| Exalted: The Egg of Rodan | [Menu] [Evil Schemer] |
Episode 1: The Gathering
A black obelisk surrounded by 5 basalt standing stones rises from a frozen lake in the Far North. The lonely Manse is 500 miles away from the nearest village. No one dares venture near the ancient monolith for it is said to be guarded by terrible beasts and spirits. The Manse is home to Broken Mountain Forge, a reclusive hermit who left his home at age 67 to explore the icy reaches of the North. There he lives with Raishin, the former guardian of the Manse whom Broken Mountain Forge bested in a test of wits. The guardian was defeated and accepted Broken Mountain Forge into its home, not as a master, but as an equal and an ally. Now Broken Mountain Forge maintains a solitary vigil against the forgotten waste, only occasionally venturing out to hunt.
But Broken Mountain Forge's vigil was broken by the coming of the dreams. He dreamt of visitors, guests, companions who will join him on a quest of great importance. He knew that in 100 days time, his visitors would arrive. The first to arrive was Netiso Suse, a devious sort of man from the southern city known as The Lap. Netiso explained that 100 days ago he began having dreams. These dreams led him north to this lonely expanse. Broken Mountain Forge welcomed Netiso as a guest. The next to arrive was Gleaming Warrior, a stalwart village defender from the Scavenger Lands, led by similar dreams. Soon after they were joined by Dontesse and Jade, traveling as a mismatched pair. Dontesse was a dapper mercenary prince from the Western Isles. Jade was a former prostitute, confidence artist, and freedom fighter from the Southwestern Isles. They, too, were led by dreams to this remote bastion. The fifth to arrive was Headless, a crippled dwarf who could only travel through the use of an ornate artificial clockwork body which he piloted from the chest. Headless had traveled from the Blessed Isle, where he was once an instructor at the prestigious Heptagram school of Sorcery. He, too, had been led to the Frozen Lake by dreams. 
The six were soon joined by a wizened old man wearing green robes. The wrinkled dwarf of a man introduced himself as Iaro, astrologer and seer. He explained that he had gathered everyone together and that he would explain his reasons shortly. He rested himself and proceeded to introductions. Iaro was immediately surprised to find Headless. The two recognized each other immediately. To Headless, Iaro was a functionary in the Immaculate Order, though he now immediately Iaro's function as a Siderial of Jupiter, the Maiden of Secrets, and member of the Gold Faction secretly providing aid to the Solar Exalted. To Iaro, Headless was an instructor mysteriously banished from the Heptagram, a fugitive in the Realm. Iaro commented that he had not foreseen the Solar Exaltation of Headless, and that he had not sent the dreams to him. After the momentary surprise and confusion had passed, Iaro continued to explain.
Iaro explained that he brought them all together because his astrological predictions indicated grave peril. The fabled Egg of Rodan, a flying behemoth of the Southern Pole, has been stolen. Rodan lays but one egg every 1000 years. For the year preceding the egg's hatching, the adult Rodan travels the southern wilderness gathering food for the hatchling. On the first day of the new year following its year-long excursion, Rodan returns to its egg. On that day the egg hatches and is fed and raised by Rodan. Once the hatchling grows to maturity, the adult Rodan dies and the hatchling becomes the new Rodan. This time, however, someone has stolen the Egg of Rodan. Using secret Sidereal magic, Iaro has determined that the egg has been stolen. Using arcane astrological calculations, a dash of probability, psychology, history, and guesswork, he has determined a 99% chance the Egg will be taken to Nexus in 50 days to be sold to the highest bidder. The perception being that a Rodan hatchling, raised and trained properly, will become a mighty weapon of war, able to turn the tide of any battle! However, Iaro foresaw an alternative outcome. He determined that when Rodan returns in 250 days to find its nest empty, it will embark on a rampage of destruction across Creation! No country, no city, no person will be safe from its revenge! This must not happen! The Egg of Rodan must be returned to its nest ere its return! Iaro had called the group together to accomplish this mission. That night, the Circle rested in the Manse. The next morning, Iaro was gone, leaving no trace of his visit or exit. The Circle gathered their supplies, attached them to small travois attached to their backs, and set out East towards the nearest town, Norhud, a coastal village where Dontesse's ships were anchored, an overland journey of 500 miles. From there, they would sail upriver to Sijan, a journey of 1750 miles, then to Nexus, another 1100 miles, where Iaro's predictions indicated the most powerful merchant would host the sale. After retrieving the Egg, the plan is to sail down to the Lap, travel overland to Gem, and then up into the mountains to return the Egg to Rodan's nest. Once Rodan returns for the hatching, the world will be safe for another 1000 years. 
The first day saw the new Circle travelling through icy tundra, camping, surviving, finding food, etc. Once clear of the frozen lake, the ice became rippled with 30-foot high hills and bowls. On the first afternoon, while traversing one of these bowls, Dontesse fell through some thin ice into a chest-high pool of slush, a trap set by a Molerus, a walrus-sized naked mole rat that burrows through the ice using a super-hot bony horn growing from its head. The Molerus creates traps for its prey under thin ice, where several of them wait to attack en masse. A wake in the slush heralded the attack of the Molerus. Dontesse shot out of the pit and landed lightly on the rim of the bowl, firing several arrows into the slush. A heartbeat passed, and the slush erupted in a geyser of blood. The rest of the circle was soon set upon by more Moleruses. Gleaming Warrior quickly dispatched them with his saw-like whirling blade. After he was finished, while the rest of the circle stood ready, bloody hand-sized bits of Molerus flesh rained from the sky for several more seconds, hitting the snow with sick slapping sounds.
The evening started with two people creating/finishing their characters, and the others evaluating what their new characters could do. It was slow muddling for all of us as this was our first real-play session. I've run other White Wolf games before including Street Fighter, Aberrant, and Adventure, but they were years ago and the rules are slightly different. I was mostly prepared for most questions, but failed my know rules check on things like explaining aborting to dodge when taking multiple actions. We eventually got it figured out after the session. My favorite bit of the night was the archer wire-fu leaping out of the slushy trap, somersaulting in mid-air and alighting on the nearby ridge, shooting two Charmed arrows into the slush. A half a beat later, the slush erupted in a geyser of blood and gore, ala Army of Darkness. The horned ice moles are walrus-sized dire naked mole rats based off an old Discover Magazine April Fool's issue creature purported to have been found in Antarctica. Every time one of the PC's overkilled a dire naked mole rat, it exploded in a fountain of blood. One character took six actions, no Charms, killed one dire naked mole rat with two chops with his Daiklave, then another twice-over with the remaining four chops. I described his whirling spinning ginsu chopping action with a buzz-saw sound effect, followed by the bloody explosion of former dire naked mole rat. Seconds later, bloody fleshy bits were still raining from the sky, hitting the ground all around like wet hacky-sacks. It was glorious!
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