The Return of the Scarlet Empress OOC

[Maugan Ra]

I fully expect the Kung Fu movie shenanigans to restart at some point. Should be rather fun, honestly - I always like investing points in Athletics so I can justify the craziest stuff as part of the fight.

And yeah, I think we've reached an area where the rest of the party can get involved again. I admit, I'm particularly looking forwards to see how Skandi gets along with us newcomers...

[Ifni]

Ah yes, Skandi. Orchid should probably apologize for chucking that rock at him... (and ask about the scar on his ear!)

There are so many potentially interesting relationships in this group, I'm very much looking forward to it But yeah, "Skandi Dragonsbane" and Zhou could be a lot of fun

[Maugan Ra]

I remain firmly convinced that Skandi and Zhou are either going to get along spectacularly well, or end up trying to murder each other. In either case, sarcastically disparaging comments are expected.

Because mocking the Full Moon lunar is totally a smart idea.

[The_Snark]

Originally Posted by industrious

I'm also enjoying how we've suddenly shifted gears from "action kung-fu movie" to "political intrigue/spy novel" with the addition of our new players. Not to worry; combat is still forthcoming.

Funny how I get as much use out of my Martial Arts Charms—possibly more!—in the latter than the former. Throne Shadow Style, go figure...

Originally Posted by Ifni

Firing Mastery of Small Manners. Which, on the motivation-reading thing, ka-bounces off Isa's natural stats (Manip 3 + Socialize 4 + subterfuge specialty, assuming the character sheet at the start of the thread is correct), and kind of cries hopelessly at the Resplendency-enhanced ones.

I'm not sure how much of the last part is covered by Isa's mind-reading action; adapt as you see fit.

Eris doesn't know about mind-reading hearthstones, but she does know a Charm that would account for a change in focus by Maren right after a seemingly innocuous exchange between Zhou and Orchid. (Sagacious Reading of Intent: "To let my friend know I'm not going to turn her in" / "To thank Zhou for not denouncing me to the Cleansing") And still really has no good sense of the differences between her Charms and those of other Exalted, and of course no knowledge at all of how Sidereal Charms work.

Also, she guesses right a good chunk of the time, but also has some very incorrect guesses But I think they're reasonable, at least as thoughts!

All seems reasonable enough, though I do wonder if being unable to read someone's motives should be quite so... obvious. It seems like someone with a high Manipulate+Socialize ought to be able to come off as innocuous or even present a false impression, as opposed to stonewalling. In this particular case I'm totally OK with it, because Orchid is supernaturally good at reading people and Isa is stonewalling. (Normally she'd pay more attention to her act, but she just learned she's talking to a Celestial Exalt of some sort...) Just something to consider in future.

Also, you forgot Lion Mouse Stratagem, which further interferes with trying to get a handle on Maren. Intellectually, Zhou and Orchid might know she's more than she seems, but there's unnatural mental influence at work here. She just seems so harmless!

[Maugan Ra]

Zhou hasn't even begun to consider Maren as a threat. Indeed, thanks to Lion Mouse Strategem and the fact that he's immensely distracted by the whole 'Holy crap I've been making friends with a Solar', he's unconsciously been dismissing her as little more than a pawn of Child's that the Sidereal wants closer to hand.

He doesn't mean to do it - actually, he's not usually the sort to outright dismiss anyone - but a combination of the Resplendent Destiny, a specialist charm and Isa's own inherent skills have got him pretty much completely fooled.

[Ifni]

Originally Posted by The_Snark

All seems reasonable enough, though I do wonder if being unable to read someone's motives should be quite so... obvious. It seems like someone with a high Manipulate+Socialize ought to be able to come off as innocuous or even present a false impression, as opposed to stonewalling. In this particular case I'm totally OK with it, because Orchid is supernaturally good at reading people and Isa is stonewalling.

Right - the thing is, Orchid's very sure Maren is more than she seems right now, because if she was exactly what she seemed Child would not have asked them to get her and JET would probably not have triggered when it did. So when she tries to probe for more and can't tell anything beyond what she saw on a surface level (since from what you wrote it sounded like the nervousness was really obvious but Maren was stonewalling past that) - using a Charm that reliably gives her in an instant the kind of intuition that usually takes five minutes of careful observation to build up - her inference is not "nothing to see here", it's "wow, she's pretty good at hiding the truth".

(Note, this isn't a clue she's Exalted, or anything - mundane Manip+Socialize 7 is enough to beat it - but it does imply her Manip+Socialize pool is equal to Orchid's. Which means she's a lot better at the intrigue thing than Child, say )

That said I would not have a problem with being able to deliberately misdirect people, although it seems like it should probably require some kind of roll/stunt; usually it takes a botch or some action on the other person's part to give actively misleading information, as opposed to "you can't really tell".

In this case, it seemed pretty clear what Isa intended her to see, so I wrote the post on that assumption - but if I get something like this wrong and you would prefer me to change it, please do let me know and I'll edit it ASAP. (I can also modify it in this case, if you would like. Especially as I didn't realize you had Lion Mouse Stratagem up, gah...)

(Normally she'd pay more attention to her act, but she just learned she's talking to a Celestial Exalt of some sort...)

Heh. Good to know Orchid isn't the only one distracted

Also, you forgot Lion Mouse Stratagem, which further interferes with trying to get a handle on Maren. Intellectually, Zhou and Orchid know she's more than she seems, but there's unnatural mental influence at work here. She just seems so harmless!

Ack I completely failed to notice that was active! (clearly, it works on players too ) Really sorry. Is there anything you feel I need to edit? It does add another reason (besides intense curiosity) for Orchid not to be overly paranoid right now.

EDIT: Made a couple of minor changes to my previous post to reflect that Orchid should be automatically downgrading Maren as a threat. Will think about further edits...

And yeah, heh, MoSM just curls up in a corner and cries. Hmm. Maybe I should just edit out that last bit, since the UMI from Lion Mouse is a reasonable counter to my argument above that she should be interpreting "everything is just fine!" as evidence for skill in concealment. (Or alternatively, maybe the cognitive dissonance there should provoke her to either spend 2 WP or put her hand in her pocket and touch her hearthstone that breaks UMI. Hmmm...)

EDIT2: Given The_Snark's okay with it, I'll leave it as is, at this point.

[The_Snark]

Originally Posted by Ifni

Ack I completely failed to notice that was active! (clearly, it works on players too ) Is there anything you feel I need to edit? It does add another reason (besides intense curiosity) for Orchid not to be overly paranoid right now.

Nope, 's all good - I actually thought you wrote this post with that in mind. I was writing Isa pretending to be harmless and unobtrusive, and you were reacting to that pretense, so all is well. Lion Mouse Stratagem is a mild Illusion at best - that's why it only inflicts a penalty to rolls, rather than flat-out saying "you believe this unless you spend Willpower".

Edit - and in retrospect, I'm not sure I mentioned it was active, except for noting the committed Essence on her character sheet. Oops.

Plus, from an OOC perspective I'm not at all unhappy to have Isa's cover blown. The problem with a character who's really good at remaining in the background and staying unnoticed is that, well, you tend to stay in the background a lot.

[Ifni]

Originally Posted by The_Snark

Nope, 's all good - I actually thought you wrote this post with that in mind. I was writing Isa pretending to be harmless and unobtrusive, and you were reacting to that pretense. I would've mentioned earlier if I thought it was getting ignored.

Plus, from an OOC perspective I'm not at all unhappy to have Isa's cover blown. The problem with a character who's really good at remaining in the background and staying unnoticed is that, well, you tend to stay in the background a lot.

I knew Isa was pretending to be harmless and unobtrusive, and she's good at that, so yes, I was reacting to that pretense - I just hadn't registered that she was backing up her mundane skills + Resplendency with a Charm. Ah well, now I know! And it removes my concern that maybe Orchid was holding the idiot-ball a little in, you know, walking into a meeting with two mysterious Exalts when she has absolutely no clue what they are or what the Chosen of the Maidens have been doing for the last 1500 years - I'll blame the UMI, Maren surely poses no threat to her!

Originally Posted by Maugan Ra

he's immensely distracted by the whole 'Holy crap I've been making friends with a Solar'

... damn I want to have that conversation. (Of course, it's possible we're about to have that conversation.)

I also very much want to know (OOC) what Isa's thinking I need... one of those hearthstones and about 8 more dots in the relevant Attribute+Ability

[Maugan Ra]

Incidentally, Zhou only has Occult 1 and Lore 2, so I'm presently capping his knowledge of what an 'Akuma' is at pretty much ghost story levels. He's heard of them, and he thinks they're something to do with demonic possession, but he has no idea what they are beyond that.

And hey, if Orchid is holding an idiot ball, so is Zhou. He's walking into a house with an Anathaema and two basically unknown other Exalts. I put it down to his Valour 5 score.

[Ifni]

Lore 1, Occult 0 here. Demonic possession, um... well, I'm very familiar with the Immaculate doctrines on Anathema?

/clueless Solar

(At least when it comes to occult knowledge rather than political knowledge. For some reason, the god among her Major Contacts didn't tell her very much about the spirit courts - and never mentioned Sidereals at all.)

[The_Snark]

I'm sure your new Sidereal best friends will be happy to educate you on these matters.

Unrelated topic: Industrious, how might you feel about using the simplified Sidereal Astrology rules presented in Shards of the Exalted Dream? They're mostly intended for variant Shards without a full-blown Celestial Bureaucracy to justify all the little rituals and such, but they also make it a lot easier to actually use astrology. It's supposed to be something all Sidereals can do, but in practice it takes a fair bit of investment to achieve even basic competence...

(Also could use Tavar's thoughts here; wouldn't want to switch if he prefers the standard ruleset. But now that I've actually looked at the alternate rules, I like them a lot more. We might actually get to use resplendencies...)

[industrious]

Originally Posted by The_Snark

I'm sure your new Sidereal best friends will be happy to educate you on these matters.

Unrelated topic: Industrious, how might you feel about using the simplified Sidereal Astrology rules presented in Shards of the Exalted Dream? They're mostly intended for variant Shards without a full-blown Celestial Bureaucracy to justify all the little rituals and such, but they also make it a lot easier to actually use astrology. It's supposed to be something all Sidereals can do, but in practice it takes a fair bit of investment to achieve even basic competence...

(Also could use Tavar's thoughts here; wouldn't want to switch if he prefers the standard ruleset. But now that I've actually looked at the alternate rules, I like them a lot more. We might actually get to use resplendencies...)

Hey! Chimes was counting on a monopoly on education about Sidereals!

As for Sidereal Astrology, I've been working on my own solution to the problem since the campaign started. It's still not entirely finished, but I believe we can start trying it out now, given how little Astrology has been used other than the free resplendency I gave you both.

Industrious's Revised Astrology Ruleset:

Spoiler

1. Prayer Roll - Unchanged, at difficulty 6. However, Sidereals may, with in-character justification, add their Backing or Connections backgrounds to all rolls while in Yu-Shan. They also receive an automatic success for rolling while in Yu-Shan, and an additional success if in the Loom of Fate itself. Succeeding on a petition reduces the difficulty of the prayer roll by (succcesses - difficulty), with a difficulty of 2 for 15 minutes, and 4 for a misc. action. Cosignatories add extra dice as per usual. If this would reduce the difficulty below zero...great!
2. Effect Roll - Hey. Ignore this. You get effect points equal to (Essence + College Rating + Craft[Fate]/2 + surplus successes on Prayer Roll).
3. Paradox - Double all Paradox dice rolled. Sorry. However, any amount of Paradox can be vented after creating a destiny (hereby referred to as "the original"). Doing so provides the GM with effect points x2 to create one or more other destinies, either opposing or tangentially related to the original (the new destinies must be in the same grouping, if not college as the original). For example: Emerald Stormwrack wants to make Nexus's fashion change so that skimpy attire is more acceptable, the better to engage his senses (put politely). Creating the destiny via The Lovers, he decides to vent all his Paradox(9); doing so creates other unintended destinies; while people now feel more confident striding around in their undergarments, a fad of "nude poetry readings" also emerged (under the Musician), those engaged in romance felt an even stronger taboo towards physical consummation before marriage (The Ewer), and lawmakers decided to pass a law that would ensure people were not alone in bars and taverns (Ewer again). (please note, this did not happen in game).
4. Pattern Bite: Ignore it. However, reaching Paradox 10 has it's own problems; at that level, the GM creates a nemesis of some kind. Someone(s) dedicated to removing either the destiny, the area affected, or the individual who placed it. This can range from a small Fair Folk incursion in the area to a Celestial Exaltation of someone who will oppose that destiny (note: Laying Destinies such that you Pattern Bite someone into fulfilling your real goals can occur. But you might end up with a party of Fair Folk in the area instead).

[Tavar]

Do you have access to Shards? And did you mean for the effect points to be straight essence +college?

Much better limit mechanic, though, as it no longer promises to take a character out of the running. Main worry is that it fills omg fast.

[Ifni]

Originally Posted by The_Snark

I'm sure your new Sidereal best friends will be happy to educate you on these matters.

Originally Posted by industrious

Hey! Chimes was counting on a monopoly on education about Sidereals!

Everyone wants to indoctrinate the Solar I feel kinda like I'm in the middle of a Sun King Seneschal vs Gold Faction tug-of-war, only with less flattery (and without any Seneschals or GoldSids actually being involved*)...

*Er, unless Chimes is a Seneschal, which I guess isn't out of the question; their inner circle is pretty cynical and doesn't romanticize Solars the way their rank-and-file membership do.

Oh well, /prepares Judge's Ear Technique and social perfect parry

Orchid is still planning to go talk to Chimes, if her new Sidereal best friends will let her out of their sight. She was just trying to get some more information he doesn't have first, to establish a better bargaining position (and so as not to completely miss the opportunity to get that information, since Chimes is well-established enough in Nexus that she's pretty sure he'll still be here in a few hours, and the same isn't true of Child).

On the other topic, I definitely approve our Sidereals not having to deal with the MoEP:Sids Pattern Bite mechanics; just from a quick read they look horrifying.

[The_Snark]

Originally Posted by industrious

As for Sidereal Astrology, I've been working on my own solution to the problem since the campaign started. It's still not entirely finished, but I believe we can start trying it out now, given how little Astrology has been used other than the free resplendency I gave you both.

On first glance, I like it. Prayer roll is a bit easier. Effect roll no longer such a pain (also, Craft [Fate] actually does something!). Paradox is less agonizingly painful.

[Maugan Ra]

Zhou doesn't want to indoctrinate the Solar, if it helps

It's probably a good thing that they couldn't hash it out the moment he worked out the truth. Time passing has left him the chance to cool down from the initial instinctive reaction and let that compassion score do its work. It helps that they're both going into a strange and potentially dangerous new situation, since it makes him instinctively side with the person he knows over these strange new folk.

That said, he's not entirely sure he buys the concept of a rogue Abyssal. In-fighting is a much easier concept for him to accept, especially with the whole Thorns and necromancy thing.

[Ifni]

Originally Posted by Maugan Ra

Zhou doesn't want to indoctrinate the Solar, if it helps

Well, no, but he doesn't need to, at this point she's rather firmly on his side

It's probably a good thing that they couldn't hash it out the moment he worked out the truth. Time passing has left him the chance to cool down from the initial instinctive reaction and let that compassion score do its work.

Mm, for Orchid IC that's certainly a good thing - probably OOC a good thing for their future friendship, too, although I would've been interested to see more of the initial instinctive reaction.

(Incidentally, if Zhou and Orchid ever got into a fight I'm pretty sure Zhou would win, even setting aside the "if their animas flared, Zhou would probably have a lot more incoming backup than Eris" factor. He's E4, which means his personal/peripheral pools are actually larger than hers, and he has noticeably more investment in combat-useful hearthstone/charms/artifacts/Abilities. If she'd bought Solar Melee Charms rather than Investigation/Socialize/Presence/Linguistics Charms it might go the other way, but she didn't. It just amuses me a little to see Zhou characterizing Solars as people with immense individual power, and Isa thinking that she wouldn't pick a fight with a Solar because she's not suicidal - it's totally reasonable, as they don't have a good handle on Orchid's abilities and it's much better to be safe than sorry, but physical combat is not really her Thing despite high Melee+Resistance.)

It helps that they're both going into a strange and potentially dangerous new situation, since it makes him instinctively side with the person he knows over these strange new folk.

That said, he's not entirely sure he buys the concept of a rogue Abyssal. In-fighting is a much easier concept for him to accept, especially with the whole Thorns and necromancy thing.

Of course, the rogue Abyssal has probably vanished due to her player quitting So we may end up slandering poor Penumbra unfairly...

(Although if Pen was still in the game, she and Eris would not get along. For oh so many reasons.)

[Maugan Ra]

His instinctual reaction would have been 'you lied to be', pretty much. For a scrupulously honest individual, such total subterfuge is distasteful. Fortunately, time to consider it has presently led him to 'of course she had to lie, there are bloody Immaculates everywhere'.

And while in an OoC sense he'd likely win a fight, strictly in-character he knows that they're roughly evenly matched in their sparring. But he also knows that they've never fought properly, with Daiklaives and charms, so he's unsure of how it would end up turning out anyway.

He's sort of hoping they never have to find out...

[The_Snark]

Originally Posted by Ifni

(Incidentally, if Zhou and Orchid ever got into a fight I'm pretty sure Zhou would win, even setting aside the "if their animas flared, Zhou would probably have a lot more incoming backup than Eris" factor. He's E4, which means his personal/peripheral pools are actually larger than hers, and he has noticeably more investment in combat-useful hearthstone/charms/artifacts/Abilities. If she'd bought Solar Melee Charms rather than Investigation/Socialize/Presence/Linguistics Charms it might go the other way, but she didn't. It just amuses me a little to see Zhou characterizing Solars as people with immense individual power, and Isa thinking that she wouldn't pick a fight with a Solar because she's not suicidal - it's totally reasonable, as they don't have a good handle on Orchid's abilities and it's much better to be safe than sorry, but physical combat is not really her Thing despite high Melee+Resistance.)

Well, part of the reason Isa thinks that is because physical combat isn't her thing, either. Like Eris, she has an Excellency and a few defensive Charms (in this case Dodge, rather than Resistance). Oh, and a Join Battle enhancer. But her Excellency adds a maximum of 2 dice, as opposed to 10, and she has a smaller mote pool, and her equipment isn't as good (though it is very unobtrusive). In a fair fight, I suspect.

Of course, "never fight fair" is one of the first things they hammer into new Sidereal recruits. But still. I really want to hurry up and get Martial Arts Auspicious (so Isa has some offensive firepower) and Avoidance Kata (so she can take a rain-check on fights she doesn't like).

Originally Posted by Ifni

Of course, the rogue Abyssal has probably vanished due to her player quitting So we may end up slandering poor Penumbra unfairly...

(Although if Pen was still in the game, she and Eris would not get along. For oh so many reasons.)

The former Dynast who hates deathknights because she grew up in Thorns, and the deathknight who hates Dynasts because she grew up as one of the Realm's chattel slaves... yeah.

[Ifni]

Originally Posted by Maugan Ra

His instinctual reaction would have been 'you lied to be', pretty much. For a scrupulously honest individual, such total subterfuge is distasteful.

Yep. That's why she tried to apologize (subtly), and why she'll be opening with a proper apology when they get a chance to talk about it. He's the only one in the group who hasn't triggered Judge's Ear Technique when talking to her, he has been scrupulously honest, and she... hasn't. And if he judges people on their actions, "person who's been lying to me from the beginning of our friendship" isn't a great place to start.

Fortunately, time to consider it has presently led him to 'of course she had to lie, there are bloody Immaculates everywhere'.

It occurred to me after the fact that the way he figured it out might also have helped there, since she'd just explained to him exactly what the Immaculates thought of Anathema, and dropped those hints about being judged on her nature and not her actions.

And while in an OoC sense he'd likely win a fight, strictly in-character he knows that they're roughly evenly matched in their sparring. But he also knows that they've never fought properly, with Daiklaives and charms, so he's unsure of how it would end up turning out anyway.

He's sort of hoping they never have to find out...

Fortunately, that seems likely, at least modulo Limit Breaks Orchid's pretty close to establishing an Intimacy to Zhou, and once she does - Conviction 5 makes Intimacies hard to build but also hard to erode.

Re Isa's combat abilities, yeah, understood. (I'm a little jealous of Essence Auspicious, and sad it got the Native keyword, although I can totally understand why ) Isa and Eris seem to have a fair bit in common, actually, in general approach.

The former Dynast who hates deathknights because she grew up in Thorns, and the deathknight who hates Dynasts because she grew up as one of the Realm's chattel slaves... yeah.

Yup. Also Eris works as a contractor for the Guild on a pretty regular basis. And Pen is wearing artifacts made out of Dragon-Bloods, which is way way way too close to the Patchwork Regalia (i.e. the cloak made from the bodies of Thorns' Dragon-Blooded defenders, worn by the Mask's chief representative).

[industrious]

Originally Posted by Tavar

Do you have access to Shards? And did you mean for the effect points to be straight essence +college?

Much better limit mechanic, though, as it no longer promises to take a character out of the running. Main worry is that it fills omg fast.

Originally Posted by The_Snark

On first glance, I like it. Prayer roll is a bit easier. Effect roll no longer such a pain (also, Craft [Fate] actually does something!). Paradox is less agonizingly painful.

I do have access to Shards, but I feel that Alternate Astrology simplifies it far too much, doesn't give you as many options, and takes too long. It also fails to manage Paradox, which is, obviously, the big issue, and in fact, it makes Paradox even worse as it accumulates faster.

My homebrewed patch gives you even more Paradox, but it's a narrative, rather than a punishment mechanic. Designing it, I'm trying to show that trying to manipulate Fate always has unintended consequences, and that isolating and manipulating a single variable has huge, rippling effects that can sometimes overpower or subvert the original intent.

Re: Penumbra, I haven't heard anything from Incendius in quite a while, unfortunately. So right now, in-game she's suddenly vanished, but I have an IC justification for the whole thing and a ready-made excuse should Incendius ever reappear.

[industrious]

I think that from here to "picking up Isa" counts as a session as well. Very nice spy work from everyone.

[Aevylmar]

Skandi's sort of half going "Hey, new backup! Apparently Child likes them! Let's get started" and half going "I clearly ought to let these people think I trust them while not betraying the Silver Pact" with a bit of "Ooh, Lookshy! Everyone says they have the best soldiers, and they fight the Realm. I wonder if they're any good."

He doesn't know Zhou much yet, but he seriously underestimates both him and Orchid. Skandi is very used to being the most dangerous person in the room; Sidereals are unpredictable, but Terrestrials are Elite Mooks.

[Ifni]

Hmm. I was going to post, but I might let Isa react to the mention of Burning Waters first (The_Snark, if you're around and working on a post, let me know? If Isa's hiding her reaction, I'll go ahead and post my response to Skandi - or if I finish it before I hear anything, I may post it anyway, I can always delete bits later if Isa interrupts me half a sentence in.)
EDIT: Went ahead and posted. Will delete as necessary if Isa has an immediate obvious reaction to Waters' name. If not, I probably just gave her some cover for her reaction

And Orchid is just fine with being underestimated by Skandi. Delighted, in fact

EDIT: Actually, two more questions.
-Does Skandi actually believe the necromancer at the Lookshy fort was an Abyssal? Orchid has Judge's Ear Technique active (lie-detector charm). If I remember correctly, they know he's a necromancer but his Exalt type wasn't clear (I might be misremembering).
-Industrious, re your last OOC post, thanks Does that mean +4 XP for everyone? And do you mean the session lasted from the previous session end to picking up Isa, or something else? (if there was another session endpoint declared before we went down to the shrine and met up with Isa, I missed it) Or do you just mean a scene endpoint?

[The_Snark]

Originally Posted by industrious

I do have access to Shards, but I feel that Alternate Astrology simplifies it far too much, doesn't give you as many options, and takes too long. It also fails to manage Paradox, which is, obviously, the big issue, and in fact, it makes Paradox even worse as it accumulates faster.

Yeah, the simplified version has its issues: it still calls for a high-difficulty prayer roll (higher than the standard version, often), it doesn't fix Paradox at all, and you lose a lot of options when choosing duration and such. But I still think it's a step up from the standard rules, and I didn't realize "Industrious writes his own revision" was on the table.

Edit - though I do rather like the ability to create destinies that can be both blessing and curse, like "you will be unmatched with a spear til the day you kill a red-haired woman" or "all your enterprises shall fail here in Chiaroscuro, but fortune awaits you across the sea in Lookshy." I suppose that can be done by creating multiple destinies, though.

Originally Posted by industrious

I think that from here to "picking up Isa" counts as a session as well. Very nice spy work from everyone.

Huzzah! That corresponds to... 4 XP? Or were we doing XP separately from sessions? Can't recall what standard procedure is.

Originally Posted by Ifni

EDIT: Went ahead and posted. Will delete as necessary if Isa has an immediate obvious reaction to Waters' name. If not, I probably just gave her some cover for her reaction

Nah, you're good; Isa's instinct when caught off balance is to conceal everything. She's already pretty surprised at everything else that's being revealed, so any reaction to his name is no more than you'd expect.

Also, just wondering - how did Orchid know that the necromancer was targeting Sidereal families and such? It's not a big deal, because Isa was about to say so anyway, and I may have missed the bit where Child told her/she used Charms to work it out; but it struck me as odd.


Question for our Storyteller: acting out of character while under a resplendent destiny inflicts Paradox. Does openly discussing Sidereals and things that Maren really shouldn't know about count? If not, she probably won't, to save on Willpower and make sure that Arcane Fate doesn't erase inconvenient parts of this conversation*. But if she's going to rack up lots of Paradox, probably best to risk it.

*Not before she wants it to, anyway. Once the immediate situation is resolved and Maren ceases to exist...

[industrious]

Originally Posted by The_Snark

Yeah, the simplified version has its issues: it still calls for a high-difficulty prayer roll (higher than the standard version, often), it doesn't fix Paradox at all, and you lose a lot of options when choosing duration and such. But I still think it's a step up from the standard rules, and I didn't realize "Industrious writes his own revision" was on the table.

Edit - though I do rather like the ability to create destinies that can be both blessing and curse, like "you will be unmatched with a spear til the day you kill a red-haired woman" or "all your enterprises shall fail here in Chiaroscuro, but fortune awaits you across the sea in Lookshy." I suppose that can be done by creating multiple destinies, though.



Huzzah! That corresponds to... 4 XP? Or were we doing XP separately from sessions? Can't recall what standard procedure is.



Nah, you're good; Isa's instinct when caught off balance is to conceal everything. She's already pretty surprised at everything else that's being revealed, so any reaction to his name is no more than you'd expect.

Also, just wondering - how did Orchid know that the necromancer was targeting Sidereal families and such? It's not a big deal, because Isa was about to say so anyway, and I may have missed the bit where Child told her/she used Charms to work it out; but it struck me as odd.


Question for our Storyteller: acting out of character while under a resplendent destiny inflicts Paradox. Does openly discussing Sidereals and things that Maren really shouldn't know about count? If not, she probably won't, to save on Willpower and make sure that Arcane Fate doesn't erase inconvenient parts of this conversation*. But if she's going to rack up lots of Paradox, probably best to risk it.

*Not before she wants it to, anyway. Once the immediate situation is resolved and Maren ceases to exist...

Yes, this means 4 XP.

As to your other question: Yes, talking about Sidereals as Maren would be out of character.

[Lix Lorn]

I want to try and exist again. ._. Is now a good time?

[industrious]

Now is a great time to have Sierra speak up. This is the time to meet the new party (not the same as the old party).

[Ifni]

Originally Posted by The_Snark

Also, just wondering - how did Orchid know that the necromancer was targeting Sidereal families and such?

Because Skandi just said so.

Originally Posted by Aevylmar

"Necro-boy is an Abyssal with a hit list going after the friends and family of Sidereals, so we drive him off, wipe out his zombie horde, and go chasing him."

Working with the Subtlety Squad has occasional disadvantages, as Orchid has been learning

[industrious]

I'm very tempted to have Emerald show up to complete the Squad, but you lot seem to be having a very good time without him.

No, this isn't because he's really really hungover at the moment. Why do you ask?