Nikink/PoA768DescWood23
Back to Promise of Ages
23rd Descending Wood
Dawn breaks...
The trio awake from their uncomfortable positions... ok, Savvy was a cat, thus quite comfy... to the sounds of a ruckus filtering through the decks. They assume this is due to the guards finally noticing Savvy is no longer in the pen. This ruckus dies down eventually and the yacht lurches and rolls under their feet.
Scarred discovers that lurching and rolling motions plus copious alcohol makes for a bad combination. Jade Wisdom innocently enquires why the Iron Wolf does not have some kind of perfect balance fu, so representative of his kind, and Solars in general. Scarred looks green in his direction.
Midday.
The trio discuss whether Savvy is rewuired to kill Dakura herself, or if any of them could do it to free her from the blood debt. They conclude that any of them could do it if needs be, but that the 'honour' should be Savvy's, and they will only step in if the young Lunar appears to be unable to carry the out the deed.
Scarred uses his stealth-fu to scout out where the Dragon Blood is located, and finds him in his pleasure-room with a slave girl. The trio sneaks up to the main deck...
Savvy leaps towards the door of the pleasure-room, changing into a deadly beastman of horse, lion, human, awesome and pure win as she does so. The door splinters under her hooved feet and glass from the windows shatters into glittering crescent moon shapes as it falls. Getting her Fury up, Savvy rushes towards Dakura with fangs bared and anima flaring. The Wood Aspected Dynast is surprised, but manages to avoid the savage bite. He twists and writhes away from the rampaging beastman to grab his Jade Powerbow. Two arrows embed themselves in Savvy's shoulder and chest as his anima explodes into life. A whirling cascade of thorns and vines tears at the furniture and is closing in on the chained slave-girl, who looks remarkably similar to Phinnae. Neigh-roaring in rage Savvy whips out her two war-fans and deftly cuts through the naked Dragon-Blood's defences, sending his head rolling to the floor, his face forever to remain in open surprise.
On the main deck outside the room, Guards race up and spot the not-quite-as-invisible-as-he-thought Solar, while Jade Wisdom remains still and unnoticed, keeping a watch over the two Exalts as they fight. Scarred smashes aside the first guard with his giant gourd while the other guards surround him.
Savvy calms down and changes back into human shape, the two arrows remain embedded and painful, but she rushes to the aid of the slave girl, trying to speak to her.
As the guards attack Scarred, he manages to roll, stagger, flip, punch, trip, bump and kick himself out of harms way. His castemark starts to shine forth in warning. The Jadeborn is fascinated by the Drunken Martial Arts style practised by the Solar, but seeing that the Scarred does not need his help, runs to assist Savvy.
Recognising the Anathema before them, the guards decide to flee! This is a wise move, but one unfortunate soul gets caught before he could jump into the river below.
Jade Wisdom applies some medical treatment to the slave-girl and then removes the arrows from Savvy. He congratulates her on fulfilling her debt and looks around the room for something with which to make a celebratory cup of tea...
...---^---...
Meanwhile Phinnae is flying high above Nexus, looking for Pirates and slave markets and long lost family members, when she notices a bright silvery glow, as if the moon had fallen to the ground, coming from far out in the river. Intrigued, she alters course and floes out towards it.
Savvy asks Jade Wisdom to search for other slaves aboard the boat and his heavily armoured tread reverberates loudly as he does so. Scarred looks at the man he has locked in his arms and asks if the man can sail the Shining Pearl. When the terrified man shakes his head he is summarily knocked unconscious, and then he and the other guards are tied up.
The Jadeborn finds another six slaves imprisoned below decks. He informs them that they have been emancipated by the Lady Savvy and that they should go above and present themselves to her. They do so, and upon seeing their attractive, semi-naked and terrified forms, Savvy does her best to put them at ease by asking after their well being. Jade Wisdom is fortunate that his face and raised eyebrow are hidden by his helmet! The slave girls are wary of the glowing Anathema, but after some social-fu begin to calm down. Jade Wisdom volunteers as interpreter for Savvy as the girls do not understand any of the Lunar's languages. Savvy asks Scarred to go below and look for food and water. The Solar asks one of the girls to accompany him (as a second pair of arms) and she does so after a moment's hesitation. She refuses to put her lips anywhere near his giant Gourd though. - I'm fairly sure it was Scarred's idea to get food for them all. He was getting hungry. Muzz
Savvy (through the interpreter) asks the girls what she can do to help them be free. Her naivety shows when the response "take us home" confuses her.
Scarred finds the galley and notices the galley staff fleeing upon spotting him. He and the girl bring as much as they can carry to the girls above deck.
Phinnae, after recognising Savvy as the cause of the moonlit glow, cries out. Savvy turns and spots the giant Condor swooping in. Probably recognising it as Phinnae. A lunar at least.
The heroes on deck begin to eat with the ex-slaves as Phinnae lands. The giant moonsilver bird waddles below decks to transform out of sight of the girls. When she comes back up Savvy points her towards the unconscious and injured girl in Dakura's love-nest. The one that looks Tolinyan.
"Cousin Rosa!" cries Phinnae, rushing to the girls side. She starts examining her cousin for injuries and concludes that Rosa is in a critical but stable state. Phinnae produces a small package of her Mother's Medicinal Ointment from the folds of her clothes and rubs Rosa's injuries with it, muttering a small chant to the Tolinyan gods as she does so. As she does this, Phinnae notices a branding mark upon Rosa, but cannot quite understand what it means.
Savvy and Jade stay politely out on deck, and start to work on building an intimacy towards Savvy in the girls. This works mostly and Savvy organises the yacht to be fleeced of cloth to clothe the girls in. Dakura's closets prove useful here. Savvy then asks if Phinnae can sail the yacht, to which the Western Juggernaught replies, oh yeah, probably.
Savvy takes Jade Wisdom below decks to search for the hiding galley staff and any others. The Jadeborn easily finds six hiding sailors and the two galley crew. Yay for 11 successes on 10 dice! Savvy, through Jade Wisdom gives the found men a choice - aid in sailing the yacht, or go to the cells. All the men choose the cells rather than taint their souls forever by helping foul Anathema. So then Jade Wisdom offers to pay them double what Dakura was, just to sail the yacht back to port, and all the men agree readily. So wise to the greed of men... what a guy! :)
Phinnae looks over the yacht and assumes Captaincy.
The Lunars and Jadeborn spend some time discussing how best to dispose of Dakura's body without causing an angry ghost. Scarred, as the only Dynastic representative, is consulted on Realm funerary techniques, and burial rites. The drunken Solar mumbles incoherently about knowing just what to do. He then pisses on Dakura's lifeless form and then drags it onto the deck and throws it overboard. Yay for Botches!!! The others are somewhat taken aback by this inauspicious action but are too stunned to argue. After all, he seems to know what he's doing... right? -Dont forget he also cursed the mans name and told him never to come back. Muzz
Savvy then cleans the blood from the room as best she can, earning more odd looks from the Jadeborn Artisan, and tells the newly freed slaves they can go in there if they wish to avoid the sun. The quartet discuss what to do about the girls when they get back to port. Jade Wisdom points out that just setting them 'free' into Nexus is not likely to actually help any of them get home, even if enslavement itself isn't legal. After some thought someone - maybe Savvy? - comes up with the idea of getting help from Taros. This seems to be the best idea for the girls as he can provide employment and / or transport to get the girls around Creation. Savvy then starts trying to get an idea about what skills each of the girls has. A resume , so to speak.
Around early evening the yacht pulls into the Nexus Pool and is docked. Jade Wisdom pays the agreed amount to the sailors and galley staff, with a warning to not tell anyone about this day's events.
Interestingly the guards, tied up still, are forgotten about entirely. Oops.
Jade Wisdom requests to be given Dakura's Jade Short Powerbow, to which Savvy agrees. All of Dakura's other belongings will be used as payment for Taros' aid, and maybe if possible, sold off to get some more money. While collecting the bow (and arrows!) from Dakura's room, he notices the brand on Cousin Rosa. Inspecting it closely he can tell it is the mark of the Wujin-Shi Tea Company.
Savvy and Jade Wisdom travel to the 7000-Pleasures Teahouse to see Taros.
A couple of hours later, they arrive. Savvy asks Madame Wang to let Taros know they have come to see him. Shortly thereafter, they are led to a room containing Taros and a red-headed young woman. Her hair is tied back, she is grubby, slim and quite buxom. She laughs a ditsy greeting as she leaves the office and Jade Wisdom and Savvy both notice Taros surreptitiously hiding a note or letter among his clothing. They politely do not mention it for fear of inadvertent offence. They inform him of the untimely disappearance of Peleps Dakura, and offer Taros the yacht(and tell him of the newly ownerless mansion in Bastion that will soon be available for the quick witted) in return for his help in emancipating the girls. He agrees to help the girls find employment if they wish it, or their way home otherwise.
They note that the yacht will be a great help in getting the quartet to Sijan to look for the Golden Bow of the East, but that they will need a crew. Taros agrees and states that the Jade Breastplate of Dakura's will be sufficient to pay for a crew for the duration.
As Savvy and Jade Wisdom bid farewell to Taros, he hands them a note to give to Scarred.
A couple of hours later, the Lunar and the Jadeborn are once again at the yacht. Jade Wisdom hands the note to Scarred, who reads it and looks a bit surprised. The note asks for Scarred to meet with Taros. The hungover Solar leaves immediately.
It is midnight.
Back to Promise of Ages
