Did you forget the rest of your post?

Creation is a big place. Big, full of wonders from ages long lost, races fallen and forgotten, magic both deadly and wonderous. People fill it's ever corner. Small people, fearing about small things--where the next coin will come from, if the next harvest will be enough. You... are one of these people, though you are destined for things greater than you can ever comprehend. Where in Creation do you hail?

The North, that icy land near the Pole of Air?
The East, in the forests and jungles near the Pole of Wood?
The South, in the deserts and volcanic regions near the Pole of Fire?
The West, in the many oceans and islands near the Pole of Water?
The Scavenger Lands, the near-eastern plains and river kingdoms?
Or the Blessed Isle, center of Creation, and home of the Pole of Earth?

>>18751969

Also, no, but I didn't want my first quest to start auto-saging, and apparently leaving a blank first post solves that problem.

The west.

>>18751973

West.

>>18751988
>>18751990

Well, it is good as any other so I'll cast my vote for the west too

>>18751973
North. The Haslanti League are STEAMPUNK VIKINGS.

STEAMPUNK. VIKINGS. How fucking metal is that?

You hail from the seas and islands of the west. A beautiful, savage place--as anywhere else in Creation would be. Here, cowries are used for currency, and women do not sail unless pretending to be men, for fear of the wrath of the storm-mothers. Where in the west do you hail?

The Wavecraft Archipelago, the largest, oldest state of the West, with it's easy-going trade ports, wealthy fields, and rites of human sacrifice to appease ancient volcano-gods?
The Neck, a collection of small, tribal islands that get by on fishing and gathering?
The Coral Archipelago, richest and wealthiest of the western states, with little resources but great potential?
The Skullstone Archipelago, where the dead walk among the living, and all serve the undying Silver Prince?

From where in the west do you hail, Mortal?

>>18752011

Must be West, so that we can raise an army of totally radical skeleton surfers.

>>18752031

Coral Archipelago

>>18752031

The Neck.

>>18752031
Coral or Skullstone

STOP SPAMMING /tg/ WITH QUEST THREADS FOR FUCKS SAKE

One of the pseudo-Viking countries in the Northwest.

>>18752045

Let's do Coral.

>>18752044

2nd vote for the Neck.

>>18752051
Go stab yourself in the eye with a rusty spork.

>>18752061
3rd vote.

Figure I will post the votes. I'll let voting on this run for ten minutes more, so feel free to spam your choice as often as you can in the hopes of being democratic.

as of this post: >>18752061

The tally looks like this.

Coral: 2 1/2
Neck: 2
Skullstone: 1/2

>>18752061
Why the fuck would you want to be some primitive Stone Age islanders? That's not very Metal at all.

Neck!

>>18752076
And one write-in vote for one of the Northwestern pseudo-Viking Coastal countries.

>>18752081

Our myths across the globe tell of mortals killing the immortals. It just feels right!

So how many of you in here only come to /tg/ for quest threads?

How many of you in here come MOSTLY for the quest threads?

Be honest.

>>18752095
But why be some primitive with a stone axe when you can be a Viking, and crank the Metal to the max? We can totally be the dude on those Fantasy-metal album covers!

>>18752111
Go make Heavy Metal Viking Quest then. You're as bad as the people who try to ram their fetishes into quests.

You hail from the Neck, a collection of islands ruled by tribal chieftains, stretching just south of the Skullstone Archipelago. Tell me, Mortal, what did you do in life?

Were you a man? A woman?

A fisherman, a pearl-diver, a warrior, a gatherer?

You lived, as all mortals do. But how was it that you did, Mortal? What did you do in Life?

>>18752168
Man
Warrior

>>18752168
woman
rat catcher (gatherer)

I cast my vote for the neck as well!

Woman, pearl-diver.

We have an impressive set of... lungs.

>>18752198

This sounds good.

>>18752202

Pity about being nearly flat-chested, but having high Dexterity, Stamina and Athletics has its own rewards. And that way we don't end up with the stereotypical 'tits always on display' Abyssal thing.

How about... Woman, Pearl Diver?

>>18752224

DFC are just as good as megatits.

You were a woman. A pearl-diver. The clam beds in the Neck were never as rich as those from Coral, but they provided some amount of pearls to send to the Realm in tribute. It was tough work, that took athleticism and stamina, and you had to compete with god-blooded for the best pearl sites rather often... but you always managed to eke out your living nonetheless.

I have but two more questions more for you, Mortal.

What is your name?

And how did you die?

Electrocution, while meddling with some First Age magitech you found in the ocean.

>>18752254

My name is Saphire Argenta

My death was by my jealous husband's hand.

>>18752254

Considering we're female pearl divers? I'm thinking something Japanese, like the ama. Maybe something like Umi.

As for death, we got caught under some sort of diving cave and couldn't swim out.

I vote eaten by sharks

Got hired by a DB covertly working for the Realm to retrieve a cache of magitech from an underwater cave. Trapped in a net afterwards and left to drown on the seabed to keep it a complete secret.

>>18752276
>im thinking something japanese
>>>/jp/

>>18752276
The Neck are pseudo-Polynesians, not Japanese. The pseudo-Japanese are the Lookshyans and the Shogunate Dragonblooded they're the heirs of.

>>18752250

Selena
Died trapped underwater under a rocky ridge that fell, also stabbed, but it was mostly the rock thing.

>>18752298

Polynesian names then? Mere means sea water, and also means "Bitterly Wanted Child".

Allright, given the choices, let's narrow it down:
Name:
Selena, Saphire Argenta, or Umi.
Death:
Drowned accidently (Trapped in a cave while exploring), drowned on purpose (by dynasts or a jilted husband), or death by first age magic gone awry.

Ten more minutes.

Name ideas: Wokani, Leilani, Malie

>>18752333

Also, add Mere to the list of names to vote for, since I like that one.

Aren't they supposed to be long names that are odd?
Argent Swimmer

>>18752326
Vote for Mere. Already voted for Death By First Age Magic Gone Awry.

>>18752341

Abyssals are, yes.

But you aren't an Abyssal (yet), are you, Mortal?

>>18752051
You can't roleplay in here! This is /tg/!

>>18752254
I don't want to hijack the narrative, but doesn't this one need more context to it than just "how"? I thought Abyssals need the potential for greatness somewhere in their history. As in "standard heroic backstory, signs were right, about to get the call of adventure, LOL dead." Abyssals could have exalted as Solars, but they died first.

So I vote for knifed in a back-alley. She'd been saving away for her entire life, dreaming of a larger life, owning her own ship, seeing what lay over the horizon, maybe joining the Tya once she became an experienced sailor. Eventually, at long last, she saved enough to buy a single person skiff, said goodbye to her family, and took a pouch of pearls and coin to the docks. And then she got knifed in a back-alley because someone noticed she was on her own with a heavy purse. The end.

Except not.

Or do something else. That's just how I'd do it.

>>18752341

That's the title-name that comes after Exaltation, especially for Abyssals (who suffer Resonance if they use their original name).

>>18752341
That's *after* we die, become an Abyssal, and lose our mortal name. Probably because He Who Holds In Thrall lost his when he died and was no longer Mardukth.

>>18752355

I vote this one.

>>18752355

I'm voting for this and voting for Mere on this. Especially with the "bitter" connontation, even if it's more of "Bitterly Wanted Child".

>>18752355

How about knifed went back out to sea to make get more pearls and ended up trapped because she couldn't swim as well with the blood loss?

I really like the name Mere, it just sounds nice. And I think I'll vote for First Age Magic gone awry.

>>18752355
Abyssals die in the moment of heroism that would see them Exalt as Solars, because they didn't Exalt as a Solar. So, for instance, getting electrocuted by a First Age device that you could have repaired had you Exalted as a Twilight Caste Solar would cause you to Exalt as a Daybreak Caste Abyssal.

>>18752380
If you're keen on drowning (and why not, since we're in the West), maybe she handed over her money to the man who she thought was going to sell her the skiff, and then he stabbed her and pushed her off the pier into the bay. Or maybe she had an anchor tied to her (which would take much longer, and implies that people would have heard her scream for help and done nothing).

Either way there's the possibility of dramatic brutal vengeance, but the thing I like is that if you put someone in that situation and the offered them the deal that this young woman is about to be offered, they wouldn't need to be a frothing killer to say "Yes".

>>18752333

Drowned on purpose.

Combine with earlier idea; she was one last pearl-dive, the last she'd need to raise the funds to ship herself out to the wider world, when left to drown by a competitor who then stole all her accumulated money.

>>18752402
I think that's overly literal.

Your name... your name was Mere.

But if you take this offer, it shall be Mere no longer, Mortal. You had potential. You had the chance for greatness. You were special... you had a destiny before you.

And now, here you lay. Bleeding out in the shadows in your small tribal village, all your preciously-saved wealth gone, all your carefully managed money vanished into the hands of another.

But you can live again. Cast away your old name, your old destiny. Live to serve the Neverborn, the masters of death. Destroy that which destroyed you. Take the Black Exaltation. Take the Last Breath.

Let it catalyze within you. Let the dark essence of death flow through you. Take up your title as it comes to your mind, as blood stains a pearl.

Can you feel it within you? Your caste, made manifest, the sum of your abilities, your drive? You were an athlete, a runner... a fighter, too, when you had to.

What now comes to the fore? An army at dusk, or the knife in the alleyway, in the bright sun of the day?

>>18752489
That's not disproving me. If he had Exalted as a Solar during that fight, he'd have survived, easily, and fighting Panther (an undefeated gladiatorial champion) is easily worth a Solar Exaltation in its own right, especially if you're as scrawny as that dude looks.

>>18752494
I'd say Day caste probably fits her better, given her background, but Dusk has a vastly superior Anima power.

Eh. Dusk.

>>18752494
I really don't know what the differences are.
So I say Day. I like the sun.

>>18752524
Didn't say it did, I just think you're being overly literal. Pretty much everyone ever to die would have been saved if they'd Exalted instead. Including Crimson Pearl here. (Or The Crimson Pearl of Bitter Regret if you prefer.)

>>18752494
Dusk. Never be weak again. Kill everyone who let this happen to you.

>>18752494

Day Caste, with a splash of Martial Arts, Sail, Resistance, Presence, and Survival.

I'd say Dusk Caste, sounds fitting

Currently 3 for dusk and 2 for day. I'll let voting continue for another ten minutes. Also, if anyone wishes to input for Mere's new abyssal name, feel free. I dropped a hint in the post for a good one, but ultimately, of course, the decision... is up to you.

>>18752614
Oh well, yo hurry the things I'll change my vote from sun to dusk. This is my previous post >>18752558

>>18752614
Day caste.

we shall clearly be the Delightful Vampire Dolphin

Day

>>18752614

Dusk, name being Blood Stained Pearl.

>>18752494
the bright sun of day

>>18752650
>name that's originally serious but seems incredibly silly to other Abyssals

I like this idea.

Dolphins are crazy murderous assholes.

>>18752565
Eh. I dunno; even the more ambiguous cases have clear-cut moments of heroism where they Exalt. Take Panther, for instance.

Panther Exalted as a Solar when he looked out the window, and realised that all his years of living a life of selfish hedonism didn't truly make him happy, and he was hurting people to indulge in those selfish pleasures. He then Exalts and decides to turn over a new leaf.

An Infernal Panther might exalt when he looks out the window at the sunrise, realises that his life is empty and he's hurting people, and shrugs. If he stops, the people he's victimising are probably going to be victimised anyway, and why should he deny himself his creature comforts for the cold comfort of idealism? Then, as he turns to go and snort a line of cocaine off a whore, a wasp made of brilliant multicolored glass appears and offers him power and luxury beyond anything he has ever known if he agrees to serve the true masters of Creation, and he agrees.

An Abyssal Panther stands up and looks at the sunrise, and begins to realise that his life is empty hedonism, when his heart explodes from the prodigious amount of cocaine he'd snorted off of whores the night before. As he lies dying on the floor, a voice whispers to him, offering him the ability to continue living if he agrees to help destroy the world. In despair, he accepts. Having felt the cold touch of death, he realised the pointlessness of indulgence, and turns over a new leaf.

For informed decision-making, the Dusk caste are the generals and warriors of the Abyssal Exalted, while the Day caste are the spies and assassins.

Skimming over the general feel of the mechanics without going into the specifics of the system...

Dusk caste Abyssals can use every weapon of war in existence (including exotic magictech, siege weapons, and more abstract things like tactics and leadership). The Dusk battle aura makes them supernaturally terrifying to the point that it's difficult to look at them, let alone attack them.

Day caste Abyssals are supernaturally skilled at movement, perception, stealth and stealth support skills (basically anything a Rogue can do. I should speed up, 10min and all that.) They can suppress their aura to not give themselves away, or activate it to conceal their identity behind swirling energy.

So basically, magic Fighter or magic Rogue. Bear in mind that, except for the aura thing, they learn each other's powers.

I vote Day, and some kind of dolphin-related name.

>>18752702
Those work.

An army at dusk, an army of the dead, rising as a tide to wash the living from the land.

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

You were Mere. You were a simple pearl-diver from the Neck. You had saved up, your entire life, to purchase a boat. Another--someone from your village--killed you for your pearls and cowries on your way to the dock.

Now, you are alive again. You are lying in an alleyway. The sun beams down from on-high, a painful, wicked thing. Blood leaks from your forhead--there, you feel, a symbol has been carved.

You can see a man standing at the entrance to the alleyway. He looks familiar... one of the villagers. Maybe one of the fisherman. His name is not important. He is calling out to you, asking if you are okay.

What do you do?

>>18752727
Leave the alleyway from the other direction and say nothing

>>18752727
Find the one who killed you. We burn with vengeance.

>>18752727

Greet him very happily.

Stare at him with a very broad smile while blood pours down our face until he just goes NOPE.avi and backs away all the way into the ocean.

>>18752727
Ask Johnny NPC where the as-yet unspecified guy who knifed us went. If we saw them, and weren't just knifed in the back.

Then ponder why he flees in acute religious terror at the sight of me and my forehead, assuming any monks have ever been to the island. He might even start gouging his own eyes out if Pearl's anima banner is at full. Did anyone mention yet how much being a mortal sucks in this setting?

In fact, what'd really be hilarious would be if we started doing this >>18752756 , then he caught up, saw our face and went into apoplexy.

>>18752756

This.

You ignore the fisherman--you remember his name now, Santoso--and leave the alleyway, towards where you last sun the man who murdered you running. Santoso walks up to you. "Mere, hey, what's wrong? There's alot of blood on the ground, are you hurt? Say something!" He says, obviously worried. He's one of the younger fisherman.

You think he may have felt something for you, now that your mind is less addled by the majesty of near-death.

He reaches out to grab you by the shoulder. He hasn't seen your face yet.

What do you do?

>>18752727
*look at Anima banner around hands*
"I think I just became an Anathema, but I don't feel like I got possessed by some sort of demon."

>>18752805
>Did anyone mention yet how much being a mortal sucks in this setting?

Well, I'm unfamiliar with the setting. Wish OP would take that into consideration, that not everyone is bound to know what's up.

>>18752842
Look at him... I guess?

>>18752842

"Santoso, if you're ever going to trust me about anything, please turn around and leave. Right now."

>>18752842

Grab his arm, and proceed to break the fuck out of it, that'll show him to be, friendly!

>>18752920
Second this, we don't want to mix people we like with the death hero thing.

>>18752917

I'm purposefully not explaining things about the setting because I want to see how those unfamiliar with it would react. J. Average Mortal from the neck lives a life not entirely terrible, despite the closeness to Skullstone, they probably haven't seen an Anathema, only a few would have seen a dragonblooded, they'd be used to dealing with Godblooded mortals as they're rather common in the neck, and while, yes, 'life sucks' for motals in exalted, most mortals are content--or at least terrified into complacency--with their lot in life.

So yes, you don't know what's up. our Pearl here is only slightly more clued in than the average mortal, and that only because she spent about thirty minutes, subjectively, talking about her life and getting an Abyssal Exaltation.

If this is displeasing to my players, I'll do an Infodump Post before continuing on with the story.

>>18752842
He'll be the first.

be nice to fisher boy and lets go get some vengeance

nah, keep going man, as long as you didn't start the quest assuming everyone'd know the setting

Man what's with the psycho answers?

We just had a near-death experience, but that's time for freaaaaking ouuuut, not for being an instant sociopath.

>>18752920
3rd vote. Largely because she probably isn't full swing into how to be an Abyssal yet. All she has had to clue her in was a short conversation with her Deathlord

>>18752997
I blame the fact that our soully thing just got shoved full of death essance.

"Santoso, if you're ever going to trust me about anything, please turn around and leave. Right now."

Your voice sounds different. Maybe emptier, a bit hollow. Santoso pauses, as if he can hear the difference too.

"O... okay, Mere. You were gonna go buy a boat today, right? Hey, uh... good luck with that. If you want help crewing it, come find me, yeah? We're friends, don't forget that."

He squeezes your shoulder, and leaves. Shaken... but still your friend.

You feel the wound on your forehead slowly closing, the blood no longer leaking so freely from the symbol carved on your head. You reach the end of the alleyway. You saw your murderer turn left, before vision left you entirely.

Towards the chieftain's hut, and the jungle beyond.

What do you do?

For those unfamiliar with the setting, consider that Abyssals have no actual requirement to be Evil Bad Guys, they've just got sort of an unholy aura that follows them around and fucks shit up if they don't destroy things enough (but, then, those things can always be other bad guys).

Vampire Hunter D would fit well as an Abyssal, for example, despite being a "good guy" much of the time, complete with crosses and holy symbols around him physically warping as he passes through an area.

>>18753027

Follow wary of any other people we see on our way.

>>18752963
>I'm purposefully not explaining things about the setting because I want to see how those unfamiliar with it would react.

It's alright. It kinda felt like people were supposed to know what's up.
For example, I would have expected Dusk to be rogue/spy thing and not the Sun.

>>18753044

Fair enough, and I probably could have explained that a bit better, but that's why I used the imagery I did--an army verses a knife. Which is my bad.

But this can be treated as a learning experience for us all, so.

>>18753027

Follow. Hunt.

Drag him into the sea and let him almost drown, and then in the last possible moment let him live if he swears total obedience to us. Make it clear that his life was, and from that moment will always be, in our hands.

go by the chiefs hut, probably went here with your pearls

>>18752963
What is a god-blooded? it's been mentioned that they're in the place where we live. Are they like Heracles or whoever. (What are they half gods of, like who's their parents?)

>>18753027
>Towards the chieftain's hut, and the jungle beyond.

So... did he go to the jungle or the chieftain's hut?
Eh, anyway, go in the chieftains hut and see if there are any signs of the murderer. Don't spend much time, if no obvious, immediate signs then go to the jungle following the trail.

>>18753069
second vote

>>18753073
I think that is supposed to be ambiguous. We lost sight of our killer as (s)he left the alleyway

>>18753072

God-Blooded are the children of a mortal and a god.

Note that Gods in exalted are... more shinto than greco-roman. Rice Grains, for example, each have their own individual god. Most godblooded from the Neck are the children of various sea, island, and storm gods--major for the area, but overall minor in the grand scheme of things. More powerful than a mortal, but much less powerful than an Exalted.

>>18753073

To answer this question: You don't know. You only saw the direction he went in. Perhaps he stopped at the chief's hut, or fled into the jungles. You'll have to find out.

Let's check out the chief's hut.

I wanna know if this was a conspiracy to kill us. Great excuse to burn the town down.

>>18753072
Children of a god and a human. Their level of power depends on the god who was the parent; the local ones would probably be the children of fairly minor storm/ocean/island gods, personally potent but more like "humans with magic tricks" than Hercules level or what an experienced Exalt can do.

>>18753104
Alright, so can you be a child of a major god of the area, like the War goddess or say an elemental dragon or something?

>>18753089
Then go to the chieftain's hut since if he did not go there, we don't have to backtrack.

>>18753153
Those things tend to not have sex with mortals.

The Greater Gods are busy playing divine WoW, and the Dragons are doing whatever they do.

You approach the chieftain's hut--tall, risen up on stilts. Your village's chief--Mokone, a tall, broad-shouldered man, a Godblooded. Child of the local Volcano God, Varn Of The Fire, Mokone won his position through guile and fighting skill.

You feel like that's not going to matter for much longer.

This time of day, there's usually very few people in the hut, but you can hear voices coming from within.

"Here is my gift to you, father. Pearls, dried and fresh from the sea, gathered with my own hand from hidden beds," you hear. The voice is familiar. It is Rakase, the chieftain's young son. A drunkard, a bully, and a thief.

And, you realize now, a murderer. He is gifting pearls--your pearls, your wealth, your life--to his father, a tradition of your village, that the son give gifts from his personal wealth to the father on occasion.

There is one door, and two windows--no glass, of course, simple things with wooden panes that can be closed at will. Your murderer and his father are inside.

What do you do?

>>18753159
Okay, what are our powers as an.... Abyssal (right? We're "abyssal", that's what it is called?) since I'm thinking how to murder that asshole. Also, are we much tougher? Can we be hurt by normal weapons?

>>18753159

Offer a friendly greeting, ask if they have seen someone with a knife come by, and stare down Rakase, but don't do anything else yet.

>>18753176

From what you know, your powers are centered on combat. You are much, much better at Killing Things. Destroying Things. Leading Armies. Murdering Things.

You can be hurt, you can be killed, but you are tougher than your standard mortal. You do not bleed, unless you wish to, and most poisons and diseases will not effect you.

Oh, the manifold benefits of the dead!

>>18753159

Confront the son in front of his father. Demand life of the son in servitude in repayment for the death he would have inflicted on us.

Turn the anima banner on if necessary, but not to the "mortals start clawing out their eyes" level.

>>18753193
How about our physical attributes? Do we move faster? Are we much stronger?

>>18753194
Servitude? Do we really want him to serve us? I think it's much better just to kill him and make his father serve us, as a punishment for his son.

storm in there and fuck him up, tell his dad why, then kill him slowly

>>18753176

A beginning Exalt can make like a wuxia character and perform impossible combat tricks, but can still get stabbed to death at an inopportune time.

A moderately experienced Exalt can be casually immune to sneak attacks and being overwhelmed by numbers, but can still be ground down by powerful attacks or if they get themselves buried under a lot of weak enemies.

>>18753176
We are a Dusk Caste Abyssal. We are the best warriors and generals of the Exalts. It is our duty to lead the armies of the dead to conquer and slaughter both the world and Heaven itself. We can be hurt by normal weapons, though not badly. Right now we are possibly unarmed, unarmored, and we don't know exactly what are powers are.

I vote to boldly walk in the front door and claim the son to be a liar and a thief

Well I do know that Abyssals are necromancers and spirit callers. Lots of DOOM AND GLOOM type abilities, though it has been some time since I last looked at the Abyssal handbook.

>>18753213
Physically, we're pretty much maximum human in raw capability and skill. Our real power comes from our magical tricks, like being about to automatically no-sell any attack (though that costs a lot of magical power). Fights between Exalts are usually determined by who runs out of magical power first.

>>18753213

Somewhat stronger, and somewhat faster, but your special abilities, as an Abyssal, are more about what you know--skills, talents, learned things--than what you can do--raw strength, speed, or intelligence.

It can be safe to assume that you have any of a dozen ways to kill everyone and everything on this island. Those ways will be made manifest by your choices and decisions.

>>18752917
Long story short on the setting: Primordial uber-gods that were the fundamental expressions of cosmic concepts and living worlds unto themselves made a world from the infinite chaos of the Wyld, to define what reality truely is and provide power for Games of Divinity they planned to play to distract themselves. They populated it with various creatures they made, and gave the tedious busywork of running it to janitor-spirits now called "gods", while they retired to play the Games of Divinity in the Heaven they made. The mightiest of the gods, the Celestial Incarnae, grew sick of being forced to work for no reward while helplessly watching the Primordials tyrannise the lesser races they created, and plotted treason. However, the magic of the Primordials prevented them from harming the Primordials directly, so they were unsure of what to do.

Then one of the Primordials, Autochthon the Great Maker, overheard their plotting and offered to help them, for he held a grudge against his siblings for their cruelty. He was sickly and physically weak, and his siblings often made sport of bullying him, and damaging and destroying his creations. So, in true Columbine Massacre style, he proposed forging autonomous weapons to kill them. Luna, one of the Celestial Incarnae, seduced her lover Gaia to assist them, for they genuinely loved each other, and Gaia was one of the most compassionate of the Primordials, and did not like their cruelty and indifference the other Primordials showed.

>>18753213

Think wuxia movies in term of physical tricks to start with, verging into superhero/high end anime over time.

There are also social and large-scale effects possible, like laying down dark laws and instantly knowing if someone breaks them, or magically seducing someone until their will breaks and they become an empty shell, or making corpses spontaneously rise to aid you as organized units on the battlefield.

There's a shitload of stuff possible over the long term, as long as it fits a combination of deathly/underworld/dark avenger themes and an extension of human abilities (like Presence for seduction, or Socialize for lawmaking, or War for zombie armies).

>>18753241

So, they got together, and decided on a plan. They would use humanity as their weapon, for they were too weak for the Great Geas laid upon the gods and the more potent beings of the land to affect them, as they were made to be weak and helpless, lacking even the most basic magic, and thus provide a steady stream of prayers for the Primordials and the spirits underneath them.

They forged the Exaltations, shards of magic empowered by their patrons that attach themselves to worthy heroes, empowering them to overthrow the Primordials. And the Exalted did so, slaying the unkillable Primordials and breaking reality in the process, creating the Underworld. The remaining Primordials surrendered and were imprisoned inside the body of their king, while Gaia and Autochthon, fearful of Exalted power, both buggered off to worlds beyond creation. The gods took over Heaven, granting Creation to the Exalted to rule.

>>18753247


And rule it they did, with the mightiest and most glorious of the Exalted, the Solar Exalts, Chosen of the Unconquered Sun, taking control. And they ushered in an age of great wonders and magic, such had never been seen before; however, the death curse of the Primordials lingered within them, and over time they grew mad with hubris. Their experiments threatened the very fabric of reality, and the Sidereal Exalted, the Chosen of the Maidens and tasked with the duty of maintaining the fabric of reality and advising the other Exalts, called a meeting on what to do. They saw that if they did nothing, Creation would lie in ruins and darkness forever; if they tried to help the Solars, there were a few good timelines where the Solars fixed the problems and ushered in an even greater golden age, but many more where Creation was destroyed outright, and if they killed the Solars and imprisoned their Exaltation Shards, Creation would be lessened but would definitely survive. The Sidereals who supported the second option murdered the ones who supported the first, and began hatching a plan. Recruiting the Dragonblooded (the Chosen of the Elemental Dragons, who are five of the souls of Gaia) to their side, who were the Solar's superpowered soldiers, servants, and lieutenants, they launched a coup, the Usurpation, and slew most of the Solars at a great feast, held to celebrate the end of the year.

>>18753233
>>18753228
>>18753226
>>18753219
Thanks.

>>18753226
I say we loudly enter the room, grab the fucker by his neck, lift him up and call him a liar. Then kill him painfully.

You burst open the door.

Or, rather, you kick the door, and it flies off it's hinges and hits the wall opposite, falling into a hundred pieces of decayed wood.

"Those pearls are rightfully MINE," you snarl. Blood wells from your forhead again. "And you killed me for them, you lying swine!"

You point a finger at Rakase, and color drains from his face... and from the room, and his father, and your vision. His father, Mokone, slumps back into his chair, face pale and eyes wild. "What are you?!" He stammers out. "Mere? Anathema?! WHAT ARE YOU?!"

You can see the bag of pearls drop to the ground. It opens, and they roll out.

Anathema. Demons, devils, terrible spirits inhabiting mortal flesh.

Seems as good a term as any.

>>18753254

They then broke into the office of the God of Exaltation, and raided his cabinet for all of the Exaltations of the slain Solars, and stuffed them in a Jade Prison they hid on the bottom of the ocean while the Dragonblooded set about ruling Creation, a time known as the Dragonblooded Shogunate.

However, as they did this, the some of the ghosts of the slain Solars made unholy bargains with the undying Primordials known as the Neverborn, receiving great power rivalling that which they once had in exchange for their loyalty in destroying the world, for once the world was destroyed, they would plunge into Oblivion and their eternal torment would end. Most of them then proceeded to dick around in the Underworld, doing little of note, but one actually intended to follow through on her bargain, and unleashed a terrible plague that destroyed 90% of everything living. As this was happening, another Deathlord, realising what was happening, invited the Fae in from the Wyld, hoping that his contribution to destroying Creation would earn him enough favor to rule over significant portions of the Underworld while existance crumbled away.

>>18753257
Not done yet.

>>18753254


Unfortunately for him, the chaotic energies of the Fae cancelled out the necrotic energies of the plague, and he wound up inadvertantly saving Creation. He was forever painfully bound inside his armor in punishment. However, as the Fae army was seeming to reign supreme and waves of chaotic power washed across the land, one junior Dragonblooded officer managed to wrest control of a superweapon originally forged by Autochthon and later enhanced by the Solars: the Sword of Creation, also known as the Realm Defense Grid. With this weapon, she scourged the Fae from the world, at the expense of causing massive amounts of collateral damage from insufficient control of this power. With this superweapon, she declared herself Scarlet Empress, ruler of the Blessed Isle and the Dragonblooded Host. That was 768 years ago.

Five years ago, she dissappeared. Shortly afterwards, the Jade Prison, the cage of the Solar Exaltations, was found by the Deathlords, and the Neverborn, with the assistance of one of the imprisoned living Primordials, devised a way to corrupt captured Solar Exaltations to channel their power instead. So, they sent out the Deathlords to destroy it and capture the Exaltations. Unfortunately for them, something went wrong, and rather than punching a small hole in the Jade Prison, the whole thing exploded, and as a result, they only captured half of the Solar Exalted. Fifty of those Exaltations went to the living but imprisoned Primordials for their assistance; the remainder were corrupted to serve the Neverborn and distributed to their Deathlord servants, with a few of the ones left over left to roam freely.

That is what we are: an Abyssal Exalt, one of the Chosen of Oblivion.

>>18753241
>>18753247
>>18753254

I don't think the large and boring infodump is needed, especially after OP said he wanted the people to learn by playing. More specifically, I think you are faggot, but I will stay polite for the sake of this quest.

>>18753258

"I'm pissed off about being killed is what I am!"

>>18753258
"I am one of the dead. I have come to claim my vengeance upon the one who has wronged me. Stay out of my way and you might not join him."

>>18753258

"If I am Anathema, that is a thing separate from your son being a murderer and thief."

>>18753266
Thanks for the dump.

>>18753271
Boring? Bah, I went out of my way to be evocative, while describing what we are in the context of the history of the world we live in.

But if you want the TL,DR? We're the reincarnation of an ancient hero, the weapon that slew the creators and rightful rulers of the world reforged to be the weapon that destroys the world and bring them peace in doing so.

>>18753258
"Anathema? Maybe I am, maybe I'm a ghost possessing my own corpse. I don't know, but either way, you're fucked."

>>18753266
And what are we supposed to do as an Abyssal? Anything we want or do we have some overarching task?

>>18753258
Ignore the small man

"You will pay thousandfold for those pearls!"

>>18753319
so far all our Deathlord has told us to do is wreak our vengeance upon the world. Other than that, we are free to do as we please

You pick up Rakase by the neck. The young man thrashes in your grip.

"Your son, Chieftain, killed me for the pearls I was going to use to buy a new life."

You squeeze. You feel your fingers sink into the flesh of his neck, blood welling around them.

"Anathema or no, what I am is angry. He would have escaped justice."

Rakase is trying to scream, but your grip is to tight. Only a small, quiet little hiss escapes from his mouth. His eyes roll up into his head.

"A death for a death, chieftain."

There is a popping noise.

Rakase's body slumps to the ground, blood spilling, glorious, red, dripping blood.

His head falls over, off the top of your hand, leaving you holding a handful of bloody vertebrae.

Mokone stares in disbelief. He makes a quiet croaking noise... and off in the distance, you hear horns sound.

The horns of war. The horns of dread.

Skullstone's Armada approaches.

>>18753343

Those horns have sounded twice in your life. Both times, your home was invaded by the walking dead, zombies and ghosts and worse things. You dreaded those horns, everyone does. Even now, you know, people are running--warriors to the boats on the docks, fisherman and women and children to safe cellars and caves.

The chieftain should be going to lead his people in the defense of the island. But now, it seems, he is to stunned to move.

What do you do?

>>18753343
"It seems as though his will not be the only death today, Chieftain. What will you do to protect what pitiful power you hold?"

>>18753283
I like this response best.

fucker was lucky he didn't suffer more.

grab the pearls, hide the mark thing, see what is up

>>18753359
As a Dusk Abyssal we are and excellent commander and can lead armies right?
Lets take over the commanding position and lead our warriors to glorious victory.

But first, there must be a symbol of a chieftain, be it an ornate hat, a sash, or shield. Take it off the chieftain.... also, he should have the best weapon in the tribe, take that too.

Remember what the OP gave you for knowledge of Skullstone:
The Skullstone Archipelago, where the dead walk among the living, and all serve the undying Silver Prince

Grab your pearls and offer the chief your services in battle, price being a damned good weapon.

The Chieftain's been a good man, even if his son wasn't. Let's at least give him the chance to get things started, so as not to humiliate him fully. We can take over if it's really needed, and give enough displays of personal prowess in the battle that the village should willingly hand over the leader position to us.

Silver Prince is probably another Abyssal Exalted.

We could sign up with his crew and have him teach us how to be more badass if he's willing, or we could strike out on our own. Either way, the undead won't attack us, we all serve the same masters now.

I would like to at least chat with the guy and see what's up.

Alternatively, the town will likely try to defend itself. We could cripple their defenses from the inside, break walls, kill commanders, that sort of thing.

>>18753403
Don't we have our own say on what we do? Just because we're Abyssal doesn't mean we should murder our old friends and family.

I say we defend the village.

>>18753415
Yes, you have complete control of what you do. You will know when you have done something you aren't supposed to

>>18753403
Deathlord, actually, and a giant deceptive asshole. Those ships are probably here to grab us. I don't particularly want to let them.

[X]Grab a weapon, and lead the warriors to glory by example from the front; trying to get them to follow us before then is liable to lead to ridicule, since we're not a warrior.

We're Dusk Caste, commanders of the undead.

Here's a nice little army, probably with no immediate command. Silver Prince is probably across the ocean.

We could try to commandeer this army ourselves, and set up our own rule someplace.

>>18753448
Seconding this

"It seems as though his will not be the only death today, Chieftain. What will you do to protect what power you hold?"

Mokone splutters, but composes himself. He stands and draws his weapon--an ancestral sword, one of the few metal weapons on the island. He snarls. "Whatever you are now, you killed my son. But my people are in danger. I will handle this later." He pushes his way past you, and towards the docks and beaches.

Following, casting aside the vertebrae, you reach the docks, where there is some confusion... the Skullstone armada is flying a white flag--the traditional flag of truce across all Creation. At the bow of the foremost ship, so close as to be almost grounded on the island, stands a figure. He is tall, and pale... and a circle of darkness is risen on his forehead, leaking blood down his face.

"I am the Deathknight Crowned Son Of Darkened Waters! I am sent by the Silver Prince to reclaim one of our one!" he calls to the island. "Send our new sister over, and we shall leave your village in peace. Fail to do so in the next hour, and we shall leave your village in pieces!"

Your caste mark has disappeared again, by this point, but the Chieftain catches sight of you all the same. He quirks an eyebrow at you, questioning.

What do you do?

>>18753496
Come close to this knight and make him shorter by head

>>18753496
Activate Glorious Carnage Typhoon and Crypt Bolt Attack.

>>18753496
Walk toward Crowned Son of Darkened Waters. I want to know what I have become.

>>18753496
...Oh, it's not a battle...
Well damn.

Lets go then. The only thing we should take, I thing, is a single pearl from our hoard. Preferably one stained with our own blood when we were killed.

>>18753521
>>18753522
Eh, wouldn't he be stronger than us, being an Abyssal as well but an older one?

>>18753496
I assume if we go with him, we will be drafted into the army? Meh, I still say go for it.

Walk out and talk, be prepared to swim away, I don't want to work for anyone but myself.

>>18753535
Glorious Carnage Typhoon is an anti-mass combat unit charm. We can use it to wipe out the crew of his ship, if not the ship itself.

Let us go with our unholy brothers

>>18753537
>>18753543

Well, I suppose we have a talk and then tell him "thanks but no thanks". Tell him that our deathlord gave us free reign on our actions and we don't feel like following another.

You glance at the chieftain, and walk out, wading towards the ship.

The Deathknight, Crowned Son of Darkened Waters, looks at you as you do. A grin splits his handsome, pale face. "Are you her, then? Our new sister in death?"

"I believe I may be," you reply, "But before I go, I wish to ask a few questions." You allow your caste mark to open--again--to reveal the truth behind your statements.

"Then, by all means, Sister. Ask away. We're working for the same people, after all!" The other Deathknight's grin never wavers.

His eyes are dead, and empty. They remind you of a shark, hunting for prey in water freshly blooded.

"But do tell me what your name is? Your real one?"

What do you do?

no fight eh?

go on, lets go, not much we can do here with a father that wants us dead and a village soon to hate us.

again, lets go back, grab the pearls and if we don't like these new guys we can use the pearls for a boat and do our own thing, windwaker style

"Kireeki's Bloody Daughter. Because I'm not going to stand for any sharks."

Activate Crypt Bolt Attack.

"Understand?"

>>18753601
lady wobblehosser Von dolphinfuck

>>18753601
Be honest, tell him our name.

>>18753601
Wasn't our real name Mere?
Tell him that.

And our new name is Blood Stained Pearl, right? Or just Pearl for short.

are we making a new name?

how about pearl?

>>18753627
For those that don't know, Kireeki is the Goddess of Dolphins and the Western Goddess of the Hunt. She's also a major rival of Siakal, Western Goddess of War and Goddess of Sharks, and who is a major goddess worshipped by pirates.

>>18753653
I like pearl it goes against the trend of Abyssals always having long names. Also we should not give this fellow our real name as in creation names have power (like in fairy tales).

Keep our real name secret. Speaking it causes trouble for us, and it might be a key to controlling us in the future.

Give him our Abyssal name, if we can think of one.

Blood Stained Pearl

>>18753681
>>18753682
IT DOES?!

Don't tell him our name then!

>>18753601
Auspicious Dolphin beneath Red Tides

>>18753696
Or just Bloody Pearl.

Kireeki's pearl?

but bluff a fake name

>>18753657
Does this name >>18753703 work for you then? I think it would be a nice name and has Dolphins in it.

I vote for pearl short sweet

>>18753681
Hmm? No, they don't; not really. There are a few effects like demon and ghost-summoning that require you to have the name of a particular spirit you want to summon (that aren't relevant to us, since we're an Exalt, not a spirit), and a couple oddball Sidereal charms, but other than that, I can't think of any special effects knowing someone's "true name" might have. Not like it matters, since we lost our name when we became an Abyssal anyway.

>>18753681
But Pearl is just sort of bland

I like Blood Stained Pearl and it can be Pearl for short

"My... name is Blood Stained Pearl," you answer. "Where are you going to take me? What are you planning to do with me?" you ask.

The deathknight with the shark's eyes chuckles from the bow of his ship. "Why, take you to Skullstone, sister. Our master wishes to meet his newest servant."

The warriors on the beaches and docks are muttering to themselves, low enough that you cannot hear, but it seems Chieftain Mokone is keeping them calm and position.

Knowing the defenses of the village as you do--every member does, just in case--you imagine the village thaumaturges are entreating the local gods and elementals to come to the island's defense, for all the good they are likely to do against this Deathknight.

What do you do?

>>18753627
second

>>18753627
I like this one.

go get them pearls real quick!

then give everyone a warm goodbye and hop on that boat

>>18753764
But that just sounds so obvious, we were killed diving for pearls

>>18753776
Use Crypt Bolt Attack and damage-enhancers; sink his ship.

>>18753776
"It would be in poor form for me to come to our master without a gift." *sweep hand across the beach toward the villagers*

>>18753790
this. Tell that dude from earlier well see him around and he's been a good friend.

>>18753776
>Newest servant

"I'm flattered that you'd do so much to meet me, not so much by the 'servant' thing. Who is your master, and what does he want with me?"

I'm torn on this. If we go, we'll pretty much be following his orders for a long, long time. Not bad, but not great either.

If we refuse, we'll be on our own, and a lone exalted gets hit by the Wyld Hunt.

>>18753802
Oh, bah. Let them come. Free loot.

>>18753798
We're a brand-new exalt. We don't know any of that.

Working for the Silver Prince will help us learn a lot of things, but we'll be his servant.

If we strike out alone, we'll have to find out for ourselves what we can do.

>>18753802
Ask this and see if we can't ask for more time, this is all very new to us and we need some time to think. See if we can't pray to a god and see what they know about us?

>>18753802
>Wyld Hunt
>in the West
>where a bunch of the most powerful and meddlesome gods of Creation stomp around all the time
>and there are undersea fae everywhere
>and fucking SKULLSTONE

Yeah, don't think we have much to worry about them, at least to start with.

>>18753798

This.

We ain't giving up these villagers. We may be an Abyssal now, but we're not an insta-sociopath, revenge incidents aside.

>>18753810
How do you know what charms we've got? The GM never actually said, so it's a valid course of action to take.

maybe go for the pearls buy a boat real quick and sail it to this skull place alongside the armada?

>>18753790
Before going we should say that we need to get something and then go and take our pearls or a single bloody pearl. Do not appear in a hurry, walk there and back. Shouldn't take more than 5 minutes anyway.

>>18753833
He's not threatening the village though.

>>18753840
Buy a small fishing boat and sail in it along a fleet of combat ships?
eh, would look incredibly stupid. Lets not.

>>18753840
Dude, we just exalted. That is serious business. The Silver Prince, Deathlord of these lands, sent an entire fleet to pick us up.

If we decide to go with him, we'll get the best quarters on the ship. We're a Dusk Caste Abyssal. We'd be the general of his armies, driving hordes of the undead into the delicious flesh of mortal armies along the coasts.

"I'm flattered that you'd do so much to meet me, not so much by the 'servant' thing. Who is your master, and what does he want with me?"

The Crowned Son laughs. "Why, our master is the Silver Prince, ruler of Skullstone, sister. And he wants you to serve his will, just as all his deathknights do."

His face splits in a grin again. "It's very enjoyable work, sister, trust me. Much more enjoyable than living in this pitiful little village full of fools and the soon to be dead."

What do you do?

>>18753880
Get the pearls that led to my death and join him.

>>18753880
"Soon to be dead?
You're not planning attacking the village are you? I wouldn't like that, for better or worse, this has been my home during my mortal life"

the pearls man, the pearls!

warm goodbye to everybody maybe apologyse to the chief, it's not his fault his son was an asshole, or maybe it was, whatever.

>>18753799
I Vote for this

>>18753880
*energy crackles around fist*
"That had better not be a threat."

Do we have our pearls? If not we need to do absolutely anything everything in our power to go get them.

If we don't have them tell the guy that we need to go get them, and on the way tell the chief that they may attack and kill everyone even if you leave with them.

>>18753799
>>18753927
I vote against this

The Son smiles. "Why, no threat, Sister. But it would be a shame to visit your master without some sort of gift, wouldn't it? The bodies and souls of a hundred freshly dead would certainly be appreciated for the industry of Soulstone.

He waves his hand dismissively, and aboard each ship--there must be ten, fifteen of them--skeletons and zombie raise weapons made of blackened, rusted steel. Deadly enough.

You can feel more than see the men on the beach behind you ready their weapons, spears and daggers of bone, the occasional metal sword or spear or mace. Rag-tag, nearly defenseless in comparison.

Time seems to slow for a moment. You find yourself holding a bag full of pearls. Your pearls. You don't remember picking them up, but you must have.

The Crowned Son grins wider. "So, what will it be... Sister?"

What do you do?

>>18753969
join him

>>18753969

"I suppose that I am going to steal one of those skeletons weapons and kill you with it then, mostly for pissing me off, but also on principle that you said that you would leave in peace."

Also then do this.

>>18753969
cue up inspirational fight theme

something bouncy J-pop that's completely incongruous with a lethal fight scene

Offer to go freely with him in exchange for sparing the villagers.

They live, he gets what he wants, we get to progress the plot.

>>18753969

I will bring master presents some other time... from other place. If you disagree.. then I'm afraid you wont be calling me comrade in future.

>>18753969
Join him and leave the village to it's fate

how about offering half our pearls?

>>18754009
That seems reasonable. Seconded.

>>18754009
Note that for Exalts, "fuck you dad I'm doing what I want" is a fundamental part of the plot.

>>18754008
Can we please NOT attack the older, more experienced Abyssal who is also backed up by an armada and army of the dead?

We're not superman yet. We're just a good deal tougher than what most mortals can aspire to.

>>18754046
that seems reasonable

So far it seems to be a tie between 'start kicking ass and taking names' and 'go with him, if he agrees to leave the villagers alive.'

I'll let voting go another ten minutes.

>>18754089
I'd like to cast my vote for the second option.

>>18754089
I can't realistically see how we could kick his ass. Second option, I guess.

I already voted though with this post >>18754017

Skeletons? Bah, we'll go through those like chaff.

Activate Glorious Carnage Typhoon and kill them all in a single flurry of necrotic blasts.

>>18754146
You keep calling that technique but do we know it?

>>18754146
YOU.

STOP POSTING.

WE JUST EXALTED 5 MINUTES AGO.

We don't know what "Glorious Typhoon Carnage" is, let alone how to activate it. And yeah we can take the skeletons even as we are, but they are led by AN OLDER, MORE POWERFUL, MORE EXPERIENCED ABYSSAL. WHO IS THE SERVANT OF A DEATHLORD.

Attacking now is signing our death warrant. Even if we manage to escape (because victory here is impossible) we'll be hunted anytime we show our faces here. We'll have to stay in the areas where the Wyld Hunt has power, and that's just as deadly.

Our only options are to go with him, or to flee.

I reaffirm my earlier vote to go with him in exchange for the village's safety.

"I'll go, but only if you leave the villagers alone," you say.

The deathknight frowns. "Well, that's hardly sporting... but fair, I suppose. Though you'll come to regret it in the future. Sailors! Toss my sister down a ladder, would you?"

A rope ladder is tossed off the side of the lead boat, within easy swimming distance.

Your heart aches for a moment, a twisted ache born from the depths of the underworld. You feel, for a moment, what you understand, instinctively, to be the displeasure of dead titans.

But this was your home. Even if you are now dead.

What do you do?

>>18754195
We cannot destroy our home just like that, we have been abyssal just under an hour. Maybe in the future will we become jaded enough to murder our friends and family.
Anyway, it is a small price to pay.

>waht do?
Nothing really, just wait till we arrive

>>18754186
We don't know what it is, but that doesn't mean we don't have it. Exalted Charms are the natural outgrowths of their abilities; they go "I need to kill a whole lot of dudes", and their magic responds to that desire.

>>18754195
Climb the ladder, sail off to Skullstone

Ask this deathknight more about what we can do. Ask for specifics.

>>18754195
Wait for the sun to go down while we're well out to sea, then sink all of their ships one by one by blowing a hole in them below the waterline from the inside, then sneaking up to the next ship from underwater to do the same. Given our former profession, we almost certainly have the charm that lets us ignore the requirement to breath, and the other Abyssal probably won't. Then we swim back towards home (leaving the other Abyssal to succumb to fatigue and drown), and go to sleep on the bottom of the ocean once we're fairly sure we're far enough away the zombies won't see us.

Ask about what we will have when we arrive, like will we get weapons and armor? Could we have custom weapons and armor made? If so think about ways to use the pearls in such designs.

Get on the ship and let's get going.

Along the way, ask our host about all of this. What we are, what we're to do, about the Prince, etc. Infodump time.

The Prince probably has a nice big library full of info about Abyssal powers.

>>18754269

Second this.

>>18754268
We can get loot any number of ways. We're an Exalt, it's not difficult for us. Worst case scenario we can just beat up some spirits and take their panoplies.

give village a warm goodbye and set off

>>18754284

Yes but I'm more focused on the when, also I want custom weapons and armor with our pearls embedded in them.

You climb up the ladder. There, to greet you, is the Crowned Son of Darkened Waters. He's smiling as he offers you a hand up. You take it--it's cold as death.

"So, I'm curious," you say. "What can you tell me? What can I do?" A million questions run through your head. The older Abyssal laughs. "What can't you do now, sister?"

He smiles, and leads you belowdecks, into a room larger and more opulent than any you have ever seen before. Mother-of-pearl furniture, a huge four-poster bed, bonecarvings from all over creation. "You're a chosen of Death now. It's our job to kill Creation. Your own talents will reflect that. He motions towards the bed, and has a seat in the chair of the room. "You're of our Dusk caste. Warriors, generals. You'll be leading our forces in destroying the hated living, more than likely. Our master, The Silver Prince, could always use more admirals."

He smiles, waiting for your reaction. "I'm afraid I'm simply a messenger and a greeter. Not as glamorous as the work you'll be doing, but just as important to our goal."

What do you do?

>>18754269
I don't. We have no need for anything the Prince is selling; we're perfectly capable of doing this on our own and he is a DICK. We're not villains, we're heros, or anti-heroes at least. Fuck the Silver Prince; we'll go our own way.

Wait for nightfall, then sink all the ships by stealth. We're a superpowered demigod, we can do this and it's unlikely that he'll have the charms that'll let him survive getting stranded hundreds of miles out to sea. We almost certain do, because *swimming is what we do*, and Exalted powers grow from mundane competencies.

>>18754313

"Ah, yes. A messenger and a greeter. With a small fleet crewed by the dead at his command."

>>18754313
He's a social-fu character; little better than a mortal in combat. Kill him, sink the ships, and swim home.

ask what he meant by regretting not killing the villagers

>>18754344
Make sure to loot his corpse before you sink the ships. Soulsteel items are obviously supernatural. Being as black as night and covered in the wailing faces of souls trapped in eternal torment is pretty obvious.

>>18754344
Let's not.

>>18754313
"Admiral? That's a step up from what I was. Still, I only just became... this. Will the Prince be able to teach me or train me?"

"Ah, yes. A messenger and a greeter. With a small fleet crewed by the dead at his command." You quirk an eyebrow. The crowned son laughs again.

"Why, yes. Barely a legion of dead at my disposal, and these are simple ships of bone and wood. This is hardly a warfleet, after all. It's simply an escort."

This news is rather disconcerting to you, since this is the single largest fleet you've heard of leaving Skullstone. Of course, you'd only ever seen two others, but to call this simply an Escort...

"And, out of curiosity, what did you mean, by regretting leaving my village alive?"

"Well, first, it's not your village anymore. Second... well, we're chosen of Death. To do anything that affirms life--such as sparing others the gift of death--causes the ire of our Master's Masters, the neverborn. You'll be able to learn more once we reach Darkmyst Isle, along with getting your equipment, meeting the Prince and his other Deathknights. We may even throw you a party."

He smiles, and stands. "Now, if there's nothing else, Sister, please, enjoy yourself. Relax, look through the room, explore the fleet if you wish. Mingle with the fellow dead. I should go inform the Prince we are returning now." The Crowned Son starts to walk towards the door to your room, back turned to you.

What do you do?

>>18754378
Why not? This is a dead end path, straight to villainy. Kill him, and rinse our hands of the Silver Prince. Become a vigilante hunting pirates, a leader of a guerilla movement against the Dragonblooded, a slayer of spirits and raksha who prey on sailors, or something awesome like that.

>>18754405
Kill him, loot his corpse, sink the ships, and swim home.

>>18754418

While I can't say I am against this, I say that at the least we should sink the ship first. The terrain should be shifted into our favor before combat.

>>18754408

Really? Just kill him? Are we to be no better than the man that murdered us?

The best revenge is the one taken by being a part of someone's plan, then turning on them. But right now, we know very little, we have little understanding of the world outside the Neck, so we stay quiet and watch and listen.

We can hurt these raiders of our home far more if we destroy them from within.

>>18754378
WE DON'T NEED HIM FOR TRAINING. We've got the memories of a thousand-year-old demigod in our head; any training we need we can do ourselves. We can literally go from Melee 0 (totally untrained) to Melee 5 (maximum human skill) in the blink of an eye if we have XP to spend, and that goes for any skill we are focused on (in our case, Resistance and Athletics for swimming and diving, Sail for obvious reasons, and probably Awareness and/or social skills for the last two).

>>18754467
yes, but that knowledge is metagaming, not roleplaying

This quest is several kind of awesome. Between the rule munchkins, the peace-lover, the metagamers, the people still trying to follow the plots, and the people knowing nothing about the world of exalted...

It's like a dream comes true.

>>18754453
We can get that knowledge from other sources, like friendly gods and spirits. We are the reincarnation of one of the rightful rulers of Creation, after all, even if we're disturbingly death-tainted.

The only thing we lose is necromancy, and we have no real use for that anyway; we're not going to go around making undead war machines, and Sorcery tends to be better at blowing shit up anyway.

>>18754408
Did you miss the title of this quest?

WE ARE ABYSSAL. We are sworn to destroy all things. The destruction of all that is, is engraved into our very soul. Our masters demand it and we cannot disobey.

We are a villain. A new one, but a villain nonetheless. We are the darkest, most evil, despicable thing to ever walk Creation. Everywhere we go we will spread death and misery. The living will fear us and their bodies will rise up in our service. The forces of all that is good and holy will rally to grind us down and we must destroy them.

The Neverborn will not be satisfied with a vigilante murderess. They want servants who will create Deadlands, not happy little villages.

search the room and mingle with the crew

>>18754418
No.

>>18754405
Explore the room, I guess.
But I think it better just to timeskip till we arrive to our destination.

>>18754502
THOUSAND-YEAR-OLD DEMIGOD. IN OUR HEADS. This shit is basic, and isn't going to change; it's safe to say that we know it.

The Exalted were designed to be able to rapidly replenish losses during the Primordial War; it's why they reincarnate the way they do, and this sort of basic knowledge isn't going to be erased.

>>18754530
The Neverborn will be perfectly happy with a vigilante murderess; every murder makes their release that much closer, no matter why you do it. The Silver Prince won't be, but fuck the Silver Prince, seriously.

>>18754555
I don't remember that knowledge being given to us in this quest.
OP might have taken that setting but he can modify things as he sees fit and as of now we don't shit about shit

the fuck are you guys doing?
what the hell was the point of saving the village and sailing away if we were gonna be assholes and kill the deathknight?
we would have been better off stealing or buying our own boat and exploring like the fucking wind waker

>>18754530
We are sworn to destroy things. THAT DON'T MAKE US VILLAIN. Killing him, right here, is an act of destruction. Killing evil people, killing slavers, killing barbarian is still what we can do. What is asked of us.

If nothing, the Neverborn ask for destruction, but destruction don't make us any more villain than everybody.

Currently there seems to be a tie between 'kill him, sink the ships, swim back home' and 'just go and mingle'.

I will give ten minutes more for voting.

>>18754584
Because this way we can kill him without worrying about his zombie minions killing our friends.

>>18754604
just go and mingle
we wont gain anything by killing him

>>18754604
just mingle/timeskip

>>18754604

Search the ships and mingle

>>18754571
This. Fuck the Silver Prince. Don't care about being a vigilante or nothing, but being the minion of the Silver Prince ? Not in my watch.

We are an abyssal. Killing is what we do, what every fibre of our body thrive for. So ? On an impulsion, we decide to kill this smug face.

Mingle, get equipment, THEN go rogue.

>>18754600
He is like us.

Killing him would be frowned upon by our masters.

The Neverborn want us to kill the living, not the dead.

I vote for going and mingling. We'll get gear and training, and it'll be a lot quicker than if we just went out in the world and waited for our exaltation to start giving us combat infodumps.

We'll also be an admiral under the Prince. Our own fleet, a real fleet of great magical and mundane strength, full of undead soldiers.

Once we have that we can do just about anything we damn well please. The Prince will tell us to go kill things, and we will. For you guys who want us to be heroes, we can go destroy pirate enclaves, slaver cities, and the like. We'll be able to to a lot more "good" with an army at our backs.

Mingle n' timeskip. If you are going to go rogue, you might as well wait to borrow some cool gear.

>>18754692
With even just a War Excellency, we'll be able to train our village into an elite band of warriors without much difficulty. It'll just take a little bit longer. Trust me, we'll be entirely capable of acquiring everything he can offer us elsewhere.

MIngle for a bit to put him off-guard, snag some gear, cripple the ship, and give the smug bastard a lesson in sword-swallowing.

I vote for sinking the ships

i think our girl, pearl, would like some info and see what's up before she gets homicidal

Yeah. What's up with the "hurr lets kill everything without learning or thinking about anything xD"?

You let him leave, and stand up. The room is, indeed, filled with wonders--just small things, to anyone with money, you suppose, but... sundials, sand-clocks, devices made of jade and gold.

You open one of the many cabinets in the room, to find clothes like you have never seen. Blacks and reds, for men or for women, fancy things of silk and threads of metal.

Eventually, you go out to mingle with the crew--mostly ghosts handling the tasks. They greet you with respect, and more than a little fear.

The Crowned Son seems to have taken his place at the bow of the ship again. Night is swiftly falling, and at the edge of the horizon, you can see Darkmyst Isle, capital of Skullstone, home of the Silver Prince.

Your new home.

If you believe it to be.

This is your last chance, otherwise.

What do you do?

Go and see what our "new home" has to offer. We can always bolt later. We have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.

Whatever life we might've had in town, we left it behind when we accepted the Last Breath. Our future is here.

Let's meet the Silver Prince.

>>18754833
second

lets go

i don't suppose we could dive into the water and swim wherever?

>>18754792
Let us go see our "new" home.
Also I think dressing in red would be appropriate

Backstab with Crypt Bolts, then jump off the ship, sink it and any other Second Age ship we see, and swim home. Beat feet immediately if we see so much as a hint of a First Age vessel.

>>18754833
3rd

>>18754848
Why would Mere want to do that?

She'd recently died, on the theoretical side become an ancient boogeyman that eats superheroes for breakfast, and on the practical side become a murderer.

I don't see the motivation for her to run right now.

>>18754848
That is also an option, but if we do that, he might turn around and go right back to our village and kill them all.

>>18754892
Because the Silver Prince is an evil motherfucker, even if he puts up a facade of being a divinely prophesied savior? Hell, religious reasons alone might be a good enough reason for us to bail, even if this fucker didn't threaten to murder our family and friends.

>>18754917
Would we really be worrying about religion right after becoming a demon?

not suggesting we swim away, just wanting to know if it's an option

>>18754942
Of course it's an option. A very bad, last-resort-while-panicked, option, but an option it is.

>>18754937
Even if we did, that's no reason to go sign up with the Silver Prince! They worship death and dying, dreaming of a life after death rather than the concerns of this one, and denying the spirits their rightful due.

>>18754956

Um dude, I think you missed the part where we died, and came back.

>>18754956
Signing up is not even on the table yet.

>>18754956
Yes, it is. The GM explicitly said that it was our last chance to back out.

>>18754975
and yet we are sailing straight toward the capital
of the Silver Prince

>>18755021
Think of this from the point of view of Mere. She has no fucking clue about most of this other than "skullstone bad!" was repeated for most of her life. Just like "walking dead bad!", even though she is one of them now and "anathema bad!", even though she is one of them now as well.

You go back to your room, and dress yourself in fine reds. The bag of pearls you tie to your hip, just in case. The clothes fit well on you, though you are unused to wearing such finery.

The ship docks, and you and the Crowned Son walk off... into an entourage. Heavily-armed, heavily-armored war ghosts surround a tall, handsome figure wearing a robe of plated soulsteel blades. He extends a hand towards you, and the Crowned Son bows.

"Welcome, my newest Chosen," the man intones, voice loud and booming. "Welcome, Blood Stained Pearl, to Skullstone. I am the Silver Prince... and we have much to discuss.

You take his hand. You, the Silver Prince, and the Crowned Son Of Darkened Waters step onto a palanquin, drawn by the dead. As it approaches the Silver Prince's palace, a grand edifice of stone and steel, you breath, for the first time, true necrotic essence. It comforts you. And, perhaps, worries you as well.

You are Blood Stained Pearl, Abyssal Exalted. A scant day ago, you were a pearl-diver from the Neck. Now, you are a Dusk Caste, and will perhaps become one of the most important admirals for the Silver Prince.

Time will tell. And as the sages say... There once was a maiden.

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

Thus ends Abyssal Quest, Part 1. Feel free to use the thread for discussion, talking about the plot, asking questions about it, complaining about how I ran it, et cetera. This is my first quest ever, so it's a learning experience. I did enjoy it, however, and I hope you did too.

I'll run Part 2 next Tuesday, though probably a bit later in the day.

>>18755079
I did enjoy it, been wishing for an exalted quest for a very long time.

So... long term options.

Either go full glory of death mode and work for the neverborn.

Go wangst mode and rogue it out while despairing about resonance and lot in life.

Go purity sue and try to redeem self into a solar exalt.

Allright, thread's archived, and it actually seems I ended it right as it started autosaging.

Fancy that, it's like I Planned it or something.

I don't want to clog up /tg/ and make a discussion thread for a newly-made quest that I myself made, but if someone else wants to do it, feel free. And post a link to it here.

>>18755125

Glad to hear it! I've been hoping for the same, and basically just gave up and decided to run one of my own.

>>18755147

Those are the three usual longterm options, yep. Which way do you see Pearl going?

>>18755180
Personally I would very strongly prefer the redemption option but I'm not about to try to force it if others don't want it.

Rogue would be interesting as well.

I just dislike the thought of a loyal abyssal.

rogue, we do what we want

>>18755147
Option two is a transitional state; every Abyssal will inevitably wind up in one or three if they don't die first. It is the option I encourage, however, minus most of the angst. Just take what loot we can from the Silver Prince, do what we can to ignore everything he says if he starts speechifying about the Void and the Neverborn, and walk out into the ocean and swim home once we're done. Preferably before he takes us to meed his Neverborn master.

>>18755147
Lets go full glory. We don't get to play as a ruthless general of an Evill BBEG often.

>>18755235
Well the loyal abyssal route leads to being a general...

The other two lead to being a king.

>>18755222
I vote Option 4: Go full glory of death mode and fuck the Neverborn, because some dead asshole doesn't get to boss me around.

>>18755257
That's option one, by metaphysical design. You can't NOT work for the neverborn while you are still an abyssal, no matter how hard you try.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Abyssal%20Quest

Also, what would people like to see more of? This was a bit light on many things, admittedly, but it was the first time and Pearl is newly-exalted.

I'll also take votes for her favored abilities (Athletics, resistance, and sail are locked in, unfortunately, but there's two more to pick. If you don't know the system, just say what you think she'd be good at! We're all friends here, we can help out) and her virtues--indeed, it does need to be decided which one of hers is Flawed. (To those who don't know: The virtues of exalted are Compassion, Conviction, Temperance, and Valor, and are fairly self-explanatory.)

>>18755398
Athletics and resistance I can see, what with her profession and probably-highly-physical lifestyle seeing as she exalted as dusk, but there was nothing in the backstory about her sailing much, simple fact of living on a n island aside.

>>18755466

She at least knew enough to feel like she could buy a boat and strike out on her own and survive, is my reasoning behind locking Sail in as one of her favored abilities.

I vote for integrity and bureaucracy as well as investing in melee and war.

Make her a proper general.

As far as virtues go... Valor seems like the obvious choice?

>>18755510
What does integrity do?

>>18755543

>>18755543

Integrity is mental resistance, ability to resist torture, sales pitches, and supernatural mental influence.

>>18755520

Her Valor is probably her highest, yes, or Conviction given she saved up those pearls for years.

Also, as I forgot to explain it: each Abyssal suffers from a Flawed virtue, one that has been, for lack of a better term, broken. Using that virtue to aid their tasks costs the Abyssal resonance, which is a force that the Neverborn use to punish their chosen knights, causing the things they love to explode, fall ill, or simply die, or cuasing stigmatic wounds to appear on the Abyssal, among other things.

How's this then?

Flaw can be either conviction or valor like this.

Or maybe it would be better to just keep the mechanical details under wraps for the most part.

Things like which melee charms we can use and what flawed virtue we have are important, the smaller details are not in the context of a quest and us not knowing them will make your job easier, OP.

>>18755597
>>18755638

Well, it does make sense that she would have a bit of compassion seeing how she didn't let her village to be destroyed. I guess that leave temperance to be flawed then.

>>18755664
This is true. I find quests work the best when they are not boggled down by mechanics and crunch

>>18755664

That's the plan, really. We aren't doing full character creation here, but things like favored abilities, which virtues are high/low, which one is flaws--additionally, Motivation and Intimacies--will help me. We aren't going to be rolling dice except for Actual Draws after Vote Updates to pick one choice or another.

But I do think it's important for /tg/ to know just how good Blood Stained Pearl is, what she's capable of, and, well, what they *want* her to be capable of. She's your character, after all.

>>18755701
Alright, if you're willing to keep track of it I'm not gonna complain.

I don't really know what her motivation could be, honestly. Right now she probably needs to find one after her... death and all.

I have no idea about intimacies either.

>>18755728
We can find a motivation in the future threads.

>>18755728
>>18755742

And that's fine! Motivation and intimacies can change, and right now Pearl's are probably in flux right now anyway.

>>18755755
As an undead.. sorry, as an Abyss do we still capable of emotions? Can we still love and enjoy of fleshly pleasures?

>>18755828

Yes. Lots of emotions, really.

Think Greek heroes and flippin' out in passionate vengeance alla time.

>>18755828

Oh, certainly! You still think, and feel, though most abyssals tend to get fairly morbid. You're not quite fully dead, after all, not yet. Very nearly so. You can think, feel, taste and touch, and even enjoy life.

But doing things that are life-affirming (like, say, consensual sex just to have fun with someone, or saving someone's life, stuff like that) cause resonance, which can make your life difficult.

I don't wanna do the redemption route. I want to go full "Undead evil general/Neverborn Champion."

I've played a lot of quests, and most of them have us as the hero. Aside from Evil Quest, which is twice dead, and the original Dragon Quest, there's not many where we're the bad guys. Even that Deity Quest where we were some ancient chaos unleashed turned out to be a typical "hero overthrowing the evil order" shtick.

I think we should try to be something different. We're Abyssal Exalted, death, destruction and evil are our watchwords. I want this quest to be the darkest, grizzliest adventure /tg/ will ever go on.

I'd prefer rogue abyssal if we aren't doing redemption like I hoping we would.

Besides, don't forget that solars are the biggest monsters in the setting here.

>>18755886
>>18755927

Can we become redeemed as an Abyssal though?

>>18755267

Neverborn =/= Oblivion.

>>18755969
Yes. An abyssal can redeem themselves "back" into a solar. They are opposites, basically.

It's supposed to be a very long term thing though. Mere wouldn't be able to even be aware of the possibility right now.

>>18755994
>>18755969
And the moment we start trying, every Abyssal in Creation is going to be sent after us. Probably a good chunk of the Infernals too.

The Neverborn are not going let an exaltation escape them.

>>18756025
If we are rogue at the time it's not necessary they, or even Mere for that matter, would know about it happening soon enough to stop it. It doesn't need to be a conscious effort.

>>18756076
Resonance, remember?

The Neverborn are always looking through our eyes. There is nothing we can do without them knowing it.

When we spared that village? Neverborn got a little angry with us.

If we threaten to run away with one of the few exaltations they stole? They will order EVERY abyssal to kill us before we can finish the job.

>>18756146
Nah, I don't think that's how it works. The neverborn are asleep for the most part. For the other part they think resonance takes care of everything. According to what they thing an abyssal is unable to do anything but further their cause.

If what you are saying was true, redemption woudln't really be possible as it's presented in the game.

>>18756146

Word of God is that Resonance is something inherent to the Abyssal condition, and that any connection to the Neverborn is one of resonance (forgive the pun) rather than any actual direct control the Neverborn have over the Abyssals.

>>18755994
Actually, canonically, every Abyssal realises instinctively that there's something wrong with them, and that it's possible for them to atone and fix it. Granted, many of them ignore the feeling, but it is there.

>>18756492
That's a very subconscious thing. I don't think it invalidates what you are quoting.

Well, looks like this is petering down, so I'll end it with one final question: Are there any canonical characters you'd like to meet, or specific End Of The World Scenarios (other than the Deathlord one) you want to help/prevent (the locust crusade, the reclamation, et cetera) over the course of this quest? like any Exalted game, I feel like this should be ran based off what the players want, primarily.

>>18756926
I don't know about anyone else, but I don't particularly care.

We can just find out where this leads organically.

>>18756926
I'm not familiar with the setting so it doesn't matter to me at all.

>>18756926
The Yozi's end scenarios should be opposed. Reclamation among them.

The Neverborn wish for the death of Creation, not it's conquest. If the Yozi take over, it's just switching the targets around, and the Yozi might be an even harder opponent than the Incarnae all things considered.

>>18757970
Nobody said we're supporting the neverborn's agenda though.