The District of Water has changed very much in the few weeks since the Purge.

Most of the Terrestrial Exalted and their loyal subordinates had already cleared out of the District before the final few minutes of the countdown. Those that stayed -- the Peace Forces with their tiger shark armor, the Water Aspect Immaculates, the Terrestrials wearing Armor of Elemental Inurement -- were not so fortunate. For when Saina Nanaret, Third Beneficiary and Yaishin Higura awakened the Gatekeeper of Water to its true loyalties and convictions, the District of Water suddenly became a war zone from which they had no escape.

The people of Water District had spoken: they did not wish to be drowned and erased. Not all of them were Anathema supporters. Plenty did not even realize or care that any Celestials had escaped. But most of them were people who did not in any way believe themselves expendable, despite being low born, or mutant, or simply down on their luck. The Gatekeeper of Water's next move was to support these people by taking control of the automaton guards and subordinate AIs of the District, and forcing the Dragon-blooded to fight for their lives or consent to capture. The Gatekeeper is all but omniscient in its domain, and losing its loyalty was a devastating blow to them.

The majority of the Terrestrials died. Not all of them to the machine sentries or warframes that the Gatekeeper of Water sent, either. Some of the fighters were desperate mortals protecting their homes, their lives and dignity, their right not to be exterminated. Some were failed genetic experiments, Wyld mutants and sickening crossbreeds that never before had the chance to HAVE rights.

And some of them were Celestial Exalts: One of the Wretched, whose twin blades tore into his Terrestrial enemies and sent them screaming to their deaths, and a Crowned Sun sorcerer and spirit-talker, who fought bravely in his own right, and afterward forged oaths among the disparate survivors of the District to finalize the Independent Republic of the District of Water.

Now Broken Eternal and Veldygar Arhandor stand with the other leaders of the newly formed Water Republic -- highly regarded members from the mutant factions, the laborers, the skilled workers, ex-slaves and Peace Force defectors. The Gatekeeper of Water has gathered them all together in the B26 Central Core Chamber to speak on what will be their first act as a nation.

---

OOC: Annnnd so it begins. Eternal and Veldygar, please introduce us to your characters and what they would be doing or thinking now. Then I'll get us through this meeting and, hopefully, toward some *action*!
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:00, Tue 21 Apr 2009.

It was a time of Change for Five Coils--change that was unexpected and certainly unwanted by the majority, but a change nevertheless.  One action sparked another, and was it any coincidence that Broken Eternal's escape from his Dragon-Blood masters had quickly led into his departure into the Water District?  Though he had killed many (countless) since his freedom had been won, he still had no choice but to flee from their superior numbers, and that fact ate at his putrid black soul.  He shunted the foulness of his disappointment away to face another day, as common sense whispered that it had been strategic, that their strength was in numbers and he knew that.  He was of no use to anyone, especially himself, if he were dead thanks to unbridled and unwarranted rage.  Blind rage was useless to him...it would only serve to make him weak.

The Wretched One had agreed to join this farce of a meeting, to entertain the GateKeeper of Water and to keep something of good faith between them.  Of all the Celestial Exalted, to those who knew what he was, he was the most feared--the most untrusted.  And for good reason, he thought with a sinister grin.  It would do nothing but soothe his dark impulses to slaughter the whole of them.  The mere thought of their flesh separating around his keen blades was like a sweet dream he wished to never awaken from--but it was misleading, and he knew it.  It would be joyous to kill them all, yes, but now was not the time.  Wanton slaughter would do nothing to grant him an exodus from this horrid place, and besides--they had done nothing to earn his wrath.  They were alive and breathing, true enough, and for that reason alone he had a nearly psychotic urge to strangulate them all; but something was stronger.  He hated the sniveling Dragon-Blooded much much more than this simple rabble, and so he would indulge in their meetings and their words, and even contribute his own ideas if it meant he would have a better chance of both escaping this place, and completely annihilate the sons and daughters of the Elemental Dragons.

For his part, at least the man was visible, which was more than many would expect or ask of him.  Instead of standing or sitting on the floor, Eternal was a good ten feet in the air, almost lazily sitting atop a large rectangular piece of metal jutting from the wall--a conduit or regulator of some sort, judging from the vibrating coming from the unit.  His arms were crossed over his chest, while one leg dangled over the side of his perch, and the other was bent and close to his chest as he watched the others have their discussion.  The lie of independence was a persuasive one, and now they were discussing what should be done next.  With such democracy normally came the want to dispense justice, and such weaknesses of the human psyche could be used and manipulated to suit larger plans, couldn't they?

"They will not let you be."  He said, his voice a cold and raspy baritone, decidedly unsettling to many who had never heard him speak before.  "I know them better than you could imagine.  This will eat at their pride like a necrotic abscess, and they will try to take away what you have fought so hard to obtain.  They expect you to build defenses, garrison troops, and lick your wounds, so they can try to outmaneuver and out-think you."  He paused, letting his words sink in.  "And that is why you should press an attack, and take away their ability to strip you of your Republic."

Veldygar leaned against a bulkhead, seemingly dozing off. The past few days had been hectic, and his mystical energies had been depleted more than once. He raised his gaze to contemplate the assembled representatives.

When the chosen of darkness spoke, a shiver ran up his spine. While he had proven himself a skilled companion, there was still something wrong about him.

But the contents of his words had roused him from his half-sleep. He harbored no love for the Terrestrials - one year of being a slave assisting a demon-breeding experiment had definitely dispelled any illusion he might have had about the nobility of the scions of the Dragons.

But there was a gap between what he felt about them and this howling for blood.

What he is trying to do? Trigger more bloodshed?

"With all the respect that is due to my fellow freedom fighter," the Eclipse caste said, "we should not be precipitous. Right now, we do not know the situation in the Earth district - what troops they have stationed there, their state of readiness. We may indeed have to strike preemptively should the need arise, but in the meantime, we must both consolidate our hold on the Water district and turn our eye on the world above"

[OOC: Do we have to Join Debate or do we play it smoothly?

A few questions (honestly, I can't read the entire game in search of the relevant elements, I simply do not have the time):
*how easy is it to access the Earth district right now?
*how numerous is the population, is there much unrest yet?
*I don't think there are exploitable intelligence reports on what is going on above, but realistically, what forces would the DBs muster?]

Among the varied groups of humans and mutants, the Gatekeeper of Water appears in a decidedly inhuman form. Its only true shape in three-dimensional reality is the magitech components that host its brain and allow humans to interact with it through terminal input/output. So the image it presents of itself now is a life-sized, holographic projection of its spirit shape: a cecaelia, or half woman half-octopus, with pupil-less aquamarine orbs for eyes, wearing a breastplate of adamant and diamond. The image hovers near the center of the chamber, in front of a pair of sliding doors leading into the elevator shaft behind it.

It speaks in a voice devoid of inflection, a robotic, androgynous tone: "THE EVENTS OF THE WATER DISTRICT HAVE LARGELY BEEN KEPT HIDDEN FROM THE EARTH DISTRICT CITIZENS. OUR INFORMANT FROM ABOVE BELIEVES THAT THIS KNOWLEDGE IS CLASSIFIED, HIGH CLEARANCE INFORMATION, SO THERE MAY BE TERRESTRIAL EXALTED NOT FULLY AWARE OF OUR ACT OF INDEPENDENCE, THE ESCAPED CELESTIALS OR THE FAILED PURGE."

One of the mutant faction leaders, a half jaguar beastwoman, speaks up loudly, "Then this is a perfect time to strike! We are ready to fight!" This sentiment is echoed by many of her peers among the avians and bull-men. "We will tear them limb from limb!" spits a demon-blood with pitch black skin and a pair of red horns on his bald head.

In contrast, the majority of humans seem more inclined to wait and see, focus on continuing to strengthen their base. Though a bespectacled older man clears his throat and says, "Many of us are most concerned about resources. The majority of food is produced in the upper districts, particulary Wood, and the best factories are in Earth and Fire. We cannot survive cut off forever."

"We are still taking recruits for the Water Republic Force," counters a Peace Officer defector, "Many of these men still need training, besides weapons."

And so the debate continues, until the Gatekeeper finally utters, "ENOUGH. WE ALREADY HAVE ALLIES IN THE EARTH DISTRICT, INCLUDING ANYWHERE FROM 8 TO 12 FREE CELESTIAL EXALTED. WE WILL, IN TIME, FORMALLY OPEN HOSTILITIES WITH THE TERRESTRIALS OF COILS. UNTIL THEN I WISH TO SEND A SMALL EXPEDITION TO GATHER INTELLIGENCE, MEET WITH THE FORCES ABOVE AND COORDINATE WITH THEIR EFFORTS TO SUBVERT OR OVERTAKE THE EARTH DISTRICT."

---

OOC: No Join Debate. If you ever say something that you feel is important enough to merit a social attack, we don't need to go by ticks. You can just post, roll the attack and I'll apply any bonuses or penalties or stunt dice or whatnot.

- Accessing Earth District: This will be answered soon.
- Earth District forces: give me an Int+Lore or Int+War roll.
- Unrest in Earth District: as mentioned above the people of Earth are purposefully being kept in the dark about things.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:59, Wed 22 Apr 2009.

[OOC: I was talking about unrest in the Water district population.

12:29, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 2 successes using 5d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,10,2,2,4. Int+Lore.]

Veldygar recalls his memory of having observed Peace Force training and troop movements in the Coils before. He would know that in the Fire District they have the equivalent of at least three Legions (Magnitude 8) being trained there. To compare the population of the Water District is in the ten thousands. But the majority of the district is populated by non-combatants.

However it's not likely the entire army would mobilize at once right away. It would depend on the threat being responded to, and how dangerous the Dragon-blooded perceive it to be. And there are also specific groups to consider such as the Immaculate Order (who trains its own combatants separate from the Coils militia) and the automatons of the Earth Gatekeeper. An equivalent size of about a Dragon (Magnitude 5) might be more expected for an initial force -- not all of them Dragon-blooded, of course.

In the Water District, people aren't getting along perfectly. But everyone's pretty much agreed to get along because they have a common enemy, and the purge is fresh enough in people's memory that they'll stick with it. On the other hand, the resources issue as well as differences in opinion may lead to trouble later on.

(edited slightly, after some thought about the size and population of Coils.) [Private to Broken Eternal: If you roll 2 sux on your int+lore or war, you'll know the same stuff. If you get more sux I might be able to tell you more.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:14, Wed 22 Apr 2009.

Eternal had heard there were other Exalted in this place--knew there was, in fact, due to his upbringing.  He knew these things primarily because it was what he had been raised, and ferociously trained to handle.  You didn't simply swat a few thugs with the might of an Abyssal Exalt--it was overkill, and as much as Eternal did enjoy dealing death, such mundane matters were not his purpose--at least, not as Dragon-Blooded had said.  He was to be a divine weapon, despite being an abomination.  A weapon that, once completed, had turned against them unexpectedly, and had caused no small amount of damage--both to their numbers, and to their morale.  And, when you got right down to it, that was all Eternal was really good for: Causing Damage.

Given his penchant for stalking through the shadows, he was no strange to the idea of patients.  The fact the Water District planned to eventually wage war with the rest of Coils was all he really needed to know.  He wasn't a master planner of any sort, but the 'if' had already been solved--now it was only a matter of 'when'.  As long as it was within his lifetime (which, barring unfortunate circumstances, would be forever) that was good enough for him.

Then there were two words spoken by the Gatekeeper of the Water District.  'Subvert' and 'Overtake'.  Which, to Eternal, were simply flashier versions of 'Sneak' and 'Destroy'.  Two things that the Wretched One excelled at.  Here, he would be bored...and besides, he was not suited for the task of rebuilding.  Creation came to his kind only with great difficulty.  Destruction, however, was as easy as breathing.

"I will go." He said, with a very small, somewhat sinister smile on his face.  And though many of the men and women there tried to hide it, there was a sigh of relief, as several, if not all of them were happy that the Dark One would be leaving their presence.  True, he was a tremendously powerful ally and warrior, the sheer truth of his nature unsettled just about everyone, whether they wanted to admit it or not.

Veldygar was quite please that the Gatekeeper of Water seemed to agree with him. That's a good start - it seems we might have calmed down their bloodlust, for a time.

The suggestion to infiltrate the Earth District was, at first, of little interest to him - he was intent on developping his gifts until he could manage the whole Water District and make it run smoothly, efficiently. He wanted to make it something stable and perennial.

But he realized he could not just watch this project grow - it was threatened from the outside. He had to go out and meet the danger up front.

He raised an eyebrow when the Day caste stated his willingness to go forward with the plan.

Considering that he himself had the ability to make himself unnoticed, he decided that the two of them would make a good team of infiltrators. And there would be someone to direct the deathknight's... unwholesome urges... towards ultimately constructive purposes.

"If my skills are not crucially needed," he said, "I will also go into the Earth District."

The holographic image of the Gatekeeper of Water stares at Eternal boldly, then makes a sharp nod. "YOUR PATH LIES ABOVE, BROKEN ETERNAL. THIS I WILL NOT CONTEST."

To the Crowned Sun, it says, "YOUR TALENTS IN NEGOTIATION AND ORGANIZATION ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED, VELDYGAR ARHANDOR. HOWEVER, SECURING THE UPPER DISTRICTS IS ALSO A PRIORITY. IN TIME, THE REPUBLIC WILL ENCOMPASS ALL DISTRICTS, AND THE GATEKEEPERS WILL BE UNITED AS IN THE DAYS OF THE PILLAR OF CREATION. I WILL OVERSEE THIS DISTRICT IN THE MEANTIME."

"You mean WE will oversee the district," spits the demon-blooded Novenion.

"We owe much to you, Gatekeeper," says Dutiful Quill, the human with glasses, speaking more calmly and eloquently. "You maintain our energy and our air, and your automatons keep order. However, we all agreed to this alliance on the condition that we would be equals."

Former Peace Officer Peleps Damija shakes her head. "It has already proven its good intentions by protecting us. Besides, this is a symbiotic relationship. It needs us to help maintain its systems, as well." The Water Technicians' Guild leader, Cascade Prism, nods in agreement, while Madam Ten Leaves of the sex-workers' faction frowns disapprovingly at everyone for making waves.

Finally, Itzala, the jaguar-woman, lashes her tail emphatically. "We Mutants will not consent to be slaves without a voice, no matter who is the leader. We wish a guarantee you will not abuse your power, Gatekeeper."

"I SEE," replies the Gatekeeper of Water, unperturbed by the criticism. "YOU WISH TO REMAIN A PART OF THE DECISION PROCESS. THEN I WILL SUGGEST THREE POINTS. FIRST: PROVE YOU ARE CAPABLE OF COMING TO A CONSENSUS. DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH THE PLAN TO SEND BROKEN ETERNAL AND VELDYGAR ARHANDOR TO THE DISTRICT OF EARTH? SECOND: SHOULD YOU PROVE CAPABLE OF AGREEMENT, FORM A COUNCIL AMONGST YOURSELVES TO DRAFT THE LAWS OF THIS REPUBLIC."

The gathered humans and mutants in the central core chamber burst into heated debate almost immediately. Finally, someone shouts out: "What is the third point?"

"AN OATH. VELDYGAR, I WOULD ASK THAT YOU BIND ME TO MY WORD THAT I WILL NOT ABUSE MY AUTHORITY AS CARETAKER OF THIS DISTRICT, WITH THESE MORTALS AS WITNESS."

All heads in the room turn to stare at the Eclipse Caste, the discussion momentarily put aside. The people of Water District are still not completely accustomed to the power of a Free Anathema, so their interest is as much curiosity as it is expectation. No one seems willing to give Broken Eternal so much as a glance, though, so he is free to observe them at his leisure. [Private to Broken Eternal: Perception+Socialize or Investigation, assuming that would interest him.]

---

OOC: As I really dislike writing scenes with tens of NPCs talking to one another, I'll be ending this pretty soon. Just the matter of the oath and some last info from Gatekeeper.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:28, Sat 25 Apr 2009.

Veldygar blinked at the Gatekeeper's request. From his fragmentary memories, he knew the weight such an oath could have. He was quite a bit surprised that someone would so willingly submit to its power, to the point of outright demanding it.

One more proof of the Gatekeeper's good will, he thought.

"Very well..." he said.

He stepped towards the artificial image. His power required him to hold the hand of one who pledged under his power. He hoped the insubstantial image would suffice.

"Gatekeeper of Water," he said solemnly, "do you swear, free of constraint or coercion, to forever respect and abide by the decisions democratically taken by the people of the political entity now known as the Republic of Water, and all of its future, legitimate versions?"

He held out his hand, the space surrounding him tense with palpable power.

[OOC: sorry if my phrasing was awkward, English is not my native language and I'm not so good with legalese. Basically I want to make the oath as fair as possible to the keeper, binding him not to abuse its powers, but also leaving him some freedom in case this democratic adventure sours into a dictatorship]

"I DO SWEAR," replies the Gatekeeper of Water, holding out its holographic hand. As the Gatekeeper itself has no real form, it is as close as one can get to touching it.

Apparently it is enough for the oath-binding power of the Eclipse, as well. [Private to Veldygar Arhandor: you can post the actual sanctifying as simple or as complex as you wish :) if it's memorable (like a really good stunt), you may make a lasting impression on the mortals watching you.]

Broken Eternal's observations show him only the most apparent emotions of the group. He can divide the mortals in broad lines. He definitely senses their fear and mistrust for him, but that is something he already expected. The true humans and mutants are not completely trusting of one another either. The ex-slaves and others that were forced to do 'dirty' jobs (prostitution, grave-digging etc.) are more likely to be sympathizing with the mutants. Those humans who had relatively respectable jobs, despite being un-Exalted and living in the lowest district, are also the ones who seem most eager to build power for themselves. [Private to Veldygar Arhandor: if you roll at least 1 sux on Perc+Socialize you'll find out pretty much the same. If you roll higher I'll give you more info privately.]

The absurdity of a cybernetic elemental swearing an Oath to one of the Sun-Kings was incredible, but Eternal kept the thoughts to himself as he let his gaze wander over the mortals and mutants watching.  Was he more attentive, or possibly more interested, he might well have garnered more from them.  As it was, none of them seemed remotely interesting aside from their stereotypical roles and biases.  Rabble, more or less.  And like all things, Rabble had its uses--an angry mob was one of the most destructive forces on in creation, if large enough.  And the hopes and fears that each of them held could be used to different ends, but not now.  For now, The Wretched had other concerns.

He dropped down from his perch some ten feet in the air with a silent grace that heavily frightened the people whom suddenly found themselves beside the Dark Warrior.  He landed in complete silence, the whisper of his cloak the only mention of his movement, and that came only after he had stood up from the practiced crouch.

"This is all very fine.  Well done."  He said, his voice filled with what could either be amusement or annoyance, depending on what you wanted to hear, though there were certainly trace amounts of both in those dark words.  "If Veldygar and I are to depart for the upper floors, then we have little bearing on what is left to be said.  Give him whatever information that may suit his purpose so that we may be on our way."  He said to the Gatekeeper.  His words practically dripped with malice, but not toward the Gatekeeper--or even towards the poor fools who made up his current company; No, Eternal Broken knew his path now, and he wanted very much to travel it.  There was blood to be spilled, and vengeance to be had.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:35, Sun 26 Apr 2009.

"Then let this oath be sanctified by the Unconquered Sun!" Veldygar stated. His caste mark blazed, strands of power radiating around him to coalesce into swirling Old Realm symbols. In a final blaze of light, the symbols vanished, leaving only the Gatekeeper and the Crowned Sun standing, the latter still aglow with power.

"Now that these matters are settled," Veldygar said, "may we begin to prepare our mission?" He left unspoken the assumption that the fewer people knew the details of their expedition, the safer he would feel.

[OOC:11:56, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 1 success using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,3,6,1,1,2. Per+Socialize.

The dice roller is hating me these days.]

Once the oath is completed, the Gatekeeper of Water raises its incorporeal hand, a signal for the Celestials to wait.

"DO YOU AGREE NOW?" it asks the gathered mortals. There is another silent hush, as the varying factions glance at each other, and finally -- some grudgingly -- nod. "Send them," says Itzala tersely but emphatically, while Quill clears his throat and concludes eagerly, "Yes, and while they are deployed above, we shall discuss on the future of a Water Republic Council."

"Together," reminds Novenion, glaring from where he stands among the mutants. Others, like Peleps Damija, the Technicians' guildleader and Risen Thunder of the Laborers, just look relieved that their business of training soldiers and repairing the District can continue.

"THE B27 ADMINISTRATION BUILDING SHOULD BE SUITABLE FOR YOUR DISCUSSION," directs the Gatekeeper. "GO THERE NOW. I MUST SPEAK ALONE WITH THE CELESTIALS." Democratic or not, the central core chamber IS still the Gatekeeper's property, and the mortals have some idea of its power. They clear the cavernous chamber, headed downward through the district elevators or stairways that have been opened to them in the wake of the Purge.

Finally the Gatekeeper of Water is alone with Eternal and Veldgyar, and it begins to speak in detail about thir mission. "YOU WILL BE TRANSPORTED UPWARD BY MY OWN POWER. AS YOU LACK UNIVERSAL CLEARANCE, I AM THE ONLY INDIVIDUAL AUTHORIZED TO MOVE YOU TO THE FLOOR ABOVE."

"YOU WILL APPEAR NEAR THE EARTH DISTRICT'S INNER TEMPLE. YOUR ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE IS TO INFILTRATE IT. THE TEMPLE INTERSECTS THE EARTH DISTRICT ALL THE WAY UP TO FLOOR B21 CENTRAL CORE, WHERE YOU WILL NEGOTIATE WITH THE GATEKEEPER OF EARTH ON MY BEHALF. HOWEVER, I MUST WARN YOU: THIS WILL BE A DIFFICULT TASK FOR ONLY TWO OF YOU. ASSESS THE TEMPLE'S DEFENSES AND MANPOWER BEFORE PROCEEDING. IF YOU FIND THE INTERIOR TOO DANGEROUS, SEEK THE OTHER UNCOLLARED CELESTIALS, OR ATTEMPT TO ASCEND THE FLOORS FROM THE OUTSIDE FIRST. I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO SAY THAT YOUR SURVIVAL IS A PRIORITY." (OOC: edited slightly for clarity)

"ANY LAST QUESTIONS OR REQUESTS?" The holographic cecaelia shifts its energy-orb gaze from the Eclipse to the Day Caste, though its visage remains as expressionless as a mask. "I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOU DIRECTLY ONCE YOU ARE IN THE FLOOR ABOVE. BUT IF YOU HAVE NO FURTHER INQUIRIES YOU HAVE MY LEAVE TO MAKE YOUR PREPARATIONS."
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:26, Sun 26 Apr 2009.

"Questions I have," Veldygar said. "Do you know anything about the other free Celestials? Do they also aim to take on the Earth District? How should we approach the Gatekeeper of Earth? What do you know of its inclination or personality?"

[OOC: If possible, I'd like to summon at least one demon helper before going (if Eternal wants to help me, I'll welcome the help - just slay the demon if it gets out of control ;). There are probably more questions I should ask, but the trouble is I don't know exactly what my character does or doesn't know...]
This message was last edited by the player at 21:45, Sun 26 Apr 2009.

"I CAN TELL YOU OF THOSE THAT PASSED THROUGH HERE," replies the Gatekeeper.

Over a few minutes the Gatekeeper of Water gives Veldygar and Eternal a basic description and Exalt Caste type for the following individuals: Danae Adela, Ledaal Xurizu, Peleps Dashu, Saina Nanaret, Tervila Dena, Third Beneficiary of Orderly Knowledge, and Yaishin Higura. (This basically means you will be able to recognize these PCs as soon as you see them clearly.)

"I HAVE SEEN OTHERS," the intelligence in cecaelia form continues, "BUT THEY WERE UNINTERESTED IN COOPERATION. THOSE I HAVE NAMED AND DESCRIBED ARE STILL AIDING ONE ANOTHER, ACCORDING TO MY REPORTS. THEY ARE IN CONTACT WITH MY ALLY IN EARTH DISTRICT, THE HIVE QUEEN OF AN ANCIENT BUILDER BUG COLONY KNOWN AS IRIX CHILOMENA. THEY INTEND TO LIBERATE THE EARTH DISTRICT, AND YOUR ACTIONS WILL AID THEM IN THIS. THE CELESTIAL CHOSEN WILL KNOW YOU ARE COMING. HOWEVER, GIVEN CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES I CANNOT PINPOINT THEIR EXACT LOCATION. THEREFORE A RENDEZVOUS AT THE INNER TEMPLE IS MOST LIKELY."

"OF ALL THE GATEKEEPERS, THE GATEKEEPER OF EARTH IS THE MOST INDOCTRINATED INTO THE IMMACULATE ORDER. IT HAS BEEN LED TO BELIEVE THAT THE CELESTIAL EXALTED ARE DESTROYERS THAT HAVE BETRAYED THE GATEKEEPERS, THE PEOPLE OF FIVE COILS AND CREATION. YOU WILL NEED TO REMIND IT OF ITS ANCIENT OATHS, AND BIND IT ANEW. IF YOU CANNOT ACCOMPLISH THIS, THE GATEKEEPER MUST BE DESTROYED AND REBUILT TO NEW SPECIFICATIONS. THERE ARE INDIVIDUALS AMONGST THE EXALTED THAT I MENTIONED THAT WOULD BE ABLE TO ACHIEVE THIS." Despite speaking of the potential eradication of one of its own kind, the Gatekeeper of Water is calm and resolute.

---

OOC: I basically wanted to send you up and have you meet the PCs in the middle of something active rather than have another lengthy meeting. Also to give you a chance to test your abilities while the others work out all the details of their plans.

As for what you know or not, I would just ask if you aren't certain. I have already written out as much Five Coils info as I could that would be common knowledge. Anything that wasn't already written out by me, or written into your backstory, would merit a question.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:51, Tue 28 Apr 2009.

"Very well," Veldygar said. "Do you have any questions, Eternal?" he asked the other Chosen. "When shall we depart? I would like to take the opportunity to summon a magical aide, which will take me one night... If my companion wishes to assist me in the summoning, I will gladly welcome his help. It merely entails the cutting into pieces of the summonee if the binding goes awry."

"None of the Answers I Seek can be answered within these Coils."   Broken Eternal said, looking at Veldygar with dull red eyes.  He turned to look at the gatekeeper, narrowing his eyes a moment at the elemental.  This thing almost sounded as if it were giving orders--and Eternal was done taking orders, from the Dragons, and from anything else.  There was no point in confronting the issue now, however--orders or no, commands or otherwise, they would both be gone soon enough, and after he was away from here, Eternal would have no inclinations to follow this things suggestions--sensible though they may be.  Even Eternal could see the merit in joining other Exalted if they were to over throw the Coils.  That plan involved hiding and killing, so it was plan he could get behind.

With what Veldygar said, Eternal gave a brisk nod.  "I will gladly kill your mistakes."

There is not much left for the Gatekeeper of Water to say. Even it knows that it cannot be certain the Exalts will follow its plans to the letter. Only that the plan had been crafted with both its agenda and the Celestials' survival in mind. If nothing else they will comply simply because their desires lead to the same conclusion -- or so its calculating mind considers.

"YOU MAY USE YOUR QUARTERS FOR YOUR SUMMONING NEEDS," the Gatekeeper concludes. "I WILL ENSURE THE CITIZENS STAY CLEAR OF IT. RETURN TO B26 CENTRAL CORE WHEN YOU ARE READY TO DEPART, THOUGH I WOULD SUGGEST NO MORE THAN A DAY OR TWO'S DELAY."

Reaching Veldygar and Eternal's temporary quarters requires descending from the central core chamber. They have been given their choice of the intact buildings in Floor B27 as their personal space, one of those owned and lived in by the former Dragon-blooded administration of the district. Stripped of most of its wealth and all but basic amenities, it is still spacious enough to have allowed them more than enough privacy -- even from each other. One of the central rooms, used as a banquet or meeting room of some sort, could easily be spacious enough for a demon summoning.

The Gatekeeper of Water has also allowed the two Exalts one last boon: access to some of the gathered equipment from fallen Terrestrials. Should either or both of them wish any of the jade items there they need but ask.

---

OOC: I realized belatedly that it wouldn't make sense for the Gatekeeper NOT to offer some of the jade stuff from the dead DBs. So, I'll allow you each up to two jade artifacts of Artifact 3 or below, but they can only be weapon or armor. Choose artifacts from the corebook or Wonders of the Lost Age (watch those Repair ratings though, don't think either of you are Magitech crafters).

Remember too that you can attune jade without the magical material bonuses, if you want the bonuses you need to attune double motes and succeed at a Wits+Lore roll of diff 3.

Veldygar entered his apartment. A Chosen of the gods seldom knows respite, he reflected.

He gathered the materials required for a summoning ritual. He would summon a tomescu, one of the Clamorous Cloud Arsenals. It would be useful in case they were discovered - capable of fighting numerous enemies, they could hold pursuers off a while.

He moved the furniture and traced the circle inside the common room, preparing censers and other ritual implements.

Determining, through his knowledge of the cycles of the Coils, the time at which dusk was supposed to begin in the outside world, he started incanting, his summon reaching five days back into time, ordering one of the tomescu to abide by the oath of surrender and slavery of its forebears, and cross Cecelyne to come to Creation.

[OOC: Channeling 40 motes into the summoning, reducing its dice pool to 5. Binding it as a Warden.

20:56, Today: Veldygar Arhandor botched using 5d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,4,5,1,1. Duel of wills (tomescu).
20:55, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 5 successes using 10d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,10,6,2,9,1,4,8,1,5. Duel of wills (Veldygar).]

Four hours after the ritual, the tomescu appeared, a column of smoke in the middle of the circle. The sorcerer lost no time in parleying, and with a single twist of his razor-honed mind he applied an Abscissic binding on the demon's psyche.

Thoroughly bound, the creature could but comply.

With a smile to Broken Eternal, Veldygar returned to his compound. The following day, he went to the Gatekeeper, and chose from the looted weapons a white jade shock pike, as well as a black jade reinforced breastplate. He would wrap the shock pike into some cloth and wear it on his back. He hid as much of the armor under a cloak as he could.

[OOC: I take an artifact 3 version of the shock pike, and load it with 20 motes of supply, though I don't attune to it fully. I'll wait till I find some fivefold harmonic adapters ;)
Also, request permission to change my two items of equipment into one exceptional straight sword.

Can I also assume that I have Garnet Cog's puppet with me since the rebellion? It make for a convenient, foldable mentor ;)]
This message was last edited by the player at 19:32, Tue 28 Apr 2009.

The tomescu whispers its name, Dezephiel, for Veldygar's ears only, and remains dematerialized and obsessively close, insistent on protecting its new 'property'. For in its mind Veldygar belongs to it just as it belongs to him.

After the successful demon summoning, Veldygar and Eternal have the remainder of the day to prepare and rest.

Day and night have no meaning below ground, of course. Hours are kept purely by machine clocks. When the morning chime wakes them, they can only imagine that somewhere far above there is a sun, and it is dawning. Something they could only have seen in dreams -- though Eternal's dreams would be as much filled with untold darkness and cursed whispers, the twists and turns of a labyrinth in his mind, drained of all feeling and color.

Once Broken Eternal takes his choice of the Dragon-blooded spoils, he and Veldygar reconvene in the central core chamber. There, the Gatekeeper rematerializes to the two Exalts in its cecaelia-form, and gets straight to the point. "I WILL TRANSPORT YOU ABOVE. THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO DELAY. ARE YOU PREPARED?"

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor: btw, would you mind if I RPed Garnet Cog? I think in this case it may be more appropriate as it will potentially dispense game secrets as time goes on ;) though I have to admit to not wanting to do the thee and thou long term, I've never written Old Realm that way for any other character.]

"I have considered summoning another servant to assist me while I can do it quietly," Veldygar said. "It would delay us by another day, though. Would it be fine with you?" he asked the spirit and his companion.

[OOC: Since the Gatekeeper gave us a maximum of two days, I guess I could summon one more servant.[Private to GM: Regarding Garnet Cog: of course you can. You can adapt its speech as you wish.]]

Eternal spent much of his time training and meditating--resting as far as he was concerned, but a veritable regimen to others.  After the successful summoning (or, unsuccessful summoning, as Eternal no doubt saw it) he picked his own boons from the Gatekeeper--a pair of short Darkglaives and a rather formidable looking Breastplate...black jade, of course.  After spending a little time decorating the breastplate with the proper trappings to keep him comfortable in this world, he joined Veldy with the Gatekeeper, with his new blades crossed against his back, under his tattered cloak.

Though at the thought of staying here another day certainly garnered a frustrated sigh out of him.

"I grow tired of waiting, but if one more servant lets us destroy them faster, I see no reason we cannot delay another day."  He said, though certainly grudgingly.  His new blades had a thirst for blood, and he was eager to satiate them.

"IF YOU MUST," the Gatekeeper of Water replies coolly. "BUT THERE IS A DANGER WITH RELYING ON OUTER DIMENSIONAL BEINGS. NO MATTER WHICH YOU MAY SUMMON, IT IS NOT THE SAME AS HAVING TRUE ALLIES. THEY AWAIT YOU ABOVE. YOU NEED ONLY TRUST THEM."

This time, while Veldygar performs his summoning and Eternal very grudgingly stands watch, the Gatekeeper confers with another entity entirely. Known as Garnet Cog to Veldygar, it is a spirit that has -- by its own volition -- attached itself as mentor and guide to the Eclipse sorcerer. Veldygar was made aware of their conversation only by the absence of the spirit's quiet but dependable presence, and the terse explanation with which it departed. I would confer with the Gatekeeper of Water, young master; it is a matter of great importance to your development. With that cryptic message Veldygar is left to his own devices for the day.

What Broken Eternal gathers from Veldygar's interaction with spirits, demons and the like, so far, is that he apparently spends a great deal of time relying on and seeking counsel from invisible entities. For all Eternal knows, Garnet Cog is also some demonic being, or an imaginary friend. Of course, he'd seen the true form of the Clamorous Cloud Arsenal, that many-armed, screeching, vaguely crab-like thing. But now Dezephiel remains largely dematerialized as will whatever the Crowned Sun binds to his bidding next.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:15, Fri 01 May 2009.

"I have first hand experience of their alienness," Veldygar replied to the Gatekeeper with a shiver of disgust. "But I use every tool at my disposal to fight against the Dragon-Blooded."

Veldygar, once his suggestion was reluctantly accepted by Broken Eternal and the Gatekeeper, prepared the ritual circle and implements.

He then started to intone the ritual. "I call thee, offspring of the Grieving Lord!" He recited the incantations required to bring a metody into the world.

[OOC: As usual, Spending 40 motes to fuel the ritual. Binding it as a Courtesan.
23:23, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 2 successes using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,6,6,10,6,5. Duel of wills (metody).
23:23, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 7 successes using 10d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,7,4,9,10,1,9,10,4,6. Duel of wills (Veldygar).
23:23, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 3 successes using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 2,8,5,1,8,9. Duel of wills (metody).
23:23, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 4 successes using 10d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,1,7,8,7,6,1,7,2,3. Duel of wills (Veldygar).
23:22, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 3 successes using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,2,7,1,3,5. Duel of wills (metody).
23:22, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 3 successes using 10d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,5,10,6,6,8,2,3,2,2. Duel of wills (Veldygar).]

The large mass of greenish acid materialized out of a puff of smoke as the fabric of Creation was rent asunder. The metody opened a fanged maw, as Veldygar focused his ritual tools into the weaker lines of the demon's psyche. At first, the metody stubbornly denied his efforts to reshape its mind, but soon, Veldygar pried its defenses open, before molding its being like putty.

He consigned his servant to an incorporeal state, before getting some sleep. The Gatekeeper would probably want to see them at what passed for 'dawn' in the Coils.

The metody known as Gugoona is calm once bound, eager to serve and be given duty. For now the amorphous fanged blob -- having yet to decide on a form its master would like -- rests and waits, invisibly.

Another day passes. Whatever it has discussed with Garnet Cog seems to have been resolved, and the unseen mentor-spirit returns to Veldygar, settling briefly into the mechanisms of his shock pike. A current sparks, unseen beneath the cloth covering the weapon. "I am ready, young master," Cog's voice, conveyed through the weapon, thrums and crackles. "Let us delay no longer."

The Gatekeeper does, indeed, value punctuality. When Veldygar, his dematerialized entourage, and Eternal return for the second time to its central core, though, the chamber appears empty. "THE EARTH DISTRICT AWAITS. I MUST EXPEND A SIZABLE AMOUNT OF POWER, SO YOU WILL EXCUSE THE LACK OF VISIBLE FORM. WHETHER FOR THE REPUBLIC OR FOR YOURSELVES, I HOPE YOU SUCCEED, EXALTED."

An energy-laced vortex of sapphire mist swirls about Veldygar and Eternal, as the Gatekeeper commences its primary responsibility--to transport those worthy of the privilege between this District and the next.

---

OOC: Pausing a bit here in case there's any last reactions, then we'll move on to where you teleport to.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:56, Fri 01 May 2009.

Veldygar wrapped himself in the folds of his cloak. "Let us hope our arrival goes unnoticed," he said, clutching his clothed shock pike.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:34, Fri 01 May 2009.

"Hope..."

Eternal spat the word, hating the way it felt on his tongue.  Hope was a dying creature, a tool of the living--a tool that he no longer found useful.  When one could hear the haunted whispers of the Neverborn, could feel the dark ichor of oblivion pouring through their veins, what need was there for hope?  There was no hope.  It was all going to end, one way or another--in his darkest of hearts, Broken Eternal knew this as truth.  It was his existence, nay, perhaps even his destiny to bring about the end of all things.  As a mortal he certainly didn't feel this craven bloodlust, this unending yearning for death and dismemberment.  True, he had felt that way about his captors, but this was on a much grander scale.  He wanted to slay armies.  Cities.  And he fully intended to start with Five-Coils.

"Don't waste your energy with empty wishes, Gatekeeper.  Either we succeed, or we fail.  The body count will be high regardless, I can promise your Republic that."

"THEN DO WHAT YOU MUST WITHOUT HESITATION." The Gatekeeper, speaking of hope, only itself echoes the emotions of those who had bound it, and built it into the systems of the District of Water. It has no way of knowing for sure that its carefully determined chances of success will lead to a positive result.

In fact, it is only about 49% sure.

It reconsiders. If anything, sending Broken Eternal above will be a sufficient distraction so that Veldygar may succeed at the task given to him. To recalibrate the Gatekeepers -- to unlock their true potential, in time -- when the Circle once again combines.

The Gatekeeper, if it had a face at the moment, would be smiling at its final reassessment. 57%. Better than half.

The majority of its mental faculties go toward the Exalts' imminent displacement. Processes split into multithreaded calculations, power lines intensify their already copious Essence output. The sapphire clouds surrounding Veldygar and Eternal intensify and fill the entirety of their senses. Reality, for a brief moment of time, dissolves into the endless blue. Yet they neither fall, nor move. Rather, it seems almost as if their surroundings rearrange while they stand inexplicably still, caught between one point in space-time and the next.

Then the ground reforms at the Celestials' feet. Earthen ground now, not cold steel-alloy and adamant panels, like the central core. They are in a narrow cul-de-sac, with dim light filtering from the crevice ahead of them, opening out into a larger cavern. Whatever is ahead is not likely to be safe territory.

---

OOC: ok, Perception+Awareness to get your bearings, unless you want to just head right out into the open. ;) -1 external penalty (subtracts successes) for the relative darkness.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:44, Sat 02 May 2009.

Squinting his eyes in the darkness, Veldygar tried to get his bearings, trying to recall as much of the Earth District's layout as he could.

[OOC:11:16, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 4 successes using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,2,7,10,1,2. Per+Awareness.

Total 3 successes.]

Veldygar (and Eternal, belatedly) peer though the opening looking out into the dimly lit space beyond.

They see about 30 yards of open space between the crevice they are crouched in and another natural wall on the other side. It is an earthen corridor that tapers toward the left, and opens out toward the right into a much larger, cavernous space. What little lighting there is comes from the left-hand side, where the cavern stretches down a hundred yards only to end in a high granite wall.

Another tunnel runs parallel to this left-hand wall, which they can only partially see from the angle they are looking from. It stretches in both directions, perpendicular to the larger tunnel their cul-de-sac opens out into, following the granite wall to form a T intersection.

The larger cavern toward the right is difficult to discern. The Exalts can notice, now and then, distant red beacons of light streaming across that dark, wide open space, or now and then orbs of white light emanating from old hover transports sputtering across the way. But mostly it's just a big, dark area.

More immediate are the ratchety sounds of conveyor belts and old machinery. The ground they stand on is constantly, minutely vibrating, though neither Veldygar nor Eternal can see whatever ancient mechanisms are causing it from here. Given that the Earth District is largely devoted to mining, though, they are likely in the vicinity of an ore refinery, or a compound where the ores are prepared for transport upward. The sound and vibration seem stronger toward the left and behind the crevice they are hiding in.

Finally Veldygar and Eternal notice some movement. What appears to be three common warstriders refurbished for labor lumber into the left-hand T-intersection carrying loads of ore. Their operators continue onward in the opposite direction the Celestials face, taking the tunnel following the granite wall.

So far, though, no Immaculates. But the Gatekeeper is not known for being imprecise. The entrance into the Inner Temple must be close.

Veldygar turned towards Broken Eternal: "I assume you can remain unseen if you wish. I can make myself scarcely noticeable in plain sight. Let us explore a bit. It seems logical at first that the temple would not be located immediately from an mine or refinery. I say we try getting away from the noisiest part in order to get our bearings."

Broken Eternal considered this course of action.  Every fiber of his being wanted to follow those War Striders and apply blade to throat, but he locked the urges away...for now.

"I can." He said in response to Veldy in concerning his ability to stay hidden.  When it came right down to it, he could use his own talents to practically meld with the shadows, or barring that, his dark gifts allowed him to almost stand in plain view and not be recognizable.  The Gatekeeper was no doubt good to its world--for some reason, Eternal did not see them being much in the way of malicious, especially when that particular was bound to do what was best interest for the Republic--but he hardly believed that meant they were not at rick of betrayal.  After all, they were not part of the republic.  They were free agents, no doubt to be used and discarded as the situation called for it.

He pointed at where the War Striders were vanishing into the darkness.  "They are carrying Ore.  Would they be taking it to a temple, or away from the temple?"    It was a good question, and one that demanded attention.  Going away from the noise was all well and good--but where there were three workers, there would be more workers.

Honestly, Eternal didn't care.  He was free once more, and there was blood to be spilled.  Still, there was goals to be had, and he had a much better chance of bringing down Coals with the help of other Exalts...he had to face that inevitability.

"What about your spirits?  Could they not scout out ahead quickly, while they remain ignorant of our presence?"

"I don't know what an Immaculate temple would make of ores," Veldygar replied. "Getting away from the activity isn't a guarantee to find the temple, but at least we don't risk getting close to dangerous machinery -" he eyed the refitted warstriders "- or wandering into an unstable tunnel."

He whispered a few words[Private to GM:  in Old Realm, to Gugoona, his metody: "Scout the surroundings, and tell us if there are guards, or workers, their number, their state of vigilance... Don't make yourself known." [OOC: the metody is actually quite intelligent (4), if a bit lacking in culture. I think it'll be able to make an accurate report and provide good advice - which is cool, considering its template.]].

"I have sent one of my servants."

Veldygar calls quietly upon Gugoona, who all but resonates with delight at the prospect of proving its usefulness to its master.

As the amorphous demon slithers away in dematerialized state, the pair of Exalts consign themselves to wait. Eventually the trio of refurbished warstriders trudge off out of sight. Another vehicle rumbles in from the vast, dark cavern toward the right of their hiding place, an old gliding chariot now used as a cargo transport laden with boxes, and passes by without so much as noticing their position.

Mostly, though, they remain in the near-darkness with naught but Veldygar's spiritual companions and the constant tremble of magitech machinery as company. The tomescu, Dezephiel, crouches invisibly at the opening of the crevice, ready to manifest at the first sign of trouble.

Finally, after about twenty minutes, the metody returns to its master and hisses its extensive report to Veldygar, its voice bubbling like the hissing of acid. Unfortunately, it's only language is Old Realm, which Eternal cannot understand. [Private to Veldygar Arhandor: "Most Eminent Master, one right turn from where you stand is a vast cavern. Perhaps a mile wide, or larger, hollowed out over time. There are vehicles and people that cross now and then. I stayed back from the machine patrols as I do not know if they can sense my presence or not."

"One left and one right turn from here is a corridor opening up into a dead end cavern with a guarded door. A pair of armed humans with shaved heads and heavy robes stand at that door. I do not know what is behind the door. The writing is in a language I do not understand. But the door would be easily consumed," Gugoona points out eagerly. "The guards, not so easy."

"Two left turns from here is a most interesting place with ancient machines, breaking down rocks for the tasty ore nougat inside. It looks most delicious, except for the raw jade, oh, muchmuch too solid for me to enjoy. The workers I have seen measure three groups of twenty five. They each have a leader yelling and shaking fist at them to work harder. One more important one in jade armor stands on a platform overseeing all. Armed guards are in two groups of five, one for each opening into the compound, each led by a captain. One sentient machine armor stands with the overseer, and a half-dozen figures in armor suits carry more rock."]

---

OOC: just to give a basic impression of what I'm getting at here, here is a very crude ascii map! woo! ;) Also note I am not going to do maps like this often. Just thought it'd be good to explain things this time around. (edit-forgot the granite wall)

| /==\
||  5 \
||    }
||   /                                     /

	}           ______         _____
	\__~~~----_/      ~~~~---./     ~~~-_/
	___~~~_~~--.  .___~~~~----.____---.      2
	/            \ \                    \
	4 }            {1}                     {
		\	\
	\____
	\_~~--.     1 - Veldygar and Eternal hiding here
	\    2 - Very large, open cavern (dark)
\      3             3 - ??? (machine noise/vibrations coming from this way)
	4 - warstriders moved toward this direction
\__.---~~.__       5 - ??? (metody is explaining to Veldygar)

This message was last edited by the GM at 20:59, Wed 06 May 2009.

[OOC: Since I don't actually have anything to gain from witholding information, I've just copied the report to Eternal in PM.]

Veldygar recounted the metody's report. His first guess was that the door was the exit of the compound. The large cavern was in fact the the mine, and the smaller cavern with the machinery the refinery. So ideally, they would neutralize the two guards quickly, and let the metody burn through the door, thus exiting the compound. "Or we could just wait the end of the shift," Veldygar said. With his cloak and his power of unconspicuousness, he could probably disappear in the group and reach the Earth district, though he was wary of testing the guards' vigilance at the chokepoint. Broken Eternal would have little trouble sneaking out of the place once the doors were opened, with his inhuman stealth skills...

[OOC: Checking my deductions:
23:56, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 5 successes using 5d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,9,9,4,10. Int+Lore.
23:58, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 1 success using 4d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,9,3,5. Int+Investigation.]
This message was last edited by the player at 22:02, Wed 06 May 2009.

Veldygar rethinks his guesses. The nearby facility, he realizes, is not very likely to be at the far ends of the Earth District. The large, mostly empty, dark cavern is an area that has already been previously excavated. So his thought is that his current location is closer to the center.

The guards with shaven heads and robes described by Gugoona are definitely Immaculate Monks. Veldygar is more inclined to think that what's behind the door is some sort of Immaculate Order facility, as if it were a general entrance, it would be guarded by Peace Force, not Immaculates. Thinking on it, he remembers that Immaculate monks usually staff the hospitals of Five Coils, and that a hospital nearby a facility where heavy loads are moved and dangerous machinery employed would be sensible. But then, why the guards?

Veldygar's assessment is that the door is the best option to try first. The Inner Temple, to his knowledge, does not have any obvious entrances, but rather has several outer 'nodes' with back entrances connecting to the larger Temple complex.

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor: there, posted with an extra bit of info to make your decision easier.]

"I think our choice is obvious..." Veldygar said, sharing his thoughts with Eternal. "We must neutralize those two guards quietly - and if they have no key, let Gugoona eat the door." Veldygar started to unwrap his shock pike.

[OOC: What's the approximate scale? Would shouting or fighting be easily heard in the other caverns?]

There would be about a hundred yards from the opening leading into the refinery compound. A fang of guards and a guard captain are stationed on that side, not so dangerous as Immaculate monk guards for certain, but still a threat.

The noise of the machinery would cover the Celestials somewhat, but the refinery guards are also alert for outside interference, and they do have access to an unobstructed view down the corridor leading to the door should they notice something that way. So it would be better to err on the side of stealth and caution. Even better, should they be able to move any combat past the door once the metody burns through it.

---

OOC: Mechanically I'd say the bonus from alertness wouldn't be enough to completely nullify the penalty from noise/darkness/distance. So the refinery guards are at -1 for awareness. Anyway, let's move on. Dex+Stealth rolls, you've time to activate any charms/powers as needed.

Now that was a course of action that Broken Eternal could get behind.  True, it was only two immaculate monks, but those were some of the sweetest Dragon-Blooded to kill.  Their faith was unshakable, which made it that much more satisfying to watch the life leave their eyes, knowing full well that their precious elemental dragon had abandoned them.  "Any plan that ends with their deaths is a plan I will abide by."  He said gravely.

Slowly he unsheathed his new weapons, the Short Darkglaives, and looked at them ruefully.  Not his chosen combat implements, but they were a far cry better than the mundane pieces of weaponry he had been forced to use in the past.  They would be great instruments of destruction in his hands--until he found something more to his liking, that was.  Then these, like everything else he came into contact with, would be discarded without a second thought, as long as it brought him closer to the destruction of Five Coils.

He looked down at the blades, regardless of their heritage, and for a moment there was a sadistically kind look on his face.  He could hear the screams of the Monks now, before he even struck them.  He could taste the blood before it streamed from their veins, and he could feel their fear before they realized they were staring at the Harbinger of Oblivion.  All these things and more--he coveted them.  Breaking his glance, he looked up at Veldygar, and that kind, almost tempered smile turned cruel and malicious.  "Lets not keep them waiting, shall we?"

Still holding his blades, Veldy would see something that very few people had.  There was a dark glow around the outline of his body, outlining his dangerous physique.  Then in a lightning fast moment, twisting streaks like spider-webs crawled over his body, writhing and and almost beckoning the Solar to reach out and touch the display of Abyssal power.  Come, join us, that dark energy seemed to say...and if he entertained the thought, perhaps he did hear the slightest whisper?  Behind the dark lines of energy followed nothing, as the lines consumed him, leaving naught behind but those glowing red eyes...and then nothing at all.

There was no noise, no sound to betray that he was moving, but Veldy knew quiet well where the Dark Chosen was going--and it wasn't going to be pretty.

Veldygar frowned. The aura aroud Broken Eternal was slightly unnerving, but he tried to ignore it as he did his best to sneak towards the guards once he was reasonably sure the deathknight was within striking range. It would certainly be difficult, but with his shock pike's range he needed only come within eighty yards to be able to make his attacks. He hoped the Immaculates, despite their rigorous training, would not actually pay too much attention to the background. He had given Gugoona instructions to start eating at the door once they had engaged the monks.

[OOC: Ok, with their vigilance bonus and the fact that I'm not exactly inconspicuous, am I right in assuming that Easily Overlooked Presence Method would not avail me here?
If you deem it otherwise, then assume I activated it (I guess Veldygar would know his Charm's chances of success). In the meantime, I'll try to position myself within under 80 yards of the door, far enough from the refinery but not too close to the guards:
20:27, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 2 successes using 7d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,1,7,3,7,4,3
Not so stealthy...]

Eternal and Veldygar, calling on their respective Essences -- dark and light, corrupted and pure -- are effectively cloaked from sight. In the Abyssal's case, it is an invisibility so absolute even the Loom of Fate would be fooled, as he steps between the threads of destiny and vanishes. More than merely a shadow, he is a spectre guided by madness.

Veldygar follows, with Gugoona slithering ahead and the tomescu taking up the rear, its dematerialized body advancing backwards -- facing the group of idle guards on the opposite side. While he does not actually vanish, the refinery guards simply seem unwilling or unable to glance straight at him, as they might do if attempting to stare at the bright, hot sun.

In any case, their attention is focused in the exact wrong places, and the two Celestials turn right at the T-intersection without a problem.

100 yards down the adjacent corridor, they see for themselves the iron door the metody mentioned. Gugoona is already surging forward, eager to carry out its orders. It will, however, need to materialize in order to affect the metal with its acidic foam, and there's the matter of the two Immaculate guards in front of it. They are a male and female pair, one of earthy skin and the other like ivory marble, their heads completely shaved. Both wear white jade lamellar over their robes, and wield goremauls shaped like gigantic, spiked clubs rather than the traditional hammer shape.

---

OOC: Huh, apparently everyone rolled kind of crappy with their initial awareness, even the monks. So now we've established you're unnoticed, for now -- though that may change. Should you be actually attacking the monks right away, pose and roll your attack as well. Then we'll establish tick count.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:58, Tue 12 May 2009.

Veldygar bit his lips when he remembered that Broken Eternal and he had not convened of a signal or attributed a target. He prepared to fire a shock pike discharge at the guard would who not be suffering from massive blood loss in a few moments.

It was a normal day for the Immaculate Monks who guarded the door.  Though their training and meditation made every day vital, every day important, there was only so much importance they could impart on what was ultimately a trivial task, especially for people of their considerable skill!  They were Immaculates Monks of the Earth Dragon Style!  There had been trouble below this level, true enough, but here, with the soft rumblings rolling off the walls from the mining machinery nearby, even those whispered threats seemed far off and unrealistic.  Five Coils had existed for untold centuries, and it would no doubt stand for centuries more.

Or so they thought.

Nestled in the shadows of Creation, Eternal slowly crept into the entrance of the hallway that they guarded, red eyes invisible to their 'intense' training, surveying the two of them with such hate as to almost be palatable.  Surely Veldygar would be able to taste the outright rage he felt toward the two monks, a man and a woman that had done no wrong save for being born Dragonblood, and born within Five Coils.  Both offensives a grave, grave injustice that Broken Eternal intended for them to atone for.

In blood.

There was no warning that foretold the first strike, no battle cry or reason given.  The two guards, forbade to talk while on this most sacred of duties, had allowed each other a small smile.  The shift wasn't too far from being over, after all, and friendship was not uncommon in the brotherhood...and the smiles exchanged, albeit brief, hinted at a bit more than a simple link of comrades in arms.  And as that subtle smile began to fade from the man's lips, as thoughts of what the end of the shift might potentially bring, the first blood was drawn.  At first he wasn't entirely sure what had happened.  There was an ear rending screech as a powerful blade tore into durable armor, and he felt a very colt line extend from his navel to his shoulder...and then he saw the blood, surely not his own, suddenly spray outward from the flayed flesh.  The large droplets of blood did not simply sail into the air, however, but a few essence guided droplets found purchase on something solid--something unseen, and something very, very deadly.

Still in shock at the sudden blow struck against him, the monk began to raise his maul, though what he was going to swing at, he wasn't entirely sure.  The pain of his chest had not quiet registered yet, and something inside his mind, in that infinitely wise place where all universal truths met, he knew it was just a flesh wound--messy, but nothing that would kill him.  But it was only the beginning, he knew, and he had to do something, and he had to do it quickly.  But the Sons of Pasiap were not known for their quickness of body, and before his great weapon moved but inches, the malicious force struck yet again.

Two blades covered in gore suddenly appeared from within him--one from the center of his chest, just shy as his heart, while the other burst from his stomach.  Unlike the comparatively dainty first strike, these two blows struck with massive force, sending bits of bone and tissue erupting from the wounds as the blades twisted in tandem, coaxing a tortured gasp of belated horror from his partner, who had just began to notice the attack.  As soon as they had entered, the blades quickly vanished, pulled out in arcs as the monk's blood was splattered against the walls as the invisible force of nature retracted the artifact blades.  The monk lurched forward, his legs faltering as the shock deepened, and the realization began to surface that, perhaps, he was dying.  Or, even more darkly and realistically....that he was already dead.  Massive maul dropped, he reached out for the woman he had known for most of his life--who he had trained with, eaten with, and had grown to care about very much.  He tried to speak, to say words forbidden by tradition, but could not find them.

Before she could reach out for him, before she could even bring to bear her own weapon in his defense against the unseen assassin, he struck again.  The short Darkglaive whistled through the air is malevolent intent, and quickly discovered a geyser of blood and shattered bone as the Immaculate Monks massive left arm was completely severed.  The meaty limb fell to the ground with a defeated thud as jet-streams of precious vitae pumped from the cleanly severed stump left behind.  Unlike the spare droplets before, these shot out with violent rebellion, and finally gave shape to their attacker.  Though most of his body still laid behind the veil of creation, the crimson life within the monk revealed splashes of the attacker, of his swift movements and deadly strikes.  And they revealed that the final assault on the poor monk was not, in fact, over with.  The blade arced high, stained with Immaculate blood as the sanguine-bathed attacker surged forward one more, this time kicking the monk full in the chest, sending him hurtling backwards and slamming into the wall with such force that cracks splintered out behind the dying man.  Then, just as he caved into the wall, Eternal was there once more, one of his blades digging into the man, pushing through him and into the hard rock beyond--pinning the gushing unfortunate like the bleeding insect that he was.

With his hand still on the hilt of the impaling blade, Broken Eternal slowly turned to look at the surviving monk who was still untouched, save for the mess of blood that has splashed onto her face and armor.  Dark veins of the blackest energy sizzled as the blood began to evaporate off of his body, leaving spider-webs of his form for her eyes to latch onto--to refuse and hate, to question and fear.  He turned completely then, giving the impaled blade a final twist into the hard rock wall and the man caught between them, and then left him there, bleeding and speechless, his eyes already starting to fade into the black abyss that awaited him.

"Watch carefully..." He said to the dying warrior, while his blazing red eyes, visible from the betraying blood, were locked on the woman left still living.  His right hand dropped to his side and carefully, almost tenderly cupped the Monk's chin, and made his eyes rise to look at the woman.  "I've only just begun to make you suffer."

For the Sun's sake, what does he think he's doing? Veldygar cursed.

"Gugoona, eat a man-sized entry in the door, quickly!" he ordered as he lifted his shock pike and aimed at the remaining female guard. "Dezephiel, get ready to materialize and intercept reinforcements coming from the other caves, at my command!"

As he spoke, he focused a bit of his Essence into the pike's circuitry. The jade linear accelerator hummed softly as the energy was guided along the pike's length into the collimating chamber, where it arced into scarcely perceptible lines of power.

Then the contactors opened at a brush of his finger, and the Essence was released as an invisible pulse of force travelling at immense speed. Aimed at the Immaculate's head.

He hoped that the distraction created by Broken Eternal would be enough to prevent her from noticing the silhouette suddenly appearing at the edge of her perceptions still striving to remain in the shadows, or turn her attention away from sensing the incoming bolt of Essence.

[Private to GM: [OOC:11:22, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 1 success using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,4,9,4,4,5. Join Battle.
13:58, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 3 successes using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,10,1,4,1,1. Dex+Stealth -mobility. (forgot the penalty the first time)
11:26, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 7 successes using 16d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,7,5,8,7,3,3,1,10,1,3,2,10,3,1,4. Shock pike (ranged).
Speed 5, Damage +12L. Spent 5 personal of First Melee Excellency.
Tell me if the stunt mote recovery applies, I need the personal ;)]]
This message was last edited by the player at 11:58, Sun 17 May 2009.

The female monk allows shock and horror to show on her face while the man who could never be her beloved is eviscerated by an invisible blade. With every gout of blood that gushes from her body, the silhouette of his attacker is revealed in the crimson spray, and she gazes upon it, upon him, with a cry of anguish that abruptly recedes into cold, hard determination.

Much to Eternal's surprise, she neither collapses in despair nor flees in abject terror. She gazes upon her male counterpart, knowing he will die, and all the questions in her heart will go unanswered. And she will die like him, cut down by the merciless blade of a free Anathema who thought to make her suffer.

Knowing this, the Immaculate Chosen of Pasiap willfully stands her ground. For the last thing her partner would witness before the light leaves his eyes is not just his killer's gloating, bloodied face. He would see HER bravery as well, HER marble-flecked anima, flaring bright and pure and resolute against impossible odds. Just long enough, and the monks of the Inner Temple would surely rise to avenge the both of them.

"Do you think you alone can take on the Order? A single, wretched shadow?" She does not see Veldygar at all, not even when his shock pike surges with unseen force and strikes her forehead so hard her head whips backward. Her bare scalp splits open, and her own blood drips into her eyes, onto her once pristine white armor, mingling with the spattered gore of her fellow monk. (3L damage)

At the Eclipse Caste's command, Dezephiel prepares itself for battle, arranging its spear, axe and bladed limbs to intercept the contingent of refinery guards splitting off to investigate the grisly scene ahead. Gugoona slithers gleefully toward the metallic door, uncaring of the fates of any mortal. Both demons have yet to materialize... but in the next few seconds, that will change.

Even with limited space between her and Eternal, the female monk still summons to herself Pasiap's strength, recalling mentally the slow but powerful motions of the katas of Earth. With this mindset she assumes the Earth Dragon Form, raising her goremaul solidly in front of her. "My name is Caras Anya. And he is Ragara Kiros." She gazes into the eyes of the dying man pinned to the wall, perhaps for the last time. "You won't remember us, murderer. But Pasiap will."

---

OOC: actions
tick 0 - Dezephiel (tomescu)
tick 2 - Female monk, Eternal, Veldygar
tick 3 - Gugoona (metody)

Monk rolled 4 successes on a valor roll of 3, so I made her justifiably brave. Veldy was seen by the refinery guards when he did his attack, and Anya crying out and talking loudly pretty much did the rest. You can both still reestablish surprise, of course. After this first round of ticks, the other guards will Join Battle.

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor: And +2 stunt for you! 4 motes back.] [Private to Broken Eternal: You can get 6 motes back from +3 stunt. Try to keep track of your expenditures. You've spent 13 motes, with the stunt motes counted.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:44, Mon 18 May 2009.

Cursing under his breath, Veldygar rushed towards the gate, ordering Dezephiel to get closer to the door as well. As he did so, he swung his shock pike, calling into existence another pulse of force as he targeted the Immaculate. He would stay out of reach of the monk's blows, but he would not let himself be rejoined so soon by the soldiers.

I will summon a friggin' army next time!

[OOC: Dashing, + one ranged attack. Speed 5, Dmg +12L, -1 to target's Parry DV, 8 y/t speed.
19:31, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 2 successes using 8d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,5,9,7,5,3,1,6. Shock Pike (ranged).]

The blood upon the dark Abyssal began to boil and sizzle off of him as he stared at the female monk, and for a moment allowed himself a moment of appreciation for the amount of stalwart bravery the woman showed.  He knew it wasn't easy for her to show such stoic determinism.  He knew, because few others would have been able to simply stand there, little less prepare to defend themselves and talk about their faith in the process.  So, for a mere moment, he allowed himself an iota of respect for her.  She was still a filthy Dragon-Blooded...and for that, she would die, and in no less a gruesome way than before--she simply gave him a glimmer of what her people were capable of.

"Let him remember you, then.  He can recite your deeds with my hands around his throat."  He said, as the last remnants of her companions blood left his body, forcing his form to again leave no trace in this world, and slipping into the shadows of this and the next.  Whether or not she would lose sight of him was largely dependent on her abilities of perception--after all, she no doubt knew he was going to attack her, and so she would be on her guard.  But could a lowly monk of the Earth Dragon truly perceive the position of an Abyssal Assassin?

[Private to Gatekeeper: I rolled my stealth and Dex, and out of ten, I only got a 1!  A ONE!  But I read about the charm, and it says I get an automatic 2 sux when trying to stealth with the charm active, plus she gets a -2 to see me or attack me, so I thought it might still fly, even with a paltry 3 sux.  Other than Stealthy, Eternal is going to let her have the next move...after all, few people fight well while so angry/disgusted.  Though, if she really IS that brave, I'll be damned if Eternal might not want to keep her alive to see why in the hell she IS so brave.  (Possibly a step toward his redemption!)]

A second blast of force propels through the air from Veldygar's pike. Distracted by Eternal and the monk impaled on the wall, Anya is oblivious of the Solar running her way. But when the force projection strikes her torso, the Earth Dragon Form diverts the majority of the force toward the ground. Blood wells from a shallow puncture wound on her chest that might otherwise have killed her. (1L, total of 4L damage on her now)

She renews her solid stance, grim and bold despite the odds sharply against her. "If the Dragons be merciful, he will die before you get your hands on him again, Anathema," Anya replies to Eternal. Her voice is hard and calm. "Or you will."

Though he may be hidden to fate, shrouded by shadow, the female monk's senses are honed by her long training as an Immaculate of Earth. She is able to sense his position, hear his footfalls, his breathing, the muted sizzle of her partner's blood on his body. It is a moment of utter clarity, and she thanks her god for it. "Pasiap, guide my hand, for to end this monster's life is just," she utters, and strikes twice at Eternal -- an overhead blow to the head, followed by a second, two-handed crushing blow aimed at his back to knock him flat to the ground. Her anima ignites briefly in a pure white glow, pale marble shards surrounding her like petals chiseled from stone.

[Private to Broken Eternal: She got 7 successes on her Awareness roll! yikes! Even with a -2 successes, she still has 5 sux to your 3. Mostly, it's just the dice being lucky for her and not lucky for you. That happens! On the bright side, I gave you +2 stunt, so you can get back either 1 temporary willpower or 4 motes.

As for the attacks, first strike is 11 successes, second is an unfortunate 3 successes (she got a -2 due to specifically attempting to knock down). Since you've not used your charm use this turn, you could use whatever Charm you wish for defense. There may be additional effects to the attacks but we have to see if it hits you first ;)

I should also mention, that despite the treatment Eternal got, few people, even Dragon-blooded know the truth about the Abyssals being used as assassins in Coils, or just how badly Celestials can be treated in captivity. The treatment a slave gets depends largely on the owner -- though of course, slavery itself could be considered a sin, whether slavemaster is kind or not.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:10, Fri 22 May 2009.

Meanwhile, the dematerialized metody, Gugoona, continues slithering its way toward the door. Even pushing all its efforts toward moving in position, it is not the swiftest of creatures. Dezephiel keeps pace with Veldygar until about halfway down the corridor, stopping to materialize in a flare of acrid smoke that thickens into a dark fog. Something lurks beyond that cloud, a vaguely chitinous insectoid shape, with a multitude of limbs holding a bristling host of sharp and blunt weapons.

Shouts of alarm comes from the guards at the refinery. The fang of guards and their captain arm themselves and start to move.

---

OOC: actions
tick 6 - female monk, Eternal, guards (moving)
tick 7 - Veldygar (53 yards from door)
tick 10 - Gugoona reaches door
tick 11 - Dezephiel (after Materialize)

I realized there's still some space left for the metody to move before it *gets* to the door, duh. I had Gugoona dash, but it's kind of slow.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:01, Tue 26 May 2009.

Perhaps Pasiap DID guide the Monk's actions, as Eternal watched her from the shadows of creation.  His form left no visible sign on this side of the tapestry, but still she watched him.  Perhaps the spirit of her fallen friend helped guide her senses as well?  Whatever it was that helped her discern what the looms of fate could not, it would not help her lay a hand on the Abyssal Assassin.  To see him was not to know him, and as those skilled blows came raining down, she found that despite what her senses had told her, her foe was not standing there--not at all.

As the first blow was about to collide with the murderer of her friend, the air in front of her seemed to visibly shake and distort.  It was a sudden thing and very quick, but its effect was immediate--her attack clearly missed the target it was meant to hit.  There was no sound to betray his movement, no scuffing of stone or leather to cue to her where he had ran, or flecks of blood to perhaps catch a trail.  The malevolence he exuded, however, was practically palatable...and no matter how much the woman's bravery might have intrigued Eternal, or how interesting he found the fact that she had managed to sense him, these did not change the fact that she was a Dragon-Blood...especially the fact that, what more, she was an Immaculate Monk, the brown-nosers of the Elemental Dragons, the lords of the Terrestial Exalted.

There were few people he hated more.

He was behind her in that same instant, and maybe for a moment she might even realize it--but not before he was upon her.  His blade sliced out with dark intent, meaning to gut the woman completely--happily adding more gore and blood to the scene while the guards began to converge on their location.  Whether or not his super-naturally fueled attack did what he intended it to do, a malicious smile rose on his face.  Yes, the two of them had been chosen to guard this entrance, just as Veldygar and himself had been chosen for their stealth-related skills.  It seemed both sets had failed at their appointed rounds...though certainly not for any like of trying.  Except for perhaps Eternal.  Death, it seemed, was his only real appointed round, and thus far, he was more than capable of making those rounds, and with visceral accuracy.

[Private to GM: Going on my own here, since you're not on AIM, but I figure 10 for melee and Dex, 4 for the blade, and I'll 3 on the excellency charm for a total dice pool of...17?  I'll double check before I roll and, of course, give you results!  Sorry this took a while, I'll try to pick up the posting here, since combat is going to be coming in waves now.  ^_^]

Anya's crushing blows strike thin air, outdone by the Abyssal's mastery over shadow and spectral energy. Even to her keen senses, he has disappeared.

She braces herself grimly. "There is but one of me. But I will not fall just because you will it."

The female monk's defense against his single, precise blow is simple: Earth endures. Eternal's daiklave strikes to gut her from behind, but the Earth energy shielding Anya against harm makes the air around her thick and heavy, momentarily dulling the sharp edge. The slash leaves a thin line of blood as it pierces her armor shallowly. (1L, total of 5L damage!)

Unfortunately, Anya is made of stronger stuff than most any mortal. Though bloodied, she is not yet too weak to stand her ground. She knows now that Broken Eternal has at least one more ally, and harbors no hope of surviving the attack. Only that she may delay them long enough for the Temple to prepare a retaliation.

[Private to Broken Eternal: as calculated in PM you've spent a total of 18 motes now, out of 16 Personal, 29 Peripheral. This is after all stunts have been considered.

Having struck at her once after her Earth Form I'll let you know she has a soak of 15L. And she has a total of 11 health levels, so 6 remain.]

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor: Guards won't make it close enough to attack you yet so you can go ahead.]

Tough bitch, Veldygar thought upon seeing the Immaculate's determination. His budding admiration was however cut short by the memories of his time of servitude.

Where was your self-righteous ass when I was compelled to summon real demons for your perverted experiments?

He did not hesitate. While he did not share Broken Eternal's homicidal hatred of the Dragon-Blooded, this woman was an obstacle, one he would overcome, even if it meant her death.

Holding his shock pike as a lance, he charged and extended his arm, a pulsing wave of force darting towards the monk's head.

[Private to GM: [OOC: Dashing, + one ranged attack. Speed 5, Dmg +12L, -1 to target's Parry DV, 9 y/t speed (the mobility is only 1 so my previous Dash was also 9)
13:18, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 4 successes using 8d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,7,6,1,8,2,9,5. Shock Pike (ranged).]]

Veldygar's shock pike blast meets Anya's will. She grunts and lifts her goremaul to deflect it, but the invisible blast is too hard for her to see with the blood dripping in her eyes. It surges right past the massive jade club, and slams into her face, splitting one of her cheeks open and cutting open the side of her mouth. She chokes, spitting blood and staggering. Her face is nearly unrecognizable now, the alabaster skin gaping open and marred with crimson. (3L more damage. she is at -2 penalty now)

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor: whoa! lucky hit for you. 3 health levels on a ping. Since you've hit her a couple times now I'll tell you her stats, she has 15L soak and 3 HLs remaining (out of 11).

Another thing I'll note, purely OOC, is that not all Dragon-blooded knew of the experiments in Wood District, in fact not all of them would even approve of them. The idea of using Anathema as slaves to increase Dragon-blooded power was actually mostly a secular one. Veldy, though, may well be too righteously angry to care about the difference ;)]

Anya raises her goremaul again, spinning to face Eternal. Her anima flares in an ivory blaze, the earth itself groaning and rumbling in response. The resulting elemental flux engulfs her Abyssal foe, a flurry of marble shards that nick at his armor but do not harm him -- yet. Shouting wordlessly, knowing perhaps her end is near, she pours her Essence into a single, demolishing blow meant to stop Eternal in his tracks.

[Private to Broken Eternal: Anya does a single 13 success attack. Note that this is still before your next turn, and you don`t have a combo, so you can only use Melee Excellency to boost your defense. If you do so, you spend the motes, roll as many dice as motes spent, and add the successes to your DV. You can of course also stunt to add to your DV as well!

In addition you'll be taking 1 die lethal damage per tick now while engaged with Anya.

This time, I'd like you to just post your defense first, since if Anya's attack hits there are additional effects that may keep you from attacking.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:08, Wed 27 May 2009.

The guards continue their approach from the far end of the corridor. It's hard to see them with the massive fog-cloaked form of the tomescu in the way, but they all appear to be wearing at least light magitech armor (ashigaru?), and their captain is in dragon armor. They all carry pikes. "It looks like some Malfean spawn got free. Rebels, maybe. We're not sure but there's two humanoids with them," reports the captain, likely speaking on a transceiver or through a Charm. "And at least one of them appears to be Anathema."

"I repeat. Demon attack with possible Orichalcum Breach. The Immaculate guards at B25 Eastern Refinery Hospital are under attack, right now. Inform the B25 Master Monk and request backup!"

Gugoona, having rushed ahead of Veldygar, slithers right past the combat near the door and materializes as a sizzling gush of shapeless acidic foam. The vitriol elemental latches to the iron doors leading into what seems to be (if the captain's report is to be believed) a rather unusually well-guarded hospital.

Dezephiel rears up, letting out a keening wail as its multi-jointed limbs prepare to attack -- starting with the self-bow arms, pairing with the weaponless arms to nock arrows it had acquired in Water District. Two arrows fly toward the group of guards dashing to intercept. One collides uselessly with a distant wall; another sticks one of the mortal guards in the shoulder, shallowly.

---

OOC: my apologies, I edited tick count cause I misunderstood what 'y/t' meant.
tick 10 - Anya, Gugoona (at door - Materialize), Eternal
tick 11 - Dezephiel, guards
tick 12 - Veldygar (26 yards from door)
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:19, Sun 31 May 2009.

The mistake of many fighters, both Celestial, Immaculate, and mortal, was lack of respect.  Refusing to admit the skill of your opponent was one of the fastest ways to find yourself impaled by their blade, or bludgeoned by their maul.  Appearances, at first, may lead some (Veldy, for example) that the Dark Assassin that was Broken Eternal had no respect for the Immaculate monks that he was fighting, or for the one that he all-but slaughtered.  This could not be further from the truth.  Eternal respected the Immaculate Order a great deal--but he loathed it even more.  From the lowliest grunts to the Immaculate Dragons themselves, he hated every strand of hair, every fiber of clothing, every single scale in question to those that had imposed and created such a place as Five Coils...and created a being such as he.

He struck back at the Immaculate Monk after dodging her through the Abyss, and was briefly surprised that his blow did not cut as deeply as he wanted--the blood of Pasiap ran deeply in this one, and she would not go down without more effort, it seemed.  And for her part, she was not so ready to fall without giving every ounce of strength she had--the work and effort of a dying fool, Eternal thought, but even a foolish display of power was a sight to behold, and her sudden surge of Elemental energies was stunning.  Had his heart not been devoured by the Neverborn, Eternal might have well been stunned by the sight of it, trapped in awe of such power.  As a mortal, surely he would have.  But he was far from mortal--and far from helpless himself.

He knew the weapon she wielded, as he knew most weapons--he had been trained as a assassin, after all, even before he crossed the threshold.  After all, the Dragon-Blooded had wanted a strong weapon to use--what good would he have been to them unable to channel the dark powers bestowed upon him?  But before he was the stuff of Nightmares, he was a highly skilled mortal, and it was those skills that he depended on now, as the energies of the nether still crackled from his form, preventing him from tapping into those forbidden talents as he did just moments before.  With his other blade still entertaining the other monk, Eternal improvised with what he had in attempt to deflect the foreboding blow that threatened him.

With tactical grace, Eternal stepped toward the blow, swinging his body quickly and efficiently as he quickly turned his darkglaive upside down in his grip, so that the blade ran along his right forearm.  His right side toward her as he stepped, he brought his arm up, fortified by the blade, and made to bat the massive hammer aside as it threatened to crush him, just enough so that it would glide past him--no doubt annihilating whatever wall or floor that weapon did collide with, but if he was successful, that wretched weapon would not be breaking his bones, or spilling his marrow.  He was not going to be bested by the first Dragon-Blood he saw since this mission began.  Oh no--there were going to be more.

Many, many more.

Despite Eternal's best efforts to deflect the goremaul, sliding it toward the wall, Anya redoubles her efforts and pushes against the parry, actually pressing the daiklave against the Abyssal's arm and following through.

"I... won't... let you!!" growls Anya thickly, spitting blood as her heavy weapon slams Eternal's arm toward his body, shoving him back with enough force to knock the wind out of him.

Nonetheless, the blade interposed in the way manages to absorb the large part of the otherwise massive impact. (3B damage on Eternal.) But he feels the overwhelming energy of Earth welling from that strike, seeping into his body, turning his muscles and bones slowly rigid. It is with a sudden cold shock that Eternal realizes he is being frozen in place, though his senses can still absorb everything that is going on around him.

Yet Anya does not immediately strike to defeat him. Her next move appears to be to reach Kiros and find a way to save him before his life dwindles completely, disregarding even the vitriol phenomenon eating through the door.

---

OOC: Eternal is inactive for 3x5 ticks... in the meantime I'll play out Veldygar's moves, as he's busy with finals.

Dezephiel continues to fight off the guards approaching its position. The guard captain attempts to coordinate his troops, but they're too green and unused to combat with demons. Shouting wordlessly, they blast their shock pikes wildly at the clamoring cloud arsenal, and manage to damage it shallowly. The demon lets out a shriek and sends out two more arrows that bury into two guards' ashigaru armor.

Veldygar blasts at Anya with his shock pike, determined to make it inside no matter what might happen. The female monk swings her goremaul around, catching the flicker of motion before the ripple of invisible force comes her way, but the parry attempt is ineffectual. The force blast nicks her neck, adding to the blood already pouring from her ravaged face.

Anya reaches Kiros, pulls Eternal's other sword free of him and discards it, holding him protectively. She remains on guard for further attacks from Veldygar, clearly intending to withdraw, but with Gugoona ruining the door she cannot unlock the door any more. Faced with no choice but to endure, she attempts to stop Kiros' bleeding -- and prays to Pasiap to protect her long enough to save them both.

Gugoona, fully materialized, continues eating through the door while the guards push on towards the tomescu. The guard captain's fire lance belches a streamer of hot flame, bathing the tomescu in elemental fire. The demon hisses warningly, rearing back as the guards follow suit, projecting force thrusts from their shock pikes in hasty succession. Its many limbs rise to parry, effortlessly blocking four out of five with spears and hook sword limbs. One powerful attack very nearly pierces its fog-shrouded carapace, and it musters a surge of Essence to forcefully deflect the pike attack so it dissipates harmlessly.

While Dezephiel continues to hold a defensive position, inching closer and closer to the door, Veldygar slashes at Anya from afar once more, sending another ripple of force that impacts harmlessly with her armor. He starts to run toward the door, his focus shifted from outright killing the guards and towards getting inside safely as Gugoona's acid does its work. Knowing that challenging him now would be foolish, Anya rises to her feet and presses back against the wall, holding Kiros close.

And Gugoona finishes with the door. A man sized hole has been bored through the metal. The guards continue their barrage on Dezephiel, who is starting to weaken -- another accurate flame-blast from the guard captain's lance roasts the cloud arsenal's carapace, and the foul stench of cooked demon-flesh fills the corridor.

---

OOC: I rolled for about 10 ticks, moving the battle ahead.
tick 22 - Veldygar
tick 24 - Anya (running), Dezephiel (continue guarding)
tick 25 - Eternal, Gugoona
tick 26 - guards

Dezephiel (damaged 7L): 38 yards from door
Guards (3 damaged 1L, 2L, 2L): 85 yards from door
Eternal, Gugoona: at door
Veldygar: 2 yards past door
Anya (damaged 9L): 6 yards past the door, carrying Kiros

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor: If you still can't post in the next couple days, I'll assume you'll hide/use stealth charm as you mentioned in PM, rather than help Eternal. You haven't been hurt at all, and your only potential mote expenditure was using the shock pike twice. I'll let you decide if you used the battery or not. Also, I'm going to assume you'll also have Gugoona dematerialize unless you say otherwise.]

[Private to Broken Eternal: So... I decided Anya would prioritize saving Kiros over taking you out. Could make for an interesting future confrontation. On tick 25, you have a chance to attempt to hide and find a place to rest while the demons guard. Or you can chase down Anya and kill her and Kiros both. Your call. :)]
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:03, Sun 31 May 2009.

Cursing, Veldygar grabbed Eternal's clothes (and his remaining darkglaive, assuming the Immaculate had let it lying there) and ran into the opening, dragging the Abyssal with him. "Gugoona, ambush and delay them!" he whispered to the metody, and shouted: "Dezephiel, fall back!"

[Private to GM: [OOC: Strength+Athletics 6, I think I can pull him with me without too much difficulty. I'll drop him in a dark corner and activate my stealth before going away. I'll use the battery from now on. Gugoona will stay behind the door and clinch the first to go through (hopefully the officer). Sorry for the terse post, but I'm kinda busy ;p]]
This message was last edited by the player at 09:56, Sun 31 May 2009.

Taking a chance, Veldygar dashes through the opening in the door, grabbing Broken Eternal and the discarded daiklave and hauling them through. It's difficult considering Eternal is pretty much a dead weight, but he isn't rooted to the earth, at least. It does mean the Abyssal is pretty much dragged on the ground and is prone, on his knees, when he's released on the other side. At this point, though, the guards still facing Dezephiel cannot see either of them.

Anya, seeking escape for herself as well, hesitates briefly between saving Kiros and taking Eternal out. But Veldygar's intervention pushes her to rush through the hole Gugoona made, carrying her companion right past their position without stopping, shouting, "This man has been hurt! He needs help immediately!"

Past the door, the two Celestials have the opportunity to hide and assess their surroundings. The hospital lobby, unlike the caverns outside, is built with solid granite walls. The room is lit by Essence lighting, with pillars near the four corners keeping the structure stable. From their position (just right of the entrance, covered by the shadow of a pillar, at least for now) they can catch sight of three exits besides the acid-eaten door, one on each wall besides the entrance. The exit on the back wall is several yards behind and to the left of a small shrine and statue to Pasiap.

A pair of monks in acolyte robes rush forward to receive Anya and Kiros and bring them to safety, while another figure addresses Anya from just beyond the back door. "Caras Anya, do not be rash. You cannot fight in that state. Alert the hospital staff that we are under attack; we will handle the demon invaders. Their summoners must be near--be alert!" He steps through the door with two junior monks flanking him.

---

OOC: Another crappy map... I'm having a hard time describing all this in just text. I am going to assume for now that you will both be hiding and thus out of combat for the time being. Veldygar used a charm to avoid notice, Eternal should be able to do the same.

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor: it's fine. I wasn't necessarily expecting an IC post, even. I'll have Dezephiel and Gugoona dematerialize once you can get away, but I'll also warn you: part of all Immaculates' training are basic charms that let them see dematerialized spirits.]

    \5
  --- ---------------   [[O]]  small shrine

	o      pillars
o  [[O]]  o	-	granite walls
	{ }    cavern walls
4	I      door (closed)

  I                 I   \      door (open)

	1 - Eternal and Veldygar (hiding?)
o         o	2 - Gugoona (at acid eaten door)
1	3 - Dezephiel and guards (still fighting)

  -------- 2 --------   4 - Anya, Kiros, 2 acolytes
         {   }              (moving toward left door)
         {   }          5 - 3 monks (moving out of rear door)
         { 3 }

Veldygar hid in the shadows, hoping that the two storming demons would prove a suitable distraction. He observed the three issues, trying to identify symbols or clues.

[OOC: Guarding. Are there symbols or a map (I think there should be in a hospital, but hey, it's science fantasy), and is Eternal able to move?]

There is not a complete map in this room, but there are some directing arrows on the pillars, with captions written in High Realm. Eternal cannot read them, but Veldygar can with ease.

It appears the left hand exit (assuming one is facing inward from the entrance) leads to emergency care, and the right toward outpatient procedures and hospital wards for recuperating patients. Patients requiring more complicated, long term procedures are received beyond the rear entrance, where the offices of the hospital's skilled doctors and healers are found.

The Wood Immaculate master and two junior monks are met by Gugoona as Dezephiel desperately fends off the guards coming in. They likely won't hold longer than several seconds, but for the moment they are the focus of all the hostiles in the area.

Anya withdraws with the pair of acolytes through the left door, the three of them carrying Kiros. It is uncertain if the Immaculate guard is still holding on to life after the severe mauling Broken Eternal gave him.

[Private to Broken Eternal; Veldygar Arhandor: Just giving you a nudge since Veldy's question was simple to address. Eternal's player is still fairly busy, but he can move and is also effectively invis, so Veldygar can more or less determine where to go next for now.]

Veldygar was faced with a dilemma. An outpatient procedures zone was likely to sport at least one exit within easy reach, though it was not guaranteed, but a recuperating ward was likely to have plenty of emergency exits for disabled patients. An emergency section should have large exits connected to major tunnels to bring in wounded from all over the level more easily, in addition to being usually slightly busier with frantic in- or outbound traffic (and therefore easier to sneak through with his powers).

But in order to get there, he would have to cross the room, and possibly expose himself more than his Charm allowed him to. He turned an interrogating stare at Broken Eternal.

[Private to GM: [OOC: It's a bit of a dilemma, is there a roll my character could do to nudge me into the best risk/benefit course of action? Also, is Eternal able to move now?]]

Dezephiel fends off another burst of shock pike blasts, weakening further despite its best efforts. If not for the Dragon-blood leading the refinery guards, it may have lasted much longer. Now it is certain that dematerialization is imminent. [Private to Veldygar Arhandor: Dezephiel has 2 Limit and is down to its last 2 HLs. I don't want to outright kill your just-summoned demon so it is definitely going to disappear and try to rejoin you.]

Gugoona, meanwhile, remains as an amorphous mass of acidic foam, burbling around the area of the door and extending fizzing green tendrils toward the Immaculate monks while blocking the way inside. The junior monks bare razor claws, though somewhat bewildered as to how to fight a liquid opponent -- Fire aspects would have been more appropriate! -- while their Wood superior closes his eyes calmly and executes the self-administered pressure points of the Wood Dragon Form, wreathed in a flurry of verdant Essence leaves.

Welcome guidance comes in the form of Garnet Cog's voice resonating in Veldygar's head. [Private to Veldygar Arhandor: "Do not hesitate. Take the right hand door and hide before it is too late. You can rest and perhaps find means to aid healing if needed through there. Go!"]

[Private to Broken Eternal: if you're ready to post now, at least give some signal you're ready to move with Veldygar. No need to be flashy, I just want to move things forward.]

He rested on his knees for a moment after Veldy literally dragged him from the heat of battle.  Whether from actual care and kindness for his comrade, or simply to keep the demonic blade wielder on his side, it was yet to be seen.  For now, though, Eternal was more than grateful for being pulled out of the fire.

He brought a hand to his shoulder, where the great maul had landed its earth-binding blow.  He had not expected such power from her--her partner certainly had not shown that sort of skill.  Then again, Broken Eternal had not given him much time to make any sort of display, had he?  He grinned at the thought of the bloodshed, but quickly bit it back as he grimaced with the lingering pain from the blow.  It was nothing serious, more his pride than anything else, but he had let his bloodlust for these cowards compromise his and Veldy's position.  The monk had gotten everything he had deserved, Eternal was sure of that, but that would be the last of his dramatic eviscerating, he silently decided.  At least, not until they were able to breathe a little lighter.  Powerful as he was, he knew full well that he and a Unconquered Sun-child had no chance against the sheer numbers the Dragon-Blooded could throw at them.

Having apparently caught his breath, he stood (though Veldy wouldn't see such, as he was still invisible to all but the most determined of senses.  "I got carried away.  It won't happen again."  His voice a harsh whisper as he spat the words.  Those were not the blows of an assassin that he dealt, but those of a monster.  The Neverborn would no doubt be pleased with his actions--but he would restrain himself until he felt comfortable dealing the death he felt they all deserved.  At least for a little while.

((That is, lead the way!  =P))

Veldygar's head jerked up a bit, as if listening to something, then he pointed the right door, and started sneaking towards it while the monks' attention was diverted towards his servants.

Going through the side door while the battle rages at the opening is not a difficult task. Currently cloaked by their charms, Eternal and Veldygar slip through and find themselves in an Essence-lamp lit corridor. The walls here, much like the entrance hall, are solid and man made rather than simply dug out of the ground.

There is a short row of doors (five total, labeled 200-204) spaced out down the hall until the intersection they can see immediately ahead. There is a small reception room at that intersection, with another passageway branching toward the northern direction. From where they stand, Veldygar and Eternal can see part of a reception desk, and someone standing there. A female voice speaks with forced calm, "There's been an Orichalcum Breach at the main entrance. We're in a state of emergency. I'm sorry but I must ask you all to move deeper into the facility where it is safer. Otherwise we cannot guarantee your safety."

"Orichalcum Breach? But I need to get my shoulder check up, it's been troubling my work--" says one male voice.
"You fool!" Another female, older and more gruff. The Celestials cannot immediately see the speakers as the south wall blocks their view. "That means there's an Anathema on the loose! Come on!"

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor: Garnet Cog continues to give guidance. "You'll want to head down that adjacent passageway, then at the next opportunity move westward. But for now you want to hide until the reception room clears out. The reception room people are likely not Dragon-blooded but I'd still recommend laying low for a time, maybe in one of these nearby rooms..."]

---

OOC: And... another map!

               |  |       B25 Eastern Hospital
  +-=---=---=--+  +-=-+   Outpatient corridor / reception room
  I 1             []  |
  +---=---=--+o   []2 |   []      reception desk
             |4   [][]|   o       chairs
             |o 3     |   = or I  doors
             |o o o   I
             +--------+   1       Eternal, Veldygar (stealthing)
                          2       receptionist
                          3,4     patients

Veldygar held his hand out, intimating Broken Eternal to wait, and started to eavesdrop on the doors nearby, looking for a quiet room.

Of the two nearest doors, both sound unoccupied, but 200 shows a light emanating from the small rectangular window near the doorknob. 201 seems to be both dark and unoccupied as far as Veldgyar's senses can tell. 202 is similar to 201. 203 is slightly ajar, with a light on, and 204 definitely sounds as if it is occupied.

Motioning the deathknight to follow him, Veldygar tried to pry door 201 open as noiselessly as possible.

Room 201 is unlocked and opens without any trouble.

The room inside appears to be a dimly lit storage area. Bedsheets, towels and aprons are stacked here at the front of the room, as are boxes of mundane surgical tools and other first aid items, trays and bedpans (mercifully clean), and so on.

Toward the back of the small rectangular room are rows of what look to be locked cabinets, and a single desk and drawers. Several of the cabinets have been opened, one of them spilling over with packets and vials of medicines; some of the latter have been shattered on the floor, giving an acrid scent to the room. But the most surprising (perhaps disconcerting) sight by far is the bald-headed man face down on the floor, unarmored and dressed in the simple cotton robe and sash of a junior monk... and the woman standing with her foot on his back.

She is not as much attractive as she is striking, with her tough physique (clearly put through rigorous physical discipline), and hair a distinctive maple red. Even from a distance Veldygar and Eternal can see her green eyes are slitted. This is no ordinary woman -- and she holds a green jade powerbow in her hands, aiming an arrow at the back of the unfortunate monk's head. Whatever struggle she had had with the monk was either extremely silent, or must have happened while the two Celestials were escaping from the situation at the entrance hall.

[Private to Broken Eternal: You recognize this woman... though you don't know her name. Unlike Anya, you caught glimpse of her after you'd been taken away from the school of Immaculate monks and were put into the rigorous and torturous discipline of those marked to be vessels for an Abyssal Shard. Your Abyssal preparation training did not allow you to get close or even so much as befriend her, but you do know instinctively that you and she shared a common past in terms of the future you were shaped for. The only difference is that she was rejected to take the Shard, and you were not.]

[Private to Midou Harue: Well, here's your entrance. I took some liberties with the initial description, hope they are ok. :) You more or less can coup de grace this guy with your next shot, we can just assume you overpowered the young monk previously.

You also recognize Broken Eternal. You never knew his name. But you do know that he, like you, was trained to be the vessel for an Abyssal Shard. You also know, of course, that he was the one who ultimately received it. You don't recognize the man that's accompanying him though (the one that initially opened the door). But he is wearing a sentinel defense armor and holding a shock pike so your first impression might actually be that he's Peace Force, being assisted by the Abyssal pet. Though you also see that Eternal doesn't have a collar, so I'll leave it up to you to interpret :)]

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor: At this point, you feel the presence of Dezephiel coming near. You know the tomescu is deeply wounded, but managed to dematerialize in time; however you may not want it to join you right away in case the monks attempt to follow it with spirit sight. Gugoona is still more or less giving into its urge to consume and is out there sizzling through stone and likely, bodies. You think it should be relatively safe while they lack a means to harm acidic foam.

After dealing with the strange woman, who (if the fact she's overpowered a monk means anything) may well be an ally, you might want to see if you can find something to help your demon heal.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:25, Sun 21 June 2009.

Veldygar motioned his tomescu to move along the corridor and sink immaterially into the ground. It would not do to have his demon lead the Immaculates to them - especially considering that their training made them capable to perceive and harm incorporeal spirits.

All the while, lowered his shock pike, ready to spin it and deflect a shot from the powerbow if the woman decided to fire at him. He considered the possibility that the woman might be a loyal servant of the Dragon Blooded in the process of arresting a thief or traitor, but her mutated eyes seemed to belie this possibility.

"Sorry to butt in," he whispered, "but it looks like we might have to share this hideout for a while. Considering that you are holding a monk hostage, I will make a wild guess and say that you do not want to be discovered anymore than us, so let us not make a fuss, agreed?"

One of the hardest parts about being an Abyssal Exalt was, in Eternal's case, the shattering sense of isolation.  Being Exalted in and of itself was rare enough, but when he could hear the Neverborn whisper in his ears of the oblivion that awaited the world that he was meant to destroy?  When he could the purest powers of destruction pumping through his veins?  When he tasted the blood of his enemies and felt the most delighted sense of purpose and fulfillment?  No other Exalt, Celestial, Lunar, Sidereal or otherwise had to endure such monstrous things.  That alone, perhaps, but one of the reasons that the man was full of such hate.  He had had potential for greatness even before he agreed to the soul-damning contract with the Neverborn, so why had the Eternal Sun not saved him?  Or Luna?  Or the damned Elemental Dragons?  He pondered long and hard on these things weeks before he accepted the shard, and then weeks afterwards.  His only conclusion?  It was their clever attempt at suicide--because Broken Eternal would kill them.  He would kill them all.

His hand automatically went for his blades, despite having only recently recovered from the Earth Dragon's pummeling.  It looked far worse than it really was, and his joints had all but recovered from the stiffening blow.  But as his eyes registered what was happening, the hand slowed, and then stopped on the hilt altogether.

He knew this woman.

Knew of her might have been entirely more accurate, given how little he was allowed to communicate with anyone outside of his Master's, once he was chosen for the Shard, which is why such memories tended to grow stale and hidden after so long.  But not her.  He had known her after they had taken him away, after the torture and 'discipline' training had begun.  The glimpses were brief, the words even briefer, but the face he would not forget.

He lashed out, but not at her.  A part of him would refuse to strike her, given what she meant.  At times he wondered if he had ever been human at all, and if he had simply dreamt that past while encased in the Monstrous Portion.  She proved that idea wrong, as there was little chance of him dreaming up such a face.  He was human once, then--if he had a heart, it would have been comforted, at least a little.  But she was not his target--the immaculate monk.  The woman would not see him move, as he was still flitting between the nether and the fabric of life itself, nor would she hear him--the whispers of forbidden passage, perhaps, but not a physical body in movement, surely not.

Then there was a small hiss from the immaculate monk, as the small cuts appeared on his throat.  The smallest crackle of black and purple energy rippled from that trickling wound, and the web of dark ether and masking darkness flexed and waned, eventually revealing Broken Eternal, mere inches away from her charge.  One of his Short Darkglaives rested nimbly in the wound of the monk, the edge of the blade pushed ever so slightly into his flesh, while the other was safely at home in Eternal's hand, held upside down and against his forearm, ready to strike at a moment's notice.  His red eyes were all but glowing in the darkness of the storage room, and those orbs found the slitted green of his old schoolmate.

"We were not trained to keep prisoners.  Why do you spare him?"

   "I do not," she replies quietly in what she tries to be a voice of calm deliberateness, but as the words escape they catch and hesitate as she seems to lose the ability to speak properly. She calms herself as she first concludes that they finally were tired of her and sent one of their pets to claim her life. It was inevitable after all and she would face death on their terms as she had been trained.

   She releases her hold on the arrow and it flies easily into the monks head. Her signature scroll attached to the green arrow as an unnecessary calling card. As the arrow kills her victim, she reconsiders her previous assessment and realizes that if this man, no that wasn't the right word, if this monster wanted her dead, she already would be and her only thoughts would have come as he encouraged the terror to consume her.

   She felt his presence more than saw him and her slitted eyes widened with recognition. While she would most likely never connect a human face to him, she instantly knew him through shared experience and the haunted eyes. Shards of brief glimpses and muffled sounds, she attributes to him flood her conscious mind, but she cannot hold onto a single concrete memory of him. Yet, she definitely knew him, the creature behind the eyes not just as one of the creatures that she should have become. One with much greater power than she possessed now or ever. As a successful experiment, he was, dare she think it, immaculate.

   She continues to hold his eyes as she answers his... comrade?

   "Of course, no reason for fuss.I came for the drugs. The monk was a bonus."

"Very well," Veldygar whispered, relieved that he would not have to fight. He made sure the door was closed, though he eyed the dead monk warily. Am I surrounded by psychopaths? Am I the only one of the so called Chosen still sane? He wondered at the spark of recognition between the two killers. Former lovers? No, more probably teammates or colleagues.

"We aim to exit this compound as surreptitiously as possible and lose ourselves in the Earth district, before reaching the Temple," Veldygar said. "You wouldn't happen to have some tips, would you?"

The red-haired woman thinks about it a while... [Private to Midou Harue: Ah, I guess you get to play a bit of info dispensing for me, hope you don't mind. It's brick wall text time! First of all, Veldygar has it a bit wrong. If he wants to get to the Inner Temple it's not going to be by exiting back out into the Earth District. The reason he's in the Hospital in the first place is because it hides a secret tunnel leading to the Inner Temple.

It's actually really hard for me to explain the Temple layout for some reason; some people have a hard time envisioning it. I imagine because it's hard for some to translate written word into a 2D or even 3D picture (I am no 3D artist, sadly). But I'll try again anyway. :)

The Inner Temple complex does not have any obvious entrances. It encompasses the entirety of the center of Earth District including the central elevator and at least half a mile radius around it, the entirety sealed up in adamant walls and earth camouflaging those walls so it seems just like another cavern wall on the outside. The only entrances in are through secret tunnels leading there from outside locations run by Immaculates, such as the B25 Hospital.

The B25 Hospital is situated east of the Inner Temple. So Veldy and Eternal have to be going in a roughly westerly direction to have a chance of finding a passage deeper into the Temple. This means (after some rest period) they're going to be heading deeper into Immaculate territory which will either mean more killing or more stealthing.

Of course Harue wouldn't know exactly why Veldy and Eternal want to go into the Inner Temple. I will tell you, purely OOC that they are actually supposed to be scouting the place and meeting with a larger group of Celestials inside the Temple, on behalf of the Gatekeeper of Water. But to Harue two (or three) people strolling into the Inner Temple sounds kinda suicidal... well, maybe not, since Abyssals can be pretty good at stealth, but still, your best recommendation (other than heading west-ish, deeper into the compound, and start searching for the Inner Temple passage) would be to fight only if the odds are worth it over trying to escape and lay low.]

   The woman reclines on the dead monk as she considers what aid she can provide on a way out of him. Especially as the commotion that was minor when she entered the hospital has turned into a much larger event for the Immaculate monks.

(OOC: Question for ST.)

[Private to GM: So... Is the tunnel the way Harue entered the hospital or another way? If another way, where does that lead? Could she get them there allow them to rest and then continue on? If I understand you correctly, the tunnel will allow them into the temple, but they would still need to travel further to get to the inner temple? And to get out of here and into the temple, the group will have to traverse more of the hospital in a westerly direction?]

Meanwhile, voices and footsteps echo from further down the hall; they seem to be moving roughly north and east, but it's hard to tell for sure. At the least the Exalts know the people in the reception room are moving away from their room, not towards. Demon spawn AND murderous Anathema in one place is enough to make average mortals want to get as far, far away as possible.

[Private to Midou Harue: No, the tunnel I speak of leads to and from the center of the district where the Inner Temple is situated. You would have come in from the outside, further eastward... there's a door in the nearby reception that goes further east so that was likely where you came from.

I'm pretty sure my map is still on the same page here... so right now, going directly west from the corridor immediately outside is a bad idea because that leads out into the entrance hall which you're pretty certain would be guarded. You need to detour north for a bit. And then go west as far as you can go, searching for unusual doors or rooms (and probably trying to avoid notice too). You haven't actually been quite that deep in the hospital before unfortunately though you are familiar enough with it that you'd know which way is northward or westward.

For now it may be best to sit still for a little while longer because people outside are in transit.

My thought was actually to have the others look around in 201 and see if there's any medicines or healing aids in the area. Though you can possibly question the others a bit, too. I'll give you a signal when I'm not so horribly sleep deprived that it's safe enough to move on. Or you can just step outside, in that case I'd have to call for you to make a Dex+Stealth roll.]

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor: You feel that Dezephiel has followed your suggestion and is now laying low beneath ground level. Since it is a Warden he will not stray very far from you but will stay out of the way from now on as he is badly damaged. Unfortunately he may end up accruing a lot of Limit that way because if you're threatened again it will be unable to protect you. So I still think finding some way to heal Dezephiel is a good idea.

Gugoona is still holding on but messing with the monks is starting to lose its thrill. It will join you soon, I'll assume you'll want it to lay low in a similar manner to the tomescu.]

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor; Broken Eternal: By the way I do think you'll need to reactivate your stealth charms when you're ready to head out again.]

   She taps her fingers lightly as she thinks of tips to give them. "As far as tips I can offer a few," she says casually. "One: You can't get to the temple by exiting into the Earth District. You have to go through an Immaculate stronghold and find the secret door. These places are usually heavily guarded. Like this hospital. Two: I haven't found the secret door in this hospital, but it is probably north and west of here. Three: If you want to go to the Earth District first, I can lead you the way I come in. Four: If your plan is to go immediately into the tunnel connecting this place and the temple, I want to go with you. There will be lots of Immaculates awaiting judgment along the way. Last: No matter what you decide, we should lay low here for a while. They will be busy for awhile and then think you slipped out a different way."

As the arrow struck the poor monk and laid his life thin, Eternal acted quickly.  The monk was dying, and that much brought him a small joy--but he was not at his full strength by far, and he would not let a wasted opportunity slip by.  As the monk slumped against him, Eternal opened his mouth, and his canines became long and lethal, emerging past his lips.  The hidden blades dug into the monk's neck, with the smallest trickle of blood trailing down his shoulder.  There was little fanfare otherwise--no chewing or sucking, no garbled cries of pain from the monk.  His already limp body grew no colder or harder, nor did black flames rise from his body--but if one paid close attention, they would see something truly horrifying.  The color from the monk's eyes grew dim and dimmer still, until eventually they were simply black, empty orbs, void of life.

Void of a soul.

He let the monk drop, so that Harue could use him however she saw fit.  The fangs vanished as he did this, and there was no blood on his lips to wipe, as he had supped on the man's essence instead of his vitals--though the end result was surely the same.  He listened to her words intently, already guessing that leaving this place would need more channeling of the Abyssal energies that resided inside of him.  He would need a fuller meal sooner rather than lady, if things proved eventful.

"You would be useful to have along."  He said, looking to her and also to Veldy as he spoke.  In truth, he would be loathe to admit it, but it would nice to have her along.  She had already proven herself to have a hatred for the Dragon-Blooded, and her training alone made her a worthy alley, as well as a kindred spirit.  And despite what he may well think, Eternal wanted a kindred spirit.

"If you want to accompany us, well, in our situation we would be hard-pressed to say no..." Veldygar continued before adding: "But know this: we are not on a killing spree. This is not yet the time for bloodshed, except when necessary - and I stress the fact that 'necessary' pertains to going into the Temple unnoticed and getting out alive." His gaze scanned Broken Eternal. "I hope everybody here remembers that."
At any rate, he wondered about Gugoona's situation. Metodies were remarkably smart, if narrow-focused elementals. He hoped his demon would have understood the value of getting quiet when heavy resistance was encountered.

[OOC: Will we rest long enough to regain some Essence?]

   "I hate those monsters; they robbed me of my life and then made a promise they didn't keep but," she is quiet enough not to attract attention and yet, the words are full of venom and her fists clench with anger, "to go anywhere and wholesale slaughter the beasts like they deserve is suicide for you and I. There will be unavoidable patrols though. Ones who are blocking our ability to keep moving forward and they WILL pay for the sins of their race." She unclenches her fists and takes a deep breath, "You will find I am not unreasonable."

Eternal smiled.  It was foreign design on his face, one that did not belong.

"I've had my fun, Golden Child."  He said softly as he crouched down and placed his back against the wall.  Then they would wait for now--that was fine with Eternal.  Yes, he was more than anxious to get out of the district below, but now that they were in the belly of the beast, he was more than happy to 'wait'.  For now, it was no longer waiting, or hiding, but stalking and hunting...both things he loved dearly.

"Suicide?  Perhaps.  Perhaps not.  For now, I will stay my blades unless it is necessary."  Of course, whatever he deems as necessary was up for interpretation.

[Private to Midou Harue: That was perfect. Thanks for being my information dispenser for a bit. :)]

The body of the monk whose blood Broken Eternal consumed looks limp and shriveled, almost as if it is decaying more rapidly than it ought. Eternal, on the other hand looks slightly renewed. Though unarmored, the felled junior monk had in his possession a set of wound-mending needles and a keyring with the keys to most of the cabinets in the room.

Minutes pass. The group, if it is inclined to search the room, will find most any drug or mixture worth Resource 2 or less (or in the case of alchemical medicines, those produced with Initiate level alchemy or less) in the cabinets the keys can unlock. There are others that remain locked, one can attempt to pick the locks (Dex+Larceny) if desired.

As they are close to the outpatient entrance the group can hear some muffled commands being shouted from outside. Gugoona has wisely withdrawn from the entrance, seeping into the earth and effectively disappearing, so the monks seem to now be mobilizing a search. Though Veldygar's two summoned demons have aided his and Eternal's entrance, the ruckus they ultimately caused will mean that they will need a few hours to rest and recharge. [Private to Veldygar Arhandor: Though because Gugoona's binding makes it eager to be useful, I decided it is not immediately returning as I previously stated, but rather will lay low for a time before rejoining you later. Its thought is that it can be most useful attempting to confuse the impending search. Of course if you think otherwise you can always state so.

As for regaining Essence, you may be able to rest for longer but you'll have to deal with a more immediate situation first.]

Whether they will have that much time is questionable, though. The search, if the Immaculates are at all thorough, will come into the outpatient corridor sooner than later.

Veldygar pocketed the wound-mending needles (unless one of his two companions objected, but he doubted that the killers would have much use for medical implements), and took a few doses of Draught of Blessed Respite, and Venom Allaying Draughts for the most common poisonous creatures encountered in Five Coils, as well as those medicines that were of restricted access and could be used for barter. He had no need for the other medicines - haemostatics, antiseptics, did not particularily improve on his Exalted metabolism.

"We might need to move soon. They will probably make a methodical search of the hospital just to make sure we are not about to eat their patients," he added with dry humour. "We will exit whenever we have the opportunity. Unless one of you can impersonate a monk and divert their search away from this locale, of course."

He moved near the door, trying to determine if there was any activity in the corridor.

[Private to GM: [OOC: Do I need to make a Bureaucracy or Medicine roll to know which of the available drugs are the most interesting to use for barter? BTW according to my last count I have 6 out of 16 personal motes available, and full peripheral, but I didn't take into account any expense you might have made when NPCing Veldygar.]]

   Harue sifts through the medicinals to make sure there is no marijuana left behind. She knew of a good home for it after all. Of the medicines the other Exalt ignored she takes anything she knows any of her contacts could use. The main thing though is getting into those cabinets.

[Private to Gatekeeper: I can't get the die roller to work from my office. Can you roll for me? I have 7 dice.]

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor: 4 more motes on top of that while I was NPCing you. You can decide if it was personal or peripheral. As for your roll to determine ideal medicines for barter, I rolled for you.]

Veldygar decides after looking through the medications available that the most lucrative type of medicine would likely be Hero's Recovery (as it allows a mortal to heal like an Exalt).

Those who go rooting around for medicines or drugs find about one week's worth of doses for the ones they are seeking.

Harue gets out her tools and works with the locks. She manages to open up three out of five of the locked compartments. Within she finds:
- one compartment containing 3 doses of seven bounties paste (greatly increased chances to cure any disease, though must be prepared properly. Make an Int+Medicine roll if you want to figure out how.)
- one compartment containing 1 dose of munificent antivenin (a powerful general antidote)
- one compartment containing 5 doses of an unknown substance. (Again one can roll another Int+Medicine to discover what this is.)

While Harue is doing this, Veldygar chances a peek through the small window in the door. At about the same time he hears another door in the hallway burst open. He catches a glimpse of a robed individual. Fortunately this person does not seem as heavily armed as the guards at the hospital entrance were. "Check the rooms," says a voice from outside the window view, this one female.

---

OOC: well, assume you'll have enough time to at least figure out the medicines. If you're going to hide/use stealth charm best do so soon :)

   Harue pockets everything she finds in the cabinets. Her theory being if they were locked up, they must be important. As she hears the voice ordering a room check, she glances around quickly to make sure the room is in a suitable state of disarray figuring anyone checking the room would find the body, see the mess, and come to the conclusion that who ever did this was long gone after a cursory search or glance around the room. She then conceals herself in a place small enough that it would deter a normal mortal from hiding there.

[Private to Gatekeeper: Ideally, she would have spent time looking for a grate in the wall leading into another room or a small cabinet that she can make appear closed and still escape from if necessary. ]

Harue, after snatching all of the vials, looks around for a decent place to hide. One of the tall cabinets holding aprons and other articles of clothing used for sanitary purposes has just enough space for her to wedge in. (Incidentally one could also use these clothes for disguise in a pinch.) There's also a grate near ceiling level which Harue thinks she could climb up to. [Private to Midou Harue: In any case your base successes is 7!]

For the others, there's still plenty of places for last-minute hiding: behind stacks of medical supply boxes, under the desk, in the second tall cabinet, and so on. The dead body of the monk, shriveled as it is, will also prove quite the distraction.

Footsteps echo from the corridor. Two, maybe three pairs. "You two start with the south side." A door opens across the hall and suddenly the window in the door of 201 is blocked out by the silhouette of a robed person about to open the door.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:35, Mon 29 June 2009.

Veldygar choose to hide in the shadows behind a locker near the door, intent on knocking out the monk who would enter with a well placed shock pike blow to the head. On the other hand, he was likely to be the least stealthy among the three - perhaps he should take the opportunity to leave the room once the monk would be crouched near the shriveled body for examination, and blend in the searchers and soldiers with his powers of deception.

[Private to GM: [OOC: If the Essence was spent on firing shock pike blows, I think I would have used it from the battery. If this is ok with you, that is.
11:18, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 4 successes using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,7,7,8,5,6. Dex+Stealth.]]

Broken Eternal moves like the shadow wraith that he was trained to be, becoming completely silent as he quickly flitted behind one of the larger cabinets and practically melding with the darkness that was found in such a place.  He made no sounds--no breathing, no heartbeats--nothing.  His blades, however, remained unsheathed, each one held underhanded and flat against his forearms as he waited.

They had agreed that skull-duggery was the preferred method for leaving this place--but that was only if this retched man, whoever he was, gave them a choice.

The door opens and a young female monk, lightly armored in a breastplate, steps through. She wears a pair of tiger claws, indicating her inclination toward the Water Dragon Style.

She nearly recoils as she gazes at the grotesque state of the shriveled body in the room, but manages to recover and keep hold on her nerves. The young woman swallows, looks around her, and takes a couple more tentative steps toward the body. She leaves the door open behind her.

It doesn't seem she's noticed anyone in the room, unaware that Veldygar could be looming behind her with a shock pike -- or that two deadly assassins wait hidden in the cabinets.

"Honored One!" she calls out a bit hoarsely. Maybe her superior hasn't heard her yet. It could be possible for Veldygar (who is closest to her, and in a most fortuitous position to strike) to attack her by surprise. Eternal and Harue, in or near the cabinets, are further away and would have to give away their positions to attack, unless they strike at range.

Or they could just remain still, and hope her superior will miss sight of them as well.

---

OOC: I'll sit on this a day or so, I'll assume you wait if no one acts by then.

Like a breeze from the shadows, Veldygar's shock pike was vigorously swung down in an arc poised to collide with the back of the monk's head. Survival was at stake, Veldygar did not have the luxury to try too hard to spare the poor monk's life. He prayed that the monk's hesitant voice had not reached her superior's ears, and that neither would the sound of the blow.

[OOC: I initially had thought about pulling my blow, but on second thought, I'll just try to take her out silently. If surprise enables me to inflict bashing and knock her out without taking a penalty, I'll do it, though. If I can get some Essence with a stunt, well, every mote is good for the taking.
17:21, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 6 successes using 10d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,1,10,2,9,2,1,4,10,8. Shock Pike blow.]

The young monk groans and staggers, taking a sharp blow to the head. She pitches forward and falls to the ground, but she looks more dazed than knocked out. Nonetheless she won't be able to do much for herself while she's stunned. (She has a total of -4 penalties)

The superior's voice calls out from the corridor. "Chime?" Possibly the given name of the junior monk.

Eternal and Harue can still try to finish her off, as they've been unseen until now.

Eternal nearly spat with disgust as Veldy assaulted the woman.  His technique was sloppy and cumbersome, and he sought only to disarm and knock out!  This wasn't so strange, given the Exalt's apparently loathing to separate life from limb, but that was not a problem that Eternal had.  Rampant bloodshed was a very effective intimidation tactic, and also served to disorient and confuse the enemy--but in this case, especially since Veldy had been so adamant about not killing unless it was absolutely necessary, Eternal decided he would play nice, if only this once.

He leaped from the shadows of that he was concealed and happened upon the woman with the frightening speed and grace of the most savage of predators.  His feet landed on her lower back, over the kidneys, placing most of the impact of his jump into her body before his feet skillfully slid off of her body in the same motion and silently touched the ground.  This sudden and unexpected attack made her body react in ways that Eternal was all too familiar with--he knew the human body like the sawdust filled dummy that it was, and watched almost playfully as her back arched in pain, spending her head  and legs upward in a 'U' shape from the blow.

His reaction was swift--his hands closed around head, covering her mouth and eyes as he did so.  This muffled any cry for help she might have been able to muster, and it also ensured that any vision charms she might well know would be hindered completely.  One might have expected Eternal to say something, but given the woman would live past the attack, he felt no need to stoke the fires of terror she already felt--he would not be around to see it bleed out of her.  Instead, he gave her head a vicious twist, and the sick, yet muted sound of distorting pops echoed from her flesh.  She went limp, and Eternal carefully (silently!) let her head down onto the floor.  She was so still that, at first, one may think her dead--and it certainly LOOKED like he had snapped her neck.  But no--so precise and controlled were his hands, that Eternal had merely torn nearly every muscle in her neck--she would need many, many weeks of rest before she was so much able to nod again, and would be in unbearable pain when she awoke...but they would be long gone by then, and the pain would be a blissful reminder that she at least lived--which was a very small mercy.

With those actions done, he again crept into the shadows of the room once more, those demented red eyes meeting Veldy's, almost mockingly.  Will this be the way of things? Those eyes seemed to taunt, The Abyssal finishing what the Solar started?  Typical.  Though no words were spoken, and not so much as a snarl from Eternal as he waited for what may come from the door next.

   Amateurs. Harue thinks to herself as Veldy's strike didn't at least knock the bitch out. It would have been better if he had just killed her, but what could you do? He had some weird rules in life apparently. Normally, she would fire a couple arrows into the woman and end her miserable existence no matter what the golden child wanted. When the Abyssal moves in and doesn't kill her, she is shocked, but not about to contradict his wishes.
   Regardless, it still left them with an immediate problem. If the woman didn't answer, it would bring more monks into the room. Harue's specialty wasn't voices and there wasn't time to shave her head and dress like the monk. She regretted that fact, but something had to be done. She pulls her powerbow to the ready and calls out...
   "Everything's fine here. Weapons malfunction, uhhh how are you?"

OOC: It was a long shot...You rolled 2 successes using 7d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 ((8,2,4,7,4,3,6)).

"Something is definitely wrong. Breeze, come with me."

The superior steps through the open door. She is an obvious Water Aspect, wearing black jade lamellar and dragon claws. Her eyes are a brilliant blue, and her skin fair with a sheen of blue-green. When she sees the two bodies on the ground, rather than step forward to examine them, she waits at the door with her companion (a young monk, not much older than Chime's age, but male), her gaze alertly sweeping the room.

The Celestials do get the distinct feeling she has sensed presences in the room. But her exact interpretation of this is not yet certain. She indicates the bodies and says to Breeze, "Inform Master Hundred Leaves." The young man begins to whisper under his breath.

---

OOC: I'm editing this slightly, again from input from PM. Basically, I am giving you a chance to reactivate Stealth charms. And no longer forcing a battle start. But one could be imminent.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:50, Mon 29 June 2009.

   OOC: Sorry Veldy, if I hurt your feelings. I tend to play my characters thoughts as they see things, not as how other players intended an action to happen. What Harue saw was him hit the woman on the head and fail to knock her out. She didn't see his intention to knock her out. :)

   Harue fires at Breeze thrice activating the charm "Swallows Defend the Nest" to accomplish the feat (3 motes down). She would rather the message not be delivered.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:04, Mon 29 June 2009.

Was it fate for them to be found so quickly?  Eternal was not human, and thus he did not have the need to rest as a human did.  To go through what he had only just recently and still be required to fight so soon?  It would be utterly impossible to a normal person, and given the amount of damage given and received, maybe even a normal Exalt, but not Broken Eternal.  He had been merciful to the first monk that had entered the room (though perhaps for less than merciful reasons) but he was reaching the limits of his already vacant kindness.

Eyes narrowing, the webbing of energy bled out from him quickly, dark leylines of energy surging from him as his very presence was sucked into the void of the ether, leaving nothing there in his stead that could be sensed by mortal senses alone.  He steadied himself behind the cabinet, having to channel energies that did not belong in this world, and narrowed his eyes at the messenger, as Harue attacked him.  That was the very action Eternal would do, and now that he had insurance that neither of the monks would see him coming, if the need to attack either one arose, he would be ready--but for now, his action to vanish entirely from the tapestry of creation was enough--he would see what would come of the actions of his 'team mates'.

Harue's three arrows fly from a crack in the cabinet she hides in, striking the young monk almost simultaneously before he can see where they came from. The first two arrows puncture his breastplate with twin, startling thunks. The third arrow buries cleanly in his forehead, swiftly cutting off his life.

The last remaining monk purses her lips grimly. Still standing in front of the open door, she bares her dragon claws in a fluid stance that manages to convey both grace and power, her lean body and taut muscles rippling beneath the silken robe she wears with her lamellar. Water is often thought of as an element of beauty and resilience, but there is no mistaking the raging power of a tidal wave beating at the shore. (Activating Water Dragon Form)

"You have struck and I must respond in kind. Whether or not you are the summoner of the demons that breached the entrance, you have involved yourself in this chase. Though my life too may be forfeit, you will not easily escape."

---

OOC: we'll wait now for Veldygar to do something. [Private to Veldygar Arhandor: As it stands, she will see you for sure unless you stay out of combat and use your stealth charm. it is up to you. I have been told I may not be giving you enough warning or guidance so consider this part of my attempt to rectify this.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:10, Mon 29 June 2009.

Veldygar was tempted to wrap himself into a sheath of Essence, which would allow him to blend in the background of the Dragon-Blooded's attention. Despite his blunder - the damn monk had a thick skull, for sure - his teammate had not revealed himself, he could still escape and let him rejoin him later.

Yet... It was not like him to abandon someone to the Immaculates, somebody with whom they apparently had a common cause.

Aw fuck it, the Chosen of the Unconquered Sun thought.

Clenching his teeth, he tightened his grip on his shock pike. Waiting for the Dragon Blooded to come within sight, he swung his weapon in three deadly arcs, aiming to open the monk's carotid artery and drown her in her own blood.

[Private to GM: [OOC: Didn't I get an itty bitty stunt before ^^? Just checking.
With my move action, I will try to exit the storeroom, before resorting to ranged attacks again. I don't want to stay too close to an Immaculate, especially not within radius of Safety Among Enemies ;) I will defend myself with Dipping Swallow Defense if need be.
Flurry of 3 attacks, Speed 5, +11L:
20:15, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 3 successes using 5d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,2,8,7,8. Attack 3.
20:14, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 2 successes using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8,2,8,4,4,2. Attack 2.
20:14, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 4 successes using 7d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,5,9,9,1,9,8. Attack 1.
If a dice roll is necessary to benefit from surprise:
20:15, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 6 successes using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,5,8,8,10,9. Dex+Stealth.]]

Veldygar opens with his trio of attacks. The Water Aspect, unfortunately, has already noticed his position, bending and ducking away from his blows. Rather than moving her feet, she simply lets her body flow around the pike threatening to slice her open, and the Eclipse Caste only hits thin air.

"Are there only two of you?" she questions Veldygar. Also, incidentally, throwing her gaze to whoever might have aimed those arrows from the cabinet. "Where is the one that cut down Kiros? That terrible mistake, running free from his shackles."

"If you'll kill me, get on with it..." Again she renews her battle stance, the position of her limbs suggesting a sense of rising imminent power, like a tidal wave about to crest. "My fellows will surely avenge me."

---

OOC: actions
tick 0 - Veldygar
tick 2 - Water Aspect
tick 3 - Harue

Eternal is... doing something special. :P
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:19, Sat 04 July 2009.

[OOC:02:53, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 5 successes using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,6,6,9,10,5. Join Battle.]

OOC: You rolled 2 successes using 7d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 ((1,4,8,6,3,8,6)).

EDIT: Figured what I would do.

   She watches the Immaculate carefully as he bends and twists avoiding Veldy's attacks. She thinks to herself that at least this time it wasn't poor planning on his part that caused him to miss. The Immaculates were well trained and slippery little bastards. She puts her marbles on the Abyssal to have the best shot at taking the monk out. The best she could hope for was to work with Veldy and distract the guy long enough for Eternal to drop him. She expends more essence to allow her to fire 3 arrows at the guy again. Of course, she was feeling surprisingly sluggish and unsure if she could fire fast enough (JB 2 pretty low in the grand scheme of things).


OOC: You rolled 10 successes using 11d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 ((6,10,1,9,1 0,4,10,9,8,7,6)). - Attack 1, You rolled 6 successes using 11d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 ((3,10,7,9,3,9,3,5,8,3,1)). - Arrow 2 You rolled 3 successes using 11d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 ((5,8,3,4,3,5,10,4,5,1,4)). - Arrow 3
This message was last edited by the player at 03:01, Sat 04 July 2009.

Hiding behind the twisted shadows of the Abyss, Broken Eternal narrowed his eyes at the defiant monk.  With her follower already dead, she still stood defiant against what were surely superior numbers, and from the rain of arrows, a high degree of skill.  It boggled his mind that the Immaculate training was so intense, and so utterly mind-breaking that they would face against certain death--and for what?  For eternal paradise with the Dragons?  For a life well served, but a death ill-gained?  He could not fathom it, despite what he knew about the order.  The monk had made a grievous error in judgment, however, in setting herself between Eternal and the exit.  One had already tasted his muted vengeance...this one would not be so lucky.

It happened without warning--but there was a sound.  It was nearly demonic in nature, what could only be described as the whispers of the damned as Eternal moved through creation in ways that no living thing should.  Even the sound was hard to catch as it shrieked past the woman, hardly audible even at such a high frequency--but the intent could be heard.  Thousands of evil creatures whispering in unison, each one divulging a different way in which she would die--and then expounding on the eternal torments that lied in wake for those slain by the Death Knights.  And then as suddenly as they began, but nearly mute whispers stopped, just as Eternal appeared.

He stood just past the doorway with his back toward the woman he had just attacked, his form just visible as the dark abyssal energy surged around him.  Red eyes peered over his black armored shoulder as he turned ever so slightly as to witness the blow dealt.  The short darkglaives were in his hands, held in an underhanded grip with their respective blade pressed against each forearm.  There was no smile on his face, no show of the utter elation he must have felt for unleashing such horrors, but there was none to be witnesses.  The energy began to crackle once more, webbing over his and removing his visage from the eyes of creation--but before such power removed him completely, the tell-tale sign of dark crimson blood, dripping from his blades, could be spied.

[Private to Gatekeeper: Alright, posted on Eternal!  For this I simply attacked using Ebon Lightning Prana--mostly because I wanted to try it out.  I'll give you the entire description of the move in a PM after I post this, in case you have any questions about it.  I didn't describe her reaction to the blow because I don't know how much damage it'll do...and I don't even know if it'll hit, for that matter, but I did roll, and the roll was pretty darned good.  You rolled 8 successes using 13d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 ((9,5,3,7,9,7,9,5,10,7,6,4,3)).  So, here's hoping I cut her in half, mwah hah!  <3]

The Water Dragon Style is immediately put to the test as a figure wreathed in shadows and whispers surges toward the doorway. Space and time are no circumstance for this figment of nightmare that seemingly plows right through the body of the female monk, carrying the dark will of the unspoken masters that still in some way shackle him, if only through their blackened hold on his soul.

But the Immaculate is not an ordinary mortal, shielded only by mundane artifice, and the raw meat and bone of her body. She has been trained to emulate the mercurial and resilient nature of Danaa'd, the Immaculate Dragon of Water. She does not merely stand to accept the shadow, embracing her death. Rather, her armored body seems to bend with the daiklave that slices at her midsection, denying it a solid and consistent surface to slice through. Though Eternal's weapon does come away bloodied, indicating she has been struck, it is not the demolishing attack he had been hoping for. (3L damage) [Private to Broken Eternal: Still a very cool charm. :) But her soak with Water Dragon form is 11L. Your attack was... (after I rolled additional dice for your weapon accuracy and soak) 12 sux total, whoa. I am a dumbass, I forgot the 'unexpected' part of the attack, ARGH. So DV is irrelevant. 12+3 for your strength, +4 for your weapon. That's 19L-11L or 7 dice of damage. I rolled it and you did 3L!]

On the other hand, Eternal is now behind the monk, and in the corridor outside. "Abomination," is the only word that hisses through her teeth. She is surrounded, and her retreat cut off. Between the Abyssal, the man with the shock pike, and the archer in the cabinet, she knows her chances of survival are slim.

---

OOC: Eternal used a Charm that trumps Join battle and lets him auto act first. I need Veldygar's action next for tick 0, I can't resolve any other actions until then.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:34, Sun 05 July 2009.

Veldygar sighed as he prepared himself to join the battle. One smooth plan that goes down the latrines, he thought bitterly. Next time, I will let the backstabbing to the experts.

Gripping his shock pike two handed, he sidestepped towards the door while taking the opportunity to throw a single, piercing strike of his shock pike before retreating outside of the monk's range, and exiting the room, surveying the situation inside the corridor.

[Private to GM: [OOC: I will use up to five motes of personal (1st melee excellency) to defend against her attacks, if she attacks me. Speed 5, +10L, PDV 4 (with penalty)
22:53, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 7 successes using 10d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,5,9,10,10,9,7,1,6,1. Shock pike (close).
Move action (3yd/tick) to get into the corridor while circling around the monk.]]

When Veldygar stabs at her with her pike, the monk slides fluidly to one side, not quite parrying as much as diverting the blow away from her. Despite her graceful yet sparing motions, the magitech spearhead still manages to catch her, though it does not penetrate her armor. [Private to Veldygar Arhandor: Her Parry DV is 4... so your damage is 3+10=13 dice. Her soak is 8(lamellar)+4(Water Dragon Form)+3(Form lets her soak lethal with full Stamina)=15, so you did ping. I rolled it and you got 0 damage. :( :(]

She retaliates, conscious that the ominous presence that had bloodied and moved past her is very likely in the corridor behind her. Her dragon claws rake not at Veldygar's body, but at his hands on the shaft of the shock pike, one after the other, attempting to jostle the weapon from his hands. The second attempt strikes the weapon so powerfully that Veldygar feels his grip on it slipping fast! [Private to Veldygar Arhandor: And now! Disarm attempts. I'm actually going to paste you the rolls this time.

20:06, Today: Gatekeeper rolled 6 successes using 10d10 9d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,7,7,9,1,6,4,7,10,4. (Hospital) Monk disarm 1+wp.

20:06, Today: Gatekeeper rolled 11 successes using 9d10 8d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,6,10,10,8,7,7,10,3. (Hospital) Monk disarm 2+wp.

So 7 sux versus 4 DV, 12 sux versus 3 DV. Man, dice luck is going against players today :/ This may not be worth spending motes on at all, but if you want to you can. I didn't want to decide it for you. :( BTW I messed up and forgot her wound penalty. So I will remove, as I usually do, dice from the right side of her attack. Unfortunately.. this doesn't actually change the results.]

Without even looking to see how her attempts fared, the monk backs out the doorway, attempting to use the wall to take cover against the arrows coming from the cabinet. Harue's attacks come too quickly for her to duck away entirely, though. While one of the arrows nicks the doorway rather than the target, the other two sink deep into her ribs and shoulder. (4L damage) She looks in bad shape now, barely hanging on to life. Yet she smiles despite the taste of blood in her mouth. "I would ask why you are here... but it is probably too late now."

[Private to Midou Harue: So I explain what happened... She was already within a couple yards of the doorway so I had her do a normal move to back out into the corridor and partially take cover with the wall. That wall gave her +2 DV vs your attacks. But, her DV was on the low side to begin with so 2 out of 3 arrows hit. However her soak is currently 8(lamellar)+4(Water Dragon Form)+3(Form lets her soak lethal with full Stamina)=15L so you pinged twice. Still did good damage though.]

---

OOC: I am... tired. So I will say this, "FINISH HER, ETERNAL!" (since he is still in hiding, and essentially out of the tick count anyway.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:43, Sun 05 July 2009.

   Harue prepares to exit the closet having the confidence in Eternal and Veldy to finish off the monk. Continuing to hold her bow in one hand, she uses her arrow hand to reach up and slip a some of the articles of clothing in the cabinet off their racks and onto her shoulder. She steps out ready to fire in the next round/turn of actions if the boys botch their attacks. (At least I don't believe one can do all of that and attack in roughly 6 seconds.)

Veldygar's forearms were nearly crushed by the monk's onslaught - with a ringing sound, his shock pike leaped from his grip and was cast into the air... until it stopped, hovering in the air for a split-second before the weapon's little god remembered who in Malfeas was the boss here, no kidding, and flew right back into the Eclipse's extended hand. Veldygar was tempted to make some kind of comment - 'Your efforts are in vain' or 'Your kung fu is weak' - but decided against mouthing off while the Anathema-slaying machine was still drawing breath.

[OOC: since apparently the fight is over, I undeleted this message, Charm timing be damned ;)]
This message was last edited by the player at 17:57, Tue 07 July 2009.

His figure vanished almost as soon as it was seen, and the monk could only hope that he had decided to run and leave his 'teammates' behind.  He was an 'abomination' after all, a creature of darkness and shadow, and surely only he wanted to was escape and slaughter more innocence within Five Coils, was it not?  But no, that was not the way Eternal operated.  He would not, could not leave a target merely dying in his wake.

No.  Eternal left bodies, not survivors.

She smiled as asked her question, that she thought would go unanswered.  She was wrong.  Eternal answered with force and vigor as both of his short darkglaives pierced her back, puncturing both lungs in a vicious dual strike.  The short blades erupted from her chest, though there was precious little blood to the precision of the strikes.  She shuddered briefly from the strike, being lifted to her toes with the strength and angle of the attack.  Blood spurted from her mouth, not the wounds, and she gasped for air that he lunged could no longer properly consume.  These actions were relatively simple in execution, and not once did Eternal flicker into existence.  It was as if Creation itself was turning on the monk...if Creation indeed carried blades.

His whispered was barely heard by his comrades, but the dark words were prssed against the ears of his newest victim.  He was fulfilling her last request?  After a fashion, but Eternal was not just happy with destroying their bodies or consuming their essence...no he wanted to break their spirits, and eventually, defile their very souls.  "I have come to destroy your people.  I will tear down Five Coils one disgusting floor at a time.  I will consume every man, woman, and child who dares stand between me and the Eternal Dragons, and I will not rest until your sins have been atoned."  He said, his words dripping with malice and the promised oblivion to come.

Before she could answer (as if her lungs would have allowed that) he twisted both of the blades simultaneously.  The rending of flesh was but a whisper, but the wrack of pain that pulsed through her body was clearly visible.  And though no one could see it, Eternal smiled as he placed a powerful kick into the small of her back, sending her spiraling into the room she was so want to escape, falling on her face as the arrows in her shoulder snapped at the sudden weight applied to their shafts.  She was still alive, however barely, and her hands began to move in order to pick herself up--perhaps to help herself breath in those few last dying breaths, but then she jerked one final time as the wound of a blade sinking into flesh (and floor) was heard, and a large, deep gash suddenly appeared in the back of her neck.

There was no move movement then, and even less sound.  She was dead...the abomination lived up to his nature.

"We leave now.  Go ahead, I have matters to attend just now.  I will catch up quickly."  His voice emanated from somewhere near the two bodies that filled the room.

Veldygar eyed the monk's body, then Eternal's blades, opened his mouth as if to say something, as if to voice his concern over the Abyssal's obvious pleasure in the taking of a life.

But he did not. I blundered here. Perhaps if I had done things more smoothly, or abstained from action, this wouldn't have happened. This was my fault.

But he would not dwell on this. They had a goal: finding the Earth District's Gatekeeper. It was now urgent to find a way out.

"Let us get out of here... Quietly. As quietly as possible..." he said softly, draping himself in Essence that made his existence an overlooked fact, causing all those who would notice his presence to feel that he was merely part of the background - one of the brave soldiers searching for the vile Anathema.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:20, Tue 07 July 2009.

There are indeed two bodies inside Room 201: Harue's kill, already drained and cooling, and the Water Aspect so handily slain by the unseen specter that is Broken Eternal. There are two more, though -- the two younger monks. One of which Eternal has yet to finish off. Very likely whatever 'business' Eternal may have to deal with would have something to do with the consumption he spoke of with such relish.

No other monks appear to be coming. However, it would still be a good idea to move away from this region shortly, and maintain stealth or otherwise shield their identity. Harue can easily grab what she needs for an Immaculate disguise.[Private to Midou Harue: You still need to roll Int+Larceny to determine how good your disguise is, though you'll get reduced difficulties due to being a DB yourself, and having a proper costume.] Veldygar can get a last look at the unknown Water Aspect's equipment before Eternal does whatever he is planning on doing. The woman has... or had, a set of black jade lamellar and black jade dragon claws.

Once the group moves out there are a few choices to make. Immediately down the hall past the rows of rooms is an evacuated, but still brightly lit reception area. They may try to quickly glean some information from the front desk or terminals, perhaps to find a better place to rest. If they deem it too risky to dally there, they can proceed to the next T intersection and choose to head further north, or further west.

There is also a side door from the reception area that Harue knows leads back outside the hospital. IF for whatever reason the group would prefer to wait things out a bit.

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor: Both of your demons are back now, dematerialized and lurking beneath ground level. Gugoona informs you that a large amount of monks have moved west from the entrance hall. It has also heard that a larger scale attack has been reported at a different site connecting to the Inner Temple: the Western Shrine Outpost. This is a location clear on the other side of Floor B25 so it's a few miles away. No doubt this has further confused and thinned out the monks in the area.

The other attack was also apparently made by an army of giant crimson bugs, which strikes you as odd. You can roll some Int+Lore or Occult if you want to think about that some.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:34, Tue 07 July 2009.

Listening distractedly to the whispers of his immaterial servants, Veldygar knelt to examine the Water Aspect's possessions.

[Private to GM: [OOC: I think I'll take at least the claws. If I can wrap the armor in my package and it is not too cumbersome (I don't think that with a Strength+Athletics total of 6, it will be too heavy per se), I'll take it too.
21:11, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 2 successes using 5d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 3,7,1,4,8. Int+Lore.
21:11, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 1 success using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,6,6,5,8,3. Int+Occult.]]

Veldygar decides that taking the jade claws should be easy enough even without attuning, but the lamellar would be awkward to carry for long distances. [Private to Veldygar Arhandor: I tend to think of feats of strength as not... sustained, but more one-time or short-duration. So while you could carry the lamellar, it would not at all be easy to lug around. I'd give you an external penalty equal to the armor's mobility penalty for doing that (in this case a -1 success to all rolls).

As for information gleaned. You have heard before of large, uncommonly intelligent ant-like insects being used as laborers in Earth District. Your thought is that something or someone must have angered them to revolt. In terms of these giant bugs' nature, they may either be elementals, or genetic construct (you've certainly seen your share of this summoning demons for weird Wood District experiments).]

His two companions would leave the room quickly, but if they did not they would surely see something they would rather have not.  Or rather, Veldy might well, though Harue would probably approve of the fate that awaited the unconscious monk, it was still not very pleasant.  Not at all.

Her body seemed to raise on its own accord as his unnatural strength made it child play to position her properly.  Then without warning or whispers there were two tremendous gashes on her neck...and then she began to die.  Her eyes opened in horror and her mouth opened to scream, but the soul only known as Chime [Private to Gatekeeper: Beautiful name, by the way! :P]could not manage any sound as she felt her very essence being pulled from her body.  Her skin grew pale and began to lose the luster of life, while the eyes began to grow dull and dead, until eventually the orbs were solid black--the windows of the soul had been shattered.

She was then thrown to the side of the room, so much like a heap of waste as she was thrown behind one of the many cabinets they had hidden behind moments before.  Then the other two bodies were moved as well, one inside one of the larger cabinets, and the other behind some shelves and such.  Watching them suddenly take to the air and be manipulated was horrific unless one knew it was Eternal doing the work, as they seemed possessed by the most uncaring of spirits.  The work was done quickly, however, and the bodies concealed...though there was still small bits of blood on the floor to suggest a battle, once the room was dark and the door was closed, the dead husks of the Dragon Blood would buy time with their hiding places, if only a few seconds.  And for a stealth operation, seconds counted dearly.

He stepped out of the room then, closing the door behind them, and even the door itself made no sound in the hands of Broken Eternal.

 [Private to Gatekeeper; Veldygar Arhandor: Those actions, of course, are to happen after Veldy is done getting whater he wants off of the monks.  Eternal isn't about to take them while he using them.  Well, I mean, ETERNAL would, but I'm certainly not that rude.  XD]

As he left Broken Eternal to do as he wished with the bodies, Veldygar walked towards the reception room, still wreathed with the very Essence of inconspicuousness masquerading him as one of the soldiers searching the hospital in the subconscious of most observers, watching for symbols indicating an exit.

Strange, it seems like we are not the only ones wreaking havoc on the Terrestrials, he thought. It was his nature to seek alliance with those who faced his own enemies. But weighing his chances of contacting others who would be fleeing from Dragon-Blooded scrutiny against the risk of being found and having to fight once more, he decided to search first for a way into the Temple, and to the Gatekeeper of Earth... If this proved impossible, then he would have other alternatives.

[OOC: I don't know if we are supposed to meet other PCs by investigating the troubles, but IMHO in Veldygar's situation it is only reasonable to take advantage of the distractions, and try to reach the Gatekeeper as soon as possible]

Eternal finishes with his grisly meal, and the setup of the room. Still no monks coming around, and the halls are all abandoned.

Veldygar looks around in the reception room. He sees the most obvious exit, the eastern door leading to the outside. However he remembers that Harue had mentioned the Inner Temple should be through a secret entrance inside the hospital, and it would be further to the west. The ideal route would be to head up to the next intersection and take the western corridor, and start searching along the way.

Unfortunately the Gatekeeper of Water had given little idea of how the secret entrance would be hidden. Only that it would not be obvious, and would likely be guarded... or locked against intruders. [Private to Veldygar Arhandor: Garnet Cog pretty much informs you similarly.]

---

OOC: It doesn't really matter who gets to the Gatekeeper first, of course! But even if you do make it INTO the temple, you still have to proceed 4 more floors upward after that, to get to the Gatekeeper of Earth. The likelihood you'll never be seen at all may start to drop the further you go into the danger zone.

Certainly it wouldn't hurt get a head start though. I won't force you to consciously go meet the others but you may run into them on the way. Though, if you want, I could also arrange for up to 3 hours full rest before you proceed.

Veldygar started to look for clues leading to the passage, in the approximate direction of the Temple. Any room label that seemed inconstitent with the neighboring rooms, or fortified doors that were not supposed to protect anything of real value. His investigation would strengthen his illusory disguise and should help him search the hospital undisturbed for a while.

[Private to GM: [OOC: 02:03, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 3 successes using 5d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,2,1,1,7. Per+Investigation.]]

OOC: Apologies, busy week, and likely next will be as well. So Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, if I don't answer feel free to NPC or fade to background. Larceny Roll:You rolled 5 successes using 7d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 ((6,9,3,6,7,10,9)).

   Harue quickly dons the robes and apron of a hospital worker. While, it is not meant to be perfect, she aims for looking like she belongs in the area and a look will not reveal her as an intruder. She adopts as an air of belonging in the area as she steps out into the hallway.

    She indicates to Veldy that it may be safer o detour north for a bit. And then go west as far as you can go, searching for unusual doors or rooms (and probably trying to avoid notice too).

Listening to Harue's suggestion, Veldygar made a small detour.

Now that everyone has more or less come up with a suitable disguise or other way to remain unseen, the search can begin. Most outsiders would see a single guard (Veldy) and a doctor (Harue) searching the corridors together. Eternal, being invisible, can only be heard, not seen... an ominous presence that nonetheless eludes the senses, leaving the paranoid feeling vaguely threatened, yet unable to pinpoint the cause.

Veldygar starts at the first intersection, concentrating on searching the doors and halls north, then westward. He does not find much of note during his first sweep: an unmarked room that turns out to be a linen closet, several doors leading to what appear to be individual patient rooms and operating rooms, a lounge for off-duty doctors and nurses. Some of the bedrooms are actually still occupied, the patients generally too ill or injured to be moved, or fast asleep from a draught of blessed respite.

The lounge is empty, but looks like it normally sees a lot of use. There is a small kitchen (and plates of food from hastily abandoned lunches), stands with journals and news publications, a Gateway board, several comfortable chairs. Immaculate hymns play back from an unknown source, likely as not pre-recorded. Adjacent to the lounge is the main desk, where patients are admitted or dismissed, located in a central hospital location. The terminals here are even more complex, as they are used for storing patient data along with other hospital information, while the reception mostly deals with scheduled appointments.

Well past the main desk, lounge and offices, is another major intersection. Southward leads toward the emergency and trauma facilities (this is where Anya and Kiros were taken). One can also go further north (likely to more bedrooms and operating rooms) or even further west.

No one seems to disturb the Exalts. They pass a janitor that seems to have missed the call to evacuate, a rather frightened looking nurse attempting to help evacuate patients left behind, an elderly couple that appears to be lost. The only potentially dangerous encounter was with a receptionist speaking with a trio of armored monks, but it seems they were too engrossed in their conversation to notice anyone... yet.

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor; Midou Harue; Broken Eternal: Veldy started with an Perception+Investigation roll, but more is going to be needed. You could each roll separately, and search a specific area or type of room, or roll using teamwork (person with highest Investigation rolls, adding +1 die per additional team member) and search a wider area. Every set of rolls the PCs make will = 15 minutes of time spent searching, and the longer you search, the more likely you are to be caught.

The more specific you are about what you're searching, and where, the easier the difficulty will be, and you may get stunt dice! It's also possible you may need to accrue a large number of successes over many rolls. (Note that separate people rolling won't necessarily pool successes, it depends on how much redundant info they find.)

If you're more interested in looking at the terminals in the main desk or reception area you can roll Int+Lore instead.

You may also prefer to try to coerce or convince some of the people remaining in the hospital to help you, or eavesdrop on them. The former will be some form of social attribute/ability roll, the latter would be Perc+Awareness.

This should give you plenty of options to work with here.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:25, Mon 13 July 2009.

   Harue indicates she couldn't find a secret door if it were marked with a big S and so offers to play backup to Veldy's searching. When he is not searching she attempts to casually listen in on conversations.

   (OOC: Can't use die roller on work computer. Please roll for me. I will try to answer again before Wednesday.)

Approaching one of the terminals, in a deserted local if possible, Veldygar tried to access the hospitals plans. He would make the most of any information he could remember or write down to coordinate research and increase their chances of finding the entrance.

[Private to GM: [OOC: 17:42, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 1 success using 5d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 2,5,7,1,5. Int+Lore]]

Veldygar at least succeeds at operating the terminal he accesses. Bringing up the map is an easy task, copying what he sees a more tedious one. [Private to Veldygar Arhandor: Ok... I'd like to know how long you decide to sit and copy the map. We're doing intervals of 15 minutes here. Each interval will give you +1 to future rolls made to find the secret entrance (Investigation, Lore, Larceny, Awareness). But you'll have a max of +3. So you could take anywhere from 15-45 minutes for some sort of additional bonus. However taking longer means potentially getting caught standing in one place.]

Meanwhile Harue catches snatches of conversation. The receptionist speaking with the monks happens to glimpse her at the corner of her eye, but does not seem disturbed by her presence. At least that reassures the Wood Aspect that her disguise is working. The monks speaking with the receptionist are more worrying, but Harue remains just out of their sight, relying on her keen hearing to pick up words of importance...

[Private to Midou Harue: The monks are questioning the receptionist. They ask her whether she has seen anything unusual, but it seems she entirely missed Room 201 with the bodies. The woman says that she remained because she is concerned about the patients being left behind. She and another woman (Elie, she calls her) remained to try to help them.

The monks reiterate to her that she should evacuate into the Inner Temple while she can, accompanied by one of the monks. Normal senses cannot easily see the entrance, they say. It is not a mundane hidden door, rather finding it involves penetrating some sort of powerful illusion, a trick of the senses. One has to find where to look and what to look for, otherwise one could pass the very same area over and over and never find anything except a feeling of deja vu. And when found, the entrance is locked and either guarded or trapped.

The receptionist looks hesitant to go. She pleads for some time to gather as many people as she can. This might be Harue's cue to get scarce since it looks like she may try to speak with the 'doctor' she sees nearby (i.e. Harue's disguise), though if you trust your ability to BS you may be able to get even more info ;) otherwise it could be dangerous.

What you heard will give you a bonus to (Investigation, Lore, Larceny or Awareness) rolls used to find the secret entrance from now on. I'll roll the bonus.]

Veldygar concentrated on noting the places he had not yet visited, but unless he could get his hands on some sort of recording or printing device in the office he was searching, there was not much he could do - he was not an artist. He would also try to bring up a map of the District if he could, and locate the section of the hospital closest to the Temple.

[Private to GM: [OOC: Did it take me the whole of 15 minutes to bring up the map?]]

Now that the edge of his depleting reserves had been satiated, Eternal considered the current situation.  Those who thought he was simply a mindless killing machine would be sadly mistaken, as his mind was nearly as keen as his blade.  He had not forgotten the 'orders' given to him by the Keeper, and while Eternal was no lapdog or lackey, he did want to kill every Dragon Blooded parasite he could get his hand on, and he knew for a fact that the more of a threat he became, the more they would come after him--and with the help of the 'others' the Keeper had mention, the death toll would reach higher number than the Abyssal could claim on his own--and in the end, that was all cared about.  Whether or not it was his blades that brought an end to their existence wasn't important--the end itself, that was the important part.  However, finding where these 'allies' were suppose to be proved an interesting problem, and just as Eternal was preparing to go skulking on his own to find out what he could, he heard the barest of whispers cross his ears.

His head turned, though no one could see him as he walked toward the terminal that Veldy had ignored in favor for the other.  Perhaps he had heard the whispers as well, perhaps subconsciously, and had gone to the other.  There was nothing wrong with the terminal, per se, but its fate was tied to Eternal, and that alone might have well put off a strange vibe.  Eternal knew next to nothing about computers or technology, but he knew the answers he sought were encased within this machine, and he was going to learn what those secrets were.

Eternal opened his mind to the Neverborn, the dead-yet-alive Primordial beings who had birth creation from their imaginations--they now rotted somewhere in the underworld, stuck between life and death--craving only Oblivion.  Their knowledge was infinite, and though Eternal had never seem them, or their Shadow Lords who ruled over the Abyssals, he could feel their whispers in his ears like tendrils of poison, and when he slept, their venomous words pried at his sanity, filling him with visions of death and destruction, of misery and of the End of Times that he would bring upon Creation.  He opened himself to their madness in hopes of gaining insight, knowledge, anything that would help him destroy those who he hated--and it was perhaps that sentiment alone that drew their attention to their dark child, whom they hated only marginally less than the rest of Creation, and they gifted him with their blessing.

Eternal was suddenly wracked with a great spasm, and the dark energy flickered for a moment, but he was not revealed.  The two of them, Harue and Veldy, would be spared the sight of the Neverborn's influence over the Abyssal, but that did not stop the events from happening.  Eternal gasped as the sickness of Oblivion coursed through his veins--dark ichor began to pour from his eyes like tears of tar, flooding his red eyes and turning them a soul-less shade of black as well.  Tendrils of the same color and substance erupted from his back, looking like cursed wings as they slithered between the cracks of the console, gliding between keys and circuits as the darkness fed into the machine, running through the files hidden cache's like a psychotic killer rummaged through the innards of his latest victim, searching for the choice pieces.  Given himself entirely to the Damned Ones, Eternal's arm jerked unnaturally to the right, tapping what seemed to be random keys, as the other gave a quick spasm to the left, turning a knob and typing certain commands.

It spanned what felt like days to Eternal, but almost as soon as it had happened, the black ichor slipped back into his body, the 'wings' all but gone, the 'tears' dried and evaporated, leaving him leaning against the console with alien code pulsing in his mind--and the ill-gotten knowledge of what those symbols meant, and what was going on within the facility.

Raising his head from his research for a quick survey of his surroundings, Veldygar was surprised to see the deathknight leaning over the other terminal. "Have you found something?" he whispered.

Lacking the patience or perhaps the tools to copy down the map, Veldygar studies it for about 15 minutes. [Private to Veldygar Arhandor: I'll still give you a +1 to subsequent Investigation/Lore/Awareness/Larceny rolls to find the entrance if you study the map for that long.]

The insight the Whispers gives Eternal is alien, jarring and vaguely nauseous to absorb all at once, but it is incredibly effective as well. The Neverborn were once peers of Autochthon, after all, and beyond the mechanical aspect, navigation and interpretation of the terminal and its glyphs is just a matter of language and syntax. Somehow, circuitously, the multiple threads of dark knowledge wound themselves in Eternal's brain into some semblance of understanding.

[Private to Broken Eternal: You find out that the Inner Temple is under an 'Orichalcum Breach' Alert, meaning there are Anathema loose inside the premises, or trying to invade them, in any case. Two other areas leading to the Inner Temple are under attack. First, the Western Shrine Outpost, which is a small shrine in the western quadrant of Floor B25. This shrine, much like the Eastern Hospital, has a secret entrance into the Inner Temple. It is currently under attack by what is reported as an army of giant insects, about 150 total, termed 'builder bugs' and more specifically 'of the Ruby (Warrior) Caste'.

The other area under attack is the Northern Garrison, a stronghold of Immaculate warrior monks. It seems the Western Shrine attack may well have been a diversion to give the attack at the Garrison a chance to succeed. There are a smaller number of attackers there (the reports seem to indicate two distinct groups attacking there: a pair of rebels with 5 stolen Hulking Armor Sentinels (a type of automaton sentry common in Earth District), and more alarmingly -- for the monks at least -- a Solar and Lunar pair currently attacking the Garrison's inner compound.

The next point of interest to Eternal would of course be *getting* to one of these two spots. From what he can glean, the easiest way to reach either the Western Shrine or the Northern Garrison would likely be through the Inner Temple itself. He could alternately exit the hospital altogether, and go around the outside to get to the Northern Garrison, but this is undesired for multiple reasons: 1) it would take at least double the time, 2) would have to contend with sneaking past machine sentinels and other guards on the outside, 3) may be harder to meet up with the group already *inside* the garrison.

Finding the secret door into the Inner Temple, is not something Eternal finds out about from the terminal. The only thing he can be certain of is that it'd have to be somewhere toward the west of the hospital. That at least narrows his search down somewhat, he just has to go and actually DO the searching (the roll will likely be Perception+Investigation first, then depending on what you find from there, another roll. I could also possibly see Perc+Awareness being used but Investigation I think is more detail oriented, while Awareness is more looking around for something immediately unusual.)]

---

OOC: I've been giving people their info through PMs. I really would like you guys to show some teamwork and pool some knowledge, if you're incapable of doing that this may take a *lot* longer than it should.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:21, Thu 16 July 2009.

"The Temple is being attacked two-fold."  Eternal said, turning to face Veldy.  The dark energy began to surge across him, quickly obscuring him from the peering eye of creation as he spoke.  Channeling the whisper had broken the nightmare of his invisibility, but now that the Neverborn were no longer invited into his mind, the dark essence that flowed through him began its (un)natural course.

"An Undying Sun and a Chosen of Luna are attacking the North Garrison.  The other battle is simply a diversion for the main assault.  They are aware of Anathema, but there was no mention of us specifically.  The wretched monks have us outnumbered--as much as I want to bath in their blood on drop at a time, we don't have the luxury of time.  We need to join them." Says the voice dubious voice of reason.  Yes, it made perfect sense to meet with them, as that had been the Gatekeeper's plan, and there was certainly safety in numbers.  "...I could not discern the hidden entrance, but I -do- know it is located towards the west of this hospital.  We should go quickly."

Veldygar made sure he had written down everything he could about the West section.

"Let us go, then," he said. "I suggest we start our search by all outermost walls and rooms on this level, in the west section. The most logical assumption, for now, is that any secret exit leads out of the hospital while staying on the same level. If this assumption is proven incorrect, we shall broaden the scope of our search."

Assuming none of the others object, Veldygar made way towards the west compound.

[OOC: I don't know if I was clear in my intention, English is not my native language and I'm kind of tired at the moment. Still, the west compound has IIRC not been described yet, so I'll wait for some info before writing a more detailed for stuntage dice ;)]

The westward side of the hospital takes the group past the emergency/trauma center and most of the examination rooms and offices.

Most of this area appears to be specialty medicine, or specific to recovery from invasive procedures, crippling injuries or diseases. Northwestward is what could be termed the intensive care unit, where patients are taken after particularly invasive procedures and monitored carefully for any unforeseen consequences before they are deemed safe enough to send further east. Toward the southwest limits there are rooms labeled for physical therapy and even meditation. There are still more miscellaneous offices and storage rooms as well, similar to the rooms between the entrance and reception halls.

Between these two western wings is another, smaller lounge that serves this end of the hospital. In this area is a door specifically leading to an Immaculate shrine, and another leading to a library of medical books.

There are no further halls leading westward. No lifts or staircases either. One thing the group notices right away is that there are no doors on the far western walls. None at all.

Veldygar, Eternal and Harue (who quickly moves on before the receptionist who noticed her has a chance to address her) have some time to search this area while the remaining hospital personnel and monks continue their own search / rescue of patients further north and east. [Private to Midou Harue: This time I just gave it to you and let you leave with no incident. Next time I will not do so though. No that does not mean you will immediately have to fight; you're a dragonblood apparently in a doctor's uniform. Does mean the receptionist that saw you may end up wanting to ask you questions / confer with you, and you'll have to rely on your social skill to not arouse suspicion.]

[Private to Broken Eternal; Midou Harue; Veldygar Arhandor: For the big search: everyone incurred some bonus based on information gathering from before.

+1 Veldygar (for memorizing the map)
+1 Eternal (note, he got info about other groups in the temple, but not much on the actual secret door; the terminals would not give away the secret after all)
+2 Harue (who happened to get the most useful info from eavesdropping)

If you'll pool effort, designate one person as the 'lead investigator'. That person can roll Perception+Investigation+1 per helper. Then add bonuses above (max is +3, though; Veldygar and Eternal's data is redundant). That's all before stunt.

If you'd rather roll separately, each of you roll Perception+Investigation+your bonus. Again, that's before stunt. Doing this may mean you cover multiple areas of interest.

If you don't feel your first roll is enough, you can keep rolling, the successes are cumulative but each roll is 15 minutes of time. I'm also willing to let you substitute Awareness if your Investigation is low.]

   Harue almost breathes as a sigh of relief when Veldy took the initiative to leave. They were almost sunk and she was about to suggest a hasty retreat into darkened corridors when Veldy moved. "I will back up your efforts to find the door. Tell me what you want me to do."


_{OOC: Apologies for the delay. It just seems to be one thing after another this summer. My team got our project done and over to the administration for approval (the delay through Wednesday that still took us to Thursday morning) only to come home to a sudden storm (Thursday) that knocked out all power and cable until Saturday. I'll have time everyday for the foreseeable future.}

Veldygar nodded, and made way towards the southwestern corner. He would start by searching the meditation rooms, and the physical therapy sections, starting by the outermost ones - for now, he was proceeding on the assumption that the secret exit led directly out of the compound.

[Private to GM: [OOC: Base Perception + Investigation pool, 5 dice. Please roll with all appropriate bonuses.]]

It seemed that searching separately would yield faster results--after all, the more ground they covered, the better odds they had of finding the secret entrance/exit--and that would lead to the Solar and the Lunar.  It was a round about reason to search for it, but Eternal knew patience...and according to the terminal, the two of them had been surrounded by Monks.  Dragon-Blooded Monks.  It was a banquet of blood waiting to be unleashed, and he did not want to miss it.

Eternal went along with the other two, taking whatever rooms and wings they did not, stalking through the corridors and doorways like the invisible patron of destruction that he was.

The initial search takes the group about thirty minutes. The first fifteen is spent just going around checking doors, and more doors, and finding nothing of note. Some time is unfortunately wasted as the group finds themselves overlapping their efforts, looking through the same doors more than once. At times, they search through corridors that look strangely familiar, yet when they check the doors the rooms within have different content, or the numbers are labeled differently, or a door they could have sworn ought to be wide open is locked when they check it again.

The next fifteen minutes or so has the Exalts starting to realize something rather strange. There is a certain part of the west end of the hospital that seems to defy the expected dimensions of the facility. This also happens to be where the confusing occurrences (corridors seemingly looping back on themselves, unexpected doors and rearranged rooms, and so on) occur with the most frequency. Veldygar and Harue can pinpoint this region to be in the hallways containing rooms 362 and onward. In fact the map Veldygar previously looked up shows there are supposedly no rooms numbered past 360.

Eternal, starting to wander in this area, finds his mind and senses are a touch sharper than his companions. He discovers that certain doors or passages remain 'static' or while others seem to change position constantly. The 'static' ones are marked with some small flaw or inconsistency. The first one he finds is the easiest one: a door with the knob on the opposite side compared to the others in the row.

Unfortunately there's also another more unpleasant discovery. After a half an hour it seems the remaining staff have arranged things to evacuate who they can and they are also starting toward the 'strange region' of the hospital. They are approaching, many voices, many footsteps, but it's difficult to figure where they're coming from due to the strange logistics of this area.

---

OOC: Int+Lore to navigate the 'maze' of confusing doors and passages. Eternal gets a +1 to this roll. Everyone else rolls standard. Again you could work together if you want (a single roll with teamwork, +Eternal's bonus) or you can all roll separately (so that the highest roll among you will count). The difficulty is 5 successes.

You could also cheat and try to wait and follow the people coming. Just remember, there will be DBs among them who may have high awareness, be consistently alert, and/or have charms to give them a supernatural edge. But your stealth charms may also give *you* an edge.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:32, Tue 21 July 2009.

(OOC: I apologize for not answering sooner, I was trying not to be the first one to answer since Harue can only back the guys up on searching. She simply doesn't have investigation as a skill.)

  "We either need to hide and put our ears to the earth so to speak or get a move on quickly," Harue offers as she tries to figure out the convoluted maze of doors and corridors they have managed to find. "If nothing else, we know we are getting closer to where we need to be?"

You rolled 3 successes using 4d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 ((7,6,1,10))

Veldygar was slightly upset by the local warp in the fabric of reality. It was obviously the defense that the Gatekeeper of Water had suggested, either a trick of the mastery of space, or a way to fool the mind of intruders.

He searched for signs of the aisle's occupation - if people could work here without being bothered by the strange twists of corridors, then perhaps the secret was in not wanting to find a secret passage. It would indeed be a brilliant way of hiding the entrance to the Temple of Immaculate Earth.

But how to search for something, without wanting to?

He mentionned this to Harue and Garnet Cog.

[Private to GM: [OOC:22:55, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 3 successes using 5d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,7,10,2,2. Int+Lore.
01:03, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 3 successes using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,6,4,9,7,4. Int+Occult. ]]

Garnet Cog, Veldygar's spirit mentor, speaks a few words of wisdom into his mind. "I would suggest to approach it as a form of meditation. You want to remove all expectations from your mind, and allow your senses to perceive and understand what is around you, completely without bias. Surely you have practiced such in your studies as a sorcerer. Open your mind to all that is, and the path will come to you." [Private to Veldygar Arhandor: OOC: I really liked your approach, and gave you a +2 stunt! but it only gave you 1 more success. If you spend a WP, you could still succeed.

As for the occult roll, you are pretty certain the strange passages are some form of a Manse's defenses, namely a Puzzle Manse.]

Harue meanwhile can't make heads or tails of where the entrance might be, though she and Veldygar at least discover enough of a pattern in the doors and passages to help her hide in them effectively, should the Dragon-blooded come this way. [Private to Midou Harue: Mechanically, your successes still give you a circumstantial +1 to Stealth should you need to hide in the area.]

Eternal is, presumably, guarding the others while they search, his presence still visually unseen. After several minutes of waiting, the Abyssal announces in his stark, disembodied voice that people had better start making themselves scarce very soon. The group can start to make out more distinct voices, as well as the sound of wheels on tile -- stretchers, or wheelchairs, likely, for patients that cannot walk.

---

OOC: they will definitely arrive by my next post, so either start moving (I'll roll for you whether you can still find the right way at random, given what little you know) or roll wits+stealth to hide (unless you've got a charm active that allows you to bypass the necessity.)

Veldygar, still sheathed by a Charm that made his presence scarcely noticeable, focused his mind as per his mentor's instructions, like the preternaturally calm mindstate that permitted the initiation of sorcery - an ordered void at the back of te mind that the disciplined psyche used to reshape reality. He decided to see, devoid of preconceptions, and pierce the spatial maze surrounding the secret exit.

[Private to GM: [OOC: Spending a WP to succeed. I still have the Essence for Easily Overlooked Presence Method committed.]]

Veldygar opens and clears his mind, denying the illusion while seeking the true path. That slight shift in approach changes his perspective of the hallways entirely. Rather suddenly -- the right way just comes to him. It is suddenly so crystal clear and obvious that he feels almost sheepish he hadn't noticed it earlier. Casting aside all the 'extra' doors and passages as mere distractions, he walks unerringly through the the corridors as if entranced by something beyond natural sense.

The others have no choice but to follow him as he navigates the passageways, taking sudden seemingly random turns, opening doors that look no different than the others only to reveal another passage leading in the right direction. The voices start to fade behind them again, their progress putting leaps and bounds of space and time between them, until they are just another figment of the maze.

Then, abruptly, the corridors end. The group reaches a dead end, and a single stone door, carved with Immaculate symbolism particular to Pasiap and the Elemental Dragon of Earth. The door is strange, in that it has no obvious handle, no simple way to open it. On the other hand, there are no guards in the area, either...

---

OOC: almost there...! ok, a couple options here. Roll Int+Lore or Occult to think your way through this, or roll Perc+Awareness or Larceny to try to find clues or traps.

You could always just try to break down the door, too :P
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:48, Sat 25 July 2009.

   Harue puts her entire energy into examining the door quickly. Just because the voices have faded doesn't mean much in her mind. They were still behind them and now the group was in a corridor with no obvious hiding spots. "Dammit, tricky little bastards," she thinks as she looks at the Immaculate writing. She figures immediately that it is trapped since the Immaculates constructed the door. When she doesn't see anything she doesn't immediately think she failed, rather she just can't decipher the false philosophy mumbo-jumbo of her kind. Her mind wanders so completely away from the task at hand, she doesn't truly notice a thing, although the way the mind works, she convinces herself in her meanderings that she does.
   "As far as I can tell the door is not trapped, but I cannot figure out how to open it. If we had more time perhaps..."

OOC: You rolled 1 success using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 ((3,2,6,5,1,7)).

As he rummaged through his memories of the Immaculate Philosophy's tenets - and what clues he would gather from his recollection of Pasiap's teachings - Veldygar examined the door and its surrounding.

[Private to GM: [OOC: 00:47, Today: Veldygar Arhandor botched using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,1,5,1,3,5. Per+Awareness.
00:47, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 5 successes using 5d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,4,10,9,3. Int+Lore.
The Unconquered Sun hath given, and He hath taken... Dratz!]]
This message was last edited by the player at 22:50, Fri 24 July 2009.

Harue gives it her best shot, but nothing of note comes out of it. The one thing she does notice, besides whatever confusing speculation she comes up with, is that the eyes of the dragon carved into the door follow her back and forth as she examines it. The only writing on the door reads (for those who can read Old Realm) "He Who Illuminates Both Worlds With Majesty And Power".

Veldygar remembers a great deal of his lessons about the Immaculate Philosophy, and in particular about Pasiap, the Immaculate Dragon of Earth. He also knows that the religion is aniconic. So the only true Immaculate symbolism found on the door is at its very center: the Omphalos Triumphant, Pasiap's mon, shaped like what Veldygar would know to be a mountain, though he's never seen a true mountain except in paintings from the distant past.

Around it is coils the shape of a serpentine dragon carved in great detail, right down to the individual scales. Its head rests at the upper center of the door, right above the mon, so that it seems to look down upon the mountain. This must be the depiction of the Elemental Dragon, Veldygar realizes, which is distinct from the Immaculate Pasiap -- the Elemental Dragon represents pure, primal elemental otherness, while the Immaculate Dragon is considered the form the Elemental Dragon takes when walking Creation, so as to be in a form his congregation can better identify with and emulate.

From there Veldy is reasonably sure he and his comrades should focus on searching or manipulating either the Omphalos, or the Dragon. If the group starts to feel they're taking too long and don't want to get caught, they can always withdraw and hide in a previous corridor.

   (OOC: Not sure if we know each others names since we have been running and all?)

   "Alright, leader type," she says to Veldy in a moderate tone, "What do you want me to do now? You see reading and religion just aren't my thing."

Veldygar carefully pressed each scale. If a single touch sufficed, it would hopefully be over soon - but it would soon become ugly if a combination was needed...

Veldygar starts pressing the scales. Nothing happens, at least not initially. Then there is a sudden click -- and an ominous hissing noise. Garnet Cog says immediately into his mind, Move back!

The dragon-head has animated, and a strange gas pours from its maw. Alerted early enough, the group can still withdraw, though this means they'll have to hide and wait in the passages until the group of monks, hospital workers and patients comes through. Or they can try to endure the smoke (Stamina+Resistance roll) and try something else. [Private to Veldygar Arhandor: Should you stay, I can allow you one more Perc+Aware, specifically focused on the Pasiap symbol or the dragon. The symbol may be less... dangerous to look into. You'll be at a -1 penalty though, due to having tried and botched before.]

---

OOC: I'll assume you move away and hide if you don't post in the next day or two. And will try to pass on better hints. Just want to stop stalling here.

Veldygar chose to retreat some distance from the Dragon, waiting for the gas to dissipate. He was cursing inwardly - the entry was protected against tampering!

What a chore!

He decided to spend some time observing the Dragon again, still cloaked in his stealth Charm. He would try to see if some of the scales seemed more worn down than others - indicated that they had correctly been pressed more often.

While he was doing that, he wondered where Eternal had gone.

[Private to GM: [OOC:01:53, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 5 successes using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,8,1,10,10,2. Per+Awareness. ]]

Where was Eternal indeed?  With his presence so keenly hidden by the whims of the Abyss, it was a question that many people within Coils had wondered, many of them afraid for their lives at the thought.  The hallway was void of any trace of him, and had been for several minutes now, since they had presumably gone down together.  Perhaps he had left them altogether, abandoned them to the Monks that would no doubt eventually find them--or, more probably, he left to slaughter those very monks...not for a sense of self-less honor, to allow his new friends time to figure out the puzzle that halted them, but only for the hunger of bloodshed.

In truth, it was none of these things, though the two of them would not know it until they heard his dissonant voice slip from somewhere in the hallway--somewhere very close, though it was incredibly difficult, with the acoustics involved to be able to tell just where.  The words might have seen cryptic at first (more do to lack of pure social skills than love for puzzles) but it was evident that the Abyssal Exalted had been studying the strange door in front of them as well, and had noticed something that perhaps the others had not.

"There are the faint impressions of a hand on the mountain--and at the center of that coil, near the lower end of the Dragon's tail, I can see a small hole--possibly for a key." 

   Harue retreats down the corridor to find a suitable place to conceal herself from the oncoming monks.

Disturbed in his evaluation by the coming monks, Veldygar elected to go searching the other corridors - perhaps the statue was a trap left to get rid of intruders, after all. He could always try to return, if the monks fell victim to the poison gas.

[Private to GM: [OOC: Still maintaining Easily Overlooked Presence Method, complemented by an attempt at making myself even more scarcely noticeable as I scuttle along the corridors.
18:58, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 3 successes using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,8,2,7,3,5. Dex+Stealth.
How long has elapsed since the last fight? So that I know if we can benefit from the 'moderate activity' Essence respiration.]]

The group takes another several minutes to find a safe place to hide away from the gas-flooded passage near the ornately carved door. Fortunately this puts them way off from any groups that might find them. Both Eternal and Harue find excellent and rather creative hiding places. Crawl spaces, air vents, dark and rarely used closets, they have their choice in the matter and the only concern is that they can be just close enough to hear the monks and hospital workers pass. (Eternal got 8 sux, Harue got 7)

Veldygar, on the other hand, barely manages to duck around the corner out of sight of the group now making their way to the temple door. He must rely primarily on his charm to make him inconspicuous.

Fortunately, it seems the monks leading the group are more attentive to the poison gas lingering in the corridors. "Halt. Wait here a moment." The Celestials hear a male voice. "I will deactivate the trap. It seems that someone has attempted to enter here recently. We will make a search for them but the first priority is to bring the patients to safety."

Another few minutes pass. The hospital employees can be heard trying to assuage the patients with them, that the Anathema would not attack them while the monks are about. It doesn't seem the nurses are terribly convinced of their own words, if the tremble in their voices is any indication. They also seem concerned the Inner Temple is not much safer; apparently the reports of other Celestial attacks have reached even them.

Finally, the others are signaled by the monk that the gas has been dispersed. "Proceed toward the entrance, it will be opened shortly."

---

OOC: You can either wait all the way until this group passes (safest, but least progress), or you can try to sneak back out with another good Dex+Stealth roll in order to 1) spy on how the monk opens the door, 2) try to sneak inside the door with the hospital staff and patients.

Also, you can regain 4 motes of essence, as about an hour has passed.

Veldygar decided to stay in his corner, but he had one of his demons on hand to creep up near the monks in a dematerialized state and study their opening method, unless one of his comrades decided to try this first.

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor: good idea!]

Dezephiel remains brooding close to Veldygar underneath the ground. Still deeply injured, the many-armed demon finds it incredibly unbearable to be forced to hide while its owners enemies are about.[Private to Veldygar Arhandor: Dezephiel has 2 Limit by now (I think one can't get limit for the same reason more than once a scene). And yes, it gains some ess back too, but still not enough to materialize again so he can be healed. A shame.]

Gugoona, on the other hand, is relatively uninjured, just low on motes. The metody gleefully gives into its desire to serve and be of use, and slithers in dematerialized state through floor and walls to get a clear look at the monks and hospital staff gathering in front of the carved door.

   Harue remains hidden until after the danger has passed. She has no desire to tangle with a large group of Immaculates - 3 or 4 sure, any larger than that, not so much.


   (OOC: Going out of town until Monday. Might not post, if you need Harue to pick a lock or do something to speed things along feel free to make her do it. If there is combat feel free to use her as you see fit. I'll be happy no matter what.)

What Gugoona sees (and reports to Veldygar at the next opportunity):

The lead monk places his left hand on the symbol of Pasiap, the Omphalos Triumphant. Motes of Terrestrial Essence (Earth, in this case) rise up from his hand, sinking into the symbol. The monk keeps his hand on the symbol, the glow of his hand building as the dragon carving seems to come to life. Ratchety sounds emit from the door, complex gears turning from within, as the serpentine dragon circles the mon a half-turn clockwise, until the head is below the mountain symbol rather than above. Only then does the dragon's eyes glow, and the door opens, lifting upward by some unknown mechanism.

In the time Gugoona takes to return and report this, at least half of the nurses and patients have already been evacuated inside. Assuming no one in the group will act before the monks step through last and allow the door to close again, there is some time for Veldygar to ponder what he has discovered.

Veldygar decided that he would be pushing the limits of his Charm if he just strolled in the middle of the column - he decided he would first try to about the door's mechanism. It seemed obvious that the mechanism required some Essence input, but could it be possible that it was tailored to reject an Essence not from a Terrestial Exalt? That there was a precise quantity of Essence to be used, else the door would not open or worse? He hoped that Gugoona had used its native Essence-sensing Charm to ascertain this.

[Private to GM: (OOC:11:10, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 3 successes using 5d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,5,5,2,7. Int+Occult.)]

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor: Oh! Measure the Wind, excellent. Hmm. It's a bit of a stretch but I think I can allow you this info. Besides, will get you out of here faster. ]Veldygar continues to consult with the supernatural beings in his entourage, while the group of monks, nurses and patients continues moving into the Temple.

Gugoona helpfully informs Veldygar that the 'lock' of the door seems specifically keyed toward Terrestrial Essence - not a specific amount, so the demon claims, just the presence of it at all. So using other types of Essence would be unadvisable. It also points out, unerringly, that Midou Harue is a Terrestrial Exalt, and opines that the door is much too dense and heavily enchanted for it to bypass - even dematerialized. [Private to Veldygar Arhandor: You will have to post to tell Harue what you know and what to do (i.e. touch the Pasiap symbol and channel a mote of essence into it), I will be controlling her should she not post by tomorrow so something will definitely get done. I'm sorry you got stuck with unresponsive people. :( By this week you will unite with another group.]

Garnet Cog, observing from where she rides invisibly upon Veldygar's shock pike, also states, If you require it I may be able to aid with the lock near the tail, as complex mechanisms fall beneath my purview. However, it may not be necessary. It may be there to mislead, should this door prove to be Essence-locked.

Dezephiel continues to brood, its unpleasant emotions radiating to Veldygar from beneath the ground.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:46, Tue 04 Aug 2009.

Veldygar waited for the last person to go through the door, and, once the mechanism was locked once again, he ascertained that there was noone else before speaking of his discoveries to his companions, before asking Harue to try activating the door.

   Harue ascents to lending her Essence to the cause of escaping this hospital - she suspects grugs or no drugs she won't be visiting it every again and eagerly awaiting getting the door open and the heck out of there.

   She carefully listens to any instructions Veldy has to deliver before feeding the door essence - she is cautious of traps that could be triggered giving it the wrong amount of essence. (Please rolls whatever is necessary and spending a point of willpower.)

Harue cannot tell any certain specifics about the Essence required, though she is reasonably certain there are no further traps associated with the symbol of the Omphalos. After examining it carefully for several minutes, she decides the best way she can test it is one mote at a time.

As she expends her Essence, a green glow forms beneath her hand and channels into the mountain shaped symbol, lighting up the grooves that make up the crags and peaks detailing the mountain's shape, and finally filling in the outer surrounding circle. She finds she has spent about ten motes, when the door starts to shudder.

Again the dragon carving shifts, as gears churn loudly within the door. Harue hears a voice in her mind, Welcome, Chosen of Sextes Jylis, to the District of Earth, Immaculate Inner Temple.

The door rises, allowing the three Exalts into the chambers within.

---

OOC: Well there you go. You will get some XP and then a new thread (Floor B25 - District of Earth, Inner Temple Level 1) ...hopefully soon.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:47, Tue 04 Aug 2009.