Okay, if you've been keeping up with the blog, you know where we're at and what we're doing. Just a quick reminder that I'm still seeking some input about other things I could be doing with this blog, if anyone's got any interest in that.
So we pick up where we left off, with the group talking to Reshan of the Inward Breath. Stray Dog Serenade explains to her that he'd warn the Deliberative but well... there isn't one any more, at least not how she means it. She still insists that Heaven needs to know about the hekatonkhire; it came before and it will come again, and insists that it'll come for Wandering Dawn and Stray Dog as it wants their flesh. Stray Dog insists he's using his flesh, and Lecht remarks they could use his flesh, and that gets a 'Hey now' from Stray Dog.
But she continues babbling on, saying that the gate to Heaven is lost and she's been trying to find it to make sure they know about what's down there.
Lecht thinks about those seemingly-impenetrable gates of Gethamane, wondering aloud if they're meant to keep something in in the first place. Reshan says the city was originally built around the Yu-Shan gate as well as serving as a place to meet with the Mountain Folk, and the gates were meant to protect that. Lecht, knowing that the gods are at least partially sustained by prayer, asks how Gethamane's gods have survived if they're forgotten. Reshan says they're prayed to often enough, and the people leave offerings. Reshan and the others send dream-messages to those who become their priests.[0] Lecht points out that those priests babble insanities.
"Babbling insanities to some, prayers to others," she remarks.
The group talks among about the logistical issues of contacting Heaven -- Lecht might get kicked out, and Stray Dog is worried he'll be arrested. So they might have to leave the talking to Wandering Dawn (oh no). They ask Reshan about the hekatonkhire -- what it looks like, in particular, saying in advance they'll be disappointed if it looks like the centipedes. She clarifies its form is liquid -- it's the simultaneously dead and living blood of a slain Ancient. The Ancient in question is the one who created the centipedes (which she calls by their proper name 'cthritae'), but they don't reflect its form.
Lecht, seeking some insight, tries to open a portal to the Underworld, only to discover that the Underways are like a Shadowland, overlapping with the realm of the dead. They just haven't noticed because there aren't any ghosts down there. Seeing them do this, Reshan recognizes Lecht as the Chosen of Vesmara. They scowl at her and confirm that.
She looks confused and a little sad, suddenly very lucid, as she asks "What happened?"
"What do you mean 'what happened?'" Lecht asks. "You should know."
"Most gods can't create a Chosen and survive, so I assume she's gone."
They explain that she did what she had to do and Heaven slandered her for it (which upsets Reshan).[1] Kolozma, the village she watched over, is in ruins. I can't recall the exact wording of the conversation as I didn't write down every detail, but all this does confirm to the others that Lecht is indeed almost 800 years old. They don't want to get too deep into it, it happened during the Contagion. Reshan says that was quiet time, and humans showed up after it all settled down. She tried to warn them, tell them they'd be safer if they left, but... well, about this point she breaks into incoherent babbling and wanders off.
So this hekatonkhire definitely sounds like something above the group's weight class, but they can try to uncover the lost portal to Heaven. Stray Dog goes through their notes on the local geomancy Zephyr left behind in the ruins where they found the Star Taker, and (with a little help from one of those pre-calculated bits of destiny from the astrolabe) works out what would probably be the most likely place for a Yu-Shan gate to be, at least as a starting point.
He proceeds to lead the group through the tunnels, but following a path that seems to make no sense -- sometimes appearing to circle around and retrace their steps. At one point it looks like they're almost back to the room with the pit and he's just been screwing with them the whole time, until they step into a room, the walls lined with hieroglyphs and runes in a similar aesthetic to the Dragon King ruin. And in the middle is a stone arch, also covered with runes and what look like holds and slots in the structure, like there's a key or a mechanism or something.
Wandering Dawn tries poking at the holes with a finger and notes that it looks like a dagger could fit in some of those. Stray Dog suggests he use one of his sunlight daggers, and the Solar does indeed channel the Essence to conjure one and plug it in.[2] The runes on the walls start to glow as the room is filled with the soft glow of sunlight -- much like morning sun coming through translucent curtains, enough to light up a room but without distinct sunbeams. The arch opens up into a long, dark hallway... that begins to light up as crystal torches begin to light up going down the hallway, to where it's open on the far end and there's clearly something out there.
That something is Yu-Shan.
Wandering Dawn goes in, while Lecht and Stray Dog stay back on the Creation side of the portal. Dawn goes in a ways and stops and looks back and asks the others who he should be asking for. They're quietly wondering if they can leave this up to him, but Stray Dog just tells him he has to get it to the right Bureau. Lecht figures that as a Solar, Wandering Dawn speaks 'bureaucracy,' right?
(No, no he doesn't.)
Wandering Dawn laments that he doesn't normally deal with bureaucratic stuff, but he keep going down the tunnel. About halfway through, a pair of lion-dogs -- which look like statues of living jade six-feet tall at the shoulder -- come bounding in from the far end, telling him to hold it right there. They look really confused as they stop before him, glancing between him and the gate and ask where he came from. He says he's from the tunnels under Gethamane, and the lion-dogs give each other a confused look and ask him who he is and what he's doing there.
He introduces himself and says he's on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan and has been tasked by Reshan of the Inward Breath to warn Heaven about a dangerous creature beneath Gethamane.
The lion-dogs look at each other again and one says he's going to get somebody, and then takes off. The other just waits patiently, almost statue-like. Back at the arch, Stray Dog and Lecht quietly side-step out of view of the portal, just in case.
At the end of the tunnel arrives a lion made of orichalcum nine feet tall at the shoulder, bearing a remarkable resemblance to the demon the group encountered outside Larkim. It's obvious, without having to be told, that this is one of the celestial lions of Yu-Shan. He steps up to Wandering Dawn and introduces himself as Janzung, and asks Dawn about his business in the Heavenly City.
Wandering Dawn says that he and his friends (back in Creation, Lecht and Stray Dog both clench everything) were in the tunnels under Gethamane and he had a vision Reshan of the Inward Breath of a creature beneath the city. A monster of quicksilver, a... he starts stumbling over the word.
"A hekatonkhire?" the lion asks, an eyebrow raised.
"Yes, that," Wandering Dawn says, excited. "It killed everyone in the city and she thinks it's going to rise up soon, and we fought some of its spawn and it can absorb you and take your shape, and it's more than we can handle and we wanted to, um... let Heaven know." He pauses for a beat. "You're really shiny."
Janzung takes all that in, subtly beaming at the compliment. "That is a lot."
Back at the gate, Lecht quietly mentions to Stray Dog that at least he got there in the end.
The lion says that Wandering Dawn's friends can come forward without fear. He assures them they won't come to any harm. Wandering Dawn yells back to ask if they heard that, an they step into view. Stray Dog remains in Creation but Lecht steps up behind the Solar, and Janzung nods to them and greets them as he acknowledges them as an Exigent. They acknowledge the greeting but they don't formally nod or anything.
Janzung explains that someone is comign to hear their report, but he's keeping an eye on things for the moment because that particular gate hasn't opened in a loooooong time. "Of course it hasn't," Lecht mutters under their breath. "While you let a god go crazy and rot."
Janzung, either not having heard that or simply not acknowledging it, says they need to wait a few minutes and someone who can address their concerns will be available. Wandering Dawn thanks him for taking the time. And a few minutes later, the first lion-dog returns with a woman in green robes with red and orange hair riding on his back. She slides off and dismisses Janzung and the lion-dogs, who go back to the end of the hallway to watch from there.
She introduces herself as Still Sunset, and that gets a baffled look from Wandering Dawn.[3] He asks her to repeat herself, and she does, and he apologizes and gives his name and now she's baffled. Just a weird coincidence of some sort, the two of them having opposite names.
She proceeds to get to business and explains she's from the Convention on the North (without explaining what that means, but the context isn't exactly an esoteric puzzle), and confirms that they're from Gethamane. She starts going over their story again, getting it on the record, and as she does so a mechanical-looking spider climbs up onto her shoulder. Wandering Dawn asks her if that's something she made, and she makes a face and explains the spider is a spirit -- her secretary. Wandering Dawn waves at the spider and Lecht semi-teasingly calls him racist for assuming the spider was an automaton.
Still Sunset pulls out a scroll, likely something she grabbed on the way, and references it as she explains that the gods of Gethamane answered directly to the Solars in the First Age, and those Solars weren't available following the Purge. Basically, Reshan and the others weren't the Bureau's responsibility so they didn't even know they were still down there. She says that there are a lot of gaps in the files because the Solars handled things directly without working through the Bureau and so she's going to have to do some digging to look into it. She asks if the entity has a specific name attached as far as they know, and Wandering Dawn says no, but they've been told it's the first hekatonkhire. She makes a note and says she's going to have to talk to a lot of people.
She checks her notes, biting her thumbnail thoughtfully, and confirms who Wandering Dawn is and asks for his companion's name but Lecht politely denies that request. Dawn apologies for them and explains his friends want to associate with Heaven as little as possible, and he hopes she can accommodate that. She understands, and says that Heaven would rather interfere as little as possible unless they have to -- this is all just for her records, but she'll respect that request. She takes a moment to ask if that's the same for his other friend, back at the portal, and Stray Dog just salutes her.
Lecht, however, has been quietly simmering this whole time, especially after the comment about Heaven wanting to interfere as little as possible. Their fingers subtly move, gathering energy and just glaring daggers at her.
Seemingly unaware of malice radiating off of Lecht, Still Sunset goes on to explain that this whole mess was before her time and she's going to have to unravel it and play catch-up. She then turns to the spider on her shoulder and starts to mutter to her secretary in Old Realm. After a few moments, during which Lecht is barely keeping it together, she turns back to the group and says she'll have someone on the mess as quickly as she can.
She takes a moment to confirm that they don't live in Gethamane and likely won't be in the area much longer, and pulls out a red coin and hands it to him. It appears to be a single yen, a copper coin used in the Realm and satrapies, though this one appears to be red rather than treated green like proper yen are. She explains that in an emergency, he can burn the coin and it'll get her attention. She can't promise she'll come directly, but someone will arrive. In the meantime, she's going to research the hekatonkhire and have someone go in and take a closer look.
Wandering Dawn thanks her and acknowledges there are probably a lot of people she has to go through to get all this sorted, but hopefully it can be resolved sooner rather than later. He says that if it's as dangerous as they've ben led to believe, if it escapes Heaven's going to have a harder time putting back down than keeping it contained.
She explains that other than whatever happened to wipe out the people of Gethamane during the Purge, nothing of that magnitude has come up on Heaven's radar from the city and they'd certainly notice if it had. But she reiterates she'll get someone on it, and asks if there is anything she and her people can do in the meantime. Wandering Dawn asks her to do something for Reshan, and she quickly makes a note for her secretary and explains to the Solar that the Bureau has protocols to handle something like this -- she says again that Heaven didn't know Reshan and the others were down there or else they'd have done something sooner.
Wandering Dawn thanks her and says that should be it, except... he glances at Lecht, as he knows they have some business with Heaven. Lecht asks her to have Heaven issue an apology for what happened to Vesmara. She looks confused, not knowing what they're talking about, and she and her secretary have a quick conversation in spider-talk. She turns back to Lecht with an "Oh, I see." She says she's going to look into clearing up this little... she starts to say something that began with an 'm' and corrects herself to describe it as a 'woeful mistake.'
Lecht, correctly inferring that she was about to say 'misunderstanding,' loses their shit and gets on her case about it. Wandering Dawn tries to calm them down, as she admits her near-slip of the tongue but makes it clear that this is obviously something screwed up and it's not like she's responsible for it. But at this point Lecht swipes their arm at her, unleashing the Crypt Bolt they've been building!
They're not trying to hit her but just can't hold it back any more. But because it's all anger, no precision, it whizzes by her head -- close enough to singe some hairs on her head. However, the blast goes past and accidentally hits one of the lion-dogs at the entrance![4] She looks at where the blast went and back at Lecht, confused and fearful, and Lecht looks hurt and guilty.
Then her expression darkens. "You have one chance. Go back through the gate and close it and do not come back here." Wandering Dawn starts to apologize and, dropping any semblance of careful diplomatic civility, Still Sunset snarls "Just fucking go."
He grabs Lecht and drags them back, his own anger boiling up as he pulls the struggling Exigent back through the portal. The trio looks back out to see the other lion-dog and the celestial lion charging down the hallway at them before the gate closes.
Wandering Dawn, in a rage, slams Lecht against the wall, his golden armor shimmering into sight and his anima flaring. "Why."
Lecht snorts. "Hypocritical bitch. Just like everyone else up in Heaven."
"This... thing we're dealing with is bigger..." Wandering Dawn growls, shaking his friend in his grip. "This is bigger than your gripe with what happened seven-hundred years ago. And I know to you it's like yesterday. I get that. But there are at least thousands of lives at stake if this thing gets free and reaches Gethamane. If it's even half as bad as we've been told, and it gets out of Gethamane, that could get into the millions!" The armor flickers out of sight as he lets Lecht go and steps back. "There's a time and a place... We need Heaven's help right now."
"No. No we don't. Because they won't help. The only way to guarantee it is to change things, and good luck with that. Only one person ever did it, and she died for it."
Wandering Dawn lets out an angry yell and punches the wall hard enough to dent the stone and the ancient carvings. "I know I'm not the best with words. Especially in formal situations. But... I've seen what happens when something far more powerful than... ugh... I know what it's like to have something of great power come in and sweep everything away. And I won't let that happen to anyone else, if I can help it."
"Well, that's very noble," Stray Dog chimes in. "But we can't count on Heaven to do anything to help the city any more."
Wandering Dawn nods. "Not after that."
Lecht snorts. "They wouldn't have helped to begin with. Everything they do hurts people. It's just statistics."
The Solar sighs. "Okay... tensions are high right now, and let's go report to Reshan and let her know we did what she asked."
"If we find her," the Exigent points out. "She's wandering the tunnels."
"We'll head back and if we run into her we'll let her know. And... we need to rest. Have a night and calm ourselves."
"Rest sounds nice," Lecht agrees.
"If Heaven won't help us, we'll have to deal with this monster ourselves," Stray Dog says, sounding like he almost hopes it'll come to that.
And we leave off there, with the trio trudging back up to the city.
[0]-- Of course, these messages are known to render some mortals insane and drive others from the city.
[1]-- As a quick reminder, Vesmara was a regional death god (a 'chooser of the slain'-style one) who spared a village of followers a slow, painful death during the Contagion by peacefully ending their lives herself. Afterwards she was called a goddess of murder, and while weathering assaults from outside she sacrificed herself to Exalt Lecht (but in a way that left them slumbering in a special sarcophagus).
[2]-- Funnily-enough, a regular dagger would have worked -- if the group had taken a closer look with a roll to examine it, it would become clear that there's a mechanism meant to be opened by someone with claws. That's what the slots are. But the 'sunlight dagger' idea was just too good to not go with in the moment. It's not quite juicing a monkey, but it's close enough. (Nobody will get this joke but me, and that's fine.)
[3]-- I'd planned to bring this character in at some point, but hadn't thought to come up with a name until literally the last minute. So I was just hitting the 'randomize' button on a name generator in the middle of the session until something cool-sounding came up, and I went with it without considering the possible implications.
[4]-- While sorting out whether the bolt would hit anything, I rolled a single die, saying that a 1 would accidentally hit one of the lion-dogs while anything else would merely just do some property damage and cause a commotion. The die came up a 1.
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