So is there gonna be any kind of prompt or anything?

Woooooohoooo sneaky spooky skeleton abyssal quest

Also you fucked up you're name.

Fastest OP death I've ever seen.

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[x] Reveal yourself as an Abyssal, then try to intimidate him into becoming a minion.

[***]

You can't really change your facial expression into a smile or feral grin. You can manage, though.

Slowly, you feel warm blood welling up on your forehead. The fact that you have any tactile sensation at all is noteworthy, but not particularly important at this juncture. You see the area around you brighten; not because you emit light, but because you are sucking it from the areas further from you. Wisps of violet fade in and out around you and you allow your opponent to lay eyes on the glory and terror of the Abyssal Exalted.

As you brandish your axe once more, you catch a glimpse of your reflection, seeing the empty circle of the Day cate mark bleeding down your fleshless face.

"Who did you kill and loot to get THAT kind of illusion trick, murderer?" The sword stays brandished.

The ghost doesn't seem to be particularly intimidated by your display. Huh. Maybe he doesn't know what an Abyssal looks like? Oh well. Swordsmen are stubborn lunks usually anyway.

Regardless, you want that sword. Whether or not you get a swordsman with it is irrelevant.

[***]

[] Keep trying to recruit him.

[] Maim him, then threaten to finish him if he doesn't give up the Daiklave.

[] Just kill him already!

>>39875310
>[x] Convince him you're the rightful wielder of the sword through interpretive dance.

>>39875310
>[] Maim him, then threaten to finish him if he doesn't give up the Daiklave.
We need that sword, we can kill him after we get it

arrrrgh fuck

ok name fixed

bleh. at least that OP got more replies than the average vote prompt! OPTIMISM~

>>39875310
>[] Maim him, then threaten to finish him if he doesn't give up the Daiklave.

Okay, the Maims have it! *illustration in progress, please don't poke the Shyft*

>>39875511
Hmph, well I'm sticking to my dance.

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[x] Maim him, then threaten to finish him if he doesn't give up the Daiklave.

[***]

You sigh, the action coming off as a faint hiss.

With a blur of motion, you knock the sword from his hands, then bring down your axe once, twice. His arms land next to him one after the other, and translucent ghost-blood leaks out slowly.

Before he gets out more than "What the-?" you have already dropped, spinning yourself around on one arm, swinging wide with the other as you use your legs as a counterweight. He tumbles down as his legs detatch.

Slowly getting back to your feet, you eye the dazed pile of ghost. Looming over him, you shake your head slowly.

"If you had recognized an Abyssal from her caste mark and anima, this might not have had to happen."

"AUUGH YOU BI- bi, Abyssal?"

The newly quadripalegic ghost blinks. "What, you're a woman?"

You facepalm, making a 'clink' as your metallic fingers touch your skull.

"Yes. Yes I am a woman. And you? You are now Bob."

"Huh?"

"Because if I tossed you in a lake, that is what you would do. Do you like the name?"

"YOU'RE FREAKIN' CRAZY YOU-"

"Because if you don't like the name I will just keep poking you full of holes until you won't even bob in the lake after I toss you in it."

He goes quiet, finally aware of his situation. You gesture at his sword off to the side.

"So. Here's the deal. You gift your sword unto me, and I let you live. Heck, I'll even stick you back together. Sound good?"

"Wha- my daughter buried me with that thing! There's no way I'll just hand it over to-"

You lightly drag the axe across his torso, causing a thin line of blood to soak into his clothes.

"I. Can. Do. This. All. Day."

"Just KILL me already and get it over with! Or the next travelers will get you!"

"Oh, that's a good point. One sec!"

(1/2)

[***]

After looting the two dead ghosts and their cart, you drag Bob and his limbs off to a more secluded spot. Then you start to play a game of 'how thin can I slice the longpork?' He tries to slip into Lethe, but you stop that with a quick promise to send him to Oblivion if he tries again. From that point it's just a matter of breaking his will.

AFter a while what remains of him is gibbering in pain, and he finally bequeathes the sword unto you. Yay!

You slowly start to attune your new prize, and as you start to walk off he sobs a bit. Oh, right. Your promise.

[***]

[] Patch him up.

[] Just leave.

[] Finish him. With the new sword.

>>39875968
>[] Patch him up.
Sure!

>>39875968
>[] Finish him. With the new sword.
I'm sure unliving would be hard knowing you gave away such a precious sword because you got tortured a bit, we're practically doing him a favor.

>>39875968
>[x] Finish him. With the new sword.

Shang Tsung Wins.

*Illustration and Writing in Progress*

>>39875968
>[] Patch him up.
We keep our word.

>>39876121
Such wisdom anon! Teach me your ways.

>>39876385
>Fuck ghosts get swords

>>39876385
Simple, everything we do is right and that's all that matters.

Just keep that kind of mindset and you too can become like me.

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[x] Finish him. With the new sword.

[***]

As you twirl the sword one last time, you feel the attunement finalize, and you hold it in your hands, feeling it resonate with you.

You feel as if you've used this sword all your life, and have mastered it completely.

That's . . . actually pretty nifty, as far as Daiklave powers can go. On closer examination, you see the engraving in the white jade: "A sword to protect you in death, as you had none to protect you in life."

Huh.

Turning, you walk back to him, and consider the little ironies that surround you.

You, a master of skeletons, were turned into one.

He, granted a sword for protection . . .

*SHNK*

. . . is slain by it.

Chuckling, make to leave, but then remember the reason you slaughtered these guys in the first place. Quickly taking inventory, you realize you have barely enough clothing to sort of pass as something other than a skeletal abomination.

You slip into various mostly intact articles of clothing from the ghosts and make your way back to the road, marching towards the nearest city of the Dead. You need to get out of this contested hot zone between Deathlords- if it even still is such a place. News would be good.

As you approach the gates to the town, you wonder where to head first. Eating isn't an issue. Rest . . . is. You have a few items in a pack the three from before were carrying, as well.

[***]

[] Sell the excess loot for cash.

[] Find a place to lie down, take a nap.

[] Find a populated area and keep an ear, er, acoustic meatus, open for rumors and such.

>>39876820
[] Sell the excess loot for cash.

>>39876820
[x] Sell the excess loot for cash.
Delicious cash!

Giving 10 minutes before I call the vote this time, as I got 4 votes for the last one and one was a bit too late.

>>39876820
>[] Sell the excess loot for cash.
Sure, moneys and then other stuff

>>39876820

[x] Sell the excess loot for cash
Buy a more regal outfit

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[x] Sell the excess loot for cash

[***]


The town, like many in the Underworld, was an odd mix of modern, ancient, and superancient/postmodern. People who had died all across the Ages left their mark on cites that had fallen centuries ago. Last you knew this area on the surface was mostly empty grasslands. In ancient times, a river ran here, and a series of cities had sprung up along it. The river, also long dead, quietly flowed through the mosaic of the buildings.

Inn cost money, and informants cost money. Screw doing things for free; you're not strong enough yet. You slips towards a darker, shadier part of town (which, in the Underworld, is an excercise in redundancy if there ever was one) and find a fence. Quickly divesting yourself of all the ill-gotten gains but the Daiklave and the clothes on your back, you ask about local informants and get a few candidates. Thanking the fence, you slip back out into the city proper, keeping the rim of your hat low and avoiding the gazes of the population.

Pity all the masks of those ghosts broke in the fight. You could use one to blend in better.

Taking your time walking, you hear murmurs of the Walker and the Mask, and quickly affirm that this area is still contested, if only technically. Finding the first informant, you take him aside, and choose your questions carefully.

[***]

You have 300 motes-worth of prayer baubles, which ghosts use as currency and unlife-force. Each question costs 100 baubles. A room will probably cost 20 or so. Getting a mask will be 50, and otherwise spiffing up your outfit another 50.

[] "Where have the closest agents of the Mask and the Walker been spotted?"

[] "What of the Abyssal Exalted around this place?"

[] "What is the safest way to leave Deathlord territory quickly?"

and

[] Sleep in a room.

[] Buy a mask.

[] Improve your outfit.

Choose as many or as few as you wish. If you don't get an inn you'll sleep in the streets.

>>39877728
[] "What of the Abyssal Exalted around this place?"

[] "What is the safest way to leave Deathlord territory quickly?"

[] Sleep in a room.

[] Buy a mask.

>>39877728
[x] "What of the Abyssal Exalted around this place?"
[x] Sleep in a room.
[x] Buy a mask.
Gotta save some dosh!

>>39877728
>>39877753
I'll support this.

>>39877728
>[] "What of the Abyssal Exalted around this place?"
>[] "What is the safest way to leave Deathlord territory quickly?"
>[] Sleep in a room.
>[] Buy a mask.
We can make\steal more money if we need it.

Writing.

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[x] "What of the Abyssal Exalted around this place?"
[x] "What is the safest way to leave Deathlord territory quickly?"
[x] Sleep in a room.
[x] Buy a mask.

[***]

The only agents you are concerned about are the ones that have a chance of doing you in. That means your fellow Abyssals. You aren't too concerned if random Deathlord minions spot you on your way out, especially if you keep on the down-low.

You are happy to hear that the only Abyssal seen for leagues has been a rogue who is not obviously aligned with or against either Deathlord. You are less happy to hear he is apparently something of a vigilante, as you are something of a mass murderer.

Well, mass ghost murderer, anyways.

They don't count! They are already dead!

Oblivious to your opinions on his right to exist, the informant keeps talking, mentioning the path the more skilled ghosts use whenever 'recruitment' teams come calling. Thankfully those teams are much more concerned about attacking their rivals from the opposite deathlord than actually swaying ghosts into their camps, so there is plenty of opportunity to slip out of town.

Done paying out the nose, you wander about a bit more and buy a nice, vaugely skull-like mask, upping your personal irony to levels risking rust.

Then you buy a room to get some damned sleep.

Sleep of the damned.

Or, whatever.

Shutting your room's door and barricading it quietly with the cabinet, you toss your hat aside and lie on your back, suddenly aware that you cannot close your eyes.

Fuck.

Still, you allow your mind to wander, and you begin to doze, regardless of the mild orange glow from the window casting itself over you. You slip into sleep so quickly that you don't even notice when your arm that was dangling over the side of the bed falls off, and the rest of your animated bones fall limp, no longer attached in any fashion.

(1/2)

[***]

When you wake up, there is a moment of panic, then with a wave of fear and intent, you realize every bone is accounted for. Turning over, you use your one attached arm to grope over the side of the bed for your other one, grabbing it and jamming the larger bones into your empty shoulder. At that point you just turned over again and touched them in sequence, snapping them into place like so many magnets.

THat was actually good to learn. Your bones fall apart when you sleep, and you'll need to take measures to make sure they stay together enough to reassemble without issue in an emergency.

Sighing, you stretch nonexistent muscles and don your hat again, wandering back out into the gloom.

[***]

[] Get going, get out of Deathlord territory ASAP.

[] Stick around, be a morally flexible opportunist.

[] Stick around, find some legit work.

>>39878579
>[] Stick around, be a morally flexible opportunist
Make that dirty dirty ghost money

>>39878579
[x] Get going, get out of Deathlord territory ASAP.

>>39878579
>[] Get going, get out of Deathlord territory ASAP.

Writing

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[x] Get going, get out of Deathlord territory ASAP.

[***]

Yeah, it's time to move.

You have things you need to get done, and enemy territory, contested or not, is no place to do them.

You start out on a trek, and follow the improbable path you paid good ghost money for to swing wide around the south and then roughly follow the River Eriranus; also known as the Grey River in Creation proper.

There are no large shadowlands to the southeast, as you understand it, and therefore no Deathlord influence, beyond the obligatory.

Of course, tiny shadowlands speckle the Underworld everywhere, and it is through those that you can move into Creation and raid for resources proper. Resources like skeletons!

But before that you need to fix your appearance. You never delved too deeply into your dedicated Day caste magic before, as hiding wasn't exactly your style, but a girl needs to restart somehwere, and not being a unique soulsteel-covered skeleton is a really good start.

How will you deal with your Appearance issues? This will determine how and where and when you set up shop.

[***]

[] Fuck them. Find the best spot for a dread fortress, start meditating, and claw your way back up to Necromancy.

[] Magic all the way. Focus on your Larceny charms, and figure out how to steal an appearance or five. Use those.

[] Mundane and cheap. Spruce up your outfit, hiding every last glimmer of Soulsteel and muting the sounds your bones make when clacking together, but don't waste time learning new magic to do it. Certain parties will be suspicious of you, but whatever.

[] Balance in all things. Find an appropriate location to hole up, and carefully craft yourself false flesh from clay, packing it on and using your deathly skill to restore a greater semblance of life. You'll have to fumble around and learn a custom charm to two, probably, but this way you can literally restore your former good looks! Just, if you take lots of damage you'll have to put your face back on. Literally.

>>39879819
[x] Mundane and cheap. Spruce up your outfit, hiding every last glimmer of Soulsteel and muting the sounds your bones make when clacking together, but don't waste time learning new magic to do it. Certain parties will be suspicious of you, but whatever.

>>39879819
>[] Fuck them. Find the best spot for a dread fortress, start meditating, and claw your way back up to Necromancy.
We Occult now.

Plus Necromancy spells are useful general

>>39879819
>[] Magic all the way. Focus on your Larceny charms, and figure out how to steal an appearance or five. Use those.

>>39879819
>[] Fuck them. Find the best spot for a dread fortress, start meditating, and claw your way back up to Necromancy.

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That's gonna be it for tonight, folks! Keep voting, and ask any questions before the thread dies.

Great news! NEXT THREAD NEXT SUNDAY! Same time as this week, roughly! We have (gasp) a schedule! Sort of! Exclamations!

>>39880168
Thanks for running, drawman.

>>39880168
alright night, thanks for writing

>>39880193
Shyft does the art, and he is shy and hasn't posted in one of these yet. I am the humble writeman, but he has seen your post!

>>39880168
Thanks for running!

Thanks for drawing Shyft!

>>39880193
Indeed- while I lack a tripcode, I am the drawman behind Lark's writans.

>>39880264
...thanks for running, writeman?

>>39880289
Alrighty.

>>39880289
You could at least type a name in the field :p

>>39880323
Fine fine I'll name myself.

>>39880323
>>39880351
Thanks the both of you

>>39880168
Do you have a system in place or are you just running freeform?

>>39880432
We're using a simplified Exalted 2E. So far we've just been doing simple personality rolls to determine where the dots are going, but now that we are established as a morally gray Day caste, we'll be asking a few more choices that define where the rest of her dots are and then start giving actual challenges. Obviously one of our favored abilities is Occult, along with Melee. The other three are still up in the air.

The system will 'harden' as actual risk becomes a factor, all the choices thus far have merely directed the tone of the story and given us a direction from which to provide plot elements. Avoiding the Deathlord lands has defined the nature of the challenges ahead accordingly, etc.

>>39880722
err, simple personality CHOICE options, not rolls. bleh.

>>39880722
Alright awesome.