Hey there, y'all. Sorry there's been a bit of a gap in Exalted posts, out of play issues caused a bit of a delay and that kinda led two sessions to get smooshed together enough I held back to write them up together as a single blog post. And then other stuff delayed me getting the blog post finished a little later than I've been managing recently. Ah well.
Before I get into it, a bit of personal news -- I feel really awkward saying anything this early in the process, but as it's been formally announced, I'm allowed to say that I'm working on the upcoming Alchemicals splatbook for Exalted 3rd Edition. It's kinda funny that I start running a game using the Essence system, and then I get invited to work on a book using the core rules. Just when I think I'm out...
It's a bit premature to get into exactly what I'm writing for the book, but it's promising to be a fun project and I'm working with some folks with whom I'm genuinely excited to be collaborating. I'll go into more detail when it's appropriate to do so.
And now, let's get Exaltin'!
We left off on the group having a bit of a party with the people of the town of Eslund -- Stray Dog Serenade singing, food, Lecht putting on a shadow play with telekinetically-manipulated bones. At one point Wandering Dawn gives Stray Dog the wooden dog statue he's been carving for him, which is very much appreciated. The Solar's hoping to do more in the future -- he found the process very relaxing.
But after that brief glimpse at the festivities, we jump ahead to the next morning. The trio, plus Stray Dog's entourage (as I've taken to calling them), ride out to Zoran and Visnjya's farm in and alongside Lecht's wagon. They arrive to see plenty of activity at the farm -- mostly soldiers moving in and out of and around the barn, where a standard with the Ragara family crest is planted outside. There's no sign of any violence or serious damage, though some livestock have clearly been left to their own devices in a nearby field. Also, the group heard from the farmers there are about 50 soldiers in the unit that took over the farm, but unless a bunch of people are crammed in the barn for whatever reason, there's maybe only half that many present.
The group approaches the farmhouse, with Lecht going around back while everybody else heads right up to the front door. Stray Dog steps up to the door and knocks, and a soldier opens it with a confused look on his face. Stray Dog asks if he's the commander. The man stares at him for a moment and asks who he is, and the Infernal says he's a representative of an aggregate business concern. The guy blinks, asks the visitor to give him a minute, and closes the door.
Lecht, around back, watches the guy then pop his head out the back window and yell for someone. A woman in her 40's with white and gold armor befitting an officer comes out of the barn with a halberd, and spots Lecht. She gestures to them and asks the soldier "Who the fuck is this?" and the soldier, who hadn't seen Lecht before now, says he doesn't know but there's someone out front to see her. Lecht glares the soldier back inside as the officer approaches, and they inform her their friends out front have some rather important correspondence.
She just gestures for them to come along as she starts to walk around the house -- then pauses and formally, more politely, asks Lecht to come with her. Not that she has to, but she doesn't want to seem rude or dismissive.
The two come around the house, and she sees the group out front and lets out a long-suffering sigh. "I am Scalelord Ragara Seresh. State your business."[0]
"Seeing as you've been using the facilities and supplies of the farm, I'm tasked with bringing you this," Stray Dog says as he offers her the bill that's been prepared, requesting compensation for what the local farms have lost to the soldiers' raids.
She leans her halberd against the outer wall of the house, takes the scroll, reads it over, and sighs again. "I regret the inconvenience, and I don't have the resources or authority to do anything about this, but I can steer you towards someone who can."
Dawn, standing in the middle of Stray Dog's brute squad, asks what she's even doing out there.
"My unit is assigned to an exploratory mission to expand our maps of the area." The response sounds rehearsed, but also true. Lecht gets the distinct impression that she doesn't want to be on this assignment -- and specifically doesn't want to be here, holding the farm, likely on orders from a superior officer of whom she is not fond.
Lecht steps up next to her and lays a hand on her shoulder. "You've had the worst luck, haven't you? Poor thing."
"I don't want to be here longer than necessary, but..." She kind of trails off when she glances over at the brute squad with the group.
Lecht asks about her superior officer, where she's at, etc., and could they all have find them and have a conversation about this. Seresh explains that her superior isn't at the farm at the moment, and she'd rather talk here in any case.
There's some back and forth establishing that the superior officer isn't at the farm at all at the moment and Seresh has been left behind to guard the camp. Her superior is Talonlord Dreadful Thorn ('talonlord' being roughly equivalent to 'lieutenant'), and she left a little while ago and will be back by nightfall. (It's currently morning) She doesn't know exactly where Dreadful Thorn would be (they are, after all, still updating the maps), though if the group wants to have a word with her Seresh could point them in the right direction.
Stray Dog suggests it might be more prudent to leave the town's bill with Seresh.
"You could leave it with me, but..." Seresh concedes. "Are you travelers, mercenaries?"
"Little of column A, little of column B," Stray Dog says with a smile.
"It might be better to talk it to Dreadful Thorn's superior. He's currently camped out near Fella." It's worth noting that's about a week's travel north for the group, and also about the halfway point between Whitewall and Gethamane.
"We're heading up there anyways," Stray Dog says, thoughtfully. "We could take it there."
"What's his name?" Dawn asks.
"Winglord Ragara Ledayo." (Winglord is roughly equivalent to 'captain')
Stray Dog asks if Seresh can give them a letter of introduction. She blinks and stares at him for a moment -- on the surface, Stray Dog definitely doesn't seem like the sort of person who knows what a 'letter of introduction' is. She invites everyone into the farmhouse to continue the conversation.
The house has been turned into an impromptu command center. Someone's clearly made an effort not to trash the place, though a bunch of furniture has been moved around. One of the bigger tables is covered with maps of the area, the officer leads Stray Dog over to it while she grabs something to write a message on the bill -- after all, why waste perfectly good paper.
Lecht does a lap around the table, eyeing various regional maps, some of which have been heavily marked up and annotated. Everything actually seems on the up-and-up, and it looks like there are Realm forces spread out through the region on what looks like a legitimate surveying mission. They also get the distinct vibe that whatever's going on with these troops camped out on the farm is not a planned part of the larger operation. They also find a small map that's been drawn of the area that seems to mark where someone's divided up the area into regions -- could just be marking what's been surveyed and what hasn't yet, but they get a feeling and slip that note into their sleeve.
The sergeant finishes writing her note on the bill, which amounts to a more formal phrasing of 'this is a legitimate grievance, you really should pay these people.' She informs the group that she'd rather not inconvenience the farmers more than necessary, and hopefully her unit will be done with the farm before the bill reaches Ledayo. Wandering Dawn asks about the recent raids.
She dances around it for a moment but then says that yes, the unit's been responsible. She's not proud of it, but points to the bill and says that if they get that to Ledayo, the people of Eslund should be taken care of. Dawn takes affront at the implied ambiguity of the term 'should.' Seresh narrows her eyes slightly and points out that she has no authority to command her captain to do anything or make promises on his behalf -- but she sincerely believes that he's an honorable enough man that he will do what he can to compensate the people, especially since the raids weren't his idea.
But, again, if people are still sore about it, they can take it up with Dreadful Thorn. (After all, Ragara Ledayo is a week away, and Dreadful Thorn's much closer.) At Dawn's request, she points out that she should be a couple of miles to the northeast. And while she doesn't necessarily want the group to fight Dreadful Thorn, she does wish them luck in a tone that suggests more than a little disgust with the whole situation.
So they part ways, and once they're out of the house, Wandering Dawn says that Seresh seems sincere that Ledayo will pay reparations, and -- he suspects -- will probably reprimand Dreadful Thorn. But he suggests they have a chat with her just the same since she's in the area, and ask her to graciously donate any supplies she's still got. Stray Dog's concerned about picking a fight with a force that might make life miserable for the locals once the group leaves.
Lecht tosses out -- not seriously, but just playing devil's advocate -- that if some 'tragic accident' happened to Dreadful Thorn, her second-in-command would be in charge. There's some back and forth about the logistics of tracking her down, catching her alone, maybe making it look like an accident -- or even whether or not it's feasible. But then it also comes up that if Dreadful Thorn is killed, that's going to make it a lot tougher to deal with Ledayo.
But they still go out to have a word (possibly a violent, kinetic and/or pointy word) with Dreadful Thorn.
The map that Lecht picked up reinforces what Ragara Seresh told them about Dreadful Thorn's likely whereabouts, and they venture forth. They pretty quickly pick up signs of the soldiers' passage -- a couple dozen troops on foot (likely not traditional infantry) and someone on horseback. The group is moving in a loose formation more appropriate for scouting or a search than any sort of singular target.
It's not long before the Circle comes up on them, moving across a bit of open land in between stretches of forest. There are soldiers with spears and shortbows, and in the middle is a tall woman on horseback, with brown skin like tree bark and green shoulder-length hair that has a distinctly 'leafy' countenance, and she wears gold and white armor with a bow slung across her back that looks like it's carved out of green marble. Someone is giving her a report, as she looks over something on a scroll. She quickly rolls up the scroll, tucks it into a case at her belt, and holds up a hand and calls out "Hold!" to get everyone's attention before turning towards the approaching group.
A caption across the bottom of the 'screen' reads:
Dreadful Thorn
Wood Aspect
Talonlord of the Third Ragara Legion
Lieutenant serving under Ragara Ledayo
The Circle simply approaches, and while she doesn't immediately go to a combat-ready stance, her men drift into a loose formation, making sure they've got hands free and supplies set aside so as not to weigh them down. When they're a short distance away, she holds up a hand in a clear indication of 'stop' and tells them to state their business.
"Our business is with you!" Stray Dog says, with an eager smile. "Dreadful Thorn, I presume." He and the others continue slowly approaching.
"You presume correctly. And stop right there."
And with that, they do stop.
"What is your business?" she asks.
"Our business is the people who make their livings out this way. Farms, businesses... we're tallying their bill." Stray Dog holds up the aforementioned bill. "For all their stuff taken and damages done."
"Okay. And...?"
"And we've come to recommend you stop it."
She raises an eyebrow. "On whose authority?"
"We were going to take this to your captain in Fella, but we hoped you'd be agreeable in the meantime."
She snorts and looks down her nose at the Circle. "I'll be agreeable, and let you take it to the captain." She makes a dismissive gesture, as if they need her permission to leave.
Wandering Dawn speaks up. "What are you doing out here?"
Lecht mutters "Probably some garbage about redrawing the maps," and Dawn shoots them a look.
"That's what the last six of them said," the Exigent hisses.
Dreadful Thorn, pretending she's not noticing the aside, responds. "We're on a surveying mission. I'm Talonlord Dreadful Thorn, serving under Winglord Ragara Ledayo. We apologize for any inconvenience, and will be on our way shortly."
The answer sounds rehearsed, and as near as Wandering Dawn can tell, is technically true. But he can also tell she's looking for something else, something that's possibly not part of the mission, and wants to get back to it. He quietly says this to the others, and suggests that perhaps there's some First Age artifact.
Stray Dog and Lecht are both surprised -- it seems quite the leap of logic. (Though to be fair, as has been pointed out before, there are a lot of old artifacts and ruins out there due to the couple of apocalypses that Creation has suffered.)
"Maybe not that," Wandering Dawn concedes. "But something equivalent. A group of this size is devoted to finding something."
"Listen, either press her on it, and we get on with our day," Lecht sighs. "Or we sit here trying to concoct a stupid plan that will fail anyway."
Dawn turns back to the officer on the horse, who's also been impatiently waiting for them to shit or get off the pot. (Pardon my French) "Some of this gear does seem like surveying gear, but something tells me you're doing a little more than just updating maps."
"Why am I still talking to you?" she asks with a half-sneer, disdainfully looking down her nose at them. Her tone seems to add an unspoken '...peasants' to the end of the question.
"You are talking to me because I made a vow to try and handle this situation peacefully. But you're making it very hard to keep my promise," Dawn says as he tries to stare her down.
"Take one more step, and consider that vow broken," she threatens.
Dawn subtly glances back at the others to get their take, where Lecht is joking to Stray Dog how strange it is that he dickers over funeral bills for if his followers suffer some misfortune, and here he is presenting a bill to someone.[1] Stray Dog shoots them a look and turns to the officer.
"You should choose your words more carefully," he comments. "You're speaking to the Wandering Dawn."
Dawn's enough of a local name that Dreadful Thorn has at least heard it, and that makes her hesitate.
"Our only interest is in the farmers," Stray Dog continues. "The poor farmers, whose land is being ravaged, and they don't know why. For you, a farm is just supplies, and for them it's their livelihood. And right now we're speaking up for them."
Dreadful Thorn snorts. "They're dirt farmers in the middle of nowhere. It's not for them to know."
Wandering Dawn has moved in closer, as Stray Dog's held her attention. Close enough that he can plant his spear in the ground and use it to vault up over the horse to hit the officer, his Caste Mark glowing as he moves past hitting her to slam the ground with a shockwave that sends the soldiers flying back.[2]
Rather than regain her balance, Dreadful Thorn leaps straight up off her already-startled horse and gives it a smack on the flank to send it running off while she draws her bow and lands as the battle begins.
As Stray Dog's entourage rushes her, the Infernal stands back, exhaling a lungful of smoke that illuminates strands of Essence that he manipulates with his fingernails, building up power for sorcery. Lecht, similarly, channels nectrotic Essence through their arms to send a well-timed blast at Dreadful Thorn as she tries to fend off Stray Dog's goon squad.
She notices her troops are already starting to scatter from the shock of the sudden assault, and she calls out to them. "Keep it together, you stand with a Prince of the Earth!" Then she fires a shot from her bow at Lecht, who braces themself to deflect it with the Grave Warden.
Meanwhile, the emboldened troops rush back with as much speed as they can muster, swarming over Wandering Dawn, but they're unprepared for how well he can fend them off. Dreadful Thorn takes advantage of the opportunity to fire at Dawn, drawing and launching a pair of arrows at him. He manages to deflect both, though at some effort -- and in fact, when he deflects the second shot, one that would have been deadlier, it hits his spear exactly so it ricochets at Lecht just as she'd intended (though they manage to block the attack as well).[3]
Stray Dog, once he's got the Essence strands how he wants them, whistles a signal to his entourage. They create an opening for him as he calls upon sorcery to conjure a slab of obsidian, shattering it with his palm and sending shards that whirled like butterflies at them. They swarm around Dawn, ignoring him entirely, as they tear up Dreadful Thorn and the soldiers.
Lecht moves in quickly to plant themselves solidly in front of the Dragon-Blood to deliver a point-blast burst of Essence right to her midsection. There's actually a bit of a bulge from the shockwave as it travels through her and shatters her armor, and sends her flying back. She falls to the ground, unconscious, her soldiers fleeing as their resolve has finally bent far enough to snap.
And, from the destroyed case on Dreadful Thorn's belt, a scroll flutters through the air and lands in Lecht's hands. At first glance, it appears to be a treasure map.
And we leave off there...
[0]-- It's been a while, but the footnotes return! I didn't write down exactly when she introduced herself, so I'm putting it here. Scalelord, BTW, is roughly equivalent to Sergeant as a rank. A 'scale' is a unit of 25 soldiers. Five scales make a 'talon.' Two talons make a 'wing.' Two wings make a 'dragon.' Ten dragons make a legion. There will be a test later.
[1]-- I'm not entirely sure why this seemed to be the time to make that joke, but I'm just the Storyteller.
[2]-- For mechanical context as to what happened, Dawn started off using a multiple-attack Charm to hit the Dragon-Blood with the first attack and the soldiers with the second, and supplemented the second attack with Heaven Thunder Hammer to add the knockback.
[3]-- Again, multiple action Charm for her (Revolving Bow Technique) for first a withering and then a decisive attack, and when the decisive attack missed she used No Arrow Wasted to redirect it at Lecht.
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