Hey there, folks, sorry it's been quiet. Combination of distractions, various other issues and also the fact that we had a session end mid-fight and I didn't want to do a write-up until it was resolved. So technically this covers about a session and a half. And there've been other delays as well, including a short fiction I wanted to post between this one and the following session write-up. Apologies, and I'll get caught up as soon as possible.
I can't think of anything else to add here, so let's get into it.
We pick up in the middle of the Broken Antler camp, amidst the remains of the battle. Lecht turns to Wandering Dawn and demands to know why he threw them like that. Dawn just says he had this weird hunch that something very dangerous was building up in Lecht and felt it was the easiest way to get them into the middle of the crowd in time. Besides, as he points out, "It worked, didn't it?"
"I was trying to cast Death of Obsidian Butterflies... then you threw me like a missile! I didn't even know I could do this!"[0]
"Huh." Dawn looks around at the neat radius of skeletonized bodies. "I thought that's what you intended. Little more gruesome than I thought it was gonna be, but still effective."
"A little forewarning next time!" Lecht says, exasperated. "In fact, please don't throw me!"
"I can't... I can't promise that I won't. But I will try to be more mindful of the fact that..." Dawn trails off. "...I'll do my best."
"That is not reassuring."
Everyone goes to inspect the totem thing in the middle of the village. It's taller than a person, made out of wood and bone, and there's a burned skeleton inside, clearly killed there, Wicker Man-style. It's covered in scrolls and runes drawn and carved on, clearly of an infernal style of magic, so Stray Dog takes a closer look.
He determines that there are two purposes to the totem. The first and primary purpose is that it's been used to 'feed' the group's fear to a Second Circle demon named Elmorze, which is one he doesn't particularly know.[1] So we get to one of the fun abilities of the Infernal Exalted that hasn't come into play yet: the unwoven coadjutor, a nascent demon soul budding up within the Infernal due to their connection to the demon realm of Malfeas, that can give them information about a situation. After explaining to Lecht that he has an invisible companion that he can ask things (since he knows that Lecht is curious about this stuff), Stray Dog uses it to learn more about Elmorze, and gets the following:
Elmorze the Hungry is a Second Circle Demon, the Indulgent Soul of Pelmetes, Whisper of the Moonlight, who is in turn the 2nd soul of Hegra, the Typhoon of Nightmares. Elmorze, who could be described as 'a jagged man who can open his mouth big enough swallow a yeddim whole' is a demon of hunger. He hungers for things, concepts, sensations -- new and interesting things all the time, when possible. He even hungers for hunger itself, when he gets the opportunity to indulge. He managed to get into Creation some centuries back and has remained there for the most part, and a few decades ago he vanished beyond Hell's sight. It's unclear what would cause that to happen -- destruction would do it, but it looks like the Broken Antler (or at least this band of them) have literally fed their fear to the demon, which suggests he's still around. But either way, Hell's Own Wikipedia doesn't know what happened at the time or anything after.
The second use of the totem, in a more recent (and plot-relevant) modification, is to trap and bind the power of the god Diehl, possibly to consume that power over time or even just to strip her protection from the area. The totem is linked to the wards at the shrine in Larkim and probably to the god's sanctum as well. Binding a god, even a relatively-minor Terrestrial one, isn't exactly an easy feat to accomplish, but Stray Dog's analysis of the totem suggests that the Broken Antler's shaman may have acquired the knowledge from Makarios the demon merchant[2]. But Diehl isn't bound in the village, and they need to find a way to track her down. Wandering Dawn offers to help the others however he can with what skills he has.
Stray Dog, with the others' help, works out a means to do so -- he starts taking things off of the totem, talismans and parts of it, and constructs sort of a pendulum-compass, as if for dowsing purposes. Something to track the 'signal' of the effect. And it works, suggesting that the site is a couple of miles south of the encampment. Expecting resistance when they get there, Lecht uses necromancy to raise the skeletons of the Broken Antler's dead into reinforcements.
As they hike in the indicated direction under the clear night sky and crescent moon, skeletons clacking behind them, Wandering Dawn informs the others that the place they're heading is a stretch of forest wreathed in sulfurous fumes and believed by locals to be cursed -- properly called 'Zannanza's Breath,' or more colloquially 'the Vapors of Hell.' Fortunately, the group is upwind, but they can actually see the sickly yellow haze over what appear to be dead trees. Their anima banners still light up the landscape around them a bit, but the glow they're worried about is a green glow they see moving in the forest. Lecht makes out that it's something quadrupedal, and both they and Wandering Dawn can tell it's moving.
They get to the edge of the trees and see that they appear to be petrified, and the sulfurous haze is coming out of them. It's also possible the trees are chimneys for something below-ground, sculpted to look like petrified trees up above, but it's difficult to tell in the dim light. But they see the moving green figure, which is circling a cage containing something that's tough to see but is definitely alive and moving around -- Diehl, hopefully. At a distance, the cage resembles the same manufacture as the totem in the Broken Antler encampment, made of wood and bone covered in rotting meat and sinew, with more of those talismans and wards. Lecht and Stray Dog combine their occult knowledge with the pendulum and work out the enchantment on the cage is powered by a place of power, likely underground -- and given that Stray Dog's hearthstone is faintly glowing and vibrating in the shield it's set into, he strongly suspects he's finally found the demesne the hearthstone is tied to, and informs the others in the hopes he'll get a chance to check it out later.[3]
So either way, they're pretty sure they're going to have to fight whatever's guarding the cage. So since they don't last very long anyways, Lecht sends the skeleton horde to charge the thing. It emerges, looking like a massive lion made of green jade, glowing with a sinister grin. Stray Dog instantly recognizes it -- a teodozjia, the same type of demon his modified Wood Dragon's Claw resembles.[4]
"I was waiting for you to show up," it says as it shoulders its way into the skeletons, shrugging them off. The wind picks up and clouds appear from nowhere to blot out the sliver-moon above them. It looks at the group and spots Lecht, and its eyes light up. "Chosen of a little god," it snarls, with what might have either been a grin or a grimace.
"Are you bound to this structure?" Stray Dog asks.
"I was summoned to do so," it says, in a tone suggesting that it didn't need much convincing.
"So we're going to have to send you back."
"I am eternal," it growls with confidence.
"Do they all say that?" Lecht asks.
Stray Dog shrugs. "Just the ones that think they're smart," he says, before going into one of his impromptu inspirational punk ballads, using the buzzing and ringing of his shield as accompaniment to rev up Wandering Dawn (who, as a Dawn Caste Solar, is basically made for demon-fighting).
And revved-up he is, rushing forward with his spear and a war cry of "Away with you, creature of darkness!" But the demon's green jade hide isn't just an aesthetic choice -- the spear skids off of it. Lecht takes advantage of the distraction to try and get off a magical blast, but it's like trying to punch through a brick wall. And it's just too fast for Mollie to trip up.
The skeletal horde and Stray Dog's entourage are able to get some metaphorical purchase on the monster just from sheer numbers and covering it from multiple angles.
But when the demon moves, it moves with genuine delight -- it pushes through the skeletons to lunge at the Solar (whose anima banner is glowing, as a reminder) with its claws. He manages to hold it off but barely, drawing strength from its attacks with his Charms, holding its mouth open with his spear. It turns its attention to the skeletons as they keep piling on, and it's more than a little pissed at them.
However, that gives Wandering Dawn the opportunity to take a couple more swings at it -- but chipping away at best. "It's got a tough hide," he comments.
"It's made of stone!" Lecht 'helpfully' offers.
Stray Dog's keeping up the pressure from his end to empower Lecht, his anima banner hitting its Iconic point. The already-dim light dims even more and the air grows unpleasantly still, like it's solid and sluggish to move through. Everything's silent for a moment, broken only by the lonesome baying of a single hound in the distance before his anima rushes in, replacing the darkness with jade-green light. The light desecrates the ground around him as he's surrounded by a sandstorm, channeling the endless sands of Cecelyne to whip around him.
Lecht, drawing strength from this and finds that as often happens when Stray Dog 'boosts' them, something horrible comes out of them. They channel as much power as they can, just pushing necrotic energies at it but just unable to find a weak spot in its hide. Everyone else -- the skeletons, the entourage, and the wolverine -- try to overpower the demon, but it just pushes through them. It resists the hot sand blasting its jade carapace, grinning at Stray Dog with a growled "After my own heart" before it turns its attention Wandering Dawn. It lunges, pushing him back, and then opens its mouth to snarl pure unholy blasphemy at him, blowing his hair back but otherwise having little effect on him.[5]
The demon, getting more and more frustrated, lashes out at the skeletons and starts sending them flying -- not enough to stop them from clawing at it, but at least slowing them down a little bit. But this gives Lecht time to line up for another Crypt Bolt, and at one point the skeletons hold it in just the right spot for them to blast it as hard as they can, finally cracking the shell. It suddenly turns on them as Stray Dog keeps up the singing and chanting to empower his ally's reserves.
But Wandering Dawn, seeing the opening, dashes in with the sort of speed and fury that only a Solar can manage, diving at that crack to chip away at it. He manages to lodge the spear into it and plunge deep with a potent strike, fueled by the power of the Unconquered Sun. It cracks apart and explodes with an unnatural shriek that the group can feel in their teeth, and the clouds blocking the moon seem to dissolve into nothing.
Everyone stops to catch their breath. Wandering Dawn shakes flecks of tainted jade dust from the spear as Lecht's skeletons collapse and crumble into dust, the Exigent's magic reaching its limit.
But now there's the matter of the cage, which reeks. The group takes a closer look and recognizes that the being inside -- it definitely seems to be Diehl, the regional hunting god and protector of Larkim -- is alive but barely conscious. Diehl is a big cat the size of a bear, resembling something like a cross between a manul and a snow leopard, wearing something that looks kinda like leather armor and something that looks kinda like barding (though is there really much difference?). Wandering Dawn is ready to wreck up the cage and free her, but he recognizes that it might not be as simple as that. The group takes a closer look and works out that there's a way to properly dismantle the cage -- especially since the shaman who enchanted it is dead -- and so the group carefully works to take it apart piece by piece, like they're defusing a bomb.
Once it's dismantled enough it falls apart and Diehl gets up to stretch and shake the crud off of her, her strength already quickly returning. They see now that she's definitely quadrupedal, but could almost certainly stand and walk on her hind legs if she needed to.
"Thank you, heroes," she says, bowing to them. "I am Diehl, protector of Larkim and this area. I am in your debt." Dawn insists that they were just doing what needed be done in his usual 'aw shucks' tone, and asks her what happened. She explains, basically, that the Broken Antler magically booby-trapped her shrine and her sanctum entrance so that when they attacked Larkim, she'd get snared and redirected into the cage. So pretty much what they expected. She also comments that the proper name of the place of the power beneath them is Steamhollow.
Dawn asks if she talked with the Broken Antler at all, still wondering what their motivations were, but she says she just remembers the lion-beast... the demon (which she says with a growl). The group talks about what to do now, and Dawn suggests they should return to Larkim. But Lecht mentions that Stray Dog wanted to do something while he was there, and he does say he wants to check out the demesne.
"Lady Diehl," Wandering Dawn begins, not sure of a better way to address a Terrestrial god in this context. "Do you feel well enough to return to Larkim on your own?"
"Thanks to your savants properly dismantling the cage, yes."[6]
Dawn says they'll continue investigating the cage, but the people of Larkim will surely rejoice when they see her safe return. To help thank them, she indicates there's stone overhanging a dry riverbed, and a cave underneath it should lead to the chamber they're looking for.
The group says it's been a pleasure to save her, and she reiterates she's in their debt, and that they have an ally along the road. Lecht comments, only slightly kidding, that the first one is free. She nods at that, wishes them safe travels and safe searches, and lopes off into the forest, translucently fading into the shadows like the baseball players in Field of Dreams when they return to the cornfield.
The group then hikes to find the entrance, right where Diehl said it was, and follow a tunnel -- clearly constructed, clearly safe, and becoming more developed as they go along -- to an underground hot spring powered by Essence. The spring is clearly the source of the sulfurous fumes, which are venting out through the ceiling. It's still unclear whether the trees above are just an easy means of egress or if they're actually constructed chimneys, but either way they can tell that the place was properly developed into a therapeutic bath at some point. Much of that work has crumbled over who-knows-how-many centuries, but given the location it's a safe bet that this was once used for therapeutic purposes by Fella's hospital (likely far enough back it would have still been called Fellara, the original city's name).
Lecht asks Stray Dog if this is what he's looking for, and he eagerly agrees as he goes to take a rest in the water. Lecht goes over the water with some of their alchemical stuff to make sure it's safe, and the group decides to rest and recover their strength and wait for their anima banners to die down before returning to the caravan.
As everyone decides to soak and rest their weary bones and muscles, Lecht asks Stray Dog about what happened with that monk back in Fella, and the weird reaction he had. Stray Dog takes a moment to choose his words and explains there was another member of his personal guard who left. Dawn asks why the guy ran off, and Stray Dog explains that they were approached by someone trying to hire them for an assassination. He didn't want to do it, but his friend did.
Dawn asks why he didn't want to do it, and Stray Dog says that's just not what he does, man. The Solar then asks why they talked to him, and he says that as a performer they were banking on him to be able to get close to the target. The monster hunter ponders and suggests that perhaps they were banking on the price being too good. Lecht confirms with Stray Dog that he was booked for an event and someone knew he'd be close. But they said they were just curious, because they travel with him but they don't quite know him and caught that little detail.
The singer says notes it was a keen observation, so he does have some history with the monk. He doesn't think it'll come back to bite him but suspects it will, because history has a way of catching up with you.
As the group relaxes, he comments that he didn't realize that the hot spring existed. He theorized there had to be a demesne somewhere, because it's hard to have a hearthstone without one, but he didn't know the specific place existed. Dawn comments it's very nice, and even in its current state he appreciates the craftsmanship.
The group stays for a couple of hours, feeling so very refreshed afterwards. Stray Dog says it's too bad they can't live there, and Dawn says it might make a decent base of operations. But they'd probably have to build it back up, get some work done in the area -- there's some brief discussion of maybe setting aside time for it as a project, maybe turn the hot spring into a proper spa or something. But eventually the group, energized[7], walks back to Larkim where they find that the people are going to be mostly okay -- the town's been heavily damaged, but in time they'll recover. But there's a bit of a feast to celebrate the town's survival and the return of their god, and they make sure to send the group back to the caravan with a big pack of supplies.
And we leave off there!
[0]-- Technically, it'd be a necromancy version of the spell, which I don't think we've come up with a proper name for. If we do, I'll probably go back and edit this. In terms of game mechanics, Flesh-Sloughing Wave (normally a separate spell in the 'core' rules, and the spell that Lecht actually cast) is a 'mode' you get attached to Death of Obsidian Butterflies if you're a necromancer, so you get both spells at once.
[1]-- This is partially because Elmorze is a homebrew demon I made up for Reasons, and is designed to be quite obscure for Other Reasons. Elmorze's Third Circle progenitor is also homebrew, but Hegra is canon -- just one of the Yozis less spoken of.
[2]-- Makarios, you may recall, turned up in our Lunars game. His presence here isn't meant to be a link to the plots there, nor is it particularly relevant to the story beyond being an easy answer to the question of 'how did these people find a ritual to pull this off.'
[3]-- I honestly can't recall if I've mentioned this before, but Stray Dog's hearthstone was a gift from one of his followers, and he's never been entirely sure of its provenance. But it's good at amping up the mood in a room and boosts some of his social abilities. He keeps it set in an artifact shield called Irenio's Bell, as seen in (and converted from) Arms of the Chosen. Incidentally, I don't think there's a simple generic name for a place that could either be a manse or demesne other than 'place of power.' But so I'm not saying that every time, I'll probably occasional call the unknown ones demesnes, since all manses are demesnes but not all demesnes are manses. The difference is purely cosmetic in ExEss, anyhow.
[4]-- It's pure coincidence that when Sean wanted to customize Wood Dragon's Claw's appearance since he was modifying it with a personal mode, the best go-to demon example happened to be one that I'd already written into the story. Also, sparing myself an extra footnote -- teodozjia are creatures of pure blasphemy, so much so they have a strong mystical reaction when in the presence of a Zenith Caste Solar. Demons can sense the natures of other beings in general, but given their sensitivity to the gods, it made sense to me that one would recognize (and possibly have a reaction to) Exigents as well.
[5]-- As I mentioned before, we actually had to pause between sessions to finish the fight, and this is largely because nobody could actually roll well enough to do any real damage to anyone.
[6]-- The way I worked out this story, it's possible the group could have come here first before going to the village. If so, they might've been able to get Diehl's help with the Broken Antler had they dismantled the cage properly and restored her strength. Just shattering it would have left her too weak to fight for at least a few days.
[7]-- So energized, in fact, that on a whim I decided to give the characters their second dot of Essence. I was initially planning on waiting until they got to Gethamane, but while ExEss kinda goes at its own pace for advancement I didn't want them to have to wait too much longer than they'd have waited in core system tabletop to hit Essence 2. So it was either rush the journey the rest of the way to Gethamane or bump them up early, and this felt like a good enough spot for that -- victory over a serious opponent, rescuing a god, getting a big boost out of a demesne. Seemed like a nice moment for some extra reward.
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