Hey, it's that time again.
...
I realize that not only am I officially out of jokes to start this off, but also out of jokes about being out of jokes to start this off.
So let's just start this off. Tales of Exalted adventure, ahead!
So where we left off, the Moonlight Maiden and her crew left Darthon in search of the Three Devil Princes, a trio of powerful Lunars said to rule over a kingdom somewhere in the Southwest. Where? Nobody's sure!
Fortunately, the group knows enough to know at least what portion of the map to start looking, and they spend about six days sailing through the Cinder Isles before docking at Tapet Bay. Tapet Bay is in an inlet on the mainland[0], a large port town with a lot of trading and merchants and all sorts of classic fantasy setting stuff. But this is also a place of actual civilization, so they can stop and get food and relax for a minute before the group starts asking around for information on how to find the Three Devil Princes.
So we get into a brief montage of information-gathering stuff. Shango talking to merchants, Hǎifēng hitting up buskers and street performers for rumors, and Xương hitting up dockworkers and the like. When they reconvene, they've learned a few things.
First, they've heard a few references to a 'Mirage Empire' or a 'Mirage Kingdom,' which sounds like it might be what they're looking for. Second, while they can't find a clear path to this alleged kingdom from Tapet Bay, there's a city a ways inland that has a solid 'next step on the journey' feel to it, a city called Baryngol built around an oasis. It's a few hundred miles inland, and there are a few routes that have revealed themselves.
The simplest, they could probably fly there in their respective bird forms. It'd take a couple of days, though, with stops for food and rest. And, quite frankly, flying hundreds of miles like that is just a pain in the ass. Next there's a merchant caravan getting ready to leave town, offering up the classic 'work for us as guards and come along for the trip' deal, often presented to adventurers in taverns. That's going to take a week. Finally, there's a local merchant who knows a shortcut that supposedly takes only a couple of days at the most. (Unfortunately, there are no local crackpot inventors with a cannon in their backyard.)
Xương is immediately wary of the shortcut, because that sounds like there's magic involved and that feels like really pushing their luck. (He's right, by the way.) And as the group isn't in any huge rush, Shango and Hǎifēng want to take the caravan. Xương, hoping to avoid some asinine battle against some random bandits, would rather fly, but he's outvoted.
Shango approaches Si-Yeon, a merchant who's definitely not from around here. She's preparing the caravan, which is going to be leaving that evening so as to travel when it's cool so they can rest during the day. She lays out the basic terms -- the trip's going to be a week, anyone guarding the caravan is covered for food and a place to sleep, and if they have to do any fighting they'll get paid in Baryngol. If they don't have to do any fighting, then their food's still covered because then presumably the presence of guards warded off any trouble. It seems like a good enough deal, and the group takes it.
Hǎifēng, as they approach, uses Predator-and-Prey mirror to appear invulnerable to get everyone to underestimate them, which naturally leads to the group being presented with the obvious question of what good Hǎifēng's going to be on the road. Hǎifēng says that they're Xương's and Shango's manager. Si-Yeon says they'll settle up in Baryngol, and unless Hǎifēng does anything to contribute, their food is coming out of Xương's and Shango's pay. Hǎifēng just gives the others a shit-eating grin, and Xương shows them the back of his longest finger.
But as the caravan is conveniently getting on the road that evening, soon enough the journey begins. It's pretty much your typical trade caravan with wagons, carriages, camels, oxen, all sorts of stuff. And as they're outside of town, passing through bits of jungle leading into savannah, they see signs of a wildfire in the distance. The trio volunteers to take a look to make sure it's nothing the caravan has to worry about, and slip off into the shadows to take on bird form and fly out there.
They get to the sight of the fire and see a swarm of moths the size of a human hand burning the trees and scrub. Hǎifēng recognizes them as lava moths, a type of Wyld creature that is, um, a moth made of lava. But all kidding aside, yeah, they're fire creatures, but not only do they burn things physically their flames have a strange effect on people. In particular, they can burn away memories or bits of someone's identity or personality, and some people actively approach them to try and negotiate giving up something specific. But unless you mess with them, they're relatively harmless. Shango determines that with the speed and direction they're going, plus speed and direction of the wind and all that, this swarm isn't a threat to anyone. The fire's not going to reach the town or the caravan as long as they keep a decent pace.
So they head back and catch up with the caravan -- probably just a little too fast, fast enough that someone might take note and wonder what's up with that. But either way, they report in to Si-Yeon what's going on and she takes it in stride, which make sense to them given that as a traveling merchant lava moths might not even crack the top ten weirdest things she's seen.[1]
A few more days pass without incident, until one morning as they're getting ready to make camp, seting up tents and such for the animals hauling and everything so they can rest for the day. But there's a big cloud of dust coming up that, as it approaches, is clearly the sign of a bunch of raiders riding on giant lizards, with a big guy who's obviously some sort of Wyld mutant in front. The attitude among the various guards is 'well, here we go.'
Shango, noting that most of the guards have bows, draws his own and steps up and calls for them to follow his lead, and he says it with the sort of authority that they listen. Hǎifēng, who's been lounging around doing as little as possible the whole trip after the thing with the lava moths, just casually strolls out there to meet them. The other guards are confused, as some genre-savvy part of their brain is telling them they're about to see something interesting even while the magic of Hǎifēng's Predator-and-Prey Mirror is telling them otherwise. Xương goes out to meet the leader, though with much less chill -- he's barreling forward like a freight train.
As they get into range for conflict, the lizards dramatically skid to a stop and the bandits leap from their back in a maneuver they've clearly practiced for maximum impact. There's a couple dozen of the raiders aside from the leader, who's body is misshapen and awkwardly discolored, like someone made a Frankenstein's monster without any effort to make sure the bodies matched up, without leaving any seams. And, weirdly enough, he appears a little blurry, even up close. Most of the other bandits are obviously Wyld mutants as well, though their mutations are less in number. And just when every thinks they've got a handle on what's going on, the lizards all go bipedal -- not completely humanoid, but think something like a gorilla in shape but they're more like a monitor lizard.
Xương rushes straight at the leader and grabs him by the arms with the intent to try and rip him in half. And the guy struggles ineffectually as things within him pop and crack and tear. Nearby, Hǎifēng lets the bandits swarm over them before ducking and weaving through, jabbing them with the butts of their war fans, using the techniques of Laughing Monster Style to bind them up in the ties of their interpersonal relationships, literally tying them up with strings of friendship drawn out by the weapons. And then they give one a solid kick to send them tumbling like dominoes. And honestly, between that and the grip that Xương's got on their leader, they decide 'fuck this' and run, leaving Hǎifēng laughing behind their fan.[2]
Shango directs the guards to unleash fire on the lizards, pinging them but not enough to draw their attention away from Hǎifēng. The lizards swarm over them, and Hǎifēng flutters and flurries the fans to collect and deflect their claw strikes. And the Lunar hears one of the lizards, amidst the growling, hiss under its breath: "Exalt."[3]
Hǎifēng then lunges in to deal with the frustrated lizards, trying to end this quickly. They charge forward, slicing and jabbing and cutting their way through the group, just laying waste to them, slaying enough of them to drive off the rest.
Meanwhile, as the mutant bandit leader struggles ineffectually against Xương, Shango and the other guards advance to support him with bows ready. They don't fire, but they're clearly ready in case the guys gets away, and a clear sign that the tide of the battle is not and has never been in the bandits' favor. As the leader struggles against Xương's strength, even calling upon supernatural reserves to resist, he's just not strong enough. Xương's already dislocated his shoulders and now pushes his arms back to his shoulders meet behind him, and then finishes him off by forcing his arm bones into his chest from behind, skewering his heart and lungs.
And all without anyone showing any anima banners, caste marks, or transformation powers.
Hǎifēng, as casually as they strolled out towards the field of battle, just casually returns to the caravan, one arm tucked into a sleeve and the other fanning themself, and they inform the guards "That's okay, you can go home now." The guards are just in shock -- this is something they're going to tell stories of, and even though none of them say anything to each other directly, they're all pretty sure they just saw some Exalted trying to play it subtle (even if they don't know just what kind of Exalted they saw).[4]
Xương, Shango, and the other guards gather up and burn the bandit bodies. When they get back to the caravan, Si-Yeon looks at Xương and Shango and says "Good news, you're not covering your friend's food bill any more." Xương says "Speaking of which..." and she reassures him he'll get paid when they get to Baryngol. And he clarifies that he's more worried about the food, and she gestures towards the wagon where they're setting up.
But after resting for the day, they get back on the road. Even though the weather is still pretty mild, it's getting a little warmer and drier the further south they go and Xương's just utterly miserable. But having gotten the mandatory random encounter out of the way, the rest of the trip is a peaceful one, aside from having to warn off some predatory animals.
Soon enough, they're close enough that rather than make camp they push forward an extra hour or two, as Baryngol is on the horizon. They can see it, shimmering in the distance, and get to the walled city. And as Si-Yeon talks to the guards at the gates, the Lunars look past them into the city where they notice that the city is full of beastfolk -- specifically, swanfolk...
And we left off there.
[0]-- If you've got the Lunars book, it's the inlet just to the northwest of the 'Three Devil Princes' label on the map on page 54. If you're looking at the core map, um... Well, on the map I've got it's just over three inches from the left and an inch and a half from the bottom. But I don't know what size map you're looking at. So it's on the mainland, directly south of the 'a' in the 'Capstone' label.
[1]-- If you're wondering what the point of this little aside was, it was mostly just to give the characters a weird experience. They're heading for the edge of the map, and will likely travel into -- or close enough to -- the 'here there be dragons' portion of things, where the Wyld can toss out all sorts of weirdness that people would have to cope with. I just wanted to give the group a taste of that. Besides, there was always a chance one of them might think the lava moths are a bigger threat than they are and maybe pick a fight.
[2]-- In terms of game mechanics, just to explain, Hǎifēng used Thieves Fall Out, which when used against a battle group adds a bunch of extra damage but also imposes a damage-over-time effect. That effect kicked in on the bandits' turn, which game next, and it was actually just enough to fill up their Magnitude track. They not only failed but botched their Willpower roll to resist rout, so that scattered the battle group entirely.
[3]-- Not that they have any way of knowing this nor is it immediately relevant, but the lizards are actually hobgoblins, just a band of fae soldiers that have fallen in with this bandit gang.
[4]-- I mentioned to my players that the guards will tell the story of this to their grandkids, and when they do tell the story they'll probably 'edit in' anima banners just to make it make sense, perhaps even convincing themselves they saw anima banners they couldn't quite make out. I also mentioned that the events of the next few years might also affect just what sorts of anima banners the guards will assume into the tale.
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