JustAddWater/Session2Sum
Session 2 - Stirring the Dust
12th day of Ascending Water
Standing outside the Loom of Fate our hard-working Sidereal investigators are just discussing what to do next, when with the swooshing sound of whirling clothes two more figures in robes of violet and yellow-gree proceed to have been there all along. Nobody is surprised - the Attendance Kata is a well known device of Fate. Nods are exchanged and the debate continues. Quickly they reach agreement - they'll make an appointment with Celestial Censor Xue Fan question the dragon about Sorrowful North, the one of the missing Convention of Water who died.
Jiang Chou, Chosen of Secrets, volunteers to handle the bureaucratic side of this and makes off for the Censor's office. Lung Xue Fan's secretary is a blobby blue god about four feet tall, with eight spherical purple eyes and the air of arrogance that comes with being a powerful god's assistant.
"Master Lung has no appointments available for several days."
But Jiang knows how to deal with such obstructions. He bends down to look at the little creature, an intense point of light gleaming in the heartstone replacing his left eye.
"This is a matter of extreme importance. I remind you that we've been assigned by Chejop Kejack to pursue this matter. Now, if you don't give me an appointment for today and tomarrow, I'm going to go away. But I'm going to come back with an official writ compelling you and your master to see me. Do you really think your Censor will take kindly to you forcing me to resort to measures that demean us both?"
The little god is struck speechless for a moment, then quickly concedes - the censor will see the Sidereals on Sunday, two days from now. He sighs in relief when the forceful Chosen of Secrets leaves the room. [Ten successes on 8 dice, without a charm - hah!]
Meanwhile Tien, Chosen of Mercury, and Silent Sunset of the Department of Endings, have settled down at Seven Silver Circles' teahouse. The tea is very good and Tien is delighted (if a little surprised) to find out, that Sunset does not conform to the usual dire mien and humorless attitude of so many of his brethren. Only minutes after the tea has been served Jiang arrives as well and with him Platinum Sky Lover, the beautiful Chosen of Serenity.
Courteous introductions follow, mostly ceremoniel since within the Five-Score Fellowship one knows each other, and Jiang announces the good news about the appointment. It remains the only good news, alas, for the discussion now turns to the mysterious situation in earnest. Jiang cynically remarks, that by this time the most likely explanation is betrayal - betrayal of Heaven and indeed Fate itself! The others are a little more reluctant to follow that line of thinking, proposing imprisonment or mind control at the hands of the Silver Prince. In either case the state of affairs and papers left behind seems strange - if an operation went wrong, there should be the records for it and if betrayal was indeed committed, one would think that the trail was better hidden. A trap ... that might well be behind it, misdirection being an essential Bureau of Destiny tactic, but then again too much paranoia is just as bad as too little ...
It's at this point, that Platinum Sky Lover reveals, that she was previously a member of the Direction Convention of Water before taking a sabbatical and has gained access to the dossier of Cerulean Blossom, Chosen of Serenity, who is now missing. Apparently her astrology requests had been ... strange for some time. A connection to forces of the Wyld of Malfeas may exist. As Sunset remarks, this begins to look like a most inauspicious gathering of powers - Solars, the Dead, the Wyld and Malfeas as well.
After swearing the circle to secrecy and to the setting-aside of Faction politics (agreement is reluctant especially from Tien, a known supporter of the Bronze), she continues - apparently Cerulean Blossom was associated with a Solar sorcerer on the brink of gaining access to the Adamant Circle. This might explain her unusual requests as well as her disappearance - and if he was unconnected to the Sidereal's death (or worse), he or she might be a powerful resource to draw upon in the investigation (which after all might well lead to the heart of the Skullstone Archipelago), she proposes.
Reactions to that are mixed, but more positive than negative. Further questions reveal, that the Solar was likely to visit a secret library off the coast of Abalone, a relic of the First Age, before the discussion drift off to topics like silly-looking martial arts forms or the unfortunate death-by-undergarment of Jiang's previous incarnation. Finally the group decides, that Tien will do a recon mission from Creation, using his connections in the area, Silent will try to get the Violet Bier of Sorrows' records on the deceased Sorrowful North and Jiang will check out the last known location of the missing Sidereals, as known by the coordinates of the Calibration Gate. Platinum Sky Lover will work the gossip mills of Heaven in the meantime to see if something can be found this way.
Pushing aside the sadness over his fellow Sidereal's demise Silent Sunset begins to shuffle papers with great patience, determined to make the End of a fellow Endbringer count for something. All is in order as far as he can see and the calligraphy is better even than that of his best mission reports, but when a slender, reed-like lizard god named Narrow Purchase eventually gets back to him, the Sidereal hits a stone wall - apparently Sorrowful North was in charge of an Internal Affairs investigation and such records are off-limits even with the backing of Chejop Kejack. Neither threats no pleas can break the stony facade of bureaucrazy and eventually Silent breaks off the attempt, making a note to get back to Narrow Purchase's superior as soon as they have undeniable proof, that the records in question are in fact vital to the investigation.
After working off some annoyance in a grueling series of katas, Sunset decides to go with the unofficial approach and invites Violet Catastrophe, a high ranking Chosen of Saturn and Gold Faction member, who has taken over Sorrowful North's case, for dinner. Over a fine meal the two exchange pleasant conversation and the latest gossip, then when the tea arrives after the feast Silent mentions the matter of the investigation and the bureaucratic complications impeding their progress. Violet affirms, that regulations are quite strict regarding Internal Affairs and that he can't possibly give Silent any information - then proceeds to let slip with wink and nod, that Sorrowful North had dark suspicions about his fellows in the Western Convention. His darkest thoughts given evidence - doesn't it seem likely, that North was killed for not going along with whatever the others did or trying to tell the Censor about it? - Silent grimaces, before returning to a particularly juice piece of gossip about the scandalous adventures of a certain god with three Dragon-Blooded (Violet: "You know what was the funny bit? Two of them were immaculates").
At her manse Platinum peruses the dossiers obtained from her contact, finding several remarks of concern about the increasing fragility of the loom of fate throughout the western region as well as several complaints requesting reinforcements of the Directional Convention. Cerulean Blossom's superior apparently had been Revolving Stone Traveller. Wearied she retires to a good long bath.
12th day of Ascending Water
Jiang in the mean time has requested two uses of the Calibration gate to Skullstone, three hours apart. Under the cover of Walking Outside Fate he steps through and finds himself in a dark, dank room. Blood is splattered everwhere as his essence-sharpened eyes quickly notice. Was this the Sidereal, whose shard returned? To one side of the room there is a door, for some reason made of soulsteel and barred beyond Jiang's skill to open. Knocking soon calls a ghostly warden - who can only see the candle he left burning, not the cloaked Sidereal himself, through a small slit in the door. More ruckus eventually brings a whole horde of ghosts, debating among themselves whether to risk interrupting 'her'. As the strange events don't cease, finally a pale woman with violet eyes and long, straight white hair appears.
She starts sending one of the ghosts to fetch a demon, intrigued at the invisible presence, but Jiang decides to strike up a conversation, trying to avoid an escalation into violence and maybe to even get some information. The woman reacts, as might have been expected, with amusement and cruel anticipation - the treaties for visitors to Skullstone apply only to those coming through Heavenly Gate 39 - which Jiang hadn't. To stave her off Jiang tells her about his mission, that he is looking for information on Sidereals and/or Solars passing through here and finally offers information on the many manses and hidden refuges. In return for the location and instructions on entrance protocols to an ancient library - incidentally the same, where a certain Solar might be researching the Adamant Circle - he is told of Moray Darktide, Solar in the employ of the Silver Prince, who left with a small fleet of the dead a week agao, and Undulating Triumph, who serves the Deathlord unwillingly and was sent into exile for trying to overthrow him. Finally, just as he runs out of (safe to mention) details to bargain with, the Calibration Gate appears and he escapes back to Heaven.
