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>What is this quest?

Alchemical Blade Prequel Quest, a quest set in the Modern version of Creation from the Exalted setting, focusing on how the robotic Alchemical Exalted came to be within the setting.

>Who are we?

The quest is mainly going to be played out in flashbacks, in which during the flashbacks we take control of the Moonsilver caste Alchemical Exalted Junpaku Hibiki, while in the current time you play as “Anonymous”. The game will take place within the city of Versino within the central continent of Creation Meruvia. Labelled as a dangerous and murderous science experiment gone rogue, you need to evade forces of the mightiest army within Creation sprinkled with the powerful Elemental supersoldiers known as the Dragonblooded, trying to find out who is responsible for what you’ve become and how to escape their clutches once and for all.

>Alchemical? Moonsilver? I don’t know anything about Exalted, much less Modern Exalted...

I’ve made this quest to be as friendly to newbies as possible, and I also see it as an introductory guide to the World of Modern Exalted. You can google “1d4chan Exalted” for information on the general vanilla setting, but what I’ll be using is the Modern Version of Exalted as shown in “Shards of the Exalted Dream” book. Feel free to ask any question about Exalted in the thread and I will do my best to answer it.

>Archive?

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Alchemical+Blade+Quest

>System?

Dicepool system. When performing an action, everyone rolls a number of d10’s based on what the action is (I will list the pools for most actions, but if you want to have a roll for an action, ask and I’ll make the dicepool for it). The first roll is the one that’ll be used, but if someone makes another roll for a different action and more people vote for that, I’ll be using that one instead.

>XP?

Favored Attributes cost 4 XP per dot to increase (Underlined on stat sheet when released) while non-favored ones cost 5 XP. Abilities themselves cost 3 XP per dot to increase naturally. All charms cost 6 XP per purchase with Dedicated slots costing 4 XP each and General ones costing 6 XP each. At the end of every “mission” (In game objectives set by either me or some goal the audience desires) you will be presented with a possible acquisition list of charms. Experience can also be gained by developing the character, learning about the world, or just in general things people find interesting.

>Twitter?

@Sandact6

>>563570
- Try to figure out what you were doing beforehand

>>563570
>- Where am I?
>- Who are you? How do you know that we’re safe right now?
>- Try to figure out what you were doing beforehand.

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You grit your teeth and rub your forehead in an attempt to figure out what you were doing before you woke up in this decrepit subway station.

“I... I was trying to figure out Alchemicals... And how they came to be.” you say as the picture slowly starts to form in your mind. “I remember going to meet someone in a bar in the Nighthammer district. I travelled to Nexus itself in order to get answers, and... I think I got knocked out on the way there while walking in the street.”

“You were about to find out something that you really shouldn’t know about.” The silver armoured figure replies.

“What? The whole world has been interested in Alchemicals since the Londo Bell war two years ago. They were reviled before it but after it they became celebrities. I don’t know what the problem is, I mean I even read the book on their origin story with the Isle of Voices incident.”

“What happened at the Isle of Voices was no mere incident.” The Silver Alchemical immediately snaps back at you, agitation clear in her voice. “You getting knocked out for poking your nose around too much, that’s an incident. What happened at the Isle of Voices was a cover up that was a crime against humanity at large.”

“What? Do you know what happened there?” you ask her.

“Unfortunately, yes. I was one of the Alchemicals who survived the entire ordeal.” the Alchemical replies.

“What!? There were only a handful of people who survived that! Alchemical, god, human, or otherwise. Who are you? How do I know this isn’t another attempt to sell me off?” you immediately reply to her.

“Doubt it makes much of a difference if you know who I am.” The silver Alchemical says as she unwraps the scarf around the lower part of her face before removing the faceplate of her power armour. Below the armour appears to be a woman with skin literally as white as the fallen snow with jet black hair just covered up by the top part of the helmet still on, her face is a stunning asian beauty that has what appears to be a red gem directly in the middle of her forehead. “And as I’ve said previously, if I wanted you dead or wanted information, then I’d have those by now.”

Wait, you know this person. It’s coming to you slowly but... “Wait... Junpaku Hibiki? The head of the Junpaku and Nakamura International Bank!?”

“That’s Ms. Junpaku.” Hibiki immediately replies.

“Wait, this makes no sense. Why would a billionaire come down here to personally rescue me?” you ask.

“I owe a favor to an influential friend, that person wanted to see you saved and my partner and I just happened to be the closest people nearby.” Hibiki replies, before giving a small frown. “I hope you’re happy, because I had to leave a party because of you.”

- Wait... What “influential friend” was watching me?
- Partner? What other partner?
- Was the Isle of Voices really that bad? The book glossed over a lot of things.
- Other

Oh the tripcode, right.

Let's hope I get this right so the internet doesn't laugh at me.

>>563772
>- Wait... What “influential friend” was watching me?

>>563863
You needed it on /tg/, it's much less of an issue here with the ID system.

Oh, and in case you don't know, you can expect threads to live here for like a full week at least. In case you want to have a slower quest pace or something.

>>563920

Slow quests are fine. Honestly after the /tg/ split I had to figure out a way how to handle XP, moving away from a thread-to-thread basis (Since the post limit is huge) to a "Mission/RP" based one.

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“Wait... What ‘influential friend’ was watching over me?” you ask.

“One who notices when you’re asking the wrong sort of questions.” Hibiki replies with a straight face. “You’re just lucky that some people who listen for the sort of people asking questions you were are nice people rather than the nasty ones who first found you.”

“Am I trouble?” you ask, cautiously opening the can of tea.

“I can speak for him, but knowing him he won’t kill or torture you if that’s what you’re worried about.” Hibiki replies.

You breath a small sigh of relief as you hear this. You’re willing to put your faith in Hibiki for now, as anyone who is going through all this effort to either kill you or pump you for information than they would indeed have other means or just have let you die. “Do you know what he wants me for?”

“No idea, just told me to join up with Marina in order to rescue you as part of a small personal favor.” Hibiki says as she leans back in the subway bench. “He’s very much on a need to know basis sort of ordeal, but you’ll most likely be meeting him by the time the night is over. My partner will be meeting us on a subway car in a bit.”

“Hey Ms. Samurai, you there?” another female voice says coming from out of the power armour mask on the bench that Hibiki took off.

“Don’t call me that.” Hibiki replies while glancing at the mask.

“Sorry I’m late for our triple date but...” There is a long pause on the other end before it continues. “I’m going to be busy for the next several hours, something came up while I was cleaning up the remains.”

“What.” Hibiki says in a icy tone, just staring at the mask.

“I’ll make it up to you don’t worry! Just hang tight for now and I’ll be there as soon as I can.” the female on the other end says.

“Marina, don’t you dare leave me here after dragging me off from that gala!” Hibiki hisses loudly as she stares at the mask, her soft brown eyes now glowing a dull red.

No response comes from the mask however, it just continues to remain silent.

Hibiki just sighs as she stands back up. “I need a drink,” she says before walking back over to the vending machine.

- Was that your partner? You don’t sound friendly with her.
- What can you tell me about being an Alchemical?
- How did you become an Alchemical?
- Other

>>564085
- Was that your partner? You don’t sound friendly with her.
- How did you become an Alchemical?

“Was that your partner? You don’t sound too friendly with her.” you ask.

“While I respect her abilities, she irritates me as a person.” Hibiki replies as she takes a Smart PDA, pressing it against the vending machine before grabbing another can of tea. “Until recently she had a tendency to reject reality in front of her, even playing as a idol in Wavecrest for years with the Three Heart Stars.”

“Your partner was part of an idol group?” you ask in disbelief.

“‘Saba’ shitsu ni iruwa, Netoge de “Kikku” sare, Kurai kedo mieru...” Hibiki sings a few lines of a foreign song in a completely different feminine voice, replicating what you heard from the Three Heart Stars before their breakup a year ago. Hibiki then goes back to her normal tone of voice after sitting back down next to you. “That’s Marina alright. After the Isle of Voices she tried to run away from it all, denying the reality of nearly everything around her. A lot of people were broken after that event, but outright denying reality isn’t a healthy way of doing it. She claims she’s recovered by now, but I still find her difficult to be around.”

Figuring that Hibiki and Marina are not on the best of terms, you decide to change the subject for now. “So how did you become an Alchemical in the first place? I heard that unlike becoming a Dragonblooded, literally anyone can do it so long as they find an Alchemical core, like the one in your forehead.”

“Long story short, I was tricked into becoming one.” Hibiki says opening her own can of tea.

“Wait, tricked?” you say in a confused tone of voice. “How can you be tricked into becoming one?”

“Before the Isle of Voices Disaster itself, I signed up for an ‘experimental medical procedure’ to reverse my paralysis and...” Hibiki stops for a moment, looking into the dark hole of her canned tea, letting the only the silent hum of the vending machines fill the station. “I know what you’re getting at, and how I became one directly relates to the Isle of Voices Disaster itself. If you want to know about that revolting disaster than I can tell you every single bit that happened during it. If I tell you about it however, than you’re going to know, and once you know then next time it isn’t going to end with a bop on the head on the way to the bar. You’ll know what happened, and they really don’t want you to know what happened.”

- I travelled all the way here, might as well hear you out.
- I haven’t looked into this for years before being intimidated now.
- Other

(Apologies if this is really linear before the main part kicks in)

>>564457
- I travelled all the way here, might as well hear you out.

>(Apologies if this is really linear before the main part kicks in)
I think you're doing fine. I'm only concerned that nobody else is here...

>>564468

I'm the optimistic sort

>>564525
If it doesn't bother you then it doesn't bother me.

Maybe you could advertise in >>564448, though I guess that might come with its own downsides. It does have "part 1" in the title, so there might be people who are interested.

>>564548

I did.

>>563595

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[1/2]

“I travelled all the way here and we have nothing to do for the next several hours. Might as well hear you out.” you reply.

Hibiki gives a soft sigh to herself, taking a gulp of her tea before sitting back in the bench, looking straight ahead as he begins. “It all began nearly nine years ago at the Heptagram University in Versino, Meruvia...”

******

[You are now entering the flashback of Hibiki’s story, where most of the main game will be played. Swapping back and forth between the the PoV of Hibiki in the flashback and Anonymous in the present is possible at any time if you have a question better suited for OOC, just put them in double brackets ((like this)).]

The sound of rubber screeching on the road is accompanied by the feeling of weightlessness that follows shortly after.

Crash.

Crumble.

Boom.

The rattling of the vehicle is stopped in one colossal impact, your vision- nay reality itself a complete blur for what seems like hours until the flashing blue and red lights appear, a feeling of yourself moving as you enter a place that seems filled with bright lights. Noises filling the air.

Hibiki...

Hibiki...

******

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMVcj-vIWug

“Onee-san, wake up!” you hear your sister say, jolting you fully awake.

You snap back to reality in a flash, ending the nightmare you were having and waking back up inside of the waiting room of the Heptagram Medical and Biotech Sciences building. Posters advertising the world class nature of the Heptagram University in various fields are proudly plastered all over the wall, followed by other posters showing off other information such as free condoms for family planning or the hidden costs manufacturers often neglect to mention when installing cybernetics prosthetics.

“Are you alright Ms. Junpaku?” A man in a doctor’s coat asks in front of you.

“I’m fine.” you says rubbing your head, trying to recover from the accident.

“I’m sorry doctor, but ever since the accident Hibiki has been having the exact same recurring nightmare.” your younger sister says, appearing to be spitting image of what you look like except that she is a good few inches taller than you and has long hair instead of your short hair.

“Shouko...” you warn her with a small growl. “This is not something the doctor needs to know.”

“Your sister is right you know, PTSD is a very real thing that affects not only your emotional state, but possibly your physical health as well.” the doctor in front of you warns. He appears to be the typical male from Meruvia itself, a man standing 5’11’ with a salt and pepper hair and a well trimmed beard. While he may appear to be older, he appears to be in immaculate health all by himself. “Come, why don’t we speak in my office.”

“Thank you doctor...” Shouko lingers on the word as she waits for the doctor to speak back up.

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[2/2]

“Nathan Daniel.” The doctor says with a smile as he holds the door open for you.

You sister gets up, pushing your wheelchair through the door. “Onee-san, I get that you have your pride, but are you sure that you want to go through with this and just not get a pair of cybernetic prosthetic legs?”

“You were the one who talked me into this in the first place.” you reply to your sister.

“Yes, but even when I suggested this method you were so stubborn about accepting it.” Shouko replies in protest.

“You don’t need to worry either, if this new procedure works as planned then you won’t need to worry about the maintenance or costs normally associated with prosthetics. All we need to do is install a simple device in your spinal column and you’d be able to use your real, natural legs all over again.” the doctor replies to you.

“True, but now I’m getting worried. I mean isn’t there a chance it won’t work?” your sister asks the doctor.

Dr. Daniel gives a small chuckle as he opens the door to his office, a small office with a bookshelf in the corner and a window overlooking the main hospital lobby. A stack of student papers remain in his ‘to do’ pile. “We wouldn’t be accepting human trials unless we were very sure of our product. This isn’t something we’ve done on a whim, but rather the fruits of nearly a decade of research into something which has finally started to bear fruit. Besides, before the accident your sister won the national level of the kendo competition, did she not?”

“Olympics actually.” you clarify before adding your next point.

- “We have a lot of investments in companies which make and design military grade augmentations. I’d rather not become a walking commercial advertisement for them.” (Cybernetic opponents become more common)

- “Most of our R&D Investments don’t come from augmentations, but rather other battlefield applications. Coral has made great strides in Urban Striders. I just find the idea of augmentations uncomfortable.” (Vehicles/Mechs opponents more common)


- “Coral lives directly on the border to the West, beyond which the Elemental Courts of Water lie. Most conventional technology breaks down, so we have to research and make use of more ‘unconventional’ technology in order to make sure not just we, but the West survives.” (Magical opponents/beings opponents more common)

>>564666
- “Coral lives directly on the border to the West, beyond which the Elemental Courts of Water lie. Most conventional technology breaks down, so we have to research and make use of more ‘unconventional’ technology in order to make sure not just we, but the West survives.” (Magical opponents/beings opponents more common)

>>564666
- “Coral lives directly on the border to the West, beyond which the Elemental Courts of Water lie. Most conventional technology breaks down, so we have to research and make use of more ‘unconventional’ technology in order to make sure not just we, but the West survives.” (Magical opponents/beings opponents more common)

>>564666
>- “Most of our R&D Investments don’t come from augmentations, but rather other battlefield applications. Coral has made great strides in Urban Striders. I just find the idea of augmentations uncomfortable.” (Vehicles/Mechs opponents more common)

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[1/2]

“Coral lives directly on the border to the West, beyond which the Elemental Courts of Water lie. Most conventional technology breaks down, so we have to research and make use of more ‘unconventional’ technology in order to make sure not just we, but the West survives.” you add in afterwards.

“Yes, and it’s to the extent of which mother even requested a Dragonblooded bodyguard from An-Teng in order to help we stay safe in our day to day lives.” Shouko replies afterwards.

“Yes, I was quite shocked to see your name on the list of applicants actually.” Doctor Daniel replies as he pulls out a form in front of him, one that you see your name on. “One of the daughters of the J&N International Banking herself.”

“Was I picked based on my status alone?” you ask the doctor bluntly.

“No, some of the other faculty members may say otherwise.” Doctor Daniel replies as he signs the form in front of you. “One of the tests we wish to perform is to acquire someone who had considerable athletic ability before any sort of paralysis. You passed that test with flying colours easily.”

“Though saying that we wouldn’t ask your mother to make a sizable research grant to your university if it works is something that isn’t completely out of the question.” Shouko says with a smile after.

“No medical center in Coral would even attempt such an operation, and as much as the West prides itself on technology the research that goes on here is nothing less than world class. I have full confidence in your capabilities.” you add in after.

Shouko gives a small laugh as she hears this. “Getting a compliment from Onee-san! You should be happy, that’s actually pretty rare!”

“Oh stop it.” you wave off pessimistically. “I give compliments when people earn them, and Doctor Daniel is definitely one of those people.”

Doctor Daniel gives a laugh as he hears this. “I’ll be happy with that then! Now if you just sign this permission slip here we can start the procedure immediately.”

“Immediately? I don’t need any pre-surgery preparation or anything of the sort?” you ask, reaching for the pen next to the permission slip and holding it in your hand.

“If everything goes as planned? No, nothing of the sort. There may be a large degree of pain once we inject the nanomachines in the spine, but once that’s done all there’s left to do is wait for the artificial synapses to develop. It’s just like a Spinal Tap, only we inject something rather than extract.” Doctor Daniel replies. “We took your x-rays and CAT scan yesterday, both show no abnormalities.”

“Pain? Can’t you do it in the area where Onee-san can’t feel anything?” Shouko asks.

“Unfortunately no, it has to be just above fracture in the spine.” Doctor Daniels replies to Shouko.

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[2/2]

“Feeling an incredible amount of pain in the short term is nothing compared to what I stand to gain in the long term.” you reply as you take pen and sign the paper using Meruvian characters.

Doctor Daniel takes the permission slip, looking it over closely before putting it down on his desk with a large smile on his face. “Alright Shouko, let’s take your sister as far as you’re allowed to go.”

Shouko stands up, looking a bit nervous as she does so. “I hope nothing goes wrong...”

“Nothing will. As far as I understand is that in case the nanomachines do anything out of the ordinary they can fry them all with a small electromagnetic pulse while the broken nanomachines themselves will be harmlessly broken down by my body.” you reply to Shouko.

“Oh? You read all about my research? I’m impressed, I thought a high schooler wouldn’t normally pay attention to such a thing.” Doctor Daniels replies.

“I’ve read it five times front to back. If I’m going to be a part of an experimental procedure than I want to know all about it.” you reply to the Doctor.

Shouko looks a bit nervous as she hears that. “Onee-san, you only tend to do that when you’re nervous. Are you absolutely sure you’re ready for this?”

“It’s less about being nervous and more about being excited.” you say as both of you arrive in front of a door with a display sign above it saying ‘PATIENTS AND RESEARCH STAFF ONLY’.

Before being pushed through, Shouko spins your wheelchair around, turning it to face her before she gets on your knees. “Look just... try to be safe alright?”

- “Go wait for me at the J&N Banking Building downtown, I’ll use the stairs to come see you when I’m done.”

- “We can even plan a vacation when we’re done. This is Meruvia, see if you can find a yacht to rent down at the harbor.”

- “You’re worrying yourself for nothing. Go watch a movie or something then head back to the hotel suite.”

(Yes, this is a choice believe it or not)

>>564812
>- “You’re worrying yourself for nothing. Go watch a movie or something then head back to the hotel suite.”

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[1/3]

“You’re worrying yourself for nothing. Go watch a movie or something then head back to the hotel suite.” you reply to Shouko. “After a few hours we’ll be doing the same things we were doing a year ago.”

Doctor Daniel makes a worried expression. “Just be careful after the procedure. While you will have functionality of your legs once again, remember that it’ll be a year since you last walked on them. They’re going to be much weaker than what you had before your accident.”

“Shall I get the paddleboat so we can take that instead of flying back home?” Shouko asks you with a smile, her hands sliding over hers.

“Call my personal trainer, he’s going to be a rich man.” you reply to Shouko with a smile, giving her hands a soft squeeze before letting go with a small bit of reluctance. “I’m ready when you are Doctor Daniels.”

“Very well, right this way Ms. Junpaku.” Doctor Daniel’s says opening the door for you.

“Good luck Onee-san!” Shouko says to you just before the doors close, you reward her with a small wave before continuing along, using the wheels on the chair yourself.

As you progress through the employee only section, you can see a few empty operating rooms, laboratories, and some other offices back in an area so clean you wonder if your wheelchair would leave tracks on the ground. That is of course before you notice the literal soldiers dressed in urban camouflage standing by a nearby elevator shaft and armed with automatic weapons.

“Is that really necessary?” you ask Doctor Daniels. “Even our own vaults doesn’t have soldiers from our own army guarding it.”

“A lot of our money comes from the defense budget, and the military wants to make its presence known to both potential spies and the employees here.” Doctor Daniel replies as he shows his ID card and your waiver to the guards, who give him a small nod and let him pass. “Don’t be intimidated however, all of them here are first and foremost dedicated to protecting people like us from would be terrorists and spies.”

“Common enough to warrant the military?” you ask the Doctor as you wheel into the elevator.

Once in the elevator, the Doctor himself has to go through a triplicate of checks. ID, Handprint, and a Retinal Scan before a new button appears on the elevator screen, showing a sub basement level nearly 10 floors down. “Constantly. UES and An-Teng, the other two superpowers of the world, do not make it easy for us. Catching spies is a weekly occurrence for us, and that’s if we have a slow period.”

“I thought we had it bad with hackers at our bank.” you reply. “Isn’t 10 levels below ground excessive?”

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[2/3]

“Yes, but it also makes any sort of extraction or exfiltration impossible. Keeping our top national secrets in our country is our highest priority. I can’t go too much into detail about our security, but in an emergency it’s trivial to lock down the entire lab for however long is needed and none of sensitive data down below is even accessible to the public internet.”

“The ultimate protection in hackers, don’t even be online.” you reply.

“Exactly. It’s a bit frustrating at times, but since the overhaul we had 20 years ago we’ve yet to have a leak.” Doctor Daniels says as the elevator slowly comes to a stop. “Alright, just follow me to the procedure room Ms. Junpaku and we’ll have you out of here in a few hours.”

“Let’s not waste any time then.” you say wheeling your wheelchair out of the elevator and into the bright light of the sub-basement complex.

******

Your vision slowly comes back to life, your blurry vision slowly coming back into focus as you stare at an ugly dark grey concrete ceiling.

NEW DNA PROFILE DETECTED
.
.
.
.
REGISTRATION COMPLETE

Words flash out in front of you in crystal clarity compared to the fuzzy world around you. “Nani? Kore ha nan desu ka?” you ask in your native Coralese tongue confused by what you just seen flash in front of your eyes.

“Oh ho~, the new one is up.” a rather cheery sounding male voice says in front of you.

As you sit slowly sit back up, trying to get a look at your own surroundings you can see nearly six other... well you hesitate to call them people because they clearly look nothing like it. All sorts of them are clad in various sorts of heavy power armour which would look more in place in an anime than reality while several others clearly have skin tones that don’t even remotely resemble a human.

“Welcome to the world of the living.” a man with a light purple coloured skin tone says to you. His clothing being akin to torn jeans and a stained white shirt. Blue patterns seem to run down his entire arms while on his head a pair of goggles can be seen resting on his forehead with silver hair that appears more like wires.

You immediately take a quick jolt back upon seeing all of them. “Just exactly who or what are all of you!?”

“Um... W-We’re all the same here...” A female voice timidly coming from a massive Blue Power armour with gold trims says, pointing at your own body. “Look down.”

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[3/3]

You hesitate for a brief moment, briefly concerned what horrors you’ll see if you look down before you eventually tilt your gaze downwards. Looking down at your body you can see that you’re in some sort of Silver armour... No more like a power armour complete with synthetic muscles with a silver armour coating on the outside of it. You swear that your hand moves as if it’s in slow motion as you command it to move around in front of you. You can feel your heart skipping a beat as you leap back in surprise, hitting your head on what feels to be the roof before landing back on your feet. You stare down at your legs wide eyed in pure shock, slowly extending them out and making a small kicking motion to verify they work.

“Yes, those are your legs. You can conduct locomotion by putting one in front of the other.” the voice of an older female says, wearing what appears to be sunglasses while also dressed up in a trenchcoat.

“I-I can use my legs!?” you ask in shock before looking around the room.

- “Who are you!?”
- “Where am I!?”
- “What happened to me!?”

(Only one question can be asked before the next event happens)

>>564912
>- “Who are you!?”

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[1/2]

“Who are you!?” you demand from all of them.

“Wendy Schwer.” The trenchcoated woman in sunglasses replies in a flat tone, not even glancing in your direction.

“Mochire Williams, stage magician. Don’t ask about how to make us disappear from here though, I’m still figuring that one out.” the man with the light purple skin and goggles replies.

“M-Marina Solonik.” The timid girl in the Blue power armour replies, a heavy amount of fear in her voice.

“Collin, Osvald.” a bald dark purple man wearing what appears to be an opaque set of glasses covering most of the area round his eyes says, his clothing appearing to be a fresh pair of track pants and white shirt, but wearing a jacket for the Heptagram Sorcerer’s football team on him.

“Dexter Falcone, lord of dance and the tempter of hearts.” a light blue man with wearing what appears to be a suit and slicked back bright blue hair says, his sharp features curling into a smile as he gives a small bow towards you.

“You can call me Father Marcellius.” the last person says, a much older looking man wearing what appears to be a golden power armour patterned in what appears to be soft brown tiger stripes. Not as bulky as Marina’s power armour but you can tell a considerable amount of power belies his soft voice and weary eyes underneath the light green visor covering his eyes. “I know you have many questions, but we don’t have much time left. So please take a few deep breaths and listen to what we have to say for your own safety.”

“My own safety!? What the hell is going on here!?” you demand towards Father Macellius. “Start explaining what you mean by that right now!”

Just as those words leave your mouth, the door to the room you’re in slides open with a soft hiss. Several military guards carrying automatic rifles and full combat armour walk into the room followed by what appears to be a caucasian woman in her early 30’s and wearing a lab coat, flanked by a man dressed up in a light red set of armour with what appears to be a sheathed sword on each side of his hip and a rifle on the back. He’s wearing a near featureless black helmet with what appears to be a red visor on it.

“Oh no... Oh no please not again!” Marina says, her armour making a soft screech on the ground as she tries to slide away from them.

“Shut up.” The man with the swords warns Marina in a stern voice.

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[2/2]

“No please I don’t want to hurt anyone anym-”

“I said shut the hell up!” The man with the swords warns by pointing at her.

“Backblast please, we don’t want them to be injured before today’s tests.” the woman says to the man with the swords in a calming tone of voice. Her hair appears to be a light brown coupled with what appears to be a light brown set of eyes. Crows feet can be seen under her eyes as a sign of exhaustion despite her voice not showing this.

“You! Are you the one in charge here?!” you say, immediately pointing towards what appears to be a scientist.

“Dr. Evelyn Bell, Head Researcher of Motonics and Quantum theory.” The woman in the lab coat replies.

“I don’t care about you name! I never signed up for anything of this sort! I want out of here this instant!” you demand while pointing a finger at her.

“I don’t like your tone.” Backblast says to you as he steps in between you and Bell.

“Get the hell out of my way, I’m not talking to you!” you immediately retort to the man.

“Or you’ll do what?” Backblast immediately replies to you, holding firmly onto his ground.

“Backblast be careful, we just got her in a few hours ago and I *don’t* want to find someone new.” Dr. Bell warns him.

“Depends on how far she wants to escalate it.” Backblast replies to Dr. Bell without taking his eyes off of you.

“How far!? Once I get out of here I’m going to sue all of you so hard that you won’t even have the rights to scrap metal and not even a Tacohut is going to hire any of you ever again, and only if I’m in a good mood when I leave here!” you immediately threaten him. “Get out of my way now or else!”

“Or else what.” Backblast says to you, staring down at you, his real face surely matching the same cold stare as his helmet gives off.

- Punch him across the face to get your message across

- Bite your tongue and hold back, there must be a reason none of the others are joining in.

- Other (Insert)

>>564953
>- Punch him across the face to get your message across

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“Or else this!” you say rearing your fist back and swinging it directly towards his smug face as hard as you can.

RULE 1: AN ALCHEMICAL CANNOT HARM HEPTAGRAM PERSONNEL OR CONDUCT ACTIONS WHICH WOULD CAUSE HARM TO SUCH PERSONNEL.

That message blinks across your vision as plain as day just as your fist stops a few inches short of Backblast’s face. You grit your teeth as you try to force your fist through, but no matter how hard you try it feels as if there’s an invisible wall around him.

“...What’s wrong? Holding back on my account?” Backblast says in a mocking tone of voice.

As you try once more to put all of your effort into your fist, Backblast himself makes a lightning fast movement to grab your shoulders, pulling your torso downwards before making a lightning fast knee directly to your diaphragm. You can feel all of the air rush out of your lungs as you collapse to the ground, just barely managing to stand up on your knees.

“You stay right there Marcellius.” you hear Backblast say before he kneels down onto the floor next your, tilting his head so he gets into your field of view deliberately. “Alright you’re new here, so let me give you the breakdown of how things work down here. Whenever me or another employee asks you to do something, you will follow those instructions. If asked to jump, you jump without asking how high. If they tell you to bark, you bark. If you so much as even think about scratching any of our backs, I’ll crush yours. You, nor any of your friends in this room, are in any position to give us friendly advice let alone threats, are we clear?”

- "...Crystal." (Bite your pride)

- “...You're a year too late, my back's already crushed.”

- ... (Remain silent)

- “Steel Devil user I see... I can tell by the paired blades and your footwork... Your blades are high quality... Your stance is shit, and I’m going to look forward to giving them a proper owner after I kill you and take them.”

- Other

(Alright I’m going to head to bed now, but I’ll see about running this for most of tomorrow as well)

>>564982
>- “...You're a year too late, my back's already crushed.”

>>564982
>- “...You're a year too late, my back's already crushed.”

>>564982
>- “...You're a year too late, my back's already crushed.”

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[1/2]

(OK tiny mistake, Backblast was supposed to be named Backdraft actually, apologies on that)

You let out a small laugh through the pain that you’re currently feeling before looking back at Backdraft. “You’re a year too late, my back’s already crushed.”

Backdraft stares at you for several seconds before giving a small chuckle to himself as he stands back up. “I like this one, already less of an asshole compared to the previous user. Alright, you all know the drill by now, line up out the door so we can escort you to the testing area.”

“No! No please!” Marina says in the corner of the room, tears pouring down her face.

Backdraft sighs as he points to the two guards near the door, who without a word or sound come into the room, grabbing Marina’s massive armour from under the shoulders before dragging her out from the room, the sound of screeching metal filling the room.

“NO! NO PLEASE LET ME GO! I DON’T WANT TO DO THIS ANYMORE!” you can hear her scream down the hallway as she’s dragged along. The rest of the group seems to follow along, a sign of weariness and defeat on most of their faces as they’re willingly dragged along.

“You too newbie, get up.” Backdraft orders, looking down at you as he points his thumb towards the door.

Father Marcellius looks down at you as he goes to leave, before stopping and facing the scientist herself. “Dr. Bell, I have a suggestion. Our new companion here doesn’t even know what’s going on much less how to use any of her new capabilities. Testing her now would be a waste of both time and effort. You did say that you were lucky to find someone of her caliber, so her dying immediately would be a waste of valuable data, would it not? If that case why don’t you let me train her in a VR environment so that way she’ll be ready for the next test.”

“Marcellius, no one here asked to give your opinion.” Backdraft says pointing towards Father Marcellius, slowly walking towards him as if preparation to hand out some more ‘discipline’.

Dr. Bell puts her hand in front of Backdraft, cutting off his advance. “He’s right. We don’t need anymore data for Blind Stress tests, and seeing the danger of the test I’d rather not gamble away such a valuable specimen.”

“That means the entire test we have planned is going to have to reworked.” Backdraft says to Bell in a far friendlier tone than when addressing you or your other ‘friends’ in the room.

“We just cut a few more practice dummies out of the test in order to account for the loss of the Orichalcum and Moonsilver units is all.” Dr. Bell says.

Backdraft just simply gives a small shrug before making a small gesture to the troops outside the room to move out. “Whatever, I just want to be done before Time of Tumult starts streaming tonight.”

[2/2]

The Doctor reaches into her coat pocket, pulling out a small device that appears to be a PDA with a few cords dangling from it and handing it to Father Marcellius. “Here’s a small VR program in which you can train her in.”

“Thank you Doctor, I won’t forget this.” Father Marcellius respectfully says with a soft smile before Dr. Bell turns around and leaves.

As the door softly slides shut with a soft hiss again, you only look back up at Father Marcellius, your brain still trying to process just what exactly is going on with you right now.

“Are you OK?” Father Marcellius asks you as he offers a golden hand to help you up.

“...I’ve had worse.” you say standing back up slowly, still a small feeling of disbelief overcoming you as you look down at your legs.

“I know that you’re very confused about what’s going here, but allow me to more formally introduce myself. My name is Father Marcellius, a simple pastor of the Immaculate Church hailing from Parsad region in the Southwest of Creation.” the man says, in which upon getting a better look at his face you can see that his bright yellow skin has all the wrinkles that goes along with a man of face, but his face belies a warm friendliness that shines underneath.

- Say who you are, where you’re from, and that you’re the daughter of the CEO of a major banking company.

-Just the name.

And

- What you you? What am I?
- What’s going on around here? Who was that soldier with the swords and that doctor?
- Tests? What sort of tests?
- How can I get in touch with the outside? I need to contact my lawyer.
- Other

>>566877
>>566888

Forgot the trip

>>566895
- Say who you are, where you’re from, and that you’re the daughter of the CEO of a major banking company.
- What’s going on around here? Who was that soldier with the swords and that doctor?

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“My name is Junpaku Hibiki from Coral. I originally came to Meruvia as they said that they had some sort of experimental procedure that would let me regain use of my legs after I became paralyzed from the waist down a year ago.” you reply to Father Marcellius. “My mother, Junpaku Nanako, is the current CEO of the J&N International Bank, so I’m wondering if that is part of the reason why I’m currently here. In fact, what is going on around here? Who was that soldier with the swords and the doctor?”

Father Marcellius seems to hesitate for a moment before replying. “...Yes, your status just may be one of the reasons that you are currently here, but I honestly doubt any of that matters now. We’re in what is known as ‘Wing Eight’ of the Heptagram University, a hidden underground bunker and research lab. That woman who came here is known as Doctor Evelyn Bell, one of the researchers here where while she isn’t the chief researcher she is certainly high up on the list. The man you saw with the twin blades is codenamed Backdraft, a Fire aspect Dragonblooded.”

“Dragonblooded. You mean those people who gain superhuman powers related to the elements...” you mutter to yourself as you hear that. “Isn’t that overkill for keeping us in line? Even with our fancy armours I don’t see any of us standing up against something like that.”

“Backblast is only the fingertip of the security they have down here. The people down here are not only military elites, but are also given some of the most advanced weaponry amongst any other force in Creation. Part of the reason we’re down here now is so we can test the weapons they often develop for their soldiers.” Father Marcellius replies.

“So is that why we’re all down here? Test subjects for prototype weapons?” you ask Father Marcellius.

“Yes, and often put through some of the most horrific testing you can possibly think of. Fighting against demons, elementals, captured creations from the roiling chaos that exists beyond the borders of civilized society, military equipment, and worse. Endure and or torture testing is also possible down here, such as throwing one of us into a vat of molten metal to see how we hold up.” Father Marcellius has a very voice as he continues on with his explanation.

The words coming out of Father Marcellius’s mouth make you sick to your stomach. “So they’re torturing and killing innocent people down here just for the hell of it!? That’s sick! Why doesn’t anyone know about this!?”

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“We learned a few things down here ourselves. After Meruvia successfully made the first Dragonblooded soldiers they were then quickly leaked to the two other major superpowers in Creation: An-Teng and the United Eastern States, or UES for short. When Meruvia wanted to make their next brand of Exalted they would spare absolutely no expense to make sure their secrets remained a secret. Some employees down here, such as Bell, have been down here for several years, and those who do return to the surface must be either extremely loyal to the cause or happy with a large paycheque.” Father Marcellius explains to you.

“This is sick! This is insane!” you say your thoughts openly, unable to keep them bottled up in your head anymore. “Why are you so calm!? No, better yet why haven’t you even tried to escape yet!?”

Father Marcellius gives a soft sigh as hears your voice, face long and weary as if he’s heard your question dozens of times over. “You’ve seen what happens if you try to attack the guards here. We may be powerful and wearing millions of dollars of military hardware, but any single one of them outside could grab onto our arm and drag us back to our cell and we don’t have any way of fighting back. As for trying to escape, many of our kind have tried that. In fact your previous core owner tried to escape a while back by sneaking out, Cole was his name. We didn’t see nor hear from him after he escaped from our cell, but seeing that you’re here wearing his armour now, I don’t think he made it.”

- Try to calm yourself about your current situation, being mad isn’t going to change anything.

- Being angry upon hearing this is what any sane human being would act like.

And

- “So what are we, some sort of machines who blindly obey orders?”

- “Years? This injustice has been going on for years? How long have you been down here?”

- Other

>>567887
- Try to calm yourself about your current situation, being mad isn’t going to change anything.
- “Years? This injustice has been going on for years? How long have you been down here?”

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[1/2]

You spend a few moments practicing your breathing techniques as you hear this. Let your mind quiet to be as calm as the stillest lake but at the same time reflective enough so one may see the problems presented in front of them.

“Years? This injustice has been going on for years? How long have you been down here?” you ask Father Marcellius with a calmer tone of voice.

“About ten months, and I only know that due to the calendar feature on my HUD.” Father Marcellius says tapping the side of his head. “Out of our group, Wendy is the one who’s been here the longest out of any of us while Dexter is shortly behind her. You and Marina are the newest members, with Marina only arriving a few days before you. A few others like us have been down here for even longer. The scientists, despite appearing to be in charge, show signs of being held captive here along with the rest of us in the name of national security. From what I gather, most of the scientists here are actually sympathetic to us, just that if there is any dissent amongst their ranks than those people just tend to quietly disappear and be replaced.”

“You can’t be serious. People designing the armour like you’re wearing... I mean that crybaby who was dragged out of here must’ve been wearing an armour that would’ve cost hundreds of millions of dollars to research and develop alone. You just can’t replace those people on a whim.” you reply to Father Marcellius.

“Apparently they can. This entire facility is not only a testing ground for our kind, but also a laboratory where they can test brand new weapons, weapons so far ahead of their time that they seem like magic.” Father Marcellius replies to you.

“Sufficiently advanced technology.” you mutter part of an old quote you heard once in class. “Are all the people here world class then? Marina didn’t seem to be advanced in anything other than crying.”

“No, the criteria are completely random as far as we know. Sometimes there is one skill someone excels at, but more often than not they appear to be normal people before they’re transformed into us.” Father Marcellius replies.

“Us? What do you mean by us?” you ask Father Marcellius as you give a small bit of movement to your legs. “Why can I both feel and use my legs? Is it because the armour?”

“I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I do not think it’s because of your armour. Rather it's because I think you’re an Alchemical, just like the rest of us.” Father Marcellius says to you.

“Alchemical?” you ask.

“Yes, we’re a brand new type of Exaltation that are supposed to be the successors to the Dragonblooded.” Father Marcellius replies. “Stronger, faster, and able to be constructed and fielded in a far quicker and more efficient manner than Dragonblooded.”

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[2/2]

“What? I’m an Exalted? That’s impossible. The only people who can become a Dragonblooded is if you have a specific gene within your DNA.” you reply to Father Marcellius. “Both my sister and I got tested for that gene and ended up negative.”

“Being an Alchemical is different from being a Dragonblooded. In theory nearly anyone can become one, unlike Dragonblooded which is akin to winning the lottery on genetics. Additionally Alchemicals can be replaced on the field in a matter of days, where Dragonblooded often take at least to puberty before they can safely use their powers, and even longer until they’re finished with their training.” Father Marcellius explains.

“You’re asking me to swallow a very big pill here Father.” you sternly tell him. “A cybernetic Exaltation type is something that would’ve been developed years ago, also a Dragonblooded successor being put out this quickly when Dragonblooded themselves are already many times stronger than humans? It seems way too fast.”

“Then I will show you it.” Father Marcellius replies. “Say ‘Status Screen on’.”

You hesitate for a few brief moments before replying to Father Marcellius. “...Status screen on.”

As soon as the words leave your mouth, you can see something immediately shut close around your eyes before what appears to be a computer screen fills your entire vision. An entire diagnostic reading of your body can be seen along with other values such as Structural Integrity, Motonic Reservoir, EKG readouts and more, and at the top of it all is your name.

“I know this may come as a shock to you, and I’m sorry this was pushed upon you so suddenly.

You try to recover from your mind being blanked out from what you just heard. Your throat tightens as you swallow back the small amount of spit in you mouth as open it once again to speak.

- “So is this what I am now? A machine? A tool? The apex I tried to reach in mind and body now just being replaced by whatever upgrades are the most advanced at the time? I didn’t ask for this.”

- “If there’s a silver lining to this its that you mentioned that we’re an Exalted type akin to the Dragonblooded correct? The Dragonblooded are based on Elements, so what is it can we do?”

- Other

>>568668

Oh yes don't worry about not knowing what anything on that picture means, it'll be explained in the quest shortly enough.

>>568668
>- “If there’s a silver lining to this its that you mentioned that we’re an Exalted type akin to the Dragonblooded correct? The Dragonblooded are based on Elements, so what is it can we do?”

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[1/2]

“If there’s a silver lining to this its that you mentioned that we’re an Exalted type akin to the Dragonblooded correct? The Dragonblooded are based on Elements, than what is it that we can do?” you ask Father Marcellius.

“Our strength lies in technology, because in each and every one of our bodies lies technology so advanced that it makes most of the current cybernetic augmentations available on the market today look like the toys of a child.” Father Marcellius explains to you. “In fact it may be better to show you rather than explain everything in detail. Dr. Bell handed me a VR training simulator just before she left with the others, so would you care to try it out?”

You are starting to get annoyed by your status screen hovering in front of you view, but just as you wish for it to go away the two objects around your eyes can be seen folding back around the sides of your head. “What kind of VR training simulator? I tried VR before but it only ended up making me nauseous afterwards.”

“This one plugs directly into your nervous system, so it’ll be like you’re actually there rather than being in the real world with a pair of silly glasses on your head.” Father Marcellius says to you as he walks behind you, pulling out what appears to be a plug. You feel something slide in the back at the nape of your neck before the discomfort passes a second later. “As for the type, I’ll be controlling it in order to help ease you into it. Are you ready?”

You calmly sit down on the floor, cross legged as you prepare for the unknown. “I am in your care Father.”

Father Marcellius nods as he takes a cord from what appears to be the small black electronic box, plugging it into the back of his neck. “Alright, we’ll be entering in three... two... one...”

As Father Marcellius counts down, the world in front of you gradually gets fuzzier and fuzzier as if static on a television screen along with your senses becoming duller and duller until they finally fade out entirely.

******

INITIALIZING...
CHECKING BODY STATUS...OK
CHECKING MOTONIC REACTOR... OK
LOADING COMBAT DATA...
LOADING WEAPON DATA...
WINDBLADE DETECTED, WEAPON ID AUTHENTICATED
LOADING TERRAIN DATA... OK
XIFF SYSTEM ENGAGED
LOADING OPPONENT DATA

A barrage of messages appearing across your vision appears as the world around you begins from what appears to be pitch black before solid light green blocks are rapidly drawn up and filled from wireframes all around you, your own body rapidly forming from and filling in its own wireframe before everything seems to settle down.

“We’re in the virtual world right now, do you feel any sort of discomfort?” Father Marcellius asks, his voice coming from what appears to be receiver in your ear.

You look down at your right hand, slowly opening and closing it, even the minute sensation of your hand opening and closing easily being transmitted. “Other than the discomfort of being a robot, nothing so far.”

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[2/2]

“Alright, the quickest way to know what you’re capable of is by showing you just exactly what your body is capable of. Open up your status screen once more. On the side of it you should notice several other tabs. The ‘CRM’ tab is all about what sort of augmentations you currently have installed. While the ‘ABIL’ tag stands for abilities, that is the raw physical abilities that you currently possess. Go ahead and open the Ability tag first.” Father Marcellius instructs you.

Following his advice you open the Ability screen, this time showing you a rather long list of bodily readouts and capabilities described in what appear to be vague terms. “Father what on Earth is this, how am I going to make sense out of any of this?”

“Don't panic, a lot what you see in front of you will be streamlined later on. This is your system’s own readouts of your raw physical and mental capabilities, along with compiled notes of any significant resources or benefits you may have outside of your body.” Father Marcellius replies to you. “The section called Attributes are parts of your body that can be grown via activated upgrades within your body, whereas skills are more of a learned aspect. Your system will rate various capabilities you can perform based out of 10. For example, if you want to try and hack a computer your system will consider your odds of success based on your Intelligence and Lore skills added together, as Lore is what the system considers to be scientific knowledge whereas your skill with a blade is... Oh my, a 10 out of 10 in martial arts? My goodness that’s... That’s literally one of the best people in the entire world!”

“Martial Arts is more than a mere hobby for me. To me, it’s a state of being, a journey towards self-perfection and enlightenment. To be honest I’d be insulted if it wasn’t a 10.” you reply.

“Still that is... very impressive to say the least, especially before becoming an Alchemical.” Father Marcellius replies.

(TUTORIAL: ROLLING

Actions in this quest are handled by a combination between an attribute + Ability, in where you add the total of them both up before rolling a number of d10s equal to the sum total of them both, in where 7 and higher are counted as a ‘success’ and 10s are counted as ‘two successes’. If you get an amount of successes greater than or equal to a listed difficulty than you successfully accomplish the action, a failure means you don’t.)

“Are there any questions you have before we continue?” Father Marcellius asks.

- “I think I got it, let’s continue.”

- What are specialties?

- What does X mean? (Mention something on the ability sheet and I’ll explain it)

- Other

>>569279
>>568668
Shit, you made a full character sheet.

>>569818

Yup, and there's still the charms left.

Think I'm going to move into the next part since things seem dead around here at the moment.

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[1/2]

“I think I got it, let’s continue.” you reply to Father Marcellius.

“Very well. Since your life will be depending on it, I believe we’ll just head right away to the battle tutorial.” Father Marcellius says as light green sections of the ground around you slowly begin to rise up in the air, forming what appears to be a makeshift arena. “Given your skill in martial arts, I believe you already know the basics correct?”

“Saying I only know the basics is an insult. Fighting is all about controlling the tempo of battle, making sure it ebs and flows in your favored direction, both opponents waiting for the exact moment to lash out with a decisive blow that fell their opponent in one blow.” you reply to Father Marcellius.

“That’s a... very poetic yet greatly simplified way of how combat actually works, but not entirely inaccurate.” Father Marcellius says before a small cylinder of soft blue light can be seen ahead of you, a single faceless training dummy wearing a tactical combat vest and carrying what appears to be an assault rifle can be seen. “Alright, let’s begin the actual combat test. By now you should’ve noticed the blade on your side, its called the Wind Blade. You can use it for the rest of this test.”

You draw the blade out in front of you, bringing it up to your eyes. The edge of the blade seems to shine with that of a light blue shimmer while the flat of the blade seems shine brilliantly with a mirror polish finish. “The Hamon and Ha are very impressive... weight, curvature of the blade... I’ve seen Dragonblooded using weapons like this before, they’re capable of cutting most men clean in two. Such a common name would also anger the soul of the blade, so from this day hence I shall call this blade the Kaze No Ken!”

Father Marcellius gives a small chuckle. “You would far from the the first to give their weapon a unique nickname. Anyways try to remain on your toes now Junpaku, as I’ll be giving the dummy the order to attack.”

Just as Father Marcellius says this, the dummy itself reaches for its side, flicking a extending baton to full length before it crackles with electricity down its entire length.

“Lets see what I can do now.” you reply as you crouch down lower, putting your sword back into its sheath, the top part of your helmet closing shut around your eyes as a HUD lights up displaying information such as your current weapon, enemy status such as their current armament, an energy reading, and other details.

[2/2]

(TUTORIAL: COMBAT

When combat is first declared, all people within the area roll Wits+Awareness in order to join battle in which I will be handling the roll [unless another participant wants to jump the gun first]. The amount of successes on the join battle roll determines the starting amount of Initiative one has at the start of the combat and whomever has the highest initiative at the start of the round goes first, the one with the second highest goes second, and so on.

Initiative also represents the eb and flow of a battle in a narrative sense, in which the higher the higher the advantage you have over your opponent. Initiative plays into the two types of attacks you can launch at your opponent in battle. Withering attacks are aimed to steal the opponent's initiative, in where a successful attack means you’ll roll to see if you can steal some of your opponent's initiative which is resisted by their soak. Withering attacks alone cannot defeat your opponent, as you need to make a Decisive attack against your opponent to cause actual physical damage to them. Once a decisive attack is made and actually damages your opponent, your initiative will immediately be ‘reset’ back to 3, but a missed decisive attack will only cost you a small amount of initiative. To know the exact amount of initiative against any opponent on the field, a battle tracker will be posted when battle begins.

In short, initiative has both offensive and defensive values attached to it)

BATTLE TRACKER
Hibiki: 8
Training Dummy: 5

- Run towards the Training Dummy immediately, attempt to launch a feint from above before making a low attack. (Launch a Withering Attack [Roll 17d10])

- Run straight towards the dummy and attempt to cleave in two with a full powered strike straight down the middle (Launch a Decisive Attack [Roll 14d10])

>>569912
- Run towards the Training Dummy immediately, attempt to launch a feint from above before making a low attack. (Launch a Withering Attack [Roll 17d10])

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[1/2]

Deciding to finish the mock battle immediately, you brazenly run towards the Training Dummy heedless of the electrified prod he’s holding in his hand. Unsheathing your blade your blade and raising it high above your head, you bring it down with all of the force you can possibly muster!

(Hibiki’s attack roll is 7! The damage roll of 8 dice is a whopping 5 damage!)

Pow: +6m on excellency, Liquid Steel Flow, Shining Starfall Execution (20d10,17m 2WP)
Eff: Shining Starfall Execution (14d10, 6m)
Other: User Input

Another barrage of words seems to attack your senses just shortly before your sword makes contact with the training dummy, slashing it directly down the center of its body, cleaving what appears to be a huge gash in front of its armour before its light blue digital body begins leaking out what appears to be blue boxes that slowly vaporize in the air.

“Hold on, I just saw a bunch of nonsense appear on my HUD just now. What on earth was that?” you ask Father Macellius.

“I suppose this would be a good time to tell you about it.” Father Marcellius says before the Training Dummy freezes in place like a statue, seeming as if he’s just about to prepare for a swing. “What you saw right now was most likely ADA, the Automated Decision Assistant. Its a tactical program that analyzes the environment around you constantly before providing tactical feedback on what sorts of augmentations you wish to use in a given action. Go back to your status screen and this time access the CRM tab.”

Following Father Marcellius’s suggestion, you open it up to what appears to be huge list of various augmentations and where they are in your body. “I suspect you’re going to tell me now just what all of this nonsense means?”

“But of course. What you see now are the various high power augmentations that are currently installed and active within you, called Charms. Its an acronym of some sort however my memory is slipping in my old age so I cannot really what it stands for... Anyways, you’ll see at the top what charms are currently installed within you, while the large list below that are currently what charms you currently have. You can only use charms if they’re currently installed in an active slot. When in battle Ada will often suggest what charms you can use in a given action.” Father Marcellius explains. “...But it appears you have a Lotus Matrix installed, which doesn’t surprise me considering your capability.”

“I have no idea what a Lotus Matrix is.” you reply.

[2/3]

“Let me explain. Dragonblooded claim to say that their potential supernatural abilities come from them just doing normal actions then infusing them with the power that lies within them called Essence, which is the form of raw elemental energy that Dragonblooded are infused with. When a Dragonblooded fires a flaming bullet they’re not chanting any special supernatural power, but rather just shooting someone and channelling essence into their attack, and when they do so special effects happen to it.” Father Marcellius explains.

“Oh I see what you’re getting at. So you’re saying if I try to apply essence power to my knowledge of Single Point style its going to become far more effective.” you reply on the other end of the line.

“Far more effective.” Father Marcellius replies to you. “Each charm has a cost however, which is noted next to their description. Some will require an expenditure of energy from your Motonic Reactor core, while others may require a great deal of mental concentration in order to use. ADA will automatically tally up the cost for any charms used in a given action. ADA itself is also rather simple. Pow means it will often take the strongest and shortest brute method for a given situation regardless of the resources it costs. Eff means it aims for efficiency for a given situation, often taking a bit longer but significantly lighter on your resources. Other means you can pick and choose just exactly what you want to use for a given attack.”

You can’t help but feel a small ping of elated joy when Father Marcellius explains this to you. While you may be a robot now, to actually be able to perform on the same sort of field where only the gods once before stood? Thoughts of how far your craft can soar fill your mind as you get back into your stance. “Unfreeze the Dummy, I want to see just how far I can take my skills now.”

As soon as you say this the Training Dummy immediately lurches back to life. Ever so slowly trying to walk in a circle around you before suddenly lunging directly towards you. You however expertly block the lunging attempt with the sheath of your blade, flinging aside the baton of the guard with a surprising amount of force and causing the Dummy to stumble backwards from the force of the attack.

BATTLE TRACKER
Training Dummy: 5 (Action already taken)
Hibiki: 3

[3/3]

(Combat Tutorial: Charms and Resources

Charms will be your main source of power for your character, a source of potential supernatural might that turns your character from a cyber assassin into one who can potentially cleave tanks in twain. Charms have various forms of shorthand which I will explain.

Charms in the list have various costs, which as mentioned previously ADA will automatically add up any costs for a given action. Xm means how many motes a charm will cost from your motonic reservoir, X wp stands for how much willpower meaning mental concentration is needed for a charm, while Xi stands for how much initiative a charm will cost which may seem crazy to sacrifice a potential edge in battle, but can often be a deciding factor in a fight.

Charms also have various timings. A reflexive charm can be used at literally any time it is appropriate to be used. A supplemental charm can only be used only when it can supplement the proper action [Such as swinging a sword]. A simple charm is an entire action in of itself, often representing special and/or potent attacks or powerful buffs.

Other keywords often exist with charms, such as Decisive-Only and Withering-only, meaning those charms can only be used on Decisive or Withering attacks respectively.

If this seems too complex and/or paralyzing to new people, remember that you don’t need to know all about this. All you need to do is select actions from ADA and roll the proper amount of dice that goes with the selected action)

- Pow (Withering): 6m to add +6 dice to hit, Liquid Steel Flow (add Dexterity to withering attack [23d10], 11m, 1WP if successfully damage opponent)

- Pow (Decisive): 6m to add +6 dice to hit, Shining Starfall Execution (Add +3 dice to decisive damage roll), Liquid Steel Flow (Turn 3 dice on damage roll into automatic successes) [20d10, 17m]

- Eff (Withering): Liquid Steel Flow (Add Dexterity to withering damage) [17d10]

- Other: User Input

(I'm going to bed now, we'll see if we can wrap up the rest of this part tomorrow)

>>569957
- Pow (Withering): 6m to add +6 dice to hit, Liquid Steel Flow (add Dexterity to withering attack [23d10], 11m, 1WP if successfully damage opponent)

This quest is kind of painful. I don't think it gets a single thing right about Exalted in general or Alchemicals in particular.

>>571055

Modern Exalted is a different sort of setting than that of the Vanilla Exalted, both in history and some of the metaphysics of the setting.

Which may float some boats more than others.

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You decide to conserve your resources for now, taking in a deep breath as you clear your mind, running towards the Training Dummy, a razor sharp slash that aims at the midsection of the dummy.

[Hibiki manages to inflict a total of 12 withering damage against Training Dummy!]

The Training Dummy manages to block with its electrified baton, but only just barely. The baton cracking apart before finally being cleaved in two and rendered completely useless. Stuck with a completely useless weapon, the Training Dummy takes a step back, fear clearly apparent in its featureless blue face.

(Combat Tutorial: Crashing

Crashing an opponent means plunging their initiative value down to zero or less than zero as they completely lose control of the battle, and it is during this time they very vulnerable to decisive attacks as possibly some special abilities they may have will also cease to work while in this state. After three turns a crashed character will set his initiative to 3 and leave initiative crash, so either fight for your life or stall for time if this happens to you! Lastly if you manage to crash an opponent, you’ll gain a bonus of five initiative for doing so!)

BATTLE TRACKER
Hibiki: 21
Training Dummy: -8

The grip on your weapon tightens as you prepare for the killing blow...

- Pow (Decisive): 6m to add +6 dice to hit, Shining Starfall Execution (Add +3 dice to decisive damage roll), Liquid Steel Flow (Turn 3 dice on damage roll into automatic successes) [20d10, 17m] (Overkill)

- Eff (Decisive): Normal Decisive attack (Liquid Steel Flow will turn 3 dice on damage roll into automatic successes)

- Other: User Input

(Sorry for short delay, had to make a small run as sister was sick)

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(To be honest that was really just a shitty continuation, I really should’ve done this extra bit as well)

>- Eff (Decisive): Normal Decisive attack (Liquid Steel Flow will turn 3 dice on damage roll into automatic successes)

Your blade leaves your sheath and flies towards the Training Dummy like a tsunami crashing against a straw house. The top half of the Training Dummy’s torso goes flying off as you flick your blade to clean off any imaginary or VR related blood.

>(Hibiki hits and rolls 10 successes for damage! Training Dummy KO’d!)

You look down at the blade in your hand with a sense of wonder burning within you. “That was... incredible. If that Training Dummy was the same as a soldier in standard combat armour than my blade seemed to cut through him as if he wasn’t even there.”

“And that’s only in part because of your own skill and technique as well.” Father Marcellius says as walls suddenly rise up all around you before forming a corridor that appears to be a three way split just ahead you, more pillars of light being shown as more guards, this time armed with assault rifles, appear about 50 or so feet away. “This time we’re going to do a more applied test. This is a small maze with several armed guards. You’re free to navigate the maze as you wish, the only thing stopping you are the armed guards inside.”

“So I just need to deal with the armed guards?” you ask.

“Not everything needs to end in conflict. I can see that you are quite skilled in stealth, so if you want you could just simply try sneaking past all of the guards in the current area.” Father Marcellius says. “...Dare I ask how you learned that?”

“My mother yelled at me a lot when I was younger for trying to sneak into our banks, let’s just leave it at that.” you say to Father Marcellius as you contemplate several options laid out before you on your HUD.

- EFF: Use Gravity Manipulation Apparatus to walk on the walls over the guards while then using Optical Shroud to turn yourself invisible (11d10)

- POW: Use Optical Shroud to stalk and assassinate guards one by one (11d10 to stealth, then standard attack rolls after)

- Other: User Input

Rolled 7, 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 9, 8, 4, 2, 10 = 67 (11d10)

>>572828

- EFF: Use Gravity Manipulation Apparatus to walk on the walls over the guards while then using Optical Shroud to turn yourself invisible (11d10)

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[1/2]

Seeing a display on your HUD of what appears to be you walking up alongside a wall before turning completely invisible, you decide to try and follow that route yourself. Walking over the wall and cautiously placing your foot over it.

Gravity Manipulation Apparatus engaged

A small bit of electricity crackles around your foot as you place it against the wall, before finally pulling your other foot onto the wall. Despite standing on the wall and casually walking up it, you feel no pull back towards the ground despite you being at a 90 degree angle from it, in fact your sense of direction now feels as if the wall is what’s currently pulling you ‘down’ itself.

Cloak engaged

Another message appears on your own HUD, your entire body giving off a small shimmer before you turn completely translucent, a light holographic image of where you hands currently are being shown over your HUD for clarity.

You give a small chuckle to yourself before you slowly and even casually just walk a good three or so meters above the ground before just slowly and casually walking around the corner of one of the corridors and over the heads of the guards completely.

After about two minutes of casual walking, you spot what appears to be a light red section of the maze, a guard watching the area with his back currently faced away from the the red lit area. Again, you just casually able to walk down the wall towards the light red area before stepping foot on it as you fade back into reality.

“Very good Hibiki! It appears that you’re getting to your new body very quickly! And to do it without even killing a single soul or even alerting them, I’m impressed!” Father Marcellius’s voice beams with happiness.

“Senseless killing is just a slaughter. Most of the time is often best to go in and out of a location without causing any suspicion that you were there whatsoever.” you reply to Father Marcellius, this time the entire landscape shifting into what appears to be an obstacle course of some kind. Slopes, a few makeshift houses using the rough geometry of the simulation, watermelons appearing on top of pedestals, and something that appears to be a jungle gym appearing to have balance beams, tire steps, and other assorted obstacles.

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[2/2]

“It’s good that your spirits are still high, because we still have one more test level over.” Father Marcellius informs you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcaBW1NU3XE

Just as he says this, Father Marcellius can be seen appearing in a pillar of blue light about a good five or so meters away from you.

You face plate opens up, showing Father Marcellius a raised eyebrow. “You? You’re my final test?”

“That’s right. You’re going to be fighting for your life quite often, so I decided one of the best methods to test you would be to directly spar against you.” Father Marcellius says, still the same soft smile on his face as he says this, though you can swear you see a slight a predatory glint in his eye.

“Oh? Are you going to hold back on the account of me being new?” you ask him skeptically.

“If this was reality I would indeed restrain myself in order to make sure that no permanent injuries happened. However, this is virtual reality. None of our actions here will affect our health in the health world, so I intend to hold nothing back.” Father Marcellius says with a slight growl in his voice, his proud and upright form now slowly hunching over, a faceplate closing over his mask which when combined with his armour looks as if it’s a hunched Tiger baring its teeth towards an opponent.

“Exactly what I wanted to hear.” you say as you faceplate closes shut, widening the distance between your feet as your hand hovers over your blade.

Father Marcellius wastes no time going first, immediately rushing

BATTLE TRACKER
Father Marcellius: 9i
Hibiki: 9i

>Current resources are in >>568668

- Pow (Wither): (+6m to add +6 dice attack, Liquid Steel Flow, roll 20d10) Charge directly into Father Marcellius’s attack head on in an attempt to be the first to strike!

- Pow (Decisive): (+6m to add +6 dice to attack, Horizon Swallowed Star Flash, roll 17d10) A full powered overhead strike as soon as the battle begins!

- Eff (Form): (Move away, activate Single Point form to gain another action for rest of the battle) Quickly try to move away from Father Marcellius, taking a second to collect and steel yourself for an extremely difficult battle

- Eff (Stealth): (Move away into house, activate Optical Shroud and attempt to hide, 14d10) Quickly attempt to duck into one of the houses in order to try and hide yourself, allowing you to collect yourself then waiting for the right time to strike!

- Other: User Input

>>573691

I'm a damn idiot, forgot pricing.

- Pow (Wither): 11m, 1WP if hit

- Pow (Decisive): 14m 1WP

- Eff (Form): 10m

- Eff (Stealth): 3m

>>573691
- Eff (Form): (Move away, activate Single Point form to gain another action for rest of the battle) Quickly try to move away from Father Marcellius, taking a second to collect and steel yourself for an extremely difficult battle

Extra action charms baby.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5CCmZJePPU

You quickly take a leap back away from the charging Father Marcellius, just barely avoiding managing to get gutted as three golden claws pop out from the wrist of his power armour.

You make a sudden gasp in shock before realizing that you’re alright, slowly breathing in and out, sensing the invisible flow of battle and how your blade can move within it.

“A Southwestern variant of Tiger Style, I should’ve figured that out just by looking at you.” you say aloud as you regain your footing once more.

“Let’s just say I know a thing or two from the more difficult days of my youth.” Father Marcellius says as he hunches over on the ground before finally getting down on all fours. Electric arcs off his body before a second later thick plumes of sparkling golden exhaust can be seen blasting out from his back complete with black highlights. With a single mighty bound he can be then seen rushing towards you, the once calm and gentle man having turned into a raging beast, his exhaust howling as he rushes towards you.

(Single Point form is active! You may now select two attack actions!)

BATTLE TRACKER
Father Marcellius: 9i
Hibiki: 9i
Hibiki’s Sword: 5i

- Pow (Wither): (+6m to add +6 dice attack, Liquid Steel Flow [Add +6 to damage], roll 20d10, 11m, 1WP if hit, 6m for second attack) Charge directly into Father Marcellius’s attack head on in an attempt to be the first to strike!

- Pow (Decisive): (+6m to add +6 dice to attack, Horizon Swallowed Star Flash, roll 17d10, 14m 1WP, can only be selected once) Throw a watermelon at him as a distraction before using a full powered strike!

- Eff (With): (Normal Attacks, Liquid Steel Flow, 5m, 1WP if hit for first attack) Bait Father Marcellius around the pillars and attempt to strike at him using the terrain to your advantage!

- Other: User Input

>>573793
-disengage

-activate invisibility.

Would this let us keep our extra action? Cannot recall.

>>573793
>- Eff (With): (Normal Attacks, Liquid Steel Flow, 5m, 1WP if hit for first attack) Bait Father Marcellius around the pillars and attempt to strike at him using the terrain to your advantage!

>- Pow (Wither): (+6m to add +6 dice attack, Liquid Steel Flow [Add +6 to damage], roll 20d10, 11m, 1WP if hit, 6m for second attack) Charge directly into Father Marcellius’s attack head on in an attempt to be the first to strike!

>>573844

It would let you keep your action yes. Also surprised you know about disengaging without me introducing movement yet.

Yes it lets you keep your extra action. In fact the only thing Father Marcellius did in terms of game crunch is activate Tiger Form. You can still move away and hide if you wish. The stealth pool to hide will be 9d10, but you can spend up to 6m to add 6 dice to it.

>>573866
I think tiger form had some kind of detection thing in it. I would spend those motes if others would agree to this course of action.

As for knowing about disengaging I have read the core book, have yet to play a game. Love the exalted setting.

>>573869

I will say as a freebie, Hibiki knows that people who show their back to a Tiger Style often end up torn to shreds.

>>573870
Ugh. Thanks. At least we arnt fighting a hungry ghost style user.

Doing >>573861

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You heard about Tiger Stylists, how the style exploits people who try to run away from them, but you won’t be falling for that. You know the best chance you got in beating Father Marcellius is by facing him head on. Without any hesitation you immediately run into the jaws of the best yourself, your hand quickly drawing out your blade and attempting to strike the beast directly before momentum can fully build up in his pounce!

Father Marcellius doesn’t even back down in the slightest, a sudden burst of speed coming out from his thrusters just manages to slide the blade off of his armour away from his vital parts before charging directly ahead with the attack. You barely have time to bend your entire body like a reed before Father Marcellius roars directly over you, literally crashing through a pedestal and a watermelon as if it were made of paper before turning back around you to face you.

[Hibiki hits and does 4 initiative damage to Father Marcellius!]

[Father Marcellius hits and does 13 initiative damage to Hibiki!]

If that attack hit you it would’ve taken the entire top half of your torso clean off! Father Marcellius wasn’t kidding in the slightest. You quickly run around to what appears to be a blind spot in his helmet and attempt to strike in a silver flash, only for Father Marcellius to quickly lash out with his claws, attempting to bat your blade away in order to create an opening for himself.

[Hibiki’s Sword hits for 7 damage!]

BATTLE TRACKER
Father Marcellius: 15i
Hibiki’s Sword: 13i
Hibiki: 1i

- Pow (Wither): (+6m to add +6 dice attack, Precalculated Evasion Defense for a defensive boost in case he rolls well, roll 20d10, 6m, +4m if Precalculated Evasion Defense is used [will be automatic if this choice is made]) This pastor isn’t playing games! If I don’t go full out I’m dead!

- Pow (Decisive): (+6m to add +6 dice to attack, Horizon Swallowed Star Flash, roll 17d10, 14m 1WP, can only be selected once per turn) No matter how much offense, there’s always a gap in it! Risk it all to force open his defenses in order to launch a devastating counterattack!

- Eff (With): (Normal Attacks): Keep hitting him!

- Other: User Input

>>573869

Thanks, its always nice to meet another Exalted Fan, or rather new people in /qst/ period.

Good luck looking for an Exalted game.

>>573959
Ok, we can't race him to the crash, so here's what we will do. We activate our wall walking, leap to the ceiling, activate our shroud, and disengage.

I know he will have a slightly higher edge on this action than us, so let's hope our Dodge charms are enough.

>>573975
Thanks.

>>573959
Ok, we're kinda screwed at this point.

Supporting >>573983

>>573983
Actually, fuck the shroud. We are at iconic. Anima banner is a bitch.

[1/2]

You’re a hairs breath from losing total control of this fight, so you have no choice but to peel away from Father Marcellius and try to compose yourself!

You quickly draw your sword in an effort to bat him away, backflipping before landing on the wall and mentally selecting your invisibility feature all over again.

ERR: A.N.I.M.A. VNT IN PRG

“W-Why isn’t it working!?” you mutter to yourself in a panic.

Father Marcellius stands up straight for a moment. “You haven’t noticed yourself yet? Take a look at yourself.”

Confused, you look down at yourself, noticing that a bright silver light is coming out in between the folds of your armour, small silver sparkles seeming to spill out into the world as it seems to pour out from your entire body. As you move your hand, literal afterimages of your movements can be seen in transparent silver materials, as if watching a blurred black and white video.

“What you’re seeing now is your anima being vented out of your own body with enough light to make you appear to be a floodlight. Certain augmentations related to stealth won’t work during this time as the anima gets in the way of them.” Father Marcellius explains. “However during this same time the anima confers additional powers amongst us, giving us a power boost depending on the materials we’re made out of. Since you’re Moonsilver you become faster both in speed and reaction time.”

“Huh... and what about you?” you ask, testing waving your sword around in front of you in order to see a similar afterimage effect.

“I become stronger and hit harder.” Father Marcellius replies briefly.

Oh that’s real fair.

[2/2]

(Combat Tutorial: Anima

When 5 or more peripheral motes are spent in a single action, your anima banner increases by 1. At GLOW your stealth actions suffer a -3 penalty, while at BURN or higher your character ignites like a bright pillar of fire and gains various bonuses in exchange for stealth being unusable. Moonsilver for example add their Essence rating to all Athletics rolls related to speed and count their initiative as being 3 points higher for purposes of turn order, meaning it allows them to act much sooner before opponents)

“It may be annoying, but when properly use the anima can be the key to victory.” Father Marcellius before hunching over. “Now lets continue from where we left off.”

BATTLE TRACKER
Hibiki’s Sword: 13i (16 for turn order)
Father Marcellius: 15i
Hibiki: 1i (4 for turn order)

- Pow (Wither): (+6m to add +6 dice attack, Precalculated Evasion Defense for a defensive boost in case he rolls well, roll 20d10, 6m, +4m if Precalculated Evasion Defense is used [will be automatic if this choice is made]) This pastor isn’t playing games! If I don’t go full out I’m dead!

- Pow (Decisive): (+6m to add +6 dice to attack, Horizon Swallowed Star Flash, roll 17d10, 14m 1WP, can only be selected once per turn) So the anima can be used offensively? Let’s see if these afterimages have mass, I’ll block an attack with my afterimage then hit him with my real attack!

- Eff (With): (Normal Attacks): Keep hitting him!

- Other: User Input

>>574005
- Pow (Wither): (+6m to add +6 dice attack, Precalculated Evasion Defense for a defensive boost in case he rolls well, roll 20d10, 6m, +4m if Precalculated Evasion Defense is used [will be automatic if this choice is made]) This pastor isn’t playing games! If I don’t go full out I’m dead!

Spend some extra motes and let's go to full fucking Iconic.

Hibiki: 1i (4 for turn order) - defensives won't work, we're basically fighting a solar.

- Pow (Decisive): (+6m to add +6 dice to attack, Horizon Swallowed Star Flash, roll 17d10, 14m 1WP, can only be selected once per turn) So the anima can be used offensively? Let’s see if these afterimages have mass, I’ll block an attack with my afterimage then hit him with my real attack!

Desperation maneuvers.

>>574011

On the bright side neither he nor Hibiki has access to any mastery effects, so there's that.

>>574005
supporting >>574011
Sword should Wither, then Hibiki should strike with Decisive.

[1/2]

“Fine... If using the energy I have within myself makes me stronger than... I need more power!” you say to yourself as you begin to channel all the energy you have in you, a silver plume of energy that towards over the VR simulation boundary you’re currently in, your hands slowly going towards your blade as countless replays of you reaching for it are also played out.

A.N.I.M.A.: 100%

You leap from the wall with such force that an indentation is made in the solid wall behind you, trails of you mimicking your every move before crashing towards Father Marcellius in single silver streak, multiple versions of yourself constantly adding to the onslaught of attacks against Father Marcellius.

[Hibiki rolls and hits Father Marcellius for 6 withering damage!]

Your furious onslaught against the Father continues on, constantly swinging your sword at his sides and above, Father Marcellius quickly being driven back as he’s forced to constantly dodge or parry not just single attacks, but multiple attacks over and over again.

Father Marcellius then quickly tries to make a backflip up, a spinning roundhouse kick with electricity streaming away from his own foot, but unfortunately you manage to read it just in the nick of time, quickly making a parry motion with your blade during the attacks own windup, his monsterous blow absorbed by nearly half a dozen copies of yourself before you flick the blade with a single deft swipe, causing Father Marcellius to be thrown off caught for a single deft moment.

You don’t waste this opportunity, you quickly throw everything you have in his attack, screaming towards him in a blur of speed, your afterimages shattering into five other attacks that crash through Father Marcellius in a single blow before all collasping back into your body once again after.

[Hibiki clashes Father Marcellius! She deals 12 health levels of damage to him!]

Hibiki then turns around, not sure if Father Marcellius is still standing but not wanting to take another chance, she quickly puts all of her power into turning around and swinging her sword with all the might and leftover momenteum she has, meeting Father Marcellius’s own tiger claws just before he lands on the ground a split second later, his armour covered with deep cracks all over it and his wounds leaking what appear to be a brown, tar like substance that emits a soft golden light. He may be on the ropes, but he doesn’t go down easily. The fake houses all you slowly collapsing to the ground from the large area slash you made.

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[2/2]

[Hibiki hits Father Marcellius and damages him for 12 withering damage! Crashing him!]

“Impressive...” Father Marcellius says. “To time your afterimages just right so you could launch the offensive against me...”

“Death comes like a thief in the night, all that seperates one between life and death in the battlefield is a single heartbeat.” You say as you get into a stance that points your blade overhead directly towards Father Marcellius. “All the protection in the world is utterly worthless if you defense is wide open. All I needed to do was create that opening.”

(Combat Tutorial: Clashing

Clashing happens when certain charms are used or when two opponents attack each other at the exact same instant [Meaning their initiative counts must match or an opponent head must wait for the right moment to strike]. During a clash both opponents just roll their attack pools against each other without any regard for defense. The winner manages to hit their opponent, completely ignoring any soak and hardness they may have, doing an additional amount of bonus damage, and lowering their defense for a small duration!)

BATTLE TRACKER
Hibiki: 21i (7 for turn order)
Hibiki’s Sword: 3i (6 for turn order)
Father Marcellius: -5i (3 turns left in crash, clash debuff)

- Pow (Decisive): (+4m on Excellency, Shining Starfall Execution 10m 15d10) Quick! Capitalize on him!

- Eff (Decisive): (Shining Starfall Execution, 6m, 17d10) Wounded Tigers are the most dangerous when cornered, wait for your chance for a finishing blow.

- Eff (Withering): (Liquid Steel Flow, 5m, 1WP if hit, 17d10) Kick some of the debris towards Father Marcellius before making an attack.

- Eff (Social): “You are very skilled Father Marcellius and it was a good fight, but I do not condone senseless killing. The victor is clear, fighting anymore now is meaningless, surrender.”

- Other: User Input

>>574111

I need to read before I post better.

BATTLE TRACKER
Hibiki: 21i (24 for turn order)
Hibiki’s Sword: 3i (6 for turn order)
Father Marcellius: -5i (3 turns left in crash, clash debuff)

>>574111
Probably should just finish him off, but I feel Hibiki should:
- Eff (Social): “You are very skilled Father Marcellius and it was a good fight, but I do not condone senseless killing. The victor is clear, fighting anymore now is meaningless, surrender.”

with the Sword having a prepared action to strike as he does if he doesn't quit:
>- Eff (Decisive): (Shining Starfall Execution, 6m, 17d10) Wounded Tigers are the most dangerous when cornered, wait for your chance for a finishing blow.

>>574118
It's 'I need to read gooder, before I post.'

[1/2]

“You are very skilled Father Marcellius and it was a good fight, but I do not condone senseless killing even in a simulation.” you say remaining still as a statue in your stance. “The victor is clear, fighting anymore now is meaningless, surrender.”

Father Marcellius gives a small chuckle as he hears your demand, standing back up and putting both of his hands in front of him. “I’m delighted that you’re even offering me the chance to surrender! Yes, the battle is definitely a forgone conclusion now. I surrender, its your win Hibiki.”

You stand back up out of your stance, flicking your blade clean of Father Marcellius... gunk before sliding it back into your sheath. “While I am all for finishing honourable duels, to continue when my opponent is in such a state where they cannot fight back isn’t honourable on my part, as I wish to face my opponents when they have a chance of fighting back. If they continue to press on I would finish them off, but would take no joy in doing so.”

“I’m glad you hold true to those beliefs. A moral code one adheres to is a rare thing in this day and age.” Father Marcellius says as a pillar of blue light washes over him, immediately healing him of any wounds and returning him back to his pristine state. “Now that’s one more thing I wish to cover, and that’s how to expand your capabilities.”

“I find it hard to believe I can improve when I already defeated you.” you reply to Father Marcellius. “Even if it took everything I had, I still surprised to pull it off.”

“And you did this without activating other subsystems to have. Bring up your Charm screen again and let me explain. (See >>569954 )” Father Marcellius instructs, waiting for you to do so before continuing his explanation again. “Right now your body has an incredible amount of hardware inside of it, so much of it in fact that your body simply does not have the proper amount of power or, from what I heard, neural synapses in order to make them operate. For example, it appears your Omnitool Implant charm is currently installed but doesn’t have the necessary power to activate it.”

“How do I make them work then?” you ask.

[2/2]

“What you need to do is install more neural pathways in yourself, in which the program for us are called slots. You’ll see three types of slots in there. Dedicated slots are slots which are related to our core purpose for when we were built, for example you are built with the attributes of an assassin or infiltrator in mind while someone like myself or Marina are more frontline combat units. General slots can install any sort of charm inside of them. Overcharge slots are parts of our system which can safely overclock charms, allowing them to be installed much more easily and are far more effective when placed inside of them.” Father Marcellius explains. “However unlike general or dedicated slots, we cannot gain more overcharge slots, so use them carefully.”

“You’re starting to confuse me again.” You warn Father Marcellius.

The Father gives a small but hearty chuckle. “In short, more slots means you can install more charms which means more power. Over time your systems will gradually and naturally develop more neural pathway space as it gets used to your body. You can dedicate these new neural pathways to either reactivating dormant charms, slots so you can activate the slots, or upgrading your base capabilities.”

“It appears I have some space right now.” you comment as you check your memory capacity.

“Oh perfect, in this case why don’t we try using those neutral pathways to construct a new slot and route the power towards your Omnitool Implant. It has a lockpicking feature to help you open doors, surgery, any tool you ever need for a job outside of combat.” Father Marcellius explains. “Of course if you wish, you can save the memory and use it for other purposes. Just know once enough memory is installed your systems will become more efficient, allowing you to access more powerful charms and expanding your Motonic Reservoir.”

- Spend 4 general XP to purchase a Dedicated slot for Omnitool Implant

- Save it for later

>>574151
Does the Omnitool Implant take essence to use/activate? If so, lets save the experience.

>>574157

Good catch, I missed that actually.

Pretty much all charms do. If you look at the charm list on >>569954 you'll see something like NAME (Xm [Ym]) The motes in the Y bracket are how much the charm costs to install which come out of your personal part of the Motonic Reservoir and remain taken out until the charm uninstalled, whereas X is how many motes the charm takes to use once installed. If a charm has no Ym, than it costs nothing to install.

Installing/uninstalling charms cannot be done in the middle of battle, so hotswapping cannot be done (Baring very specific circumstances). It can only be done in small periods of downtime.

You can leave it uninstalled for extra motes, but remember charms are what gives you power, so there is a tradeoff there. Usually worth it but up to you.

>>574157

Oh, and also Martial Arts charms are a bit different. They're extremely powerful charms that come from one's own skill and soul rather than hardware, so you can in theory learn an infinite amount of them and never worry about any install costs.

>>574172
So, this technically means we can't stealth AND use the Implant. It's useful, but I dunno...

>>574172
>>574151
Save it for now, I don't know enough about the system to be a decent judge of whether it'll be useful.

>>574176

Oh no, you can still stealth.

Remember that stealth becomes useless once you hit BURN, but anything before that you can. Plus your anima only goes up by one level each time you spend 5 or more Peripheral units at once (For example, Personal Gravity and Optical Shroud activated together cost 7m which would increase your anima, but if you activated Personal Gravity first costing (costing 4m) then Optical Shroud a tiny bit after (3m), then you wouldn't increase your anima. Sticking to Eff choices will generally make your anima low. There will also be charms later on that help with stealth and the anima banner issue.

“I’ll save them for now. If I only have a limited amount of resources in order to become stronger than I want to make sure I spend my resources wisely.” you reply to Father Marcellius.

“It is always a wise choice to contemplate before making such a decision, especially if that decision is irreversible.” Father Marcellius tells you. “Don’t worry, you’ll have more than enough time to increase them as time goes on then.”

You close out of the Charms screen before turning back to Father Marcellius. “Well then, is there anything left you have to teach me sensei?”

“Sensei?” Father Marcellius asks in a confused tone of voice.

“Its a term roughly meaning teacher in Coralese, it also shows sign of respect to those wiser than us.” You reply to them.

Father Marcellius gives a small smile towards you as he hears this. “The Lord assigned me the task of guiding those sheep who have strayed from their path and I am but a humble shepherd.”

“Still... With all this power we have, I still don’t believe there’s a way we’ll be stuck here forever.” you tell him.

“Our time will come child, our time will come. I have no idea when or how, but I believe that no forgiving god would allow this torture to go unpunished. Those responsible will be brought to justice eventually.” Father Marcellius says. “Now let’s head back, the others should be arriving back soon as well.”

“Understood.” you reply as the world around you goes dark as you log out.

******

MISSION 1 COMPLETE!

+10 normal Experience gained!

+5 Alchemical Experience gained!

+2 Alchemical Experience for earning the respect of Father Marcellius!

+1 Alchemical XP for beating Father Marcellius!

Total XP values: 14 total normal XP, 8 Alchemical XP

And now its time to spend your XP? What on earth do you spend it on? ADA to the rescue!

******

Charm Tutorial: Submodules

Submodules are various upgrades that can be added to your charms, modifying them in all sorts of neat and very potent ways. They can either increase its efficiency, let it be used in a new and different way, or increase its potency. Best of all, submodules cost no motes to install, so you can have as many on a charm as you want!

If this seems too complicated, don't worry. Its hard to make a difficult choice, so just pick what seems cool


ADA recommendations:

Recommended Normal XP Purchases

- Optical Shroud submodule “Rapid Cloak Technology”: Reactivates cloaking feature much faster after it has been deactivated. After stealth has been spoiled (Such as rapid movement/Attack), may immediately make stealth roll without cover or at any additional penalty. (4 XP)

- Optical Shroud Submodule “Dynamic Cloaking Module”: Able to move at much faster speeds while cloaked, extending the range one can move up to one additional zone per purchase, in addition each additional purchase lowers the penalty of moving while cloaked by 1 (3 XP each)

- Optical Shroud submodule “Kinetic Compensator”: Firmware updates and layers of sound absorbing material make the sounds that come from normal operation produce far less sound overall. All awareness rolls to spot the Alchemical are made at a penalty equal to the Alchemical’s Essence. (4 XP)

- Charm “Impact Dispersion Module”: Gain (Essence or 3, whichever is higher) Additional soak against withering attack or four hardness against decisive attacks. Basically you gain a small toughness boost. (6 XP, 10 with slot)
Charm “Advanced Stalker Protocols”: When an Alchemical attacks a target, they may pay 4m or 2i reflexively while adding Appearance bonus dice to the attempt. If the Alchemical incapacitates the target using a decisive attack than the Alchemical immediately gains the cost she paid for this charm back. (6 XP, 10 XP including slot, must use overcharged slot until Essence 2)

- Charm “Aura Dampening Component”: Any motes spent on stealth or disguise actions automatically gain the mute keyword, meaning they do not count towards seeing if your anima increase or not. Any motes spent on Dexterity dice adders are also muted.

Recommended Alchemical XP Purchases

- Strength Up (5 XP per dot)

- Appearance/Perception/Wits Up (4 XP per dot, maximum 5)

- Presence (3 XP per dot, maximum 5)

- Athletics (3 XP per dot, maximum 5)

- Stealth (3 XP per dot, maximum 5) RECOMMENDED

******

Now it is time for bed, I hope you all enjoyed the thread and hope to see you next week!

>>574196
You didn't link the info on what our currently levels of each are, but thanks for running.

As for purchases: One in Stealth & Presence for Alchemical, for normal lets grab Rapid Cloak Technology submodule and Advanced Stalker Protocols.

>>574196
- Charm “Aura Dampening Component”: Any motes spent on stealth or disguise actions automatically gain the mute keyword, meaning they do not count towards seeing if your anima increase or not. Any motes spent on Dexterity dice adders are also muted.

We should pick this up. Muting our anima banner will be very useful in both combat and infiltration. Just not against people with charms like blood scenting hunger, that lets them see essence pools.

>>574213

Oh I did.

>>569279 shows what your actual attributes and abilities are.

>>574196

Hm, I probably should explain some of these features too.

- Strength Up (5 XP per dot) - Strength is used to boost weapon damage a small bit and allows us to become physically stronger. At Strength 3 feats of strength can be attempted, such as bending Iron Bars

- Appearance/Perception/Wits Up (4 XP per dot, maximum 5) - Appearance increases one's own physical appearance but is also used for learning Stealth charms. Perception is hand-eye coordination and lets you see and notice the world around you in general. Wits is what's used for quick thinking and reaction times, such as defusing a bomb now rather than in several minutes.

- Presence (3 XP per dot, maximum 5) - Presence is what's used in most general conversations with people, ranging from asking for simple favors to straight out threats. Think of this as Diplomacy from DnD and its mostly accurate.

- Athletics (3 XP per dot, maximum 5) - Akin to merged Athletics/Acrobatics in DnD 4e. Represents how physically fast, strong, and well coordinated your body is and how skilled you are moving with it.

- Stealth (3 XP per dot, maximum 5) RECOMMENDED - What the name implies, how well you can attempt to remain hidden. Given your task as an infiltrator ADA has heavily recommended this.

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>>574213
>>574577

Didn't have enough for Advanced Stalker Protocols, but Aura Dampening Component is added now to the sheet along with Rapid Cloak Technology. The other sheet has +1 Stealth and Presence, but I don't feel like making another post just to show that minor change.

14/14 Normal
- 4 XP for slot, 6 XP for charm
- 4 XP for Rapid Cloak

0/8 Alchemical
- 3 for Stealth
- 3 for Presense

>>578627
Nice. And we have something to work towards.

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>>578627
Hi standact long time no see

>>588433

Not much, things rather chill

Mission 2 has now commenced!

>>599108

Stupid duplicate image