Mnemosynis/MatchOfTheCentury
"If it's any consolation, at one point, one of our editors (James Stewart, if you're reading this, Justin) asked me why I didn't just make a game called 'Dinosaurs versus Robots'."
--Geoffrey C. Grabowski, Exalted Developer
The Prelude
They were definitely foreigners. Nobody really knew were they came from. Some said from the sky. Some said from the Wyld. Some said from underground. They came out of nowhere and had razed the city of Gem with a massive army. Most of the army was now headed northward to the Lap while Gem had become a supply point. They were the Autochthonians.
Scout reports had sighted a structure far off in the distance to the east. From this distance they were unable to tell if it was inhabited. A patrol was organized to investigate the structure to make sure no threats resided there. One of the Exalts was going with them, a large moonsilver construct called Unrepentant Glorious Warrior known for his conviction.
The black-clad patrol marched out at dawn, moving through the foothills and eventually into the sand. They were to reach the structure by nightfall. As the patrol moved through the heat they were able to make out more detail. It was a small, stone pyramid surrounded by pillars. There were sealed entrance ways on the western and eastern sides. A quick sweep of the area turned up no hostile people or creatures and the Autochthonians would rest through the night, moving into the pyramid at dawn.
The doors were stone and heavy. The Unrepentant Glorious Warrior had to use his great strength to move them. Stairs led down into a maze of passages. Many of the men became quickly lost. Nothing seemed alive or even dangerous there beyond the difficulty in navigation. The Autochthonians are used to twisting passages however, and most of the day a sizable amount of the inside of the pyramid was mapped out.
The last pair to sweep through the pyramid found something at the end of a long series hallways. It was a strange device shaped like a large egg. Crystal and orichalcum conduits ran throughout the device, and there was a small window for viewing the contents though it was covered in moisture from the inside making actual viewing impossible. It was definetly some kind of technology though it resembled nothing like the insides of the Great Maker. It was almost organic is design. One of the Autochthonians touched the gold and crystal egg against the judgement of his companion. The device began to hum and rumble and crystal runes began to light up at certain points. They quickly fled to go get their Alchemical squad leader.
A humming pulse echoed throughout the small chamber. Moisture was formed into water. Water was mixed with sand. Sand that was once flesh. The sand again became flesh. The flesh belonged to Kragagg the Mountain, Kragagg the Zealot of Stone, Kragagg the Rock-Strong. The Anklok waited patiently to be reconstituted. The process took mere minutes. The holy pyramid had protected his vessel from the elements and scavengers. He wondered how much time had passed while he waited. He wondered if the Dragon-Blooded revolt was a success.
Once the process was complete he suited up in his glittering obsidian armor, collected the artifacts and weapons he had been sealed away with and went to face the new world he had awakened into. He navigated familiar, if dusty passages easily. When he emerged from the door to the pyramid he saw men dressed as like he had never seen. Upon sighting him they became panicked and reached for their weapons. A tall man made of the metal of Luna signaled them to back off. He spoke out in a language familiar but not understood by Kragagg. It was the language of those who used to be slaves to the Dragon Kings once. The language of the humans. It sounded to Kragagg almost like the slave tongue, but he couldn't quite understand it. The moonsilver man gestured to Kragagg's armor. Kragagg responded to the man in High Holy Speach, but to no avail. After a short time the metal man hefted his weapon and approached the Dragon King. If he was looking for a fight, Kragagg would give it to him. It had been centuries since he tasted battle.
Unrepentant Glorious Warrior had signaled the men to lower their crossbows. He looked at the beast that had emerged from the pyramid. At first he thought to bargain with the creature to see what it was about. Then he spied the laces of orichalcum in the creature's black armor. He demanded that the beast turn it over to him, but to no avail. The beast did not repond to Autochthonian or Old Realm, and when it called back to him it was in a tongue that Unrepentant Glorious Warrior did not know. The beast probably didn't know the value of the thing it wore. Unrepentant Glorious Warrior would bring back the armor so that the orichalcum would find it's way back to the machine realm. He had not been present during the battles at Gem, and had been more than a little upset when not allowed to go the Lap. He had wanted to fight, and this guardian beast was an excuse to show off his might, especially considering the trophy of magical materials it wore.
Unrepentant Glorious Warrior turned to his men. "Stay out of this one," he told them. "I wish to fight the beast myself."
And now it's time for the main event...
Dinosaur VS Robot
Pending release of the Alchemical book.
Other Information
Unrepentant Glorious Warrior is a Moonsilver Alchemical Exalted.
Kragagg the Mountain is an Ancient Anklok Dragon King.
Both will be made as starting characters and then given 250 experience points.
Exalted Power Combat will be used as the medium for resolving the dispute.
Niether character will actually be made until the Alchemical book is released and given a good read by me. This is to facilitate a good balance between the two combatants, hopefully putting each within the same general defeatability range of the other. However, we will not know if this is even possible for a while. Both characters will be made with a slant toward combat rather than an twinked out as possible.
Technical system information such as initiative, charm use, essence expenditures, distances moved and other such OOC information will be noted in italics. Combat turns will be seperated by line breaks. All dice rolling will be done with the die roller on the White Wolf site.
Then the battle will then ensue to determine who is greater:
Dinosaurs or Robots.
Stay tuned after the release of the Autochthonian book!
Comments
You know, "Dinosaurs versus Robots" would be a great title for a Dragon King campaign set during the Locust Crusade. _Ikselam
