Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
[Exalted 2e] Chosen of the Second Age
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Delemental" data-source="post: 4965381" data-attributes="member: 5203"><p><strong>Laid Bare</strong></p><p></p><p>Okay, so I'm going to be posting a bunch of small stories that were written by players as supplements to the main story. So these don't represent 'table-time', as it were, but out of game activity.</p><p></p><p>These first four actually take place some time back, when our circle went to Chrysanthemum for the first time and dealt with the zombifying plague there. There is one for each character.</p><p></p><p>In the future, I will try to be better about posting these in their proper place in the overall story.</p><p></p><p>--------------------------------------</p><p></p><p> A tall, slender figure ran through the streets, barely visible in the moonlight. His passage around and through the city of Chrysanthemum went unobserved, which was probably a good thing, for any observer would have been quite startled to see this stranger pass by, for he was completely nude.</p><p></p><p> Ghost maintained a steady but easy pace, smiling at the feel of the night air on his skin. He was cold, but not as much as one might expect – his exertion combined with his Exalted nature saw to that. A slight noise from the street ahead caught his ear, and he came to a halt. In the yard of a small dwelling, a large dog paced inside a pen that was clearly too small for it. Ghost’s smile widened. For once, he could feel empathy for this animal.</p><p></p><p> He climbed a nearby wall, and then walked over to where a squat chimney protruded from the roof of the building, and leaned against the stone surface in its moon-shadow, borrowing the warmth it radiated from the fire below. He was atop one of Chrysanthemum’s three taverns, and so the hearth below would be piled high with wood and blazing to ward off the chill of the night, as well as the lingering chill felt in the hearts of the people, as they recovered from the zombie attack and subsequent plague that had afflicted them some weeks ago. Still, glancing down, he noted with a frown that it was still not as warm as he would like. He contemplated going to retrieve his clothing, but was in no hurry. In all the city, there were but a handful of people who might have seen him, and three of those were his fellow Circle-mates. He amused himself with trying to predict how they might react if they were to spot him; Kaliel would probably say nothing at all, while Ayama would give him one of her disapproving looks, and then interpret every cough or sniffle for days afterward as a sure sign he’d contracted pneumonia. Zanka would probably just faint.</p><p></p><p> Eventually, the cold air won out over the chimney’s feeble warmth, and so he stood and began making his way across the roof, back to his room in Kaliel’s estate. The thrill of the night’s exercise was gone, and so he had little motivation to continue. He’d been walking the streets and rooftops of the city multiple times since their arrival; it was something he did in any city he was in for a long period, as he found it was the best way to get a feel for the place. The problem was that there just wasn’t enough of Chrysanthemum to get a feel for. The city itself was home to only twenty thousand, and they lived in relatively close proximity to each other, making the city feel even smaller. It was practical, considering the need to conserve both building materials and heat, but Ghost was used to the more sprawling cities of the East. It only took him two recitations of <em>The Traveler’s Tale</em> to cross from one end to the other, and only a single time singing through <em>Peacocks and Partridges</em> to circumnavigate the outer wall at a brisk jog.</p><p></p><p> But there was more than just the town’s size that irked Ghost. The city offered little variety in its diversions; he had sampled all of the local frost-wines, ales, and meads, and the other intoxicants available in town were all imported and familiar. The town lacked a proper brothel; such establishments were frequented by soldiers on the march, not by soldiers at home. Most of the attractive women in the city were married or betrothed; not that this was necessarily a large obstacle for him, but he didn’t think that Kaliel would appreciate Ghost leaving his city filled with marital discord. As a consequence, the supply of available women had been small, and was quickly shrinking despite Ghost’s efforts to be conservative.</p><p></p><p> It was this dearth of distractions that had prompted Ghost to focus more on honing his abilities, and testing his limits as best he could under the circumstances. It would not do to become complacent and lose his edge; his less than awe-inspiring performance at the Guild Factor’s estate in Lagan had demonstrated that to him. He’d been lax and inattentive, and it had turned what should have been an elegant job into a bloodbath. His only hope was that it would become but a minor footnote in his overall reputation. And so a simple goal of running around town unseen had progressed to doing so while carrying a heavy burden, then doing so while holding a lantern and a sack of pigeons, and had culminated in this evening’s experiment. He chuckled to himself as he imagined attempting the same exercise tomorrow, but wearing only some sort of phosphorescent body-paint. He would have to ask Ayama if there was a recipe for such a concoction in one of the books they’d taken from Kal Bax’s workshop.</p><p></p><p> He arrived at Kaliel’s house, and after slipping past the sentries, he climbed up to his window and swung inside. He picked up his clothes, which he had wrapped around a skin filled with hot water. Ghost savored the sensation as he dressed, and feeling began to return to his fingertips and toes.</p><p></p><p> <em>Picking a lock after having my hands submerged in ice water,</em> he thought to himself. <em>I’ll have to add that to the list.</em></p><p></p><p> Ghost longed for a real test of his abilities, but that would not come here. There was, simply put, nothing to steal in Chrysanthemum. The people were relatively well-off, but their wealth was not excessive, and was certainly not flaunted. Even Kaliel, who was probably the most prosperous person in the city, lived a fairly frugal lifestyle, and much of his wealth went to the upkeep of his mercenary army and his people. That, more than perhaps anything else, was what made Ghost feel restless. There were so many in Creation that were deserving of his attentions, but none of them were here. He felt as though he was being derelict in his duties as a Solar… and, of course, doing nothing to cement his claim as ‘Creation’s greatest thief’.</p><p></p><p> Fully dressed now, but not even a little tired, Ghost stepped out of his room and walked down the stairs to the main entrance. As he approached, he could hear the two sentries at the door involved in a quiet but lively discussion about Captain Kaliel’s two female companions. Their conversation could certainly be described as ‘complementary’, as far as men were wont to discuss such things, though Ghost doubted that either Zanka or Ayama would be particularly honored by the attention devoted to describing their various attributes. He wondered for a moment why the two sentries had not quieted down at his approach, until he realized that he’d slipped unconsciously into walking silently across the stone floor. He deliberately increased the sounds of his footfalls, and immediately the two men ended their conversation. </p><p></p><p> “I thought I would head over to the Falling Petal,” he said to one of them, naming the tavern that he’d been sitting on top of only a short while ago. “Can I bring you anything? Flagon of mead? Haunch of venison? Serving wench?”</p><p></p><p> The sentry chuckled. “No, thank you, sir. I don’t think the captain would care much for us having any of those on duty.”</p><p></p><p> “Not to mention your wives,” Ghost added. “Perhaps another time.”</p><p></p><p> He walked down the road, feeling oddly satisfied. He knew that the guards would turn their conversation elsewhere; the reminders of their oaths of loyalty and their marital vows would have stolen their enthusiasm. He wasn’t sure why the urge to disrupt their bawdy talk had struck him; both Zanka and Ayama were more than capable of defending their own honor, and the men had said nothing that he himself had not thought many times. The question followed him all the way to the door of the Falling Petal, where it was quickly lost in the roar of the fire and the bottom of a tankard.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Delemental, post: 4965381, member: 5203"] [b]Laid Bare[/b] Okay, so I'm going to be posting a bunch of small stories that were written by players as supplements to the main story. So these don't represent 'table-time', as it were, but out of game activity. These first four actually take place some time back, when our circle went to Chrysanthemum for the first time and dealt with the zombifying plague there. There is one for each character. In the future, I will try to be better about posting these in their proper place in the overall story. -------------------------------------- A tall, slender figure ran through the streets, barely visible in the moonlight. His passage around and through the city of Chrysanthemum went unobserved, which was probably a good thing, for any observer would have been quite startled to see this stranger pass by, for he was completely nude. Ghost maintained a steady but easy pace, smiling at the feel of the night air on his skin. He was cold, but not as much as one might expect – his exertion combined with his Exalted nature saw to that. A slight noise from the street ahead caught his ear, and he came to a halt. In the yard of a small dwelling, a large dog paced inside a pen that was clearly too small for it. Ghost’s smile widened. For once, he could feel empathy for this animal. He climbed a nearby wall, and then walked over to where a squat chimney protruded from the roof of the building, and leaned against the stone surface in its moon-shadow, borrowing the warmth it radiated from the fire below. He was atop one of Chrysanthemum’s three taverns, and so the hearth below would be piled high with wood and blazing to ward off the chill of the night, as well as the lingering chill felt in the hearts of the people, as they recovered from the zombie attack and subsequent plague that had afflicted them some weeks ago. Still, glancing down, he noted with a frown that it was still not as warm as he would like. He contemplated going to retrieve his clothing, but was in no hurry. In all the city, there were but a handful of people who might have seen him, and three of those were his fellow Circle-mates. He amused himself with trying to predict how they might react if they were to spot him; Kaliel would probably say nothing at all, while Ayama would give him one of her disapproving looks, and then interpret every cough or sniffle for days afterward as a sure sign he’d contracted pneumonia. Zanka would probably just faint. Eventually, the cold air won out over the chimney’s feeble warmth, and so he stood and began making his way across the roof, back to his room in Kaliel’s estate. The thrill of the night’s exercise was gone, and so he had little motivation to continue. He’d been walking the streets and rooftops of the city multiple times since their arrival; it was something he did in any city he was in for a long period, as he found it was the best way to get a feel for the place. The problem was that there just wasn’t enough of Chrysanthemum to get a feel for. The city itself was home to only twenty thousand, and they lived in relatively close proximity to each other, making the city feel even smaller. It was practical, considering the need to conserve both building materials and heat, but Ghost was used to the more sprawling cities of the East. It only took him two recitations of [i]The Traveler’s Tale[/i] to cross from one end to the other, and only a single time singing through [i]Peacocks and Partridges[/i] to circumnavigate the outer wall at a brisk jog. But there was more than just the town’s size that irked Ghost. The city offered little variety in its diversions; he had sampled all of the local frost-wines, ales, and meads, and the other intoxicants available in town were all imported and familiar. The town lacked a proper brothel; such establishments were frequented by soldiers on the march, not by soldiers at home. Most of the attractive women in the city were married or betrothed; not that this was necessarily a large obstacle for him, but he didn’t think that Kaliel would appreciate Ghost leaving his city filled with marital discord. As a consequence, the supply of available women had been small, and was quickly shrinking despite Ghost’s efforts to be conservative. It was this dearth of distractions that had prompted Ghost to focus more on honing his abilities, and testing his limits as best he could under the circumstances. It would not do to become complacent and lose his edge; his less than awe-inspiring performance at the Guild Factor’s estate in Lagan had demonstrated that to him. He’d been lax and inattentive, and it had turned what should have been an elegant job into a bloodbath. His only hope was that it would become but a minor footnote in his overall reputation. And so a simple goal of running around town unseen had progressed to doing so while carrying a heavy burden, then doing so while holding a lantern and a sack of pigeons, and had culminated in this evening’s experiment. He chuckled to himself as he imagined attempting the same exercise tomorrow, but wearing only some sort of phosphorescent body-paint. He would have to ask Ayama if there was a recipe for such a concoction in one of the books they’d taken from Kal Bax’s workshop. He arrived at Kaliel’s house, and after slipping past the sentries, he climbed up to his window and swung inside. He picked up his clothes, which he had wrapped around a skin filled with hot water. Ghost savored the sensation as he dressed, and feeling began to return to his fingertips and toes. [i]Picking a lock after having my hands submerged in ice water,[/i] he thought to himself. [i]I’ll have to add that to the list.[/i] Ghost longed for a real test of his abilities, but that would not come here. There was, simply put, nothing to steal in Chrysanthemum. The people were relatively well-off, but their wealth was not excessive, and was certainly not flaunted. Even Kaliel, who was probably the most prosperous person in the city, lived a fairly frugal lifestyle, and much of his wealth went to the upkeep of his mercenary army and his people. That, more than perhaps anything else, was what made Ghost feel restless. There were so many in Creation that were deserving of his attentions, but none of them were here. He felt as though he was being derelict in his duties as a Solar… and, of course, doing nothing to cement his claim as ‘Creation’s greatest thief’. Fully dressed now, but not even a little tired, Ghost stepped out of his room and walked down the stairs to the main entrance. As he approached, he could hear the two sentries at the door involved in a quiet but lively discussion about Captain Kaliel’s two female companions. Their conversation could certainly be described as ‘complementary’, as far as men were wont to discuss such things, though Ghost doubted that either Zanka or Ayama would be particularly honored by the attention devoted to describing their various attributes. He wondered for a moment why the two sentries had not quieted down at his approach, until he realized that he’d slipped unconsciously into walking silently across the stone floor. He deliberately increased the sounds of his footfalls, and immediately the two men ended their conversation. “I thought I would head over to the Falling Petal,” he said to one of them, naming the tavern that he’d been sitting on top of only a short while ago. “Can I bring you anything? Flagon of mead? Haunch of venison? Serving wench?” The sentry chuckled. “No, thank you, sir. I don’t think the captain would care much for us having any of those on duty.” “Not to mention your wives,” Ghost added. “Perhaps another time.” He walked down the road, feeling oddly satisfied. He knew that the guards would turn their conversation elsewhere; the reminders of their oaths of loyalty and their marital vows would have stolen their enthusiasm. He wasn’t sure why the urge to disrupt their bawdy talk had struck him; both Zanka and Ayama were more than capable of defending their own honor, and the men had said nothing that he himself had not thought many times. The question followed him all the way to the door of the Falling Petal, where it was quickly lost in the roar of the fire and the bottom of a tankard. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
[Exalted 2e] Chosen of the Second Age
Top