Hey there, my good folks. Look who's back, back again. With, um... okay, I can't think of anything clever to get into here. One of the downsides of putting one of these out almost every week, is that I'm not going to have any interesting personal developments or insights every (or most) weeks. I mean, there's the whole ker-fluffle with D&D, WotC, and the OGL, but I'm pretty sure everything I'd have to say about it has already been said by a dozen other people who are smarter, better-informed, or both.
For the record, this isn't me being self-deprecating. This is me fully aware that I'm not as neck-deep in the larger industry as I like to think at times, so I see most RPG news from a distance. Especially when it comes to D&D.
But anyhow, now that I've unintentionally satisfied my need for some sort of intro...
We open on series of close-up shots of notes passing between many hands -- some apparently human, many not. Eventually one of the notes come to someone who opens it, and the camera pans up to reveal this someone is Bageru, the badger-headed god serving as the characters' assistant/handler during their time here. He informs the Circle a meeting has been arranged.
He leads the group through the mini-city that is the arena to a cafe with a sign that I didn't think to include in the moment in the session but now I'm saying is a picture of the Near Southern coastline. Another figure without a mask and wearing the same uniform as Bageru waits outside. Bageru says he's going to wait outside for discretion's sake, but she's waiting for them.
The group goes in, with Rashmi hiding as best he can behind Xương. The outer walls are opaque and a plain black or dark brown but inside they appear to be made of stained glass in a variety of colors. No real pattern, but light shines through like you get with stained glass windows in churches. There's a distinct smell of Southern spices and while none of the Circle have been there, Shango would know from his schooling that this is likely meant to evoke the city of Chiaroscuro, with its glass towers.
The woman that Shango fought sits on a bench-style seat at a table, with her back against it. The only other people in the place aside from the employees are a handful of what appear to be off-duty gods who work at the arena sitting in the corner. She's eating some sort of beef bowl, watching the three of them, as Hǎifēng goes skipping excitedly up to her.[0]
(Also, in case it needs to be said, standard disclaimer about paraphrasing applies. Also, I may go light on or fudge some details because the full details of Third Edition's take on the Abyssals aren't available yet.)
"Yes?" she flatly asks.
"You were awesome! That was amazing, I haven't seen anything like that, what's your style called?" Hǎifēng asks excitedly, leaning in with their hands underneath their chin.
"It's a blend of styles, mostly from the Southeast. It doesn't really have a name. Who are you?"
"Ah, ah, ah, no names. But I'm a competitor."
"Clearly."
Shango says that they're with him. Xương says that they are 'Monkey,' 'Bird,' and 'Shark,' and they are definitely not Lunars.
"While we're not supposed to name each other," she begins with a smirk. "We can certainly identify ourselves. I am Blade Dances Between the Ribs."
Xương asks why Abyssals all have names like that, while Hǎifēng dryly remarks "How edgy."
She's a little thrown off by Xương's question, like she's not sure herself.
"I keep bumping into them and every one has a whole sentence for the name," Xương continues. Hǎifēng remarks they were hoping to have a conversation before getting into the whole 'Abyssal' thing.
She says they trade their names to the Void as a price of their return, and take a new name to represent their state and their nature. Both Hǎifēng and Shango respond with a comment about how it's because she puts blades between ribs. Then she stares at them and says it also reflects how she wound up in her current state. Everyone's uncomfortable now, which was kind of the point.[1]
"All cards on the table," Hǎifēng begins. "The truth is that I like watching you fight. But now I feel like I'm about to put my foot in my mouth."
Xương, to Hǎifēng. "Not saying the thing is an option."
"So here's the thing," Hǎifēng continues. "Back in Creation, and I dunno how tight-knit y'all are, but one of you has a real big hard-on for world domination--"
"Naval conquest," Xương clarifies.
"...We're trying to figure out what the deal is with you all are. Sorry, that is rude, but I think my fight might start in a few minutes."
"World domination is big," she says thoughtfully. "And a lot of different folks are into that, I dunno how tight-knit y'all Lunars are."
"There is at least one Lunar who wants to bring 'peace' to the world," Xương comments, not quite wanting to name-drop Ma-Ha-Suchi.
She asks who they're talking about specifically, as she's gotten the vibe they mean somebody particular, and they mention the Captain of the Ashen Umbra. She says she doesn't know all of the Captain's ilk or what they're into... but if the stories are true that they're the ghosts of old Solars, they once ruled the world and might want it back however they can get it. Someone, I think Hǎifēng, asks something along the lines of 'But aren't you a former Solar?'
She clarifies the difference, that they're reincarnations who've come out a little different, but the Deathlords are just straight-up powerful ghosts. Some Deathknights work for them, but she's not much of a joiner.
"Too busy killing people to get with the evil agenda," Xương comments.
She points to Xương and says "This guy gets it," albeit a little too quickly and casually for anyone's comfort. He doesn't say anything in the moment but privately Shango is very glad he hasn't fought her in a situation where there aren't any rules.
Blade Dances Between the Ribs on to explain that she's been tracking down the people both directly and indirectly responsible for her death and sorting them out, as well as making the existences of some ghosts very unpleasant. She mentions that last part with a very unsettling smile. But everyone's reaction can be summarized as "Oh, you're hunting the Guild? Well, shit, don't let us stop you."
She clarifies it's not the whole Guild. But she's crossed some dangerous people and they put a hit out on her and that's how she wound up how she is.
There's a flash and a clang and a knife is embedded in the floor. Hǎifēng reflexively backflips onto a table, crouched and ready to move if need be. The Abyssal holds her blade up, having barely moved aside from raising it to deflect the blade.
"I see we've reached the family meeting portion of the encounter, shall we go?" one of the group (I'm blanking on who and didn't write it down) asks as Rashmi comes out from behind Xương.
There's some back and forth between Rashmi and his sister and I didn't write down all of the details[2]. But some of the gist is that he threw the knife as one more test to prove to himself that it was her and he expected her to deflect it, and she tells him she saw him hiding behind Xương. He calls her out on how she really died, and she gives him shit about abandoning everyone else. He says that they were given the command to kill the Dragon-Blood -- whom he's not convinced was an actual Dragon-Blood -- and scatter, and that's what he did.
So yeah, things are tense. Rashmi clarifies that he's not fighting in the tournament, and that he's definitely not going to be fighting her here, and there's some brief discussion about reconnecting back in Creation at some point.[3] At one point he takes his knife back and she picks her food back up to finish it.
It's about this time when Hǎifēng gets the summons to the ring for their first match. They jump off the table and shift into their hybrid form as they head for the ring. On the way, they activate Terrifying Bestial Visage, making their countenance seem naturally, well, terrifying and predatory. As they get to the ring, they see their opponent is Shichirou the Digger.
Sure, the audience already knows him, but a caption flashes by across the bottom of the 'TV screen' before being washed away by a wave:
Shichirou the Digger
Pirate, former dirt farmer
Second-in-command of the Mistbreaking Princess
The pirate is warming up with his monk's spade using what appear to be White Reaper Style movements.[5] He gives Hǎifēng a respectful (if not entirely friendly) nod. Hǎifēng, for their part, looks totally serious as they drop into a low stance with one foot forward, with one hand up and back and the other forward. They give off a vibe that they're taking this very seriously, and that combined with their Charm is enough to strike some legitimate fear in Shichirou, enough to visibly give him pause.
Hǎifēng then bounces to their feet, do a backflip, and charges into battle, their body blurring with their speed as they reflexively shift into Laughing Monster Form. Their arms leave behind afterimages that form Laughing Monster mudras as they lash out almost 'dancily' to slap Shichirou across the cheek with a fan. They do hold back slightly (thanks to a Charm that Shichirou has access to called Optimistic Security Practice), but it's still enough to stagger him, and then they follow up with another strike. Shichirou puts everything he can into defending, channeling Essence into White Reaper Style defensive techniques.
Hǎifēng's arm slides free of their kimono, revealing a spiderweb pattern in the fur across their back[4] as they strike Shichirou and poison him with Adder Fang Method. He does his best to resist, but the poison can only be held back so much. He drops to one knee, and after a moment gets back up and subtly shifts his grip on his weapon as well as his stance. He then lunges in with a thrust at the Lunar, his weapon striking out with perfect form.
Hǎifēng starts blending what little bit of Dreaming Pearl Courtesan techniques they've picked up into their Laughing Monster style, and in a strange dance the charms blend and things go into slow motion. Shichirou's strike is perfect, as if guided by fate itself[6], but thanks to the poison Hǎifēng is just that little bit faster. They move around the blade of the polearm and reach out to run a single finger up under his chin.
Then they proceed to unleash a combo of rapid-fire strikes while they're within the radius of his weapon. First they backhand him across the face, following with a swipe from their claws. They duck and spin around to kick his legs out from under him, and follow up with a strike and then a final jab with the fan.
Shichirou puts everything he can into his defenses, but it's just not enough and he all but falls onto that final jab. He starts to collapse onto all fours, and Hǎifēng for their part catches him so he doesn't just fall. But he still winds up on the ring, and slaps it once in a clear signal of submission. He whispers "Good match" to Hǎifēng, who replies "Yes, it was," with utmost sincerity. The two of them stop and take in their applause (and at least a few barely-audible comments along the lines of "What was that, it was so fast?" from the stands).
As Hǎifēng leaves, Shichirou gets to his feet. He picks up his monk's spade, looks at it meaningfully for a moment, and then just slings it over his shoulder and heads off of his side of the ring.
Hǎifēng catches up with the others back in their box. Xương says they should have dragged that fight out a bit and put on more of a show. Hǎifēng says they just did what they normally do -- well, with a couple of new techniques, but by and large they did what they normally do. They ask if this was what they're supposed to do. Shango thinks it was fine, but Xương says they could have let Shichirou do something, for showmanship's sake.
"Put your chin in the way," he offers as an example.
"But he would have hit me in the face," Hǎifēng counters, before making it clear that nobody hits them in the face.
Naturally, at this point, Shango just pops Hǎifēng one in the face, only succeeding at the hit because they weren't expecting it. Rashmi says that Shichirou knew what he was getting into, and the subject of Captain Tarok comes up. He points out their viewing box across the arena thanks to the sort of sharp eyes you'd expect from an assassin specializing in thrown weaponry. Rashmi hasn't crossed Tarok's path personally, but he knows they're some sort of rogue Immaculate monk -- either kicked out of the order or on some weird, long-term sabbatical. But Shichirou's been sidekicking for them for a while, and Rashmi says that he could have fought that a bit smarter.
But back on the larger subject, Xương talks about taking one on the chin, and there's some back and forth about what it means to be an entertaining fighter. Shango tries to parlay that into some sort of 'entertain in the sheets, <something> in the streets' joke, but can't quite get it to land. Rashmi jokingly offers to pick a fight with Shichirou so Hǎifēng gets another chance. Xương says that he should at least fight for money if he's going to fight, and Rashmi says that picking a fight would get him kicked out of the tournament and he wouldn't get to watch the resulting fight anyways, so there's no point.
And then Rashmi gets serious for a moment and warns Hǎifēng that since they went all-out against Shichirou, now everybody else has a good measure of just what Hǎifēng is capable of.
And we leave it off there for now.
[0]-- For the Abyssal's voice and demeanor, think Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender. One of those things where I didn't initially intend her to be the inspiration, but wound up leaning into it. But with that in mind, Zac's decided to have Hǎifēng approach like Ty Lee, for the fun of it.
[1]-- We don't have the full 3E rules for Abyssals yet, but there's a non-zero chance she just got some Essence back from that.
[2]-- Admittedly, if I'd thought to do so I'd have roughly planned out their dialogue ahead of time and have an outline or something to work from.
[3]-- I can't remember exactly when it comes up, maybe about now-ish, but given her choice of meeting spot, Rashmi figures out that his sister is still hanging around Chiaroscuro, and lets her know he's been poking around An-Teng.
[4]-- Hǎifēng's been experimenting with Chimera Soul Expression, incorporating spider traits into themselves.
[5]-- White Reaper Style is a polearm-based style, mostly for scythes. I don't know if this is still the case, but in earlier edition it was developed by the elder Lunar known as Lilith, and was kind of a signature of Lunar Exalted. It's mostly good against groups, and it's possible that Shichirou using it in the arena is kind of a mistake when he has other options (that I will not speak of at this time).
[6]-- Full disclosure, Shichirou's lowered the target number on this attack. Some of you should know what this means.
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