Greetings, my fellow whatevers!
Back with another Exalted write-up for y'all. This kicks off our next story arc, Port in a Storm.
Before we get into it, however, let me take a moment to remind you that a Trinity Continuum: Æon book I worked on is out. (I swear, this is the last time I'm going to plug it... until the PoD is available.) You can find it at this finely-crafted affiliate link, and if you go check it out, the PDF preview on DriveThru goes deep enough into the book that you can read the opening fiction I wrote for it!
And with that out of the way, let's get into it!
The trio of Lunars aboard the Moonlight Maiden sail northwest from Hisir, heading into the Cinder Isles on their way to Lathe. But first, they plan to stop off at the island of Talipan to talk to Bokano Spite-shell, an elder Lunar[0] known to maintain a small dominion in the area with her crabfolk followers.
However, as I like to joke at the game, the characters are protagonists, and things are rarely that simple -- as evidenced by the multiple House Peleps ships in the harbor of Smolder, the major trading port on the island. They seem to be checking passing ships, and rather than turning away and risk drawing their attention, they decide to just deal with it, where we have this exchange:
Hǎifēng: "We don't have anything illegal, do we?"
Xương: "Other than us?"
Though there is a little snag: The Moonlight Maiden still has a bunch of jade artifact weapons they took off the Wyld Hunt. Sure, carrying such weapons isn't inherently illegal, and it's not like a bunch of random Peleps troops are going to recognize the specific weaponry carried by a handful of Dynasts literally thousands of miles away. But that will lead to questions from people who possess both supernatural powers of observation and persuasion as well as an inflated opinion about their place in the world. (And at least one question is likely to be "How many pieces are you going to make me cut off you before I can take it for myself?")
They settle on the idea of Xương, who's naturally amphibious, going overboard with the artifacts and hauling up them up onto the island on his own. He manages to get underwater with the stuff without incident.
Someone, likely a captain of one of the ships, directs the Moonlight Maiden to a specific dock to be searched. They tie up the ship and some Dynastic marines[1] come on and give the place a once-over. They don't seem to be putting much effort into it, like they're not expecting to find what they're looking for. They don't explain what they're looking for, but Hǎifēng and Shango both notice they're only really checking containers and spaces big enough to hold, say, a child.
This intrigues Hǎifēng enough that they use the Predator-and-Prey Mirror Charm to give off a vibe like they're a natural predator to whomever they're dealing with. To quote the book, someone using the Charm can come across like "an auditor to a corrupt bureaucrat, or a bandit to a humble farmer." In this case, Hǎifēng comes across like a dreaded superior officer. They corner one of the marines and demand to know what's going on, and get an absolutely ridiculously good roll compared to what they needed. The marine, suddenly reduced to a nervous pizza-faced teen in demeanor, says that officially, the Commodore Peleps Oneef is blockading the island as part of a search for pirates and smugglers.
Unofficially, they're cutting off supplies of outside food and medicine and such to hold the island hostage to drive out V'neef Gamon. The Realm as a whole doesn't hold any territory this far southwest, but House V'neef has someone who's got her hooks into the merchants who run the city of Smolder. What the group is seeing is a a manifestation of the current Peleps-V'neef feud.[2]
Their inspection completed, the Peleps marines leave the ship, Hǎifēng knowing that the one guy's intimidated enough that they could probably shake him down for more info later.
Hǎifēng and Shango reunite with Xương and go into town. It's still bustling, but everyone is looking over their shoulders to keep an eye out for the spark about to light the powderkeg and provoke some open conflict with the Peleps.
And speaking of conflict, as they go into town they see what looks like a small typhoon whipping around a dojo, kicking up dust. The dojo is labeled the 'Calm Seas Guardian Dojo,' with a sign depicting a crane perched on a cloud, and there's a crowd looking into the main courtyard out front where a young Immaculate monk[3] is sparring with a pirate (whose pronouns, I'll mention here to try and head off confusion, are they/them). Both of them are obviously Air Aspected Dragon-Blooded, between their anima banners and pale skin. The pirate has a buzz cut and is dressed in loose clothing but nearby one can see their typical pirate coat and hat hung up. Nearby a muscular guy a little over 6' with a deep tan stands at the entrance as kind of a bouncer, to make sure nothing enters or leaves the courtyard for safety purposes. He's got a bandana wrapped around his head and has a monk's spade strapped to his back.
The group, knowing a good bit about pirates for various reasons, all recognize the pirate sparring with the monk (whose name is Silver Lining, I don't want to just keep calling him 'the monk'). Their name is Tarok, captain of the Mist-Breaking Princess and supposedly a rogue Immaculate monk themselves. They wander the Southwest with their commander, Shichirou the Digger (so called for his proficiency with the monk's spade). They don't do as much raiding as other pirates, and in fact seem to spend as much time fighting other pirates as they do anyone else. Tarok is also known to challenge other captains to duels where the winner gets half of the loser's cargo.
(In my head, BTW, Tarok and Shichirou are respectively played by Tilda Swinton -- particularly when she played the Ancient One -- and Don Lee.)
Tarok and Silver Lining both appear to be sparring in Air Dragon Style, lots of chops and sweeping kicks. Hǎifēng can tell that Tarok is just playing with Silver Lining, that they could casually end the fight with just a little effort. But this appears to largely be a fun sparring/exhibition match, in addition to Silver Lining working off some sort of frustration. At one point the two of them do the 'anime mid-air crossover kick' thing, pause, and then spring back and shift into new stances -- Crane stance for Silver Lining, and Water Dragon for Tarok. At which point Tarok pretty thoroughly trounces Silver Lining. Coins discreetly pass between people watching in the crowd.
A voice behind the crowd asks if there's a problem, and most of the people turn and scatter as best they can as Commodore Oneef approaches, decked out in black jade armor with a matching reaper daiklaive[4] on her hip. People just avert their eyes and get out of the way. Oneef and Tarok lock eyes for a few silent, tense moments before Tarok and Shichirou leave. As she turns to go, Oneef spots Xương and clearly takes a moment to commit his appearance to memory before she leaves.[5]
Hǎifēng argues that whatever's going on, they don't need to get too involved in their usual fashion, and the others agree on the grounds that this might be a bit big for them to deal with. They plan to just meet with Bokano Spite-shell, fill her in on things, and then move on. Hǎifēng happens to know a good spot to find her, and leads the trio to an alley behind one of the local taverns, and they find her right where she's expected, looking like some random street tough checking out territory, in a good spot to monitor the street in a couple of different directions and a couple of alleys.
(By the way, as far as 'head-casting' goes, I don't have a specific actor in mind for Bokano but I can't help but hear her voice as Doctor T'Ana from Lower Decks.)
She spots them and leads them down the alley with a nod of her head, where they can talk (which is awkward, because Bokano's Tell is that she has sort of a crab mouth in all her forms). We just kind of do the JRPG 'fade to black for a second so the audience doesn't get a full recounting of the story' thing as they fill her in on Dutan Island and Wantari's Crucible. She's interested in the island, having heard the stories, and if it really is as safe as they say she'll send someone to check it out. It's a little isolated but might make a useful base of operations. Xương points out there are smugglers that still use it, but that doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing.
She's also a little surprised and impressed at the rediscovery of Wantari's Crucible. She mentions there are a lot of former Lunar-held manses and demesnes in those mountains, because once upon a time, a Lunar known as Thousand-Swords Oravan broke with the Silver Pact in the early days after the Usurpation and formed his own faction, the Silver Principiate. They didn't last long against the forces of the early Shogunate, glutted as they were on the thrill of overthrowing the Solars and Lunars and still in possession of a broad range of functioning First Age artifice. The Lunars that sided with him peaced out and out of stubbornness he refused to throw in with anyone and fell to a Wyld Hunt. Wantari's Crucible likely belonged to one of the Lunars in the Principiate, and has probably been lost since the Balorian Crusade.[6] As Xương has attuned to it, she asks as a courtesy if she can go take a look since it was a big alchemy lab and Bokano herself has an interest in alchemy and poisons and such, and he agrees.
Then they get into talking about how things have been getting weird lately overall. Bokano's been picking up on a general increase in necromancy and the like in the region, and comments that if it weren't a little out of her usual range she'd consider swinging by Raiton Academy[7] to see if something's going on there.
But this also leads into a conversation about the current situation, as the group asks if there's anything they can help her with. Bokano, expresses concern, partially because she's got her own territory nearby and Peleps has been spending more and more time exploring the West for their own purposes and she's not sure about her peoples' safety. She's not thrilled with the V'neef's grip on Talipan, but for the most part they're willing to just take their cut and not cause too much trouble, so she could live with Gamon's continued presence if it came to it. From what she's seen, the Commodore is hoping that someone will betray the V'neef to appease her so the blockade can leave, while V'neef Gamon has been quietly making inquiries about having the Commodore taken out. It's only a matter of time before things get out of control and a bunch of people are unnecessarily killed, and Bokano's seriously considering getting more directly involved.
In particular, she's been considering making a public stand and openly making a claim to the island. Naturally, the Circle has doubts about the feasibility of this, but she argues that the Realm's forces are stretched thin right now with the impending war for the throne. In addition, there's a lot of concern about throwing Dynastic forces at Celestial Exalted ever since the Bull of the North wiped out the House Tepet Legions.[8] But she's not planning on claiming a nation or building an empire, just maybe an island or two to keep her own private dominion and surrounding areas safe. Xương asks if there's a plan for if things go badly, and she eventually says that if things start to get out of hand, she'll summon the Magma Kraken[9] as she grins and flashes a No Moon Caste mark.
As they discuss possibilities, she also mentions a less-exciting plan that she's come up with. Namely, taking out V'neef Gamon, letting the Peleps think they've won, and then dealing with whatever token presence the commodore leaves behind. The group isn't too big on that, as they think it'll be too obvious of a setup. They talk about other possibilities, generally involving wrecking up the Peleps squadron of ships enough to make continued engagement too much trouble for too little benefit. The subject of explosives comes up, and Hǎifēng mentions the chemicals they took from Wantari's Crucible and how potentially dangerous those are.
The four of them don't necessarily want to spend all day hanging out in the alley, so Hǎifēng says the group will stick around for a few days to keep an eye on everything, and if Bokano thinks of anything she can reach out. She does toss out the idea that it might help if they had some recon into Gamon's estate outside of town, as she herself isn't great at stealth beyond basic Lunar infiltration abilities. At one point it comes up that if they could get the Peleps to turn on the V'neef, the Commodore's ship has a lightning ballista.[10]
At some point, I can't remember exactly when but I think somewhere around here conversationally, Bokano says that one tiny issue with coming up with a good plan is that Silver Lining, the Immaculate monk who runs the dojo, is actually not an asshole. According to her, he's not even entirely hung up on the 'anathema' thing, which raises some questions as to whether he's some sort of heretic.
They circle back around to the idea of reconnaissance (likely having Hǎifēng do it, as the group's infiltration expert), primarily for information but if an opportune moment presents itself to take out Gamon, then so be it. As far as Bokano knows, Gamon doesn't seem to have any particular combat prowess beyond what counts as basic training for a Dragon-Blooded Dynast, but who knows what sorts of gear she can bust out at a moment's notice (it is known she has a set of silken armor, a type of artifact armor that doesn't actually count as armor because it's so light).
In the meantime, Bokano recommends an inn where the group can stay, called the Drunk Octopus, where she has a couple of cover identities that work there. Before they part ways, Xương makes kind of a pass at her, and she does express an interest but suggests that he hit her up later if she's free.
And we'll leave it there, atop a soft, cushy bed of footnotes.
[0]-- 'Elder' is relative, here. By the book's standards, Bokano is among the 'second' generation, having died in the Usurpation but reincarnated afterwards and grew up alongside the Shogunate. We don't actually know exactly how long the Shogunate lasted in the current edition, but she's probably somewhere between around or a little under 1,000 years old.
[1]-- It actually feels weird to me to use the term 'marine' to reflect rank-and-file, given connotations we have with marines as action heroes and generic 'badass' RPG character backstories, but I looked it up. It's the appropriate term.
[2]-- The Scarlet Empress thought things were getting a little too chummy, so when she granted her daughter V'neef her own house she also gave her the Merchant Fleet -- taking it from House Peleps in the process, not only stripping them of a big chunk of their naval and financial resources in the process but also humiliating them. Since then House Peleps has been finding ways to undermine House AtreidesV'neef and weaken them enough to wipe them out and/or take it back.
[3]-- As 'elder' is relative with Lunars, 'young' is relative with Dragon-Bloods. While the Dragon-Blooded don't live as long as their Celestial counterparts, most are raised in cultures that give them the education and training that ensures that they're more likely to outlive mortal humans. To be fair, most Dragon-Blooded don't make it past a century due to misadventure, but seeing an Immaculate monk in his 20's on his own this far from the support structure stands out.
[4]-- Exalted's magical swords come in all shapes and sizes. This one is basically a katana.
[5]-- Maybe because he's obviously of Lintha descent.
[6]-- The Fair Folk invasion that followed the Great Contagion.
[7]-- Necromancy Hogwarts. I'd have to check, but it might actually be Creation's only dedicated necromancy school unless you count tutelage from a Deathlord or their cronies.
[8]-- Not that I'm foreshadowing my own NPC's doom, but it is worth pointing out that the ruination of House Tepet by the Bull of the North was partially an inside job, as they'd been set up to fail by the Empress before her disappearance, with the other Great Houses wielding the metaphorical knives.
[9]-- Pretty much what it says on the tin.
[10]-- Again, what it sounds like.
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