Rynel/ExaltedInSpaceSession0

Ahh, Gem. A peaceful, small, completely unnoticed town in the middle of nowhere, with no importance at all, and with a miniscule population.

And if you believe that, this rock is the key to the Realm Defense Grid and I'm only selling it for the cost of a Warstrider.

Gem is a planet, one of many in the Void, and on the surface it is /hot/. Hence the reason why much of the population is in catacombs beneath it. Only a few things are on the surface, one of which being a particular voidship port, which the Circle happens to have docked at. They've made a little money and are probably down in a conveniently located generic bar enjoying themselves... for now.

Ed spins on the barstool...

Mal, having ordered the last round, is cheerfully retelling the exploits of his crew /to/ his crew. "And when Sayaga pulled the knife on the merchant, after we'd captured his guards and tied them up - the look on his face? Priceless! I mean, we weren't gonna kill him, but how was /he/ to know that? Maybe sending him back without pants'll give the rest of them a bit more of a clue."

Staren chuckles from atop the stool next to Ed. "Having fun, Ed?"

Ed's face looks a little blank at the moment.... she blinks at Staren. "No... Ed's bored." She stops spinning on the stool, facing the counter. She stops for a moment, rolling her eyes thinking... then pulls out a little mess of wires and tinkers with it.

Staren hmms? "What've you got there, Ed?"

Ed grins and shows Staren the thngy... it's just a mass of wires, really. She whispers conspiritorally at Staren. "Ed made it in her sleep." Now, Ed looks like she could be a boy... or a girl... about 10 years old or so, so this kind of knowledge isn't expected of her...

Within the mass of wires, there may or may not be something button-shaped.

Staren ahs and nods, "I see... well, good luck figuring out what it does! I'm sure you will." She smiles.

Mal looks at the thing Ed has just pulled out. "...Ed, is that going to blow up the bar? I /warned/ you about those things..."

Ed looks back and forth cautiously to see if anyone is watching, then waves the mangled mass of wires at Staren... thinking maybe she made an essence detector in her sleep.

Staren is suddenly ducked behind the bar stool. She tries to smile sweetly, "Ed, dear, what are you swinging at me?"

Nothing happens, except for a tinkling noise.

And a panicked Siddy.

Ed comments... "Just testing..." She waves it at Mal.

Mal continues to watch the two. Then he turns to one of his mortal crewmembers. "Ten coins says Ed's made a noisemaker."

The object in the middle blinks faintly, once, and it tinkles.

Marcus walks up to the bar and slowly takes a seat next to Ed. Marcus is a good 6 or so feet tall so he towers over her. and orders the biggest mug of ale the bar has.

Marcus says, "i bet it explodes."

Ed looks at Marcus, a bit annoyed... "Ed's things do not explode..."

She then waves the thingy at Marcus.

Tinkle-tinkle.

Mal says, "Well, unless they're /supposed/ to."

Marcus is around six feet and is bald with no facial hair. he is missing an eye and has a gold replacement. he is also wearing the biggest thing of armor you've ever seen. on his lift is a chunck of metal cover a spot wear his arm is supposed to be.

Well, not a chunk but a plate

Ed is about four feet tall, and is usually mistaken for a young boy instead of a young girl. She has bright orange hair, a diamond embedded in the middle of her forehead, and weird metal patterns all over her skin. She also has a large weird-looking hammer strapped her back that faintly hums and occasionally has a spark run along weird patterns built into the head. Ed is currently pulling the tangled wires carefully to untangle them.

Marcus also has a huge one handed axe strapped to his back.

Mal is a large, dark-skinned man, heavily muscled - and completely armorless. He has short black hair, and is rather handsome, in a rough sort of way. He wears only a vest and a loose, baggy pair of pants...and a pair of simple steel khatars.

The bartender says, "Then you're an awful brave man to be sittin' next to it, if its gonna explode."

Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the bar, there seems to be an arguement between a ragged-looking, half-crazed man and a trio of men in armor. "Oh, it'll work! I promise you that!"

"Suuure. Come back when you've got something besides junk, old man."

The man looks furious, and, shaking, leaps to his feet, knocking over a chair. With a flourish, he draws something out of his raggedy robes. It looks like a black box with white, circuit-like veins, and a disk of red jade embedded in the top. He laughs a crazy man's laugh and taps the disk over and over again. Nothing happens.

The men just stare at him for a moment, then, laughing, stand up, and head for the door.

Though, the Exalted members of the circle feel weird, tingly sensations from the limb nearest their items made out of magical materials.

Marcus is missing his left eye, The replacement is all gold exept for the pupil which if looked at closely is the dawn caste sign.

Mal turns to watch the old man and his 'friends.' Then he turns to look at Ed. Then, the hand nearest Ed. Huh, funny tingle. "Ed, you have any idea what that guy's got?"

Ed hmmms...? Things races through her mind about what it might be...

Ed's WHOLE body tingles, being made of massive quantities of magical materials...

One of the other Exalts of this merry group -- one that does not take care in thoses hyperactive vestivities, is simply sitting at another table, calmly drinking from a glass while eating some piece of meat. He's tall, muscular with short-cut hair, pointing upward. Out of his light breastplate armor that is lying next to him, leaving him with just some regular clothes, the middle-aged man also is in possession of an essence rifle that is lying just next to him as well. "Quit whinin' you folks," grumbles out loudly the gruffy exalt known as Acilar. "Just stop playin' with freakin' scratch powder."

Staren quietly, "...It looks like a void-powered bread toaster..."

Ed hmmms... grabs her hammer. "It's a bad thing..." she mutters and stalks over to the man with the thingy, pretending to hide the rather obvious hammer behind her back. She smiles as best as she can and says "Mister, can I see your box thing?"

The crazy man keeps mashing the disk, and looks at Ed in a panic, what with the hammer and the kid with it. "No! You don't understand! It works! I know it works! You can't tell me it doesn't work! AND ITS NOT A TOASTER!"

Mal follows Ed over, stretching as he does. "Listen, mister. Give it to Ed. Please." He's smiling, but not quite /nicely/. "We'd like to look at it."

Marcus says, "let us take a look at your box and maybe we'll buy it."

Actually, Ed plans to smash it, but she's not saying that.

Marcus knows

The man backs up a little, then suddenly points it at Mal and presses the button. Another tingling, but more like a tugging towards it now. "HA!" He stares. "...why aren't you a cabbage?"

Ed pleads... "Can I please see it, mister? I promise I won't break it!" She gives the man the little kid eyes. NEVERMIND the big hammer Ed thinks is hidden behind her back.

Acilar actualy bothers looking up and toward the crazy man, both eyebrows raising upward quickly. "...HEY. YO." He calls over, loudly. "Are you kids done with that yet!?"

The man shakes visibly, and then throws it at Ed, running out the door screaming about giant voidborne cabbages.

Mal watches the man. Then the device. "...that works."

Ed grins... then whacks the box with the hammer as hard as she can.

Marcus says, "what was that thing."

The box isn't there anymore.

There is, however, a small pile of dented floor.

Ed puts the hammer away and sighs... "Ahh... no more tugging allll over Ed's body..."

Marcus says, "Well Ed, what was it that made you want to distroy it rathr than take it apart."

Mal grins. "Good. Now...that guy won't be listened to, he's crazy...but what /was/ that? In simple terms, Ed?"

Ed scowls... "It was pulling Ed towards it... probably pulling something bigger here..." Ed suddenly grins. "Ed thinks we should get off Gem soon before whatever it was being called shows up."

Staren says, "...I think that sounds like a great idea. Let's go."

Marcus says, "i've finished my drinks so i guess so."

Mal nods. "You're probably right." He then turns to his crew, takes a deep breath, and bellows. "RIGHT! Everyone, back to the House of Dragons! No questions!"

Staren runs for said ship.

Marcus says, "barkeep,can i grap one more for the road?"

Oh, and by now, everyone's noticed that the ground is shaking. And theres a lot of crashing. And as soon as you get outside, you can see the crazy man run by screaming about the box working.

Ed lopes along after Staren, heading for the ship.

Mal is running, but /behind/ everyone - he's trying to make sure they get there safely.

Marcus says, "aw, nevermind"

Marcus runs to the ship

Staren 's familiar joins her side, hopping alongside her.

Marcus looks up to the sky

Ed looks up.

Marcus looks at the sky when he can see it then.

The group gets about halfway to the docking bay when they see... rhinos.

Hundreds of them.

Coming out of the walls, through buildings, over people. They've all got red or white horns made of an odd material, and they're all going straight for the bar.

Guess who's between them and the bar.

Marcus says, "NO not the bar!"

Mal says, ".../let it be destroyed/." Mal grabs as many of the mortal crewmen he can get, and then begins leaping, trying to use the rhinoceri as stepping stones, getting to the ship to deposit his crew safely. "Just get to the ship! We can't save it, we can't stop these things /right now/ - just get moving!" As he speaks, he continues to leap.

The God of Falling in Front of a Stampede of Angry Furnace Rhinoceri is born as Mal doesn't jump far enough.

Staren ducks into a side passage and waits.

Marcus runs for the side passage, knocking away (or tring to) as he goes

Ed says something in Autochthonic, which, for those of you who can speak Old Realm, translates to "Crap..." And Ed tries to dive for cover into the side passage, burning some of her precious Essence as she does so, causing little arcing stars to race around in intricate patterns around the diamond in her forehead and the starmetal circuits in her skin to faintly glow... Marcus and Ed manage to get into side passages, but Staren falls short, stuck with Mal and his mortals. Unfortunately, this means that some of the rhinos try and trample people. Mal gets to act as a human shield for his crew.

Staren Avoidance Katas!

Staren gone!

It turns out Staren lugged a drunk member of the mortal crew back to the ship before the rhinos even showed up. Convenient, that.

The Rhino doesn't even get to roll 13 dice of lethal damage against the woefully unprepared Sidereal. Aww.

Staren quietly enjoys a nice cup of tea.

As the rhinoceri charge, Mal turns, covering his crewmembers with his body, and his caste mark glimmers a little. Then, his body appears, for a moment, to be coated in iron - golden iron. He curls his arms over his men, guarding them from the beasts. "Don't worry. You'll get to the ship."

CLANGGG! The rhino heading for Mal crashes into him and bounces off, falling into another one, and knocking that over, too. Standing, unharmed and with four of his crewmembers carried with him (gotta love Solar strength), Mal begins to run again for the ship, leaping over the fallen rhinoceri and between the others, trying to use his speed to get past them again. GO GO GO GO GO!

Mal manages to not have his mortal crew die yet again as the rhino herd goes barreling by. The bar is quickly reduced to a hole in the wall, and... they keep going. And going. And going. The path to the ship is clear, but dust and small debris has started falling from the ceilings...

Ed is making all haste to the ship.

Marcus is too.

Mal is, naturally, carrying his gang into the ship, the iron-gold fading from around his body. "Told ya we'd make it alive. C'mon. We're leaving this gods-forsaken planet for a while."

Staren looks over at you. "Good idea, let's get out of here."

Ed also has her hammer out just in case something comes up.... hopefully she and Marcus get to the ship soon.

The ship, in all its glory, contains Staren and Bob the drunk member of the crew. The tunnels are starting to come down, and there seems to be hot lava beginning to flow through the roof door of the docking bay.

Ed makes it on board, puts the hammer away, and dashes off to the bridge to help Mal get this ship out of dodge.

Mal heads for the bridge. "Right, everyone - hold on. We're heading out of here...someone find us a new planet with a good dock in the Scavenger Systems. I'll get us off this rock."

Marcus shuts the doors and makes sure everyone is safe.

Alarms blare across the hangar as a the way out starts to close inexplicably. If you were to look real closely, you'd see the crazy guy hitting random buttons in the control tower. All the sane people have run for it by now.

Mal just grins. "Right! Someone man the guns in case we need to blast the doors - I'll try and see that we don't. Let's go!" And then he activates the controls, lifting off and racing for the closing doors, the ship turning vertically to pass through more easily.

Marcus says, "Is anyone injured?"

Also, Mal's caste mark glows, coming into full prominence now, a perfect, full circle of gold. He's just bought two Sail/Pilot successes!

[DICE] Mal rolls a 8d10+0 with the resulting roll: 6 2 1 10 7 8 1 10 for a total of: 45

Note: Dice rolls and OOC kept to show the utter madness of this roll.

<OOC> Mal says, "and that's 8 successes."

<OOC> Aandyen says, "Woah."

<OOC> Mal says, "6 rolled, two bought."

<OOC> Staren says, "This is why I play a siddy. Oops, made a mistake, I mean, AVOIDANCE KATA! No mistakes here!"

Marcus buckles up, just in case.

Ed is in the copilot's seat, keeping an eye on things in case something happens to Mal.

The doors close.

The ship begins to turn, its pilot's caste mark glowing brightly and his face contorted in concentration. The mortals aboard the ship scrabble to grab onto anything, trying not to slip along the tilting floor - gravity still has effects right now.

The old man is crazy.

The doors are still closing. The ship won't make it. It can't, it's far too wide-or is it?

The doors are closing. The ship has reached full verticality. It's now /very/ thin.

But so is the opening.

And then, in seconds - the ship is out. The doors slam shut just as the 'tail' of the ship passes through - and then the House of Dragons completes its barrel roll, with Mal cheering himself on. "WHOOOOA YEAH! Good bye,Rynel/Gem/!"

<OOC> Darzoni says, "Can we give him a retroactive stunt bonus?"

<OOC> Aandyen says, "...Yes."

<OOC> Aandyen says, "I believe we can."

<OOC> Staren says, "Hmm, I just thought of how to do poles in space."

<OOC> Aandyen says, "Dice bonus votes?"

<OOC> Staren says, "The other reason I play a siddy is, I've read the books, know about how creation really works and all, but normally my character wouldn't... but asd one of Jupiter's chosen, I know everything! Sort of."

<OOC> Mal wants his Essence back, bitch.

<OOC> Mal Rynel/Juggernaut>

<OOC> Aandyen thought that was great, personally.

<OOC> Darzoni says, "There's guidelines for stunts in the book... hmm.."

<OOC> Darzoni votes a 2 die stunt.

<OOC> Aandyen says, "There is, yes, but it also says 'makes everyone at the table go "woah, thats cool"' is one of them for them. And we have no table."

<OOC> Darzoni says, "Yeah, it's a 3 die stunt then."

<OOC> Marcus says, " i say a 3 sounds about right.."

<OOC> Mal says, "Can I have my 7 Essence spent this session back because of my unbearable awesome, then?"

<OOC> Aandyen gavelbacks. "Three dice it is! Roll them. And no, you only get the three."

<OOC> Mal says, "Dang."

[DICE] Mal rolls a 3d10+0 with the resulting roll: 8 2 7 for a total of: 17

<OOC> Aandyen says, "Nice try, though."

<OOC> Aandyen says, "Crazy amount of successes, man."

Ed adds... "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAW!!!" as the ship flies out.

<OOC> Darzoni says, "... you did add the 2 dice for manuevering bonus, right?"

<OOC> Mal says, "Nope."

[DICE] Mal rolls a 2d10+0 with the resulting roll: 9 4 for a total of: 13

<OOC> Darzoni laughs.

<OOC> Aandyen says, "11 successes."

<OOC> Aandyen says, "11-freaking-successes."

<OOC> Darzoni says, "Mal also made it look EASY."

<OOC> Marcus says, " I Bow to your skill."

<OOC> Mal says, "Basically: I just performed an action greater than any mortal could ever dream up."

<OOC> Mal says, "ever."

<OOC> Darzoni says, "That's Legendary Twice Over."

And the House of Dragons shoots out of the hangar, bypasses the lava jets that were the next obstacle because of the 'OMGWTFBBQ' factor of the escape, and leaves two dozen fleeing mortal-filled ships in absolute and complete awe.

Oh yeah; they'll have something to write home about.

Staren now looks back at Ed. "So, any idea what the heck those things were?"

Marcus says, "Yeah, we made it! Drinks on me. Hey Mal, where's the Ale?"

Mal looks over his shoulder, piloting blind - and easily. He's still riding his Ultimate Piloting Experience wave. "Dining hall, second cabinet! Don't let Ed have any!"

Ed yaawns, and says their name in Autochthonic, since she doesn't know the name they have in Creation. If Mal knows Old Realm, she said "Furnace Rhinoceri." Otherwise it sounds like something weird and alien, like... "Garage Tow Tulee".

Mal does not, sadly, speak Old Realm.

Staren says, "Furnace Rhinoceri? And what are they doing _here_?"

Coincidentally, the entire sector of Gem you escaped from is exploding into a lava-covered wasteland. The comm is filled with chatter about how sector 13 was annihilated and how a voidship shaped like a manta ray escaped with the grace of a god. This does, of course, soon confer some degree of fame upon the House of Dragons. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished.

Marcus runs to the dining hall and grabs the ale and a glass for all. and some juice for Ed.

Ed shrugs... "Dunno. The box probably called them." She walks off to inspect the ship and make sure it's running okay. "Good thing you took Bob back here, Staren... might've been squished otherwise!" She grins and gleeees...

Meanwhile, a tiny dinghy of a ship putters away from Gem with the crazy guy aboard.

Marcus brings the cap't a drink.

Marcus says, "So where to next?"

Mal drinks it, shrugging. "Dunno...we've got some cash, some cargo...hm. But we've got to make a point soon, to make sure they know we're more than a nuisance. We're not ready to handle a talon's warship, not with the cannons they've got on those babies. We're gonna need a bigger gun. Ed! I want you to get me a list of materials. Someone get Staren - I need her to tell me where we can /find/ them and how to get there."

And thus, the House of Dragons flies into the distance...