Alright, here we are again, as I'm getting caught up on Exalted posts. As of this posting, after completing this one I'll have... ugh, four left, including the session we just had. I really kinda fell apart in June, didn't I?
(This also means that I might screw up or fudge details in the talkier bits, and I apologize if I get something wrong. If one of my players sees this and lets me know, I'll fix it.)
In addition, I finished up and posted a character build the other day, too. You can find it over here, where I made a Kitsune Bard based on my fursona (because I'm furry trash) in Pathfinder 2e Remastered.
Anyhow...
We pick up with the group in the tunnels, having just discovered Zephyr the missing adventurer. Zephyr's a middle-aged man, pale, with very light blue hair -- like that shade you see in anime that looks kinda silver. He's got one leg missing below the knee and walks on a sturdy, well-crafted crutch. He looks a little malnourished, with some stubble, and he's a little twitchy like he hasn't slept.
Lecht begins by telling him that they're here because he failed to check in. I can't remember if they mention it now or later, but they make sure he knows they're working with Nadia. Zephyr explains that he's been lost and unable to find his way out. He's pretty sure he's been down there about a week, but he can't tell without any indication of a day-night cycle (even Gethamane's magic crystals brighten and dim to match the sunrise and sunset outside). He babbles on about how the tunnels seem to move -- not like a snake, or anything, not undulating, but rearranging themselves like a child's blocks.
That gets the group glancing uneasily at each other, and not just because they know he's been missing for at least a month.
Lecht gets him back on-topic by asking if he acquired the asset. Excited, he says he found it but hasn't been able to free it from the mechanism. He's afraid of setting off some trap or breaking something. He was thinking of going back to the city and getting some help, but hasn't been able to find his way back.
Wandering Dawn comments that he's been down there about a month, which surprises him. He's certain it's been a week, tops. But Wandering Dawn confirms with Lecht that it has been a month, and asks Zephyr about his supplies, where he's been getting his food and water. He says he brought down enough supplies to last him "maybe two weeks, if I'm willing to suffer," but he's got a few days left.
As near as anyone can tell, he seems to believe what he's saying, but there's definitely something 'off' about him, and the group also realizes that he's not carrying any sort of light source.[0] Stray Dog mentions this to him, and he fiddles with a bunch of charms and amulets hanging around his neck and under his coat and says one of his talismans lets him see in the dark, it's got a blessing from a star-spirit. As he says that, they spot a flicker of silver in his eyes like an animal's eyeshine -- either a sign of said talisman or something else, it's tough to tell.
He confirms that they're here looking for the Star Taker, and he says he can lead them back to where he found it. He turns around a few times, getting his bearings, and leads them deeper into the tunnels. As he moves, Lecht notes that he's casting a translucent shadow from the magic lantern -- the lantern which, for some reason, produces light that doesn't cast shadows for humans. As Lecht notices this, Wandering Dawn notices with his direction sense that Zephyr is taking them off-course. It's possible this is the first part of a roundabout route, but it doesn't feel like it.
Wandering Dawn stops to mention this to the others, and Lecht tells them about the weird shadow. About this time, the group has Stray Dog's entourage and Dawn's wolverine Mollie hang back a bit (with the former making their own map of the group's movements, just in case). While they're stopped, Stray Dog notices some carvings in the walls -- very simply-done, like a child's finger-drawings in cement even though the walls are solid rock.[1] He can sort of understand them, as they're a dialect of Old Realm. They're very simple markings left regularly on the walls and at intersections, pointing out dangerous spots, directions of ruins, etc. They're very vague, but they certainly suggest Zephyr is leading them into trouble -- and something labeled as a 'vein.'
In fact, he's still slowly making his way ahead as if he hasn't noticed they stopped. Wandering Dawn asks if they should confront him, and Lecht suggests they keep following. If there's some sort of guardian they have to confront, they'll probably run into it anyways. Besides, if they confront him now, he's either going to lie, run, or just attack them. They have the advantage in that they know but he doesn't know that they know, so Lecht argues they let him have his fun.
So they start following him again and catch up while Lecht muses that fighting a giant snake might be fun. As Zephyr continues onward, the carvings indicate the 'vein' approaches shortly before they start noticing chunks of some sort of ore in the walls. Lecht recognizes the ore as soulsteel -- a rare find, in Creation, and he thinks they must be approaching whatever trap is going on. Stray Dog points the soulsteel out to Zephyr and asks him why it hasn't been mined out for artifacts.
Zephyr is surprised at that, apparently not having noticed it. He says he's heard of treasure hunters coming down into the tunnels and returning with chunks of magical materials, including soulsteel, but not everyone talks about what they find because the Gethamane city authorities have a tendency to 'tax' treasure-seekers. Stray Dog uses Mind-Hand Invocation, the telekinesis Charm he's had at the ready, to pry a fist-sized chunk of soulsteel out of the wall for Lecht as a gift.
The Infernal then takes a closer look at the markings and asks his unwoven coadjutor who left them. Tapping into the knowledge and memories of the demon city Malfeas, Stray Dog learns that the carvings were left by the Mountain Folk -- a race of dwarf-like creatures who primarily live in the Underways of Creation, mostly around the Imperial Mountain.[2] Which is a fun background fact, though not immediately relevant to the story.
Zephyr, or whomever he is, continues leading the group further down into the tunnels. Lecht hears something up ahead, something like a sloshing noise, and pauses to comment to the others they're about to receive their surprise. Zephyr looks back and encourages everyone to keep going. Lecht says "Right, because the Star Catcher is up ahead?" they ask, deliberately using the wrong name to trip him up and Zephyr nods and says "That's right" as he leads them on further.[3]
They come to a large, open chamber with lots of stalactites and stalagmites and a big pit in the middle. Zephyr says they're almost there, and Lecht asks if he means 'to the pit.'
Zephyr stops as if he's just now noticing it and, confused, says that wasn't there before. But the complex of tunnels 'changes and moves and lives and breathes.' He insists that the ruin with the astrolabe was right there. Stray Dog asks if it's possible it collapsed, and Zephyr takes a closer look to the pit.
It's at about this point when Stray Dog notices something... fluid come off of one of the stalactites up above, shifting into a winged quicksilver creature and swooping at him. He warns the others before using Mind-Hand Invocation to grapple it in mid-air and drag it down into stabbing range while it squirms in his grip.
Zephyr sees this and gasps. "Oh no, it's... it's happening again!"
Wandering Dawn, who failed his Awareness roll, notices the creature and dives at it with his glowing hookswords, doing the classic two-handed x-strike on it. His anima banner's glowing brighter now, and the chamber shudders a bit as something beneath them stirs. Lecht tries to blast the thing with a Crypt Bolt, but it just kind of sloshes around the blast, but they do send the Bone Lion (which I'd almost forgotten about) at it as the creature struggles.
While everyone's is focused on that, Zephyr runs up behind Wandering Dawn -- unnaturally-so, given they're only supposed to have one leg -- and his body starts to lose his cohesion Thing-style as he tries to grapple Wandering Dawn with a pseudopod. Wandering Dawn whirls around and sees this and yells "What the hell?!" as he pulls the pseudopod away with one of the sword-hooks.
Distracted by this, partially due to having not just failed but botched their Awareness roll a moment ago, Lecht completely misses another creature spread across the dark chamber's floor like a puddle coming up and enveloping them and dragging them to the ground where they're held immobile.
Well, immobile until the creature starts dragging them to the pit.
Stray Dog glares at the winged creature, flapping frantically in his invisible grip, and tries to crush it. "Die," he says, his voice presumably having that reverb has when someone's ominously using psychic powers. Then he spots the creature on the floor engulfing Lecht and splits his focus as best he can, throwing out his other arm to grab it and hold it still.
Wandering Dawn, worried about Lecht, puts everything he's got into a dismissive backhand to Zephyr to knock him away. But in his worry he manages to hit him hard, and there's a flash of light as he sends the half-transformed man flying. Zephyr slams into the wall hard enough to leave a massive dent in it before exploding into a puff of silver dust.
Lecht, squirming and fighting, manages to pull themselves free while they're at the edge of the pit thanks in part to Stray Dog's assistance holding it there. They send the Bone Lion at it as they try to scramble to safety.
Meanwhile, Stray Dog's entourage and Mollie, who've been hanging back, have been frantically trying to catch up and are finally in range to go after the creatures.[4] They focus on the flier first, the former group smacking it back and forth like a piñata while Mollie tries to maul it. But in all this, it manages to escape as Stray Dog strains to hold both monsters with his mind. It rears up and swoops at him, and it's all he can do to push it aside with his telekinesis.
Lecht, having gotten to their feet, calmly walks over to the still-pinned slime creature. The Grave Warden thumps against the ground as they walk, the chimes on the staff clinking along the way. They study the squirming monster for a moment, and put their hand where they think it's face might be, and with a blast of Essence explode it into a cloud of glittery silver-dust.
"I got what I deserved for being distracted. You got what you deserved for attacking me."
Meanwhile, as the Bone Lion swings at the flying creature, Stray Dog stops trying to grab it. Instead, now that he only has to focus on one creature, he holds a hand out and makes an arcane gesture. The creature lunges at him again as he shapes the telekinetic force into an invisible plane and as he swipes his hand the creature splits it half like it's hit the edge of a glass blade. It tries to pull itself back together, but strains and twitches until it also bursts into dust.
And we leave off there, with the group tying not to inhale the silver dust as they catch their breath and and become more aware of the sense of darkness down below.
[0]-- Unlike Gethamane proper, which has magic glowing crystals and bioluminescent fungus in some areas, the tunnels have no natural sources of light. The group's been getting by with the magic lantern they pulled out of that Shogunate armory and, to a lesser extent, lighting up the hallways with their Caste Marks.
[1]-- It's not an unprecedented ability, but it's not the sort of thing you see every day. There are a handful of entities that can reshape stone with their hands, including some Dragon-Blooded.
[2]-- In earlier editions they were sort of a divergent 'species' of raksha adapted to survive so deep into Creation, but I don't think that's true anymore, since they added stuff to have actual raksha show up on the Blessed Isle. I'm not sure, they've barely come up in the text in this edition.
[3]-- Admittedly, in retrospect, for things that will become clear later on in this write-up, Zephyr probably should have corrected them rather than go with the wrong name. I originally did so, because I thought Lecht using the wrong name was either an indication of their time-displaced dialect or possibly (though not likely) a slip-up of the player's. But then Zac indicated that Lecht was trying to trip him up, and so as to not throw off what everyone had worked out that something was wrong with Zephyr I reacted by having Zephyr just make the mistake.
[4]-- I was debating whether to mention this, but I feel like holding myself accountable for my mistakes. I'd actually entirely forgotten about the entourage and Mollie until someone brought them up. So then I quickly offered the retcon that they were hanging back for safety while Stray Dog's goons helped map the tunnels, and had been rushing to catch up since the fighting started. I took advantage of the delay in getting these posts up to fold that into the write-up of the previous session like it had been part of the plan all along.
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