Hey there, folks. I know these are still erratic, still working on yada yada yada.
Assuming I don't think of some reason to come back and add to this intro (such as it is), let's get to it.
Following the dramatic midseason showdown with Blackened Bone Whispers last session, the trio are considering taking it easy for a little while. The conversation kind of drifts in and out of character a little bit, as I've basically offered them some 'time off' from bigger plot stuff for some smaller stories. Which, to be fair, I never intended this to be a huge plot-heavy game, the occasional arc or background subplot aside.
We also talk a bit about handling this in-character, and the group kind of comes to the decision to keep a weather eye out for trouble, but they're not going to go hunting the Captain of the Ashen Umbra just yet. Not that it's clear where they'd start looking anyways. Xương doesn't want to let it go, feeling that anything the Captain does in the meantime is on them if they're not acting, but Hǎifēng rightfully points out that if the Captain can do anything big right now, it's something that would either hit fast enough the group likely couldn't have stopped it anyhow or will be obvious enough that they'll be able to do something about it.
Xương does consider that if the Captain does anything, they're likely to be coming after the group to do it anyhow, and that while what they've heard of the Captain's actions hasn't been subtle, what they've seen has been basically nothing. Also, whatever the Captain had planned likely required Blackened Bone Whispers' help, so their plans have been set back and in addition it all but guarantees they'll come after the Circle next.
But also, Hǎifēng wants to get back to civilization for at least a little bit, and is just glad to be free of that island. Xương is glad that Hǎifēng got out of that situation without going catatonic.
So in the end, the group decides to head back to Lathe, which is the first time they've gone back to a place, unless you count them passing through Tapet Bay a couple of times at the beginning and end of their journey to find the Mirage Kingdom. Also, Kim Sơn might have some information on the Captain of the Ashen Umbra, given his connections to the Eternal Wave.
So the group heads back to Lathe. It takes them a little over a week to arrive, taking them into the month of Descending Earth. Calibration approaches soon enough. On the way, Hǎifēng decides it's time to get an aquatic form of their own, and decides to hunt up a shark on the way. Xương helps them scout up some mako sharks[0]. When they find an appropriate specimen, Hǎifēng holds a fan between their teeth and have one folded up like a knife, and dive in in their hybrid form. The water churns and turns red, and occasionally Hǎifēng appears at the surface and the shark almost gets away... until they're successful, taking the shark's heart's blood and it's shape, and drag the rest of it up onto the boat to become lunch.
Similarly, Shango gets the itch to get a better form himself but decides to go the dolphin route rather than a shark of their own. They find a pod of dolphins and Shango gets a survival knife and takes on his own hybrid form. He flies up over the water until he spots one he likes and dives down at it. As he goes in, Hǎifēng puts a jade piece on the railing of the ship and glances over at Xương, who just nods back. Shango's struggle with the dolphin is trickier because they travel in groups, so he winds up battered and bruised but does come out of it with both his dignity intact and a dolphin form.
So with that out of the way, the group arrives in Lathe and finds that the port seems really busy, with a clearly broader variety of ships than usual. Hǎifēng saunters up to the dockmaster and asks what's up. They're told that someone's holding a Gateway[1] tournament. Hǎifēng asks what the big deal is with that, and the dockmaster says he's not sure. But then there's a dramatic 'however...' and he points at a ship at the nicer end of the docks, a very fancy boat with Realm markings and flying the crest of House Ledaal. He then explains that supposedly, Ledaal Kes[2] has developed an interest in this tournament, and if it's got his interest than it's going to get everyone else's, too. Either because it's such a big deal to get a wide variety of attention or because they'll show up to meet/challenge Kes. Xương says they should fight Kes, and Hǎifēng passes an extra coin to the dockmaster to forget that Xương said that, just in case something does happen to one of the Realm's luminaries.
The Circle heads to Xương's place, definitely noting on the way that the island's got a more diverse crowd among the visitors than usual. They get back to his home/clinic to find that the teeth bucket is, inexplicably, right where the left it. Also, a couple of messages have been slid under Xương's door.
The first one, with dust on it suggesting it's been there about a month (which Xương also takes as a sign that nobody's screwed around in his place as of late), is from Kim Sơn. In a nutshell, the note says that things have gotten a little rough for people who know too much about the Eternal Wave, and some Lintha have been asking some very loud and forceful questions. So for the sake of his health, both short-term and perhaps trying to find some longer-term help, he's going to be making his way towards An-Teng and suggests Xương track him down next time his group is up that way.
The other message is a flier for the Gateway tournament. Hǎifēng points out there's likely to be money in the event, and Xương asks if they know how to play Gateway. They don't, but they don't need to know how to play if they want to get at the money. Xương asks if Hǎifēng's planning to rip off the prize money, and the subject comes up that they'd be potentially ripping off the Realm in the process, depending on who they steal from.
The flier is weirdly-vague on the prizes, though. It just promises 'treasures to the skilled' and an exhibition of 'Gateway variants.' Xương recognizes the name of one of the organizers: Nam-Kyu, who showed up with him to learn more about the Eternal Wave from Kim Sơn and ducked out early. That definitely stands out to Xương.
And we leave off with the group getting ready to take a closer look at the tournament, see what the big deal is, and figure out what they can get away with.
[0]-- I'm 99% sure it was a mako we decided on, but I don't seem to have written it down in my notes. If I'm wrong, I'll fix it later.
[1]-- A game very much like a multi-board version of chess.
[2]-- Ledaal Kes is a canon character, one of the few who've shown up in my game. He's a Dragon-Blood who's one of the higher-ups in the Imperial Treasury, very politically powerful with a bit of a babyface even by Exalted standards. He's also got one of the youngest Exaltations on record (9 years old), and he's known to be a Gateway prodigy -- at the age of 8 (that's right, before his Exaltation), he was playing at grandmaster level and famously played the Scarlet Empress herself. She beat him, but the fact that she'd consider him worth playing at all is significant in of itself. So for him to show up for a tournament at the ass-end of Creation is a Big Deal.
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