Nikink/PromiseOfAges

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Cast

Extras

  • Taros Petasi - Enigmatic Elipse Scavenger Lord, maybe with ties to House Ragara?
  • Peleps Dakura - MUST DIE!!!!... I mean ... IS DEAD! Yay!
  • Madam Wu - Owner of a cheap Teahouse in Nexus...
  • Pirule Kugimo - hapless mortal Nexus labourer trying to earn a quick coin by spying on Exalts... (and a dwarf)

Deceased and or Unknown

Places

  • Nexus (d'uh!)
    • Madame Wu's Teahouse of Infinite Courage
    • The Seven-Thousand Pleasures Teahouse
    • The Drunken Carp Tavern
    • Salt of Creation Tavern (in Sentinel Hills)

17th Descending Wood

Early morn in Nexus. A good looking woman, Savvy, is wandering through the bustling street and notices a young woman covered in moonsilver tattoos and carrying a large moonsilver bow, Phinnae. Probably a lunar?

Some mean looking guys start following the ladies.

Scarred emerges drunk from a bar, and sees the mean guys menacing two good looking chicks.

A Jade Wisdom also notices the incidental 'mugging' but is greatly intrigued by the appearance of two Lunars and a Solar! (Recognised immediately through use of charm). He heads toward the Exalts.

Mooks die in a splash of gore and artifact fans.

Jade Wisdom begs to be in the service of such mighty lord and ladies.

Leads the Exalts to the teahouse where he has been staying (Madam Wu's Teahouse of Excellent Courage... but no! They get interrupted by another mysterious Exalt who takes them to a warehouse.

This Exalt reveals the name of Taros Petasi, and tricksy-like binds the party to an oath stating they will help uncover the whereabouts of the Golden Bow of the East.

18th Descending Wood

Jade Wisdom says 'How about the library?'.

Party goes there and Jade Wisdom uses some social fu to get within, and mighty investigation-fu to uncover the old history of the Bow within about 30 minutes. (Yay 9 sux!) There is a legend and a history behind it all!


Feeling job done, party goes back to warehouse. Meets a servant of Taros - Ragara Tanro.

Next day...

19th Descending Wood

Savvy and Phinnae head off seperately to wander aimlessly lost around Nexus. Jade Wisdom heads to Madam Wu's Teahouse of Excellent Courage to check on his belongings. He is pleased that all is still there, and disheartened that his meagre funds are running dry. Scarred practices his drunken martial arts for a few hours. And remains intoxicated.

All are back in time for Taros to arrive.

Taros is pleased at the findings of the party so far, and suggests they might wish to go to Sijan to investigate the Solar Tombs there, on his behalf. Strangely, he is unwilling to go there himself, due to unexplained, mysterious circumstances... wooooo...

Savvy is unwilling. Says she has other stuff to do. Phinnae can't understand a word of what's going on anyway... Scarred is too drunk to care. Jade Wisdom is too unimportant to weigh in with opinions.

Taros shrugs and says if they change their mind they can find him at the Seven-Thousand-Pleasures Teahouse.

The Lunars chit-chat for a while. Swapping small parts of their respective tales. Savvy fills in Phinnae withh some lunary lore stuff that she seems strangely ignorant of. Phinnae seems pleased by this.

Scarred and the Jadeborn chit-chat on the pro's and cons of drunkeness and temperance. The solar offers the Jadeborn some of the sake from his magic gourd (which just sounds... dirty) and Jade Wisdom accepts graciously. He quietly contemplates the alcoholic heat for a few moments before Savvy starts to ask him questions...

Jade Wisdom explains what he knows about Eclipse Oath-binding. This makes Savvy even more nervous about the secret debts she has to repay, and binding a Solar "against his will" into an Oath he doesn't know about. The Jadeborn attempts to ease her mind, arguing that Taros wasn't tricked into his end of the Oath, but Savvy remains unconvinced.

Savvy gives a small hint as to the debt she must repay, and what she must do for that repayment. She must kill off Peleps Dakura, a notable Dragon-Blood of cruel demeanour who is staying in Nexus. Presumably exiled from the Realm and its finer sensibilities.

Jade Wisdom accepts this as a serious matter, and can understand she does not wish Taros to commit a murder on her behalf to fulfil his side of the Oath. After some thought, he suggests that the Solar may know the whereabouts of Dakura in Nexus, and that by giving that information may be considered to have helped Savvy in her goal. The Lunar agrees this seems wise, and the pair make their way to the Seven-Thousand Pleasures Teahouse.

It is a very fine establishment, and the unflappable Taros appears to have been expecting them. Upon explaining her desire to know the whereabouts of Dakura, the Solar agrees to help. Some small talk and pleasantries are exchanged, and then the Lunar and Jadeborn depart.

In the meantime, Phinnae has gone looking for pirates, slavers and markets. She finds a scum-filled Inn and begins talking to some scurvy dogs...

But the scurvy dogs are elusive, sly and secretive and divulge no new secrets. Phinnae is tired and wary of this new city. She decides to return later afreshed. Phinnae returns to the warehouse. Phinnae

Night passes and a new day dawns...

20th Descending Wood

Some discussion is had among the mismatched party as they awaken. This discussion now includes Phinnae who can now actually, mysteriously, suddenly, speak High Realm. No one seems phased by this.

The Jadeborn decides he would be better off if he retrieved his belongings from Madame Wu, thus saving on fees. He goes for a morning walk through the steaming city with Phinnae by his side. They walk in silence for the couple of hours necessary. Upon retrieving his small collection of goods (mostly scrolls, books, paper, ink, brushes and chisels) Phinnae offers to help carry some to help him. Jade Wisdom is a bit perplexed by the idea of an Exalt helping him, or maybe it's her thick western accent. He says thankyou and gives her two exquisite feather quills to carry, not wishing to impose upon her generosity, but also unsure as to her intent, nor willing to risk her displeasure by refusing her aid.

Phinnae also seems a bit bemused by these quills.

Together they travel back to the Warehouse.

Further discussions are held as to what the day will bring, and the conversation turns to the mysterious people who appear to be following members of the party at various times. A plan is formulated to let the Jadeborn and the Solar wander to a market, while the two Lunars follow behind discretely to spot anyone else trying to follow.

This plan gets kinda boring as the markets are miles away, and no one seems to follow them. Sigh. At the markets Jade and Scarred make use of the time to begin organizing travel to Sijan, and then as the day gets longer, they start to head back. Then Jade Wisdom spots the face of one of the people who had been spotted trailing them!

The imposing armoured Jadeborn pounces onto the hapless mortal and holds him in a fierce, intimidating grip. Some questioning by the party reveals he (Pirule Kugimo) has been paid to make notes about their travels - who they talk to, where they go each day, etc - and drop the note into a tavern, where the barkeep forwards the note onto a mysterious (there's that word again) Dynast. Thinking this tavern would be close by, the party decides to follow the guy there.

Some hours later Jade Wisdom, Savvy and Phinnae arrive at the tavern with the guy. Scarred is long lost. Savvy flirts with the barkeep and uncovers some information, such as what the Dynast kinda looks like, and the regular daily visits made to get the collected notes from many people around Nexus.

  • Dynastic dude:
    • Looks wealthy and foppish
    • Dark haired
    • Comes to the Tavern alone
      • Each day
      • Irregular times

Aaaand... that's about it. Mystery upon mystery...

21st Descending Wood

So, Savvy, Phinae and Jade Wisdom start to wander back to the warehouse with Pirule. Savvy runs off, leaving Phinnae and Jade to stop a short distance away from the Tavern to discuss the situation some more.

Phinnae suggests they should remain close to the Tavern with Pirule so he can identify the wealthy fop. Jade Wisdom is sceptical of this idea due to an inability to reasonably hide Pirule and prevent him from calling out or otherwise attracting unwanted attention. This leads to a small impasse...

Then Pirule helpfully suggests staying inside the Tavern to keep a watch out for the fop, and Phinnae agrees to this idea. So Jade and Pirule head back to the warehouse while Phinnae enters the Tavern to keep watch from a position of stealth and inconspicuousness.

While inside the Tavern, Phinnae call for a bit of fun, gambling on an arm-wrestling contest between herself (a poor frail woman-folk-type) and the big manly men of the bar, to help pass the time. A big burly man takes up the challenge. One scream of pain and a broken arm later, the rest of the Tavern patrons look nervous and edge away from the 'poor frail woman-folk-type' lady who just broke a man's arm without breaking a sweat or showing any signs of remorse... that's right, inconspicuous.

Phinnae then tries to bribe the Barkeep, but with no concept of money, the Barkeep is not impressed...

Jade Wisdom and Pirule make it back to the warehouse safely. The Jadeborn offers the man his bed roll, some food and a cup of tea, all of which are accepted with gratitude.

Dawn comes all too quickly...

Phinnae is phrustrated by Bar-Wenches who cannot understand her High- or Low-Realm Phrases.

Savvy, Jade Wisdom and Pirule Kugimo remain patiently at the warehouse waiting for Phinnae and Taros (and maybe Scarred). Soon, Ragara Tanro arrives with a message for Savvy, that Taros has invited her to the 7000-Pleasures Teahouse. Upon hearing this, the super-intelligent Jadeborn takes Pirule away out of earshot, as y'know, spy and all that... Once Tanro has left, Jade Wisdom leads Pirule back inside and Savvy confides the news to him in a language Pirule cannot comprehend. Jade Wisdom recommends that Savvy go to Taros as soon as possible, while he remains at the warehouse to watch the captive and await Phinnae (and Scarred...).

(Common consensus has it that Scarred has taken all the money and gotten lost inside many Nexus Pubs, Taverns, Whorehouses, Opium Dens and Gambling houses on the way back to the warehouse.)

Savvy finds an discreet corner and becomes a bird to fly to Taros.

Midday. Sunny and warm...

Phinnae is bored (and hungry? and thirsty?) but notices the Dynastic looking man with good clothes, darks hair and noble bearing enter the bar. The man talks quietly and briefly to the man behind the bar, then leaves. Phinnae phollows! Phop has disappeared!! Phrustrated Phinnae phlies high, phails to phind, still phrustrated, phuck!!! She phlies back to the warehouse.

Savvy arrives at the Teahouse to meet Taros. He informs her of some details about Peleps Dakura. Savvy is grateful, and idle chitchat ensues, and soon thereafter Savvy departs.

Jade Wisdom engages in conversation with Pirule, getting a little closer to establishing a bond of intimacy with the man. Then Phinnae arrives.

The Lunar girl manages to draw a very rough picture of the wealthy man, and conveys her frustration at losing him so quickly. Jade Wisdom informs the young exalt that apart from her being very unlucky (which is unlikely, because Exalts make their own luck), many other types of being can use Charms to hide themselves from view, or travel very quickly, or confuse the mind. Also many magical artifacts can do the same.

Savvy then returns. Jade Wisdom makes her a cup of tea as she relates her information. Phinnae is curious and excited about Dakura's interest in 'Exotic' slaves. And also a little concerned that he may have some of her relatives...

After some discussion, the yacht seems to be the best place to attack the Dragon-Blood without running afoul of Nexus laws. Jade Wisdom suggests it may be very easy for the Lunars to assault the yacht, but getting himself and Scarred aboard to help, if their help is desired, may be somewhat more difficult as they cannot change shape, fly, swim (not that far anyway), walk on water, or sail. Of course, Lord Scarred may have an awesome idea, but he isn't present, and may have run into trouble, or just passed out in a gutter somewhere, or fled the city...

Everyone wonders what has happened to Scarred... (except Pirule, who's probably thankful).

It is mid afternoon.

...---^---...

Phinnae decides to fly around the city to look for Scarred, and maybe some slave markets, or Dakura's yacht.

Jade Wisdom decides to take Pirule and wander through Nexus to try and find Scarred. Everyone present thinks that Scarred has spent all the money in a tavern, opium den, whore-house or gambling den... or all four. Savvy chooses to remain in the warehouse to ponder the information about Dakura.

Scarred awakes in a poor looking tavern, "Salt of Creation". He has a splitting headache, and very patchy memories of the previous 12 hours or so. He orders another ale, and talks to the barkeep to discover where he is. The answer, Sentinel Hills, is not much help. Ordering an extra strong coffee to help recall events, he asks for directions to the Drunken Carp. Soon after, he stumbles back out onto the street and pushes his way slowly towards his original destination. Being very hungry, the local 'rat-on-a-stick' is very appealing, and helps pass the time...

Jade Wisdom talks some more to Pirule Kugimo. Discussing life in Nexus with life in Urvar and generally being nice and building a certain intimacy between the two. (Yay! A new Contact! Social Combat testing moderately successful!!!)

Night falls

Scarred enters the Drunken Carp and makes a bee-line for the barwench. He orders an ale. Perplexed at where the rest of the group are, he bribes the barwench for information. She tells him a little about their arrival and departure, which leaves the drunkard more perplexed.

He sits quietly drinking for a while to ponder what to do next...

The Jadeborn and the mortal man move from pub to tavern to brothel to casino in a futile effort to search all of Nexus for the missing (to them) Solar. Eventually, somewhat weary, they arrive back at the Drunken Carp. Scarred immediately abuses them for being late, and then swiftly buys them a meal and drink. Then he raises his voice and buys the whole tavern a drink. He then sniggers as he realises his magic gourd is unlimited, and could supply endless amounts of alcohol to everyone, but he'd rather spend the money.

The three leave after their meal. Once outside, Jade Wisdom notices Scarred has left the bag of silver inside on the table. He swiftly bursts inside and intimidates the girl taking the money from the table into handing it over. Once outside again, he gives Pirule a few coins and tells him to never talk to anyone about the group, or spy on them again. Pirule is relieved and grateful to be let free, to return to his pregnant wife and his mother who has a bad hip.

The Solar and Jadeborn start the long walk back to the warehouse.

Midnight

22nd Descending Wood

The Jadeborn once again makes tea for the assembled misfits. Scarred snubs it to fall asleep loudly next to his gourd, but Savvy accepts. Jade Wisdom and Savvy engage in a conversation about slavery and the nature of civilisation. Unwittingly the Artisan greatly upsets the Lunar girl from a tribe raided regularly for slaves. Savvy throws a punch in frustration at the Enlightened Ubermensch and storms out. The Jadeborn is perplexed and puzzled by the erratic behaviour by the Exalt, Chosen by Luna and granted powers far beyond mortal men, but figures slavery had something to do with it. He makes a note of it as a valuable lesson learned by both parties, and goes to bed.

Savvy flies out of Nexus and hunts as a Simhata for a couple of hours, before flying back at about 4am and collapsing, calmer, into bed herself.

Morning arrives.

Scarred and Jade Wisdom awake. The Jadeborn informs the Solar about Peleps Dakura, and then the two decide to spar against each other to pass the time. The Solar clearly outmatches Jade Wisdom, who takes careful note of the Solars technique in an effort to improve himself.

Savvy wakes at the sound of scuffling, and upon seeing this, Jade Wisdom intermingles the sparring with brewing and pouring a cup of tea for her. As he ducks and weaves to avoid the Solars blows he bows low to the Lunar and apologises for causing unintended offense and reaches out to hand her the cup. Scarred slyly whips his hand out to snatch the tea cup away and drink it. He pauses for a moment to express his admiration for its quality. Everyone likes Jade Wisdom's tea! WIth good humour and respect for the Solars skill at martial arts, Jade Wisdom makes Savvy another cup.

Over this liquid breakfast, the three discuss Dakura some more. Scarred mentions that he believes the Dragon-Blood is third in line to the Scarlet Throne! But the others are... unconvinced.

The trio decide the best plan is to head to Dakura's mansion in Bastion to find a servant or slave willing to inform them of Dakura's whereabouts and habits. This agreed to they walk there over course of the morning.

They find Dakura's mansion, and quickly spot a servants entrance. Jade Wisdom is tasked with keeping watch for a likely servant. The Solar and Lunar realise they aren't exactly well kept or clean. Blood spatters and more mysterious stains cover them both... they decide to bathe...

Comments

  • Added links to the first age exalts and linked other NPCs to my pages. - Bencyclopedia
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