Greetings again, folks. Apologies for the disruption with my previous post. I tried posting it from my phone because I was out of town and away from my computer, and that wound up being a mistake. Blogspot's interface is such that I couldn't get the font fixed properly, so I wound up having to delete and repost it to get it to look right. I probably didn't need to go to the effort, but I wanted to at least try.
But anyhow, we're back, and the group is now in a location where they'll get to remain for possibly more than two or three days! I should note that Lathe is a new location in third edition, and we don't have a lot of material to go on and I don't know how much coverage it's going to get in the upcoming Across the Eight Directions. While I'm not averse to coming up with my own take on the city and then having it replace the canon version my setting, I've got enough faith in the current crop of Exalted writers that I don't want to rule out some really awesome stuff that I'll want to incorporate. So I'm going relatively light on the city details in the hopes that I can weave together my stuff and any canon write-up -- or, worst-case scenario, do my own more detailed write-up when the book comes out.
Also, just as a heads-up, there won't be a blog post this coming week, because circumstances will prevent us from playing this Tuesday. Not that I mind a little bit of extra prep time before the next session.
Anyhow, let's get on with the show.
It's the morning of 22 Descending Fire when the morning sun illuminates Lathe as the Moonlight Maiden approaches. It's warm, but it could be warmer -- the last gasps of summer are upon the group, and autumn approaches. It's been just under a month since the trio of Lunars faced the Wyld Hunt and decided to travel from one end of the Direction to another to lay low for a bit, though since then they have been granted additional reasons for the journey: research in Lathe's various occult libraries and access to the brilliant arcane minds that call it home.
The city is literally built into the giant carcass from a primal beast from the literal dawn of Creation (much like the city of Matera is built into a hill), slain by the Exalted in a bygone age and left to petrify here on an island where its bulk dwarfs the hills. Hollowed out by sorcerer-architects and its own internal humors carefully balanced to maintain the flows of Essence, Lathe is a source of eldritch secrets. It's also a major port, and while not a proper Realm territory (officially or otherwise), the docks out on the island see a lot of traffic as House Peleps ships stop here before traveling north to the Caul, where they engage in ongoing conflict with the Lunar Exalted of the mysterious continent. It's easy enough for the Maiden to dock and the group to go in among the crowds just stopping by for supplies and such, and they venture into the tunnels.
Xương has a clinic in an underground section near the beast's stomach where he lives when he's in the area. It's nothing fancy -- he's not a master surgeon, but he's discreet and he'll pull arrows out of asses and treat syphilis without asking questions. He hasn't been back in a couple of years, but because of his dangerous reputation has every reason to assume his home is untouched. This is Hǎifēng's and Shango's first trip to Lathe, so as he leads them through a tunnel Xương warns them not to brush up against the walls because of the 'fat-bellied monkey ticks,' which gets a shudder from them as they move through the petrified monster. Shango asks why they're there again, and Xương points out that they've come for information as they get back to his place and see a sign on the door that reads "Be right back, don't touch my stuff."
Xương blows the dust off the sign and turns it around so now it reads "The doctor is in, don't touch my stuff." and they head in. Upon first glance, everything in the clinic seems like it's where it should be (aside from some chemicals in jars that have either congealed or evaporated over the years), but something feels... off. Xương gets the feeling that someone's been in there, though he's not sure why. Maybe it feels like it should be dustier? Shango asks about the smell, and Xương shrugs and says that's probably the ether. Someone (I think Hǎifēng) suggests that maybe something's died in there, which seems likely to have happened somewhere in the past because it's a slightly-shady clinic.
Xương comments that it's probably 'the teeth bucket,' which leads into the obvious question of why there's a teeth bucket. At the risk of spending too long on this digression, it comes up that being a surgeon also basically makes Xương a dentist as well, and what else is he going to do with the teeth? He puts them in the bucket, and when the bucket's full he sells them to the city's alchemists.
Xương goes to beat the dust out of the mattress on his bed as he starts getting into the usual 'make yourselves at home' spiel, and discovers that under the mattress there appears to be a cache of books that he didn't put there. He quickly gives them a once-over, and they're an eclectic collection of scrolls, codices, and similar texts. They seem to be either history books or history-adjacent subjects, like old legends and some collections of old nautical myths that catch Xương's eye. (Myths and legends of the nautical world are of particular interest to Xương) But there's now some concern that someone was definitely in there, though Xương's not too terribly worried because he doesn't have a whole lot of value that he'd have left there.
Then comes the knock at the door.
Xương opens the door to find a man dressed kinda like David Lo Pan and a pair of monks (a man and a woman) standing there. The monks are dressed in typical Immaculate garb, though with no obvious element marks -- so either these are mortal monks or weak Dragon-Bloods. The man in the wizard robes explains that he's here looking for some texts that have been stolen from a local library. Xương doesn't bother lying to them or dancing around it -- he tells them he's got the books. The strangers ask if they can come in, and Xương waves them in and directs them towards the books he found under the mattress as he explains that he's been gone a while and came back to find them like that.
The monks collect the books and go over them, and as the obvious wizard talks to Xương one of them comes over and whispers that these are most but not all of them. Xương offers to get them a crate to carry things in as the wizard asks if they can look around for a moment, and the shark-Lunar directs him to his bookshelves. The man doesn't find anything interesting and finally introduces himself as Si Du-Ho, and asks that Xương notify him through the alchemists' consortium in the stomach or through the Immaculate temple in the heart if he hears anything, and they turn to leave. As they leave, Shango goes out of his way to point out that they've got plans to be shown around the city later, and while Du-Ho does take note of that he's already on his way out the door.
Once the Lunars are along, Hǎifēng notes that the books were all older subjects. Xương remarks that either someone stole the books and happened to stash them here of all places, or someone deliberately planted them there to give the authorities an excuse to poke around. Hǎifēng mentions that as history books, though, why would someone care that much? If there was something dangerous in them, that might explain the effort. They're pretty sure this is something to deliberately give them an excuse to sniff around, and it really seems suspicious that a sorcerer and a couple of Immaculates would be looking for some history books. Xương's thinking more and more that they were deliberately planted by someone trying to get him in trouble or at least give someone important an excuse to come in, but he's not ready to rule out that it's just a coincidence.
Hǎifēng points out that if they were deliberately planted, that suggests that someone knew they coming here, especially with how quickly Du-Ho and his monk henchpeople turned up. But that's tricky, though, because hardly anybody knew about the group's travel plans, and the Moonlight Maiden is a speedy little boat which means that it's pretty unlikely anyone who knew they were on their way to Lathe would have had the opportunity to beat them there and set all this up. Xương concludes that this suggests some sort of magic, which also means it's possible they're being magically watched (especially, again, because of the quick appearance of the wizard and his monks). Racking his brain on the subject, Xương also recalls a local information broker named Doctor Zither who might know something about all this, but could also be the sort of person who could have known right away if a notable figure like himself turned up.
Xương laments that the fact that they found some but not all of the books means they'd have an excuse to come back later and poke around. Hǎifēng says someone should stick around and keep an eye on the place, and Shango asks them if they're looking for an excuse to not go back out. Hǎifēng corrects him and makes it clear they'd much rather be out and about than in Xương's clinic with the teeth bucket. But they're also worried that someone is going to try and sneak in and plant something else.
Fortunately, they have an idea but it's only going to be useful within a limited distance. They step behind a curtain, pluck a hair, infuse their Essence into it, and transform it into a copy of themselves.[0] There's some awkward conversation about how it works and its limitations. For instance, Hǎifēng has to stay within a certain range, the copy isn't truly intelligent and can only convincingly pretend to be the original for a few minutes, that sort of thing. But they only need it to pace around and convince someone sneaking around that the clinic is occupied. Hǎifēng then grabs some random stuff around the clinic to disguise themselves so if anyone sees the group leave the clinic and sneaks in, the ruse isn't immediately given away by the appearance of two Hǎifēngs. The disguise comes out ridiculously well and Hǎifēng becomes 'Old Man Wushu,' which is basically Aang's old man disguise from the Omashu episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender (except nigh-impenetrable because Zac's roll to make the disguise was absurd).
But as it's the easiest potential lead, the group seeks out Doctor Zither at one of his usual haunts, a drinking hole that doesn't have an official name but is referred to as 'The Spleen' (guess why). Conveniently, Doctor Zither is there -- he's about as nondescript as someone can get, wearing typical sailor or lower-tier merchant's clothing, neither particularly attractive nor unattractive, with kind of a 'chinstrap' beard. (For the record, not a Sidereal.)
Xương sits down at the table and the good Doctor has someone bring beer for him and his companions. Doctor Zither knows Xương and addresses him by his name -- and, as Xương has noticed in the past with this guy, when he refers to Xương by his full name, the cadence of his speech suggests he's 'leaving room' for the parts of the name that Xương doesn't use in public.[1] But he mentions that he'd heard that Xương was back in Lathe, and Xương proceeds to explain to him what happened back at his place with the books.
Zither pulls out a notebook, already aware of the people Xương's talking about and what they're after. He says that the books they're looking for have been going missing for the last week or so, as far as anyone knows. Xương suggests the books may have been stolen for the purpose of planting in his clinic to frame him. Doctor Zither checks his notes and says that someone's been stealing the books from the libraries for a little while, and Su Du-Ho has been sniffing around looking for them for a couple of days already. He says it would be an interesting coincidence that the first of the missing books would turn up in Xương's place.[2] He asks what the books are about, and then after being told asks if anyone knew that the books would interest Xương at all, but Xương can't think of anyone.
Zither then asks about Hǎifēng and Shango, as they haven't been introduced yet. Shango simply introduces himself as "Shango" and Hǎifēng claims the name "Wushu." Doctor Zither stares intently at his notebook as if he could write all this down with his gaze. Hǎifēng proceeds to make a 'read intentions' roll to get a better idea of Zither's agenda here, and realizes that Zither is trying to learn more about the books for his own reasons. Also, because Hǎifēng got a ridiculously-good roll, for free I threw in one of Doctor Zither's intimacies, specifically a Principle: "The mind is a bow, information fills the quiver." They use Glance-Oration Technique to use a convey, through body language, that Doctor Zither's got a personal interest in the books.
Zither asks Xương what brings him back to Lathe, and Xương says he seeks information. The information broker remarks on how interesting it is that he came looking for information and found books. He floats the idea that someone may have planted the books specifically for Xương to find, as opposed to trying to get him in trouble. Xương says he now slightly regrets turning the books over to the authorities right away, but Zither suggest that the books will probably go back into the libraries soon enough, and that Xương can certainly take a look at them at that time. He also reminds Xương that his rates are quite reasonable if Xương needs his services an information broker.
He asks again if anyone knew Xương was returning to Lathe, but there wasn't anyone. He says he'll keep an ear out, and goes to take care of something, leaving the trio to their beers (which are on his tab).
After that, the group goes back to the clinic, where they find a large vase outside the door, provoking kind of an "oh, now what" reaction. Xương looks into the vase to find it's full of scrolls.
"Either somebody really wants you to have some light reading, or somebody really wants to set you up," Hǎifēng comments. "Maybe a little bit of both."
Xương decides to go take the vase to the authorities, but when he picks it up, he hears a raspy voice come from inside that says "No, wait." Everybody's a little freaked out.
"Take me inside," the voice says. "We must speak."
So they head inside with the vase (where Hǎifēng's copy is still standing watch) and Xương dumps out what at first seems to be a pile of vellum scrolls, but upon closer inspection it's actually one very long scroll. It moves of its own accord, folding and refolding itself until it takes on a humanoid shape about four feet tall with a bald, bulbous head and black eyes. (Very much like a classical gray alien in shape) Its skin resembles tea-stained vellum, and subtly shifting words are written all over it. Xương and Hǎifēng have heard legends of this creature before, that it's basically a living magical scroll that wanders Creation doing some sort of mysterious research.
It introduces itself as Scroll[3], and it apologizes for almost getting Xương in trouble. This was not its intent; it was stashing the books there, because it knew nobody was staying there nor were they likely to mess with the place. (And it points out that it wasn't living there, itself.) It explains that someone else was already taking books from the libraries. It doesn't know who or why is doing so, nor what they're doing with the books, but it figured out a rough pattern and preemptively stole them in an attempt to keep them safe. It's trying to be very discreet, because Lathe is the sort of place where, if it's not careful, it's going to wind up as some sorcerer's personal study project. Which the others understand and sympathize with.
But Xương still doesn't think this is a coincidence, given that the books in question might be related to the research he was planning to do. Scroll suggests that it might be not be a coincidence, that whatever events spurred Xương's interest may be the same (or related) events that encouraged someone else to acquire the texts for their own purposes, possibly to hide them from someone like our intrepid trio.
Scroll then explains that it wasn't living in Xương's place for fear of startling someone with his reputation and being immediately seen as a threat. It saw that the same people who left Xương's clinic aren't the same people that went in, and so it presumed that Hǎifēng was still inside and knocked on the door to try and get them (or, unbeknownst to it, Hǎifēng's copy) to bring it in. Xương takes advantage of the opportunity to ask Hǎifēng to do whatever they have to to get rid of the copy, because it's just creepy seeing it standing there. So Hǎifēng absorbs the copy.
But with that, Scroll offers to help the group with their research, with special skills in that regard (which should be obvious, really), after they figure out who's taking the books from Lathe's libraries. And understandably, the group is eager to take it up on that offer.
And we left off there.
[0]-- For the curious, this is the Cunning Anglerfish Decoy Charm.
[1]-- As a reminder, Xương's full name is Lintha Angsana Người Kéo Xương. (And I need to leave better reminders to myself, I always screw up the name when I try to recite the whole thing from memory.) 'Lintha' because he's from the Lintha family, and 'Angsana' being his sept name (which branch of the family he's from). As Xương is outcast from the family as a whole, he shouldn't really acknowledge those elements of his name, and people outside the Lintha aren't supposed to know about the septs regardless.
[2]-- I can't remember exactly when it comes up or even if Doctor Zither is the one who said it, but I think he mentions they should consider that Si Du-Ho showed up at Xương's because they'd already checked everyplace else already and might've been watching Xương's place to talk to the scary shark-man when he returned.
[3]-- Scroll, our very special guest star, is originally from page 41 of Hundred Devils Night Parade.
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