MargardKazuki/SessionOne

The Cast:

• Margard Kazuki (Wood Aspect): Grew up a commoner without many luxuries – idealistic and enthusiastic, but naïve to the ways of nobility. He is two years older than most of the other Dragonblooded in his class. He leads a double-life, going out at night to hunt monsters with Margard Saiki.
• Ja’hanna Zinthos (Fire Aspect): Once a commoner with great promise in blood sports. She is bitter about losing the opportunity to excel in the arena, and has developed a finely honed mean streak as a result. She has recently discovered a new focus in life and has a renewed interest in her studies.
• Tepet Mizugami (Water Aspect): Raised under nobility, he accepts his position as one to serve and protect the citizenry; though he also believes that through these responsibilities he is entitled to the luxuries that nobility enjoys. He plays the role of the mediator and diplomat for the class, and is the outspoken voice of reason.
• Manka Judas (Earth Aspect): Strict and highly disciplined, his outer façade comes across as cold and emotionless. He strives for action and efficiency, and doesn't tolerate the wishy-washiness of noble whims. There is compassion hidden under his stony face, but he often approaches things in a blunt fashion as the obtuse voice of reason.
• Mnemon Kira (Air Aspect): Strongly believes that her only role in life is to face the Deathlords, and everything she does is preparation for that inevitability. Her desire is to learn and gather as much information about the Deathlords as possible, but not necessarily to combat them. She prefers intellectual over martial pursuits.
• Princess Ranka (Fire Aspect): Sheltered and naïve, she is a princess who grew up knowing little of the outside world. She comes to the Colleges of the Fivefold Paths to not only learn more about sorcery, but about the world around her as well. Considering the stereotypical reputation of royal lineages, she is surprisingly empathetic.

The Game

Prologue

A few days before the start of the new school year, Kazuki is called into Chancellor Crow's office, where they are joined by Margard Merta and Cynis Belar Norrin. Merta has communicated Kazuki's desire to remain at his old dorm rather than stay at the Palace of Len Occam, and has been pulling strings to make sure his wishes are met. As a result, a deal is struck with House Cynis for Kazuki to attune to one of their nearby manses and gain ownership of a hearthstone that will allow him to shrink and expand his Dire Lance at will so that he can at least protect himself.

The game and school year hasn’t even started yet, and Kazuki is already indebted to two noble families and the Chancellor. He just hasn't realized it yet.

Orientation

Each prospective Dragonblooded student entering the Colleges of the Fivefold Path receives a letter to meet at the Palace of Len Occam for orientation the day before classes begin. Kazuki arrives early, hoping to get a decent breakfast, and unknowingly volunteers himself as a servant helping to set things up for the welcoming party. At least he gets a good meal.

The next student, Tepet Mizugami, arrives shortly after breakfast where he meets with a scandalously-clad Ferem Lasha, who has been micromanaging the welcoming party setup process. He joins her in a game of Gates at her sunbathing spot, and the rest of the preparations are able to finish without any problems or interference.

Kazuki, not knowing what else to do, asks a random servant about accommodations. He is taken to Auspicious Dusk, where his status as a prospective student is finally revealed. He is escorted to his suite by the flustered servant and later led to Peleps Danic Damanchina, who asks Reflection of Chaos, a junior student, to give him a quick tour of the complex.

Lunchtime arrives and no one else has presented themselves to Danic. She invites other students in the area to join her and Kazuki, but only Margard Moro and Reflections accept the offer. They go out to the courtyard where they discover that Mizugami had been out there all along.

Lasha gets a talking-to while the others enjoy lunch.

Next to arrive is Jahanna Zinthos, who also has the pleasure of being greeted by Lasha. Jahanna is more or less brushed off since she didn't bring an entourage, and is brusquely directed to the meeting hall.

With the majority of the students present, orientation begins. Danic asks each what their interests are, and what they plan on doing as a Dragonblooded in the future. As each student answers, Danic recommends a selection of courses and professors. At this time, the final registered student, Judas of Lookshy, arrives. Jahanna is mostly undecided about what she wants to do, and she is given a general studies curriculum to start. Judas wishes to pursue arts and cuisine, so he is presented with a focus on liberal arts with an opportunity to study under Chef Huey. Mizugami wants to serve and protect the people, and he is offered classes in military and bureaucracy. Kazuki claims that he merely wishes to protect his friends, so his classes are geared towards becoming a Legionnaire.

The Aptitude Exams

Kira arrives two days after the start of classes, having been recently "transferred" out of her previous school, The House of Bells, for non-attendance. She claims that she skipped classes there because its militaristic bent was not in line with her desire to work against the Deathlords. Chancellor Crow takes personal interest in this and offers to instruct her personally.

With the full class now present, Danic calls for a lunch meeting where she announces that she will be holding a series of proficiency exams to see where each student’s strengths and weaknesses lie. Each student is asked to be prepared to swim immediately after the written exam. Kazuki and Jahanna buy a weather-proofed peasant seal-skin suit, in vivid contrast to everyone else’s fashionable indoor swimwear.

The first series of exams are aptitude tests in four academic areas: Bureaucracy, Law, Occult, and Religion. Lasha is the proctor for the exam, but there is little she can do to interfere with the process. Most of the students do exceptionally well in at least one area. Most. Kazuki proves himself to be a straight "D" student, while Judas voluntarily declines taking the Religion exam.

The next series of exams are more physical in nature. First is a race from the test hall to the swimming hall. Judas activates his Armor and his Earth aspect ability to rush through the path, ignoring obstacles and forcing onlookers out of the way. His brute-force method wins him the race. Kira activates her Air aspect ability to glide towards the goal, earning her second place. Kazuki activates his Speed power for the first time since Exalting one week ago, where he manages to plaster himself against the side of the building in third place. Kira attempts to take a more direct route by running over, instead of around, buildings, but underestimates the climb. She comes in fourth. Mizugami chooses to follow Danic’s request to make sure everyone arrives at the pool safely, so he remains at the rear to see to that task.

At the pool, the students are given the simple task of swimming from one end to the other. Unfortunately, most of them barely know how to swim, and only Mizugami is able to properly stroke his way across the water. He even makes the effort to keep an eye on his classmates. The others eventually manage to doggy-paddle their way across. Danic is displeased, and "encourages" the class to learn to swim, and Mizugami offers to provide lessons.

After the pool is the final challenge. The freshmen are escorted to a 50-foot wall separating a tennis court from the campus. They are told that a senior student waits for them on the other side of the wall. The challenge is to scale the wall and force that student to move outside the boundaries of the yard. They may confront him singly, in part, or as a whole.

Without a second thought, Kazuki activates his speed power and bounds up and over the wall, immediately challenging the senior, V’Neef Chead, while the others climb and wait atop the wall to appraise the situation. Kazuki takes Chead by surprise, and Chead is unable to bat the plummeting freshman aside with his voluminous pillow-Daiklave. Instead, Kazuki manages to land and catch the weapon, and is blanketed in an explosion of feathers.

The others descend in a more calculated move (after asking Kazuki for clarification and permission to engage, since it sounded like he had issued a personal challenge). Judas activates his Armor and aspect ability once again and drops from the top of the wall, almost managing to intimidate Chead with this straightforward maneuver. Mizugami is more cautious and slides down half the wall before jumping down. Kira activates her Air aspect ability and floats down, while Jahanna climbs down to encircle Chead on the far side.

As the freshmen surround Chead, he activates his own abilities and enters the Jade Mountain Form. His body becomes as hard as stone, and his feet one with the earth. Kira tries to tackle him by grappling his feet, but he demonstrates his martial prowess by deftly blocking her attack while maintaining hold on his pillow-Daiklave. Jahanna tries to break his concentration by loudly talking smack about him to the onlookers while trying to get them to divulge his weaknesses. Kazuki reveals his Ace in the hole, perhaps much too soon, by summoning his Dire Lance, and using it to cut off a large chunk of the pillow-Daiklave. Kazuki immediately shrinks the Dire Lance and wields his part of the pillow-Daiklave, but the damage is already done. People have seen what Kazuki can do.

Mizugami takes advantage of the situation by convincing Chead that this is no longer worth fighting over, and the showdown ends with Chead agreeing and voluntarily walking out of the court. The freshmen win.

Ferem Haining, voted Most Likely to Turn Evil and Kill an Innocent Flower Girl, makes a comment on Kazuki’s Artifact weapon, and how one so young is able to have one. Kazuki naively tells him the story of how he managed to get hold of it.

During the celebratory dinner, Danic reveals her reasons for the tests. She will be responsible for the freshmen class’ physical education, with Chead assisting in martial arts training and combat. Judas will have to add Religion to his list of classes, but everyone else should be fine as they are. The group is also introduced to the remainder of the staff that they are most likely to be dealing with during their time at the College of the Fivefold Path.

Typical Classes

Kazuki sleeps in most of his classes except Civics. Mizugami sees to it that he stays awake there. The other Dragonbloods notice that he does not stay at Len Occam, and he eats with his friends in the school cafeteria most of the time. Word of the Idiot 4 begins to spread.

Judas skips his Religion classes.

"Hermione" Kira spends the mornings studying under Crow, afternoons studying with other professors, and evenings in the library, reading.

Mizugami is the ideal student.

Jahanna remains undecided as to her future.

The First Meeting of the High Student Deliberative

The freshmen are denied critical need-to-know information until the last moment, when they discover that they are members of the High Deliberative, the segment of the student council that rules over many of the affairs of the school. The first meeting is scheduled for the upcoming Sunday – the following day.

The students are widely varied in their enthusiasm for the meeting. Though there are more than enough seats around the conference table on the stage, the members are scattered throughout the massive auditorium. One is even sleeping behind the bleachers in back. The Minister is Chead, but most of the meeting is clearly run by the Vice-Minister, Cynis Elin.

The first order of business after roll-call is the nominations for Speaker to the Lower Student Deliberative. The role of the Speaker is to present High Deliberative decisions to the members of the Lower Deliberative, made up of mortal students of the school, for discussion and voting. Laws that are passed in the Lower Deliberative are handed back to the Higher Deliberative, where the Minister has the power to sign or veto the decision if he so chooses.

Kazuki nominates Mizugami for the position; Reflections of Chaos nominates Jahanna, Judas nominates himself, and Lasha nominates herself.

While the candidates decide on what to say, the Deliberative moves on to the next topic: the Haunted Dormitory, Dunleavy Hall. Prior to this meeting, there have been three sides to the matter: Chead believes that the dorms should be razed. Unrepentant Jade wants to go through and combat the ghosts that occupy it. The third side is that of apathy or indecision. Kira presents a fourth option: to explore the dorm, and to determine what actions to take from there. This latest option wins the consenting vote and Kira is chosen to be the committee chairperson.

Finally, candidate speeches and voting commence. Judas announces that he is running in order to get out of his Religion lectures, but he still intends to represent both sides of each law he brings to the Lower Deliberative. Mizugami presents a good, short speech about his intention to also present both sides of any law to the Lower Deliberative, and to not make his own opinions known. Jahanna grunts, and wins the Jade vote. Lasha is long-winded and self-aggrandizing.

Mizugami wins the vote, and Lasha is very unhappy about it. Jahanna commiserates, in her own special way, as they had both earned only three votes each. Judas makes his thoughts known about the Dunleavy decision and leaves. He eventually cuts a deal with Danic to take a Bureaucracy class instead, but off-screen, Danic convinces the professor to add Celestial Bureaucracy as a mandatory part of his curriculum.

The Dunleavy Committee

As the High Deliberative meeting adjourned, the Dunleavy Exploration Committee called for volunteers. Amongst them are all of the freshmen, Margard Moro, Reflections of Chaos, Margard Miyako, and Unrepentant Jade.

Ferem Quintero pulls Kazuki aside briefly and begs for him to pass along any information he has on Jahanna. Kazuki doesn’t know Jahanna very well yet, but he promises to find out what he can.

Not much is discussed, though it is revealed that Tevaned should be able to provide a draught that will allow the explorers to see and interact with spirits. Tevaned tries to sell, even gift the first dose of, several concoctions for leisurely use. Judas convinces Tevaned not to bother him ever again with a single glance. It is also revealed that Moro is able to see spirits unaided.

There is some concern as to whether Crow will force her hand and stop the exploration from happening. There are some talks about whether or not she should be consulted. In the end, this event remains a student-only activity, and the expedition is scheduled to take place the following Saturday night, provided that the law passes in the Lower Deliberative.

It does.

Kazuki’s Zombie Hunt (Sidestory)

One night, shortly before the outing to Dunleavy Hall, Kazuki gets a visitor outside his dorm window. Cautious about the warnings of assassins that Chancellor Crow imparted on him, he has his hand on his weapon as he investigates. He finds Margard Saiki perched outside, with news about unusual undead activity in the District of Glittering Smoke and asks him to join her for some cleanup work.

Saiki explains that she followed a girl’s screams into an alleyway, where she found the girl accosted by two men. When Saiki confronted them, they did not seem to be cowed by a Dragonblooded in their face. Instead, they fought with an unfamiliar martial art that actually hurt Saiki. She used her Daiklaive to cleave one in twain, but discovered something else shocking – the man rose again as a zombie. She eventually dispatched both, but she not only had to behead each zombie, she had to also destroy its heart in order to kill it permanently. These were not normal zombies by any means.

Digging through their belongings, she discovered a picture of the girl and an address that they were presumably supposed to take her after they’d done whatever they were sent after the girl to do. After escorting the girl home, she investigated the address to find a warehouse, guarded by a large man accompanied by a gigantic, rotting undead wolf. Realizing this was not going to be an easy job, she goes off to fetch Kazuki and they go forth to kick zombie butt.

They rush to the warehouse with due haste and judicious use of the Speed power, and sneak around in an attempt to scout a bit before going in. However, they are spotted by the zombie dog. Realizing that their element of surprise is lost, they charge forward and attack.

The pair attacks the zombie dog first and manages to nick it a little, but cannot deliver a solid blow. The large man is startled by their sudden appearance, but announces himself as Vagger before dropping into a martial arts stance and swinging at Saiki, hands aglow with a sickly green light. He misses with his attack, and Kazuki immediately designates him as the greater threat.

As Kazuki has his attention on Vagger, another player pops his head out and takes a pot shot with a modified heavy crossbow. Kazuki spots the attack just in time to cleave the bolt in two, and he threatens to deal with the crossbowman… later. He resumes his combat with Vagger.

After another short exchange of blows, Kazuki finally gets his groove. Following up on Saiki’s stunning blow, Kazuki deals Vagger a mortal wound, stabbing through his heart and slicing his Dire Lance upwards to remove his head in one swift motion. The zombie wolf bites at Kazuki from behind, but Kazuki calmly thrusts the lance back under his arm, driving the point of the Super Ether Slasher Extreme! through its head, destroying its brain and following through by way of its throat down to pierce its heart. Kazuki removes his weapon from the remains of the slain beast and points at the last attacker, commanding him to drop his crossbow. The human complies.

Saiki interrogates the man, Lacio, and manages to get a little bit of information out of him, while Kazuki waits for his anima flare to die down. He investigates the warehouse, but accidentally collapses a pile of crates down upon himself, dealing the only injuries he received that evening.

Later that night as they headed home, Kazuki informs Saiki about the outing to Dunleavy Hall. She promises to go to provide backup.

The Dunleavy Expedition

The students gather in the Deliberative Hall in preparation for the Great Dunleavy Expedition. There they all imbibe the smoky draught that Tavaned has provided (including Moro) and in a half-hour, everyone begins to hallucinate. Voices whisper in their ears and tracers of light cross their vision. Assured this was normal, they proceed to Dunleavy Hall. On their way, the voices die down for everyone... except Kazuki. His whispers are more coherent, urging him to accept the disembodied voice’s power, but Kazuki just assumes that everyone else is hearing the same thing and brushes it off.

Once inside Dunleavy, the party splits up into one group consisting of Kazuki, Kira, Reflections, and Moro, and the other with Judas, Mizugami, Jahanna, Jade, and Miyako. Kira’s group would explore the roof and proceed downwards while the other group would start at the bottom floor and move upwards. Footsteps in the floors above hint at things to come.

The first-floor group has not gotten far when something leaps out from the shadows just as the whispers explode into a crescendo. Two characters don’t take well to the surprise: Judas reacts by armoring up, and Miyako skewers the poor mouse with a shot from her bow. Somewhere in the shadows, ghosts high-five each other.

The group upstairs encounters a locked door to the roof that proves to be exceptionally sturdy. Reflections shoulder-charges it, and only manages to splinter a small hole. Kazuki peeks through the hole to check out the rooftop and something scurries across his field of vision, but he remains unfazed. He simply comments that there is something moving on the other side, and lets Reflections charge at the door once again. With the second blow, a Chaos-shaped hole is created.

Meanwhile, the first floor group encounters some poltergeist activity in one of the classrooms. An inkwell overturns itself, spilling ink out all over the desktop. As the fluid spread out, the words "Kill Kill Kill Kill" are spelled out repeatedly across the surface.

On the rooftop, no other movement is detected, though the group discovers that they have inadvertently broken one of the kekkai (barriers) protecting the door. There is a large, gaping hole in the roof leading into one of the rooms on the third floor, sealed up with spiritual ofuda (paper wards) and rope. A water tower stands quietly in the corner of the rooftop, but when Kira investigates it from above, she spots a body that immediately submerges itself. Hoping to uncover something further, Kazuki punctures a hole in the side of the water tower, allowing the viscous fluid drain out. There is no body within. The group decides to explore the third floor.

Despite hearing two loud crashes and a screeching, metallic tear from above, the other group moves on to investigate the second floor. As they approach the landing, Judas spots movement disappearing around the corner. The group follows to check it out and notices footprints in the dust that simply vanish as it reaches the wall. Mizugami threatens the unseen to reveal itself, and after two unsuccessful attempts, flares his anima banner before calling to it a third time. From the corner of the ceiling, a voice finally speaks up. Margard Saiki is found.

Back upstairs, Kira’s group moves to the third floor to investigate. As they reach the landing, several students hear a sound from the left, and Kazuki hears a scratching against the wooden walls to the right. The group elects to investigate the left side, where they know the room with a skylight is located. There, they come face-to-face with… a rattling door.

Scene change – second floor, Mizugami confronts Saiki about her presence. She reveals the dark past about this old dorm, about how a demon named Glory had broken free and destroyed the dorm, killing several Dragonblooded in the process. Saiki was one of the survivors. Now, it is only the Memory of Glory that remains, though even that leaves behind tremendous psychic energy, causing the ghost-like activity occurring today. She also spills the beans that it was Kazuki who told her about this outing, and she was there to watch over the others. They continue towards the stairs.

The group at the epileptic door is faced with indecision. They cannot decide whether they should proceed or get the others – "Four or nine?" Kira asks, and she is met with a sea of blank faces. She decides that getting the others is the most prudent decision, and the group meanders back to the staircase where they encounter a rolling swarm of fist-sized beetles spilling out of the walls. No one is disturbed by the sight, though no one is sure how to proceed until Kazuki causes his anima to flare, forcing the beetles around him. The others follow suit and they are able to continue onwards when they meet with the other group at the landing.

The expeditionary force is reunited. Information is shared and introductions are made. Saiki is unable to see or hear the things that the others are experiencing, but she has a good idea of what is happening and warns the group against facing the Memory of Glory. Kira concurs and offers to build a small shrine to help settle the ghosts in the common hall before heading back. Their reconnaissance is complete. Kazuki and Reflections seem disappointed.

Aftermath

As the group opens the front doors, they are greeted by armed and armored members of the Black Helm led by Undefeated Raven, as well as Incomparable Ebony Comet and Virtuous Cloud. Mizugami quickly defuses any possible situation by explaining the group’s presence and apologizing to Undefeated Raven for not informing him of their outing. Incomparable Ebony Comet is warned about the broken kekkai, and Virtuous Cloud is sent up to repair it.

Virtuous Cloud calls Kazuki aside after she completes her task, and warns Kazuki that due to the effects of the Spirit Draught, they would have indeed been able to confront Memory of Glory and other spirits in the area, but Glory would have immediately gone after Kazuki first because of his Artifact weapon. She also informs him that Chead may also be able to provide more information – he is, after all, the other survivor of her manifestation.

Kazuki shares this information with the others and Saiki shows her disgust at the mention of Chead’s name. She blames the deaths of the other Dragonblooded on Chead’s reckless desire for glory. Kazuki wants to return to the dorm after some additional Artifacts are collected. In the meanwhile, he expresses his desire to go "beat badguys up." Saiki deftly manipulates him into waiting until a later time.

The party returns to their rooms for much-needed sleep.