gesturing to the various walks of demons avoiding glancing at them for the azure on display, and that avoiding interacting with them may be quite difficult if not entirely impossible even for the town in the near future, and if they haven't done so already so get people in town to be performing around the clock in shifts or else everybody might wind up dead in short order.

She also explained how for the most part it may be her having to come alone on the Wyld Hunt, because without several dozens of those masks that the Immaculate had, trying to move them out of the Manse would kill them in one direction and turn them into wild animals intent on murdering and raping their brothers at arms.

Throughout the whole thing she put on the tone of a confident but concerned mother, trying to take an honest listen to DoM's thoughts on the matter (even if she was deciding what to do largely independent of her input) and being worried about the state of the town.

>>926354
"Oh, my new friend, I'm sure those skills will come back in no time at all. You only need to practice a bit. Try your hand at it. I promise you, it will come back to you."
Red and Gold doesn't hesitate to activate VEE for things like this, since every favor stocked up is one he can call on in an emergency. Real useful if things get desperate enough and normal persuasion is no good.

>>926224
To expand somewhat, since noone else appears to be really interfering with Red and Gold's handling of village matters, he will have dispatched his agata servant to relay some diplomatic messages to local groups, such as the lumberjacks, the Tin Orchid Academy, and other groups that might be nearby.

Establishing a trading relationship with this new bit of land is possible, and may be arranged by coordinating with the servants of the Seven Broken Wings of Red and Gold, Green Sun Prince, until such time as That Which Wears Down the Mountain chooses otherwise. Those demons seeking to SETTLE, however, must arrange this more directly, being willing to swear an oath of personal loyalty to the Green Sun Prince. The agata is welcome to describe the relative pleasantness of serving Red and Gold as compared to other masters one can choose in Malfeas. He has no real interest in torturing his servants, which can be unusual here. The oath will be a binding one, however.

Luminata seeking to settle because they wish to hunt mortals which are now established as being the property of a Green Sun Prince are to be informed that as of this time, none of the mortals may be approached for this purpose, under penalty of being rendered down into chalcanth and then bound into a form designed explicitly to cause them suffering for what will most likely be an eternity. Arrangements involving the possibility to hunt mortals CAN be reached, but not these mortals, because they're being used for something more important than the wishes of 1st circle serfs. If any luminata want to make an arrangement, they can seek out one of his servants to discuss possibilities.

The agata isn't to give much in the way of details on the bit of Creation that's been transported here that these groups don't already know themselves, other than that it's under the supervision of Red and Gold until such time as the Unquestionable are involved. That's as much as anyone should need to know, really.

>>926370
>More curious still is that they even knows what she needs in the first place.
You mentioned it out loud to the monk. Naneke are scholars specializing in forbidden knowledge; eavesdropping on a conversation in public is among the least of their sins.

As for 'too good to be true,' the liquor in question has... side effects. A deliberate part of the original design, but perhaps undesirable for the application to which you intend to put it. Specifically, a psychotropic simulacrum, or artificial daydream, of being paralyzed while your entire skeleton is surgically removed in segments and then replaced with similar-shaped pieces of red glass, in honor of a sailing vessel built by the Masterful Scholar, progenitor of the entire race of naneke.

>She also explained how for the most part it may be her having to come alone on the Wyld Hunt
"I will do what I can."

get people in town to be performing around the clock in shifts or else everybody might wind up dead in short order.
"I believe the townspeoples' hearts and minds may be too shattered to perform any task with reliability. But I'll try."

>Throughout the whole thing she put on the tone of a confident but concerned mother
DoM does seem to appreciate Xanin's sympathetic tone. During the wait, she sits on the ground, looking fairly exhausted.

>there is a medicinal spa if you'd like that wound checked over and cleaned up before you leave.
"I would, thank you."

As the line progressed, it stayed fairly packed in the gate that they were in, but when they reached the middle section, it was a wide open courtyard with a number of vendors and moneychangers (at exorbitant rates since the old currency was largely useless now)leading the path to the Stone Pagoda. Considering time was of the essence, Xanin pulled the DoM along and into the building.

On the first floor, it was like stepping into infinity as the floor was made of silver sands and the walls didn't seem to exist. Xanin explained that this was the temple to a demon god that was integral to the Manse not exploding a horrific catastrophe and killing everyone here, and how to navigate it, coming to one of the mirrored walls to the stair case to where she left the DoM. The spa room, with a number of Sesejalia to treat open wounds and strange turtle shell baths filled with delightful water, other baths filled with what looked to be boiling oil that none-the-less some of the mortal humans seemed to be using, and several massage tables.

Clearly it was more of a gilded cage than a normal cage of Xanin's description of how her forces were ultimately trapped here rang true.

But, it would be about half an hour for the DoM to do as she pleased before Xanin would return with the bone wine, and a new set of 6 snow white silk robes for herself and all the other monks at the village.

For three weeks, Rivers had endured miserable pain in that Chancel, but strictly speaking it wasn't as terrible as all that, since after the first week she had learned how to heal from basically any wound, so that pain was less of a 'This needs to stop' and more of a just painful thing that happens when you're being vivisected to help you transform into yourself.

But, when she voluntarily left, she needed to put a hold on shape shifting for a few weeks, give herself some cool down time. So, she did the first thing that she thought of (other than going to Lute and getting taught Old Realm through BVB).

So, shortly after that, it would presumably be brought to Red and Gold's attention that a naked silver haired woman that none of the townsfolk had seen before was cooking and waiting tables at his bar and apparently trying to seduce several of his demons.

>>926676
Red and Gold pulls one of the tomescu off of patrolling to accompany him as he heads towards the bar, preferring to have a bodyguard in case the stranger is determined to be hostile.

As he steps into the inn, squinting in the dimmer light, he stares for a moment at the vaguely familiar individual before he speaks.

"Good evening. I am the proprietor of this humble place of hospitality, Seven Broken Wings of Red and Gold. If you're hoping to be paid for your work, I may have to disappoint you, as currency is currently not so easy to come by, here. But if there's something else you need, perhaps I can help you?"

Red and Gold hovers in the entryway, trying to place where he might have seen the woman before, but drawing a blank. Lookshy was a long distance, and a whole different name and life away.

>>926685

Rivers had been carrying about 10 plates of food to various customers, most of whom were demons, when Red and Gold came into the bar.

"Well, that's plenty fine, I was mostly looking to take some time to relax for a chunk of time, since I just got done being vivisected, and I was pretty good at this kind of stuff when I was a mortal."

As she was talking, she the fact that she had a tail, possum ears, and shining silver hair made it pretty obvious that she was a Lunar to anyone who knew about that kind of stuff.

>>926649
Taking Red and Gold's advice, Lute Silhouette is pleased to find him correct, and her old skills are indeed returning to her. Isn't it wonderful to discover the greatness inside people all along?

[Socialize 0 => 1, 1 Favor owed Red and Gold per VEE]

A little while later, one of the hobgoblins of Sandpoint surreptitiously approaches the Joybringer, to inform her that weird bundle of flesh the boss has been playing with the last few weeks has finally stepped out.

>>926676
One cannot let a little thing let vivisection stand in the way of self improvement, after all!

>>926686
Red and Gold pauses again, taking in the statement that she'd 'got done being vivisected.' Etiquette learned in the First Age takes over, prioritizing friendly relationships with another Celestial Exalt over strange statements. One shouldn't alienate a potential ally for centuries over minor quibbles. And after all, was this not Malfeas? There were more eccentric hobbies than this, here.

"Of course! You're welcome to stay, Child of Luna, although I would ask you be gentle with the unenlightened mortals. They aren't prepared for things here in Malfeas yet, you see, although I've been working with them. The demons can handle it, though, and if you have any specific needs I can see about making arrangements. I'll ask that you be treated as a guest here, but I can't guarantee everyone's reactions, as they have undoubtedly had their heads filled with Immaculate dogma. Not all of it wrong, but enough misleading that they may have dim views that need correction. Are you here with associates?"

"Wait, Child of Luna? I guess you don't remember me then, and here I would have thought being naked would make it more likely that bachelors and bacheloretes from Lookshy alike would recognize me. Well, that makes forgetting your name a lot less embarrassing."

Rivers walked up and offered a hand to shake.

"I'm Hundred Flowing Sweet Rivers, and as I recall we met at least a few times while you were an apprentice sorcerer engineer and I was still serving.

"But, to answer your question, I didn't come with anyone else. Actually I've been in the area for the two or three months dealing with bandits and cultists before the place was in hell, and in the last few days before that I met some nice enough people. Actually, why don't we head to the roof to get caught back up, since it's a long way from Lookshy, and I can't say I was expecting anyone I knew to show up."

rolled 5, 2, 1, 7, 4, 6, 2, 1, 7, 5, 6, 2, 10, 1, 9, 5, 6, 7, 9, 6, 4, 6, 2, 10, 9, 9, 9, 1, 9, 5 = 165

---

>>926660
"Offer appreciated. I await my companions. Will you accompany us to the village?

>>926673
After getting healed by the strange stomach bottle bug, the DoM takes a bath, sticking to remote tubs and corners where she's unlikely to be bothered.

When Xanin returns with the bonewine and the nice robes, DoM gets dressed (not what she's usually allowed to wear, but it would be insulting to refuse the gift) and thanks Xanin profusely. "Thank you for your help and hospitality. I should leave as soon as possible. My fellow missionaries are waiting for me."

rolled 3, 1, 1, 3, 6, 6, 8, 7, 2, 7, 2, 1, 5, 10, 5, 6, 1, 7, 9, 6, 4, 5, 3, 1, 10, 5, 2, 4, 6, 10 = 146

---

Rolling to try to meet up with Bridget.

Five days across the desert, then cruising around the Demon City finding a suitable spot to set up shop, and finally three full days for the Builder Bugs to seal up all the gaps and crevices in that forty-yard-wide iron dome atop the camshaft-like tower, then hours more to ceremonially purge the killing miasma... by the time it's safe for the mortal crew to step out and stretch their legs, they've been cooped up inside the Manta for two solid weeks.

Good news is, you've already got a client. Mauger, indulgent soul of the Spawning Forest, has a festival planned for Calibration (coming up in just a few months), but somebody's been interfering with traffic along the Way of Weights and Measures. It's a legal issue because Cecelyne has surprisingly complex rules for how long a territory can be left unattented before it's officially finders-keepers, losers-weepers. Get that real estate title dispute, or banditry or whatever it is, cleared up in time for the guests to arrive, and he'll pay you a talent of jade, or medical supplies worth at least half again that much - plus, perhaps more important, an invitation to the wild party in question, and the corresponding opportunity to meet many more potential customers with their social defenses already somewhat lowered. Sweeten-The-Tap Method, and variants thereof, might be worth studying if you can find the time before the Season of Fire is over.

So, who's going over to scout out the disputed area, and who's staying behind with the ship?

>>927109
>So, who's going over to scout out the disputed area, and who's staying behind with the ship?
As she's employed as the firm's ranger, it's Dell's job to do this kind of scouting, thank you very much, so she'll be headed out. Also the builder bugs answer to her and they'll be useful in this kind of exercise.

Assuming someone she's poolng arsenal pools with remains (Fanged Flair Effulgence, Karal Tin Otter, or [Calamari God’s DB]) she'll leave her Purifying Mercy Stone behind with them.

rolled 6, 5, 9, 5, 5, 10, 5, 5, 3, 10, 6, 2, 1, 2, 9, 4, 9, 4, 4, 1, 10, 3, 9, 9, 9, 10, 1, 4, 9, 5 = 174

---

Over the course of said two weeks, Embri has cased the ship, furnished secret rooms for herself and the moles she put in the crew, and fabricated an identity for herself by cautiously editing the rosters and seducing three or so crewmembers into expendable patsies. She also spends her remaining free time maintaining the cover and aeronautical training of the alchemical spies on the ship.

Unfortunately for her, this obsessive maintenance has rattled her spies' nerves; since Embri has no official authority over them during this mission, the team's leader has the final say over where her subordinates and Embri should officially go - and she decided that Embri should spy on this insignificant 'side-quest' so they can get a day without her constantly breathing down their necks! Even for an Exalted, she's just too annoying (low charisma) for them to endure her constant performance reviews. It doesn't help that she won't tell them whether she's a Moonsilver or Starmetal caste, no matter how classified that information is. But a day and an admonishing is the maximum the team leader can get away with admonishing an Exalted, and hopefully that will be enough to slow the performance reviews to something actually constructive.

As far as Embri is concerned, the plow that creaks and whines but holds beyond its limits and intended purpose is worthy of becoming an heirloom, but the spear that stays perfectly durable and works exactly as it was advertised in the wrong direction entirely is a sign of insanity. So she won't bear a grudge... for now.

And so Embri sneaks off the ship, following the adventurers and assisting when she can, knowing they will overlook treasures here and there and Embri will be in the perfect position to confiscate them.

rolled 6, 4, 7, 5, 10, 5, 1, 7, 6, 7, 5, 9, 10, 6, 6 = 94

---

>>927124
>OOC Stuff
I'm pretty sure there's not enough room for full on secret rooms, or to sneak in minions as extra crew. The lawship originally had a control room and a big cargo area, that has since been broken up by putting up extra interior walls.

>Front section, three 4-man bunkrooms including magitech life support. Rear section, two offices (one for the secretary out front, another for private stuff), a kitchen, and a five ton cargo bay

>It's possible she seduced and spiritually poisoned some of the Retainers, but there isn't enough room to be bringing in more new people.
Current crew is 4-5 Dragon Bloods, 5 mortal retainers, and 1 undercover alchemical presumably trying to pass herself off as mortal. Is Embri using a false name or anything for this mission?

>sneaks off the ship, following the adventurers and assisting when she can
Are you planning on doing that openly, in your cover ID? If we think you're not exalted, you need some other reason why the poison air isn't killing you. Or are you sneaking after us with stealth, and rolling to remain undetected?

>IC Stuff
>long term infiltrator onboard
While waiting for her companions to agree on the division of labor, Dell eyes the strange green-lit hellscape she will shorty be exploring. She shifts in place, and hears the reassuring chimes of bells in response. Her mind turns momentarily from the task ahead, to reflect on their journey so far... just under a dozen souls living and working closely together, flying above an endless expanse of sand.

Rolling to see if Dell fell for Embri's infiltration, or if she has noticed anything... off. Sense Motivation Perception 3 + (Investigation or Socialize) 0 + Stunt, and Awareness 1 + Perception 3 + Stunt for seeing through Embri's attempts to disguise that hole in her torso. (Probably won't roll again until something in-character prompts reexamining assumptions, but I figured I should set a baseline. Embri's got much better pools for deception than Dell has for catching on, but let's see).

>>927150
To get onboard, she kidnapped and stole the identity of one of the retainers. Since they didn't get onboard after all, the engineers and other alchemical exalted are somewhere else on another mission. Embri is maintaining plausible deniability but there are special 'marks' she's on the lookout for to identify autochthonians and deflect attention and suspicion from them.

Mostly stealth, because very excuse she has for continuing to live in a toxic wasteland is flimsy at best. She can also turn on her anima if they're on the verge of finding her. However, as a fallback plan she built a makeshift gas mask (not a realistic solution but it should work on a mortal for like five minutes) and she could claim to have followed them out of curiosity. Failing that, she'll admit she's a spy, but mainly to find out what the hell happened when that giant earthquake hit, and if it affects her people in any way, and she's willing to join as an ambassador if it means she can send a report of this devastation; her superiors would gladly rent out their emergency paramedics and environmentalists and whatnot.

The hole in her torso should be seamless; her mortal disguise covers her entire body including the hole, and the hole itself is plugged with a special apparatus that only opens with the right combination of finger presses and swipes and looks like her disguise. So if her disguise module somehow fails, that door to her hole would be the most mortal-looking patch instead.

rolled 8, 10, 1, 5, 2, 1, 6, 9, 1, 5, 2, 2, 10, 10, 4, 6, 8, 2, 4, 10, 4, 3, 10, 1, 3, 1, 6, 1, 1, 5 = 141

---

FFE comes strolling into the cargo bay, looking presentable for the first time in two weeks. (He cleans up pretty well for a grotesque mutant, in those fancy robes)

"Alright! This is our biggest client yet, so we should get a move on. Dell and I will go take a look at the situation. Anybody else who can breath the air out there is welcome to come along. I'm sure you're ready to get out of this ship and stretch your legs..."

The DB turns his attention to the mortals, and his eyes come to rest on Embri. "As for the rest of you, just try not to go too stir crazy. I hear the air in the forest is safe in short bursts but I want to check the place out before any of you step outside. That's all. Everybody clear out so I can open the airlock!"

>infiltration
I'm rolling sense motive too. Perception 4 Socialize 3...

>>926826
If Red and Gold were still mortal, he would have certainly paused here, but he's been Exalted for some time now, and to show the alarm screaming through his mind is no longer a flaw he will accept in himself. He extends his hand to shake hers, while deflecting.

"Oh, terribly sorry, you must have me mistaken for someone else. I'm Seven Broken Wings of Red and Gold, Green Sun Prince. Of Malfeas, not Lookshy. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, though, Hundred Flowing Sweet Rivers. Let us head to the roof, as you say?"

He follows after the Lunar, dismissing the tomescu back to its patrols.

>>927260

Rivers was a lot of things, and a fool was absolutely one of them. But easy to trick, she wasn't. And while she wasn't an Abyssal, hear hearing was sharp enough to pick up on the subtle biological cues when someone is lying, and for her, it was practically like she could hear a pin drop. (Sense Motive: Perception 4/Socialize 3, 1 willpower for an automatic success)

"Well then, if you AREN'T who I'm thinking of, I'm interested in hearing your life story after I'm done spilling mine, maybe explain why someone who's clearly a sorcerer and looks almost identical to a good looking sorcerer from Lookshy."

With that out of the way, she tapped Red and Gold on the nose before picking him up and leaping 15 feet into the air onto the awning, and again onto the roof.

And she went into detail about her life, from being good at a lot of things necessary for a military woman but not quite good enough at any one position a mortal was good at and being too famous for 'promoting fraternization' so her service wasn't renewed, murdering a Dynast, getting murdered, and her more recent adventures. Specifically meeting a particularly beautiful person who played haunting music that she loved like nobody else and wished she was a bit more like, and maybe then she'd pay her a bit more attention (VEE opportunity for both Performance and Appearance).

But, with all that out of the way, it would be incredibly rude for him to try and squirm out of his story.

I think it is still messed up honestly

rolled 7, 2, 3, 10, 2, 10, 2, 6, 6, 2, 7, 3, 3, 6, 9, 6, 8, 1, 6, 7, 7, 10, 4, 2, 2, 7, 6, 4, 5, 6 = 159

---

rolled 3, 2, 3, 10, 10, 1, 3, 5, 8, 8, 1, 7, 6, 1, 6, 7, 3, 9, 3, 10, 10, 3, 5, 5, 7, 5, 8, 4, 3, 9 = 165

---

>>927109
>who's staying behind with the ship?
Born aloft by eight brilliant strands of lightning, Dythyk moves from the summoning circle, a rolled parchment in hand. She of course finished her portion of the camp yesterday, but now that everything was properly arranged it would be time to perform some maintenance on the Fortress of Justice.
The Aalu, tied to her by an Abscissic binding under the Courtesan plate, is fed her writing, which describes the finer points of Legal Paternalism and what bebavior is sanctioned by it. Thus fed, she instructs it to help with the scouting mission.
"You are bound firstly to follow my orders, then those of Fanged Flair Effulgence, then the orders of any of our subordinates. Presently you are to accompany Fanged Flair Effulgence and Umbrageous Waxwing Dell, to assist them in scouting and mapping, and to do as they require of you. Your silken creations and acute senses shall be very useful to us."

>>927240
>Dell and I will go take a look at the situation.
"I'm sending the Aalu with you, just make sure to compliment it when it does something useful. I value your well-being and will be pleased when you return in good health. Appropriate display of affection, let me know if you need anything."

With that, CoD will go about performing routine maintenance on the manta, pleased to have a little more personal space and privacy even if some of her valued people will be departing to less than safe tasks.

>Appropriate display of affection
Fanged Flair Effulgence's face twists into a ghastly gap-fanged grin. "Love you too. Need us to stop by the market, pick anything up?"

>>927309
Goggles snapped over her eyes, she hardly turns to address him, raising her voice to compensate for distance and direction.

"Strictly speaking, no, but at some point more potent summoners tools would be useful to keep the demons bound. Of highest priority is your well-being. Locust would be appreciated if it's convenient."

rolled 4, 10, 2, 3, 7, 1, 3, 6, 10, 4, 9, 9, 1, 9, 3, 1, 6, 1, 5, 4, 1, 2, 1, 9, 6, 3, 1, 2, 4, 9 = 136

---

Division of labor decided, Dell puts her fingers to her lips and lets loose a piercing whistle.

"All right, Bugs! Spread out, we're going scouting. One of you, with me, let me know if the others spot anything. Flair, Aalu, c'mon."

She passes her Purifying Mercy Stone off to Karal Tin Otter (who will be remaining with at the landing site it seems) and then sets off walking across (not through) the nearest patch of metallic grasses, as kitten-sized blue beetles spread out above her in all directions.

Since we're hiking through a potentially dangerous wilderness, I'm going to commit 5 peripheral to Hostile Environment Preparation Method, coving myself, FFE... and I'm not sure if the builder bugs need protection, or if they're already covered as my artifact? If the hive doesn't need it, then the Aalu.

Rolling a bunch of dice. I assume scouting is probably several Survival and/or Awareness checks.

rolled 2, 3, 5, 10, 2, 4, 2, 2, 6, 7, 9, 5, 4, 1, 6, 8, 9, 5, 1, 10, 1, 6, 2, 5, 7, 1, 10, 5, 5, 5 = 148

---

>>927389
>Aalu, c'mon

Angel meticulously cleans the pulp out of its mandibles, split between the offensive flavor and the incessant urge to finish off the last bits. The meal was quite informative though; how novel that one would control you for your own benefit. Perhaps that's why master made her indulge her disgusting obsession- she knew it would improve her already indispensable skills. A full courtesan is an effective courtesan. She hardly needs the edge though, her record keeping and senses surpass those of most everything. Yes yes, the poor creatures are positively dependent on her to ensure their surroundings are properly digested and cooked.

Angel is accompanying UBW and FFE on their scouting mission. Rolling awareness and purchasing one success with the second awareness excellency.

>>926220
By the end of Ascending Fire you'll have about a scale each of builders and soldiers. Still going for abscissic bindings? Fixed tasks tend to be easier to manage for large-scale projects.

In just the first two weeks, scouting patrols have mapped out the surface in a two-hex radius around the wood demesne, discovering (among other things) a solar-aspect manse at almost the exact center of the transplanted area, and farms supporting the city of Candleport on what used to be the Avarice River. Maybe eight thousand people in there? Hard to get a closer look since they've got holy symbols engraved on the walls.

All around the perimeter of the transplanted area, where "in Madelrada's name, keep out" signs were set up, there stand luminata, staring longingly inward. Whenever another arrives, or one of them splits into two, the others adjust position so as to remain spaced equally apart.

Other demons are showing up from time to time asking if they can work for you without a sorcerous binding, and if so, under what terms.

>>926943
That's a botch. You take a wrong turn, and find yourself walking across a trackless waste. The sky is pitch black, but dazzling glare reflects off the silvery ground as if from full daylight.

Cresting the ridge of a roughly circular crater, the horizon is nearly featureless. A sandstorm seems to be rapidly approaching, and considering how abrasive and irritating this grit feels just from light contact, getting caught in the open under high winds might literally strip the flesh off your bones.

You could dig a hole and tie the silken robes together as an improvised tent, or run for cover among those ruined stone buildings off in the distance, or somehow engage with that elephant-sized scorpion, crouched at the exact center of the crater as if it's waiting for something.

>>927150
>>927240
Looks like you both got three successes out of the four required to figure anything out about Embri herself on Read Motivation. She's got a weird accent, maybe from somewhere out beyond Greyfalls, but that could be consistent with a refugee or escaped slave who signed up with Lookshy's foreign legion to leave her old life behind. Some sort of corset or orthopedic brace covering her back at all times, but stranger things than that could be legitimate medical necessities - just look at Fanged Flair's spinal graft!

Three successes IS enough to notice that anyone who's been alone with her for more than five-ten minutes tends to walk away looking like they've had a religious experience - and not the 'pants stay on' kind of religion, either. Sometimes weird reddish-black stuff dripping down their chin. https://tgchan.org/kusaba/draw/res/37601.html#40793 Given the range of technical and culinary skills she's demonstrated, probably rigged some life-support plumbing to brew and distill alcohol, or something like that. Nobody has reported for duty late, or visibly drunk - yet - so it might be a net positive for morale.

Street of Weights and Measures runs perpendicular to the border - it's broad and clear, but unsuitable for cargo or close-order marching.
Huge semicircular plaza with the manse as it's focal point. Flat edge of that plaza is the border, a wall of brass thorns hundreds of yards high. A thin but persistent line of silver sand defines the edge between the Demon City and the Spawning Forest. When brass trees are added (or removed), the border shifts accordingly, and the manse moves with it.
Curved edge of the plaza is mostly a six story high wall studded with windows, balconies, and iron staircases, like an apartment building with fire escapes, but there's no actual interior. Flying buttresses on the far side link up with a maze of archways, footpaths, and twisting alleyways between buildings arranged like an awkward attempt to tesselate regular pentagons. Apart from the Street of Weights and Measures, any path more than six feet wide within four or five miles of Sesus Xanin's manse slopes at least 30 degrees. Various 'hilly' routes wide enough for wagons can be traced from the plaza down to docks for acid-resistant ships amid the flooded ruins almost a quarter mile below. One such route includes a cable-car which the Reverent Society of Reflective Foresters use to haul extracted lumber. Several others include minecart tracks which drummer-goblins seem to use more for violent, high-speed recreation than any practical purpose.
Taking the direction toward the thorny, brazen jungle as "east," there's an archipelago of iron domes atop irregular towers to the "north," like camshafts where each brass gear-tooth is a townhouse, tangled together by basalt fanbelt-bridges. Some of the domes might be big enough to park the Manta inside, but you wouldn't have much mortal-safe floor space to work with, and the good spots are probably already occupied. On the other hand, it also looks like a richer neighborhood, so easier access to customers. Could fly down through the chasms between those towers, find a spot to park among the acid-flooded ruins directly underneath the Street of Weights and Measures. There's a mile-high stone pillar about fifteen miles "south." Central shaft is between five hundred and a thousand feet wide, squarish, oddly twisted with barbs and ridges that might make it relatively easy to climb, if not for the fact that vast quantities of molten glass spurt out the top at unpredictable intervals. The demonic dick volcano is surrounded by a broad, shallow cone of ash and scree, encrusted with irregular cubes ala https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_67 There are probably plenty of lava tubes to choose from underneath, both spacious and easy to seal airtight. The obvious potential problem is how to deal with a flood of molten glass. Spawning Forest is too dense and the Manta is too big to fly between the trees without some serious demolition work, which might not be the best way to make your first impression on Hrotsvitha. Might be possible to park on top of the canopy, then use the starfish tent for living space, but it'd be an engineering challenge to set up a sufficiently stable platform. You'd be very exposed that way, but on the other hand, if something did go wrong, there'd be no overhang to interfere with a quick takeoff.

>>926220
Three weeks of sitting around in the common room, eight hours a day, six days a week, trying to politely explain things to everyone, could count as training time for your first dot of Socialize.

>>927309
>>927389
>>927510
The Street of Weights and Measures was only a few minutes away as the Manta flies, but even with that Horn Of The Ways and Stepmother Boots that's still a full hour's hike, across tangled bridges overgrown with leaden moss, then through oddly-angled alleyways which pinch themselves shut as soon as you've passed. Turns out to be quicker for UWD to carry the Aalu on her back, since it's by far the slowest (three yards per tick across level ground, while everyone else can comfortably manage at least eight) and only weighs as much as a small child or large dog.

UWD's Horn of the Ways can only create a clear path for four builder bugs at once when she's also bringing FFE and the Aalu along. Majority of the bugs end up strung out in a long loose line, serving as redundant communication relays between the scouting party and two beetles back inside the base - one alternately adding further reinforcement to the dome or fetching parts and reagents for COD, the other hibernating in their actual resinous hive inside the Manta. Builder Bug telepathic network can cross airtight seals easily, unlike Wind-Carried Words Technique.

Similar to forests in the uttermost East, the demon city doesn't seem to have a well-defined "ground level;" buildings just get denser and darker, overlapping black stone causeways thicker and more tangled, parks and rooftop gardens smaller and further apart, until eventually, down far enough, the green sun isn't visible at all. Occasional chasms hundreds of yards deep reveal flooded ruins further below.

The Street of Weights and Measures is not, as one might hope, home to a government bureau in charge of keeping merchants from 'recalibrating' their scales in order to underpay for grain and overcharge for bread. In fact, there don't seem to be any government offices, checkpoints, or visible blockades at all, unless you count that huge pagoda-shaped manse at the nearer end. Rather, the Street of Weights and Measures is a forty yard wide, possibly thousands of miles long, elaborate interlocking series of pressure-plate-activated traps.

Integrity 1st Dot: Training Time 3 weeks exp cost 3 exp

Integrity 2nd Dot: Training Time 1 Week, 2 exp cost

Socialize 3rd dot: Training Time Instant 3 exp

Bureaucracy 4th Dot: Instant, 5 exp

Total Cost 13 exp/17 (with this post included)

Primary method by which training is happening:

Engaging with trade directly, getting more of a feel about how the prices logically flow, and getting more used to standing her ground firmly against persuasive fellows.

Things I forgot to train up:
Investigation 2nd dot: 1 xp
Investigation 3rd dot: 3 xp

rolled 4, 3, 3, 4, 2, 8, 7, 10, 4, 4, 4, 2, 5, 1, 8, 7, 2, 9, 3, 10, 6, 9, 10, 8, 9, 8, 8, 3, 6, 6 = 173

---

>>927762
>The Street of Weights and Measures was only a few minutes away as the Manta flies
That'll be the route which Fanged Flair Effulgence takes. "I'll keep an eye on you from the sky," he ties up the skirt of his robe, "If you need me to come down, you know the signal!" FFE approaches the edge. He does a few stretches, spreads his wings wide and then doubles over backwards and wraps his wings around his ankles, then dives down into the architecture soup below.

During UWD's trudge FFE is always in sight, diving and banking under arches and through various openings, sometimes sitting on a ledge to rest. He's clearly having the time of his life, though he never strays too far. Practically, he's on the lookout for any bandit hideouts or thugs or anything else that might be the cause for the holdup.

When the Street of Weights and Measures is reached, he flutters down and lands. Winded and showing a giddy excitement that only tends to come out when he's spent an extended amount of time frolicking through the sky, "Well...what do you think, Dell? How do they even travel on this road? Maybe we should go visit the manse up there, might be somebody who can tell us what's going on."

For the sake of my curiosity, FFE will also try dropping a chunk of stone on one of the pressure plates from a safe distance.

>>927909
>dropping a chunk of stone on one of the pressure plates from a safe distance
>Perception 4, Awareness 0, Craft (Earth) 0, Larceny 0
>rolled 4, 3, 3, 4, 2
There's a soft click, some mechanical squealing and grinding, then the entire building where you were standing abruptly flips over. Everything on the roof not somehow secured plummets a quarter mile into a vile, caustic greenish-black lake.
>Dexterity 11, Athletics 0, wings mutation
>rolled 8, 7, 10, 4, 4, 4, 2, 5, 1, 8, 7
Fortunately you regain your bearings long before the descent is complete. Fluttering back up and peeking in through a window on the recently inverted structure, you see a jumbled heap of fine furniture, an Angyalka, a Chrysogona, three human ghosts in frilly servants' uniforms, and a roughly humanoid (three left arms, no right arm or leg) demon you can't readily identify. The Chrysogona shrieks "Was that you? Thanks a lot, asshole, we were in the middle of a game of Gateway!" while the unidentified demon crawls out from under an overstuffed armchair and yawns like a cobra, revealing a tongue of violet fire.

rolled 6, 8, 10, 4, 5, 8, 8, 2, 3, 9, 5, 6, 10, 5, 6, 5, 7, 8, 4, 9, 3, 5, 5, 2, 5, 1, 1, 8, 10, 1 = 169

---

Embri was going to infiltrate the city and construct some secret rooms and escape routes for her comrades, but after witnessing Fang accidentally cow-tip an entire building, she decides someone needs to have a serious talk with him first. But he won't listen if he's busy healing from a shattered skeleton; time to defuse this rabble.

Embri walks up from the side to the Angyalka, whose song sounds like a clowder of catfolk orphans are recreating an orchestra from the imperial capital with garbage instruments and adorable meowing noises, introduces herself as her disguise, and asks about what happened. Why, Embri is quite amazed that a mere fool could tip an entire building by drawing stick figures or somesuch on the wall, how did he do it?
(Join Debate, planning to manipulate the crowd into believing it's not entirely this fool's fault that the building was explicitly designed to troll people)

rolled 4, 10, 5, 10, 3, 10, 6, 9, 7, 2, 3, 8, 4, 3, 2, 3, 6, 8, 5, 10, 8, 10, 9, 7, 6 = 158

---

>>927657
Hmm, okay. So "Embri"'s main failings are too much booze and sex to be respectable, although given Flair's ability to drink like a fish, and Cathak's behavior, neither of those is really unusual for this group. Probably offends the chaplin and his sky-high temperance as a matter of course, though.

>>927762
>Turns out to be quicker for UWD to carry the Aalu on her back
Physical contact is probably necessary in any event if we're using the Horn of the Ways, since it explicitly doesn't work for anyone who loses sight of the user.

>Rather, the Street of Weights and Measures is a forty yard wide, possibly thousands of miles long, elaborate interlocking series of pressure-plate-activated traps.
>somebody's been interfering with traffic along the Way of Weights and Measures
>"Well...what do you think, Dell? How do they even travel on this road?
"Well, unless someone rebuilt the entire road, it's supposed to be this way."

>the entire building where you were standing abruptly flips over
Bells ringing out, Dell twirls to the side, rushing out along a horizontal clothesline between buildings (or the malfean equivalent. Whatever those are, drying clothes don't normally wiggle so frequently) carrying herself and the demon on her back onto sturdier terrain and away from the rather-less-graceful backflip the ground insisted on indulging.

Using the Wicked Stepmother Boots to substitute performance for athletics, stunting in an exit route usable with the Gem of Elemental Travel.

Rolling Performance 7 + Under Fire 2 + Dexterity 5 + Stunt.

rolled 2, 4, 10, 4, 3, 8, 2, 6, 10, 3, 8, 6, 5, 8, 7, 8, 2, 2, 2, 5, 1, 7, 10, 6, 2, 6, 2, 8, 4, 5 = 156

---

>>927935
>all those successes
I'm going to pre-emptively assume that UWD made it to safety. FFE will wave to her.

>"Was that you? Thanks a lot, asshole, we were in the middle of a game of Gateway!"
>>927928
FFE was about to throw out a perfectly-delivered lie that would absolve him of all responsibility, when one of the mortals showed up out of nowhere and started apologizing for him. "Wh...excuse me? Don't try to pin this on me, you're the one who pushed the plate." Join debate, trying to shift the blame to Embri.

>>927943
Wits + Awareness is...one dot total, haha. On the bright side, he's got Charisma 5 and Socialize 3.

rolled 5, 10, 10, 10, 2, 9, 8, 4, 3, 4, 3, 5, 5, 2, 3, 4, 9, 6, 1, 7, 3, 2, 8, 8, 7, 4, 8, 4, 1, 7 = 162

---

"... What plate?"

Embri may have slightly blundered but she won't take the heat. Deflect back: if he's innocent, how would he know exactly what triggered the building tip? And defuse: Why would poking ONE piece of tableware cause the entire building to do a stunt? Shouldn't there be more safeguards? Maybe the system was frayed from the start. Note: Embri was casing the city outside when the building tipped over, she saw Fang jump out a window and instead of a look of relief, he winced as if he were guilty. She could have sworn he was holding something in his hand but that's just conjecture to her.

rolled 7, 2, 2, 7, 9, 7, 1, 8, 8, 4, 7, 4, 9, 6, 1, 4, 7, 9, 5, 10, 7, 8, 3, 5, 7, 2, 1, 5, 2, 6 = 163

---

FFE is having trouble coming up with a good counter-argument, so he'll roll with it. "Well, I wasn't anywhere near the street when it happened. And if you say it wasn't your fault, maybe the building flipped of its own accord. I wouldn't be surprised. How often do those pressure plates get maintained? If I were you, I'd take it up with whoever is in charge around here. I can help with that, actually. My name's Fanged Flair Effulgence, I solve legal disputes."

>>926058
It's been pointed out Lute has more XP than I thought she did, so adding on to downtime training.

First, while planning and coordinating demon scouting teams with Red and Gold, Lute will express a hope at avoiding trouble, giving him an opportunity to activate Verdant Emptiness Endowment for her first dot in dodge. Assuming he cooperates, I'll add the following:

3 XP, Dodge 0 to 1 (one scene)
4 XP, Dodge 1 to 3 (instant)
9 XP, Absence (2 days)
9 XP, Duck Fate (3 days)

>>927928
Only way Embri could be there that quickly is by putting an hour of wear on the Windblade while tailing FFE. Without further upgrades, the Optical Shroud is useless against superhuman hearing - which both FFE and the Aalu have - or when moving at high speeds, though fortunately the windblade's movement doesn't count for that.
>rolled 6, 8, 10, 4
Embri just barely manages to get the windblade under control and pull out of that dive after the building flips over, then sneakily cruise back up and land inside. Might be wise to schedule some training in the Ride skill before your aerobatic luck runs out.

>>927935
No clothesline, but there's a sinewy brass cable twisted around the pivot-point, connected to a triumphal arch over an otherwise insignificant alley, where elaborate bas-reliefs commemorate humiliating and/or lethal pranks in which this specific trap played a role. Special prominence is given to occasions where the victim was one of the Fair Folk, a god, or a celestial exalt - and in accompanying Old Realm text those last are very consistently referred to as "exalted," rather than "anathema" or any other term the Immaculate Philosophy would approve of.

>>926885
The naneke has no prior business more urgent than the opportunities your arrival presents, and as such gladly agrees to follow Bridget anywhere not involving a significant risk of death.

rolled 9, 6, 4, 9, 4, 5, 2, 1, 8, 2, 4, 7, 4, 6, 4, 3, 5, 8, 1, 10, 5, 5, 9, 8, 3, 4, 3, 5, 3, 5 = 152

---

>>926885
>>928048
>>927619

Bridget waits.
The first hour passes, then the second. The sun never sets, of course, hanging pridefully in the sky, as if to say to it's upstart creation "Look upon me and know your flaws." However, the demons do have ways to tell time, and at the screams of the Tomescu, the Scholar puts an end to it's first "lesson". Bridget, having fashioned a sign for anyone who wishes to find her, sets out in search to the Disciple of Mela, worried that she has not returned. Approaching the line, she sees that only a dozen or so patrons have moved forward in line, allowing her to return to the demons she had previously stood between, and question their talkative armor about the Monks whereabouts.

"Two immaculate monks spoke to each other nearby. I need to know where each went."

Mechanically, Bridget is training the Naneke in Craft (fire), and activating CNNT along with 9 dice using the first craft excellency to forge a sign in case the DoM, or others wishing to find Bridget, return to the pre-determined waiting point.

Then Bridget is using a social attack to get information about the whereabouts of Sesus Xanin and, more importantly (to her) the Disciple of Mela. I assume Charisma + presence (or socialize, not like it matters), with penalties from using her voice, if that's applicable for sentient armor.

Assuming 12 hours of waiting, and the base 4 per hour mote recovery for light activity, since she's training, that would be 48 motes recovered, + 24 from a 1 dot hearthstone, for a total of 72 motes recovered.

Activating CNNT for 7 motes 1WP, and first craft excellency for 9 motes, means Bridget is sitting pretty at 21/36/3 (If I earned a stunt, bump that to 21/36/4).

rolled 9, 4, 3, 6, 5, 8, 10, 8, 4, 3 = 60

---

>in accompanying Old Realm text those last are very consistently referred to as "exalted," rather than "anathema" or any other term the Immaculate Philosophy would approve of.
The demon-writing is heretical. What a surprise.

>Embri
Dell is rather surprised to see that a mortal comp follower would disregard the poison air, successfully pursue their group across the demon city, much less that she did so flying. Perhaps... this is some kind of trick? A demon wearing her shape?

While maybe-Embri and Flair engage with the demons in the building across the cable, Dell will quickly check with the Builder Bugs to see if Embri is still back at base, or if they ever saw her leave. She's also ask the Aalu if it sees hears anything off about her, while she looks on suspiciously at the proceedings across the alley.

Rolling Awareness 1 + Perception 3 + Stunt

rolled 6, 4, 2, 5, 9, 3, 6, 6, 5, 4, 5, 7, 9, 9, 3, 9, 9, 10, 6, 1, 5, 10, 4, 5, 4, 3, 7, 2, 9, 8 = 175

---

>>927619
>elephant-sized scorpion
DoM will approach the scorpion, waving the silk robes around in one hand as a signal and holding out her begging bowl in the other.

>>928100
>Dell is rather surprised to see that a mortal
What would these poor creatures do without her? Angel happily obliges, using measure the wind to evaluate Embri and see if she really is the same, or if some other creature has stolen her voice and wears her smell.

"Mortal? No, she wields essence, same as any of you. Master is the only one who's soul has soared higher. This one though, Embri, her scent is the same, her heartbeats are all in time. Those of the Flute Kite and the Sigil's Dreamer are not terribly dangerous when properly prepared; avoid the Crying Womans bite and you all should have little to fear."

rolled 7, 10, 4, 8, 1, 6, 10, 9, 5, 7, 3, 6, 9, 9, 1, 5, 6, 2, 4, 2, 9, 10, 1, 7, 6, 9, 1, 8, 9, 6 = 180

---

>>928120

>>928059
>"Two immaculate monks spoke to each other nearby. I need to know where each went."
Nobody claims to have seen Sesus Xanin, even those who were clearly witnesses to the duel. The crowd agrees that your description of her is consistent with rumors of the new owner of the manse, but anyone wearing a golden crown would almost certainly not be an Immaculate monk - they're sworn to poverty, and usually dress in modest robes rather than heavy armor.

The actual monk was seen leaving the manse, and then striding off purposefully into the Endless Desert with a bundle of very fine silk clothing ("When you've crawled around under as many different outfits as I have," says one Living Armor, "you learn to recognize the good stuff.")

You've also successfully forged a fine brass signpost out of scrap lumber. The naneke is dutiful and attentive, as a student should be, but all their actions have a slight edge of repressed impatience.

>>927269
Red and Gold clambers up to the roof after Rivers, nodding as he hears mention of her wish to be more. His anima blazes into being, crackling green flame in an echo of the constant blazing of the sun that hung over their heads as he grants another favor.

"Well, you say you'd like to hear a life story? Here's one about a young man born in the First Age. There were any number of small villages like his dotted all over Creation, which in those days was larger. Of course, he had no idea what most of Creation was like. Like most mortals, he never travelled far from where he was born. He was taught to obey the Solar Exalted, as rulers of Creation, followed by the other Celestial Exalted, as their companions."

"He lived an ordinary life, for most of it, until one day there was a messenger sent to the village. You see, the village was on land that it had been decided was going to be used in a Deliberative war game. Now, there's really no chance the village would survive that. The people could flee, but it wasn't likely they'd last long, away from the only place they'd ever known. And so the young man pleaded for mercy. He begged, and wept, and when he was told nothing could be done, he went further, to the Exalted. And as each one he spoke before ignored his request, he went higher, and higher, to those who had no intent to even listen. He put his life in danger to speak before the Solar whose plans the war games were part of. And at that point, he was sought out by the shard of a Solar Exaltation."

"Perhaps you'd think there was a happy ending, but really, it was considered very embarrassing. They tried to brush the whole thing under the rug, as it were. The plans for the war games were altered ever so slightly to avoid the village, but they still went on. And the young man was pressed to speak little of it to anyone. And that was that. Until the Calibration feast."

Red and Gold looks at Rivers, curious to see how she responds to the story.
(Activating VEE twice, that's 20m, -2 WP. Takes me to the 11 mote anima level. Bright enough to read by. Stunts should be restoring willpower.)

"Look, I don't care which one of you assholes hit the trap, I just want an apology, and for one of you to get some replacement parts, so that this cheating floozy can't get a loaded set." The Chrysogona clearly remained pissed, but was clearly left without a clear target to be pissed at.

The Angyalka and the unidentified demon were staying back from the main argument.

Rivers, for her part, didn't interupt the story. After all, for as much as that wasn't what she was asking for (and her face showed that she knew exactly what he was trying to do)

But, as the story was wrapped up, she had some comments. "Well, that was a nice story Red. Or course, even if we do reincarnate, you're still a different person than whoever you were before the Shogunate, and what I had asked for was your life story.

"Of course, I was mostly setting you up to tell a big amusing lie about being raised in a tribe of humans scavenging off of whatever demons use for food deep in the bowels of hell or something, so props for honesty at least."

But, she leaned over and offered Red and Gold a side hug. "You do still need to work on your lying. I know that it's not something you learn as a sorcerer technician, but part of my job is filtering through all degrees of bullshit."

rolled 2, 7, 5, 4, 1, 5, 8, 8, 6, 2, 9, 9, 5, 4, 1, 10, 10, 5, 2, 1, 2, 1, 6, 7, 9, 8, 2, 6, 7, 10 = 162

---

Embri takes in another deep breath from the mask connected to the highly visible oxygen tank on her back. Then she is quick to respond, huffing in periods:

>>928139
"It is my purpose to serve. Unfortunately I- don't know which Gateway game you refer to, let alone the machinery used to play. Is it the game where you punch a ball through a bright spatial portal and try to hit the other player's side? (Trying to get the demons to order one of their number to accompany her to wherever she needs to go to get replacements... and when they're relatively alone she can grill them for info and wipe their minds)

>>928138
"And I'm sure the young man appreciated the effects of his personal efforts -or something whatever- followed by a wide range of... hm... career options to spend the rest of his young life with. Good story. Perhaps you can tell me more stories while you help me carry the replacement equipment for these delegates."

>>928120
"And you. Check your calibration, I maintain essence-related artifacts as best I can but I'm not an essence savant. I'm a mechanic at heart and... being here, it has been an unfortunate mistake on my part. I just wanted to see what we spent weeks journeying towards before we moved on. Let's just fix the gaming equipment so we can get back to exploring the town, and will you please stop listing off various 'facts' about us that you get from scanning our bodies without permission?! It's. Not. Polite.

rolled 2, 3, 5, 9, 1, 8, 8, 7, 2, 10, 8, 7, 5, 2, 3, 2, 6, 3, 9, 8, 3, 4, 3, 1, 5, 7, 5, 3, 5, 2 = 146

---

>>928132
>You've also successfully forged a fine brass signpost out of scrap lumber. The naneke is dutiful and attentive, as a student should be, but all their actions have a slight edge of repressed impatience.

Before leaving, Bridget discusses her plan, so the student does not lose her.

"I will search for the Disciple of Mela, immaculate monk. If she has no bone wine, I will need yours. When the Tomescu next call, I shall leave. If present, you may join. If not, I shall be in the nameless village, ready to teach what and when I am able. Be cautions, you will be directed to stay away.

>The actual monk was seen leaving the manse, and then striding off purposefully into the Endless Desert
As Bridget leaps after her, the solar's blazing golden anima erupts in the crowd, despite the warning from the Prince of the Earth fresh upon her skin. Bridget wonders why she would do this- does she mean to cross the endless desert and abandon her fellows? It seems that sooner or later this strange realm drives everyone to madness.

Activating Mountain Crossing Leap and spending 6 motes on 3 successes from the Second Survival Excellency.

Totals:
21/20/4
(This assumes I got a 2 dice stunt last time and a 2 dice stunt this time, and used both to get WP back).

rolled 2, 10, 10, 8, 7, 1, 6, 10, 8, 7, 5, 2, 10, 6, 7, 9, 4, 9, 9, 1 = 131

---

>>928175
Probably should disregard the second paragraph, there. Rivers and Red and Gold aren't even in the same 12-mile hex on the map, and may not even be having that conversation on the same day since it's happening in downtime.

>>928120
>"Mortal? No, she wields essence, same as any of you. Master is the only one who's soul has soared higher. This one though, Embri, her scent is the same, her heartbeats are all in time. Those of the Flute Kite and the Sigil's Dreamer are not terribly dangerous when properly prepared; avoid the Crying Womans bite and you all should have little to fear."

>will you please stop listing off various 'facts' about us that you get from scanning our bodies without permission?! It's. Not. Polite.
"Belay that," an indignant Dell growls. "You were ordered to act as a scout, and scouting does not politely honor privacy."

Turning sharply on Embri and advancing, "You are either dead, a liar who has not been true about who she is with us, or both!"

Waxwing Dell is visibly upset, sick at heart, and doing her best to ignore the ear splitting racket produced by the restless long-fingered demon.

The angyalkae music is getting to Unhappy Wood DB, and unfortunately for Embri, her seeing betray and deception have given UWD something to project on.

"Those who are discontented with themselves find the music painful, whether it confirms their secret fears, rekindles unsettled heartache or tears at the cracks in their carefully constructed emotional walls."

Not sure what I'm rolling for (UWD doesn't have great pools for social combat), but have some dice.

>>928204
The naneke grabs Bridget just as she's winding up for the jump. "Master, wait! Even a single step into the Endless Desert means committing to a journey that will almost always take at least five days to complete. Can the sick man who needed this bonewine afford to wait that long?"

>>928175

"Alright, let me talk at a speed that you can understand, since you're dumb enough to walk out here as 'Just a mortal' without one of those garish masks that your kind wears, or that anyone would believe that if you aren't dead by the end of the week, I can buy you wouldn't know what gateway is."

"I!"

"Want!"

"YOU!"

"To!"

"Get!"

"One!"

"Of!"

"Those!"

"Games!"

"SMART!"

"People!"

"Play!"

The Chrysogona was focusing her attention on Embri, tossing every word like it was a sharpened dagger that was intended to kill its recipient.

"If you can't figure it out, then ask anybody, it's almost universal."

rolled 9, 5, 9, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 2, 5, 1, 6, 3, 1, 7, 3, 7, 3, 6, 8, 1, 1, 1, 5, 4, 1, 6, 2, 3, 1 = 125

---

>>928175
>Check your calibration,
>stop listing off various 'facts' about us that you get from scanning our bodies without permission?!

>>928294
>"Belay that,"
>"You are either dead, a liar who has not been true about who she is with us, or both!"

"Understood. Is Embri considered a subordinate to Fanged Flair Effulgence? If so, your orders still take precedence over hers, until we return to camp, Fanged Flair Effulgence says otherwise, or master changes my directive.
And, I know it must be difficult for you all, but she doesn't sound dead, and her soul shard should protect her from the miasma. Unless you mean that she is dead because you intend to kill her? Regardless, I would like to get down, so I may weave a recording of our journey thus far; I don't want to waste a meal when the harpist upsets you."

rolled 9, 7, 8, 7, 9, 7, 8, 1, 4, 6, 10, 9, 8, 8, 9, 2, 7, 4, 10, 2, 6, 7, 8, 4, 8, 10, 3, 4, 10, 6 = 201

---

>Mortal? No, she wields essence,
>Those who are discontented with themselves find the music painful
>Waxwing Dell is visibly upset
Flair is beset with flashbacks of his terrifying fight with an anathema, the painful recovery, all the time he spent gazing forlornly into a mirror...
"Stop yelling, all of you! Stop!" He turns to the demon, "Not another word from you. Or I'll shove your Gateway pieces down your throat. And you!" He looks at the angyalkae, "You can stop whatever the hell you're doing." Charisma 5 Presence 3 + whatever bonus appearance 0 gives to scare everybody into shutting up.

FFE will take a deep breath and say to Embri, "Meet me down by Dell so we can talk this over, civilly."

rolled 7, 6, 7, 8, 5, 8, 3, 5, 4, 4, 3, 1, 8, 2, 9, 2, 3, 5, 1, 10, 8, 1, 8, 5, 2, 8, 5, 5, 9, 3 = 155

---

>>928318
Bridget sighs. Returning without the Disciple of Mela will not go well.

Luckily the sign is still standing- if the monk returns to the area, she may find it, and await Bridgets return.

"Appreciated. I shall purchase your stock, and attend to my patient. Payment will be rendered in town, in your preferred method."

Bridget of course has no way of knowing that the demon is telling the truth- luckily for her, she isn't currently being exploited into leaving behind the DoM. Unluckily for her, she won't be able to gain the Immaculate's trust now. It is unlikely they will allow her to treat their wounds until they cannot resist. Hopefully there is time enough still.

>>928421
This is Bridget, not Angel.

rolled 7, 1, 9, 4, 2, 8, 1, 3, 10, 3, 6, 2, 9, 6, 4, 5, 9, 5, 7, 5, 2, 7, 2, 8, 10, 4, 5, 9, 9, 8 = 170

---

It's been an eventful week! Between drawing offensive pictures on any road she can find, Malice has been spending plenty of time with her cute sifu, picking up Torn Lotus Defense and raising her Martial Arts skill to 3. She's also put some effort into learning the local language. And since Lute Silhouette Speculation in Comet's Reflection seems to be such a fount of knowledge, Malice asked her for lessons, emerging from the shadows when Lute was alone.
(4xp for dot in linguistics assuming Lute is willing to help, 8 for the charm, 6 for the dot in MA, total 18)

>>928421
>[Bridget] won't be able to gain the Immaculate's trust now
Could try begging Sesus Xanin to come back with you. She can confirm that the Disciple of Mela's poor sense of direction isn't your fault. As un-exalted believers in the Immaculate Philosophy, they'd consider it a sin to disobey her, and she's got the social skills to make that stick.

You haven't currently got any obvious ability to make her do things she doesn't want to do, but not all conversation is social combat. You could try just stating the facts, pointing out that it may take less than an hour of her time (and little or no real effort) to save the Disciple of Hesiesh's life, see if that pings any virtue compulsions - or even enlightened self-interest.

>>928140
Red and Gold manages to stop himself flinching away from contact, and allows himself to be hugged, awkwardly.

"I would prefer we not discuss Lookshy. Is there anything else you'd like to know? Perhaps I can help you with some local problems? Or maybe you can help me, for that matter, if you'd be interested in working together. As long as you aren't too concerned about working with demons. I still need to handle the local gods and elementals. I haven't heard so much as a peep from them, which is suspicious."

>>927991
(Reasonable that this happened during downtime. I'm also gonna spend the 3 xp for that first dot in Socialize, since JL said the explanations every evening would have counted for training that.)

"I mean, I don't know why I'd be uncomfortable working with demons in the first place, but anything to help out a friend. Just so long as I don't have to transform, since that's a lot of the reason I'm just kind of hanging out and waiting tables.

"That said, I don't even know how to talk to gods."

>>928575
"Oh, talking to gods is easy, once you get them to stop hiding. They're not so much more complicated than mortals. They're just more arrogant, what with being naturally immaterial. My only problem is that I can't currently hunt them all down if they're laying low. Elementals are easier. They're usually material."

"Okay, but how do I help, that's the real issue here."

rolled 9, 4, 10, 7, 4, 7, 8, 5, 8, 1 = 63

---

>>928508
Lute is more than willing to teach a language to the Green Sun Princess (I Malice is interested in Rivertongue, for talking to Rivers? Ohohoh. Lute also knows Skytongue or Pelagial (primordial mermaid tongue) if Malice was interested in something different).

"Why don't we practice then, and get to know each other better? Tell me about yourself, your past perhaps, or your hopes and dreams."

>Malice is interested in Rivertongue, for talking to Rivers? Ohohoh.
Malice squints at Lute, and says Rivertongue is good. But mermaid speak is very tempting.

>Tell me about yourself
Malice produces a jar of preserve, probably picked up in the aftermath of the village's mad rush to gather food. "Wanna hear how I became a green sun princess? One day I was really hungry. Hungry enough to swipe a jar full of this weird pasty stuff you people eat. I flapped off into the mountains so I could eat in peace. But there was a problem! I couldn't get the stupid thing open! I tried and tried. Just when I had given up, a demon appeared and said 'come and take up the mantle of the princess of the green sun, and you shall never again lack the strength to open a jar!'" Malice sets the jar down on the ground and tries to twist the lid, unsuccessfully. "As you can see it was a big scam."

>hopes and dreams
"Back before I exalted it was just 'What am I going to eat today? Where will I sleep? How cold is it going to get?' Now that I don't need to worry about any of that anymore, I'm kinda at a loss. I don't want to have to worry about anything again. How's that for a dream?" Seems like there's more that she's not saying, especially considering that bullshit origin story, but Lute will have to do some social-fu if she really wants to draw it out.

"So what about you? Also, where can I get one of those nifty mirror things?"

Note - I've been corrected on the xp costs. Looks like it'll all be about 13 in total.

>So what about you?
"My own past was more sheltered; my people were protected and loved, and we loved in return. Until one day I awoke to the power to make things better, and could not hide from a wider world in need of help."

>where can I get one of those nifty mirror things?
"Deep within the madness of the furthest wyld, one might find a scorpion, its body an ocean of teeth, larger than the whole of Creation itself. All around this maelstrom can be heard the ceaseless clicking of countless mandibles, and in the incessant din- whispers of any listener's deepest fears. This is Ishiika, the grass-cutter scythe, and the last reliable sightings (if any can be said to be reliable) date back to its use as a weapon in the last great crusade of the fae, before the founding of the Realm."

Caressing the notably-small-than-creation scorpion shaped mirror in her lap "The Shard Fallen from Ishiika's Eye. If the name is to be believed, this is but the smallest of teardrops left behind by a creature larger than the world. Or perhaps it is merely a masterwork shaped in tribute to the shaping-sword, I cannot say, the truth has been lost to history. In either event, I can only imagine the scope of the adventure it would be to obtain another."

rolled 8, 7, 6, 2, 5, 3, 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 2, 7, 1, 7, 1, 5, 1, 2, 3, 5, 4, 10, 8, 10, 2, 3, 7, 6, 3 = 151

---

>>928294
"Why yes I am a liar. I make eight lies a day to keep my mind healthy in this world of intrigue and violence. For I am a loyal servant of a prospering lady, with a loving and gentle husband. That was a lie.

Now guess which part was the lie.

Unless you will fix all my burdens for free, I don't want to list every single one. The same would go for anyone here. Unless you wish to yell and accuse us all of whatever lies we may have causally spoken in our past lives. Hm, was there a lie in that paragraph?"

(Manipulate Dell into realizing she's blowing this out of proportion and needs to CALM the @#$% down before she can properly accuse Embri of anything)

rolled 10, 7, 4, 3, 4, 3, 5, 5, 9, 4, 7, 10, 7, 1, 8, 1, 1, 4, 8, 9, 6, 1, 4, 7, 4, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4 = 154

---

>>928687
"Embri, it's been nice traveling with you but we no longer have need of your services. I'm sure you won't have too much trouble finding a different ride out of here."

"Dell. Just drop it, okay? We have bigger fish to fry!"

Trying to convince these two to part ways without coming to blows.

rolled 10, 2, 3, 10, 6, 9, 6, 4, 10, 9, 10, 4, 1, 2, 2 = 88

---

Dell takes a shuddering breath, bells chiming, and allows herself to be pulled back from slugging the mocking traitor by her boss. It helps that the aggravating music has let up- the harpist having fled at Flair's lambasting.

Emitting a soft tintinnabulation of restrained tension the wood aspect growls "Just say the word, and I'll kick her ass. She deserves it."

(Rolling for a performance based social attack maybe? Pushing the point that Embri deserves what's coming for her treachery and deceit).

rolled 6, 4, 9, 2, 8, 2, 9, 1, 8, 7, 7, 6, 3, 10, 7, 9, 1, 4, 10, 3, 10, 3, 2, 6, 3, 9, 5, 6, 10, 8 = 178

---

>>928522
Hm. The prince of the Earth is liable to carve through Bridget like wire through clay. If she can make her case first it might go better, otherwise she just has to hope she can make her escape. Surely though a dragon blooded would secure the trust of the monks and let her tend to them, so she has to try.

Standing outside the temple walls, Bridget burbles, her towering hight producing a strange, river like voice, unnatural and unsettling to all who hear it. She calls out for her ally turned foe after an eon of internment.

"Chosen of Pasiap, if you care for your town, Immaculate teachings, or common folk, return to the Nameless village. Follow me and save them, unless you fear your sword would fail to a trap, and that I would best you. Come alone."

Bridget wants Xanin to follow her into the woods, so she can explain the situation and secure her help in regaining the immaculates trust. Mechanically it seems like a manipulate/charisma + presence roll, but I think regardless of mechanics it might be in character for Xanin to follow or respond somehow.

rolled 8, 1, 5, 5, 8, 2, 5, 7, 2, 1, 10, 9, 8, 9, 2, 3, 9, 7, 1, 6, 6, 2, 8, 8, 4, 9, 9, 4, 5, 9 = 172

---

Sesus Xanin rarely felt moved to such anger as she was feeling now. Not only was the Anathema seemingly intent on throwing away her earlier mercy of just giving her a public asskicking and letting her run away, but she apparently thought so lowly of her that she was asking her to abandon her own men with no line of communication to go into a confirmed den of Anathema, doubtless to have several of them gang up on her in retaliation for the public humiliation, and she was trying to turn her soldiers against her by implying she doesn't care about the common people. Plus to top it all off, she had incorrectly deduced that the Dynast from a family that mostly produced fire aspected heirs wearing full Red Jade superheavy plate using a sword made out of fire was an earth aspected Prince of the Earth.

Clearly, she had been far too lenient. Although, the possibility that the Anathema might be the only person that can save them, she would have to send a Stomach Bottle Bug to help resolve that situation.

So, she let out her breath, her Green Jade Reaper Beamklave screaming into existence, as she launched herself off of her observation deck, kicking off of wall of the Manse to gain more speed.

This time there wouldn't be words, just one hero brutally slaying another, just as the Dragons had intended.

rolled 2, 6, 6, 1, 8, 5, 1, 3, 1, 5, 10, 2, 6, 9, 10, 9, 5, 3, 8, 6, 2, 3, 9, 7, 7, 9, 6, 6, 4, 6 = 165

---

>>928753
With blinding speed Sesus Xanin laid low the errant solar. Although Bridget tried desparately to escape in the forest, Xanin made short work of her, leaving her body to be eaten by demons with a single flurry of blows.
Or so she thought.
The will of the Sun's chosen is hard to conquer, and bolstered by this, Bridget corrected the course of time. The worst of her wounds simply a mistake forgotten by the loom of fate, Bridget jumped into the treetops and fled. Even the mighty defenses of the manse could not find her through the trees, and so the Anathema escaped, beaten but not broken.

Mechanically, Bridget is activating MCL, and purchasing as many successes with the second survival excellency as she can. If the dice pool for navigation is (int+survival) then that's 5 successes.

rolled 6, 9, 10, 8, 1, 3, 2, 7, 9, 2, 4, 10, 1, 10, 2, 9, 2, 3, 5, 4, 3, 8, 3, 7, 8, 1, 6, 4, 4, 7 = 158

---

Embri activates her pheromones to project guilt, then quickly follows up with a social attack.

She pretends to act hurt, slightly heaving. Mostly because she is, in the same way a mosquito bite is to a knife stab; not truly damage, but the terror of plague and disease is psychologically worse. A few simple words for a simple servant:

"So that's it then? You bully anyone who comes to your friend's aid, and then YOU fire anyone she points fingers at? No wonder you two are so shortstaffed. I quit."

Hopefully there were some demons and crew left to witness that. Embri walks away into the buildings to continue her original plan: convincing the bugs to build secret passages with special markings, unknowingly helping any Autochthonians coming this way.

>>928849
>convincing the bugs to build secret passages
The builder bugs, controlled by the people who just fired you? How are you planning to retain access to them?

>>928931
Embri doesn't talk to them directly. She just makes some offhand comments about how any of these buildings could also be like giant dogs - eager to lie down and roll over with the fleas still inside. She also hides a seemingly official book on crafting emergency passageways in bookshelves within every building, a collection she crafted while on the ship. The bugs don't trust her, but the truth in her statement about the sheer danger of this place will give them enough pause to come up with plans of their own. Plans that will eventually involve finding the book that is clearly part of the standard code of construction. Plans that include writing a special symbol that only the bugs can see, and certainly not any Alchemicals or Autochthonians with scanner tech.

(Note that I cannot comprehend the level of manipulation that Embri is on so her execution of this plan is far more detailed)

rolled 8, 5, 3, 4, 3, 10, 2, 10, 4, 1 = 50

---

Well, that just happened. Dell's entirely sure why that got to her as much as it did, but Embri has apparently been a spy and an exalt this entire time, not to mention insane. If anything, it's embarrassing the brotherhood allowed itself to fooled as long as it did.

Gonna count that whole mess as a scene towards building a negative intimacy towards Embri. (1/3)

The unhappy ranger is going going to order her builder bugs to pass word back to base "Embri was exalted, a spy, and she's fired" just in case she thinks to double back. Also, if they see the bad lady again, or she tries to talk to them, they're to tell her immediately.

In the meantime... we were supposed to be trying to figure out what was wrong with the street of deathtraps? Let's roll for perception + awareness, see if the argument and/or building flipping attracted any attention, or if anything impeding traffic stands out.

>>928588
"Depends. What are you good at? Can you fight? Can you LOOK like you can fight? Any good at tracking or scouting? I need a good idea of what the elementals in the area are doing, in response to their new surroundings, and then after that I'll probably have to push them around a little so that they don't cause trouble. That's just sort of expected, really. The gods are probably hiding, so until I've got a hold of a better way to drag them out I might not be able to do too much. Unless I summoned a few more teodozjia, possibly..."

>>929000

"Well, I'm pretty good at fighting, but probably not really 'great' at it. But I'm really good at not dying. But I'm probably the best at tracking and scouting out there. But, I also don't want to spend too much time out of town, since I want to catch up with some people after the last few weeks."

>>928991
Argument doesn't seem to have attracted any significant attention. Almost all the locals - easy to recognize as they dance their way from one pressure plate to the next in some elaborate sequence without hesitation - who respond to questions in any useful way agree the choke point to worry about is that manse on the border with the Spawning Forest.

There's a semicircular plaza, hundreds of yards wide, with the manse as it's focal point. Plaza is studded with pits of near-frozen caustic sludge that are somehow safe to bathe in. Curved edge of the plaza is mostly a six story high wall studded with windows, balconies, and iron staircases, like an apartment building with fire escapes, but there's no actual interior. Flying buttresses on the far side link up with a maze of archways, footpaths, and twisting alleyways between buildings arranged like an awkward attempt to tesselate regular pentagons. Apart from the Street of Weights and Measures, any path more than six feet wide within four or five miles of the manse slopes at least 30 degrees. Various 'hilly' routes wide enough for wagons can be traced from the plaza down to docks for acid-resistant ships amid the flooded ruins almost a quarter mile below. One such route includes a cable-car which the Reverent Society of Reflective Foresters use to haul extracted lumber. Several others include minecart tracks which drummer-goblins seem to use more for violent, high-speed recreation than any practical purpose.

>order her builder bugs to pass word back to base "Embri was exalted, a spy, and she's fired"
After a few rounds of back-and-forth, the bugs have figured out that Embri was with you, out here, all along, so that wooden statue they found in her bunk probably isn't someone transformed by a curse. They have difficulty with the abstractions of business management and security clearance revocation, though. Do you want them to set fire to that statue, or not?

rolled 2, 5, 2, 6, 7, 10, 2, 2, 10, 3, 1, 9, 10, 6, 5, 5, 3, 5, 3, 10, 8, 6, 5, 5, 10, 5, 7, 10, 3, 5 = 170

---

>dance their way from one pressure plate to the next
Interesting.
Embri realizes this is a rudimentary form of modular workplaces; each group of workers knows the exact sequence of pressure plates to step on in order to manipulate the city itself into moving according to their respective job. In theory, since this process is prone to accidents if scheduling isn't done perfectly on time, each group's patterns should reset the layout and form according to their personal pattern. With enough observation, Embri should be able to invent her own patterns for manipulating the city to her will - and then she can transcribe these patterns as secret instructions on the walls with Autochthonian encryption.

And after that building caught her off guard, it's quite clear that she won't need to place her usual traps when she can make the entire city her [Whomp].

Rolling Perception+Awareness with Dragonfly Eye to secretly observe the patterns that the people use to manipulate the building hinges and derive the overall patterns behind them.

>Embri was a spy
Embri grumbles a little. You try helping someone in need and they immediately point fingers. Wiping their memories would have been relatively pointless with Dell's scanner constantly spewing biological trivia on her orders, so she'll trust that the angry screaming inquisitor is going to file a report and then the Scarlet Bureaucracy will file it under "emotional ravings" due to the level of emotion she will inevitably put into it.
BTW Embri gave a fake name when she went onboard in disguise, she's not that dumb.

>>929009
"Well, we've found the problem. How do you want to handle this?" asked the ranger of the lawyer.

>Do you want them to set fire to that statue, or not?
"No. No arson, please. Leave the statue alone."

>>929015
>BTW Embri gave a fake name when she went onboard in disguise, she's not that dumb.
It would help if you provided said fake name, if you want us to refer to your character by it.

>>929004
"Oh, of course. No rush. They haven't shown any signs of being up to anything significant yet, and this village is where I've put the most effort. It's the most valuable bit, so far. I'll need more time to consolidate control over the rest. Unfortunately necessary, given the circumstances. Malfeas is the sort of place that doesn't really tolerate the absence of a strong claim."

Red and Gold begins making his way back to the ground, hopping from point to point until he's safely back on solid earth.

>guilt
>compassion 1
FFE shrugs. "I'm not sure what to make of all that. What was she after? We should keep a careful eye out."

>>929032
>the choke point to worry about is that manse
Did they say what was holding up traffic, exactly? FFE will mention that he's here to try to fix the holdup, so hopefully that'll get them talking. He'll also ask if anyone knows who's in charge of the place.

>"Well, we've found the problem. How do you want to handle this?"
"Go up there, ask around, gather more information. Then meet whoever's in control of that manse and present our cease and desist. Hey, are you okay?"

rolled 9, 3, 9, 6, 9, 4, 4, 7, 5, 3, 5, 2, 8, 5, 2, 6, 2, 10, 2, 9, 9, 7, 8, 10, 6, 10, 5, 2, 10, 10 = 187

---

>Go up there, ask around, gather more information. Then meet whoever's in control of that manse and present our cease and desist.
"That's your area of expertise then, I'll follow your lead. Be careful, it looks like there's a small army in there."

>Hey, are you okay?
"Fine." Dell answers testily, and then continues in a milder grumble. "I'd be better if you let me kick her smug lying face."

>>928685
>one day I awoke to the power to make things better
"Better? How so?"

>Deep within the madness of the furthest wyld...
Malice stares wide-eyed and riveted as she listens to the story. She lays across the floor with her face resting on her wings. There is so much more to existence than the fields and mountains she used to know, and she's soaking it all up as much as she can. "Wow... how did you get that one? Do you go on a lot of adventures like that?" If Lute is putting any effort into sensing motivation, Malice's fixation on the mirror is a pretty obvious indication that she plans on taking another swing at stealing it.

rolled 1, 8, 7, 6, 4, 6, 1, 7, 2, 5, 1, 6, 1, 6, 5, 1, 9, 8, 8, 3, 2, 3, 8, 5, 9, 3, 1, 6, 4, 4 = 140

---

>Be careful
"Of course! You watch your step."

>I'd be better if you let me kick her smug lying face.
"Maybe you'll get your chance if she shows up again."

Alright, assuming we don't have too much difficulty actually making it to the manse, I'm going to go ahead and roll to socialize and get a bit more information from the folks around the manse.

rolled 9, 2, 10, 2, 2, 2, 6, 5, 3, 6, 7, 10, 10, 2, 2, 8, 10, 10, 1, 4, 5, 7, 6, 3, 10, 10, 7, 8, 5, 2 = 174

---

>>928828
>Bridget jumps back to town

>>Discord
>Don't have any particular complication in mind for Bridget on her way back to the town.

Bridget arrives, student and bonewine in hand. She then contemplates her next action. Wounded, the monk lost in the desert, she cannot show up upon the threshold of the immaculates to administer care. Neither though, can she let them die. They may be too far gone to refuse her, but in time they may regain their strength and choose to cast her out before their treatment is finished. She will need help it seems.

Appearing in what has now become the shared home of the Barber and the Raptor, Bridget introduces her new student, and then conspires with them to create a set of high quality medical tools.

In the heart of the wood demense, she hones the Malfean plant life springing from her words into the weapons against death and disease. Then she approaches the monks refuge once more, hoping for the worst.

Mechanically, doing light activity for an hour (finding Edgar and Aly, taking them to the wood demense) to recover 6 motes
Then activating CNNT and spending 9 motes on the first craft excellency to forge better quality medical tools. Totals at 11/15/5 if this post counts as a 2 dice stunt.

Looking for the condition of the immaculate monks and their response to her presence. It's probably been about a full day since Bridget left to get the bonewine, and both the sifu and Disciple of Hesiash were looking pretty bad, but two were still standing I think.

>>929429
Sharpening scalpels with your thumb as a grindstone, tweaking the design of a speculum so it's more comfortable for the patient, building a miniature kiln - it ends up taking more than an hour (repairs and tweaks don't benefit from 12x speed multiplier CNNT gives to new construction, you need Crack-Mending Technique for that), but the doctors are appropriately impressed and grateful.

As for fabricating new tools, there's been a bit of a zinc shortage the past few years - the Tepet legions cleaned out a lot of stockpiles on their way through, needed it for their lightning cannons or something, and rumor has it the Bull of the North has been taxing the hell out of any strategic metals passing through the Saltspire League. Your naneke apprentice is baffled by this news. "Are we not less than a mile from Hrotsvitha, whose wood is brass, from which zinc (and copper) can be extracted?" In particular, there's a swath of dead trees hundreds of yards wide leading off toward the area where that acid rainstorm hit. The Spawning Forest tends to respond with hostility to loggers, unless elaborately propitiated (that's the niche the Reverent Society of Reflective Foresters have carved out for themselves)... but surely he wouldn't mind necrotic tissue being cleared out from a wound. The metallic wood can also be ignited into something alchemically similar to, yet entirely distinct from, fire - which could be useful for smelting metal without introducing impurities through fumes, or making sealed envelopes (to keep bandages and other medical necessities sterile) without risk of the paper igniting while it's being baked clean.

Edgar's progress along the Shimmering Water Path, and acquaintance with the immaculate missionaries over the past few months, would make impersonating the Disciple of Mela at least somewhat plausible as an option. The dragon king claims to remember that "your people and mine" shared knowledge and power with each other quite often, a few thousand years ago, and claims to be willing to take personal risks (well, nothing too crazy, at least not right away) as part of rekindling such a compact. In return, she'd like permission to attune to the demesne.

rolled 2, 6, 3, 7, 10, 5, 1, 8, 10, 7, 1, 3, 8, 3, 5, 8, 10, 2, 5, 5, 4, 4, 7, 5, 6, 9, 5, 2, 2, 4 = 157

---

>>929497
>The dragon king claims to remember that "your people and mine" shared knowledge and power with each other quite often, a few thousand years ago, and claims to be willing to take personal risks (well, nothing too crazy, at least not right away) as part of rekindling such a compact. In return, she'd like permission to attune to the demesne.

So long as you take up arms against suffering and work as a Steward of creation and it's people you should have my support. You are welcome to attune, even if you cannot help me.

>impersonating the Disciple of Mela
No. The sun illuminates that which is hidden. If you are to lie to the monks, I cannot know of it.

>Metals from the spawning forest
"That shall be in your training. You may do as you like while I administer care. Those who show no compassion are not my allies."

Bridget doesn't want to trick the monks because she knows she can't lie very well- if they try to pull a fast one, they'll see right through her. She doesn't have a problem with lying in a moral sense, she just knows if she's involved it won't work.

As for her graciously impatient student, shes giving out a vaugeish warning that people who harm others aren't people Bridget is going to teach.

rolled 3, 9, 1, 8, 3, 10, 4, 3, 10, 10, 9, 6, 6, 2, 4, 9, 7, 10, 9, 7, 9, 8, 4, 2, 2, 8, 6, 8, 8, 2 = 187

---

Somehow unhindered by the exposed cover, Embri continues her observations into the strange community of workers and their reorganization dance. It has gone too slowly for her, and the threat of being crushed by a building in motion is not to be taken lightly.

Embri's first course of action is to craft structural reinforcements in the seemingly safe position she has nested in, so that the weight of two falling buildings would not be enough to cause instant death. Embri expects she will need to move when the dance of buildings shifts in her direction, though.

Next, Embri waits for an opportunity. One worker out of place, and the rest of their supposed colleagues might ostracize them for incompetence. If such a thing happens Embri will find an opportunity to capture an employee out of place and seduce them with her gown.

Using Dragonfly's Ranged Eye to scan any internal effects of the plates and building mechanisms, as well.

(Assuming at some point during downtime, Lute used BVB to allow Red and Gold to pick up a Linguistics dot in Old Realm, so I could then raise Linguistics to 3. Old Realm, Rocktongue, and High Holy Speech, to round out languages. -7 XP)

Red and Gold decides that since there's still no indication of interest from the Unquestionable, or other regional powers, it's time to start consolidating this place into a semblance of order so he can finally start utilizing it.

He will be writing a set of laws for the 'fiefdom of Creation-bordering-Hrotsvitha' under his authority as one of the Green Sun Princes. The laws lay out the borders(delineated where Creation meets Hrotsvitha, and where the lower limit of Creation stuff meets whatever is below,) ban the presence of serfs AND citizens of the first circle unless they meet the exceptions put in place(bound by an empowered oath of personal loyalty to Seven Broken Wings of Red and Gold, or summoned by Seven Broken Wings of Red and Gold, or in a sudden inspiration from his coadjutor, simply if they ARE teodozjia, although they are not immune to the laws put forth either.) They establish that as this place is distinct from Malfeas itself, the laws of Cecelyne apply differently, mostly to enable Red and Gold to apply actual justice, though of course having learned from Cecelyne, the exceptions are built in so that he can make final decisions. Most violations, murder, theft, etc. involve imprisonment, but harm to the mortals without orders, for example, involves harsh penalties.

The laws will also establish that all demons residing here have to follow the training schedules and prayer schedules set out, which for the moment are simply more of assigning times for self directed learning or prayer, unless a teodozjia or Red and Gold chooses to supervise.

They establish official positions for enforcers of the law, and distributors of the law, as well as the need for all elementals and gods to be properly registered in the offices to be established at the temple district(still not actually built, but that's no reason not to submit their registrations to an officially recognized figure.)

And since they'll need heavy revision in the future, the procedures for doing so(mostly Red and Gold approving himself revising them,) are also detailed.

For the moment there's no tax collecting, or enforcing the laws of Cecelyne for mortals, or forbidding any worship, but there are clear statements regarding intent to get this place in line. It's too disorganized to hold itself together at this point, let alone hold its own in Malfeas.

Assuming I probably need to make some rolls to do this without running into any hidden snags? Bureaucracy, Linguistics? Finding paper to compose them? Willing to channel Conviction a couple times to get this done, so I can start summoning up a task-bound force to handle these things.

>>929524
The sun-obscuring clouds which teodozjia tend to gather aren't sufficient to entirely block Ligier's light, but they can greatly reduce it. Might be able to set up an effective day/night cycle that way, since mortals tend to have some trouble adapting to the lack thereof.

You'll also want to think about water supply. The sorcerously-inclined minions of Hundred Flowing Sweet Rivers can't produce quite as much of it as her name might imply, and plants across the region will be needing considerable quantities if they're to survive. Can't count on rain - in fact, you might need to be defending somehow against any "natural" precipitation that does occur, as evidenced by that recent acid-storm not ten miles way (and, mercifully, downhill).

>>928105
The scorpion's body remains motionless, but it's tail pivots, soft clicking of articulated plates barely audible over the rising wind. Stinger unfurls like a mechanical flower, revealing a ball of baleful actinic light - the business end of some Shogunate-era energy weapon. A hoarse but unmistakably human voice echoes from within:
>"Bídsteall! Sweotolae! Hwæt níedgengan?"
An indecipherably archaic dialect of Low Realm, on it's way out before the Empress was born. Specific words aside, the tone is that of a sentry's challenge, 'halt, who goes there,' or something along those lines. Eventually the Disciple of Mela manages to communicate something about being part of the Immaculate Order, at which point the stinger powers down and the gunner's tone quickly turns from dutiful wariness to cheerful relief. A hatch pops open up on it's back, and a ritual greeting is recited - occult knowledge recognizes it as related to the constellation of the Messenger, in the house of Mercury. Apparently you're being invited to climb in. Cargo netting hangs loosely under the belly of the beast; the gunner knows enough High Realm to be able to say that whatever baggage you have can be safely secured there.

rolled 6, 6, 1, 1, 1, 1, 9, 10, 5, 5, 1, 9, 9, 6, 1, 6, 9, 1, 6, 10 = 103

---

>>929524
>Assuming at some point during downtime, Lute used BVB to allow Red and Gold to pick up a Linguistics dot in Old Realm
Lute will, naturally, assist her fiendish associate in becoming a better version of himself.

>>929135
>"Better? How so?"
Lute's eyes gleam with zeal, and for a moment a blue symbol seems to grace her brow, circle surmounting a cross. "How? Why, it is what I do. I help people become who they were always meant to be, to find their joy, and the world is better for it."

>Wow... how did you get that one? Do you go on a lot of adventures like that?"
Calming slightly, the joybringer smiles gently. "I hope to. I'm too young to have retrieved the Shard Fallen myself, it's well, something of a hand-me-down."

>If Lute is putting any effort into sensing motivation, Malice's fixation on the mirror is a pretty obvious indication that she plans on taking another swing at stealing it.
Attempting to play off the bat girl's apparent loneliness and wonder, rolling for a social attack. Trying to plant the idea in Malice's head that she wants Lute as a friend or ally, someone to help her or learn from, more than she wants to take the mirror for herself (at least for now).

Rolling manipulation + whatever skill applies and why not throw a full Kimbery Excellency at it too (trying to offer real patronage and kindness, while at the same time trying to retain possession of a treasure/secret).

rolled 7, 8, 3, 6, 3, 8, 5, 3, 9, 2, 10, 9, 1, 4, 6, 9, 9, 8, 7, 10, 10, 5, 4, 6, 6, 3, 9, 2, 2, 4 = 178

---

After hours of observation, Embri has research notes and an idea of how to manipulate the city in a way that would temporarily halt all movement (followed by a cacophony of property damage, but let's not focus on the benefits). It's only a theory, but the engineers would rather stare at her findings than a newly born alchemical's growing breasts.

At the very least, she has a better understanding of how to move through the city without getting squished by whomping buildings. Embri explores the city at her leisure, looking for the trails of the other exalted players in the area, in hopes of finding a temporary ally who doesn't begin screaming their head off at the sight of a spy extended in friendship.

rolled 10, 3, 10, 4, 9, 1, 2 = 39

---

>>930420
Two-die stunt, upgraded to three by Urge resonance. Assuming you're using Performance for some grand retelling of the legend of Ishiika that might also influence bystanders, you could be looking at Manipulation 6 + Performance 6 + 12 dice from the Kimbery excellency + 3 autosux from your anima power. Total cost would be 17 motes, if you're willing to pay for the excellency entirely from peripheral and take on a stealth-defeating glow for the rest of the scene.

>>930491
I'm gonna say 24 dice + stunt is enough without risking the anima glow causing other problems.

12m for the excellency our of personal, and I'll use the 3-die stunt award to restock a compassion channel, since Lute should be at full wp.

>>926058
>XP Expenditures over this month
32 exp for the following:
Occult 3 -> 4
Iron and Labyrinth Circle Necromancy
Ivory Razor Forest
Whispers

---

For the last week, a pillar of bone stretched into the sky. A thicket of razors in every direction... the cause being none other than Morse, who had forced herself into seclusion since her injury. It was not as if those who knew her did not know she was there-- Lute and River had visited, although their conversations were brief and were little more than exchanges of information. Her lunar mate was more than willing to ply her charms and try to sleep with her, but Morse didn't really seem completely... there. Aside from feeding, she did little else with her mate... and resisted none of her advances, although the fun was certainly gone.

It was as if her soul was crushed... the music that played with such fervor before now was somber and low. The mood around town was depressing, thanks to her efforts, but at least it was bearable... better than before, and more suitable for the hopeless mood. It wasn't until the 14th day that a new verse was spoken, and the town was graced with a new lullaby.

Parasitic Dreams, by Morse Song
Open your eyes
Fluid gushing, stomach, churning
Slit your wrists
From your death there's no returning

Parasites
In our body at all times
Parasites
In our hearts and in our minds

We are cages containing the remnants of our final breath
Our souls are not ours to hold and they are stealing from our death
What has given is forsaking
creation has made a lie
When you pass on and you perish truth be told you truly die

Parasites
In our body at all times
Parasites
In our hearts and in our minds

Welcome oblivion soon because you have some in your chest
Bones are clacking muscles screaming do not lay your eyes to rest
Every moment you're not conscious you die once and open eyes
Find you're awake in new body you have found a nice surprise

Your life is not your own
Your life is not your own
Memories are fabricated
Memories are fabricated
Your life is not your own

Parasites
In your body at all times
and they feed
and they feed upon your time

You are filled with parasites

They're not curses ticks or mites
They are forced, into your skull
The true monster is your soul

Free... yourself. You can find a beautiful sparkling future in the dirt...
Inside of your body there is something forcing you to move.
Natural state of life is truly death and peeling you
From the earth and from the ashes from the outer realms

When you are born you are no longer controlling your self! ...

The performance, and others like it that would begin to play regularly shed a light for Morse's companions into what she sacrificed for her newest power... that razor sharp pillar of bone. She believed in an afterlife. She believed in the sanctity of souls, and respected them... but now she believes in neither, and only knows the chill of the void. And today, her bone forest retracted into the earth... and she stood up, ready to face the world once more and... lacking the confidence she did before.

Morse now knows the fear of death.

rolled 8, 1, 9, 4, 7, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 5, 8, 8, 6, 5, 2, 10, 8, 3, 8, 7, 1, 10, 10, 5, 4, 2, 10, 5, 4 = 184

---

Forgot my dice for the performance roll. I keep going 'roll'.

Well, one of the first things that Rivers was planning on doing after she got done with her own stuff was go find Morse. It wasn't particularly hard, she was constantly broadcasting her music over miles, and even if she wasn't Morse wasn't good at hiding her tracks from an 'apex predator' like her.

Unfortunately, there was a huge bone spike wall in the way, she tried to explain that she really needed to lay off of transforming for a bit since she felt like her souls were going to snap in half, but she spent as long as she could while still taking cooking lessons to visit her each day, even shredding her body up to get a bit closer to her, watering the ground with her blood as she told Morse about her day up to that point. Until the fateful day that the thorns crumbled to dust, and as if on cue, Rivers was there to pick Morse up and comfort her.

Possibly a bit longer than Morse actually wants to be comforted, but Rivers's had half way shredded herself into a corpse every day for the last week just to try and give her a hug, so she was going to make up for lost time.

rolled 1, 9, 8, 9, 4, 6, 1, 7, 1, 5, 3, 7, 8, 3, 2, 2, 10, 3, 3, 10, 10, 1, 1, 4, 2, 1, 9, 8, 6, 2 = 146

---

>>930589
"I can't say I didn't expect you to be hovering around me like a fly hovers around their carrion desserts... but I appreciate your feeding me while I... voluntarily secluded myself." Morse was not very good at lying. It took her this long to figure out how to dispel her bone grove... at the very least, it didn't look like a cage. That's comforting, in her mind.

"I need a more... substantial meal. So, stay still for me." Morse's fingers drift from her shamisen, the endless droning of music giving way to silence... and she wraps her arms around River. She leans in for a kiss, holding it and inviting River's tongue in what seems, at first, to be a romantic gesture... before biting down, breaking the kiss and tearing her tongue-flesh away. She chews it with a contented look, and dabs at her bloodied lips with the edges of her robe before roping an arm around River's own and taking her with the abyssal. Her fingers return to her instrument, and she begins to play again. "Mmh. Thank you for the meal... let's take a stroll together, now."

rolled 2, 8, 5, 4, 7, 10, 7, 7, 7, 10 = 67

---

That was... Not great. That was a start. She didn't try to stop Morse from ripping her tongue out of her mouth, even though she'd have to break her week long streak of not transforming, but growing another tongue would hardly be that difficult when she did.

But for now, she was just going to be quiet, wanting to see what Morse had in store for her with this walk. Maybe Morse had seen some cool cave that she had missed when scouting or something.

Granted, it would make seeing if she could get in contact with Morse's boss to try and work with her formally a bit harder for the time being.

rolled 10, 9, 3, 4, 2, 10, 9, 9, 4, 6, 4, 10, 9, 1, 7, 7, 2, 10, 10, 6, 3, 4, 5, 1, 4, 8, 2, 6, 2, 2 = 169

---

>>930593
"So. You probably are wondering why I've been so quiet, lately." Morse walks side by side with River on their way through town. "Or what I've been doing. I don't particularly care what you were doing with your time, so there's no need to bore me with the details... although I will say that I like your new haircut. It really brings out the... natural beauty in you." Did Light do something with her hair? Morse isn't sure, so she's guessing.

"If I'm going to have a pet, they should at least look presentable when I bring company... nevermind that, though. There are more important things to worry about in this world... as for me, I think that my concerns, looking back on them now, were petty. I wasn't really... enjoying my life, was I? Tell me... no. Show me, why are we here? That is the question I've been pondering for more than two fortnights now. And I've come to the conclusion, I think, a conclusion which points conclusively at the truth. The question is answered-- we are here because our souls make us. And those souls come from creation... are you following me? I constantly worry your brain is the size of a possum as well. You have beauty and brawn, but neither bestow intelligence... nevermind. I think that, perhaps, Creation is false. We might even be false, but I'm not sure of that either. It's complicated, yes. Difficult. Just nod if you're following so far."

My, my. Morse is awfully chatty today. And a little rude-- no. She was rude before. She seems to be working something out verbally, trying to express a feeling she has...

Rivers didn’t particularly like being called a pet, but she didn’t let it show. After all, this WAS the nicest that she had gotten Morse to be to her in all the time that they had known each other, so she was more glad to be finally acknowledged by the love of her life than anything else as unimportant as ‘dignity.’

But, Morse also wasn’t wrong, she was as dumb as a sack of bricks still. She might change that eventually, after all she did have plans that required her to be smarter. But, without a tongue she lacked any method by which to demonstrate her almost complete lack of understanding of what Morse was talking about.

rolled 2, 5, 3, 4, 8, 10, 2, 5, 4, 10, 3, 1, 5, 4, 4, 5, 5, 3, 4, 8, 8, 3, 1, 9, 4, 7, 4, 7, 10, 9 = 157

---

>>930595
"...right. You're staring at me with your mouth slackened open like a corpse. It's clear that went over your head. Hmm, where to start... well, you know, there is a hun and a po soul in our body. The hun is... the po... so, we have a body. And our body moves because of our... brain. And I'm not sure I understand how that works, but there's also a... soul. A specter. But that specter comes out of our bodies when we die, so... our souls sever. But that's not right, because you can remove your soul and be fine. And there are those who have had three souls, and one left, and they're the same... but when all three left, they're all different. The Deathlords. The deathlords are... they are, were, the parasites. And the Neverborn are also parasites. So parasites are natural, and good. Bad. Good. But they aren't us. And when we die we truly die, and there is a parasite which echoes us... and that parasite, it's a ghost. But the ghost is not us, so the ghost does differently than... us. But we imprint on the ghost. And then there's the higher soul, the exalted soul... but that soul, it's always different, body to body. And though you love me and I... have the strong potential to love you, and while I certainly like you more than would be a friendly relationship, it's more of a sexual like than that, it isn't us who are in love. This higher soul is. But if that's true, are we the parasites, or is the soul a parasite? Are we us? What is... us?"

Okay, uh. To an outside observer it looks like Morse just had a fit of Whispers right then. She's making almost 0 sense. But it makes sense to her.

Well, Rivers understood that about as well as Morse explained it, which was to say not at all. But one thing that she knew with a clarity that no amount of confusing rhetoric or the words of the dragons themselves could even hope to muddy in her mind.

She, whatever it was that she actually was, did love Morse. It was a fact that was as fixed a part of her as the elemental poles were for creation (not that she really understood that personally) so as soon as Morse started bringing that up, she just knelt down so that she could look her in the eyes, and kissed her on the forehead as she tried to spell that fact out, quite poorly when she wasn't able to write, or have a tongue for nuanced conversation. Actually, that was getting quite annoying.

rolled 10, 8, 7, 8, 2, 9, 7, 2, 3, 4, 4, 2, 6, 5, 3, 10, 2, 3, 7, 10, 7, 1, 6, 10, 1, 10, 2, 2, 9, 3 = 163

---

>>930598
"...very cute." Morse sighs, clearly not getting through to Light or even herself. "Alright. Let's go find the others... you can sniff them out, right? Mmm... too bad I can't ride you there. I dislike walking." Morse maintains her silence and just looks at Light now, blinking and playing her shamisen. "...yes. Quite terrible I cannot, what with your vow to not... transform."

...is she asking to be carried, or to ride her back to camp?

Well, that was hardly fair, she had tried to explain to Morse that she just wanted to give it a break so that she wasn't going to snap in half. She was more than willing to transform for her, plus, she already needed to transform anyway, so she was going to go ahead and do that. Her body twisted and expanded, sprouting fur, her tail becoming like a tree trunk, and her teeth growing to a sharp point, but perhaps most importantly, the stump of her tongue started to bubble out as it was already regenerating, and in a few minutes she should be capable of talking again.

Mechanically, spending the motes to transform into Warform, committing 4 motes for the gift versions of Bruise Relief Method and Halting the Scarlet Flow for maximum regeneration.

And after a few moments of THAT debacle, she would put Morse on her back, and walk off on all 4s, letting Morse ride her like a beast of burden. And surprisingly, she was happy with this.

rolled 7, 3, 8, 3, 9, 5 = 35

---

rolled 9, 5, 2, 7, 2, 3, 8, 3, 3, 3, 4, 8, 4, 2, 8, 10, 2, 10, 8, 6, 2, 10, 8, 7, 6, 8, 10, 3, 3, 5 = 169

---

>>930601
Morse began to play a chipper song... which is also incredibly unusual. She's almost always playing this depressing garbage... let's go check in on Lute and company, or Bridget. Really, whomever was closer... Morse let her legs hang loosely to a side and tries not to fall off as she plays. She doesn't know how to ride horses, but hopefully her mate didn't, you know... LET her fall.

Mechanically, making a riding check. Nice to be back in the RP saddle, too.

Rivers wasn’t mean. Well, that was a lie, she was mean enough to kill people that she thought deserved it and she didn’t bat as much of an eye as someone else, but she wasn’t going to be mean when letting Morse ride her in any sense of the word. She was finally seeming happy, and she was giving her a piece of mind, even if she thought of her as a pet, that was better than non-entity. So, she went nice and even pace for Morse, and she put her tail out for her to hold onto if she needed it.

And off they went to find someone to spread the word to.

Since I have the EXP now, I'm going to spend 9 exp to pay off the debt from buying Appearance 4 through Verdant Emptiness Endowment

>>929500
>If you are to lie to the monks, I cannot know of it.

>Per discord, Bridget is allowed to move forward with the scene.

As Bridget approaches the rented storefront, the monks take notice. The two standing nudge one of their fellows awake- seemingly one with fewer plants growing out of them than the other two.

The one with the staff speaks first:
"Seems you're back awful fast. Why'd you come alone?."

Aly, stepping out from behind Bridgets frame, corrects her:
"The story is a long one, and she can't talk right now. We need to move you guys outside before she can, you know, help you. Outside town, I mean. Not just outside, that'd be silly. Oh, uh, also, there's... going to be some side effects, and I feel like you're supposed to disclose those things before you start. I haven't been doing this long but uh, even though they're kind of nasty I think side effects are better than being dead, right? So yeah, pack whatever you need, we're going to be out for a few days. Oh, you don't need to worry about food though, she'll take care or that. Really we just need you to help carry the wounded guys. She'd do it, but she's gotta carry the medicine."

"... yeah, no, that's not happening. I don't know what crazy secrets that monster is hiding, but you're not getting us to dig the graves for you, so if you plan to torture us you'll have to do your dirty work out in the open."

The one in the white belt groggily joins the discussion:
"Whazzat all over it's skin? Looks like writing."

Before anyone can discuss this further though, the Disciple of Mela shows up, panting but in good health.
"Guys, it's fine, don't worry. I gotta go but I talked to Sesus Xanin, remember her? She feels for our plight, and she's sent help. She agreed to share medicine and everything. With the disaster she's holed up trying to sort things out, but we're gonna be okay! Just head to the immaculate training ground- you know, the little dip outside town we'd sneak off to as kids when we wanted to get out of studies? I won't be there, I've devoted myself to helping our Exalted patron, but trust me, it's gonna work out!"
Edgar, sweating nervously, runs off, still disguised as the disciple of Mela until safely outside town.

Bridget, confused, says nothing, fearing her words will worsen the wounds of her patients. In short order the anathema, five immaculate monks, and human surgeon

Shortly after, the Anathema, five Immaculate monks, and the mortal hair doctor walk into a bar join the Dragon King on the outskirts of town, outside the influence of the demense.

Bridget, no longer worried about the consequences of speech, she sets about her work, driving the disease and corruption from the wounded monks. When she is not treating the wounded, she searches for food, ensuring that all can rest and recover their strength in full.

Over the course of three days care is administered to the disciple of Hesiesh and his Sifu. As the screams of the Tomescu signify the dawn of a fourth, Bridget sets about aiding them to shake their ails for good.

Mechanically, Bridget is training Ailment-Rectifying Method over the course of three days by administering medical care to the wounded Immaculates. The, she channels compassion on both the roll to heal the DoH and the roll to heal his Sifu.
Thats 4 dice from medicine, 5 dice from intelligence, 2 dice from assistants (Edgar and Aly) 4 dice from compassion, and any bonuses provided by tools/stunts.

rolled 9, 9, 4, 7, 10, 3, 6, 1, 7, 10, 7, 2, 8, 3, 6, 10, 2, 6, 8, 3, 4, 2, 10, 3, 2, 8, 2, 9, 2, 6, 9, 2, 9, 6, 8, 10, 8, 4, 5, 8, 3, 2, 1, 4, 9, 7, 5, 8, 5, 1 = 283

---

>>929500
>If you are to lie to the monks, I cannot know of it.

>Per discord, Bridget is allowed to move forward with the scene.

As Bridget approaches the rented storefront, the monks take notice. The two standing nudge one of their fellows awake- seemingly one with fewer plants growing out of them than the other two.

The one with the staff speaks first:
"Seems you're back awful fast. Why'd you come alone?."

Aly, stepping out from behind Bridgets frame, corrects her:
"The story is a long one, and she can't talk right now. We need to move you guys outside before she can, you know, help you. Outside town, I mean. Not just outside, that'd be silly. Oh, uh, also, there's... going to be some side effects, and I feel like you're supposed to disclose those things before you start. I haven't been doing this long but uh, even though they're kind of nasty I think side effects are better than being dead, right? So yeah, pack whatever you need, we're going to be out for a few days. Oh, you don't need to worry about food though, she'll take care or that. Really we just need you to help carry the wounded guys. She'd do it, but she's gotta carry the medicine."

"... yeah, no, that's not happening. I don't know what crazy secrets that monster is hiding, but you're not getting us to dig the graves for you, so if you plan to torture us you'll have to do your dirty work out in the open."

The one in the white belt groggily joins the discussion:
"Whazzat all over it's skin? Looks like writing."

Before anyone can discuss this further though, the Disciple of Mela shows up, panting but in good health.
"Guys, it's fine, don't worry. I gotta go but I talked to Sesus Xanin, remember her? She feels for our plight, and she's sent help. She agreed to share medicine and everything. With the disaster she's holed up trying to sort things out, but we're gonna be okay! Just head to the immaculate training ground- you know, the little dip outside town we'd sneak off to as kids when we wanted to get out of studies? I won't be there, I've devoted myself to helping our Exalted patron, but trust me, it's gonna work out!"
Edgar, sweating nervously, runs off, still disguised as the disciple of Mela until safely outside town.

Bridget, confused, says nothing, fearing her words will worsen the wounds of her patients. In short order the anathema, five immaculate monks, and human surgeon

Shortly after, the Anathema, five Immaculate monks, and the mortal hair doctor walk into a bar join the Dragon King on the outskirts of town, outside the influence of the demense.

Bridget, no longer worried about the consequences of speech, she sets about her work, driving the disease and corruption from the wounded monks. When she is not treating the wounded, she searches for food, ensuring that all can rest and recover their strength in full.

Over the course of three days care is administered to the disciple of Hesiesh and his Sifu. As the screams of the Tomescu signify the dawn of a fourth, Bridget sets about aiding them to shake their ails for good.

Mechanically, Bridget is training Ailment-Rectifying Method over the course of three days by administering medical care to the wounded Immaculates. The, she channels compassion on both the roll to heal the DoH and the roll to heal his Sifu.
Thats 4 dice from medicine, 5 dice from intelligence, 2 dice from assistants (Edgar and Aly) 4 dice from compassion, and any bonuses provided by tools/stunts.

rolled 1, 6, 5, 5, 8, 1, 1, 6, 2, 8, 1, 5, 2, 4, 5, 3, 3, 10, 3, 10, 6, 8, 10, 6, 3, 9, 2, 9, 2, 3 = 147

---

>>930420
This social attack goes up against Indomitable Hedonism Drive, so Malice will have to spend all her willpower to resist it.

Malice listens to Lute's story, clearly enamored, but her heart is set. Maybe she can be friends with Lute and have the mirror? She needs time to think. Until then, all this inner turmoil is distracting.

Malice will activate Nemesis Self Imagined Anew targeting Lute. Malice's entire mannerism changes suddenly as she feels the spiteful hate bubbling up inside of her. She speaks a little impatiently, "That's a cool story and all, but can we get to the language lessons? I have a date coming up!"

rolled 2, 2, 5, 5, 4, 2, 7, 7, 6, 3, 10, 8, 8, 6, 5, 6, 5, 9, 8, 7 = 115

---

>>930781
>"That's a cool story and all, but can we get to the language lessons? I have a date coming up!"
Covering her reaction at the batgirl's sudden transition of disposition Lute with a coy smile, Lute replies "Did you happen to notice what language the story was in?"

At this point Malice realizes Lute is, and has been, speaking in Rivertongue.

Hmm, Indomitable Hedonism Drive isn't obvious and Lute doesn't have essence sight, so... rolling Lore or Occult to see if she recognizes what just happened? No excellency. I figure an akuma would have some awareness of common yozi charms other than her patrons, but that doesn't mean she'd necessarily make the connection either.

rolled 3, 9, 4, 8, 1, 3, 2, 4, 4, 4 = 42

---

Embri spots Lute and Malice talking and decides to stalk them in hopes of learning some insight.

Embri uses the high ground, keeping watch for pressure plates in case she needs a quick getaway distraction.

>>930795
Lute and Malice's conversation is taking place in the month of downtime before the lawship landed in hell- Embri's would have been in the wrong realm of existence to see them, or stalk them.

By the time Embri reaches hell and parts way from UWD and FFE, she's only tens of miles away from Lute and Malice, rather than a whole world, but still too far to see them.

>>930794
Can't peg non-Obvious charms without essence sight, or at least a broader dataset than resistance to a single social attack. That's enough successes on Perception + Investigation for a slam-dunk Read Motivation, though. Lute learns that Malice wants the Shard Fallen the way a weeping poet wants love, the way a junkie wants opium, the way a princess slaughtering her way up the line of succession wants inheritance, but also, bizarrely, that it's somehow not the only thing this batgirl wants so badly.

>>930794
"What?" Malice tries to test a few phrases in Rivertongue to see if she can actually speak it. She wants to be flippant but that was pretty mindlbowing. "Nnnn-neat trick! That will save a lot of time. I owe you one, Lute Silhouette Speculation in Comet's Reflection. Is there anything I can do in return?"

>>930689
Local legend will remember Bridget's treatment of the monk's infected wound as three days of non-stop screaming. Like most rumors, this is significantly inaccurate. Any mortal human's voice would have given out in far less than 75 hours of truly continuous use, even at a conversational level. As part of his aspirations as an adherent of Hesiesh, Reciter of Loud Hymns and Efficacious Prayers, the monk in question had spent years training his voice for both volume and stamina, and even amid feverish agony maintained sufficient discipline to rest with appropriate frequency, or at least enough to avoid damaging his own larynx in any lasting way.

After it was over, fever broken, gut-mushrooms shriveled and cleaned away, appropriate penance for ingestion of intoxicants (mitigated by medical necesity) duly calculated, the Disciple of Hesiesh leans his head against the chest of the Disciple of Sextes Jylis. She holds him, gently; even monks sometimes weep, and the mindful compassion necessary to restore balance to the world after a devastating ordeal is keystone to the teachings of the Immaculate Dragon of Wood. During those few minutes of weakness, some few words were shared where only the two of them (and keen-eared Malice, lurking nearby) could hear: "Please don't cut out my bones. Don't even... it's not fun anymore." "It'll be okay. A sin just to want that. I swear to you I won't."

rolled 1, 1, 4, 10, 8, 8, 2, 1, 1, 5, 2, 10, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 5, 8, 4, 2, 6, 2, 5, 8, 6, 1, 5, 9, 2 = 144

---

>>930607
Morse is having trouble keeping herself upright on her lunar mate... so she does what any sane person would do when they find themselves outside of their control rating on a mount. She decides to let the Whispers flow through her, devoting a willpower to the action.

...atop River, Morse convulses a little, and her mouth foams at a lip... but then her body smoothly adjusts to her grip as she now has Ride 2 against River's Control Rating of 1. Well, 'smooth' isn't appropriate for the erratic jerking and hair pulling she's performing to force River to move where she wants, but Morse is advancing them quickly towards Lute. Morse needs to talk with her... a bit longer, and meet Red and Gold again, formally. She has no idea what to do now that the world is open to her, and Lute actually seemed friendly and knowledgeable about their next steps.

rolled 9, 5, 5, 8, 8, 8, 10, 8, 6, 8, 1, 1, 5, 4, 1, 7, 2, 2, 3, 4 = 105

---

Outside a town without a name, beneath the shade of a tree sickly from the light of the wrong sun, stands a woman idly juggling several of the strange fruit of the local demesne.

She watches, bemused, a strange sight rushing her way. An enormous monstrous opossum tearing across the ground, and a masked subterranean recluse desperately trying to maintain grip on her back.

A moment, a mischievous smirk, and a twist of the wrist later, and one of the juggled fruit flies off to paint the recluse's drab mask. "Catch!"

Rolling thrown 2 + dex 6 + stunt + excellency 4, if I can (Arguably art, a gift that's unappreciated / unwanted / unhelpful, and just messing with someone for the joy of it). Pulled punch, not trying to do any damage, just to wet her face and possibly make her lose her balance.

"You've been underground so long, I thought you might appreciate some color, and a taste of something fresh."

rolled 10, 2, 7, 7, 2, 5, 7, 10, 9, 10, 5, 8, 4, 8, 3, 4, 2, 7, 8, 3, 10, 5, 2, 1, 3, 3, 1, 7, 1, 6 = 160

---

>>931226
Morse's neck snaps upon impact with the fruit, and it rolls harmlessly off her mask as her spine bends unnaturally and her neck lolls to one side. Her body collapses behind her, falling into a pile on the ground and additional snaps are heard as the rest of her bones dislocate... there's now a pile of Abyssal on the ground in an unnatural shape. Moments later, her body begins to rearrange itself and she begins to stand on her feet, her spine swinging back into place as she dusts herself off. Then, her hands reach for her head and twist her neck right back around... "...and now I am reminded of why I hate the world. Warn me when you're throwing things, child of Venus."

((Mechanically, she's spending a single mote on Walking Cadaver Grotesquerie. Everyone's MDV is greater than 1 so it shouldn't cause too much psychological damage.))

And as soon as Morse was lodged from her back, Rivers grabbed her with her tail to keep her from fully collapsing into a pile on the ground, and stood up to her full height on her 'back legs' (really they were her normal legs, but she had been walking on all fours) to 10 feet tall, easily dwarfing everyone else.

"Oh you're just being grouchy because you didn't think that she'd see us coming. Where's all that pep you had in your step a minute ago? Also, she got plenty of sun in that bone forest."

rolled 10, 4, 3, 10, 8, 5, 4, 4, 1, 1, 6, 8, 7, 2, 6, 9, 4, 3, 7, 1, 6, 9, 3, 6, 7, 8, 2, 8, 9, 5 = 166

---

It has finally occurred to Embri that this is not a mere hell-infested town and she has literally stumbled into hell. Embri makes a note to yell at the engineers to fix her brain first next time.

After attempting to find her way back using a combination of the dragonfly eye and a calculated approach to her notes, Embri decides to find the weakest looking demon type she can, set up a few traps, and lure them into becoming her new servant followed by a request for directions to the edge of the 'city' back to Creation followed by a capture attempt.

Using Bow WP, and one peripheral mote for every stat this crazy attempt uses.

rolled 7, 2, 3, 9, 2, 6, 4, 9, 9, 8, 6, 2, 2, 6, 2, 9, 9, 8, 3, 8, 1, 1, 3, 7, 7, 10, 7, 6, 5, 2 = 163

---

>>931229
"Why does everyone assume my intelligence is as low as your own? They all seem to regard me like I was you, an animal of some kind." Morse huffs, she's definitely grouchy. "I just want to feel respected, for once... not pelted with fruits when I'm here on a serious errand. Is that simply too much to ask from the world? A little politeness and respect?"

Morse rolls her eyes, and shakes her head as she's held limply by Light's tail. "I'm here about something else, too. Many other things, each more pressing than the last, but I should begin with the simplest tasks and work my way up from there... it's come to my attention that I might have no idea what I'm doing and I don't know who I am. I find my purpose muddled and my thoughts bogged, and yet I feel the inky blackness of the void calling me to do... something. Do you have any advice for resolving this problem so I can get back to work, child of Venus? I figure you have so many... identities by this point you might have a more solid grasp on it than I." Morse's necromancy has taken a toll on her identity... however much she had before now.

rolled 7, 7, 4, 3, 2, 1, 5, 10, 8, 2, 5, 5, 1, 7, 10, 1, 1, 6, 10, 2, 1, 1, 9, 4, 9, 5, 5, 3, 9, 10 = 153

---

>>931234
"Now that's dumb, I think you're probably one of the smartest people I know. A bit blind to perspective and desperately clinging onto the past sure, but still smart.

"But what's more, I respect you. Enough that I'm going to give you a bit of tough love. I don't know what in your life scarred you enough to cause you to become an Anathema, but I know it was traumatizing enough to leave deep wounds." As she talked she rubbed her collar, still pressing uncomfortably around her neck. "I won't force you to talk about it, but you're stronger than whatever killed you. Sure, you can try to hold onto that weakness and mourn whatever you left behind as a mortal, or you can take your power and become the kind of person you always wanted to be but were too scared to try to be."

rolled 6, 6, 10, 1, 9, 9, 10, 5, 8, 4, 10, 7, 7, 6, 3, 6, 1, 3, 10, 10, 7, 10, 10, 9, 10, 5, 2, 5, 10, 2 = 201

---

This was always the best part because Malice didn't have to do anything. Just stay vigilant and take in the night air. Tucked between a few thick growths of the demesne, she waited for Rivers to show up alone.

She picked this area specifically. Fairly remote area behind the tavern, the wood essence growth was thick here, tangled up in an irregular lattice canopy. Malice is arranging the corpses of the rodents who had wandered too close while she was camping out, all dead and exsanguinated, when her date finally comes through.

Malice dives down to perform another brutal wing slap. Join battle roll!

rolled 3, 6, 8, 1, 10, 10, 4, 10, 5, 6, 6, 1, 1, 6, 9, 4, 10, 5, 2, 7, 2, 10, 9, 3, 4, 5, 7, 3, 6, 10 = 173

---

>>931260
"...please ignore my mate's ramblings. I suspect the reason for her sweet attitude is she would like to bed me. Child of Venus, I implore you for advice. My Deathlord said you would come to my aid. Perhaps the time for that aid is now?" Morse pushes and squirms inside Light's grip, but doesn't have an effective means to struggle out.

rolled 4, 9, 10, 7, 6, 6, 7, 1, 1, 6, 5, 4, 4, 6, 4, 7, 10, 4, 2, 1, 7, 10, 6, 8, 7, 6, 8, 9, 8, 6 = 179

---

>>931234
The juggling ceases and the twirling objects quickly vanish as the vizier's expression grows serious.

Blue eyes seeming to peer straight through the thespian's mask, possibly right down to the abyssal's battered, death-stained soul, cerulean caste mark suddenly ablaze on her brow, she intones "Morse Song, you would ask me who you are?"

Rolling sense motivation to give Lute in-character insight into Morse before trying to set her straight through this personal crisis. Perception 6 + Investigation 4 + Stunt + Excellency 10. Mirror flag imposes -2 successes, spending 10m peripheral for the excellency, using previous stunt award to refill personal.

>>931297
That's clearly an Urge-resonant stunt, so 23 dice for 11 successes. Morse's Manipulation 3 + Socialize 1 would give difficulty 2, raised to 4 by the mask, meaning Lute will certainly be able to assess Morse's current dominant emotion and put it in an appropriate context. Unless Morse spends XP to immediately buy Socialize up to 5 dots, Lute will also figure out one of her Intimacies, from among those that are relevant to the current scene.

rolled 6, 10, 4, 9, 10, 8, 8, 8, 6, 7, 9, 4, 5, 6, 9, 7, 5, 3, 10, 6, 10, 10, 9, 5, 10, 10, 4, 3, 1, 9 = 211

---

>>931298
Morse's current dominant emotion is 'Troubled', I would think. She's very confused and weak, and all she knows how to do is rely on others at this point. For a brief reminder of her intimacies and relevant emotions:

Small Animals(Longing) (Hatred)
Rebellion (Sympathy)
Weak and Infirm(Concealed Compassion)
Romantic Love(Longing)
The Void(Obsession)
Hundred Flowing Sweet Rivers(Love) [Lunar Bond]

Minor emotions right now, if you get those for whatever reason, include 'Disloyal', 'Grumpy', 'Happy', 'Open-Minded', 'Stiff', 'Full', 'Spiteful'. Morse just ate, talked to her love and took a walk, so she's generally in a good mood right now. She's feeling particularly disloyal at the moment and it's an uncomfortable feeling, and she definitely isn't happy her Deathlord ruined her good mood before now. She's her normal levels of grumpy and spiteful.

>>931266

Rivers doubted she could exactly sneak up on Malice. She was, after all, in effectively a sniper tower. She didn't like the prospect of trying to turn into a natural creature for easier range since Malice had a habit of attacking anything that came near. So, she would have to be careful.

Well, she wasn't particularly strong, and if Malice still wanted to attack her on this date, she'd just play a nasty joke on her. So, plan in mind, she runs out into the open, expecting to get attacked, and rather than start a battle, letting the Wing Attack hit, and she fell to the ground, fully appearing to be dead.

--------------------------

>>931282
"Well, I wouldn't have guessed that harshly criticizing you was what you would call a sweet attitude. I guess I should wait until we're alone and berate you."

As it was though, she held Morse firmly in place, letting Lute do her thing.

rolled 6, 3, 3, 7, 7, 8, 1, 9, 9, 5, 6, 7, 8, 4, 6, 6, 10, 8, 2, 8, 1, 1, 6, 4, 10 = 145

---

>>931298
>>931300
Lute's now aware of the Morse's current emotional turmoil and its context, as well as her intimacy of love for Rivers.

"You have suffered recent setbacks and defeats, you have uprooted what were once pillars of your beliefs, and on top of all that..." Lute's gaze turns towards the Lunar supporting the target of her inquiry "...you have fallen in love."

"And now, you are no longer sure of the ground on which you stand, or how to proceed. That is the sum of it, is it not?"

Follow up read motivation roll. Perception 6 + Investigation 4 + Stunt + Excellency 4, 4m personal, this time. Previous stunt award goes towards peripheral.

rolled 2, 7, 6, 1, 2, 2, 6, 6, 10, 8, 2, 8, 8, 7, 1, 5, 6, 5, 2, 7, 5, 6, 4, 10, 10, 2, 2, 10, 3, 6 = 159

---

"I must needs insist those two things are not related, Child of Venus. Your thirst for matchmaking should not cloud your judgement. I desire assistance in finding my place in the world, not pleasuring this beast with my fingers." Morse snarls, feeling uncomfortable as as she is... looked at by her shining friend.

“Well, I suppose if you haven’t fallen in love, then there’s little need for me to be here.” Rivers gingerly put Morse on the ground, and started walking off.

In truth, she was mostly testing Morse to call her bluff and seeing how staunchly she would hold her guns that Lute was off the mark when it came to loving her, but she was determined to give Morse as much space as she was acting like she needed and helping her from afar.

rolled 6, 7, 4, 9, 1, 4, 3, 9, 8, 6, 4, 8, 6, 1, 5, 1, 8, 1, 3, 2, 1, 7, 6, 10, 9, 4, 2, 8, 7, 4 = 154

---

>>931302
Malice circles around and lands. She stares wide-eyed at Rivers' corpse, and looks around for any witnesses. Hmm, I hit her harder last time and she took it fine.

>Cannibalism
Malice leans down to bite Rivers' neck.

rolled 5, 2, 5, 1, 2, 1, 1, 9, 7, 3, 6, 10, 1, 5, 4, 3, 9, 2, 2, 6, 6, 6, 4, 7, 4, 6, 9, 1, 2, 9 = 138

---

>>931322
Okay, by my count that's 9 success on 17 dice, which beats difficulty 4 again. Lute groks Morse's intimacy for Romantic Love this time.

>>931326
"It is not lust that disquiets you, child of Setesh's unnamed stars. It is love, something you fervently longed for, that found you suddenly and without warning. Unexpected realization of that dream has left you reeling as surely your setbacks.

"We are, after all, defined by our dreams."

"Buffeted by success and failure, pillars you once leaned on crumbling, you must understand what you have gained and lost, if you are to answer the question. What is it you want, Morse Song?"

Have some dice if needed, assuming this counts as some manner of social attack. Excellency 4, if needed, I'll keep sticking to what can be stunted back.

As soon as Malice bit into her neck, Rivers let her drink 1 health level of blood before she sprang her trap, her arms striking like snakes and she even grabbed to a few of the low hanging meat vines to hold her closer.

"So, why exactly are you a fan of hitting someone on the first date?"

rolled 7, 6, 8, 1, 2, 10, 9, 9, 8, 1, 5, 3, 4, 6, 6, 7, 4, 7, 8, 4, 10, 10, 10, 8, 7, 4, 8, 4, 9, 3 = 188

---

rolled 5, 1, 10, 8, 6, 1, 3, 10, 8, 10, 5, 6, 3, 1, 8, 5, 1, 3, 3, 6, 9, 7, 3, 4, 1, 9, 4, 7, 3, 6 = 156

---

"A question I'll get to a moment... hey! Get back here, you mangy rat! Are you trying to ditch me on our date?" Morse stomps off, gripping Light be the tail and tugging. "I'll have none of your playing with my feelings. Try this stunt again and I'll kill you myself." Morse sneers, her fangs more prominent... "...what were you mocking me about again, child of Venus? You think me confused? I am, but that's why I came to you. What confidence you show in asking questions of someone coming to YOU for advice." Morse grips Light possessively now.

"Morse, I think you've made it perfectly clear that you don't act like you want love, you act like you want a servant."

Rivers almost had to laugh at how comical it looked, having someone who was (when factoring in the Square Cube Law) almost 1/10ths as big as she was who she knew for a fact couldn't even throw a half decent punch if her life depended on it threatening to kill her.

"I'll stay if you can open up, at least a bit, about how you really feel without getting defensive about the magical life coach trying to guide you to a better life."

rolled 23, 24, 30, 14, 9, 1, 13, 22, 24, 29 = 189

---

Morse opens her mouth to yell, closes it, opens it again, and settles on pointing and scowling with her teeth clenched, arm wobbling... before going limp and bending from the waist. She lifts her head and points her nail at Lute's neck. "Don't think you've won by teaming up with... her to manipulate me. I'll let you do your thing, but I do NOT like you or what you're trying to do or insinuate. Got it? You aren't winning. This isn't me admitting you're right." Morse puffs her cheeks out now and folds her arms over one another.

rolled 9, 3, 9, 4, 6, 1, 3, 3, 7, 6, 2, 5, 7, 2, 5, 7, 4, 4, 8, 5 = 100

---

"This is my advice, Morse. If you would know yourself, you must first be honest with yourself. You will not discern your purpose so long as you cloud your vision."

rolled 3, 5, 10, 9, 2, 9, 3, 8, 3, 6, 8, 10, 2, 2, 5, 2, 10, 6, 4, 4, 8, 10, 1, 5, 1, 10, 1, 3, 8, 9 = 167

---

"...as much as I can be amused by you using your words against me, I thought you would give me something more... actionable. Read a book. Sit under a waterfall. Fill out a questionnaire." Morse frowns. "Change something about me, not ask myself... ques... tions." Morse squints and thinks about this. "Wait, are you telling me to sever my hun and po souls?"

Rivers was satisfied with the answer that Morse gave, at least for the time being. It looked like she had a lot of work to do before she could break through to Morse and get her to examine her real feelings. So, she sat down, pried Morse from her body and sat her down on her lap, and lovingly ran her razor sharp talons harmlessly through her hair.

"It's about being honest with yourself. Like your feelings, you claim you don't like me and you act like you don't want anything to do with me, but the second I try to leave you're terrified of me leaving. Clearly somewhere you're lying, either on purpose, or some other reason you'd lie to yourself."

>>931322
>>931336
Nine successes, yes, but that's only enough to figure out another intimacy if Morse doesn't buy any more dots in Socialize at all. Base difficulty is enough to read the current mood or spot a lie, but you need twice as many successes to spot an underlying intimacy.

Near the end of the month, just as River's caste mark and anima power are shifting from changing moon to new moon, four riders approach on the road from Aketon: two apparent humans (one in light armor with a helmet styled like a three-horned deer, the other dressed as a Guildsman), a beautiful woman with the head of a frog, and someone holding an odd-colored lamp attached to a long staff, but otherwise mostly concealed under a grassy cloak.

They stop at an appropriately respectful distance outside whatever defensive perimeter has been established around the demesne, and signal a wish to parley.

>>929524
Economy, Loyalty and Stability from the Pathfinder kingdom-building rules correspond to the Bureaucracy, Socialize, and War skills, and in a more general sense, Mental, Social, and Physical attributes. In the (deprecated, but interesting from a theoretical standpoint) Mandate of Heaven rules from the Storyteller's Guide, these same categories are referred to as Government, Culture, and Military, or metaphorically as the tiger, the mouse, and the bear.

Meat moss demesne provides 5 dirham worth of food per month so long as there's someone attuned to the place on-site walking around and talking. However, raw food can't be spent to finance new construction, only to offset maintenance costs or temporarily boost morale, and if you want to save a surplus from one month to the next you'll need to build a granary. Spending food on charity for the poor or disabled, bribes to the resentful, and public celebrations boosts Loyalty; spending it on maintenance workers, militia, and police boosts Stability. Collecting more taxes boosts Economy at the expense of Loyalty.

You've got one claimed hex, and one square mile within it suitable for urban development, for a total maintenance cost of 2 dirham per month. That's well below the food budget. Unfortunately, so far you've only managed to scrape together about 4 dirham worth of demon labor, salvaged building materials, and other durable liquid assets, with two or three more expected next month. Repairing and adequately securing the granary would cost 6 dirham, and that's with a 50% discount for the foundation already in place. Building a decent stone wall all the way around the demesne would cost 8 dirham, 8 more for a moat and 12 for a watchtower. Digging an adequate sewer system would cost 24 dirham. A minimally functional shrine to Cecelyne has been set up, but finishing that elaborate temple you planned might cost 50.

In summary, this place is a wreck. If you want to get anything done, you'll need to think about how to pay for it.

Establishing an effective territorial claim over the exiled chunk of Creation may take about a year, if everything goes smoothly. You can claim one additional hex per month, at a cost of a dirham per hex, until you've got eleven hexes at which point some economies of scale kick in and it becomes possible to claim a second hex every month. Question is, which direction do you want to grow first? Clockwise along the perimeter, into lightly forested hills, toward the abandoned mine and the loose-skinned thing with violet eyes? Counterclockwise, through ox-dragon territory, unsuitable for farming but a good source of structural stone? Or toward the center, on the road to Aketon? In principle you could try to annex parts of Hrotsvitha, but doing so would first require clearing out any hostile military forces or monsters.

>>931347
>I thought you would give me something more... actionable. Read a book. Sit under a waterfall. Fill out a questionnaire.
If you seek meditation and self reflection, I can teach you methods. But those are simply lens- if you cannot accept what you see through them, it will not matter which you look through."

Not gonna push much harder than this for now- I don't think Lute or anyone can get Morse to get over her own hangups in a single session.

>>931393
Cupping her hands and whispering the spider only she can see within them, Lute inquires about the riders four.

What are their names, and what kinds of beings are they? (God, spirit, mortal, etc).

(Using personal motes, and not interested in spending more than can be stunted back).

>>931438
Guildsman's a mortal. Deer helmet is half-human, half-earth elemental - specifically, the child of a kri who recently married Aketon's patron god. The lady is a type of water elemental known as heketa, associated with poison and vengeance. Cloaked figure's personal identity and nature are supernaturally obscured, but accompanies the group in an official capacity as representative of a nearby tribe of mosok dragon kings.

Haven't got specific names in mind for the four of them, so there's room for that to be defined as part of dramatic editing from 2-die stunts.

>Discord Malfean disaster Table. 4 successes. "the Silent Wind wipes out anyone not wearing a hauberk of bells or equivalent, or hiding in an airtight box"

A fitting end to the person foolish enough to be spreading anti-yozi propaganda. Also as discussed over Discord, the bottom layer of the Manse (the actual shrine) can be made Air-Tight as a precaution against this exact thing. So, loading as many people as possible after SX herself, with the priority of 1 of the spa turtles, The Tomescu that mans the artillery cannon, the Smith demon that serves as an anti-counterfit check, as many soldiers as possible, and any demons that I know are useful to my cause. That should probably be more than can actually fit in one floor but that's the order of priority, and the people who were just waiting patiently or were on the other side of the gates are just doomed.


But, some weeks after the Silent Wind comes, all of the corpses would have been disposed of and signs portraying a human face with a golden crown and the words "Don't forget, she could always be watching you." written in Old Realm litter the trail as the Lawship's party enters into the territory that Sesus Xanin controlled.

>>931400
Could I get a write-up for the amount of supplies that I have access to so I can write up a character sheet for my territory, and possibly do a kingdom section to determine my options of building?

Well, it looked like Lute was done with Morse's deep seated issues for the moment to focus on these 4 new comers. So, she figured she should too.

She stood up, and whether Morse followed her or not, she started walking in the direction of the horsemen to parlay.

rolled 1, 4, 1, 9, 7, 10, 3, 9, 3, 10, 6, 6, 4, 1, 8, 4, 7, 10, 2, 2, 1, 5, 1, 8, 1, 5, 3, 10, 7, 8 = 156

---

>>931340
Malice tried dodging that. Activating Torn Lotus Defense, so if Rivers misses it counts as a scene of building a positive intimacy toward Malice (unless Rivers spends 1 WP)

Malice lets out a shrill squeak and jumps back away from Rivers' arms. Her claw gets caught on a meat vine and she starts flapping her wings frantically, shaking the whole canopy. Then she falls flat on her back and a couple dead squirrels tumble out of the vine cluster to land on her chest.

Malice lets out an exasperated sigh. "Well...it got such good results last time!"

rolled 5, 9, 5, 6, 7, 10, 8, 8, 3, 7, 8, 1, 8, 5, 1, 10, 7, 7, 9, 7 = 131

---

>>931483
The guild, an elemental and a half, and a dragon king? An interesting confluence of interests.

>Who's going out to greet them?
Lute will! Let's go see what Venomous Suwako and co have to say.

Lute, excuse me, I mean Dutiful Topaz, is gonna attach herself to Red and Gold and/or Bridget, and present herself as if she's a diplomat or adviser here, rather than one of the players. She will shift her magic clothes to be naturally dressed in something to appropriate to that role. Her arm will appear human, the Shard Fallen tucked away elsewhere, and her hearthstone amulet hidden under clothes.

Rolling disguise! Intelligence 6 + Larceny 0 + Lens Arm Specialty 1 + Infinite Resplendence Amulet bonus 2 + Arcane Fate 3 + Excellency 4 (cause why not). At difficulty 1, because sidereal.

>>931574


>discord agreement to just resolve external to mechanics since we don't want to get the combat mechanics involved.

"I kissed you since I think you're absolutely beautiful, not because you tried to hit me. That said, did you have an idea where we were going on this date, or are you going to foist that onto me?"

Rivers offered a hand to help Malice back on her feet at the very least. After all, they were on a date, and she didn't want to be rude.

>>931540
No roll? Sesus Xanin's Conviction ("making decisions when all options are horrific") is actually fairly weak, so she ends up hesitating at a few key moments and losing about 40% of her initial 250 human troops despite best efforts to shield everyone with her anima, leaving her with a magnitude 3 army of 150. Recruiting more would require access to a supply of human civilians. Most of the specified demons survive, including enough of the hot-spring turtles that you've got an adequate supply of water, but much of the food stockpile was either disintegrated by the Silent Wind or plundered before you could re-emerge to secure it - and demon merchants seem to consider even the most basic types of food a luxury item. Back on the Blessed Isle, acquiring a literal ton of rice per obol was just a matter of haggling a bit with the right wholesaler, but here in the demon realm it's hard to find any type of edible grain at less than an obol per hundredweight - and, even more perversely, single servings of ready-to-eat porridge are actually cheaper than an equivalent amount of dry, shelf-stable grain! Int 3 + Bureaucracy 4 says that should be economically impossible, at least without a lot of other bizarre conditions that'd collapse within a few weeks, if not hours, but local demons consider it a completely unremarkable state of affairs.
>Could I get a write-up for the amount of supplies that I have access to so I can write up a character sheet for my territory, and possibly do a kingdom section to determine my options of building?
Your troops can't safely patrol more than a few hundred yards from the manse, so you don't really control anywhere near an entire 12-mile hex. They have whatever kit they were holding, including enough provisions for a week or two, but after that you've got problems. Could try to establish a secure supply line back through the Spawning Forest to territory where wholesome green things grow; could try to cut a deal with that slimy two-faced fellow who claims to be a representative of the Carnifex Guild (literally dripping with slime, second face right between his shoulderblades, and also projects a profound aura of used-car-salesman dishonesty, but does have some high-quality cuts of meat as samples); or follow the instructions from that book with the blue-edged pages and have all your troops pray to Cecelyne, four 7-minute sessions per day in exchange for delicious locusts; or maybe demand food as payment for passage and see what the crowd comes up with; or... something else?

>>931612
I can't even begin to imagine what kind of dicepools would be relevant so that's why I didn't toss dice at it.

As for the food situation, that's the easiest of the problems to solve. The nearby 5 dot demesne is producing an overwhelming surplus of food, and I have an excess of capital from my personal non-perishable resources that I had, and the Resources 3 from my constructed economy. Since the nameless town is both fairly close, already looking to establish trade with external regions, and only has food as a resource to export, I can leave a lot of the logistic concerns of getting the caravan to within pickup distance to Red and Gold since he's so keen on playing ruler himself. It has also already been established in >>926657 that he's sending out diplomats to negotiate trade to local factions which would definitely include the Manse serving as a chokepoint on the easiest route to the Demon City. As a sign of good faith, I would even agree to both giving favorable rates compared to other traders traveling through and not coming into town to challenge his authority directly in exchange for a better deal than might initially be offered.

As for not being able to secure a full 12 mile hex and having lost 40% of my forces, those can both be remedied by starting to conscript locals to replace the fallen. What they lose in terms of innate cohesion as a unit and alien desires that can prove difficult to control (especially without sorcery) they make up for with being in vastly greater supply where we're at, ease of supply lines since they don't NEED to be fed or given drink in incredibly tight scenarios, and being individually stronger than single humans.

Plus, the unspoken benefit of being able to secure territory safely on the city side of the Manse and starting to expand to control 1 whole 12 mile hex.

rolled 5, 4, 4, 10, 7, 6, 10, 1, 7, 2, 6, 4, 9, 4, 4, 8, 9, 9, 2, 2, 9, 10, 4, 10, 8, 10, 7, 3, 9, 5, 8, 4, 1, 8, 1, 6, 3, 2, 8, 7, 8, 2, 7, 5, 8, 8, 4, 2, 8, 3 = 291

---

Standing in front of one of Sesus Xanin's They Live signs, Fanged Flair Effulgence turns to Dell. "Not what I was expecting." Having done some digging(the human soldiers were the most cooperative) FFE is pretty sure he's caught up on the situation. "Let's go talk to her, shall we?"

FFE approaches a few soldiers in the middle of a game of cards. He demands to see Sesus Xanin immediately, concerning matters of Cecelyne law of which they are all in violation. After a short argument between the three, they get up to personally escort FFE and UWD through the long line to enter the manse.

>>931619

Sesus Xanin was annoyed. She rarely wasn't annoyed, but this was a particularly annoying challenge to her ego for someone to drag some of HER men away from their post to interrupt her rigorous training exercises to whip some of the local menagerie into beasts fit for soldiers to tell her that she was violating the law.

But, it wasn't something that she could JUST ignore. So, she appointed one of the demons that already had an idea of how soldiers needed to work and appointed them the overseer for the day's training exercises in strategy as she uncovered her shield to go and greet the visitors. Her tune changed, though only mildly, when she realized that these people were Dragon Blooded themselves.

"Please, let's head to my office to discuss this."

The division of demons is 1 Tomescu to 4 Bloodapes if possible. While the bulk of my army at present is ranged based, the Tomescu already by default have War and are good unit commanders (even if their specialty would need to be retrained) and since for the most part I can't expect to be able to fight along side them if they are supposed to be working on securing territory for my rule. I'm sure I'll find some other demons for helping the logistics of this demon army work, but at the moment, that's the present make up of the army.

>>931400
We produce 5 dirhams of food, and need 2 for routine upkeep, so that leaves us with 3 leftover. How many dirham do the demons Red and Gold is summoning produce in labor, and how much can Bridget contribute with Food Gathering Exercise and CNNTs?

>>931617
>can't even begin to imagine what kind of dicepools would be relevant
Charisma + [War or Performance] to rally for numbers, corebook p. 165. Not quite a standard use, but it seems reasonably similar: scattered, possibly panicked soldiers need to be hastily reassembled into a cohesive unit before you can direct them all into an orderly retreat.

>logistics
>wood demsene
>let Red And Gold take care of it
Stuff grown in that demesne doesn't seem to respect the usual distinctions between plant, animal, and fungus, and dining on it long-term might have side effects, exact details TBD but hideous mutations aren't out of the question.

More importantly, there's no road suitable for wagons leading to there through the Spawning Forest. The most direct route would need to pass through Aketon - going around it means either crossing a huge river with no bridge, or a muddy flood plain, or tripling the distance through Hrotsvitha a supply run would need to traverse.

Pathfinder rules say building a basic dirt road through a forest hex you've already explored and claimed costs two dirham under ideal conditions, which these are not. This route will probably need to cross two hexes of Hrotsvitha, which may count as a jungle, at least doubling the costs. Or, I could dust off the GURPS Low-Tech rules, work it all out down to inches and pennies.

If you could secure a prepaid favor from Jacint (in the form of an Unfurling Road Prayer Strip), or a hive of builder bugs, or a sorcerer with a landscape-shaping spell, or maybe even just a pair of Path-Carving Boots, that could greatly simplify and accelerate the whole road-building process - while possibly also allowing you to pave a path through the sky, thus circumventing any and all ground-based hazards.

Alternatively, you could avoid road construction entirely by digging a canal to the nearest part of what used to be the Avarice River. No fiddly stonework needed, just blast a series of holes in the ground with your infernal cannon or whatever other destructive tools are available, then haul goods in a barge from Aketon's docks. Still needs to cross about fifteen miles before you reach open water, and there might be things under the ground that would object to being exposed and/or drowned, or elevation or leakage issues you'd need to correct with dams and locks - ideally, a team of surveyors could spot such problems for you, but, shockingly, most demons aren't faithful adherents to the Immaculate Philosophy, and as such aren't quite leaping at the chance to preemptively supply everything you need to conquer and civilize the place.

The Traveler's Road, leading from the city of Whitewall to the sea, was supposedly hand-built entirely by a single Blasphemous anathema. Powerful enchantments protect anyone traveling upon it from wyld things and the dead, even though they can closely approach the road, and enforce terrible punishments on any mortals who attempt banditry, or even exalts who dare break the peace. Possibly Bridget and/or Morse Song could construct a similar wonder to safeguard your supplies through hostile territory. According to the old stories it took him three solid centuries, but the Traveler's Road is twenty yards wide and 700 miles long, so a quick bit of dimensional analysis suggests that two anathema working together might be able to get you what you need in just a few months.

Until some sort of major public works project is complete, though, seems like the only realistic options for that shipping would be a batch of demons task-bound to carry supplies, or hiring that airship. The Haslanti league definitely knows how to do airborne logistics - the cities of Crystal and Diamond Hearth would starve without it. Unfortunately, they also know how to negotiate. The airship's quartermaster has a suspiciously detailed assessment of how long Red And Gold needs to recuperate after summoning and binding a demon, what materials are needed to do so safely, what else those supernatural laborers might be useful for, etc. so their 'hazard pay' bid is just a hairsbreadth below intolerable gouging. If Seven Broken Wings Of Red And Gold wants to get a better deal there, he'll need to either find or build leverage on the Haslanti officers, or bring in a credible competitor that's not paid for out of his own mote pool.

>>931625
Food-Gathering Exercise would let you lead up to 300 people - more than are currently available - in foraging enough to feed themselves (or a similar-sized group) for a full day every 25 minutes. Between her demesne and hearthstone, Bridget's recovering 26 motes per hour while working or 30 per hour while resting, so two six-hour shifts per day is plausible, which would produce enough food for 8,640 people if you could bring in enough additional workers, or about half a dirham per day. Preserving that food for anything much beyond immediate use would be an entirely separate problem.

CNNT, E4, and Craft(Fire) 4 means Bridget can do the work of a dozen master smiths or potters, at least for new fabrication rather than repairs. Squeezing a dirham's worth of work into a single month that way would require averaging hundred-hour weeks, and using the excellency mostly to compensate for fatigue. Part of the problem is that there's only so much real master-level work to be done; training up more apprentices and journeymen with Harmonious Academic Methodology might let you delegate the low-skill tasks and thereby improve efficiency. Craft (Earth) and Craft (Wood) are also likely to be important.

A group of 25 first circle demons can do about a dirham's worth of work per month. Maybe twice that if it's the particular type of work they're specialized for, but there are also significant material expenses involved in the initial summoning, and collateral damage risks, so it's better to go with the conservative estimate. For those two or three dirham of expected income next month, one is local mortals following Red And Gold's suggestions for lack of anything better to do or donating goods out of a sense of gratitude, the second is revenue from already bound demons, and the possible third is if he can hire and/or bind two or more loyal demon workers per day through all of Resplendent Fire.

It's worth noting that so far you're protecting and providing for all these people - couple hundred in town, thousands more scattered across the rest of the hex in homesteads or small villages - without any clear attempt to extract taxes or compel service from them in return.

>>931633
By my estimates, if 300 people can spend 12 hours a day and produce half a dirham, then you'd need 7,200 hours of labor to gather up a dihram of food. In a month, two groups of 25, working 6 hours shifts, could then produce two and a half dihram of food. With nothing to use that food for, and no way to store it, that would be virtually useless, except to offset moral and loyalty costs for raising taxes. Haven't gone over the rules myself so I'm unsure how directly food can be converted into labor when people are not abundant.
If Bridget had 4 dots in craft water, it makes sense that the food could be turned into reasonable products for labor, but she can only do the work of 12 people. Even if provided otherwise abundant food and all the time she could want to work, that would still only be about 4,000 hours of skilled labor. So, do hours of skilled labor convert into dirham at a better rate than raw food? Furthermore, to address more pressing needs, how much labor could that one repair charm which I forget the name of supply? Would it allow us to circumvent spending Dirham on things like repairing the granary? Would those 4000 hours of skilled labor provide more benefit when used with Craft (Earth) or Craft (Wood) right now?

rolled 3, 8, 9, 10, 6, 8, 6, 7, 6, 1, 5, 1, 2, 9, 2, 5, 10, 8, 4, 7, 5, 10, 5, 7, 9, 6, 10, 10, 4, 5 = 188

---

>>931589
Morse will attend as the ambiguous 'Ambassador'. If asked, she'd say the underworld, but otherwise remain quiet and let Lute talk. If I had XP I'd purchase the full extent of dots in Socialize here, seems rather important for a diplomatic meeting. She's going to stick with her Lunar, of course, and do her best to pose no threat. Her mask should make it pretty hard to determine she's an abyssal and not some other thing but it would be nice for more coverage.

>Discord Conversation about the logistics of this and how I would need the DotFA command background to use demons.

>DotFA Command 3 has the following prerequisites: Allies 3, Connections 3, Retainers 3, and Resources 6

>Command 2 has Allies 2, Retainer 1, Contacts 1, and Resources 5 pre-requisites

>Currently has meets none of those prerequisites, but 2 backgrounds worth of exp free.

Okay, since it will be a long while before I can ever justify having Resources 6 for Command 3, I'm going to just politely request that I refund it for a 4th dot in Resources as SX takes a more personal role in leading the Manse and getting better at the job and smoothing out the issues from the transition over the month.

Spend 3 Exp to have negotiated with the local guild presence in Aketon since we're pretty well both screwed in this situation and they would definitely want to get their hands in a pie like that.

And spend 3 exp on locking in the Harenhal that I've had as anti-counterfeit stuff as an Ally.

Stats for Heranhal (Still named just Heranhal)

Motivation: To forge great works of demonic craft.

Strength 4, Dexterity 3, Stamina 6;
Charisma 3, Manipulation 1, Appearance 1;
Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 4

Compassion 2, Conviction 3, Temperance 1, Valor 4

Athletics 2
Awareness 1
Craft (Air) 3 (Secret Crafts +3)
Craft (Fire) 4 (Secret Crafts +3)
Craft (Lightning) 3
Craft (Water) 2
Craft (Vitriol) 3
Dodge 3
Investigation 3
Lore 3
Martial Arts 3
Medicine 3
Melee 3
Occult 3 (Art of Alchemy +1, Art of Enchantment +2)
Performance 1 (Forge Chanteys +2)
Presence 1 (Seduction +2)
Resistance 4 (Heat and Flames +3)
Socialize 1 (Carousing +2)

Backgrounds: Backing 1
Contacts 2 (Neomah Lover, Ore Trader)
Artifact 1 (Hellforged Emerald Flame Artifact)+Sapience 1
Provides 2nd Investigation Excellency
Urge: Bring Shame upon those who produce inferior craftsmanship.

Charms:
Affinity (Element) Control—Fire; The heranhal may use only the Elemental Corruption and Elemental Resistance functions of this Charm
Malediction—The heranhal utters curses against those who offend him
Materialize—Costs 45 motes
Ox-Body Technique
Sheathing the Material Form—The demon’s hide turns to enchanted brass
Stoke the Flame—Inspires others with the heranhal’s own gluttonous or lascivious passions
First (Ability) Excellency—Craft, Dodge, Socialize
Second (Ability) Excellency—Resistance
Third (Ability) Excellency—Craft, Socialize
Join Battle: 5
Attacks:
Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 7, Damage 4B, Parry DV 4, Rate 3

Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 6, Damage 7B, Parry DV 2, Rate 2

Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 6, Damage 4B, Parry DV —, Rate 1, Tags P

Black Iron Hammer: Speed 5, Accuracy 7, Damage 12B/2, Parry DV 4, Rate 2

Soak: 6L/9B (Toughened hide, 3L/3B)

Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incap

Dodge DV: 4 Willpower: 7

Essence: 2 Essence Pool: 55

rolled 3, 3, 6, 1, 5, 8, 1, 6, 3, 4, 8, 5, 2, 6, 8, 2, 8, 3, 1, 7 = 90

---

>>931619
>Standing in front of one of Sesus Xanin's They Live signs, Fanged Flair Effulgence turns to Dell. "Not what I was expecting."
"No." A Realm army occupying a manse in hell wasn't what Dell had been expecting, either.

>"Please, let's head to my office to discuss this."
Dell trails behind Fanged Flair Effulgence, ready to defend him if necessary, but allowing him to take the lead on the negotiations (he's the lawyer, after all). As they pass through the manse, she pays attention to the condition and distribution of the soldiery passed, ears straining to hear gossip and commentary that quickly cuts off at the passage of their exalted commander and guests.

I assume attempting to size up a military force as your pass through a location they hold would be a war roll of some kind? Possibly paired with a perception + awareness roll to see what details I pick up.

rolled 4, 5, 6, 7, 4, 2, 8, 6, 4 = 46

---

I figure, I don't have any social charms, but it would be a really bad idea to visit diplomants while in my Warform, so after the affair with regenerating my own ripped out tongue and before visiting with them, I'll have transformed back into my human true form.

>>931635
>7,200 hours of labor to gather up a dihram of food
That's with the boost from Food-Gathering Exercise. Ordinary mortal harvesting and foraging is less efficient.
>I'm unsure how directly food can be converted into labor when people are not abundant
For most purposes, it can't. Food production has steep diminishing returns after the point where nobody's starving.
>how much labor could that one repair charm which I forget the name of supply?
Crack-Mending Technique has the same speed multiplier and requires 5 dots in the relevant craft skill. It might be somewhat more useful for directly reconstructing partially demolished buildings to original spec with minimal new material (for example, restoring the sacred architecture of Ondar Shambal aka Whitewall), but if you're just trying to pour craftsmanship into rebooting an already semi-functional economy, it's not really necessary. Newly made clay pots could serve a rebuilt granary just as well as piecing together the old broken ones.

What might be more effective is using Harmonious Academic Methodology to raise the skill levels available among mortal extras. A hundred master carpenters can build more ordinary houses in less time than a solar with CNNT could alone, and having that highly skilled core population also provides a better foundation for cultural stability as the community grows.
>Would it allow us to circumvent spending Dirham on things like repairing the granary?
Dirham value is used here as an abstraction. Nobody in town is passing around 16-pound silver ingots, or even similar sized kegs of coins. In fact, there's almost no hard currency available. Instead, it represents the equivalent value of productive economic activity. Those four dirham in the notional treasury could represent things like wooden beams, iron nails, hardtack, cheese, tanned leather, bolts of cloth, tools properly cleaned and sharpened, waste cleared, domestic spirits propitiated, well-rested muscles and brains... anything with broad potential, stable enough to be held on to until next month, and not already committed to a specific project. Doing useful work, by definition, requires expending some available potential to do useful work. Artifice or sorcery might be able to dramatically accelerate construction, contributing several dirham worth of work to a project in the span of a few minutes, but a significant part of the cost of setting up any 'building' on that kingdom scale is things like recruiting and training trustworthy workers, or organizing various supporting services.
>Would those 4000 hours of skilled labor provide more benefit when used with Craft (Earth) or Craft (Wood) right now?
That's exactly the sort of question Bridget would need dots in Bureaucracy to answer.

>>931733
>That's with the boost from Food-Gathering Exercise. Ordinary mortal harvesting and foraging is less efficient.
I was perhaps unclear, but my:
>two groups of 25, working 6 hours shifts, could then produce two and a half dirham of food.
suggestion was meant to imply that Bridget would be leading them with Food-Gathering Exercise.

>With nothing to use that food for, and no way to store it, that would be virtually useless, except to offset moral and loyalty costs for raising taxes. Haven't gone over the rules myself so I'm unsure how directly food can be converted into labor when people are not abundant.

>For most purposes, it can't. Food production has steep diminishing returns after the point where nobody's starving.
There was some implication that workers could be taxed more highly, and food could help to offset the penalties from this. Looking at the taxation edicts and the holiday edicts tables, found here:
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/kingdom-building/edicts#TOC-Improvement-Edicts
That means with our three dirham surplus from food that can't be used for anything else, and isn't yet able to be stored, we could raises taxes to the "normal" level, (increasing our economy by two, and decreasing our loyalty by two) and offset the penalties by announcing six holidays per year, which increases our consumption by two, leaving us one surplus dirham of food, and a bonus to economy. This surplus food could even be put towards a token effort to convince the villagers that this isn't so bad, as per the promotion edict table, which would provide a bonus to stability, making any future checks easier.

As I understand it, were we playing pathfinder, when checking to see how much BP we have, we would make an economy check, DC22. (Base 20, plus one claimed tile, plus one district.) We would roll a d20, and add our economy score, plus relevant bonuses from whoever is guiding that act, to see if we beat the DC. If one of the exalted is guiding this action, Red and Gold perhaps for his dots in bureaucracy, then we'd probably get a significant boost. I remember it being said that one exalted dot is roughly worth +3 in pathfinder, but I don't remember if that would be +3 ability modifier or +3 ability score. That gives us a range of anywhere from +3 to +15 depending on what score is used and how much each dot is worth. Then, if you fail, you gain no BP (or dirham in this case) but if you pass you get your economy score divided by 3. The instructions aren't explicit, so if I've gotten anything wrong, corrections would be appreciated.

>A hundred master carpenters can build more ordinary houses in less time than a solar with CNNT could alone, and having that highly skilled core population also provides a better foundation for cultural stability as the community grows.
On the subject of housing, it seems to me that building more housing right now would increase unrest, making everything we do more difficult as we try to get things running again. The benefits provided, by comparison, are only that we gain access to certain buildings which provide boosts to economy, stability, and sometimes generate other things like crime unrest and magic items. When there are several buildings that boost economy and stability and such without needing houses, why build them first? mechanically, it seems like it would be a bad idea to provide shelter for everyone right now, even though logistically that seems like it should be one of the first priorities. Are there ramifications or downsides to having your entire population sleeping in burnt out husks and open fields? Bridget would want to make sure everyone is fed and housed, but there's no numbers provided for many people a given housing block can support, or what the penalties for having a large homeless population are/what the benefits of providing for everyone are.
Furthermore, is it possible to bypass the penalty for tenement housing by upgrading it straight to regular housing first? We have 4 BP, and can only build one building right now regardless due to our size, but since it says the first house you build a turn doesn't count towards that limit, we are capable of building a housing block right away, without leaving tenements around. If we can invest that 4 BP directly into good housing instead of crowding everyone into a temporary camp that seems more efficiently, and benefits us mechanically.

Any notes for how roles regarding kingdom checks are going to be handled? And, since all the labor is coming from Demons under Red and Gold's control, do I even need to worry about this stuff, or is it not my place to plan where our production could go since I don't have an reasonable IC excuse to take control of that system right now. Otter seems to be a tad busy with work and such, but I would be happy to provide summaries of what's possible for this/next month if they want to be in charge but don't want to do all the reading first.

rolled 2, 10, 5, 6, 10, 9, 5, 8, 7, 7, 6, 2, 8, 7, 8, 1, 3, 1, 7, 6, 7, 10, 1, 2, 9, 7, 2, 5, 2, 2 = 165

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>>931181
Bridget has, in many ways, stumbled through the past two months, participating in a string of failure unbecoming for a chosen of the Unconquered Sun. She failed to fulfill her duty to her people at the castle in the sky, failed to alleviate the suffering of the tortured souls she pounded into fixings and tools, failed to save the villagers from the treachery her brother enacted upon them, failed to seal away his pawn of evil, failed to save her allies, those who helped her, from the lies and treachery of her new foes, failed to make peace with those who could ease the suffering of innocents, allowed those who would help her to become lost, and gave guidance to those who would inflict harm, all culminating in her most recent failure to care for her patients. Her force of will could not ease their suffering, and their torturous recovery would surely haunt them. At home, her flock would surely be lost without her, Karod no doubt submitting them to cruel slavery and terrible deeds. She needs to be faster, stronger, more eloquent, more skilled, just more. She needs to learn and understand. She needs to become a shepard worthy for the people counting on her.

These were Bridgets thoughts as she left the monks to cope with their newfound health, and leapt once more towards the manse, intent on rescuing the Disciple of Mela. Using personal motes, to avoid anima flare. She's learning that simply throwing your weight around won't always cut it.

>>931393
>>931483
>>931589
>>931646
>>931698
Fast forward to the present. Bridget arrives to greet the visitors, Dutiful Topaz somewhat obscured and overshadowed by her colorful company. The three eyed mountain troll, collared nudist, and her masked lover are all vested in each other, and the town, to varying degrees. Bridget speaks up first, as the others hang back. The might of the Unconquered Sun may not always be enough, but she would not hide who she was, castemark clearly visible in her third eye.

"We are representing these people as shepards and advisers. I teach and build"
A sweeping hand gestures to Morse and Rivers in turn.
"The musician wards evil. The warrior defends her love. What roles bring you here?"

rolled 5, 6, 7, 9, 2, 9, 8, 2, 7, 5, 10, 7, 3, 2, 8, 6, 2, 9, 6, 2, 2, 4, 4, 7, 10, 8, 8, 6, 6, 4 = 174

---

"...you aren't going to embarrass me in front of these... interlopers with this nonsense about being in love, are you?" Morse adjusts a string as she plays her instrument, talking to Lute as they make their way to the diplomatic meet. "I promise not to kill them if you don't make a fool of me while we're figuring out what their intrusion is about. Unlike you, I am a polite and proper individual... when I so desire it. It just so happens I am a believer in peace, and I think a diplomatic meet is the best place for me to demonstrate that. So, I will be on my best behaviors, and so will everyone else. Or else." Morse leaves her request with a threat... she doesn't want this meeting to escalate into violence, it sounds like. While normally that would be a kind sentiment, coming from an Abyssal, it must have some ulterior motive to it.

Spending 16 XP to bring Socialize from 1 to 5! No more of that pesky having her identity seen through, and more diplomatic sway.

'Well, that was rude' Rivers couldn't help to think, but not say since she wasn't interested in kicking up more of a fuss by trying to assert that Bridget isn't really the person to be taking the lead since she already had started.

But Morse's comment was a half step far enough to get her to react as she nudged her lover in the arm as she made threats and worse, denied their romance.

While, she also wasn't planning on taking the lead herself, since all she was really there to do was be intimidating and interesting. And to bring food, she was after all, up half the night preparing a small feast. It would have been less, but she kept having to toss it out and start again when she messed up, since she really wanted to make an impression. And now she was dragging carrying it in a scalding hot tray on top of the too big table from the bar that she had estimated was about the right size for 10 people just a few inches off the ground to keep it clean.

"I think it's a bit tedious to stretch these kinds of meetings out, so I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you're from the guild, and as such you're here on a business trip. After all, you came from the direction of that big town in the area, so you'd be looking for resources to keep everyone there safe and fed."

And with that, she placed down the table and unveiled the contents, containing a one course meal for 10 people mostly made out of local plant meats as palatable as she could make them with her wits, cooking skill, and a lot of seasoning.

Int 1+Craft (Water) 2 for base 3 dice, spending a willpower to channel conviction for an extra 4 dice, and whatever stunt rating that is for as much as +3 dice to a maximum of 10.

rolled 4, 1, 4, 3, 1, 4, 7, 4, 3, 4 = 35

---

I forgot I reloaded when I was typing that post, so I didn't keep the dice command

rolled 9, 9, 10, 5, 6, 8, 9, 2, 8, 9, 5, 1, 4, 10, 8, 3, 1, 3, 3, 1, 2, 8, 10, 2, 1, 3, 5, 5, 10, 3 = 163

---

>>931752
"Yes. I'm just a musician that wards off demons." Morse deadpans. "You're safe from the silent winds with me... (River, stop nudging me, or so help me I will disembowel you in front of these nice people.)"

Morse doesn't touch her meal, although she does make a few quick adjustments to prevent her mate from putting the salad fork where the dinner fork is supposed to be on each of the place settings. Making a standard Socialize check with my improved dice, no specialties. She wants to make sure her mate doesn't do something egregious, and stands at the side of the table, playing a more traditional tune from her home town. She'll make a Performance check for that, too.

Rivers was half tempted to check the bluff that Morse would manage to forcibly disembowel her. Both because she'd BEEN disemboweled before and could reasonably guess at how difficult it was while Morse physically wasn't agile, strong, or skilled enough to pull it off, and because she trusted in Morse's love enough even if the fact that she loved her needed to be drilled through her mask and into her skull.

But, that would be rude to do here, so she avoided goading her into trying, since she didn't want to make a bad impression by causing her lover to fly into a rage and impotently scratch at her abdomen.

>>931751
>"...you aren't going to embarrass me in front of these... interlopers with this nonsense about being in love, are you?"
The disguised Sidereal gives a glibe shrug. "Doesn't seem likely that embarrassing you in front of people you don't care about would make you a better person, so I see pressing reason to do so."

Going to follow Morse's example, and spend 9XP to increase socialize from 1 to 4.

>It just so happens I am a believer in peace
"The peace of the grave, naturally."

>>931755
>She wants to make sure her mate doesn't do something egregiou
Like showing up to a diplomatic meeting naked, perhaps.

This suits Lute's purposes just fine, though. Between the mountain-troll solar, nudist, and mysterious masked musician, there's plenty to distract the other party and allow her to operate with less scrutiny.

>>931744
Red and Gold is later to arrive than the others, trailed by a pair of tomescu. He peers at the masked figure and what appears to be some sort of troll, but sees no reason to object to their presence. They don't seem to be demons, anyways.

"Hello, friends from afar. I am Seven Broken Wings of Red and Gold. I will be representing the interests of the Unquestionable and the Green Sun Princes. Might I ask who I have the pleasure to be meeting today?"

>>931795
"I'm Gerald Isslor, representing Aketon's military and the god of the walls, and these are Iridescent Bile representing the Avarice River's Undertow community, Carl Akbarson of the Guild, and, er..."
"Minister of Crocodile Tears," says the lizard-man, "though you may call me 'croc' if you wish to be less formal. Anyone claiming to have our city's best interests at heart need only touch their hand to the flame within my lantern, and that claim will thereafter be taken seriously."
>representing the interests of the Unquestionable
"Such as, say, Madelrada?" asks the Guildsman. "If you're able to end this bizarre blockade and reopen trade along the Avarice River, I'll find a way to make it worth your while."

>>931839
Red and Gold flashes teeth in a smile at the Guildsman's response.

"Indeed, such as Madelrada, though I'm uncertain what blockade you refer to. Perhaps you mean Hrotsvitha? But I'm afraid I can't remove one of the Unquestionable for you. Let's discuss the current circumstances, regardless. This portion of Creation has been rather unceremoniously dropped into the middle of Hrotsvitha, about a month past. I have found no evidence of remaining connections between here and whereever it once resided. There is no indication that whatever caused this is reversible. So, a claim has been made, in the name of Madelrada. As That Which Wears Down the Mountains has not seen fit to come here herself, as of yet, I have taken it upon myself to see to it that noone engages in any, well, poaching. Luminata are my largest concern, but thankfully I think they have been taking my statements seriously. The next concern is of course, food and water. The light of Ligier may not be precisely the same for the growth of plants here, and any cloud which drifts outside the borders is as good as lost to us. I have some thoughts for solving these issues, but I am only one man, after all, so I would like to hear your thoughts."

Red and Gold provides this horrifying knowledge and then simply pauses, smiling at the new arrivals, waiting for input.

rolled 9, 5, 9, 7, 10, 8, 9, 10, 4, 8, 8, 9, 2, 10, 8, 4, 3, 1, 6, 9, 7, 1, 9, 8, 10, 4, 6, 10, 2, 4 = 200

---

>>931839
>"Minister of Crocodile Tears," says the lizard-man, "though you may call me 'croc' if you wish to be less formal. Anyone claiming to have our city's best interests at heart need only touch their hand to the flame within my lantern, and that claim will thereafter be taken seriously."
From her position besides the overlarge arm of Bridget, rather than Marching Against the Flame, Dutiful Topaz appraises it from the opposite side of banquet table (a sampling of which she had already tasted, so the envoys might be reassured it was neither drugged nor poisoned).

Rolling Lore or Occult, in an attempt to determine what kind of magic this is. Is this an artifact or magical effect she recognizes, or one she can divine the purpose of? (A truth-oracle of some manner would be a very different beast from a simple trial by fire, or holy flame for that matter). Not sure which dice pool I'm rolling here, but I'll add 4 Excellency dice for 4m personal.

"What if we don't know enough about your city to really make a decision as to whether we have its best interests at heart. I mean, I don't want anything bad to happen to it, and so far as I know I have your best interest at heart, but I guess I don't really know what that entails."

As she was talking, Rivers reached out to touch the fire, curious on where she stood in the eyes of the flame.

rolled 5, 2, 5, 4, 5, 3, 7, 1, 10, 2, 3, 6, 7, 3, 6, 5, 6, 7, 9, 2, 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 1, 7, 9, 4, 10 = 151

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>>931839
Morse eyes Red and Gold with suspicion. She licks a finger, and presses it to her instrument before using Screaming in Silence to send Red and Gold a telepathic message. [Perhaps you should explain tho those of Creation what poaching means in this context. Understand we are not all as learned as you about the ways of Madelrada, and this is the first time I've heard of concerns about it. Right now, it seems to me like you're threatening the diplomatic party instead of trying to reach an agreement. Offer them something, anything besides information. You can't make demands without giving first, it's rude.] She turns her head to face River now, still playing her instrument. [Sit up straight and stop slouching. You might have fucked the food but I'm not going to let you make more mistakes. I'm here to support you, River, just ask questions when you need help.] Morse turns to Lute last, before checking with her. [You're not using any charms to investigate them, are you? The last thing I want to see is a fight starting because one of them realized you were trying to find loopholes around that lantern of theirs. Nothing obvious.]

Morse would like to have started this diplomatic meet 20 motes down, one dipped into peripheral, with communication through Screaming in Silence established with the four team members (all players have given permission) that she's working with. She's going to be working as the rules of Teamwork, providing an additional dice to actions like Socialize or Manipulate and helping the group communicate without making faux pas. She'll also be making regular Socialize checks to manage the group as a unit-- she could probably use Lute's help with this, too.

>>931883
What intimacies does Rivers have, particularly toward the city of Aketon, or in terms of philosophy or religion?

>>931869
More than enough successes to identify it as originating from one of the Paths of Draconic Enlightenment, specifically the capstone of the Blazing Fire Path, detailed in the Scroll of Fallen Races p. 137. Lantern itself is a 1-dot artifact that simply serves to keep the flame within from being extinguished by mundane means.