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You consider your situation: Karas is moderately wounded, full of scraps and bruises, his armor battered and bent out of shape, but he looks like he can still fight.

...Tia's head is cracked open like a watermelon, but it's slowly knitting itself back together. Her resilience keeps surprising you and creeping you out in equal measure. She doesn't seem to react to the situation much apart for leaning on Karas for support. And both of them have their Anima blazing in a bonfire, much like yourself: a sign of spent Essence.

A quick glance around the battlefield tells you that Zaan and Regis are safe within your own lines. Five Tails and Radiant Starfall are nowhere to be seen, though probably doing useful things where you can't see them right now. And Lynne...

...Well, there's a Lunar you don't really recognize in the thick of the fight, taking on enemy troops bare-handed, Anima blazing. Is that Lynne? The castemark is the same, but why does he look different?

Your gaze is distracted by the lightshow taking place further north. The artillery duel is much more intense there, and flashes of lightning and colorful explosions paint the night. In a corner, you distinctly recognize a pillar of golden light blazing against the dark background.

So, Moray Darktide is there.

Oh, and looks like the Silver Prince's Vodaks are trying to surround the three of you, you realize.

Yeah. You, Karas and Tia. Poor bastards.

(cont.)

File: Clothes.jpg (758 KB, 890x1500)

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>Break through the encirclement and try to return to your lines and Golden Reach. (p+d)
>Fight them as they come, until the second wave hits the beach, to relieve pressure from your men on the other side. (p+d)
>Go on a rampage, trying to take out as many as possible. (p+d)
>Fight your way through the enemy lines, try to reach the Dark Omen to see what's happening on that front. (p+d)
>Ask Tia to give you a lift to Golden Reach.
>Ask Tia to give you a lift to the Dark Omen.
>Ask Tia to give you a lift to Tianna City.

>(Other? There's a lot of things you could do at this point, don't feel constrained by the above list.)

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>40640634
>>Fight them as they come, until the second wave hits the beach, to relieve pressure from your men on the other side. (p+d)
Lynne is in Warform maybe?

Kinda surprised Tia hasn't already gone Kamen Rider.

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>40640634
>Fight your way through the enemy lines, try to reach the Dark Omen to see what's happening on that front. (p+d)

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>40640634
>>Fight them as they come, until the second wave hits the beach, to relieve pressure from your men on the other side. (p+d)

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>40640634
>Fight them as they come, until the second wave hits the beach, to relieve pressure from your men on the other side (p+d)

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>40640634
>Fight them as they come, until the second wave hits the beach, to relieve pressure from your men on the other side. (p+d)

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>40640634
>>Fight them as they come, until the second wave hits the beach, to relieve pressure from your men on the other side. (p+d)

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>40640634
Slow start today it looks, if we're going to be fighting my we should switch clothes.

I'm feeling like #19

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>40640634
just rolling dice, nothing to see here

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>40640603
Vodaks are the troops in suits right?

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>40640833
>Slow start today it looks
E3 probably has something to do with it

>>40640902
It probably does, I started simultaneously with the Nintendo press conference. I don't really blame people for watching it, I'm watching it myself. We'll just have a slow thread!

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>40640922
What charms do we have commited?

File: Status.jpg (103 KB, 414x416)

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>>40640930

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>40640634

>>40640945
We probably don't need to keep IPS commited between scenes.

>>40640945
Clarifying question, when a box is filled for Essence does that mean we have that Essence to burn?

>>40641018
Crossed out boxes are USED essence. Empty boxes are AVAILABLE essence.

>>40641061
We only have two burn essence then? I thought we had four.

So uh, How long until every single minion of Kimberley comes knocking on our doors ?

>>40641082
We do have four available right now, five next turn.

>>40641082
You DO have four. Where are you looking? I'm seeing four boxes there.

>>40641082
We do, the faded out boxes count.

>>40641098
Long, I'm guessing? If they aren't immediately in the West, then it's going to take a fucklong time to get here.

>>40641110
>>40641112
Ah, I thought the faded boxes didn't count, my bad. So that means we have to commit essence as well

>>40641136
*two commit essence as well

fuck my fat fingers

>>40640902
>>40640861
>>40640836
>>40640833
>>40640805
>>40640785
>>40640763
>>40640748
>>40640742
>>40640688
That's like four successes out of a possible pool of ten? That doesn't seem too bad

>>40641169
It's pretty shit.

>>40641110
What do the faded boxes stand for again?

>>40641283
It's alright, just one under average successes.

Faded out boxes are personal essence, they don't make us flare when we use them, otherwise it's just essence.

>>40641298
>Faded out boxes are personal essence, they don't make us flare when we use them, otherwise it's just essence.
right, shouldn't they be the first ones used or do we get to specify if we don't want to flare our anima when using them?

File: troop - vodaks.jpg (106 KB, 900x1391)

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While "Dragonkaiser" gets in a brawl with the remaining Warstriders, the Vodaks' rearguard closes onto you, and Karas gives you a questioning look.

"...Let's stand and fight. They have to split their forces to take on both us and our frontline."

"That's a stupid mistake on their part, but I guess that they lost enough of their chain of command to be in a panic by this point." Your brother interjects, displaying an unexpected sense of strategy as he pulls his Grand Daiklave out of the sand. "Can you stand up? On your own?" He asks Tia, who nods and lets go of him, hefting her own sword.

"...Are you alright, Tia?" You wonder. Her grievous wound IS regenerating, but slowly, and you can't imagine how painful it must be. "...Why didn't you use your warform?"

She slowly brings one hand up to touch her own wound, as if to make sure of the entity of the damage, and you cringe seeing her gloved hands actually go into the crack in her skull to inspect the inside. "...Because it's naked."

"It's not really naked, more like covered in... chitin? Leather? Something like that." You answer instinctively, looking away from her, just as the armored soldiers begin to creep up to you. A couple of arrows whistle by. "Are you SHY?"

"Can't get drenched in blood without having clothes." She replies, very serious.

"...Tia, damn it, don't take yourself so literally." You're not sure if you should laugh or cry at this point. "Murder first, soaking in my enemies' blood later. Alright?"

"It's still fine?" She asks. An arrow flies by and strikes you in the thigh, bouncing off harmlessly.

Karas rolls his eyes and groans loudly. "Have your lovey dovey moments some other time, you two!" He yells at you, leaping into the fray.

(cont.)

>>40641358
So Tia was basically fighting with limiters? Damnit Tia, take off your weighted clothing

>>40641358
tia a best

>>40641550
More like she didn't go super saiyan even though she could any time.

(brief afk, sorry)

>>40641550
She promised us she would be drenched in the blood of our enemys and doesn't want to brake her promise to us.
This is both dumb and romantic.

File: Tia (warform).jpg (542 KB, 986x1324)

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WIth a bright flash of silver light, Tia transforms in her chitin-clad, insectoid forms appears. Her wounds seem to vanish in the process, but it's clear from her posture and movements, as she follows your brother and counter-charges the oncoming Vodaks, that the internal damage is still all there, for now.

You follow the two of them, slamming into the sparse, well-coordinated formation of thirty or so enemy troopers.

[p + d = 4 6 10 3 1 6 1 9 1 8 1 = 4 successes]

On their part, their reaction is flawless. Despite what they're facing, they react admirably, seeking cover and spreading out, trying to encircle the three of you separately, the archers and gunners falling back as the swordsmen move forward, the former shooting through the latter's lines without fear of friendly fire.

But, it's not like it matters much.

You feel a rush of invincibility as arrows bounce off your skin harmlessly, and a blast of flame from a firewand washes over your body, sticking briefly to hair and clothes before going out.

You emerge from the wall of fire, headbutting the closest Vodak as you land, causing his helmet to cave in, while his blades scrape against your bare skin without leaving marks any deeper than scratches.

Immediately, the troops pull back from around you. They don't scream or talk, but they could be communicating through their armor, which also covers mouth and ears, you reason. They keep their distance, and try the same with Tia and Karas.

Doesn't seem to be working so well with then, you notice, looking at Tia skewering, one after another, two of them on her Skullopener, and then batting away a third with the entire shebang swung like a bat.

File: Karas.jpg (265 KB, 686x1000)

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Still, these are elite mortal troops. Even she gets a couple of arrows in her, and you see Karas get swarmed and hit whenever he turns his back to one of them, even though he forces them to pay dearly for any move.

Another Vodak rushes past his comrades, unloads his firewand into your face point-blank - blinding and singing you, and then slams into your chest with the point of both his blades. Unfortunately for him, his attack doesn't bite deeper than a light sting.

>Grab the blades and snap them. (p+d)
>Grab him by the arms, follow with a headbutt. (p+d)
>Grapple and wrestle him. (p+d)
>Grapple and throw him. (p+d)
>Look down at the swords trying to puncture your chest, then up to him, and give him a "really?" kind of stare. (s+z)
>(Other?)

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>40641837
>>Grapple and throw him. (p+d)
We should fight mortals more often.

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>40641837
>Grab him by the arms, follow with a headbutt. (p+d)

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>40641837
>Look down at the swords trying to puncture your chest, then up to him, and give him a "really?" kind of stare. (s+z)

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>40641837

>Grab the motherfucker and beat another motherfucker with him

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>40641837
>Grapple and throw him. (p+d)

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>40641837
>Look down at the swords trying to puncture your chest, then up to him, and give him a "really?" kind of stare. (s+z)

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>40641837
>Look down at the swords trying to puncture your chest, then up to him, and give him a "really?" kind of stare (s+z)

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>40641837
>>Look down at the swords trying to puncture your chest, then up to him, and give him a "really?" kind of stare. (s+z)
then
>Grapple and throw him. (p+d)

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>40641837
>>Look down at the swords trying to puncture your chest, then up to him, and give him a "really?" kind of stare. (s+z)

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>40641837
>>Grapple and throw him. (p+d)

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>40641837
>>Look down at the swords trying to puncture your chest, then up to him, and give him a "really?" kind of stare. (s+z)
then
>Grapple and throw him. (p+d)

Rolled 9 (1d10)

I fucking love our Soak charms.

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>40642094
They're pretty great

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>40642141
Super great. Fantastic investment. I'm really glad I pulled for them so hard back in the day. People were originally really hesitant about getting scene-long soak charms.

You calmly look down at the swords trying to puncture your chest. One is pressing against your sternum, the other right in the middle of your left breast.

Fortunately, the clothing provided to you by Valeriana is sturdier than normal, causing this to just be minor damage at most. And, it is a little painful, but on the same level of getting pricked by a sewing needle.

[s + z = 9 3 8 3 8 7 8 8 4 6 5 9 6 = 7 successes]

You sigh deeply, softly shake your head, and look back up, into the soldier's eyes, or rather, visor, and make your best condescending face.

There's a bit of hesitation in his movements, but he professionally aborts his attack, leap back, then right back in, swinging his dual blades in a well-aimed decapitation strike aimed at your neck from both sides.

You don't move.

A split-second before the attack connects, a thought goes through your brain:

"Man, this is going to look really dumb if for some reason he manages to cut my throat open."

The two blades slam against your neck on both sides with the distinctive sound of metal chipping after a dull impact.

(Alright, it DID hurt, but only a bit)

With an annoyed groan, you react by grabbing the Vodak's right wrist, lifting him up, swinging him around once, twice, and then throwing him into the ocean.

(cont.)

That, plus the scene where Tia cuts one of them in two horizontally just below the shoulders, then jams her free hand inside the still-standing-upright headless, armless torso, pulls out the heart and splats it against her forehead, finally breaks them. Panicking, the Vodaks disperse across the beach in a disordered rout.

"...Even if they could hurt you they'd probably need a greatsword to actually reach all the way to your vitals." Karas grins, clearly deciding that taking a moment to catch his breath and recover more Essence has the priority over chasing the fleeing soldiers.

"Did you see that? Did you see that?" Tia asks hopping excitedly next to you, covered in gore. Which would probably be a weird mix of creepy and cute if she was in human form, but in her warform is just... yeah.

>Wait on the beach for the second wave, then counterattack them. (p+d)
>Hit the enemy already in the beach from behind, rejoin with your forces (p+d)
>Board one of the first wave's ships before it returns to sea, try to take it over by force. (p+d)
>Board one of the first wave's ships before it returns to sea, try to take it over by persuasion. (s+z)
>Take care of the King of Uncloaked Steel, all together. (p+d)
>Try and persuade the King of Uncloaked Steel that he's not in a good spot right now. (s+z)
>Tell Tia to give you a lift to Golden Reach.
>Tell Tia to give you a lift to the Dark Omen.
>Tell Tia to give you a lift to Tianna City.
>(Other?)

(Persuasion is generally harder to pull off than violence, in these cases. For any vote, you can also ask Karas to do something else instead of following you.)

(Also, just to make things clear, current outfit is #11 unless you want to change.)
(And, as a general rule, when you're voting for outfits, please use the format "#00" so I can easily find your vote in a thread)

>>40642376
>Take care of the Uncloaked king

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>40642376
>>Hit the enemy already in the beach from behind, rejoin with your forces (p+d)
Let's try and thin the crowd a bit.

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>40642399
Forgot my dice

>>40642376
>(Also, just to make things clear, current outfit is #11 unless you want to change.)
We changed to #08 before contact with the abyssals, right after Tia banged Maka in the war room.

>>40642376
>Tell Tia to give you a lift to the Dark Omen.
Let's convert Moray.

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>40642376
>Hit the enemy already in the beach from behind, rejoin with your forces (p+d)

>>40642376

>>40642376

>Take care of the King of Uncloaked Steel, all together. (p+d)

Exalted are more of a threat then mortals. As we just proved.

Also if we leave him then it will come to bite us in the ass later.

>>40642463
Oh, I stand corrected then. You guys change clothes so fast that sometimes I can't keep up.

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>40642494
>Hit the enemy already in the beach from behind, rejoin with your forces (p+d)
We can take him after he climbs out, right now our army is taking a hard beating, they're up against a better trained and armed force.

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>40642376
>Take care of the King of Uncloaked Steel, all together. (p+d)

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>40642376
>>Try and persuade the King of Uncloaked Steel that he's not in a good spot right now. (s+z)

>>40642510
Well yeah, that's the idea!

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>40642376
Did our husband just smash a heart on her forehead like a beer can?

Also, just as a sidenote, hi EF <3

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>40642376
Can we see how our forces are doing from here?

>>40642376
How much Burn are we at right now?

>>40642715
No, you'd need a vantage point.

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>40642813
Let's get Tia to take us to the air for a look

Rolled 4 (1d10)

People still watching E3?

>>40642997
Wait, the E3 is now?

>>40643074
Yes.

We will see you later, I guess.

File: abyssal common warstrider.jpg (275 KB, 662x883)

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You give an eye to the mass of crumpled steel under which the King of Uncloaked Steel lies, and then swap glances with Tia and Karas, as you cautiously walk around the crash.

"Is he dead?" You whisper.

"I can hear him breathing." Tia shakes her head. You're not even sure where she has ears in this form, but you'll trust her for now.

"We can't stay here and wait for him to just wake up, but if we try and lift this thing up, we might be caught with our guard down." Karas considers coolly. "We should probably-"

He's interrupted by Tia punching the mass of contorted metal from the top down, making it sink a bit deeper into the sand and putting a fist-shaped dent into the metal.

She punches the mass of metal nine more times, one after another, each time shoving it a bit deeper into the sand, each time hammering a dent into the contorted steel plating, which bends like putty under her fists.

Once she's done, it looks less like a warstrider crash and more like a giant hole in the sand that someone sealed up with a crumpled sheet of tin.

You slowly lower your startled guard, hesitatingly asking. "...is he still breathing?"

Tia puts the side of her head to the ground. "...Can't tell."

"...I think what Maka meant to do was to find a way to get rid of him for good." Karas points out. Now he's a time bomb that can explode at any time, and we just don't know when.

Tia looks at him, then punches the warstrider wreck one more time.

(cont.)

>>40643132
Hell no, EF is much better then E3, it's just rather sad to hve him run his quest during that

>>40643180
>Tia looks at him, then punches the warstrider wreck one more time.

oh Tia, you wild and crazy girl

>>40643182
Man I got a sudden case of feels seeing the rooster teeth live stream...
Good peoplehave been going this year, Monty, Terry Pratchet and now Christopher Lee... goddamn EF, don't you dare dying on me as well

File: Zaan White-Teeth.jpg (241 KB, 553x829)

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Karas groans. "Alright. We'll have to put it off now." He shoulders the daiklave. Let's go and meet up with our guys."

That said, the three of you rush back to your own lines, locked in close combat with the remaining Vodaks in the rubble of your defensive fortifications.

And you make quite an entrance. You all glow like lightshows in the night, so there's not much of a chance of a sneak attack, but the enemy is as engaged as your own troops are, which means they don't have much space of maneuver.

Tia flies into and through the first soldier of the line with a flying kick that literally makes him explode, while Karas deflects a fire blast and spins his blade around as he slithers between their lines, clearly with the priority of rejoining with your own troops.

As for you?

[p + d = 6 3 10 1 6 9 3 6 3 4 * = 3 successes]

You run up to a Vodak who was taking cover from your artillery fire behind a crumbled bit of wall and manage to catch him flat-footed. Without slowing down your rush, you flying-knee him through said wall, which goes up in a shower of shattered bricks.

And then he stands back up. Alright, yeah, these guys are well-armored and you didn't hit him particularly hard.

All around you your own forces cheer and take the cue from your flanking attack to leave cover, rally, and try and push the Vodaks back, dislodging them from the trenches they've nestled up into. You see Zaan shouting directions and making wide gestures before leaping into the fray as well, closely followed by Regis and... that other lunar.

The Vodak you're facing draws his blades and leaps at you, but you parry his first blow by deflecting it with a high kick, and turn aside the second with a back-handed slap of your armored hands, getting into his guard.

>Time to backflip kick him as hard as possible. (p+d)
>Grapple, then chokeslam him into what's left of the wall. (p+d)
>Ignore him, you bought time and that's what you need. Follow Karas' example and reach your own lines. (p+n)

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>40643386
>Ignore him, you bought time and that's what you need. Follow Karas' example and reach your own lines. (p+n)

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>40643386
>>Time to backflip kick him as hard as possible. (p+d)

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>40643386
>Time to backflip kick him as hard as possible. (p+d)

As Stylish as possible.

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>40643386
>Time to backflip kick him as hard as possible. (p+d)
Use that to get to the front
We're at 7 burn right?

>>40643386
>Time to backflip kick him as hard as possible. (p+d)

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>40643386
>>>Time to backflip kick him as hard as possible. (p+d)

>>40643487
Yes.

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>40643386
>Ignore him, you bought time and that's what you need. Follow Karas' example and reach your own lines. (p+n)

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>40643386
Aaaaaaaaawww Regis fights with us
>Upper cut as hard as possible, sent him flying so everyone can see him from afar.

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>40643386
>closely followed by Regis and... that other lunar.
We should at least go meet up with them and check if it is Lynne

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>40643386
>>Time to backflip kick him as hard as possible (p+d)

>>40643426
>>40643441
>>40643482
>>40643487
>>40643507
>>40643512
>>40643521
>>40643529
>>40643531
And that's nine successes. Maka's on a roll

>>40643567
All these successes on a mook.

>>40643567
Well, the Solar steam-tank is rollin'
Somebody got fitting music from YT?

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>40643587
At least it'll look super cool

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>40643386
>>Time to backflip kick him as hard as possible. (p+d)

File: Regis.jpg (304 KB, 850x1198)

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[p + d = 7 9 10 7 6 4 8 10 9 5 = 9 successes]

Just as the Vodak charges at you with swords drawn, you shift your weight and bring your leg all the way up in a rocket kick to his chin.

As it connects, you just let your momentum carry you - and him - upwards. The strike is so forceful that you take both to the air.

You backflip elegantly and land on your feet on top of a small pule of rubble.

He keeps going up, and vanishes in the night sky.

Around you, your troops make short work of the remaining Vodaks, who, under the combined stress of a pincer attack from Exalted on both sides, break and flee, some spreading out sideways, some running back past you and for the beach, under the covering fire of the closest black ships.

You feel a tinge of pride in seeing little Regis, clad in his full suit of Ashigaru armor, sheathe his broad wavecleaver-type daiklave and run up to you, followed by the others. You spot Erman Steelshard as well among them, wounded and with his armor somewhat battered but still standing, together with several of his troops. Behind them, Dragonkaiser, damaged but undefeated, poses triumphantly standing on the wrecks of its felled enemies.

"Maka!" Your warrior butler leaps in a hug, having reached you. "We did it!"

You'd like to share his optimism, but the artillery duel to the north is still ongoing, and you still feel uneasy for that and several other reasons. "We still have a second wave coming for us." You decide to keep his head in the game with the most obvious of them.

(cont.)

>Sit down. Get Zaan to look at your wounds. Time to get all the rest and Essence you can, while you can.
>Rally and reorganize the troops. You need to be ready for the second wave before it hits. (s+z)
>Who the heck is that Lunar? Is it Lynne? Why does he look different?
>You need to check the Dark Omen. The fight is still raging there, and you still don't know the broader strategy of the Slver Prince.
>Get Tia (or another Lunar) to fly you to Tianna City. You have a bad feeling about this.
>Get Zaan (or Aexel) to send a Messenger spell to Amata. You want to know what's going on on the other side of the island.
>Have all the dead on the battlefield gathered in one spot. There's no time for a ceremonious sendoff, but now that you can, you should purify them. [TOUCH OF GENTLE REPOSE]
>(Other?)

>>40643940
>Who the heck is that Lunar? Is it Lynne? Why does he look different?
Is it really Lynne? Let's go check his warform out.

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>40643940
>>Rally and reorganize the troops. You need to be ready for the second wave before it hits. (s+z)

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>40643940
>>Rally and reorganize the troops. You need to be ready for the second wave before it hits (s+z)
>Have all the dead on the battlefield gathered in one spot. There's no time for a ceremonious sendoff, but now that you can, you should purify them. [TOUCH OF GENTLE REPOSE]

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>40643940
>>Have all the dead on the battlefield gathered in one spot. There's no time for a ceremonious sendoff, but now that you can, you should purify them. [TOUCH OF GENTLE REPOSE]
>Rally and reorganize the troops. You need to be ready for the second wave before it hits. (s+z)
We don't need any zombies, just in case.

>>40643940
>MAKA: Who the heck is that Lunar? Is it Lynne? Why does he look different?
>KARAS: Rally and reorganize the troops. You need to be ready for the second wave before it hits. (s+z)
>TIA: >Have all the dead on the battlefield gathered in one spot. There's no time for a ceremonious sendoff, but now that you can, you should purify them. [TOUCH OF GENTLE REPOSE]

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>40643940
>Rally and reorganize the troops. You need to be ready for the second wave before it hits. (s+z)

>>40643894
>>40643983
Second. Have one squad gather the dead while we restructure our troops

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>40644011
Forgot dice

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>40643992
I don't mind splitting up the work, but I'd rather Maka do the organizing since it's a s+z roll

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>40643940
>>>Have all the dead on the battlefield gathered in one spot. There's no time for a ceremonious sendoff, but now that you can, you should purify them. [TOUCH OF GENTLE REPOSE]
>>Rally and reorganize the troops. You need to be ready for the second wave before it hits. (s+z)

>>40644035
No war roll?

>>40643940
>>You need to check the Dark Omen. The fight is still raging there, and you still don't know the broader strategy of the Slver Prince.

>>40643940
>>You need to check the Dark Omen. The fight is still raging there, and you still don't know the broader strategy of the Slver Prince.
>>Get Zaan (or Aexel) to send a Messenger spell to Amata. You want to know what's going on on the other side of the island.

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>40643940
>>Have all the dead on the battlefield gathered in one spot. There's no time for a ceremonious sendoff, but now that you can, you should purify them. [TOUCH OF GENTLE REPOSE]
>Rally and reorganize the troops. You need to be ready for the second wave before it hits (s+z)

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>40644045
It's says Social/Zenith

>>40644061
I definitely want to see if we can shoot off a message though, I kind of want to head off to the Dark Omen after we've set things up here, leave it to the large group of Exalts here. Plus Moray might know where Silver prince is.

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>40643940
>>40643983
>>40643987
>>40644011
>>40644042
>>40644066
we dun need no stinkin zambamboes

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>40644061
I'll second a message from anyone

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>40643940
dice

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>40643940
>>Rally and reorganize the troops. You need to be ready for the second wave before it hits (s+z)
>Have all the dead on the battlefield gathered in one spot. There's no time for a ceremonious sendoff, but now that you can, you should purify them. [TOUCH OF GENTLE REPOSE]

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>40643940
>>Rally and reorganize the troops. You need to be ready for the second wave before it hits. (s+z)
And have Tia gather the dead so we can Gentle Repose them.

Do we still have IPS up?
If not let's leave it off but cast it from burn for the roll

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>40643894

>You need to check the Dark Omen. The fight is still raging there, and you still don't know the broader strategy of the Slver Prince.


>Get Zaan (or Aexel) to send a Messenger spell to Amata. You want to know what's going on on the other side of the island.

>Rally and reorganize the troops. You need to be ready for the second wave before it hits. (s+z)

>>40644156
I think we do, EF still listed it as an active effect

>>40643967
>>40643983
>>40643987
>>40643997
>>40644030
>>40644035
>>40644042
>>40644066
>>40644088
>>40644090
>>40644107
>>40644125
Seven successes, above average.

>>40644088
That's rather... senseless
Social, I can accept, but Zenith... meh

>>40643894
>broad wavecleaver-type daiklave
Which ones are those?

File: Admiral Rajan Hazaakaa.jpg (263 KB, 850x944)

263 KB JPG

[s + z = 7 2 3 9 5 4 10 2 3 9 9 9 3 = 7 successes]

You don't waste time and immediately move about the battlefield, with Karas' help, rallying the scattered pickets of troops that survived the first contact with the enemy and rallying them back into a coherent fighting force. But, most importantly, to raise their morale, let them know that they haven't been abandoned or forgotten.

The experience is a rather sombering one. Of the more than 2500 soldiers you had at the start of the battle, only about 1500 are left: a messy mix of conscripts and volunteers, mercenaries, pirates, barbarians, and regular soldiers and engineers. You have them try their best to gather around more dead than you'd like to count in a large crater by the entrance to Golden Reach.

The dead pile up until they fill the hole, and then some. As you touch the pile, and see it beginning to smolder with a heatless white fire as the flesh and bones vanish into dust and smoke, you only feel a bit of relief.

As the Dragonkaiser lies slumping in a corner, back to the walls, as Irene and Aexel do some emergency repairs, you see Rajan emerge from it and hobble over to you. He's still covered in bandages.

"Aye, nice fighting there Maka. We showed them, sure as balls." He hisses, handing you a bottle of rum. One he was certainly keeping with him in the cockpit. "Didn't have time to have a chat with you since the Lintha, sorry."

"...It's alright." You try and give him the attention he's asking, despite your mind being filled with doubts and worries coming from all directions.

"Bit silly, don't you think?" He points the half-empty bottle towards the sea, with a sloshing sound, and in doing so only managed to add to that weight on your heart and mind.

"What is?" You ask, afraid you already know the answer.

(cont.)

>>40644544
40% casualties, sheesh this was a bloody fight.

>>40644544
>sure as balls
>Lintha
I still feel really bad about Rajan being castrated.

>>40644544
Maka gives a lot to her people. Sometimes too much, but all the same. It's sad to see her so tired and we've only been fighting for a few hours

>>40644714
He was castrated? What?

>>40644727
And it's only going to get worse anon, there's the other half of the fleet going after the omen plus that mystery ship by Tianna.

Plus the other two that are unaccounted for.

>>40644727
>Sometimes too much, but all the same
She's a queen, that's pretty much her job, giving her people everything she can and then more.

He takes a sip. "Both you and Karas have some keen sense for strategy. Dunno if it's the family or school or the Essence swirlin' in yer heads. But you don't have much experience in naval warfare yet, so I thought I'd point something out."

You snatch the bottle from his hands and glance warily at your troops, seeing them hastily filling craters, straightening trenches, driving wood poles in the ground where they need reinforcing, and either removing or exploiting rubble and wrecks for defensive effect.

Up north, the lightshow has stopped. You can't see anything anymore.

"Why are they not attacking immediately with the second wave?" You ask out loud your inner doubt. They're giving you time to rest and reinforce your defenses and rally your scattered forces. Why?

At sea, the ships are still approaching, but aren't firing. Your own artillery is, but the fog seems to have gotten thicker, and you don't seem to be scoring any hits. Hardly a surprise, however.

He shakes his head, however. Looks like your doubt wasn't the right one. "Why have a second wave at all? Pearl has a long coastline. Nothing prevented them from landing their entire force at once. Why land in two groups?"

"Yeah." Karas, having just finished giving directions to a work crew, walks up to you, apparently after overhearing part of your discussion. "Thinking about it, it sounds like a really silly mistake. I mean, I'd buy it if for some reason - command reason, logistics reason, whatever - they HAD to do it, but their forces are otherwise a perfectly well oiled machine. I don't really see why they SHOULD split their forces in two different attacks on this front." And he helpfully points north. "They didn't do that against the Dark Omen, did you notice? No second wave, just one single attack. And it seemed a lot more intense than the one they launched here. Maybe the equivalent of our two waves, but all striking at once."

"What do you think?" You ask both of them.

(cont.)

>>40644769
Trying to buy time?

Splitting up into two waves would mean we'd have to stick around until they were all through, attacking at once would have hit us harder, but we also could have finished up faster had we won.

Tyrant is dead again, fuck. Tianna has been infiltrated by the single ship that has the Prince and he conquered the place. We have failed, Senpai-sun won't notice us anymore.

>>40644836
It's possible they don't HAVE a second wave. They might have loaded up their landing ships with the combat troops and warstriders from the rest of the fleet.

I mean EF described only a half dozen ships hitting the shore and unloading that force, (unless the others followed later) and they had eight warstriders plus x hundred mortal soldiers and press ganged sailors.

>>40644839
>>40644921
I really want to head over to Tianna, we can have Tia take us or go by Swift Rider, it wouldn't take too long with the road in place.

>>40644744
Yeah. That's why he's constantly talking about testicles and has the most raging hate-boner for the Lintha imaginable, following his original, pre-start-of-the-game face-off with the Lintha. They cut his balls off - which is bad enough for a normal man, but for one of the Dragon-blooded?

Fuck. Makes me shiver just thinking about it. We should see if anyone knows Celestial Medicine charms for healing Crippling effects.

>>40644744
>>40644974
To be clear, it hasn't been outright said in the quest, but it's something the players put together.

Karas mumbles. "...I'd narrow that down to three scenarios."
He starts counting on his fingers.
"A, they can't because of some problem or delay with the line of command we know nothing of. In which case, we're just very lucky. Maybe they've been hit by a setback, or sabotaged by a third party. That Wolf guy Lynne mentioned comes to mind."
"B, they're purposefully holding back their forces because they're waiting for some other event to happen. Maybe they also got some saboteurs on shore with the first wave, maybe even Exalted ones, and they're waiting for a signal. And something terrible's going to happen to us any minute now."
"And C, those ships are a feint and they don't intend to attack us. They're going to change course at the last second and instead land at the Black Omen for a coup de grace, maybe landing just a small force here, enough to keep us busy and prevent us from coming to Tyrant's help. After all, Pearl isn't one of their main objectives, right?"

All of these make a scary amount of sense.

You turn to Rajaan and wait for his opinion.

He empties the bottle. "I ain't got no clue except for what my eye tells me, lass, and what I see is that those ships are slow, hidden in fog, and not firing at us even though we're in range. That's fact, the rest's wanking." The nods at Karas. "No dishrespect meant."

"None taken." He replies, more or less instinctively, clearly taken aback by his piece.

What to do?

(cont.)

>There's got to be a reason behind this. Think, Maka. Think. Maybe you can find the truth. (m+d)
>Let's assume Scenario A. Let's fortify, buckle down, and wait for the second wave.
>Let's assume Scenario B. Double patrols everywhere. Get the Dragon-Blooded out of the Dragonkaiser and on the lookout. Warn Zareen, Five Tails and Radiant Starfall. They're not going to catch us by surprise.
>Let's assume Scenario C. Keep just the Engineers and Steelshard's company here, they're the most suited to defensive warfare. Prepare everyone else for a raid on the other side of the river up north.
>Best to act late than to act wrong. Send a scout north, send a message to Amata, try and gather all the intel possible before deciding. Even though that might waste time you might not have...
>Delegate command to Karas. You trust him to know what to do best. Call yourself out of this.
>Delegate command to Rajan. You trust him to know what to do best. Call yourself out of this.
>(Other?)

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>40645052
>There's got to be a reason behind this. Think, Maka. Think. Maybe you can find the truth. (m+d)

rollin

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>40645052
>There's got to be a reason behind this. Think, Maka. Think. Maybe you can find the truth. (m+d)

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>40645052
>>There's got to be a reason behind this. Think, Maka. Think. Maybe you can find the truth. (m+d)
Let's see what the dice say

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>40645052
>>There's got to be a reason behind this. Think, Maka. Think. Maybe you can find the truth. (m+d)

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>40645052
>There's got to be a reason behind this. Think, Maka. Think. Maybe you can find the truth. (m+d)
Do we have any War charms that help with this? If so, use them. This is a possible turning point.

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>40645052
>>There's got to be a reason behind this. Think, Maka. Think. Maybe you can find the truth. (m+d)
What else do we know, Silver Prince is after the Titan, we haven't had any word from Flow and the water court, Flame hasn't made an appearance yet, and we had two missing boats I believe.

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>40645087
We have HEP which is active at the moment

>>40645052
>>40645087
Would HEP help? We got 2 B essence to burn.

>>40645052
>(Other?)
Can we have Karas and/or Tia throw a rock at the ships? I just don't think they're even real. That would explain why they aren't shooting despite being in range.

>>40645119
HEP is committed already, burning for it won't do anything.

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>40645119
It's on and it should be relevant

>>40645052
>Delegate command to Karas. You trust him to know what to do best. Call yourself out of this.

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>40645052
>There's got to be a reason behind this. Think, Maka. Think. Maybe you can find the truth. (m+d)

Time for an old saying I really love: act wisely, but act.

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>40645052

>>40645052
>Let's assume Scenario C. Keep just the Engineers and Steelshard's company here, they're the most suited to defensive warfare. Prepare everyone else for a raid on the other side of the river up north.
At least try to contact the Tyrant and Amata.

>>40645177
>>40645096
>>40645065
>>40645059
I count 4 successes on 9 rolls.

>>40645231
Slightly below average. Still good.

>>40645249
Isn't difficulty 5 usually really hard to do in Exalted? If we got 4 we might have a good chance or something...

>>40645267
Yeah, normally a single success is enough to succeed at most things, unless you're rolling against another exalt or a particularly competent heroic mortal. Once you're in the 3+ range, you're doing solid.

>>40645298
Yeah, thank you for clearing that up, I'm still an exalted noob... I'm learning though!

>>40645312
Nah, it's fine. Basically, Difficulty 1 is something that a not-incompetent person (2 in an Attribute or 1/1 in an Attribute/Skill pair) has only a 50% chance at succeeding at. Difficulty 5 is something that only an exalted master (someone with 5/5 - like we do with Social/Zenith) has even a 50% chance of succeeding at.

So, Difficulty 3 is something reasonably challenging for an exalt in their secondary focus. It's the standard difficulty for exalt-level challenges - where an expert will blow it out of the water, someone who has it as their secondary focus will find it challenging, and someone not focused in it will find it all but impossible.

Difficulty 6+ is rare, terrifying, and 'oh shit, we should run' territory, generally speaking. Enemy Castigating Solar Judgement can push us into that territory, but only when we're going up against Creatures of Darkness. As much as social shit is Maka's focus, redeeming/killing Creatures of Darkness is what she's truly best at - to a wild, mind-boggling degree.

>>40645298
Once you're going up against demons of second and third circle, magitechnological weapons from the first age and abominations even older then that, you get a good perspective how far mortals are behind...

[m + d = 9 5 7 1 5 9 1 1 7 = 4 successes]

You stop and think, as the ships draw nearer and nearer.

It's not like you don't trust your brother, but he can be a bit of a blockhead sometimes. He's got good sense for warfare, especially after Exalting, but he didn't have even the bit of formal education that you had, and... yes, Rajan is right, he thinks in terms of land-based strategy, and without accounting much for the use of magic despite being... well, and Exalted.

You turn around, and meet Rajan's eyes, or, well, eye. He's looking at you expectantly.

Did he figure something out? Does he want YOU to figure it out? Or is he just waiting for an order?

Somehow, he has a fresh new bottle of rum in hand. He pops it open and downs a first gulp.

"...You know, if I were the Silver Prince... based on what I know, I wouldn't have even attacked Pearl in the first place." You realize.

He nods.

"Why not?" Karas wonders, sounding shocked. "It's an important strongpoint in the island's defenses. If you try to conquer the island without taking it out, you're exposing yourself to all sort of counterattacks-" He stops when he realizes.

Rajan nods. "That line of reasonin' makes sense if you want to conquer the island with an occupation army, but he doesn't have the manpower, nor the intention."

"Pearl has only another value to him, then. It's close to the Dark Omen. Part of the same defensive line. And his main aim is to take out Tyrant."

No. His main aims are Tyrant, and the Titan.

And then the coin drops.

You stand up. "Karas." You ask him. "Why wouldn't you shot at an enemy even though he's well in range?"

"Short of ammo and not sure I can hit him?"

"You've got plenty of ammo and he's a big target."

"Sneak attack and I want to be sure to hit him?"

"He's already alert."

"Then I have no idea." He shakes his head.

"Because you don't exist."

He stands up. "What?" He asks, confused.
Meanwhile Rajan claps his hands and starts giggling to himself.

(cont.)

>>40645423
The fact that two dice is your average mortal measure for 'not incompetent, but not exceptional' should give you an idea of what the 'basic' difficulty of 1 actually means. Difficulty 1 actions - the easiest actions that still even require rolling - are so hard that your average mortal succeeds at them less than 50% of the time.

>>40645478
Yeah and now put that in perspective o Ligier, who gets, what, 22 dice t killing you? Or a Thousand-forged dragon, so damn hard armored, you need, iirc, 15 successes to get through the armor in the first place
yeah and the normal mortal has perhaps 2, maybe, if he's good, 3 dice. that perspective is just plain humbling and amazing.

>>40645454
Yooo, another fucking illusion?

You stand up as well. "Rajan, get your team back into the Dragonkaiser. You got a way to move fast that isn't to leg it?"

"Irene and I have a device just for that." He grins and runs towards the parked Warstrider.

"Would you explain?" Karas now sounds really confused.

"First attack was to get us to keep our heads down. To get us to hunker down and wait the second wave." You explain, running up to Tia. Essence Artillery shots light up the fog around them with dissipating light, and it's hard to see exactly where the shot lands. But...

"So what?" He asks back.

"Tia, grab a rock or something and try and hit a ship." You tell the Lunar. She leaps up, eagerly, and rushes to rip a bit of fallen Warstrider off.

She flings the three-meter-wide slab of steel like a frisbee, and you see it cut through the fog and the darkness, and pass clean through the first ship of the formation.

"What the hell."

"There's no second wave." You slap a hand on your forehead. "They got us to dig in and wait an attack that's never coming. It's all just shadows and ghosts, fog and illusions. There are no ships out there anymore."

"S-So where are they hitting? Tianna? Or the Omen?"

You bite your lower lip almost to the point of spilling blood, rummaging through your mind for an answer.

>Tianna City.
>The Dark Omen.
>We'll find out. Let's split up.
>I... I don't know.

>>40645611
>We'll find out. Let's split up.

>>40645611
>The Dark Omen.
>Let's contact Amata nontheless.

>>40645611
>Tianna
Their attack on the Omen has ended, they went full force against the Tyrant and there is no more sign of battles from the Dark Omen's direction.

On the other side, literally, Tianna spotted a single ship shrouded in fog, just waiting for something. I'm betting it's another illusion and the rest of the fleet is there.

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>40645611
>We'll find out. Let's spilt up

>>40645611
>The Dark Omen.

I'll bet the prince wants to cut the Tyrant with his sword and make her serve him.

Then he can order her to tell him the titan's command codes.

File: 1429981602643.jpg (83 KB, 309x300)

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>>40645132
>>40645454

>>40645611
>Tianna City.

Well, personally I think that splitting up is a pretty stupid idea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUMCIn2swTU

>>40645611
>>Tianna City.
The Omen is too close for this kind of tactic to be effective, get everyone ready to go and Maka and Tia will go check on The Tyrant just in case since together were fast.

>>40645594
>>40645478
To put it into further perspective, here's the actual chart from 3e:
>As great heroes, Exalted characters are assumed to possess abundant confidence and competence. Tasks which run-of-the-mill individuals in Creation would consider challenging (such as picking a lock or removing a patient’s appendix without killing him) are ordinary fare for heroes. Such tasks are appropriate for difficulty 1.
>Performing challenging tasks under significant duress (such as picking a lock or removing an appendix in the dead of night, without sufficient light, in the midst of a howling storm) is appropriate for difficulty 2.
>Tasks which might daunt even heroes, by contrast, are appropriate for difficulty 3. Examples might include plucking a gem from a nest of writhing serpents without being bitten, or breaking a man-eating horse born in the depths of the Wyld so it accepts the hero as its rider.
>Performing such tasks under significant duress (such as plucking the aforementioned gem while the temple collapses around the intrepid thief, or breaking the man-eating horse in the midst of a raging forest fire) are appropriate for difficulty 4.
>Near-impossible feats, even by heroic standards, are appropriate for difficulty 5. Examples might include reading a letter in pitch blackness by feeling the texture of ink on the paper, leaping over the rail of a sorcerer’s flying chariot to land safely in a hay cart hundreds of feet below, or running for three consecutive days and nights without succumbing to exhaustion.

That's right, reading a print book by touch is Difficulty 5, stealing a gem from a pit of vipers without being bit as the temple you're in is collapsing around you is Difficulty 4, removing someone's appendix in pitch black during a storm is Difficulty 2, and outpatient surgery is merely Difficulty 1.

>>40645454
IT'S HIM. HE'S THE SIDEREAL.

RAJAN IS THE SIDEREAL

IT EXPLAINS WHY THE OCEAN FATHER COULDN'T FIND HIM

IT EXPLAINS WHY HE CAME BACK ALIVE

HE IS CURRENTLY ACTING AS AN INFURIATINGLY OBTUSE ADVISOR IN THE WAY ONLY SIDEREALS CAN

HAPPENING!

>>40645757
No he's definitely a DB.

Of course his absence and being impossible to find in the ocean by Father Ocean means he's probably had a meet and greet with a bureau of destiny goombah.

>>40645757
Ooooor a Sidereal has disguised as Rajan. Whih is basically the same

>>40645696

4 successes weren't enough to figure that out, I had decided that it was going to be a difficulty 5 roll. But since one of the players had that doubt intependently, I decided it was fair to lower difficulty by 1 because that's what I usually do in tabletop: when my players, while brainstorming theories, mention the correct one, even if they don't decide to go with that I still give them a bonus because they thought about it on their own.

Incidentally Karas failed that roll spectacularly while Rajan aced it, so even if Maka didn't figure that out independently Rajan would have reached that conclusion. It would've just taken longer, leaving you with less time to act on it.

Just a bit of "under the hood" for the system I guess, this case was interesting enough to explain.

>>40645818
That seems like a pretty fair system.

>>40645611
>>We'll find out. Let's split up.

>>40645793
>Of course his absence and being impossible to find in the ocean by Father Ocean means he's probably had a meet and greet with a bureau of destiny goombah.
I hope he didn't get thrown through a wall. He's only one day from retirement.

File: 126546315.gif (801 KB, 245x254)

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>>40645818
I concur with >>40645835

>>40645757
That's bullshit, but I can believe it.

>>40645846
Eh it's more like Rajan was the street hustler that the buddy cop sidereal duo corner for information.

>>40645715
Now I still want an analogy to being hit by a brass Daiklave with 11 successes

>>40645818

EF, can we have Tia and us fly high enough to see the Omen?

If it's too dark, would Pearl's artillery provide enough light?

I think there is a substantial ammount of forces at the Omen, but that the Prince is trying to force the Titan open at Tianna

>>40645818
Great job anon

>>40645611
>We'll find out. Let's split up.
I do think he's heading for Tianna, but I want Maka and Tia to head to the Tyrant to tell her about it just in case.

Plus I don't want her thinking we abandoned her if I am wrong.

>>40645892
>Now I still want an analogy to being hit by a brass Daiklave with 11 successes
That's getting hit with an attack that makes sky diving out of a flying chariot into a hay cart 100 feet below look like a frankly trivial trifle of a thing.

That should also put our ECSJ social attacks into new perspective for you.

>>40645892
Or being shouted at with 22 successes

>>40645889
>that the buddy cop sidereal duo
I really want to see that duo appear. That writefag's shit was golden. Rookie Sidereal and his veteran-but-too-old-for-this-shit godly partner is golden.

Seriously, Gold Faction. Or Pearl Faction.

>>40645897

Yeah. Beside, we could use the Omen to fly to Tianna. This would bring a lot of firepower to the table.

>>40645915
22 fucking successes. That's like convincing an Immaculate monk
Solars aren't too bad using only hand gestures while soaked in mortal blood.

>>40645956
Yeah, the Omen can fly can't it.

>>40645611
>The Dark Omen.

>>40645997

Yup, it can.

Maka should check on the Omen, and if everything is ok we use it to go help Tianna

>>40645611
>Tianna City.

That one ship is an illusion, I guarantee you. Silver Prince is going after Tianna because Tyrant went there and tried to secure, and why there were so many ghostly spies concentrated in Tianna; he believes the entrance is there

File: Aexel Asteras.jpg (695 KB, 688x900)

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"...It could be the Omen, or Tianna. Both are the Prince's main objective." You reply.

"...Why Tianna City?"

"...Look, I and Amata will explain later. For now... for now assume that Tianna City is the Prince's main objective on par with the Tyrant herself."

He frowns, but takes your words at face value. "Alright. What do we do?"

"We split up. We need to make sure he doesn't get even one of those two objectives." You stare north, into the darkness. "...Why doesn't anyone send sorcerous messages."

"...I might have an answer to that question." Aexel replies, walking up to you. "I just independently tried to contact Queen Amata. I'm sorry if I did so without your permission, but her prolonged silence had worried me too much."

"Think nothing of it." You reassure him. "And? What?"

He shakes his head. "Nothing."

Your heart sinks. "...Is she dead?"

"I don't know. The spell worked, but the cherub spirit didn't find her. She could be dead, not in Creation anymore, or under sorcerous jamming."

"That's a thing that can happen?" You wonder.

"In theory, yes. I've never seen it done, but it can be. Assuming a powerful enough sorceror." He nods.

"Did you try contacting the Tyrant?"

"No. Should I?"

>Yes. Do it.
>No, she's close enough. Save your Essence. I'll send a lunar flyer to check. (Tia/Zaan/TLynne?) (Alone/I'll go with them)
>No time for that. Let's move. (Which Exalted goes where? How do you split the group?)

>>40645611
>Tianna City.

>>40646164
>>Yes. Do it.

>>40646164
>>Yes. Do it.

>>40645611
>Tianna City.

>>40646164
>>Yes. Do it.

>>40646164
I can feel my heart and eyes preparing themselves for sad.

>>40646164
>>Yes. Do it.

>>40646164
>Yes. Do it.

>>40646164
>Do a flying visit to Flame then on to Tianna City.

>>40646164
It could be that Amata is in the Tyrant, given the entrance was hidden and even Smoke didn't know it existed, meaning possible warding

>>40646164
You okay EF?
getting kinda late.

>>40646384
Smoke didn't know.

The Flame that Marched Against the Sea knows.

"Yes, please. Do it immediately." You urge him.

He nods and lifts a hand, palm downwards, closing his eyes, as wisps of icy essence gather around him.

A cold wind blows in a vortex, rustling and whipping around hair but not clothes as the glow of magic gathers around you, forming a circle of mystical letters by his feet, each appearing one after another for every syllable he pronounces in Old Realm.

At the end of his chant, he turns the hand palm-up, and the gathering Essence forms into a small cherub spirit standing on it. It looks vaguely cute in a anthropomorphic lizard-y sort of way, with oversized, multicolored wings flapping in the air, looking up to you and him with crystal eyes.

"Find the Deathlord that calls herself the Tyrant of the Doomsday Machine." Aexel orders the small spirit, thankfully in Seatongue now. "Tell her these words." and then hands the small spirit to you.

"How much can I talk?" You whisper to Aexel.

"Don't make it too long." He whispers back.

"Any chance they can intercept it?"

"They might be able to block it, but nobody save for the intended recipient can hear the message."

You inhale, and then speak to the little lizard cherub. "We repelled the attack on Pearl. Thy're trying to keep us dug in here for some reason, but we figured out their plan. The Prince's main force aims at either you or Tianna City. What's the situation over there?"

The cherub nods and vanishes in a puff of smoke.

(cont.)

>>40646384
Wow, how did Amata get herself in the Tyrant? Dem lewd exalted charms, man.

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You wait in silence for one minute.

Then, the small spirit reappears.

"The Dark Omen was hit hard." It begins, in Tyrant's voice. It sounds so odd, to hear it coming from something so small and weirdly cute. "Moray Darktide was especially hard to defeat. I managed to push him back, but lost nearly all of my troops in the process, and was left just with a few, plus my Exalted. He's the only Exalted who attacked my underlings. But I too believe that the attack on the Dark Omen was merely meant as a diversion. Now my airship is damaged and cannot take to the skies. Fortunately, I still have most of my Essence, as the fight was mostly sustained by my Exalted. Therefore, I have resolved to move to Tianna."

"You WHAT?!" You suddenly scream at the cherub, startling it.

"She can't answer, lady Maka! It's a pre-recorded message!" Aexel tries to calm you down.

"It is clear that the Tyrant is targeting the Titan even above myself, and with good reason. Once obtained its power, dealing with me would be much easier for him. Therefore, I have taken a decision. I will take control of the Titan before he can, and proceed with my original plan unless the situation changes."

"YOU WHAT?!" You scream again.

"Lady Maka! Please! Let him finish!"

"If I can control the Titan once again, then depending on how many shots can the Light of Judgement therein still fire, I might make my first target the Skullstone Archipelago. But if only one shot remains, then I will find a way to drop the Flame that Marched Against the Sea into the Underworld, if possible, and fire that only shot down the maw of Oblivion. Hopefully ridding the universe of the Neverborn forever."

You open and close your mouth, but no more sounds come out of it. You can just listen to the end of the message.

"I'm sorry if you believed in me. You were wrong. I'm a creature of darkness now, and true redemption is beyond my grasp forever. But I cannot give up on my plan. The Neverborn must die again."

[SESSION END]

>>40646711

I'm pretty sure "give me some sugar" works on anyone remotely related to Maka

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Base: +2 XP
Creation Musou: +1 XP

12 XP

Charms coming up.

>>40646767
Dammit Tyrant, now we have to talk since sense into you again?

Thanks for the thread EF

>>40646767
SHE WHAT

File: shock_n_horror.gif (1.01 MB, 256x192)

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>>40646767

>I'm sorry if you believed in me. You were wrong. I'm a creature of darkness now, and true redemption is beyond my grasp forever

Too trusting

We were too trusting man.

Now we have to kill two deathlords

>>40646841
I can't believe I watched the entire gif.
>>40646805
Amata has some perfect social attacks.

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>>40646767
>I'm sorry if you believed in me. You were wrong.

>>40646767

ouch the bitch

Sorry, Tyrant, but redemption is not optional. You're gonna get it.

AFTER WE KICK YOUR SORRY ASS

>>40646841
I disagree, I still think she can be saved. I just don't think it'll be easy with one or two social rolls.

>>40646841
We just have to make her see reason again.

Well if we can stop Silver Prince then she won't have a reason to take the Titan again.

>>40646894
Come on tyrant, let's see you grit those teeth!

SHOCKWAVE FIST TECHNIQUE: (1B) An unarmed attack can be carried out at a range of [Phys+Dawn]x10 meters.
REGIMENT-SLAYING STRIKE: (3B) Allows you to attack an entire crowd, mob or military unit with one attack.
ROUT-STEMMING GESTURE: (2B) one unit (that can perceive you or a signal from you) that is wavering, breaking or routing on the battlefield is immediately rallied.

HEART-COMPELLING METHOD: (upgrades Inspired Performance Style: on top of its effect, all social attacks have 1 automatic success).
SUN-KING RADIANCE (Perm.) Anyone loyal to you uses your mental defense rather than their own, if your score is higher.
PHANTOM-CONJURING PERFORMANCE: (Perm.) can fashion phantasmagorical images and sounds from your own Anima.
FINAL RAY OF LIGHT (Special) Automatically activates when at 0 Health, and receiving a lethal coup de grace. Immediately restores you back to full Essence and full health. Can only be used once.
PHANTOM-CONJURING PERFORMANCE: (Perm.) can fashion phantasmagorical images and sounds from your own Anima.

BRILLIANT MANDALA COMPREHENSION: (1C) +3d to occult rolls for the scene (2B): +3d to one occult roll.
STANCE OF THE MAGISTRATE: (1C) +3d to investigation rolls for the scene (2B): +3d to one investigation roll.

CLEAR SENSE LIGHT: (1C) +3d to awareness rolls for the scene (2B): +3d to one awareness roll.
CELESTIAL MIGHT: (1C) +3d to athletics rolls for the scene (2B): +3d to one athletics roll.

SEA WOLF STYLE: (1C) +3d to sailing rolls for the scene (2B): +3d to one sailing roll.
SAGACIOUS READING OF INTENT: (2B) You select a statement you either heard or read, and can discern the true reason that caused its author to utter or write it, and what he intends to gain from it.

>>40646894
>>40646841
So she backslides, and now you're all ready to kill here? Did you think her redemption was going to be easy, with a few choice words? C'mon guys, chill

>>40646841
the moral of today's story is all fucking zenith must fucking hang

seriously it saves you a lot of time in the long run

>>40646920
Final Ray of Light

Heroes never die Tyrant, well show you.

I'll go to bed now (got a long and busy day tomorrow starting early morning), but you feel free to use up the rest of the thread to vote and discuss. I'll try and pop in if it's still alive tomorrow.

For anything else, there's my ask.fm or my twitter!

Thank you, and see you.

>>40646920
How much were ability increases again?

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>>40646767
Kill her. A lot.

>>40646920

Can we spent XPs and says Maka is so pissed off she just tears a straight line from where she is to where she must be ?

>>40646920
Final Ray of Light

>>40646955
Night EF.

Thanks for the thread.

>>40646935

What.

I'm not saying we kill her. I'm saying we pummel her into the ground to stop her from doing something stupid.

Again.

>>40646920

>FINAL RAY OF LIGHT (Special) Automatically activates when at 0 Health, and receiving a lethal coup de grace. Immediately restores you back to full Essence and full health. Can only be used once.

I think we will need this soon.
We have taken a beating and its not likely we will be able to rest up.

>>40646961
No. That's stupid. I don't like that she betrayed us, but we knew full well that Tyrant's redemption was shaky. If we try to kill her after all our talk, any amount of talking sense to her will be worthless.

>>40646935
Yes. Give the first age socialbeast who only still exists because her desires had consumed her to an extent she was willing to murder creation in order to sate them another chance to explain how she deserves your mercy.

I assure you, you will find her reasons most believable. You might even invite her into your deepest confidence, where she can do the most good for your cause possible at a critical moment.

Again

>>40646920
>FINAL RAY OF LIGHT (Special) Automatically activates when at 0 Health, and receiving a lethal coup de grace. Immediately restores you back to full Essence and full health. Can only be used once.

>>40646960
3x our current score
9 for Dawn
6 for everything else.

>>40646967
>Can we spent XPs and says Maka is so pissed off she just tears a straight line from where she is to where she must be ?

Ahah. Oh wow.

...I'd allow that. Sure, why not, sounds fun.
3 XP and Maka gets "where she must be" instantly.

>>40646960
Abilities cost [current score x3] xp, except Zenith costing [(current score x3) -1].

>>40646960
Never mind, looked up the last thread

>>40646920
Twilight 3
Eclipse 3

>>40647010

I agree with that.

We still have to kick her ass, though. Or at least give her the verbal smackdown to end all verbal smackdown.

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>>40647010
You're stupid. Your trust is misplaced, imbecile.

Also, she hates betrayal yet is the first one to betray us! That fucking hypocrite will get what's coming for her!

>>40647030
Whatever her social chops were we slammed her with over 20 successes on each social attack.

Plus it's what the UCS would do.

>>40647030
Because she isn't trying to kill Creation, she wants to take the piss out of the Neverborn. I don't blame her for that. She was clear with her motives and intentions from the start. Quite frankly, yes I want to help her because I still think there's some small amount of good in her worth fostering.

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>>40647063
Conky would just kill her ass outright. Stop being so fucking gullible, anons!

>>40647036
>3 XP and Maka gets "where she must be" instantly.

Well, it's tempting.

Do you guys see any reason to not do that?

>>40646920
>FINAL RAY OF LIGHT (Special) Automatically activates when at 0 Health, and receiving a lethal coup de grace. Immediately restores you back to full Essence and full health. Can only be used once.
>>40647036
>3 XP and Maka gets "where she must be" instantly.
I'll take one of those too!

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Uh, isn't that something? Well. Here, have a Maka wearing one of her outfits and sporting a reverse-tan.

>>40647086
Big Kahuna is a being of perfect compassion anon.

In the face of an apparently sincere desire to reform he'd help her.

>>40647084
No. There is not.

She has to be put down.

>>40647010
Roll the dice against someone whose will reigned supreme over an empire of those who made Maka look like a child asking for another dessert. Please. Test yourself against yourself only incalculably older, more skilled, and cruel.

After all, being 0 for 1 against her attempts to persuade you isn't that bad a record, am I right?

>>40647090
Nope, we can get it and even afford to get Final Ray of Light

>>40647058
What trust? Did I say we should trust the Tyrant? Fuck no, I said we shouldn't try to kill and we should still try to redeem her. None of that has to mean we invite her into close confidence, you mongoloid

>>40647090
Let's use the XP in something more permanent than a momentary cheat code.

>>40647109
But she isn't sincere! She's a fucking hypocrite who'll stab you in the back at a whim, just like now.

She needs to be killed, I want her head on a pike!

>>40647124
>inb4 she betrays us again

>>40646920
>>40647036
>FINAL RAY OF LIGHT (Special) Automatically activates when at 0 Health, and receiving a lethal coup de grace. Immediately restores you back to full Essence and full health. Can only be used once.
>3 XP and Maka gets "where she must be" instantly.
These please.

>>40647090
>Do you guys see any reason to not do that?
It's 3 xp we could spend on something permanent?

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>>40647110
You have no evidence to back up that there's no empathy or altruism left in her. The fact that she even listened to us at all, tried to not out and out kill us and try to claim Tianna without causing a bunch of collateral damage says otherwise. Now kindly fuck off

>>40646920
>FINAL RAY OF LIGHT (Special) Automatically activates when at 0 Health, and receiving a lethal coup de grace. Immediately restores you back to full Essence and full health. Can only be used once.

This and
SHOCKWAVE FIST TECHNIQUE: (1B) An unarmed attack can be carried out at a range of [Phys+Dawn]x10 meters.

>>40647136
This isn't a "whim" anon. She's turning her back on this redemption because her desire to destroy the neverborn again is greater.

She sees the current battle situation as one where her her attempt at redemption cannot achieve her goals.

We can knock some sense into her though, we've got ECSJ and a track record of 2-+ success social smackdowns on deathlords.

Or she's been playing the long con on us.

>>40647136
She's incredibly sincere, she does want to be saved and be free of the Neverborn, but she doesn't have emotions so she's looking at things logically, she has a greater chance of succeeding her plan than ours does, but that's retarded, we're Solar Exalted no plan is impossible no matter the odds. We just have to remind her of that.

>>40647109
>>40647049
>>40647005
>>40646894
>>40646836
>>40647226
I agree with these anons. Let's go all Nanoha on her ass, and the befriend the shit out of her

>>40647226
Plus we do have a perfect social attack, if we can't get ECSJ rolling we can still hit her with Talking to the Heart for the same price even.

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>>40647220
No, you fuck off

She didn't attack because it was convenient for her. Now that it's not anymore, she backstabbed us and wants the Titan.

I can't wait until your plan comes crashing down.

And I'll be there to say

>I told you so.

>>40646920
>FINAL RAY OF LIGHT
and
>SHOCKWAVE FIST TECHNIQUE

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Think about it this way.
If she was truely evil, she wouldn't have told us of her plan. She would have said "Everythings fine"

>>40647309
We can't afford both

>>40647220
oh hey, the social-beast told you exactly what she needed to tell you to get into your good graces without losing any of her troops!

it's not as if she, of all people, would have any perspective on exactly how to play Maka like a horny little fiddle. nah. definitely empathy and altruism up ins.

>>40647286
Well sadly it isn't a "perfect" social attack, it just means we can't be misunderstood.

Of course if we hit the Tyrant with a 20+ ECSJ social attack with Talking to the Heart it's as close to perfect as we can get.

>>40647296
No. I think I'll stay. You can feel free to continue to ignore evidence and act like chickenshit little

>>40647095
Let's do it, I'll support this

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>>40647274
>>40647249
>>40647220

Also pic related.

She's playing Maka like a fiddle to weaken her enemy before giving one final push to achieve complete victory.

>>40647344
Read it again, it's a Perfect in the new system.

>>40647111
>>40647110
>>40647084
>>40647086
>>40647063
>>40647058
>>40647030
>>40647010
>>40646961

Redemption is hard.

I said, when we were first talking about it, that even the people who intended to change often failed. The drug addict don't stop being so because of good will. The criminal won't just stop comiting crimes.

The Tyrant? She doesn't think she can be saved. She doesn't even want to be saved for any reason other than selfishness.

But it's possible. Impossibly hard, but possible.

Right now, the Tyrant is probably in the Deathlord equivalent of a limit break. She got her armies defeated AS A DIVERSION, without the opponents even being serious about it. Her greatest foe is about to use her weapon, and the thing she thinks to be the only way to kill the neverborn, against her.

And she can't allow it.

Remember that Maka nearly blew up the whole island, a few thread ago, in similar circumstences. But now, remove all the things that make Maka's life worth living.


Now, let's be honnest. Redeeming the Tyrant? Nearly impossible. But god fucking damn, it's Exalted! Not Warhammer Fantasy! The question is not if we can, but if we wil.

And if I have any say in the matter, I vote we do it.


Beside, I'd like to point out we disabled the Titan's weapons and hid the parts.

>>40647325
>it's not as if she, of all people, would have any perspective on exactly how to play Maka like a horny little fiddle.
Maka wasn't even a factor until halfway through her first attack.
During which she ordered her Abyssals to minimize casualties.

>>40647249
sincerity wholly attested to by Maka's "nobody I've fucked or wanted to fuck could ever possibly backstab me" approach!

I seem to recall her almost getting murdered courtesy of buying this back in the Wyld, but hey, what are the odds that an unliving creature who agreed to kill the world in exchange for being able to work her vengeance upon its inhabitants for rebelling against her reign could tell a lie like "I am totally on your side you guys?"

I mean, c'mon, would someone named The Tyrant of the Doomsday Machine by the half-mad undying gods of Oblivion do something as low as that to get access to a doomsday machine?

>>40647360
If that's the case then when the time comes we'll deal with her appropriately.

But don't just completely throw away the progress we'd made beforehand.

This shit's Exalted anon, impossible is what we do.


>>40647368
>get your point across perfectly

It doesn't mean the attack has guaranteed success, just that our point cannot be misunderstood.

Again though with 20+ successes it's practically a perfect attack anyway.

>>40647296
>>40647058
>>40646961
>>40647360
You're really bad at trying to convince others of your point of view anons. Maybe be less of a shit?

>>40647036

I vote for

>3 XP and Maka gets "where she must be" instantly.

as long as you don't go "exact word twist" on us or say "great curse now"

Also:

>FINAL RAY OF LIGHT

So, hey guys, what about we drop this discussion that will go nowhere and, I don't know, talk about porn? What do you think each character likes to do in bed? We know that Tia is into whatever helps Maka feel better/advance strategically/smile/etc.

I bet Five Tails is the most vanilla of all waifus in this quest.

And I think Phoenix might be more into romance and dating than in sex itself. Take someone out to dinner, have a pleasant conversation and a good time, then taking the date home, saying good night and immediately pass out.

Oh, and by the way have a dramatization of Amata's adventures in bed http://i.imgur.com/ONL58PH.png

>>40647434
>It doesn't mean the attack has guaranteed success
Literally exactly what it says
>In Social Combat, this means that even if the social attack didn't beat the defense, it still applies damage as if it had hit with 0 successes.
That's literally the text for perfect attacks.

>>40647360
Her enemy is the Neverborn.

Even if she isn't good, she's not evil anymore either. Sociopathic and manipulative, but she's a Deathlord who isn't evil, and that's something that's worth not giving up on. It's not going to be easy - Relapsing will occur. It's probably going to happen again. But that doesn't mean that you can just drop somebody into some Bad Guy List and outright murder them with no remorse.

What would Sol Invictus do?

>>40647409
No one has said that we're planning on giving Tyrant another lay or give her the old doe eyes to convince her to stop. I believe most anons agreed that the best course of action was to beat the ever loving shit out of her before anything else

>>40647441

I think it's the guy who vote the Great Curse option when it shows up.

>>40647479
despair at the existence of evil in the world and go play Xbox with his harem?

>>40647409
that's right

not to mention she has centuries of experience that maka doesn't have. that implies she's leagues above us and we have no chance of victory.

we should just give up

>>40647477
>http://i.imgur.com/ONL58PH.png

Prefect art is perfect.

>>40647499
Possibly also the same anon that voted to destroy the Titan, kill Smoke, believed Silk is out and out betraying us, etc.

>>40647479
He would kill her, most probably.

Abyssals can be redeemed, Deathlords can't.

>>40647490
Look at the discussion. "we'll just throw a bunch of dice at her with a social attack and get her to stop."

Do not be shocked if it turns out Deathlords have perfect social defenses, kiddos. There's a reason the Underworld isn't The Mask of Winters and Silver Prince Show.

>>40647537
>can't

Niggah what game are we playing? Because it isn't 40k. Nothing is impossible, the whole point of the game is to do shit that can't be done.

>>40647537
>Deathlords can't.

>>40647083

Guys, I think you are forgetting that there are mitigating circumstances here.

The Tyrant was defeated. Possibly, she thinks that Maka left her out to dry, even though she might be intellectually aware that Maka was fighting her own battle elsewhere. Possibly, the emotions which were just beginning to reignite were smothered by abandonment. Possibly, she decided that given her situation, she would follow through with her original plan because it's the only thing which she thinks has a chance of working.

I think she's lying to herself, more than anything.

>>40647537
Yes they can

It's a one in a million thing, near impossible to even comprehend, let alone do, but it can be done.

>>40647564
A thousand times this. Did anons forget that she nearly lost her entire force to the Prince? No wonder she's having second thoughts.

>>40647537
The UCS has perfect compassion anon. If they were sincere about redemption he'd help them.

And "can't" is a rather poor word to use when the setting is Exalted.

The Primordials "Couldn't" be killed remember?

>>40647564
Will yeah, we gotta go talk some sense into her, tell her she's an idiot.

>>40647541
I think you're forgetting the part where anons said they wanted to beat on her first, which may have a mitigating factor on her social defense

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>>40647521

>we should just give up

Yeah, how about we kill everyone? After all, it would be less painful than see them all die from the Titan's weaponry of the Prince's actions, right? We should also shit on the Unconquered Sun's satues, because what a shitty god that never help us, am I right?

Wait, better, why don't we have a last orgy? We just get into Pearl says "fuck me" to everyone, and then kill them once they've done it. Simple, pratical, efficient.

Who know? we can even come back as an Abyssal!

Because giving up is what Exalted is all about, am I right?