Hey there, folks! So unless a miracle happens, this is probably going up at some point Monday because I will have been at Anthrocon in PA over the weekend. (Tenses get weird, because I'm starting this post before the con and will probably finish it during, but I feel weird writing the whole thing from the viewpoint of when it's going to be posted.)
(So hey, a miracle happened! Huzzah! I'm still gonna leave the above bit in, just so I look like a dumbass.)
BTW, this session wraps up one story and takes us into the next one, which is why it's got tags for both. I've got some other writing stuff I'm going to need to work on over the weekend, but with any luck I might be able to find the time for one of my little mini-fictions. Just so ya know.
Actually, that reminds me, I haven't done so in a while because it's not like I've had a lot to share, but... okay, I was gonna link to a post of just general writing stuff I've done aside from the freelancing, but I just realized I don't have a post like that. I've got one for my Chronicles of Darkness fiction, but I don't have one that's just a central resource for my writing in general. (I'm not trying to be cute about this, I actually didn't realize I don't have that until just now, when I stopped mid-sentence to look up the link for reference.) Okay, I guess I should do something about that, that's going on the pile.
Well, now that my brain's as scrambled as Shango's from that revelation, let's get into some Exalted.
So we pick up by the pool containing the Empty Palace, Dakuri having joined the group. He's sketching out lines in the dirt, drawing little grooves with the butt of his firewand and applying some explosive paste to them. They've gone over everything and Shango and Hǎifēng take off in bird form towards the monastery to begin the distraction.
They fly towards the construction site. Hǎifēng settles into the trees where they've got a good view of everything going on, to keep an eye out and make sure nobody heads for the pool. Shango finds the highest central point on the roof and perches. He's able to look down through a bit of unfinished roof and sees a pair of obviously Dragon-Blooded monks having a conversation. One is a woman with skin like red clay, and the other is a man with a scraggly green beard that's bright green and looks like it has twigs sticking out of it. There are also a bunch of human acolytes and other builders working on the structure.
Everyone looks up at Shango, because when a bird of prey just shows up out of nowhere you notice. They look around for a moment, making sure there's no food out or anything that could have drawn the bird's attention, and they all eventually turn their attention back to other things. Then Shango lets out a loud shriek as he uses the Charm Wild Fury Awakening. Naturally, none of them know that he's a Lunar using a Charm, so they just stare at him and try to figure out what provoked that.
About a mile and a half away at the pool, Xương and Dakuri look up, having heard the screech. After a minute or so, they hear them before they see them... wings. Ospreys begin flying overhead, drawn from miles around to converge on the monastery. Dakuri opens up the visor on his helmet and mutters "By the gods..." before he closes it and gets back to work.
Back at the monastery, the monk with the red clay skin leaps up to the roof in a small burst of flame, as she hears the sound as well. Then she looks around and sees the birds coming, and yells for everyone to take cover.
Back at the pool, Dakuri lights the grooves of firedust paste and there's a thump as the earth is loosened. He indicates a spot on the ground and Xương hits it as hard as he can[0], and the earth begins to shift because Xương hits pretty fucking hard. Rock and earth begin to collapse into the pool as the chamber unsettles, starting to cover up the entrance to the Empty Palace.
Back at the monastery, the ospreys are attacking at Shango's behest. They swoop down and attack the monks, human and otherwise, as they try to defend themselves with random blunt objects and get to cover. The Fire Aspect monk up on the roof lunges at Shango with hands wreathed in flame, but because she's lost track of him in the swarm she instead grabs a random osprey and obliterates it with a burst of flame.[1]
Back at the pool, Dakuri's analyzed the condition of the underwater chamber and prepares and indicates a second spot for Xương to hit. Xương draws an 'X' with his claws brings his fists down into it, sending more rock and earth from the surrounding structure collapsing over the gate.
Elsewhere, Hǎifēng watches Mnemon Arima and the woman he was talking to before come running up with a clear mood of "oh god what now." Arima quietly says something to the other Mnemon, who runs off back towards town, and Arima himself steps into the fray. He begins lashing out with hand strikes, stunning ospreys without killing them. Up above, Shango's trying to stay out of range of the monks in case they spot him, but it's obvious they're holding back -- after all, if they start pumping out the power, they're likely to destroy the half-built monastery in the process. Which is especially a problem with the Fire Aspect. Also, one carbonized bird aside, they're trying not to kill the ospreys if they can help it.
Back at the pool, Dakuri indicates one last spot and Xương slams into it, and that sets everything off. The walls of the pool collapse such that rock and earth cascade down over the gate to cover it. The magical air bubble collapses as well, though conveniently the partial collapse of the pool's structure kind of balances out the displacement, but the entrance is properly buried beneath rock and mud, sealed off. (To be fair, doing anything with the fortress would have involved some sort of excavation anyways) The pool appears to be fed somewhat by an underground current, so without the Wyld bubble it won't be completely still, and once everything settles there's basically no way to tell the gate was ever there unless you knew it already. The top of the pool seems noticeably widened if you know what to look for, but there's only so much you can do there.
Back at the monastery, Hǎifēng and Shango see Arima come running out the side and heading through the jungle towards the pool. They take wing after him, chasing the monk, and a short distance away Shango dive-bombs him...
...or he tries to. As he closes the distance, Arima stops and turns to face him and, looking right at him, says "Shango, don't," in the sort of firm tone one uses to chastise a pet without yelling. Shango's got just enough room to swerve away, and he stops and hovers for a moment in bird form, confused.
Now, on the hypothetical TV screen where people are watching this at home, the following text briefly flashes across the bottom of the screen, albeit less in a 'boss fight about to begin' way and more like when a character is named on Burn Notice or in the Yakuza games...
"Of course you would be here. Of course," Arima mutters. "I'm assuming you're not here to destroy the monastery or else your Lintha friend would be here, so you're not here for us."
He pauses, both to gather his thoughts and see if Shango has any immediate reaction, and the Lunar reverts to human form, hovers a moment (as he's still winged in that form), and lands.
"How? How did you know it was me?" Shango asks.
Arima tilts his head thoughtfully at Shango in a bird-like gesture. "You three have caused quite a stir. Sometimes you've been noticed."
Shango looks smug at this, and Arima continues.
"The story of the missing Baihu Kojo Shango is known throughout the Southwest, but this is not the first time I've seen you in bird form."
"When was the other time?"
Arima pauses a moment.
"Whatever you and your friends are up to, I'm willing to let it go. It won't do anyone any good to fight here. But if you want an answer to that question, I'll tell you, but you won't like it."
"I'm all ears."
"I'll admit, I missed the wings back in Lathe. But the first time I saw this particular osprey was at Phong's Promise, in An-Teng. You might remember it, it's the place where your friend shoulder-checked Cathak Cacek Tapi into a house, in horse form."[2]
"You were there?" Shango asks.
"Oh yes, I was there. I was there chasing a dangerous individual, as you would know. But then three pissed-off Lunars showed up and decided..." Arima shrugs. "...better part of valor. By the way, where did you leave Admiral Danai?"
"If I told you, I'd have to kill you."
Up until this point, Arima's had kind of a poker face of a confident half-smirk, more amused by all of this than particularly concerned. But the mask drops for a moment as Arima almost bursts out in laughter at the notion that Shango can kill him.
"Come on now," Shango says. "No offense, but in a one-on-one comparison the Children of Luna are far superior to the Children of the Dragons."
Arima pauses thoughtfully. "That is a fair assessment."
By now, Shango and Hǎifēng have been watching him closely and are trying to get a read on him.
Hǎifēng profiles him, looking for any sign that might give away a disguise, but by all accounts Arima's the real deal. The monk robes are correct, he's definitely from the Blessed Isle, he carries himself like an actual monk. The only thing that's even slightly off about him is he speaks Flametongue with an accent that suggests that while High Realm might be his native tongue, he might be from an outlying province of the Isle or perhaps the Threshold.
Shango, trying to read his intentions, realizes that Arima's trying to find a way out of this conversation without having to kill anyone.
"But there is more going on than you know," Arima continues after a second. "And destiny would not be served by your death today."
As he speaks, a glow appears on his forehead...
...the symbol of Saturn, the Maiden of Endings. One of the Caste Marks of the Sidereal Exalted.[3]
Back on the TV screen, the prior label appears, and then shifts to something a little more accurate...
Arima (whom I'll keep calling that as nobody knows his name in-character yet) pauses for a moment, wanting to see what Shango's going to do. If he knows Hǎifēng is also there, he hasn't done or said anything to indicate it yet. Hǎifēng, reading the Sidereal, suspects that his biggest concern is a fight drawing enough attention to bring the Dragon-Blooded here and getting them killed. It seems like Arima wants to step away, but is reluctant to turn his back on Shango.
Shango, for his part, hesitates a moment. His hand is close to Weirdflame, but in the end he lifts his hand away from it. Arima then takes three steps backwards before turning to head back to the monastery. Hǎifēng takes off to check in with Xương while Shango returns to osprey form and follows Arima back. When he returns, he calls off the attack. He flees with the remaining ospreys (at least, those that haven't been subdued), vanishing into the flock, but at one point he spots Arima looking up at him. The Sidereal gives him a nod of either thanks or simple acknowledgment -- it's tough to tell in the moment.
Back at the pool, Hǎifēng returns and Xương informs them that they just finished. Hǎifēng says "We are finished. One of them back there is a Sidereal."
Xương's immediate reply is "I knew it! <beat> No, no, that's horrifying and I'll be processing it later."
Hǎifēng explains that Arima's the Sidereal (having to quickly explain who Arima is, as Xương hasn't met him yet), and probably knew they were there and is letting them go, and is definitely not actually afraid of the group. They also explain that Shango's off taking care of the summoned birds, and just as they remember to point out that Arima also recognized Shango in bird form, that's when Shango gets back.
Hǎifēng takes advantage of the opportunity to ask Shango how Arima knew him by name, and Shango says he met him back at the temple in Lathe and he told him his name. Xương, understandably, wonders why he used his real name for that, and Shango says he didn't think anyone that far out would know who he is. Xương says that Shango knew that Arima's an Immaculate, but Shango points out that he's not an Immaculate, not really. Hǎifēng says it seems like he's got all of the training, and just because he's Immaculate doesn't necessarily mean he's Dragon-Blooded. But Shango still thinks he's faking.
Hǎifēng says they can tell that Arima's afraid of losing any more Dragon-Bloods, which Shango suspects is just being worried about getting in trouble for it. Hǎifēng thinks there's more to it than that, but regardless the group does agree that if he'd wanted to he almost certainly could have taken Shango out.
Shango also says that Arima was with the Wyld Hunt back in An-Teng and then made them forget he was there, and has probably just pieced together a good bit from their activities. Xương's not sure how that matters, but Shango says he's clarifying the likely connection to Hǎifēng, that Arima likely just figured out who they are. But either way, Arima doesn't want them to die.[4] Shango takes the way he explained it to mean that the three of them have some role to play. Hǎifēng, possibly still concerned about the group starting something, reiterates that Arima could easily have taken one and possibly two of them at once. Combined, the three Lunars could probably take him, but they might lose one of their own in the process.
Shango asks if the Empty Palace is taken care of, and Dakuri says it is. There's a brief conversation about whether they could take Arima with Dakuri's help, and Dakuri says that if it came to it he'd do what he could, but he's woefully unprepared to fight someone like Arima. He's heard of the Sidereals from the Princes, but he doesn't know how much of what he's heard has been exaggerated by a thousand years of telling the same handful of stories over and over.
Hǎifēng says that if they do go start something with Arima, they'd be doing it on his terms. Xương says he's rather go out into the ocean and get Arima to come out to him and fight him on his terms, but Hǎifēng and Shango just want to move on. Xương's not pleased with that but doesn't want to argue against the majority. And, as Hǎifēng points out, they've got bigger things to worry about. Xương agrees to let it go for another day. He didn't know he was being led to Unison, but now he has it. They've got what they need, so what now?
Dakuri says that the plan is to get them back to Tapet Bay to reclaim their ship, and that one of the Devil Princes' agents should be there with the information they need. The trip's going to take them about a week by land ship, but nobody minds that. Xương goes on to point out that in his eyes, the real success of this trip was finding Queen Kirka's body and paying their respects to her.
But now the group gets back to Dakuri's ship (called the Sirocco, I just decided) and travels by map for about a week. They move on an almost straight line along the coast, sometimes on the shore and sometimes just off of it. They get back to Tapet Bay where their ship has been drydocked and cleaned off and stored and everything. Dakuri drops them off next to the Moonlight Maiden, and says he hopes that next time they meet it's under better circumstances than fighting a mad volcano god. Xương says that those are still pretty good circumstances if they win. The group parts ways and Dakuri goes to find a discreet spot to take his ship inland and get back to his usual patrol routes.
The Circle heads into town, a bustling port town certainly a breath of fresh air after desert, jungle, and magical flying city. Soon enough they find their contact -- a crane-aspected Lunar with feathers on his arms known as "The Flourish." They find him playing cards and wearing a vest that shows off the aforementioned feathers (his Tell). Hǎifēng sits down next to him to join in for a hand and says they think he has some information for them. The Flourish nods, recognizing the three as Lunars, and as he doesn't want to rudely get up mid-hand he tosses Xương and Shango some money to get some drinks and find a table.
A few minutes later, after Hǎifēng's won the hand (playing it straight for once but the Flourish helps them win of his own accord), they settle in at the table off to the side. They start talking about the subject of god-killing, and Hǎifēng mentions they have killed a god before. And the Flourish says he heard about the Vaihil situation, and comments that Vaihil was a problem on the mainland a while back (not realizing the group just came from the spot in question), overstepping his bounds, and the the Immaculates drove him out. And since then they've set up shop in Khuvay, still dealing with the aftermath of Vaihil's plagues.
But then he goes on to explain that they've found Blackened Bone Whispers' sanctum. It is, predictably, built into the side of a volcano. The island the volcano's on partially sank a couple of years back after the volcano erupted, and there's an island close enough someone might be able to walk across if the tide is right. That island, called Naibron[5], has a couple of settlements believed to be the home base of the cult. He then unfolds some maps and reveals exactly where in the grand scheme of things the islands are, and where the volcano is.
Hǎifēng suddenly gets up, saying they have to go check on the ship, and then they duck out. Surprised but rolling with it, The Flourish goes over the sea charts with the other two to make sure they know how to get there.
Shortly afterwards, Xương and Shango get back to the boat. Hǎifēng is nowhere to be found.
To be continued...
(I then described this as one of those TV show episodes where it ends on sort of the somber musical cue when the credits start and then immediately jumps into the upbeat opening sequence for full tonal whiplash.)
[0]-- Well, as hard as he can without going full kaiju.
[1]-- When asked if the osprey is original or extra crispy, I said "Original. Extra crispy is too decadent for Immaculates."
[2]-- Sean, talking out of character: "It's not good this guy remembers his name."
[3]-- Cue the air horns. (Inside joke)
[4]-- As I clarified later out of character, I never stated that Arima didn't want to kill them.
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