Welcome back, everyone and anyone who's come to join me for another trip into the North of Creation!
Quick note before I get into it, I did another character write-up, this time for Trinity Continuum: Anima. It's actually spread out across two posts -- one for the character herself, and one for her MMO characters that she'd be playing in-game. (No, really.)
So with that out of the way, right here I've got the third session write-up for my group's Exalted series, in which we wrap up the first episode and begin the second. I can't think of anything clever to add to this at the moment, so let's just get into it!
(Just a heads-up, this is one of my 'talky' sessions, so it's possible I might miss a detail or two or put something in the wrong place conversationally. I'll at least try to keep it consistent in the post.)
We pick up in the wake of the raksha's dissolution, as all of his enslaved minions (including the fox-person) slump to the ground, half-conscious at best. The trees are still coated with ice and will remain so due to the fact that they're in a Wyld zone, but the glowing 'curtains' of ice that made up the tent-like walls of the structure are melting. Not in a dangerous way, but in a clear 'the threat is over' way.
Lecht immediately starts checking everyone, and determines they're all in rough shape, but none are at death's door or anything. As they rouse the group, Stray Dog shares his wine with a few to help them feel a little warmer. (Conveniently, the freezing temperature that would have eventually killed them was a magical cold that wasn't causing disfiguring injuries or anything, as that would have been a gross bummer for everyone this early in the gameruined the raksha's sense of aesthetics.) There's thirteen in all, including the foxfolk Terrestrial (pronouns they/them, just mentioning it for clarity's sake), and enough of the former thralls can walk (either on their own or leaning against someone else) that with the help of Stray Dog's entourage, it's possible to bring everyone back in one trip. Some of the humans keep glancing nervously at the foxfolk, some of them flinching -- their memories of their enthrallment are blurry, but they recall that the fox-person was helping Yinshou capture them. Lecht reassures them that as near as they can tell, the fox is as much a victim as they were, but everyone's still on-edge.
A couple of hours later, they return to the caravan's camp -- with a little detour, as Stray Dog and Dawn direct them far enough around their previous campsite that they're not going to see the frozen bodies that are still there. Lecht excuses themself to start seeing to the corpses, and once the rest of the group are by the fire, Stray Dog sends some of his followers to help them with the bodies. (Fortunately, it's not the dead of winter, so the soil isn't too hard to dig graves.)
Oguri, their merchant friend back at the camp, is pleasantly surprised -- she wasn't expecting the group to come back with survivors, and helps prepare some food for them and directs people to build up the fire. Over the course of a couple of hours they get the travelers warmed up and fed, while Lecht takes care of the bodies of their dead (in the process, taking one of the discarded protective charms and adding it to the bone chimes that hang from one end of their staff, to honor them).
Between the walk back and everyone starting to recover from their trauma, one of the rescued travelers, a woman named Toragana explains what's brought them here. They've come from further east, near the River of Tears. It's been a really unstable region, thanks largely to a Solar warlord named the Bull of the North who's been claiming territory and was in regular conflict with the Realm forces until a massive battle just a couple of years ago when his Circle wiped out House Tepet's military and they've had to back off. The travelers are part of a larger family group that's been slowly traveling to Fajad, in the Northwest -- which is a long trip, but apparently they've already got other family there -- and they're the last group of stragglers. (Which, conveniently, is why these travelers are all adults, because I didn't want to have any half-frozen kids in danger in the first story of the game.) They're not in a huge hurry, but they were planning to get to Whitewall and maybe do some quick jobs for traveling money before venturing further south to Pneuma.
Once some time has passed and everyone's started to settle down, Wandering Dawn gets the attention of the rest of his Circle and the foxfolk -- who's remained quietly off to the side, close enough they're clearly not going to take off without waring, but far enough so as not to scare anyone. They all head out to a quiet corner of camp for a little chat. It's obvious the fox has been expecting such a conversation.
"You may call me the Wandering Dawn. What's your name?"
"Kasyan." They've got kind of a thick accent -- it's a Northern accent, Skytongue is definitely their native language, but they're not from the immediate area (the fact they're talking through a differently-shaped mouth doesn't help).
"Where are you from?"
"Near Diamond Hearth, further north, across the White Sea. And before I forget -- I want to thank you for saving me. I didn't want to say too much before and startle the others." They nod in the direction of the rescued travelers closer to the fire.
"How did you end up under the raksha's sway?" Dawn asks.
Kasyan proceeds to explain that they were in the region on business (they don't go into any more detail than that and nobody asks), and ran afoul of some Immaculate monks. The monks starting hassling them, it got physical, and once they realized the foxfolk was Exalted decided to capture them and drag them back to civilization to 'educate' them. At one point they managed to escape into the mountains, but they were lost and worn down, and that made them easy pickings for Yinshou (the raksha).
Lecht, still adjusting to the current era and not fully aware of these things, asks Kasyan why the monks accosted them in the first place.
Kasyan stops and thinks on how to diplomatically explain it. They ask the group if they're familiar with the Mountain of the Spider King -- it's the dominion of a powerful Lunar where Realm caravans generally know not to go, and a lone traveling foxfolk drew the wrong sort of attention. They don't say it outright, but the underlying message is clearly 'They thought I was either a Lunar or a Lunar's minion.'
Lecht is still confused about this (and Dawn is confused by Lecht's confusion), and they can't see how the monks could have the authority to do that.
Kasyan kind of shrugs and says they don't have the authority, that there are places where 'authority' comes from 'what you have the power to enforce.' In this case, the Dragon-Blooded monks outnumbered them, and they acknowledge they probably shouldn't have been traveling alone. Dawn reassures them that none of this is their fault, but Lecht is still very disturbed by all of this.
Kasyan then asks if anyone's got a map handy -- it occurs to them they're not even sure where they are right now. Dawn says he's got a map, but volunteers that the group's a few days north of Whitewall. That's enough detail for Kasyan to get a grip on where they are, and they're grateful. Dawn offers to let Kasyan travel with them if they'd like, and Kasyan asks if the caravan is traveling north, and by happenstance they are headed north to Fella and past that to Gethamane and whatever stops in-between. Kasyan says that they'd definitely accompany them as far as Gethamane, and Dawn's eager to have them along -- with a playful punch in the shoulder to punctuate the sentiment.
The foxfolk is then quick to insist that any assistance they can offer the group -- guard duty, hunting -- they will. They're more than capable, they just got caught on a bad day. Dawn says that sometimes it gets to be a bit too much for someone alone. "Even for those such as us," Kasyan says with a knowing nod -- their memories of their enslavement by the raksha are a little blurry, but their tone and the nod make it clear that they do remember those among the group flaring anima banners and displaying sorcery during the fight.
Dawn says that if Kasyan ever feels the itch to spar, they put up a pretty good fight -- probably gave the monks more than a little trouble -- and he'd be more than happy to accommodate them. Kasyan's ears perk up and they'd definitely think about it. But by now, it's time for everyone to rest.
A day passes for rest, recovery, and mourning the dead. The rescued travelers aren't on any sort of strict timetable, but in light of their recent losses and condition, they eagerly accept the offer to travel north with the rest of the group to Fella where they can get their bearings. (They're close enough to Whitewall they could probably continue south on their own and make it okay, but why push it?) Their wagon's good to travel, and at one point Dawn and Mollie spend a couple of hours finding and retrieving their lost ox to make things a little easier.
Also, during the day, Wandering Dawn asks Stray Dog if he'd like him to whittle something for him, like maybe the size of a book or something -- he's been meaning to work on those skills and wants to take on a little personal project to do so. Stray Dog's certainly open to the idea, and Dawn asks if there are any particular animals he likes -- and the Green Sun Prince says with a grin that he's always felt a kinship with hungry dogs. So that's a little something to keep him busy on the road.
Speaking of which, the caravan gets to traveling again. A couple more days pass, during which they pass a ruin just beyond the outer borders of Whitewall's protection. Dawn gets uncharacteristically quiet as they get closer, prompting Lecht to try and keep the mood light by asking if it's so quiet because they're in danger. The group's travels bring into view a stone arch inlaid with half-rusted iron with more bolted onto it -- the remains of the front gates of a city called Owl's Watch, where Wandering Dawn grew up.
(For background info: When Dawn was a kid, in the middle of a freak blizzard, some unknown creature assaulted the city and destroyed it. Neither Dawn nor any of the other scant survivors got a good look at it, and only remember its roar -- a sound like stone scraping on a bell.)
Lecht comments to Dawn that he always said it was bad, but Lecht never realized it was that bad until they noticed the effect it had on the normally-energetic Solar. Dawn says it's a little easier to talk about these days, but seeing the ruins again... sometimes it's not just ghosts that haunt a place, it's memories. Lecht offers Dawn some opium from their medicinal supply, but Dawn politely declines, lamenting it never lasts long enough.
As evening approaches and the caravan is preparing camp, Dawn does leave for a bit to gather some of the first flowers of spring and take them to a grave marker in the ruins. He kneels down to set the flowers out as an offering and say a small prayer -- first to the residents of the town and specifically to his father. He laments he hasn't yet avenged his father, and says he knows he hasn't visited lately, but he's still coming to grips with the past year. "Your boy's been touched by the Sun! The Sun!" he says with a nervous chuckle, in a 'look at me now' sort of tone. And he says he knows she's still out there -- his sister, Hanami, who vanished that night and was never found.
"They've said there's no way she could have survived, but we found everyone else's body in some shape or other." He briefly remembers his own father's body, frozen solid and shattered. "But she's still out there and I know I'll find her." He offers up one more traditional prayer to the dead before coming back to camp -- looking a little better -- and Stray Dog offers him a few hits off of his hookah before we fade to commercial.
A day later, the caravan approaches Eslund, a town with a decent-sized market for local farms and craftspeople to sell their wares and trade with travelers on the road. Except... it's empty. The town is quiet. The weather's fine, so that's not the reason, and there's no immediate signs of attack. Lecht's supernatural senses aren't picking up any ghosts, and Mollie the wolverine (who's trained to scent out Wyld creatures) doesn't seem to sense anything amiss.
Stray Dog sends one of his people to knock on the front door to the inn. They go over, knock, peek in the window, try the knob. "The door's locked, but I think someone's in there!" they call back.
Wandering Dawn steps up to the door now, giving it a firm knock. He calls out. "Innkeep! This is the Wandering Dawn! We've come with a caravan of people seeking shelter and the fruits of the market. Please, can you tell us, is something wrong?"
From anyone else, this might not get anywhere. But Wandering Dawn's got a reputation as a local hero and monster hunter (courtesy of the Influence Merit), so he can hear someone quickly shuffling to the door. It opens and a woman glances out. "Oh, thank goodness it's you. I thought it was them again."
"Them? Is it raksha, or..."
The innkeeper, Nedda, quickly shakes her head. "Can we talk inside?" Without waiting for an answer, she heads in, followed closely behind by the Circle.
"I'm sorry about the lack of hospitality, we've been dealing with..." She pauses, like she's having trouble deciding on a word. "...soldiers."
"Undead soldiers? Living soldiers?" (I can't remember who asked that, but it's either Dawn or Lecht.)
"Living soldiers. Just saying it's not 'just' bandits, I don't want to give you the wrong idea."
"How do you know they're soldiers? Did they announce they're from a specific ruler?"
"Oh, they've made it very clear," she says. "They're Realm soldiers." She goes to grab something.
Dawn turns to the others, confused, wondering aloud what the Realm is doing here. There's the occasional trade caravan on the road, and sometimes they're found in Whitewall, but the nearest Dynastic presence in the region is maybe 500 miles to the south.
She comes back with paper and charcoal and begins to draw. She tells the group that about a week ago, a big Realm military unit came up the road, peaceful as you please, explaining that they were on assignment to update their maps. And then, a few days ago, a smaller group of them began raiding the local farmsteads, taking supplies and whatever they can. They've even taken over one of the farms to use as a base camp, kicked the family out. She didn't catch their name, but...
She turns the paper around where she's tried to recreate the House emblem from memory. It's a decent enough likeness, but fortunately the most recognizable bit is actually a very simple design -- Stray Dog, the most formally-educated of the bunch, immediately recognizes it as House Ragara. He explains to the others that they're the richest of the Great Houses, and throughout the region they've been establishing more of a presence the last couple of years in the vacuum left by House Tepet's defeat at the hands of the Bull of the North. But their nearest center of power is in Pneuma -- the aforementioned presence to the south. The House founder lives there, in fact.
Dawn's still trying to put a finger on what they're doing this far north -- and the raids in particular stand out. They should be able to set up something if they need supplies, they shouldn't be stealing from local farms. Stray Dog points out that they're more than wealthy enough that there is absolutely no reason for them to be stealing anything.
Wandering Dawn asks where they're at, and Nedda says she doesn't know exactly but she's currently putting up the family that was staying at the farm, and they should be able to help. She goes into the back to get them, and the camera pans over to the piece of paper where she drew the Ragara emblem, only now it just reads the episode title:
"A Bandit By Any Other Name"
The camera pans back as she returns with the couple who run the farm. The father, Zoran, explains that he'd been hearing from others of bandit raids in the area, and then the soldiers showed up and decided they could set up camp on the farm. Stray Dog asks how many there are in the group. Zoran says about 50, and a couple of officers. He's says that one of the officers is definitely not local, and he's pretty sure she's Chosen, but he didn't stick around to find out.
Stray Dog then asks if the soldiers explained what they were doing. According to Zoran, the soldiers showed up without warning and said they were going to make camp on the farm. They said the barn 'will do,' and 'maybe the house, if we need it.' While they didn't explicitly throw the family out, Zoran and his wife Visnjya got their kids and came into town for safety's sake -- they didn't want to be there on the likely chance that 'if' really meant 'when.'
Dawn pulls out a map and Zoran gives them directions to the farm -- it's not too hard to find, there are roads and things. It's about 5 miles eastward. Stray Dog comments they should be careful about evicting the soldiers, as they'll have to go somewhere. Dawn, ever the optimist, says they're going to have a discussion with the soldiers, and if there's a reasonable explanation for what's going on he's sure that with a little compromise, things can be forgiven and worked out. Stray Dogs hopes he's right. He's just worried about making things worse -- and, quite frankly, he doesn't have to want to kill a bunch of people.
Dawn begrudgingly acknowledges that concern. He doesn't want to have to kill anyone either -- but sometimes losing a tooth or two helps someone rethink their life decisions.
Visnyja, the mother of the family, says they could handle the loss of the stuff the troops seized, and they'd be willing to work out some sort of trade for compensation. But everything else...
Stray Dog gets a big grin on his face. He suggests she draw up a bill for everything taken, and everyone else is immediately into this idea -- going around to the people who've had their stuff taken (and maybe something for the inconvenience), present a bill to the Ragara officers, see what happens. In the meantime, they're going to get the caravan settled in, rent empty rooms at the in and other places in town for the folks who really should be out of the weather, and Dawn and the others are going to go have a talk with the Realm soldiers in the morning. The Solar really does want to resolve this peacefully, if he can.
So this becomes a montage of the caravan making camp, townspeople going around to the other farms that have been hit (and farmers hiding out in town), collecting the information, all that. And, that night, in the empty market square, Stray Dog throws a massive party to celebrate the impending defiance of the depredations of the soldiers.
And we leave off there.
No comments:
Post a Comment