This week's Exalted session had to be pushed back a couple of days, so to the best of my physical capacity to do so I'm seizing the opportunity to get caught up. That's right, as long as this goes up before Thursday afternoon, then I'll be officially caught up on these posts. So let's see if I can pull it off!
(And it appears I was successful, huzzah!)
So following Shango's Gateway victory last session, we get into a montage representing the rest of the qualifying matches.
First is a woman from the Far South named Gemstone Eyes, for her unusual amber-colored eyes -- a mark of either divine heritage, Terrestrial Exaltation, or both. She knows how to play, but as Shango deploys the same strategy against her that he did against Mekhalaa last session, she definitely comes across as someone who was in the area and signed up on a lark. He also gets the impression that she's one of the Silver Shell, the mercantile organization that seems to be working with the Gateway club running the tournament.
Next up is Ogele, a man from the Southwestern mainland with a very textbook style that's similar to Shango's. Namely, that his expertise in Gateway is more of a product of a well-rounded education than any real dedication to mastering the game. Shango uses his sea units more than his air units for this one, and like his match against Gemstone Eyes he's pretty much a lock to win by the midgame.
The final qualifier match is against a local -- Mlugnor (they/them), whom I've described previously. They're a Wyld mutant[0] sorcerer, resembling a mind flayer with skin the color of a green bruise and tentacles instead of arms. Their style is very weird and chaotic, almost like they're deliberately playing for a draw, or at least to frustrate the other player into making a mistake. Shango tries to remain poised in the face of the chaos on the board -- after all, he muses privately, if only they knew what sorts of things he deals with at sea.[1]
But he still comes out on top, and the four wins (this is including the one from last session) are enough to guarantee a solid placing in the main tournament.
While Shango is playing (which takes several hours), Hǎifēng goes to scope out the area and try to sneak into the prize room to see what they can steal. They use their skill at reading the back alleys and finding all manner of entrances to buildings to find a way into the theater where they can get to the prize room. They get in, though someone sees them sneaking in and briefly gives chase. Hǎifēng gets away, but it's obvious they're not going to be able to go back out that same way.[2]
But they sneak around the theater and find the prize room -- what appears to be a storage room for props and set pieces that's been emptied out, as there's another one nearby that's conspicuously full to capacity. They get a close look and see that there's some sort of steel wire contraption wrapped around the door handle, tied to either a trap or an alarm. They look around, raise an eyebrow when they recognize nobody's in the area, and shift to monkey form to squeeze through a crack in the door.
Hǎifēng discovers a room mostly full of crates, with some sculptures of what look like big Gateway pieces, and some fancy Gateway boards set out, and some other stuff. But while they're looking around and clambering onto a crate, they step onto a trip wire. They watch as an entire network of steel wires begins vibrating around them, only visible now that they're moving. The wires then begin to move, wrapping around each other in a twisted Cat's Cradle until they form into what can only be described as a demon spider the size of a large dog, an anuhle.
'Anulhe' is more of a classification than a demon species, as there are literally dozens of vaguely-similar First Circle demon spiders depending on which Second Circle demon from which they're descended. The provenance of this one isn't obvious right away, but it has a carapace that looks like shining white marble and ivory, seeming almost plastic-y in its smoothness while still being clearly organic. Hǎifēng stands up, eyes wide, and dives between a couple of crates to try and get away as the spider tries to get at them. It walks around the walls with almost mechanical 'click' sounds with its steps, while Hǎifēng manages to hide in a crevice.
They quickly consider their options and create a clone of their monkey form as a decoy. It leaps from crate to crate, getting the demon's attention, and manages to get out through the crack in the door where they originally got in. The spider takes the bait and chases the clone through the theater.
This gives Hǎifēng time to open and loot the crates, trying to get stuff they can either wear or pocket and smuggle out in animal form. They first find a bunch of money -- silver coins, cash, and cowries[3] -- and pocket that. They also find some sets of fine clothing, and basically wear it all in layers with their usual kimono over it. They also grab a strange pendant containing eight acorn-sized pieces of some gemstone resembling smoky quartz. They then make a run for it, escaping, though briefly crossing paths with their clone being pursued by the spider, shortly before the spider gets the clone.
While all this is going on, Xương is doing some daily life stuff, though between running local errands and having a nap he does set aside time to come out and watch Shango's matches for at least part of the afternoon. During Shango's match against Mlugnor, he hears someone in an alley a couple of blocks away calling for a doctor. He assumes it's a trap but goes chasing after it, to find a young monk holding someone who seems to be having some sort of seizure. The monk does a double-take when what appears to be a large, menacing Lintha comes up on him and asks if Xương knows any medicine.
Xương snaps into 'street doc' mode and recognizes the guy seems to be ODing on something. It doesn't seem to have been anything corrosive, so he induces vomiting and has the monk run around to the various food vendors to get some stuff Xương can use to try and stabilize him. (not exactly like this but it's a fun excuse to link it) The monk's training to defer to authority kicks in and he immediately Xương's instructions, getting the stuff and then once the guy's stable enough to move helps get him to Xương's clinic.
With some work, Xương gets him to the point where he's got at least a solid shot of living through the night. He also spots faded traces where someone seems to have drawn the symbol of Makarios on his forehead. His best guess, based on the patient's symptoms, is that someone was keeping him asleep with drugs and either his body wore out or someone fucked up a dose or both, and they just wiped the symbol and dumped him. Xương recognizes that he's slept without dreaming for a while, but now the symbol's gone Xương gives him something to make sure he sleeps for a bit.
Xương tells the monk, whose name is Koi, that he can go, and he makes sure that Koi sees him record the guy down on a patient log to reassure him that the patient isn't going to vanish or anything the moment his back is turned. Koi says that he was just doing security for the event and heard a commotion in the alley when he found the unconscious man, and that he's in Xương's debt for helping him. Xương insists nobody's in his debt and that he was just doing his part. Koi insists that if he can help Xương with anything, he can be found at the Heartsflow Temple. Speaking of which, he says that he's going to have to report the incident to his superiors, but as he recognizes that Xương is more the sort of 'street doc' that people go to when discretion is a factor, he offers to leave Xương's name out of the report. Xương insists that Koi leave him in, just in case someone wants to track the patient down and ask him a few questions or just make sure he's okay.
Back in the plaza, as Shango finishes up his match against Mlugnor, Hǎifēng escapes the theater to meet up with him. They overhear people talking about what happened with the guy in the alley, particularly a story about a Lintha pirate running off with a guy. But Xương's known to the locals, and many of them quickly set the record straight that he was probably helping him.
They head back towards the clinic. Shango goes straight there, though Hǎifēng makes a detour to stash their stolen swag on the ship. If there's a chance that events have brought greater scrutiny on Xương, they don't want to risk a bunch of stolen goods being found there again. But when they get back to Xương's place, they don't say anything at all about what happened or tell the others what they stole.[4] They don't even have their 'usual satisfied grin' like they've just gotten away with something.
And we leave off there.
[0]-- There are many paths to sorcerous power. One of them is 'go on an adventure in the Wyld, try to get made magical without mutating into utter insanity or inhumanity.' Mlugnor seems to have barely threaded that needle.
[1]-- The other characters. Shango means the other characters.
[2]-- Zac's roll was a single success short, so I made a judgement call and decided to allow a 'success at a cost,' as some games all it -- Hǎifēng gets inside, but they're going to have to work to escape as well.
[3]-- As a reminder, cowries are shells used as currency in the West, often put on strings. 'Cash' (called 'jade scrip' in prior editions) refers to paper bills and copper coins used as currency in the Realm because mortals aren't allowed to handle jade directly. Ostensibly cash is worth a certain amount of jade, much like US dollars during the era of the gold standard, but to discourage the purchase of jade using cash the exchange rates differ whether you're buying or selling. Earlier editions have further restrictions as to what cash and can't buy in the Realm, but to my knowledge 3e doesn't address that and likely never will.
[4]-- This is mostly to make it that much funnier when it does inevitably come out.
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