SJE/Session41
Exalted Session 41
Session 41 - You're Not Smiting Any More
4 Ascending Air
Previously on Gem: Edge of Destruction...
"Now I am known as Mahdi, servant of the Unconquered Sun. His messenger, Amoth City-Smiter, has revealed my sacred task. In the Unconquered Sun's name, I must tear down the city of Gem. Its entangled destiny will destroy all cities when it falls and usher in a new Golden Age for Creation!"
...
Mahdi's declaration, his oration made even more spectacular by his flaring anima banner - an escort of winged Solars at his side - awes the nomad horde around him, but the circle of Exalts facing him is less impressed. Brand is the first to object: "So what you're saying is that the Unconquered Sun can't deliver his own message? What did he actually show you when he chose you? He asked me if I was a 'righteous man'. What about you? Would a righteous man destroy Gem?"
The Mahdi is enraged by Brand's doubt. "Repent for your doubt, unbeliever!" He turns the full force of his presence upon Brand who, still tired and drained from the battle against Master Tanaka and his nightly crusade against the criminals of Gem, is taken aback. For a few moments, he has no comeback and finds himself compelled to consider his sin in speaking against this prophet.
Ravitsu takes up the argument: "Do you know what Gem's fate is? It's destiny is bound up with the whole of Creation. If it falls, Creation falls and Malfeas is triumphant. That's what will happen if you listen to this snake!" Amoth City-Smiter hisses his displeasure, but still looks certain that he has the prophet in his thrall. His certainty is shaken when Orchid speaks in a calm and soothing tone: "Let us not squabble, prophet. Listen to my words. You know them to be true. As it is with Gem, so will it be with Creation." Ravitsu's passion and Orchid's emolient tones open the first cracks in the Mahdi's conviction. He begins to doubt for the first time.
But Amoth is far from defeated. From an ivory case, decorated with delicate gold filigree, he unfurls a scroll. A golden light blazes forth from the beautiful calligraphy inscribed upon it. "BEHOLD! HERE IS THE PROOF, UNBELIEVERS - THE DECREE OF THE UNCONQUERED SUN HIMSELF! - 'TAKE THE CHOSEN ONE TO THE PROMISED LAND. CAST DOWN THE CORRUPT AND THE UNBELIEVERS!'" He turns in a circle and, as the light from the heavenly memo falls upon the nomads, they fall to their knees, unable to face its glory. It is Ravitsu who, quickly scanning the text as Amoth brandishes the scroll, spots a crucial point: Gem itself is not mentioned at all in the decree. Amoth shrugs off this objection.
AMOTH: "THE PROPHET SEES THE TRUTH. LET HIM DECIDE HIS TARGET!"
RAVITSU: "Not if he wants to follow in the footsteps of the demon army and do Malfeas' work..."
AMOTH: "BUT I HAVE A DECREE FROM HEAVEN. HOW CAN YOU CLAIM THIS IS WRONG?"
RAVITSU: "Because our divinely-mandated oath compels us to protect Gem."
Shizu presses the point. "Yeah, but did the Unconquered Sun actually mention Gem? Really?" Amoth is enraged: "YOU DARE TO DEFY THE GODS?" He demands. To which there is only one answer - Brand, Captain Ibrahim, Ravitsu and Shizu speak as one with a resounding "Yes!""
Orchid has taken advantage of the developing argument between Amoth and her comrades to draw the Mahdi away so that she can have a quiet word with him, just the two of them... She gestures to her colleagues as they yell at Amoth. "Mahdi, why would the Unconquered Sun send us to defend Gem if he wanted it to be destroyed? Listening to Amoth... Amoth City-Smiter... well, it's like listening to the Black Mouse suggest that you should steal something!"
Amoth is still wavering: "But what of my vision? Did your orders to protect Gem come directly from the Sun?" Orchid, sensitive about the shady circumstances of her exaltation, sidesteps the question. "The Sun gave me a mission of peace. What was your vision, Mahdi?"
The Mahdi, ever eager for a chance to preach, launches into a vivid account of what he saw... Himself, wandering alone beneath the desert sun and moon for seven days and seven nights. Tortured by extremes of heat and cold, tormented by hunger and thirst, scoured by sandstorms, until he stumbled upon his chosen people - the Dehenni nomads. He knew, even as the vision faded, that he must lead them to their destiny, to cleanse the corrupt and unrighteous. And all this has come to pass, just as it was shown to him. He is fulfilling the word of the Sun...
Orchid presses the point about Gem once more. "There is nothing about Gem in your vision, Mahdi. And if you destroy it, Creation will fall."
Shizu sneaks away from the increasingly loud confrontation with Amoth to remind the Mahdi of the girl he loved in his previous life as Joaqim the Dreamer. "What about Petal - what will happen to her if you destroy Gem?" The Mahdi pauses for thought, it seems he has not considered this. The reminder of his old life opens another crack in the once-impregnable armour of his conviction. Orchid seizes the chance to slide another verbal dagger into him: "Mahdi, why not bring peace instead of the sword? Do not fight us, join us..."
The Mahdi turns her question right back at her. "No, why do you not join us?" He hits her with a double whammy of Knowing The Soul's Price and Motive-Discerning Technique, hoping to find what it would take to persuade her to turn against Gem and why she is so stubborn about defending it. Visions swim before Orchids eyes, her own imaginings and yearnings given form - biremes by the fleet, as many mammoths as she can imagine, Captain Ibrahim humbled and taught good manners, herself on the Despot's throne, but no... She would only join this crusade against Gem if it was the action that would ensure that Gem and Creation are not destroyed. As for her motive, she is bound by her duty as one of the Unconquered Sun's chosen and by her oaths. She must defend Gem, or Creation is doomed. She also carries a burden of penitence, feeling that she must atone for the action of her demonic doppelgannger.
The Mahdi is taken aback - he had expected to find that Orchid could be easily bought, or that her motives for defending Gem would be corrupt. He wonders What if we just cast out those who are decadent and corrupt?" But Orchid points out a simple truth: "But that would remove that which makes Gem what it is. Every jewel has its flaw, and corruption and decadence is the very soul of Gem. To remove it at a stroked would destroy the spirit of Gem, and of Creation itself." She raises her voice slightly, hoping that Amoth will overhear, and he does, roaring: "NO! GEM MUST FALL! ITS WALLS MUST CRUMBLE! ITS PEOPLE MUST BE CAST INTO THE DESERT!"
As he speaks, he transforms once more into a towering sandstorm, shaped like a curious hybrid of snake and man, and screams his rage to the sky. Orchid, sensing that she has him now, smiles a wicked smile. She makes no comment, happy to let Amoth argue with her friends, to give him an opportunity to damn himself in the Mahdi's eyes.
RAVITSU: "That much slaughter would create a mighty shadowland. Is that what you want?"
AMOTH: "THE TRIAL WILL MAKE THE PEOPLE STRONG!"
BRAND: "I've never heard such a load of old tosh! The people will starve, you stupid little man!"
AMOTH: "I AM A GOD!"
BRAND: "Why don't you sod off back to heaven, then, and do some paperwork or something?"
Orchid sees that Amoth is on the edge of completely losing his temper. She draws the Mahdi back to a safer distance as Amoth, screaming incoherently, bunches his fists together and swings them overhead to squash Brand into the desert soil.
It is at this moment that Alana, with an escort of tiger warriors, arrives upon the scene. "Typical!" She sighs, dismayed to find the usual chaos waiting for her. "Every time I go away for a day or two. If it's not demon doppelgangers or the Paragonese army, it's Abyssals or mimes. You just can't leave them on their own..." Cautiously, she skirts around the developing fight, seeking out Orchid to find out what is going on.
Ravitsu adopts a defensive stance, transforming into hawkman form so that he can shield Orchid and the Mahdi from the battle that is erupting just in front of them. Captain Ibrahim swings his poleaxe in a wide arc, flicking Shizu away from Amoth into a nearby palm tree, from which she flips down to the floor, circling around to find a good angle from which to hurl chakrams at Amoth. Brand desperately parries Amoth's double-fisted strike and takes its full force on his daiklaive. He is driven almost waist deep into the loose desert sand, but springs out and launches a series of slashing attacks at the towering god, inflicting a number of small wounds upon him. "We beat Octavian and Stanewald," he snarls. "Do you really want to take us on?"
Meanwhile, Alana has reached Orchid in search of explanation. "He," Orchid indicates Amoth City-Smiter. "Wants him," Holding her hand out to the Mahdi. "and his nomad army to destroy Gem. And he," Still the Mahdi. "Thinks that the Unconquered Sun told him," gesturing once more to Amoth. "to do it." She pauses for a moment, and makes a vague gesture encompassing the whole of the circle: "<i>We, of course, beg to differ." Surprisingly, this makes some sense to Alana, though she has to ask: "So where does the fighting come into it?" Orchid frowns. "Well, Brand seems to have been in a frightful temper for the last day or two and the Captain, well, boys will be boys...</i>"
Orchid takes a moment to introduce Alana and the Mahdi to each other and, as the battle rages nearby. Orchid and Alana conduct an impeccably polite, but forceful, two-pronged offensive against the last vestige's of the Mahdi's faith in Amoth City-Smiter. While Orchid casts further aspersions upon the character and bona fides of Amoth City-Smiter, Alana recounts the visions and words with which the Unconquered Sun greeted her at her exaltation, even doing her best to pull off the voice as she quotes: "'WILL YOU LEAD MY PEOPLE TO THE PATH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS? WILL YOU PROTECT GEM FROM ALL ENEMIES WITHIN AND WITHOUT?'"
As Shizu darts in to snatch up the now-forgotten scroll bearing the Unconquered Sun's decree, Captain Ibrahim grabs Amoth's hand and is carried up into the air as the god raises his fists for another swipe at Brand. Ibrahim lets his momentum carry him up to Amoth's face before hurling a flurry of earth-shattering blows with his smashfist. BOOM! CRACK! BOOM! The Great Oasis shakes with the force of his punches as he smashes Amoth's face apart in a shower of sand. There is an appalled moment of silence as everyone - Exalts, the nomad horde, visitors to the gift shop - gaze open-mouthed upon the spectacle. The body of sand that Amoth has crafted himself hangs suspended but inanimate in the air for a long moment before it falls to the floor, nothing more than lifeless sand now that the Captain's mighty blow has smashed Amot's life-force all the way back to heaven. The nomad horde staggers back, aghast, as the Captain bellows: "WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW?"
(This incident provides a week's worth of headlines for the Yu-Shan Inquirer - "GOTCHA!", "One In The Eye For Amoth", "Look Who's Smiting!" - and a great excuse for the scandal-rag's gossip column to run pictures of the Captain's wife, Burning Feather).
In the dreadful silence that follows, Orchid raises an eyebrow at the Mahdi: "I believe we were talking about you not conquering Gem..." This, along with the astonishing and apparent ease with which the Captain and Brand defeated Amoth is the final straw for the desert prophet. With one last protest about smiting the evil and unrighteous, he capitulates. A long evening of discussion follows, in which our heroes help the Mahdi to decide that it would be best for his nomad horde to head south and take on the forces of the Balorian Crusade.
During the evening, Orchid takes a chance to join Alana in praying to the Unconquered Sun.
5 Ascending Air
The next day is also spent at the Great Oasis. Brand, now past his limit break, and Orchid work together on crafting charms against fair folk to fortify the nomad warriors. Captain Ibrahim is thrilled to discover that the nomads have wine and spends much of the day making new friends and passing on his best tips for fighting the fair folk. Ravitsu likewise passes on his best advice.
Shizu experiments with the Unconquered Sun's memo, discovering that merely opening the scroll puts it into full-on 'Word of God' mode - complete with blazing golden letters and the sound of heavenly choirs.
In a lull in the activity, Alana tells her friends about where she has been for the last few days:
What Alana Did
3 Ascending Fire
In the company of a picked bodyguard of tiger warriors, Alana arrives in Solaria. It is a dry and dusty little domain, with hardly any towns but many tiny villages. She is surprised to find so many legionary forts here housing soldiers from the Realm, especially when she realises that there are still a surprising number of shrines to the Unconquered Sun here. The conundrum is resolved once she has made contact (you don't need to know the secret handshake if you have a caste mark) with the local Sun-worshipping cultists - it seems that the Solarian Brotherhood of Glaziers, Potters & Associated Trades still commands enough loyalty to keep the locals building glass and clay shrines more quickly than the Realm's troops (or the rival Allied Glassblowers & Clay Moulders) can tear them down.
Alana also discovers that a stranger has moved into the Imperial Governor's palace in the last few months and has become a power behind the throne. What Alana learns gives her the creeps. This stranger is known as the 'Dark Lady'. She came from the south and has the governor completely in her thrall. This is bad enough so far, but when the priest tells Alana how the holy symbols around the palace have tarnished and cracked since the Dark Lady arrived and that she is never seen by daylight... Alana has seen this before, from the Abyssals in Gem.
She decides that she should try to get a closer look at this Dark Lady so, passing herself off as a noble from the Realm (which, strictly speaking, she is) Alana has four of her tiger warriors carry her on a palanquin to the governor's palace. Her disguise draws the attention of stone-throwing mobs, but no real harm is done before rival factions among the protestors turn upon each other instead. Alana blags her way in to see the governor - Mnemon Daiwa - claiming to be on a tour of the outlying provinces, inspecting defences and all that. She plays the bluff, military Cathak to perfection, and spends a day or so enjoying the governor's hospitality.
Alana only catches one small glimpse of the Dark Lady - just after sunset, Alana sees her emerge from a wing of the palace that has been sealed off. She is a small, thin figure with raven-dark hair and pallid beauty. She carries an umbrella, as if even moonlight is too bright for her to bear, decorated with jingling charms and bells. Alana feels a wave of cold revulsion come over her after even this brief glimpse, just like when she met the Abyssals, but much stronger. The urge to flare her anima against this creature of darkness almost overpowers her, but she retreats from the palace without blowing her cover.
She spends the next morning meeting members of the various local Solar cults ("A shining one! Praise be, we are delivered!"). She stresses to them the importance of uniting against the common foe. "By which I mean," She is repeatedly forced to specify. "The forces of the Realm and the Dark Lady, and not the Popular Solarian Liberation Organisation!" She thinks that the message has got through and that they will stop tormenting the poor man...
After this, she returned to Gem but immediately headed out to join the circle at the Great Oasis.
After this, the circle returns to Gem, arriving late in the evening. Everyone has business to attend to:
Alana and Orchid take the Unconquered Sun's decree to the temple in the Cult of the Illuminated safe house and there they burn it, sacrificing with it a prayer to return it to its rightful place in the Unconquered Sun's office.
Ravitsu sends a report to the Diamond Palace of the nomad horde situation and arranges for supplies of iron to be made available to craft weapons for them. After all, if you're going to get someone else to fight a battle for you, you might as well give them the right tools for the job. Brand is up for much of the night crafting iron arrowheads and spear points.
Shizu arranges to rent a new flat. She's in a hurry, so it's not as good as the last one. Frankly, it's a bit pokey and she'd rather not live in the new Hot District, but at least the Captain won't know where she lives now... Restless, Shizu passes the night fighting crime and righting wrongs ninja-style in the neighbourhood. Stealthily, she foils muggers, bag snatchers and pickpockets, returning the stolen goods - and one of her black mouse figurines, now marked with the symbol of the night caste - to their rightful owners, often before they realise that they were stolen in the first place.
After their work is done, Orchid invites Alana and Ravitsu to her home, only half joking when she suggests that they be her bodyguards. After getting past the silent vigil of Immaculate monks outside - protesting at the presence of the Abyssals in the city - they are startled to find two of the Abyssals waiting for them at the kitchen table. The Maiden of the Mirthless Smile and The Lord of Silent Repose have an invitation for Orchid and her friends - they want to have a housewarming dinner party! They're particularly keen to meet Brand, they've been hearing such good reports about him recently. He sounds like their sort of chap! The solars are dubious - even more so when the Abyssals insist on doing the catering for the dinner party, the Maiden mirthlessly smiling: "<i>It'll be really, really nice!" - but accept the invitation for tomorrow evening before they retreat to Orchid's half of the house.
There, they discuss the Dark Lady of Solaria. Orchid, with her library having been burned, cannot research her as she normally would, but all it takes is for her to think of her teacher, the Inconstant Hierophant of Five-Fold Adamant Pedagogy, and with the ringing of delicate emerald bells, the Heirophant is there, assisting Orchid as she changes out of her travelling clothes. Some small pleasantries are exchanged before the Heirophant asks Orchid if there is anything it can assist her with. Orchid describes the Dark Lady and the Heirophant has much to say indeed on the subject. It seems that the Dark Lady is a Princess, but has now lost her name. She was once a Solar and now has designs on Solaria as, unlike her peers, she has no realm to call her own. It seems she is not an Abyssal, but something worse, though the Heirophant refuses to give more detail than this. It does, though, advise Orchid that this Princess is known to the Abyssals who share her house, and that their relationship is less than amicable.
As Orchid dresses, the Heirophant reminds her, almost as an after-thought, of the 3 favours she promised it when she exalted. It would like to ask for the second of those now. Orchid has met the private secretary of the Mouth of Peace - Chejop Kejak. The Heirophant would consider the second favour complete if Orchid were to win his trust. Orchid does not feel she can refuse. She glances away from the Heirophant for a moment, distracted by some detail of her clothing, and when she looks back her teacher is gone.
Orchid rejoins Ravitsu and Alana and tells them what has happened and the promise of three favours that she made to the Heirophant, though she glosses over some of the details. Ravitsu is not impressed, promising favours to gods, or those you believe to be gods, is a dangerous thing. Both he and Alana are dubious about their chances of winning over Chejop Kejak - Alana remembers Ayesha Ura warning her of his role in the Usurpation and the danger he represents at the Carnival of Meeting. Still, Orchid has prmomised and - though she insists that she will undertake this task alone if she has to - they will stand by her.
The Heirophant's information about the Princess stirs some past life memories in Ravitsu. He recalls passing through Solaria when it was ruled by this Princess and her consort, another Solar, though Ravitsu is unable to recall their names. It is as though a blank space exists where this memory should have been. He does remember that the Princess was considered eccentric for always carrying a parasol. It seems she feared that exposure to the sun would wrinkle her face and mar her beauty.
6 Ascending Air
Shizu, yawning and short on sleep, nevertheless feels invigorated by the night's activities. She goes to see the Captain to ask if she can be transferred to the Night Watch. She is nonplussed when the Captain's only response is "Blah, blah, blah... Can't you see I'm on a beer break?" Then she recalls that he's not in command any more. Fortunately, Commander Ravitsu is better-disposed to her request.
Once everyone has reached the Granite Watchtower, Orchid gathers them together. She passes on what she has discovered about the Princess, suggesting that the supposed animosity between her and the Abyssals could be exploited. Speaking of which, she has good news! Her Abyssal housemates have invited the circle to a dinner party tonight. Captain Ibrahim is thrilled, Brand and Shizu less so. Shizu tries to duck out, apologising insincerely for being on night duty. Ravitsu is quick to give her the night off so that she can, after all, come to dinner. Shizu is suitably happy. Orchid goes on to warn her friends that the Abyssals will be taking care of the catering (Brand: "So, finger food, then?") so it might be worth getting a snack before turning up.
Orchid does not, however, want to see anyone ducking out of this: "If I have to suffer this, I'm not going to suffer it alone!"
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