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Exalted Session 39

Session 39 - For A Few Chakrams More

2 Ascending Air

Tanaka and Shizu tumble earthward, Shizu skipping from one tiny clump of flying sand to another as Tanaka, carried on his whirlwind, dives after her. When they reach the ground, he launches a series of blows at her, lightning crackling around his hands and feet: chop! punch! kick! chop! flying roundhouse! Shizu defends frantically with her flashing sword and a series of stunning acrobatic dodges, leaping above and around Tanaka. The Master's fourth blow gets through, searing a wound into Shizu's leg, but Shizu is just, only just, able to avoid a final roundhouse kick that would surely have laid her out.

Watching from the sideline, Brand has seen enough. Even as Orchid advises him to think twice before interrupting a duel of honour, he limit breaks and succumbs to deliberate cruelty. "Honour be damned!" he snarls. "I won't let one of our own be butchered by that over-inflated windbag!" He draws his daiklaive and charges into the arena. Orchid tries to trip him, but is just too slow.

Shizu is still hoping to make Master Tanaka see some sense, or at least stall for time: "This battle is futile, Master Tanaka. I don't want to kill you!" Tanaka is unmoved: "The only way to deal with the Anathema is to see them dead! DRAGON VORTEX ATTACK!" A whirlwind of whirling air and lightning springs into place for 40 yards around Tanaka, hurling stones, sand and gouts of lightning into Shizu faster than she can dodge. Tanaka, unaffected by his creation, follows this up with another flurry of blows - a kick, a punch, a chop and headbutt. Shizu somersaults backward into the whirlwind, letting it carry her out of the area covered by the Dragon Vortex and, as Tanaka tries to corner her, evades him with a dazzling sequence of Essence-fuelled dodges.

Shizu continues to backpedal desperately, only pausing to draw a line in the sand. "Right! if you cross that, the real trouble's going to start!" she threatens, but Tanaka's whirlwind aura wipes the sand clear as he charges in, grabbing Shizu by one arm and spinning her around to hurl her back into the Dragon Vortex! Shizu hurtles through the air, facing certain doom, but Ravitsu - in beastman form - swoops in a split-second before she reaches it and snatches her from her fate, soaring into the air to get out of Master Tanaka's reach.

Brand continues his charge across the vast expanse of sand that Shizu marked out earlier in the day. Orchid, desperate to stop his 'foolishness', hurls her war fans at his heels with remarkable accuracy. Just as they look sure to strike home, though, Brand's Heavenly Guardian Defence flashes his daiklaive around to block them. He fixes her with a baleful glare as he turns back toward Tanaka: "I'll deal with you later."

"Why leave me till later? Take me on now." Orchid taunts Brand, hoping to turn his fury away from Master Tanaka. Stepping in to save Shizu from death is one thing, but attacking the Immaculate Master is a more serious matter. Brand is sorely tempted, but resists with a cruel parting shot: "I killed you once before. I can do it again later, any time I like..." As Brand closes in on Tanaka, Ravitsu sweeps by above him, admonishing: "That's it! Live up to all the Immaculates' stereotypes." Indeed, the bickering among the Celestial Exalts is providing great amusement for the Immaculates in the crowd. This does nothing to dissuade Brand: "If you're not gonna say anything useful, just shut up, bird-brain!"

As Brand closes on him, Tanaka lets his whirlwind carry him into the air, well out of reach. As he rises, he strikes Ravitsu and Shizu with his Thunderclap Kata. Ravitsu's Lunar fortitude sees him through unscathed, but Shizu is left stunned and reeling by the booming attack. Even as Ravitsu does his best to revive her, she is left reeling and deafened. Worse, Tanaka summons his Infinite Jade Chakram back to his hand with a quick invocation of the Loyal Weapon Charm. As he hovers, he is racked by waves of pain as his Hurricane Combat Method comes to an end, the demands that it has placed upon him tearing bloody wounds in his flesh.

Seeing that he cannot reach Tanaka, Brand conceives a fiendish plan to exploit the Master's famous compassion. "Come down and face me!" He yells at Tanaka. "Or you know what's coming." He hefts his daiklaive and moves toward the crowd of Immaculate worshippers, most of whom are non-combatant and will not be able to put up a meaningful fight against an angry Solar. Tanaka launches a series of Essence-created chakrams at Brand, who is forced to slow his advance on the crowd to deflect Tanaka's attack with an economical series of parries, the golden blade of his daiklaive always in the perfect place to protect him as each chakram comes in. Those few that get past his guard are deflected by Orchid's deftly-thrown fans. She is not prepared to let Tanaka kill Brand, but she is trying to get into position to stop Brand if she has to.

Shizu and Ravitsu have a perfect view of Brand's intentions. "We have to stop him!" Shizu demands. But Ravitsu shakes his head, unwilling to attack his comrade unless he has no other choice. A few mighty beats of Ravitsu's wings propel them around Tanaka's Dragon Vortex, and they land between Brand and the crowd, yelling at the bystanders to get back. The Immaculates are slow to obey, though, as one of the bolder and more fanatical in their number cries out: "Heed not the words of the devils!" Orchid, exasperated by this stupidity, tears her attention away from Brand for a moment to exhort the crowd to "Run, you fools!" Slowly, they begin to scatter.

Tanaka, prepared to martyr himself to defeat this coven of Anathema, invokes Hurricane Combat Method once more and throws everything he can into the attack. The sun is eclipsed by the sheer number of chakrams he hurls at Brand - dozens, hundreds, perhaps even thousands of them! Even Brand's Heavenly Guardian Defence is overwhelmed by the successive waves of razor-sharp discs that hurtle in at him. Still, he somehow escapes uninjured as both Ravitsu and Orchid step in with direlance and war fans to help him batter the chakrams away. So many chakrams litter the arena that hardly an inch of sand is visible, except for a small space around the Exalts.

Ravitsu has at last had enough of this. Shizu is barely conscious, and Brand cannot repel another attack of this magnitude. With no choice left to him but to take out Master Tanaka or surely see one of his friends killed, he flings himself into the air at Master Tanaka. His anima blazing like silver flame, he attacks Tanaka with a deadly combination of Charms (Striking Mospid Method, Deadly Beastman Transformation, Sensing the Deadly Flow & Dance of the Living Blade). He whirls the butt of his direlance around to strike Tanaka four times, each blow harder than the last as the Immaculate Master is smashed backwards by the crushing blows and pummelled into unconsciousness. It is fortunate indeed for Tanaka that, despite Ravitsu's anger and desperation, he retains enough self-control to strike with less than lethal force.

Ravitsu swoops down and, gritting his teeth against the onslaught of Tanaka's flaring anima, plucks him from the air. He places him gently on the ground and steps back, handing him into the medical care of the Immaculate monks. As the healers rush to Tanaka - who goes into convulsions as the rigours of his second use of Hurricane Combat Method catch him up - more monks stand between them and the Circle, ready to sacrifice their own lives if necessary to save their Master.

Orchid sees a homicidal glint in Brand's eye and, as he strides forward, daiklaive at the ready, places herself between him and Tanaka.

ORCHID: "Please do not do this, Brand."

BRAND: "Step aside. He wants us dead, so I want him dead first."

ORCHID: "We all want things that we cannot have, Brand. This is politics - we must think of the long-term."

BRAND: "He has to die!"

ORCHID (gestures at the assembled crowd): "Do you want to be seen by so many to kill a defenceless old man?"

The assembled Immaculate devotees have noticed Brand's rage. They murmur among themselves, one exclaiming in horror: "A demon has possessed him!"

BRAND: "Do you want to leave an enemy in our midst? Besides, he's not so defenceless..."

ORCHID: "Brand, I may not be an expert in combat, but I believe that an opponent who has been rendered unconscious can safely be described as 'helpless'."

BRAND: "I don't care. Get out of my way, Orchid. I already told you: I killed you once, I can do it again if I have to." He pauses before adding, with calculated cruelty: "This isn't the first time you've stood aside and let someone try to kill one of our own. Where do your loyalties lie?"

Orchid, stung beyond endurance by this reminder of the betrayal committed by her doppelganger and its death at the hands of Brand and the Captain, turns away from Brand, leaving Ravitsu to take up the debate.

RAVITSU: "How does slaughtering him help us save Gem? And Creation?"

BRAND: "Why let an enemy live? He wouldn't let you live, if it were up to him."

RAVITSU: "If you kill him, they'll just send another like him, and another, and another. We've tried killing them all before and it didn't work, it's time for the cycle to end."

BRAND: "He'll heal up and he'll come after us again. He's done it before!"

RAVITSU: "We don't know that. We have to play his game to see what he does."

With a mighty shout of frustration, Brand thrusts his daiklaive back into its scabbard and stalks away toward the city.

Meanwhile, Orchid has approached the Immaculates who stand guard before Tanaka. They immediately drop into combat stances, but Orchid reassures them that she has not come to finish off Tanaka. She merely wishes to talk to him, but he has still not regained consciousness. She removes her sash and offers it to the monks to use as a pillow for Tanaka. Suspicious, they check it thoroughly in case it is some sort of trick before they use it. By this time, Ravitsu has joined Orchid. He opines that Master Tanaka should be in a hospital. Indeed, even as he speaks, the healers are taking up the Immaculate Master to take him to the temple.

Ravitsu, Shizu and Orchid wearily head for the Granite Watchtower, where they can rest and patch up Shizu's injuries. Brand, on the other hand, roams the streets of the city, looking for "evil-doers" on whom he can take out his temper. He rampages through the market district - he cuffs people who look at him the wrong way, he severs a hand from a petty thief ("There, you won't be stealing again in a hurry, will you?"), he sentences a family of beggars to the slave-gangs rebuilding the city walls. All this while, he keeps his caste mark burning to overawe his victims - a cowardly and superstitious lot - with his Exalted might. This is police brutality turned up to 11, a one-man crusade to quench the desire for vengeance and cruelty that burns in Brand...

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Please Add Comments Here

Having loved the previous 38 sessions, I've got a question about how the game goes to ask. When Brand breaks, is it the ST controlling his character, or the player just doing a nice job of being a raving lunatic? It seems that Brand accumulates much more limit than the rest of the characters, and breaks much more often, so I'm just interested in what's really going on. From a purely outside standpoint (and again, I love your game, and I'm sure it's awesome) it seems that Brand (the character) is used almost more of a plot-tool at this point than a PC, as almost everytime he's involved, it's either a caracature of an idiot (possibly the player's intent) or a total raving mad Anathema (possibly the player as well). What's up with that? I'm looking for DVD-style commentary from the actors and director here... -- GregLink, just wondering what the 'behind the scenes' of Brand are

- This is actually Brands first Limit Break of the campaign (his condition is 'Feel like your back is to the wall' which is pretty hard to do to a Solar) and the Player is doing all the running of his character during his Limit Break. I wouldnt agree with Brand being a caricature of an idiot- thats maybe the Captain you are thinking of? Brands maybe a little quiet, a little intense and usually sensible. However, the player is an experienced Exalted expert and as such reflects/roleplayg the immense hubris Solars are famous for. More DVD-style commentary can probably be found on the RPG.net thread as Brand, Orchids, the Captains and to a slightly lesser extent Alana and Jaq often chime in on. (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=183638). As a GM, I loved the intra-party conflict- Orchid for example went from attacking Brand, to defending him, to standing against him in all of about 4 rounds! SJE

- Ah yes, my bad. I did get Brand and the Captain confused. Pretty much my entire post above makes no sense then, doesn't it? Sorry. Well then, I guess I have no complaints whatever! -- GregLink, slightly embarrassed at finding a problem that doesn't exist

- Well Brand was the Captain of the Watch right at the beginning of the campaign, but was swiftly replaced as his Rebel nature came to the fore. Personally, I welcomed the slightly incompetant Watch Captain as it fitted in so well with the Ankh Morpork ethos I was going for- plus kinda reflected that Dilbert reality I see in my office where the incompetant try to manage the competant. The Captain isnt really an idiot- its just he's more venal and shortsighted corrupt than the others and based upon Zhang Fei from the Three Kingdoms legend- lusty, proud, drunken and still a larger than life hero! I'm very glad for his presence in my game as it makes it far more interesting and fun for both the GM and other players.SJE

- The two characters who tend to gain the most limit are the Captain and Orchid (my PC) as their limit conditions are complementary (Orchid's is 'when faced with the childish and intemperate nature of the world', the Captain's is 'when belittled, insulted or frustrated'). They bicker and set each other off. They gain limit much more slowly when they're not around each other. Orchid would probably find the Captain far less exasperating if she didn't like him quite as much as, somewhere deep inside, she does (she only ever admitted this out loud when she got drunk at the Carnival of Meeting). The Captain may be a bit of a drunken rogue, but he is actually very likeable for all that - lots of big-hearted, boozy bonhomie. His antics are impulsive rather than malicious in nature, and he never sets out to deliberately hurt anyone. While the PCs have their intra-group disagreements and arguments, the fact remains that they do care about each other and that shows when the chips are down. -- Captain Spaulding