Tales of the Moonlight Maiden: Hostages (Exalted)

So hey, welcome back! So we've got the second session of my group's Exalted chronicle, Tales of the Moonlight Maiden for your perusal. I know it feels like I just posted one of these, and I kinda did -- the last one was pretty close to the following session for reasons I'm not getting into here, and I'm getting this one out pretty quickly.

I don't really have anything to add, other than to say that because of character adjustments and whatnot between sessions, I've gone back and updated the little character info in the first post. So without any further ado, let's get into it.

So we start with Xương waking up on the ship, taking a little longer to get ready than the others as he had the last watch the night before. But he gets up and heads out onto the dock, and notes the stranger with the machete who informs him that his friends went to the inn (primarily because Shango tipped him, so the guy's in an amenable mood). So he heads into the bar moments after his companions have finished the fight from the previous session. Seeing that the other two have things well in hand, he just ducks behind the bar, gets himself a drink, and finishes Hǎifēng's stew.

Shango grabs the arm of the -- let's just call it like it is -- pirate and pins him to the floor and wants to know why he and his buddy attacked him. Hǎifēng points out that they did spill booze on him, and this leads into a discussion over whether stabbing is an appropriate response to that. (Shango, who grew up in a more civilized environment, argues it isn't. Hǎifēng, who grew up on the streets, suggests it can be.)

But as they menace the pirate, he gives in and tells them that his captain is making the people of the village help him find something in a shipwreck. And once they've found what they're looking for, they'll be on their way. The pirate doesn't know what the thing is. When asked what ship he's from, the pirate says it's the Grim Vortex. Shango, from his family's ties to shipping, has heard of the Grim Vortex, but other than "it's a pirate ship," most of what he knows are rumors that the captain is a necromancer.

Xương asks about the ship that went down, and the pirate says that it's the Daana'd's Wake, which Xương happens to know by reputation (actually, Shango should also know this, but I didn't point it out at the time). The Daana'd's Wake is a merchant ship named after the Elemental Dragon of Water, which a lot of people see as a little dodgy for a ship that's unaffiliated with the Realm or the Immaculate Order. A lot of people see it as kind of tempting fate, so the ship is known for the riskier shipping ventures. Which, given that the Wake apparently went down in a recent storm, maybe it was tempting fate. Who knows?[0]

Shango asks the pirate if he knows the coordinates of where the Grim Vortex has the townspeople searching, and the pirate rattles off a direction and a rough distance. Also, the group asks about the lighthouse beacon, only to learn that the pirates found it by accident while they were ransacking the village for supplies. It still lights up underwater, so they've been using it to help search the wreckage.

The group asks if there are any other pirates in town, and at this point Seong-gi the bartender comes out and says the pirates have taken the town. They've stationed their people in multiple houses chosen at random so if anyone from the town tries anything foolish nobody knows which families are going to be murdered first.

Xương talks about splitting up to maybe have someone liberate the village while the others go out to try and stop the captain from getting what he's after, but the rest of the group isn't sure that's a great idea. Shango suggests they secure the village first, and then see if the captain comes back. I think Seong-gi mentions that the pirate captain has been bringing everyone back to the island to sleep, but I can't recall. But as the group talks around it, the captured pirate (in an attempt to seem extra-helpful so he doesn't bleed to death on the floor of a bar like his compatriot) offers up that whatever their captain is looking for, he's almost certainly going to want to open it up on land rather than the ship, just in case.

So the group decides to liberate the village first, and use some rope that Seong-gi had to tie up the pirate. Hǎifēng asks if there's some sort of code word or something that they can use to just get all of the pirates to come out of the houses at once, but the pirate says there isn't. So the group hauls the pirates, both living and dead, into the back and they duck outside to plan what they're going to do without worrying the bartender about the particulars (like, y'know, the possible use of shapeshifting).

Hǎifēng and Shango assume their spirit shape forms of monkey (like a capuchin monkey) and osprey and scout the island, discovering that there are ten more pirates in all. Eight are scattered throughout the houses in pairs, one pirate is at the docks, and there's another around the back of the village in case someone attempted some sort of rear attack. They regroup at the inn and put together a plan. Xương and Hǎifēng are going to hit the guy at the docks, teaming up to make sure he can't get off any sort of alarm, while Shango gets the one in the back.

So Xương and Hǎifēng saunter back to the docks. Xương tosses the guy there a coin such that it 'accidentally' falls short and he has to bend over to pick it up. And when he does that, Xương is on him. He grabs him and savages him with too-sharp-for-human teeth[2], while Hǎifēng slices up his back with their war fans. The pirate manages to get in a single, ineffectual hit on Xương, who then finishes him off and -- true to his name -- rips out one of his vertebrae with his teeth.

Hǎifēng asks "I'm not one to criticize your methods, but do you have to be so messy?" and Xương points out that he brought a napkin, and proceeds to wipe himself up and wash his mouth out with some cheap booze.

So then we cut to Shango out behind the village in osprey form. He flies towards the guard out there and then swoops up like he's going to do a loop, and at the top of the loop he shifts back to human form. He comes down on the guy boots-first, and we have a camera shot from above of the man looking up right before some speed lines come down on him and everything goes black (because Shango rendered him unconscious in a single blow).

And then we wrap up with a quick montage of the trio moving through houses, taking out the pirates to rescue one family at a time, leaving them with time to prepare for the Grim Vortex's return that evening.

[0]-- I know. Not that I'm saying here. But I know.

[1]-- A mutation in his human form, not a charm or anything.