Greetings again, folks. Sorry I got a little behind on last week's post. Sun willing, I'll be able to get myself together to get a little better about that in the future.
Before I get into it, if you haven't seen/heard elsewhere, this past Friday (the 7th) I did a reading of the first half of my short story "The Kit Gloves Are Off" from Samhain Secrets: World Premiere. I'll be doing the second half this Friday (April 14th). It'll be over at the Blackwarren Books Discord at 8PM Eastern time. It should be noted I'm not simply doing some character voices, but narrating as well.
And on a less personal note, just another reminder that the Trinity Continuum Players Guide crowdfunding campaign is live over on Backerkit. They've already publicly previewed the fiction I wrote (for the record, you don't have to know the game or the setting for the fiction to make sense), and this Tuesday backers should get the actual game content I wrote as well. Which has me quaking in both anticipation and dread.
Anyhow, considering that is sending me down a mental rabbit hole when I should be getting us into this week's Exalted session!
We pick back up on Xương returning to the group's viewing box after his exhibition match with Shichirou the Digger, just looking like utter hell. Hǎifēng remarks that that looked grueling. Xương says he's just tired, but he thinks he learned a lot about their friend.[0] Shichirou's seemed pretty puissant in his handful of fights, given that it's been explained that the 'enhanced mortals' among the competitors are supposedly just taken up to the level of a basic Dragon-Blood, and Xương doesn't think that that's what Shichirou is. Partially because of his reaction when Xương called him a 'dirt-blood.' But he also mentions the 'poem' that Shichirou was muttering after Xương beat him (really, a sutra, but while Sean knows what a sutra is, Xương doesn't). Xương recites the couple of bits he heard, those last two lines: "Each time she gasped and found no breath, a human child died, and thus, she lived. 'Survival is acceptance,' she said."
(The whole thing is in last week's blog post's footnotes, BTW)
Hǎifēng racks their brain but can't place it, but they're pretty sure it's some sort of bullshit. Xương, at this point, goes to sit down and just collapses into a seat, just worn down. Hǎifēng goes to rub his shoulders, even doing the 'elbow between the shoulder-blades' thing and just generally showing appreciation for him. Something about the tournament environment has really let the group grow closer over the last couple of in-character days, which while it might not be as explicitly acknowledged in-character as the characters might not think about it in those terms, we're all aware of out-of-character.[1]
We then proceed to montage through some background fights, most of them with pretty much 'background extra' fighters. One fight does stand out, though... The student of the demon school, vs the 'Empress.' The ring reshapes itself into some sort of grand hall, like the entrance hall to a fortress.[2]
The camera spins around to zoom in on the guy with the tetsubo as he struts in like a pro wrestler with the tetsubo slung over one shoulder like it's an umbrella. The following caption sizzles into the bottom of the 'screen,' as if burned in with a brand:
The Fist of Yirageth
(aka Katro Taris)
Demon-blooded Earth Aspect Terrestrial Exalt
Student of Suntarankal
Survivor of the Crucible of Brass and Iron
And then it zooms over to the 'Empress,' where a caption looks like it's about to appear but instead just glitches out into a series of question marks.
The camera then cuts back to the Fist of Yirageth (whom I'm just going to call 'Fist' for now)[3], taunting the 'Empress' as she stares impassively at him. The group can't hear what he's saying, but the sheer posturing energy comes across well enough. He gets pissed and swings the tetsubo at her, and she just casually dodges with the barest effort -- a lean here, a slight ducking there -- until she dramatically springs back with a flourish. Hǎifēng recognizes she's using Dreaming Pearl Courtesan techniques. The Fist aims the tetsubo's embedded Essence cannon at her and fires a blast like a shotgun, but she just kind of flash-steps through it until she's in close range, and she socks him in the jaw with the heel of her palm and he drops.
"First fall," she says, her voice resonating through the arena.
Fist gets up and comes at her again, his anima banner blazing, and she reaches up and plucks the tetsubo out of his hand and tosses it aside. "This is why I don't trust weapons," Xương observes as the Dragon-Blood starts throwing punches at her. But she smacks his hands away with the simplest movements (wax on, wax off, etc.) and still barely any effort, until he sprouts monstrous claws and swings at her. She still dodges or blocks every strike, and he stops to yell at her in a dialect of Old Realm that the magical masks don't translate but Xương recognizes enough to know it's something really nasty[4], while his teeth visibly turn into fangs. He lunges at her to try and grab her and she flash-steps out of his grip and he falls over.
"Second fall."
Fist gets back up and grabs the tetsubo and slams it into the ground hard enough to send a wave rippling across the floor, which she just calmly rides out. He then jams the tip into the ground and with an explosion launches himself into the air. He comes down on her, swinging the weapon and it looks like it hits -- until she explodes into black glass and appears behind him as if she's always been there.
A number of individuals around the arena suddenly stand up, shocked, and Xương notes that it's mostly folks like Anys Syn, Bahal Hesh, and the like -- individuals whom, if they appear visibly concerned about a martial arts move someone just busted out, you should be concerned as well. Like seeing someone in a 'bomb squad' shirt make a run for it.
Meanwhile, down in the ring, she simply zips up behind Fist and hits him in the neck with some sort of pressure strikes, and he drops.
"Third fall," she announces before she walks out.
The crowd isn't going wild, but many of them are more than a little impressed -- though none of them the same folks who were very worried. Magos comes up and pokes Fist in the shoulder, and he gets up with a start to show that he's fine. He starts walking away with a piece of black glass stuck in his face, and there's a moment where Magos gets his attention and lets him know, and he just pulls out and drops it. Magos sighs, shakes their head, and calls a one-hour break to clean up the ring.
"She worries me," Hǎifēng says.
Xương argues that she's clearly here to send a message to someone but he's not sure who. Everything about her seems to be a message for somebody, which seems to be the general consensus. Hǎifēng's not even sure what she's doing, and there's probably no way of knowing what that is until she shows her hand. Xương agrees.
Hǎifēng asks if it's possible that she might've been in on whatever Sombre Crane was doing. Xương thinks that she's definitely up for something bigger. But it might also be a coincidence; that maybe they both came to this tournament with different agendas in mind. He doesn't think there's anything to gain from assuming they're connected, but if it's a coincidence then it's a weird coincidence.
Shango suggests that maybe he knew what her deal is and latched onto that, but she didn't know his. Hǎifēng says that he's in custody and they're questioning him so if there's something they'll be able to find it. After all, Hǎifēng can do that, and if they alone can do that then the various entities running the tournament certainly can. Xương says Hǎifēng should try to arrange a chance to do that, and Hǎifēng explains they'd have to hit her -- they're mostly referring to the thing where they hit someone and pop out an imp that can express your thoughts and secrets... which could be fun, if they get the opportunity. Xương asks if they can dance circles around her like she could around the demon school guy, and Hǎifēng says they don't know. But they're probably not going to fight her today anyhow.
But the group relaxes and opens up Xương's corn dog stand for the duration of the break, and as they're called back Hǎifēng gets called up for the next match. They leap out of the viewing box and sail gracefully through the air wuxia-style, and as they arrive over the center of the arena they throw their hands towards the ground and come in like Tuxedo Mask... but instead of showing up with a spray of roses embedded in the ground, it's corn hogs, impaled in the ground stick-first.
The ring is done up to look like a road passing through a scraggly bit of winter forest, with bare trees and dry grass. Hǎifēng's opponent, the guy I've often described as looking kind of like Vlad Tepes, steps forth. They both take their stances, the camera focusing on Hǎifēng's opponent as a caption appears on the screen looking like snow built up into the letters:
Grigore Avakhorana
Dawn Caste Solar
Warrior of the Touman Clans
Aspiring Lieutenant to the Bull of the North
"You know, I've seen that stance," Hǎifēng remarks, indicating Grigore's sword and scabbard. "If you can fight with a partner, I think I can too." They jump into the air with a spin and spawn a pair of clones. The first clone lands in a three-point stance that mirrors Hǎifēng's and snaps a fan open over their mouth to hide their teeth as they let out a monkey scream. The second comes out juggling the war fans and snapping them like castanets before going into a battle stance.
Now I'm gonna take a moment and highlight something Zach did I thought was very cool, the sort of thing that were it less cool would go in the footnotes. To keep the entire group involved in the battle in some way, Zach had Hǎifēng use their duplication power to create copies that could then be played by Sean (Clone A) and Bryan (Clone B). The clones are limited in actual power, but they still have Hǎifēng's physicality (including mutations), raw skill, and simulacra of their weapons. It was a very cool moment and I just wanna call out Zac for doing something that was simple on the surface but contributed a lot to the session. So, getting back to it...
As Clone B gets into position to defend Hǎifēng, Clone A immediately goes after Grigore, wasting no time going straight for blood, twirling widdershins towards him and seeking flesh with every swing. They come at him like a windmill of death, which he manages to block with his scabbard at first, sparks coming off of it, but eventually Clone A manages to get a fan around the scabbard to slash his arm and get a poison into him that, despite the power of Exaltation, he can't quite resist.
Grigore wobbles and his vision blurs. He draws his blade to strike back at Clone A, at which point Hǎifēng uses Inauspicious Moment of Attack to intervene. Just as Grigore goes to swing, several resounding thunderclaps go off directly in his ear, sounding like rolling cracking thunder and throwing off his already-overwhelmed senses. And this leaves an opening for Clone A to strike again -- after a quick high-five with Hǎifēng -- and strike at a weak spot in his armor, hitting him and delivering another dose of poison. At which point Hǎifēng takes advantage of the opening from that to dash in and claw his neck.
But despite being off-balance, the poison doesn't slow him down enough to stop him from taking another swing at Hǎifēng. He's not sure which he's aiming at, but the blade's headed towards the real one -- who then interrupts him again with an assault of rainbows and chimes on his senses. Which also leaves him open to a distraction from Clone B, who's taunting him and sticking their tongue out and leaving him open to another attack from Hǎifēng.
After that, Grigore tries to center himself as he thinks he's got a moment to catch his breath, wondering if it's over, when Clone B slips in and drops him with a double-uppercut from both fans.
The judges call it in Hǎifēng's favor as the dust settles to reveal Hǎifēng and the clones clasping hands and letting out some feral monkey screams, kind of a 'Go Team Venture' moment. They romp for a moment to set up a moment where Hǎifēng strikes a dramatic pose and the clones dissolve into silver dust. The crowd cheers, and Hǎifēng catches Anys Syn out in the crowd giving them a little half-bow of respect. Hǎifēng leaps into the air and poofs into a bird and flies back up to the box, where they reunite with the rest of the Circle in an "I love you guys" sort of moment.
And we leave it there.
[0]-- As a quick reminder, up until now the group has been led to believe that Shichirou is an ordinary mortal, enhanced for the tournament. They don't know that he's actually a Sidereal, operating at Captain Tarok's side for some reason that I can't explain here without the Arcane Fate causing the document file to crash. I might do a mini-fic touching on it, though.
[1]-- Personally, I think it's because all in all, it's a relatively low-stakes story but the group is still being put into scenarios where they're encouraged to give their all. Also, they're being left to just relax and find little bits of direction for themselves and riffing on that, and finding opportunities to get personal with it (like with Hǎifēng's issues with Heaven's collective role in everything).
[2]-- I think in the moment I actually forgot to describe a 'stage' for both of the fights in this session. Which is annoying, so I'm retconning in some 'stage dressing' that doesn't really affect the fight anyhow, because I'm mad with power.
[3]-- I know it doesn't make much sense to reveal names for NPCs that the group isn't likely to actually learn in-character. But it makes it easier for me to describe them in the narrative. Also, sometimes, coming up with these names usually involves sketching out a little bit of backstory to justify/explain them, at least to myself. So, y'know, let me have this.
[4]-- Also, it's Infernal Old Realm, which is why the masks don't translate it. He's literally cursing her out in demon-speak.
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