Alrighty, still playing catch-up here (and there've been all sorts of delays on this post specifically). I'm going to try to get the rest of my backlogged posts done soon, as I have all of my drafts and things turned in and my arm is doing a lot better. But between resting my arm and other stuff I've been dealing with, I've fallen a little farther behind than I'm comfortable admitting. Though the other stuff led to me having to cancel a session, so the backlog could be worse. But I'm babbling.
Though before we get to it, a quick announcement. One of the things I had to turn in is already available for pre-order! It's a story in an urban fantasy anthology called Samhain Secrets: World Premiere. It's currently available for pre-order on Smashwords and Amazon.
Here's the back of the book blurb:
In the Argent City, where supernatural creatures like dragons, fae, and tricksters live alongside blissfully unaware humanity, Halloween Night remains the craziest night of the year. A dragon who would be king struggles to establish his identity and find his passion in hosting a popular radio show, while the wily Kitsune seek to unmask a conspiracy against the feuding Tricksters of the City, where anyone could be the culprit. Across the City, a pair of Fae entrepreneurs stake their future on cleansing a murder site for the police, but a nosy Brownie can't accept the given cause of death and suspects murder. And finally, a hopeful actress takes a chance at scoring the lead in the reboot of a much-beloved vampire action series, only to find the audition process far more bizarre, and deadly, than even the most committed actor would expect.Featuring contributions from Chris Shaffer, David DeMar, Vaughn R. Demont, and special guest Sierra Dean, the Argent City is explored through the eyes of the different denizens that call it home, and the one night a year where the brave and curious can discover the secrets lying just beyond the human eye.
Remember, the above links are for a pre-order. The book will be available on October 31st, 2022!
And with that, let's delve in.
So we pick back up with the group making plans for the Gateway tournament. Shango asks if the others even know how to play Gateway, but neither of them do. He knows a little bit, having had a 'proper' education, though he's not a grandmaster or anything. But he figures he might be able to play enough to serve as a distraction whether he wins or not.
Hǎifēng points out that getting the prize isn't about getting the money itself, but more about ripping off rich assholes. But they remind the group it really stands out that the fliers don't announce specific prizes -- after all, shouldn't they be trying to entice people to sign up? Shango wonders if this could all be some sort of front, but that seems like a bit of a stretch. Maybe some sort of embezzlement or money laundering scam?
The others suggest those could be the case, but they could always just go and ask about the prizes. They go back and forth on that for a moment and Xương suggests they just go bother someone. Shango says he can register for the tournament while they're doing that.
The tournament is being held in the lungs of the primal beast from the dawn of Creation whose carcass makes up much of Lathe, where the theater district is. There's a pretty busy crowd there, with more conspicuous groups of foreigners than usual.[0] They do notice there are a bunch of monks from the local Immaculate temple there, possibly keeping an eye on the chaos.
Xương, familiar with Lathe, notices that the crowd is a little more cosmopolitan than usual but otherwise there's little he hasn't seen before. Now, that said...
Very quickly, he spots Ledaal Kes, Realm luminary and Gateway prodigy, with a pretty sizable entourage of assistants and fans. Xương's surprised to learn that he's an actual grown man and not a child.
The next thing he spots is another Lintha. Like, an obvious[1] Lintha, like Xương himself is. He's got a catfish whisker mustache and is decked out in proper pirate regalia. Xương doesn't recognize him, but from what he's wearing and the way he carries himself he recognizes the guy as a Father of the Ng Hut sept.[2] This is not the sort of Lintha who is likely to be (or even allowed to be) mingling with civilians in an environment like this. Xương considers jumping him on principle, but decides it's a bad time and place.
And then he, and the rest of the group, spot a gap in the crowd where people are giving a wide berth to a woman, obviously a pirate herself, with hair that looks like red seafoam and gills on her neck. She wears a fishskin cloak constantly shifting between blue and green. He recognizes her by reputation -- her name is Roba Seafoam, a notorious pirate of the far Southwest, either fae-blooded or a full-on Raksha herself, known to command a ship that appears to be made either of ice (as in, carved from an iceberg) or translucent glass. Hǎifēng, with their knowledge of such matters, is certain that she's definitely the real deal. Hǎifēng, discreetly covering their mouth with one of their fans, informs the rest of the group about this.
This gets into a bit of a conversation, half-IC and half-OOC, about whether they should do something about Roba, because of Rakshas' tendency to feed on human souls and leave them borderline-mindless husks, or just cause all manner of havoc and chaos and feed on that. And in particular, they're unsure if they would get in trouble for going after Roba -- and to be fair, there are places in Creation where the Fair Folk are allowed to wander around as long as they don't start shit.
As the subject of whether they're allowed, that falls under my usual umbrella of 'details about Lathe I don't want to go too hard on and risk having to retcon something later when better setting material is available.' I generally regard Lathe as run by a council of alchemists and sorcerers who don't have a lot of rules beyond 'don't make us come down there and blast you.' In this case I said that there probably isn't anything legally stopping them from slaying Roba, depending on how powerful/dangerous she is, doing so might cause enough collateral damage that they come out of it as the bad guys regardless.
But between the Raksha and the Lintha captain, whom Hǎifēng has surmised is a big deal from Xương's body language, they think that ripping off this tournament might be a bad idea and that there is definitely something going on.
And speaking of the Lintha captain, Xương theorizes aloud that the guy's here on some sort of mission, probably to kill someone (maybe publicly), or is perhaps some sort of decoy.
But this leads into the group wondering what the prize is. Xương's more than a little bothered by the fact that everyone's excited about a prize that isn't publicly known. Hǎifēng suggests that there may be a second, hidden game going on and the movers and shakers are here for that, some sort of back room game. Xương says that if there is a back room game, that means that you probably have to cross the front room to get there, giving the organizers plenty of time to intervene. Hǎifēng suggests that if they can find the criteria for the back room game, then maybe they can get Shango in there to get a better idea of what's going on. Xương points out that if they go into the front room and Kes isn't there, then that definitely means there's a back room game.
As the three of them watch the crowd, someone carrying cups of tea for sale wanders over. Hǎifēng recognizes him as 'Owl,' the Sidereal they met back on Talipan Island. Owl comes over and quietly asks what they did with the artifact Gateway board they took from V'neef Gamon's place. Hǎifēng says it may or may not have found a new home with the Three Devil Princes.
Owl says that rumor has it that a similar board has turned up as a prize in the tournament, and then takes a moment to offer tea to Xương and Shango to keep up his cover. The two of them aren't paying attention because they don't recognize him[3], and assume that Hǎifēng is just flirting. My notes get slightly fuzzy here but I believe that Owl then explains that part of his job is keeping an eye on the artifact trade around here, but it is known that the Princes trade things back and forth so it's possible that for whatever reason that board has made its way back over time.
Hǎifēng mentions that they're going to get involved in the tournament, and that surprises Owl (it just doesn't seem like the Circle's 'thing'), but he wishes them luck. He does make it clear he's not here because of them, just keeping an eye on everything going on right now, and he plans to stay out of their way. But right now, he's supposed to be selling cups of tea. Hǎifēng pats him on the head, but while they have the opportunity they ask him what he knows about the tournament that nobody else does.
Owl pauses for a moment and ponders that. He explains that the local gaming club running the tournament is called 'Scroll Machine,' apparently the most literal translation of an Old Realm word, and that they've developed a variant of Gateway that also incorporates a deck of cards (much like Knightmare Chess). I actually can't recall if I gave the name of the variant, but for the sake of not having to dance around it it's called the Game of Scribes. He knows very little about the variant, as a side-event in this tournament is apparently its big public debut.
Hǎifēng remarks that it's interesting that Owl keeps popping up in their neck of the woods, and he simply says that the Southwest in general and the Cinder Isles in particular are kind of his... well, the best word for it is jurisdiction, and as that's where Hǎifēng and their companions operate, they're naturally going to cross paths. Hǎifēng, noticing that Xương and Shango don't recognize him, ask him if he 'whammied' them. Owl lets out a bitter chuckle and says 'Not intentionally.' He then simply explains that part of what Sidereals do means that people usually forget them, but sometimes they don't. Hǎifēng says that seems very lonely, and Owl says it's not as bad as it looks, and he reassures Hǎifēng that he does have actual friends who aren't other Sidereals.
Hǎifēng says that if Owl ever needs to talk... well, they trail off dramatically. Owl says that he'll consider that if he has the time. But he's part of Nekoda's[4] crew if Hǎifēng needs him for some reason. Then Owl excuses himself and Hǎifēng rejoins with Shango, and asks where Xương's wandered off to. Shango says that he's headed back to his place.
The camera cuts to Xương, heading out of the square and back towards his clinic. He spots Captain Tarok and Shichirou the Digger. They both nod to Xương, recognizing and remembering his efforts back in Smolder, and he nods back as he keeps going. They head into the square and the 'camera' follows them to catch a view of Shango heading for the tournament's sign-up table where a Western woman takes down names and entrance fees.
Shango signs up, as does Shichirou, though Tarok does not. Shango also notes there are two names listed on the sign-up sheet simply as "Lintha" -- normally the only name outsiders are allowed to use when referring to them. Shango asks about the prizes and the woman managing registration says there will be cash, prizes, fine and vintage Gateway sets, and even a couple of magical relics -- including a magical Gateway board and a secret surprise for a side-event. From her demeanor, Shango gets the impression that the magical board isn't a sure thing, like they don't have it yet. It's also hard to put a finger on why he thinks this, but he gets the impression there is something sinister about the surprise.
As he signs up, Shango also notices a merchant his family has done business with back in Zhaojūn named Captain Taka. She's way out of her usual stomping grounds, but she signs up for the tournament and then gets some meat on a stick from a vendor and takes up a spot to watch the crowd. Not just casual people-watching, either, but definitely watching for something. Also among the entrants are Sadiki, the geomancer Hǎifēng robbed the last time they were in Lathe, and another local sorcerer who looks kind of like a green mind flayer with tentacle arms.[5]
Shango checks in with Hǎifēng, who's schmoozing with people in the crowd, and drags them away. He pulls them to a private spot behind a... okay, my notes say 'tree statue' for some reason. I dunno. Anyhow, they share what they've gleaned about the prizes, and he speculates that the magical board could be the one they sold to the Devil Princes, which Hǎifēng finds funny and comments that Owl would laugh. Not that Shango knows who Owl is. When Shango talks about the sinister edge on the 'surprise,' thing, Hǎifēng argues that back-to-back Gateway matches do sound like torture.
Shango says that he's going to head back to Xương's and let Hǎifēng go find a date for the night, which offends Hǎifēng slightly. First off, they point out, they're not a whore, they're a slut. They're not going to go out with someone unless they're getting something out of it. This leads into some argument over whether Hǎifēng's a slut or not, which leads them to hand their drunk to someone and then slap Shango across the cheek before recollecting their drunk and returning to Xương's as well...
...but not before finding a private spot, shapeshifting into a monkey, and splitting off some clone monkeys to keep an eye on the theater district overnight. Then they head back to Xương's, where we have this exchange as they stomp in in a huff:
Hǎifēng: "Shango can be such a bastard!"
Xương: "Yyyyup."
Bryan, Shango's player: "What do you mean 'yyyyup?'"
Sean, Xương's player: "I mean 'yup,' but a little slower."
At this point, Shango gets back to Xương's a bright red handprint still on his face. Xương asks if Shango did something unspeakable, wanting some reassurance since for all he knows Shango got slapped for being a secret pervert.
Before we continue too far off the rails in that direction, Hǎifēng tells Xương that their secret Sidereal contact suggests they're expecting a magical Gateway board to show up. Shango volunteers that it sounds like the organizers are offering a board as a prize but don't have it in hand yet, so it might be the board traded to the Princes. Shango then fills in Xương on everything else he learned, which we've covered above already.
Xương just kind of shrugs at the possibility that this is the board they originally retrieved, because the Princes can do what they like with it. The surprise bothers him more. Hǎifēng explains they left the clones behind to keep an eye on things, and Xương's like "Well that's a normal conversation."
But at this point, the group decides they can rest and go with the investigation based on what Hǎifēng's 'gremlins' (in Xương's words) bring back. Hǎifēng is a little indignant about the choice of words, but it's agreed that they'll have a good place to start on the investigation and will be well-rested to do so.
And then we leave off there.
[0]-- Sean observes that "It's a theater district in a fantasy setting. It's like Mardi Gras, only gayer." And he's not wrong.
[1]-- 'Obvious' in this case being sort of our code-word for 'definitely demon-blooded and not great at passing for human.'
[2]-- Context: 'Father' is a Lintha ranking, pretty high up. It means he commands at least one ship, probably several, and has fathered multiple full-blooded children. 'Ng Hut' is the name of one of the Lintha family branches, the same one that spawned Dukantha, whom I've mentioned previously.
[3]-- As a reminder, people tend to forget about Sidereals they've met. It's part of the magic that let them get away with overthrowing the Solar Deliberative and end the First Age.
[4]-- The parrotfolk captain they've seen around a few times.
[5]-- I know I mentioned the sorcerer with the tentacles in passing last time the characters were in Lathe, but they didn't make it into the write-up. Just contextualizing that the group should know this character by reputation if nothing else.
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