Hello again, greetings, etc. and so forth! Here with another Exalted write-up. However, some business before pleasure.
First, as a reminder, a book I worked on, a Scion book I worked on, Realms of Magic and Mystery, is available in advance PDF! It's a book about otherworldly realms for Scion Second Edition, and I go into a larger pitch here.
Second, another book I worked on is about to go to crowdfunding, sort of. It was originally a Trinity Continuum supplement for the 'Core' line called "Brave New Worlds," but the 'sort of' is that it's been combined with the "Talent Player's Guide" into the Trinity Continuum Player's Guide! It's being crowdfunded through Backerkit, and goes live on March 28th at 2pm Eastern US time. Sign up to be notified here! I'll likely have a separate post going into more detail on that (to the extent of my ability to do so) at some point. I'd have more but it's a pretty recent announcement.
And with that, let's get into it.
We pick up a couple of seconds before we left off last time, with Hǎifēng and Magos rushing into the group's chambers where Magos makes a beeline for Bageru, who's still soothing his head after a beating with a bit of celestial wine and an ice pack.
"Bageru, you remember the 'Empress's assistant, right?" Magos ask.
"Sure, why?" the badger-headed god replies.
"Who is he?" asks the god who should be familiar with who's assisting the VIPs and probably personally handpicked them for those assignments.
Bageru's eyes widen when he realizes where Magos is going with this. "I... don't know."
"Neither do I. So why don't we know who that is?" Magos asks dramatically.
Magos then turns to the rest and explains that while they don't know everyone who works in the arena, they were part of hiring and assigning the VIPs' (including competitors and spectators) assistants/escorts. In all the hassle of being on the ground running the event (I'd compare Magos to a convention chair in this regard), the total stranger just kind of blurred together with all of the people they do know but might need a moment to remember the name of. But there's no good reason why they shouldn't know who the guy with the 'Empress' is.
Magos goes off to the side and gets in touch with security through their magic collar to try and get a handle on what's going on. Hǎifēng mentions that this seems odd, because they figure that Heaven would be much better-run. Shango agrees, and Bageru quickly points out that despite appearances, the tournament isn't a sanctioned operation. The Powers That Be in Heaven (meaning that both in the politically-powerful sense as well as the Incarnae[0]) aren't running the show, even if a few powerful gods are spectating. The group, kind of talking over each other, mentions the 'demon army' and I think the feasibility of sneaking into Heaven. Bageru's quick to point out those aren't demons, and Hǎifēng claifies that they're fae. And Bageru continues and says that it's not impossible to sneak in, but it's tough. My notes are a little muddled on this point (I'm wondering if I accidentally mistyped and deleted a line or something) but someone -- I think Bageru, but maybe this is where Magos rejoined the group -- mentions that Rashmi's probably being grilled by the Celestial Lions because he's 'weird,' no offense intended to anyone, and the subject of waking up Xương comes up. Somebody, I think Shango, jokingly suggests throwing some raw meat in there. Hǎifēng yells out to Xương that someone's ripping off his corn hogs, and that gets him awake and present.
The group (including Magos, who's definitely back by now if they weren't before) gets Xương up to speed as he gets some damn fine coffee. Magos says that security's on it, but they're not really inclined to sit down and wait. So they ask for suggestions on how to find this guy. Hǎifēng mentions that by all rights, he should be with the 'Empress', possibly in her chambers.
Xương mentions that he didn't think much of it at the time, but it does seem weird in retrospect that she was in Hornet's room when he went to rough him up. Now, as this is the first time he's mentioned having been to Hornet's room, that gets some "Wait, what?" reactions, particularly from Shango.
But this winds up being the perfect opportunity for Hǎifēng to point out to Magos that technically, by the rules, they're not supposed to be fighting outside the ring, and they're not sure on Magos' authority on that subject. Magos says that if the guy's there and he tries anything, they have the authority to say 'go for it.' Xương grins and says that suspending the rules leads to some of his favorite things. Hǎifēng clarifies they just wanted to check because they're doing well in the tournament and would like to finish it. Shango says that Hǎifēng could hang back, and he and Xương could do the fighting and thus take the blame since they don't have any investment in the tournament at this point.
But the group talks for a minute and makes plans to go to Her Redness' chambers and check for the guy, and Magos confirms they have the authority to just barge in. Magos leads the group out, but Bageru stays behind -- the Lunars are more than capable, and Magos has at least some skill (their father is a war god, technically) -- but Bageru's not a fighter. He's a former city god moonlighting to pay off some favors, and while Magos doesn't have any official position in Heaven's bureaucracy, in the context of the tournament and the arena they outrank pretty much anyone who couldn't casually overrule them by force anyways.[1]
So they get to her door and Magos uses a little panel next to it to ring the doorbell, as it were. There's no response and they wait a minute and shrug and say "Well, I knocked." Hǎifēng, anticipating the obvious, steps out of the way to make sure they're not between Xương and the door, but Magos just opens it. Xương prefers to knock doors down and Hǎifēng certainly expected as such, but nobody's going to complain that hard.
They go into the chambers, similar to the group's though smaller as it's only the 'Empress' staying there. The lights are dim but Hǎifēng turns them on to find evidence of a recent gathering over tea, and Xương tests the tea for temperature to find it's lukewarm. There's some discussion about testing it for poison, just in case -- Xương's sturdy enough he's willing to risk it, but Hǎifēng actually has the capacity to handle poisons, as their hybrid form incorporates traits of monkeys that eat certain plants and fruits until they themselves become poisonous.[2] So they proceed to dip a finger into each cup -- the variety is the same one that Xương had at the teahouse that morning, 'Noble Killer' -- and lick it. It's fine.
"If you wish to speak to the lady, she's out," the assistant says, standing in the corner. And it's not like he was hidden there and just revealed himself or anything -- somehow he wasn't there a moment ago, but is now. He's pale, skinny, with white hair and glasses, and he's dressed in that same style of outfit that all of the assistants have been wearing. (I imagine him looking a lot like a younger version of the nameless council page from the first season of Legend of Korra.)
Hǎifēng explains that they're all here to talk to him, actually. Or at least Magos needs to talk to him, and they just ask outright who he is.
He takes his glasses off and, with an unsettling chuckle, says that's a funny question. They explain, as Xương moves into optimum biting range, that somewhere in Arjuf Province on the Blessed Isle was a little farming village that the group would have never heard of. But they did something one year to upset their House Ledaal masters, probably fall short on their arbitrarily-increased taxes, he's not sure, and they were wiped out by the magistrates. Most likely to make an example of them to the others. One of the farmers was a man named Crane, from a family where all of the brothers and sisters were named after birds because their parents were quirky like that. Crane was the last one to die, and as he lay dying he had a dream of getting back up and striking down the magistrates, of humbling the mighty. The man insists that he is that living dream, and calls himself Sombre Crane.
On the 'TV screen at home,' as he says that, his voice calm in that way one only hears from the utterly mad, this caption appears across the bottom...
Sombre Crane
Living Dream
"The mighty must be humbled."
Magos squints at him, using Measure the Wind on him in a way that's blatant plot-device handwaving on my part, and says "No, you're not, you're something else. You're some sort of Exalt."[3]
The camera jumps back to the previous shot of Sombre Crane, the caption revising itself as:
Sombre Crane
Dream-Souled
Chosen of Ketu, the Dreaming Prince
"The mighty must be humbled."
"No, no I'm not," he snarls, fist clenching as the room goes pitch black. After a couple of moments Xương's night vision kicks in and Hǎifēng spends a mote of Essence to light up their Caste Mark to use as a flashlight.
They appear to be underwater -- there's no actual water around them, but everything looks like they should be at the bottom of the ocean, standing amid the ruins of a shipwreck. It's like standing on a theater stage (or movie set) dressed up to evoke such a location, or an empty aquarium. Hǎifēng closes their eyes and focuses, listening to everything, trying to get a sense of what's around them. But for now all they hear is Sombre Crane's voice, the source inscrutable, as he explains that he saw an opportunity to sneak into Heaven and found it. The mighty must be humbled, he argues, they must all be made to feel weak at least once before they can continue.
Xương can't entirely argue with the basic premise, even if he's not as keen on his methods. Hǎifēng just finds it hilarious because that implies that Sombre Crane plans to eventually try to humble the Unconquered Sun. Which, to be fair, is a pretty hilarious notion.
Sombre Crane says "I've got other plans for you," and Magos just vanishes into the ground, like it opened up and swallowed them (and conveniently gave me one less NPC to worry about in the upcoming fight scene).[4]
Xương growls "Give me something to hit already."
Hǎifēng feels the rumbling first, something moving around in the ground beneath them. Then they hear it, and prepare to strike in the direction from which it's coming. Xương snarls, eyes rolling all around him as he tenses up, and he powers up the magic armor he got from the Empty Palace. But the rumbling is all around the group as skeletons burst out of the ground, clawing at Shango's legs and trying and failing to bring him down as the rest of the group manages to dodge their grasping and stabbing.
Hǎifēng leaps into the fray, blurring, putting everything they've got into kicks and backhands and tossing skeletons around like rag dolls. They move into a blur, and not just because Laughing Monster techniques include an afterimage, and after about a minute of solid movement they wipe out the entire group of skeletons.[5] And as they come down from that series of strikes, they just let out a primal scream.
"Did you even taste it, before you swallowed the whole thing?" they hear Sombre Crane ask. "That was supposed to be an appetizer, but..."
And he trails off, giving them a moment's breather before vaguely-humanoid undersea abominations begin to lumber in from the sides. Big, muscle-y, misshapen things, like smaller alternate versions of Xương's full 'Deadly Beastman' form.
From the cloud of bone dust, Hǎifēng cracks their head and goes over this batch too, tangling up their threads of Essence, using precision strikes and directing their weight and momentum against each other to wipe them out as well. They saunter back to the others who've been watching. "I'm out," they say, glaring and frazzled and pretty well spent of their Essence.
So then two more beasties show up -- just two, but much bigger and more monster-y. Xương steps up to take a swing at one, which kind of no-sells it. Shango loads a feather into Weirdflame to turn it into something like napalm and blasts the horror, getting it burning at least. At which point it snarls and leaps at him with a pounce attack, knocking him down and thoroughly savaging him with its claws. The other one rushes at Xương, who says "Finally" and widens his stance and gestures it forward, bracing itself. And it hits him hard enough that he does feel it, but not enough to really hurt him.
Hǎifēng, who's been catching their breath, sees that Shango's actually in some bad shape and stands up. They come out with their war fans in a leap with windmill slices, slashing up the beast standing over him, infusing their fans with poison that not only weakens the creature but blinds it. They carry forth the momentum to keep slashing at it, tearing it apart, and then they try to turn their attention to the other but barely take a chunk out of it before getting tangled up in their own limbs.
Xương, having taken a step back when Hǎifēng shifted targets, spots a flaw in their movements but doesn't have time to warn them -- but he can move fast enough to take advantage of an opening they provide, grabbing the creature to toss it around and sink his teeth into it. He shakes his head, sawing his teeth back and forth through its flesh.
Sombre Crane's voice echoes through the room. "I got one of you, the other is half-humbled, but the big one needs to be taken down a peg."
The creature that Xương's chewing on vanishes in a puff of smoke, and there's a man there with elaborate robes and a sword. He lunges at Xương, who just snarls "Idiot," and tries to smack him away. But the guy blurs around or possibly through his arm to slice him across the gut (for what little it does).
Angered by all this, and lumbering with the subdued force of a titan, Xương powers up his Savage Moonsilver Talons and brings them down on him in a strike that would easily cleave a mortal in twain. But instead it tears up the man and slams him against the ground, and all of a sudden the real world has reasserted itself and Sombre Crane lays there, gasping and severely wounded.
"Halfway humbled, my ass," Hǎifēng sneers as we leave off there.
[0]-- Well, just to clarify, none of the Incarnae are running the show, even if some of them might have turned up in attendance.
[1]-- To clarify: Magos isn't an exceptionally powerful god, by the standards of deific power. And unlike Hǎifēng, they're not any sort of combat monkey (heyooo), but it would take someone pretty powerful to just casually bat them aside without putting up a fight long enough for help to arrive.
[2]-- Inspired by a thing that happens in actual nature, but Zac used the Lore ability to 'introduce a fact' to handwave them into existence in Creation on one of the Southwestern islands.
[3]-- Sombre Crane is in fact Crane, just having had a near-death experience and Exalted by an entity from beyond the Wyld. He's a 'Dream-Souled,' one of what fans call the Apocryphal Exalted, because they're hypothetical Exalts that the books' canon doesn't assume exist. There's a whole story there, but I'll skip that for now (if you want to know, ask) and just say they're in an appendix in the upcoming Exigents: Out of the Ashes. They've got weird illusion and reality-warping powers (among other things) that I kinda handwaved a bit for a few reasons for this scene. You'll see.
[4]-- It didn't occur to me that it could be interpreted this way until I was writing this up for the blog, but for the record, my earlier footnote about how not just anyone could steamroll Magos wasn't meant to be any sort of foreshadowing for this.
[5]-- Seriously, Laughing Monster Style's got some stuff that's ridiculous against battle groups, and Hǎifēng managed to wipe out a Size 3 battle group (albeit just barely) with a single attack. In-character, that's like a hundred guys.
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