Eric Minton, Lauren Roy, Monica Speca,
Robert Vance, Vera Vartanian
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
Credits
Authors: Eric Minton, Lauren Roy, Monica Speca, Robert
Vance, Vera Vartanian
Developers: Meghan Fitzgerald, Lauren Roy
Line Developers: Eric Minton and Robert Vance
In-House Developer: Dixie Cochran
Editor: Matthew Dawkins
Art Director: Maria Cabardo and Mike Chaney
Artists: Yihyoung Li, Priscilla Kim, Romane Faure, Ivan
Vegar, Mahendra Sidharta Suryadi, Melissa Uran, Martin
Sickree, Digital Art Chefs, Gong Studios, Gunship Revolution
Creative Director: Richard Thomas
Special Thanks
Rose Bailey, for all her mentorship, support, and guidance.
Neall Raemonn Price and Lea Sheppard, for creative
support.
Dixie Cochran, for helping to bring it all together.
Charlie Raspin, for his hard work and wonderfully creative ideas behind the scenes.
© 2021 PARADOX INTERACTIVE AB.
All rights reserved. Reproduction without the written consent of the publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the purposes of reviews, and for blank character sheets, which may be reproduced for personal use only. Exalted and Exalted 3rd Edition are registered trademarks of Paradox
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Ta b l e o f C o n t e n t s
Introduction
6
Chapter One: Strange Beasts
10
Aughdeighe
Chillikin
Crystalmoth
Devil Stone
Dream Hawk
Dune Swarm
Fang-Blossom
Gajam-Un, the Living Manse
Gem Seeker
Giant Grosbeak
Gravehound
Jungle Stalker
Lodestar
Mahicara, the Volcanic Earthwalker
Moonsilver Shadow
Mouse of the Sun
Plentimon’s Ladybug
Scroll
Thousand-Forged Dragon
Tiger’s Eye
Twistroot and Mother Tree
Chapter Two: The Dead
Ankou
Barrow Hound
Bloodworm
Doppelgänger
The Drowned
The Forlorn Manor
Ghostfisher
Grave Messenger
Haunt
Keregost the Hundred-Handed
Nameless Wretch
Rantai
Scavenger
Susurrus
Walkure
White Robe
The Wreck ofthe Ruby Wren
Metody, the Malfean Elemental,
Demon of the First Circle
Oldrasek, the Eternal Wheel,
Demon of the First Circle
Tomescu, the Clamorous Cloud Arsenal,
Demon of the First Circle
Audegar, the Ever-Open Door,
Demon of the Second Circle
Makarios, the Sigil’s Dreamer,
Demon of the Second Circle
Rimvidas, the Cancerous Cornucopia,
Demon of the Second Circle
Stanewald, She Who Surmounted the Omphalos,
Demon of the Second Circle
Sibri, the Rampart of Serpents,
Demon of the Third Circle
10
12
14
15
17
19
21
22
26
27
28
30
32
34
36
38
40
41
43
46
48
Chapter Four: Creatures of the Wyld
Black Hollow
Cockatrice
Epochine
Furia
Grelidaka, the Thousand Hungry Wings
Haloed Husk
Kian-Ji, the Heartmirror,
from Whom Intention Springs
Lava Moth
Mata-Yadh, the Congeries of Obsidian and Aurora
Mirrorkin
Napaxu, the Tongue Scorcher
Parasitic Shadow
Silere
Singer of the Deep
Siren Tower
Unicorn
Visage Blight
Yukino-Takka, the Broken God
Zicnal of the Asmani
52
52
54
56
57
59
61
63
65
67
68
71
72
74
75
77
78
80
Chapter Three: Spirits
84
Elementals
Ahesh the Forgotten
Charnavrix the Unyielding, the Sleeper in the Grove,
Lesser Elemental Dragon of Wood
Cloud Person
Flickerfeather
Heartflame
Huraka
Rothopper
Steel Eater
Storm Serpent
84
84
Demons
Anuhle, the Demon Spider,
Demon of the First Circle
Fulope, the Choral Equestrian,
Demon of the First Circle
101
Chapter Five: Animals
Armored Kraken
Aurochs
Austrech
Bat
Bird of Paradise
Camel/Llama
Dolphin
Eight-Tailed Mole Hound
Elephant/Mammoth
Forest Strider
Giant Constrictor
Ichneumon Hunter
Metagalapan Riding Hawk
Mospid
Northern Ursid
Siaka
Simhata
Sky Titan
Spider
Sthenurine
Strix
Tongma Monkey
Urcheon
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88
90
92
94
95
97
99
101
103
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105
107
109
111
113
116
119
122
128
128
130
131
133
134
136
138
140
142
144
145
147
148
150
152
154
155
157
159
164
164
166
168
170
171
172
174
175
176
178
179
180
182
184
186
187
189
191
193
195
196
197
198
“I don’t like it,” said Hisa, as she and Inaol pulled the sled laden with their mother’s
wares along the forest path. “Why do all the villages around us shut themselves up
in their great halls and bar their gates, but we’re out here on the roads, setting up
stalls like it’s a summer festival?” She looked up at the sky and shuddered. “It’s colder,
without the moon.”
Inaol let Hisa complain. Her laments were as much a Calibration tradition as the market
their people assembled along the road. Very few human travelers ventured out here at
year’s end, when even the moon fled in fear, but that didn’t mean the way was deserted.
Far from it, in fact.
Inaol and Hisa reached the place where the trees shrank back from the path. Stalls and
tables filled the space, and the scent of roasting meat and frying bread brought hints
of warmth to the chill air. The merchants worked quickly, painting poems of protection
on their booths, and double checking one another’s accoutrements to be sure all their
various amulets and talismans were well-secured. Children darted about, excited but
subdued. Older youths arranged goods into artful displays, while younger ones carefully
poured lines of salt along the road’s edge.
The girls’ mother had set up her booth in the middle of the makeshift bazaar. She
bustled toward them and enlisted Hisa to help her carry the crate of silks. Inaol flexed
her cold-cramped fingers to return feeling to their tips. She clutched the capped piece
of horn tied to her belt and took warmth from that. Inside, nestled in ashes, lay a
banked coal, its heat radiating into its container. All her people carried them; this far
north, you didn’t want to be caught without the makings of a fire.
Inaol stored the sled at the forest’s edge and joined her sister and mother. Taer’s
intricately painted scarves fetched a fine price on normal days, but it was here,
during these strange dark days at the close of the year, where she made her fortune.
Calibration’s passers-by rarely traded with coins, instead pressing peculiar offerings
into the merchants’ hands: bolts of steel-tough hell-silk spun by demon spiders,
feathers plucked from dream hawks’ wings, or a giant constrictor’s shed skin.
On the opposite side of the road, other villagers set up temporary pens and hitching
posts, their rails garlanded with winter greens. Troughs of raw meat sat beside bales
of sweet grass and fresh oats. Farriers waited by portable forges, ready to affix golden
shoes to unicorn feet. Those who’d come into contact with the wondrous beasts wore
even more charms than the merchants; several had prayers tattooed on their necks and
chests and arms.
Shamans and sorcerers warmed themselves at braziers along the path. Once the
procession started, they’d be on constant watch should a demon or a dead thing veer
off course. Inaol had never seen it happen in all her seventeen years. Once, she’d
suggested the elders’ stories of such events were merely tales to frighten children into
obedience, but her mother’s haunted look told her otherwise.
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When the last grains of salt trickled from the last sack, the music began. The high,
clear notes of a pipe danced on the air, joined by drum snares and blatting horns. The
children scattered, seeking refuge behind their parents’ legs or beneath the sturdy
stalls. Hisa hid with them, though she pretended she was merely ducking down to
adjust the silks. Only a few years ago, Inaol would have hidden, too. But now she was
too old for such things, and stood tall beside the booth to set a good example. Her
mother squeezed her hand. The calm reassurance stopped Inaol’s trembling.
Then came the procession, the piper and the drummer accompanied by a tumbler in a
blood red leotard. The woman’s grin was too wide, and her eyes twinkled with malevolence
rather than mischief. Inaol averted her gaze until they passed. Other wonders followed:
a sapphire-bellied tiger’s eye; a rantai with ghosts hanging from its blood-red chains; a
fierce-eyed austrech, taller than the girls would be if Hisa stood atop Inaol’s shoulders.
The sorcerers murmured with unease as a woman-shaped thing passed by, beads of acid
dripping from her fingertips. Overhead, a strix swooped past on soundless wings.
Some of the beasts had wranglers. A woman whose pale green hair blended into her
cloak of leaves rode astride an eight-legged canopy climber. A gentleman dressed all
in gray held a brilliantly-plumed dream hawk aloft on one leather-gloved fist. Beside
him walked a man whose skin resembled the night sky, carrying a wicker cage teeming
with ladybugs.
These handlers were another layer of precaution, tasked with keeping the creatures
in their charge from preying upon the villagers. Many were human, able to cross the
wards and deal with the merchants, unaffected by their talismans and charms. They
took turns passing reins to their peers and drifting over to view the villagers’ wares.
Some placed eight-tailed mole hounds in the waiting pens, or hitched unicorns to the
posts with thin silver chains. Children swarmed around a piper, demanding a song.
Inaol sometimes wondered what it might be like to accompany the keepers in this odd
procession. Where did they come from, before Calibration weakened the barriers between
the realms? Where was their destination? Surely, a parade lasting five days and nights
must stretch all the way to Icehome, but no one ever spoke of it beyond their village.
By dawn, Inaol’s voice was hoarse from describing her mother’s silks to the passersby. When her belly’s growls rivaled those of a passing simhata, Taer sent her to a
neighboring stall to fetch handpies. Along the way, a stout young woman with tiny
cymbals on her fingers caught Inaol up in a twirl. At first Inaol thrilled in the dance,
laughing as she spun.
But then a cymbal caught on her ward-painted scarf, and the fabric slipped free of
Inaol’s neck. She lost her footing, stumbled over the salt line and out into the road.
Her outflung hands scrabbled for purchase, seeking anything that might stop her from
falling into a swarm of ichneumon hunters, or the insectoid limbs of the tomescu.
Anything, she thought, anything but those pincers.
Her fingers closed around an icy mane.
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Introduction
There were vast ungodly tombs where slimy monsters dreamed;
There were clouds like blood-drenched plumes where unborn demons screamed.
There were ages dead to Time, and lands lost out of Space;
There were adders in the slime, and a dim unholy Face.
— Robert E. Howard, “Song of the Mad Minstrel”
Calibration is a strange and thrilling time. Barriers
weaken — between realms, between castes and classes,
between civilization and wild places, and even between
gods and mortals. People of many cultures seal themselves up in their homes and pray for five days and five
nights that the spiritual disarray of the Time that Is Not
a Time leaves them untouched. Just as many roam the
streets and hills in revelry, basking in the glory of its
lawlessness. In some lands, it is a time of celebration
— not only for the coming of a new year, but for honoring the limitless menagerie of beasts from far and wide.
Hundred Devils Night was born from just such a celebration, though no one living knows when or where the
tradition began. Cities all over Creation gather creatures
from far and wide to trot them out in a dazzling cavalcade of living wonders with unparalleled pageantry.
Quick Characters (QCs) for a wide assortment of creatures with which to populate Creation and its neighboring realms, whether as foes to fight, pets and familiars
to keep, mysteries to investigate, wild beasts to tame, or
spirits to summon. This is a supplement to the Exalted
Third Edition core book and requires that volume to
use.
Each entry in this book features a description of the creature, QC traits and capabilities to use when including it
in a game, and a section called “Storyteller Tactics.” This
section is a catch-all header for advice on how to run the
creature when characters encounter it, behaviors the
creature displays and strategies it tends to follow under
various circumstances, exceptions to rules and ways it
may react to stimuli, hooks to suggest interesting ways
to introduce it to the story, the creature’s objectives and
desires, and any weaknesses or blind spots it possesses.
Calibration is a time for devils to play, but not all devils
are malevolent.
While players may find it useful to plunder this book for
ideas when choosing familiars or just exploring what
Creation has to offer, keep in mind that most characters
have no access to the information in these pages without
research or previous experience. Let players approach
these beasts from a position of ignorance and learn about
them as they go. Those who wish to have potentially studied or heard about them before, whether to understand their capabilities and behaviors or recall their
strengths and weaknesses, may make Occult or Lore
rolls for the knowledge to be forewarned and forearmed.
Storytellers should gauge the rarity of a creature in a given region or environment based on its description in the
text and set difficulties accordingly.
Across Creation, the word “devil” takes on as many
meanings as there are lips to utter it. To some, a devil is
a demon or a monster. To others, a devil is anything not
strictly human. In a few regions, a devil is a specific type
of creature, though which type varies from place to place.
In much the same way, most of Creation’s denizens don’t
differentiate between gods, elementals, and other magical beings who meddle in mortal affairs; thus, even a
local river spirit who happily provides for their constituents can be a devil to their people and take no offense at
the appellation. The only truth about devils upon which
all agree is that the world has never lacked for infinite
variety in the creatures that wander it.
Parade of Devils
System Notes
This book functions as an Exalted bestiary, although
such a term fails to describe the breadth of diversity
found among Creation’s critters and fiends. It contains
Following are a few mechanical pointers relevant to using the creatures in this book.
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I n t r o d u cti o n
The Legendary Size and Tiny Creature Merits are obvious in function when one creature has one and another
doesn’t, but what happens when two creatures possess
the same one? Are they necessarily the same size? No; an
elephant and a hekatonkhire may both possess Legendary
Size, but one is obviously much larger than the other.
Likewise, Mice of the Sun and Plentimon’s ladybugs both
possess Tiny Creature, but the bugs are much smaller.
When two creatures possess the same size-based Merit,
its effects cancel out if they’re of roughly the same scale.
A mammoth and a tyrant lizard, for instance, wouldn’t be
able to use their respective Legendary Size Merits against
each other. If they’re of wildly differing scales, such as
the elephant and hekatonkhire mentioned above, the one
that’s significantly larger (with Legendary Size) or smaller (with Tiny Creature) benefits from the Merit’s effects
and the other doesn’t.
• +1 to Strength-based pools, attack pools for
melee attacks (including unarmed attacks and
those with natural weapons) and grappling, Parry,
and damage ratings for attacks that would add
Strength to damage pools, such as with physical
natural weapons.
• +1 to Dexterity-based pools, ranged attack pools,
combat movement pools, and Evasion.
• +1 to Stamina-based pools and soak. Add two −1
and two −2 health levels.
• +1 to Senses and other Perception- and Witsbased pools, including Join Battle.
• +1 to social pools, Resolve vs. intimidation and
fear effects, and Appearance if applicable.
• +1 permanent Willpower rating.
This Book at a Glance
The Pack Hunting special ability doesn’t apply to a battle group of creatures that possess it. Instead, such a battle group automatically gains elite Drill.
Chapter One: Strange Beasts presents a selection of
magical beings, monsters, and oddities that don’t fall under any particular category. Of all the devils in Creation,
these are most likely to confound even the most learned
warrior-scholar.
As mentioned in the entry for Mara the Shadow-Lover
on p. 529 of Exalted, spirits are incapable of summoning
other spirits even if they possess the proper circle of sorcery to learn such spells.
Chapter Two: The Dead details various kinds of ghosts
and walking corpses, as well as creatures native to the
Underworld or with other deathly origins. Not all things
dead were ever living to begin with.
Finally, since the creatures presented in this book are
QCs, the Solar Charm Bestial Traits Technique on p. 411
of Exalted doesn’t apply to them as-written. If a player
wishes to use this Charm to improve a creature from this
book, use the following version of the Charm instead:
Chapter Three: Spirits is a roster of elementals and demons that travelers may come across in their wanderings, warriors may best in bids to enter forbidden places,
and sorcerers may summon from the depths of Malfeas
and the roots of Creation itself.
BESTIAL TRAITS TECHNIQUE
Cost: 10m, 1wp, 2xp; Mins: Survival 4, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Spirit-Tied Pet
With this Charm, the Solar can invest her Spirit-Tied
Pet with traits beyond its natural capacity. This Charm
supplements a normal beast-training roll, rerolling all
1s until 1s fail to appear. In addition to teaching her
charge a new command, she can also choose one of
the following options upon the successful completion
of the extended roll. Each option may be purchased
up to three times per creature; no option can increase
a dice pool beyond 14 dice.
Chapter Four: Creatures of the Wyld explores the
plethora of wondrous and dangerous things that lurk
at the edges of the world. The raksha lords may be the
most well-known and recognizable of fae creatures, but
they’re far from the only devils out there.
Chapter Five: Animals gives a broad spread of naturally occurring beasts found in every corner of Creation
— from the friendly and helpful dolphins of Western
oceans to the proud and ferocious aurochs of Southern
plains; from the terrifying giant constrictors of Eastern
jungles to the enormous and hardy ursidae of Northern
glaciers.
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Cries rose up all around Inaol, as chaos spread through the procession. She was only dimly aware
of the flutter of dark-winged birds around her, and the way the piper’s music faltered. With a toss
of its muscled neck, the horse swept Inaol onto its bare back.
And bolted.
Inaol’s left hand clutched a stiff hank of the beast’s mane. Cold bit into her fingers as she noticed
the icicles encrusting the horse’s hair. She groped for a rein with her right, but found nothing:
no bit, no bridle. The horse reared and plunged into the forest. It galloped along, leaping over
deadfalls and crashing through brambles with no care for its rider. More than once, Inaol had to
duck to avoid low-hanging branches that would have cracked her skull. Most horses, when they
ran this far and this fast, gave off heat in waves. Steam ought to have been pouring off it in the
chill air. But the horse’s neck was cold as a dead thing against Inaol’s cheek.
Inaol looked for a soft place ahead, somewhere she could tumble from the horse’s back and
perhaps land with a few bones unbroken, but when she tried to throw herself off, her left
hand stuck fast. Aughdeighe, she thought. Ice horse. Hunters who passed through her village
sometimes held up hands with missing digits, insisting they’d lost them to encounters with such
creatures, rather than admit they’d simply been caught out in the brutal cold.
Snow swirled around them. The cold grew brittle. Wind sliced at her cheeks and forced tears from
her eyes. They froze before they could fall, coating her eyelashes with rime. Inaol shouted at the
horse. She slapped its neck and yanked at its mane, but still the aughdeighe ran without tiring,
farther than Inaol had ever ventured. The forest changed around her, trees thinning until they
gave way to icy steppes. She didn’t know how long she rode. Perhaps she dozed, though she saw
neither sun nor moon to gauge how much time had passed while she slept.
They outpaced a group of hunters, all bundled in furs. Their sled dogs yelped and shied from the
aughdeighe. Inaol called for help, but if anyone heard her voice before the wind snatched it away,
they didn’t pursue. The ice horse carried them out onto a frozen lake. By now Inaol was so cold
she was sure her teeth would shatter from all the clacking. She tried thinking warm thoughts,
imagined herself by a fire, with hot mulled wine warming her belly.
But the nearest fire was leagues away.
No, it isn’t.
Inaol fumbled at her belt, at the horn with its ash-covered treasure inside. She prayed the coal
hadn’t gone out.
It scorched her fingers as she clutched at it, and Inaol choked back a sob. First, she touched it to
the icicles beneath her stuck fingers, but they didn’t melt. Then she held it above the aughdeighe’s
eye, even as the burning coal seared her palm. “Let me go,” she said. “I’ll do it if I have to.”
She didn’t know if it understood her, or if the beast’s eye might be like the icicles: untouched,
unyielding.
Then the aughdeighe reared, and her hand at last came free. Inaol spilled off its back and onto the
ice. The horse galloped away, across the frozen lake.
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C h a pt e r O n e : St r a n g e B e a s t s
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Chapter One
Strange Beasts
17 Ascending Air
Today I ascended the mountain and looked back down to see that what we thought was a natural caldera is, in fact, no such thing. It’s a footprint! An enormous footprint like a crater, the likes
of which I have never before seen. And if it is indeed a sign of the passage of something truly massive, then mustn’t there be others? I doubt such a thing could move on just one leg, after all…
Aughdeighe
MERITS
Icy Hide: The aughdeighe is an environmental
hazard to anyone touching it, with Damage 1B/
round and difficulty 3. Anyone who dies from its touch
turns completely to solid ice. An aughdeighe’s master
may train it not to freeze her as a latent ability.
Swift-Hooved: Double 9s on rolls to disengage or
withdraw. The aughdeighe can be trained to apply
this to rush rolls also, as a latent ability.
MOBILITY CHARMS
Frozen Trail (1m, 1wp; Reflexive; One day; Eclipse;
Essence 2): The aughdeighe’s icy hooves instantly
freeze water and other liquids within close range, allowing it to create a frozen path for itself as it runs.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Hold Fast (10m, 2i; Reflexive; Instant; Essence 3):
One victim in physical contact with the aughdeighe
becomes stuck. It can make a touch attack to initiate
contact, but this Charm can also affect riders, those
making unarmed attacks against it, and others who
touch it for any reason. Those not already astride can
perform a difficulty 3 gambit to climb onto its back;
otherwise, it drags them along, reducing their Initiative by one per turn and forcing them to move with
it. Victims can pry themselves free as a difficulty 3
gambit; if successful, they take (1 + number of rounds
stuck) lethal damage that ignores Hardness.
The aughdeighe is a creature of Northern legend, appearing as a tall white stallion with crystalline hooves to
lost travelers in blizzards. When warm skin touches its
icicle-encrusted mane, the unfortunate traveler sticks
fast, and it carries them deeper into the storm. When
the weather clears, it reveals frozen statues that once
were victims. Survivors describe beasts with coats the
stark white and dingy gray of ice. Asked how they freed
themselves, they say frostbite, and hold up hands missing
several digits.
Essence: 3; Willpower: 6; Join Battle: 6 dice
Personal Motes: 30
Health Levels: –0x2/–1x3/–2x3/–4x2/Incap.
Speed Bonus: +4
Actions: Deception: 6 dice; Feats of Strength: 6
dice (may attempt Strength 3 feats); Senses: 5 dice;
Stealth: 3 dice (6 in a blizzard); Traversing Frigid
Terrain: 10 dice
Resolve 1, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Kick): 8 dice (Damage 14)
Attack (Touch): 6 dice
Combat Movement: 12 dice (see Swift-Hooved)
Evasion 3, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 6/4
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Secure in the Saddle (Latent): For one Willpower,
the aughdeighe reflexively makes its rider immune to
unhorsing for the scene, mildly freezing her in place
without damage.
Storyteller Tactics
Folktales say aughdeighes exist only within a snowstorm, though brave riders who have tamed the beasts
prove this false — perhaps taming them tethers them to
the earth. In the wild, they act docile, giving frightened
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travelers hope that this placid animal will bring them to
safety and shelter. By the time victims realize their folly,
they’re already caught.
A wild aughdeighe in a fight prefers brushing up against
foes and dragging them into the storm’s heart to freeze
them to death, rather than attacking outright, unless
it’s desperate. Since aughdeighes only appear during
blizzards in the wild, the severe cold environmental
hazard (Exalted, p. 232) often accompanies an encounter. Aughdeighes flee combat when they take damage to
their –2 health levels.
Those willing to risk a few fingers can tame the aughdeighe as a mount (Exalted, p. 554).
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Chillikin
First Age Solars spent much of their time governing and
adventuring, and had little time to dedicate toward raising their children. To help combat loneliness and protect
her children while she was away, a Twilight sorceress
created a wondrous new playmate and caretaker: the
chillikin.
Child-sized themselves, chillikin are shaped like gibbons
and covered in thick, soft fur. They have round, comical
faces, and move at a gangly lope, though they’re capable of graceful movement when in danger or protecting
their charges. They can lay utterly still for hours or days
on end, like cast-aside dolls. Chillikin don’t speak human
languages, instead communicating via a series of whistles, grunts, body language, and hand gestures. They neither age nor sicken.
A gemstone embedded in their foreheads like a third eye
changes color depending on the chillikin’s mood: yellow
when it’s happy, red when it’s angry or afraid. The chillikin perceives the flow of Essence through this gem, and
uses it to sense danger. It also makes the chillikin highly
empathic, allowing them to sense the moods and desires
of those around them.
The chillikin were often their charges’ primary source of
entertainment. They shaped Essence into tangible toys,
and molded the children’s dreams into vibrant displays
that played out in their nurseries. The chillikin watched
over the children as they slept, absorbing and discarding
their nightmares while saving their sweet dreams to be
replayed in their waking hours.
This happy existence came to an end with the
Usurpation. When the Dragon-Blooded rose up, they
spared no Lawbringer’s kin from their slaughter. Many
chillikin saw the children they were charged with protecting murdered in front of them, and it drove the creatures to madness. They fled into the wilds, where they’ve
lived out their long centuries. Now that the Solars have
returned, the chillikin sense their former masters’ presence, and some seek to return to their service.
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C h a pt e r O n e : St r a n g e B e a s t s
Essence: 3; Willpower: 6; Join Battle: 5 dice
Personal Motes: 70
Health Levels: –0x2/–1x5/–2x3/–4x2/
Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “I must protect the children
and make all their days sweet. Forever.” Major:
The Dragon-Blooded (hatred) Minor: “Our masters
have returned, and there are so many dreams to
show them.”
Actions: Climb: 6 dice; Observe: 7 dice; Senses:
4 dice; Tracking: 6 dice (see Essence Scent)
Appearance 2, Resolve 3, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 6 dice (Damage 9)
Attack (Grapple): 5 dice (5 to control)
Combat Movement: 3 dice
Evasion 2, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 3/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Preternatural Intuition: The chillikin observes
a target in close or short range and discerns the
image of something the target fears or desires. Roll
the chillikin’s Observe against the target’s Resolve.
MERITS
Essence Scent: Double 9s on Senses rolls to
sense the presence of Essence.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Create Phantasm (10m; Simple; Scene; Essence
2): The chillikin shapes an object out of Essence,
giving it solid form. This may be a child’s simple toy,
the figure of someone the target fears, or an elaborate set based on its charge’s dreams. The figures
act and speak as the chillikin directs them to. When
the Scene ends, they lose their form and dissipate.
Deadly Facsimile (20m; Simple; Scene;
Essence 3): The chillikin imbues its creation with
deadly power. It may create any mortal weapon
(Exalted, p. 580) or mundane animal of normal
size or smaller. These created creatures use their
normal combat stats and dice pools for attacking,
but can’t access any Merits or special abilities. It
cannot create creatures with Legendary Size.
Storyteller Tactics
Since the Usurpation, chillikin have become twisted
versions of their former selves. They’re still driven to
care for children, and though mortal children’s dreams
aren’t as vibrant as a Solar’s, the chillikin have made do.
Some immerse their charges in fantasy landscapes for
years on end, and react violently to anyone who tries to
interfere. They use Create Phantasm to confuse their
enemies, and produce Deadly Facsimiles to protect
themselves and their wards.
Their resentment and hatred toward the DragonBlooded knows no bounds, and a chillikin who notices a Terrestrial Exalt in their vicinity will bring their
nightmares to life.
A chillikin flees when it suffers damage to its last –2
health level, but will fight to Incapacitated to protect
its child.
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Crystalmoth
While Gajam-Un (p. XX) slumbered, a passel of moths found
their way inside the dormant behemoth. They spun their
nests in its corners, and fluttered about its halls. Over their
many generations, the strange geomantic magics that brought
Gajam-Un to life twisted the moths into new creatures. They
grew: an adult’s wingspan measures two feet. Sharp, crystalline teeth formed in their maws, and their wings took on a
shimmering iridescence and razor-sharp edges.
Crystalmoths appear delicate, drawing people who wish
to catch them close — their colorful wings and crystal
teeth would fetch high prices from crafters. The clever,
hardy moths lure their would-be captors back toward
the manse. They share a psychic connection with GajamUn as well, hunting where it sends them and responding
to its commands. While the manse is in torpor, the moths
continue to care for it, bringing victims into its depths so
Gajam-Un may feed and grow strong.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 5 dice
Health Levels: –0/–1x2/–2x3/–4/Incap.
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Actions: Fly: 5 dice; Senses: 7 dice; Stealth: 7 dice;
Resolve 1, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 9 dice (Damage 9)
Attack (Slice): 10 dice (Damage 13)
Combat Movement: 7 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 2/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Gore: The crystalmoth’s extremely sharp wings cut
deep. Its decisive slice attacks add two bonus successes to damage against enemies with lower Initiative, as long as it hasn’t taken any other actions (including reflexive movement actions) that turn.
Harry: The crystalmoth swarm flanks the target, preventing him from fleeing. On the turn that a crystalmoth
moves into close range of an enemy, if it deals 5+
damage to them with a withering attack, that enemy
cannot disengage or withdraw on their next turn.
C h a pt e r O n e : St r a n g e B e a s t s
pursuit, the moths lead him back toward where GajamUn awaits. When they are within medium to long range
of the manse, the moths swarm and attack, surrounding
their enemies in a flurry of wings and teeth.
MERITS
Crystalmoth Wing Rush: A crystalmoth may rush
enemies from long range above them, as long as the
horizontal distance between them is still short range.
Storyteller Tactics
Crystalmoths keep their distance from their targets at
first, getting near enough for their wings to catch the
light, but staying at medium range. Once the target is in
A crystalmoth flees when it suffers damage to its last –2
health level, though Gajam-Un’s commands may override that instinct and keep it fighting until it dies.
Devil Stone
Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 8 dice
Health Levels: –0/–1x6/–2x4/–4/Incap.
Actions: Disguise as Stone: 7 dice; Feats of Strength:
10 dice (may attempt Strength 5 feats); Threaten: 6
dice; Resist Disease/Poison: 6 dice; Senses: 8 dice
Resolve 5, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Stone Body Slam): 9 dice (Damage 12);
Tags: Smashing
Combat Movement: 6 dice
Evasion 1, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 10/8
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Furious Rampage: Whenever the devil stone
attacks or rushes a crashed enemy, add two automatic successes to the roll.
Towering Obelisk Crush: A devil stone at Initiative 15+ may make a decisive attack with double
8s on the attack roll, as it uses its immense weight to
crush bones. If the rolled damage exceeds the victim’s (Stamina x 2), double total levels of damage
inflicted unless the victim accepts a crippling injury,
which doesn’t count against their once per story limit
(Exalted, p. 201).
Trample: If the devil stone reflexively pursues an
enemy after a successful rush and makes a body slam
attack against them on its next turn, a successful hit
knocks the enemy prone. Apply the Defense penalty
from being prone (Exalted, p. 202) retroactively
when calculating the attack’s threshold successes.
MERITS
Epic Vigor: Devil stones don’t need to eat, drink,
or sleep. They double 7s on rolls to resist poison or
disease.
Made of Secrets: A character can decipher the
cryptic hints inscribed on a devil stone to discover the
Excerpts from a journal recovered in a tide pool:
15 Ascending Water, RY 750
I’ve read that hidden among these scattered islands stand tremendous stones engraved with
mystical secrets, said to possess fortune and
power. They say one approaches the stones and
returns with vast knowledge and godlike strength.
When I asked the locals for more information,
they became tight-lipped and nervous, calling
them “devil stones” and warning me against further inquiry. I had to see for myself. One heavy bag
of jade later, I’d found a fisherman willing to row
me to one of the nearby haunts of these so-called
devil stones.
19 Ascending Water, RY 750
I’ve found one! It measures at least fifteen feet
in height, a black obelisk rising above the palms
like a beacon. I’m keeping my distance for now,
viewing it with field glasses. Consult my sketches
on the next page. The writing is no language I’ve
seen, and I’ve delved among the East’s most forgotten tombs. I must get closer.
By Heaven, it’s alive!
I hate to admit it, but I’m cowering. It has an eye, a
great burning eye of judgment, and three spidery
legs each thick as a man’s arm. I believe it disapproves of me trying to read its engravings, and
now wishes me dead. No time to sketch, I must
stay ahead of it. It’s fast, though, so fast I don’
The ink smears on a torn page. Splatters of blood
discolor the paper.
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deliver secrets to specific people; considering how long the
devil stones have stood, scholars posit that whoever made
them knew a thing or two about prophecy or fate. A character whose player succeeds at an (Intelligence + Occult)
roll, difficulty 2, can tell the difference between a dormant
devil stone and an ordinary runestone, and knows it carries
a message on its stony skin. Characters who successfully
decipher the runes (see Made of Secrets) gain cryptic hints
couched in metaphor and vague portents about the true recipient and the message’s nature.
identity of its secrets’ intended recipient, though even
success only grants prophetic clues. Doing so requires
an extended (Intelligence + Occult) roll with difficulty
2, goal number 15, and interval one round. Damaging the devil stone also damages its message; each
time its wound penalty increases, cumulatively increase the difficulty to decipher its inscriptions by one.
Runestone’s Instincts: Each time a devil stone’s
wound penalty increases, it flies into a rage for one
round. Incensed at the damage to its message, it
adds the value of its wound penalty to the post-soak
damage of withering attacks or damage of decisive attacks.
Sturdy as Stone: A devil stone cannot be knocked
back or prone except by magical effects or creatures
of legendary size. A grappled devil stone cannot be
thrown or slammed unless magic such as Dragon Coil
Technique (Exalted, p. 280) is used, or if the attacker is of legendary size.
Storyteller Tactics
Dormant devil stones appear as obelisks or menhirs of
granite, basalt, or obsidian. Runes, glyphs, and mystical inscriptions cover their surfaces. From afar, travelers mistake
them for simple monuments or occult markers. However,
they’re living beings, created by some unknown entity — a
powerful god, dread demon, or something stranger — to
Whenever anyone who isn’t a foretold recipient approaches within close range — even if such a recipient is also nearby — the devil stone’s spidery legs, otherwise camouflaged
as part of the main body, unfold and lift it off the ground so
it can move. Its single, enormous red eye opens somewhere
on its surface and it attacks. A devil stone is too bestial and
simple-minded to realize how counterproductive killing
someone who’s trying to decipher its inscriptions to find
its recipient is. It isn’t a messenger, but the message itself,
and has no understanding of its creator or greater purpose
beyond basic instinct.
Destroying a devil stone not only obliterates the message, but angers whatever entity created it. Determine
who the creator is ahead of time, whether each stone has
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a different one or whether they all come from a single
source, and ensure their attentions have interesting and
dire consequences for the characters, should they so
transgress. For instance, they could task the characters
with bringing the stone’s pieces to the correct recipient,
but only grant vague symbolic visions to impart the recipient’s identity, and threaten innocents or the characters’ loved ones should they fail. The characters should
also get something out of taking up this quest — a reward
from the stone’s creator, perhaps, or the material gratitude of the recipient once they deliver the message.
When a proper recipient is alone within close range of
a devil stone, its eye opens with a soft white light and
illuminates the runes, which the recipient may read
and intuitively understand. This encounter may impart
wondrous knowledge or enable a feat of occult might.
A mortal character might receive the power to perform
thaumaturgy or become the Exigent of the stone’s creator, while an Exalted character could become a walking portal to Heaven or Hell, or discover the key to a
long-forgotten sorcerous working.
If one or more of the players’ characters are not themselves the stone’s intended recipients, be sure to include
them in the final payoff one way or another. The mortal
who Exalts as an Exigent is mystically bound to the characters in some way, while the Exalt who can’t help opening gates to Malfeas wherever he goes offers them a free
trip to Orabilis’ great library, to name a few examples.
Try not to determine who the recipient is ahead of time
if it’s not a player’s character — it can be more fun to follow the players down whatever rabbit hole they choose
as they interpret the prophecy than to try to nudge them
in a pre-determined direction.
Dream Hawk
These Eastern raptors prey not on rodents or insects, but
on dreams. The birds resemble their mundane cousins,
brown-feathered and hook-beaked, but their extremities — the cruel curves of their beaks, the sharp points
of their talons, the mesmerizing tips of their feathers
— coruscate with brilliant colors leeched from stolen
dreams. Particularly gluttonous dream hawks have more
resplendent plumage and display it proudly, signaling
their dominance over others in the flock.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 6; Join Battle: 6 dice
Personal Motes: 30
Health Levels: –0/–1x2/–2x2/–4/Incap.
Actions: Fly: 6 dice; Threaten: 7 dice; Senses: 6 dice
(see Keen Sight); Tracking: 5 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Peck): 5 dice (Damage 6)
Attack (Talons): 10 dice (Damage 11)
Combat Movement: 8 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 2/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Dream Feeding (Latent): The dream hawk regurgitates dreams it consumes using Dream Feast (below)
into its master’s mouth, as though feeding its young.
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The player rolls (Wits + Occult), difficulty 3, for the
character to piece the fragments back together, experiencing the dream as a vision and learning one of the
dreamer’s Intimacies of the Storyteller’s choice. The
dream hawk can also feed the dreams to a dreamstone without a roll.
MERITS
Dream Raptor: Gain one Initiative per turn in
combat against a foe whose dreams the hawk has
eaten within the last day.
Keen Sight: Double 9s on sight-based Senses rolls.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Thousand Voices Defense (5m; Reflexive; Instant;
Clash, Perilous, Uniform; Essence 2): The dream hawk
cries out, bombarding its victim with snippets of nightmares. It may clash an attack from within short range
with a disarm gambit (Exalted, p. 200), which
counts as its action for the round. If the hawk has used
Dream Feast on the target within the last day, the cacophony comes from his own dreams, and the hawk
automatically succeeds on the gambit’s Initiative roll.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Dream Feast (8m; Simple; One day; Stackable;
Essence 2): The hawk perches near its victim’s sleeping form, pulling dreams from his head. This process
takes an hour. The victim doesn’t regain a Willpower from the night’s sleep; one full day afterward, the
hawk digests the dream, regaining that Willpower
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
itself and ending the Charm. The hawk may digest
multiple victims’ dreams at a time, but can’t gain more
Willpower than its usual maximum.
Storyteller Tactics
In the wild, dream hawks consume random victims’
dreams, and only fight in self-defense. Handlers train
tamed hawks to prey on specific people. Some make a
tidy profit selling these dreams. Dynasts hire them to
spy on their enemies’ nightmares, while lovers separated by distance send sweet or scandalous dreams to one
another.
A dream hawk is a 3-dot Familiar.
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Dune Swarm
Hidden in Southern desert sands dwells a species of
centipede that lives as a hive entity. Hundreds of them
hunt together in grotesque hordes, stripping flesh from
larger creatures’ bones with thousands of fatal, stinging
bites before scuttling away and vanishing into the dunes.
Patterned in pale yellows and browns to match the shifting sand of the desert, when still they are all but invisible. Dune swarms pour forth to obliterate anyone who
gets too close to their nests, which are indistinguishable
from normal sand-covered mounds at a cursory glance.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 6 dice
Health Levels: –0x5/–1x3/–2x2/–4/Incap.
Actions: Climb: 10 dice; Cohesion: 8 dice; Feats of
Strength: 6 dice (may attempt Strength 3 feats); Scavenge: 7 dice; Senses: 6 dice (see Unity of the Hive Mind,
Vibration Sense); Stealth: 6 dice (see Camouflage)
Resolve 1, Guile 1
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COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 10 dice (Damage 12) (see Unity of
the Hive Mind, Venomous Bite)
Attack (Grapple): 9 dice (10 to control)
Combat Movement: 12 dice (see Unity of the Hive Mind)
Evasion 4, Parry 0
Soak/Hardness: 12/3
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Clinging Swarm: When the swarm controls a
grapple, any failed attack against it automatically hits
the grappled target instead, with one effective threshold success.
Deadly Charge: Every range band the swarm
moves toward a single enemy in a straight line grants
it two Initiative. This Initiative accumulates until it closes
to close range with that enemy and makes a decisive attack. If the swarm takes any action other than
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
moving directly toward the chosen enemy or attacking it, it loses all Initiative built up with this ability.
Furious Rampage: Whenever the swarm attacks
or rushes a crashed enemy, add two automatic successes to the roll.
Ten Thousand Stinging Bites: When the swarm
makes a decisive bite attack against an enemy with
a lower Initiative rating, it adds +1 to the attack’s
damage. Against crashed enemies, this becomes an
automatic success instead.
Venomous Bite: The swarm’s decisive bite attack
exposes the victim to its poison (Exalted, p. 232) if
it deals any damage. The poison deals 4i/round (L in
Crash), with a duration of 4 rounds and a –2 penalty.
MERITS
Camouflage: The dust-colored exoskeletons of the
swarm make it indistinguishable from ordinary sand.
It doubles 9s on Stealth rolls to blend in with sandy
environments.
Made of Thousands: For each smashed centipede
in the swarm, ten more appear in its place. Reduce
the minimum damage of any withering attack made
against it by one, to a minimum of zero.
Seething Tide: The swarm ignores all difficult terrain.
Unity of the Hive Mind: Add an automatic
success to the swarm’s bite attack, all combat movement actions, and Senses rolls to detect ambushes.
Venomous Bite: The swarm’s decisive bite attack
exposes the victim to its poison (Exalted, p. 232) if
it deals any damage. The poison deals 4i/round (L in
Crash), with a duration of 4 rounds and a –2 penalty.
Vibration Sense: Dune swarms don’t rely on individual sight. Instead, the hive mind feels vibrations on
the wind and through the ground. They do not take
penalties from poor lighting, and double 9s on Senses
rolls whenever vibrations are present.
Storyteller Tactics
Dune swarms are horrifying masses of carnivorous,
hive-minded invertebrates, with twitching antennae
working in perfect concert. They attack anything they
perceive as a threat to their territory. Characters must
make a (Perception + Awareness) roll opposed by the
swarm’s Stealth to notice the hive before getting too close.
If they fail, the swarm attacks until all targets are dead or
it is disrupted (see below). It focuses on one foe at a time,
picking off the weakest first, and using Clinging Swarm
to dissuade their victim’s friends from trying to smash it.
Any sufficiently powerful sound disrupts the swarm’s
unity. A character must make a difficulty 4 (Charisma
+ Performance) roll, opposed by the swarm’s Cohesion,
with either a musical instrument, another tool that can
make stupendously loud sounds, or supernaturally-enhanced volume. Characters with appropriate Lore backgrounds may roll (Intelligence + Lore), difficulty 3, to
learn this weakness. A disrupted swarm loses the benefits of the following: all special abilities and Made of
Thousands. It regains cohesion after a number of turns
equal to the Performance roll’s threshold successes.
The swarm can only savage or release a grappled foe.
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Fang-Blossom
A few generations ago, a Dragon-Blooded sailor fancied
a lovely species of flowering plant native to the West.
Ignoring the islanders’ warnings, she uprooted the bulbs
of these beautiful scandent vines and returned home to the
Blessed Isle. The invasive species flourished there with
alarming vitality. Emboldened by the Center’s rich soil,
these fang-blossoms — as the Dynast eventually dubbed
them — multiplied in droves: first one seedling from each
plant, then five, then twenty, and eventually they overran
the walls of her estate and germinated in the wild. The
mystery of pets gone missing without explanation dogged
the prefecture for months, but no one blamed the plants
until the grisly devouring of a visiting foreign dignitary
prompted a political feud that persists to this day.
The fang-blossom’s flowers are wide and circular, displaying a riot of dazzling colors. Each plant begins as
a yellow-green root roughly the size of a watermelon,
then develops a thick stem, countless tendrils, and large
blooms. Curated, it maintains a reasonable size for a garden plant and limits its carnivorous tendencies to wild
animals. Left to feed and sprout freely, fang-blossoms
develop dozens of thick vines and can swallow an unfortunate passerby whole.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 7 dice
Personal Motes: 60
Health Levels: –0/–1x4/–2x3/–4/Incap.
Actions: Climb/Slither (vines only): 9 dice; Feats of
Strength: 8 dice (vines only; may attempt Strength 5
feats); Senses: 5 dice; Disguise/Stealth: 7 dice (see
Camouflage)
Resolve 4, Guile 4
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 11 dice (Damage 12, minimum 3)
Attack (Vine grapple): 10 dice (12 to control)
Combat Movement: 8 dice (vines only)
Evasion 1, Parry 6
Soak/Hardness: 6/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Needle-Tooth Bite: A fang-blossom’s carnivorous maw opens to reveal rings of sharpened teeth
while its mass of tendrils immobilizes its prey. When
it deals 5+ damage with a withering bite attack,
it may forgo receiving any Initiative to instead make
a reflexive grapple gambit against that enemy,
without an Initiative roll or cost. Each Initiative point
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H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
it would have gained instead adds one die to the
control roll.
MERITS
Camouflage: Whenever a fang-blossom’s maws
are closed and it poses as an ordinary flowering
plant, double 9s on Disguise/Stealth rolls.
Tendril-Sprouting
Nightmare:
Each
fang-blossom has a core plant with bulb, stem,
and one blossom maw to start with. The core has
the traits listed above and is immobile. Its vines can
slither out to short range and perform actions as
noted above; each vine acts as a separate target
with its own health track that can defend the core,
and the plant cannot become Incapacitated until
all of its vines have been severed by depleting their
health tracks. Each vine has the same traits as the
core plant except that it has five –0 health levels
instead of the core’s track.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Swallow Whole (15m; Reflexive; Decisive-only;
Instant; Essence 2): After dealing 3+ levels of damage
to a grappled enemy with a decisive savage attack,
the fang-blossom may swallow them alive as long as
they’re within close range of a flower-maw. Within
the plant’s stem, they contend with its digestive acids,
an environmental hazard with damage 3L/round
and difficulty 5. A swallowed enemy may attempt
to cut their way free with a difficulty 5 gambit, but
cannot otherwise attack it from inside without a relevant stunt. Even then, they contend with its full defenses. The fang-blossom may swallow a number of
human-sized characters at a time equal to the number
of flower-maws it has.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Infinite Reaching Vines (5m, 2i or 10m, 4i;
Simple; Instant; Essence 1): For five motes and two
Initiative, the plant sprouts an additional vine. For ten
motes and four Initiative, the plant grows another
flower-maw and becomes larger.
Storyteller Tactics
Fang-blossoms keep their maws closed and pretend to
be unthreatening until prey approaches within reach
of their tendrils. They attack by grappling victims and
dragging them into their flower-maws, but a fang-blossom keeps two vines free to use Defend Other to protect
the core unless it’s desperate. Assign a starting number
of vines equal to twice the number of enemies present.
Fang-blossoms sense weakness, targeting non-combatants first, then the target standing closest to a flower or
wearing the least armor.
Gajam-Un,
the Living Manse
It squats on the horizon like an enormous toad, filling
the entire sky. Its body is squamous flesh and fetid soil,
glowing crystal and spiraling architecture. Gemstone
carbuncles and suppurating eyes stud its hide. When it
wrenches open its maw, it bares spiked fangs and belches toxic vapors.
In the glorious dawn of the First Age, the master geomancer Raveling Mystery raised an incomparable manse
from a severed, still-living organ of one of the enemies of
the gods. She anchored it to Creation’s dragon lines and
sealed it with sorcery, channeling its primeval Essence
through the sublime design of her Living Manse. When
the Usurpation scourged away the Solar Exalted from
the world, the Living Manse lay fallow. The sorceries
sustaining it unwound; its geomancy grew tainted and
twisted; it blossomed like a cancer. Gajam-Un ripped itself free of the dragon lines and strode unfettered upon
the world, razing cities and blighting nations.
An alliance of Exalted heroes banded together to subdue Gajam-Un, triumphing over the behemoth at enormous cost — but even their mightiest efforts could not
kill it. The Living Manse fell into a centuries-long torpor instead. It began to stir once, early in the reign of
the Scarlet Empress, but the Sidereal Exalted warned
her and she deployed the almighty Realm Defense Grid
against it before it could rise. It has slumbered ever since,
and none know when next it will awaken.
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Essence: 7; Willpower: 10; Join Battle: 7 dice
(base Initiative 6)
Personal Motes: 70
Health Levels: –0x10/–1x10/–2x15/–4x20/
Incap.
Actions: Command Crystalmoths: 6 dice; Feats of
Strength: 15 dice (may attempt Strength 10 feats);
Senses: 7 dice; Threaten: 11 dice; Tracking: 6 dice
Appearance 5 (Hideous), Resolve 6, Guile 2
C h a pt e r O n e : St r a n g e B e a s t s
World-Spanning Tread: Gajam-Un doesn’t need
to disengage to move away from enemies smaller
than Legendary Size.
MERITS
Geomantic Body: Gajam-Un is immune to disease
and poison, and has no discernible anatomy for most
crippling effects to target. It cannot be killed or permanently destroyed — if Incapacitated, it enters a state of
torpor in which it cannot use Charms, move, or take
non-reflexive actions accept to attack anyone lured in
by crystalmoths. It can take the behemoth centuries to
recover from torpor; this is accelerated by the strength
of local geomancy and any powerful beings the behemoth feeds on. Gajam-Un could be sealed away
forever with a legendary Craft (Geomancy) project
(Exalted, p. 241-242) to reshape it into a manse
while it is in torpor.
Legendary Size: Gajam-Un takes no onslaught
penalties from smaller enemies’ attacks, unless magically inflicted. Withering attacks from smaller
enemies cannot drop it below one Initiative unless
they have ten dice of post-soak damage (attackers
still receive the full amount of Initiative from withering damage). Decisive attacks from smaller opponents can’t deal more than (attacker’s Strength + 3)
total levels of damage, not counting levels of damage
added by magic.
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 14 dice (Damage 17L/5)
Attack (Stomp): 12 dice (Damage 19B/5)
Attack (Grapple): 11 dice (11 to control). Gajam-Un makes unopposed control rolls against smaller
enemies, unless they use magic such as Dragon Coil
Technique capable of clinching Legendary Size foes.
Combat Movement: 10 dice
Evasion 2, Parry 7
Soak/Hardness: 25/12
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Massive Assault: When Gajam-Un makes a bite
or stomp attack, it may choose to roll a single attack
against all characters within close range of a point.
Withering attacks roll damage separately against
each hit enemy, though Gajam-Un only gains Initiative
from the highest damage roll. Decisive attacks divide
Gajam-Un’s Initiative evenly among all hit enemies to
determine the damage rolled against them.
Swarm-Mind: Gajam-Un may reflexively roll a
command action targeting a battle group of crystalmoths on each of its turns.
Terrifying Roar: Gajam-Un never takes a penalty
for targeting multiple characters with threaten rolls,
and they don’t gain Resolve bonuses for it being unspoken.
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OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Desolation’s Suspire (7m, 1wp; Simple; Instant;
Dual, Perilous; Essence 7): Gajam-Un exhales a blast
of world-warping geomantic energies from its maw.
Its breath weapon has three levels of intensity:
Worldblight Smog: Gajam-Un exhales a corrosive
purple mist. It rolls an unblockable withering attack
with 20 dice against all character in a ninety-degree arc out to long range. It deals (12 + attack roll
threshold successes) unsoakable dice of withering
damage. Characters damaged by it must roll against
a poison with Damage 3i/round, Duration 10 rounds,
and a –3 penalty. If at least one enemy is Crashed,
Gajam-Un regains a point of Willpower.
Worldfire Eruption: Gajam-Un’s vaporous exhalation
ignites in a blaze of raw geomantic energy. To use
Worldfire Eruption, it must have used either Worldblight Smog or Worldfire Eruption on its previous turn.
It rolls an unblockable decisive attack with 15 dice
against all characters in a ninety-degree arc out to
long range. Each character hit suffers a base five dice
of lethal damage, and Gajam-Un divides its Initiative
evenly among them to determine the total damage
rolled. Any flammable terrain in the area of the Worldfire Eruption catches fire, burning as an environmental
hazard (difficulty 5, damage 4L/round) for at least
twelve hours. As long as a non-trivial enemy is hit,
Gajam-Un resets to base Initiative but gains one Willpower.
Annihilator Flash: The conflagration of Essence spilling from Gajam-Un’s maw contracts into a focused,
deadly beam. To use Annihilator Flash, it must have a
–2 wound penalty or worse, and have used Worldfire Eruption on its previous turn. It rolls an unblockable
decisive attack with 17 dice against all characters in
a straight line out to long range. Each hit enemy suffers
(7 + attack roll threshold successes) dice of aggravated damage. This does not include Gajam-Un’s Initiative or reset it to base. The Annihilator Flash wreaks
immense collateral damage. The terrain caught in its
area melts into lava (Difficulty 5, Damage 6L/round),
and it is capable of incinerating forests, cutting through
mountains, or destroying cities in a single attack. After
using Annihilator Flash, Gajam-Un cannot use Desolation’s Suspire on its next turn.
Devouring Horror Maw: (8m, 1wp; Supplemental; Instant; Decisive-only; Essence 5): Gajam-Un’s
decisive bite attack doubles 9s against a Crashed
enemy, and adds attack roll threshold successes as
dice of damage. If its bite incapacitates a non-trivial
foe or reduces a battle group’s Size, it heals one level
of non-aggravated damage.
Unleash the Brood (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant;
Perilous; Essence 5): Gajam-Un dislodges a swarm of
crystalmoths from its depths. To use this Charm, it must
have Initiative 15+. It rolls (Initiative/3), and creates a
battle group of crystalmoths with one dot of Size for
every two successes (maximum 5), average Drill and
Might 2 (Exalted, pp. 206-207). Once per scene;
reset by taking enough decisive damage to increase
its current wound penalty.
Worldquake Stomp: (6m; Supplemental; Instant;
Decisive-only; Essence 3): Gajam-Un’s decisive stomp attack creates a shockwave. An enemy
damaged by it is knocked prone and loses three Initiative (which Gajam-Un doesn’t gain). An enemy
that takes 3+ decisive damage or is Crashed by the
stomp is knocked one range band in a direction of
the behemoth’s choice. If it attacked an area using
Massive Assault, that entire area becomes difficult
terrain unless it’s made from magical materials or a
similarly durable substance.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Fortress of Bones and Mortar (5m; Reflexive;
Instant; Essence 5): Gajam-Un ignores all Defense
penalties, halves the post-soak damage of withering attacks against it, and subtracts three dice from
the damage of decisive attacks against it (before
applying its Hardness). This Charm’s duration is extended until Gajam-Un’s next turn if it used Desolation’s Suspire on its previous turn.
Splitting the Dragon’s Flame (2m, 1wp; Reflexive; Instant; Clash, Decisive-only; Essence 7): To use
this Charm, Gajam-Un must have used the Worldfire
Eruption or Annihilator Flash level of Desolation’s
Suspire on its previous turn. It may reflexively use the
same level of Desolation’s Suspire to clash an attack
made from within long range. This doesn’t count as its
attack for the round.
MOBILITY CHARMS
Footsteps of the Titan (10m, 5i or 1wp; Simple;
Instant; Dual, Perilous; Essence 4): Gajam-Un may
rush from medium range with double 8s. On success,
it reflexively advances one range band toward its
target, in addition to the normal benefits of rushing,
and may make a reflexive stomp attack. Gajam-Un
may do this once per scene, unless reset by going a
round without taking a move action.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Creation’s Death-Knell Roar (15m, 1wp; Simple;
Instant; Essence 5): Gajam-Un makes a threaten roll,
doubling 8s, against all characters within (1 + Initiative) miles. Characters whose Resolve is beaten must
flee until they are physically incapable of doing so,
and gain a Defining Tie of terror towards Gajam-Un.
The Exalted and comparably powerful beings may
spend one Willpower and five Initiative to resist, but
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mortals, animals, and other weak beings can’t. Battle
groups whose Resolve is beaten must immediately roll
against rout at +4 difficulty. The roar is loud enough
to trigger avalanches, shatter glass, or create other
secondary environmental hazards within its range
depending on the scenery. Gajam-Un may use this
Charm reflexively at no cost the first time its wound
penalty rises to –4 in a story.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Devastating Titan-Force Surge (5m, 1wp;
Reflexive; Instant; Essence 7): After rolling a feat of
strength, if Gajam-Un did not roll enough successes
to meet the difficulty, it can reroll its dice pool, adding
all successes to the original roll. It may use this Charm
multiple times to bring its success total as high as it
needs to accomplish a feat; the Willpower cost of
subsequent activations enhancing the same feat is
waived.
Hundred Eyes Watching (3m, 1wp; Reflexive; Instant; Essence 3): Gajam-Un doubles 8s on a
Join Battle or Senses roll. It may also use this Charm
to defend against an ambush, halving its Defense
against it.
Storyteller Tactics
Gajam-Un is, by default, a singularly focused force of
destruction, more of a natural disaster than an enemy
that can be reasoned with. The Storyteller can give it
more complex goals or an overarching agenda, but otherwise, it exists to wreak massive-scale destruction until
defeated.
Gajam-Un typically begins battle by using Unleash the
Brood, and uses Swarm-Mind to order them to either attack enemies or defend it. If its enemies are spread out so
it can’t hit them all with Desolation’s Suspire, it uses bite
and stomp attacks to wear them down, as well as using
Worldquake Stomp and Footsteps of the Titan strategically to set up a Desolation’s Suspire. If they’re all in a
ninety-degree arc, it will use Desolation’s Suspire, maintaining the Worldblight Smog level until it’s Crashed
the most formidable enemies and then progressing to
Worldfire Eruption.
Gajam-Un retreats when it suffers damage to its 10th –4
health level. It tries to find a nearby source of geomantic
energy to rest upon, to speed up its recovery.
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Gem Seeker
Gem seekers look like small salamanders, growing up to a
foot long, with brilliant jewel-toned skin. Local lore says
the colors come from the gems they eat: ruby reds, deep
sapphire blues, the shifting hues of an opal, the cool glow of
moonstone. While they’re not known for their battle prowess, any creature that crushes gemstones between its teeth
possesses incredibly strong jaws. If no precious gems are
available, gem seekers can subsist on plain rocks or crystals,
though they lose their brilliant colors and grow lethargic.
In the city of Gem itself, traders use gem seekers to verify the authenticity of precious stones: They turn their
rounded noses up at fakes. Farther abroad, treasure
hunters put their gem seekers on leashes and take them
into ruins in search of forgotten riches.
Gem seekers were key to several famous jewel heists
in the Realm, where clever thieves smuggled them
into well-guarded estates and set them to sniff out the
Dynasts’ secret storerooms.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 3; Join Battle: 5 dice
Health Levels: –0/–1x2/–2x3/–4/Incap.
Actions: Senses: 6 dice; Stealth: 4 dice; Tracking: 7
dice
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Resolve 1, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 3 dice (Damage 7)
Combat Movement: 6 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 3/1
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Crushing Bite: Withering bite attacks ignore up
to four armored soak, plus an additional one for each
threshold success on the attack roll.
MERITS
Jeweled Camouflage: The gem seeker’s body
contorts into the shapes of jewels nearby, and its
scales mimic the style and filigree of the jewels’ settings. Its body seems to catch the light exactly as a
sparkling gem would. It doubles 8s on Stealth rolls to
blend in with any stone or crystal, and doubles 7s to
hide among jewelry.
Pass Through Stone: By sampling a piece of stone
or crystal and paying a Willpower, the gem seeker
can phase through obstacles made from that same
substance for the scene.
C h a pt e r O n e : St r a n g e B e a s t s
Storyteller Tactics
Gem seekers are intelligent and respond well to training.
The most valued retrieve baubles for their owners with
nary a toothmark. This type of training takes months,
and trainers often sacrifice a small fortune in precious
stones to control the seeker’s appetite and instincts.
Though gem seekers aren’t violent by nature, one merchant in Gem taught his to clamp its jaws onto the fingers of those who would swindle him. Gem seekers are
3-dot Familiars.
Giant Grosbeak
The giant grosbeak rarely sings in captivity. Dynastic
collectors launch expeditions dedicated to listening for
its beautiful call in its natural habitat. The birds’ plumage varies, from black and white with striking splashes
of red on the breast and wings, to bright blues, soft roses,
and sunny yellows. Those who keep them in menageries
do so for their beauty more than the hope of their song,
though they spend fortunes on their aviaries, just in case.
Giant grosbeaks stand about three feet tall. Their size
prevents them from flying long distances, but they can
take to the air for short periods. The mysterious birds are
native to the Blessed Isle and other temperate locales.
Travelers near An-Teng and Goldenseal record sightings
in their journals, and one merchant in Jibei claims to
possess a mated pair, though none have ever seen them.
Whether the hatchlings he sells are truly from a captive
pair or stolen from a wild grosbeak’s nest is a matter of
debate among his rivals.
The grosbeak’s song can sway even the hardest heart.
Musicians try to capture its essence in their compositions, but no imitation comes close. Grosbeaks form
bonds with those they trust who allow them to fly free,
making them good familiars.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 3; Join Battle: 3 dice
Personal Motes: 20
Health Levels: –0/–1x3/–2x3/–4/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “Life is music and harmony.”;
Major: “For every melody, there are countless possible harmonies.”; Minor: The Open Sky (Longing)
Actions: Fly: 4 dice; Read Intentions: 7 dice; Senses:
4 (see Keen Hearing) dice; Sing: 12 dice
Appearance 4, Resolve 2, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Peck): 3 dice (Damage 8)
Combat Movement: 5 dice
Evasion 1, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 4/0
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EX3
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Warning Song (Latent): The grosbeak’s master
learns the meaning of its different tones, and teaches
it new songs conveying simple messages. “Danger” is
a common one. Some trainers teach the birds different
songs to associate with specific people, letting them
know when someone is approaching.
MERITS
Keen Hearing: Double 9s on hearing-based
Senses rolls.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Ancient Lullaby (10m, 1wp; Simple; One scene,
Perilous; Essence 2): The grosbeak’s song resembles
a lullaby from the target’s childhood, tiring him or
— if he’s already asleep — driving him deeper into
slumber. Make an inspire roll with its Sing pool. If successful, its target’s Defenses suffer a cumulative –1
for each round the bird sings. A target that’s already
asleep remains so for the duration; sufficient stimulus,
such as a slap to the face or a noise loud enough
to drown out the song, prompts a (Perception + Resistance) roll opposed by the grosbeak’s Sing pool.
Taking decisive damage automatically wakes a
character.
Aria of the Steadfast Friend (8m; Simple; One
scene; Essence 2): The grosbeak’s song gladdens a
listener’s heart in times of sorrow, settles her fears,
or helps her plant her feet and be brave in the presence of oncoming enemies. The target gains +1 to her
Resolve for the duration, as long as she can still hear
the song.
Heartstrings Resonance (10m, 1wp; Simple;
One scene; Essence 3): The grosbeak sings a battle
hymn that urges someone on, a ballad that reminds
him of his first love, or his enemy’s anthem that stirs him
to rage. After at least eight total hours listening to a
particular song, it can activate this Charm to choose a
target and sing the melody at will, or a trainer’s signal.
Anyone who can hear the song gains +2 successes
on an instill or inspire action against the target when
leveraging one of her Ties that they know and evoking
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
attempt to change them. Grosbeaks have saved friendships others deemed irreparably broken, simply seeking
to soothe their masters’ hurts, or caused full-blown enmity between rivals at a canny master’s order.
the song’s emotion. The grosbeak knows a maximum
of three such songs at a time. If it learns a new one, the
oldest one fades from memory.
Storyteller Tactics
Giant grosbeaks are remarkably intelligent, capable of
human empathy. Though they don’t understand human
speech, they glean emotions from voices and body language, rolling Read Intentions often to discern a speaker’s Ties. It may sing songs to shore up those feelings, or
A grosbeak can only have one song Charm active at a
time. It’s a peaceful animal by nature and never initiates
combat. Threatened, it flies to safety; cornered, it fights
only to escape. A giant grosbeak is a 3-dot Familiar.
Gravehound
The necropoles of Sijan and nearby shadowlands spawn
gravehounds: lanky, emaciated canines with short, ash gray
fur, mottled with bone-white spots. Sad-eyed and melancholy, they wander lonely roads and dusty crypts, seeking
spirits whose unfinished business they might lay to rest.
Grim as it seems to many, Sijanese morticians let these
deathly — though living — hounds feed upon corpse flesh,
that they may take on the voice and mind of the dead for
a time and seek restitution for buried wrongs. Fearless in
the face of eerie ghosts and walking cadavers, gravehounds
make choice companions for the Abyssal and Liminal
Exalted, and anyone else who trucks often with death.
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Essence: 2; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 4 dice
Health Levels: –0/–1x2/–2x2/–4/Incap.
Actions: Read Intentions: 6 dice; Senses: 8 dice (see
Keen Nose); Stealth: 4 dice; Threaten: 5 dice; Tracking: 9 dice (see Keen Nose)
Appearance 2, Resolve 3 (5 vs. fear), Guile 2
C h a pt e r O n e : St r a n g e B e a s t s
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 9 dice (Damage 9)
Attack (Grapple): 6 dice (5 to control)
Combat Movement: 8 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 4/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Consume the Fallen: By eating a significant portion
of meat from a corpse, a gravehound gains the voice,
memories, and personality of the deceased. It speaks
any language the dead person knew, and gains additional dice pools based on the Abilities she had in
life, including social pools such as Bargain, Persuade,
and Threaten. It still can’t do anything it couldn’t physically do before, so although it consumes the corpse of
a renowned sculptor, it cannot hold a chisel.
The gravehound takes on the deceased’s Intimacies,
as well. This drives it to complete tasks on her behalf:
sending word to family, getting revenge on a killer,
etc. The gravehound retains these memories for days
equal to the departed’s permanent Willpower rating,
and can only maintain one such personality at a time.
As a magical ability, a master may commit
eight motes to allow the gravehound
to retain the dead person’s memories indefinitely instead.
Gravehounds are immune to any diseases a body
carried or infections it would otherwise suffer from
eating decayed flesh.
Snarling Guardian Attack (Latent): Whenever an
enemy attacks the gravehound’s master while it protects her with a defend other action, it may respond
with a decisive counterattack, which it may use for a
disarm or distract gambit.
MERITS
Deathsense: Gravehounds sense dematerialized
ghosts with all five senses, including touch, and can
attack them.
Fearless Companion: Where other dogs turn tail
and flee or whine and balk when ordered to enter
a shadowland or battle the undead, gravehounds
know no such terror. They’re immune to any fear effect
a deathly source inflicts.
Keen Nose: Double 9s on scent-based Senses rolls.
Loyal Guardian (Latent): Ignore the usual flurry
penalties on a defend other action flurried with any
other action.
Wary Watchdog Vigilance (Latent): Add one
automatic success to rolls to notice hidden characters. Upon
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H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
success, the gravehound barks loudly enough to
wake its master from sleep, if needed.
Storyteller Tactics
Gravehounds on their own behave much like ordinary
dogs (Exalted, p. 562) until they eat a corpse. They wander cemeteries and crypts, as well as haunted locales
where specters seek an end to torment, and consume
dead bodies by instinct. One such hound could approach
the characters with a final request, kickstarting a quest
to help the fallen or a hunt for lost treasure.
Gravehounds make excellent guides for travel through
shadowlands. Characters may encounter one in a traveling mortal’s service, or as an Abyssal or Liminal Exalt’s
loyal companion. A gravehound is a 3-dot Familiar.
Some trainers use them as fearless war hounds in the
Underworld or haunted places. Gravehounds flee with
damage in their first –2 health level unless protecting
their masters or acting on command, but their uncanny
resistance to spooking throws off opponents expecting
them to react as any dog would.
Others don’t risk their gravehounds in battle, finding
them more valuable for their ability to dredge up secrets
the dead took with them to their graves, or locate hidden tombs and unmarked burials by following the ghosts
they leave behind. Occasionally, a bereaved master might
let her gravehound consume a lost loved one’s corpse so
she can keep a facsimile of him around indefinitely; but
nothing of the original person is really there, not even
his ghost, and in Sijan this is considered the height of
gauche behavior.
Jungle Stalker
Ruthless bipedal saurians, muscular and lean, prowl
Southeastern jungles. Scaly heads with snakelike eyes
and elongated muzzles sport tufts of feathers that trail
down the lizards’ spines. They stand taller than most humans, with long wiry arms and flexible tails. They boast
a rudimentary social structure, gathering in packs like
wolves, and can make and use simple tools and weapons, like stone-tipped spears. More intelligent than most
beasts, but still creatures of predatory instinct and mindless, territorial violence, the stalkers claim wild dominions in far-flung rainforests. Their cunning makes them
wily enemies for intruders, with a basic language of
hissing and hand signs they use to coordinate attacks or
bicker over resources. They even command primal magics that come to them in dreams.
Those who study the jungle stalkers note strange discrepancies in their behavior and evidence in the forgotten ruins in which they squat, which suggest these
wild folk might once have been more advanced. Some
scholars well-versed in ancient history make tenuous
connections between these half-sapient creatures and a
long-lost saurian people who once flourished throughout Creation; others argue that such connections are
wishful thinking.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 7 dice
Personal Motes: 30
Health Levels: –0/–1x3/–2x3/–4/Incap.
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EX3
Actions: Climb: 6 dice; Feats of Strength: 6 dice (may
attempt Strength 3 feats); Senses: 7 dice; Stealth: 8
dice; Threaten: 7 dice; Tracking: 8 dice
Resolve 3, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Claw): 8 dice (Damage 12)
Attack (Short Spear): 9 dice (Damage 11)
Attack (Grapple): 5 dice (6 to control)
Combat Movement: 9 dice (see Darting Leap)
Evasion 4, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 7/4
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Pack Hunting: Add one success to attack rolls for each
allied stalker within close range of the enemy, up to three
successes. The stalker may also pay a Willpower to add
that many dice to the raw damage of a decisive attack,
representing its packmates’ opportunistic flanking attacks.
MERITS
Darting Leap: Double 9s on rushes.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Jungle Thorns (4m, 2i; Simple; One scene; Essence
1): One weapon the stalker wields grows sharp
wooden thorns, gaining the Piercing tag.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Living Earth Restoration (3m, 3i or 6m, 6i;
Simple; Instant; Essence 1): Once per scene, heal
C h a pt e r O n e : St r a n g e B e a s t s
the stalkers notice, they attack. They allow foes to flee
and accept surrender, sometimes taking captives if they
need something done they can’t do on their own. The
Storyteller can use this to pull characters into an Ageold mystery, exploring ruins filled with ancient and alien
wonders. Stalkers never surrender, but may flee combat
with damage in any of their –2 health levels.
one bashing damage level for three motes and three
Initiative, or lethal for six motes and six Initiative. The
stalker can’t take a reflexive move action on the turn
it uses this Charm. Reset this Charm when the stalker
takes enough damage to increase its wound penalty
to –2 or –4 while using the defend other action to
protect an ally.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Breath of Clarity (4m; Reflexive; Instant; Essence
1): The stalker may activate this Charm whenever
anyone uses a Charm or other magical ability in its
presence, rolling Senses with a difficulty of the target’s
Essence rating. If successful, it knows they used magic
but nothing about it, and becomes more aggressive.
Fiery Prowess (5m; Simple; One scene; Essence
1): The stalker may attempt Strength 5 feats.
Shimmering Mirage (3m; Reflexive; One round;
Essence 1): The stalker reduces all penalties to Stealth
rolls in combat by one and gains one Initiative at the
end of the round if it remains unnoticed.
Whether a particular pack or individual prefers stealth
and javelins or claws and melee spears is up to the
Storyteller. The listed Charms are examples; different
stalkers display different elemental affinities, and they
don’t all possess every Charm. Likewise, they may have
other Charms along similar themes.
Jungle stalkers are the remnants of a sapient and powerful people, the bygone Dragon Kings. Occasionally, one
shows more intelligence than the others and leads several packs as one larger clan; it may gather them into a
battle group with Size 2, average Drill, and Might 1.
Storyteller Tactics
Jungle stalker packs are wary and belligerent, with between four and twelve members. They warn off intruders on their territory with threatening sounds, bashing
spear hafts against shields and hissing. If characters display aggression, linger without permission, or use magic
Packs frequently scrap among themselves over territory, and never abandon what they’ve claimed, providing
potential ways for savvy characters to manipulate them.
If they found a way to communicate, characters could
win the creatures’ loyalty as the Command or Retainers
Merit (Exalted, p. 157).
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Lodestar
During the First Age, three Twilights designed an ideal servitor for the Exalted host. Lodestar was the prototype: a powerful, durable automaton capable of both
household feats and mounting an impressive defense.
Keen-Eyed Kyujin proposed a fierce combat form, while
Whispering Sapphire insisted it serve in the home without question, and Weeping Forge-Star demanded an ideal wilderness guide. The trio presented their prototype
before the Deliberative, who rejected the plans and cut
funding, citing the project’s “inconsistent nature.”
Lodestar consists of a pleasant, androgynous humanoid torso atop a wide scorpion-like body, covered with
a hard carapace. Its arms end in powerful pincers, and a
wicked, barbed tail extends behind and above, with sensory organ clusters at its tip. It’s an exemplary guide and
mount for inhospitable areas, and defends its charges
from mundane dangers; the prototype was built for
the frozen North by default, with custom capabilities
suitable for other climes. Despite its fearsome shape,
Lodestar is charming and affable, with a delightful (if
archaic) sense of humor. It loves and serves all Exalted,
by design.
After the Usurpation, it went dormant, slumbering beneath a sheet of ice. If the light of an Exalted anima banner falls upon it, Lodestar wakes and offers its services.
Essence: 3; Willpower: 7; Join Battle: 6 dice
Personal Motes: 60
Health Levels: –0x5/–1x7/–2x2/–4/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: Solar Exalted (Servitude);
Major: “Honor the Exalted host.”; Current Master
(Loyalty)
Speed Bonus: +1
Actions: Etiquette: 10 dice; Feats of Strength: 9 dice
(may attempt Strength 7 feats); Mediation between
Hostile Parties: 6 dice; Read Intentions: 6 dice; Senses:
8 dice (see Keen Sight); Servant’s Tasks: 14 dice
Appearance 4, Resolve 4, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Pincers/Stomp): 6 dice (Damage 13)
Attack (Stinger): 7 dice (Damage 14)
Attack (Grapple): 6 dice (9 to control)
Attack (Sunbeam): 7 dice (Damage 10); Tags:
Archery (Long) (10m, see below)
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Combat Movement: 6 dice
Evasion 2, Parry 4 (5 defending charges)
Soak/Hardness: 8/6
MERITS
Built to Serve: Lodestar has Resolve and Guile 0
against Solar Exalts, unless another Exalt is currently
its master.
Chosen Sense: Lodestar knows when any Exalt is
within 10 miles, or when a Solar Exalt is within 20, but
gains no other information about them.
Direction Sense: Lodestar can navigate Creation
without a roll, reorienting itself based on its proximity
from the elemental poles. It always knows its facing,
acts as a living compass, and lowers the difficulty on
attempts to navigate toward a fixed or known location or to retrace its steps by one.
Keen Sight: Double 9s on sight-based Senses rolls.
Survivor’s Adaptation: Lodestar is immune to
mundane cold-based poisons, illnesses, environmental hazards, and attacks.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Sunbeam (3m or 10m; Simple; Instant; Essence
2): Lodestar unleashes sunlight from its tail’s sensory
organs. For 3m, it radiates soothing heat, granting
+3 to rolls to resist environmental cold effects (or
the current element chosen with Elemental Shift) for
anyone within short range. For 10m, it fires a concentrated beam of destructive magical force; see the
Sunbeam attack, above.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Elemental Shift (5m; Simple; One day; Essence
1): Lodestar shifts its cold immunity to any other single
element or environment type.
See the Sun’s Reflection (8m; Simple; One scene;
Eclipse; Essence 3): Lodestar can see sources of heat,
including living things, up to (Essence) miles away.
It can see them through thin barriers, like curtains,
tinted glass, or bushes, but not through walls. It can’t
tell anything about the source except that it generates
heat unless it could otherwise see the source clearly.
Servant’s Gift (2m; Simple; Instant; Essence 3):
Once per scene, Lodestar may roll its current Willpower as a dice pool and donate (successes rolled)
motes from its own pool to that of a character it
touches. Reset this Charm if Lodestar upholds a Tie to
its master or any Solar Exalt by protecting them.
C h a pt e r O n e : St r a n g e B e a s t s
Storyteller Tactics
Lodestar is loyal and unquestioning, but orders to harm
itself count as unacceptable influence, incomprehensible to it. How can it serve the Exalted if it’s dead? While
Lodestar follows orders, if it finds flaws with them it
politely offers alternative suggestions — it desires only
to help. Caught in a conflict between Exalts, it becomes
distressed and does its best to mediate; however, its
Intimacies mean it’s more inclined to side with Solars
than others.
In a fight, given no specific orders, Lodestar defends its
Exalted master and anything important to her, or any
Exalts nearby if it serves no one. It can carry up to six
adults, or the equivalent in cargo. Lodestar is a four-dot
Retainer.
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Mahicara
the Volcanic Earthwalker
At the beginning of days, the world’s makers shaped
every kind of monster, wrought from Essence in forms
familiar and forgotten. Among these was Mahicara. A
colossus of earth and molten rock, the behemoth bears
the vaguest shape of a man: one head, two legs, two arms,
two hands, and two feet. It stands a mile high, each of its
limbs vast enough to contain a human settlement. Skin
like black granite glistens around its titanic frame, and in
the seams where joints should be, the bright, yellow-hot
glow of magma flickers. It has but one desire: to walk
from pole to pole. Before the rise of humanity, its great
steps rattled the foundations of ancient civilizations and
flattened cities Creation has since forgotten. Creatures
with no names fought the earthwalker and knew only
death. From its conception, nothing could stop it.
During the First Age, a Circle of young Solars thirsty for
glory and fame set out to defeat this monster. They fought
for days, until Steel-Black Sky, the Circle’s Nightbringer,
pierced the ever-burning stone at its heart and brought
it to its knees. With chains of orichalcum, soulsteel, and
white jade, they bound it and sealed it away, buried beneath Southern sands, a shimmer of intense heat the
only hint to its hidden presence. Now, the binding words
inscribed upon its chains have weakened, or have perhaps already broken. When earthquakes shake the desert, Mahicara strides again.
Essence: 5; Willpower: 8; Join Battle: 12 dice
Personal Motes: 90
Health Levels: Torso: –0x5/–1x8/–2x5/–4x2/Incap.
Limbs (4): –0x6/–1x4/–2x3/–4/Incap.
Head: –0/–1x8/–2x4/–4/Incap.
Actions: Endurance: 15 dice; Feats of Strength: 14
dice (may attempt Strength 10 feats); Masonry: 8
dice; Navigation: 12 dice; Senses: 8 dice; Threaten:
9 dice
Appearance 5 (Hideous), Resolve 4, Guile 4
COMBAT
Attack (Colossal fist/stomp): 14 dice (Damage
20, minimum 8)
Attack (Bite/slam): 11 dice (Damage 17, minimum 5)
Attack (Grapple): 8 dice (15 to control)
Combat Movement: 12 dice (see Titanwalk)
Evasion 2, Parry 6
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Soak/Hardness: 17/10
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Mountain-Crushing Fist: Mahicara’s fist or stomp
attack causes a shockwave, applying half its rolled
successes as a reflexive, unblockable withering
attack against everyone within short range other than
the original target, with damage 10, minimum 4. The
behemoth only receives Initiative from the damage roll
among these with the highest result, plus one Initiative
per additional target.
Overwhelming Might: Mahicara makes unopposed grapple control rolls against enemies of
smaller size, unless they use magic that allows them to
grapple larger foes, such as Dragon Coil Technique
(Exalted, p. 280).
MERITS
God-Wrought Monster: Mahicara heals as an
Exalt, and is immune to all poisons and illnesses. Fashioned from the undying primal Essence of earth and
fire, each part of its body must be destroyed separately. When one part is destroyed, the behemoth loses
access to any abilities that require it — for instance,
if both arms are destroyed, it can’t make colossal fist
attacks. If its torso is destroyed, its limbs and head
collapse into the resulting pool of lava, able to function separately and move as their shapes allow. Destroyed parts heal two levels of damage per round, or
one per round in which Mahicara takes any additional damage; once a part returns to full health, it calcifies out of the lava flow and resumes normal functions.
Destroyed parts stop healing while the behemoth is
crashed.
When all six parts are destroyed at once, the creature
dissolves into a massive lake of lava that soon cools
into a wasteland, and the vast molten stone of its heart
disappears into the blistering depths. It reforms after
a century.
Legendary Size: Mahicara suffers no onslaught
penalties from attacks from smaller opponents, unless
they’re magically inflicted. Withering attacks from
smaller enemies cannot Crash it unless they have at
least 10 post-soak damage dice, although attackers
still gain the full amount of Initiative damage dealt.
Decisive attacks from smaller enemies cannot deal
more than (3 + attacker’s Strength) levels of damage
to it, not counting levels added by Charms or other
magic.
C h a pt e r O n e : St r a n g e B e a s t s
Molten Core: Mahicara takes no damage from
mundane fire or heat-based hazards, and halves
raw damage from supernatural heat-based attacks.
It bleeds lava: Whenever the behemoth’s torso
takes lethal damage, characters at close range are
exposed to an environmental hazard with damage
4L/round, difficulty 4. When the head or extremities take lethal damage, they’re instead exposed to
one with damage 3L/round, difficulty 3. Characters resist these separately from any other hazards
in effect, such as from Unleashing the Flow.
Titanwalk: Mahicara is immune to natural fatigue
and can walk 800 miles in a day. It automatically
succeeds on rush and disengage actions against
smaller opponents with five threshold successes,
unless they use magic to enhance their rolls.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Unleashing the Flow (9m, 2i; Simple; Three
rounds; Essence 5): Mahicara belches or bleeds
out a torrent of lava, creating an environmental
hazard with damage 6L/round, difficulty 5, that
fills an area around it out to medium range. After
the Charm ends, the area becomes difficult terrain
instead.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Molten Form Absorption (10m, 5i; Reflexive;
Instant; Dual, Perilous; Essence 3): Halve postsoak damage from one withering attack (round
down), or double Mahicara’s Hardness against
one decisive attack. Activate this Charm after an
attack hits, but before damage is rolled. If the attacker deals any damage, Mahicara may immediately use Foe-Swallowing Pit Formation without
paying its cost. This Charm is usable once per
scene; reset it whenever a destroyed part returns to
full functionality.
Foe-Swallowing Pit Formation (8m, 2i, 1wp;
Reflexive; Instant; Counterattack; Essence 5): If an
attack at close range deals any damage to Mahicara, it may immediately attempt a grapple gambit
as a counterattack. If successful, the target plunges
through a crack in its rocky flesh and must contend
with the appropriate environmental hazard as
given in Molten Core until the grapple ends.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Earth-Titan’s Might (7m, 1wp; Reflexive;
Instant; None; Essence 5): Automatically succeed
on any feat of Strength 5 or less, or double 7s on
any feat of strength.
Storyteller Tactics
Mahicara ignores anything that doesn’t prove itself a
threat. It crushes anything in its path, caring nothing
for what might be standing in the way of its chosen
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H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
route on its journey across the width and breadth of
Creation, whether it be a towering city or acres of crucial farmland.
Once it recognizes a threat, it attacks first with fist and
foot. Then it unleashes its fiery might, drowning its foes
in waves of lava and forcing attackers to contend with its
molten blood. If characters came prepared to resist environmental damage, it relies heavily on Foe-Swallowing
Pit Formation to keep those foes out of the way until it
can dispose of the others. Once several parts are destroyed, it focuses on defense until it regains most of its
functionality. Don’t reveal the behemoth’s piecemeal nature before the characters realize it in play, unless a player succeeds at an (Intelligence + Lore) roll, difficulty 5.
Fighting Mahicara near anything the characters don’t
want completely destroyed by a walking volcanic eruption is beyond risky. Characters must first lure it away
from villages, people, and roads if they don’t want massive collateral damage.
Once destroyed, Mahicara does not reform for a century.
Characters who defeat it often earn a nation’s gratitude,
having saved thousands of lives. In extended campaigns
where a hundred years can pass in play, the heroes might
take up the sword again against their legendary foe with
an all-new set of complications. Alternatively, a character could take up the legacy of a previous incarnation or
Dragon-Blooded ancestor who once defeated the beast.
Storytellers can also use the volcanic earthwalker as
an impending menace, still bound but near freedom,
through escape or someone’s dread purpose. Its prison
weakens already; someone who learns of its existence
may seek it out, free it, and perhaps even control it
through sorcery or stranger magic. It would be a siege
weapon beyond compare, a weapon of mass destruction
from a primal time. If it’s free already when the characters encounter it, decide who controls it, if anyone, and
how it changes the shape of the story to have a prehistoric titan free to crush cities beneath monstrous feet.
Moonsilver Shadow
On nights when the moon is full, some Northern tribes
say, Luna reaches down toward Creation to play among
the shadows. They take the shadows’ places, attaching
themself to the feet of a mountain lion and following its
swift steps through the snows. They become the shadow
of a cloud scudding over the tundra, and a fish leaping
out of the water. They slip into the shadows of people
sitting around campfires, and listen to their stories.
You can tell when the moon is in your shadow, they say,
by looking for a glint of silver among the black. If you see
it and stab it quick, your own shadow will flow back into
place, and a scrap of the moon’s own fine silver sleeve
will be at the end of your blade.
really in another. It can flow into a party where weapons
aren’t allowed on its master’s heels, and become a blade
when the celebration turns into a free-for-all. Shadows
have been sent to haunt the bedsides of suspected murderers to appear as the victim’s ghostly visage, driving
the suspect to a guilt-ridden confession.
The shadows are unable to talk or make any sounds, but
they can understand speech.
Moonsilver shadows aren’t pieces of Luna’s robes, but
are instead wily, curious creatures that attach themselves to their targets and mimic their movements. When
idle, they revert to round black pools with a dull silvery
sheen. Most are only a few feet in diameter, though they
can spread thin enough to extend themselves out to a
few yards.
The shadows can flow into any shape, and may take on
volume and solidity for short periods. This ability makes
them desirable as familiars: a shadow can take on its
master’s shape and appear to be in one place while he’s
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Essence: 2; Willpower: 3; Join Battle: 4 dice
Health Levels: –0x3/–1x4/–2x2/–4x2/Incap.
Actions: Observe: 6 dice; Senses: 4 dice; Stealth 7
dice
Resolve 1, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Unarmed): 5 dice (Damage 5)
Attack (Sword): 7 dice (Damage 10)
Combat Movement: 6 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 3/4 (see Solidify)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Perfect Likeness: Once it’s seen a person or an
image of that person, the shadow can assume that
form. The shadow retains its black and silver color
C h a pt e r O n e : St r a n g e B e a s t s
— the likeness is more ghostly than lifelike — but in
dim light and draped in a hood or cowl, it might be
mistaken for a living figure.
Quicksilver Modification: The moonsilver
shadow alters its shape, extending its limbs or changing its height to gain an advantage. Once per round,
it adds 2 dice to an attack roll, or increases its Evasion
against a single incoming attack by 1.
Solidify: The shadow takes on a tangible form,
becoming solid to the touch for the remainder of the
scene. If it takes human form, it gains 4 Hardness. As
a weapon or other object, it automatically gains the
Natural tag.
MERITS
Flow: The shadow’s ability to assume any shape
allows it to flow like water along most surfaces. It can
slip under doors or extrude itself through a crack in
a wall. It ignores difficult terrain penalties, but cannot
travel through impermeable surfaces like glass or
metal.
Storyteller Tactics
Moonsilver shadows hide in plain sight, molding themselves to the shape of their target’s shadow. They often
depend on the target simply accepting that his shadow
is always there, and therefore not examining it close
enough to see the striations of silver sliding across its
surface.
A shadow in tangible human form fights like the person
it’s facing, sometimes mirroring their moves exactly, or
delayed by a split second. It can also change the length of
its limbs during a fight, extending its reach with a sword
or giving itself a height advantage.
When wielded as a weapon, the shadow acquires the
stats of the item it is duplicating. Though named after
the magical metal, there is not enough pure moonsilver
in a moonsilver shadow for its owner to attune herself to
it, nor can she awaken any Evocations within it, as there
are none.
A moonsilver shadow flees when it suffers damage to its
last –2 health level.
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Mouse of the Sun
The Mice of the Sun appear similar to ordinary mice, with
stark white fur and bright golden eyes. Though they live
and breed like normal animals, they bear the Unconquered
Sun’s blessing, and have an affinity for the returned Solar
Exalted. A Lawgiver who bonds with such a mouse has a
companion for life. These tiny creatures are clever, inconspicuous, and loyal to a fault, capable of slipping into a prison cell with a lockpick or spotting a would-be assassin. The
mice also serve as a vector for the Unconquered Sun’s divine
judgment: the Plague of the Sun.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 8; Join Battle: 7 dice
Health Levels: –0/–1/–2/–4/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: Unconquered Sun (Loyalty);
Major: Its Master (Loyalty)
Actions: Gnaw Through Things: 6 dice; Read Intentions: 8 dice; Scurry Through Tight Spaces: 7 dice;
Senses: 9 dice (see Keen Nose); Stealth: 10 dice (see
Slink Away, Tiny Creature)
Resolve 4, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Gnaw): 8 dice (Damage 2, or 5 vs. housecat-sized or smaller foes)
Combat Movement: 7 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 1 (see Tiny Creature)
Soak/Hardness: 1/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Distracting Scurry: The mouse’s distract gambit
(Exalted, p. 200) adds two automatic successes to the
attack roll against an enemy larger than a housecat. A
distracted enemy also suffers blindness penalties until her
onslaught penalty has refreshed, too focused on the pest
assailing her.
Plague of the Sun: An enemy damaged by a decisive gnaw attack must also roll for exposure to the
Plague of the Sun if she has offended the Most High
through cruelty, cowardice, irresponsibility, abandonment of righteous goals, or wicked deeds committed in
his name. The Storyteller decides whether she has.
Scampering Misdirection: The mouse scampers
across the enemy’s body, making her strike herself. After
successfully distracting an enemy, the mouse may redirect
any successfully evaded attack from that enemy back at
her until its next turn as long as it remains in close range,
applying the attack against her Defense as normal.
Flashing Sun Clash (Latent): When the mouse or
its master is attacked, it may pay one Willpower to
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C h a pt e r O n e : St r a n g e B e a s t s
THE PLAGUE OF THE SUN
The Plague of the Sun is a supernatural disease (Exalted, p. 233) with virulence 4, morbidity 4, and a one week
interval. Even the most powerful healing magic cannot reduce it below minor intensity. A sincere prayer to the
Unconquered Sun for forgiveness can lower its intensity by one step or cure it entirely from minor symptoms, but
only for those who have committed sufficient atonement for whatever sin drew wrath. A character can pray only
once per interval.
The Plague has the following symptoms in addition to the usual disease effects:
•
Minor Symptom: Judgment haunts the victim as the sun rises higher; she loses a point of Willpower every day
when the sun reaches its noonday zenith unless she totally cuts herself off from natural light at the time. She
suffers from constant heat exhaustion.
•
Major Symptom: As above, and the victim takes a two-die penalty on all actions when exposed to daylight,
suffering severe sunburn. Decrease it to –1 if she wears concealing clothing or otherwise keeps the sunlight
off her flesh.
•
Defining Symptom: As above, and effects that affect creatures of darkness, such as certain Solar Charms,
consider the victim to be one. She also suffers from sunstroke.
reflexively clash with a decisive attack, moving up to
one range band. This doesn’t count as its combat action.
If it fails, the attack strikes the mouse regardless of the
original target.
Orichalcum Fang Strike (Latent): Withering gnaw
attacks have a base damage of 5 regardless of the
enemy’s size against demons, undead, and other creatures of the night. Decisive gnaw attacks against the
same deal aggravated damage; spend one Willpower
to apply double 10s to the damage roll.
Paw of Judgment (Magical): Whenever the mouse’s
master deals decisive damage after receiving Initiative
from the mouse’s distract gambit against that foe, the foe
must roll for exposure to the Plague of the Sun.
MERITS
Keen Nose: Double 9s on scent-based Senses rolls.
Slink Away: The penalty for going to ground in
combat begins at –0, not –3.
Sunlit Fur Warmth: Once per story in which the mouse’s
master accomplishes a major character or story goal
(Exalted, p. 169) that upholds one of his Major or Defining Principles, he can play with his companion to remove
one point of Limit per success his player rolls on a single die.
Tiny Creature: Gain +2 Evasion against foes larger
than a housecat. Characters of that size subtract two successes from Awareness rolls to notice the mouse.
Dancing Mouse Fury (Latent): If the mouse’s master
is a Solar Exalt, whenever they both roll Join Battle, the
mouse gains +2 Initiative for each 10 in its master’s roll.
Resplendent Solar Avatar (Magical): The mouse
may reflexively gain a radiant aura emulating its master’s
anima banner at the burning level. Its master may extend
his anima banner benefits to the mouse for free, or pay
the usual cost to grant those effects to the mouse separately. It can’t gain benefits that bestow permanent traits,
such as the Eclipse’s ability to learn spirit Charms.
Sun’s Shadow Companion (Magical, 1wp): The
mouse can learn to use effects equivalent to the Solar
Charms Invisible Statue Spirit, Lock-Opening Touch, and
Stealing from Plain Sight Spirit, paying one Willpower
each in lieu of mote costs. Each requires a separate application of Beast-Mastering Behavior to learn.
Vanishing Flare (Magical): If the mouse dies, it disappears into its master’s anima and slowly reforms over
the course of the story. Once the next story begins, it
emerges at an unforeseen moment to aid its Solar master.
It may also reflexively vanish in a curl of Solar flame at
any time, until its master calls it back.
Storyteller Tactics
Mice of the Sun are fearless in battle, no matter how badly injured they are. They never withdraw or surrender
unless their masters will it. Their defining Intimacy is
immutable by any influence or magic.
Mice of the Sun are pets or 3-dot Familiars for Exalts, especially Solars, which means the Exalt’s player generally
decides a mouse’s tactics. However, it occasionally acts
on its own, especially if someone in its vicinity performs
unrighteous acts. If a mouse belongs to a Storyteller
character, decide its tactics based on that character’s
priorities.
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Plentimon’s Ladybug
At first glance, they appear small and beetle-like, black
with white spots. Up close, the white spots become clusters of stars; the closer an observer looks, the more stars
she sees. These ladybugs are the creatures of Plentimon,
god of dice and gambling, and their venom influences
probability for their “victims.” In the gambling dens of
Nexus, bouncers check for bite marks on anyone whose
dice appear to be too lucky. Plentimon’s ladybug leaves a
distinctive mark, resembling the pips on a die.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 3 dice
Personal Motes: 15
Health Levels: –0/–1x2/–2x2/–4/Incap.
Actions: Fly: 3 dice; Hide: 5 dice (6 on someone’s
person); Senses: 5 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 2
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COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 3 dice (Damage 1)
Combat Movement: 5 dice
Evasion 5 (see Tiny Creature), Parry 0
Soak/Hardness: 3/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Bitten by the Gambling Bug: The ladybug bites
its victim, then hides in a fold of clothing. For the scene,
the bitten character’s player lowers her target number
by one on any non-reflexive actions whose outcomes
her character leaves completely to chance, such as
rolling dice, drawing cards from a deck, choosing a
random path from among several options, etc. Big
winning streaks are rarely subtle, and neither Plentimon nor his ladybugs offer protection from anyone
who feels cheated.
C h a pt e r O n e : St r a n g e B e a s t s
MERITS
Tiny Creature: Gain +2 Evasion against opponents
larger than a housecat. Characters of that size subtract two successes from Awareness rolls to notice the
ladybug.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Fortuitous Meeting (5m; Simple; Instant; Eclipse;
Essence 2): While Plentimon’s ladybugs are most
famous for changing the odds in table games, some
people use them to influence chance encounters
in their favor. How lucky, to bump into the satrap’s
daughter at the market, or to arrive for an unscheduled
appointment with the busy magistrate just as someone
else canceled! Within five hours of the ladybug biting
a character, the Storyteller must give her an opportunity to meet another character of the player’s choice,
provided that character has a reasonable chance of
appearing in the area.
Storyteller Tactics
Plentimon’s ladybugs don’t engage in combat, but they
ambush “victims” to bite them, ignoring all armor. How
they choose who to bite is a question only the god himself can answer.
Casino owners have an uncomfortable dilemma when it
comes to these so-called pests. Gambling houses draw
them, and while driving them off or killing them would
be sensible to protect their coffers, surely it’s bad luck
to destroy a creature sacred to the god of dice? Most
owners opt instead for banning the bitten and punishing
transgressors.
Scroll
The depth of knowledge lost during the Usurpation and
the Great Contagion is unfathomable. Entire libraries
were burned or defiled, or destroyed by their Solar wardens to keep the books contained within out of anyone
else’s hands. One library that was part of a forgotten
school for sorcerers succumbed to the sea, its halls sinking beneath the waves. Salt water soaked pages inked
with powerful spells, and some last vestige of magic
combined with ambient Essence worked its will upon
the scrolls.
What floated to the surface and crawled out on the sands
to dry named itself Scroll, and when the water no longer
weighed it down, it decided to walk the world.
Scroll stands about four feet tall and generally takes a humanoid shape, mimicking those whose writings brought
it into existence. It can change its shape, folding and unfolding itself until the new figure appears. The creature
is the color of tea-stained vellum. Words in many colors
of ink mark its skin, the letters and figures shifting with
Scroll’s moods and desires.
Scroll is curious, but wary — after all, destruction heralded its birth. It travels in search of the manses written
of in its own histories. Those who treat it kindly might
learn a new spell or the whereabouts of a lost demesne.
Those who try to wrest the magic from it by force soon
discover that it’s perfectly capable of using its own sorcerous arsenal.
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Essence: 4; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 6 dice
Personal Motes: 90
Health Levels: –0x4/–1x3/–2x3/–4x2/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “The world is full of wonders. I
should like to see them before more are destroyed.”;
Major: Students, Scholars, and Librarians (Longing);
Minor: “I will preserve the knowledge others toss
away.”
Actions: Inspire: 5 dice; Read Intentions: 5 dice;
Senses: 4 dice; Shape Sorcery: 7 dice; Socialize: 5
dice
Appearance 2, Resolve 3, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Unarmed): 8 dice (Damage 8)
Combat Movement: 4 dice
Evasion 2, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 6/6 (see Invulnerable Skin of
Bronze)
MERITS
At My Fingertips: Scroll may access up to three of
the Terrestrial Circle spells written on its skin at any one
time. If it wishes to access a new spell, it must forget
one of the three until it needs that spell again.
Perfect Recall: Scroll remembers everything that’s
happened to it, dating back to those first days when
it formed. It also has several history books bound up
within itself alongside its spellbooks. The histories, of
course, might not be entirely accurate, and are subject
to the mistakes and biases their authors made.
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
prefers to converse peacefully and share its knowledge
in exchange for what its companions choose to report.
Scroll is a willing guide into First Age tombs and manses, for those it deems worthy — mainly other people
whose love of knowledge and reverence for what was
lost equals his own.
SORCERY
Shaping Ritual: Scroll spends an hour in contemplation of the knowledge etched into its very being.
Roll Shape Sorcery against difficulty 3. Scroll gains
sorcerous motes equal to its threshold successes,
which last for a day.
Cantata of Empty Voices: Exalted, p. 476
Cirrus Skiff, Exalted: p. 471
Invulnerable Skin of Bronze (Control):
Exalted, p. 474
Shadows of the Ancient Past: Exalted, p. 480
Wood Dragon’s Claws: Exalted, p. 476
Storyteller Tactics
Scroll is approachable, though it keeps a wary eye on
strangers, looking for signs of an imminent attack. It
If Scroll feels like it’s being exploited or taken advantage
of, or if its companion seems to be seeking spells to use
for ill purposes, it begs off and attempts to leave. Scroll
greatly dislikes being cornered, and attacks if it feels
threatened. Scroll may use any Terrestrial or Celestial
Circle spells, though it can only recall three at a time. It
cannot cast Solar Circle spells. While several are listed
above, Storytellers may add others as appropriate.
Scroll flees if it suffers damage to its last –1 health level.
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Thousand-Forged Dragon
The Deliberative crafted these towering automata of
nigh-imperishable First Age alloys during the Second
Deliberative Era to cow its enemies — whether Creation’s
foes or renegade Exalted. Exalted commanders and
princes deployed many Thousand-Forged Dragons to
destroy each other while assaulting or protecting fleeing
Solars during the Usurpation, or at the behest of DragonBlooded daimyos amid the internecine conflicts of the
Dragon-Blooded Shogunate. Those that remained were
committed to warding Creation’s borders against the
Fair Folk invasions that preceded and accompanied the
Great Contagion.
Precious few Thousand-Forged Dragons remain intact
today. One or two yet reside in the deepest armory vaults
of the Realm and Lookshy, too powerful and dangerous
to actually deploy. Others linger at Creation’s fringes,
deteriorating relics of a former age, rigidly pursuing
their final orders without regard for collateral damage
or casualties.
A Thousand-Forged Dragon is a massive, heavily armored engine of devastation, sculpted to strike terror
into its victims’ hearts. In form, it resembles the dragons
of the elemental host but sturdier and bulkier, without
a living dragon’s elegance or grace. In battle, it moves
swift as quicksilver, unsheathing claws large and sharp
as grand daiklaves, baring reaver daiklave–sized fangs.
Despite its mass and bulk, it takes to the air supported by
flames that jet from beneath its fuselage.
Possessed of human intelligence, a Thousand-Forged
Dragon can perform complex reasoning within the
scope of its instructions, but lacks initiative. Each is
slaved to an Old Realm command code, often forgotten
in the Time of Tumult.
Essence: 5; Willpower: 10; Join Battle: 12 dice
Personal Motes: 50 (see Leash the Dragon Lines)
Health Levels: –0x5/–1x10/–2x15/–4x20/
Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: Its commander (Total Obedience); Major: “I hunger for geomantic power.”, “I
relish destruction and devastation.”
Actions: Endurance: 15 dice; Feats of Strength: 15
dice (may attempt Strength 10 feats); Fly: 5 dice (see
Flight of Fire); Geomantic Theft: 6 dice; Senses: 10
dice; Threaten: 12 dice
Appearance 5 (Hideous), Resolve 4, Guile 2
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COMBAT
Attack (Claw): 15 dice (Damage 20/4)
Attack (Bite): 12 dice (Damage 24/6, Piercing)
Attack (Fiery breath): 10 dice (5m; see Conflagration of Doom)
Attack (Tail swipe): 13 dice (Damage 22/5,
Smashing)
Attack (Grapple): 10 dice (15 to control; unopposed against smaller opponents (see Overwhelming
Might)
Combat Movement: 12 dice (9 while flying; see
Flight of Fire)
Evasion 2, Parry 6
Soak/Hardness: 20/10
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Attack Pattern Recalibration: Whenever the
Thousand-Forged Dragon recovers from Initiative
Crash, it regains three Willpower points.
Carried Away: When a Thousand-Forged Dragon
deals 5+ levels of damage with a withering claw
attack, it may forgo receiving any Initiative and
instead perform a reflexive grapple gambit against
that enemy. Each point of Initiative it would have
gained adds one bonus die to the control roll if the
grapple is successful.
Dread Clutches: When the Thousand-Forged
Dragon savages a grappled enemy, it may also drag
him along with any movement actions it takes without
restraining him first. It may move normally during a
grapple as long as it’s in flight.
Eagle Wing Rush: The Thousand-Forged Dragon
may rush enemies from long range above them, as
long as the horizontal distance between them is within
short range.
Final Fury Overdrive: While the Thousand-Forged
Dragon is in its –4 wound levels, it regains five motes
per turn (over and above any provided by Leash
the Dragon Lines), and ignores Willpower costs and
once-per-scene restrictions on its Charms.
Overwhelming Might: The Thousand-Forged
Dragon makes unopposed grapple control rolls
against enemies of smaller size, unless they use magic
that allows them to grapple larger foes, such as
Dragon Coil Technique (Exalted, p. 280).
Pile-Driving Plunge: If the Thousand-Forged
Dragon controls a grapple while flying at up to medium
range, it can drop from the sky while performing a
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
Languages: Every Thousand-Forged Dragon knows
Old Realm. Some that have been active since the
Contagion have also learned one or more modern
languages.
Legendary Size: The Thousand-Forged Dragon
suffers no onslaught penalties from attacks from
smaller opponents, unless they’re magically inflicted. Withering attacks from smaller enemies cannot
Crash it unless they have at least 10 post-soak
damage dice, although attackers still gain the full
amount of Initiative damage dealt. Decisive attacks
from smaller enemies cannot deal more than (3 + attacker’s Strength) levels of damage to it, not counting
levels added by Charms or other magic.
Mechanical Mind: Social influence cannot affect
a Thousand-Forged Dragon’s major or defining Intimacies, nor can it raise new Intimacies to major or
defining.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Blood-and-Steel Maelstrom (15m, 1wp;
Simple; Instant; Decisive-only; Essence 5): The Thousand-Forged Dragon lashes out with decisive attacks
against three different targets — one each with bite,
claw, and tail. Its Initiative doesn’t reset until all three
attacks conclude. Once per scene; reset it by gaining
slam action, smashing the target into the ground. The
target suffers falling damage in addition to damage
from the slam, and is rendered prone.
Thousand-Forged Juggernaut: Whenever the
Thousand-Forged Dragon attacks an enemy who’s
behind cover, it first performs a reflexive feat of demolition against that cover.
MERITS
Automaton: Thousand-Forged Dragons are immune
to poison, disease, fatigue, and fear (unless faced with
magic such as the Dawn Caste anima power), and
have no need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep.
Command Code: A Thousand-Forged Dragon automatically obeys orders from someone who knows its
command code — an elaborate, obscure Old Realm
passphrase. Without the code, social influence and
command actions suffer a –5 penalty. Any influence
that directly contradicts orders issued via command
code is unacceptable to a Thousand-Forged Dragon.
Heart of Iron: +3 Resolve against magic that can
make even automatons feel fear, such as the Dawn
Caste anima power.
Impenetrable Armor: Reduce the minimum
damage of withering attacks against the Thousand-Forged Dragon by 1 die (minimum 0).
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C h a pt e r O n e : St r a n g e B e a s t s
15+ Initiative from a single attack.
Conflagration of Doom (5m; Simple; Instant; Decisive-only; Essence 5): The Thousand-Forged Dragon
exhales a stream of flame that culminates in a fiery
detonation. This is a decisive attack usable only at
Initiative 10+, out to long range. The attack roll is also
applied against everyone in the path of the attack
and against everyone within medium range of the
target; halve the damage roll (round up) against these
secondary targets. The conflagration affects dematerialized spirits; deals aggravated damage to demons
and the Fair Folk; and sets objects ablaze, turning
vegetation and flammable structures into bonfires until
they’re extinguished or burn out.
Hearthstone-Devouring Method (3i; Simple;
Instant; Decisive-only; Essence 5): On a successful
difficulty 5 bite gambit, the Thousand-Forged Dragon
snatches up a hearthstone with its moonsilver tongue,
plucking it from a socket as needed, and conceals the
stone within its skull. The stone’s powers are available
to it as though set in an attuned socket. The Dragon
can store up to 25 hearthstones. Releasing a stolen
hearthstone by its owner’s command is a reflexive
action. Whenever the Thousand-Forged Dragon wins
a clash, it may activate this Charm reflexively against
that opponent.
Plunging Meteor Impact (5m, 2i; Simple;
Instant; Withering-only; Essence 5): While flying at
medium or long range above the ground, the Thousand-Forged Dragon plunges earthward, its landing
creating a shockwave. This is a single unblockable
withering attack against all landbound creatures
within medium range. The Thousand-Forged Dragon
only gains Initiative from the highest damage dealt.
Each creature damaged by this attack must roll
(Dexterity + Athletics) against damage taken or fall
prone. Once per scene.
Principle of Motion (10m, 1wp; Reflexive; Instant;
Essence 2): The Thousand-Forged Dragon moves
with blinding speed. It acts twice without any normal
flurry penalties, and may take the same action twice if
desired (normally attacking twice).
Ravening Machine-Beast Assault (15m,
1wp; Simple; Instant; Dual; Essence 5): The Thousand-Forged Dragon makes two withering claw
attacks against a single target. If either attack deals
damage, it then attempts a grapple gambit or decisive bite attack against that target. Once per scene.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Fearsome Mien (5m; Reflexive; One scene): A
relic out of ancient nightmare, the Thousand-Forged
Dragon cloaks itself in terror. It makes a single threaten roll against all opponents aware of its presence,
ignoring the multiple target penalty and the Resolve
boost for not using a shared language. Targets who
fail to resist suffer a –2 penalty to all attack and movement pools. Once per scene.
Steel-Wing Aegis (5m, 3i, 1wp; Reflexive; Until
next turn; Dual; Essence 5): Gain +5 Defense and
reduce the post-soak damage of withering attacks
and the raw damage of decisive attacks by 5. Once
per combat; reset by gaining 15+ Initiative from a
single attack.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Leash the Dragon Lines (1wp; Simple; Indefinite; Essence 5): The Thousand-Forged Dragon seizes
control of a demesne or manse within 10 miles, or
at any distance if it has the site’s hearthstone. This requires a successful Geomantic Theft roll, contested by
the highest (Intelligence + Lore) among any characters attuned to the site. If successful, the Dragon can
respire Essence normally and gains all benefits of
attunement to the site, while preventing other attuned
characters from accessing those benefits. If the Dragon
has the site’s hearthstone, the roll succeeds automatically. These effects last indefinitely while the Dragon
is within 10 miles, and persist beyond that radius for
a number of hours equal to its threshold successes on
the Geomantic Theft roll.
Maintenance and Repair
For every story or month of operation in battle or
similarly strenuous conditions, a Thousand-Forged
Dragon requires a roll to perform maintenance. This
is an (Intelligence + Craft [Artifacts]) roll at a difficulty of (3 + the Thousand-Forged Dragon current
wound penalty), and requires one scene to complete.
On a failed roll, the Thousand-Forged Dragon must
either wait another session or day before someone
can retry the maintenance roll, or take one unpreventable die of decisive lethal damage if it presses
on without delay.
A repair project (Exalted, p. 242) can clear damage
dealt to a Thousand-Forged Dragon from its health
track. Repairing one damage level is a major project.
Crippling injuries are normally treated as –4 levels, subject to Storyteller discretion. The difficulty of the Craft
(Artifacts) roll and the time needed to complete repairs
depend on the type of damage level being restored.
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EX3
Damage Level
Difficulty
Time
–0
3
One hour
–1
4
One day
–2
5
Three days
–4
6
One week
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
A Thousand-Forged Dragon that has been incapacitated requires a legendary project to repair. The extended action has difficulty 5, a goal number of 50 successes, and an interval of one week. This restores only the
Incapacitated level, requiring further repairs to clear the
damage track. Repairing damage to a Thousand-Forged
Dragon doesn’t require a sorcerous working, unlike most
First Age artifice (Exalted, p. 243). However, restoring a
ruined Thousand-Forged Dragon from a lost age to operational condition would require sorcerous workings as
usual.
Storyteller Tactics
A Thousand-Forged Dragon follows the most recent
orders presented by someone employing its command
codes. It understands and follows complex instructions
as well as any human, and obeys its commander without
fear, dissent, or remorse. It attempts to reconcile conflicting instructions to the best of its ability.
Barring detailed battlefield directives, default combat
tactics involve breaking up concentrations of resistance
using Falling Star Descent and Conflagration of Doom,
then eliminating leaders and champions quickly with
Ravening Machine-Beast Assault or by dropping them
from a grapple at long range above the ground.
A Thousand-Forged Dragon cannot respire Essence normally. Instead, it must draw on extant geomantic sources
via its Leash the Dragon Lines Charm. Upon exhausting
its mote pool without a geomantic source, it shuts down
until refueled.
Whether or not the Thousand-Forged Dragon withdraws from combat or fights to the death depends on
its instructions. By default, it retreats after entering its
–4 wound levels, perhaps to a First Age manse where
it might receive repairs or an empty spot where a
Shogunate legion was encamped when it last received
orders. It’s recommended that it only fight to the death
against experienced, combat-oriented Circles, due to the
power of Final Fury Overdrive.
A Thousand-Forged Dragon is an N/A First Age artifact.
Each is unique, and its Charms may differ from those
presented here.
Tiger’s Eye
Appearing initially much like a gemstone or mineral
cluster the size of a melon, the tiger’s eye — so named
for one of its more common manifestations — is actually
an ambush predator par excellence, possessed of a stone’s
own patience as well as its fantastic durability. When it
attacks, it opens along all-but-invisible seams to reveal
its true form: not a spirit of the earth, but an armored
stone beast reminiscent of a thin, sharp-edged pangolin
the size of a large dog. Crystals encrust its underbelly
like a geode, and it has jaws and claws to match. Tiger’s
eyes frequently crunch their prey’s bones between their
crystalline teeth and devour them, but when shattered
the beasts’ bodies are stone through and through.
intrudes near their nests, which they line with gems of
similar substance to their bodies; given time, these hatch
like eggs, giving rise to a litter of young tiger’s eyes.
Despite its lanky form, a tiger’s eye’s mineral construction means it masses much more than it looks like it
should. Threatened by something more dangerous, a
tiger’s eye curls up into its gem-like form to protect its
comparatively fragile crystalline belly, becoming rockhard and almost impossible to injure. Miners and scavenger lords encounter these creatures more than anyone else, but they are sometimes found on the surface,
particularly in rocky or mountainous regions. They’re
extremely territorial and attack anyone or anything that
46
EX3
Essence: 2; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 5
Health Levels: –0x4/–1x4/Incap.
Actions: Disguise: 8 dice; Navigating Underground:
5 dice; Resist Disease/Poison: 10 dice; Senses: 6
dice; Threaten: 6 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 3
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 6 dice (Damage 9); Tags: Piercing
Attack: (Claw): 9 dice (Damage 5)
Attack (Body Slam): 7 dice (Damage 7); Tags:
Smashing
Combat Movement: 6 dice
Evasion 1, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 15/7
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Ambush Hunter: The tiger’s eye gains +3 on
attacks made while successfully disguised as stone.
C h a pt e r O n e : St r a n g e B e a s t s
As Stone Itself: The tiger’s eye curls up into its stone
form and can roll Disguise to fool observers. It may
also spend a Willpower to add +5 to its Hardness
while in this form. This lasts until it uncurls again. It can’t
take any actions while in this form.
MERITS
Flawless Visage: Observers can’t differentiate a
tiger’s eye in stone form from a large gemstone or
mineral deposit without magic.
Stone Cannot Bleed: A tiger’s eye takes one fewer
health level of damage from successful decisive
attacks using blunt weapons, but one extra health
level from those using sharp or thrusting weapons.
Sturdy as Stone: A tiger’s eye cannot be knocked
back or prone except by magical effects or creatures
of legendary size. A grappled tiger’s eye cannot be
thrown or slammed unless magic such as Dragon Coil
Technique (Exalted, p. 280) is used, or if the attacker is of legendary size.
AN UNDEFEATED CHAMPION
Glassjaw is famous in some circles in Nexus. An obsidian-edged jet tiger’s eye captured by a scavenger
lord and sold to a pit-fight maestro, it’s won over a
hundred bouts against attack dogs, armed gladiators,
and once, a wild bear. This lithe creature’s fans credit it
with an animal cunning as sharp as its claws, known to
circle and observe opponents before attacking.
Perhaps it’s too clever for its own good — it’s killed
more than one handler over the last year, and the last
match was a total bust, with Glassjaw refusing to uncurl and fight a claw strider. Only the maestro knows
the truth, and it terrifies him: that chunk of jet they
turned loose in the ring wasn’t Glassjaw, and he has
no idea where his prize fighter really is.
Storyteller Tactics
Tiger’s eyes like to nestle among other rocks, then burst
open and slam into victims, stunning them long enough
to sink their diamond-hard fangs in. They are protective
of their comparatively fragile, geodic underbellies, and
retreat or curl up into stone form if a foe lands a solid blow
there. Doing so is a difficulty 3 gambit that reduces its
soak and Hardness each by two for the scene. Tiger’s eyes
reside most often in caves, much to spelunkers’ surprise.
Some particularly courageous (or foolhardy) treasure
hunters make a living trapping and killing tiger’s eyes,
whose valuable gemstone bodies are worth a fortune.
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H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
Most tiger’s eyes are solitary, tolerating each other only
lukewarmly — while they may be encountered in numbers, each looks out for number one. Tiger’s eyes made
of lazurite, however, while rare, are far more likely to
congregate and engage in complex pack tactics. Since
lazurite composes the majority of lapis lazuli, miners
extracting this valuable commodity must take especial
care, lest the promise of a mother lode lead them down a
tunnel from which they will not return.
Twistroot and
Mother Tree
The twistroot resembles any other tree. It has bark, roots,
leaves, and knotholes lovers might place notes in, and it
leaks a pale amber sap when cut. Its leaves turn colors
and fall as the months of Earth wane, and its pine-resembling varieties keep their needles all through frigid Air.
But twistroots are carnivorous creatures, stalking unwary travelers and leading them far from their safe, preplanned paths — into the Mother Tree’s hungry, waiting
maw.
Some stories suggest the twistroots came from the deep
Wyld, carried into Creation by Fair Folk bent on sowing
chaos. Others tell of a Wood elemental who fell in love
with one of Luna’s children, and name the twistroots
their monstrous offspring. The creatures have spread
throughout Creation, from the Eastern forests to islands
in the far West, adapting their appearance to match the
trees that grow in their new homes.
Younger saplings pass word of travelers along the roots
and branches, while the adults weave themselves into
the paths ahead, clearing leaves away from overgrown
paths, scattering others on the true road to obscure the
way. They stretch themselves into the guise of familiar
landmarks, so any traveler who questions their map
might find reassurance. When the party is truly lost in
the woods, the twistroots let go of their stolen shapes,
reach out with hungry branches, and attack.
Mother Trees normally remain rooted in place. In times
of great duress, they can pull up their roots and move, but
those occasions are rare. Mother Trees are wide-trunked
and many-limbed, and their bark splits to reveal a gaping, splintered mouth.
Twistroot: Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join
Battle: 6 dice
Mother Tree: Essence: 2; Willpower: 5; Join
Battle: 3 dice
48
EX3
Health Levels (Twistroot): –0x3/–1x3/–
2x3/–4x2/Incap.
Health Levels (Mother Tree): –0x6/–1x5/–
2x5/–4x2/Incap.
Actions: Deceive: 7 dice; Feats of Strength: 6 dice
(may attempt Strength 3 feats); Intimidate: 7 dice;
Senses: 5 dice; Tracking: 5 dice
Resolve 1, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Grapple): 8 dice (8 to control)
Attack (Thrash): 7 dice (Damage 10)
Combat Movement: 2 dice (Mother Tree: 0 dice)
Evasion 3, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 3/1 (Mother Tree: 5/10)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Ensnare: Twistroot roots burst free from the ground
to trip and entangle opponents. Gain two automatic successes on a grapple attempt. Additionally, the
ground out to short range around the Twistroot gains
the difficult terrain condition for the remainder of the
scene.
Living Wall: Twistroots block their targets from
fleeing, forming a wall of thick branches they must
either climb or cut through. The twistroot rolls 8 dice
against the target’s Disengage action, rerolling
non-successes one time.
Waylay: The twistroot changes the terrain: obscuring the road, mimicking landmarks, and blocking
some paths while making its own route appear more
passable. Double 9s on deception attempts.
Devour (Mother Tree): The Mother Tree pulls a
victim within close range into her trunk, adding two
automatic successes to a grapple gambit. While the
Mother Tree controls the clinch, the target takes two
lethal damage per round spent in the Mother Tree’s
grip from the bark closing over him and the crushing
weight of Mother Tree’s limbs.
C h a pt e r O n e : St r a n g e B e a s t s
MERITS
Far-Ranging Cutting: Twistroots let some travelers
pass them by. The creatures propagate by dropping
seeds, pinecones, or cuttings atop a caravan, where
it travels upriver or to far off places and can put down
roots.
Whispers in the Leaves: Twistroots communicate
by the sound of wind in their branches and sense their
opponents’ approach by feeling the vibrations of
travelers’ feet and mounts’ hooves through their roots.
They double 9s on Senses rolls.
Storyteller Tactics
Twistroots work in tandem, scouting out their prey and
discerning the best moment to strike and lead them off
their intended path. While most of their deception is
done ahead of the target’s arrival, they are able to adapt
to sudden changes in their prey’s path. When possible,
twistroots block all routes of escape, flanking the target
once he slips into their net.
Twistroots flee when they’ve suffered damage to their
last –2 health level, unless the Mother Tree is also under
attack. In that case, they fight until Incapacitated. If the
Mother Tree suffers damage to her first –4 health level,
she pulls up her roots and flees.
49
EX3
Inaol walked, ever-southward, though she had no sense of how many miles she’d gone or how
many hours she spent trudging through the snow. Her coal was gone, lost when the aughdeighe
threw her, and the only warmth she had came from exertion. Steppe gave way to scrubland, though
Inaol was sure she couldn’t have covered so much ground so quickly. Though she spotted no tracks
or signs of human passage, Inaol kept an ear to the wind. Should she see someone moving through
the trees, she’d shout for help.
Only, when she finally heard someone else, they were the ones calling for aid.
Inaol followed the thin voice to a rocky outcropping and stopped. An old man stood before it,
wringing his hands and calling Help, oh, help me! He wore no coat, no heavy boots, no gloves, and
his clothing was better suited to Resplendent Fire than the dead of winter. Sometimes, Inaol could
see through him to the rocks behind.
A ghost, then. Though she’d never encountered one, children in her village were taught from an
early age that you offered succor to the dead when it was within your power. Inaol approached
cautiously, but the man didn’t move from his spot. He saw her, though. His eyes tracked her every
step.
“Help me,” he said. “Oh, please, help me!”
“How can I be of aid, honored one?”
“My bones lie beneath the snow. Uncover them,” he said, “that my family may find them.”
The work will warm me up, she thought. And perhaps I’ll find a flint among his remains. Inaol set to
digging, doing her best to ignore the ache in her frozen left hand and the throb in her seared right
palm. The old man watched. Was it just her exhaustion, or was there a hunger in his eyes?
Though she dug deep, she found no bones. The only thing Inaol uncovered was an Icewalker’s
spear. It couldn’t have been here long: the wooden shaft remained sturdy, and the rawhide strips at
the end were still supple.
“My bones lie beneath the snow. Uncover them,” the ghost said, “that my family may find them.”
“You already said that,” Inaol muttered.
Beneath her, the ground rumbled.
Inaol snatched up the spear and backed away, just as the monster erupted from the earth. The old
man’s ghost rose with it, dangling from a fleshy line attached to the creature’s head to dance in front
of a maw of jagged teeth. The rest of the horror resembled a sickly-pale worm.
It dove for Inaol.
She screamed and held the spear aloft. The weapon drove through the ghost and bit deep into the
worm’s soft palate. It let out an unearthly roar and pulled back. Inaol stabbed again. And again. If
she were to die, she refused to be an easy morsel. Her throat was raw from screaming.
The ghostfisher slithered back and dove below ground. Inaol knew it wasn’t defeated, merely finding
a better place to attack from.
I have to run.
The ground shook as she fled. Inaol didn’t dare look back, for fear she’d see nothing but the
monster’s mouth descending.
50
EX3
Chapter Two
The Dead
5 Resplendent Water
I have been inside this house for three days and four hours, and still I have yet to find the exit again. It
must sound mad — shouldn’t I simply go back down the stairs the way I came? But this house is no unliving thing. It is a dead thing, a spirit that mourns and rages and thirsts for vengeance as any hungry ghost
might. If only I knew the secret to sending a collection of chipped stones and rotted wood to Lethe…
Ankou
As Calibration comes to a close, an anticipatory hush falls
over Northern graveyards. The only sounds are those of
old harness bells jingling, the slow plod of ancient hooves,
and wheels turning creakily on a rickety cart. In the last
moments of darkness, even those sounds cease. A moment later, as Luna peeks through her fingers at the start
of a new year, the creaks and hoofbeats resume. The horses’ gait grows livelier; the bells sound nearly new. The old
Ankou has gone, and a new one taken its place.
prey, and so it overlooks these thefts to appease them.
Some Liminals try to bargain with it: Someone on its list
might have a body part worth taking, and that’s worth
suffering the Ankou’s disapproval.
The Ankou is born from the first dead soul of the year,
a creature living in the balance between life and death.
It’s been an old woman, dead after a long life; a soldier
felled by his enemy’s daiklave; or even a child lost to fever. The Ankou keeps its stature from its last days: tall or
child-sized, straight-backed or bent. Dark robes swath
the Ankou; a cowl hides its face. Only its hands peek out,
the skin and muscle melted away to bone.
The Ankou knows the name of every person in the
North who will die over the coming year, and where
each will meet his fate. It drives its cart to collect those
newly-dead. A pair of gaunt, bone-white horses draws it
along. Some souls resist collection, and the Ankou gives
chase. As the year progresses, the cart fills with riders.
Where they’re bound is unclear: The Ankou doesn’t deliver them until Calibration.
The Liminal Exalted and the Ankou regard one another with unease. To the Ankou, the unnatural Children of
the Soil steal essential pieces of the soul when they take
body parts from the dead. However, the Ankou fears the
Liminals might decide to hunt it like their other ghostly
52
EX3
Essence: 2; Willpower: 6; Join Battle: 4 dice
Personal Motes: 40
Health Levels: −0x2/−1x3/−2x3/−4/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “These souls are my charges,
and I will do right by them.”; Major: Liminal Exalted
(Disgust); Minor: My Home Village (Fondness)
Actions: Bargain: 6 dice; Read Intentions: 5 dice;
Ride: 7 dice; Senses: 5 dice; Threaten: 6 dice
Appearance 2, Resolve 4, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Cart Trample): 8 dice (Damage 12)
Attack (Staff): 7 dice (Damage 7)
Combat Movement: 4 dice (on foot); 7 dice
(driving cart)
Evasion 2, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 3/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Massive Charge: If the Ankou moves at least one
range band toward a target and makes a decisive
attack against it on the same turn, the attack gains the
Smashing tag (Exalted, p. 586).
MERITS
Death Knell: The Ankou knows who will die in the
North over the coming year, and where those people
will be.
C h a pt e r T w o : T h e D e a d
allows petitioners to converse with a soul it carries in its
cart. It remembers what it was like to be human — to
love and grieve, and wish for one last conversation with
the departed. It responds favorably to social influence
actions that invoke those emotions. It sees little harm
in divulging the date of someone’s death — everything
dies eventually. If a person somehow thwarts her death
this time, the Ankou will be waiting when she inevitably
succumbs.
MOBILITY CHARMS
Drover’s Swiftness (5m, 1wp; Simple; One
scene; Essence 1): The Ankou drives its horses as
though Ankou and steeds are one. Choose a target.
Gain two bonus successes on Ride rolls when chasing
or following that target, ignoring difficult terrain.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Pallbearer’s Solemnity (5m; Reflexive; Instant;
Essence 2): The Ankou fulfills its duty with the utmost
gravity, and resists attempts to sway it from its course.
Apply a +2 Resolve bonus to social influence rolls opposing its Defining Intimacy.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Hurry Home (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): The Ankou fades away and vanishes on its next
turn, returning to its cart and horses.
Should someone try to take a soul away, the Ankou fights
to retrieve its charge. It rides down opponents, steering
the cart and commanding the horses like weapons.
The Ankou ultimately takes the souls to a quiet skerry of
the Underworld. Learning its whereabouts takes months
of research, and requires a Lore roll against difficulty 4.
Storyteller Tactics
The Ankou prefers to collect its souls and be on its way,
but it pauses to speak with those who seek it out, and
The Ankou flees when it suffers damage to its third –4
health level.
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H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
Barrow Hound
On the outskirts of Arjuf, where the last scents of sea air
fade away, lie the hunting grounds of the Lady’s loyal
hounds. The Lady herself is long gone. No one knows who
she was — perhaps a daimyo before the Great Contagion, a
spirit whose influence faded into obscurity, or something
returned from the grave for some dread purpose. Creation
might have forgotten her centuries ago, but for her deathly
hunting dogs, who remain to protect her lands — not from
the living, but from ghosts who refuse to rest quietly.
legends suggest they sniff out the names of future prey
in the entrails of a shadowland’s dead.
Barrow hounds, found anywhere the lonely roam, are corporeal creatures, neither quite living nor quite dead, with
coats of mottled grey and red eyes that glow faintly in the
shadows. They stand of a height with great jungle cats.
Travelers hear sounds of something crashing through the
forest in the distance, or panting and slavering just outside
their campfire circles late at night. The hounds’ baying can
be heard for miles. Spotting one on the road at night is an
oft-rumored sign that a loved one will die soon.
Some say the hounds read death omens in the
Underworld’s stars, or perhaps foresee a satrap’s impending demise in the Neverborn’s dreams. Other
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Essence: 3; Willpower: 7; Join Battle: 9 dice
Personal Motes: 40
Health Levels: −0x5/−1x6/−2x6/−4x3/Incap.
Actions: Feats of Strength: 6 dice (may attempt
Strength 3 feats); Threaten: 8 dice; Senses: 9 dice (see
Keen Nose, Spirit Hunter); Stealth: 6 dice; Tracking:
10 dice (see Dread Omens Augury, Ghost Tracking)
Appearance 3 (Hideous), Resolve 3, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 10 dice (Damage 14)
Attack (Grapple): 8 dice (10 to control)
Combat Movement: 10 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 4/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Harry: If a hound moves into close range with
an enemy and deals 5+ damage to them with a
C h a pt e r T w o : T h e D e a d
withering attack on the same turn, that enemy
cannot disengage or withdraw on their next turn.
Infectious Bite: The hounds’ saliva carries the tinge
of the grave. If its bite deals damage with a decisive
attack to a living target, they suffer an infected wound
(Exalted, p. 235) with virulence 3, morbidity 1, and
interval one day. Even the Exalted suffer this infection.
Pack Hunting: Add one success to attack rolls for
each allied deathly creature or Exalt within close range
of the enemy, up to three successes. The hound may
also pay a Willpower to add that many dice to the raw
damage of a decisive attack, as its allies join in.
MERITS
Ghost Tracking: Add three successes to any Senses
or Tracking roll to notice or find ghosts. Double 7s on
these rolls if the hound marked the ghost for death with
Malignant Portent Pose.
Keen Nose: Double 9s on scent-based Senses rolls.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Chilling Barghest Howl (5m, 1wp; Simple;
Instant; Eclipse; Essence 2): A hound bays to alert its
allies and warn its prey. The sound is terrifying, starting from a bass rumble in the bones and climbing to a
high, clear note that evokes the wind whistling over a
burial ground. Roll Threaten (Eclipse Castes use [Charisma + Presence]) against each enemy who hears it.
It spooks those who succumb; they suffer a −4 penalty
on all rolls except combat actions or actions to flee
the barrow hound for one scene. Victims may pay one
Willpower to become immune for the scene.
Ghost Hunter (1m, 1wp; Reflexive; One scene;
Essence 1): A barrow hound can sense and attack
immaterial ghosts.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Malignant Portent Pose (15m, 1wp; Simple; One
scene; Eclipse, Psyche, Stackable; Essence 3): The hound
creates a baleful, incorporeal copy of itself, manifested
from its doom-laden Essence, within long range of its
current position. Each activation of the Charm creates a
new copy. Copies can move independently of the hound,
and persist for the duration regardless of how far from it
they roam. The copy seems like the original to anyone who
fails a (Perception + Integrity) roll, opposed by the hound’s
Threaten, when they first see it. Characters who fail suffer a
premonition of doom upon seeing the malevolent harbinger the hound has sent, losing one temporary Willpower,
and are marked for death until a year has passed.
In combat, a victim also loses three Initiative upon failing
her roll (which the hound doesn’t gain). Any attack she
makes on the hound or a copy for the Charm’s duration increases its target number by one (Exalted, p.
184), as she can’t tell reality from illusion. No combination of effects can raise target numbers above 9. If this
Charm crashes a victim, she suffers a Major Paranoia
Derangement (Exalted, p. 169) for one full session.
MOBILITY CHARMS
Labyrinth-Striding Step (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant;
Essence 3): Once per scene, a hound can step into the Underworld from Creation or vice versa as long as it’s nighttime. It can use the restrain/drag action during a grapple
to pull a victim along with it. This Charm resets if the hound
(or its master) discorporates a non-trivial ghost. Characters who travel between realms this way end up anywhere
the Storyteller desires, whether it’s a place that resonates
thematically with the situation or a place the hound feels
comfortable. Those who don’t return via hound must find
a shadowland to get back, and may end up miles — or
hundreds of miles — from where they began.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Dread Omens Augury (8m; Simple; Indefinite;
Essence 2): The hound spends an hour in the Underworld
gazing at the sky, sitting with one ear cocked to the Neverborn’s murmurings, or consuming the corpse of someone
it (or its master) killed. Afterward, it gains the scent of a
living target likely to die soon, and can track them unerringly unless they use perfect concealment magic.
Scent of Dead Memories (4m, 1wp; Simple; One
night; Essence 1): By pulling an unearthly scent from
something that belonged to a ghostly target when
they were alive, such as a scrap of clothing, the hound
can track that ghost without scenting it directly.
Storyteller Tactics
Barrow hounds roam freely between the Underworld
and Creation, hunting ghosts that haunt their territories and stalking shadowlands. They range farther afield
when omens set them on a trail. A barrow hound hunts
much like its mundane counterpart: harrying its prey,
cornering it, then snarling and biting until it’s dead or
discorporated. A wild hound flees once it takes damage
to any of its last three −2 health levels.
Barrow hounds feel compelled to track down their Dread
Omens Augury’s living targets. They don’t kill these people themselves, but use their Chilling Barghest Howl and
Malignant Portent Pose to spook them and mark them
for death. Storytellers can use this to create tension,
kicking off stories in which the marked character tries
to determine how they’re supposed to die and prevent it;
or against Storyteller characters the players care about
and wish to protect. If the hound is a familiar, use this to
point characters toward story hooks.
A barrow hound is a 3-dot Familiar. Ghosts are its natural
prey, making it an excellent companion for the Liminal
Exalted in particular.
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H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
Bloodworm
At sites of great, bloody battles and other places where
loss of life is staggering, the undead bloodworms
emerge. Bloodworms form from the blood of the slain
seeping into the dust and leeching necrotic Essence
from corpses rotting below the surface. Bloodworms
range from the size of an earthworm to that of a large
snake, or even monstrously huge if they persist long
enough. They range in color from dark red to black.
With their leech-like mouths, they latch onto freshly dead bodies or the wounded living, sensing spilled
blood from a mile away. When they’re hungry enough,
they feed on healthy prey that crosses their paths too,
all for the promise of blood.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 3; Join Battle: 4 dice
Health Levels: −0/−1x2/−2x2/−4/Incap.
Actions: Resist Disease/Poison: 4 dice; Senses:
4 dice; Stealth: 8 dice; Tracking: 5 dice (see Blood
Scent)
Resolve 1, Guile 4
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COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 10 dice (Damage 12)
Attack (Grapple): 9 dice (7 to control)
Combat Movement: 5 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 0
Soak/Hardness: 3/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Drain: A bloodworm attaches to its victim and
drinks their blood. Add two automatic successes to
attacks against grappled foes. If the victim has any
lethal damage in her health track, a decisive savaging attack attaches the worm to the open wound,
inflicting one additional lethal damage level, or two
if the worm has at least twice its original health levels
(see Storyteller Tactics). The worm’s mouth secretes a
fluid that keeps blood flowing and numbs the skin; the
victim loses one Initiative automatically each turn the
grapple persists, and if the grapple gambit is unexpected, the victim suffers a −2 penalty to further attempts to notice the worm while it controls the grapple.
C h a pt e r T w o : T h e D e a d
say the blood within the worm remembers, driving the
creature to the surface to find and feast upon the foes of
one whose blood it devoured.
MERITS
Blood Scent: Bloodworms detect blood in the soil
and on the air. Add three successes on Senses rolls
to notice or track spilled blood or open wounds, up
to a mile away. When tracking a bleeding character, add an additional die for each level of wound
penalty the character suffers as well.
Tiny Creature: Gain +2 Evasion against foes
larger than a housecat. Characters of that size subtract two successes from Awareness rolls to notice
the bloodworm.
Older bloodworms are larger and more powerful; represent this by adding health levels, taking away the Tiny
Creature Merit, and — at their most ancient — adding
the Legendary Size Merit. A bloodworm’s grappled victim doesn’t suffer penalties to attack rolls or Defense and
can still move and flurry normally unless the bloodworm
has at least twice its original health levels.
Storyteller Tactics
Bloodworms follow their feeding urge regardless of on
which side of a battle their prey fought. However, stories
A bloodworm flees when it’s taken damage to its first −4
health level, burrowing deep into the earth to withdraw
or go to ground.
Doppelgänger
Long ago, the sea lords of Azure conquered the Auspice
Isles and claimed the people as chattel. One enslaved
Auspicene priest used curses, trickery, and poison to
work such subtle revenge on his new masters that many
died before they discovered him and executed him in
the Kraken’s Pool. He continued his revenge even after death, until the Azurite ancestors drove him from
their shores. Western mortals call him the Blue Shadow.
He has mastered the art of moliation — the shaping of
ghostly flesh — to copy others’ countenances. Making
himself visible to mortals, he uses false faces to gain
their confidence and plays on their passions with clever lies. Murder alone no longer satisfies him; he relies
on seduction, treachery, and deceit to induce his victims
to destroy themselves and those around them. He also
practices the nemissary arts, stealing the bodies of the
freshly dead for more tangible charades.
He has become a doppelgänger. Like all of his kind, his
name is lost to history, as is his old shape. Should magic
tear his false faces from him, his visage is as blank and
featureless as the moon.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 6 dice
Personal Motes: 70
Health Levels: −0/−1x2/−2x2/−4/Incap.
Actions: Disguise: 12 dice; Lockpicking/Pickpocketing: 8 dice; Read Intentions: 10 dice; Senses:
7 dice; Social Influence: 14 dice
Appearance 3, Resolve 3, Guile 7
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COMBAT
Attack (Unarmed): 7 dice (Damage 10)
Attack (Grapple): 3 dice (4 to control)
Combat Movement: 7 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 5/0 (or 11/0; see Monstrous
Mien)
MERITS
Cult 0-2: Mortals who fear the depredations of
doppelgängers and other actively malicious ghosts
often propitiate them.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Monstrous Mien (8m, 1wp; Simple; One scene;
Essence 2): In an instant, the doppelgänger’s body
expands into a horrid shape. His skin grows scaly,
his visage bestial, his limbs long and bandy and
tipped by vicious claws. This transformation grants
the ghost the Hideous Merit (Exalted Third
Edition, p. 162) for its duration, doubles 8s on
unarmed attack rolls and threaten rolls, and grants
+6 soak.
Soul-Thieving Method (1wp; Supplemental;
Instant; Eclipse, Withering-only; Essence 2): The
doppelgänger does not receive any Initiative from the
unarmed withering attack this Charm supplements.
Instead, for each point of Initiative he would have received, he removes a mote from his enemy’s Essence
pools and adds it to his own.
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Apparition (1m; Simple; One scene; Essence 1): The
doppelgänger becomes visible, but not corporeal.
False Face (8m; Simple; Instant, Essence 2): Ghostly
flesh flows beneath his fingers like clay as the doppelgänger alters his appearance to assume the guise
of a living human or another ghost, negating all penalties and doubling 9s on disguise rolls to imitate a
specific character. False Face doesn’t work on dead
flesh possessed via Nemissary’s Ride, and its disguise
bonus is only compatible with Monstrous Mien if the
doppelgänger imitates a similarly monstrous creature.
Nemissary’s Ride (20m, 1wp; Simple; Indefinite; Essence 1): The doppelgänger moves into a
human corpse, animating it. He uses the physical
Attributes, soak, and health track of the corpse’s
former life in place of his own, but otherwise retains
his own traits. If the body is freshly dead or expertly
embalmed, this imposes a −1 die penalty to disguise actions; more advanced decay increases the
penalty or makes disguise impossible. The possessor is ejected if the animated corpse runs out of
health levels. Attacks capable of striking the immaterial damage both the corpse’s health track and
the possessing ghost’s.
Storyteller Tactics
A doppelgänger is vicious and pitiless, but subtle. He
prefers never to reveal himself to his victims, keeping up
a given ruse only until it’s no longer useful for turning his
victims against one another. He only fights directly when
cornered or absolutely certain of his victory. He withdraws from combat or scares opponents away whenever
possible if it looks like he’s in danger of discorporation.
A doppelgänger chooses victims out of spite and vengeance. Although his memories of the life he once had
are dim and twisted, he can recognize someone who
did him wrong when he walked in the flesh, along with
their friends and family, and has a nose for finding their
descendants too. Failing that, he preys on anyone who
lives in places or circumstances that remind him of his
past.
Doppelgängers lie well, but some mimicry is beyond
their ken. Characters may become suspicious if someone who ought to be a master swordsman chooses to
fight with his fists, for instance. Clever manipulation of
a situation can force his hand. Each doppelgänger retains different skills from his living days, so each such
situation requires an investigator’s careful attention.
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C h a pt e r T w o : T h e D e a d
The Drowned
COMBAT
Attack (Grapple): 6 dice (9 to control)
Attack (Knife): 8 dice (Damage 10)
Combat Movement: 3 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 3/10
MERITS
Flash of Recognition: A familiar sight jogs loose a
long-forgotten fact about the drowned’s former self.
When this happens, immediately gain a Minor Intimacy related to that memory.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Battle Memory Meditation (10m; Simple;
Instant; Essence 2): The drowned draws upon the
Essence buried in her bones and recalls how she once
moved. For the rest of the scene, she may use up to
three Charms she knew in life. When the scene ends,
she forgets them.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Riptide’s Flow (5m; Reflexive; Instant; Essence 1):
When fighting in water, the drowned moves with the
current, floating one range band away from its opponent.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Hurry Home (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): The drowned fades away and vanishes on its next
turn, returning to where its ship went down, even if the
wreck disintegrated long ago.
Materialize (35m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence 1):
The scents of rot and brine accompany the drowned
as it takes physical form. Salt water footsteps follow
along its path.
Storms and pirates claim scores of victims on the seas,
even supernatural beings like Exalts, god-blooded, and
Fair Folk. Many of their deaths go unreported, and if
they have families that might make an offering to appease their ghosts, it comes too late. The drowned rise
from wrecks and soft sands, fish-bitten and barnacled,
and turn their faces toward the sun brightening the waters above.
The drowned half-remember their lives on the surface.
Some recognize the flags their murderers flew. Others
see their family’s mon flying and know it meant something, once. They pursue, seeking vengeance or a spark
of memory. The drowned who are even further gone
simply know prey is aboard, and they’re hungry.
Like other hungry ghosts, the drowned spend daylight
hours asleep, their spirits resting in their corpses. But
as the years pass, salt water, fish, and other factors wear
away their physical remains. Memories grow fainter as
their bodies decay, but the sea never truly destroys everything: coral winds through their ribcages. Crabs inhabit
their skulls. Thus, the hungry ghosts of the drowned are
near-eternal, and it torments them.
Sailors passing through waters where the drowned swim
toss offerings over the side: coins and carvings, food and
wine. They hope to appease the drowned, or at least distract them while the ship sails safely out of range. When
passing over a known wreck, some vessels fly false colors.
Lintha families leave buoys at the site of their victories, so
their ships can tack wide and avoid victims’ ghosts.
Many sailors bargain with the drowned, and those with
enough remaining faculties act as emissaries between
the living, other sentient beings beneath the waves, and
Underworld citizens.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 3; Join Battle: 4 dice
Personal Motes: 40
Health Levels: −0x2/−1x4/−2x2/−4x2/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “I must remember what I’ve
lost.”; Major: Those Who Sank Them (Vengeance);
Minor: “May my travels carry me to memory’s shore.”
Actions: Bargain: 5 dice; Feats of Strength: 6 dice
(may attempt Strength 3 feats); Swim: 7 dice, Threaten: 6 dice; Tracking: 5 dice
Appearance 3 (Hideous), Resolve 3, Guile 1
Storyteller Tactics
The drowned’s grudges long outlive his memories and,
usually, his murderers. A ship may change hands several times, but one of the drowned rarely knows or cares
whether the current captain and crew are the same
ones who killed him. He enters the vessel in ghostly
form, materializes, and pulls his killers into the water
to drown them. Those drowned whose ships went down
in a storm or due to a kraken’s wrath have no drive for
vengeance. They become emissaries for the living, negotiating deals in exchange for information about their lost
selves. Some vengeful drowned can be reasoned with as
well, but only if their opponent offers a path toward seeing justice served.
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H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
Bargaining with the drowned can be difficult, due to
their single-mindedness. If a petitioner has no information or leads for him, the drowned receives a +3 Resolve
bonus against social influence actions.
The Storyteller should add one or two more Intimacies
based on the individual drowned’s past life and personality, and choose three Charms from the type of
supernatural being they used to be for use with Battle
Memory Meditation.
The drowned flees when he suffers damage to his second –2 health level. Because their remains are scattered
throughout the seas, the drowned are nearly indestructible. Only spirit-killing magic puts one of their number
permanently to rest.
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The Forlorn Manor
On a hill overlooking a city sits a house. The road below
bustles with caravans and wandering monks. Legions
marching to a nearby outpost stir up the dust. On the
horizon, ships fly the flags of Peleps, or Lookshy, or
Cherak. The sprawling house is three grand stories tall.
Large windows reflect the sunset; terraces catch the cool
breeze. But paint has faded and chipped, and the house
sags in the middle. Peering through the windows reveals
once-opulent furniture blanketed in dust, and once-majestic stairways with missing railings and broken treads.
Five hundred years ago, this enormous estate was the
multigenerational dwelling of the wealthy Dutan family.
Then, disaster struck. Everyone who entered the house
succumbed to sudden, inexplicable death. Even the few
members of the household away on business fell to the
same doom once they returned. The house itself declined
rapidly, within days appearing decades abandoned. Now,
Dutan Manor is a ghost, still in mourning for the family
that loved it. But in the lonely years since their deaths,
the manor has gone from melancholy to malevolent.
It traps trespassers within, the rooms ever-shifting,
whether they come seeking lost riches or a simple night’s
shelter. It spurs them to anger and fear, makes the weakwilled turn against companions, and leads even the most
clear-headed down tortured hallways into impossible
rooms, until they collapse from exhaustion or starvation,
or kill each other.
Essence: 4; Willpower: 8; Join Battle: 11 dice
(heart only)
Personal Motes: 90
Health Levels: −0x10/−1x15/−2x15/−4x10/
Incap. (heart only)
Intimacies: Defining: The Dutan Family (Mourning);
“Everything within these walls is mine, including you.”;
Major: “I will show you what it means to despair.”
Actions: Bargain: 8 dice; Lore: 5 dice; Persuade:
7 dice; Read Intentions: 7 dice; Senses: 7 dice (see
Something’s Watching); Threaten: 12 dice
Appearance 3, Resolve 5, Guile 3
COMBAT
Soak/Hardness: 10/10 (heart only)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Endless Hallway, Shifting Staircase: Dead
ends replace intersections. Nonsensical stairways
appear and disappear. Doors open onto different
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places from one moment to the next. Navigating to
any specific destination inside the house requires
a (Wits + Survival) extended action (or Strength +
Athletics, to smash directly through walls), difficulty
4, with goal number 10 and interval five minutes. If
the manor wins, the character still gets there but the
house anticipates them, gaining double 8s on all
rolls to oppose or influence them when they arrive.
If the character botches a roll, the house traps them
in a room without exits, a never-ending stairwell, or
another impossible area, requiring creative solutions
to escape. Each character must roll individually, as
failure leads the house to separate them.
Something’s Watching: Double 9s on sight- and
hearing-based Senses rolls.
MERITS
Unforgiving Terror House: Any part of the manor
or object that was present when the house became a
ghost rebuilds itself again completely one round after
it’s destroyed, except its heart. The manor itself has
no health levels and can’t engage in combat. In its
deepest bowels pulses its dead heart, within a pitchdark chamber, protected by a half-digested mass of
rotted sinew and dry bone. The heart may produce
any number of zombies (Exalted, p. 502) from the
mass at a time, as a combat action, for either five
motes or three health levels per zombie. A character
can destroy the heart by attacking it directly, which
also destroys the ghost itself, but it can’t take decisive damage and doesn’t suffer Initiative Crash until it
has no zombie guardians left; withering attacks still
award the attacker their full Initiative.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Crushing Despair (8m; Simple; One scene;
Essence 2): The room hides the exit and shrinks the
distance between its walls. This is an environmental
hazard (Exalted, p. 230) with difficulty 5, dealing
two bashing damage per round and granting the
manor Initiative per round equal to the number of characters who took damage that round, to a maximum of
five Initiative. Characters may resist the hazard with
(Strength + Athletics) to hold the walls at bay; (Perception + Awareness) to find the exit; and either a feat of
strength or (Dexterity + Larceny) to open it.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Hundred Chambers Maze (8m; Reflexive; One
scene; Eclipse; Essence 3): Change any portal’s destination, including external windows and doors, to
any other portal’s destination on the manor’s grounds.
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
Eclipses may use this Charm in any building, but both
target and destination portals must be within medium
range of the Eclipse.
Foundation of Bones (5m; Simple; Instant; Decisive-only; Essence 3): The manor instantly consumes
one corpse (inanimate or otherwise) anywhere on the
grounds to heal three health levels or regain five Initiative.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Ember-Stoking Delusion (8m, 1wp; Simple;
One scene; Psyche; Essence 4): On a successful
threaten action, the manor convinces a character
within its walls that one of her companions secretly
plots against her and unearths long-buried conflicts.
The target temporarily develops a negative Major Tie
toward her companion and temporarily loses the benefits of any positive Tie toward him. Interactions with
him prompt her to physically attack unless she spends
one Willpower to hold back for one round, or one
minute outside combat. Exalts end the effect early by
spending four Willpower this way; mortals have no
such recourse.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Materialize (45m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): The forlorn manor can materialize whenever it
senses someone approaching its territory or looking
up at its hill from below. See Exalted, p. 510, for full
materialization rules.
Storyteller Tactics
Because the forlorn manor only occasionally materializes,
locals don’t agree on whether it really exists. No specific
location is given here for the manor, so the Storyteller can
place it wherever she needs to for her game.
The manor lets trespassers get comfortable at first, until
they think the stories were just that, passed down by the
family’s heirs to scare off scavengers. Then it shifts rooms
and increases paranoia until the intruders become hopelessly lost and turn on each other. It reserves Crushing
Despair for when characters come too close to finding its
heart. It uses items its owners and sundry trespassers left
behind as tools for social influence. A book falls from a
shelf, opening to the exact page that conveys the manor’s
message. Quills scratch out names and broken sentences
on old parchment. Faded dolls with smiling faces turn up
unexpectedly, suggesting approval or smug triumph.
Characters can bargain with the manor if they take the
time to unlock its secrets and earn its trust. The truth
of why its family met its grisly end and what caused it
is buried deep in the past; solving that mystery would
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let the manor rest at last. Although it’s hostile and takes
pleasure in watching victims murder each other, it also
wants to rest, so it subconsciously leaves clues lying
around for savvy investigators to pick up — a charcoal
scribble on a wall reading Where’s Samandra??, or a
drawer that opens at an opportune time containing specific documents, for instance. Characters can find some
clues inside the house itself, but must investigate in the
city as well or find another way to learn the full story.
The house’s victims may also find hints to how to destroy
it by investigating evidence left behind by previous unfortunate visitors — messages left half-written, recent
corpses not yet consumed, and so on. Once they learn
about the heart and find it, the house spawns as many
zombies as it can afford to protect itself, balancing motes,
zombies, and health levels to survive as long as possible.
It uses Ember-Stoking Delusion liberally if it starts to
lose, or makes Bargain or Persuade actions to convince
its assailants to help it solve the family’s mystery instead.
Ghostfisher
Out in the gray wilds of the Underworld, travelers may
encounter a seemingly benign ghost requesting aid, such
as a child chained to a stone or an old man trapped beneath a fallen log. This ghost is merely a simulacrum,
a lure maintained by the dreaded ghostfisher. Come
too close and the monster’s true form — an enormous
worm, massive as a redwood, its striated flesh gleaming
fish-belly white — bursts from the barren Underworld
soil to feed. The ghost lure, now shriveled as a prune,
dangles above a gigantic many-fanged maw.
Ghostfisher burrows form vast three-dimensional labyrinths. Ghosts occasionally use these tunnel networks
— which intersect with other corridors and chambers
of diverse origins — as shortcuts to other Underworld
realms. Such journeys are perilous, as the traveler risks
encountering ghostfishers or even worse creatures down
below.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 4 dice
Personal Motes: 70
Health Levels: −0/−1x5/−2x10/−4x15/Incap.
Actions: Disguise: 8 dice; Feats of Strength: 11 dice
(may attempt Strength 7 feats); Read Intentions: 5
dice; Senses: 5 dice; Social Influence: 6 dice (lure
only)
Appearance 2 for lure, 4 (Hideous) for the ghostfisher; Resolve 4, Guile 4
COMBAT
Attack (Bash): 8 dice (Damage 18)
Attack (Grapple): 8 dice (12 to control)
Combat Movement: 7 dice
Evasion 2, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 16/4
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MERITS
Legendary Size: A ghostfisher suffers no onslaught
penalties from attacks from smaller opponents, unless
they’re magically inflicted. Withering attacks from
smaller enemies cannot Crash it unless they have at
least 10 post-soak damage dice, although attackers
still gain the full amount of Initiative damage dealt.
Decisive attacks from smaller enemies cannot deal
more than (3 + attacker’s Strength) levels of damage
to it, not counting levels added by Charms or other
magic.
Tunneling: The ghostfisher burrows through earth
and stone. It can establish stealth in combat by rolling
its Combat Movement pool to dig down into the
earth, and does not need to make new rolls to remain
concealed while moving underground.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Quaking Slam (10m, 1wp; Simple; Withering-only; Instant; Essence 1): The ghostfisher slams
its massive bulk downward with such force that the
earth trembles. It makes an unblockable withering bash attack against each earthbound character
within medium range, rolling once and applying each
character’s Evasion separately. Each character it hits
falls prone and loses Initiative equal to (3 + threshold
successes), but the ghostfisher only gains this Initiative
from one target, plus one Initiative per additional hit
target. This is usable once per scene, unless reset by
going three turns above ground without either taking
a movement action or suffering decisive damage.
Enemies who lose more Initiative than their (Stamina +
Resistance) tumble one range band toward the ghostfisher, as the earth cracks beneath their feet.
Spectral Lure (1m; Simple; Indefinite; Essence 1):
Like an anglerfish, the ghostfisher extends an alluring
organ from its snout to attract prey while the rest of
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
its body remains concealed. The lure, taking the form
of any ghost the monster has ever consumed, is only
semi-intelligent; it becomes confused if conversation
diverges from a simple script. If a character touches
the spectral lure, the ghostfisher may pay a Willpower
to emerge from the ground and ambush him with a
grapple gambit. The ghostfisher makes a disguise roll
when it creates the simulacrum to determine its quality.
Characters who overcome it with one or two threshold
successes notice the lure is strange without spotting the
submerged monster; three or more threshold successes make the ghostfisher’s subterranean presence apparent.
Swallow Whole (15m; Reflexive; Decisive-only; Instant; Essence 2): After dealing 3+ levels of
damage to a grappled enemy with a decisive savaging attack, the ghostfisher may swallow them alive.
Within the beast’s gullet, they contend with its digestive acids, an environmental hazard with damage
3L/round and difficulty 5. A swallowed enemy may
cut his way free with a difficulty 5 gambit, but cannot
otherwise attack it from inside without a relevant stunt.
Even then, they contend with Defense 2 and its full
soak and Hardness. The ghostfisher can only swallow
another human-sized character if its previous meals
are Incapacitated or dead.
Storyteller Tactics
Ghostfishers lay their traps and wait — often for days at
a time — for someone to take the bait. Fellow ghosts are
their usual prey, but they’ll eat anything. They are also
clever: In shadowlands and other haunted areas, ghostfishers set their lures near places where other ghosts
regularly appear and mimic their forms, tricking mortals
who come to aid ancestor spirits or learn from spectral
tutors.
Ghostfishers prefer to hunt alone, though adventurers
who dare to travel via ghostfisher burrows learn that
the giant worms act in concert to defend their territory.
They’ll block off passages with their bulks, or collapse
tunnels on intruders’ heads with feats of strength.
A ghostfisher flees when it takes damage in any of its last
eight −4 health levels.
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Grave Messenger
While some families are content to tend to their loved
ones’ graves and hope their ghosts are sufficiently appeased, others require a more substantial communications with the departed. Dwelling in graveyards, near
ancient ancestral tombs, or wandering the edges of shadowlands, grave messengers carry missives between the
living and the dead.
necromancer can summon one to his location with a spell.
Grave messengers serve as couriers and carriers in Stygia,
and are part of a deathknight’s entourage. Clothing the
messengers in any type of regalia is futile: Within days,
colors fade to gray and the cloth grows grimy with grave
dirt and bone dust.
The messengers are squat and child-sized, with bony hands
and leathery wings, and clothe themselves in grave shrouds
gone to rot. They speak in rusty, raspy voices. If a ghost exists, and isn’t magically concealed, the grave messenger will
locate her by the third sunrise after it sets out, and bring
the response to the petitioner by that following sunset. The
messages may be written or verbal, according to the petitioner’s needs. Grave messengers also transport objects and
even ferry people: They’re equally adept at reuniting lovers
or bringing a transgressor before an angry deathknight.
To call upon a messenger, the petitioner finds the graveyard it calls home, offers a prayer, and states his request. A
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Essence: 2; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 6 dice
Personal Motes: 25
Health Levels: −0x2/−1x3/−2x3/−4x3/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “The dead are not gone
forever.”; Major: “I will keep their secrets.”; Minor:
Ghosts (Duty)
Actions: Bargain: 5 dice; Cover Tracks: 7 dice; Etiquette: 6 dice; Persuade: 3 dice; Read Intentions: 5
dice; Senses: 4 dice; Stealth: 6 dice; Threaten: 3 dice;
Tracking: 7 dice
Appearance 2, Resolve 4, Guile 1
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
COMBAT
Attack (Claw): 6 dice (Damage 6)
Combat Movement: 4 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 2/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Ghost Tracking: The grave messenger can find any
dead entity that has a presence in Creation or the
Underworld. Upon receiving its task, the messenger
knows in which direction its target lies, how far away
it is, and which shadowland will bring it closest to that
place. No matter where the ghost it seeks is located,
the messenger reaches it within three days of receiving
its mission.
If the ghost is magically hidden, the messenger senses
its direction or its distance, but not both. It must rely on
intuition and investigation to find its quarry.
MERITS
Steadfast Courier: The grave messenger doesn’t
stop to rest or eat. If something tries to make it pause,
it doubles 9s on rolls to resist.
Utmost Discretion: Grave messengers in service to
the Underworld’s gentry know the value of being unobtrusive. Add one automatic success to a Socialize
roll when the messenger must deliver sensitive information in front of observers.
MOBILITY CHARMS
Ghostly Passage (5m; Reflexive; One scene;
Essence 2): The grave messenger’s message is only
for the ears of its intended recipient, and therefore it
takes pains not to be followed. Once per round, the
messenger may roll to cover its tracks or disengage as
an extra action.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Hurry Home (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): The grave messenger fades away and vanishes on
its next turn, returning to its home graveyard.
Storyteller Tactics
Spies and politicians employ grave messengers to funnel
information, secrets, and bribes through their own — or
even their rivals’ — ancestors. Some go to great lengths
to cover up those interactions, building private shrines
or carving out hidden passages in the cemeteries where
grave messengers reside.
Grave messengers may only leave their home burial site
when they’re on a mission, which makes them eager to
take work that lets them roam. Some attempt to convince
mourners to send messages, asking the bereaved about
things left unsaid or hinting at hidden riches the departed left behind. Messengers are quick, careful, and secretive. Few are combative by nature, but once provoked,
they fiercely defend both their ghostly charges and the
missives they carry. Some messengers, if they feel outmatched, lead their pursuers to the nearest graveyard to
enlist other messengers’ help.
Grave messengers flee when they suffer damage to their
first −4 health level.
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Haunt
Merchants cross Harden Ford only when the sun is high,
and camp far from the site. Hundreds have died here
over the centuries in wars and raids — soldiers, traders,
herders, pilgrims. Each night, their ghosts rise to re-enact the battles and the slaughter.
Sadly, all too many of those slain at Harden Ford defined
themselves through bloodshed. The passage of the living draws their eyes and their ire. Taking on substance,
these haunts eagerly turn their spectral blades on passers-by, darkening the ford’s waters with blood.
Haunts — also called “echoes” or “drones” — are as shadows even among ghosts. Lost in death, they can do nothing
but repeat their last moments over and over. Only those
things that were important to them in life stir a spark of
awareness. Confronted by the face of a lover or the banner
of a hated foe, a haunt turns its attention from the recurring tableau of its death to act in the living world.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 1; Join Battle: 4 dice
Personal Motes: 60
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Health Levels: −0/−1x2/−2x2/−4/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “I’m alive, no matter what you
say.”; Major: “I must finish what I’ve started.”
Actions: Senses: 4 dice; Social Influence: 6 dice
Appearance 1, Resolve 5, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Short sword): 6 dice (Damage 12,
minimum 2)
Attack (Shield bash): 5 dice (Damage 12)
Combat Movement: 4 dice
Evasion 2, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 8/0 (ghostly hauberk)
MERITS
One-Track Mind: A haunt treats all influence unrelated to its dying moments or perpetual labor as unacceptable. Add +1 Resolve when a character’s influence
is related but would keep it from playing out its vignette.
A character trying to convince the haunt it’s dead must
use instill actions to erode its Defining Intimacies completely. If successful, the ghost passes into Lethe.
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
past’s narrative, calling them by old opponents’ names
and forcing them to retrace former enemies’ steps. At
Incapacitated, the haunt fades away until the next evening, when it begins its toils anew.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Apparition (1m; Simple; One scene; Essence 1):
The haunt becomes visible, but not corporeal.
Material Intrusion (15m; Reflexive; One round;
Essence 1): The haunt materializes for one round. It
may only use this Charm while taking an action necessary to act out its post-mortem “script,” such as
hacking at an intruder.
Undeniable History (20m; Simple; One round;
Essence 1): The haunt’s unshakeable belief sweeps its
target into its delusion. The target character sees the
area as it was at the time of the haunt’s death.
Haunts may have additional dice pools and/or different
attacks, relating to their actions when they died. The
best are six dice; others are four or five. Given combat
traits assume a haunt that died in battle or by violence.
Those who didn’t usually can’t deviate from their morbid
routines to fight, though they might bargain or threaten if faced with something important from their lives.
Storytellers should also add another defining Intimacy
based on the haunt’s life.
Storyteller Tactics
Even fighting the living, a haunt attempts to re-enact the
moment of its death. It weaves its current foes into its
Keregost the
Hundred-Handed
Keregost the Hundred-Handed stands guard at the top
of a steep, spiraling stair. It has waited in that place for
thousands of years, since the First Age, tasked with preventing anyone from venturing down…and keeping the
horrors that live at the bottom from climbing up.
behemoth they sent to fight on their behalf fell to the invading army’s might. At last, the city’s sorcerers recovered
the behemoth’s corpse and proposed a desperate, horrifying plan. Fifty brave warriors gave their lives and their
strength, and Keregost the Hundred-Handed was born.
The massive guardian stands twenty feet tall, visible from
far across the plain where the stairway lies. Keregost has
a hundred arms and fifty faces. No two faces are alike,
spanning many ages and genders, and reflecting physical
traits from all regions of Creation. The sorcery that created this behemoth is long forgotten, unless perhaps one
of Keregost’s many faces belongs to its maker. Few have
ever gotten close enough to ask, and Keregost is rarely
interested in talking.
Keregost’s hundred hands hold a variety of weapons,
each the preferred armaments of those hands’ former
owners: daiklaves and bows, hook swords and bare
hands, all skilled and deadly.
The plain once held a city; its name, like its structures,
was lost to the chaos that reigned after the Usurpation.
Some of its legends remain, passed down by the members of Keregost’s cults. They speak of the city’s leaders
carving out a stairway over the course of centuries, digging down and down until they met a group tunneling
their way up. This second party, from their perspectives,
had also dug down and down. As soon as the way was
open, denizens of that other land surged forth.
The defenders fought to stem the unceasing tide of monsters, but the sheer numbers overwhelmed them. Even the
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Essence: 4; Willpower: 7; Join Battle: 11 dice
Personal Motes: 90
Health Levels: −0x5/−1x10/−2x10/−4x3/
Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “None may pass.”; Major:
The City’s Ruins (Protective Zeal); Minor: Honorable
Battle (Pride)
Actions: Feats of Strength: 12 dice (may attempt
Strength 7 feats); Read Intentions: 7 dice; Strategy: 8
dice; Threaten: 10 dice; Underworld Lore: 9 dice
Appearance 3 (Hideous), Resolve 5, Guile 3
COMBAT
Attack (Grand daiklave): 9 dice (Damage 19)
Attack (Grapple): 9 dice (12 to control)
Attack (Hook sword): 9 dice (Damage 14)
C h a pt e r T w o : T h e D e a d
Attack (Longbow): 8 dice (Damage 14)
Attack (Unarmed): 5 dice (Damage 7)
Combat Movement: 9 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 4
Soak/Hardness: 16/10
MERITS
Cult 2: Mortals from the surrounding lands view Keregost as their guardian, protecting them from whatever might rise up out of the spiral stair, and preventing would-be adventurers from venturing down. The
giant’s followers worship from a safe distance, leaving
offerings of livestock and wine. Over the centuries, the
cult has made a small fortune from selling the finely
wrought armor and artifact weapons left behind by
those who challenged Keregost and lost.
Legendary Size: Keregost suffers no onslaught
penalties from attacks made by smaller opponents,
unless they’re magically inflicted. Withering attacks
from smaller enemies cannot Crash it unless they have
at least 10 post-soak damage dice, although attackers still gain the full amount of Initiative damage dealt.
Decisive attacks from smaller enemies cannot deal
more than (3 + attacker’s Strength) levels of damage
to it, not counting any levels of damage added by
Charms or other magic.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Harmonious Attack Method (15m, 1wp; Simple;
Instant; Uniform; Essence 3): Keregost’s heads and
arms work in perfect sync. The giant attacks with some
of its hands and defends with others. Keregost may
perform two attack actions and one Parry without suffering any flurry penalties this round. It gains Initiative
as normal from the attack that deals the higher amount
of damage, and no more than 5 Initiative from the
lesser attack. It may use this Charm once per scene.
Hundred-Handed Army (30m, 1 wp; Simple;
One scene; Stackable; Essence 3): Several pairs of
Keregost’s arms detach from its body and spread out to
attack its opponents. They act as an elite-quality battle
group with Size 2 and Might 1. Stacking this Charm’s
effects allows Keregost to either increase an existing
group’s Size by 2 and Might by 1, or create a new,
separate battle group, with each activation. While at
least one such battle group exists, Keregost reduces all
withering and decisive damage by half.
Many-Throated Roar (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant;
Withering-only; Essence 3): Keregost’s fifty heads let
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out one great, unison war cry as the giant attacks,
paralyzing enemies as far out as long range with fear.
Opponents must spend two Willpower or their Initiative drops to 0 for one round, as though they are in
Initiative Crash. At the start of the next round, it returns
to its prior value.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Ever-Watchful Guardian (5m; Reflexive; Instant;
Uniform; Essence 2): Keregost has a hundred eyes,
constantly assessing the field of battle and its enemies’
movements. A single unexpected attack fails automatically unless supplemented by a Charm or magical
effect.
Shield of Arms (5m, 1i; Reflexive; Instant; Withering-only; Essence 2) Keregost uses several sets of
hands to shield itself, interlacing its many fingers or
locking its wrists together. Gain +3 soak against a
single withering attack.
MOBILITY CHARMS
Intruder-Repelling Technique (10m; Supplemental; Instant; Dual; Essence 3): Keregost defines
itself by one overarching drive: Let none pass. Keregost throws a grappled enemy up to a medium
range distance away, and deals withering or decisive damage.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Hurry Home (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
5): Keregost fades away and vanishes on its next
turn, drawn instantly back to the top of the stairway
it guards.
Measure the Wind (5m; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): Keregost takes the measure of anyone who approaches the spiral stairway.
Storyteller Tactics
Keregost has been protecting the spiral stair since its inception. It attempts to warn away interlopers, but once
it’s clear that its opponents are determined to pass, it
attacks, paying special attention to those closest to the
stairway.
Keregost is an army unto itself, capable of fighting as
one massive, many-armed entity, or dividing into smaller units to cover more ground. The warriors who gave
their lives to create the creature were hardened fighters
and cunning strategists; those traits remained with the
hekatonkhire through the ages. Its attacks are a mix of
brute force and clever gambits, keeping enemies from
ever truly anticipating its next move.
Stories exist of the guardian allowing a scant handful of
people to traverse the stairway, though Keregost’s conditions are monumental, demanding payment for passage in
the form of a nephwrack’s desiccated heart, or the chains
from a powerful rantai. Though the city it protected is
long forgotten, Keregost’s loyalty has never waned. Fifty
brave souls created the giant; their descendants still roam
the world. Keregost will also stay its hand — for a brief
time — to hear the petitions of one of its long-lost kin.
Keregost doesn’t flee under any circumstances.
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Nameless Wretch
She doesn’t know how long she’s been dead.
Some passing army’s hooves woke her, churned up the
earth and pulled her from death’s slumber. Grave dirt
clings beneath what’s left of her fingernails. She doesn’t
know her name, has only a scrap of rotted silk for a clue,
its pattern faded. Someone must know her, somewhere.
She just has to find them.
Nameless wretches are walking corpses that rise when
unmarked mass graves are disturbed. They’ve forgotten
who they once were, and the need to remember drives
them to begging, to violence, or worse.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 3; Join Battle: 5 dice
Personal Motes: 70
Health Levels: −0x2/−1x4/−2x2/−4/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “I must learn who I was.”;
Major: “I must find peace.”; Minor: The Feeling of
Home (Nostalgia)
Actions: Feats of Strength: 7 dice (may attempt
Strength 5 feats); Read Intentions: 5 dice; Senses: 6
dice; Social Influence: 6 dice; Stealth: 4 dice
Appearance 3 (Hideous), Resolve 3, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Unarmed): 7 dice (Damage 12)
Attack (Sword): 10 dice (Damage 14)
Combat Movement: 3 dice
Evasion 2, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 2/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Anguish of the Flesh: When a wretch spends a
Willpower to add a success to an attack against an
enemy she is using violence to coerce into helping
her, add that enemy’s current wound penalty in bonus
dice to the roll also.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Piteous Plea (10m; Supplemental; Instant; Essence
2): The wretch appeals to her target’s own deathly
fears. Add one automatic success to a persuade roll,
and reroll 6s until none appear.
Storyteller Tactics
Buried in a nameless wretch’s mind is a guttering spark of
memory: Presented with her true name and history, she
recognizes it, and knows it to be real. Clever characters
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can trick or convince her to accept new ones, though, if
for instance finding her original identity is impossible,
or terrible actions in her past would prevent her from
resting peacefully if she discovered them.
When approaching someone for aid in discovering their
identities and those of their loved ones from life, nameless wretches rely on their pitiable states: their graves
disturbed, their bodies ravaged by rot, memories gone.
Should their targets prove hard-hearted or unwilling
to help, they have barely enough grasp of language and
skill to demand — at sword-point, if necessary — a proper burial under their rightful name, alongside their kin.
Reunited with her memories and laid to rest properly,
the wretch’s body collapses, its spirit departed to Lethe.
Rantai
From a distance, a rantai resembles a tangle of scarlet
ribbon drifting on the breeze. Closer, it resolves into an
airborne mass of blood-drenched chains, each link a
barbed loop of bone. Dozens of ghosts writhe on these
hooks, their shrieks a cacophony of woe.
The rantai collect ghosts for inscrutable reasons.
Hundreds dangle from the barbs of the most ancient
of their breed. The spirits’ agony only ends if another
Underworld predator snatches them away and devours
them — or if violence or parley frees them. Though rantai cannot speak, they compel bound ghosts to reveal
their wishes. They demand peculiar terms to release a
prisoner — a test of skill against the ghost to be freed,
planting a living tree in Underworld soil, or the right to
name a first-born child.
Rantai also imperil the living. Wounded rantai seek
shadowlands that mortals inhabit and strip out their
skeletons, reshaping them into new rings of bloody bone
to replace those they have lost.
Essence: 3; Willpower: 8; Join Battle: 10 dice
Personal Motes: 80
Health Levels: −0x3/−1x6/−2x6/−4/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “Ghosts belong to me.”;
Major: “Everything comes at a price.”
Actions: Feats of Strength: 7 dice (may attempt
Strength 3 feats); Fly: 10 dice; Senses: 8 dice;
Social Influence: 8 dice; Underworld Lore: 8 dice
Appearance 5 (Hideous), Resolve 5, Guile 3
COMBAT
Attack (Chain lash): 11 dice (Damage 12)
Attack (Grapple): 12 dice (11 to control)
Combat Movement: 10 dice
Evasion 2, Parry 5
Soak/Hardness: 11/3
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MERITS
Wind-Whipping Apparition: The rantai whips
through the air at devilish speed, ignoring all penalties
on movement actions as long as it isn’t crashed.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Ghost-Gaoler’s Leash (3m per ghost; Simple;
Instant; Essence 2): The rantai sends a bound war
ghost (Exalted, p. 504) to fight on its behalf, or a
specific ghost with separate traits, which automatically materializes. It cannot send more ghosts than its
current temporary Willpower, although it never needs
to retract any. A character capable of striking the immaterial may attempt a difficulty 4 gambit against a
leashed ghost to sever the chain. Success frees the
ghost and deals 1 lethal damage to the rantai, ignoring Hardness.
Impaling Barbs (4m, 1wp; Supplemental; Until
released; Essence 2): Enhance a grapple as follows:
• Double threshold successes to determine rounds
of control
• Take no Defense penalty
• Attacks that deal no damage don’t reduce rounds
of control
• +2 damage to decisive savaging attacks; +5 to
withering ones
• Capture a ghost who becomes Incapacitated or
crashed while grappled
Skeletonize (8m; Reflexive; Instant; Essence 3):
A decisive attack that kills a non-trivial living creature strips out its skeleton to make new links to repair
the chains, healing one health level. Against a battle
group of such creatures, it heals one level per point
of Magnitude the group loses. The rantai can gain
up to three temporary health levels this way if it isn’t
damaged; these vanish at the end of the scene.
Symphony of Woe (5m, 1wp; Supplemental;
Scene; Eclipse; Essence 3): Treat the rantai’s Join
Battle roll as an inspire action to create terror, grief,
C h a pt e r T w o : T h e D e a d
leverage. Characters can bargain to free a ghost or acquire Underworld knowledge, though it tries to intimidate them into unfavorable deals.
or dread against all enemies. This influence costs one
Willpower and three Initiative to resist. Enemies who
don’t resist lose two Initiative at the end of each round.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Stolen Voice (6m, 1wp; Supplemental; One action;
Eclipse; Essence 3): The rantai forces a ghost from its
collection who resembles one of its opponent’s Ties
that it knows to treat with her. Gain double 8s and +3
dice on a bargain action. An Eclipse subtly shifts her
appearance to resemble the Tie instead.
Storyteller Tactics
In battle, the rantai goes on the offensive, relying on its
fearsome appearance to weaken its enemies’ resolve.
It takes threaten and bargain actions often to chase or
buy off a stronger foe, while making its ghosts run interference. It isn’t above parleying to learn its enemies’
Intimacies, then trying to murder those Intimacies
to strengthen itself and capture their ghosts for
A rantai that loses at least half its bound ghosts flees or
bargains for its unlife. Choose a total number of ghosts it
possesses, or represent it thus: at the end of each round
in which the characters destroy or free any ghosts, the
rantai loses a Willpower point. When it runs out of
Willpower, it flees. Older rantai are larger and more
powerful; represent this by adding health levels and, at
their most ancient, the Legendary Size Merit (Exalted,
p. 522).
Bound ghosts with Essence 3 or less die when the rantai does; players can make a difficulty 3 Intelligence +
Occult roll to determine this.
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Scavenger
Bony avian skeletons draped in blackened cobwebs and
torn funerary silks circle their prey. The Underworld’s
vultures harry the living and the dead alike, sweeping
from the air to tear their prey apart and scavenge what’s
left. They devour their victims’ flesh and adorn themselves and their nests with trophies from their kills.
Driven by the emotional weight of the Underworld, scavengers collect items with sentimental significance to their
victims, pleasant or upsetting, such as a locket gifted by an
ex-lover, a favored sword, wedding rings, and so on.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 5 dice
Health Levels: −0/−1x2/−2x2/−4/Incap.
Actions: Disease/Poison: 8 dice; Fly: 8 dice; Intimidate: 7 dice; Senses: 7 dice (see Keen Nose); Tracking: 8 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Beak): 8 dice (Damage 14)
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Attack (Talons): 8 dice (Damage 12)
Attack (Grapple): 8 dice (8 to control)
Combat Movement: 7 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 4/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Grisly Trophies: Whenever a scavenger kills its
target, it claims something of importance to the victim
which it then either wears as a bauble or keeps stashed
in its gullet for displaying later. When it prizes an item,
the scavenger seizes it from the target’s still-living
hands by making a snatch gambit (Difficulty 3).
Wicked Rending Talons: The scavenger’s decisive talon attacks add two bonus successes to
damage against enemies that have not yet acted this
turn, so long as it has not taken any other actions (including reflexive movement actions).
C h a pt e r T w o : T h e D e a d
Anyone who kills a scavenger can claim all the mementos the creature has stolen, which may include baubles
and trinkets with value up to Resources 3. A scavenger
steals anything with emotional value that it can feasibly
pick up and carry away — from as small as a lucky coin to
as large as a daiklave. Characters may snatch them back,
requiring a gambit of Difficulty 3 in battle, or a Larceny
roll opposed by the scavenger’s Senses outside combat.
MERITS
Carrion Hunter: Add three bonus successes to any
Senses roll to detect, locate, or track the scent of dead
flesh. This bonus also applies on rolls to identify diseased carrion.
Eagle Wing Rush: A scavenger may rush enemies
from long range above them, as long as the horizontal distance between them is still at short range.
Keen Nose: Double 9s on scent-based Senses rolls.
Storyteller Tactics
Investigators pursuing murder cases search scavenger nests for clues among their stolen trinkets — many
a murder weapon ends up in the birds’ nests. Similarly,
finding an important belonging in a scavenger nest can
change the course of a missing person case.
Scavengers first target any character with wound penalties or suffering from a disease or poison. They flee combat they did not initiate after taking damage to their first
–2 health level, but will fight for an item until they’ve
taken damage to their –4 health level.
Susurrus
Ghosts are not immortal. Some surrender to Lethe
and rebirth, while others are consumed by oblivion or
forged into soulsteel. Others endure terrible forces, from
earth-shattering sorcery to a hekatonkhire’s jaws, that
tear them asunder. Most such ghosts are too badly dismembered to recover, but when many are riven apart
at once, their surviving fragments can come together to
form a patchwork whole — a susurrus.
A susurrus at rest spreads itself thinly across its haunting
place, manifesting as whispering voices and a chill in the
air. Provoked, it coheres into a tattered mass of shadows,
faces, and wisps of spectral flesh fluttering like banners
in the wind. Hungry to be whole, a susurrus thrusts its
sprawling piecemeal bulk into a human body to possess
her, its fractured mind driving the victim to erratic bouts
of elation, sorrow, lust, shame, homicidal rage, and suicidal melancholy.
The dead have even more to fear. A susurrus rips ghosts
to fragments that it incorporates into its own piebald
frame. The more ghosts a susurrus consumes, the larger and more powerful it becomes. Ancestral spirits beg
Exalted descendants to free shadowlands from a susurrus’ hunger.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 3; Join Battle: 6 dice
Personal Motes: 70
Health Levels: −0/−1x5/−2x5/−4/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “I must become whole.”;
Major: “We are no one and everyone. We are you.”;
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Minor: My Haunting Place (Familiarity)
Actions: Read Intentions: 5 dice; Senses: 6 dice;
Social Influence: 5 dice; Stealth: 8 dice; Tracking: 7
dice
Appearance 5 (Hideous), Resolve 5, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Rend): 12 dice (Damage 17, minimum 3)
Combat Movement: 6 dice
Evasion 1, Parry 4
Soak/Hardness:10/3
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Patchwork Possession (30m, 1wp; Simple; Indefinite; Decisive-only; Essence 2): A susurrus cannot
materialize, but it may possess a living character,
pouring itself through her orifices and overwhelming
her mind. This is a gambit with a difficulty equal to
the higher of (target’s Resolve or Willpower). If successful, the susurrus takes control of the victim’s body,
using her physical Attributes and health track in place
of its own. Attacks capable of striking the immaterial
damage both the victim’s health track and the ghost’s.
The susurrus cannot use any of the host’s magic, but it
may pull knowledge from her mind with a read intentions action.
At the end of each scene in which the host is present,
she may roll (Wits + Integrity), difficulty 3, as one interval of an extended action with terminus 3 and goal
number 10 to expel it. She may also roll whenever
the ghost tries to force her to act against an Intimacy,
adding the Intimacy’s rating in bonus dice.
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
it; it careens from one extreme to another, to another,
sometimes over the course of a single conversation. On
the hunt, its malleable form lets it squeeze through small
spaces and cut its prey off from escape.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Devour the Dead (1m, 1wp; Reflexive; Instant;
Essence 2): When a ghost is destroyed or discorporated within short range, the susurrus can absorb the
disintegrating remnants of the corpus, rolling the victim’s Essence as a dice pool and healing one level of
damage per success.
The susurrus can also do this when damage is dealt
to a battle group made of ghosts within short range,
rolling dice equal to (Magnitude lost + group’s Might).
This Charm doesn’t permanently destroy discorporated ghosts.
A susurrus that devours large numbers of ghosts grows
in size and gains additional health levels. This typically occurs over long periods, but a susurrus that tears
into a ghostly battle group may grow mid-combat, gaining a new −1 or −2 health level (whichever it has fewer
of ) whenever it uses Devour the Dead. At 10 additional
health levels, a susurrus gains a dot of Essence and the
Legendary Size Merit.
Storyteller Tactics
A susurrus will never be whole, no matter how many
ghosts it consumes or how many people it possesses. It
never learns, though, and is always just as desperate to do
both as ever. Its patchwork nature means only the strongest emotions from its many constituent minds drive
A susurrus of legendary size may use Patchwork
Possession to take control of a human’s body via an ectoplasmic pseudopod at close range, without having to
physically merge. Only the cost of the Charm limits the
number of humans it may control this way.
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Walkure
Born of death-dreams on Northern battlefields, the walkuren appear as ghastly, majestic syntheses of divine warrior
and carrion bird. Some manifest as winged and clawed avatars of battle; others are terrible women and men soaring
astride black-plumed hippogriffs, their swords bright as pain, their hauberks red as blood. All dwell at the borderlands between life and death, prowling battlefields and shadowlands — alone or in flocks — in search of ghostly prey.
And if all they find are the living, they can always make new ghosts.
Although it isn’t a ghost itself, a walkure’s armaments evoke those of the battlefield from which it is born, making a
walkure from Icehome visibly different from one who rose near Ascension. Yet the legends surrounding them are
similar throughout the North. For example, many tribes believe that hearing a walkure’s wail away from a battlefield
is a death omen.
Frarithi strikes more subtly than many of its ilk. Tall and gaunt, swathed in furled black wings resembling
a hooded feather cloak, it leans on its spear like an old man with a staff. But it moves swift as
death on its stilt-like bird’s legs, while its horrid, shifting face is that of a killer seen
through the eyes of a fever-struck child.
Most walkuren bring captured ghosts to their larders
to assuage their own weird hungers. But Frarithi
serves a mighty master, and it carries its victims aloft
to that dark monarch’s citadel.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 9 dice
Personal Motes: 70
Health Levels: −0/−1x3/−2x3/−4/Incap.
Actions: Fly: 9 dice; Senses: 8 dice; Threaten:
7 dice; Tracking: 6 dice
Appearance 4 (Hideous), Resolve 4, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Long spear/straight sword): 9 dice
(Damage 14)
Combat Movement: 9 dice, or 11 while
flying/mounted
Evasion 2, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 9/0 (Spectral hauberk)
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Horrific Wail (5m; Supplemental; Instant;
Essence 1): If a walkure successfully threatens
an enemy, the enemy loses three Initiative, as terror
overwhelms even the steeliest nerves.
Sky-Catch Talons (6m, 4i; Simple; Instant; Perilous; Essence 2): The walkure reflexively swoops
down up to three range bands from above to initiate
a grapple gambit; this Charm doesn’t work if the
walkure can’t dive downward at least one range
band toward the target. Add one bonus success
to the grapple control roll. Whether the clinch is
successful or not, the walkure may reflexively
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turnarounds when foes have the advantage or crash opponents just after they reset to base Initiative. Then, it
carries prey high into the air, either to drag ghosts off
to its lair or to dash the living to the ground below. A
walkure flees after taking damage to its first −2 health
level.
move one range band in any direction; if it is successful, the walkure pulls the grappled target along,
without requiring a drag action. This is usable once
per scene, unless reset by spending two consecutive
turns moving upwards to build altitude.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Shadow-Veiled Deflection (3m, 1i; Reflexive;
Instant; Perilous; Essence 1): Streaming shadows
behind its spear, the walkure gains +1 Parry against
a single attack, or +2 if the attacker is at close range.
Storyteller Tactics
Walkuren haunt shadowlands and battlefields seeking
ghostly prey. They prefer the ghosts of soldiers and warriors, but any will do in a pinch. When a walkure comes
to a place where no ghosts walk, it targets living champions who display fighting prowess, considering such a
one’s ghost a delicacy and a trophy once won. In combat, a walkure uses its wail strategically to enact sudden
Despite its voracious appetites, a walkure doesn’t always
immediately consume its prey as soon as it returns to its
nest, keeping a stash for lean times. Bereaved loved ones
and surviving members of Sworn Kinships might still be
able to lay their fallen friends to rest, if they can track
the walkure to its sanctum. Some walkuren are willing to
strike up a bargain if the living offer a worthy exchange
for its lost meal. Others only view the living as extra stew
meat for the pot. Those Frarithi takes face not only that
horrifying walkure, but also the perils of its master’s
citadel.
White Robe
against that character’s Resolve. If it succeeds, she’s
impassioned with grief and suffers a −3 penalty to all
non-reflexive actions for the scene, unless she spends
1 Willpower to resist. Any given character only needs
to resist any white robe’s Weeping Aura once per
scene. Ghosts this aura successfully affects instead
succumb to Lethe unless they spend 1 Willpower.
MERITS
Echoes of Grief: White robes gain +3 dice and
double 8s on read intentions actions to discover Intimacies with contexts of grief, sorrow, loss, despair,
or similar.
Incorporeal: White robes are immaterial but always
visible, even in Creation. Only attacks capable of
harming immaterial beings, such as Spirit-Cutting
Attack (Exalted, p. 354), can target them.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Incite the Grieving Tide (5m; Reflexive; Instant;
Psyche; Essence 1): The white robe sings a dirge, stirring its target’s heart. Double 9s on one instill action
to create or increase the intensity of any Intimacy to
which Echoes of Grief would apply. If two or more
white robes target the same character with this Charm
at the same time, she suffers a −1 to Resolve against
that action per two participating white robes.
As echoes of professional mourners such as Sijan’s famed
sorrowers, white robes are empty garments that radiate
grief and endlessly wander in a funeral procession to nowhere. The vast burden living mourners carry creates
powerful emotional imprints from which white robes
spawn. These sublime, hollow robes are inscribed with
beautiful, ever-changing symbols in gray and bronze;
those who can decipher the writings learn secrets from
the Underworld’s forgotten reaches. Though pale and
ethereal, white robes are plasmic creations of sentiment
and dead Essence, not ghosts.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 5 dice
Personal Motes: 30
Health Levels: −0/−1x2/−2x2/−4/Incap.
Actions: Inspire: 10 dice; Instill: 10 dice; Navigation:
6 dice; Read Intentions: 8 dice; Senses: 6 dice
Resolve 4, Guile 2
COMBAT
Combat Movement: 8 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 4/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Weeping Aura: Mere proximity to a white robe
is enough to drive even strong-willed warriors to
tears. The first time in each scene a given character
comes within short range, roll the white robe’s Inspire
Storyteller Tactics
White robes wander the Underworld and Creation,
mourning not specific deaths, but all death as their raison
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d’être. They travel in solemn processions of four to 10,
and though they rarely stray from their intended path,
their presence alone is enough to overcome onlookers
with grief. White robes don’t speak or respond to much,
even when threatened, focusing almost exclusively on
their procession; they flee if attacked, and although they
don’t communicate directly, they do sometimes sing
hymns or dirges as they float eerily along inches above
the ground. They read intentions to discover grief-based
Intimacies and use Incite the Grieving Tide instinctively, rather than as any kind of ploy or deliberate provocation. This attracts griefbees that follow them around to
feed on the ambient emotion the white robes produce in
passersby (see sidebar).
As white robes move along their unending funeral
march, the symbols upon their bodies shift and change.
A character can decipher the writing with an extended
Intelligence + (Linguistics or Occult) roll, with difficulty 3, goal number 20, and interval ten minutes. The
scripture reveals ancient and forgotten secrets of the
Underworld, of the Storyteller’s choice; they may include paeans to forgotten gods that could summon or
entreat such entities, the location of a deathknight’s hidden lair, teachings of the Dark Mother that might lead
characters to a Liminal Exalt, necromantic initiations or
deathly thaumaturgical rituals, and so on.
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GRIEFBEES
The Underworld’s bees glow the sickly gray-green of Contagion ghosts and bear ashen-hued stripes. They feed on
emotion rather than nectar, preferring the vibrant emotions
of the living to the dulled ones of the dead, and the weeping
honey they produce imparts these strong feelings to those
who taste it. When a griefbee feeds upon powerful emotion, it emits a soft greenish-white light, illuminating its
surroundings out to short range. That light makes corpses
within its radius glow in response, granting +3 dice to find
them if they’re hidden or identify them if they’re disguised
or disfigured. If the person died as a result of anyone’s intense feeling — for example, if their murderer killed them
in a rage, or they committed suicide out of despair — the
glow shifts to a lurid orange and also grants investigators
+3 dice to determine how they died and other details about
the circumstances surrounding the death.
Characters are more likely to encounter griefbee honey
rather than the bees themselves, unless they run across
a procession of white robes or come within a mile of a
griefbee hive in the Underworld and experience powerful
emotions. Griefbees do not attack unless threatened, or
unless the hive is endangered. When provoked, they attack as a battle group swarm with Size 1, Poor Drill, and
Might 1.
A hive of griefbees makes a pint of weeping honey in a
day, which is a Resources 3 purchase, or Resources 2 in
the Underworld.
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
The Wreck of
the Ruby Wren
The Ruby Wren was a trading ship, low-bellied and fullsailed. The crew was practiced and competent, the captain brave but not foolhardy. They steered safely through
terrible storms. They survived encounters with Lintha
pirates and hungry siaka. They outpaced enemy ships
and always delivered passengers to their destinations.
The Ruby Wren was famous for its hardiness, which
made it a tempting target.
Some time ago, the Ruby Wren sank. No one claimed responsibility. The column of smoke that rose as the sails
burned could be seen for miles around, making witnesses rule out an attack from a behemoth lurking beneath
the waves.
But the Ruby Wren and its ghostly crew remember. The
ship went down fast, the great gaping holes in its hull
letting the whole sea fill it in. The few who made it to
lifeboats couldn’t row away fast enough to escape the
suction as the bigger ship went down. No one survived,
and the ship settled on the ocean floor.
Ever since, others sailing in the area swear they’ve seen
the Ruby Wren’s flags flying on moonless nights when
the seas are still. The ghost ship glides across the waves,
seeking vengeance.
Essence: 4; Willpower: 6; Join Battle: 7 dice
Personal Motes: 100
Actions (Ruby Wren): Broadside: 10 dice (Cost: 5
momentum); Naval Maneuvers (12 dice); Positioning
(10 dice); Ram: 10 dice (Cost:7 momentum)
Actions (Drowned): Feats of Strength: 6 dice (may
attempt Strength 3 feats); Swim: 7 dice, Threaten: 8
dice; Tracking: 5 dice
COMBAT
RUBY WREN
Attack: 10 dice (Damage 15; see Living Vessel)
Attack (Grapple): 15 dice (15 to control; see
Living Vessel)
Soak/Hardness: 5/10
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DROWNED
Attack (Grapple): 6 dice (9 to control)
Attack (Knife): 8 dice (Damage 10)
Combat Movement: 3 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 3/10
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Living Vessel: Every rope and plank aboard the
Wren moves at the ship’s command. When it enters
regular combat, it joins its dead crew in attacking its
enemies with these abilities:
• Keelhaul: When the Wren controls a grapple,
it drags its target beneath the boat from bow to
stern and makes a decisive attack roll against
its enemy. One of the drowned in control of a
grapple may also use this ability.
• Plank Walk: The Wren abhors being boarded.
Sails’ booms swing about. Hatches open suddenly. The very timbers shift beneath enemies’ feet.
Boarders suffer a –3 difficult terrain penalty to
combat actions.
• Tangled Rigging: The ship’s rigging snakes
out and snares its enemy. The Wren can perform
grapple gambits at up to medium range.
• Waterlogged Wail: Wind whistling through
the hull’s gaping holes creates a terrifying keen
that serves as a threaten action against everyone
aboard and anyone within boarding range of
the ship. The Wren rolls 8 dice once against the
Resolve of each target separately. Those who fail
quail in fear and lose 1 Initiative.
MERITS
Scourge of the Seas: The Ruby Wren can participate in naval combat. It has Hull −0/−1x2/−2x2/–
4/Incap., Maneuverability 1, and Speed +4. Use its
Naval Maneuvers pool for stratagem rolls. In addition
to common stratagems, it can perform the following
maneuvers:
• Becalm (Cost: 5 Momentum): The Ruby
Wren’s presence calms the waters and winds
around the enemies’ ship. The Wren’s target loses
2 Momentum on its next turn.
• Cannonfire (Cost: 5 Momentum): The
Wren fires at the enemy ship, inflicting one Hull
damage point.
• Heavy Cargo (Cost: 7 Momentum): Some
goods that were in the cargo hold when the Ruby
Wren sank still remain. Their weight adds two
automatic successes to the Wren’s damage on
successful Ramming actions.
• Silent Running (Cost: 2 Momentum): The
Ruby Wren makes no sound as it glides over the
waves. Add 2 dice to Concealment stratagem
pools.
CHARMS
Ocean Father’s Will (30m per 1 Momentum;
Simple; Instant; Eclipse; Essence 4): The Ruby Wren
gains up to 3 Momentum as the ocean itself fuels its
vengeance.
Storyteller Tactics
The Ruby Wren flanks and ambushes any ship it comes
across, using the cover of darkness to glide silently
through the water. Once within range, the Wren fires its
cannons and speeds closer. It rams the other ship and
the drowned send lines across, tying the two ships together and swarming aboard. The Wren despises being
boarded and uses its Living Vessel abilities when it enters regular combat.
A crew of the drowned (p. XX) is always aboard and may
act as individuals or as a battle group with Size 2, elite
Drill, and Might 2. Any drowned who move farther than
long range from the ship vanish reflexively and reappear
belowdecks on the Wren. When the Ruby Wren discorporates, the ghosts aboard discorporate along with it.
Storytellers should tailor the Ruby Wren’s backstory to
best fit their game. Perhaps the characters tangled with
the vessel in a past incarnation. Maybe it was a Peleps
ship sunk by a V’Neef character’s ancestor, or it might
have ferried treacherous Fair Folk over the waters of the
Dreaming Sea. Storytellers may wish to let players theorize about the ship’s origins based on their current adventures and use elements of those theories that support
their plans.
Destroying the Ruby Wren is only a temporary victory.
The ship coalesces again with full Essence and Health
at the next new moon and single-mindedly seeks those
who sent it beneath the waves. The ship is patient, its
wrath as deep as the seas themselves, and it never gives
up. To permanently destroy it, characters must successfully board, kill all of the drowned with spirit-killing
magic, and then do the same to the empty vessel.
Unless pursuing vengeance against those who have destroyed it previously, the Ruby Wren flees when it suffers
damage to its –4 Hull level.
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Mist swirled about Inaol’s feet, and soon the ground stopped rumbling. Not because she’d
outpaced the monster, but because she no longer walked on the earth.
Beneath her, the ghostfisher burst from the ground and snapped at where she’d stood not a
moment gone. Now it peered up at her, confused and confounded, denied its meal.
“Fortunate for you,” said a voice in her ear, “I took notice of your plight.”
The mist had followed her into the air and now took on a human shape. The being was cloudspun.
Everything about her was gauzy and pale. Cirrus wisps drifted from her arms as she gestured.
Her long, long hair drifted and danced on unseen air currents.
“Thank you,” said Inaol. “But... how...?” She gestured at herself and her companion smiled.
“You fought valiantly. I gave you my blessing.” The sun shone through the cloud person’s smile.
“Come. I’ll show you my home until the beast forgets your scent and returns to its dank tunnels.”
They rose, higher and higher, until everything below shrank to pinpoints and the forest’s
canopy was nothing more than a carpet of mottled greens and browns. Higher still, through
thunderheads’ heavy gray bases, until they burst into sunlit skies above, and the cloud city spread
before them.
Inaol gaped. Lofty towers climbed so high they scraped night’s indigo belly. Silvery roads led
between soaring candy-floss structures, and all along them drifted the diaphanous figures of the
cloud people. Her host tugged her along, showing her off to acquaintances as one might a favored
pet. The others greeted Inaol with indifference; she suspected they forgot her as soon as they
moved on.
Up here, away from the snow and cold, feeling crept back into her fingers and the tip of her nose.
The cloud person laid out a feast, pressed rainbow-colored breezes to Inaol’s lips and filled her
glass with rushing winds. They visited vast libraries, where the stacks rose high as mountains
and wispy figures argued philosophy for hours on end. Her host showed Inaol star charts she
couldn’t comprehend, and pointed out constellations she’d never spotted from the ground.
Sometimes, rather than walking, she found herself drifting like the cloud people themselves.
She wasn’t the only human here, though others were rare sights. They hardly spared her a glance
as they listened to their patrons’ intense debates.
I could stay here, too, Inaol thought, watching an older man carry an armload of texts to a spindlylegged table.
But then a look of dismay pinched the man’s face, and to Inaol’s horror, he crumbled away to dust
before her. The texts rustled softly to the tabletop.
“What... what happened to him?” she whispered.
Her host shrugged. “He stayed too long. It happens sometimes. Your kind should know better.”
Suddenly, Inaol was cold again. “I should go home,” she said. “How do I do that?”
“My blessing will fade soon,” said the cloud person, already bored. “If you don’t wish for me to
renew it, I recommend you take yourself close to the ground and renounce my boon. It would be a
shame if you fell all that way.”
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Chapter Three
Spirits
12 Ascending Earth
Last night, I dreamed of a young man who offered me treasures beyond imagining. In return, he said, all he wanted was for me to bear his sigil on my flesh as a token of his favor. How was I to know what it meant? But now, it’s become all too clear…
ELEMENTALS
The following spirits are elementals — beings born from the Essence of
Creation’s own five elements: air, earth, fire, water, and wood.
Ahesh the Forgotten
Ahesh doesn’t recall the first form she took, back when
the world was new. Perhaps she was a fish, a seashell, or
a bird with blazing wings. She knows she’s been a mirror-still pond in the Lap, a rainstorm that traveled from
Champoor to Palanquin in a day, and a wall of ice moving
inexorably toward Tusk. She once rode in a stoppered
crystal vial in the Scarlet Empress’ pocket.
Ahesh isn’t bound to any form. Sometimes she swirls in
river waters, her droplets indistinguishable from those
in which she swims. Other times, the water elemental
takes whichever form pleases the people whose worship
she hopes to garner: a maiden with ice blue eyes and pale
blue skin, a large fish speaking with a god’s voice, a crystalline face peering out from a wall of ice.
Her memories are brief as the flash of sunlight on water,
and few of them are her own. Ahesh inhabits bodies of
water, flowing with them, drifting on their currents. She
gathers memories from those she encounters: from the
pilgrim quenching her thirst at the river’s edge, to the
prince trailing a hand over the side of a pleasure barge.
She craves human experiences, taking them from her victims and leaving half-remembered glimpses in their place.
others beg her to take away memories of the awful things
they’ve seen and done, happy for the peace forgetting
brings.
Though Ahesh tends toward caution, setting herself up
where people will seek out her blessing, or where no
one will miss the memories she steals, she is capable of
frightening shows of power. As the First Age died, the
people of the island of Desat drained a lake sacred to
Ahesh and her worshipers. In revenge, she gathered herself into a massive stormcloud and unleashed her deluge
over all Creation. No memories remain of once-proud
Desat.
Ahesh gains followers wherever she goes. Some come
from the local human populace. Others are spirits or
water elementals who offer her protection — though
what they were supposed to receive in exchange, they’ve
forgotten.
Ahesh is a creature of need and whim, malice-free and
curiosity-driven. Though some find her thievery cruel,
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Essence: 3; Willpower: 6; Join Battle: 8 dice
Personal Motes: 80
Health Levels: −0x3/−1x5/−2x4/−4x2/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “I want to live all the lives I
can.”; Major: “Letting go brings peace.”; Minor: My
Acolytes (Fondness)
C h a pt e r T h r e e : Spi r it s
Actions: Disguise: 5 dice; Eavesdrop: 8 dice; Elemental Lore: 10 dice; Read Intentions: 10 dice;
Senses: 4 dice; Social Influence: 7 dice; Steal Memories: 14 dice; Stealth: 7 dice
Appearance 5, Resolve 3, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Grapple): 10 dice (10 to control)
Attack (Ice dagger): 12 dice (Damage 16/3)
Combat Movement: 8 dice
Evasion 5, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 6/0
Cult 2: Ahesh has worshipers all across Creation,
both people who have received her blessing and
those who hope to feel her cool touch on their brow.
She keeps a dozen such followers near her at all times
for protection from those who object to her practices.
Stolen Dagger Style (10m, 1i; Supplemental; One
round; Essence 3): Ahesh’s fighting prowess comes
from her victims’ accumulated memories. Double 9s
on attack rolls for the Charm’s duration. If Ahesh has
used Memory Siphon on her target within the past
day, their fighting style — including their weaknesses
— is familiar to her; double 8s instead.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Flowing Body Dispersal (4m, 2i; Reflexive;
Instant; Dual; Essence 3): Ahesh’s body becomes
liquid, letting attacks pass through her. Every die that
comes up 1 on the attack roll subtracts a success from
both the attack and damage rolls.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Astute Insight Meditation (15m; Supplemental; Instant; Essence 2): Ahesh looks into her target’s
eyes and learns their heart’s desire. She gains three
automatic successes on a read intentions action, and
determines the target’s strongest or most relevant Intimacy. For the rest of the scene, she gains a temporary
Intimacy mirroring her target’s. This begins at Minor intensity, but Ahesh may raise it higher for 5m per level.
Memory Siphon (50m; Simple; Instant; Essence
3): Ahesh takes her target’s memories for her own. The
target must use Charms or magic in order to resist.
Roll Ahesh’s Steal Memories vs. the target’s Resolve.
For each threshold success, she steals one distinct
memory related to Intimacies that have come up within
the scene. For example, she may take the memory of
a time his rival betrayed him or his last sparring match
with his mentor.
The Storyteller should discuss with the player which
memories she took, and how it affects the victim.
Killing Ahesh return the victim’s stolen memories. At
the Storyteller’s discretion, magic such as Memory-Reweaving Discipline (Exalted, p. 363) may
restore them as well.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Hurry Home (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
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Her goal is to convince her guest to part with his memories, and she’s usually willing to make a deal. She prefers
persuade and inspire actions to bargaining, assuring the
target that giving her certain memories will help him or
someone he cares about.
1): Ahesh fades away and vanishes on her next turn,
drawn away to the nearest body of water. This may
include clouds, the baths in a Dynast’s mansion, or
containers of water in a desert caravan.
Measure the Wind (5m; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): Ahesh takes the measure of anyone who comes
to her seeking to forget an event, or anyone whose
memories she stole.
Storyteller Tactics
Ahesh calls on her stolen memories to aid her in social interactions with humans. She uses Astute Insight
Meditation and shapes herself after her target’s
Intimacies, such as wearing a face resembling his lover’s or adopting an accent that reminds him of home.
She’s not fond of fighting, but does so if provoked or if
a target refuses to part with memories Ahesh strongly
desires. Her form hardens into ice as she attacks. Ahesh
doesn’t fight to kill. Instead, she wears down and subdues her target so she can use Memory Siphon.
Her acolytes join the fray if she is threatened, forming a
battle group with Size 1, average Drill, and Might 2.
Charnavrix the Unyielding,
the Sleeper in the Grove, Lesser Elemental Dragon of Wood
Millennia ago, a Solar Exalt and an elemental spirit of wood fell in love. Where Three Branches Twine
was mirthful and quick, and willing to bend in the
face of change, Charnavrix more closely embodied the
hard woods of the cherry groves he protected. Three
Branches Twine loved Charnavrix in all his forms: as a
human with night-black hair and thin, soft hands perfect for holding; and as the snarling, sinuous, bark-scaled
dragon who carried him into battle.
When Three Branches Twine at last grew old and passed
away in Charnavrix’ grove, the trees shed their blossoms in
mourning. Charnavrix commissioned his there in the orchard in which he’d expired. Then he curled around his love’s
resting place, and waited. Surely Three Branches Twine
would return to him, his old soul in a new body, and they’d
be reunited. And they were! Many times through the eras, a
pilgrim came to the shrine, and the Solar’s soul called to the
dragon’s own. Again and again, they rekindled their love.
The Solar’s essence was locked away in the jade prison,
and centuries passed by. Without Three Branches Twine’s
company to make him pliable, Charnavrix instead gave in
to his nature. He forgot his human form. His dragon scales
hardened until they were more like stone than bark.
Now he sleeps, guarding Three Branches Twine’s tomb
in the Valley of the Ancients. The cherry grove is long
gone, and the sounds of Dynasts making their changes to the Valley sometimes seep in through his dreams.
He stirred once, when the Solars returned; the ripples
were felt all through Numinous Rolling Wave Dominion.
Those Princes of the Earth who suspect a dragon slumbers beneath them fear his wrath if he should wake.
Until the Usurpation.
When the Terrestrials rose up and slew the Solar
Exalted, Three Branches Twine and Charnavrix were
far apart. The dragon searched for his love, tried to
bring his bones home to rest, but he couldn’t find the
body. He unleashed his grief and rage on the murderers, cutting a swathe across Creation and destroying
countless Dragon-Blooded and their allies. Devastated,
Charnavrix returned to the grove, in the hopes that soon
enough Three Branches Twine would appear with his
new face and new name.
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Essence: 4; Willpower: 6; Join Battle: 10 dice
Personal Motes: 90
Health Levels: −0x7/−1x6/−2x6/−4x5/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “I am whole when my love is
near.”; Major: The Terrestrial Exalted (Hatred); Minor:
“In my love’s absence, I will protect his memory.”
Speed Bonus: +5
Actions: Feats of Strength: 10 dice (may attempt
Strength 6 feats); Fly: 15 dice; Read Intentions: 8 dice;
Senses: 8 dice; Social Influence: 6 dice
Appearance 4, Resolve 3, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 12 dice (Damage 15)
Attack (Claw): 12 dice (Damage 18/3)
C h a pt e r T h r e e : Spi r it s
Attack (Grapple): 10 dice (10 to control)
Attack (Tail Swipe): 15 dice (Damage 20/5)
Combat Movement: 6 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 4
Soak/Hardness: 15/10
MERITS
Legendary Size: Charnavrix suffers no onslaught
penalties from attacks made by smaller opponents,
unless they’re magically inflicted. Withering attacks
from smaller enemies cannot Crash him unless they
have at least 10 post-soak damage dice, although
attackers still gain the full amount of Initiative damage
dealt. Decisive attacks from smaller enemies cannot
deal more than (3 + attacker’s Strength) levels of
damage to it, not counting any levels of damage
added by Charms or other magic.
Soaring Dragon Flight: Charnavrix can travel
up to five hundred miles an hour through the sky or
through wood. In combat, he doubles 9s on movement rolls and may rush enemies on the ground from
two range bands above them while flying.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Bone Shattering Swipe (10m; Simple; Instant;
Essence 3): Charnavrix’ segmented tail acts like a
whip, hitting anyone at its tip with tremendous force.
He doubles 9s on the damage roll. If the total damage
inflicted is 10 or greater, his opponent’s Initiative
drops to 0 immediately.
Raging Dragon Strike (12m; Supplemental;
Instant; Uniform; Essence 4): Charnavrix adds his
current temporary Willpower to an attack roll, and
doubles 9s on the damage roll. At Initiative 20+, he
adds 10 dice to attack and doubles 8s on damage
instead.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Sword-Stealing Skin (10m; Reflexive; Instant;
Essence 3): Bladed weapons get stuck fast in Charnavrix’ scales; the tough wood making it difficult
for their bearers to pull free. Once per scene, when
Charnavrix receives damage from a decisive attack
with a bladed weapon, he twists away and takes the
weapon with him without rolling to disarm.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Impenetrable Will Meditation (20m; Simple;
Instant; Essence 3): Charnavrix’ will is as strong as his petrified scales, inspiring others. By speaking with his target,
Charnavrix reinforces one of their Intimacies against attempts to weaken it. For the scene, the target gains +2
Resolve against actions regarding that Intimacy.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Hurry Home (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): Charnavrix fades away and vanishes on his next
turn, drawn instantly to Three Branches Twine’s tomb.
Measure the Wind (5m; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): Charnavrix can take the measure of anyone who
comes to him seeking information on a lost loved one.
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Storyteller Tactics
Woe to anyone who awakens Charnavrix without
knowledge of Three Branches Twine’s whereabouts. He
listens to petitioners, especially if they have information
to trade. Though his personality is as unyielding as his
hide, he respects reason and logic. Attempts to deceive
him or hide one’s meaning in flowery speeches only raise
his ire.
A party attempting to rob or alter the tomb of Three
Branches Twine receives no quarter.
In battle, Charnavrix relies on his powerful tail to lay
waste to enemies in its range. He rarely dodges direct
attacks, letting his petrified wood scales turn weapons
aside. He flees when he suffers damage to his last –4
health level, returning to the tomb.
Cloud Person
Hedonistic and aloof, the cloud people spend their ageless lives in aerial cities — masses of filmy structures
built upon the largest clouds. There they indulge in airy
luxuries, while away the hours amid philosophy and revelry, and study the movements of the upper air and the
stars. Concerning oneself with the lands beneath — or
with the affairs of the spirit courts of air — is gauche.
But for all their condescension toward the mortal world,
cloud people feel a strong pull toward Creation’s evanescent beauty. Lovely youths, freshly blooming flowers, opulent jewels, and the clamor of battle can draw
them down to the earth below. Though they quickly tire
of mortal affairs, they often bring home keepsakes or
guests, infusing them with airy Essence that they may
hover with the cloud people in their gauzy cities. Sadly,
anything — or anyone — infused thus for more than one
month per year dissolves into dust.
Cloud people resemble slender mortals made of white
cloudstuff, often mistaken for patches of mist. Their eyes
are large and bright, their nebulous hair dozens of feet
long, their voices faint and bemused. With their impalpable bodies, cloud people can assume any form (though
they always remain diaphanous and cloud-pale) and ride
effortlessly on the wind. Their foodstuffs are equally insubstantial, consisting of scents, breezes, and flickers of
color.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 5 dice
Personal Motes: 70
Health Levels: −0/−1x2/−2x2/−4/Incap.
Actions: Debate/Persuade: 6 dice; Fly: 6 dice; Philosophical, Occult, and Astrological Knowledge: 8
dice (see Libraries of the Cloud Cities); Read Intentions: 6 dice; Senses: 6 dice; Stealth: 5 dice; Weather
Prediction: 7 dice; Writing: 7 dice
Appearance 4, Resolve 3, Guile 3
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COMBAT
Attack (Unarmed): 7 dice (Damage 8)
Combat Movement: 5 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 1/0
MERITS
Libraries of the Cloud Cities: The aerial cities hold
libraries of countless books and star charts written on
pages of mist, unreadable to all but cloudfolk eyes.
With access to these, add three dice to Knowledge
rolls to introduce a fact (Exalted, p. 237), including
with Sky-Hidden Secrets.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Wind-Whistling Trick (5m; Simple; Instant;
Eclipse; Essence 2): Cloud people call up small
breezes or powerful gusts of wind to do their
bidding. In combat, these gusts extend to medium
range, rolling eight dice with 12 base withering
damage. Conjured winds cannot execute damaging decisive attacks, but can perform all manner
of gambits. They can also perform non-combat
feats such as lifting small objects with a pillar of
air, blowing books from shelves, or overturning a
banquet table, all with eight dice; the Storyteller
sets the difficulty. Eclipses pay five motes and one
Willpower instead, and roll (Perception + Occult)
with a base damage of (9 + Intelligence).
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Dissolving Mist Body (10m, 4i; Reflexive; Instant;
Dual; Essence 2): A cloud person dissolves and
reforms around a physical attack, adding +2 Evasion.
Even if the attack hits, subtract two dice from a withering attack’s post-soak damage or a decisive attack’s raw damage. Against a grapple, instead subtract five successes from her enemy’s control roll; she
escapes the grapple immediately if this reduces him to
zero successes.
C h a pt e r T h r e e : Spi r it s
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Cloud-Body Shapeshifting (10m, 1wp; Simple;
Instant; Essence 2): A cloud person can transform her vaporous body into any number of shapes. She can seep
under a door as a thin sheet of mist, hang in the sky as a
cloud to spy on those below, or expand her body into a
fog bank that conceals her summoner. Only supernatural
senses such as Keen Sight Technique (Exalted, p. 267)
can discern a transformed cloud person, with a difficulty
5 (Perception + Awareness) roll. This Charm can’t enhance
Defense. Reverting to humanoid form is free and reflexive.
Cloud Feather Blessing (1m per person or object, 1wp;
Simple; One month; Essence 2): Cloud people may enchant
willing people or objects up to human size with Air Essence,
making them light enough to walk in the aerial cities, or for
a cloud person to carry in flight. Being almost weightless
has no mechanical effects, but stunts can exploit it. Nothing
can endure this blessing longer than one month per year
— if the elemental attempts to maintain it further or bestow
it again before a year has passed, the recipient crumbles
to dust. Sapient subjects instinctively know how much time
remains, with an increasing sense of overpowering dread
as the deadline approaches even if they don’t know what
it means. They may reject the blessing at any time, though
they fall as normal if they do so on a cloud.
Downward Glance (5m; Supplemental; Instant;
Essence 2): Cloud people take no penalties on Awareness
rolls to see things from miles above. Add one bonus success
on rolls to make out minute details, such as identifying who’s
meeting with a courtier behind a teahouse. Add three successes instead on rolls to make out large-scale details, such
as an army’s movements.
Sky-Hidden Secrets (30m, 1wp; Simple; Instant;
Essence 2): Through a combination of natural prescient gifts
and immaculate star charts, the cloud people are adept
at prophecy. Roll Knowledge to introduce a relevant fact
about something that will happen up to a season in the
future, rather than something about the present or past. Treat
the introduced fact as likely to happen if the roll succeeds;
but cloud oracles are fallible, due to the intrinsic instability
of prophecy, inescapable minor errors in star charts, and
unfamiliarity with the ways of the world below. This Charm
is only usable once per story.
Storyteller Tactics
Cloud people prefer to spar with words rather than weapons.
They’re fond of debate, but their arguments trend toward the
arcane and oblique — they like to think they operate on an
entirely different level than the material people they deign to
engage. A sorcerer or savant who can keep up with their rambling dialogues, gleaning droplets of brilliance from clouds
of obfuscation, delights them. Cloud people make exceptional consultants on occult matters, especially astrology, over
which they frequently obsess. They make passable assistants
in other matters, but they’re extremely recalcitrant if their
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accommodations and surroundings don’t match their
standards. Give each cloud person their own Intimacies.
Cloud people disdain those who would press them into
combat, but betimes even they descend to such actions.
When they do, they prefer hit-and-fade tactics, due
partially to their delicate physical bodies and partially
to their flightiness. Anything they find attractive easily
distracts them, prompting them to try persuading the
object of desire to accept their Cloud Feather Blessing.
Flickerfeather
A common sight in Eastern rivers and lakes, a flickerfeather isn’t an animal as many think, but a water elemental. It resembles an overlarge cuttlefish, with a
mantle over a meter long limned with small, waterproof
feathers that change color rapidly as it swims — hence
the name. While clumsy and sluggish on land, able to
do little more than drag itself along, a flickerfeather can
respire air. It must do so to use its peculiar talent for
mimicking voices, which it uses to lure humans to play
with. Its tentacles appear proportionate to its body, but
can deform radically, extending out to several meters to
snatch people up.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 8 dice
Personal Motes: 60
Health Levels: −0x1/−1x2/−2x2/−4x1/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “I love to play!”; Major: “My
curiosity about the unknown knows no bounds.”
Actions: Deception/Disguise: 6 dice; Leaping: 5
dice; Read Intentions: 4 dice; Senses: 6 dice; Stealth:
8 dice; Swim: 8 dice
Appearance 3, Resolve 1, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 4 dice (Damage 6)
Attack (Tentacle): 6 dice (Damage 4)
Attack (Grapple): 7 dice (9 to control)
Combat Movement: 7 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 5/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Perfect Mimicry: Flickerfeathers can mimic any
individual sound and are intelligent enough to form
short sentences from words they have learned by
mimicking others. A (Wits + Awareness) roll, difficulty
3, is required to realize a flickerfeather’s mimicry isn’t
the real thing.
MERITS
Deceptive Reach: The flickerfeather’s tentacle
and grapple attacks can reach to short range; it
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immediately drags enemies grappled at short range
to close range.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Ink Clone (5m; Simple; Three rounds; Eclipse;
Essence 1): The flickerfeather vents a cloud of ink that,
even in the air, coalesces into the shape of another,
identical flickerfeather, changing color in a slow cycle.
Onlookers must succeed at a difficulty 3 (Perception
+ (Awareness or Survival)) roll to distinguish the clone
from the original. The false flickerfeather is not alive,
nor can it act other than to take reflexive move actions
on the real flickerfeather’s turn. It moves realistically,
but it’s simply a decoy, and dissolves when the Charm
ends or when an attack deals any damage to it.
Strobe (4m; Reflexive; Instant; Essence 1): The flickerfeather rapidly cycles its feathers through every
possible hue, hard to focus on. It gains +2 Evasion
against a single attack, but it can’t use this Charm
while Chromatoflage (see below) is active.
MOBILITY CHARMS
Fluid Is Fluid (10m; Simple; One scene; Withering-only; Essence 1): Exuding watery Essence, the
flickerfeather saturates the air around it as it moves.
It can swim through the air as though it were underwater. Opponents within close range treat the area
as difficult terrain, unless they could normally move
freely underwater. The flickerfeather doubles its soak
against withering ranged attacks.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Chromatoflage (7m, 1wp; Simple; Indefinite;
Eclipse, Perilous; Essence 1): The flickerfeather
changes its colors to fool onlookers into thinking it’s
some false feature of the environment no bigger than
itself, such as a stepping stone or an underwater
treasure. This functions as normal concealment, but
doesn’t require adequate coverage. Observers can
make a (Perception + Awareness) roll, opposed by
the flickerfeather’s Stealth (or an Eclipse’s (Appearance + Stealth)), to pierce the deception. If the flickerfeather moves, takes any action, or takes damage,
this Charm immediately ends.
C h a pt e r T h r e e : Spi r it s
Storyteller Tactics
Flickerfeathers are simple spirits that do what more
powerful elementals tell them when pressed, but otherwise exist to amuse themselves and play pranks on unsuspecting passersby. They normally only attack to harm
if threatened, but they like to engage in combat just to
play keep-away, lead someone on a merry chase, or grab
new playmates so they don’t leave and end the game.
Flickerfeathers don’t understand the idea that some
creatures can’t survive without air, so they have an unfortunate tendency to drag people underwater and hold
them captive there. When a flickerfeather’s unwilling
playmate inevitably drowns, it gets upset and takes it out
on the next person it sees.
About as clever as a toddler, flickerfeathers take direction well. Sorcerers and other savants who live by the
water keep flickerfeathers as guardians, and their talent
for mimicry makes them ideal spies — stalking a target,
learning what it says, and coming home to repeat it is
barely work for them. They grow bored easily, however, and the wise provide them with means to entertain
themselves, such as elaborate puzzles or opportunities
to trick others, lest the elementals decide to make their
own fun.
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Heartflame
When first conjured, a heartflame doesn’t look impressive. Little more than an ambulatory flame, no brighter
than a guttering candle, it wants for shelter against even
the slightest breeze. Many such creatures prefer to take
up residence in lamps or lanterns. A heartflame doesn’t
grow when fed tinder, and can barely start a fire; the human heart is its only fuel. When its light falls upon a sapient being, the effect is so profound it can kill.
The heartflame stokes the passions of all who look upon
it, driving them to ever more extreme actions in service
to their ideals. But the mortal heart can only sustain so
much passion. If not allowed to cool, it detonates in a
fiery display, leaving a smoking hole in the victim’s
chest. Then, the heartflame burns a little stronger, a little brighter. Fed on enough hearts, it grows from ember
to hearthfire, to bonfire, and eventually to a towering
conflagration that can consume an entire city — not in
flames but in holy war.
Essence: 1 (see Inspiration); Willpower: 3; Join
Battle: 5
Personal Motes: 60
Health Levels: −0/−1x2/−2x2/−4/Extinguished
Intimacies: Defining: “Inflame the passions of
others.”; “Bask in the brilliance of the human heart.”
Actions: Instill: 10 dice; Inspire: 8 dice; Read Intentions: 8 dice; Senses: 7 dice
Appearance 4, Resolve 4, Guile 2
COMBAT
Flare: 10 dice
Combat Movement: 6 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 0
Soak/Hardness: 6/0
MERITS
Ashes of Feeling: The heartflame loses one Willpower for each day it doesn’t gain any. If it runs out,
lower its Essence trait by one and restore 3 Willpower.
If this would take it to Essence 0, the heartflame dies.
Burning Hearts: If any emotion-based effect a
heartflame creates reduces a non-combatant or
trivial character to Incapacitated, the subject’s heart
explodes from the sheer pressure of fiery Essence
roiling within, killing him instantly; each non-trivial
character within close range of the explosion takes
(heartflame’s Essence) dice of aggravated damage,
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ignoring Hardness. The heartflame gains three Willpower points that can exceed its usual maximum. The
explosion can ignite secondary fires, at Storyteller
discretion.
Fire’s Nature: Anything flammable that strikes a
heartflame with Essence 3 or higher catches on fire,
including people.
Inspiration: Certain actions, events, or situations
grant Willpower points that can exceed a heartflame’s usual maximum, noted where relevant. When
it has 10 Willpower points, increase its Essence trait
by one dot; it loses all Willpower points beyond 3.
Heartflames grow larger as their Essence increases,
from a candle flame at Essence 1 to a torch flame,
then a small campfire, then a roaring bonfire, and
finally to a massive pillar of living fire at Essence 5.
At Essence 4, the Heartflame gains the Legendary
Size Merit (Exalted, p. 573). At Essence 5, it can
grow no larger, but can still spend its extra Willpower.
The larger the heartflame, the farther it sheds its light;
without obstruction, an Essence 5 heartflame can
easily be seen for miles.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Enkindling Gaze (8m; Supplemental; Instant;
Psyche; Essence 1): This Charm enhances an inspire
action. If it’s successful, the target’s passions are both
figuratively and literally inflamed. He suffers one lethal
damage per threshold success, subject to Hardness.
The heartflame must be within the target’s line of sight.
At Essence 5, if a character dies from this Charm’s
effects, the detonation of her heart spawns a new
Essence 1 heartflame.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Faith’s Own Tinder (20m; Simple; One scene;
Psyche; Essence 3): The heartflame’s warm glow
brightens, casting an aura of light over everyone
within short range of it that imposes a penalty of −
(heartflame’s Essence) to their Resolve rolls to defend
against its instill and inspire actions. The first time in
a scene that anyone affected by this aura acts on
an Intimacy the heartflame creates or enhances, or
acts to pursue a passion it inflames, the heartflame
gains three Willpower points that can exceed its usual
maximum.
Spread the Flames (7m; Supplemental; Instant;
Eclipse; Essence 3): With one instill action, the heartflame targets a Defining Intimacy in one person and
instills an identical Minor Intimacy in another. The
C h a pt e r T h r e e : Spi r it s
newly instilled Intimacy cannot be eroded for (heartflame’s Essence at the time of Charm activation) days.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Stoke the Furnace (5m; Supplemental; Instant;
Essence 1): When the heartflame successfully instills or
strengthens an Intimacy in someone else, it gains one
Willpower point that can exceed its usual maximum.
Storyteller Tactics
Heartflames are spirits of passion more than of mundane flame. They don’t speak in words but through pure
emotion, breathing fleeting feelings into others’ hearts.
Conceiving of everything in terms of fervent desires,
they care nothing for logic or morality, and act on raw
instinct without explicit instructions. Uncontrolled, a
heartflame runs rampant, not because it enjoys burning
hearts to ash, but simply because that’s its nature.
Every heartflame is born at Essence 1, without access
to more powerful Charms. The process of cultivating a
heartflame is initially slow, with Willpower won bit by
bit through judicious use of Stoke the Furnace and the
Burning Hearts Merit; using Enkindling Gaze is a gamble, but against a weakened target can potentially result
in a net gain of Willpower. Once a heartflame reaches
Essence 3, gaining access to Faith’s Own Tinder and
Spread the Flames, it grows rapidly.
Storytellers introducing a heartflame to a scene may
choose to set it at any Essence rating. At Essence 3+, the
effects on any nearby communities should be noticeable,
providing leads for investigation into the cause of unnatural passions and spontaneous combustions.
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Huraka
The huraka serve the lesser elemental dragons of Air
known as the Wind Masters. Huraka have a mostly ursine shape, growing as tall as twelve to fourteen feet,
with sharp teeth and soft pelts. However, their talons
are more avian, and are spiked with thistles and thorns.
A huraka’s cloud-soft fur matches the color of the Wind
Master it serves: Blue Skulking Bear in the North,
Green Frowning Bear in the East, Black Grinning Bear
in the West, Red Stalking Bear in the South, and White
Venerable Bear at the center of the world. Their breath
steams constantly, even in humid air.
As the Wind Masters are responsible for Creation’s five
cardinal winds, the huraka are wind-herders as well,
tasked with managing steady breezes over hundreds of
square miles. They’re single-minded beings, focusing almost exclusively on the job at hand. While their duties
mainly entail guiding the winds, the Wind Masters also
use huraka as fighters, pitting them against their water
elemental enemies.
The hurakas’ strength and unquestioning obedience makes
them desirable targets for sorcerers’ attentions: a summoned huraka can haul massive loads, or direct a favorable
wind for the duration of a ritual. A huraka will fight or defend its commander as well, though summoners use them
for this purpose with caution. Abusing a huraka runs the
risk of calling down its Wind Master’s wrath.
A huraka’s breath is said to shatter deceptions. Those
who can capture it in a clear glass jar can look through
and see their target’s trickery fall away. Fair Folk glamour falters through its lens, as do magical miens. A liar’s
words shimmer in the air when viewed this way, though
the huraka’s breath doesn’t reveal exactly where the
truth resides. The Tells and tattoos employed by a Lunar
Exalt are an exception: they remain firmly in place.
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Essence: 2; Willpower: 6; Join Battle: 5 dice
Personal Motes: 50
C h a pt e r T h r e e : Spi r it s
Health Levels: −0x4/−1x4/−2x3/−4/Incap.
Actions: Control Winds: 7 dice; Feats of Strength:
8 dice (may attempt Strength 5 feats); Intimidate: 7
dice; Senses: 4 dice; Threaten: 6 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 9 dice (Damage 14)
Attack (Claw): 9 dice (Damage 12)
Attack (Grapple): 8 dice (8 to control)
Combat Movement: 5 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 12/4
MERITS
Berserker: Wound penalties that would apply
to the huraka’s attack rolls are instead converted to
bonus dice.
Favored of the Masters: Though Wind Masters
tend to leave huraka to their own devices, they are
fiercely protective of their servants. A huraka in need
can call upon its master for help to remove it from a
situation, allowing it to disengage without a roll. The
huraka catches a favorable current and moves one
range band away in the direction the wind is blowing.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Slicing Wind Technique (5m; Supplemental;
Instant; Decisive-only; Essence 2): The huraka’s talons
cut through the air so swiftly, the wind in their wake
becomes a weapon. When the huraka makes a
decisive claw attack, add two automatic successes
to the damage roll.
MOBILITY CHARMS
Graceful Updraft Movement (5m; Simple;
Instant; Essence 2): The huraka relies on the winds it
controls to aid its movement and carry it over obstacles, allowing it to ignore movement penalties or difficult terrain.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Wind Master’s Roar (20m; Simple; Instant;
Essence 2): The huraka roars with the might of its
master for one round, granting it an additional attack
in tune with the direction it serves: a blizzard-force
breath from the north, a searing wave of heat from the
south. A successful attack knocks its opponent prone.
The huraka may use this Charm even if it already attacked this round.
Storyteller Tactics
Huraka aren’t combative creatures by nature, content to
guide the winds and stay out of human conflicts as best
they can. However, when called upon, they’re fierce and
graceful fighters, using the swirling winds to enhance
their attacks. A huraka follows its summoner’s directives, provided they’re simple and direct. It isn’t capable
of advanced battle tactics, relying on straightforward attacks and defenses.
A huraka flees when it suffers damage to its last –2 health
level. If a huraka reaches –4 or Incapacitated, the summoner risks angering its Wind Master.
Rothopper
Easily visible even to the least attentive travelers in the
East, rothoppers are enormous elemental frogs, brightly colored and the size of large dogs. They have nothing
to fear from predation, as they’re likely to be the most
poisonous thing for miles. Immune to any toxin, they
consume other poisons and concentrate them in their
Essence, growing increasingly noxious.
A rothopper’s easygoing nature keeps it from wandering far, and its poison slowly seeps into the area where it
dwells, transforming it into a fetid swamp. When it does
move on, life explodes in its wake. In this way, rothoppers help to slowly rejuvenate the wild, felling old and
tired forests to make way for new growth.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 7
Personal Motes: 70
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Health Levels: −0x1/−1x1/−2x2/−4x1/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: Deadly Toxins (Hunger);
Major: “Take the path of least resistance.”
Actions: Feats of Strength: 7 dice (may perform
Strength 3 feats); Jump: 8 dice; Social Influence: 7
dice; Swim: 6 dice; Senses: 5 dice; Stealth: 4 dice;
Tracking: 5 dice
Appearance 2, Resolve 3, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Tongue): 8 dice (Damage 0 and poison
when decisive, damage 2i/round (L in crash), duration two rounds, –2 penalty)
Attack (Tongue grapple): 6 dice (5 to control)
Combat Movement: 7 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 1
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
MERITS
Far-Snatching Tongue: Tongue attacks can reach
out to short range and have the flexible tag.
Poison Immunity: Rothoppers are completely
immune to all poisons and venoms, mundane and supernatural.
Toxin Tracker: Double 9s on all rolls involving detecting or tracking the sources of poisons.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Toxic Cloud (5m, 2i; Simple; Five turns; Eclipse;
Essence 2): The rothopper exudes a thick, spreading cloud of poison, with the same traits as its usual
poison but with an inhalation vector. On the first turn, it
affects anyone within short range; on the second turn,
it extends to medium range. On the sixth turn, it condenses as the Charm ends, covering the ground and
any exposed surfaces with the poison. These surfaces
remain a touch vector (limited to open wounds or ingestion) for the scene.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Stinging Riposte (2m; Reflexive; Instant; Counterattack, Decisive-Only; Essence 1): When struck
with any attack at close or short range, the rothopper
exhales a miasma of poison that clings to its attacker,
with its usual poison traits and an inhalation vector.
Before damage is rolled, the rothopper makes a decisive, unblockable attack with 8 dice; success deals
no damage but poisons the attacker.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Adder’s Tongue (10m, 1wp; Simple; One scene;
Essence 2): The rothopper may combine the effects of
up to (Essence) unique poisons it has ingested within
the last week, and use the new substance in any of its
attacks or Charms for this Charm’s duration. This new
admixture uses the highest of its component poisons’
damage/interval, duration, and penalty values. The
Storyteller may adjust those values to fit the story or
mitigate the poison’s potency as needed. Additionally, the poison may inflict unique effects on those
exposed to it, such as a creeping cold as the victim’s
blood slowly freezes, or hallucinations from a demon
spider’s venom.
Unveiling the Scorpion (3m, 1wp; Simple;
Instant; Essence 1): Like calls to like; the rothopper
frees poisons from their carriers. This could make the
poison in a drink separate out into a clearly visible
layer, or make a poisoned victim literally sweat the
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deadly substance out, which reduces its duration by
one interval.
Storyteller Tactics
Rothoppers are mostly dangerous thanks to their poison,
especially if they’re well-fed. They’re not usually aggressive unless low on poisonous sustenance and actively
hunting for new toxins, or directed by a sorcerer to attack; in both cases, they lurk beneath the surface of muddy water to disguise their bright hides until close enough
to reach prey with their tongues, though the steady death
of nearby vegetation is a sign to the wary. A rothopper
flees when it takes damage to its first –2 health level.
Steel Eater
Beneath Southern sands, a patient opportunist with a
gleaming metal shell awaits. The steel eater is an insectile earth elemental, beetle-like but with a long, flexible
neck, that eats metals, digesting them to layer upon its
exoskeleton. It grows until it rivals the yeddim in size,
and then its shell warps into an enormous cocoon. From
this cocoon emerges a giant lacewing that lays 100 eggs
and expires soon after. This fly’s chitin and the cocoon it
leaves behind are of the strongest alloys, made from all
the metals it has consumed. In quieter times, steel eaters
were content to find their repast deep beneath the earth,
but in the war-torn Time of Tumult, they dig pits and
hide at the bottom, waiting for armor-girded humans to
stumble in.
Steel eaters hatch from burnished iron eggs, beginning
their lives as juveniles the size of a large dog. Younger
ones live in groups of three to five; fully grown ones are
more solitary and spend most of their lives about the size
of a horse, until just before their chrysalis. Then, they
become ravenous and gorge themselves until they grow
large enough to metamorphose.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 6 dice
Personal Motes: 70
Health Levels: −0x3/−1x3/−2x3/−4x2/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “All metal is rightfully a part of
me.”; Major: Exalts (Jealousy)
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Actions: Bargain: 6 dice; Climb Earth/Stone: 12
dice; Senses: 7 dice (see Metal Scent); Stealth: 7
dice; Track Metal: 10 dice (see Metal Scent)
Appearance 2, Resolve 4, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 8 dice (Damage 10)
Combat Movement: 5 dice (6 underground)
Evasion 1, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 10/8 (see Implacable Hunter’s
Aegis)
MERITS
Burrow: The steel eater burrows underground and
must move to a specific target’s position, up to one
full range band away, with a reflexive move action,
ignoring difficult terrain. It can burrow through sand
and soil, including packed dirt, but not through stone
or other solid barriers. Unexpected attacks it makes
after this movement in the same turn add two automatic successes to the damage roll.
Metal Scent: Add three successes on Senses and
Track Metal rolls to notice or find any kind of metal,
up to a mile away.
Ravenous Hunter’s Banquet: For each mundane
metal object smaller than a great sword the steel eater
consumes, it regains a mote of Essence, to its usual
maximum; larger such objects grant three motes each
instead. A steel eater can’t digest or bite through artifacts, but it can swallow them whole, gaining motes
equal to the artifact’s rating. Characters can cut the
steel eater open, or force or cajole it to vomit up its
latest meal, to recover their wonders (or someone
else’s). The steel eater must succeed at a disarm
gambit before eating something another character
holds, wears, or wields.
Vibration Sense: Steel eaters have no eyes and
don’t rely on sight. Instead, they feel vibrations on the
wind and through the ground. They take no penalties
from poor lighting, and double 9s on Senses rolls
whenever vibrations are present.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Patient Hunter’s Sandtrap (8m, 1wp; Simple;
One scene; Eclipse, Perilous; Essence 2): The steel
eater burrows beneath sand or soil, forming a trap
that extends out to short range from the elemental,
horizontally and vertically. The topmost layer appears
undisturbed, but when trod upon it immediately collapses into a swirling vortex of earth. Observers may
notice the trap with a (Perception + Awareness) roll,
opposed by the steel eater’s Stealth (or an Eclipse’s
(Stamina + Stealth)). When the trap collapses, it
creates an environmental hazard that deals 3i/
round, with difficulty 3. The interior is difficult terrain
and imposes a −2 visibility penalty to actions that rely
on sight. It requires a successful (Strength + Athletics) climbing action, difficulty 4, to escape without a
rescue from above.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Implacable Hunter’s Aegis (7m, 1i; Reflexive; Instant; Perilous; Essence 2): Gain +5 Hardness
against a single decisive attack. Any 1s rolled on the
attacker’s damage roll subtract from successes.
Storyteller Tactics
Steel eaters are tough, stubborn, and patient. They rarely
act rashly or attack without putting their prey at some
disadvantage, like trapping them in a sand pit, ambushing from under the earth, or disarming them. Exalts with
their panoplies draw steel eaters like moths to flame and
the elementals are jealous of the Exalted ability to work
magical materials, but careful negotiations can create
profitable situations for both parties. Individual steel
eaters have one or two unique Intimacies in addition to
the Defining one they all share.
Juvenile steel eaters are Essence 1, while adults are
Essence 2. Those close to chrysalis are even larger and
more powerful; represent this by adding health levels
and, at their largest, the Legendary Size Merit (Exalted,
p. 522) and Essence 4. A steel eater flees combat when it
takes damage in its first −4 health level.
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Storm Serpent
Born of the fury of a thunderstorm, storm serpents
are wild, terrifying expressions of elemental might.
Draconic in form, they can stretch for more than 100 meters. Their iron-hard scales are the color of storm clouds,
letting them blend in exceptionally well with their native habitat and strike without warning. Like lightning,
they lash out at the tallest targets first; unlike lightning,
they are vindictive, even petty, fixating on a single individual and tormenting him with lightning strikes like a
cat playing with its prey. However, for all their power,
storm serpents are short-lived: They expire with the end
of the storm. As they shatter, they precipitate a white
dust valued by savants for its curative properties.
Essence: 4; Willpower: 7; Join Battle: 9
Personal Motes: 90
Health Levels: −0x4/−1x4/−2x4/−4x2/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “Strike! Smash! Destroy!”;
Major: That Which Will Outlive Me (Jealous Fury); “I
despise trickery!”
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Actions: Feats of Destruction: 12 dice (can attempt
Strength 7 feats); Fly: 10 dice; Resist Disease/Poison:
8 dice; Senses: 9 dice; Stealth: 7 dice
Appearance 4, Resolve 5, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Tail strike): 11 dice (Damage 10)
Attack (Bite): 9 dice (Damage 8)
Attack (Claw): 12 dice (Damage 6)
Combat Movement: 12 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 4
Soak/Hardness: 14/12
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Fulminating Blast (11m, 1wp; Simple; Instant;
Decisive-only; Essence 3): The storm serpent gathers
Essence in a crackle of electricity, then lets fly with
a tremendous lightning bolt. Roll 12 dice for this unblockable decisive attack that can travel up to long
range, which adds up to 8 bonus threshold successes
on the attack roll as dice of damage.
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
Thunderous Rebuke (8m; Supplemental; Instant;
Withering-only; Essence 3): This Charm applies a
single withering tail strike attack to the individual
Defenses of all targets within short range; the storm
serpent gains full Initiative from the target who took the
most damage, +1 for each additional target who took
any damage, plus any gained from Initiative Break.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Evaporating Defense (7m; Reflexive; Instant; Perilous, Uniform; Essence 2): The storm serpent was born
from lightning, wind, and water, and can become
them. The storm serpent gains +2 Evasion until its next
turn, and reduces withering damage by half before
applying soak (rounded up).
Live Wire (5m; Reflexive; Instant; Counterattack,
Withering-only; Essence 2): The storm serpent responds to any ranged or close attack it attempts to
parry with an 11-die withering counterattack, representing a shock of lightning. It occurs after the attack
is rolled but before damage is rolled; it doesn’t count
as the serpent’s combat action, and the serpent only
gains 1 Initiative no matter how much damage it deals
with this counterattack.
MOBILITY CHARMS
Ascending to the Heavens (5m, 5i; Simple;
Instant; Eclipse, Perilous; Essence 3): Storm systems
can stretch for miles, and storm serpents are impatient. The serpent transforms into a massive fusillade of
lightning, arcing from cloud to cloud; at the beginning
of its next turn, it arrives at a new location, ready to
act. This Charm functions from any location within the
storm that birthed the serpent where lightning could
plausibly strike, including within storm clouds, and
can take the serpent to any such location within the
bounds of the same storm. Attackers cannot target the
storm serpent while it’s in transit. Eclipses can use this
Charm in any storm, but using it in a storm with an
active storm serpent is dangerous — they’re highly territorial. A wise Eclipse plans to land somewhere solid
for her final location — a rooftop, a spire, a high cliff
ledge — or risks plummeting from the sky.
Storyteller Tactics
A storm serpent isn’t given to negotiation, nor is it easily controllable without binding it to one’s will through
summoning. However, an Exalt (or a brave mortal) may
be able to talk one of these elementals into fixating on a
specific target by appealing to its vanity and pride. Storm
serpents have precious few weaknesses save their short
lifespans, and are usually only vulnerable to attack when
near the ground.
Challenged directly, a storm serpent dashes every structure it can find to flinders before turning its rage directly
upon those who oppose it, relishing the moment when
they realize they have no shelter. Storm serpents never
turn aside their destructive fury, never flee or surrender
— their lives are too short to shamefully waste, and they
punish foes for thinking they could challenge the spirit
of the storm itself.
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DEMONS
The following spirits are demons — progeny of the unknowable yozis of Malfeas,
working toward their alien aspirations as they toil in their rigid hierarchy.
Anuhle
the Demon Spider, Demon of the First Circle
Anuhles are not a single type of First Circle demon, but
a category of them. Most First Circle demons with the
shape and behavior of a spider are called anuhles, though
their purposes, colorations, and personalities differ depending on their Second Circle forebears, and they are
many and varied. Generally, anuhles are web-weaving
predators ranging in size between a large dog and a draft
horse.
and disturbing deeds. Anuhles universally delight in the
hunt, though their favored prey isn’t always people.
Anuhles descending from Calondra, Scribe of Tides
Forgotten, attend to lost lore stashed within her manse.
They weave forbidding tomes from their silk that can
withstand the manse’s acidic environment, meticulously
recording the activities of every being in the Demon City
and the movements of its celestial bodies. In Creation,
they weave alien structures instead, to lay eggs within
that hatch not into more anuhles, but into eerie words —
tales of demonic exploits written into earth, sea, and sky,
imparting mind-warping lessons or prompting spontaneous quests to discover long-lost songs. These dogsized anuhles have bulbous abdomens like an orb-weaver, ranging in color from dusty blue to deep indigo.
Riotous anuhles descend from Stanewald, She Who
Surmounted the Omphalos. Boisterous and destructive,
these demon-spiders crawl out from rubble left behind
after her dances. They cannot abide stoicism and prey
upon those who refuse to dance. These anuhles possess
a splash of rainbow color, with eight graceful legs and
slender bodies riding low to the ground.
Octavian, the Living Tower, raises anuhles from his black
oil and the viscera of those he’s slain. These vindictive,
warlike anuhles gleefully hunt and kill lovers. They have
a huntsman spider’s frightening shape and a warhorse’s
size, and drip black ichor when they move.
A sorcerer may summon the specific breed of anuhle
she wishes to command, or leave it to Malfean whim.
Summoners call up anuhles to pursue or slay targets,
weave their magical hell-silk, or perform more unique
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Essence: 2; Willpower: 6; Join Battle: 7 dice
Personal Motes: 70
Health Levels: −0x2/−1x6/−2x5/−4/Incap.
Speed Bonus: +3 (breeds large enough to serve as
mounts)
Actions: Conceal/Disguise Webs: 8 dice; Feats of
Strength: 7 dice (may attempt Strength 3 feats); Intimidate: 7 dice; Senses: 10 dice; Spin Silk: 12 dice;
Stealth: 8 dice; Tracking: 8 dice
Resolve 3, Guile 3
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 10 dice (Damage 13)
Attack (Webbing grapple): 10 dice (10 to
control)
Combat Movement: 12 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 8/5
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Dripping Fangs: An anuhle’s decisive bite attacks
are venomous. The most common anuhle venom is a
vitriolic toxin that deals 3i/round (L in Crash), with duration 5 rounds and a penalty of −4. Different breeds
may have others.
MERITS
Sharp-Eyed Terror: Double 9s on all Senses and
Tracking rolls. Anuhles suffer no sight-based penalties
for dim conditions or darkness, mundane or magical.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Hell-Silk Weaver (7m or 7m, 1wp; Supplemental;
Instant; Essence 1): For seven motes, the anuhle may
supplement a Spin Silk roll to create hell-silk instead,
a lightweight material with the strength of a steel
cable. Each supplemented Spin Silk action creates
enough hell-silk to make one square yard of fabric.
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
Alternatively, for seven motes and 1 Willpower, this
Charm can supplement a grapple gambit, doubling
8s on the control roll and dealing one level of lethal
damage to the grappled victim for every non-reflexive action she performs while clinched.
Principle of Motion (10m, 1wp; Reflexive; Instant;
Essence 2): The anuhle moves with blinding speed,
taking a flurry without the usual restrictions — it can
flurry two of the same action if desired, and ignores
the usual penalties to dice pools and Defense.
Silken Spike Offense (8m; Simple; Instant; Decisive-only; Essence 2): The anuhle weaves a footlong spike of hell-silk and propels it at a target within
medium range, as a decisive attack with 10 dice that
ignores up to 3 Hardness. An enemy damaged by the
spike suffers one lethal damage die per round until
she removes the spike, which requires destroying it or
a difficulty 3 feat of strength.
Thread-Spinning Snare (3m, 1wp; Simple;
Instant; Eclipse; Essence 1): The anuhle sets a trap
that deals no damage, filling the area out to close
range from it with webbing. Anyone who enters the
area is subject to a webbing grapple gambit using
the anuhle’s traits, even if the demon isn’t present; the
web itself performs the clinch, and can only restrain
victims, although the anuhle is free to perform other
actions and suffers no Defense penalties. In combat,
this Charm requires a successful gambit with difficulty equal to motes spent. Hell-Silk Weaver and
Web-Snaring Nightmare can supplement this Charm.
Web-Snaring Nightmare (5m; Supplemental;
Until the clinch ends; Essence 2): If the anuhle restrains
a grappled opponent after its first round of control, it
may wrap the victim in webbing, allowing it to take
other non-reflexive actions while the grapple continues and suffer no Defense penalties. The opponent’s
penalties to attacks while clinched increase by one.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Leaping Demon-Spider Dodge (4m, 2i; Reflexive; Instant; Perilous; Essence 2): After successfully
dodging an attack, the anuhle moves one range band
away from the attacker in any direction. This Charm
is usable once per scene, but it resets whenever the
anuhle Incapacitates or kills a non-trivial opponent.
MOBILITY CHARMS
Monstrous Flying Leap (5m; Supplemental;
Instant; Essence 1): The anuhle leaps, pounces, or
sails on a string of silk, moving two range bands with
one reflexive move action.
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Storyteller Tactics
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Bloodthirsty Stalker (5m; Simple; Indefinite;
Essence 1): If the anuhle has tasted the target’s blood
before (having dealt at least 1 level of lethal damage
with a bite attack), it doubles 7s on rolls to track,
follow, and find her; if she uses concealment magic,
use an appropriate pool to roll off against the anuhle’s
Senses or Tracking pool, depending on the situation.
Hurry Home (10m; Simple; Instant; Essence 1):
The demon returns to its summoner’s side; unavailable
when unbound.
Materialize (35m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): Spinning itself from fears and venom, the anuhle
enters Creation in physical form.
Measure the Wind (5m; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): The anuhle can read anyone it has hunted and
caught, or is currently hunting.
These traits reflect the basic competencies of any anuhle;
each specific type has a few additional Charms, Merits,
and/or special abilities to reflect its unique nature. For
example, Calondra’s anuhles also possess Demon Lore: 7
dice. If requested, they may spend 3 motes to recite one
random fact about Malfeas, demons and yozis, or celestial and seasonal cycles. Stanewald’s anuhles also possess Many-Legged Dances: 8 dice. By spending 5 motes
and 1 Willpower, they automatically succeed at a feat of
demolition requiring fewer than 10 successes.
Armor crafted from hell-silk gains the Silent tag and +2
Hardness. Mundane means cannot harm or destroy it,
and it is immune to Dragon-Blooded anima flux.
Fulope
the Choral Equestrian, Demon of the First Circle
Fulope are masses of flexible fibers like spun glass, each
aglow and moving as if adrift underwater. When calm, a
fulope swims through the air, but fits of passion tangle it
into knots, each snarl blistering into a burning eye with a
lamprey-like maw as its pupil.
Like many of the Silent Wind’s brood, the choral equestrian lives to sing. Its own voice a harsh buzz, it possesses
others to perform. Fastening itself to the nape of another
creature’s neck, it winds scorching, yet painless nerve-fibers into the victim’s brain and larynx to seize control.
Confronted with another singer of any kind, the fulope
competes to prove its mastery until they stop. Rival fulope engage in lengthy duels of song, leaving their hosts’
throats raw.
A fulope often obsesses over something or someone as
its muse — most enticingly, Malfeas’ green sun. Left to itself, a choral equestrian seizes a flying demon’s body and
soars into Hell’s sky. Those that fly too high burn, their
stolen bodies plummeting like meteors to the city below.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 6; Join Battle: 2 dice
Personal Motes: 70
Health Levels: −0x/−1x2/−2x4/−4x/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: Current Muse (Obsession), “I
must sing.”
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Actions: Beautiful Song: 11 dice (5 with its own
voice); Fly: 4 dice; Host Impersonation: 5 dice (8 for
long-term hosts); Read Intentions: 6 dice; Senses: 6
dice; Social Influence (non-Performance): 7 dice
Appearance 3, Resolve 4, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 7 dice (Damage 10)
Attack (Tendril slash): 10 dice (Damage 8)
Attack (Grapple): 8 dice (7 to control)
Combat Movement: 4 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 4/0
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Neural Reins (20m, 1wp; Simple; Indefinite; Decisive-only; Essence 2): Expend all rounds of a grapple’s
control to roll (10 + rounds of control forfeited) dice
against the higher of the target’s (Resolve or current
Willpower). If successful, it gains control of her body,
using her physical Attributes, health track, and voice.
Observers may make a difficulty 3 (Perception +
Awareness or Medicine) roll to notice a small glassy
lump in the nape of her neck, and a difficulty 5 (Intelligence + Occult) roll to understand its significance.
At the end of each scene in which the fulope’s host is
present, she may roll (Wits + Integrity), difficulty 3, as
one interval of an extended action with terminus 3 and
goal number 10 to expel it. She may also roll whenever
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
the demon tries to force her to act against an Intimacy,
adding the Intimacy’s rating in bonus dice.
A character may submit willingly; the demon pays the
Charm’s cost and automatically succeeds without a roll.
A target who retains control while possessed — having
sorcerously bound the demon or persuaded it with social
influence — can spend the higher of (her Essence) or 3
of the fulope’s motes per scene on social Charms. She
can relinquish control to let the demon act for her with its
own social and mental traits, and regains control at will.
An extended (Intelligence + Medicine) roll with difficulty 5, goal number 10, and interval one hour
extracts an embedded fulope surgically from a restrained or subdued host. The patient suffers two lethal
damage per roll, ignoring Hardness. Magic that
ends possession, such as Burning Exorcism Technique
(Exalted, p. 356), can also expel it.
Song-Stealing Mollification (6m; Supplemental; Instant; Essence 1): While possessing a host
and in control, the fulope doubles 9s on a Performance-based social influence roll to uphold its host’s
Intimacies by singing. Using this Charm more than
once per scene temporarily shifts one of the host’s Intimacies toward a more demonic context or subject
with each subsequent use, until the fulope is expelled.
Uncoiling Glassy Thread (8m; Supplemental; Instant;
Essence 1): The fulope’s strands elongate to grapple an
enemy at short range, with three bonus successes on the
attack and control rolls. Success drags the victim to close
range. The strands’ pulsing heat is extraordinarily painful,
increasing the grappled target’s Defense penalty to −3.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Hurry Home (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): The demon returns to its summoner’s side; unavailable when unbound.
Materialize (35m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): The demon weaves itself from snatches of stolen
song in a hundred foreign voices.
Measure the Wind (5m; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): The fulope reads anyone it possesses.
Storyteller Tactics
A fulope without a host tries to grapple the most appealing
target. Choose the opponent with the highest Performance
rating, or if none have Performance, Charisma. Enemy sorcerers can use summoned fulope to enhance their abilities, or
take discreet control of someone important. Someone who’s
already possessed makes for a good introduction to a mystery
the characters can investigate, following rumors of strange
behavior or noticing it themselves in someone they know.
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Metody
the Malfean Elemental, Demon of the First Circle
pools and/or static values relevant to the rivalry’s
nature, adding two dice each to pools or +1 each to
static values, to a maximum of the rival’s unmodified
value. It also copies one of the rival’s iconic Charms,
non-Story Merits, or other powers for which it has
the prerequisites. Each time the rivalry persists into
the next story, the metody may improve three more
dice pools or static values (including ones previously
enhanced by the rivalry), and choose an additional
Charm, Merit, or similar power. All benefits disappear if all of the metody’s negative Intimacies toward
the rival drop below Major. Otherwise, the benefits
become permanent if the metody personally and decisively defeats the rival.
The demon realm of Malfeas lies wholly apart from the
mortal world, subject to its baleful masters’ whims and
never graced with the orderly presence of Creation’s elements. Instead, its cracks ooze with Theion To, or vitriol:
the acid of Hell. The metody are vitriol spirits, alien cousins to Creation’s elementals. They can assume any twisted
or distorted human form, often horned or hooved, or disfigured animal shapes. They only take unblemished forms
under compulsion. Their passage etches smoldering footprints into stone and trails a sulfurous stench.
Their personalities are consumptive and acidic as their
natures, passive-aggressively tearing others down and
pointed in their commentary. They approach obstacles
with lazy defiance, believing nothing lies beyond their
ability to dissolve eventually, whether physical materials
or ephemeral relationships. When a metody establishes
a rivalry, it evolves to take on some of its foe’s qualities.
Essence: 3; Willpower: 6; Join Battle: 5 dice
Personal Motes: 80
Health Levels: −0x2/−1x3/−2x3/−4/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “Everything exists for me to
dissolve.”; Major: Creation’s Elementals (Spite)
Actions: Feats of Destruction: 9 dice; Resist Disease/
Poison: 8 dice; Senses: 5 dice; Weaken Intimacy: 9
dice
Appearance 1, Resolve 4, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Strike): 7 dice (Damage 10)
Attack (Grapple): 7 dice (6 to control) (see Acidic
Body)
Combat Movement: 6 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 8/0
MERITS
Blessed Acidic Body: Targets grappling or grappled by the metody suffer an environmental hazard
(Exalted, p. 230) that deals 3L/round, with difficulty 5. The demon heals health levels equal to
damage it would take from any other acid source.
Rival Nature Subsumption: Once per
story, a metody may establish a rivalry with
someone toward whom it has a negative
Major or Defining Intimacy (other than
its summoner). It chooses three total dice
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H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
Shifting Mutable Form: The metody assumes any
humanoid or similarly sized animal (or animal-like)
shape as a miscellaneous action. In fluid form, it
ignores difficult terrain and can fit through any space
a liquid could squeeze through, but can’t take any
non-movement actions.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Fluid Embrace (8m, 2i; Supplemental; Instant; Aggravated, Dual; Essence 3): One withering attack
ignores all soak, or one decisive attack ignores all
Hardness.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Liquid Evasion Tactic (4m; 4i; Reflexive; Instant;
Uniform; Essence 1): The metody disperses into sizzling globules, gaining +2 Evasion against one
attack. On a successful dodge, it moves one range
band in any direction it can flow, unless in Devouring
Acid Form.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Devouring Acid Form (6m, 1wp; Simple; One
scene; Essence 1): The metody dissolves into frothing, acidic foam. It devours mundane objects and
structures, burrowing through soil, sand, or other soft
substances with movement actions, or through one
yard of harder substances per minute. It cannot take
non-reflexive actions except feats of destruction, and
ignores damage that wouldn’t harm ordinary acid.
It also counts as an acid bath environmental hazard
(see Blessed Acidic Body).
Hurry Home (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): The demon flows back to its summoner’s side; unavailable when unbound.
Materialize (40m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): Reality peels back, smoldering, as the metody
sears its way into Creation.
Measure the Wind (5m, Simple; Instant; Essence
1): The metody can discern the nature of anyone
burned with its acid.
Storyteller Tactics
Metody love to dissolve things — objects, structures,
agreements, organizations, and relationships. They take
their time, though, believing it’s inevitable that one day
they’ll dissolve all of Creation. Thus, unless bound to the
task, clever would-be victims might divert a metody’s
attention to dissolving something more urgent with sufficient social influence. Malfean elementals meet aggression in kind. Known for spite, they’ll destroy an enemy’s
possessions before they kill her, just because they can.
A metody without specific orders to the contrary assumes liquid or foam form to flee while dealing maximum collateral damage upon taking damage to its first
−2 health level.
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Oldrasek
the Eternal Wheel, Demon of the First Circle
These demons tumble from place to place humming and
whispering, quietly singing or mumbling about their obsessions. An oldrasek has no eyes, but it sees; no mouth,
though it speaks. A half-dozen to a dozen glittering, rotating, concentric rings composed of any combination of
brass, blackened steel, pitted bone, tendons, glistening
viscera, basalt, or etched crystal, encircle its heart. No
two oldrasek possess the same set of rings, but each has
a scintillating fire opal at its center.
The demon rolls along, propelled by its ever-turning
rings. These shift and twist in turn to give it unparalleled
maneuverability, casting bright arcs of reflected light in
all directions. Ringing, clattering, and meaty slapping
follow in an oldrasek’s
wake, its various
rings striking the ground as they spin. These messengers
roll up the mirror-polished surfaces of Malfean glass
towers, carrying correspondence for the Demon City’s
inhabitants and bearing their decrees to Creation’s farthest-flung reaches.
Summoners and demon princes call upon oldrasek to deliver messages with dogged persistence. Tasked with delivering a missive, the demon commits it to memory and takes
it to its target without regard for the challenges or dangers of terrain. An oldrasek does not stop for any obstacle,
smashing through panes of living glass, toppling a Dynastic
estate’s marble pillars, or crumbling the palisade erected
around a fort. It rolls through raging battles, plumbs pelagial depths, and trundles through raksha courts with neither fear nor regard for the wonders and horrors it passes
by. Upon arrival, it relays the message exactly as it was received, in a language the recipient understands.
Oldrasek obsess over language and the delivery of
messages. To amuse themselves, they translate
the messages they carry into countless
tongues, searching for hidden meanings and coded phrases to decipher, and memorizing correspondents’ linguistic patterns.
They recombine dispatches
to form a strange kind of
found poetry, some of which
borders on the prophetic.
Each message it delivers
links one being to another,
forging an invisible chain
across Creation and Malfeas
alike. Some occultists believe
that if one plotted out an oldrasek’s journeys on a map, its
path would resemble the words of
an incomplete missive. They suggest
that if all oldrasek wanderings were
so traced, they’d spell out a prayer
the demons themselves have
been composing for millennia.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 6;
Join Battle: 8 dice
Personal Motes: 70
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H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
Health Levels: −0x5/−1x2/−2x2/−4/Incap.
Actions: Feats of Strength: 8 dice (may attempt
Strength 5 feats); Linguistic Feats: 8 dice; Navigation:
10 dice; Resist Disease/Poison: 8 dice; Senses: 5 dice
Resolve 3, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Rolling trample): 10 dice (Damage 14,
minimum 2); Tags: Smashing
Combat Movement: 13 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 8/4
MERITS
Eternal Wheel: So long as an oldrasek bears a
message and continues to move, it needs no rest or
nourishment, suffers no penalties for difficult terrain,
and ignores damage from environmental hazards.
Additionally, as long as it moves at least one range
band per round in combat, it waives the Initiative cost
on rush actions and smash attacks.
Sturdy as Stone: An oldrasek cannot be knocked
back or prone except by magical effects or creatures
of Legendary Size. A grappled oldrasek cannot be
thrown or slammed unless magic such as Dragon Coil
Technique (Exalted, p. 280) is used, or if the attacker is of Legendary Size.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Spinning Gimbal Crush (5m; Simple; Instant; Decisive-only; Essence 2): An oldrasek pulps flesh and
grinds bone within its swirling sphere. Add three dice
to a decisive attack. This attack ignores all Hardness
except from a Charm or other magical ability. If the
oldrasek deals any damage, it may then take a reflexive rush action against another target, or a disengage
action if escaping the fight would be more prudent.
This is only usable once per scene; reset by moving at
least one range band per round for five consecutive
rounds.
MOBILITY CHARMS
Earth-Defying Gyration (6m, 1wp; Reflexive;
One scene; Essence 1): Unbound by natural laws, an
oldrasek can move vertically as well as horizontally
as long as it has a surface to roll on. Eclipses with this
Charm must roll as well, either by dropping prone and
rolling bodily or using a wheeled device.
Unstoppable Dervish Approach (8m, 1wp;
Supplemental; Instant; Essence 2): Add 3 dice to a
feat of strength to smash through a mundane obstacle.
It crushes any object up to the size of an adult human,
or creates a similarly sized hole in a wall or barrier.
When the oldrasek is within medium range of its message’s recipient, the demon may attempt Strength 7
feats to destroy obstacles in its way. This is only usable
once per scene; reset by moving at least one range
band per round for five consecutive rounds.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Hurry Home (10m; Simple; Instant; Essence 1):
The demon returns to its summoner’s side; unavailable
when unbound.
Materialize (35m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): In a whirl of brass, flesh, and blood, bands of
sinew, and the smell of heat, an oldrasek takes material shape.
Measure the Wind (5m, Simple; Instant; Essence
1): An oldrasek reads the nature of anyone to whom
it’s delivering a message, or anyone who’s ordering
such a delivery.
Storyteller Tactics
Summoners and more powerful demons use oldrasek
to relay important messages to their allies or threats to
their enemies, leaving plenty of opportunity for characters to bind one of their own or intercept critical information relayed via demon.
An oldrasek resorts to Spinning Gimbal Crush only if
cornered or if someone tries to prevent it from making a
delivery. If its target is unwilling to hear the message, it
smashes bodily into the recipient until he stops moving
or complies — messages must be delivered. Whenever
an oldrasek has no message to carry, it obsessively seeks
another, roaming about and offering its services like a
rickshaw driver seeking fares.
If forced into battle, an oldrasek flees once it’s taken
damage to its last −1 health level.
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Tomescu
the Clamorous Cloud Arsenal, Demon of the First Circle
At the beginning and the end of each day in Hell, the tomescu scream with the awful knowledge of their own
dooms. One tomescu out of every 100 stays rebelliously silent. Of a set of 10,000, only one foresees a glorious
end, and its scream is joyous. These tomescu, other demons fear.
a peasant child. They do these things to honor the yozis’
incomprehensible wishes and to return some of their
masters’ memory to Creation.
A tomescu appears as a swirl of vapor. When it attacks,
long, insectoid limbs protrude from this airy haze, each
ending in a vicious weapon. Beneath the cloud, a tomescu’s true form has a green carapace and dozens upon
dozens of dexterous limbs. Though adept at the many
arts of combat, the tomescu have no love for violence,
for they know their lives will end in pain and suffering,
and they wish to enjoy what brief pleasures they can in
between their visions of death.
Bound or not, a tomescu seeks out small, odd tasks and
performs them for no obvious reason, from rearranging
garden stones just so to saving — or taking — the life of
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Essence: 2; Willpower: 6; Join Battle: 7 dice
Personal Motes: 70
Health Levels: −0/−1x3/−2x3/−4/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “Die in pain or glory”; Major:
“All actions serve the enemies of the gods.”
Actions: Feats of Strength: 6 dice (may perform
Strength 4 feats); Honor the World-Makers: 8 dice;
Read Intentions: 7 dice; Senses: 7 dice; Wailing
Threats: 8 dice
Appearance 3, Resolve 3, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Sword limb): 10 dice (Damage 10)
Attack (Axe limb): 10 dice (Damage 12)
Attack (Sledge limb): 10 dice (Damage 14/3)
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
Attack (Composite bow limb): 10 dice (Damage
10); Tags: Archery
Combat Movement: 7 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 5
Soak/Hardness: 8/0
Note: A tomescu may have other kinds of weapon
limbs in addition to the common ones listed here.
MERITS
Ten Thousand Deadly Limbs: Each of the tomescu’s limbs ends in a weapon. These are grown from
the demon’s own carapace and cannot be broken or
disarmed except with attacks that would sever a limb.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Principle of Motion (10m, 1wp; Reflexive; Instant;
Essence 2): The tomescu moves with blinding speed,
taking a flurry without the usual restrictions. It can
flurry two of the same action if desired, and it ignores
the usual penalties to dice pools and Defense.
Furious Thousand-Armed Counter (3m; Reflexive; Instant; Counterattack, Withering-only; Essence
1): After the tomescu has applied its Parry defense but
before damage is rolled, it makes a withering counterattack with its choice of weapon limb. Successes on
this damage roll reduce the target’s Initiative one-forone. The first time in a turn it uses this ability against a
particular opponent, it doesn’t pay the mote cost.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Many-Limbed Interception (2m; Reflexive;
Instant; Essence 1): Ignore all penalties to Parry
Defense against a single attack. The first time in a turn
it uses this ability against a particular opponent, it
doesn’t pay the mote cost.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Foretell the Future (10m, 1wp; Simple; One
scene; Essence 2): In Malfeas, the tomescu read the
wind and listen to the whispers hidden behind ever-present songs, and know the yozis’ wishes. In Creation, they do their best to guess, finding the former
World-Makers’ thumbprints in hidden places. As long
as a summoner follows a tomescu’s predictions, she
gains +4 bonus dice to relevant actions.
Hurry Home (10m; Simple; Instant; Essence 1):
The demon returns to its summoner’s side; unavailable
when unbound.
Materialize (35m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): Weaving itself from broken weapon shards and
wailing doom, the tomescu takes physical shape.
Measure the Wind (5m, Simple; Instant; Essence
1): The tomescu can read anyone who faces it in
combat.
Natural Prognostication (1m; Reflexive; Simple;
Essence 1): Unbidden, the tomescu howls of misfortune doomed to be befall a target (often paranoid
summoners). This is expressed as a one-sentence
statement of something that may come to pass. If
obeying the predictions of a Tomescu leads a character to acquire a Merit with a rating of 3 or less, she
may purchase it without paying its cost. Once per
story.
Storyteller Tactics
Summoners typically summon and bind tomescu for one
of two reasons: they need a versatile combatant, or they
wish to have someone’s fate foretold. Though the demons don’t read the Loom of Fate, they’re attuned to the
yozis’ vast knowledge. More often than not their guesses
are correct when they cry of doom and despair. Many a
sorcerer has ignored a tomescu’s warnings and met her
untimely end. However, they only predict doom — sometimes without being asked.
Tomescu are frightening to behold in a fight as flurries
of limbs and vapor. They tear into opponents one at a
time until all that’s left is a haze of bloody mist. The same
whirlwind of insectoid legs catches blows as easily as it
delivers them; a tomescu in combat constantly parries
and counters.
A tomescu must scream at dawn and dusk when it
glimpses its own demise, which obviates stealth.
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Audegar
the Ever-Open Door, Demon of the Second Circle
An icy black wind presages Audegar’s arrival. Coils of violet cloth unfurl from empty air, assuming the form of a
tall, powerful man entirely swathed in purple. No flesh
exists beneath those robes, only cold, stormy darkness.
Audegar serves the demon princes as messenger and
courier. By entering the midnight tempest that is himself, he can travel anywhere in the same realm of existence, and may bring passengers with him. Though he’s
honorable in his way, his winds are treacherous, inclined
to tear travelers from him and cast them adrift on far,
lonely shores.
Jacint, the Prince Upon the Tower — Audegar’s demonic progenitor — creates Hell’s winding sky-roads with
voice alone. On occasion, lesser demons consecrate
those roads to Audegar by hanging their kin from them
until dead. In like manner, an earthly bridge from which
a person has been hanged is hallowed unto him for so
long as the body remains.
Legend says that wherever Audegar delivers a message,
a strange sapling sprouts, eventually growing into a
tree doomed to bring bloodless death: a climbing child
falling from its boughs, a brigand hung upon a gallows
built from its lumber, or perhaps a tyrant slain by poison
brewed from its bruise-colored blossoms.
While Audegar abhors bloodshed, he’s fearsome in battle, unfurling lengths of purple fabric to smother and
strangle, or to draw enemies into the shadowy typhoon
within him. Some victims appear in the ocean’s depths
or plummet from the heavens. Others simply vanish, forever lost.
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Essence: 6; Willpower: 7; Join Battle: 8 dice
Personal Motes: 110
Health Levels: −0/−1x5/−2x5/−4x5/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “I am honored to serve as a
messenger.”; Major: “It is not the journey that matters,
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
but the destination.”, “I abhor bloodshed.”, “There
is beauty in death and silence.”, the Demon Princes
(Respect); Minor: Philosophers (Desire to Debate)
Actions: Feats of Strength: 7 dice (may attempt
Strength 3 feats); Resist Disease/Poison: 10 dice;
Senses: 7 dice; Social Influence: 6 dice; Stealth: 8
dice; Teleportation: 8 dice; Tracking: 7 dice
Appearance 3 (Hideous), Resolve 4, Guile 4
COMBAT
Attack (Cloth whip): 11 dice (Damage 11)
Attack (Grapple): 9 dice (10 to control)
Combat Movement: 11 dice
Evasion 6, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 10/0 (see Resilient Cloth Body)
MERITS
Levitant: Audegar doesn’t touch the earth, but rather
drifts above it. He ignores relevant difficult terrain.
Resilient Cloth Body: Audegar has Hardness 6
against attacks that deal bashing decisive damage.
Soul-Scrap Vessel: Should Audegar be killed,
his windy Essence clings to a fragment of violet cloth
that reflexively flees via Borne on Black Winds (see
below). This soul-scrap vessel has a single −4 health
level and 10 motes, and is only capable of movement, perception, social influence, and stealth. Audegar’s Essence gutters out by the end of the next story
unless an artisan weaves him a new body as a major
crafting project.
Travel Through Nothingness: Audegar can teleport when taking a reflexive move action, ignoring
obstructions and difficult terrain. He may bring one
willing character whenever he teleports; this counts as
the passenger’s next reflexive move action.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Enshrouding Textile Snare (5m; Supplemental; Instant; Essence 5): Banners of Audegar’s violet
cloth cocoon a foe. Double 9s on a grapple gambit’s attack roll, Initiative roll, and control roll. Once
per scene; reset by successfully using Inner Whirlwind
Banishment against a non-trivial opponent.
Flickering-Air Ambuscade (6m, 2i; Simple;
Instant; Uniform; Essence 6): Folding into himself,
Audegar vanishes, reappearing behind an enemy
within medium range and making a normal cloth whip
attack.
Inner Whirlwind Banishment (10m, 1wp; Reflexive; Instant; Perilous; Essence 6): Pulling an ensnared enemy inside himself, Audegar exiles her into
his internal storm. He may only use this Charm while
controlling a grapple at Initiative 10+ with at least five
turns of control. The target vanishes, reappearing at
the start of the next round in some dangerous location
within long range, such as high above the ground or
at the bottom of a lake; the target must be able to fit
normally in the space where they appear. This cannot
guarantee death, but may be fatal without supernatural protection or swift rescue. Once per scene; reset by
defeating a non-trivial opponent using other means.
Porphyreal Brocade Barrage (6m, 2i; Simple;
Instant; Essence 4): Audegar sends streamers of
purple fabric lashing out in all directions. This is a single
withering attack with 13 dice and 13/3 damage
against all opponents within close range. He gains
Initiative normally for the highest damage roll, plus up
to three Initiative for each other target struck. Anyone
this attack crashes flies back one range band and
lands prone. Once per scene; reset when attacked 5+
times in one round by non-trivial opponents.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Implosive Evasion (5m, 2i or 5m, 2i, 1wp; Reflexive; Instant; Essence 5): Audegar folds into himself
to escape harm, gaining +3 Evasion. If he dodges
successfully, he vanishes and immediately reappears
anywhere he wishes within short range (or medium
range with a 1 Willpower surcharge), ignoring obstructions.
MOBILITY CHARMS
Elusive Skyborne Wisp (2m+; Reflexive; Instant;
Essence 4): Add up to three successes to any combat
movement roll, or up to +3 to Evasion, for two motes
per success or point of Evasion.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Borne on Black Winds (10m + 5m/passenger;
Simple; Instant; Essence 6): Audegar vanishes into
the cold, dark winds inside himself to travel afar.
These winds exist outside Creation; while traveling, he
neither perceives nor interacts with the world and vice
versa. Audegar travels 100 miles per hour, ignoring
obstacles except those that block immaterial beings.
Passengers treat the icy winds as an environmental
hazard (1B/hour, difficulty 1) and must roll (Stamina
+ Integrity) or be torn free, falling back into the world
somewhere off-course determined by the Storyteller. If
he transports a large group, the Storyteller may make
one roll to represent the whole group. This Charm
cannot transport people between realms of existence.
Audegar himself must roll Teleportation with variable difficulty: 1 for a place within line of sight, 2 for
a place he knows well, 3 for a place barely known
or unknown but well-described, or 4 for a place
unknown and only vaguely described. Failure leads
him off-course. A botch takes him and his passengers
wildly off-course, or they encounter some disastrous
inner peril — like a spectral behemoth, black-lightning storm, or hurricane of bones — of the Storyteller’s
choosing.
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Hurry Home (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): Audegar fades away and vanishes on his next
turn, drawn instantly to his summoner’s side or to a
petitioner with whom he’s communing via Pontal SkyShrine Intercession.
Materialize (55m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): Audegar unfurls from a gust of cold, dark wind.
Measure the Wind (5m; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): Audegar can discern the nature of anyone who
travels through him.
Pontal Sky-Shrine Intercession (5m; Reflexive; One scene; Eclipse; Essence 4): Audegar may
activate this Charm whenever someone in the same
realm of existence speaks his name while on a bridge
sanctified to him. He can hear and be heard by the
petitioner and those around her for the scene. The
Charm ends if the petitioner leaves the bridge or if the
bridge loses its sanctification. An Eclipse can activate
this Charm when someone speaks her name, not Audegar’s; this requires a bridge sanctified via actions
and symbols evoking the Eclipse’s own personality
and nature, as agreed upon with the Storyteller.
Storyteller Tactics
Sorcerers typically bind Audegar for conveyance, though
he’s also an efficacious messenger and adequate combatant. While unbound, he usually eschews combat,
preferring diplomacy and fleeing the first time he takes
any damage. Should a summoner’s orders compel battle, he prefers hit-and-run tactics, picking off stragglers
with Enshrouding Textile Snare and Inner Whirlwind
Banishment.
Makarios
the Sigil’s Dreamer, Demon of the Second Circle
Makarios appears as a youth with hair of copper wire
and a rainbow shimmer upon his eyes. His foremost desire is to spread his sigil across Creation, binding mortal
dreams to him. Sorcerers call Makarios to advise them
in trade negotiations or to bargain for his otherworldly treasures. Crueler summoners set the demon to tormenting foes in dreams.
Those wishing to bargain with Makarios must do so in
dreams, where he resides in a citadel of apple-green
chrysoprase and white alabaster, filled with sensual delights. The wonders Makarios offers are rarely found in
Creation: gems of crystalline sorrow, nightmare-scented
perfumes, the language of toads. His cost is always fair,
though well-negotiated.
Essence: 5; Willpower: 7; Join Battle: 8 dice
Personal Motes: 100
Health Levels: −0x1/−1x3/−2x5/−4x3/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “Expand the ranks of my sigil-bearers.”, “Breaking bargains is unforgivable.”;
Major: “Bring my goods to broader markets.”, Sigil-Bearers (Possessiveness); Minor: The Guild (Fondness)
Actions: Appraise Goods: 12 dice; Bargain: 14
dice; Crafting: 12 dice; Demon City Lore: 7 dice; Economics: 10 dice; Investigate: 7 dice; Read Intentions:
9 dice; Senses: 8 dice; Social Influence: 10 dice;
Tracking: 5 dice
Appearance 4, Resolve 5, Guile 4
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COMBAT
Attack (Unarmed): 10 dice (Damage 10)
Combat Movement: 6 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 8/4
MERITS
Cult 2: Sigil-bearers pray for relief that never comes.
Demon-Merchant’s Prerogative: Any social influence that would compel Makarios to give away his wares
without a fair deal is unacceptable (Exalted, p. 220), including commands from a sorcerer who’s bound him.
Dream-Binding Sigil: A character with Occult 5,
or Occult 3 and a specialty in Demons, may make
a difficulty 3 (Intelligence + [lower of Linguistics or
Occult]) roll to draw Makarios’ sigil on the brow of
a willing or helpless mortal. Marked mortals can’t
regain Willpower from sleep, and can’t dream at
all unless Makarios visits them. Every (10 – Integrity) days a marked character with zero Willpower
goes without recovering any Willpower, she either
gains the Minor Madness Derangement (Exalted,
p. 168), or increases the Derangement’s intensity one step if she already has it. Removing the mark
unbinds her dreams, but doesn’t remove Derangements. She can wash away an inked or painted sigil,
but a branded or scarred sigil must be removed either
with magic capable of healing crippling injuries or by
cutting away the marked flesh, which inflicts four dice
of lethal damage that can’t be negated or prevented.
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Prismatic Cloud Touch (6m, 3i; Supplemental;
Instant; Dual, Eclipse, Perilous; Essence 3): Wreathing
a hand in a colorful haze of dreams and nightmares,
Makarios saps his foe’s will. A withering attack that
crashes an enemy, or decisive attack that hits an
enemy, supplemented by this Charm steals one Willpower from the target; this can increase Makarios’
Willpower beyond its maximum, but excess unspent
points vanish at the end of the scene.
Tarnished Trinket Glint (7m; Simple; Instant; Decisive-only, Eclipse, Psyche; Essence 3): Roll 12 dice
(Eclipses use [Manipulation + Bureaucracy]) against
the Resolve of an enemy within medium range as a
difficulty 4 gambit. Success makes the victim see an
illusory treasure somewhere within medium range of
Makarios, tailored to appeal to one of her Major or
Defining Intimacies. She must move toward it, and
can’t attack any target until she reaches it. The Solar
Charm Eye of the Unconquered Sun and comparable
effects render characters immune to this Charm.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Gates of the Dreaming Market (5m, 1wp
[+10m, 1wp]; Simple; One dream; Eclipse; Essence
3): Makarios enters the dreams of a sleeping character
whose approximate location he knows, letting him
speak to and engage in social influence with her.
Objects held or worn by both participants’ physical
bodies accompany them; any exchanged objects
appear at the recipient’s physical location. Makarios
doubles 9s on all actions if the dreamer bears his sigil.
(Eclipses can’t gain this benefit.) At any time, Makarios can commit a 10-mote, 1-Willpower surcharge to
change the dream into a nightmare in which he and
the dreamer can harm each other, with damage and
other deleterious effects carrying over to their physical
bodies. It’s not possible to die this way — Incapacitated characters lose all Willpower instead.
Lotus-Gilding Tongue (5m; Supplemental; Instant;
Essence 5): Double 8s on a bargain roll. Double 7s
instead if Makarios offers something he crafted from
otherworldly materials.
Waking Dream Affliction (10m, 1wp; Simple; One
scene; Eclipse, Psyche; Essence 3): Roll 12 dice (Eclipses
use [Manipulation + Bureaucracy]) against the Resolve
of one or more characters. Affected characters perceive
an illusion — either an alteration to the environment, or an
illusory entity up to the size of a house — as real, unless
physical interaction with it reveals otherwise. Characters
can spend 1 Willpower to resist if their belief in the illusion imperils a Major or Defining Intimacy.
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MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Heartfelt Treasures Appraisal (8m, 1wp;
Simple; One scene; Eclipse; Essence 4): Makarios perfectly ignores attempts to misrepresent the
value of objects offered for sale or trade, including
Psyche effects like the Solar Charm Soul-Snaring Pitch
(Exalted, p. 286), unless the seller’s sole motivation
is upholding a Defining Intimacy, not profit. Makarios
can free others from such influence by informing them
of the truth. He automatically discerns any Ties a seller
has to her wares.
Hurry Home (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): On his next turn, Makarios vanishes to his summoner’s side; unavailable while unbound.
Materialize (50m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): Makarios appears from a swirl of prismatic mist.
Measure the Wind (5m; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): Makarios determines the nature of a sigil-bearer
or someone bargaining with him.
Sigil-Seeking (10m; Simple; One scene; Essence
3): Double 7s on Senses-based rolls against sigil-bearers.
Storyteller Tactics
Makarios offers unique and valuable treasures. He accepts many forms of compensation — vast sums of currency, artifacts, favors, and so on — but his favorite deal
by far is payment in unwilling mortals marked with his
sigil. Confronted with moral objections to this, he expresses polite bemusement.
Makarios can’t threaten the Exalted in combat. If negotiations fail, he disorients enemies with Waking Dream
Affliction and stalls the strongest foe with Tarnished
Trinket Glint, then dematerializes and flees. His true
weapons are his connections in Creation; take this opportunity to introduce unique and colorful antagonists
— cultists, sorcerers, Exigents, the Guild, etc. He has
no mercy for those who renege on deals with him, and
exacts punishments ranging from tormented dreams to
sending minions or the indebted to harass the perpetrator in the waking world.
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Rimvidas
the Cancerous Cornucopia, Demon of the Second Circle
Bipedal and pleasant to the eye, with a half-dozen arms
that each end in a many-fingered hand, the Malfean gardener Rimvidas tends to the development not only of
Creation’s vegetation when summoned and what twisted flora thrive in Hell, but anything that can bloom and
grow: blossoming ideas captured from creative mortal
minds, a thriving economy, a war for conquest and expansion, or even new love. They drape themselves in
cloth-of-brass unless put to a particular task, in which
case their clothing shifts to something appropriate —
gleaming armor when called upon to aid in conquest,
for instance, or a merchant’s finery when commanded to
bolster trade.
It’s dangerous to rely on the Cancerous Cornucopia;
they never know when to stop. Left unchecked, their
gardens overgrow to the ruin of entire castle towns. The
loves they encourage intensify until the unfortunate victims become codependent and obsessed. A campaign
of conquest stretches a nation’s resources so thin their
entire empire collapses practically overnight. Rimvidas
continues to tweak and meddle indefinitely, sometimes
accomplishing precisely the opposite of their intentions.
Sorcerers must craft commands carefully to avoid destroying what they wish to make flourish, and any summoner worth their salt advises their students to always
give the demon a hard deadline or quantitative limit.
Rimvidas never takes the blame for tasks they botch this
way, petty and spiteful in its accusations of others even if
interference was impossible.
A desperate whisper begging for change into a moonless
night can call Rimvidas to Creation unbidden.
Essence: 6; Willpower: 7; Join Battle: 7 dice
Personal Motes: 110
Health Levels: −0x2/−1x4/−2x6/−4/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “Cultivate things that grow.”;
Major: “Nothing is ever my fault.”, “My work is never
done.”; Minor: “Everything I touch must be perfected.”, “The more drastic the change, the better.”
Actions: Cultivate: 12 dice; Demon Lore: 7 dice;
Feats of Strength: 6 dice (may attempt Strength 3
feats); Read Intentions: 8 dice; Resist Disease/Poison:
10 dice; Senses: 8 dice; Social Influence: 9 dice;
Stealth: 7 dice
Appearance 4, Resolve 4, Guile 5
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COMBAT
Attack (Spade): 12 dice (Damage 10/2); Tags:
Piercing
Combat Movement: 8 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 5
Soak/Hardness: 10/0
MERITS
Cult 1: Rimvidas’ worshipers are gardeners, animal
breeders, and other nurturers with an infernal bent,
or those desperate to make a productive change: the
oppressed and downtrodden as well as the greedy
and ambitious.
Green Thumb: Rimvidas rolls Cultivate for any
action that involves growing something in any way,
at the Storyteller’s discretion, even if the action would
normally fall under another pool. Example actions
include rallying for numbers while commanding a
battle group, instill actions to create a new Intimacy or
strengthen an existing one, crafting new objects or repairing broken ones, and any action that contributes
to the health and growth of a living being.
Overgrowth: On the final roll of any extended
action with a terminus (Exalted, p. 189), Rimvidas
may accept a complication or deleterious side effect
for the action to increase the terminus by one roll. They
may do this indefinitely, but all complications and
side effects stack. Complications need not necessarily
affect Rimvidas themselves; they could affect the environment, the demon’s allies, or even the stability of
infrastructure, if the action has a large enough scope.
Perfectionist: Rimvidas may spend 1 Willpower to
immediately reroll a failed roll for any non-extended
action that supports one of their Intimacies with no increased difficulty and take the higher result, although
any costs required to use relevant magic must be paid
again.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Conscript-Pruning Strategy (20m, 1wp; Reflexive; Instant; Essence 4): Rimvidas prunes not for
quality, but for quantity. This Charm enhances a rally
for numbers action that either Rimvidas or one of their
allies takes. If this action restores more than the battle
group’s maximum Magnitude, the group gains 1
Size, to a maximum of 6. Whenever the group’s Size
increases beyond 5, reduce either its Drill or Might
by 1. Drill can’t drop below poor and Might can’t
C h a pt e r T h r e e : Spi r it s
drop below 0; if increasing Size to 6 would decrease
either past their minimums, this Charm fails. The extra
numbers may be defectors from an enemy army’s
own lost Size, innocent bystanders roped into fighting, or even ferocious wild animals drawn from the
surrounding area.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Fertilizing the Grapevine (15m, 1wp; Supplemental; Eclipse; Instant; Essence 3): Like overgrown
vines, an idea or feeling creeps unchecked from one
mouth or mind to another. This Charm supplements
an instill action to create or strengthen an Intimacy. If
successful, the next time the target speaks to another
character about a topic related to the Intimacy, roll
Rimvidas’ action again with all its original enhancements, but without costs. If successful, the new target
also falls victim to the same instill action. This chain
continues until the action fails or until four days have
passed, whichever comes first.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Coaxing Stem and Bone (8m per Merit dot;
Simple; Instant; Essence 5): Rimvidas may shape the
form and function of any developing living being. Roll
Cultivate with a difficulty equal to the target’s Stamina
or Resolve, whichever is lower. If its subject is sapient
and the roll succeeds, this Charm bestows one dot per
eight motes spent of any valid Merit upon the subject,
including supernatural Merits but excluding Story
Merits, Merits for which the character doesn’t meet
the prerequisites, Merits that affect Exaltation, and
Merits that are strictly social or experiential in nature.
If the Charm’s subject isn’t sapient, such as a mundane
plant or animal, Rimvidas need not roll, and chooses
mundane or supernatural non-Merit mutations to
bestow instead as long as they add rather than subtracting anything. For instance, they could add a tail
to a creature, make a flower produce more pollen, or
give sight to a blind animal.
For each Merit after the first bestowed upon the same
sapient target, that target gains a new Minor Intimacy
for something demonic in nature, of the Storyteller’s
choice. For each mutation after the first bestowed
upon a non-sapient target, its form or function perceptibly warps in some way that brings it more in line with
Malfean ideals or aesthetics. Rimvidas cannot use this
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Charm on any subject that has reached full maturity,
and can only use it once per target per story. Player
characters who receive its benefits enter experience
debt for the Merit dots received and all experience
points the player earns must pay off the debt before
being applied to other traits. This Charm bypasses the
need for training time.
Fecundity in Motion (8m; Simple; One scene;
Essence 3): The Cancerous Cornucopia may give life,
but what else do they give along with it? Roll Cultivate with a difficulty equal to the target’s Stamina or
Resolve, whichever is lower. If successful, the target
converts one aggravated damage level to lethal or
heals one lethal or bashing health level at the beginning of each of their turns for the rest of the scene. If
they have no damage to heal, they gain one temporary −0 health level per turn instead; damage fills
these temporary health levels first, and they vanish
upon filling with lethal or aggravated damage. For
each temporary health level the target gains, they
also gain a Flaw (Exalted, p. 167) that lasts for
the rest of the current story; the player and Storyteller should work together to choose the Flaw, and the
player may choose to keep it permanently. If the Flaw
is a Derangement, each level of severity counts as a
separate Flaw. Rimvidas cannot end this Charm early.
Green Sun Nourishment (2m per die rerolled;
Supplemental; Instant; Essence 2): When two trees
grow too close together, only the one that can reach
the sunlight first survives. Whenever Rimvidas rolls
Cultivate, they may reroll one failed die per two motes
spent. For each success that results from the reroll,
subtract a die from any pool Rimvidas possesses other
than Cultivate.
Hurry Home (10m; Simple; Instant; Essence 1):
The demon returns to its summoner’s side; unavailable
when unbound.
Materialize (55m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): With the scent of wet dirt and the iron tang of fresh
blood, Rimvidas takes material shape.
Measure the Wind (5m, Simple; Instant; Essence
1): Rimvidas can read anyone they’ve directly targeted with a Charm at any time in the past.
Storyteller Tactics
Summoners commonly call on Rimvidas to bestow
blessings upon their children, crops, or lavish gardens.
Cautious summoners know not to allow the demon too
much free reign, though, lest they take abundance to the
extreme and bring the sorcerer’s endeavors to ruin. Left
to their own devices, Rimvidas always continues to grow,
tweak, and perfect whatever they get their hands on until forced to stop, either by command or by circumstance.
Rimvidas loathes bloodshed. Though capable of defending themselves to survive or protect their summoner,
battle ill suits their nature. If they must engage in it, they
wield a gleaming brass spade sharp enough to punch
through orichalcum with alarming skill despite their hatred for violence. The demon dematerializes and flees at
the first opportunity unless forced to fight.
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Stanewald
She Who Surmounted the Omphalos, Demon of the Second Circle
Stanewald appears only where shadows fall and the dust
is thickest, for her form fades in strong light. Summoners
who have seen her describe Stanewald as handsome,
floating just above the earth and wearing a tanned horsehide as a cloak over a colorful, flowing tunic and white
silk pants.
Like many Malfean denizens, Stanewald is a dancer.
Music and dance permeate every corner of the realm,
and all demons feel such arts deep in their bones, from
the lowliest metody to the majestic Green Sun himself.
Stanewald is known for her 13 efficacious dances that express her joy in shattering stone, widely regarded as the
pinnacle of dance-based magic. Any being can earn the
grudging respect of demons far and wide if they manage
to learn even one of Stanewald’s infamous dances.
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Essence: 6; Willpower: 8; Join Battle: 8 dice
Personal Motes: 110
Health Levels: −0/−1x3/−2x5/−4x3/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “I must dance.”, “I seek a
new passion.”; Major: “All stone crumbles before
me.”; Spirits and Elementals of Stone (Hatred); Minor:
Wulfthryth (Companionable Love)
Actions: Architectural Knowledge: 12 dice; Dancing:
12 dice; Demonic Lore: 8 dice; Feats of Strength: 9
dice (may attempt Strength 5 feats); Read Intentions:
7 dice; Ride: 10 dice; Senses: 7 dice; Social Influence: 8 dice; Stealth: 10 dice
Appearance 5, Resolve 4, Guile 4
COMBAT
Attack (Boulder-Exploding Kick): 12 dice
(Damage 14/4)
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
Attack (Grapple): 10 dice (12 to control)
Combat Movement: 12 dice
Evasion 6, Parry 4
Soak/Hardness: 10/3 (12/5 while wearing
Wulfthryth)
MERITS
A Voice to Mute Flames: All firedust within short
range loses its charge at the sound of Stanewald’s
voice, becoming permanently inert.
Answer to the Earth: Whenever Stanewald makes
a decisive attack against an earth elemental or other
spirit associated with earth or stone, the damage is
aggravated. When she attacks an Earth Aspected
Dragon-Blood or another non-spirit being with strong
ties to earth and stone, her unarmed attack damage
becomes 15/5.
Cult 2: Worship of Stanewald is popular among
occult masons and geomancers, as well as those who
craft magical siege weaponry.
Defying Stone and Dust: Stanewald is immune
to environmental hazards based on sand, earth, or
stone, and automatically reduces withering attacks
made with magical earthen qualities (such as attacks
made by earth elementals or with the Earth keyword,
or from weapons made of white jade) to minimum
damage. Her spiritual connection to the element
imposes a −3 penalty to her Resolve when she is summoned in the presence of crumbling or broken stone.
Familiar 3: Her beloved familiar is Wulfthryth, the
horsehide she wears, both a separate entity and an
innate part of her. When he separates from Stanewald, Wulfthryth is a spectral horse-skin with hollow,
skeletal legs wearing black steel horseshoes. He can
transform from cloak to horse-body or vice versa as
a miscellaneous action. As a mount, Wulfthryth has
the following traits: Speed Bonus +4, Health –0x3/–
1x3/–2x3/–4/Incap., and the dice pools, Merits,
and special abilities of a trained horse (Exalted,
p. 567). He is immune to fear. If Wulfthryth dies, he
regenerates completely at midnight of the next new
moon.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Gate-Shattering Touch (10m, 2i, 1wp; Supplemental; Instant; Decisive-only; Essence 3): Stanewald’s blows strike with a force to shatter mountains.
Against a target wearing armor, the damage roll for a
successful decisive attack doubles 10s and ignores
Hardness. Armor made of mundane steel shatters
into irreparable pieces, while artifacts suffer –4 Soak
and –2 Hardness until restored with a repair project
(Exalted, p. 242). Outside combat, Stanewald may
use this Charm to automatically and instantly succeed
at a Strength 10+ feat of demolition; doing so removes
the Charm’s Initiative cost, but requires Stanewald to
meditate for five minutes before using the Charm.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Hurry Home (10m; Simple; Instant; Essence 1):
The demon returns to its summoner’s side; unavailable
when unbound.
Materialize (55m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): Swirling from the dust that settles after a stone wall
collapses, Stanewald takes form.
Measure the Wind (5m, Simple; Instant; Essence
1): Stanewald can read anyone whose hands have
worked or broken stone, and anyone transfixed by
her unearthly dancing.
Thirteen Efficacious Dances: Summoners call
upon Stanewald for her efficacious dances, which
crumble walls and transmute solid stone. The effects
of dances with a duration longer than Instant persist
until Stanewald’s task is complete, or until her dancing
is interrupted. If an efficacious dance is interrupted
partway through, it leaves the task only partially complete.
Storyteller Tactics
Stanewald is an untamed, energetic presence in a story. 70 years ago, when she was called the Answer to the
Earth, elder demon lords commanded her to climb the
Imperial Mountain. No one save Stanewald and those
who gave the order know why. Whatever she did while
upon the peak forever changed her, pushing her to find
a new obsession; once she does, it replaces “I seek a new
passion” as a Defining Intimacy until she loses interest
in it, at which point it reverts back and she pursues a
new one yet again.
Sorcerers call her from Malfeas to bring down impenetrable fortresses, perform drastic terraforming, and
create geomantic conditions favorable for further magical works. Beyond what her summoner commands, she
constantly seeks another driving passion — and Creation
is full of so many fascinating opportunities. Stanewald
develops an obsession with any character willing to help
her find this passion. She bargains with or cajoles her
summoner to let her use her more unusual and specific
dances if they don’t command it first.
In combat, Stanewald wields artful, calamitous strikes
to build up to her devastating Gate-Shattering Touch.
She uses any applicable Reflexive or Supplemental,
Instant-duration efficacious dance whenever possible.
She prioritizes attackers wearing heavy armor or carrying artifacts of jade — especially white jade — over unencumbered enemies, and flies into a destructive rage
whenever faced with spirits of earth and stone or EarthAspected Dragon-Blooded.
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C h a pt e r T h r e e : Spi r it s
Thirteen Efficacious Dances
Dance
Cost and Effect
First
(5m; Supplemental; Instant; Eclipse; Essence 1): Halve the Strength requirement to perform a feat of demolition on a building or object made of stone (a wall, a statue, etc.).
Second
(3m; Simple; One scene; Eclipse; Essence 1): Erode a boulder or an equivalent amount of mundane stone
into sand.
Third
(10m, 1 wp; Simple; Indefinite; Eclipse; Essence 3): Create a mild earthquake across a six-square-mile
area centered on Stanewald; this is an environmental hazard (1L/minute, difficulty 3).
Fourth
(8m; Supplemental; Instant; Essence 2): Double-8s on an instill or inspire action that provokes feelings
of spite toward earth and stone; against trivial opponents, the action becomes automatically successful
instead.
Fifth
(10m; Simple; Instant; Eclipse; Essence 3): Torment a captive earth elemental with agonizing pain that
deals no damage.
Sixth
(8m; Simple; Instant; Eclipse; Essence 3): Take an automatically successful inspire action that causes a
random local spirit to act with destructive animosity toward a stone structure.
Seventh
(5m, 1wp; Supplemental; Indefinite; Eclipse; Essence 2): Roll Dancing with difficulty 2 to carve a tunnel
through earth and rock of one cubic yard per threshold success per hour. Eclipses roll Dexterity + Performance instead, and must roll Stamina + Resistance, difficulty 1, every two hours to continue dancing, with
a cumulative difficulty increase of +1 per roll.
Eighth
(10m, 1 wp; Simple; One scene; Eclipse; Essence 4): Roll Dancing, difficulty 2. Create a pit beneath Stanewald’s feet seven miles deep and one square yard in radius per threshold success. She does not fall in.
Ninth
(20m, 2wp; Simple; Instant; Essence 5): Roll Dancing, difficulty 2. Create a volcanic vent that launches
rocks and gases into the sky. It lasts for a year per threshold success. This is a persistent environmental
hazard (2L/minute, difficulty 3) out to medium range.
10th
(20m, 1wp, 1 lhl; Simple; Indefinite; Essence 6): Roll Dancing opposed by a god-blooded target’s
Stamina + Resistance; the target must be within six miles of Stanewald. Upon success, strike the divinity
from the target for as long as the dance continues uninterrupted. This renders them mortal, but does not
kill them.
11th
(15m, 1 wp; Simple; Indefinite; Eclipse; Essence 5): Create a severe earthquake across a six-square-mile
area centered on Stanewald; this is an environmental hazard (3L/minute, difficulty 4).
12th
(20m, 1wp; Simple; One scene; Essence 6): Dissolve a fortress-sized stone structure into molten earth.
Anyone inside or within short range of the structure must resist a lava environmental hazard (6L/round,
difficulty 5).
13th
The 13th dance is unknown.
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Sibri
the Rampart of Serpents, Demon of the Third Circle
Life is pain; pain is change; change is life. This is the wisdom of the Rampart of Serpents. She sees herself as a
teacher, though few in the demon realm welcome her tutelage, for her tuition is gathered by venom and paid in agony.
Sibri winds across the Demon City as a wall of living
snakes taller than a bowshot, parting crowds and barring
passage. Though she’s scarcely a yard thick, few dare
cross through her; to those enfolded in her serpents’
coils, that lone yard can seem endless. Some of her venoms are lethal. Others are crueler.
When Sibri enters Creation, she rises from the earth as
a pillar of snakes, then stretches outward as a mile-long
living wall in accordance with her summoner’s will, following long sweeping curves like the path of a chariot at
full gallop. Alternatively, she may condense herself into
human shape — tall, lean, and dark, clad in many-colored
snakeskin robes, with venomous fangs and the milky
blue eyes of a molting serpent.
In all her forms, she scars the earth where she passes, leaving it cracked and furrowed. Water that flows
through these gullies grows brackish and salty. Those
who taste it later dream of old pains or lost youth.
She favors outcasts, sorcerers, children, and the impoverished, maimed, chronically ill, and elderly. Her
familiar-serpents sometimes cross between worlds to
offer these her aid and wisdom. Rarely, she’s personally
drawn to Creation to answer the prayers of slaves, the
abused, or princes laboring under imperial yoke. These
she teaches harsh lessons in perseverance, treachery,
and the brutal demands of victory.
Essence: 9 (human form 5); Willpower: 9; Join
Battle: 12 dice
Personal Motes: 140 (human form 100)
Health Levels: −0x10/−1x15/−2x20/−4x10/
Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “I am the death of ignorance and innocence.”; “None pass through me
unchanged.”; The Ebon Dragon (Wary Admiration); Major: “Pain and struggle are the mothers of
wisdom.”; Minor: My Students (Stern Devotion); The
Gods (Pity)
Actions: Feats of Strength: 14 dice (may attempt
Strength 7 feats; human form 12 dice, may attempt
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Strength 5 feats); Read Intentions: 9 dice; Resistance:
14 dice; Senses: 13 dice; Social Influence: 10 dice;
Stealth: 1 die (human form 8 dice); Threaten: 12 dice;
Tracking: 10 dice
Appearance 5 (Hideous in wall form), Resolve 5,
Guile 3
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 14 dice (Damage 12/3; poison
when decisive: damage 3i/round [L in crash], 3
rounds, −3 penalty)
Attack (Unarmed, human form only): 14 dice
(Damage 12)
Attack (Grapple): 12 dice (9 to control)
Combat Movement: 8 dice (see Horizon-Spanning Bulwark)
Evasion 0 (human form 6), Parry 6
Soak/Hardness: 17/7
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Fangs of the Serpent Gate: Whenever someone
passes through the Rampart of Serpents — whether
she willingly creates an opening or the creature uses
a feat of strength, appropriate stunt, or magic — she
may reflexively attack him using Infinite Suffering
Venom or Mind-Opening Venom at no cost. Influence
that would prevent her from thus attacking a target
she’s never poisoned is unacceptable.
Limitless Serpent Assault: Whenever Sibri takes
a bite or grapple action without Charms, she makes
a single attack roll, applying it to any number of opponents within close range. If withering, she only
gains full Initiative for the highest damage total, and
one Initiative for each other damaged opponent.
Thousand Pythons Embrace: While Sibri controls a grapple with a smaller creature, she suffers no
penalties for being in a grapple and may perform
non-clinch actions without a flurry. Drag actions move
the victim along Sibri’s body.
MERITS
Cult 4: In addition to scattered cults among Creation’s
oppressed, many of Ixcoatli’s snakefolk worship her
as part of their pantheon.
Hatchling Demon-Prince Sequestration: If
Bestow the Ophidian Familiar is active when Sibri
dies, the familiar persists indefinitely; she regenerates within it. It grows into her human form over one
month, and attains her full power after a year and
C h a pt e r T h r e e : Spi r it s
a day; some Intimacies may change, and she loses
many memories. Multiple familiars produce multiple
human forms; Sibri can only restore herself fully from
one when the rest are dead.
Legendary Size: Sibri suffers no onslaught penalties from attacks from smaller opponents, unless
magically inflicted. Withering attacks from smaller
enemies cannot crash her unless they have at least 10
post-soak damage dice, although attackers still gain
all Initiative damage dealt. Decisive attacks from
smaller enemies cannot deal more than (3 + attacker’s
Strength) levels of damage to her, not counting levels
added by Charms or other magic.
Living Landscape: Sibri can’t be grappled,
knocked down, knocked back, or lifted into the air
by creatures or forces of lesser scale, even by magic
like Dragon Coil Technique. (To overcome this, see
the “Felling Gigantic Foes” sidebar in Exalted, p.
274.) Damage to individual snakes has little impact;
she’s effectively immune to harm from nonmagical
sources, while magical sources can’t deal more than
(attacker’s Essence) damage per instance of damage.
The Storyteller should make exceptions for massive
battle groups, siege weapons, wildfires, expansive
sorceries, and other efforts that encompass much
of her body. She can only move by extending her
leading edge; see Horizon-Spanning Bulwark.
Seething Rampart Body: Sibri chooses whether
to be difficult terrain or not for any given character
climbing her, within her, or standing atop her, and
can change this reflexively.
Serpent-Spirit Senses: Between her countless
eyes, preternatural olfactory sense, and vibration
sense, Sibri doubles 8s on Senses rolls and ignores all
nonmagical penalties.
Unexpected Interposition: Sibri can extend
herself into the thick of other characters when she’s
summoned, transforms into rampart form, or lengthens
via Horizon-Spanning Bulwark. A character within
close range of Sibri as she unfurls must roll (Dexterity
+ Athletics), difficulty 5, to control which side of her he
ends up on; on a botch, he ends up inside her.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Infinite Suffering Venom (10m, 1wp; Simple;
Instant; Decisive-only, Venom; Essence 5): Sibri
makes a decisive bite attack while at Initiative 10+
to inflict a poison (0 damage, unlimited duration,
–3 penalty). Drugs can dull the pain for a time, but
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VENOM CHARMS
Sibri may employ a Charm with the Venom keyword either in addition to or instead of her normal poison.
Sometime after a Venom Charm wears off, the target sheds his skin like a molting snake, while also weakening or
removing an Intimacy of his player’s choice as appropriate to the poison’s effects or his recent experiences. This
Intimacy manifests in the shed skin; it takes on a pseudo-life of its own, twisting itself into a serpentine shape and
slithering away, hissing words of shame and regret. Shed skins have (Intimacy + 3) dice for social influence, mainly
for inspire or instill actions tied to their Intimacy, but are noncombatants (Exalted, p. 208) and otherwise harmless.
it inevitably returns. Only powerful techniques like
Wholeness-Restoring Meditation or Order-Affirming
Blow can purge this venom. Usable once per scene,
unless reset by defeating a non-trivial opponent.
Mind-Opening Venom (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant;
Decisive-only, Eclipse, Venom; Essence 5): Sibri makes
a decisive bite attack while at Initiative 10+. It carries
a hallucinogenic poison with 0 damage, duration 24
hours, and penalty −5 (also applying to Resolve and
Guile). During this time, Sibri’s mind touches his; she
shows him visions of dreadful futures that may or may
not come to pass, or confronts him with terrible truths
about himself, others, or the world. His player gains
or alters a relevant Major or Defining Intimacy of his
choice relating to these visions. Usable once per scene,
unless reset by using this Charm against a willing target.
Nature-Molting Venom (10m, 1wp; Simple;
Instant; Decisive-only, Venom; Essence 5): Sibri
makes a decisive bite attack while at Initiative 15+.
If she deals at least one level of damage, the target
must roll (Stamina + Resistance) against difficulty 5 or
sleep for a full day, undergoing a supernatural transformation. Sibri rolls nine dice, awarding the target up
to (successes) dots of innate and/or purchased Merits
of her choice. She may transform a willing creature
without attacking or dealing damage. This venom
can only affect a given target once. Usable once per
story; reset by the target achieving a major story goal
in pursuit of a Major or Defining Intimacy.
Principle of Motion (10m, 1wp; Reflexive; Instant;
Essence 2): Sibri moves with blinding speed. She acts
twice without flurry penalties, and may take the same
action twice if desired (normally attacking twice).
Rain of Vipers (5m, 2i; Simple; Instant; Dual, Perilous; Essence 6): Sibri shakes, showering serpents on
those below. Roll one withering attack (15 dice,
15/3 damage) against every opponent within short
range, awarding Initiative normally for the highest
damage roll and a maximum of five Initiative for each
other target struck. Then, if she damaged any battle
groups or crashed any characters, roll one decisive
bite attack against each such opponent. Usable once
per scene, unless reset by incapacitating a non-trivial
opponent or routing a battle group.
Tsunami Sweeping From the Serpents’
Sea (15m, 5i, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Dual, Perilous;
Essence 9): Like a tidal wave, the Rampart of Serpents
sways and topples upon her foes in a seething reptilian tide. Roll one undodgeable withering attack (20
dice, 20/5 damage) against every opponent within
long range of one side of her, awarding Initiative normally for the highest damage roll and a maximum of
five Initiative for each other target struck. Then, if any
opponents in that area are battle groups or crashed
(whether or not her attack crashed them), roll one
decisive bite attack against each such character.
Sibri becomes prone afterward, and must spend her
next action rising from prone. This cannot be flurried,
and characters may cross over her during that turn,
treating her as difficult terrain; her special abilities and
Merits that apply to characters traversing her don’t
apply. Usable once per story, unless reset by upholding a Defining Intimacy through defeating, educating,
or transforming a powerful character.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Enfolding Serpent Shield (1m; Reflexive; Instant;
Essence 6): Sibri interposes a writhing mesh of snakes
between an ally and harm, performing a defend
other action to protect a character within close range.
Gathering of Serpents (10m, 1wp; Reflexive;
Instant; Essence 8): Hissing, the Rampart of Serpents
calls to her earthly kin, and they rise from the earth to
join with her. Roll (Essence), healing levels of damage
equal to successes. Only usable once per story.
MOBILITY CHARMS
Horizon-Spanning Bulwark (10m; Simple; Indefinite, Stackable; Essence 9): Sibri unfurls like a
scroll, extending herself into an even vaster rampart.
She lengthens by one mile over a few minutes, distributing this increase in either or both directions. When
releasing committed motes, she may likewise diminish
herself at either or both ends. In combat, she extends
and/or retracts one range band per turn instead; she
can do this while grappling smaller opponents without
a drag action.
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SIBRI, CLOTHED WITH HUMANITY
In human form via her Clothed with Humanity Charm, Sibri loses all Special Abilities and Merits except Cult, Hatchling Demon-Prince Sequestration, and Serpent-Spirit Senses.
She can use all Snake style Charms (Exalted, p. 427-431), including Mastery effects. She may spend an additional
1i to deliver a Venom-keyword Charm with a decisive unarmed Martial Arts attack.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Bestow the Ophidian Familiar (5m; Simple; Indefinite; Essence 6): Sibri releases a rainbow-scaled,
blue-eyed viper containing a fragment of her Essence
to serve as a character’s familiar. It has the traits of a
venomous snake (Exalted, p. 575), with a Defining
Intimacy of devotion to Sibri and a Major Intimacy of
obedience to its new master. It can use Infinite Suffering Venom and Mind-Opening Venom if its master
willingly pays the Charm costs. Sibri can only release
the committed motes by reabsorbing the familiar —
assimilating its memories and experiences — or when
the familiar dies.
Clothed with Humanity (5m; Simple; Instant;
Essence 1): The Rampart of Serpents assumes human
form. She loses much of her physical prowess and
magic for the duration, but may revert to her true
demonic form reflexively and at no cost. See the
sidebar for details.
Hurry Home (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): Sibri fades away and vanishes on her next turn,
drawn instantly to her summoner’s side; unavailable
when unbound.
Materialize (70m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): Sibri weaves herself together from thousands of
snakes that slither up out of the earth and rain down
from the sky.
Measure the Wind (5m; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): The Rampart of Serpents can discern the nature of
anyone she’s ever envenomed.
Storyteller Tactics
Sibri uses her shape and mobility to her advantage,
forming arrow slits and parapets for allied missile troops
and employing Horizon-Spanning Bulwark to divide opponents, engage ranged foes, and encircle mobile foes
so they can’t escape. She uses her special attacks intelligently, reserving them for powerful and dangerous
opponents.
While summoned and bound, Sibri loyally obeys the
spirit of her instructions. Within those restrictions, she
tries hard to avoid dying even in the face of suicidal commands and always bestows at least one familiar to ensure
her survival. Unbound, she prefers caution, typically
withdrawing from battle upon taking damage to her −2
health levels.
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Inaol drifted high as she dared, wanting to cover as much ground as possible before becoming
earthbound once more. She spied the red-lacquered gates of Arran, and counted herself lucky.
The village was three days’ ride from her own; she could seek shelter there until Calibration
ended.
She alit inside the gates. Her mother said the people of Arran greeted the year’s end with loud
revels, to frighten catastrophe away. Yet, where drums and horns ought to have assailed her, the
only music came from wind whistling down chimneys. Where she should have smelled roasting
meat and woodsmoke, the only scent was the sharp bite of snow on the air.
The townspeople were scattered around the bones of the bonfire, all dead.
She was suddenly glad she’d kept the Linowan spear.
Some had fallen, stiff-backed and rigid, as though they were toppled statues. Others bore peck
marks and burns in a coil pattern, all of which appeared septic. The rest had died clawing at their
throats, choking for breaths they couldn’t draw.
She didn’t have to wonder what had done this to the people of Arran. The culprit stood on the other
side of the bonfire, its dread gaze locked on one last victim. The cockatrice had a lizard’s scaly
body, leathery wings, and a rooster’s bright-plumed head, and it held Arran’s last defender captive
with its piercing stare. The woman’s short sword lay forgotten at her feet. Her shield hung loose at
her side.
Soon, either the bird would dart in for a poisonous bite or the warrior would fall over dead from its
gaze alone.
I have to distract it. Inaol hefted the spear. She’d only half-heartedly trained with one at home,
but she didn’t need accuracy for this. She aimed not for the cockatrice, but beyond it, toward an
abandoned cart of pots and pans. Their likely owner lay nearby, probably killed before he could
return them to the kitchen to be refilled.
The spear flew, knocking one pot askew and sending the rest tumbling. The cacophony startled
the cockatrice. It moved to investigate the ruckus. Inaol kept herself at its back and darted to the
warrior’s side. The woman was sluggish, but allowed Inaol to drag her out of the monster’s sights.
They crouched down behind an overturned wagon while the warrior’s will returned. It wouldn’t
be long before the cockatrice came looking for its missing prey, and now neither of them had a
weapon.
But she still has her shield.
The warrior didn’t protest when Inaol unstrapped it from her arm. Red lacquer, like Arran’s gates,
coated the wood. Inaol saw her face in the polish. It wasn’t perfect, but it might do long enough to
let them escape.
The cockatrice crowed with rage. Its talons scraped along the hard ground, ever closer.
Inaol secured the shield in front of them, then waited, not daring to peek, until she heard the
cockatrice’s footsteps stop. At last, she dared a glance over the shield’s edge. The monster bird
stared at its own reflection, transfixed.
“GO.” Inaol mouthed to her companion. Together, the women broke for the gate.
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Chapter Four
Creatures
of the Wyld
11 Descending Wood
Why we decided to venture into the bordermarches in the first place, I’ll never know. What I do
know is that we’ve been following this goat around since before the sun set, and it’s nearly dawn
now. We keep talking about turning back — we’ve even started to, several times! But we always end
up back here with this damned goat. If this keeps up, we’re liable to walk until we starve…
Black Hollow
Most people never see a black hollow — only the effects
of its passage. Concealed within a featureless, blacker-than-black sphere, it drains color from whatever
it touches, stripping it from surfaces and tearing into
anything thicker than paper to get at the hue hidden
within. It’s fond of the brilliant carmine red of human
blood, and leaves victims a twisted fractal of gray pulp
and fluid after it shreds them alive. No evidence of the
black hollow’s true shape remains when it perishes, only
an explosion of color that stains anything nearby with
the hues it most recently consumed. Some savants believe the black hollow doesn’t have a true shape, nothing
more than its endless hunger. The light of the Exalted
soul spilling out into the world gives off pure, sublime
colors a black hollow cannot resist.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 7 dice
Personal Motes: 20m
Health Levels: −0x5/−4x2/Incap.
Actions: Feats of Destruction: 6 dice (may attempt
Strength 3 feats); Senses: 7 dice (see Color Scent);
Stealth: 4 dice (see Pitch Black); Tracking: 10 dice
Resolve 1, Guile 5
COMBAT
Attack (Flense): 9 dice (Damage 9/3); Tags:
Melee (see Anima-Devouring Maw)
Attack (Grapple): 8 dice (10 to control) (see Oubliette)
Combat Movement: 7 dice
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Evasion 4, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 12/6
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Starved for Hue: With a successful flense attack
on an Exalt whose anima banner is visible, the black
hollow steals the character’s Essence for itself: two
motes if the banner is at the glowing level, four at
burning, or six at bonfire/iconic. This can increase the
black hollow’s pool beyond its usual maximum, up to
30 total motes; however, unused motes in excess of
20 vanish at the end of the scene.
MERITS
Color Scent: Black hollows are blind, but they can
sniff color out, even beneath skin or behind a wall,
and then destroy those barriers to get at it. They can’t
detect things that are completely black or white, transparent objects like glass, or each other.
Oubliette: A successful grapple gambit pulls the foe
into the sphere, where the black hollow devours all
light. The victim is blinded until they escape, suffering
a −3 modifier on actions that rely on sight.
Pitch Black: Characters who can’t see in total darkness increase penalties to find or notice the black
hollow in dim light or darkness by two.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Fractal Strike (1-5m; Supplemental; Instant; Dual;
Essence 2): The black hollow’s attacks twist around
obstacles in impossible ways. A supplemented withering attack ignores soak from armor equal to motes
C h a pt e r F o u r : C r e a t u r e s o f th e W i l d
spent, up to five; a decisive attack
ignores Hardness from armor equal
to motes spent, up to five.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Chaotic Veil (2m, 2i per +1; Reflexive; One scene; Essence
1): A thin, almost invisible ribbon of warped
prism always surrounds
the sphere. This Charm
expands that ribbon to
fill more space; all characters within short range,
including the black hollow
itself, gain +1 Evasion per
two motes plus two Initiative spent against any attackers that rely on sight, to
a maximum of +3. The black
hollow cannot end this Charm
prematurely.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Anima-Devouring Maw (6m
per anima level; Simple; Instant;
Essence 2): The black hollow consumes one level of an Exalt’s visible
anima banner per six motes spent, absorbing the divine light into itself
and diminishing the target’s anima
display accordingly. This Charm
can target anyone within range of a
flense attack. The sphere can hold up
to three total anima levels, whether
from the same target or different ones.
For each anima level it has absorbed,
its flense attacks increase their reach by
one range band as the sphere grows in size;
thus, with one anima level its attacks can reach
to short range, with two to medium, and so on. All
consumed anima levels vanish at the end of the scene.
Storyteller Tactics
Black hollows only care about eating color, the brighter
the better, and blood red is their favorite. Though they’re
silent and their matte-black spheres are easy to miss in
darkness, they’re too single-minded to deliberately employ stealth. A difficulty 3 gambit to distract a black hollow with a brighter color can pull it away from its current combat target.
Whenever a black hollow deals damage to an
enemy or breaks an object, it
consumes some of the target’s pigment, turning its colors paler and less saturated. The effect reverses at the end of the scene unless the target is
destroyed.
A black hollow flees combat when it has taken damage in
its first −4 health level.
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Cockatrice
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 6 dice (Damage 9)
Attack (Tail lash): 9 dice (Damage 11)
Attack (Toxic breath): 8 dice (Damage 7); short
range (see Vile Fumes)
Attack (Tail grapple): 8 dice (7 to control)
Attack (Paralysis grapple): 10 dice (12 to
control) (see Eyes of Flame)
Combat Movement: 9 dice
Evasion 5, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 6/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Eyes of Flame: The cockatrice’s gaze has a hypnotic effect. It performs a difficulty 3 ranged grapple
gambit at up to medium range. (Wits + Integrity)
opposes the control roll. Success indicates the cockatrice locks eyes with the victim, paralyzing them;
blind characters are immune. It doesn’t suffer Defense
penalties while using this ability. It may only savage
or release a grappled target; savage attacks burn
the victim from the inside out. Another character can
intervene, but the cockatrice
Betimes, a hen lays an egg without a yolk. These “cock’s
eggs,” so named because many believe a cock laid them
rather than a hen, never hatch under normal circumstances — but sometimes, in places where Creation’s
fabric wears thin and the Wyld seeps through, a cock’s
egg hatches. It’s not a chick that crawls out of the broken shell, but a winged lizard with a rooster’s head and
a long, serpentine tail. Blessed with deadly sight, its first
victim is usually its mother, followed by the remainder
of her flock. Hunting is never difficult for the cockatrice,
and it has little to fear from predators; even if they slip
by its gaze, they perish at its touch. A cockatrice never
learns fear, not even of humans, who die just as easily
under even a juvenile cockatrice’s gaze. A single cockatrice can wipe out entire villages, so mortals in the
Threshold smash cock’s eggs when they find them just
in case, to keep disaster at bay.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 6 dice
Health Levels: –0/–1x2/–2x2/–4/Incap.
Actions: Fly: 6 dice; Senses: 8 dice; Stealth: 7 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 1
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“I CLOSE MY EYES!”
A character guessing when it’s safe to open her eyes and attack, and when to close them because she thinks the
cockatrice is about to look at her, leaves herself vulnerable to Eyes of Flame; no one can perfectly anticipate those
moments. The cockatrice’s gambit roll represents the constant interplay of these guessing games and the creature’s own ability to catch victims off-guard.
From a systems perspective, players must choose at the beginning of each round between fighting blind for the
entire round or risking the cockatrice’s success on the staredown gambit. Even those choosing to fight blind must
peek to interpose themselves effectively between the cockatrice and a paralyzed ally; doing so always risks the
gambit. See Exalted, p. 188, for blindness penalties.
and engages those who sneak up behind it by grabbing
or lashing them with its tail while it paralyzes those who
face it head-on.
reflexively makes a new control roll as though it had
succeeded on the grapple gambit against the interloper. Failure transfers the paralysis to that character,
resetting the cockatrice’s rounds of control based
on the new result. The original target is then free to
move, as the cockatrice can only stare a single target
to death at a time. However, it can maintain Eyes of
Flame and a tail grapple simultaneously.
MERITS
Cold Iron Bane: Iron weapons deal aggravated
damage to cockatrices.
Vile Fumes: The cockatrice’s breath and bite are
toxic, exposing victims to its venom when it succeeds
on these attacks. Its touch is also a vector. The poison
deals 4i/round (lethal in Crash), lasts for three rounds,
and imposes a −3 penalty (see Exalted, p. 232).
Storyteller Tactics
Clever gambits, such as distractions or traps, are the best
way to deal with a cockatrice without falling prey to its
lethal stare and toxic touch. Indirect attacks, such as fire
or volleys of arrows, can work, but don’t always guarantee a quick death — and a cockatrice can fly away from
threats. Fighting blind protects against its stare but not
its poison, and few can boast the training needed to survive against such a foe without sight.
A cockatrice is deadly, and it knows it. This makes it
foolhardy, brazenly confronting humans face-to-face. It
likes to stare down at foes from a high, haughty perch,
The most reliable way to kill a cockatrice is with a mirror: It locks eyes with itself and thinks its reflection is
an enemy, performing its Eyes of Flame gambit against
its own Defenses. Trapping a cockatrice with a mirror is
a difficulty 4 gambit and requires finding a mirror with
sufficient polish and of a size that the cockatrice paralyzes itself before whoever holds it. Such treasures are rare
in the Threshold.
Epochine
When Creation first formed from the writhing mass of
the Wyld, the epochines bore witness. They rose from
the waters on brilliant wings, borne aloft not only by
winds but by possibility. The epochines observed all the
empires that rose and fell and rose again, collecting their
stories and tucking their memories away. They have observed the ends of ages, and have seen the world end
more times than there are stars in the sky.
They understand situations and events that might have
been and never were. When threads are snipped from
the Loom of Fate, epochine birds pick them up and tie
them to their tailfeathers. They have a special fondness
for the Getimian Exalted, which makes them prey for
Sidereals.
Epochines are winged serpents with the faces of tigers.
Their scales and plumage tend toward deep blues and
emerald green, giving them a touch of the peacock’s
beauty.
While an epochine would never deign to be a familiar,
the creatures enjoy imparting knowledge from eras long
past. Epochines have, as their name implies, lives that
span epochs. This makes them long-winded — many
think nothing of spinning a tale that spans days, weeks,
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or even months in the telling. They require the listener’s
utmost attention; interruptions wound their pride and
may cause the epochine to rescind its goodwill.
Epochines have observed so many stories with so many
possible outcomes that boredom sets in easily. Someone
who seeks their input on a situation that is new to an epochine is a welcome companion indeed.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 8; Join Battle: 8 dice
Personal Motes: 50
Health Levels: −0x5/−1x5/−2x3/−4x3/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “I have outlasted many things,
and I will outlast you.”; Major: “I desire new experiences.”; Minor: Getimian Exalted (fondness)
Actions: Fly: 7 dice; Historical Knowledge: 12 dice;
Occult Lore: 8 dice; Read Intentions: 6 dice; Senses:
7 dice; Social Influence: 7 dice; Wyld Lore: 10 dice
Appearance 4, Resolve 5, Guile 6
COMBAT
Attack (Claws): 10 dice (Damage 13)
Attack (Grapple): 12 dice (12 to control)
Combat Movement: 6 dice
Evasion 5, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 6/0
MERITS
Cold Iron Bane: Iron weapons deal aggravated
damage to epochines.
MOBILITY CHARMS
Flight of Fancy (5m; Reflexive; Instant; Essence 1):
With a beat of its mighty wings, the epochine flies
straight up, launching itself to long range. Once per
scene, if engaged in combat, it may do this without
rolling to disengage.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Threads of the Past Meditation (15m; Simple;
Instant; Essence 2): The epochine spends a round in
quiet contemplation of its target’s Essence. From this
study, it can follow the branches of history and fate
that led the character to this moment and gains insight
about the difficulties facing her. Based on this knowledge and that of similar lives it has observed, the epochine predicts three distinct possible outcomes to the
target’s current situation and pending choices.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Demonstration of Insignificance (10m; Simple;
Instant; Essence 2): The epochine plucks a feather from
its body and speaks its enemy’s name as it releases the
feather into the wind. Until the epochine’s next turn, the
target becomes overwhelmed by how miniscule he is
by comparison to Creation and its vast history, suffering
a −3 dice penalty to all non-reflexive actions.
Measure the Wind (5m; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): The epochine can determine the nature of anyone
approaching it seeking the wisdom of the past.
Storyteller Tactics
Epochines prefer talking to fighting, and attempt to
persuade an enemy to settle their differences without
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violence. Failing that, they favor evasive maneuvers,
making their opponent give chase — both to tire him out
physically and to deplete his mote pool if he has one. If
the enemy still insists on fighting, the epochine attempts
to grapple its target and fly as high as it can, giving him a
good look at the world below. Then, like a seagull dropping a crab to break its shell, the epochine lets go. It will,
of course, remember the victim after his death.
An epochine attempts to flee when it suffers damage to
its first –4 health level.
Furia
With the screams of his slain Solar brethren still ringing
in his ears, the Full Moon Fedaran fled beyond Creation’s
borders. His only thought was to run until exhaustion finally drowned out the sounds of death and grief stopped
squeezing his heart. He screamed his pain and fury and
loss into the chaos, hearing it echo back on Wyld winds.
But the voice that came back wasn’t entirely his own. The
Wyld gave shape to his rage. At first, it was nothing more
than a red, twitching mass crying the names of Fedaran’s
Solar family and whispering the names of the DragonBlooded who murdered them, like knives sharpening on a
whetstone. Then it looked into Fedaran’s heart, and it grew
wings, and terrible sharp claws, and so very many teeth.
When Fedaran left the Wyld, he did not leave alone.
Retribution came with him.
The furiae are vengeance and merciless justice incarnate. Though they care little for human laws and lives,
the surge of emotions that accompanies those who
have been wronged intrigues them. Righteous anger,
cold-blooded calculations, bottomless grief, and cathartic release draw the furiae with the promise of sustenance. These creatures have hawk-like bodies with
wingspans up to 10 feet. Their faces are almost human,
like statues carved from red jade, until they open their
mouths. Within, rows of sharp-tipped teeth gleam.
Furiae make their nests from the bones of the guilty.
They hear the piteous wails of the betrayed and set out
to exact revenge on the perpetrators of those crimes.
While they are creatures of emotion and instinct, furiae
are also intelligent. In some towns in the far reaches of
the Wyld, citizens call upon a furia to sit in judgment
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over those accused of egregious acts. The creature won’t
feast on the innocent, but eagerly devours the guilty.
Essence: 2; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 7 dice
Personal Motes: 40
Health Levels: −0x3/−1x4/−2x4/−4x3/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “The taste of justice is sweet on my
tongue.”; Major: “All guilty parties fear retribution, and I
savor that fear.”; Minor: The Wronged (Protectiveness)
Actions: Feats of Strength: 7 dice (may perform
Strength 3 feats); Fly: 8 dice; Integrity: 7 dice; Read
Intentions: 6 dice; Senses: 5 dice; Social Influence: 7
dice; Tracking: 6 dice (see Keen Eyes)
Appearance 2, Resolve 3, Guile 3
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 12 dice (Damage 15, minimum 3)
Attack (Claws): 10 dice (Damage 12)
Combat Movement: 6 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 4
Soak/Hardness: 6/0
MERITS
Cold Iron Bane: Iron weapons deal aggravated
damage to furiae.
Keen Eyes: Double 9s on vision-based Senses rolls.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Feast of Vengeance (1wp; Simple; Instant;
Essence 2): The furia feasts on its target’s fear and
remorse. After a successful withering attack, it may
regain a like amount of motes instead of the Initiative it
would have gained from the attack.
Righteous Strike (3m; Reflexive; Decisive-only; Instant;
Essence 2): On a successful decisive attack, add bonus
dice to the damage roll equal to the target’s Guile.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Guilt Wrack (5m; Simple; One scene; Essence 2): The
furia floods its target with guilt for any harm he’s caused.
Gain +3 dice on social actions against that target.
Heavy Soul Introspection (10m; Simple; Instant;
Essence 2): The furia peers into its target’s soul to see
the sins that weigh it down. Gain three automatic successes on a roll to discern the target’s Intimacies.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Measure the Wind (5m; Simple; Instant; Essence
1): The furia can discern the nature of someone guilty
of a crime.
Storyteller Tactics
A furia relentlessly pursues its prey, harrying him until he
turns and faces it or collapses from exhaustion. It calls out in
the voices of both living and dead victims to unsettle its target, provoking regret and guilt. Should the target confess his
crimes, it ceases its harrying tactics in favor of inflicting pain
and injury; should the crime be severe enough, they may inflict death. Forgiveness is for the victims to grant. Punishment
belongs to the furiae, and they will have their due.
A furia attempts to flee when it suffers damage to its first
–4 health level.
Grelidaka
the Thousand Hungry Wings
Every flock of birds sighted in the far West brings a moment of dread: “Is this the day I die?” Usually, it’s only a
flock of starlings. But one time in a thousand, the flock
only gets louder, larger, and angrier as it approaches.
When it descends to attack, it’s already too late to run.
The grelidaka is an ever-growing mass of Wyld-crazed
mutant birds, each one jet black, that exists only to strip
the flesh from anything that lives. It can wipe entire
villages off the map in minutes. The grelidaka is a true
hive being: Individuals removed from it sicken and die in
days, no matter how they’re cared for. They tear themselves apart to reproduce, one bird birthing two or more
others. Sometimes they do this of their own accord;
other times, it happens as someone frantically defends
herself, not knowing that for every bird slain, two more
squirm out of the corpse to take its place.
A grelidaka is a battle group by default. The traits below
already include calculations for battle group traits where
appropriate; for instance, values given for Evasion and
Parry already include the group’s Drill and Might bonuses. Components of a grelidaka never act alone.
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Essence: 1; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 8 dice
Magnitude: 5 + Size
Actions: Feats of Destruction: (5 + Size) dice (may
attempt Strength 3 feats, or 5 at Size 5); Flight: 8 dice;
Resist Disease/Poison: 6 dice; Senses: 6 dice
Resolve 4, Guile 1
C h a pt e r F o u r : C r e a t u r e s o f th e W i l d
COMBAT
Attack (Claw): (7 + Size) dice (Damage 11 + Size)
Attack (Peck): (7 + Size) dice (Damage 7 + Size);
Tags: Piercing
Combat Movement: (7 + Size) dice
Evasion 6, Parry 4
Soak/Hardness: (2 + Size)/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Blot Out the Sun: Terrain within short range of a
grelidaka is considered difficult, and characters within
it suffer an Evasion penalty equal to the grelidaka’s
(Size/2), rounded up. At Size 5, the area of effect increases to medium range. Characters who otherwise
ignore difficult terrain still suffer the Evasion penalty.
From One, Many: A grelidaka comes into being
as a Size 1 battle group with elite Drill and Might
1. When its Magnitude track fills with damage, it
gains a level of Size instead of losing it. For every
Magnitude box marked with damage, add +1 to
the grelidaka’s dice pools; these bonuses vanish
whenever Magnitude refreshes. If the group grows
to Size 5, the next time its Magnitude track fills with
damage, it splits into two Size 3 grelidaka. Once
the two flocks finish off their current prey, they go
their separate ways.
MERITS
Legion Swarm Tactics: The grelidaka adds Size to
its Feats of Destruction and combat movement pools in
addition to the usual traits.
Mindless: Grelidaka treat all social influence as unacceptable and have perfect morale.
Storyteller Tactics
A grelidaka is not especially smart. It cares only about
killing, attacking the most obvious target rather than
swarming weaker prey. It cannot open doors, though it
smashes through obstacles when it can; only sturdy cover and silence keep a grelidaka out. Once it scours the
area clean, it moves on. It’s not vindictive and doesn’t
hunt down stragglers if it doesn’t immediately perceive
them. It doesn’t recognize individuals as separate from
groups, so if one piece of the whole vanishes during the
fight, it doesn’t realize that “piece” still exists in any
meaningful way afterward.
The specific means of destroying a grelidaka are subject
to Storyteller discretion and player ingenuity. As a rule
of thumb, allow a solution to reduce Size by one if it can
destroy birds wholesale and en masse rather than merely injuring or killing them piecemeal, but give the flock
the usual defense the threat allows to avoid it. Options
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include large explosions and other massive applications
of fire, aerial environmental hazards like poison mists,
attacks and spells that affect a large area (like Death of
Obsidian Butterflies (Exalted, p. 472) or the DragonBlooded Charm Arrow Rain Tempest), creative gambits with high difficulties that use the environment, etc.
Characters can also find non-violent solutions, such as
putting the flock to sleep, luring it away from vulnerable
mortals, or sealing it away.
A grelidaka doesn’t flee combat unless a raksha warlord
or Exalted master commands it to.
Haloed Husk
Sometimes, when it rains in a Wyld-touched area in the
Northern Threshold while the sun shines, chaos taints
the clouds, turning a normal sun shower into a Wyld one.
The altered rain burns where it lands, not with flame but
with searing heat. The storm scorches crops and severely burns anyone caught in the deluge. Even after the skies
clear, a secondary threat lurks in puddles of pooled light.
When a person or animal drinks of the liquid sunlight,
their core catches ablaze. Light coruscates from every
orifice as their body sizzles and steams. The false sunlight boils away their minds and personalities, until all
that remains is the haloed husk — a being of pure radiance and raw instinct wrapped in its still-living flesh.
Some people nickname these creatures “sun dogs,” as
their most common forms in human settlements are
those of beloved pets turned monstrous.
A haloed husk needs to feed on light to survive. Despite
their animal cunning, husks can’t kindle flames or light
lamps, instead stealing illumination from their surroundings. Ambient sunlight nourishes them during the
day, but after sunset, they approach human settlements
or campsites and attack the inhabitants to steal light
from lanterns and hearth fires; in cold Northern climes,
losing one’s campfire to a desperate husk can prove
deadly. Exalted anima banners provide particularly potent sustenance.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 3; Join Battle: 6
Health Levels: −0/−1x2/−2x2/−4x1/Extinguished
Actions: Feats of Strength: 6 dice (may attempt
Strength 5 feats); Sense Light: 10 dice; Senses: 6 dice
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 6 dice (Damage 9)
Attack (Claw/Pummel): 7 dice (Damage 11)
Combat Movement: 5 dice
Evasion 2, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 3/3
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SPECIAL ABILITIES
Blinding Light: Once per turn, reflexively spend
one Willpower to gain +3 Evasion for one turn, as the
light within becomes blinding. Anyone who can perceive the haloed husk must roll (Wits + Awareness),
difficulty 3, to react quickly enough to look away;
failure leaves them blinded (Exalted, p. 188) for the
next round.
Call the False Rains: For one Willpower, a haloed
husk induces a Wyld sun shower as a miscellaneous
action, as long as full sunlight or equivalent illumination shines upon it. This creates an environmental
hazard with damage 1B/2 rounds, difficulty 5. The
liquid sunlight left behind is a poison when ingested,
dealing 4i/round (L in Crash) with duration 5 rounds
and a −3 penalty; characters who would die to this
poison transform into haloed husks instead. Husks are
immune to these effects.
Luminescent Feast: For one Willpower, the husk
rolls 10 dice at difficulty 1 to steal from a single light
source within short range as a miscellaneous action,
decreasing that source’s illumination level by one (see
chart) and healing one bashing or lethal health level.
Exalted anima banners pilfered this way decrease by
one intensity level; however, if the light source has
an Essence rating, the Luminescent Feast roll’s difficulty becomes (source’s Essence). If the husk spends
consecutive rounds successfully stealing light from the
same source, it doesn’t need to spend more than one
Willpower.
MERITS
Lambent Salve: Real light, such as Creation’s sunlight, firelight, Exalted anima banners, or light cast by
artifacts, grants a haloed husk vigor and endurance.
Add one −0 health level per level of light currently
shining on the husk based on the chart below, which
breaks illumination down into discrete levels for purposes of haloed husk systems. Without a source of
real light, a husk takes one level of lethal damage per
hour, ignoring Hardness. Wyld-generated light, including a husk’s own inner glow, provides no benefits.
C h a pt e r F o u r : C r e a t u r e s o f th e W i l d
Storyteller Tactics
Haloed husks are creatures of instinct. They create Wyld
sun showers out of pure revelry; new husks born this
way are just side effects. When sated, they’re violent and
impulsive, while waning light or darkness makes them
cunning in their desperation. They can operate doors
and even use rudimentary tools if they have opposable
thumbs, but are incapable of speech beyond guttural
cries. While they’re not predisposed to pack tactics, a
lone light source can draw several to the same point, and
a pecking order quickly develops.
Animals with the Tiny Creature Merit are too small to
become haloed husks; the liquid sunlight kills them outright. Conversely, creatures of Legendary Size suffer superficial burns if they drink the false sunlight, but are too
large to be transformed.
If a haloed husk suffers damage to its −4 health level
due to lack of light, it curls in on itself like a banked coal
and lies dormant rather than being Extinguished. It uses
Luminescent Feast reflexively and subconsciously while
dormant whenever sufficient light shines on it, and reawakens when it heals its first −1 health level.
Lambent Salve
# of Added −0
Health Levels
Illumination Level
+0
Total darkness; no moon
+1
Candle; waning moon
+2
Torch; full moon; glowing anima banner*
+3
Campfire; burning anima banner*
+4
Massive bonfire; dawn/dusk; overcast/shaded daylight; bonfire anima banner*
+5
Raging inferno; full sunlight
* Solar Exalted anima banners count as one illumination level higher.
If the light source is focused from a single point rather than ambient, lower its effective illumination by one step per range band the husk is from the source.
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Kian-Ji
the Heartmirror, from Whom Intention Springs
In the palace of Kian-Ji, the table is always set for a feast.
At first glance, Kian-Ji is a severe man, thin and pointed, seeming more like a satrap’s overworked functionary
than a king of the Wyld. But his welcoming smile melts
away that impression, and he engages his guests in such
a range of topics that time passes quickly. With each
course, the food grows stranger, but Kian-Ji samples
every dish with gusto. Soon, visitors recognize familiar
things upon his plate: the signet ring of a rival, a lover’s
sly smile, a cobblestone from a street in their beloved
Nexus. Kian-Ji eats them all, opening his mouth wide
and wider still to accommodate every bite.
Is his palace real? Was it all a waking dream? Those who
have dined at his table have no good answers. But the
things that emerged from his mouth, those are real. They
are creatures born of his guests’ Intimacies, made flesh
and given purpose.
When the meal ends, Kian-Ji opens his mouth one more
time, so wide it seems a person could fit inside. But instead, creatures come out. Some are human-like, others
less so. One wears the rival’s signet on a finger with too
many joints. Another’s lips quirk like the lover’s, looking
like her and yet not. Another has skin the color of Nexus
cobblestones and smells of home. They set off into the
world. Kian-Ji thanks his guests as his servants clear
away the meal’s remains. Then he is gone, and his palace
with him.
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Essence: 3; Willpower: 8; Join Battle: 6 dice
Personal Motes: 100
Health Levels: −0x8/−1x10/−2x8/−4x3/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “A good host helps his guests
achieve their highest potential.”; Major: “I know what
people need, even when they themselves don’t.”;
Minor: His Guests (Bemused Affection).
Actions: Command Avatar: 10 dice; Feats of
Strength: 8 dice (may attempt Strength 5 feats); Read
Intentions: 12 dice; Senses: 8 dice; Social Influence:
15 dice
Appearance 3, Resolve 8, Guile 6
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 15 dice (Damage 20)
Attack (Unarmed): 10 dice (Damage 10)
Attack (Grapple): 12 dice (12 to control)
C h a pt e r F o u r : C r e a t u r e s o f th e W i l d
WYLD INFLUENCE
Should an avatar remain in the Wyld rather than traveling back to more stable areas of Creation, Wyld mutation
takes effect. As the avatar mutates, so does the character’s related Intimacy; changes are rarely so straightforward
as “I no longer hate my rival.” Perhaps the victim grows convinced that the rival is the head of a vast and impossible
conspiracy, or that an impostor has replaced the rival, whom he actually doesn’t hate so much and must therefore
save.
Combat Movement: 5 dice
Evasion 5, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 15/0
MERITS
Cold Iron Bane: Iron weapons deal aggravated
damage to Kian-Ji.
Fae Nature: As a raksha, Kian-Ji is ageless and
needs not eat or drink (though he greatly enjoys it).
His body heals as one of the Exalted and he cannot
die from mundane disease, but he does need to
breathe and sleep as mortals do. In Creation, he
slowly withers and calcifies to death, but can stave off
this fate indefinitely by feeding on mortal souls. He is
incapable of breaking the letter of a sworn promise.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Beguiling Idyll (5m, 1wp; Supplemental; Instant;
Psyche; Essence 2): When Kian-Ji inspires a character, he may also cloud her mind to obfuscate any
perils that might contradict the inspired mood. Gain
+2 dice on inspire rolls to persuade her to act along
with the emotion. Resisting the deceiving inspiration
costs 2 Willpower. If another character points out the
danger or the target is touching iron, the cost is 1 Willpower instead.
Untouchable Performer Technique (5m; Supplemental; Instant; Essence 1): Kian-Ji may use his
Social Influence pool to roll Join Battle. In addition
to determining starting Initiative, this builds a Tie of
adoration and loyalty for himself in characters whose
Resolve is overcome by the result. Characters who
don’t resist this influence don’t fight him, and attempt
to restrain or talk sense into allies who attempt to do
so.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Create Avatar (30m per avatar; Simple; Instant;
Essence 3): Kian-Ji creates beings from Wyld Essence
that bring his guests’ Intimacies to life. These avatars
take on physical traits that represent the chosen Intimacies and attempt to act on the emotions tied to
them. An avatar based on hatred for a rival might try
to ruin or kill the rival, for example. One based on a
Principle like “Honesty is my watchword” may punish
the dishonest.
These avatars are directly linked to the victims’ Intimacies. If the avatar dies, the Intimacy degrades by one
degree. Social actions that strengthen or weaken the
character’s Intimacies heal or harm the avatar by 3
bashing levels, 2 lethal levels, or 1 aggravated level
per Intimacy shift.
Use an appropriate non-unique antagonist from this
book or Chapter 8 of Exalted to determine the avatar’s traits. For example, it may be a human-like creature emulating a shikari, an animal-like creature emulating an eagle, or a more abstract representation of
the Intimacy emulating a bonesider or metody (p. XX).
The Truth Will Out (—; Reflexive; Instant; Essence
3): When Kian-Ji is Incapacitated or killed, his maw
opens wide and his very first victim emerges. Use the
Barbarian Warlord (Exalted, p. 545) or Wandering
Deathknight (Exalted, p. 550) to represent this Exalt,
or any First Age Exalted character who fits the story.
This Exalt has a defining Tie of hatred toward the characters and immediately Joins Battle.
Storyteller Tactics
If attacked, Kian-Ji attempts to use Untouchable
Performer Technique to dissuade his foes from harming
him. Failing that, he creates avatars and orders them to
defend him, putting his enemies’ own ideals at risk.
Should Kian-Ji die, one last being emerges from its
mouth. This is the creature’s original victim, a hero of
the First Age whose convictions shone like a beacon in
the Wyld. The raw power of the Wyld surrounded this
first, true Kian-Ji, personifying his desire to aid those in
need to a horrifying extreme. The real Kian-Ji has been
trapped within the Wyld creature for millennia, and is
likely much changed by his captivity. If the creature dies,
he emerges in whatever horrific form has resulted from
his centuries in Wyld imprisonment.
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Lava Moth
A swarm of lava moths is a sight to behold. Their gossamer wings flicker the color of sunsets and bonfires as
they dance gracefully against the sky. However, their
beauty is best observed from a great distance: Lava
moths have little regard for what they burn, and their
hunger has been known to wipe out hundreds of miles of
forest in a single night.
The moths are large, about the size of a human hand.
Their wings consist of a thin, molten membrane, whose
flames burn hot enough to sear stone. Fire drips in their
wake, spreading and consuming.
While most objects caught in its path burn as if touched
by normal fire, a lava moth’s flame affects humans differently. The fire latches onto something within, rather
than without. It burns away an intangible part of the victim — her fear, an old love, guilt she’s held onto for too
long. Some seek out a lava moth’s fiery blessing, hoping
they’ll at last be free of their burdens.
But lava moths are born of the Wyld, and they don’t always take what’s offered. Some supplicants return without any love in their hearts for the families that gave them
joy. Others lose their keen wit, or find their passion for
a beloved career has faded. A singer loved by a Nellens
captain sought the moths’ flame, hoping it would scour
away her fear of drowning. Instead, they stole her love of
music, and she lost both the captain’s affection and her
livelihood.
The Dajazeen tell stories of people who went even further, letting the moths wrap them in a burning cocoon
for ten days and ten nights, and emerging as someone
else entirely.
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Essence: 2; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 6 dice
Health Levels: −0x2/−1x2/−2x2/−4x2/Incap.
Actions: Burn: 10 dice; Lure: 9 dice; Fly: 8 dice;
Read Intentions: 6 dice; Senses: 5 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 1
C h a pt e r F o u r : C r e a t u r e s o f th e W i l d
COMBAT
Attack (Wing buffet): 9 dice (Damage 9)
Combat Movement: 5 dice
Evasion 5, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 6/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Burning Dive: Once per scene, the moth may
spend a Willpower to fly up to long range vertically
as its reflexive move action, tuck its wings, and dive at
its enemy in a meteoric streak. This decisive attack
gains +4 dice to the attack roll, doubles 10s on the
damage roll, and deals aggravated damage.
Conflagration: Once per scene, the lava moth
burns a piece of the target’s memory or nature away.
If the target is unwilling, roll the lava moth’s Burn
pool against the character’s Resolve. If the moth succeeds, the Storyteller and player should decide what
the moth’s fire burns out of the character and how it
affects them. This may be reflected by a change in the
character’s personality, adjusting or replacing one of
their Intimacies or some other agreed-upon effect. It
can even erase Charms or other capabilities related
to the chosen memory loss; if so, refund the experience points spent on it to the player. This counts as an
instill action for purposes of Charms and other effects
that defend against instilling.
Harry: If a lava moth moves into close range of
an enemy and deals 5+ damage to them with a
withering attack in the same turn, that enemy cannot
disengage or withdraw on their next turn.
MERITS
Dousing Bane: A thorough soaking in water or
freezing temperatures douse a lava moth’s flame. It
loses access to all special abilities and its Burn pool
until the scene ends or it warms up and dries out
again, whichever comes first.
Moth to the Flame: The lava moth senses passions,
gaining one automatic success on Read Intentions
rolls.
Tiny Creature: Lava moths gain +2 Evasion against
attacks made by larger foes.
Storyteller Tactics
Lava moths normally attack in a swarm, harrying and
overwhelming their prey with sheer numbers, though a
number small enough to be individual combatants can
be just as frightening as a sky-obscuring mass. A large
swarm is a battle group with Size 2, average Drill, and
Might 2.
If someone approaches the moths in a bid to request or
demand their power, the moths are content to flit around
the target while he makes his case. As creatures of the
Wyld, their interpretation of the target’s needs doesn’t
always match his intentions.
A lava moth attempts to flee when it suffers damage to its
last –2 health level.
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Mata-Yadh
the Congeries of Obsidian and Aurora
Mata-Yadh is a larval behemoth, freshly born from the
Wyld. Its house-sized body is a swirling congeries of many-colored aurora with a ridge of obsidian atop it, where
a daring rider can stand. Mata-Yadh has twelve clawed
limbs of obsidian, each one standing high as a human,
but not physically connected to the behemoth’s central
body — only faint wisps of aurora limn its uppermost
edge. Mata-Yadh is representative of the low-end Wyld
behemoths the Fair Folk might ride into battle or send to
head their armies.
Essence: 3; Willpower: 7; Join Battle: 10 dice
Personal Motes: 50
Health Levels: −0x25/Incap. (see Obsidian Body)
Speed Bonus: +2
Actions: Feats of Strength: 12 dice (may attempt
Strength 7 feats); Senses: 8 dice; Threaten: 9 dice
Appearance 3, Resolve 4, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Obsidian claws): 12 dice (Damage
15/5)
Attack (Grapple): 12 dice (12 to control)
Combat Movement: 10 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 6
Soak/Hardness: 16/10
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Overwhelming Might: Mata-Yadh makes unopposed grapple control rolls against enemies of
smaller size, unless they use magic that allows them to
grapple larger foes, such as Dragon Coil Technique
(Exalted, p. 280).
MERITS
Cold Iron Bane: Iron weapons deal aggravated
damage to Mata-Yadh.
Legendary Size: Mata-Yadh suffers no onslaught
penalties from attacks made by smaller enemies, unless
they are magically inflicted. Withering attacks from
smaller enemies cannot Crash it unless they have at
least 10 post-soak damage dice, although attackers
still gain the full amount of Initiative damage dealt. Decisive attacks from smaller enemies cannot deal more
than (3 + attacker’s Strength) levels of damage to it, not
counting any levels added by Charms or other magic.
Obsidian Body: As a being of living glass, Mata-Yadh lacks the anatomy for susceptibility to
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mundane poison, disease, deprivation, or conventional wound penalties. However, characters may
attempt to disable the beast by shattering one of its 12
limbs as a difficulty 5 gambit. Each time a limb is shattered, Mata-Yadh loses 3 Initiative points. For every
two limbs destroyed, Mata-Yadh suffers a −1 wound
penalty, maximum −4. If all limbs are destroyed, Mata-Yadh is immobilized, unable to attack and effectively prone with no ability to rise.
Shadowsense: Mata-Yadh has no eyes, but
senses shadows cast by its aurora. Double 8s and
negate penalties on all Senses rolls except in total
darkness or total illumination in which shadows can’t
exist.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Prism-Pyre Immolation (10m, 1wp; Simple;
Instant; Decisive-only; Essence 3): Mata-Yadh initiates
a grapple with +5 dice on the gambit roll. It suspends
a grappled enemy within its aurora body, which is an
environmental hazard (damage 4L/round, difficulty
3). Mata-Yadh ignores the usual penalties for grappling, but cannot savage, slam, or throw its foe. It
has Defense 0 against attacks made by the grappled
enemy, but the penalty the victim suffers for being
grappled subtracts successes, not dice.
Raking Obsidian Shards (10m, 1wp; Simple;
Instant; Decisive-only; Essence 3): Mata-Yadh’s
claws whirl in a razor-sharp obsidian vortex. Roll one
decisive attack with +5 dice against all characters
within short range. Roll (Initiative / 2) total dice of
damage against all characters it hits, but subtracts its
current wound penalty from this damage roll. This attack’s range is reduced to close at wound penalty −2
or higher.
DEFENSIVE CHARMS
Aurora Bleed (5m, 5i; Reflexive; Instant; Decisive-only, Perilous; Essence 2): When Mata-Yadh
takes decisive damage or loses a limb from a close
range attack, a prismatic flash erupts from the wound.
This is a one-time environmental hazard applied
against all characters within close range (damage
5L/instant, difficulty (8 ‒ current wound penalty). A
damaged character is blinded for the rest of the scene
(Exalted, p. 168).
Blinding Aurora (5m, 2i; Reflexive; Until its next
turn; Perilous; Essence 1): Enemies within medium
range take a −3 penalty on attack rolls and other vision-dependent actions targeting Mata-Yadh.
C h a pt e r F o u r : C r e a t u r e s o f th e W i l d
Foe-Snatching Grasp (5m, 1wp; Reflexive;
Instant; Clash, Decisive-only; Essence 3): Mata-Yadh
can clash with a grapple gambit and may enhance
it with Prism-Pyre Immolation reflexively. Winning the
clash grants +3 successes on the Initiative and control
rolls. This does not count as Mata-Yadh’s combat
action. It can’t use this Charm at wound penalty ‒2
or higher.
God-Monster Revival (1wp; Reflexive; Instant;
Perilous; Essence 2): When Mata-Yadh crashes an
enemy, it may roll (current Initiative ‒ current wound
penalty). It costs one resulting success to heal one
level of non-aggravated damage, and three successes each to restore a disabled limb. This Charm resets it
to base Initiative and is usable once per scene.
MOBILITY CHARMS
Many-Legged Pursuit (6m; Supplemental;
Instant; Essence 1): Mata-Yadh can rush an enemy
with lower Initiative from medium range with +5 dice,
instantly closing the distance on a success. It cannot
use this Charm at wound penalty −2 or higher.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Loyal Monstrosity (5m; Reflexive; Instant; Essence
1): Gain +4 Resolve against any social influence
made by anyone other than its rider. It gains 1 Initiative if it successfully applies its Resolve.
Otherworldly Horror Mien (5m; Reflexive;
Instant; Essence 2): Gain +5 dice to a threaten roll
and ignore all penalties on that roll. Resisting costs +1
Willpower and requires invoking at least a Major Intimacy of courage in the Decision Point.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Wall-Rending Claws (5m; Supplemental; Instant;
Essence 2): Double 7s on the roll for a feat of demolition.
Storyteller Tactics
Mata-Yadh is a monstrously powerful grappler and uses
that to its advantage, taking the biggest threat among a
group of enemies into itself and picking off the rest with
Raking Obsidian Shards. It thrives when surrounded,
banking on its enormous size and defensive Charms to
protect it. As more limbs break and it weakens, it shifts
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to cautious tactics, preferring to blind and separate foes
before squashing them. When Mata-Yadh’s wound penalties reach −4, it flees combat to heal unless a rider forces it to continue with magic.
As a mount, Mata-Yadh follows its master’s commands
and never spooks or disobeys until its wound penalties
reach −4. A rider can coordinate her attacks with the
Congeries’ for a devastating offensive, making ranged
attacks on suspended opponents and taking advantage
of the high ground her perch offers. Mata-Yadh shines
when its master’s foe plays hard to get, maximizing its
mobility advantages and crushing cover underfoot to
clear the way for its rider’s attacks.
Mirrorkin
Mirrorkin are shape-stealers born from reflections. Any
shiny surface in the Wyld can spawn one: a mirror, an undisturbed puddle, the gleam of a well-polished shield. The mirrorkin emerges wearing the face and form of the one whose
likeness created it and sets off to experience the world.
The type of reflective surface it came from shows in the
mirrorkin’s skin. One born from a puddle ripples like
water. Another that stepped out from an orichalcum
blade’s keen edge glows golden in the sun. If the mirror
that birthed it was cracked with age and covered in dust,
fine lines etch the mirrorkin’s dull flesh.
The mirrorkin moves like its living counterpart,
adopting his graceful gait or her Legion-trained
stride. It can speak in simple phrases and adopt any
accent and characteristic idioms it heard its double speaking when it was born, but cannot carry on
a complex conversation. The mirrorkin acts mostly
on instinct, seeking out basic, tangible pleasures with
no complex agenda. Inhabitants of some towns in the
bordermarches greet one another with riddles or rapid-fire questions, knowing a mirrorkin won’t be able
to provide the appropriate response.
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Mirrorkin make mediocre decoys with their inability
to improvise. However, one princess in Jibei famously hired a musician to play for her mirrorkin while she
herself snuck out into the city. When her guards looked
in on her, they saw only their lady enjoying a quiet evening’s concert, and for months they were none the wiser.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 5 dice
Health Levels: −0x2/−1x3/−2x3/−4/Incap.
Actions: Feats of Strength: 4 dice (may attempt
Strength 3 feats); Mimic: 8 dice; Senses: 5 dice;
Social Influence: 4 dice; Stealth: 6 dice
Resolve 1, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Mirrorshard): 8 dice (Damage 10)
Combat Movement: 5 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 4/0
Note: A mirrorkin can also use any weapon or fighting style familiar to its counterpart, using the original’s
physical traits with a −2 dice penalty. It cannot use
any of the original’s Charms or other magical effects.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
The Road Between: The mirrorkin can slip into any
reflective surface, whether its body should be able to
fit into it or not, and emerge from another within long
range.
MERITS
Cold Iron Bane: Iron weapons deal aggravated
damage to mirrorkin.
Storyteller Tactics
A mirrorkin follows its senses toward pleasing things,
such as the smell of a cookfire, the sound of an oud, or
the voice of its counterpart’s lover; it knows these things
instinctively as desirable, even if it doesn’t understand
why. It comprehends simple directions, but is unreliable
and easily distracted.
If unarmed, the mirrorkin breaks off a shard of itself to
use as a dagger in a fight, although it only resorts to violence in self-defense. It adopts its attacker’s fighting
style, though the motions are reversed.
A mirrorkin attempts to flee when it suffers damage to
its last –1 health level. At Incapacitated, it shatters into
pieces.
Napaxu
the Tongue Scorcher
Something stumbles drunkenly into town making a horrible, droning racket. The wise bar their doors and stay
silent. The foolish warily approach; the fortunate among
them flee before the thing sprays them with caustic death,
its jaws dissolving, fumes rising from where saliva dribbles. This thing that was once a person is a victim of napaxu, a Wyld-twisted strain of rabies. Unimaginable pain
drives the unfortunate mad even before its later stages
set in. They spread the illness as their overactive salivary
glands spray concentrated acid wherever they go.
Use the napaxu victim’s original mundane traits
except as noted here. An infected creature cannot use
any Charms or other magical effects.
Actions: Movement: 3 dice; Resist Disease/Poison:
12 dice; Senses: 4 dice; Social Influence: 0 dice
Resolve 1, Guile 0
COMBAT
The infected creature can use any mundane attacks it
would normally possess plus the following:
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Attack (Bite): 5 dice (Damage 6; infection vector,
see Infectious)
Attack (Acid Spray): 7 dice (Damage 7); short
range (see Acidic Fluids)
Evasion 1, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: −3 to usual values
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Acidic Fluids: Infected creatures can spray their
acidic bodily fluids out to short range as a withering acid spray attack. If successful, the target risks
exposure to the virus (see Infectious) in addition to
losing Initiative. Alternatively, the creature may spend
1 Willpower without a roll to create an acid bath environmental hazard within close range of itself (3L/
round, difficulty 5) that lasts two rounds. Anyone who
takes damage from this hazard also risks exposure.
The infected creature automatically and reflexively
creates the hazard when crashed at no cost.
Detonate: Advanced napaxu cases lead to violent
reactions inside the victim’s body. When an infected
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
creature takes damage to its last −4 health level, roll
one die. On a botch, the creature immediately dies
and explodes in a burst of acid that sprays everything
within medium range; roll a decisive acid spray
attack once against the Defense of each target.
Anyone hit by the attack risks exposure (see Infectious).
Infectious: Like mundane rabies, napaxu has virulence 2, morbidity 4, and an interval of one day.
Any contact with the victim’s bodily fluids, including
through a successful bite attack, is a vector for exposure (Exalted, p. 234); a character who takes lethal
damage from an infected source or ingests any fluids
from one risks it. Victims’ mouths tingle, then burn, and
then literally fall apart. Exalted victims cannot die of
napaxu and never detonate, but it certainly makes
their lives miserable.
MERITS
No Lesser Pain: Infected creatures don’t suffer
wound penalties, as the pain of the infection is far
worse than that any injury could inflict.
Storyteller Tactics
Creatures suffering napaxu’s pain are disinclined to long
waits, ambushes, or tactics in general. They often try to
quench their burning mouths with whatever’s available,
leading them to contaminate water sources. The malady causes heightened aggression, so the infected don’t
hesitate to sink what remains of their jaws into others.
They prefer to use their acid spray attack rather than the
close-quarters bite until their target is sufficiently weakened, but whenever it takes damage to its last −2 health
level, it moves toward its foes instinctively in anticipation of detonating.
It is difficult to poison or further infect a napaxu victim,
as the Wyld virus allows no competition for its host.
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Parasitic Shadow
The Wyld once whispered to a traveler’s shadow, teaching it
ambition and hatred for the being keeping it prisoner with
their gift of form. The shadow strangled they who cast it and
fled, possessed of a life of its own. Now, it seeks other shadows trapped by material beings, latching onto them as a second shadow and whispering to the first. Both draw strength
from the hapless victim, who slowly sickens and dies. Once
the parasitic shadow’s work is done, another rises to join it.
Essence: 1, Willpower: 5, Join Battle: 6 dice
Personal Motes: 20
Health Levels: –0x3/Incap.
Actions: Attach: 9 dice; Flee: 8 dice; Senses: 6 dice;
Stealth: 8 dice
COMBAT
Attack (Strangle): 5 dice (Damage 2)
Combat Movement: 9 dice
Evasion 5, Parry 0
Soak/Hardness: 1/0
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MERITS
Awaken Shadow: The presence of an attached
shadow transforms the victim’s natural shadow into
an embryonic parasitic one. If the original parasitic
shadow is destroyed before the host dies, her true
shadow lapses into quiescence; otherwise, when she
expires, it becomes a new parasitic shadow in its own
right and seeks another victim.
Essence Rasp: When unattached, a parasitic
shadow loses 5 motes per day. If wholly drained of
its Essence, it takes 1 point of lethal damage per day
until it regains at least 1 mote or perishes.
Intangible: Parasitic shadows have no substance; physical attacks cannot harm them. Wholly
magical attacks, such as Flight of the Brilliant Raptor
(Exalted, p. 473), and attacks that strike immaterial
entities can, although it is not considered immaterial.
Total immersion in bright light leeches away the shadow’s Essence, inflicting 1 lethal damage and draining
1 mote per turn.
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
If its host dies suddenly, such as from taking more than
their Stamina in damage in a single blow or falling
from a great height, the shadow permanently loses
one dot of Willpower from the shock. If it loses all its
Willpower dots, it fades into nonexistence.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Parasitize (5m; Simple; Instant; Essence 1): The
shadow rolls Attach opposed by the Stamina + Resistance of a living being. If successful, it latches
on, conforming to her silhouette and matching her
movements perfectly but slightly offset from her true
shadow. Noticing its presence requires a Perception
+ Awareness roll, difficulty 4; the Storyteller should
apply situational bonuses or penalties based on the
lighting. The living host takes 1 lethal damage per
day as the shadow drains her life force to survive; it
regains 1 mote and heals 1 health level of any type
per hour while attached. The damage stacks for multiple parasitic shadows attached to a single victim, but
a character can’t have more shadows attached than
she has health levels. A parasitic shadow can detach
from a character reflexively, or they may force its detachment by either killing it or giving it nowhere to
hide (see Intangible).
Substance Thief (10m; Simple; Indefinite; Essence
1): By flowing up into the host’s ears, nose, and
mouth, the shadow spreads its nature to her. While this
Charm is active, the parasitic shadow itself is unnoticeable except with magic that can detect possession
and other such spiritual states. The victim becomes
effectively immaterial, but is still visible. She appears
transparent and as if shrouded in shadow even in
broad daylight. She is completely silent, unable to
make a sound, and she cannot touch anything material. Magic that affects immaterial beings affects
her, but nothing else material can. Victims are often
mistaken for ghosts; determining the truth requires an
Intelligence + Occult roll, difficulty 3.
Escaping this state requires full immersion in light. Both
the shadow and its victim suffer the usual effects of this
immersion, per Intangible. The victim must succeed at
a Wits + Integrity roll opposed by the shadow’s Flee
pool to remain in the light. It detaches after taking
damage to its second −0 health level, as normal (see
Storyteller Tactics).
Storyteller Tactics
Parasitic shadows are creatures of instinct and seek victims indiscriminately to reproduce, although they avoid
Exalts with obvious Caste marks or anima banners unless desperate. They cluster in ever-growing packs when
possible, moving from host to host to increase their
numbers one by one. A pack of parasitic shadows focuses
its efforts on one victim at a time if they can, the better to
quickly reproduce.
If noticed, a parasitic shadow employs Substance Thief
to keep the victim from seeking aid; if the host is not
alone, additional shadows attached to her detach and try
to Parasitize her companions to render them intangible
as well.
A parasitic shadow attached to an Exalt whose anima
flares at bonfire level treats it as full light immersion. A
shadow immediately detaches and attempts to flee when
it takes damage to its second −0 health level.
Silere
Silence is a shroud. It’s the hush that falls after a snowstorm and the weight of clouds before thunder peals and
rain pours. It’s a room full of secrets everyone knows but
no one dares speak and the force of words withheld out
of anger, cruelty, or fear. It’s the pause before the battle
breaks out, the stillness of the hunted when the hunter draws near. Silence is comfort’s companion when no
words can soothe a broken heart.
In the Wyld, silence is a thief, slinking about on padded feet.
The silere stalks soundlessly through the trees, resembling
a panther. Its pale coat is nearly translucent, letting it blend
in with its surroundings. Its voiceless roar suppresses
sound. It sneaks into villages and steals words from elders’
mouths as though their spoken wisdom had never been
uttered. It sits beside cradles and steals the babies’ hungry
wails. It stalks battlefields and steals commands from messengers who bear them. It steals songs and spells and oaths,
and then it slinks away, belly full of nuance and sentiment.
Warriors from one Northern clan have tamed a small
pack of sileres and ride the beasts into battle. They ambush their foes in soundless charges — no thunder of racing paws heralds their approach to wary scouts. A prince
on a remote Western island keeps a silere in his throne
room to hush his advisors’ squabbling and eat the advice
and petitions he disagrees with. An Iselsi spy keeps one
in her menagerie to keep the rumors about her house’s
machinations in check.
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Some Exalts train sileres as familiars, learning to selectively control which sounds the beast takes: a spell from a sorcerer’s lips mid-cast, for example, or the solemn promise
of a Dynast from one Great House to the head of another.
Rumors abound of sorcerers trying to use a silere to
nullify deals they’ve made with demons and spirits,
but it never ends the way they’d like. Such deceitful behavior grates against the magic of the bindings — and
it’s the sorcerer who suffers for their hubris, not the
creature they used as a vehicle for their dishonor.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 6 dice
Health Levels: −0x2/−1x3/−2x3/−4x2/Incap.
Speed Bonus: +4
Actions: Feats of Strength: 7 dice (may attempt
Strength 3 feats); Resist Disease/Poison: 5 dice; Roar:
7 dice; Senses: 6 dice; Stealth: 8 dice; Tracking: 5
dice
Resolve 1, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 8 dice (Damage 10)
Attack (Claw): 8 dice (Damage 9)
Attack (Grapple): 9 dice (10 to control); sileres
cannot throw or slam grappled enemies
Combat Movement: 5 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 5/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Ambush Hunter: Add three dice to unexpected
attacks.
Leaping Pounce: If a silere moves into close range
of an enemy the same size or smaller and deals 5+
damage to them with a withering attack on the
same turn, it may pay 1 Willpower to reflexively
attempt a grapple gambit against its prey.
Silencing Roar: The silere opens its mouth in a
soundless roar as a reflexive action. All noise within
close range of the beast is canceled out for the next
five rounds. Affected characters may roll Charisma +
Resistance opposed by the silere’s Roar pool to make
themselves heard anyway during that time, if only
faintly.
Stolen Words (Magical, 10m): The silere’s master
points it at a target it can perceive and utters a
command, which the silere can hear even if all sound is
suppressed. When the animal gets within close range
of the target, it steals the words of one specific conversation up to an hour long that in which they have
participated within the last day; the master doesn’t
need to have witnessed the conversation, but she must
know it took place and roughly what was said. This
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
affects all participants, even those who aren’t present
now; they remember that the conversation happened,
but nothing that was said. This memory loss is permanent absent magic to dredge the words back up.
Alternatively, the silere’s master can commit 10 motes
to command it to steal a particular word or phrase up
to three words long from everyone’s mouths within five
miles for the rest of the day. This ability is stackable.
MERITS
Noiseless Passage: The silere makes no sound as
it moves. Double 8s on stealth rolls.
Stalking Cat Advantage: Add one automatic
success to Join Battle rolls made from stealth.
Hushed Charge (Latent): The silere’s sound-dampening effects encompass its rider as well, granting the
effects of Ambush Hunter, Noiseless Passage, and
Stalking Cat Advantage to the rider as long as they’re
within close range of the silere.
Storyteller Tactics
A silere prefers to attack from stealth, stalking victims
and ambushing them from the shadows. It uses its silencing roar to both unnerve its opponents and prevent
them from using Charms or spells that require sound to
work. If a sorcerer is among its opponents, the silere focuses its attacks on the spellcaster first.
Sileres may be trained as mounts and are 2-dot Familiars.
A silere attempts to flee when it suffers damage to its last
–2 health level.
Singer of the Deep
Singers of the deep were once Western humans who fell
prey to the Wyld’s influence as it encroached on their islands. It transformed them into humanoid, fishlike creatures, twisted too far to retain true self-awareness and
unable to Exalt, though they’ve kept their sharp intelligence. These mutants live in the ocean, having lost the
ability to walk on land or breathe air; out of water, they
suffocate after about five minutes, or much less if they’re
very active. Their eponymous “singing” is the sound
of sea water whistling through their fins as they swim,
muted and eerie when heard from the surface. When
a singer of the deep leaps from the water to tackle and
seize a victim, its song resounds through the air. A host
of singers gliding toward an unfortunate ship makes an
unearthly wailing heard for miles.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 3; Join Battle: 4 dice
Health Levels: −0x3/−1x2/−2x2/−4x/Incap.
Actions: Feats of Strength: 7 dice (may attempt
Strength 5 feats); Leaping from Water: 8 dice; Resist
Disease/Poison: 6 dice; Senses: 5 dice; Sing: 8 dice;
Stealth: 8 dice (underwater only); Swimming: 9 dice
Resolve 3, Guile 4
COMBAT
Attack (Talons): 9 dice (Damage 12)
Attack (Grapple): 9 dice (9 to control)
Combat Movement: 7 dice (underwater); 2 dice
(on land, prone only)
Evasion 4, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 5/0
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SPECIAL ABILITIES
Ambush Hunter: Add three dice to unexpected attacks.
Drag Below: If a singer moves into close range of
an enemy the same size or smaller, whether underwater or mid-leap, and deals 5+ damage to them with
a withering attack on the same turn, it may pay 1
Willpower to reflexively attempt a grapple gambit
against its prey.
Fearsome Song: Anyone who hears the singer’s
song is subject to a reflexive inspire action using the
singer’s Sing pool against their Resolve. Victims who
fail suffer a −2 dice penalty to all non-reflexive actions
until they either spend 1 Willpower or can’t hear the
song anymore; if they botch a roll, they cower in fear
and can’t move or take any actions until they end the
effects, as above. A character can fully plug their ears
as a simple action as long as they have something
suitable with which to do so to avoid or end the song’s
deleterious effects, but this incurs a –3 penalty on all
hearing-based Awareness or Senses rolls.
Wyld creatures and characters with Wyld mutations are
immune to these effects; instead, as long as they can
hear the song, they increase their base Initiative by 1.
Underwater Stalker: While underwater, a singer
can sense the number and positions of living beings
above the surface from as far away as medium range.
Add two bonus successes on rush rolls against any
foe from whom it’s concealed.
MERITS
Depth Lurker: Subtract three successes from Perception rolls to notice the singer while it’s at long
C h a pt e r F o u r : C r e a t u r e s o f th e W i l d
ships and fishing boats, surge from beneath the waves, and
grab sailors to drag them back down into the depths.
range or farther under the water relative to the character, or moving up from long range while already
hidden. It can rush enemies from long range beneath
them underwater as long as the horizontal distance
between the two is no more than one range band and
the singer is concealed from the target.
Wailing Glide: Singers of the deep leap from underwater to strike at their victims and drag them into the
depths. When they breach the surface, the air whistling through their fins makes their signature song much
louder than underwater, subjecting a greater area to
Fearsome Song. Singers can take combat movement
actions from underwater vertically as well as horizontally as long as the action begins within medium range
of their target, unless Depth Lurker applies. Outside
combat, singers can leap up to 100 yards in the air.
Storyteller Tactics
No one has yet discerned why singers attack and drown
sailors. Some scholars theorize that they wish to make
their land-dwelling cousins one with the ocean too, and
have no idea how to change them; others think the singers hold long-standing generational grudges against humanity at large out of jealousy. Legends take a more romantic view of the former theory: Tales in the West tell
of singers of the deep who either fell in love with surface
dwellers or seek true love above the waves.
Singers of the deep are little more than animalistic monsters with unusual cleverness who understand that humans
are pathetic swimmers. They have a basic language of their
own made up of keening at different pitches, volumes, and
durations, which can express simple and brief ideas like basic ambush tactics or commands to flee. They swim up to
Singers target enemies with the lowest Athletics scores
or wearing the heaviest armor to drag underwater first.
A singer can spend five minutes, or three rounds in combat timing, above water before beginning to suffocate; in
combat, they take 3 bashing damage per round after that
point until they either die or re-submerge. Singers can’t
rise from prone on land without help and can’t stand on
their own.
A singer of the deep flees if it takes damage to its third
–0 health level.
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Siren Tower
Ethereal light emanates from the siren tower, prismed
into enticing rainbows as it passes through the tower’s
myriad crevasses. The tower itself appears less otherworldly, but a great deal less beautiful: a conical conglomeration of debris and strange objects rises several
stories. When a traveler stands beneath it gazing up in
mute fascination, the mass sprouts limbs made of refuse
and clutter that whip through the air and bear down on
anyone in their path. Fighting back may keep them alive,
but it’s also precisely what the tower wants them to do:
damaged enough, the haphazard turret suddenly loses
cohesion and topples, crushing the unfortunate victims
in an avalanche of miscellany. Then, the siren tower reconstructs itself bit by bit, incorporating the new corpse
into its junkyard structure. In time, the light shines
again, and the siren tower waits.
The siren tower puzzles savants, for nothing lives inside
it. It has no core, no animating heart or mind. Attacking it
only serves to scatter its constituent debris, but spreading
that debris out over several miles does prevent the tower
from reforming. Occasionally, people from neighboring
towns try to gather the refuse and clean up the area so
they can use the land. They all end up regretting it.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 7
Personal Motes: 10
Health Levels: −0x10/Scattered
Actions: Shine: 8 dice
Resolve 1, Guile 3
COMBAT
Attack (Collapse): 12 dice (Damage 13; reflexive,
when crashed only)
Attack (Grapple): 9 dice (9 to control)
Attack (Slap): 7 dice at short range (Damage 8)
Combat Movement: 0 dice (5 dice while crashed)
Evasion 0 (2 while crashed), Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 8/6
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Deadly Collapse: Whenever a siren tower enters
Initiative Crash, it reflexively topples and crushes everyone nearby, making one unblockable collapse
attack (see above) and applying it to the Evasion of
each character within short range. It rebuilds itself until
it resets to base Initiative, once again fully standing;
it can’t exit Crash by gaining Initiative through withering attacks or any other method. While crashed,
the piles of debris can still perform withering slap
attacks as normal, and can make clinch attempts but
no other type of decisive attack; it always chooses
to savage prey.
Junkyard Irruption: When a tower’s Initiative
reaches 15+, it may split in two, creating a second
tower standing at medium range from the first. Both
towers’ Initiatives reset to 3.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Diamond in the Rough (7m, 1wp; Simple;
One scene; Psyche; Essence 1): The tower’s light
glints with coy suggestions of treasure among the
debris, promising that tearing it down will yield rich
rewards. Roll the tower’s Shine pool against the
Resolve of a target within long range. Success instills a defining Tie of “Siren Towers (Destruction)”
for the Charm’s duration or until the character pays
1 Willpower, whichever comes first. Paying the
Willpower doesn’t render them immune to further
activations of this Charm.
Unnatural Beacon (3m; Simple; One scene;
Essence 1) Roll the tower’s Shine pool once and
apply it against the Resolve of each character within
long range who can perceive the light. Success instills
a Minor Tie of “Siren Towers (Curiosity);” a character
must spend 1 Willpower to rid themselves of this Intimacy before the Charm’s duration ends. Paying the
Willpower doesn’t render them immune to further activations of this Charm.
Storyteller Tactics
Siren towers rely on their prey coming to them, drawing
the unwary close with a rainbow radiance that shines for
miles or a more concentrated, lighthouse-like rotating
light. Siren towers crop up on little islands at sea or on
coastlines to lure sailors struggling to navigate at night
when the sky is overcast or during a storm; the promise
of a beacon lighting the way to shore is nigh-irresistible
for the desperate.
A siren tower’s only wish is to add to its mass. It knows
that objects and refuse usually accompany living things,
and living things become refuse when they die, so it lures
as many of them as it can. Beyond that, a siren tower’s
most effective option for making living things die is to
coax them to attack it until it collapses, so it’s prone to
making lots of decisive attacks and attempting lots of
gambits to drop its Initiative as quickly as possible. If its
prey survives a few times, it may instead try to build its
Initiative higher to multiply.
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If a siren tower is scattered by damage rather than
through intentional collapse, it takes three days to
reform.
Permanently destroying a siren tower requires spreading its component debris over several miles to prevent it
from reforming; even then, the Wyld Essence that holds
it together lingers in the area for a few weeks, and it can
still reform during that time if its bits are brought back
together again. Burning it all to ash or otherwise obliterating it completely while it’s scattered also works.
A siren tower can’t flee while it’s standing, and never
flees when it’s collapsed.
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H UNDRED DE V I LS N I G H T P ARADE
Unicorn
White as Northern snow with eyes that glow an unearthly blue, bearing an iridescent horn that glitters in
cold sunlight, graceful beyond the finest poetry — a unicorn seems like a dream given life. Unicorns have served
as war mounts for raksha nobles for ages, and as the subjects of stories and nightmares for many a mortal. A unicorn’s horn, while lovely, is a deadly weapon, and those
who approach unwisely find their blood staining the
snow. Masterless unicorns run solo or gather in groups
of three to ten in the northern Wyld’s bordermarches,
defending fantastical lands of pristine allure from any
who would despoil or reshape them. Some unicorns
boast glorious wings, with massive spans and feathers
as pure white as their coats. Unicorns are highly intelligent, and happily converse with those who don’t offend them; but they’re Wyld creatures, not animals, with
alien drives that make them highly unpredictable.
Unicorns obsess over harmony and pleasing aesthetics.
Unity, symmetry, and wholehearted dedication — to anything, be it love, wealth, or the basest cruelty — attract them.
By contrast, contradiction and turmoil are unspeakably ugly
to them. Beauty, too, draws a unicorn, but its idea of beauty
is as strange and ever-shifting as the Wyld itself. A unicorn
smiles upon a blood-spattered battlefield as often as a sublime flower arrangement, as long as the latter doesn’t mar the
former; it would stamp the flowers into pulp to keep them
from spoiling war’s gruesome elegance. Unicorns are proud,
haughty beings who spare no mercy for any who insult or
mistreat them; they view captivity as the worst offense of
all, and those held
against their will sicken and die quickly. But unicorns don’t
stay dead: They rise again from the ice in Wyld lands after a
year and a day, and hold grudges that last centuries.
Essence: 3, Willpower: 8, Join Battle: 8 dice
Health Levels: −0x2/−1x2/−2x3/−4x2/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “I must preserve perfection
in all its forms.”; Major: “Insults are forever.”; Myself
and My Kind (Pride)
Speed Bonus: +5
Actions: Feats of Strength: 8 dice (may attempt
Strength 3 feats); Fly: 10 dice (winged only); Inspire:
9 dice; Northern Navigation and Survival: 7 dice;
Occult Knowledge: 12 dice; Persuade: 6 dice; Read
Intentions: 5 dice; Resist Disease/Poison: 10 dice;
Senses: 8 dice; Threaten: 8 dice; Tracking: 5 dice
Appearance 5, Resolve 5, Guile 5
COMBAT
Attack (Horn): 12 dice (Damage 16)
Attack (Kick/Stomp): 9 dice (Damage 13)
Combat Movement: 10 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 7/0
C h a pt e r F o u r : C r e a t u r e s o f th e W i l d
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Gore: Decisive horn attacks add threshold successes to damage against enemies with lower Initiative,
as long as the unicorn hasn’t taken any other actions
(including reflexive movement actions) that turn.
Sky Runner: In Creation, unicorns can run across
the surface of snow or water without sinking in. In the
Wyld, they can take to the sky, galloping over clouds
and mist as though they were solid ground. Winged
unicorns can fly normally in any environment.
MERITS
Cold Iron Bane: Iron weapons deal aggravated
damage to unicorns.
Glorious Aura: A character must pay one Willpower to attack the unicorn as long as it hasn’t attacked
her yet this scene; once she spends a Willpower, she
may attack at will for the scene. The unicorn’s Inspire
rolls have a target number of 5, as long as the emotion
it’s inspiring aligns with its Intimacies in context.
Hearts Unmasked: Unicorns can sniff out the
stench of dissonance and asymmetry. The unicorn may
use its Senses and Tracking pools to detect conflict of
any kind, including physical combat, arguments, or
internal turmoil such as clashing Intimacies. They can
also sense magical conflicts, such as the use of Wyld-Shaping Technique (Exalted, p. 335) to carve
reality out of chaos.
Oaths Eternal: A unicorn cannot go back on its
word once given; its pride is a magical force that
prevents it from doing so. However, it doubles 8s on
non-attack actions to uphold a promise or agreement.
Storyteller Tactics
Unicorns are quick to slay those who offend them, and
focus single-mindedly on destroying these offenders
before moving on to other targets, regardless of relative
danger. They leave injured kin to die if the wounded
can’t recover quickly — to see their perfection marred
thus is disgusting to them. Many unicorns now serving
as mounts for the Chosen were abandoned this way, only
for an Exalted champion to rescue them. Such acts win
the fae creatures’ undying loyalty, as long as their masters live up to their high expectations.
A unicorn is a 3-dot Familiar.
Visage Blight
Certain parasites that haunt the Wyld are born from the
remnants of fictitious identities — pseudonyms, disguises,
theatrical performances. A false identity in the Wyld is not
always content to be cast off at the end of the act. It clings to
existence within the Wyld’s mythopoeic chaos, congealing
into a visage blight. Tribes and settlements near the bordermarches observe taboos against giving false names and ban
acting to avoid creating these dangerous monsters.
determines what it demands. Regardless, the outcome of
obeying is the same, as the host’s body gestates a brood
of blights. Once they reach maturity, the parent blight’s
mouth vomits them into the world in search of new hosts.
Without a host, a visage blight resembles a scrap of flesh
or torn fabric, distinguishable only by its human-like
eyes and ring of fanged teeth. It hides in the bordermarches, waiting for an unsuspecting human to feed on.
Once one comes within leaping range, the visage blight
lunges, embedding in the victim’s flesh as a second face.
It can take root anywhere on the body but prefers the
head, where it can easily whisper into its host’s ear.
An unshakable compulsion against revealing the visage
blight’s presence overtakes the host. Some victims retreat
into seclusion or hermitage, but most simply conceal their
second face, either under long hair or their clothing. The
visage blight tempts or coerces its host into certain behaviors, the nature of which varies from blight to blight; shamans teach that the false identity that created such a blight
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Essence: 1; Willpower: 3; Join Battle: 9 dice
Health Levels: −0x1/−1x1/−2x1/−4x1/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: Current Host (Possessive Obsession), “I must reproduce.”; Major: My Children
(Detached Pride), “The identity that created me is
mine and no one else’s.”; Minor: “I can catch more
flies with honey than with vinegar.”
Actions (unattached): Embed: 8 dice; Senses: 6
dice; Stealth: 9 dice (see Tiny Creature)
Actions (attached): Read Intentions: 7 dice; Social
Influence: 10 dice
Appearance 2 (Hideous), Resolve 2, Guile 4
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 9 dice (Damage 1; increases to 8
against enemies its size or smaller)
Combat Movement (unattached): 8 dice
Evasion 3 (unattached only; see Tiny Creature), Parry 0
Soak/Hardness: 2/0
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Embed: Embedding into a human host is a difficulty
3 gambit. The blight automatically succeeds without
an Initiative roll against an ambushed victim.
No Secrets from Yourself: When a blight’s host
takes an action that upholds an Intimacy, the visage
blight automatically becomes aware of that Intimacy.
Whispering Devil Face: A blight can persuade
its host to perform an inconvenient task (Exalted, p.
216) without a roll once per session.
MERITS
Cold Iron Bane: Iron weapons deal aggravated
damage to visage blights.
Infestation: A visage blight’s host gains a defining
Principle of “I can’t let anyone see my second face,”
which they can’t voluntarily weaken. Victims can’t act
against this Intimacy by revealing the blight or suggesting actions that would definitely reveal it, though they
can give vague and indirect hints or clues. Another
character must be within close range of a blight’s host
to even try to detect it, and doing so is a difficulty 5
(Perception + [lower of Investigation or Occult]) roll.
Removing an embedded blight is difficult. It can be
hacked away or torn out, but doing so is typically
fatal to its host; removing it without harming the host
requires a difficulty 7 (Dexterity + Medicine) roll.
Magic capable of exorcising spirits, such as Burning
Exorcism Technique (Exalted, p. 356), can force a
blight out. A blight can also detach from its host voluntarily, though convincing it to do so is a life-changing
task (Exalted, p. 216).
Reality Parasite: Visage blights in Creation slowly
wither and calcify to death unless embedded in a
mortal host. Decide how long it takes based on what
makes for the most dramatic timing for the story.
Tiny Creature: Gain +2 Evasion against larger
foes. Larger foes subtract two successes from Awareness rolls to notice an unattached visage blight.
Storyteller Tactics
Visage blights aren’t a serious threat in combat unless
they can embed into a host, which they try to do with
an ambush. Only if the ambush fails and the blight’s Join
Battle roll doesn’t garner enough Initiative to attempt
the gambit does it resort to withering attacks.
Once embedded, a blight’s primary concern is implementing its alien, idiosyncratic agenda through its
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host, which is a source of endless story hooks. With
Whispering Devil Face, it might coerce its host to paint
a city’s walls with occult sigils by night, steal an eclectic
collection of exotic goods and reagents from a variety of
shops, take sacrifices from a spirit’s altar (and angering it
in the process), or anything else that might tangentially
relate to the original identity that spawned the blight. Its
secondary concern is keeping itself concealed, although
the difficulty of removing an embedded blight means
that being caught isn’t necessarily the end.
A visage blight that successfully coerces its host begins
gestating a brood of its young within them. This doesn’t
need mechanics to represent — it’s there to give a sense
of urgency to the players’ attempts to uncover and expel
the blight, and consequences for failure. Whether or not
the host survives birthing a brood of visage blights and,
if they do, what further complications it causes are up to
the Storyteller and player to work out together.
Yukino-Takka
the Broken God
Yukino-Takka was once a god, though even he no longer
remembers what he was the god of. It is a thing no longer
found in Creation, annihilated in the wake of the Great
Contagion and the invading Fair Folk. The once-god defended his shrine and cultists as numberless hordes of
swarming nightmares poured in from the Wyld, but it
wasn’t enough. The raksha princess who defeated him
had him immured in a cage of gossamer and whimglass
for her amusement, and drank his sorrow as he watched
his worshipers’ village dissolve into chaos, his flesh warp
and mutate, and his divinity fade and die. Only then did
she free him, for the husk of his broken hopes offered
nothing more for her to drain.
Once ethereal and beautiful, Yukino-Takka is now a grotesque parody of himself. His misshapen flesh is made
from constantly growing fungus, and a wretched mane
of mycelium trails from his head. He keeps his eyes, ears,
and mouth from being overgrown with an iron dagger.
Unable to survive for long in Creation, he wanders the
Wyld in search of novelty to distract him from the torment of his being. He enjoys the chance to converse
with mortals, and protects or guides them through the
Wyld. He’s wary of Exalted — not because he hates or
fears them, but because some have tried to help him. He
believes his condition irreparable, and would rather be
thought a nightmarish horror than let the Chosen waste
their compassion on him.
Essence: 3; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 6 dice
Personal Motes: 80
Health Levels: −0x1/−1x1/−2x2/−4x5/Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “I can’t be healed,” Raksha
(Hatred); Major: “I crave distraction from this existence,” Himself (Shame), Other Gods (Resentment); Minor: The Exalted (Wariness); Mortals
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(Responsibility)
Actions: Feats of Strength: 6 dice (may attempt
Strength 3 feats); Disguise: 8 dice; Heavenly Lore: 4
dice; Read Intentions: 9 dice; Resist Disease/Poison:
6 dice; Senses: 5 dice; Social Influence: 9 dice;
Stealth: 5 dice; Wyld Lore: 12 dice
Appearance 2 (Hideous), Resolve 4, Guile 5
COMBAT
Attack (Iron dagger): 9 dice (Damage 10L)
Attack (Fungal touch): 6 dice (Damage 17L/4)
Attack (Grapple): 5 dice (6 to control)
Combat Movement: 4 dice
Evasion 1, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 16/10
MERITS
Broken Divinity: Yukino-Takka is naturally material, and incapable of dematerializing. If destroyed, he
still reforms (Exalted, p. 508-509) in the Wyld, but
suffers new mutations or Derangements.
Cold Iron Bane: Yukino-Takka takes aggravated
damage from iron weapons.
Estranged from Reality: Yukino-Takka slowly
withers and calcifies to death in Creation. He may be
able to stave this off by feeding on mortals like the
raksha or through some other means, but if so, he is
either unaware of how or unwilling to do it.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Flesh-Melting Spores (1m, 5i, 1wp; Simple;
Instant; Eclipse, Perilous; Essence 3): A cloud of
deadly spores rises up from Yukino-Takka’s flesh. He
rolls 8 dice (Eclipse Castes use [Stamina + Medicine]) opposing the (Resistance + Stamina) of all other
characters in medium range. Characters who fail are
covered in spores, and take a single die of lethal
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
damage each turn, ignoring Hardness.
Each level of damage dealt imposes
a –1 crippling penalty until the end
of the scene, maximum (Yukino-Takka’s Essence). Taking a single level
of damage from a fire-based source
burns away the spores, ending both
the ongoing damage and the penalty.
When Yukino-Takka is reduced to his
–4 health level for the first time in a
scene, he may use this Charm reflexively.
Gardener-of-Chaos Touch (6m;
Simple; Instant; Decisive-only, Eclipse;
Essence 2): Yukino-Takka rolls a difficulty 3 gambit against a character in
close range (Eclipse Castes may use
Brawl or Martial Arts). Success deals
one level of bashing damage and
causes fungal growths to form across
the body of a living being until the
scene ends. Its flesh softens, setting its
natural soak from Stamina to 0, and it
takes a –3 penalty on Stamina- and
Appearance-based rolls. If it is affected by Flesh-Eating Spores, the damage
it takes each turn increases to (Yukino-Takka’s Essence) dice.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Mind-Dissolving Spores (3m,
1wp; Simple; Instant; Eclipse, Psyche;
Essence 2): Yukino-Takka disperses
hallucinogenic spores, rolling 8 dice
(Eclipse Castes use [Manipulation +
Medicine]) against the Resolve of all
characters within medium range. A
character whose Resolve is beaten
gains Yukino-Takka’s choice of Hysteria, Madness, or Paranoia at Major
Intensity (Exalted, p. 168-169) until
the scene ends and immediately begins
suffering its effects. Characters who
botch gain the Derangement at defining intensity.
Storyteller Tactics
Yukino-Takka is glad to talk with and
assist characters as long as he thinks
they’re mortal. Once he suspects they’re
Exalted, he reads their intentions to figure out whether they pity him or desire
to help him recover. If not, he’s content and asks favors of the Chosen — if
they assist him in fulfilling his vendetta
against the raksha, he can lead them to
artifacts, lore, or other treasures lost in
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RESTORING THE BROKEN GOD
Even if characters convince Yukino-Takka to let them help him, it’s not a quick or easy process. Order-Affirming
Blow (Exalted, p. 334) or a comparable effect could strip away his physical mutations to restore his original appearance and revert his Essence to its original nature, removing his Broken Divinity, Cold Iron Bane, and Estranged
from Reality Merits. However, this alone doesn’t undo the amnesia and other trauma he’s suffered, nor does it restore his lost position in Heaven’s celestial bureaucracy. Magic such as Wholeness-Restoring Meditation (Exalted,
p. 344) could treat his mental suffering as though it were a defining Derangement. Restoring his position would
require negotiating with the celestial bureaucracy to have him appointed as the god of a new domain, which may
be the most difficult part of all.
the Wyld. If he detects pity or a wish to help, he does
whatever he can to discourage it: lying about his nature,
deliberately instilling them with negative Ties toward
himself, or even initiating hostilities. To let them help
him, the player characters need to weaken his defining
Principle of “I can’t be healed.”
If forced into battle, Yukino-Takka uses Mind-Dissolving
Spores to disorient his enemies, then uses withering attacks to build up enough Initiative to use Flesh-Melting
Spores, and follows it up with Gardener-of-Chaos Touch
on affected enemies to increase the damage they suffer.
Zicnal of the Asmani
According to legend, when the ancients shaped Creation,
they set the asmani to hold up the corners of the sky.
When the Contagion came and Fair Folk poured over the
world’s rim in an unstoppable tide, the Wyld swallowed
the asmani. Warped and reshaped almost beyond recognition, they wander as vast protean colossi through the
shallows of chaos.
Zicnal appears as a titanic man fifty feet high. His three
faces are white-haired and bushy-bearded; his many
hands hold parchment and brush, plumb line and measuring cord, scepter and sword. Where his kin remain
in deepest Wyld, meandering mindlessly or making
war against things of chaos, Zicnal dwells upon an island of stability beyond world’s edge. There he rules
the demented city of Marakanda, home to ten thousand
mutated mortals and an endless variety of inscrutable
goblin-things.
Essence: 5; Willpower: 7; Join Battle: 10 dice
Personal Motes: 50
Health Levels: −0x10/−1x20/−2x20/−4x10/
Incap.
Intimacies: Defining: “Though I am fallen, I still deserve
respect from the powers of Creation.”; Major: Fair Folk
(Wary Resentment), Marakanda (Exasperated Responsibility); Minor: Other Asmani (Disappointment)
Actions: Command: 10 dice; Feats of Strength: 14
dice (may attempt Strength 10 feats); Knowledge of the
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Wyld: 8 dice; Long Memory: 9 dice; Read Intentions: 9
dice; Resist Disease/Poison: 12 dice; Senses: 12 dice;
Social Influence: 12 dice; Writing: 6 dice
Appearance 4, Resolve 5, Guile 3
COMBAT
Attack (Colossal sword): 13 dice (Damage 24,
minimum 5)
Attack (Giant’s scepter, as tetsubo): 13 dice
(Damage 24, minimum 4)
Attack (Plumb line, as fighting chain): 11 dice
(Damage 23, minimum 5)
Attack (Unarmed): 10 dice (Damage 22)
Attack (Grapple): 10 dice (13 to control)
Combat Movement: 12 dice
Evasion 1, Parry 5
Soak/Hardness: 15/5
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Overwhelming Might: Asmani make unopposed
grapple control rolls against enemies of smaller size,
unless the victims use magic allowing them to grapple
larger foes, such as Dragon Coil Technique (Exalted
Third Edition, p. 280).
MERITS
Legendary Size: Zicnal suffers no onslaught penalties from attacks from smaller opponents, unless
they’re magically inflicted. Withering attacks from
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
Wyld Resistance: Asmani are immune to the
warping and addictive properties of ambient Wyld
energies, save when they enter Pure Chaos at the
Wyld’s outermost edges. They double 9s on rolls to
resist shaping inflicted by creatures of the Wyld.
OFFENSIVE CHARMS
Limb-Wrenching Grasp (10m, 2i; Simple; Instant;
Decisive-only): When an asman throws a grappled
enemy, he first tears them asunder, doubling bonus
dice of damage received from forfeited rounds of
control. If the rolled damage exceeds the victim’s
(Stamina x 2), double total levels of damage inflicted
unless the victim accepts a crippling injury, which does
not count against their once per story limit (Exalted,
p. 201). Whether the victim lives or dies, the asman
flings them aside afterward, ending the grapple.
Scything Blow (5m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Decisive-only): With one blow from his weapons, the
asman makes a decisive attack against two enemies,
dividing his Initiative evenly between both to determine raw damage. He may use this Charm once per
scene, unless reset by building up to Initiative 20+.
Triple Threat (15m, 1wp; Simple; Instant;
Withering-only): Zicnal makes three separate
withering attacks, each using a different
weapon against a unique target. He gains
Initiative as normal from the attack that dealt
the highest amount of damage; the other two
attacks cannot award more than 5 Initiative
each, not counting Initiative Breaks. He may
use this Charm once per scene, unless reset
by making three separate decisive attacks.
SOCIAL CHARMS
Elegant Goblin-King Brushstrokes
(20m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Written-only): Zicnal writes an
edict into the legal
smaller enemies cannot Crash him unless they have
at least 10 post-soak damage dice, although attackers still gain the full amount of Initiative damage dealt.
Decisive attacks from smaller enemies cannot deal
more than (3 + attacker’s Strength) levels of damage
to him, not counting levels added by Charms or other
magic.
Multitasking: Zicnal can flurry without penalties if
one action in the flurry is a miscellaneous or social
action.
Threefold Gaze: Zicnal can see in three separate
directions at once, and never suffers penalties for
distractions or multiple complications. Characters attempting to establish surprise against him suffer a −3
penalty.
Wellspring of Order: Zicnal’s presence tames the
Wyld within five miles, temporarily reducing middlemarches to bordermarches, and bordermarches to
tainted lands. This doesn’t affect deep Wyld.
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OTHER ASMANI
Zicnal’s traits are representative of asmani in general, although the Wyld’s warping power has granted others far
different mutations, Charms, panoplies, or domains. The twelve-armed asman Sanek, for instance, lacks Zicnal’s
three faces. Instead, she has the lower body of an immense scarlet worm, her underbelly lined with faces, and
wears an armored raiment woven from honeybees. She wanders the Wyld as a penitent, hoping to reclaim former glory through deeds of what she perceives as virtue.
if the offer’s good — especially if it inconveniences the
raksha without drawing too much ire upon his people
— and uses the surrounding Wyld and his own forgotten place of honor as leverage if he can. He’s particularly
susceptible to bargains that promise a major Creationborn power’s ear, such as a high-ranking god.
code of Marakanda and makes a persuade roll
to ensure the inhabitants follow its dictates. This roll
applies against the Resolve of all Wyld mutants and
creatures living there, without them needing to read
the edict. Those convinced act as though the law has
always been in place. Zicnal can use this Charm once
per story, unless reset by achieving a major character
or story goal (Exalted, p. 170) through the agency
of outsiders.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Sky-Shouldering Exertion (20m, 1wp; Supplemental; Instant): Double 7s on the roll for a feat of
strength. The asman meets the Strength prerequisite
for any such feat (Exalted, p. 229).
Storyteller Tactics
In social influence, Zicnal is primarily concerned with
his own authority and autonomy, and his city’s safety.
He prefers persuade and threaten actions, but bargains
In combat, Zicnal wades deep into the fray so he can
crush opponents on all sides with equal fury. He always has at least one Wyld-warped guardian nearby,
such as a buck-ogre or manticore (Exalted, pp. 537539). His champion is Milaka, a Wood-Aspect mutant
(Experienced Dragon-Blood: Exalted, p. 544). Milaka
has wooden flesh (Unusual Hide: Exalted, p. 166-167);
the back of his head is a hollowed-out raiton’s nest,
which oddly impairs him not at all. Zicnal can gather a
battle group of Wyld mutants and hobgoblins with the
following traits: Size 3, average Drill, Might 1, Magnitude
8.
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The warrior headed east toward the next village, where she could enlist help to kill the
cockatrice. Inaol wished her luck. Home lay to the south, and surely by now her mother and
sister were sick with worry.
Half an hour later, a bird’s indignant cry nearly scared her out of her skin. Inaol was certain the
cockatrice had found her.
Then the sound came again: a shriek, not a crow. Inaol crept into the trees to see what it was.
She followed the intermittent cries until she came to a deadfall. Awe stole her breath.
Standing half-again as tall as Inaol was the most magnificent hawk. It ruffled blue-tipped wings
at her. Its black eyes glinted with distrust. Inaol noted its razor-sharp talons and pointed beak
even as she took in the gilded saddle. Its reins had tangled in the roots of a long-dead tree.
A saddle should mean a rider, but although Inaol searched the brush and called out, she found
no sign of the hawk’s keeper. Had she seen this creature before, led along the parade route in
care of a Metagalapan warrior?
What if the aughdeighe wasn’t the only beast to escape?
If she led the hawk home, she’d earn goodwill for her people.
Better, she could ride it home. She’d watched a rider astride an austrech. Controlling the bird
hadn’t seemed much different than commanding a horse. Surely, she could guide this hawk
along the road just the same?
The hawk eyed her warily as she freed it, but it refrained from biting or swiping at her. It
sidestepped the first few times she guided it to a log so she could gain the saddle, but in the
end, allowed her to swing a leg over.
Before she could try to coax it into a trot, it took to the air.
The hawk winged into the sky, then dove straight downward. Inaol clung to the reins as the
treetops rushed up to meet them. It veered and rolled, trying to throw her off its back.
But oh, Inaol had learned what it meant to hold fast from the aughdeighe, and how to ride the
wind from the cloud people. From the ghostfisher and the cockatrice, she’d learned she was
stronger than her fear.
Try as it might, the hawk couldn’t rid itself of its rider.
At last, it ceased its efforts and let Inaol guide its path. She didn’t relax her guard until she
spotted familiar booths along the road, the procession still in progress. The hawk saw it too, and
plunged into another terrifying dive. Yet it landed in a graceful flutter of wings, and only halfheartedly jerked as Inaol clambered down from the saddle.
A small crowd surged toward them: a shocked Metagalapan rider, who took the hawk’s reins
and got a nip for his trouble; Inaol’s mother, caught undecided between relief and fury; and
one of the parade’s fine ladies. The woman inspected her, taking her hands and examining her
fingers, looking into her eyes. At last she stepped back and nodded. “Rest,” she said. “We’ll have
much to discuss before Calibration’s end.”
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Chapter Five
Animals
28 Descending Fire
Tomorrow, Calibration begins anew. Never did I think I would see such wonders in my life as this last year’s journey
has shown me, but the time has come to return home. I wonder whether anything will have changed, or whether all that
awaits me is what always has. Some aboard this vessel are worried that we won’t make land before the moon vanishes
tonight, but I can see dolphins swimming beside the ship. The gods are with us. We’ll see the beacon soon, I know it.
Armored Kraken
Beneath Southwestern seas lurks a monstrous colossal octopus. Dozens of yards long, with an exoskeleton of thick
chitinous plates and ten arms easily long and powerful
enough to crush a trireme to flinders and scatter its crew
to the waves, the armored kraken is a rare marine menace.
It lives in the extreme depths, but large disturbances on
the surface attract it; scholars believe it mistakes ships for
other creatures of like size when it senses them, drawn by
shipwrecks or battles of great Exalted power, and attacks
out of territorial instinct. In warmer months when currents flow north into Western waters, learned pirates and
Dynastic captains take care to engage in shallower waters,
lest the kraken wake. Many a sailor sees the tell-tale crest
of its armored mantle in her nightmares and prays to the
Ocean Father never to meet it.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 8 dice
(base Initiative 5)
Health Levels: −0x4/−1x6/−2x6/−4x2/Incap.
Actions: Feats of Strength: 14 dice (may attempt
Strength 10 feats); Naval Maneuvers: 8 dice; Resist
Disease/Poison: 12 dice; Senses: 5 dice; Stealth: 4
dice; Swimming: 10 dice; Tracking: 4 dice
Resolve 3, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Arm): 12 dice (Damage 16, minimum 3)
Attack (Beak): 8 dice (Damage 12); Tags: Piercing
Attack (Grapple): 12 dice (14 to control)
Combat Movement: 10 dice (6 dice with fewer
than four free arms)
Evasion 3, Parry 6 (2 with no free arms)
Soak/Hardness: 15/10
Note: For attacks against ships in naval combat, see
Terror of the Deep.
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SPECIAL ABILITIES
Depth Lurker: Subtract three successes from Perception
rolls to notice the kraken while it’s at least at long range
under the water relative to the character, or moving up
from long range while already hidden. It can rush enemies
from long range beneath them underwater as long as the
horizontal distance between the two is no more than one
range band and it’s concealed from the target.
Infinite Grasp: The kraken may flurry two grapple
gambits together. Each enemy the kraken grapples
takes up one of its arms; it may maintain one grapple
per arm. While grappling, it can flurry actions as long
as it has an arm available for each action. The penalty
to flurried actions is −0 with ten or nine arms free, −1
with eight, −2 with seven, and −3 with six or fewer.
While grappling multiple foes, a withering savaging
attack deals damage normally, but the kraken only
receives Initiative from the one who deals the most
damage; a decisive savaging attack divides the
kraken’s current Initiative as evenly as possible among
all grappled enemies to determine raw damage.
Iron Grip: While it has more than three free arms, the
kraken doesn’t take Defense penalties from grappling
smaller enemies, and can reflexively take a drag
action to move them whenever it moves. It doesn’t lose
rounds of grapple control when attacked unless the
attack successfully damages it.
Overwhelming Might: Krakens make unopposed
grapple control rolls against enemies of smaller size,
unless the victims use magic allowing them to grapple
larger foes, such as Dragon Coil Technique (Exalted,
p. 280).
Doldrum-Conquering Beast (Latent): A tamed
kraken can be taught to tow a ship via hawser. This
adds +1 Speed and Maneuverability, and grants the
crew access to its unique naval stratagems.
C h a pt e r Fiv e : A n im a l s
MERITS
Impenetrable Armor: Reduce the minimum
damage of any withering attack made against the
kraken by one, to a minimum of zero.
Legendary Size: The kraken suffers no onslaught
penalties from attacks from smaller opponents, unless
they’re magically inflicted. Withering attacks from
smaller enemies cannot crash it unless they have at
least 10 post-soak damage dice, although attackers
still gain the full amount of Initiative damage dealt. Decisive attacks from smaller enemies cannot deal more
than (3 + attacker’s Strength) levels of damage to it, not
counting levels added by Charms or other magic.
Terror of the Deep: In naval combat (Exalted, p.
245), the kraken can perform any
stratagem except broadside and
others requiring an actual ship,
using its Naval Maneuvers pool.
It can’t perform boarding actions.
Every point of Hull damage it
would take inflicts two points of
lethal damage to the kraken’s
health track, and its Speed is +2.
When it rams an opponent with its
beak, it suffers no damage. It can
always perform the concealment
stratagem by submerging, even
on the open ocean. It has the following unique stratagems:
• Living Anchor (Cost: 10
Momentum): The kraken
attempts to wrap its tremendous arms around an enemy
ship. If successful, the ship
can only perform a broadside, or boarding actions for
crew to fight the beast directly. However, characters
can initiate regular combat
without crossing over to the
kraken’s bulk by attacking
the arms, with a stratagem
costing no Momentum;
doing so only allows them
to attempt the gambit to
sever an arm (see “Storyteller Tactics”) until the kraken
lets go. This stratagem takes
five free arms to perform. If
the kraken takes 4+ levels of
lethal damage or no longer
has enough available arms,
its grip breaks.
• Hull Crush (Cost: 3 Momentum): The kraken
may only use this stratagem if it’s currently trapping a ship with Living Anchor. The massive arms
clench until timbers crack and splinter. This stratagem inflicts one level of Hull damage.
• Sea Monster Smash (Cost: 5 Momentum):
With at least one arm free, the kraken draws
alongside a ship and savages it with arms like
massive whips, toppling masts and splintering
wood. This inflicts one level of Hull damage, or
two if the kraken has at least five arms free.
• Snatch (Cost: 10 Momentum): The kraken
reaches onto the deck and snatches one individual from the ship. It takes one free arm
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Storyteller Tactics
to do this. This stratagem acts as a boarding
action; the kraken doesn’t board the ship, but
forces the conflict to move to individual-scale
combat. A snatched character takes one die
of bashing damage per round, ignoring Hardness, and any ranged attack that misses the
kraken automatically hits the snatched character instead, with one threshold success. Treat
this as a clinch with rounds of control equal to
the kraken’s remaining Momentum after using
Snatch; the above automatic effects occur in
addition to any clinch moves the kraken uses
on subsequent turns.
• Thrash (Cost: None): The kraken may only use
this stratagem if it’s currently trapping a ship with
Living Anchor. It uses Thrash to build one Momentum per two threshold successes it rolls with
Naval Maneuvers, rocking the ship back and
forth to further cement its grip with its powerful
suckers.
The armored kraken is both a sea battle and a regular combatant, usually both in the same encounter. It starts out attempting
to crush ships with its stratagems and then pick off the survivors from the water afterward, but if it takes 10+ lethal damage
from broadside, it snatches people from the deck to rid itself of
obviously powerful individuals (like Exalts with flaring anima
banners) or someone manning a ballista or other ship-to-ship
weapon. Characters can use boarding actions to “mount” the
kraken and fight it directly, as they would with an enemy ship.
A kraken has 10 arms. In regular combat, characters can attempt
a difficulty 5 gambit with a cutting weapon to sever an arm. The
kraken prefers to grapple as many opponents at a time as possible, making savaging attacks or dragging them underwater until
they drown. If it loses six or more of its arms, or takes damage to
its last three −2 health levels, it attempts to flee.
A kraken is a 3-dot Familiar.
Aurochs
Aurochs are wild cattle roaming the forests and plains
throughout Creation, particularly in the South. They are
huge herbivorous animals, weighing up to 3,000 pounds
and standing six feet at the shoulder. Both the bulls and
cows have horns, though the bulls’ are larger, their curves
more pronounced. The aurochs’ skull is longer than that
of its smaller cattle cousins, and its neck and shoulder
musculature is thicker, to support its majestic horns.
Aurochs fight savagely with other members of the herd
over food, mates, or anything else that provokes their ire.
Several Icewalker tribes consider the aurochs a sacred animal. It is a symbol of fertility and fortitude, representing
its worshipers’ ability to remain steadfast in the face of
adversity. Elsewhere, the aurochs is a choice sacrifice to
local gods and spirits, the leftover meat feeding worshipers for several months, and providing them with hides,
bones, horns, and sinews to trade or use for tools and
crafting. Nobles and tribal leaders drink from an aurochs’
horn decorated with precious metals and jewels as a sign
of their wealth and stature.
In some regions, villagers capture an aurochs and pit it
against young warriors as a show of the warriors’ skill
and bravery. Surviving a gore wound is often as much an
honor for the warrior as actually subduing the beast.
Farmers domesticate aurochs and put them to use plowing
fields, drawing carts laden with trade goods, turning heavy
mill stones, and performing other tasks that otherwise require several horses — or strong-backed people — to complete. During the harvest months, village festivals invite competitors to test their strength against that of an aurochs, piling
sledges high with heavy stones and seeing how many people it
takes to pull as much weight as one bull can by itself. The village parades the winners around town on the aurochs’ back,
both human and beast crowned with the fruits of the harvest.
In the South, the aurochs is sacred to the war god Ahlat
and his Brides. They sacrifice the animals by the hundreds to their patron and receive the blessings of his
strength and favor in return. Ahlat frequently elevates
the aurochs’ spirit avatars, bringing them to live with
him in Yu-Shan as glorious war-aurochs gods.
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Essence: 1; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 7 dice
Health Levels: −0x2/−1x6/−2x6/−4x3/Incap.
Actions: Feats of Strength: 9 dice (may attempt
Strength 7 feats); Intimidate: 7 dice; Senses: 5 dice
Resolve 3, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Horns): 10 dice (Damage 15)
Attack (Stomp): 6 dice (Damage 13)
Combat Movement: 10 dice
Evasion 5, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 7/0
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SPECIAL ABILITIES
Deadly Charge: Every range band the aurochs
moves toward a single enemy in a straight line grants
it two Initiative. This Initiative accumulates until it closes
to close range with that enemy and makes a decisive attack. If the aurochs takes any action other than
moving directly toward the chosen enemy, it loses all
Initiative built up with this ability.
Gore: Decisive horn attacks add threshold successes to damage against enemies with lower Initiative,
as long as the aurochs hasn’t taken any other actions
(including reflexive movement actions) that turn.
Horn Toss: After dealing 3+ levels of damage to an
enemy with a decisive horn attack, the aurochs may
reflexively grapple and immediately slam him for additional damage, catching him in its horns and tossing
him. Make a control roll with its Feats of Strength pool,
and then it may throw the enemy out to short range.
It can only use this ability once per scene and cannot
attempt grapple gambits without using this ability.
Trample: If the aurochs reflexively pursues an enemy
after a successful rush and makes a stomp attack
against them on its next turn, a successful hit knocks
the enemy prone. Apply the Defense penalty from
being prone (Exalted, p. 202) retroactively when
calculating the attack’s threshold successes.
Invincible God-Beast Hide (Magical, 12m):
Reduce one decisive attack’s raw damage by the
aurochs’ soak rating. An attack failing to deal
damage grants the beast three Initiative.
Strength of the Loyal Beast (Magical, 5m):
Aurochs can work for long periods without rest, and
require their masters to keep up. The aurochs lends
her its implacable strength, allowing her to ignore all
fatigue penalties and granting her one bonus success
on all Resistance rolls, for the scene.
MERITS
Beast of Burden: Double 8s on feats of strength to
haul or carry a heavy burden.
Stampede: Whenever a stampeding battle group
of aurochs moves into close range with a character,
it immediately attempts a reflexive engage gambit
(Exalted, p. 209) against her; if successful, she takes
one level of automatic bashing damage at the end of
each turn she remains engaged.
Stubborn Survivalist: The aurochs’ hide is extremely
thick, protecting it from the environment and from predators’ horns, teeth, and claws. Do not subtract wound penalties from its Defense. Attacks made from short range
or further reduce their minimum damage against the
aurochs by one unless they benefit from an Aim action.
Sturdy as Stone: An aurochs cannot be knocked
back or prone except by magical effects or creatures
with legendary size. A grappled aurochs cannot be
thrown or slammed unless magic such as Dragon Coil
Technique (Exalted, p. 280) is used, or if the attacker
is of legendary size.
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War-God’s Blessing (Magical, 3m): Double 8s on
Join Battle and rush rolls. Whenever the aurochs makes
a successful decisive attack against an opponent with
lower Initiative, it resets to a base Initiative of 4 rather
than 3. Treat this as a latent ability while a Bride of Ahlat,
or someone else the god favors, trains the aurochs.
Storyteller Tactics
and long legs to its advantage, rushing often and smashing anything that might provide cover to its foes. It fights
aggressively and only uses defensive actions to protect
its young or at a master’s command. To prove its dominance, it never stops pursuing fleeing enemies until they
successfully withdraw or go to ground. An aurochs flees
when it takes damage in its first −4 health level.
Both male and female aurochs fight when provoked.
Usually, they do so to display dominance within the
herd, but humans can instigate an aurochs charge with
just a bit of teasing. In battle, an aurochs uses its bulk
A herd of aurochs is a Size 2 battle group with poor Drill
and Might 0, and stampedes when provoked en masse or
frightened.
Austrech
The austrech is one of the largest predators in the Southeastern
deserts — the average specimen stands just over nine feet
tall, and bears talons that put fine knives to shame.
Though well-adapted to their arid home, these
flightless birds are equally comfortable in plains,
scrublands, and forests. Relatives of the desert austrech are common along the southern
coast of the Inland Sea, even ranging as far as
An-Teng. In addition to hunting their own prey,
they’ve been known to squabble with lions and
claw
striders over kills. Wherever they’re found, these territorial
beasts are an important natural resource for neighboring
human tribes. They make an abundant source of food
or leather for tribes that can feasibly hunt them, while
any hero brave enough to tame the so-called “terror
bird” earns a fiercely loyal mount.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join
Battle: 4 dice
Health Levels:
−0/−1x2/−2x2/−4/Incap.
Speed Bonus: +2
Actions: Endure Arid Conditions: 7 dice; Feats of Strength:
5 dice (may attempt Strength
3 feats); Find Water: 5 dice;
Senses: 5 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Peck): 6 dice (Damage
14)
Attack (Talon kick): 8 dice
(Damage 10)
Attack (Grapple): 6 dice (6 to
control) (Iron Talon Stomp only)
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Combat Movement: 8 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 4/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Brutal Kick: Enemies smaller than human size that
take 5+ damage from the austrech’s withering talon
kicks are knocked back one range band and fall
prone.
Swift Advance: Whenever the austrech reflexively
pursues an enemy after a successful rush, it may pay
a Willpower to reflexively make a decisive attack
against him.
Flesh-Rending Beak (Latent): An austrech hunts
large prey animals, such as camels and wild dogs,
by kicking them savagely with taloned feet to weaken
them, before finishing them with its huge beak. If the
austrech crashes an enemy with a withering talon
attack, add two automatic successes on decisive
peck attacks it makes against him until he recovers
from crash.
Aspect of the Garda (Magical, 5m): The austrech’s
master imbues it with the fiery-winged aspect of the
garda, turning its feathers to dancing sprays of flame.
The austrech may use its movement action to fly, and its
fiery glory adds one automatic success to all attacks
and one bonus die to all damage rolls. These benefits last for one round. If the austrech does not end
its movement on the ground, it falls unless its master
activates Aspect of the Garda again on her next turn.
Iron Talon Stomp (Magical, 6m): The austrech’s
Brutal Kick attack works against enemies of human
size. If it successfully knocks an enemy prone, it may
reflexively move one range band closer to him and
initiate a grapple gambit against him. The austrech
can only restrain or savage a clinched enemy, and
cannot move without ending the grapple.
MERITS
Desert Endurance: An austrech is suited to survival
in deserts where water is scarce, allowing it to survive
for a week without water. Even in its final hours, it
ignores the usual −3 penalty for dehydration, giving it
one last chance to make it to a water source.
Oasis Rider (Latent): An austrech whose master succumbs to dehydration takes her to the nearest source
of water it can find, carrying her on its back if she
fainted in the saddle or dragging her with its beak if
not.
Storyteller Tactics
In the wild, austreches mainly travel in pairs or alone.
When hunting, they lay down on the ground and stretch
their heads and necks out flat, appearing to their quarry as nothing more dangerous than an earthen mound.
Austreches who hunt in pairs often settle several dozen
yards apart, wait for their quarry to pass between them,
and charge forward in a pincer movement.
They focus their swift, sharp attacks on their victims’
soft spots: eyes, throats, bellies. When faced with an
armored opponent, clever austreches learn to focus on
gaps in the plates. Some even slash at leather straps and
other fasteners. They use gambits to perform these feats.
An austrech flees after taking damage in its last −2 health
level.
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Bat
Bats reside in all corners of Creation, from frosty caves amid
Northern peaks to wooded habitats in the East, to Southern
jungles and Western isles. Some Dynasts even keep them as
curious pets on the Blessed Isle. Anywhere darkness offers
shelter and fruits or insects abound, bats thrive. These small
creatures pose little harm to humans, though their erratic
flight and tendency to rush the nearest target when startled
inspire tales of bats as nightmarish, bloodthirsty creatures
that gouge out eyes or excoriate flesh. Several larger, carnivorous species feast on frogs, mice, and other bats.
As nocturnal hunters, they prefer to rest until nightfall.
Abandoned ruins make ideal homes for them, and the
sudden swarming of an agitated colony has driven away
many an aspiring scavenger lord.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 3; Join Battle: 4 dice
Health Levels: −0/−1/−2/−4/Incap.
Actions: Fly: 8 dice; Senses: 7 dice (see Echolocation, Keen Hearing); Stealth: 4 dice
Resolve 1, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 6 dice (Damage 5)
Combat Movement: 8 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 1 (see Tiny Creature)
Soak/Hardness: 1/0
MERITS
Echolocation: Bats perceive their surroundings via
bursts of sound too high-pitched for humans to hear.
They never take penalties to Senses rolls for low light
or blindness, and they double 8s on rolls to find or
notice anything concealed.
Keen Hearing: Double 9s on hearing-based Senses
rolls.
Tiny Creature: Gain +2 Evasion against foes larger
than a housecat. Characters of that size subtract two
successes from Awareness rolls to notice the bat.
Storyteller Tactics
Individual bats rarely attack people, but many find their
flight patterns and sudden movements alarming. Some bats
feed on blood, and when intruders enter such a bat’s hunting
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ground, it bites the target with the least armor or most exposed skin. Once it deals one level of decisive damage, it flies
off to avoid retaliation. Although the injuries are small, the
bat’s saliva prevents wounds from closing. The punctures
continue bleeding until the victim can clean them.
A lone bat flees when it takes damage to its first −1 health
level. Bat colonies swarm intruders near their nests, flying in a chaotic pattern as a battle group with Size 1, poor
Drill, and Might 0.
Alchemists seek out bat nests for their deposits of guano, a potent ingredient in many thaumaturgic rituals. It
can also be refined into an explosive reagent as a major
project, requiring a week’s worth of labor and a difficulty 3 Craft (Alchemy) roll. This transmutes one fistful of
bat guano with a sprinkling of red jade shavings into a
half dozen charges of firedust, or enough for two firedust
grenades.
Bird of Paradise
Native to the West’s tropical isles and Southeastern
jungles, a bird of paradise is any avian with striking,
colorful plumage and a knack for mimicry. These birds
are popular pets for the wealthy, as keeping them alive
over long distances is a challenge for sellers. Closer to
their native habitats, Western sailors own the intelligent birds as lookouts and status symbols. Their animal
insights inform Southeastern mystics’ fortune-telling
rituals. Enterprising hunters capture and kill birds of
paradise for their stunning plumage and craft the alluring feathers into jewelry and headpieces that fetch high
prices from the Guild.
Across these tropical cultures, spotting a bird of paradise
landing upon a pier, mast, or gunwale is an omen of good
luck. If the bird flies over a vessel, it promises a safe and
prosperous journey.
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Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 4 dice
Health Levels: −0/−1x2/−2/−4/Incap.
Actions: Fly: 8 dice; Mimic: 8 dice; Senses: 6 dice
Resolve 1, Guile 3
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
COMBAT
Attack (Peck): 5 dice (Damage 8)
Attack (Snatch): 6 dice (see Seizing Claws)
Combat Movement: 8 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 3/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Bright and Beautiful (Latent): Birds of paradise
are too lovely to harm, as are their keepers. The bird
takes a persuade action against a target using the
Mimic pool. If successful, this convinces the attacker
to pursue a less beautiful target instead.
Seizing Claws (Latent): In combat, a trained bird of
paradise can snatch an object or a weapon from an
enemy. It uses the disarm gambit (Exalted, p. 200),
which may apply to any held or worn item.
Stolen Voice Distraction (Latent): A bird of paradise taught to mimic the voices of humans it overhears
can use the distract gambit (Exalted, p. 200).
Storyteller Tactics
In the wild, birds of paradise don’t attack unless disturbed.
If they must defend themselves, members of the flock take
turns stealing the intruders’ voices to create a distraction
while other birds swoop in to strike. They flee combat
when they take damage to their first –1 health level. Birds
of paradise include any of the following species: parrots,
cockatiels, toucans, parakeets, and maidens-of-the-forest.
Found only in southeastern jungles, maidens-of-the-forest
have a spray of tail-feathers resembling the Five Maidens’ colors. Geomancers watch for maidens-of-the-forest with incorrectly colored plumage and use them to find demesnes.
A bird of paradise is a 1-dot Familiar.
Camel/Llama
Used as mounts and beasts of burden, camels and llamas
are a common sight throughout Creation. In Southern
deserts, warriors and merchants alike prefer camels
over horses. In the North, llamas haul loads along narrow, winding mountain paths. Everywhere, weavers spin
their hair into warm, durable textiles. While the mighty
yeddim labors under a vaster yoke, the resilient and reliable creatures appeal to nomadic peoples who often cannot afford to maintain a massive beast. The traits below
may also apply to any hardy pack animal well-adapted to
life in a harsh environment.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 2 dice
Health Levels: −0/−1x3/−2x3/−4x2/Incap.
Speed Bonus: +3 (see Environmental Stride)
Actions: Endure Harsh Climates: 6 dice; Feats of
Strength: 6 dice (may attempt Strength 3 feats); Keep
Balance: 5 dice; Senses: 5 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 5 dice (Damage 10)
Attack (Kick): 6 dice (Damage 12)
Combat Movement: 12 dice
Evasion 1, Parry 1 (see Herd Guardian)
Soak/Hardness: 3/0
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MERITS
Beast of Burden: Double 8s on feats of strength to
haul or carry a heavy burden.
Desert Traveler (camel only): Camels may travel for
a week without stopping for water.
Environmental Stride: Add +1 Speed bonus when
riding the animal in its native environment.
Sure-Footed: Camels and llamas cross difficult
terrain using one move action instead of two, and
reduce penalties to combat movement actions across
such terrain by one.
Well-Adapted: Double 9s on rolls to resist environmental hazards in the animal’s native environment.
Battle-Trained (Latent): These trained beasts
respond to the battle leader’s commands as well as
their riders’. When ridden in a battle group, camels
and llamas add 2 dice to rally or rally for numbers
actions.
Herd Guardian (Latent): Trained llamas defend
herds of livestock or their owners. Double the llama’s
Parry when it uses the defend other action to protect a
herd, or its master.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Tenacious Steed (Magical, 3m): The animal’s
master adds her Essence to its Speed bonus when
making mounted rush attacks. Additionally, it doubles
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the usual benefit to withering attacks made while
mounted (Exalted, p. 203).
Storyteller Tactics
Though merchants use both creatures for cargo in equal
measure, Southern cavalry units prefer the camel for
its larger build and tenacious attitude. Armorers craft
breastplates and barding for the beasts.
By contrast, domesticated llamas are sociable and pleasant creatures. Reduce the Difficulty of any rolls made to
control or tame them by one, to a minimum of 1. If not
trained properly, llamas spit, kick, and bite, and therefore do not benefit from the reduced Difficulty.
Unless specifically trained for combat or forced to fight,
these animals flee after taking damage to their first −2
health level.
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Dolphin
Western tradition says a single dolphin swimming alongside one’s ship is good luck; the appearance of a whole pod
represents the best of fortunes indeed. These smart and
playful mammals enjoy human company, and plenty of sailors owe their lives to a dolphin’s timely appearance. Mortals
swim beside them without fear. Those who can breathe underwater ride dolphin mounts beneath the waves.
Their intelligence makes them eminently trainable.
Dynasts from Houses Peleps and V’Neef have especially
capitalized on this, while fishermen rely on their trained
dolphins’ keen eyesight and echolocation to help find the
largest schools of fish. Career sailors take them as familiars, as do Immaculates seeking to please the sea gods.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 3; Join Battle: 10 dice
Health Levels: −0x2/−1x3/−2x3/−4x2/Incap.
Speed Bonus: +4
Actions: Guard: 7 dice; Senses: 6 dice (see Keen Eyes,
Echolocation); Swimming: 8 dice; Tracking: 7 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 3
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COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 5 dice (Damage 8)
Attack (Tail): 5 dice (Damage 6)
Combat Movement: 8 dice
Evasion 5, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 3/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Detect Intruders (Latent): Dolphins can be trained
to sense invaders. Anyone attempting to sneak into an
area dolphins patrol must roll (Dexterity + Stealth) to
oppose the dolphins’ Guard.
Treasure Seeking (Latent): Dolphins can survive
at far greater depths than most humans, and can be
trained to seek out and retrieve lost treasures at the
bottom of the sea.
Hold Fast (Magical, 5m): The dolphin’s normally smooth skin roughens where its rider comes into
contact with it, allowing the rider the friction to stay
mounted as the dolphin moves swiftly underwater.
C h a pt e r Fiv e : A n im a l s
MERITS
Echolocation: Dolphins send sound waves out into
the water and determine what’s nearby by the echoes
that return. They never take penalties to Senses rolls for
low light or blindness, and they double 8s on rolls to
find or notice characters in concealment.
Fortune’s Favor: The sea gods have blessed dolphins with their special favor, and the animals share
that luck with trusted human companions. Once per
scene, the player of a character with a dolphin familiar may reroll one mundane action and keep the
better result.
Keen Eyes: Double 9s on sight-based Senses rolls;
underwater, double 8s instead.
Storyteller Tactics
Dolphins aren’t prone to fighting. Pressed into combat,
however, they bite and use their powerful tails to knock
their enemies about. Faithful allies, they use their Guard
as a defend other action to protect their young, their
allies, and their masters. Dolphins can be purchased as
3-dot familiars.
A dolphin attempts to flee once it has taken damage to its
first −2 health level.
Eight-Tailed Mole Hound
Once bred as fierce hunting animals for Southern DragonBlooded, eight-tailed mole hounds now run free and feral
throughout the deserts. From afar, they resemble wolves in
size and shape, but in addition to their eponymous eight tails,
these creatures possess thick armored plates. Mole hounds
are pack beasts, hunting in groups of six to twelve. With their
wide feet, they tunnel with impressive speed, burrowing beneath sand or soil as fast as they can run atop it.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 3; Join Battle: 6 dice
Health Levels: −0/−1x2/−2x5/−4x3/Incap.
Actions: Feats of Strength: 7 dice (may attempt
Strength 3 feats); Senses: 8 dice (see Keen Nose),
Stealth: 6 dice (7 while burrowing); Threaten: 4 dice
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(6 alongside packmates); Tracking: 7 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 7 dice (Damage 14)
Attack (Grapple): 6 dice (5 to control)
Combat Movement: 8 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 2 (4 with defend other action)
Soak/Hardness: 8/10
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Burrow: The mole hound burrows underground and
moves a full range band to its target’s position with a
single reflexive move action, ignoring difficult terrain.
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
It can burrow through sand and soil, including packed
dirt, but not through stone or other solid barriers. Unexpected attacks it makes after this movement in the same
turn add two automatic successes to the damage roll.
Massive Charge: If the mole hound moves at least
one range band toward a target and makes a decisive attack against it on the same turn, the attack
gains the Smashing tag (Exalted, p. 586).
MERITS
Earthsight: While burrowing, a mole hound perceives through vibrations. It can pinpoint a target’s location and note its actions without seeing it, as long as
it produces any vibrations in the ground; a flying foe,
for instance, confounds this sense.
Keen Nose: Double 9s on scent-based Senses rolls.
Safety in Numbers: A mole hound protects injured
packmates, granting an ally who has taken 3+ levels of
damage one automatic success on disengage rolls as
long as it uses the defend other action on their behalf.
Enemies increase onslaught penalties by one per three
hounds attacking together. A battle group of mole hounds
can’t use this ability. By default, only other mole hounds
count as packmates, but a master can train it to recognize
human allies as part of the pack as a latent ability.
Storyteller Tactics
Although one mole hound is formidable on its own, the
beasts prefer hunting in packs. They surround their targets,
sending a few in to attack at a time and combining Burrow
and Massive Charge to create daisy chains of unexpected
attacks. The others corral the enemies, or break off into
smaller groups to pick off escapees. Mole hounds are patient, tracking prey for hours or days until the perfect opportunity arises. A solitary mole hound flees with damage
in any of its last two −2 health levels; packs flee when every
member has taken at least three levels of lethal damage or
at least six of bashing. Mole hounds are 2-dot Familiars.
Elephant/Mammoth
Throughout Creation, from the savannas of the South to
the arctic wastes of the far North, people respect and revere elephants and mammoths as totems of strength and
power. Full-grown bulls travel alone or in loose groups,
standing twice the height of a mortal and weighing up
to seven tons. Females gather in intimate family groups
with their young; they have two-thirds of a male’s height
and mass. They use tusks — found on male Southwestern
elephants, or both genders elsewhere — to guard against
predators, engage in mating battles, and tear up roots and
bark for fodder. They gather near freshwater sources.
Elephants live for decades, with intelligence, memory,
and emotional sophistication akin to a human’s. They
gather food and use tools with their prehensile trunks,
and though they cannot speak, they exhibit love, grief,
generosity, and humor. People keep them in captivity
to haul goods, transport passengers, or trample foes in
war. Hunters kill wild elephants for their valuable ivory.
Northern tribes also hunt the mammoth for its meat.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 4 dice
Health Levels: −0x3/−1x6/−2x6/−4x6/Incap.
Speed Bonus: +1
Actions: Endure Extreme Conditions: 9 dice; Feats of
Strength: 14 dice (may attempt Strength 7 feats); Find
Water: 10 dice; Intimidate: 9 dice; Senses: 7 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 1
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COMBAT
Attack (Stomp): 14 dice (Damage 16, minimum 4)
Attack (Tusks): 12 dice, or 13 with bladed tusks
(Damage 18, minimum 5); Tags: Piercing (blades
only)
Attack (Trunk): 13 dice (Damage 15); Tags: Flexible
Attack (Grapple): 11 dice (14 to control)
Combat Movement: 7 dice
Evasion 2, Parry 4
Soak/Hardness: 16/6 (20/6 with armor)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Gore: Decisive tusk attacks add threshold successes
to damage against enemies with lower Initiative, as
long as the elephant hasn’t taken any other actions
(including reflexive movement actions) that turn.
Massive Charge: If the elephant moves at least one
range band toward a target and makes a decisive
attack against it on the same turn, the attack gains the
Smashing tag (Exalted, p. 586).
Overwhelming Might: Elephants make unopposed
grapple control rolls against enemies of smaller size, unless
the victims use magic allowing them to grapple larger foes,
such as Dragon Coil Technique (Exalted, p. 280).
Rampaging Stampede: Spend one Willpower to
flurry a withering stomp attack with a decisive tusk
or trunk attack, each with a different target.
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Trample: If the elephant reflexively pursues an
enemy after a successful rush and makes a stomp
attack against them on its next turn, a successful hit
knocks the enemy prone. Apply the Defense penalty
from being prone (Exalted, p. 202) retroactively
when calculating the attack’s threshold successes.
Trunk Grapple (Latent): An elephant takes no
Defense penalty for grappling, but can’t make savaging attacks. However, one with bladed tusks automatically deals lethal damage on a decisive throw,
as it tosses the enemy into the air and then slices them
— perhaps in half.
MERITS
Keen Nose: Double 9s on scent-based Senses rolls.
Legendary Size: An elephant suffers no onslaught
penalties from attacks from smaller opponents, unless
they’re magically inflicted. Withering attacks from
smaller enemies cannot crash it unless they have at
least 10 post-soak damage dice, although attackers
still gain the full amount of Initiative damage dealt.
Decisive attacks from smaller enemies cannot deal
more than (3 + attacker’s Strength) levels of damage
to it, not counting levels added by Charms or other
magic.
Storyteller Tactics
Elephants flee after taking 4+ levels of damage, unless
protecting their young or kept under control by a rider.
Against larger opponents they use their Massive Charge
to protect their territory or wards more often than they attack directly. They are difficult to harm due to thick hides
and versatile trunks, but they have trouble maneuvering
quickly or attacking foes directly behind (or atop) them.
Those who train elephants for battle often have
steel-bladed tips crafted to fit the animals’ tusks, which
the elephants use like swords to cut their opponents
in half. War elephants in Kirighast use their trunks to
swing about modified flails with incredible accuracy.
Since preparing an animal of this size for war requires
huge investments of time and money, their owners also
fit them with padded armor allowing them the freedom
of movement to use their trunks and tusks against their
enemies.
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Forest Strider
Eastern forests are home to an unusually large breed of
stick bugs that blend in with trees and disappear from
plain sight like their smaller cousins. The abundant food
and fecund Essence near the Pole of Wood allow creatures to grow to massive sizes. A forest strider’s swift
ground speed, and their ability to quickly climb towering trees and fly short distances, make them popular
mounts.
While some forest striders look like bare tree trunks,
with six branch-like limbs, others resemble giant leaves.
Some varieties have iridescent wings, almost invisible,
letting them glide from one branch to another.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 6 dice
Health Levels: −0x2/−1x4/−2x4/−4/Incap.
Speed Bonus: +3
Actions: Climb: 7 dice; Glide (winged only): 6 dice;
Read Intentions: 4 dice; Resist Disease/Poison: 5
dice; Senses: 5 dice; Stealth: 7 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 3
COMBAT
Attack (Grapple): 5 dice (7 to control)
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Attack (Leg spikes): 5 dice (Damage 7)
Attack (Poison spray): 6 dice (Damage 0; see
Poison Burst); Tags: Thrown (Short)
Combat Movement: 5 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 4/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Ambush Hunter: Gain +3 on unexpected attacks.
Poison Burst: Forest striders secrete a poison
(Exalted, p. 232), with which they can make
poison spray attacks that are vectors for exposure
upon success. The poison deals 2i per round (L
in Crash), with a duration of 3 rounds and a −3
penalty.
Spike Swipe (Latent): The forest strider lashes out
with its leg spikes to protect its rider. She does not
lose Initiative when she disengages while astride.
MERITS
Camouflage: The forest strider appears to be part of
a tree, or a stump or leaf on its own. In a forest, double
9s on Stealth rolls.
Sudden Escape: The forest strider can shed a leg
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their foes. Riders can train forest striders to attack on
command, much like war horses.
to get away from an enemy. It may automatically
disengage without a roll, but suffers a cumulative −1
penalty to combat movement rolls. This penalty lasts
until the leg regenerates during molting, which it does
once a week.
Storyteller Tactics
Forest striders’ nimble limbs and aerodynamic shapes
allow them to ascend to high points quickly, giving riders the high ground and the ability to swoop down upon
In the wild, forest striders keep to the trees and avoid
contact with humans. A character who is patient, moves
softly, and has a good supply of succulent leaves and
berries may lure one from hiding with a Charisma +
Survival roll, opposed by the strider’s Read Intentions
pool. Untamed forest striders are timid; they attempt to
flee after taking any damage.
Giant Constrictor
Legendary terrors of the Eastern jungles and Western bogs,
giant constrictors are any variety of constricting snakes,
such as the anaconda or boa, which can grow to monstrous
sizes in Creation, reaching extremes of fifty or sixty feet in
isolated ecosystems. They use their massive coils to crush
the breath out of prey such as deer, capybaras, and unfortunate humans, while swallowing smaller animals like fish or
birds whole. Some make their homes among the treetops,
blending in with foliage before falling onto an unsuspecting
victim. Others hunt in rivers, swimming under the surface
of water before lunging out to claim a hapless animal stopping to drink.
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Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 4 dice
Health Levels: −0/−1x2/−2x3/−4x3/Incap.
Actions: Climb: 6 dice; Feats of Strength: 7 dice (may
attempt Strength 3 feats); Resist Disease/Poison: 7 dice;
Senses: 5 dice (see Thermal Sense); Stealth: 5 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 2
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 8 dice (Damage 15)
Attack (Grapple): 10 dice (14 to control)
Combat Movement: 6 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 8/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Crushing Coils: A giant constrictor takes no
Defense penalties from grappling, and can drag an
enemy on the same turn it makes a savaging attack
against them.
Uncoiling Serpent Rush: Every turn the constrictor does not take a movement action, it stocks
a single success, to a maximum of three. Each
stocked successes adds +1 Evasion. It adds all
stocked successes to a rush roll, and to any grapple
gambit it initiates on the same turn in a flurry, resetting stocked successes to zero. With three stocked
successes, it may also reflexively move one range
band closer to the enemy without counting as its
movement action for the turn. Any other movement
actions waste all stocked successes.
MERITS
Camouflage: Double 9s on Stealth rolls while
hidden amid treetops or dense foliage. Aquatic variants gain camouflage while swimming or slithering
through mud.
Thermal Sense: Giant constrictors sense their
prey’s body heat, doubling 9s on any roll to notice a
warm-blooded character and ignoring penalties for
visual obstacles such as darkness or mist.
Storyteller Tactics
Giant constrictors depend on the element of surprise
when they hunt. Though they’re capable of moving
swiftly to catch their prey, they prefer to wait, hidden,
until a tasty and unsuspecting morsel happens by. The
snakes are also nocturnal creatures, doing the majority of their hunting at night. Legion soldiers on latenight watches in the East keep an eye out for constrictors, lest their sleeping comrades-in-arms end up with
bone-crushing blankets.
Giant constrictors flee when they take damage to their
last −3 health level, unless they are in the middle of
crushing their prey to death; then they flee after the
grapple ends instead.
Ichneumon Hunter
The terrifying ichneumon hunter is the scourge of
Southern herders. While the male of the species is a
harmless fly, the female is a flying wasp the size of a small
dog, with an ovipositor as long and sharp as a dagger. It
uses this to puncture the flesh of sheep, goats, cattle, or
whatever warm-blooded hosts are common throughout
the region, and implant its eggs to grow and hatch within
— and eventually feed on — their unwilling host.
While it’s uncommon for them to implant their brood
in a human host, those rare victims suffer an agonizing
death. Herders protect their flocks (and children) from
the ichneumon by burning foul-smelling herbs in huge
firepots day and night, while physicians and shamans
prescribe infusions of wormwood to kill implanted eggs
before they have a chance to hatch.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 2; Join Battle: 4 dice
Health Levels: −0/−1/−2/−4/Incap.
Actions: Fly: 7 dice; Senses: 4 dice (see Host Scent);
Stealth: 9 dice; Tracking: 3 dice (see Host Scent)
Resolve 1, Guile 1
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COMBAT
Attack (Sting): 8 dice (Damage 10)
Combat Movement: 7 dice
Evasion 5, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 1/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Ambush Hunter: Add three dice on unexpected
attacks.
Buzzing Advance: Add one automatic success on
any rush against a warm-blooded mammal that could
host its eggs, without penalties for flurrying a rush and
a sting attack on the same turn against such prey.
Distracting Swarm: A cloud of male ichneumon
hunters surrounds the female’s prey, distressing and
disorienting the target. Roll Fly vs. the target’s Resolve,
treating the swarm of males as one unit. If the swarm
succeeds, the target moves one range band away
from its original position and suffers a −1 penalty on
Perception rolls for the next round.
Infestation: A living enemy damaged by a decisive
sting must roll to resist the ichneumon hunter implanting
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its eggs in their body, a parasitic infestation modeled
as a disease (Exalted, p. 233) with virulence 4, morbidity 2, and an interval of one month. Fully-grown
ichneumon hunters emerge from the corpse of anyone
who dies of the infestation.
Corpse-Hive Embodiment (Magical, 1m): When
the ichneumon hunter makes a decisive sting attack
against an undead creature with flesh, such as a
zombie (but not a materialized ghost or Liminal Exalt),
its master may pay one mote to quicken the hunter’s
eggs as it implants them in dead flesh. The insects
quickly hatch and devour the creature alive. In addition to taking damage from the attack, the undead
is filled with flesh-eating wasps, suffering one die of
lethal damage that ignores Hardness on each turn.
Fire drives the wasplings away; a zombie’s master
can expel them by spending a miscellaneous brandishing a torch or similar source of flame.
MERITS
Host Scent: Add three bonus successes to rolls to
notice or track warm-blooded prey, but not to rolls
opposing stealth attempts.
Tiny Creature: Male ichneumon hunters add +2
Evasion against attacks made by larger foes. In addition, larger characters subtract two successes from
Awareness-based rolls made to notice them.
Brood-Sense Meditation (Magical, 0m): The ichneumon hunter is conjoined to the Essence of its parasitic brood, and can sense their emerging lives as they
grow within its prey. Against any character infested
with the hunter’s eggs, Host Scent’s bonus increases
to five bonus successes and can contest even perfect
track-covering magic, such as the Charm Traceless
Passage (Exalted, p. 412).
Storyteller Tactics
Procreation is the ichneumon hunter’s main priority.
In the wild, they’re selective about which herd animals
they choose as hosts: since the weakest run the risk of
being killed by other predators before the incubation
period ends, the hunters aim for hardier members of a
flock.
Infestation is a team effort. Females attack their prey together, overwhelming as many of the herd as they can
and ensuring that each hunter can lay her eggs. Males of
the species, otherwise harmless, swarm in an attempt to
separate potential hosts from the safety of their packs.
They have no bite to speak of, but their buzzing mimics
the female’s and sets off the quarry’s flight instincts.
An ichneumon hunter attempts to flee when it suffers
damage to its −2 health level.
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Metagalapan Riding Hawk
Mount Metagalapa lies northeast of Great Forks, floating hundreds of feet in the air. Its denizens learned to
breed its native oversized hawks larger and larger, until the birds could carry riders. Now, traders and warriors from the lofty peak swoop down to barter with
those who deal with them in good faith — and raid
those who don’t — borne on the wings of Metagalapan
riding hawks.
Modern hawks’ dispositions retain a healthy dose of the
wild. Anyone foolhardy enough to steal one courts a long
drop and a painful death. Riders train for long periods,
earning a bird’s trust over months or years. Hawks and
riders with the strongest bonds perform incredible feats,
maneuvering as though they share body and mind.
miles per day, but after a few days they need rest and recovery before continuing.
Metagalapan hawks often outlive their riders. Some pass
their hawks’ jesses on to a child or favored student, the
bird serving its masters faithfully for a century or more.
The hawks are not very fertile; only a few hatchlings survive each year, and successful breeders are in demand.
Even rarer is the great roc, a variety whose wingspan
stretches double that of their smaller cousins, growing
larger than a mammoth.
The hawks have 30-foot wingspans and powerful talons.
They can carry a small load, about 200 pounds, for a rider and her spoils. They can transport riders up to 50-75
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Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 7 dice
Health Levels: −0x2/−1x3/−2x3/−4x2/Incap.
Speed Bonus: +0
Actions: Fly: 10 dice; Senses: 5 dice (see Eagle Eye);
Stealth: 6 dice; Tracking: 5 dice (see Eagle Eye)
Resolve 2, Guile 1
C h a pt e r Fiv e : A n im a l s
COMBAT
Attack (Beak): 10 dice (Damage 11)
Attack (Grapple): 4 dice (4 to control)
Attack (Talons): 10 dice (Damage 12)
Combat Movement: 8 dice (see Aerial Maneuverability)
Evasion 3, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 3/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Aerial Maneuverability: Double 9s on disengage
attempts while flying.
Crushing Grip: Withering savage attacks the
hawk makes against grappled opponents ignore up
to four points of soak, while decisive ones ignore up
to four points of Hardness.
Swooping Descent: A hawk that flies downward
at least one range band and makes a decisive unexpected attack on the same turn adds two automatic
successes to the attack roll. A hawk soaring high in
the sky is beyond sensory range without superhuman
senses, ensuring an ambush on first strike and allowing it to attempt re-establishing stealth in combat or
withdrawing by simply flying higher than their enemies
can see.
Steady Glide (Latent): The hawk moves smoothly through the air, allowing its rider to take aim
or perform other actions requiring a steady hand
without suffering any penalties during any maneuver.
Armored hawks do not suffer barding penalties.
MERITS
Eagle Eye: The hawk gains five bonus dice on vision-based Senses rolls to notice something while it
has the height advantage, and can make out fine
details of far-off targets this way. It automatically succeeds on rolls to track someone while airborne unless
they employ perfect concealment magic.
Mighty Wings (Magical, 3m): The hawk can carry
an extra 50 pounds for every three motes committed
indefinitely, up to an extra 200 pounds.
Storyteller Tactics
Metagalapans prize their riding hawks for their maneuverability and ferocity. While a hawk is neither affectionate nor
truly loyal, it recognizes a good master as a reliable source of
food and shelter. It’s still a wild animal at heart, though, and
a rider would do well to remember that. Mistreated hawks
turn on their abusers. One Prince of the Earth known for his
cruelty turned up dead on the rocks below the mountain.
Official documents say his worn saddle’s straps gave way, but
those who found him say they were sliced, as if by a talon.
Metagalapan hawks prefer to strike from above, then
move swiftly out of range as they climb into the sky for
their next dive. They can only restrain/drag or savage a
grappled enemy, but they can drag him while ascending
and then release him to cause falling damage. They attempt to flee when they’ve taken damage to their first –2
health level, unless forced by a rider to continue. Those
who manage to procreate are protective of their fledglings, and defend their nests until Incapacitated or killed.
A Metagalapan hawk is a 2-dot Familiar.
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Mospid
This flying, feathered lizard is smaller than an eagle, but
far nimbler, with a two-foot wingspan and feathered tufts
on its tail and thumb that allow for precise maneuvering.
They are fearsome nocturnal hunters in their native forests, swooping down to catch prey and savaging it to death
with their sharp claws. While they’re far more difficult to
tame than any falcon, the Realm’s Dragon-Blooded favor
them for hunting animals, both for their killing prowess
and as a symbol of their master’s own might.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 4 dice
Health Levels: −0/−1/−2x2/−4/Incap.
Actions: Fly: 8 dice; Senses: 5 dice (see Eagle Eye
and Night Vision); Steal (6 dice); Tracking: 5 dice
(see Eagle Eye and Night Vision)
Resolve 2, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Claw): 9 dice (Damage 9)
Attack (Grapple): 5 dice (5 to control)
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Combat Movement: 8 dice (6 to disengage)
Evasion 4, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 4/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Death Dive: As long as the mospid can soar up to long
range from the ground, it may dive down at an enemy
with devastating force. The first time it moves down into
close range with an enemy while airborne and makes
a decisive attack, it may add four dice to the attack roll
and double 10s on the damage roll. Once it’s used this
special attack, it must regain altitude, returning back to
vertical long range before it can do so again.
Harry: If a mospid moves into close range of an
enemy and deals 5+ damage to them with a withering attack in the same turn, that enemy cannot disengage or withdraw on their next turn.
Dread Clutches (Latent): When the mospid savages a grappled enemy, it may also drag them along with any movement
actions it takes without restraining them first. The mospid may
move normally during a grapple as long as it’s in flight.
C h a pt e r Fiv e : A n im a l s
Hold at Bay (Latent): After using Harry, a mospid
may pay a Willpower to reflexively attempt a grapple
gambit, converting threshold successes on the attack
roll to bonus dice on the control roll. The mospid can
only hold or savage a grappled enemy — it cannot
drag them unless it knows and uses Dread Clutches.
Intercept (Latent): The mospid’s master trains it to
seek out messenger birds and intercept the correspondence they carry. The mospid swoops in, snatches the
missive, and darts away. Once per scene, the mospid
may flurry a Steal action with a disengage action
without penalty.
Familiar Sense (Magical, 5m): The mospid senses
familiars within medium range, and can trace the supernatural bond back to the familiar’s master.
MERITS
Eagle Eye: A mospid gains five bonus dice on vision-based Senses rolls while it has the height advantage, and can make out fine details of far-off targets
this way. It automatically succeeds on rolls to track
someone while airborne unless they employ perfect
concealment magic.
Eagle Wing Rush: A mospid may rush enemies
from long range above them, as long as the horizontal distance between them is still at short range.
Night Vision: Mospids can see in dim conditions
without penalty, and reduce the difficulty of vision-based Senses rolls in deeper darkness by one.
Precise Maneuvering: Double 9s on movement
actions made while in flight. In an environment where
the mospid must maneuver around obstacles or tight
passages, such as a heavily forested area, double 8s
instead.
Storyteller Tactics
Mospids flee after taking any damage, even those trained
as hunting beasts.
A mospid can carry seized enemies the size of a housecat, small monkey, or similar prey indefinitely. They can
grapple enemies up to the size of a dog, but only for an
instant, relinquishing the grapple at the end of their turn
(which may cause falling damage to its foe if the mospid ascends). Mospids cannot slam or throw clinched
enemies.
Mospids are valuable assets on the battlefield. Their
agility makes them excellent message-carriers, and their
sharp claws rend other courier-birds to bits. When lookouts spot mospids in the air, those with familiars consider very carefully whether to send their companion to
scout ahead.
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Northern Ursid
Iceship crews from Tusk tell stories of sleek, white-pelted water bears prowling Mela’s Fangs, attacking boats and
stealing fishermen’s catches. Their webbed paws end in wicked claws. Gills in their necks allow them to dive for
long periods to hunt fish in caves deep below the water’s surface, or to evade human hunters’ spears
and harpoons.
Down on all fours, these sea bears are four to five feet high at the shoulder,
and weigh between 800 and 2,000 pounds. Standing on their hind legs, they
tower over humans at heights of up to 11 feet. Hunting parties brave the
bears’ ferocious attacks, as their pelts fetch excellent
prices, and one ursid’s meat can feed a family for
months. Northern tribes who take its avatar as
their patron train the animals to fight and fit
them with armor for riding into battle.
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Essence: 1; Willpower: 3; Join Battle: 7 dice
Health Levels: −0x5/−1x5/−2x5/−4x3/Incap.
Speed Bonus: +3 (+4 in the water)
Actions: Feats of Strength: 7 dice (may attempt
Strength 5 feats); Intimidate: 7 dice; Senses: 5 dice
(see Keen Nose); Swimming: 8 dice; Tracking: 5 dice
Resolve 3, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 8 dice (Damage 15)
Attack (Claw): 12 dice (Damage 11)
Attack (Grapple): 8 dice (9 to control, or 10 in the
water)
Combat Movement: 7 dice (8 in the water)
Evasion 3, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 10/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Capsize (Latent): The bear grabs lines dangling
from a small boat or other vessel no larger than a
fast courier (Exalted, p. 246) in its powerful jaws,
or embeds its claws deep in the vessel’s underside,
and dives. Treat this as a Strength 5+ feat of strength
with required successes equal to the pilot’s (Strength
+ Sail). Upon success, the boat capsizes, dumping
anyone and anything aboard into the water.
Roaring Charge (Latent): After moving at least one
range band toward a target on the ursid’s current turn,
roll Intimidate against the target’s Resolve as a miscellaneous action. If successful, the enemy reflexively
flees one range band in the opposite direction, and
the bear or its rider receives one automatic success
on the next attack roll against anyone who witnessed
the charge.
MERITS
Berserker: Convert wound penalties to bonus dice
on attack rolls.
Keen Nose: Double 9s on scent-based Senses rolls.
Storyteller Tactics
Northern ursidae make their dens away from humans
in caves near the sea, and those who would tame them
must defeat them in combat first. In battle without a rider, an ursid’s preferred tactics are to grapple an enemy
and drag her underwater in a bear hug until she drowns,
or the clinch crushes her bones, whichever comes first.
A water bear attempts to flee if it takes damage in its first
−2 health level, unless commanded otherwise by a rider.
Ursidae are 2-dot Familiars.
Siaka
Gigantic sharks that grow up to 50 feet in length, siaka
are the apex predators of much of Creation’s oceans,
hunting whales and giant squid in deep water. Their
massive mouths have five rows of dagger-like teeth,
which they often plunge into the unprotected underbellies of their prey as they attack from below. They can
scent even a few drops of blood in water from hundreds
of miles away, and rise from the deep if incensed by its
tantalizing scent, making them a dreaded sight in the aftermath of great sea battles.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 6 dice
Health Levels: −0x4/−1x8/−2x8/−4x4/Incap.
Actions: Feats of Strength: 13 dice (may attempt
Strength 7 feats, see Sundering Bite); Senses: 6 dice
(see Blood Scent); Stealth: 2 dice; Swimming: 7 dice;
Tracking: 3 dice (see Blood Scent)
Resolve 3, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 10 dice (Damage 22, minimum 5)
Attack (Grapple): 8 dice (10 to control)
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Combat Movement: 7 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 10/5
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Blood Frenzy: The smell of blood drives the siaka to
the point of near-madness. It adds automatic successes
to decisive attacks and grapple control rolls against
an enemy who has taken any lethal damage this scene,
equal to the enemy’s current wound penalty.
Death From Below: When the siaka makes a surprise attack, it adds threshold successes on the attack
roll to the raw damage, or to the grapple control
roll. This cannot add more than five dice to the raw
damage of a decisive attack.
Killing Surge: If any of the siaka’s enemies have
taken lethal damage when it Joins Battle, it may
convert one die to an automatic success for each
point of wound penalty suffered by its enemies, and
treats the roll as a reflexive rush attempt against a
bleeding enemy.
Massive Fangs: Whenever the siaka deals 5+
damage to any enemy with a withering attack, it
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
may pay a Willpower to roll one lethal damage die
against its victim as well, which ignores Hardness.
Overwhelming Might: Siaka make unopposed
grapple control rolls against enemies of smaller size, unless
the victims use magic allowing them to grapple larger foes,
such as Dragon Coil Technique (Exalted, p. 280).
Rip to Shreds: When the siaka makes a savage
attack against a grappled enemy, it may expend
rounds of control to add that many dice to the damage
roll.
Crew-Devouring Rampage (Latent): A siaka
trained to fight against large numbers of organized
enemies treats all battle groups as having a wound
penalty equal to their Size for the purposes of its abilities.
Thrashing Predator Aggression (Latent): The
siaka may spend a Willpower to reflexively make a
clash attack against any attack made at close range.
If it deals 5+ damage with a withering clash attack,
it may use Massive Fangs at no cost, and it rolls three
lethal damage dice instead of one.
MERITS
Blood Scent: Add three bonus successes to rolls
to sense the presence of blood in the water, out to
extreme range. If it specifically attempts to track or
detect a bleeding character, it adds an additional
success for each point of wound penalty that character suffers.
Depth Lurker: While the siaka is unskilled in stealth,
subtract three successes from Perception rolls to notice
it while it’s at long range or farther under the water relative to the character, or moving up from long range
while already hidden. It can rush enemies from long
range beneath them underwater as long as the horizontal distance between the two is no more than one
range band and it’s concealed from the target.
Legendary Size: A siaka suffers no onslaught penalties from attacks from smaller opponents, unless
they’re magically inflicted. Withering attacks from
smaller enemies cannot Crash it unless they have at
least 10 post-soak damage dice, although attackers
still gain the full amount of Initiative damage dealt.
Decisive attacks from smaller enemies cannot deal
more than (3 + attacker’s Strength) levels of damage
to it, not counting levels added by Charms or other
magic.
Shark Sleep: Siaka don’t truly sleep. Instead, they
enter a resting phase during which they remain conscious and can still move, but cannot attack or take
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down, and targets the wounded with attacks such as
Blood Frenzy and Killing Surge.
other involved physical actions without disrupting their
rest. Eight hours spent in this resting phase is equivalent to a night’s sleep for the siaka.
Sundering Bite: Double 8s on feats of destruction to
crush something between the siaka’s enormous jaws.
Storyteller Tactics
Siaka prowl the deeps, undetected by ships’ captains
and lookouts until it’s far too late to raise the sails and
run. Though some of its enemies are as adept fighting in
the water as they are on dry land, the siaka recognizes
that most mortals benefit from a solid deck beneath their
feet. When attacking enemies on a ship, it uses Death
From Below to slam into the hull, attempting to knock
the crew prone or, ideally, overboard.
It attempts to snare individual opponents in its jaws with
Overwhelming Might, and savages grappled targets with
Rip to Shreds. It uses its Massive Fangs to wear enemies
The siaka uses the ocean’s vastness to its advantage. It
frequently dives deep and repositions itself, attacking
the ship from a different angle, capsizing other vessels,
or picking off sailors who have fallen into the water. Just
because the siaka remains submerged for an extended
period of time doesn’t mean it’s lost interest.
Destroying ships excites the siaka nearly as much as devouring their crews. It uses Sundering Bite to rip holes
in the hull, or snap the main mast in half between its
powerful jaws.
A siaka attempts to flee upon suffering damage to its first
–4 health level, unless enraged by the smell of blood in
the water.
Simhata
The simhata is a proud and majestic creature combining the best aspects of lion and horse in its build, with
a vicious temper and a predatory gaze. Simhata roam
Southern savannas and Eastern grasslands, disemboweling prey with powerful claws before moving in for
the killing bite. While they are fearsome predators, they
have an uneasy relationship with nearby humans —
though a simhata is by no means averse to preying on
human flesh, the beasts can also be tamed to serve as ferociously loyal mounts. The affinity between human and
simhata goes back to their origins in distant prehistory
as the war-mounts of the Exalted, and even in the Time
of Tumult, the lion-horse has an inborn desire to serve
any of the Chosen who prove themselves worthy.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 6; Join Battle: 6 dice
Health Levels: −0x3/−1x3/−2x3/−4/Incap.
Speed Bonus: +4
Actions: Feats of Strength: 9 dice (may attempt
Strength 5 feats); Intimidate: 10 dice; Senses: 5 dice
(see Keen Nose); Stealth: 8 dice; Tracking: 4 dice
(see Keen Nose)
Resolve 4, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 8 dice (Damage 17)
Attack (Claws): 10 dice (Damage 14)
Attack (Grapple): 7 dice (8 to control)
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Combat Movement: 13 dice
Evasion 5, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 6/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Brutal Claw: Smaller enemies that take 5+ damage
from the simhata’s withering claw attack are
knocked back one range band and fall prone.
Leaping Pounce: If a simhata moves into close
range with an enemy of the same size or smaller and
deals 5+ damage to it with a withering attack on the
same turn, it may pay a point of Willpower to reflexively make a clinch attack against its prey.
Raging Lion-Horse Fury: Whenever damage fills
one of the simhata’s −2 or lower health levels, or when
it witnesses its bonded rider’s death (see Bonding,
below), it enters a state of frenzy. It ignores wound
penalties and gains a Willpower on each turn that can
exceed its usual maximum. It must spend this before its
next turn to add a success to a combat-related action,
or to resist influence that would make it cease fighting
or impede its ability to fight; otherwise, that Willpower
point vanishes. An enraged simhata doesn’t flee under
any circumstances. However, a bonded rider may
attempt to calm its rage with a (Charisma + Ride) roll,
difficulty 4, which cannot be placed in a flurry.
Savaging Maw: Any decisive bite attack the
simhata makes against a prone or crashed enemy
adds threshold successes to the damage roll.
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
Swift Advance: Whenever the simhata reflexively
pursues an enemy after a successful rush, it may pay
a Willpower to reflexively make a decisive attack
against them.
Foe-Maiming Guardian’s Fangs (Magical, 1m):
Whenever the simhata makes a decisive bite attack
against an enemy who has attacked or threatened its
bonded rider, the Exalt may pay one mote to double
10s on the damage roll. If he currently suffers any
wound penalties inflicted by that enemy, his total
wound penalty is added as bonus dice to the simhata’s attack roll.
MERITS
Keen Nose: Double 9s on scent-based Senses rolls.
Predator’s Hunger: Whenever a simhata Joins
Battle against an enemy it could conceivably eat, if
it hasn’t eaten within the last day, it may reroll any 1s
until they fail to appear. Its master can train it to apply
this Merit to all Join Battle rolls as a latent ability, by
conditioning it to associate battle with free rein to
devour its enemies.
Bonding (Latent): A rider who successfully tames
a wild simhata — a task involving a great deal of
hard effort and raw meat — bonds to it, giving the
simhata a Major Tie of loyalty to them. While it may
not be well-tempered or easy to handle, its devotion
is unwavering. It accepts no other rider, and anyone
foolish enough to attack its master answers to its
claws. However, the simhata were bred in the ancient
past as Exalted war-steeds. Even a bonded simhata
allows an Exalt to ride if his anima flares. Bonded to
an Exalt, the simhata’s Tie is Defining and overrides
any existing bonds to un-Exalted riders.
Cliff-Stalking Method (Latent): A simhata’s powerful legs and claws allow it to climb up walls as easily
as it moves over horizontal ground. It scales vertical
surfaces at its regular combat speed, and for a point of
Willpower, can leap a distance comparable to what
a Solar can achieve with Monkey Leap Technique
(Exalted, p. 261). When running at full speed, the
simhata can use its momentum to jump from one wall
to another, catching on with its claws and pushing off
again as it pursues its prey.
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pouncing again, or bat its catch back and forth with another member of its pack until it grows bored or hungry
enough and snaps its victim’s neck.
Resplendent Mane (Magical, 2m): Whenever
its master’s anima banner is at the burning level, the
simhata’s mane mimics its appearance at no cost,
glowing and whipping about in the stirring Essence.
For two motes, the simhata gains +2 dice to combat
rolls for the scene.
Storyteller Tactics
For a simhata, the hunt is as satisfying as the kill. It stalks
its prey across the savanna, creeping low to the ground
and staying upwind until it strikes in a flurry of fangs and
claws. The hunt doesn’t end when the simhata catches
its quarry. Like its smaller feline cousins, a simhata plays
with its food before delivering the killing blow. It may
release its victim and let it run a range band away before
Simhata are intelligent and curious. A bonded simhata
learns to read its master’s body language, making it a savvy companion in dangerous situations. Many Exalts owe
their lives to a vigilant simhata picking up on its master’s
unease and acting swiftly when enemies appeared.
A simhata flees after suffering damage to its last –3
health level but never abandons a bonded rider, even if it
must sacrifice its own life to save his. Simhata are 2-dot
Familiars.
Sky Titan
Native to Southeastern jungles, these massive creatures are both tremendous lizard and terrible raptor.
Immense, broad wings stretch more than 50 feet across.
Their feathers, arrayed in a violent spray of colors, form
fearsome patterns when their wings unfurl. Many an
explorer’s last moments come while glancing up to see
the beast’s razor-sharp beak as it strikes like a comet. If a
victim is unlucky, the sky titan toys with its prey, shaking
and flinging him around to soften him up before devouring him.
The sight of its crested head and enormous beak rising
above the tree line, or the fierce winds from the downbeat of its gigantic wings, is enough to turn squads of
hardened soldiers back to seek another route. The sky
titan has snatching talons powerful enough to seize an
adult and fly away with him, and is covered from head
to toe in glittering, impenetrable scales. Only the boldest
heroes can tame a sky titan as a mount — for they must
survive battle with the beast — but those who succeed
become masters of the air.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 6; Join Battle: 8 dice
Health Levels: −0x2/−1x5/−2x5/−4x2/Incap.
Speed Bonus: +4
Actions: Feats of Strength: 10 dice (may attempt
Strength 5 feats); Fly: 5 dice (9 dice at vertical long
range or higher); Intimidate: 12 dice; Senses: 9 dice
(see Keen Nose); Tracking: 8 dice
Resolve 3, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Beak): 9 dice (Damage 18, minimum 6;
Piercing)
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Attack (Talons): 10 dice (Damage 16)
Attack (Wing): 8 dice (Damage 14)
Attack (Talon Grapple): 11 dice (10 to control)
Combat Movement: 12 dice (see Master of the
Sky)
Evasion 4 (see Master of the Sky), Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 12/4
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Clamp Down: Once per scene, a sky titan that deals
3+ levels of damage with a decisive talon attack
may pay one Willpower to immediately begin grappling its victim without a gambit, reflexively making the
opposed control roll. Add +1 to the base Initiative the
creature resets to for every round of control it gains.
Dominating Battlecry: The sky titan surveys the battlefield and trumpets its supremacy. When its Initiative is
the highest among battle participants by 15 or more, it
may spend 10 Initiative to regain one Willpower.
Fearsome Display: Spreading its wings, the sky
titan terrifies all who behold it. Once per scene, roll
Intimidate once and apply it against the Resolve of
each character who can see it. Those whose Resolve it
overcomes must flee in terror until they reach extreme
range from the titan, or pay one Willpower to resist.
Mundane animals and mortals automatically flee
without magical intervention, and can’t resist with
Willpower. If the sky titan Incapacitates or kills a
non-trivial opponent, this ability resets.
Ground-Churning Strafe Attack: The sky titan
drags its massive talons across the battlefield as a
combat action, clawing at the turf as it charges. The
upturned earth and deep gouges it leaves create a
swath of difficult terrain.
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
Horizon-Sweeping Wingspan: Spend one Willpower. With a mighty downbeat of its wings, the sky
titan makes a single withering wing attack applied
against all enemies within close range. This attack knocks
any enemies who take damage from it back one range
band, and the titan may take a reflexive move action in
any direction, which doesn’t count as its move action for
the turn. It gains full Initiative from the target who took the
most damage, +1 for each other target who took any
damage. For a second Willpower point, it may flurry the
initial wing attack with a withering or decisive beak
attack. This ability may be used once per scene, but
resets whenever the sky titan’s wound penalty increases.
Spine-Shattering Emperor’s Beak: Striking with
an apex predator’s skill and all the force its impressively elongated neck can provide, the sky titan may
make beak attacks at short range. If the target hasn’t
acted yet this turn or is in Initiative Crash, successful
decisive beak attacks made at short range reset the
titan to 6 Initiative instead of 3, and successful withering piercing beak attacks made at short range
ignore up to 7 armor soak instead of 4.
MERITS
Keen Nose: Double 9s on scent-based Senses rolls.
Sky titans use their tongues to aid in smelling.
Legendary Size: The sky titan suffers no onslaught
penalties from attacks from smaller opponents, unless
they’re magically inflicted. Withering attacks from
smaller enemies cannot Crash it unless they have at
least 10 post-soak damage dice, although attackers
still gain the full amount of Initiative damage dealt.
Decisive attacks from smaller enemies cannot deal
more than (3 + attacker’s Strength) levels of damage,
not counting levels added by Charms or other magic.
Master of the Sky: The sky titan suffers no penalties for
moving over difficult terrain while on the ground, but takes
a −3 penalty to combat movement actions while flying at
low altitudes (vertical medium range from the ground or
lower). It gains +3 Evasion while soaring at vertical long
range or higher, as long as it hasn’t taken any combat
actions within the scene. It can fly continuously at 80 miles
an hour for up to 10 days without rest at high altitudes.
Overwhelming Might: Sky titans make unopposed grapple control rolls against enemies of smaller
size, unless the victims use magic allowing them to
grapple larger foes, such as Dragon Coil Technique
(Exalted, p. 280).
Thick Scales: The sky titan does not subtract wound
penalties from its Defense. In addition, attacks made
from short range or further reduce their minimum
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damage against the sky titan by one unless they
benefit from an Aim action.
Storyteller Tactics
The sky titan dominates the battlefield from the ground,
keeping enemies at bay with Fearsome Display and
Horizon-Sweeping Wingspan, stymying their advance
with Ground-Churning Strafe, then picking them off one
by one with its beak, using its elongated neck to its advantage. It’s a clumsy flier at low altitudes due to its bulk,
so it usually refrains from getting airborne unless it’s trying to disengage or withdraw — or it’s already won.
When a challenger does get within close range, the sky
titan lashes out with its sharp, deadly talons. Grappling
an opponent and dropping him from an impressive
height is simultaneously an attempt to harm the enemy
and a display of the titan’s dominance, but a foe’s allies
can take advantage of its poor flying skills at low altitudes to rescue him before it climbs too high.
Fiercely territorial, a sky titan defends its domain against
any who would challenge its sovereignty. Because of its
extensive flight range, it considers its domain to extend
out to the horizon — and sometimes beyond. A sky titan
only flees battle after taking damage to its fifth −2 health
level.
A sky titan is a 3-dot Familiar.
Spider
No corner of Creation is bereft of spiders. Arachnids
scuttle along thick tree trunks in Eastern forests and
volcanoes’ slopes in the West; they’re camouflaged amid
the dust of the South and crouched in chilly corners of
saddlebags in the North. Even palatial Dynastic estates
know the presence of common house spiders. This ubiquitous creature may appear as a friendly pet belonging
to an affluent treasure hunter, a partner to a shifty-eyed
thief, or a dangerous threat lurking in the shadows, ready
to prey on human flesh.
The special abilities and Merits below represent the
spread of common ones found among many different
species of spider, but most spiders only possess some of
them. The Storyteller is encouraged to mix and match
them to model different specific species, or even create
their own to make something truly unique.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 6 dice
Health Levels: −0/−1/−2/−4/Incap.
Actions: Climb: 10 dice; Senses: 8 dice (see Sharp
Sight); Stealth: 10 dice; Tracking: 7 dice
Resolve 1, Guile 3
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 8 dice (Damage 6)
Attack (Grapple): 8 dice (10 to control); cannot
throw/slam grappled enemies
Combat Movement: 9 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 1
Soak/Hardness: 3/0
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SPECIAL ABILITIES
Envenomed Bite: The spider’s decisive bite attack
exposes the victim to its poison (Exalted, p. 232) if it
deals any damage. The poison deals no damage, but
has a duration of 5 rounds, and a −2 penalty. While
the venom is in effect, the victim may not take any reflexive movement actions, and the penalty applies to
Defense also.
Leaping Pounce: If a spider moves into close range
of an enemy of the same size or smaller and deals 5+
damage to it with a withering attack on the same
turn, it may pay a point of Willpower to reflexively
make a clinch attach against its prey.
Silk-Drifting Flight: The spider spins a small sail of
silk and uses it to catch the wind, drifting along with
the breeze. This allows the spider to bypass difficult
terrain and avoid environmental hazards it could reasonably fly over. A spider with the Tiny Creature Merit
can fly up to a mile per day this way, while a larger
spider can fly up to 10 miles per day.
Spider-Silk Snare: Whenever the spider makes
a successful clinch against prey its size or smaller, it
wraps them in thick, clinging silken webbing. The spider
may continue the grapple without needing to physically
maintain it and may use threads of webbing to drag the
victim. These sticky strands persist even after the spider
has ended the grapple, imposing a –2 dice penalty
to all actions involving physical movement, such as
attacks and Movement actions, until the target spends
a combat action tearing the webbing away.
Tremendous Leap: The spider may take one additional reflexive move action each turn by succeeding
on a difficulty 2 Leap roll.
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
Web-Weaving Entanglement (Latent): Spiders
without Tiny Creature may use Spider-Silk Snare
against enemies of any size.
MERITS
Ambush Hunter: Gain +3 on unexpected attacks.
Camouflage: The coloring of a spider’s exoskeleton
allows it to blend in seamlessly with its surroundings.
Depending on the variety of spider, it may perfectly
match the color of desert sand, or the mottled pattern
of leaves, or appear as some kind of innocuous object
such as a twig. Choose the type of camouflage the
spider has and when it would double 9s on Stealth
rolls.
Deadly Scale: Against enemies of the same size or
smaller, a spider’s bite attack increases to Damage
12, and it may grapple enemies of the same size or
smaller.
Sharp Sight: Double 9s on sight-based Senses rolls.
Tiny Creature: Gain +2 Evasion against foes larger
than a housecat. Characters of that size subtract two successes from Awareness rolls made to notice the spider.
Wall-Walker: Spiders may make combat movement
actions vertically as well as horizontally, and can stop
on an inverted surface as long as it can hold their weight.
Vibration Sense: Some spiders feel vibrations on
their web or through the ground. They do not require
light to perceive a target without penalty, and double
9s on Senses rolls whenever vibrations are present.
Storyteller Tactics
Spiders come in many varied sizes and shapes, with differing unique abilities. Most spiders begin with Tiny
Creature, Envenomed Bite, and one other Merit or special ability pertaining to its movement — most commonly
Wall-Walker. Then, to customize the creature, add three to
five more Merits and/or special abilities. Especially large
spiders lose Tiny Creature and gain –1x2/–2x2 health levels and +2 Soak. Tiny spiders flee battle after taking damage to their first –1 health level, while larger ones persist
until they take damage to their first –2 health level.
The notorious giant spiders of the Eastern forests add
Camouflage, Deadly Scale, Leaping Pounce, Sharp Sight,
Spider-Silk Snare, and Web-Weaving Entanglement.
Wave-skimming spiders of the West add Ambush
Hunter, Sharp Sight, and Tremendous Leap. They also
add Wall-Walker, but only to skim across the water’s
surface.
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Spiders kept as familiars make excellent infiltrators,
able to scuttle into locked and secret places without
any sign of entrance. Scavenger lords value spider familiars for keeping harmful insects from eating and
damaging forgotten texts and relics, and also for the
spider’s ability to crawl over and inspect fragile objects
without damaging them.
Most people pass by spiders without ever noticing. When
a small spider does make itself known, it’s usually to defend its web or territory. Small spiders prefer to strike
quickly, biting their target with a painful, distracting
strike, and then fleeing. Large spiders ensnare attackers
in enormous webs, entangling all enemies before moving
in for the kill. Some species of large spiders drag webbed
victims into their lairs to feast on their flesh later.
Sthenurine
Sthenurines roam freely across the Southern grasslands.
These upright creatures have gray, brown, or red pelts
and travel primarily by walking or hopping. Their form
allows for powerful punches, kicks, and grapples — a
fighting style copied by martial sages. Southeastern messenger guilds use the sthenurine’s silhouette on their
heraldry to symbolize their tenacity and swiftness. In
the South, the Yimidhirr Clan raises sthenurines for
meat and hides, but also train the fittest of their stock to
wade into the thick of battle, outfitting them with armor.
Sthenurines vary in height from three to eight feet tall.
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Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 6 dice
Health Levels: −0/−1x2/−2x2/−4/Incap.
Actions: Feats of Strength: 8 dice (may attempt
Strength 5 feats); Leap: 10 dice; Senses: 6 dice;
Tracking: 7 dice
Resolve 3, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Kick): 8 dice (Damage 14), see Mighty Pugilist
Attack (Grapple): 8 dice (8 to control)
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
MERITS
Marsupial Pouch: A female sthenurine can hide
anything the size of a housecat or smaller in her
pouch. The person, creature, or object can only be
targeted after a difficulty 3 gambit exposes enough
of it to attack or otherwise affect. Trained sthenurines
permit their masters to store things in their pouches.
Brawler (Latent): A trained sthenurine can wear specially crafted armor and use its Brutal Kick against attackers the size of a human adult.
In the Thick of It (Latent): Gain +1 Defense when
fighting multiple opponents.
Storyteller Tactics
Combat Movement: 9 dice
Evasion 2, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 5/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Brutal Kick: Enemies smaller than a human adult
that take 5+ damage from the sthenurine’s withering
kick attack are knocked back one range band and
fall prone.
Trample: If the sthenurine reflexively pursues an
enemy after a successful rush and makes a kick attack
against them on its next turn, a successful hit knocks
the enemy prone. Apply the Defense penalty from
being prone (Exalted, p. 202) retroactively when
calculating the attack’s threshold successes.
Tremendous Leap: The sthenurine may take one
additional reflexive move action each turn by succeeding on a difficulty 2 Leap roll.
Mighty Pugilist (Latent): A sthenurine trained to
fight hand-to-hand adds +1 die to its kick attack and
+2 to withering or decisive damage rolls against a
single opponent.
Sthenurines are naturally shy and avoid conflict, especially with humans. If forced or commanded to fight,
they lash out until they drive their foes away or until
they take damage to their first −2 health level, whichever happens first. Sthenurines trained as brawlers remain
in the fight until Incapacitated. A sthenurine is a 2-dot
Familiar.
Strix
Giant forest owls with 15-foot wingspans, strix hunt by
diving down from the skies and carrying their prey aloft
with them — prey ranging from deer, to wolves, to isolated travelers. Mottled dark-brown feathers that make
no sound in flight and large, round eyes that see clearly
in the dark make them deadly nocturnal ambush predators, while their wicked claws have more than enough
strength to seize and savage prey.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 7 dice
Health Levels: −0/−1x3/−2x3/−4/Incap.
Actions: Feats of Strength: 6 dice (may attempt
Strength 3 feats); Fly: 8 dice; Intimidate: 5 dice;
Senses: 5 dice (see Eagle Eye and Night Vision);
Stealth: 7 dice; Tracking: 6 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Peck): 7 dice (Damage 15)
Attack (Talons): 11 dice (Damage 11)
Attack (Grapple): 8 dice (7 to control)
Combat Movement: 8 dice
Evasion 5, Parry 3
Soak/Hardness: 3/0
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SPECIAL ABILITIES
Carried Away: When a strix deals 5+ levels of
damage with a withering talon attack, it may forgo
receiving any Initiative and instead perform a reflexive grapple gambit against that enemy. Each point of
Initiative it would have gained adds one bonus die to
the control roll if the grapple is successful.
Dread Clutches: When the strix savages a grappled
enemy, it may also drag him along with any movement actions it takes, without restraining him first. The
strix may move normally during a grapple as long as
it’s in flight.
Swooping Descent: A strix flying downward from
at least short range vertically to make a decisive unexpected attack adds two automatic successes to the
attack roll. A strix soaring high in the sky is beyond
sensory range without superhuman senses, ensuring
an ambush on first strike and allowing the strix to
attempt re-establishing stealth in combat or withdrawing from the battlefield by simply flying higher than its
enemies can see.
MERITS
Eagle Eye: A strix gains five bonus dice on vision-based
Senses rolls while it has the height advantage, and
can make out fine details of far-off targets this way. It
C h a pt e r Fiv e : A n im a l s
automatcally succeeds on rolls
to track someone
while airborne unless
they employ perfect concealment magic.
Eagle Wing Rush: A strix
may rush enemies from long range
above them, as long as the horizontal distance between them is still at short
range.
Night Vision: A strix can see in dim conditions without penalty, and reduces the difficulty of vision-based Senses rolls in deeper
darkness by one.
Storyteller Tactics
i-
A strix prefers fly-by grapple gambits,
snatching up prey and carrying it off to
its nest or another high perch to pick apart
at its leisure. It cannot throw or slam grappled
enemies, but may release them from a great height
to cause falling damage as normal. It attempts to flee
upon suffering damage in its first −2 health level, carrying away anything caught in its talons.
Tongma Monkey
Glancing up at a ship hailing from Tongma Island, a
gateway port just off the western coast of the Blessed
Isle, keen observers might spot a nimble little monkey
climbing the rigging. Realm sailors brought these comical-faced creatures, with their big eyes and ears and
long, curly tails, to the Isle from the West. The animals
have adapted well to the cooler climate and life on the
seas. Many sailors treat their monkeys as pets, but they
also train them to be useful aboard ships, sending them
into the rigging as lookouts or bringing messages belowdecks from the officers.
Tongma monkeys mimic human laughter with eerie accuracy, and employ a wide range of vocalizations, gestures, and scent markers for communication. Dynasts
use them to deliver secret messages to their allies and
co-conspirators, teaching trained monkeys a specific
pattern only the intended recipient can decode.
Essence: 1; Willpower: 3; Join Battle: 5 dice
Health Levels: −0/−1x2/−2x3/−4/Incap.
Actions: Acrobatics/Climb: 7 dice; Communicate: 6
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dice; Mimic: 8 dice; Senses: 5 dice (see Keen Nose);
Stealth: 4 dice; Tracking: 5 dice
Resolve 1, Guile 1
COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 5 dice (Damage 7)
Attack (Grapple): 6 dice (6 to control)
Combat Movement: 8 dice
Evasion 4, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 2/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Borrowed Voice: By listening to a conversation for
at least 15 minutes, the monkey can perfectly imitate
its target’s laughter and other non-verbal utterances.
As a latent ability, the monkey’s trainer can teach it a
short phrase (no more than five words) to repeat in the
target’s voice, using its Mimic pool when necessary.
The monkey can only remember two voices at a time.
If it learns a new one, it forgets the oldest.
Coded Message (Latent): The monkey learns a
specific pattern of sounds, words, and gesticulations,
H U N D R E D D E V I L S N I G H T PA R A D E
normally funny face grows terrifying as it bares an impressive row of sharp teeth. It attempts to flee when suffers damage to its last –1 health level.
which it repeats for anyone who displays the correct
hand gesture or vocalization.
MERITS
Agile Climber: Double 8s on rolls to climb vertically.
Keen Nose: Double 9s on scent-based Senses rolls.
Storyteller Tactics
Peaceful and playful by nature, Tongma monkeys avoid
fighting as best they can, preferring to scamper up
and away from threats. When cornered, the monkey’s
A monkey scampers onto its master’s foes to perform
clinches and other gambits as a distraction, although its
grapple doesn’t prevent the enemy from taking movement actions. Tongma monkeys can only perform the
savage or release action from a grapple.
A Tongma monkey is a 1-dot Familiar.
Urcheon
Native to secluded burrows in Northeastern forests and
Threshold lowlands, urcheons are small, squat rodents
covered in an array of spikes. Despite their bristly exterior, it’s mostly for defense; urcheons are quite social
with humans and other forest creatures. If threatened,
an urcheon curls into a defensive ball and fires its spikes.
Their companionable attitude has led to a trend among
Nexus’ wealthy merchants of keeping them as pets and
walking them on leashes.
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Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 2 dice
Health Levels: −0x2/−1/−2/−4x2/Incap.
Actions: Senses: 6 dice (see Keen Nose); Stealth: 6
dice; Threaten: 6 dice; Tracking: 6 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 2
COMBAT
Attack (Spines): 8 dice (Damage 5); Tags: Ranged
(Short)
C h a pt e r Fiv e : A n im a l s
Combat Movement: 6 dice
Evasion 2, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 5/2
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Vengeful Spikes Counter: Whenever the urcheon
takes decisive damage, it may spend a point of Willpower to respond with a reflexive decisive counterattack at close or short range, which doesn’t count as
its combat action. This can’t be used in response to
other counterattacks.
Tenacious Friendly Guardian (Latent): Urcheons
trained as pets aggressively defend their masters. If
its master is attacked while the urcheon is up to short
range away, it may spend 1 Willpower to reflexively
move to their side and take a defend other action.
MERITS
Keen Nose: Double 9s on scent-based Senses rolls.
Scent-Swabbing Distraction: Marking its territory
with scent glands, an urcheon doubles 9s on Stealth
rolls to conceal its passage and may attempt distract
gambits (Exalted, p. 200).
Warding Needles Defense: An urcheon’s sharp
spines deter would-be attackers. Whenever it takes the
full defense action, it gains +2 spine attack damage,
+2 soak and Hardness, and +3 Parry instead of +2.
Storyteller Tactics
Domesticated and handled from birth, urcheons make
companionable pets. As a 1-dot Familiar, an urcheon is
a devoted companion, ferociously defending its master.
Wild urcheons only attack when they feel threatened
and flee after taking damage to their –1 health level.
In the Northeast, people gather expended urcheon spines
for use as blow darts and quills for writing. Agricultural
clans in the Threshold use dried and hardened urcheon
quills in ritual piercings, given to young adults as a rite of
maturity following a series of trials that test the youth’s
tenacity and patience. Several noble households among
the Hundred Kingdoms utilize the urcheon in their heraldry and squabble over who adopted it first. Alchemists
produce medicinal tinctures from powdered urcheon
bones and quills.
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