Looking for players for an Exalted Campaign

Nostruum · Looking for players for an Exalted Campaign

I have a small Exalted group playing on Tuesdays, but the actual day of play is flexible. My players would like me to find a couple more people to play to help fill out the group. It is a fairly skill and social oriented game and the players are hoping to pick up some players to fill in some of their missing skills. Mainly stealth and guile are needed, with perhaps some wilderness skills. Mostly, the group right now is crafters, intellectuals, and social butterflies. Though they have fair skill when it comes to combat.

Exalted itself is a game from White Wolf using a system similar to the World of Darkness with more an swashbuckling twist. Which is to say the game gives rewards for dramatic action.

I was going to leave a backstory of the game, but it was getting long so I think it is best to give a very short explanation instead. The players are humans who have been exalted by the gods to act as their champions in the lands of the mortals. Unfortunately, the different types of Exalted don't always get along and things have gotten a little out of hand and now the world stands on the brink of destruction. The players have to decide if they are going to pull it back from the brink or push it over the edge.

If anyone is interested you can leave a message here for me, email me at kovat@mchsi.com or call Kent at 319-358-2952. Rides can be arranged if needed. We normally play at my place in Coralville. Again we can change the night if Tuesdays do not work out for people that are interested in trying the game out.

Nostruum · The campaign so far

In order to encourage some more players I have decided that I will explain what has happened so far in the campaign.

The main characters so far have been Ledall Canan, a god-blooded patrician of the Realm who fled to the Scavanger Lands to avoid the stygma of his birth, and Unlucky Ore Rat from the city known as Gem where his family made a living as miners.

Unlucky Ore Rat received his exaltation while on a trip to the city of Chairoscuro. Responding to the sound of a womans scream he rushed across the salt lines that hold the undead that haunt the city at bay to come face to face with a Hungry Ghost, though to late to save the woman he promptly avenged her death in a glorious display of the Unconquered Sun's power. Realizing what he had become he set out to search the world of others like himself.

Ledall Canan exalted when he ran into a Guild merchant who had been treed by a demon. Rushing to the merchants aid the power of his anima drew the attention of Unlucky Ore Rat and the two of them defeated the demon together.

After saving the merchants life he explained that the local area had been plagued by demons for the last couple of years and that the locals feared that a gate to Malfease the prison home of the demons had been opened in the area. Deciding that they should investigate further the merchant lead them to a local village that managed to survive because a wandering thaumaturge had decided to set up an inn and warded the village against the demons to keep them at bay. The innkeeper, who the players came to know as Thistle, proved to quite beautiful and a skilled dancer and often entertained the village with the help of her two musically talented brothers. Thomas, a 12 year old child that tended the inns animals, played a variety of instruments with the skill of vertuoso(sp) and Badger, a surly ex-soldier, proved to have a mighty singing voice. Unfortunately, Thistles cooking seemed the greatest threat to the party at the inn.

After searching the local area extensively, without finding a gate to Malfease, and defeating a number of demon bands, some only by the skin of their teeth, Bloody Thistle grew bored of the charade and the loss of her minions. She revealed herself as a Deathknight and tried to slay the party with the help of her fellow Deathknight Badger and Thomas the Nemissary, a ghost that possesses corpses and halts their rot. Being more a schemer than a fighter Bloody Thistle was the first to disappear through an enchanted mirror into the Underworld, but not before issuing an invitation for the party join her at her masters lair. Badger promptly followed after discovering that while he was a superior warrior to Unlucky Ore Rat, Unlucky Ore Rat was a far tougher fighter to hurt he to disappeared through the mirror. The party had to console themselves with slaying Thomas, who moved on to a new body since the party did not have means to detect him in his immaterial form.

Searching the inn the players discovered that Thistle had been plotting to turn the village into a shadowland, gateway to the Underworld, through terror and death. She had used the demons so that none of her masters rivals, who were to close by for comfort, realized that the village was being tormented by a Deathknight, who usually work with undead. The players also discovered that the stew Thistle had been feeding them for weeks was actually the merchant they had rescued on the road and that the inns basement was a torture chamber and human slaughter house. They promptly burned the inn to the ground.

Deciding to leave the village behind the players once again set out on the road towards the city of Nexus. Along the way they encountered a priest of the Unconquered Sun who had seen them fighting the demons in a vision as he sought guidance to save his own village from a terrible monster that had plagued them for centuries.

The priest explained that his village lived in the shadow of Mount Metagalapa. A mountain whose base had been blasted into nothingness by the Fairfolk, but had not fallen. By which he meant that they lived under the flying mountain in a secret village that received sunlight only because a manse that had been buried in the mountain before it was blasted that made a shaft of crystal to the top of the mountain that directed light down upon the village. The perfect place for worshipers of the Unconquered Sun to hide without fear of being hunted down by the Dragon-blooded, who pretty much just worship themselves.

Upon reaching the village the players began to search the local area and met a Mountain Folk Artisan, White Wolf's idea of a dwarf, known as Gustov. At first Gustov tried to frighten the players off but they quickly realized that while Gustov possessed a dazzling array of artifact weapons he didn't really bother to maintain anything and they pretty much backfired on him. Including an intelligent Moonsilver Warstrider that constantly complains about his poor driving skills and the fact that he had been promising to repair its autopilot for centuries.

Once the players convinced Gustov that they were not there to rob him he was able to explain that the beast they were seeking was known as the Harvester. An Fairfolk creation left behind to capture humans for its masters to feed upon. He also explained that the Harvester lived in a cave on the underside of the mountain. While he had the means for the players to fly up to the beasts cave he was not willing to part with it without proper payment first. Unfortunately, Gustov is quite the miser and the players could never meet his price. Fortunately, Gustov has a weakness in the form of his mad brother Nester, who is chaos seer. Chaos seers are driven quite mad by visions of death destruction and while their visions can be quite useful the chaos seers themselves can be quite dangerous. Needless to say Nester chose this moment to escape. Gustov promised to lend the players a flying vehicle if they would first recapture Nester, without harming him, before he seriously hurt, or killed, anyone else. This lead the players on a rather amusing chase against a creature centuries older than themselves with a devilishly twisted mind. It also turned out that it took both of them to overpower him. Even getting ropes around him turned out to be a crazy game of tug of war, in which Nester was more than happy to show he was stronger than both of them combined. Though eventually they wore him out by sheer virtue of being living anchors.

The next unfortunate surprise for the party was that the flying device that Gustov was willing to lend them was in just as bad a repair as everything else he owned. Luckily Unlucky Ore Rat was a bit of an artificer himself and was eventually able to get it back into flying shape.

Flying up to the Harvesters lair the players slew the beast in a titanic battle culminating with Unlucky Ore Rat throwing its limb body down to the village below.

They then started to free its prey. While some chose to leave the village, after swearing a mystically enforced oath to never reveal its location, the village suddenly exploded from a population of 500 to 2500, including 7 Dragon-blooded with differing degree's of opinions about the Solars who had saved them.

With winter settling in the players found themselves contemplating how to feed this sudden influx of people without giving away the villages location. It was at this point that Nester decided to make yet another escape and in the process of recapturing him they presented a cryptic riddle that seemed to offer some hope. Sadly, when the players tried to question him more about it he would only speak in languages that had not been heard in thousands of years.

Speaking with Gustov the players determined that Nester was indicating a Mountain Folk strong hold that had been over run by a race of dark brood centuries before.

Following what directions Gustov could provide the players eventually located the stronghold and learned that it possessed the artifact equivalent of a hydroponics bay and a number of Mountain Folk slaves. Resorting to guerilla tactics to defeat the race of scorpion snake creatures that controlled the place they eventually faced the brood queen who even as they battled her taunted them with the knowledge that what they had faced was only the royal guard. Her army had been elsewhere expanding her kingdom and marched even at that moment to retake the stronghold under the leadership of her daughters.

The players quickly organized the Mountain Folk into tearing down the hydroponics bay, realizing that there was not enough time or carrying capacity to properly loot the queens treasure trove, and fled before a vast army. Coming away with only the hydroponics bay and a couple artifacts. One of which promptly drew the envy and ire of one of the Dragon-blooded. A greedy Air Aspect who is trying to convince the village that since the Solars are frequently away from the village he should rule.

At this point the players decided to raise their essence. A major point in campaign as it is both expensive to do and enlightening to the characters as they seek to become closer to the god who granted them power in the first place. They each received a vision while meditating on the glory of the Unconquered Sun.

For Unlucky Ore Rat it was vision of being on a boat in the first age fighting against a dozen Dragon-blooded usurpers. He was bleeding badly and surrounded. Suddenly he reversed the grip on his Grand Goremaul and slammed the head of the might mallet into the deck of the ship, which promptly exploded from the force of his enchanted weapon. As fell through the debris he spotted a small island in the distance an lone sorrowful word came to his mind. Corbanova.

For Ledall Canan it was also a vision of standing on a ship in the first age, but this time the ship was flying through the air or actually the formless Wyld that surrounds creation. He raised his hand and formed a gleaming city of snow and ice, complete with a human population, out of nothingness. Then he raised his voice and uttered, 'Let none survive', at which point a horde of demons rose up behind him and descended upon the city. As the vision faded he was filled with regret in knowing that something had survived and escaped.

Eager to reclaim the power of their former lives the players set out on a quest to first find the mystic hammer once possessed by Unlucky Ore Rats former self. Trading what few artifacts they had to spare to Gustov they acquired a Warbird, flying artifact, and set off to the west and the elemental pole of water. Lengthy investigations eventually led them to an old sailor who know of a rocky little island of little use to anyone known as Corvanova, unfortunately along the way they also managed to anger an elder Lunar, who has set her underlings upon the players trail.

Having located the sight of Unlucky Ore Rats previous demise just outside a shadowland they cast a spell to allow them to breath underwater and move without hindrance and sank to the bottom of the ocean. Once they located the wreckage they were surprised to find a light coming from captains quarters which had become wedged in the wall of a depression at the bottom of the ocean. Entering the captains quarters Unlucky Ore Rat came face to face with his lower soul from the first Age. A hungry ghost granted incredible power due to its exposure to a Solar exaltation in life. The ghost proved to be intelligent, but utterly made and determined to be whole with Unlucky Ore Rat once again. Which of course would require killing him so that it could tear his current lower soul from his higher soul. Managing to defeat the undead beast with only minor injury the players decide to spend their time searching the captains cabin for the artifact weapon. What they failed to realize is that killing a Hungry Ghost only banishes back its mortal remains until the next time the sun sets. This time it came back with friends and the party had to withdraw after Ledall Canan suffered a sever injury that made him fear for his life.

Deciding to put off dealing with the undead menace that lurks at the bottom of the sea the players decided to search for the city of snow and ice instead. Eventually, Ledall Canan located a Fairfolk Diplomat, who fed off of passion, and after meeting her price she agreed to set the players on the path through the Wyld that would eventually lead them to the city of snow and ice that they sought. After traveling through several waypoints in the Wyld and following the cryptic clues given to them as to how to unlock the path to the next waypoint the players eventually met a Fairfolk Cataphractoi who promised to show them the way to the city of snow and ice if one of them could defeat him in mortal combat. Unlucky Ore Rat managed to eke out a narrow win, only to see his opponent rise again as if he had not been injured at all and to realize that his own injuries were the mere illusions of the Wyld. Given an egg and told to crack it upon a mountain top, which turned out to be a miniature only a couple feet high but daughting in appearance when perspective made it look thousands of feet high. The egg released a giant insect that flew them to the city of snow and ice.

Upon reaching the city of snow and ice the players discovered that the demons were still there. Though they showed no intention of attacking. At the center of the city stood a twenty foot tall demon of the second circle. The players decided to speak with this demon to try and determine what the purpose of the city was. The demon informed Ledall Canan that he had summoned them in the first age to destroy his hated rival and that his part of the deal was a sacrifice of 10,000 humans. Creating the city in the Wyld had simply been a way of paying his debt. The demons were waiting for the day that Ledall Canan would return to release them to slay his rival from the first age. Who had apparently outlived him. After much discussion with the demon Ledall Canan was able to determine that his rival in the first age had in fact been Unlucky Ore Rats former self, who had actually been an ally but differences had driven them apart. The players considered trying to use the demons to slay the Hungry Ghost, but more questioning of the demon determined that if they were released they would fall upon Unlucky Ore Rat and not the ghost. The players decided that it was best to leave the demons trapped in the Wyld and moved back to Creation, the world the game is played in.

Ledall Canan decided to check in on some family members who had helped him locate information along the way and learned that one of his cousins had gone missing.

Tracking his lost cousin down the players eventually ended up meeting up with Bloody Thistle again, as Ledall Canan's cousin had been caught trying to rob her tomb. To get him back they would have to meet with her mistress, the Joyous Harbinger of Death and Foreboding in her shadowland kingdom and bargain for his life. I will not explain the nature of the offer that she made the players when they attended her court as she will make the same offer to any new players. Eventually, she agreed to trade Ledall Canan's cousin for several ancient books that the Ledall family had their possess that detailed spells and artifacts from the first age. She also informed the players before making the trade that Ledall Xomel, Canan's cousin, knew that they were Solars. Which is bad thing since the Ledall family are adherents to the Immaculate Philosophy which extolled the greatness of the Dragon-blooded and labeled Solars as blood thirsty monsters. They made the trade anyway.

For their troubles what Xomel explained to them what he had learned about the Deathknights. Namely, that Bloody Thistle had been a Solar but she was corrupted by necromantic energy. He also explained that he had known all along that they were Solars but rather than sicking the Wild Hunt on them he had decided to study them until he saw reason to have them destroyed. Something that the Immaculate Order would not approve of one bit. He just couldn't overcome his scholars curiousity and wanted to know more about the Solars before destroying them. Needless to say he agreed to keep their secret as long as Canan agreed never to bring shame or harm to their families house. At this point he mostly just goes by the name Canan and tries to steer clear of his family.

Having been away from the village for almost a year the players decided to return and see how things were going. What they discovered is that between the 7 Dragon-blooded, most of whom hated each other, and the 3 village priests, who also had conflicting personalities, they could not come up with a system of government that they could all accept. So the oldest and wisest of the Dragon-blooded put forth the idea that they would hold an election for a regent who would be solely responsible for setting up the villages government.

The players promptly started interviewing the various candidates. I'll leave their information for anyone who wants to join the campaign to learn for themselves. Needless to say the players are finding them a colorful lot. Even the ones that view them as the servants of the gods. Speaking of which, in the middle of the interviews two lesser gods, currently unemployed, showed up and declared that they would like to run on a joint ticket. The two gods while not overly powerful do have some useful abilities that the players want to keep them around for and thus they are trying to figure out what to do with them.

Unfortunately for the players, before anyone even got a chance to campaign in earnest in village the one Dragon-blooded they could not interview before the announcement that there was going to be an election, because he's a loner that spends all his time outside of town, showed up carrying the heads of 3 of the scorpion snake creatures that they had fought before. He informed the players, and everyone else of importance, that a large army was heading their way.

This is the point that the campaign is at, at the moment. The players are scrambling to try and find a way to defend the village with the forces that they have at their disposal and regretting that the village was never setup with the expectation of a siege. Luckily, the Dragon-blooded have a number of useful abilities that are proving useful. Neither god is a war god so they are taking a pretty disinterested approach to it all.

Nostruum · Sorry that last post is so long

Believe it or not I left out a lot of details.

Nostruum · Still looking

This post is getting kind of old so I thought I'd let people know that while we did add a player we are still looking for 1 or 2 more.

Nostruum

Hello again.

I am looking for players again.

The groups Night caste moved back to Ohio due to financial problems and we find ourselves down to 3 players and GM again.

We have been playing Sundays 4:30 until 9:00 or 10:00 pm depending on what is going on on.

If interested give Kent a call at 319-358-2952, email me at kovat@mchsi.com or leave me a message here.

Looking for players for an Exalted Campaign

The campaign so far

Sorry that last post is so long

Still looking