The guard turns the corner, running as fast as his legs can take him.

The Exalts feel that they'd better get going very soon, too. The battle itself was relatively short, but they have a long way left to run.

[Private to Dyron Reva: Sure, it can count as a sacrifice. However, prayer roll is Charisma + Performance, Diff 3 (the equipment you're sacrificing is Res 4).

As for the gods of Five Coils - well, they are going to definitely be more sympathetic to the Dragon-Blooded than you. The Immaculate Order is the primary religion in Coils, so people are pretty much prohibited from worshiping other spirits. There are only the Immaculate Rituals which venerate the Dragons. There are probably small gods that aid various functions and industries in Coils but worship is kept very, very restricted.

SO, I think the only gods you'd know of to pray to (either instinctively, as a Sidereal, or because you've heard them mentioned as heresies to worship) would be the Maidens, UCS, Luna and Gaia.]

"I'm ... fine," Xurizu says as he finishes pulling the spear out of the other dead guard.  "I'm glad you two were with me," he looks down at the armour the dead water aspect had.  Shame it wasn't me who killed her, he thought momentarily.  She might still have been useful.  Then he kneels down and starts to strip her armour off her.  "This will provide rather better protection than the jacket we found."

"Well, lets get going," he says after he dons the armour, forcing essence into it to lighten it immediately.

After his companions gave him an update on their health.  Dashu begins making his way towards the stairs again, and continues talking:  "Glad  you guys were around too.  Anyone got ideas on how to deal with the checkpoint?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:27, Wed 19 Nov 2008.

She smiles, "Let us look and see if the Gods are willing to direct us." She gathered all the unused items and cut them apart, praying softly, "Oh maiden of Secrets, you know all that there is to know, and all that will ever be known. You know of the darkness around us, and the lost souls against us. You know the fate of the world, above and below. I ask you, for just a fraction of your wisdom, and just a hit of your guidance. Please, great maiden, give me only this, a pathway to walk, and a secret way out, or help to keep us secret. I leave it all in your hands, for you know far better than us." She bowed down, and after using the spear the break all the objects, she took the spear, and placed it standing perfectly center of the sacrifice, perhaps it will fall in the direction best to go, or luck would decide instead.

[Private to GM: Channleing Conviction. Need to escape alive! 3 success... Stunt Dice?]

"No ideas, I'm sorry," he says to Dashu, a little wearyness in his voice.  I must have once known how to deal with something like this ... no memories now.

Xurizu watched the ritual with interest.  Something about it seemed correct, but he couldn't remember ever having performed something similar.  "Excuse me, but who is this Maiden to whom you pray?"

When he realizes his friends aren't moving with him, Dashu stops moving towards the stairs and stands several yards away from Reva, becoming somewhat annoyed with the further delay caused by the prayer.  However, after a brief's moment introspection, he realizes that his annoyance is a product of not fully understanding the utility of her actions.  He reasons that she is fully aware of the need for haste and opts to keep his mouth shut and trust his companion.  However, despite his continued silence and slight interest in the prayer, his desire for haste is evident from his nervous glances and tapping foot.  "Come on,"  he thought, "we can't have more than 25 minutes before the purging starts and we've got some ground to cover."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:30, Wed 19 Nov 2008.

There is an answer to Reva's prayer, though it may not be the one that she wants. The offerings disappear in a haze of green-tinged smoke that fades, turning invisible as it seeps upward, unhindered by mundane obstacles, to reach the Maiden in Heaven.

Reva's spear, when it falls, points the exact same direction that the group would have moved anyway. Either the answer is that there is no other way, or perhaps something may be found along the way to aid. Again, the gods are mysterious, and one can either put faith in their wisdom or depend on their own mettle to survive.

[Private to Dyron Reva: BTW, you don't get the feeling the Maiden ignored you. You actually feel your prayer WAS heard. Just not in any obvious way... yet.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:50, Wed 12 Nov 2008.

"Stairs it is, then,"  Dashu said under his breath while rolling his eyes slightly.  We waited for his companions to catch him, but as soon as his they reached his side, he began to jog along side them.

Xurizu's question is for the moment met with silence, as their priority is to run, not talk.

The group continues their mad rush to escape the prison facility, realizing they have little choice. The way there is far from a direct one, but between Dashu's quick thinking mind and Xerizu's finely honed senses they are able to navigate their way through the rest of the maze without issue.

Finally, they're racing through the final stretch. The checkpoint is close, and they hear sounds of battle from the corridor just ahead -- along with an unpleasant announcement: "T-minus twenty minutes until purging commences."

---

OOC: Basically you're running through a side passage opening up into a wider corridor... the corridor is the main one leading to the checkpoint. So at this point you hear battle but don't see it, and you can either slow down to try and get a careful look or just start running toward the battle.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:59, Wed 12 Nov 2008.

"Hey guys, how do you feel about not getting involved in this, if at all possible and just making a break for it?  I'm thinking just run up the wall and going around the commotion."

"Avoiding conflict sounds like a grand plan if we can manage it, yes," Xurizu says softly.  "Though I'm curious who .... or what ... is fighting."

Dashu believes Xurizu's words are reasonable and replied in a very soft voice, "Fair enough, lets take a peek."  He inches his way up to the corner and peers around the edge.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:29, Wed 19 Nov 2008.

She nods with the others about taking a peek. She was ready for this fight but could only hope to avoid a fight. She only knew how to fight due to her childhood scrapes and secret training. Sadly, training in secret was not the best way to become a master of combat. She was hoping to find a hint on how to get pass the guards without blood shed. She glanced back behind the group, maybe if the guards come down this way she could dodge into one of the doors. That gave her an idea, but if she could pull it off, that was another question.

[Private to GM: My charms are still in effect, right?]

Taking a peek into the next corridor, the Exalts see that it is smooth and uninterrupted by other side passages. There are about fifteen yards between you and the obstruction at the end of the hall: this, you assume, is the checkpoint. An imposing mechanized door blocks the way to the outer limits of Forbidden B31, barring it from floor to ceiling.

Barely three yards from the door stands a lone man in a black and crimson composite battle armor, compact and form-fitting. He is fighting against two figures in dragon armor apparently refitted for aquatic combat: one red jade with a power mace, the other green jade with an essence whip. Another fang of mortal support in similarly refitted ashigaru armor accompany them. Two of those have already been downed, lying prone on the floor nearby, but three more mortal guards still surround the lone armored fighter with their better-armored leaders.

Though grossly outnumbered, the man does not appear to be overwhelmed, at least not yet. In one hand he wields a short daiklave--more like a long knife, from its construction and the method by which he wields it. In the other he holds four throwing knives, which in his hands pierce through armor and fly obediently back to his hand. [Private to Dyron Reva: Reva is certain the weapons he? holds are starmetal. Though the armor is not.] He does not seem to be injured, but it's difficult to tell with all the metal everyone is wearing.

The other item of interest that can be seen from the escapees' vantage point is a small alcove embedded into the right side of the corridor, inches from the door. One assumes that the glow of magitech inside indicates that this is where the controls for the massive door would be located.

[Private to Dyron Reva: Yes! Still the same scene, so your charms are still up.]

She stands still for several seconds after seeing the sight, almost if thinking about her next action. Then her shards start flickering around her, chunks of fate warp vision and perception. The world around her seems to have flickers of green, blue, red, and many other things, fragments of other places that Reva might be some day. A leaf drifts from one shard to the next, vanishing as it leave is boundary. Then the shards shake and mold, gluing together into a solid image. But the person, is unknown. She seems to be all at once there but missing, as if she is in the other places and no longer here. Looking at her, noticing her, even speaking at her, seem to be impossible. As she vanishes into the world, twisted in fate and steps out, trying to determine more.

[Private to GM: (Blinding the Boar, 3 Success, 5m 1W, 5 Actions remaining, Move Action, Charm Use)]

Dashu looks at Xurizu and says "Do you have any idea as to what just happened?"

[Private to GM: Hey, I'm rolling to see if I can't notice what she's doing.
10:37, Today: Peleps Dashu rolled 4 successes using 8d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,3,7,10,3,4,5,8. Notice Reva.]
This message was last edited by the player at 16:40, Fri 14 Nov 2008.

Xurizu looked away from the space in the world where there used to be a Sidereal and yet now there was not.  "... some kind of charm?" he hazarded, and then shook his head.

Dashu strained his eyes and ears to try and detect the location of his companion and to see what she was doing.  He finally replied to Xurizu,"Probably so.  I think we should wait for her to get back to act though."

Dashu and Xurizu can, with some effort, just barely sense a nondescript blur that might be Reva creeping down the corridor. Possibly trying to get a closer look of the battle and the door mechanisms?

[Private to Dyron Reva: What exactly are you doing? If you're actually trying to sneak over towards the door, you should explicitly roll Dex+Stealth so I can add those successes to your BtB roll. Also, what information are you looking for? Tell me so I can type something up for you.]

Now that her charm was finished she slowly started creeping forwards, being as silent as she could. Her charm cloaked her well, but being careful was better than blindly charging. She paid as close attention to every detail as she could, trying to figure out who this man was, make sure that it was guards he was fight, see if she could noticed the guard who fled them, and figure out any more details about the weapons he held, so lovely.

[Private to GM: Sorry, 2 success on Stealth, and Awareness, Moving closer again, I think that cuts me down to 4 Actions for my charm. I figured I couldn't really start sneaking much last post because of the simple charm taking it up, this action I can really start the sneaking... I guess, lol. Exalted rules are really fuzzy on things like 'Length of an action outside Combat']

What Reva sees:

The man's face is covered by a crimson faceplate, so his features impossible to see. However the mask is unusual in that it only has one eyeslit for the right eye. Beneath the eyeslit are painted three slender, pointed markings -- difficult to tell exactly what they are in the heat of battle.

His hair does show through though. It's long and black, pulled up into a partial topknot, with the loose strands bound into several thin braids. At the end of each braid hangs a metal ring of cold iron.

The people he is fighting are definitely Five Coils guardians (Dashu and Xurizu would be certain of this as well). Dragon armor of any make is reserved only for Jade Officers, whether in the Peace Corps or the Strike Force. The mortals in the modified ashigaru armor are their footsoldiers (and no Reva doesn't notice the guard that ran in this group). The ordinary soldiers are no match at all for the mysterious fighter, but the two Dragon-blooded could likely hold their own with him, at least enough to keep him away from the magitech console.

Lastly the weapons: all Reva can confirm is their starmetal construction. Custom-made weapons forged personally for him, most likely.

Meanwhile Reva's companions continue to wait around the corner... wherever she has gone, the combatants do not seem to have noticed her in the slightest. What will Dashu and Xurizu do?
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:31, Sat 15 Nov 2008.

"Hey Xurizu, I have an idea.  When Reva gets back and fills us in on the details she's, why don't you change back into that snake form and sneak over to that panel.  Maybe you can open up the door over there.  If it attacks any notice, then I'll try and draw some of the guards away from you."

She could only hope, and pray, that this man was like her, a Sidereal. She wished such facts to be true, and assumed them to for her hope was that strong. She must help, no time to tell the others. She Dashed (Moved?) to get close enough to attack, and from her stealth, she struck out, to disable a guard.

She moved behind the guard and lashed out with a sweeping kick, then, switched directs she came back with her heel kicking the guard again.

[Private to GM: 2 kicks, Kick 1, 5 success, kick 2, 7 success, 6L, 6L]

"Or we can all get in a fight," Dashu says once he sees the commotion Reva started.  "You think you can open the gate while I keep them off of you or should we switch rolls?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:31, Wed 19 Nov 2008.

"Looks like we're all getting in a fight," he agrees.  "Having seen you fight, I think I'm far better off trying the door."  How hard can one door be to open?