Hey there, folks, I'm back with another Exalted write-up featuring the crew of the Moonlight Maiden. For the record, this is merely a last-minute post, not an extremely late one; we just didn't play the week of the 14th, which is why I got around to getting this to a presentable state. I've been poking at it on and off for a while, and just kinda held off because I wasn't (and to be fair, I'm still not) convinced there's enough to put there for it to be worth the effort, but had to get it out of the way eventually.
And other than that, I don't think I've got any big personal updates. So let's get into it.
Just a heads-up, the write-up does begin with description of NPC-on-NPC fights. While there are elements and in-character commentary in the fights that will be relevant in the larger story, if you want to skip ahead to when the focus returns to the plot and the PCs, just do a text search for "As the woman falls".
The applause from Hǎifēng's rather dynamic fight last session eventually begins to die down, and soon enough things are setting up for another match. The stage reforms into something like some sort of rooftop pavilion/fighting ring/dojo, and the participants are Rashmi's sister Blade Dances between the Ribs and the as-yet-unidentified monk the group saw fighting back at the beginning of the tournament. Both of them appear a little put off by the staging presented to them -- perhaps bringing back uncomfortable memories? It's tough to say. What's easy to say is that Blade Dances between the Ribs (whom I'm just going to call 'Dances' from here on out), being an Abyssal and thus not only comfortable with discomfort but empowered by it, takes advantage.
She lunges forward, the sword becoming the chain-blade with a flick of her wrist as she lashes out at the monk. The monk spins away from the slashes and then ducks in to go straight for the pressure point strikes typical of Water Dragon Style. Dances wraps the chain sword around one of the pillars holding up the roof of the pavilion and pulls herself up to swing away and around on it, showing off her circus acrobat background as she moves around the pillar like a tetherball. They chase each other around the pillar like this way for several moments before Dances goes for a leap over the monk's head to strike at her back, dragging the blades of the chain-sword along the monk's back and cutting it up pretty bad.
Now, it occurs to me that I didn't write down exactly what moment I had this come up, so I'll put it now -- as the monk moves, keeping up with Dances, the group is reasonably certain she's not a Dragon-Blood but in fact a Celestial Exalt. Xương in particular is pretty sure she might be a Solar. The realization comes from the way the Essence seems to fuel her movements, and seeing how she keeps up with an Abyssal. Also, they've just recently seen enough Dragon-Blooded fighting Celestials to tell the difference in speed and precision.[0]
So the likely-Solar, gritting her teeth as she feels that strike at her back, has... what we'll call a moment. Her eyes blaze with anger as she turns to the Abyssal, moving impossibly fast with a pressure point strike that stops Dances in her tracks and causes her body to spasm. Xương, with his medical training and experience, recognizes that the flow of the fluids in Dances' body have just briefly reversed course. She then unloads on the off-balance Dances with a series of furious blows like waves pounding the shore. Then, as the Abyssal staggers back, wobbling on her feat in a pose familiar to anyone who's played Mortal Kombat, the monk takes a deep breath and closes her eyes and lets out a roar of inarticulate rage that produces an actual physical shockwave that blasts Dances off her feet and causes the force field protecting the crowd from the action to ripple.
She stops and catches her breath as the judges declare her the winner. Xương remarks that that was unexpected as the group watches the Abyssal slowly get up. I can't remember if they say this out loud, but it's recognized that a normal human would have been dead long before the shout, had the monk cut loose on them like that. Xương points out that the monk is probably not a Dragon-Blood.
Hǎifēng, assuming Rashmi somehow threw her off, asks him what he said to her, and Rashmi's all "Don't put this on me." He does agree with Xương's assessment that that wasn't a Dragon-Blooded monk. He then awkwardly says he should probably go check on her, and everyone encourages him to do so (though someone, I can't recall who, jokingly calls him a 'sissy' if my notes are correct). He asks if anyone wants anything while he's out, but they're fine. Xương says he's full on snacks for the moment, and Hǎifēng asks if he's been eating half the inventory. Xương says he hasn't -- only 2/3 of it.
"But that's all the profit!" Hǎifēng laments.
"But we're rich in exposure!" Xương replies.
"I can only shake my ass so hard out there, be clear on that," the monkey-Lunar says.
Then Xương goes on to insist that they've changed the world today. Tonight Creation will go to sleep not knowing anything of 'corn hogs' but tomorrow they'll awaken to a world of flavor and convenience. Because corn hogs have the stick in them.
And with that interlude out of the way, the ring takes it's shape for another match. It looks like a performance hall, with a raised stage on one side and bench seats on the other. On the stage side a tall, willowy woman with light-brown skin (in my head, if I were to cast someone to play her, I imagine Iman), almost drowning in fancy robes of purple and gold, steps out. She carries a bow made of some sort crystal -- but instead of one string, it has seven, like a small harp or a weirdly-shaped lyre. The group recognizes that each string is made of a different magical material -- starmetal, moonsilver, and each of the five colors of the jade. Shango, with his greater education (or perhaps some buried knowledge and memories from his past incarnation) recognizes that the crystal making up the bow itself is in fact adamant, a material that is to diamond what orichalcum is to gold. The woman wears as mask styled like a peacock, and as she steps out onto the stage her clothing shimmers and is replaced with garments of pure aurora -- keeping her decent, in a 'magical girl mid-transformation' sort of way.
Down on the floor, her opponent steps up between the bench seats. He's a large man with skin like clay and armor of a style clearly influenced or similar to that of the Scarlet Dynasty, but not quite. He's wearing a mask like a classical Japanese oni mask, and he's carrying a tetsubo made of white jade with brass studs. The match starts as they take their stances -- he prepares himself with slow movements until he stands like a living statue, invoking Earth Dragon Style. The woman stands straight, the bow held like a lyre, fingers ready to dance over the strings. (The group doesn't know this ICly, but this is a version of Silver-Voiced Nightingale Style.)
She begins to play, waves of music made solid and wreathed in rainbows, reaching out to the armored man. He, in turn, hefts the club and points one of it at her, and the brass studs light up as it lets loose a massive blast of Essence. She dodges it, and conjures up barriers of crystal as cover against more such blasts, countering with more auroral notes and what appeared to be arrows conjured of crystal.
After several seconds the man with the tetsubo rushes the stage. Her fingers flick over the strings as she quickly plays something signaling anticipation. Her body moves as she clearly gets in sync with him, literally resonating with his vibe. Then the music shifts to something darker, sadder, giving off waves of pure regret that even the audience can feel -- not as keenly as her opponent, as it's not meant for them, but they're catching some of the emotional 'splash,' as it were. And that slows him down as it starts to get to him... until a spark of anger flickers across his eyes and he lashes out with the tetsubo and sends her crashing to the ground.
She gets back up with a dissonant, intense shriek of music and noise, laying it on thick. He tries to hit her, but she unleashes a cacophony of sound that crackles against the force field protecting the audience -- it's very much like Shango putting out the waves of flame when he fought Dances, but rainbow-colored. The waves of sound and noise chip his armor, slowly peeling it off of him piece by piece as she drives him to one knee, and she steps in to finish him off. But once she's close enough, he jams the tetsubo into the strings, cutting off the music with a shriek before he gives her a point-blank blast with the Essence cannon incorporated into the tetsubo.
As the woman falls, the auroral robes becoming regular clothing again, there's a moment -- just a moment -- where the characters sees something through a gap in her opponent's armor. They see a glowing brand on the man's shoulder blade: an eye surrounded by spines, like the symbol on the mysterious soldiers that attacked the tournament. But another piece of armor quickly settles down over it, blocking it from view.
Someone similarly dressed to the woman rushes up to the ring to help her up and out as the man with the tetsubo swaggers away, Dr. Livesey-style.
Xương makes a comment about the first rule of 'cannon club,'[1] and Hǎifēng looks at him and says "We take you to see one play, and that's what you take away from it."
Magos steps out into the ring, with sort of a "Wow, what a day" vibe as they tell everyone they're wrapping up for the night and will continue tomorrow. They tell the group to enjoy the eating and drinking establishments -- Xương takes a moment to wave around some corn hogs -- as well as any of the dojos and training areas if they need to practice or spar or what have you. Or, if they prefer, they can unwind and partake of various substances and ointments (presumably to help them recover from the fighting) and -- with a gesture to Xương -- "whatever that is." They also make sure to inform everyone that the food and drink is gratis for guests, but tips are encouraged as even gods have to pay rent.
Magos announces they'll reconvene the following afternoon, and wish everyone a pleasant night and morning. And then whatever unseen light source illuminates the ring switches off.
Hǎifēng, still all sweaty and sore from their fight, goes and hits up one of the fancier bathhouses to get cleaned up and massaged. They see some of the other competitors in various states of undress (but still stuck with the masks), and semi-crudely assessing them. While they're there, at one point they see Magos, who spots them and gives them a wink and a "Nice fight out there" in kind of that 'saying hello counts as flirting' Jack Harkness-y way. Hǎifēng blushes and tries very hard not to chase after the emcee and 'sleaze them into bed,' in their player's words.
After that they head out to one of the training halls to practice their Dreaming Pearl Courtesan techniques in hybrid form, having trouble nailing the Form Charm. While they're there, they see the Vlad Tepes-looking guy from the opening ceremonies practicing his Single Point Shining Into the Void techniques. They get a good look at the sheath on his daiklave, which at first looks like moonsilver but on more intense scrutiny appears to be orichalcum so white as to be practically silver, sort of like white gold. And it's shot through with veins of blue jade holding it together, like kintsugi. (Honestly, the overall visual effect is almost like a photo negative of kintsugi.) While they're practicing, they see what looks like a guy literally made out of daiklaves come in, have a chat with the man, and then they proceed to spar. Eventually, Hǎifēng gives up on trying to nail Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Form, and heads to bed.
Elsewhere, out and about, Shango keeps an eye out for his brother. He doesn't see him right away, but does spot a number of masked monks converging on a Blessed Isle-style teahouse. Reluctant but intrigued, he goes in. Most of the customers are monks from all over Creation, some of whom are enjoying peaceful cups of tea in silence while others talk and share stories. The monk everyone's pretty sure is a Solar is there, sitting off to the side, alone.
A server shows him to a table and gives him a menu, which also includes a map of Creation where their tea selections are marked based on where they're from. As he gets ready to order, he asks his server to tell the mysterious monk that he'd like to buy her whatever tea she wants. For himself, he orders something from the North, outside his usual tea-drinking experience.
The monk, when the offer is shared with her, gives him a genuine nod of appreciation, though she's not sure whether or not to take it as some sort of invitation. The server brings her some tea and brings a pot of tea called Misty Mountain Sunrise to Shango. It's mild and kind of sweet, very smooth and pleasant and relaxing. Very different from the stronger tea he grew up with back home. He takes advantage of a moment of rare luxury, of getting to enjoy the sort of amenities he enjoyed growing up in a wealthy merchant family.
At one point the monk comes over and thanks him for his gesture and says that she'd stay and talk but she's had a very long day. She hopes to chat with him later in the event, however. He wishes her good rest, and she wishes him the same. She leaves and the other monks give her a dirty look, and he calls out to them.
"Oi, is that any way to look at a woman?" he asks.
They glare at him, and one of them is the hornet-masked one he's sure is his brother (whom I'll call 'Hornet' for simplicity's sake).[2] Hornet tells him "Stay out of this, this is beyond your affairs."
Then we have kind of that 'anime' moment of a shadow dramatically covering most of Shango's face as he whispers "For now" to himself, scheming. He also considers that this must be kind of like what it's like to be Hǎifēng. Just when Hornet is about to say something else, the server shows up to bring the monks bowls of rice and pickled vegetables. Hornet gives Shango a look that, even through the mask, clearly says 'this isn't the last we've seen of each other.' Shango, with that rattling around in his head, finishes his tea, pays, and goes to turn in for the night.
And yet elsewhere, Xương spends a while serving up corn hogs from his food cart. At one point, the guy in the oni mask steps up for corn hogs. Xương starts to give him two, stops and thinks about it, and then gives him three. The guy pays for all of them[3], takes them all in one hand, and then sits down to eat them nearby.
Towards the end of the evening, Xương turns around to find Rashmi standing there, and he jumps. Rashmi says he checked on his sister and she's going to be fine, and Xương takes a closer look to make sure she didn't hurt him for checking up on her (and he does seem to be favoring one leg). They get to talking about the monk she fought, and if I recall correctly Rashmi points out she's from a heretical denomination of the Immaculate Faith from Prasad. He theorizes that if she is a Solar -- and he's pretty sure she is -- that this must have been a case of some poor dirt-farmer mortal who joined a monastery for a chance at a better (if harder) life, and simply got lucky. Rashmi also says he wanted to check in with Xương and make sure there aren't any demons, mutants, or mutant demons, and Xương says it's just been the one incident so far (referring to the army earlier). They make small talk for a bit and eventually turn in.
And we have an orchestral version of the traditional JRPG inn music.
Morning arrives without incident, with the group in lush surroundings. (Hǎifēng makes a note to steal their pillow when they go back to Creation, as it always seems to be perfectly cool.) They're drawn out of their bedroom by the smell of coffee -- Bageru is out in the sitting area of their chambers, down what looks like his second cup of coffee of the morning. Hǎifēng has a seat on the couch and gets some coffee (there is also tea available), thanking Bageru as the badger-headed god offers some fresh fruit and says he can arrange for some proper breakfast if they'd like, whether having it delivered or he can direct them to someplace. Bageru also remarks it'd be a nice day if not for Calibration -- the sky outside is still red.
Shango wakes up when his body tells him to, and he joins the others out in the sitting room for coffee. Bageru says that Xương's definitely out of it and will be for a while. Hǎifēng suggests that he overdid it on the corn hogs and is sleeping through a 'sausage coma.' Bageru says that whatever it is, he's going to let Xương sleep it off. He says he's enjoying working with the trio, but it's not his job to poke that bear. Hǎifēng resists the urge to poke Bageru (or at least boop his snoot).
Hǎifēng says that at least they're all being treated the way they deserve, and Bageru says that the Organizers like to pamper the competitors. Invitees to the tournament tend to be adventurous sorts who are often on the road, sleeping in the woods or in shitty roadside inns, so the Organizers really like to bend over backwards to make them comfortable while they have the opportunity. That said, he can't necessarily get them the celestial cocaine they asked about -- though he could get them cocaine so fine it might ruin them for the stuff commonly found in Creation. Hǎifēng clarifies they're not as into the cocaine thing specifically, that's more Xương's deal, though they do show an interest in many things. And Bageru dryly says he noticed.
He then goes on to inform Hǎifēng and Shango that there weren't any attacks during the night, and they're bringing in extra forces to keep an eye on things. No word on the culprit, though. Hǎifēng asks about the guy with the tetsubo. Bageru is like 'what about him?' and Hǎifēng explains the brand they saw. Bageru frowns and says he missed that, but he'll look into it. He admits he was more focused on watching his opponent, as it's rare he gets to see a Sovereign of Uluiru fight. He then proceeds to explain who the Sovereigns are -- they're a group of Exigents from the Northwest, with power over light and crystal. He points out that Xương fought an Exigent, in fact. And the conversation comes back around to the guy with the tetsubo, and with Hǎifēng's help Bageru is able to sketch out the symbol, and says he'll look into it and get back to them.
Hǎifēng tells Bageru if he wants to keep them involved, he can, but they've all been told to just pass info on to the authorities and 'trust the cop,' which they comment is very weird for them to say. Shango points out that this is Heaven's cops, and Hǎifēng says that doesn't make much difference while Bageru gives Shango an 'oh, you sweet summer child' look. There's some discussion about the nature of Heaven -- I didn't get the details down, but for those of you who don't know Exalted, Heaven isn't necessarily a paradise, and it's definitely not any sort of afterlife reward for mortals. It's the plane where the gods dwell, and the place from where they watch and manage Creation.
Bageru explains that they try to at least keep everyone in the loop because it's generally expected[4] that the Exalted are going to want to be involved in stuff like this, and if they were to keep it from them, then a bunch of Exalts would insist on sneaking off to learn more on their own and/or meddle. It's generally agreed that under such circumstances, Shango would definitely sneak off and cause trouble. On a related note, Bageru comments that he's been keeping an eye on Rashmi (but that's just a good idea in general).
But on a more pleasant subject, he asks if he can get the group anything, steer them towards anything, anything like that. Shango asks for directions back to that teahouse he found the previous night and if Bageru knows if they're open. Bageru says that everyplace is pretty much always open barring occasionally having to close down for a bit to clean or whatever. Shango then goes to drag Hǎifēng off to the teahouse and they balk, as they're not dressed yet. Shango pauses, awkwardly realizes that Hǎifēng's just wearing a bathrobe, and shuffles back to his room to let them get dressed. Hǎifēng and Bageru share a confused look, with an 'I got nothing' shrug from the latter.
We jump ahead to them arriving at the teahouse as a couple of monks talk out front. Hǎifēng asks Shango how many took vows of chastity, and getting that the Changing Moon is planning on batting their eyelashes at the monks, slyly implies that for Hǎifēng, the monks might 'break their vows not to eat meat.' And now Hǎifēng feels a little uncomfortable at that wording and goes to get them at able as they go to get a table, and Shango makes sure to tell them that this place serves their favorite tea (the sort of stuff that Hǎifēng, who's a courtesan in An-Teng, normally only gets to enjoy when entertaining the seriously-wealthy aristocrats).
There are a handful of monks sitting there, sharing tea, and Shango recognizes his brother among them (he's facing away but Shango can see the mask). Hǎifēng, catching that Shango is staring, asks if that's someone he knows. He just cryptically says he was lost in thought, remembering the past. And he changes the subject to musing on tea would pair well with corn hogs, which gets him some weird looks. Hǎifēng asks why he's being so awkward, and Shango says he's just thinking ahead to their future business, that people will need accompanying side dishes and drinks. Hǎifēng points out that as fried pork sausages, corn hogs would pair with ale, not tea, and also that Shango's still being awkward.
The mention of the pork in corn hogs gets them a few more looks from the monks, and Hǎifēng says "You took a vow not to eat meat, I didn't." One of the monks gets up to say something and another grabs his shoulder and tells him to "Let it go, let it go."
Hǎifēng teases them by saying "'Let it go' is what he said about his cock."
At this point Hornet gets up and faces them, and says "Excuse me?!" And now, Shango's certain -- the voice, the arrogance -- this is definitely his brother.
"I'm sorry," Hǎifēng continues. "You all took a vow of chastity, right? I said that 'let it go, let it go' is what they said about his cock. He's not allowed to jerk off. Go get laid."
Shango's trying not to laugh as Hornet takes a moment to take a breath and calm himself down. He holds up a single finger, getting the monk's attention.
"Ah, ah, ah, it's against the rules for participants to fight outside the arena. Now be a good little lapdog and retake your seat in peace."
Hornet's gaze snaps to Shango, eyes blazing with recognition, having suddenly placed Shango's voice. "You."
"Oh. Hello, brother," Shango says with a shit-eating grin.
That gets a surprised "Brother?!" from Hǎifēng, and we leave off there.
[0]-- For the record, this is not something that most characters can normally do without special charms, and it's not something I'll necessarily let these characters do just through observation. I just thought it'd be a fun little thing that's possible because of the context.
[1]-- I actually can't remember how deep he gets into the reference.
[2]-- I might have mentioned during the session that he was in there as soon as Shango went in, but if I did I didn't write it down. So I'm rolling with it.
[3]-- Presumably people know that Xương's from Creation and not part of the whole event, so they'd be expected to pay for food from his cart.
[4]-- He clarifies that's 'expected' as in 'they full expect the Exalted to want to do this,' not 'the Exalted have any responsibility here.'
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