Greetings, programs!
It's been a little quiet on the Exalted front, I'm aware, but there've been meatspace issues that meant we wound up having to skip a week. Though during that gap, I did throw together an interlude mini-fic that takes place alongside/during the montage at the beginning of the last session.
On a mostly-unrelated note, recently I've also been building characters on the blog, if you haven't noticed. I've got a couple of Exalted: Essence characters (a Getimian and a Dragon-Blood), and I've also got a couple of Trinity Continuum characters in the mix: a Talent from the core book, and a psion from Æon. And I definitely plan to do more, in time.
But anyhow, with that bit of business out of the way, let's get on to the show as we wrap up one story and begin the next. There's gonna be a lot of footnotes and links to other posts in this one, because we're coming into the first part of what I envision as a two-part season finale and a lot of stuff that's been set up is starting to pay off.
It's properly evening by the time the characters haul Whispering Stone and the puzzle box back to Goldenseal. After a while he woke up and tried to convince the group to just kill him and dump the body somewhere, attempting to taunt them into it to increase the odds that he'll rise as a ghost -- and it occurs to me now that while it came up in the session, I completely forgot to put in the blog post (though I may edit it in after posting this) that his motivation for stealing the puzzle box in the first place was to trade it for a trinket that would let him take his ghost girlfriend out of the shadowland and travel elsewhere in Creation. He doesn't want to die, but if he's killed and rises as a ghost (the latter of which is more likely if they just chuck him in a ditch with no burial rites), there's a chance he'd be able to just join her in the shadowland, which he'd accept as an alternative.
But they respond to his taunting by just hitting him in the head hard enough to knock him out again, and after a couple of repeats of this he gives up. We sort of breeze past the group delivering him to a guard station on their way back into the city, turning him over to the authorities.
But with that out of the way, and the puzzle box containing the Exigence retrieved, Gou says there's not much keeping them in Goldenseal now. Hǎifēng points out that if they were to leave now, they'd have to search hundreds of miles of ocean for the Captain's ship, and Xương agrees. Gou says he's just trying to hype things up, and there's some back and forth over how ready he is to leave.
Gou points out that not everyone has exes and the like in the city, and Hǎifēng points out that Gou has his family. With a sad smile, Gou says he has no family. Hǎifēng remarks on how odd it is that Gou didn't bump into them at all, given their supposed prominence in the city[0], and Gou says that's because he knows how to avoid them.
The group returns to the ship to find Hopeless Spring apparently half-asleep, sitting up against one of the posts that the boat's tied to. She spots them and gets up. She says that she and Jotaro ran into their 'little friend from Heaven,' and Tesa wanted to talk to them when they got back but was worried about leaving a note and having something happen to it. So since Hopeless Spring's got nothing better to do (holding up her jug of booze as she says that), she offered to stick around and keep an eye out. Xương comments that she's a lurker for hire, and she says that as a bodyguard, that's what she does.
So the four of them head to the rented room above Madame Fong's teahouse where they find Jotaro and Tesa having a conversation. Tesa asks how it went, Xương holds up the puzzle box while Hǎifēng says it was kind of easy. Tesa, relieved, says she needs to tell them who they're meeting. She actually pulls out a piece of paper and informs them the box is to be delivered to a woman named Jian in Salt-Founded Glory, at the Fedan Shipping office there. Fortunately, the group is familiar with both Jian and that office, so that makes things a little simpler (while providing some nice little bookending for this 'season'). Tesa also informs them that Jotaro's helping her get things sorted with Dimo's body, and as they're just making some chit-chat a spirit flies in through the window.
It's a small glowing cherub with six wings, recognizable with those with some knowledge of sorcery as an Infallible Messenger.[1] It stops in front of Xương and delivers a message:
"Xương, it's Bokano. We've just been attacked by the Captain of the Ashen Umbra... and their fleet. We're still dealing with the aftermath but they're on their way to An-Teng and I've got a Lintha crew here that says you're in Goldenseal. I don't know how fast they're going, but you're close enough you should be able to get there first. We'll send what help we can spare. Also, Mongo says 'Hi.'"
Hǎifēng quietly squees at the message from Mongo while everyone takes a moment to process that.
"Well, I just lost a bet," Jotaro blurts out. At the obvious looks, he explains that he and Hollow Thunder had a bet as to whether there'd be some crisis that would pull the group away as soon as they got back. (I didn't write down exactly when so I'll just put it here but at some point Hollow Thunder, still 'in-character' as Hopeless Spring, chimes in and says he can just treat her to a couple nice meals and she'll call it even.) The general consensus is that that's how it tends to go. Xương comments that when you explain your plans now, the gods laugh. And I can't remember if he just now mentions this or said it before Xương's comment, but Jotaro reveals he actually had some gifts prepared in advance -- after all, he knew they'd leave eventually, he just didn't know when or why. He explains that Hollow Thunder told him that Exalts tend to either be wandering heroes or they set up in a city and slowly take over. But anyhow, parting gifts.
He reveals some small-ish wooden boxes, each one with a picture burned into the wood -- a shark, a monkey, and an osprey -- and hands them out to each of the characters. As they open the boxes, he makes it clear he didn't make these himself, but coming from a family of nigh-legendary clothiers and silksmiths has still left him with a tailor's eye. Inside each box is three complete outfits -- Gou and Xương each get two sturdy, comfortable, nice but not fancy traveling/casual-wear sets of clothing and one outfit more appropriate for a high society function, while Hǎifēng gets the inverse. They're neither magic nor made of any exotic materials; just high-quality fabrics perfectly tailored to match their measurements and aesthetics.[2]
Everybody's genuinely grateful and possibly a little touched by the gesture (well, definitely in Hǎifēng's case). There's some warm goodbyes, Hǎifēng and Jotaro hug, and the Solar bows to the others. He thinks aloud about how he kind of wants to come along, but he knows deep down that if this is as bad as it sounds, no matter how good he is in a fight his skills would be put to better use operating at a larger scale.
An-Teng is about to get sieged by a Deathlord's fleet, and even if they win the battle and defend the country, that means they're going to need outside assistance to recover and rebuild. And he'd do more good organizing relief efforts than as another fighter on the front lines. He clearly hates that, and sounds like he's strongly considering saying 'screw it' and going anyways, but he accepts it.
At this point Hollow Thunder steps up (having set the bodyguard persona aside for now) and tells the Lunars that this is going to be too big for the three of them to just stand on a beach, fight some guys, and call it good. An-Teng needs to be warned, and a proper defense has to be organized. She grabs some ink, paper, and a brush and writes a letter. She then folds and seals it with some magic and says that whenever they get back to Salt-Founded Glory, to go to the Shore Prince's palace and give the note to whomever's at the front desk, and that will get them in touch with a colleague of hers stationed there. Hollow Thunder doesn't know what name she's using or exactly what she's doing there, but the Sidereal's going to try and get her a message through certain channels on her end so she should be expecting them.[3]
And with that, the group gets ready to leave. On the way out of town, Hǎifēng swings by Copper Orchid's penthouse -- as he's stuck around for a bit to sort a few things out after closing the deal with Nha Beh Banin[4] -- to warn him not to head back to An-Teng just yet. (I arbitrarily decided to have him still in town so they wouldn't have to worry about his safety in the battles to come.) Copper Orchid, smarter than he looks, accepts that without question. While he has the opportunity, he thanks everyone again for their help. Hǎifēng tells him to be clearer about what he expects for them next time. He concedes that that's fair, but hopes he doesn't have to cash in another favor soon. Hǎifēng informs him that now he owes them because An-Teng about to be destroyed, bye!
As they rush back out, the camera lingers for a moment on Copper Orchid's 'wait, what?' face.
The group discusses whether they're going to meet the Captain at An-Teng or try to find them first, and they quickly come to the conclusion that finding the fleet might not be feasible on the way and they're going to have to focus on defending An-Teng. Xương says the most he could do would be go out and take out as many ships as he can ahead of time, but Hǎifēng is concerned that'd be a suicide mission and says before doing anything like that, they need to get back to Salt-Founded Glory and see what the situation is and what resources they can gather before risking anything like that. So no suicide runs. Xương makes it clear that he intends to win, not die, but he agrees to travel there and take stock.
They get to the ship and Gou takes out the compass he received from Tesa, finding a depression in the ship's steering wheel where it fits perfectly -- but he's not sure if that was there before. He also recognizes there's a character similar to the one on the compass in the depression, easily mistaken for part of the wood grain, though he doesn't understand it and just snaps the compass in. It fits in the wheel seamlessly, and there's a subtle shift of some sort in the Moonlight Maiden. It's not clear what's different, but something is.[5]
Gou quickly discovers, though, that now he can infuse some of his Essence into the ship and it travels much faster, ignoring little quirks of current and weather. It's not drastic, they don't cut travel time in half or anything like that. But at their normal traveling speed (which is still pretty fast since it's a small craft designed for speed and sometimes I round in their favor to make the math easier), it'd be a little over two weeks from Goldenseal to An-Teng. And that's taking into account the fact that they take turns sleeping and steering in shifts so they can go non-stop. But they shave a few days off of that, thanks to the new magic infusing the ship.
They arrive at Salt-Founded Glory in the early morning, just before sunrise (or at least what counts as sunrise, given there are mountains to the east). Not that they'd be able to see much sun, as it's pouring down the rain. But they pull in to the dock, pay their fees, all that. Xương and Gou get the puzzle box and head out to Fedan Shipping while Hǎifēng goes to run an errand.
It's easy enough to find the office, as Xương's been there before and it's right next to the docks. Xương goes in the front door and Kukane, whom Xương saved from the Onyx Jackals the previous year, is working behind the counter... as is Jian, apparently. While she's expecting the Lunars to show up, she's excited to see them -- earlier than expected, at that. She tells them that there's a temple in town to both the Golden Lord and the Pale Mistress where the Exigences are going to be used, and that the plan is that both are going to be applied in something of a joint ritual. She then says that the Pale Mistress has a request of them -- while she's not a moon goddess or anything, she does have certain associations with the Lunar Exalted, and she's requested that the group recommend a candidate to receive her Exigence. Since they're already somewhat involved, she'd welcome their input on the process.
Then she offers them some food, as they'd just eaten and had leftovers -- and she gestures to a tray that has corn hogs on it. Gou's amazed and Xương acknowledges this means they've really arrived. Gou says it's a good sign, and Xương eats one of the corn hogs and discovers that it's just like the ones he made back in Yu-Shan. Suspiciously so. Not 'reverse-engineered after the fact,' but almost certainly the original recipe (adjusting for ingredient quality and supply). He asks Jian where she got them.
We cut to Xương and Gou a couple of blocks away, approaching a food stand with a rough recreation of the signage on Xương's stand during the tournament -- complete with the "Doctor Recommended!" slogan and signs with sharks on them. Then they get close enough to see that Rashmi the Dancing Blade is the one serving up the corn hogs. He greets them, more than pleased to see them, and Gou semi-jokingly asks where they're going to get their cut. He says they can work that out when everyone gets settled, and explains that he set up the stand partially because he figured it'd be easier for the Lunars to find him when they rolled into town -- and sure enough, it seems to have worked. (Also, when your entire schtick is throwing weapons, having an excuse and a supplier to purchase wooden skewers in bulk is useful.)
They inform him that An-Teng is about to be attacked, and he's more than a little excited at that -- he's been going out, protecting the downtrodden and such, but he hasn't had a real fight in a while. We leave off on everyone catching up on what they've been up to, and move over to...
Hǎifēng heads to the crappier quarters of the city where they lived for a long time, checking on the poor and outcast people who've taken care of them for so long. They go around to the informal leaders of the community and warn them that there's an attack coming an if they can get further inland they should. Hǎifēng doesn't go into detail about what's coming above and beyond 'necromancer pirates,' but they spend a couple of hours going around to brothels, gambling dens, etc., warning people to get off the coast.
They also discover these streets have been a little safer as of late thanks to a vigilante -- some people who'd mess with the undesirables have vanished to be found dead and full of wooden skewers, and some of the others have gotten the hint. Which sounds weird as hell to Hǎifēng, but they're willing to accept it for the moment. Also, it looks like more money's gone around to keeping the lower-class doctors paid off, the disease gods have been giving them a break... a bunch of signs that Hǎifēng's tournament boon is paying off.
We then cut to one of the bars near Fedan Shipping where Xương has ducked in for a drink, despite the hour -- and he finds Kim Sơn at the bar. The man's health has clearly declined (and he has a conspicuous acid burn where his Eternal Wave tattoo used to be), but he's in good spirits and glad to see Xương. He buys Xương a drink and they start to catch up -- he talks about how he's come to An-Teng for his health, figuring he'd have better access to assorted medicines and things there. But he describes the journey he's made, mostly signing on with various merchant ships to help out, and Xương notes with some satisfaction that these last few months, since Calibration, it seems like Kim Sơn has had quite the run of good luck in his travels and health. Xương goes pretty light on the details of his own adventures, mostly just laughing off having cracked a few skulls. Kim Sơn asks about the puzzle box he's got with him, and he says he has a delivery to make later.
We cut back to Rashmi's corn hog stand where he and Gou are talking about business stuff -- Gou's seriously thinking about investing in this whole corn hog enterprise, wanting to build back up his finances after spending so much on the daiklave during the tournament. As he and Rashmi hammer out a rough deal, Hǎifēng turns up, circling back around and having spotted the stand. Rashmi greets them with a cheerful "The gang's all here!" ('here' meaning 'in the city,' not 'literally right here,' because Xương's off drinking). Hǎifēng says they've been catching up with old haunts, and they begin to mention a vigilante with wooden skewers... and then it clicks.
Seeing the look on Hǎifēng's face, Rashmi quickly reassures them that he doesn't re-use the skewers or anything like that, he just uses the stand as a cover to buy them in bulk and they're more disposable than knives.[6] He says he wants to do his part for the people here, and Hǎifēng does appreciate that. Rashmi says he has a short list of skills and he's trying to do positive things with them -- but he's gotten pretty good at making the corn hogs, and a bunch of the money he makes goes to help the locals, and he gives out a lot of 'free samples' to the people who really need them. And by night, he protects them more directly. Hǎifēng offers to buy him a drink, and he's definitely ready to put up the 'back in an hour' sign and do that.
Conveniently, the nearest bar is the one where Xương and Kim Sơn are talking, which means the gang really is back together. So there's a round of introductions, while Kim Sơn obviously and awkwardly dances around a lot of details about his life, somewhat self-consciously rubbing the scar on his arm. He comments on their puzzle box delivery, and Hǎifēng quickly uses Glance-Oration Technique to ask Xương how much he told Kim Sơn, and Xương reassures them that's pretty much it -- that they're delivering a puzzle box.
Kim Sơn goes on to comment on the box itself, recognizing it as a sturdy Eastern wood, and Hǎifēng says they'll take his word for it about the wood quality, and Rashmi's face just pretty says he's just gonna leave that there. Kim Sơn goes on to explain to the others that Xương found him at a low point in his life and helped him get some perspective, and as he talks he's self-consciously rubbing his scar and Hǎifēng asks about it. Kim Sơn says he had a tattoo that he burned off with acid, and when asked if it hurt he says it did, but he considers it part of his penance. He confides that he used to be part of a cult deep in the Southwest. Hǎifēng says that since he's a friend of Xương, they recommend he try to move inland within the next couple weeks, because they've heard there are some nasty pirates coming to cause a ruckus.
"Lintha?" Kim Sơn asks, glancing at Xương.
"No," Hǎifēng says. "They practice necromancy."
Kim Sơn's eyes widen. "No... no, it can't be." He starts to panic, because -- for those of you coming in -- the cult he was a part of is the Captain of the Ashen Umbra's personal cult, the Eternal Wave. Gou tries to reassure him, but he looks at Xương and starts to ask if it's who he thinks it is. Xương says it is, but that's why he's here.
That makes him feel a little better[7], and he laments his inability to fight -- but he's not in great health, wasn't a fantastic fighter even when he was, and he wasn't fortunate enough to have been graced by the Dragons. But he says if there's anything he can do... Xương just tells him to remain available. Kim Sơn nods and says he's going to go get some rest, and tells Xương where he can find him if he needs him.
Once he's gone, Rashmi asks what sort of help he can provide, if their plan is just to go down to the beach and draw a line in the sand, that sort of a thing. That's Xương's best plan, but Hǎifēng says they've just gotten into town and are assessing their resources. Speaking of which, it's late enough that they might be able to reach someone at the palace. Xương says the puzzle box also still needs delivered to the Pale Mistress' temple, and Rashmi gives him directions to the place in question -- it's an unassuming little shrine in a basement of a small shrine to the Golden Lord. Xương and Gou head out to deliver the box, Rashmi goes back to work, and Hǎifēng makes sure they have Hollow Thunder's note as they go the palace.
An-Teng is divided up into three... let's call them provinces. There's the Shore Lands, the Middle Lands, and the High Lands. The group passed through all of these last year, when they brought the first puzzle box to the Golden Lord. Each of the three Lands has a Prince (who, collectively, rule the country at least on paper), and each Land has their own capital separate from the nation's capital. The Shore Prince, Laxhander of the Glorious Reign, spends most of his time in the City of the Steel Lotus at the Palace of Threefold Magnificence. As a result, his palace in Salt-Founded Glory is mostly used as the center of the city's government.[8]
But they go in, and there's a front desk of sorts, and they give the letter to the receptionist who reads it, glances at Hǎifēng, and back at the letter, and says someone will be right down. Hǎifēng spends a few minutes flirting with random guys in the lobby, when they turn around to find a woman in courtly robes with glasses and blue-ish skin (my go-to mental image is Zhu Li from Legend of Korra) standing there. She introduces herself as Tong Kaim, and remarks that she thinks she's seen Hǎifēng before at a party some months back. Hǎifēng, matter-of-factly, says they don't remember that (not that she was expecting them to).
She doesn't dance around it, and asks for a run-down and Hǎifēng tells her about the impending attack. She asks specifically what Captain Ash is after (beyond their 'turn the seas into one big shadowland' goal), and Hǎifēng says they're after an Exigence. "So the second puzzle box has arrived, then," she observes. They talk about what is known about the deal with the Golden Lord and the Pale Mistress and their agreement, and how there a handful of locations where they could perform such a joint ritual. But it's also important to note that obviously the Captain is willing to take more than just the box, because they could just send a team of some sort to retrieve it.
Tong Kaim asks Hǎifēng if they're here with companions, and they confirm that, and she asks how they'd feel fighting alongside the military -- not joining it or following it, but having at least a temporary alliance. Hǎifēng's not sure and doesn't want to speak for everyone, and they take a moment to confirm she does know what they are. She's fully aware, and it's made clear in some back and forth that Hǎifēng can't unilaterally volunteer the group -- and she wouldn't necessarily want them to, she's just trying to feel out the situation.
She explains that she can put them in a room with one of the Princes that'd be amenable to an informal alliance. They wouldn't be joining or leading the army, but things would go a lot smoother if the army knows that the Circle of Lunars is there to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. And in this time of crisis, the Dragon-Bloods wouldn't have the time to lodge a formal complaint -- she knows this because she's the one who takes those. That's what she does in An-Teng -- she carries messages between the Princes, the satrap, the garrison commander, etc. She tells Hǎifēng to check with the others, and she'll be waiting for them at the palace whenever they come back.
We then cut to the joint shrine to the Golden Lord and the Pale Mistress, and Jian's there waiting at the upper level (the 'Golden Lord' half of it). She asks if they've already got someone in mind for the Pale Mistress' Chosen and Xương says he does.[9] She leads Xương and Gou downstairs where a beautiful young woman with a blindfold and white hair steps out and thanks Jian for her assistance as she reaches out with a hand that -- for just a moment -- looks like a monstrous, clawed hand as she takes the box. She asks about Xương's candidate, and he says it's a man named Kim Sơn, who's currently in the city. That doesn't surprise her -- she remarks with some bemusement that it feels like a lot of things have been lining up in interesting ways these last couple months.
She then politely bit firmly dismisses Jian back upstairs and, in case it isn't clear, formally announces to Xương and Gou that they are in the presence of the Pale Mistress. (In retrospect I probably should have given Xương a Lore roll to recognize this as one of her known forms -- if Hǎifēng were there, they'd have recognized her right away.) She then asks about Kim Sơn and he gives her the basics -- she asks further questions about him having been part of the Eternal Wave, willing to metaphorically (maybe literally) sell his soul out of desperation, and Xương says that's true but emphasizes that he's past that now. She informs him that it's not that she disapproves -- it's that, quite frankly, she's not a pleasant god, representing a number of dark forces, and her Chosen would need to be someone capable of more than a little skullduggery. She says that Kim Sơn sounds like he's up for the task, and adds that Exaltation would save him from his illness (though it wouldn't be instantaneous or anything). She takes a moment to ask Gou if he has any thoughts on the matter, and he says that he trusts Xương's opinion.
She explains to the pair that if it were up to her, she'd just jam the box in his face and get this done (actually picking up the box and gesturing like she's doing so), but pulling all this together involves an arrangement with the Golden Lord, and he's being pretty insistent on there being a good bit of ritual and procedure. But he helped get her an Exigence, so she's more than willing to agree to his terms -- and though she doesn't say so (because I forgot to mention it), she can't go back on those terms because the Golden Lord's powerful enough to make that sort of thing stick.
There's a little bit of small talk -- she doesn't get to talk to Lunars much, even though she has some affinity for them while not formally a servant of Luna. At one point she tells them she's going to hang onto the puzzle box herself (which neither Xương nor Gou complains about, because why would they), and she picks up the puzzle box and opens it, just to get a glimpse of the raw potential within, and says that the Golden Lord wouldn't let her look at his. But if she were in his boots she probably wouldn't risk it either. But she needs to speak with him and make plans, and tells them to come back the following sunset and she'll give them more directions.
And we left off there, as Xương and Gou leave the shrine, leaving off on a shot of the Pale Mistress half-sitting on the edge of the altar, watching the box.
[0]-- It's worth noting that the Kojo family is more in the upper-class circles than the group's been operating for the most part. Hǎifēng, while hanging out with Jotaro, is more likely to have randomly bumped into them than Gou. If I'd wanted to do more with that as a story element (like I hadn't already had Gou run into his brother at the tournament), that would have been a cool way to kick that off if not for the fact that it only now occurred to me as I'm writing this to do that.
[1]-- If Hǎifēng hadn't been in Yu-Shan when Copper Orchid sent his message, this is how they would have received his request for help rather than the 'slapping meat wheel.' Also relevant to this scene, normally these are only visible to the recipient, but I took artistic license and also the sender is extremely powerful and found a way, shut up.
[2]-- For instance, Xương's 'fancy' outfit, for instance, is kind of an updated version of his 'lime merchant' outfit but something that could still pass for 'business casual' if need be, while Hǎifēng's traveling outfit is still the sort of thing a noble might wear on the road if they worried about their nicer stuff getting dusty. Though for the record, beyond some broad-strokes stuff, I told the players if it ever matters they could decide exactly what the outfits look like since, again, it matches the sort of thing their characters would wear.
[3]-- As Hollow Thunder's colleague, Tong Kaim, is on long-term assignment in An-Teng, Thunder can't just pop through the nearest Gate and track her down directly without causing a stir and getting the attention of spies and other unpleasant individuals. (If it was that simple, she'd find a way to use Yu-Shan as a shortcut and get the Lunars to An-Teng in a couple hours.) What she can do is use a Charm called Superior-Entreating Memorial Style (unless they change the name between the Kickstarter draft and final book) to send a message to a fellow Sidereal -- in this case, Tong Kaim. So about twenty minutes after the Lunars leave the room, Hollow Thunder is going to burn a letter and her colleague in An-Teng is going to suddenly find it, whole and undamaged, literally up her sleeve. (I'll admit that until I checked the Charm text just now to make sure I got the name right, I'd forgotten you can just send it to another Sidereal. I'd originally planned an off-camera sending of notes, but this is much easier.)
[4]-- In an oversight on my part, I was so focused on moving the story forward I actually forgot to officially state that during the month of downtime, the bidding closed, certain contracts were signed, and everything went as the characters worked for. Beh Banin's performing for the theater again, with the freedom to leave to perform at the wedding and even take some other independent gigs as her schedule allows. Putting that here for posterity's sake.
[5]-- As I stated in so many words at the time, the ship is basically an Artifact now, with what the group can assume are plot device powers for the moment.
[6]-- Just a reminder -- Rashmi's a Green Sun Prince, one of the Infernal Exalted. GSPs are not shining heroes of virtue, they're wild forces of chaos and destruction. As far as vigilantes go, Rashmi's a little more Red Hood (or maybe Damian would be more appropriate) than Batman.
[7]-- I don't think we ever established whether Kim Sơn knows that Xương is a Lunar. I don't think Xương told him, and my notes don't say as such, but we think we're operating on the assumption that Kim Sơn knows there's something special/different about Xương even if he doesn't know exactly what.
[8]-- For the record, this is my headcanon, because we've only got so much detail on the individual cities.
[9]-- Fun little detail, I decided pretty early on that the group would get to pick someone to be the Pale Mistress' Exigent, and planned on having a few recurring characters who'd be viable candidates (Tuyền, for instance), who'd all conveniently be in An-Teng, maybe even have the group track down someone new when the time came. But when Kim Sơn wound up coming out a little more sympathetic than I'd initially intended him, the idea of saving him from his fate via Exaltation felt right, especially as time went on and I had the opportunity to frame it so that it came from the characters in some way (between Xương's tournament boon and the Pale Mistress' request), rather than just have him in the right place at the right time.
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