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Exalted Session 44

Session 44 - Deliverance

7 Ascending Air

Ravitsu scarpers, keeping low so that his glittering caste mark does not give him away. He pauses for a brief glance back at the scene around the Patropolis of Ot. Lissom Avid Engineer is in frenzied activity, waving her arms around and shouting as she chivvies her Autochthonian soldiers into implementing a Standard Bucket Brigade Procedure to fight the fire at the ammunition dump. Her soulsteel compatriot, Rapid Offensive Unit Silent Iron Hunter (currently petitioning for redesignation as ROU "Be Vewy Quiet... I'm Hunting Wabbits") activates his Optical Shroud and fades from sight, save for a slight blur in the air. His optical enhancements soon pick up Ravitsu's trail but bringing these systems on-line has taken time, and Ravitsu has a good head start.

As the pillar of smoke rises above Serenity Valley, Alana scans the battlefield, searching for a better look at some of the Dragon-Blooded officers, strangely familiar to her eyes, that the circle had spotted earlier. There! She sees them through the smoke and haze, a few hundred yards away, a trio of burly red-headed fire aspects, pursuing Excessively Righteous Blossom across the valley floor. "Oh no!" Alana groans, recognising yet more of her Cathak cousins.

OOC note - Alana's player was able to make this week's session, but not last week's. Rather than jump through hoops trying to get Alana to the fight, we assumed that she was there all along. Good old Body-Mending Method had her patched up just well enough to join in. That's the old Cathak fighting spirit at work! We did need an explanation for why she'd been so quiet, though...

Her attention snaps back to the fight between her friends and Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon. The great big golden machine-man activates his Celerity Enabling Module and cross-cuts twice at Brand with his crackling golden beamklaive. Brand ducks around the wreck of an Authochthonian skimmer and parries desperately, just about staying one step ahead. Even as he attacks, a panel opens on one of Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon's pauldrons and five sharp golden knife missiles fly out, swerving around him as they pick out targets.

Alana, Orchid and Brand easily dodge the missiles. Shizu takes a more spectacular course of action, leaping atop a hunk of wreckage and flipping over Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon's shoulder to place the Autochthonian between herself and the knife missile. As she passes him, she conjures a cascade of golden slingstones, but his beamklaive spins in a full circle, blocking them all with a "vwoosh!". Orchid and Alana take advantage of the distraction to dart in close and cut at his knees and ankles, but to little avail.

In the swamp, Ravitsu once more becomes a water snake and wriggles away through the muddy water. Silent Iron Hunter stops, his head scanning from side to side so his enhanced senses can pick up every hint as to Ravitsu's location. His arm snaps back, then forward, launching a soulsteel spear in a high arc over the water. Ravitsu barely slithers to one side in time to avoid it. "Damn this," he mutters, and transforms into his Deadly Beastman Form. Beating his mighty wings, he soars into the sky, dodging a hail of crossbow bolts and the odd flaring blue ball of plasma fire as he conceals himself among the clouds.

Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon is surprisingly fast for such a big fellow - or maybe it's just his Transitory Augmentation of Dexterity... Regardless, he remorselessly pursues Brand with crackling swings of his beamklaive. Brand parries and counter-attacks, even as he dodges a pair of swooping knife missiles, but the one blow he lands does him little good as - thanks to Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon's Electrification Onslaught Dynamo - gouts of electricity flicker up his blade to shock him. The same happens to Alana when she catches the Autochthonian a glancing blow across one mighty kneecap. She falls back to give herself some space to think, deflecting another swooping dive from the knife missile that is targeting her.

Ducking around Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon's legs to dodge pursuing knife missiles, Shizu almost bumps into Orchid. "What is it about Brand? Why does everyone we meet try to kill him?" Orchid considers this as she deflects her own knife missile with a fan. "I had a few insights into that way of thinking this morning..." She breaks off as she flicks out her sash to snatch the darting missile from the air, but it tears through the floating silk and flies free. When Orchid looks back, Shizu has faded from sight.

Orchid glares down at her torn sash, then up at Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon, and finally back to her tattered sash. "Right!" She steps back a pace or two and gives him a face full of thrown warfans, cutting a gash in his golden skin. Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon pauses, staring right at Orchid: "+++ THREAT PRIORITISATION: Reassessed. TARGET DESIGNATION: Changed. SUGGESTED ACTION: Exterminate! +++"

Ravitsu glides through the clouds. Doubling back on himself, he surveys the scene around the Patropolis of Ot - the oily residue on the swamp water, the thick black smoke, the Authochthonian hordes scurrying like black ants. He has had enough. He launches himself into a near-suicidal dive, right at the great metal head. Lissom Avid Engineer spots the danger and frantically barks orders. "Open fire! All weapons! Despatch Silent Iron Hunter to bring back his body!"

Ravitsu twists and turns through the air, somehow avoiding every crossbow bolt and every fiery ball of plasma that is hurled at him. The sheer speed of his descent rips feathers from his swing and snatches tears from his eyes. He roars, venting his rage: "You desecrate our land! You kill our people! You despoil everything you touch! Why don't you go back to your ‘Great Maker’!"

As Ravitsu swoops, the Patropolis of Ot tries to close armoured shutters over its eyes, but it is too late. Ravitsu thrusts his moonsilver direlance deep into one glowing eye, tearing open a hole in the crystalline surface. Cracks spread like a spiderweb across the eye as alarm klaxons sound and the gate in Ot's mouth begins to close.

Alana takes one swing with her daiklaive at Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon, but he neatly parries it. On the backswing, Alana whirls and deftly slices apart the knife missile that had been pursuing her. The remaining four missiles swing wide and swoop in after Brand. He charges toward them, leaping high in the air to land atop the first one. Precariously balanced with Graceful Crane Stance, he lets it carry him away from its comrades.

Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon takes a double-handed hand grip on his beamklaive and launches a frenzied attack upon Orchid. She backpedals desperately, dodging and parrying each thunderous overhand swing as it crashes down, every missed blow leaving a smoking furrow gouged into the earth beside her.

Shizu fades back into sight behind the advancing Authochthonian. She shoots a couple more slingstones at him but his automated defences snap his beamklaive into the perfect position to block them.

Ravitsu climbs for height, dodging crossbow bolts and plasma fire. Then he swoops back down to scatter the Autochthonians on the ground. Filled with terror, they flee back to the closing mouth of the Patropolis of Ot where Lissom Avid Engineer. Ravitsu, glowing with cold silver light, is silhouetted against the orange glare of the burning ammunition dump. He casts a terrible shadow over the panicking Autochthonians: "That's it, run! Get off my land!"

As Ravitsu swoops at his prey again and again, he notes a silvery streak as Excessively Righteous Blossom is the last to make it through the Gate. It closes with a clang and, with surprising speed, the great metal head of the Patropolis of Ot sinks below the marsh and vanishes as though it had never been. Ravitsu kneels, meditating upon a fallen leaf as he composes a quick prayer to Heaven to tell Chejop Kejak that this threat has been dealt with. When he is finished, he takes wing and, after scouting around to see if he can find any sign of Silent Iron hunter (he doesn't - the ROU either made it back through the gate unseen or is now on the loose in Creation), he heads back to the main battlefield.

The knife missile upon which Brand is surfing loops around to leave him dangling by one foot as the other three slice through the air towards his chest. He frantically sweeps out his sword to knock two of them aside and then flips himself upright just in time to make the last one miss him by mere inches.

Orchid pauses, and gestures Unhesitating Loyal Weapon on. "I am the invincible fan princess!” She taunts. “You cannot touch me, you cannot harm me. Greater warriors than you have tried and they have failed. I float like a butterfly, though I confess I sting like one too." As the giant golden warrior swings at her, she contemptuously swats one, two, three blows aside with her fans. After this third blow, Orchid's tattered sash wraps itself around the hilt of Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon's beamklaive. She tugs and wrestles and almost, but not quite, yanks it out of his hands. The protracted struggle over the beamklaive leaves them locked together and Orchid has no room to dodge or parry as Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon thrusts his glowing golden blade forward, impaling her! Orchid gazes in horror at the blade that transfixes her: "Oops." As Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon pulls his beamklaive back, Orchid slumps lifelessly to the floor.

His triumph is short-lived. In the struggle to keep his beamklaive, he has forgotten about Orchid's comrades. Alana charges to stand over Orchid, her anima banner - a writhing mass of thorny plants - flaring to the skies. Enraged, she hacks again and again at Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon's leg, almost severing it at mid-thigh. As the crippled Autochthonian reels, Brand, screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" leaps from the flying knife missile at its head. Several ringing blows later, something gives in Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon's neck and his dented head tumbles from its shoulders to crash to the floor below.

The great headless body sways for a moment then topples forward. Shizu dashes forward to cradle Orchid. "Dammit, Orchid don't leave us now! I'm sorry about the miming! I'm sorry I was listening the last two times you made love!" Alana thrusts Shizu aside and frantically tries to tend to Orchid's terrible wound. As she does, Brand casts an eye over the state of the battle. It has gone badly for the Authochthonians. Without Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon's support, their infantry have been unable to break the Tenth Legion's line. The last two remaining elephants have broken through the back of Autochthonian formation and are turning back for another go. Elsewhere, the fightin' Cathaks are leading a charge against the Autochthonian command post at the head of the valley.

Brand turns to Alana. "Do you reckon you could rally that lot to kick the rest of the Authochthonians back out of Creation?"
Alana sighs. "That's my family!" She gestures at her burning caste-mark. "Besides, do you really think they'll listen to me now?"

Brand concedes the point and, leaving Alana to finish patching up Orchid, distracts himself by looting Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon's body. He is frustrated, and only saved by his flaring anima, when the beamklaive explodes as soon as he touches it. But he does manage to prize the soul-gem free from the Autochthonian's forehead. Orchid, thanks to Alana's ministrations, struggles into consciousness, rambling: "I told you we should have seduced him..." Alana shushes her as, with a terrible sinking feeling, she notices the approach of three very familiar Dragon-Blooded - the fightin' country cousins from Cathak County: Bannion, Bella and Boone.

Alana covers her face with the scarf of her desert robe as Orchid, leaning heavily on Brand, struggles to her feet. The three Cathaks are all of a piece - red-haired, plain-spoken, sturdy and oh-so... rural. Bannion speaks up: "Howdy, y'all. I see you fellas bagged yourselves the big one."
Brand, surprised not to find himself being denounced as a demon Anathema, is the first to collect his wits. "We did what we could. The little bugger got away, though."
Bannion is full of aw-shucks charm: "Yep. He done run off. Not to worry, Boone'll git 'im. Ain't that right, Boone?"
Boone spits a wad of tobacco juice to the floor: "Mm-huh."
Bannion turns back to address the Solars. "So, where you folks from?"
"Oh, you know, here and there." Brand is evasive. "We travel around a lot. We were just passing through when we saw the fireworks and then they attacked us."

Meanwhile, Bella - clearly the most perceptive of the country Cathaks - has been peering at Alana. "Is that you, Ally-Mae? Hey, boys, that's Ally-Mae!"
Alana frantically shakes her head, trying not to let any of her trademark red Cathak hair show. This does not fool Bella. "Why, Ally-Mae, I declare that is you! Honey, I know y'all's an 'Nathema and evil for sure now, but how come you don't write no more?"
Alana is dumbstruck by an emotional reaction that falls somewhere between tears and hysterical laughter, as she suppresses an overwhelming urge to scream.
Orchid rallies to fill the gap: "Why Alana, you didn't tell me your family were so charming!"
“Y'all met Ally-Mae's other kin? Y'ever meet Anaria? She is such a B. I. T. C. H. Why, the one time she visited over the Big House and the Little Woods, she had her nose stuck so far in the air, her head was in the clouds!”
"So," Shizu asks. "You're not on speaking terms with her, then?" A sudden inspiration strikes Shizu and, after turning her back to hide what she’s up to, she takes out a stick of charcoal, scribbling frantically upon the palm of her hand.

"I must say," Orchid comments, running on some sort of small-talk autopilot. "You're all very open-minded about the 'Anathema'."
Bannion spits out more tobacco. "Nope. Not if we're huntin' 'em. Last ol' hunt we had, Boone bagged him one o’ them there wolfie Lunars. Real nice pelt, got it on the fireplace in the Big House. Ain't that right, Boone?"
"Mm-huh."
"So," Orchid wonders, possibilities beginning to occur to her. "How do you feel about Abyssals?"
"We likes to hunt 'em, too, yup." Bannion grins a gap-toothed smile. "Ain't that right, Boone?"
"Mm-huh."
Brand cautiously ventures: "How about us, then?"
"Sure, one day we’re a-gonna hunt y'all and kill y'all too, and ol' Boone here's good with the skinning knife. Ain't that right, Boone?"
"Mm-huh."
Bannion continues: "We got ourselves a few Solar heads up on the wall. But we're ol'-fashioned in Cathak County, so we'll give y'all a head start! Real sporting-like.”

Anaria is still unable to speak. If anything, the fit is getting worse. (OOC - Alana's player was completely unable to speak for a few minutes, she just rocked back and forth a bit, shaking with horror and/or laughter as she listened to the conversation unfold.)

Shizu finishes scribbling a crude facsimile of the sigil of the Perfect on her hand and turns to Boone. "Well, it's been nice but we've got to go... home... to... Paragon..."
"Mm-huh."
Shizu glances at her open palm, cocking her head as though listening. "What's that, Mr Hand? The Perfect wants us to go home now?"
"Mm-huh."

At this point, Ravitsu arrives, flapping down from the sky. Brand briefly quizzes him on the tactical situation:
"Are there more of them out there?"
"Not any more. I told Ot to piss off."

Alana finally recovers the power of speech as Bella asks her: "So what have y'all been up to, Aly-Mae?"
"Oh, you know," Alana weakly evades the question. "Travelling..."
"You gotta come visit us, sugar. Y'all may be evil 'nathema, but kin is kin. We gotta at least write. Where y'all staying?"
"Oh, we... move around..."
Bella is incensed. "Are y'all trying to avoid us?"
Orchid is still rather light-headed, but with a glint of mischief in her eye, she ignores a silent plea ("No, no, no!") from Alana to suggest: "I'm sure Alana would love to write. Do you Infallible Messenger?"
Bella does indeed use the Infallible Messenger, so Orchid and Alana have a new pen-pal...

Casting a wary eye over the battlefield, Brand and Ravitsu are sure that it won't be long before the rest of the victorious Tenth Legion comes to find out what's been happening here. It's about time that the circle was leaving. Orchid reckons that she can just about manage to call up a whirlwind to ride home. Bannion is concerned. "Are y'all sure 'bout that?" He asks. "She got a mighty purty mouth, but she don't look none too strong right now. Ol' Bella here could give y'all a ride home with her whirly wind-"
"No!" Alana frantically interrupts. "Orchid won't hear of it! She's very insistent!"

Orchid summons a whirlwind to carry the circle back to Gem. She barely makes it - her strength finally gives out just before she reaches the city and she is forced to let the whirlwind run down. Shizu, not at her most reassuring - "Are you sure you want to stay at home tonight, with you being so close to death?" - wonders whether Orchid could be taken to the Diamond Palace, where Auntie could arrange proper medical care for her. Orchid is feeling too fragile to put up any argument, though she does insist that they go to the Granite Watchtower first, as she wants to talk to them about something without anyone at the palace overhearing. When they get there, she tells all. Well, some:

"I sort of promised a favour to this... friend... of mine. I already did this... friend... another favour - that was to save Gem. And that's turned out quite well, hasn't it?"
"You mean" Shizu says. ""That Gem hasn't been destroyed?"
"Yes... And this other favour that my... friend... asked for. Well, what my... friend... wants is for me to win Chejop Kejak's trust."
Brand is incredulous: "That's gonna take some doing."
Ravitsu sighs. "Yeah. I laughed out loud when she told me."
"I suppose," Brand looks on the bright side. "We're off to a good start with the Autochthonians."

After some discussion the circle decides to try to arrange a meeting with Chejop Kejak. Perhaps in Yu-Shan. First, though, they go to the Palace to get Orchid looked after and to report to the Despot. Ravitsu summarises the military victory over the Autochthonians. The Despot appears to be mildly pleased: "I am awfully glad that the money was well-spent, even if it does mean income taxes will have to go up." Our heroes are confused. What money? "Oh, just a few coins in the right hands and the Tenth Legion was sent out on a 'training exercise'..."

And with that, the Autochthonian menace is resolved. For now...

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