Your support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)The revised version of Exalted vs World of Darkness has been out a bit, I want to try getting back into the swing of running with something new due to stuff that happened IRL, and well, I got frustrated with the loss of similar elsewhere due to.... I'm not sure, but something happened and a lot of work was lost. So, first the pitch:
Friday, June 25th, 1999. Collinswood, About 13:47 - Two days after Hell came to the growing town of Collinswood, things had stabilized. What started with fifteen yard high wall of brackish, grey flames utterly encircled Collinswood and the sky breaking open, revealing a Starless purple sky dominated by a rotting red eye, had mostly quieted to a dull roar. Each morning, the man-like demon in a suit, rode around on a storm and proclaimed the arrival of Hell's forces to anyone outside, at first for over an hour before leaving, but for successively less time each day after. As always, right after that moment, it seemed like there was at least two demons for every person, dog, cat, and skink in Collinswood, flooding out of the their crevasses. Without the red eye was hanging in the sky most of the demon forces were being unstable. Not so many that they didn't wreck all the mortal systems of resistance and stability on day one, but enough that the supernatural inhabitants managed to last though that first night and bus in some more people. Getting in, it turned out, was dangerous, but quite easy compared to getting out.
In the hastily prepared bunker/command center, your group of second stringers, linear mages, ghouls, and mortal servants, got sent after the over the top, flashy distraction that was the demon in a suit on the principle that even if the glowing, hell powered kidnapper was a total decoy, letting him go with absolutely no check or chase was definitely a license for disaster down the road. The marching orders, as it were, had a bit of a fatalistic hint to them; if nobody came back that one was less distraction and more something worth investigating, but even that hint only came out indirectly. Something like "you can do him in if he tries." Well, probably something like that, anyway. It has taken several days to corner the infernal being before a great pair of black iron doors deep in the spirit world.
The storm he took his captive on was quite fast, but the horrific glowing trail of magic it left there was easy to follow. Technically dangerous too, as it burned what it touched, but that was far less of an issue in the strange places of the spirit world that you were following through.
It took several seconds to establish two things. One, the doors had a horrible spiritual gravity to them and nobody could leave their presence. This leads to point two, after a few back and forth moments it became clear just how the monster played with you. Then the first of the changes happened, the breath of Heaven and the remit of ancient gods flowed into each of you, and actual gain was made.
Then another and another, and then before those changes could completely turn the tide, it stopped being a man in a suit and became Morgoth, deadly foe of the world. The fight ended inconclusively as a massive wave of atomic flames, ripped souls, and divine ephemera came screaming across space to be channeled by the odd bone wand that the monster had. The wand and the storm rent the great doors with a scream and sound like the world had never heard. When everyone recovered their senses, the monster was fleeing inside.
What you found inside, was a large room that looked a bit like club or luxury seating, though with perhaps more self-satisfied paintings and fountains of blood than popular culture leads you to believe are normal. The kidnappee, the demon, neither are there, though the stacked plates and half-eaten meal suggest somebody living was in here recently. The view outside is bad, just an impossible cloud of darkness, and there's not a usable exit to be seen. Yes, there's a door, but it's not even big enough to put a finger through. It is growing though. Really, really slowly, but wasn't too much to do but explore and examine.
The observation deck is quite large, several miles in every direction but up. There's little disks of the best chocolate possible, in a bowl. A kitchen that's never empty but not near full. And there's some kind of consciousness in the blood fountain, though it can't quite communicate.
You did manage to find out that the power within you helped the iron gates grow again. At an estimate, it was probably three months trapped in a great room with an empathic fountain of blood before you all managed to return to the real world. There nine months had passed, but more importantly, everything was different.
Hell never came to Collinswood. In fact, Collinswood is in a different place than you remember it, though your life and history seem to have lead you here anyway. Nobody remembers you being missing for three months. At worst, you had some very different orders during the so-called Week of Nightmares that lead to a little extra time lost there and perhaps a little accident a few days ago that's time lost there. Otherwise, everyone you knew can give at least a passing summary of what supposedly you did during the whole nine months and it rings true, at least for how you were.
There's a few mysteries to sort out, but at least you have a starting point for one of them. The forces of hell didn't come from nowhere, and you've at least some memories of a few hotspots and suspected mortal (and immortal) catspaws. So at least you have one easy thing between trying to figure out what's going on with time, why the difference in memories is so great, and where the forces of hell are at now.
And here a few quick system related things that I suspect will be asked if this gets any attention. My expectation is core exalt types (meaning non-appendix), and just fielding potential asks for some kinds of night folk. The night folk will be a bit under review mostly due to either restrictions on their activity or not having the best grasp on mechanics for them as PCs.
Friday, June 25th, 1999. Collinswood, About 13:47 - Two days after Hell came to the growing town of Collinswood, things had stabilized. What started with fifteen yard high wall of brackish, grey flames utterly encircled Collinswood and the sky breaking open, revealing a Starless purple sky dominated by a rotting red eye, had mostly quieted to a dull roar. Each morning, the man-like demon in a suit, rode around on a storm and proclaimed the arrival of Hell's forces to anyone outside, at first for over an hour before leaving, but for successively less time each day after. As always, right after that moment, it seemed like there was at least two demons for every person, dog, cat, and skink in Collinswood, flooding out of the their crevasses. Without the red eye was hanging in the sky most of the demon forces were being unstable. Not so many that they didn't wreck all the mortal systems of resistance and stability on day one, but enough that the supernatural inhabitants managed to last though that first night and bus in some more people. Getting in, it turned out, was dangerous, but quite easy compared to getting out.
In the hastily prepared bunker/command center, your group of second stringers, linear mages, ghouls, and mortal servants, got sent after the over the top, flashy distraction that was the demon in a suit on the principle that even if the glowing, hell powered kidnapper was a total decoy, letting him go with absolutely no check or chase was definitely a license for disaster down the road. The marching orders, as it were, had a bit of a fatalistic hint to them; if nobody came back that one was less distraction and more something worth investigating, but even that hint only came out indirectly. Something like "you can do him in if he tries." Well, probably something like that, anyway. It has taken several days to corner the infernal being before a great pair of black iron doors deep in the spirit world.
The storm he took his captive on was quite fast, but the horrific glowing trail of magic it left there was easy to follow. Technically dangerous too, as it burned what it touched, but that was far less of an issue in the strange places of the spirit world that you were following through.
It took several seconds to establish two things. One, the doors had a horrible spiritual gravity to them and nobody could leave their presence. This leads to point two, after a few back and forth moments it became clear just how the monster played with you. Then the first of the changes happened, the breath of Heaven and the remit of ancient gods flowed into each of you, and actual gain was made.
Then another and another, and then before those changes could completely turn the tide, it stopped being a man in a suit and became Morgoth, deadly foe of the world. The fight ended inconclusively as a massive wave of atomic flames, ripped souls, and divine ephemera came screaming across space to be channeled by the odd bone wand that the monster had. The wand and the storm rent the great doors with a scream and sound like the world had never heard. When everyone recovered their senses, the monster was fleeing inside.
What you found inside, was a large room that looked a bit like club or luxury seating, though with perhaps more self-satisfied paintings and fountains of blood than popular culture leads you to believe are normal. The kidnappee, the demon, neither are there, though the stacked plates and half-eaten meal suggest somebody living was in here recently. The view outside is bad, just an impossible cloud of darkness, and there's not a usable exit to be seen. Yes, there's a door, but it's not even big enough to put a finger through. It is growing though. Really, really slowly, but wasn't too much to do but explore and examine.
The observation deck is quite large, several miles in every direction but up. There's little disks of the best chocolate possible, in a bowl. A kitchen that's never empty but not near full. And there's some kind of consciousness in the blood fountain, though it can't quite communicate.
You did manage to find out that the power within you helped the iron gates grow again. At an estimate, it was probably three months trapped in a great room with an empathic fountain of blood before you all managed to return to the real world. There nine months had passed, but more importantly, everything was different.
Hell never came to Collinswood. In fact, Collinswood is in a different place than you remember it, though your life and history seem to have lead you here anyway. Nobody remembers you being missing for three months. At worst, you had some very different orders during the so-called Week of Nightmares that lead to a little extra time lost there and perhaps a little accident a few days ago that's time lost there. Otherwise, everyone you knew can give at least a passing summary of what supposedly you did during the whole nine months and it rings true, at least for how you were.
There's a few mysteries to sort out, but at least you have a starting point for one of them. The forces of hell didn't come from nowhere, and you've at least some memories of a few hotspots and suspected mortal (and immortal) catspaws. So at least you have one easy thing between trying to figure out what's going on with time, why the difference in memories is so great, and where the forces of hell are at now.
And here a few quick system related things that I suspect will be asked if this gets any attention. My expectation is core exalt types (meaning non-appendix), and just fielding potential asks for some kinds of night folk. The night folk will be a bit under review mostly due to either restrictions on their activity or not having the best grasp on mechanics for them as PCs.
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