FrivYeti/ZeretanStoryOne
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Contents
Story One: Many Meetings
Session One: Threads Tangle
IRL Date: May 9th, 2005
Date: 25th of Resplendant Earth
The session begins with the Exalts settling in to Zeretan. On one side, Didi has set up her shop, and Akee has gotten himself work at the docks. Penu attempts to join him, but inadvertantly upsets the dockmaster through his comments and is resigned to stable work ((OOC: First botch of the game didn't take long...)). On the other side, Inari has set up in her own residence, and while Hayyoth is out training, she begins to research her first local assignment: the assasination of Lord Jared Wulian, head of one of the minor houses of Zeretan. Lord Wulian seems to have upset the Guild, and Inari begins to find out what she can about him.
Didi receives a mysterious visit from a man seeking strange ingrediants for an occult ritual. Unfortunately, she fails to realize what they are ((OOC: Another botch. Yikes.)), and dismisses the matter. Inari, meanwhile, discovers that Lord Jared's servant, Jacob, has been seen heading into the harbour frequently. Very odd. She trails him, and, posing as a fellow servant, learns that he is gathering a wide variety of occult ingrediant from various shops. When she happens to encounter Didi, the occultist recognizes the ingrediants, when combined, as being used for birth (or calling of things into the world), summonings, and the calming of the denizens of Malfeas. This worries Inari even further, and she decides to talk to Hayyoth about this 'dangerous demon summoner' before continuing, just in case.
It also worries Didi, who gets Penu and Akee as they come off work, and sets off in search of the 'servant girl' who was looking after Jacob. Their search takes them to an occult shop in Stormside, where Inari and Hayyoth are trailing another servant of Lord Wulian as he gathers the final ingrediants. Due to Inari's new disguise, Didi fails to recognize her, and she and Hayyoth begin to move again. After some mucking about, Penu finds the trail, realizes that it is the same girl, and he, Didi, and Akee begin to follow in pursuit ((OOC: Yay for 8 successes on an Investigation roll is all I can say)).
The trail leads the servant to an alley, where he talks briefly with a young tough. The tough spots Didi and Hayyoth, and as the servant hurries off, calls out to them, wondering what they're doing here so close to nightfall. As he speaks, he is joined by three thugs, and three more thugs escort a tall, heavily cloaked man behind the group. The tough seems intent on scaring the heroes off, but as Inari taunts the cloaked figure, it snarls in rage, yells "No more talking!", and lunges forwards. As its cloak flutters off, the group sees to their shock that it is a blood ape, a dangerous demon! As the demon lunges towards these 'unprotected' mortals, the thugs desperately move to cover its attack.
Six seconds later the fight is over. Hayyoth leaps up with lightning speed, drawing his naginata in a swift motion, and tries to lop its legs off. Inari draws her sanxian strings, lashing the beast's back with its razor edges. Penu covers the team, leaping up from hiding and firing three arrows into the thugs behind the leader, killing them all, as Didi leaps up, ricochets off the wall, and forces two more thugs back onto the defensive as she snaps her warfans open. Akee charges forwards as well, forcing the leader to defend himself from his blows.
Then Hayyoth leaps onto the shoulders of the blood-ape, bringing his naginata's spiked base down five times in rapid succession. Each hit scores more fully, and he leaps off as the beast falls dead. The thugs, overcome with fear, break and run. Inari, thinking quickly, whips out her sanxian strings, entangling the leader and drawing a thin line of blood across his cheek. He surrenders immediately, and the group (including him) agree to get out of the area before the guards arrive.
Back at Didi's shop, the leader, a man named Thran, is questioned. It turns out that he is hired muscle for Lord Wulian, and that the blood ape is sent along on important missions. Lord Wulian has been doing strange rituals every two or three months for some time now, and Thran didn't think that there was anything different about this one - but he's not in the lord's inner circle. Didi tells him to stay away from people like Wulian in the future, and he rapidly agrees, still concerned for his life. The group agrees to let him go, as long as he stays quiet, and he agrees to that as well. They do.
An argument then breaks out about what to do next. Inari and Hayyoth are planning to break into Wulian's manor and kill him, but they don't think they need Didi or her friends to do it, and that the three will slow them down. As such, they depart, making their own preparations. After they leave, Didi, Akee, and Penu agree to also try to break into the mansion, by way of the town's sewers. They are hopeful for their chances...
Quote of the night: "And if the guards come to investigate the fire [a theorized fire at Lord Wulian's mansion], and Lord Wulian is dead from fire-related khatar wounds, that's okay." - Akee Sambo
Session Two: The River of Despair
IRL Date: May 16th, 2005
Date: Still the 25th of Descending Earth
Hayyoth and Inari set their plan to break into Eastfield into motion. Step one, of course, is reaching Eastfield itself. The pair slips down to the river with Inari's breaking and entering equipment. Inari fires a line arrow across the water, and the two climb their way across, just over the waves. Once inside Ivory Flats, they start to slip through the streets; unfortunately, Hayyoth fails to notice a cat in his path... and trips over it. With lightning reflexes, he sprints over to a small wall keeping a merchant's house safe, and, leaping it in a single bound, hangs from the other side as guards approach to investigate the noise. Finding nothing, they decide to leave, and the two heroes let out a silent breath of relief. The rest of the journey through Eastfield passes basically uneventfully.
Meanwhile, Deedee's team has decided on a different approach. Walking down to the river, Deedee activates her Spirit-Detecting Glance, and converses with a small river naiad. After a short discussion, during which it becomes clear that the naiad is appallingly stupid, she convinces it to fetch Blackriver, the god of the river. Blackriver appears, looming out of the river, and then shrinks himself down to a reasonable size, and Deedee manages to convince him to let her across, as she can stop a demonic summoning (she pretends to be a god-blood, not a Solar). Blackriver makes her promise to tell the Immaculates of this attempt when they get back in town, which they are not at present, and then momentarily stops the river to allow Deedee and her friends to cross unseen. They slip into the sewers, and aside from an unfortunate smell, make their way uneventfully underneath Ivory Flats and Eastfield.
Back aboveground, Inari and Hayyoth have reached the Eastfield wall, twelve feet tall. They scale it carefully, hop over the side when the guards aren't looking, and slip down the other side. In Eastfield, they slide quietly through the streets like a pair of shadows, reaching the Wulian manor and hopping the iron-grilled fence. As they cross the lawn, Wulian's dogs begin to growl, but Hayyoth calms them with a smile and a Charm. The two reach the manor, and, seeing that there is only one light (on the second floor), begin scaling the wall.
Penu leads Deedee and Akee through the sewers, using his navigational sense to reach underneath Eastfield, and the trio also makes their way to Wulian's manor. They hop the fence as well, and also make their way across the lawn. This time, it is Akee who calms the guard dogs, allowing the trio safe passage - they head for the stables to slip into the house through that entrance, noticing to their concern that there are three carriages present from other Houses. The stableboy is fast asleep, and the group easily gains entrance, finding themselves in the servant's quarters.
Upstairs, Inari and Hayyoth explore briefly, discovering only a handwritten note: "Jared, I won't be able to make the ceremony tonight. I have sent my manservant in my place. Good luck. Yours, Malcolm." Uncertain where Jared Wulian is, they head downstairs to grab a servant and find out... and bump right into the other three heading towards the basement. The five converse briefly, and Deedee recognizes the Malcolm as probably belonging to Malcolm Jasper, of a larger noble house. Regardless, the five agree to work together on this, and slip downstairs, where the ritual is likely being held. As it turns out, they are right. Tucked behind a wine cellar is a door, and the group can hear the word "Shikara" being chanted repeatedly, followed by "Terberius". As they discuss briefly, Inari uses a mirror to take a peek into the room, and sees five people in white robes standing in a star around an altar. On the altar are a young man and a young woman, bound in an embrace and unconsious. Surrounding the five men are seven in gray, and four men-at-arms are on each wall. The chant abruptly shifts to "Akianshi", and the group bursts into motion, charging into the room.
Unfortunately, they hadn't been able to see the two demons standing at the far wall.
The woman was beautiful, and looked sad. Her skin was blue, and her hair waved as though underwater. Her eyes were solid amythests. The man was tall, and his body was jet black, shining like obsidian. He was completely hairless, and wore rainbow robes that raised strange feelings of guilt and shame in all five heroes. As the Exalts began to take action, the demons moved to intercept, Shikara yelling that they would not prevent the birth of her child.
The battle was short but furious. Hayyoth, Inari, and Akee took charge of the demons, while Deedee and Penu focused on the guardsmen and the white-robed cultists. The man-demon, Terberius, kept shifting forms, first into a water-aspected Dragon-Blood whenever attacked by Hayyoth, then into a wood-aspected one when attacked by Inari. Shikara, the woman, turned the full sorrow of her nature upon Hayyoth, nearly taking him out of the fight through sheer despair. Still, the three managed to keep the two mostly on the defensive, and Penu killed two of the five cultists, injuring two more. Eventually, Inari managed to kill Shikara, and she collapsed in a heap. Terberius, roaring with rage, stood astride her corpse and battered at Inari, almost killing her, before dying himself. His body melted into Shikara's, and the two dissolved into nothing.
The group captured and questioned two guardsmen and three of the seven gray-robed cultists, learning that they were worshippers of the Yozi, and that they knew only a few of the other members. Deedee made them promise to never again worship the Yozi or consort with Yozi-worshippers, and to take up honourable professions, and when they swore it, she bound it with her anima before letting them go. She also realized that, if this was a demonic birthing ritual, and the two humans were meant to be lovers, the deaths of Shikara and Terberius could, conceivably, fulfill the condition. This would be bad. Hayyoth gave chase to those who had fled, as Akee destroyed the statue and altar in the room out of concern for any power they might have. Hayyoth was unable to catch the fleeing cultists, however, leaving one more small problem to face the group in times to come...
Quote of the Day:
"Inari, why do you have all this stuff to break into places?"
"To do good works. Sometimes you need to do something good without people knowing you're doing it."
"Oh. Okay."
- Hayyoth Emblazoned With Fury and Inari, who is totally not lying. Really.
Session Three: Licking Their Wounds
IRL Date: May 23rd, 2005
Start Date: 26th of Resplendant Earth
((ST Note: The next two sessions were fairly low-key for the players, and it's a good thing that we got some action in starting in Session Four or they may have gone stir-crazy on me. ;) ))
After the events at Lord Wulian's manor, the party returned to town and tried to keep a low profile. Fortunately, they succeeded. Spending some time tracking around outside the city walls only taught Hayyoth that, wherever they were, any other escape tunnels were better-concealed (and with good reason; an escape tunnel that could be found from outside would be bad news). Little progress was made with tracking down the missing Shikari cultists, and the group reluctantly accepted that they would have to hope that the cultists were frightened into good behaviour.
The two would-be sacrifices were returned to Deedee's home, where, after they woke up, the group learned that they had been sent to Lord Wulian for work, with regrettable results. It turned out that the woman was Thran's sister, and after they were sent on their way and talked to him, Thran stopped by, making sure that the party knew that if they ever needed anything, he would gladly return the favour, and telling them that he was staying far away from nobles from now on.
Working at the docks a few days later, Akee and Penu saw Cathak Citrios and Peleps Oliana leaving the city on a military boat, fully equipped. Although curious as to their purpose, they couldn't really ask after the two, so they did not.
Also to the group's surprise, no news of Lord Wulian's death struck the city. Instead, a few days after the attack, news began to circulate that he had taken suddenly ill, oh, how terrible. The group got suspicious, as an arrow to the brain is not usually categorized as an illness.
Finally, Deedee approached her local Immaculate temple and asked after Ledaal Andir. He stopped by her shop the next morning, and she told him about the battle with the demons; she merely downgraded their abilities to those of the First Circle, and make it sound as though her "god-blooded" thaumaturgy had been the primary cause of their defeat. Andir was unsurprised, although he was worried - apparantly demonic cults surfaced frequently in Zeretan; something in the air, maybe, it made people gullible. Regardless, he assured her that he would look into it, and that her efforts would be appreciated by him, at least, although he promised to keep quiet in case other cultists sought revenge.
End Date: 1st of Descending Earth
Quote of the Day:
"Can lying in bed and healing count as training time for Medicine?"
- The Somewhat Disgruntled Player of Inari
