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Exalted Session 43

Session 43 - The Filth And The Fury

6 Ascending Air

While the deadly dinner party goes on at Orchid's house, Ravitsu is learning to rue the day he was ever given the responsibility of command as he spends the evening fending off the Immaculate Order's lawyers. The monastic attorneys are furious at the arrest of Anaria and her colleagues. "Our monks are being treated like common criminals!" Their chief blusters. Ravitsu quite accurately points out "That's because they are common criminals." But this does nothing to mollify the lawyer. "We," he retorts. "Have treaties!" Ravitsu takes a deep breath and - as he replies "And we've got witnesses." - counts to ten in an effort to keep his cool and marshal his legal arguments against handing the prisoners over.

He receives some timely assistance when a deputation of grey-robed lawyers arrives from the Palace. The monks are no match for their untamed wit and knowledge of legal minutiae. It is not long before the Men In Grey have shot down most of the Immaculates' legal arguments and reduced the two youngest among them to tears.

With some of the pressure off, Ravitsu is able to come to a compromise. He will either release Anaria on bail in the morning - House Cathak are prepared to offer a generous "goodwill bond" to the Watch - or he will ensure that her trial ("and inevitable exoneration!" a monk insists) takes place as soon as possible. Ravitsu agrees to make a decision by tomorrow morning. As the clock strikes midnight, he can finally relax for a moment...

7 Ascending Air

... But even as the bells stop tolling, Captain Ibrahim bursts into the commander's office with news of the dinner party. "Orchid's a demon again!" he announces as Brand and Shizu, slightly less boisterous, follow him into the room. The three of them tell Ravitsu about Orchid's unusual behaviour at the dinner party. Her sudden change in opinion seems remarkable, even though, as Brand points out: "The Abyssals were going out of their way to be friendly."
Captain Ibrahim is most amused. "That Maiden Of The Mirthless Smile liked you," He laughs at Brand. "Ooh, Orchid wasn't happy about that..."
Ravitsu interrupts him with an important question: "So where is Orchid now?"
"In bed with the enemy, probably."
Ravitsu heaves a sigh of exasperation. Are all of these Solars crazy? "Oh gods, she's probably going to sell us out with some stupid oath. It would have been simpler if she'd slept with Anaria..."
Captain Ibrahim is reminded of the demon Orchid and her oaths. "Can we," he asks eagerly. "Do the demon test on her again?"

Ravitsu tries to change the subject to discuss the situation with Anaria and the Immaculate lawyers, but the Captain is having none of it. "Never mind all that. What about Orchid... Let's break into her house and see what she's up to!"
Ravitsu bows to the inevitable and continues this line of conversation. "How many Abyssals are there with her?"
"All three of them. Phwoar, it must be an orgy..." Captain Ibrahim is lost for a moment in his erotic imaginings.
"What if she doesn't want to be rescued?" Brand wonders.
Captain Ibrahim knows what he thinks of that. "Ah, a clear sign of demon possession... Come on, let's do the demon test!"
"Are we prepared for what we might find?" Brand asks.
"Could it be worse than the lawyers?" Ravitsu wearily wonders aloud.
Shizu has been listening quietly for all this time, and sounds a note of alarm. "What if Orchid has been lured into some terrible ritual?"
"I don't know." Ravitsu declares. "Maybe we could turn it to our advantage. Get Orchid into their confidence and then she can get them to do what we want..."

There is some talk of intervening but, to be honest, nobody wants to be the one who confronts Orchid at this point. The uncomfortable silence is broken by Ravitsu, who updates the others on the Anaria situation. It seems there are two clear options:

1. Arrange a trial date as soon as possible. Ravitsu feels that there is enough clear evidence to make a case, and this allows the Watch to keep her in custody and, hopefully, out of trouble.

2. Grant her bail. Brand favours this plan, hoping to manipulate into breaking her bail conditions and letting him keep all of the proposed Cathak bond for the Granite Watchtower renovations.

After some discussion, Ravitsu decides that he will allow Anaria out on bail, under the condition that she is kept under house arrest at the Immaculate Temple and that regular inspections by the Watch are allowed to ensure that she does not abscond. He feels that letting her go to the temple and get treatment for her wounds will be good PR - it would be good to show a human, caring side of the Watch for once.

With this, the meeting breaks up. Captain Ibrahim, disappointed that there will be no demon test, drifts off in search of alcohol and new leads on the Great Mime Conspiracy. Shizu, now working the night watch, suggests to Ravitsu that she could check out Orchid's house, just to see if anything's happening there. Brand has managed to persuade himself that this situation might not be such a problem after all. "Orchid's not been getting any," he points out. "Maybe she's just drunk and horny." Shizu concedes that there might be something to this. "Remember the Carnival of Meeting? She got drunk there and made a scene with Yurgen Kaneko." "But that was different," Ravitsu points out. "He's not death incarnate and he doesn't want to turn us into zombies." Perhaps Shizu should investigate after all...

At Orchid's house, she finds that the Immaculate protestors are still outside. At this late hour, though, a mere three stalwarts remain. They are huddled around a brazier on which they are roasting chestnuts. Shizu tries to sneak past, snatching up a handful of them for supper as she does, but the monks spot her larceny. "Oi! She's after our nuts!" Shizu flashes her Watch badge. "No, it's alright," She tries to explain. "I'm just erm... patrolling. How are things?" This doesn't impress the monks who, in the wake of Anaria's arrest, are not well-disposed to the Watch. "Watch, eh? We know our rights: we want our nuts back!"

Shizu sighs and hands them over as the triumphant monks burst into a ragged and tuneless chorus of "Onward Immaculate Ninjas!" With the monks' attention given over to their hymn, Shizu soothes her pride by making another attempt - successful this time, though she unaccountably leaves full payment anyway - to steal some more chestnuts. She slips away as the monks sing of casting down demons and anathema, offering one parting remark as she goes: "Well, you're certainly not demons - they can sing in tune."

Turning her attention to burglary, Shizu avoids - for now - the crumbling gothic fripperies of the Abyssals' half of the building and, with little trouble, breaks into Orchid's rooms. She finds them empty and silent. No Orchid, no Abyssals but - on the plus side - no evidence of bloody violence or death. Shizu ninjas around the house until she reaches the connecting corridor between the two wings. The black forbidding door to the Abyssals' rooms is firmly locked and, as Shizu reaches for it, the hairs on the back of her neck rise. She is surrounded by a shocking and unnatural wave of cold. The door is clearly warded, and she would rather not touch it.

A cunning plan occurs to her. She sneaks out and rings the front doorbell - which emits a funereal peal - then dashes back in, bracing herself at the ceiling, in the hope that someone will come out through the black door to answer it and let her slip past tham. No such luck, though. As she waits, she hears terrified screams from outside, followed by the sound of running feet. She hurries to look. The street is empty, save for an overturned brazier and one solitary sandal, lying forgotten in the road. At the rooftop, Shizu catches a brief glimpse of a cloaked figure moving back into the shadows on the rooftop.

She decides to try getting in through a window. They all seem to be locked or shuttered, and Shizu feels the same chilling ward protecting them. She tries her luck anyway, touching a window on the upper floor just long enough to spring it open with her Lock-Opening Touch. Even this brief contact is enough to send an icy chill shooting up her arm, numbing it for some minutes and leaving it pale as though frost-bitten. Climbing through the window, she finds herself in a storeroom full of decorating supplies that the Abyssals didn't use up in their house - black marble cladding, black lace drapes, morbid candleholders, etc., etc. She slips out, sneaking around the corridors where she is almost, but not quite, spotted by the insubstantial, skull-faced spectres that patrol the corridors.

Soon, she is crouched outside the door to The Maiden Of The Mirthless Smile's bedroom listening - not for the first time - to the sound of Orchid in flagrante. Shizu pauses, unsure what to do now she's here. She can hear screaming after all, but is interfering really the right thing to do and, well, is it that sort of screaming? "Orchid's sure to go crazy if I just burst in. But what if I don't? Brand will say I should have intervened." She mutters to herself and heaves a sigh. "Maybe if I just knock politely. She might not actually be in, erm, physical danger after all." She pauses for thought and reaches a decision. "Oh, sod this, I'm going home to bed." She thinks. And, with that, she talks herself out of intervening and sneaks off home.

Orchid wakes up just after dawn. It takes a few long moments for her to come to grips with where she is. Her half-woken mind takes in the black silk sheets, the skulls as candle-holders, the black marble panelling, the black velvet drapes and the soulsteel daiklaive gently moaning as it lies propped against the nightstand ("So he can watch," The Maiden Of The Mirthless Smile had cryptically explained). She stifles a cry of alarm as she realises where she is and turns over to find that her left arm is trapped beneath the slumbering Maiden Of The Mirthless Smile. No longer compelled by the Abyssal's Irresistible Succubus Style, Orchid's mind reels in shock as she recalls in all-too-vivid detail the night she has just passed.

She briefly considers gnawing her arm off to escape but rejects the plan - she can imagine all too well that this would be nothing but titillating to the Abyssal. Orchid resolves to make the best of it - while she's here, she may as well try all her wiles to wrap The Maiden Of The Mirthless Smile around her little finger. She steels herself and leans across to wake her with a kiss. As they make love, Orchid is disquieted by the realisation that her paramour's flesh is warm this morning, thanks to the blood that she has taken from Orchid during the night. Orchid cannot help raising her hand to the twin puncture-wounds that The Maiden Of The Mirthless Smile has left on her neck. Perhaps this breaks Orchid's focus on her seduction but, just for a moment, she sees a hint in the Abyssal's eyes, a hint that the Maiden has seen through her, that she knows the game Orchid is playing this morning. The moment of clarity passes as the Maiden draws Orchid down for one last bloody kiss...

Soon afterwards, a knocking at the front door disturbs their tryst. Orchid seizes the opportunity for escape. Pale, dishevelled in yesterday's gown and with dark circles of fatigue around her eyes, she rushes to the door and is horrified to find Shizu, Ravitsu and Brand on the doorstep. She lets them in, trying in vain to hitch her gown up to cover the bite marks on her neck. Her embarrassment is compounded when she finds that she cannot open the door to her rooms. Silently, desperately trying to ignore Brand's sniggering, Orchid returns to The Maiden Of The Mirthless Smile's gloomy boudoir to fetch the keys that she left behind there. Red-faced and flustered after this walk of shame, lets her friends into her parlour, unable to look them in the eye.

As they sit down, Brand hands round coffee and breakfast that he has brought from Ahlat's House Of Ribs. He cheerily remarks. ""So, been making some new friends?"
Orchid just glares at him, so he continues, with a broad grin: "You've certainly changed your tune about her..."
Coherent explanation eludes Orchid. "Sometimes people turn out to be... You think somebody's... Well, you spend some more time with them than you had... and-"
"You get them out of their skull-motif armour?" Brand smirks.
Ravitsu can contain himself no longer. "Orchid, she's just a skeleton with boobies!" He rants. "What were you thinking?"
Orchid can offer only the most feeble assertion. "I think the, erm... I think the drink went to my head."

Brand gleefully tells an appalled Ravitsu all about the bloody drinks with which the Maiden of the Mirthless Smile plied Orchid last night. The conversation turns to the Captain's desire to administer the demon test. Orchid snaps. "I'm not evil! I've just had some trying days recently..."
She gives up on trying to explain and goes off for a long, hot bath, hoping that will help her feel less... sullied. As she leaves the room, she is incensed by Brand's continued sniggering. "Stop laughing!" She snaps.
Brand is unrepentant. "I'll stop laughing when it stops being funny. Maybe in a few hundred years..."

Leaving Orchid to her frenzied attempts to cleanse herself, Shizu, Brand & Ravitsu head back to the Granite Watchtower to deal with Anaria. En route, Shizu wonders if anyone else is feeling the strain like Orchid. Ravitsu, beginning to wonder if he really wants to be in charge of this lot, permits himself another small outburst. "Not me," he rants. "I've had some terrible days, but do I sleep with Abyssals? No! Do I steal every kettle in Gem? No! Do I start going on about miming? No!" The journey continues in moody silence.

At the Granite Watchtower, they find yet another crowd of Immaculate monks picketing outside. They are waving "Free The Gem 4!" banners and singing endless dreary hymns about destroying the Anathema. Ravitsu leaves Brand & Shizu to argue with them while he goes inside to take his bad mood out on the lawyers. He drives a hard bargain, setting an extortionate bail, which must be paid in silver rather than jade. He also arranges a schedule of visits by Watch officers to the Immaculate Temple, to ensure that Anaria does not skip bail. After bearers bring in a succession of weighty silver ingots, Anaria and her fellow monks are released, to the delight of the cheering Immaculates, who bear them shoulder-high through the streets to their temple.

Soon after this, Orchid arrives, a scarf wrapped around her neck to conceal her love bites. Her chin held high, she is determined to ignore any comments Brand (or, worse, Captain Ibrahim) might make. She is relieved to find that the Captain is elsewhere, presumably caught up in his anti-mime crusade. The rest of the circle - minus Alana, who is still recovering from her injuries - assembles to discuss what to do next. The obvious issue is the Autochthonians so, after sending a short prayer-memo to Chejop Kejak to update him on the various Creation-Threatening Events that they are dealing with, they start up Orchid's whirlwind and begin the trip to the Valley of Cordial Relations.

A few hours later, they arrive to find that much has changed since they were last here. The once-verdant valley is now covered with the strange black flooring that the Autochthonians favour. It is almost completely filled by a variety of tents and prefabricated dwellings and factories. Dozens upon dozens of chimneys are belching dark smoke - Shizu: "Maybe they're having a barbecue. A really BIG barbecue..." - and the river (Autochthonian designation - River of Plenty) downstream of the valley glistens with a rainbow sheen of oily pollution. From the other side of the valley, the circle can hear a series of booming explosions. Orchid steers the whirlwind in a looping course, skirting the edge of the valley, to check this out.

As the whirlwind crests the rise, its passengers see a huge battle in progress and, judging by the amount of wreckage and the numbers of the dead, it has been going on for some time. This must be what was responsible for last night's display of Essence in the sky. On the crest of a hill (Autochthonian designation - Happiness Hill) flies the scarlet banner of the Realm. In the valley below (Autochthonian designation - Serenity Valley), two mighty armies clash. Even as elephant-mounted cavalry led by bright jade-clad figures scatter black-clad Authochtonian infantry on one part of the field, mighty metallic heroes smash into the Realm's legions on another. The circle recognise the 20' golden figure that is GCU Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon and the quicksilver figure darting all over the field can only be LOU Excessively Righteous Blossom.

Brand and Ravitsu identify the forces that the Realm is fielding - the 10th Legion, coming from An Teng. If Brand remembers rightly, they are led by one Shuri the Scarlet. Indeed, as the whirlwind swoops around the edge of the battlefield, Brand spots Shuri - with his famous blue jade hand - among the officers on the hilltop. The elephant cavalry must be Elephant-Riding Ghost Generals, local troops from An Teng. Ravitsu ponders which of the battling factions is the greatest threat to Gem, and makes his decision. ""I can't believe I'm going to say this, but go Realm!" Brand is more equivocal, and wonders if the circle should get involved at all. "If your enemies are fighting," he opines. "Why not just let them tear each other apart?"

While Ravitsu heads north, transforming into eagle form to scout the Patropolis of Ot, Orchid banks her whirlwind around the northern edge of the battlefield. Above the roaring wind, she hears a faint whistling sound, which quickly grows louder. She jinks the whirlwind left, then - paralysed by indecision - back to the right again, directy into the path of an Autochthonian artillery barrage. "Incoming!" Shizu dives to shove Orchid to one side as the whirlwind is blown apart by a colossal explosion of Essence. The three passengers are hurled into the mud and chaos of the battlefield, battered and bruised. Brand is notably incensed: "I know whose side I'm on now!"

The three Exalts find a concealed spot among the wreckage of some Autochtonian equipment to ponder their next move. "How about finding that chap with the blue hand to see if we can help?" Orchid asks Brand.
"I think he's busy."
"Very well, let's just help out generally and wait till he notices."
Shizu butts in, wanting to be certain which of the circle's enemies they're going to help."Can I just clarify which side we're actually on?"
With this tricky issue cleared up, discussion turns to exactly what should be done next. Brand is open to suggestions, but none are forthcoming. Neither Shizu nor Orchid have any battlefield experience, though Orchid concedes that: "I do have a certain amount of experience with the military, but I don't think it's entirely relevant to our current situation." Brand decides to keep it simple. "I've got a can-opener," he hefts his grand daiklaive in one hand. "How about that big golden bloke?" He points to Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon...

Meanwhile, at the Patropolis of Ot...

Ravitsu the eagle soars high above the marshy Font of Mourning, watching the Patropolis of Ot - whose eyes, Ravitsu notes, are glowing brightly. With his own eagle eyes, he observes a pair of soulsteel and starmetal Authochthonians - one of whom he recognises as the sparkly TSU Avid Lissome Engineer - supervising a field artillery battery. As Ravitsu circles, watching the shelling continue, he realises that he must do something to stop this. Swooping into a banking dive, he plunges into the water - unnoticed thanks to his Stealthy Fox Method - and slithers into the middle of the battery in the form of a water snake. He sizes up the field guns, reckoning that he can disable them if he can destroy the shells in their barrels, but how best to do that...?

At the main battlefield, Brand unearths a large mechanical head, a broken fragment of some Authochthonian war machine. "Pitch that up in the air will you, Shizu?" He asks. She complies, muttering "They always said I'd get ahead in the Watch...". Brand, with a mighty swing of his daiklaive, bats the head across the valley, pinging it off Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon's shoulder. As the colossal Authochthonian turns, Brand gives him the finger with his free hand. Unhesisatingly Loyal Weapon pauses for a moment to process this unfamiliar gesture: "+++ IDENTIFICATION: Impudent gesture indicating scorn and defiance. INTERPRETATION: Insult. RESPONSE: Attack! +++" Then he charges, his mighty footsteps shaking the ground of the valley.

As Shizu watches him approach, she has one question: "So what is the plan?"
Orchid fears she already knows. "It's going to be 'We hit him', isn't it?"
Brand grins: "Yeah." Then he thinks for a moment. "Do you reckon you could disarm him with your funky martial arts?"
Orchid raises one perfect eyebrow. "You'd be surprised but, in my life so far, I've never had to try that on a twenty-foot tall demigod."
"Well, you never know," Brand shrugs. "I thought you might have."
"I suppose it's too late to try seducing him. Instead of giving him the finger, you could have told him 'My friend fancies you'..."

As Orchid and Brand quip, Shizu peppers Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon with bullets from her sling, but he just swats them away with his glowing orichalcum beam-klaive. As he finally closes to hand-to-hand range, Brand tries to reassure Orchid: "It'll be alright. We only struggle against things bigger than us when we take them on one at a time." She is unconvinced: "Hmmm. I've always been wise enough to be elsewhere when you do that." Brand can't resist one more quip. "Like Malfeas, for instance?" he asks, which silences Orchid with uncomfortable memories as Brand leaps atop a pile of assorted wreckage.

Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon hurtles at Brand like a runaway truck, scattering the wreckage as though it were kindling. His beam-klaive, crackling with energy, whirls in an arc, which Brand blocks with his own daiklaive. He lets the momentum of the impact carry him into the air, and he grabs Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon's chin, clouting the giant in the face with the hilt of his weapon. This first blow strikes home, clanging against the Authochthonian's metallic face, but the next, along with a cascade of cutting cogs, hurled at Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon by Shizu, pass straight through him as he engages his Transphase Engine to fade in and out of insubstantiality to evade each attack as it comes in.

Orchid crouches among the scattered wreckage, counting under her breath as she times the rhythm of Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon's phasing. With a muttered "1... 2... 3... Now!" She leaps from cover, swinging one of her Heavenly Thunder Leaves at the back of his knee, hoping to catch him while he is solid. Just as her attack looks certain to connect, his beam-klaive flicks around to block her attack.

Meanwhile, at the Patropolis of Ot...

Slithering around the camp, Ravitsu realises that all of the shells for the battery are being stored in one large ammunition dump. Sneaking away to conceal himself in the undergrowth, he undergoes his Deadly Beastman Transformation, taking on his eagle-man form. He strings his powerbow and, taking careful aim, charges a arrow with the full power of his Essence. He holds the shot until he is sure that his aim is perfect, then releases it, turning to run as soon as the arrow is loosed.

KABOOM!

The entire ammunition dump goes up in a titanic rolling explosion, showering the whole area, and a fleeing Ravitsu with mud, water and debris. Ravitsu sneaks away into the swampy undergrowth, reasonably certain that everyone else in the vicinity is busy either hugging the earth, dying or gaping at the explosion to pay any attention to him.

On the main battlefield, all fighting seems to stop for a moment as the enormous explosion rocks the earth. A pall of smoke begins to rise from the blazing ammunition dump...

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