Hello again, readers. As you may be aware, I'm still a little behind on my Exalted session write-ups, but I'll get that sorted ASAP, starting with this post. On a related note, in the very near future I'm going to be digging into redlines for my sections of the Alchemicals book. I just want to say it's been a fun experience working on the game line, and the developers and other writers have been a delight to communicate and collaborate with. Not that they're likely to see this, but just wanted to say it. (And if they do see this, um, hi. It's been a blast and I'm really hoping I didn't unintentionally say something obnoxious between posting this and you seeing it.)
Anyhow, with that out of the way...
A few days have passed since the group's run-in with the cockatrice last episode. The weather's been especially mild, aside from some wind, so that's made travel pretty easy, all things considered.[0] The journey, despite the addition of a handful of rescued Realm soldiers, has been uneventful -- the only noteworthy thing that's happened is that Wandering Dawn's wolverine familiar, Mollie, has been growing in size. Where we pick back up, she's become the size of a large bear, big enough for Wandering Dawn to ride.[1] He's not entirely sure why this has happened, but it may have something to do with the greater swell of divine power he feels within him since the group's discovery of Steamhollow.
Anyhow, as I've mentioned, some time has passed and the group approaches a large walled city, with a number of travelers -- and a House Ragara military unit -- camped outside. Wandering Dawn mentions they're going to have to pay a fee to take the caravan in. The city guard would protect the caravan even outside the walls, but the city and the large market within are controlled by the wealthy and powerful Liczka family, and that means basically paying something of a tax on bringing in wagons and the like that could be used for commerce.
Dawn thinks they'd be better off having the caravan camp outside and Stray Dog agrees, but Lecht's personal wagon is all they own and they'd rather not be separated from it. After some back and forth, they decide that anyone who wants to bring their personal wagons inside can do so and pay their own fees. (While they're having this debate, Oguri goes ahead and takes her wagon in and pays at the gate.) Wandering Dawn goes to talk to the various other merchants about that, while the remnants of that House Ragara scale part company with the caravan and go to the nearby camp to report in about what happened. (Wandering Dawn's still hanging onto the direlance for the moment, preferring to wait until things are settled before deciding whether it should go back to the Ragara or not.)
And speaking about reporting in, as some of the caravan members go in, the guards ask Wandering Dawn about Mollie to make sure she's safe, and go through this whole well-rehearsed procedure of asking about updates on the road, goings-on, new dangers, etc. Naturally, Stray Dog mentions the incident with the cockatrice and the guards send someone to go ask the Ragara troops about the incident.
The guards give the group quick directions to where they can tie up their wagons and animals, locations of inns and stores and blacksmith, that sort of thing. They also warn the group to remain indoors after dark -- there isn't a formal curfew, but people are being asked to stay inside at night for their own safety right now. If I had some sort of musical cue to mark the presentation of the obvious plot hook, it'd play now. But anyhow, the group goes inside and the camera lingers on the gate as it closes behind them, and then pans over to the sign with the name of the city -- which also doubles as the episode title:
"Silverpost"
We then cut to a short time later, once the caravan's more or less settled, as Stray Dog goes to the blacksmith recommended at the gate to get some of his gear taken care of -- buckles and things for his clothing. The blacksmith's shop seems to be located in an enclave of House Tepet soldiers and associates. The woman running the shop is short and muscular, built kind of like a fantasy dwarf, and she and Stray Dog engage in small talk as she fixes his stuff. He talks about the incident with the cockatrice and the Ragara troops. The woman is interested in the tale, but not in the way a random peasant would be -- more like someone who's also Seen Some Shit and is professionally curious. She remarks that a lot of Ragara's local forces are kind of green.[2]
Stray Dog says he doesn't blame the ones who ran from the creature, and the blacksmith mentions that she and her people (the Tepet) have seen worse. She talks about the Battle of Futile Blood, about how the Tepet legions tried to take down the Bull of the North and failed spectacularly -- that House Tepet's military was shattered and a full quarter of their Dragon-Blooded scions were slain in the conflict.[3] The House has lost most of their heroes, almost all of their influence, and is on the verge of collapse. Officially, the Tepet in Silverpost remain in the area as an 'observation post' but really it's an excuse to avoid going back to the Blessed Isle. Some are too ashamed to go back in defeat, while others fear being forcibly subsumed into someone else's forces or otherwise scattered by Tepet's enemies. So they're remaining in the area while they work out their future.
By now, she's finished working on his buckles and other maintenance stuff, doing very fine work despite the seeming distraction of the small talk. The two of them then engage in the ancient tradition of him starting to pay the blacksmith, her suggesting he keep his money and that the conversation was payment enough, and he gently insists and she takes it without further argument. She and Stray Dog introduce themselves; her name is Carik. She tells him to come on back if he needs anything, and that she hopes to see him around while he's in town.
The 'camera' then moves over to Wandering Dawn, who's going around and hitting up the local rumor mill to learn more about the guards' warning at the gates. He finds out that some sort of entity -- probably a ghost, but possibly a spirit -- has been roaming the city at night, attacking people. There's no obvious pattern, other than it's mostly been seen in and around the market district (though that barely narrows things down at all). He also learns that one of the earliest victims was Marku Liczka, patriarch of the family that runs the town. The old man is reportedly still alive, but barely. Apparently the city has retained the services of some sort of expert to deal with the entity, especially since it behaves as a ghost in every way but one: It's unaffected by salt barriers and wards the way most ghosts should be.
We then shift focus over to Lecht, taking their horse and wagon through the city where they pull up in front of a non-descript office. They haul a casket-sized wooden box that appears to be packed with salt, and half-carry-half-drag it in through the front door. They find a handful of your typical hired muscle from central casting in the foyer. One of them asks Lecht who they are, and they say they're here for Nadia; she's expecting them.
Lecht starts to head toward the back, and one of the goons holds out a hand to stop them. He says she's in a meeting and will be out in a minute. Lecht gives all of them a glare, calling upon a tiny sliver of their Exigent power[4] to fill the muscle with an unnatural dread, and they back off. Lecht mutters they don't have time for this and just push their way into the office. They find the woman they're looking for, Nadia, having a heated discussion with a reasonably-well-dressed red-haired man. Both of them stop and look at the intruder, and Nadia actually does a double-take when she spots Lecht. She scowls at Lecht and as the man starts to ask what's going on, Nadia cuts him off and tells him they'll finish their conversation later.
The man looks like he's about to raise a stink but decides to leave, muttering under his breath that he's never been treated like this before. Lecht comments that he certainly sees like the type who has. But once they're alone, Nadia asks Lecht to at least close the door. And they let the box of salt drop as they do so. They tell her they got what she's asked for, all of the First Age artifacts they could find. The box, appearing on the surface to be human remains packed in salt, is in fact loaded with smuggled artifacts (packed in salt). She rummages through, checking to see what the haul is. Lecht says that most of them are broken or they don't know how to work them, but Nadia off-handedly comments she can handle that on her end.
Nadia informs Lecht she's willing to compensate them for their efforts now, with a possible bonus later depending on how things look when repaired or cleaned up. Lecht tells her they want their sarcophagus -- the one she found them in, waking them from their magical slumber. She insists it's expensive to move, and the stuff Lecht brought isn't enough to justify it. Lecht complains that's what she said last time, and she shrugs and says things are getting more and more expensive; if Lecht doesn't like it, they can take it up with Old Man Liczka or his kids.
But beneath that 'I have you over a barrel' smirk she has a shred of professionalism as she takes a quick inventory of the box and writes Lecht a receipt. Then she looks out the window and asks if they're a 'brave sort.' They say yes, and ask why. She says she can have payment ready for them that evening, right after sundown -- or they can wait until morning, if they'd prefer. They just have to be careful and quiet after dark, people are more likely to notice someone out and about. Lecht says they'll be back after dark, and that she can keep the box of salt.
They then leave, finding the goons still in the foyer but standing away from the door to give the visitor plenty of space. Lecht assures them their boss is still alive, and heads out. Once they're outside they notice the man that Nadia was talking to across the street, watching. They don't acknowledge him -- he's not worth the trouble, certainly beneath their notice.
Lecht then goes for a drink at a tavern called the Last Brick. Stray Dog's already there, having turned it into a bit of a party in his usual idiom. They sigh, and lament the lack of peace and quiet, but decide to drink until they begin to enjoy themself. We jump ahead a little bit, where over the noise of the bar we hear someone outside struggling with something the size of a bear. And then the door bursts open as Mollie the giant-sized wolverine forces her way in while Wandering Dawn is trying to keep her out.
The monster hunter sighs and just reassures everyone that she's harmless but warns them not to give her any alcohol. He then goes to the bartender, asks if he has any meat available, and orders enough to feed her and a strong drink for himself. He then flops down next to Lecht, where they're watching Stray Dog on a nearby table, waving a tankard and belting out a bawdy song.
"Every day I praise the Unconquered Sun for the gifts He's given me," Dawn says, before glancing over at Mollie. "But sometimes he gives me a little too much." He chugs his drink.
Stray Dog joins his fellow Exalted at the table and tells Dawn that with some practice, you can just open your throat and pour the booze down it. Lecht says they have an even better trick: they don't have to breathe. Dawn wipes some foam off his lip and asks if they're being serious or joking?
"Serious," Lecht assures him.
Dawn comments that's something he's always noticed when they're all close together -- Lecht doesn't have to do a lot of heavy breathing after long exertions, and asks what's up with that. Lecht explains that after they came into their powers, they discovered that... it's like they can temporarily suspend their life. Dawn, mid-chug, almost chokes on his beer with a "What?!" Lecht then goes on to say they don't necessarily have to sleep -- very much like the dead. It's more complicated than that, but it would be hard to explain to someone without the right kind of academic/occult background.
Dawn says that with anyone else, he'd be a little suspicious of that -- Lecht says he should be suspicious of them. They're suspicious of him, after all.
"Why are you suspicious of me?" the Solar asks.
"You're too nice. Nobody's that polite; it's off-putting."
"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or insult."
Lecht ponders for a moment. "Me neither."
Dawn explains that life in Creation can be too short for some people. He's had his own traumas, which he doesn't know if he's told the others about, but what he got out of that experience was a lesson to look on the bright side of life. Which he finds funny, given that he gets his powers from the sun.
Lecht comments they might get tanned -- or burned -- if they stay in Wandering Dawn's presence too long. Dawn shrugs and acknowledges that people tell him he has a glowing personality. Lecht says they vaguely remember a time when people remembered the Solar and Lunar Exalted as heroes, and then they wake up into a world that's a nightmare. They start drinking after that.
"You know," Dawn begins. "You make it sound as if you were around during the First Age. But that was, what, six or seven-hundred years ago?"
"Between seven-hundred and eight, actually."[5]
Trying to keep things from getting too heavy, and just to amuse himself, Stray Dog picks up a fork of the table and just eats it. Like, just opens his mouth and drops it down his throat, like swallowing a goldfish. Lecht freaks out and tries to get it from him, but they're too late and it's just gone and he's perfectly fine. His Caste Mark flickers at that, suggesting it was a bit of his own power that let him casually do that.
Wandering Dawn wonders aloud what fate the Maidens have woven for them that they've wound up together like this. Lecht says "Damn the Maidens." Stray Dog says he loves it when they speak blasphemy.
"The Tapestry is bullshit," Lecht goes on to say.
"How so?" Wandering Dawn asks.
Lecht gathers their thoughts, their accent getting a little thicker as they briefly get lost in their memories (and perhaps their cups). Said accent being the result of several centuries of linguistic drift existing between most of their life and the modern day.
"Let's say, hypothetical situation. You have village. Thriving, happy village. And let's say... sweeping across the North is a terrible plague. This plague is capable of... nyet... is likely to kill every single man, woman, and child in its path. And, hypothetical, it's going to kill them slowly. There's no cure, they will die if they catch it, almost assuredly."
Stray Dog scowls. "You're bumming me out," he says, almost warningly.
"I'm getting to point. You look at Tapestry, it says that every man, woman, and child in village is going to die slow, horrible death. But someone says that it's not going to happen -- they can't the plague, but they can prevent the suffering. And they just... in their sleep, it's over. Plague comes through, everyone's dead, nobody has to suffer. Fuck the Sisters."
Wandering Dawn isn't sure how sincere they're being, but says they may have a point. Lecht nods. "Fuck Heaven, and fuck it -- get me another round!" they call out, drawing attention from other people in the bar.
Stray Dog certainly agrees with drinking to blasphemy. Lecht says speaking of blasphemy -- they point to Stray Dog's Caste mark, an empty green circle with another partial disc cresting over the upper-right side -- and ask what's up with that. Stray Dog Serenade says, matter-of-factly, that he's a Chosen of the Yozis. Wandering Dawn points downwards and says "What, those Yozis?"
Stray Dog corrects him and says it's a little more up and to the east if you're talking about Hell. But with a casual stretch, he insists he's one of the 'good ones.' They don't have to worry about him dragging their souls to Hell or anything like that.
"What, is that a thing?" Lecht asks.
Stray Dog blinks. "What? No."
Wandering Dawn's baffled, as he doesn't know a lot about the Yozis, but he asks how Stray Dog wound under their... employment?
Stray Dog says they came to him in a dream and offered him a second opportunity to make a bad decision.
"They gave you an opportunity to correct a bad decision or to make a bad decision?" Lecht asks.
Stray Dog says he thinks they expected him to make a different but equally-bad decision. But he's not a murderer, let's leave it at that. Lecht says they know he turned down that assassination job, and Stray Dog said that's what got their attention. But they don't speak to him, he doens't know what they want as such. Best he can do is guess.
All Wandering Dawn knows is that the Yozis want to bring about the destruction of Creation. Stray Dog says he's not into that, though; Creation's where he keeps all of his stuff. So if that's the idea, he's afraid he's destined to let them down. But he has power now, and he uses it as he sees fit. Neither Solar nor Exigent was expecting that, but Wandering Dawn likes the poetic irony of it all. The Powers That Be of Hell try to create a champion and wind up making more trouble for themselves than they meant to.
"Unless all they wanted was chaos, in which case I'm doing my job admirably," Stray Dog concedes.
Lecht then turns to Wandering Dawn, and asks about when he Exalted. Dawn says he was fighting a monster near Whitewall as part of a city-sanctioned squad. But not all of those groups and guilds were made up of 'exceptional' individuals, mostly large groups of talented mortals. But even mortals, given the right gusto and determination, can do a lot against enemies of Creation. But not against... well, the thing he was fighting. He was the sole survivor among those who stayed, and knew that innocent lives would be lost and he was ready to fight until the breath left his body... and the Unconquered Sun found that courageous enough to bestow upon him some of His power. It's why he's decided never to back down from a serious fight, because he thinks the Sun saw something in that resolve and he doesn't want to betray that trust.
"Aww, that's sweet," Stray Dog says.
Wandering Dawn gets up to order another drink and go check on Mollie and make sure she's not going to chew on... but he doesn't get to finish that thought, cut off as he is by rushing over to tell her to put down a table.
And with that, the camera pans out to reveal that the sun is setting, and the curtain of night slowly lowers across the sky.
And we leave it there.
[0]-- I can't remember if I've mentioned this, but I actually have a system to generate weather for my Exalted game. Well, 'system' is a strong word. I found a spreadsheet that a guy developed to randomly generate weather for D&D by automating a system from an old issue of Dragon Magazine, and then I adapted it to Creation's calendar. Then, after a bunch of research into various real world climates trying to find the one that seemed most appropriate as a model for the characters' corner of Creation (Siberia, if you're curious), I had the spreadsheet generate an entire year's worth of weather. Not that the weather's that important, but sometimes it's a useful or interesting background detail and it feels lazy to just have the weather always be fine/boring/unremarkable except when the story demands otherwise. So instead of having to think about it, I just look up the date on the weather sheet, and then go with what it says (though I still reserve the right to change it if appropriate to the story).
[1]-- Wandering Dawn has the Charm 'Beast-Uplifting Harmony,' which offers various enhancements to a familiar. The benefits increase as the Exalt's Essence goes up. As the group recently received a second dot of Essence, that meant another benefit -- and Bryan, Wandering Dawn's player, chose to give Mollie a 'significant physical feature,' and with my permission chose for her to become big enough to ride.
[2]-- I don't mention it in my notes whether this came up or not and I can't remember off the top of my head, but the blacksmith might've suggested that the surveying mission was conceived in part to create a reason for the Ragara legions to gain some field experience. I mean, I'm mentioning now OOCly that that's the case, I just can't remember if she indicated it or not. So I'm just relegating that to this footnote.
[3]-- Let's put this in perspective. Dragon-Blooded: What Fire Has Wrought estimates about 10K Dynastic Dragon-Blooded, and another 4K of Dynastic outcastes (Dragon-Bloods born outside the Scarlet Dynasty and brought to the Blessed Isle to be adopted/married into the Houses). Which means that there are probably about 14K Dragon-Blooded Exalted among the Great Houses, not counting patricians or Cadet Houses. Now, obviously there's not an even distribution across the Houses, especially in the case of House Iselsi. But because House Iselsi is small and most of their scions are likely being counted as part of other Houses anyways, let's just ignore them and suggest that on average, the typical Great House has about 1400-ish Exalts -- a quarter of which would be 350. Even if you treat those as generous numbers, it doesn't change the fact that in the campaign against the Bull of the North, House Tepet lost literally hundreds of Dragon-Bloods in a very short period of time.
[4]-- In ExEss, all Exalted have anima powers. Most Exalts have them based on their Caste/Aspect, while Exigents create (or choose) their own. There's an anima power that's always active, one kicks in when a character's anima banner hits a certain level, and a third that activates when the anima builds to its peak with an 'Iconic' display. We've had a couple of Iconic animas already, as you may have noticed. Well, Lecht's 'always on' power grants them a Dark Presence, allowing them to intimidate 'trivial' targets (like a handful of nameless goons) without a roll and granting them bonus successes on rolls to intimidate non-trivial targets.
[5]-- Admittedly the ending of the First Age is a little fuzzy, depending on how you count the post-Usurpation Shogunate. Like some, Lecht sees the Shogunate as part of the First Age (or the 'Low First Age,' as some savants would describe it).
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