Hey there, party people! Got another Exalted update for ya here. Not much in the way of personal updates that I can think of, other than a reminder that the other day I posted one of my 'First Age Memories' mini-fics (...he said, as if he had more than two of them). It sort of peripherally ties into this current story arc in ways that will become clearer as more of the secrets of Darthon and Shasaman Island are revealed.
Speaking of which, let's get to it!
So where we left off, the trio had all undertaken their own little investigations of the island. We pick back up with Xương back at the Moonlight Maiden, drying off (or at least as best as he can, given that his Tell is that he's always kind of waterlogged). Hǎifēng shows up with a song in their heart and a spring in their step after their time with Mido. Xương immediately tells them about the ruins he found, particularly describing the underwater cavern and the etchings.
Hǎifēng sighs and laments the need to get back to business, and jokingly calls Xương a buzzkill. They get into their meeting with Mido and what they were told about the tattoo and suggests that this place might not be as awful as first assumed. Xương's like "Let me get this straight, a guy bats his eyelashes at you and suddenly the murder cult isn't so bad?" Hǎifēng also comments that they've got a 'date,' and mention the upcoming festival.
As Shango returns to the boat, Xương tells Hǎifēng that the cult is either going to slit their throat or make them slit someone else's throat. Shango, joining the 'meeting,' tells the others what he's learned about Urangi and the story of the Placid Baron and Shasaman island, which Hǎifēng then connects to the sunken island that Xương found. Xương tells them about the warded structure he found and his theory that there's a tunnel that connects to somewhere in Darthon, and that he thinks the wards are containing some great evil. Hǎifēng asks more about the runes, and Xương sketches them out as best he can and does a decent job of it. Hǎifēng plumbs their knowledge of occult matters, assuming it's something to keep out the raksha (given how close they are to the literal edge of Creation) and starting from there. They even go through some of their Laughing Monster forms to help center themselves and focus.
After a short sequence that probably looks something like one of the 'mind palace' scenes in the BBC Sherlock series, they get a shocked look, their mouth agape, and say "I think we have a problem." Xương gives them the universal hand-wave that means 'continue.'
They explain that they've ruled out a Fair Folk tie to the wards. They date the symbols back to the early Shogunate, really early and outdated stuff tied to the Immaculate faith as it existed at the time. The wards are designed to tap into local geomancy (ley lines and such), and that judging from the power and some of the symbols, they suspect that the structure Xương found is the tomb of a dead Solar, likely a Solar-Lunar pair. Xương says they need to find a way in there before someone else gets to it makes it a huge problem. Hǎifēng is concerned about something possibly being able to escape, but there may be a backdoor into the tomb.
But it's definitely looking like Shasaman island is what people were looking for back on Lathe, and the ghosts in the tomb might be the key to the Eternal Wave's plan to merge Creation's and the Underworld's oceans. They think back to what happened on Dutan Island.
Either way, time is of the essence. Hǎifēng says that maybe if they go to this festival, maybe they can find the entrance. Xương says it's probably in the jungle, and the cult might take them out there to kill them or something. Shango offers to follow along and keep track in bird form. The group mentions this might be a good opportunity to get Xương a patchy, scruffy parrot for a bird form.[0]
Xương's not opposed to the idea, as he's been keeping an eye out, but he doesn't want to just hunt down a bird for its shape. It's one thing if it's an animal he's fighting or something that's been trained to help kill him or people like him, like the war horse whose shape he took back in An-Teng, but in the case of just a random parrot he'd want taking its heart's blood to be a kindness. Preferably a bird that's had a long life and is near-death anyways, where he'd be putting it out of its misery. Shango offers to find a parrot and half-kill it for him, and Xương explains that's kind of missing the point. This goes back to some previous concern about Shango's bloodlust. Shango goes out of his way to say he's not a serial killer, and Xương points out that it's funny that Shango went straight to 'serial killer' without anyone else saying the words.
But after the brief digression, Xương suggests they have Scroll look over the runes as well just for good measure, so everyone heads belowdecks to do so. Scroll immediately recognizes the age and provenance of the characters, just sort of expanding on and confirming some of the details Hǎifēng shared. They also ask Xương about where the characters came from. And with that knowledge, Scroll confirms that the wards are almost certainly meant to bind the ghosts of a Solar-Lunar pair and were probably meant to patch bindings put into place before the island sank. But the fact that it draws on the local geomancy for maximum 'bang for the buck' means that because ley lines shift over time, the wards might not be as potent as they used to be.
The others are getting nervous about the prospect of dealing with some pissed-off, likely-crazy Solar and Lunar ghosts. Scroll reassure them, though, that even though the ghosts of the Exalted are powerful, they're still ghosts and have to play by ghost rules. They won't have all of their old powers, though they may be as potent with ghostly Arcanoi[1]. Xương asks what they can do to deal with ghosts, and Scroll goes over the basic methods -- most ghosts can be held back by salt or sprouted grain, and if they're materialized they can be fought normally. This kind of goes into a conversation about whether any ghosts in the tomb are likely to be materialized or not, because normally ghosts aren't 'naturally' material during the day or unless they're in a shadowland, but if it's a tomb under the ocean where no sunlight reaches anyways, does it play by the same rules? Xương says to assume they'll be at a disadvantage, regardless.
Hǎifēng then explains that the festival's going to start right after sundown and it should be over by midnight, which is some pretty perfect timing for the group wanting to sniff around. Though they do wonder whether they might have to fight the locals, and in general they hope not to have to.
But everyone gets some rest, and we come to the next day.
During said day, Xương goes out and looks around the jungle for a parrot. He finds one with dull blue and green feathers with kind of the half-dead countenance he's been looking for. He gazes into its eyes first, trying to get a sense of the parrot's soul and name, and come to the assessment that the parrot's name is Ol' Salt. And he takes the parrot's heart's blood and thus it's form.
Meanwhile, back in town, as they're out and about, Shango and Hǎifēng notice that Urangi is always conveniently where she can keep an eye on one or the both of them. Hǎifēng watches her interact with people and tries to get a vibe on something she hates, which they can exploit later on via Charms if necessary, and get the impression that if she hates anything it's the Fair Folk. Shango just walks around and takes in the locals, looking for any signs of weirdness or cultish behavior, but all he notices is that people are really cagey about making sure their front doors are opened as little as possible. They aren't left open, and closed quickly when people come through, and all of the houses have curtains or something similar to block views from the outside.
At one point Shango approaches Urangi and offers to buy her a drink. She says not when she's on-duty. He asks when she's off-duty, and without missing a beat or changing her expression she says "When I'm asleep." He takes the hint and backs off at that point.
We eventually move onto the evening where Hǎifēng, dressed up kinda nice and wearing their kimono open over other stuff like we'd wear a blazer, meets up with Mido at the warehouse. He's dressed in the local styles, just loose clothing in blacks, reds, and oranges.[2] Mido leads Hǎifēng to the gathering place on the edge of town where it seems like basically everyone (or at least the community's adults) all are and setting up drums and a bonfire in a special stone fire pit. There are barrels of water with ladles and cups nearby, and what appear to be a bunch of jugs of some sort of booze. Hǎifēng's on their best behavior, but as they arrive they see people giving them glares which are then responded to by Mido's own expression which clearly reads 'We talked about this.' Xương and Shango, in their bird forms, are perched nearby, watching. Urangi is also keeping an eye on things from off to the side, and doesn't participate in the celebration at all.
The bonfire starts and someone throws in a bunch of powder that seems to be some sort of incense. Mido walks Hǎifēng through the basics of the traditions, admitting that a lot of it is stuff he grew up with and doesn't actually know the exact details and symbolism of every little thing. But there's going to be dancing and wordless singing, and such. Hǎifēng gets a closer look at the fire pit and spots runes etched into it, which seem to be intended to focus and intensify the effects of prayer. They also spot what appear to be signs of some sort of mechanism in the fire pit, like part of it might open up.
Hǎifēng, excuses themself to an outhouse a short distance away. Shango follows, while Xương keeps an eye on the gathering. Hǎifēng ducks into the outhouse and through a vent informs Shango what they found and says they need to check in with Xương on how to proceed. Meanwhile, back at the bonfire, as things are getting ready to start up, Xương spots someone sneaking off to follow Hǎifēng, possibly suspecting the outsider is up to something. Shango sees the guy while he's on the way back to the festival, but they continue going, expecting that Hǎifēng can take care of themself. Hǎifēng, after a few minutes, goes back and spots the figure watching them from the edge of the jungle but doesn't give anything away.
Shango gets back to Xương, who's annoyed that there's no food to be had at this festival. How can it be a festival without food? Especially since, as a bird, he's obligated to watch for any morsels he can swipe when the humans aren't looking. Shango leads Xương into the jungle a ways so he can retake human form and talk, and he holds his arm out so Xương can perch on it. Shango tells Xương about the mechanism in the fire pit, possibly a door leading underground. He also starts in on the prayer-enhancing runes, but Xương -- who sounds a lot like Gilbert Gottfried in this form[3], wants to remain focused on the door. The question is whether to make a move now or wait until the festival's over.
Xương stares at the camera. Graphics of unrealistically-complex equations float around his parrot head as he considers the plausibility of this as an entrance. It seems that way, but he comes to the conclusion that unless they want to turn things into a massacre, there's no good reason to make a move while the people are there. The only hiccup Xương can see is that the locals may expect Hǎifēng to go along to an afterparty, which could make it hard for them to get away.
Xương takes off and manages to catch up with Hǎifēng while they're still on their way back to the festival, close to the crowd but not quite back yet. He lands on Hǎifēng's shoulder and tells them about the plan. Hǎifēng then makes a show of clutching their stomach for anyone watching and goes back to the privy. Xương demands a cracker, and Hǎifēng just tosses some seed on the ground.
Hǎifēng ducks back into the privy and uses their Charms to spawn a clone to go back to the festival and cover for them while they go back in bird form to watch things.
So the clone goes back to the festival, where there's dancing around the fire, and singing -- just wordless vocalizations and some throat-singing -- and some of the dancing becomes what's basically something like a capoeira duel[4], in which Mido is playing a part. He explains to Hǎifēng (or, more accurately, the clone), that it's sort of reenacting something like a debate, through a language of dance. But the celebration goes on with nobody's throat getting split though there are some moments where the jugs of booze are passed around and a couple of people get mouthfuls of some of the specially-labeled jugs and spit it into the fire to flare it up.
As things wrap up, Mido explains to the Hǎifēng clone (with the actual Hǎifēng close enough to overhear) that after the festival, it's tradition that everyone stays inside their homes until dawn after one of these. Nobody goes outside, period.[5] He mentions this because he wants to know if Hǎifēng's going back to their boat to stay in with their friends, or coming back to Mido's place for the night. And despite the temptation, the clone opts to go back to the boat, kind of a combination of 'leave them wanting more' but also 'getting someplace out of sight so Hǎifēng can reclaim the Essence committed to sustaining the clone' in case something serious goes down.' Mido nods, understanding, and warns the clone to tell their friends to stay in until dawn as well as so they don't get in any trouble.
The festival ends with someone dumping some liquid onto the bonfire to make it flare up in a near-explosion, rendering the last of the wood dust and ash, and everyone heads back to their homes except for Urangi, who starts a light patrol of the streets that conveniently leads to a pause near the docks where she can watch Hǎifēng's clone return to the boat.
The trio of Lunars, all of which are in bird form, watch the fire pit for a while just in case anyone comes back or anything happens. And just when they're about to make their move, there's a click and the fire pit begins to open up. The bottom of it starts 'unfolding' into a spiral staircase leading down, and a gust of wind from below sends the ash and dust up like a small cloud into the moonlit sky. Something has opened it from below/within!
And then the ghosts emerge.
Translucent figures, resembling the locals in both appearance and dress, come forth. About thirty of them in all, in a procession towards a square that looks out upon the water. Urangi has, at some point, discreetly ducked off to give them some privacy. The ghosts reach the square and begin to sing -- wordless songs, like those the group heard before at the festival but in a minor key, more like haunted wailing.
And as much as they want to stop and watch this, the Lunars know that they need to make their move before the ghosts finish and return. So we left off there.
[0]-- This is something we've sort of talked about before, about getting Xương a bird form like the others, and Sean feels that the only appropriate bird form would be just this ratty, half-dead-looking parrot, the sort of thing that if it were in a cartoon, would regularly cough up feathers just to convey to the audience how old/sick it is.
[1]-- A fancy word for ghost-specific Charms.
[2]-- Sean comments that it fits that a place where a death cult sets up shop would dress in Halloween colors, which is clever enough I wish I could say it was intentional.
[3]-- First off, RIP. Second, I should point out that while this is not technically because Gilbert Gottfried voiced Iago in Aladdin, but I guess kinda for the same reasons why you'd get the late Mr. Gottfried to voice Iago in Aladdin.
[4]-- So Creation has a martial arts style called Swaying Grass Dance Style. It's basically capoeira in every way that matters, from techniques to origin. Not that it comes up by name in this session, but what they're witnessing is a local variant that called Sonorous Festival Style, which mixes in a little bit of another style Dreaming Pearl Courtesan.
[5]-- While this seems to be (and is) kind of convenient for the group because it will help them investigate, it's part of the tradition that I came up with without intending it to be that way. Just how these things work out.
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