So hey, we're back! Sorry it's been a while, real life issues have made it difficult for things to line up, but this past week we finally got to play Exalted.
In case you missed it before, I want to mention that I'm working on the upcoming Trinity Continuum supplement Brave New Worlds, which is about (to quote Onyx Path's Monday blog) "strange and unusual environments for Talents like time travel, planetary exploration, microverses, and more!" I'm limited in what details I can share at this time, and while I'm pretty sure there's more I can say, I'd rather hold back on that until it's a little further along. Working on this and another project is also the reason why I haven't taken advantage of the hiatus to get any more old Promethean posts up. Sorry 'bout that.
(Before I get into it, we get into some traumatic backstory stuff. So consider this a content warning for gore and child endangerment.)
So where we left off, Shango and Xương had just gotten back to the Moonlight Maiden to discover that there's no sign that Hǎifēng came back after leaving the tavern earlier. Xương observes that Hǎifēng did seem perturbed after the Devil Princes' contact gave them the intel on Blackened Bone Whispers' sanctum and the Eternal Wave enclave nearby. Shango admits that Hǎifēng doesn't normally seem that hasty to leave, but figured that they weren't feeling well. Xương suggests that after they find Hǎifēng, they probably shouldn't let them out of their sight, because the last time Hǎifēng got like this, they killed someone.[0]
Shango goes to look around the docks and Xương stays with the boat in case Hǎifēng comes back.
Some time ago...
Hǎifēng leaves the tavern, wandering aimlessly in kind of a haze. They walk down a street and then stop and start to head back towards the tavern or the boat out of guilt, but then they stop. They're torn by panic and indecision, walking back and forth as they second-guess themselves. Hǎifēng doesn't know whether to scream, cry, or do something irresponsible.
They make a decision.
Now...
Shango, a little past the docks proper, comes across a drinking hole with loud, obnoxious music and hoots and hollers coming out of the place. He gets a distinct feeling and goes to check it, and just as he opens the door someone goes flying out with an empty tankard, yelling "Wooo!" as they fly past.
Shango goes in to find the place in chaos, almost like a mosh pit. If this were a movie or TV show, we'd have La Grange playing in the backround as the camera pans across the chaos -- likely a cover played on, say, a shamisen or a gayageum to reflect the Asian influence on the setting. But the camera pans past the chaos to Hǎifēng up on the bar, completely trashed and half-undressed. In Zac's words, Hǎifēng is "whole-ass Coyote Ugly-ing on the bar."
They spot Shango and call for him to join the party, as they don't want to leave. These are their people, man, and Hǎifēng's not gonna cut out on them now. As they dance badly on the bar, they roll their ankle and fall off onto the floor. With a sigh, Shango has to literally drag Hǎifēng out as they grab a bottle on the way. Dragging their fellow Lunar back to the boat is probably one of the most inconvenient things Shango's ever done in his life, and it's only because Hǎifēng's coordination is so completely shot that all they're able to do is pout and not escape. Shango seriously considers turning Hǎifēng into a toad[1], but barely decides against it.
Xương's up on the deck of the ship when he first hears the commotion and stands there in awe as he watches Shango hauling Hǎifēng back. When Shango's got them halfway up the gangplank, he just dumps Hǎifēng in the water in an attempt to snap them out of it. Hǎifēng, however, just lets themselves sink. Shango waits until the bubbles start to slow before he goes in after them, and by the time he pulls Hǎifēng up onto the deck the Changing Moon is unconscious. Xương helps manage Hǎifēng to make sure they don't drown or choke in their own vomit while Shango hangs up both his and their wet clothing up to dry and then goes to bed.
Xương goes ahead and takes the boat out of the harbor to begin the journey to the islands of Naibron and Sambel, as it's going to be a little over a week.
We jump ahead to the next morning, as Shango comes in the next day with some food and water, going into Hǎifēng's room. They look like a hot mess, snoring and out of it -- like, 'anime snot bubble inflating and deflating' snoring. Then he hears a noise and turns around to find a tiny monkey hiding behind the door, trying not to vomit while waiting for a chance to escape.
Shango tells Hǎifēng to remove the clone and get back to bed and have some food and water. So the crestfallen monkey shuffles back to the bed, climbs up onto it, poofs the clone, and reverts to human form. Then Shango, doing a classic bit, yells "They're awake!", directed at Xương up on the deck, as loudly as he can and provoking the classic wince from Hǎifēng. Then, just for clarity, he checks to see if it was a clone he threw in the water before, but Hǎifēng confirms it was them. Shango offers Hǎifēng some of the fried fish he brought for breakfast, but Hǎifēng just looks sick and reaches for the bucket instead.[2] Shango keeps an eye on Hǎifēng and, when asked, mentions they're about a day out at sea.
Hǎifēng says that Xương and Shango could have left them in Tapet Bay and handled this themselves. Shango says normally he'd be flattered, but he thinks there's more to it than something about Blackened Bone Whispers. He suspects it has something to do with the island specifically, and as Hǎifēng's friend and crewmate he thinks he and Xương deserve to know what's going on. At this point Xương shows up and Shango offers him the leftover fish, and he reflexively eats it. Hǎifēng's stomach lurches a bit at the sight.
Hǎifēng says that it's a long and complicated story, and Shango firmly but gently points out that they've got about a week before they get there, so there's plenty of time to take it.
Hǎifēng says that they were taken from their village as a kid by pirates. They were too young to remember where they're from and were bought and sold multiple times in any case, so it's hard to trace back. Eventually they were bought by a couple that lived on Sambel Island. The couple treated Hǎifēng really well, and for the first time Hǎifēng wasn't just a pretty face or a servant to be put on display. They weren't expected to do anything the didn't want to do; the couple just wanted to be graced with Hǎifēng's presence and treated them well and gave them a home. Hǎifēng even had servants of their own. It was the first time they were allowed to be them, without having to put on a face or play a part.
Then Calibration arrived.
Hǎifēng woke up someplace they'd never seen before, possibly inside a volcano or more accurately a temple inside one. There were statues and structures, and... Hǎifēng had made friends on the island, friends among the servants and other people working there. And in this place where Hǎifēng woke up, their master and mistress were in some sort of washbasin and every servant except for Hǎifēng was strung up above them, throats slit, and...
Hǎifēng has to stop and throw up in the bucket again before they continue.
The couple were bathing in the blood. Things get blurry for Hǎifēng, and they black out. All they remember is screaming and waking up on the beach. Everything was on fire, the volcano was erupting, and the only light they had was on their new caste mark. They fled with the first merchant vessel to get to the island and have been running since then.
They've never found any traces of the pirates that first stole them, though they doubt those people knew where Hǎifēng would wind up. But since then, they've just lived as themselves and... they don't want to go back to the island.
They break down into sobs and Shango sits next to them to let them sob into his shoulder.
We do a dissolve-cut to a couple of days later. Hǎifēng is out on the deck and Shango approaches them. He says he's sorry that Hǎifēng had to relive those experiences, and also that their quest is going to a place that holds so much pain in Hǎifēng's life. Shango puts an arm around Hǎifēng's shoulder (getting a wince) and reminds them that they're not alone, and they're not a child any more, and-- and Hǎifēng says they know they're not a child any more and know that things are going to be different. But they still don't want to go back there. Xương, nearby on the ship's wheel, says that Hǎifēng doesn't have to go. They can stay behind on the ship and Xương and Shango will handle this, and Xương's not going to judge.
Shango says he's got his own inner demons and there are places he doesn't want to return to. But if their journey ever leads them back in that direction, he'll face what he has to, especially if it's going to help people -- and especially if Xương or Hǎifēng were in danger. No god in Creation or above it would stop him. While he wouldn't be enthusiastic to jump into the fire he tells Hǎifēng that this fear can't control them.
Shango then points out that what Hǎifēng described sounds like some sort of ritualistic sacrifice, and that perhaps the master and mistress were worshippers of Blackened Bone Whispers. Thus, taking him out would be the ultimate revenge. After a moment he admits there's no good way to know and he's just trying to make Hǎifēng feel better and knows this isn't something they can just get over in a day.
Xương repeats that Hǎifēng doesn't have to go and nobody's going to force them, as much as they'd love to have Hǎifēng's help.
Over the course of the rest of the journey, Hǎifēng gets more and more tense the closer they get to the island. Eventually the volcano on Sambel comes into view against the setting sun, and it seems... lesser than Hǎifēng recalls. Deflated.
But before they can talk about that, the group notices a bunch of smoke leading to a coastal village that's on fire. Why is it on fire? It's under attack! And even worse, the ships are immediately recognizable as Lintha vessels.[3]
Xương turns to Shango and asks if he's ready to kill some people. Shango pulls out Weirdflame and says "It's time to burn some motherfuckers." Hǎifēng just looks like they're getting ready to run.
Xương bounds over the side of the boat and starts swimming towards the violence. As he nears the shore he goes under the water, and a minute later a giant, glowing humanoid sea monster emerges from the water. An osprey follows shortly after, and a few minutes later Hǎifēng catches up as well. Hǎifēng lands in their Deadly Beastman form, takes a hit from a flask, and wades in.
Ahead of them, several crews of Lintha -- easily over a hundred pirates -- engage in brutal melee with close to as many locals. The locals aren't as heavily armed, but Xương and Hǎifēng both recognized that they're definitely skilled in combat but holding back. And there appears to be an elite unit of locals who seem to be enhanced with some sort of magic, which may be tied to the woman with a golden aura, whose very presence kicks up the earth around her with little flares of what might be magma, wielding a tetsubo of glowing obsidian and being protected by a floating flaming sword -- an obvious Dragon-Blood.[4] Or maybe they have something to do with the guy who's only giving off flickers of power but wearing red jade smashfists and has thick black hair that looks like it's smoldering. Could be a Dragon-Blood who isn't revved up yet, or could be a God-Blood. Either way, the quick visual description of him is "Imagine Maui from Moana, but built like Dad-bod Thor."
The latter, as they wade into the battle, is trying to warn the Lintha to back off before the fighting goes too far, but to little avail.
Xương steps up next to him to try and menace the Lintha into backing down, successfully menacing them. Hǎifēng uses Lion-Mouse Inversion to enhance his efforts and then throws in Thieves Fall Out and Deeper-into-Trouble Technique as they shove the Lintha into each other to throw them off their game and get them good and pissed at the monkey-Lunar.
As Shango swoops in, he spots a familiar face, though not someone he personally met -- Cousin Mongo, from Lathe![5] And Shango can see, in the moment, that Mongo is pushing through the crowd, trying to get to Hǎifēng as he yells something. It's all too loud and chaotic for Hǎifēng to notice, but Shango can hear him clearly enough: "These are Zither's people!"
He has an 'oh shit' moment and calls upon Weirdflame's power, awakening a manic energy within himself as he swoops for the guy in the smashfists. He yells "We were tricked! They work for Zither!" as he blasts multicolored magical flame at the man with a shaky shot.
At which point, the man with the smashfists says "Okay, we tried this your way... Champei, do the thing!"[6]
The Dragon-Blood nods and makes a gesture, and two things happen at once.
The first of those things is that bloody, stinking ropes of muscle and flesh appear from thin-air and lash themselves into a humanoid shape. They build an ape-like body with rubbery black skin covered in rust-red fur, with jagged spurs of black bone jutting from its shoulders, spine, and skull. Its arms end in great black talons, and its pupil-less eyes glow as golden as a snake's. It's a pretty-common demon[7], an erymanthus, colloquially known as a blood-ape.
The second thing is that pieces of shattered weapons and armor on the ground tremble and float into the air. A cloud of vapor appears from nowhere as wails of doom echo through the area, and within moments those weapons -- now repaired -- emerge from the cloud on the ends of dozens of dextrous, armored, insectile limbs. There's the faint silhouette of a horned kabuto in the vapor, with red eyes glowing through. A tomescu, also called a clamorous cloud arsenal.
And we left off there, with the proper battle to happen next session.
[0]-- I'm assuming Xương is referring to Vaihil, but I didn't want to stop the flow of the scene and ask.
[1]-- There are Charms that can do this, and I think Shango might have one of them. But even if he doesn't, Weirdflame can do it. Fun fact.
[2]-- It's been decided that somehow this is the 'teeth bucket' from Xương's place in Lathe, but nobody knows how it got on the boat.
[3]-- For what it's worth, Xương can recognize the Haquen, Sennong, and Dara-Said septs represented among the ships, for those of you who are up on your Lintha lore. This actually concerns Xương somewhat, as the Dara-Said are known to be particularly bloodthirsty.
[4]-- I may have erroneously identified this Dragon-Blood as Fire-aspected at the time, but she's actually Earth, not that that's a huge difference.
[5]-- Properly, that's Lintha Sennong falong Brother Mongo, though none of the group but Xương should actually know the full thing anyways.
[6]-- For the record, this was not intended to be a Varrick reference, but it's the phrasing I reflexively grasped onto in the moment. Sue me.
[7]-- Common enough that even Shango can recognize it even without any dots of Occult.
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