MargardKazuki/SessionNine
Kazuki and Kira approach Danic about their grand scheme to haze the Freshman class. They arrange to have the new class gather in the field where Kira will have her snow goon machine spitting out snowmen which the class will be expected to battle through.
The prank turns out to be much less exciting than Kazuki expected. Esley jumps into the arena and right back out again. He stays out of the fight for the rest of the time. Soosilus jumps over next, and unexpectedly starts zapping snow goons with her wave-motion hat; she also takes over one of the snow goons and in the end asks to take it back with her. Kuk goes down, flares his anima, and just stands there. The goons don't bother him. Mier jumps to the top of the wall and waits there, watching the fight for a short while, before Mier finally jumps down to the snow goon machine and touches her daiklave. Kira turns it off.
The first Deliberative meeting of the school year: Jahanna notices something missing -- she starts making snoring sounds, and Moro finally realizes what's been bugging her.
The time comes for the nomination and election of the Speaker to the Lower Deliberative. Judas nominates himself, Fallows nominates himself, and Kazuki nominates Jahanna. Judas wants to be the moderate voice balancing the opinions from both sides, Fallows wants the Dragonbloods to shape and mold the mortals, Jahanna wants to only presents the facts and nothing but the facts to the Lower Deliberative and let them decide the direction to take.
Jahanna:5 Fallows: 4 Judas: 4 Abstention: 3
After the meeting, Mizugami has a talk to Jahanna about her position. Mizugami tells her that this is her opportunity to show herself off to House Cathak. Jahanna acknowledges Mizugami's skill in the political arena, but asks to be the one to take over combat tactics as he is "not so skilled in that area."
Later that month, Mier approaches Judas, wanting to be taught how to handle large groups of combatants. Judas agrees to teach her both Martial Arts and Tactics. Jahanna is still learning from him as well.
Mizugami puts out word that one of the philantropists of his community theater has heard of the Wind's deeds and would like to meet with him in one of the box seats of the theater with convenient trap door access. A female form approaches him one evening and greets him with Red Fist Hayoo's regards, and she attacks. Judas has been following this woman for a while and immediately enters the fray in Mizugami's defense.
They quickly knock the assailant out and take her back to Judas' hideout in the undercity beneath the District of the glittering smoke to interrogate her. There Judas learns about the existence of the Master of the Silver Fist, who has taught even the mortals how to "go home" -- and she escapes by vanishing from their sight. Mizugami is let in on Judas' secret -- that he is the Wind -- and his goal to eliminate the Dreameaten trade within the city. Mizugami agrees to help out and sets things in motion to set up an order of Dreameaten, implicating Ferem Haining and Ragara Fallows.
Kira continues having her morning meetings with Crow. One day, Crow asks Kira what she really thinks of her classmates. Kira feels that the group makes a fairly decent team as a whole. There are still personality conflicts, but she recognizes that the group helps fills in gaps for one another. Crow reminds Kira that the group has done things that most newly-Exalted Dragonblooded aren't ever expected to do. Crow also acknowledges that there are people with influence in the Realm that now recognize them and know their name, and their actions may have been influencing events throughout the Realms -- for example, there is now an emissary from Lookshy in Gem. Gem has also sent a tithe to the Realm for the first time in years.
Kira discusses the trade relations between Gem and Lookshy with Ranka, who gets the scoop from her father. He tells her that a retired Lookshy general sent word back that due to the relationship between Ranka and Judas, there should be direct trade relations between the two nations, rather than going through the Guild. They also paid a token tribute to satisfy those belonging to major families in Cherak who may otherwise send in assassins as a message.
Ranka talks to Judas about the trade agreement, and Judas -- taken aback -- talks to his uncle to find out what happened. It turns out that his uncle arranged for the agreement as a present to Judas. His identity should not have been revealed, but now that people are beginning to find out they may have to reveal the truth. His uncle agrees to arrive "officially" next month.
Margard Moro, Reflections of Chaos, and Soosilus pay Kazuki a visit one day. They want to enter a horse race, with Hikaru as their jockey and using Moro's horse. Soosilus will talk to the horse to make it happy to run. The race is in the District of Glittering Smoke. Kazuki learns that the prize is a case of Shivel, a mind-enhancing drug. There are some doubts about the race, but Kazuki reasons that the drugs can be taken off the street and destroyed. Kazuki has some concerns about sending Hikaru out onto the field by herself, so he elects to race instead. He does extraordinarily well and wins the race, where he discovers that it was Tevanad who arranged the race. After a brief discussion, Tevaned decides to offer Kazuki a cash prize instead, and he accepts. The prize is split between the girls and Judas. Kazuki and Hikaru also begin their "special training," teaching a horse to fly.
Ragara Fallows sends Jahanna a message one evening, wanting to invite her to a nightcap. Fallows tells Jahanna about a sport -- a hunt -- that is for Dragonblooded. The prey: the sons and daughters of the God of Swordsmanship. Jahanna declines, but Jahanna discovers something about Fallows that unnerves her: he at one point "convinces" Jahanna to say something against her will.
Mid-month, Virtuous Cloud tells Ranka that she has been doing well with her summoning; therefore she wants to give Ranka a real-world, practical test. There is a wind spirit to the north and something has happened to disturb the spirit. It is unhappy and is carrying a large amount of dust into the area. Virtuous Cloud wants Ranka to take care of the situation.
She gathers the rest of the junior class to discuss the assignment. They also decide to bring Moro, Reflections, Esley, Mier, and Soosilus. The big pile of Dragonblooded head north to beat up an angry dust storm.
As they approach, they see the cloud long before they reach it -- it is easily miles to a side. Ranka begins her hours-long ritual. As they wait, Kira reads, Mizugami and Reflections chat but stay alert, Kazuki nods off. Mier asks Judas to train her, and Judas gets Kazuki and Moro to help. They are told to surround and grab her, so Kazuki goes for a valid target and gropes her. Judas stops that before it gets out of hand, and training continues. Before too long, the surrounding temperature begins to drop, and the group goes on alert.
A being of mud and ice manifests and and introduces herself to Ranka as T'cholie, and they begin a dialogue. There is a nearby village that is burning the forest that is in the domain of her friend, another sorceress, Ruten Jahli. The spirit offers to take the group there; the group sends the mortals back to the village they recently passed, while the Dragonblood sit down to let the spirit carry them.
The spirit brings them to the site, roughly 250 miles away, where there is an active slash-and-burn operation occuring at the edge of the forest. Mizugami offers to speak with the person in charge, while Ranka discusses their courses of action. Mizugami is led to Kazekan, the foreman, who happens to carry a jade daiklave.
Mizugami learns that the group is extracting elemental wood from the trees. He's doing the burning to clear the underbrush, and his lease is good up for about 1/3 to 1/2 of the forest. The lease is also short-term, so he's trying to do this as quickly as possible, and the slash-and-burn is the best method he has available to him.
After learning of this method they move to meet with Ruten Jahli to find out her side of the story. They try to find a method that will allow for a safer method of extracting the elemental wood. They discuss a compromise for the provision of elemental wood in order to save the forest.
Ruten Jahli and Kazekan meet to discuss the best method for getting the elemental wood while keeping the forest happy and healthy. With a little additional option of helping to plant trees to replace the ones lost and with a regular supply of elemental wood annually, both sides come to an agreement and negotiate a contract to both party's satisfaction. Additional paperwork is taken care of so that Kazekan has permission from House Ferem to harvest annually.
At the end of the month, Moro goes around handing out invitations for an adoption ceremony. She is having a new little sister adopted into her family, a god-blooded descendant of Kitiara, goddess of blades. Jahanna warns her about Fallows' hobby. The invitation is signed by Margard Pinchard, a mortal member of the Deliberative. The star of the party is Aoora. Also at the party is Margard Trevail, the Minister of Warfare and Kazuki's mother.
At some point during the party, a servant comes in and informs Pinchard that his wife has fallen, so he excuses himself. Judas follows him upstairs. Not moments later, the same servant returns and talks to Aoora about his mother. Mizugami, at that point, confronts the servant, who starts getting his story mixed up. At that moment, the front wall explodes.
Upstairs, Judas is overwhelmed by some sort of void that completely engulfs him. He breaks out of the spell, and bursts into the room where he finds the Deliberator and his wife immobilized by the same void. Also in the room is a man, a young boy, and a ghost.
Downstairs, Kira zips towards the front and sees a giant, Class 2 fire demon and a tentacled beast that is painful to look at. Kira returns to report her findings, and the room bursts into action. Mizugami knocks the servant out and takes Aoora's hand to protect her. Kira fires a shot at the demon, but the arrow immolates before reaching its target. Kazuki carves a hole in the wall and starts sending the mortals out to safety. Many of the other Dragonbloods -- mostly bureaucrats -- are also retreating. Trevail and Mier both charge to the front. Haining watches out the window with interest. Soosilus goes to a window to fire bolts. Moro and Reflections join Mizugami and Mizugami hands Aoora over to Moro to protect. Jahanna goes towards the exit to keep an eye on the mortals.
Next, the man tells the boy to immobilize Judas once again, and the boy acknowledges him as Preceptor Seemo. Judas is stunned by a powerful spell, but not completely immobilized. Mizugami goes up to assist Judas, but Judas is already prepared to leave -- he grabs both the Deliberator and his wife and leaps out a window. Kira fires another shot, mostly ineffectually. Kazuki charges out the front, activating speed and his aspect ability as he carves a large section of the wall out and uses it as a shield as he rushes forward to confront the demon. He strikes the demon, but its wound heals itself. Those escaping out the side are unaccosted as they leave the scene. The fire demon drops a fireball that engulfs everyone in melee. Most are able to escape unharmed. The man and boy try to leave past Mizugami, but Mizugami blocks the exit. Mizugami resists the boy's immobilization attempt, and the man does something that causes Mizugami's heart to seize for a moment, but again he manages to shake the effect off.
Judas drops the Deliberator and his wife off and tells them to run. Then he leaps back up through the window where he is struck with the vertigo. He manages to recover just enough to grab a comforter and wrap the boy up like a burrito. Mizugami tries to strike the man, but cannot from the vertigo. He stumbles past towards the two attackers and towards the windows. Outside, Kazuki stuns the fire demon as he launches upwards towards the roof of the house. Trevail dissipates the Wyld Demon with a rapid succession of strikes from her daiklave and lightning spear. Kira and Soosilus continue to whale on the fire demon without much effect. Inside, the well-dressed man touches Judas with a command to die. Judas is wounded by the attack, but he survives. From the corner of the room, a tentacled demon begins to form. It attacks Judas, but is unable to penetrate his armor. The fire demon launches a fireball at the roof where Kazuki and Kira are, but Kazuki manages to get both them out of the area of effect.
Mizugami and Judas realize that they're outmatched and decide to leave out the window. Judas throws the boy out the window first and tries to fall on him to take down the disorientation field. The boy is bruised but otherwised unharmed. Judas lands on his feet, but Mizugami lands on his face. Mier, who was stunned by an earlier fireball, finally recovers. Reflections strikes at the fire demon ineffectually. The well-dressed man leaps out the window after Judas and Mizugami, and touches Judas once more, telling him to die. Judas is wounded further. Kazuki, Trevail, Kira, and Soosilus continue to pound on the fire demon, and Kira is finally able to wound it. The demon shoots another fireball at the melee combatants. Trevail pulls Kazuki out of the area of effect.
Judas stumbles back and lets the two go. They walk into the fleeing crowd and blend in. Mizugami stands up shakily and stands by Judas to guard him. Kira climbs the smoke to get to higher ground but misses her shot. Reflections recovers and cleaves the demon in twain. The demon explodes in a ball of fire for its parting shot, and the combat finally comes to an end.
By the time the fire brigade and first response units arrive, Soosilus is in negotiations with the fire to control it. Kira tracks Moro and most of the group follows to ensure their safety. Judas and Mier return to campus to find healing. Trevail remains behind to speak with authorities and to guard Soosilus as she continues her talk with the flames.
As the group tracks Moro, they catch up to Pinchard and talk to him about what they know. They don't recognize Seemo's name, but he recognizes the description and identifies Ferem Arrain. Mizugami and Jahanna go to negotiate with house Margard to ensure the Deliberator's safety. En route, Jahanna tells Mizugami about Fallows' hunt club. Back at the school, Judas informs Lasha of the events while they were getting healed. Judas also talks to Virtuous Cloud to try to arrange for protection of the little girl.
Jahanna and Mizugami reach Merta's estate and deliver the message to her to arrange for Pinchard's protection. The servant is determined to have been mind-controlled. The only noticable casualties were the guards out front when the attack first occured. When the assailants are described, Merta can almost guarantee that they are fae-blooded. A group of five Dragonblooded guards, including Saiki, return with Mizugami and Jahanna to escort the Deliberator and his family. They tag off so that Moro and Kazuki follow the family back to Merta's estate.
Meanwhile, the Idiots have done their duty, and they return to the Palace of Len Occam.
Judas and Mizugami go to investigate Arrain's possible involvement with this attack. Judas goes to Ferem Havelock's position. Havelock sends Infallible Messengers to Arrain, Malkator Yesihau, and to the Satrap. Arrain turns out to be dead. Yesihau was woken up and his message is "*snort, snort* what?" The Satrap was not aware of the attack, but knew of Arrain's death. They though it was natural causes because he had died of a heart attack.
Kira and Jahanna return to campus so that Kira can investigate the Wyld creature. Kira isn't entirely certain, but that creature must have come from the Deep Wyld, and for it to come into the Realm, it would have required tremendous effort. They are convinced it was either barely on the physical plane, or it had been an illusion.
Mizugami is able to cut through the red tape and gets ahead of the line to meet with the Satrap, and lets her in on almost everything, except for Fallows' hobby. She confirms that Arrain had died earlier in the morning.
The next day, a contingent of Margard arrives at the Palace, where Kasif makes the announcement that Aoora will be staying at the Palace in Moro's room, and that she will be an honored guest during her stay. She is also put in the same class as Kazuki and Reflections.
Tevenad also brings Kazuki's cash prize to him, and Kazuki divides it between Hikaru, Moro, Reflections, Soosilus, and Judas.
Kazuki gets the Idiot Horse before the end of the month. It doesn't care enough to be freaked out by flying, so it is able to easily train Kazuki.
At the end of the month, Kuk catches up with Kira and talks to her about Glorious Serpent. He is known to Gethamane as a Tear Eater, a favored of the Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears.
Judas spent much of his available savings recently and is trying to find a way to rebuild his reserves. He first tries talking to Kira, who admits that her money comes from her parents. He speaks to his uncle, and he will have to wait for about a month. In the meantime, he talks to Mizugami about short-term, low-return investments.
Judas asks Rokumasu about the origins and use of the term Perceptor, and learns that it is a first-age name for instructors. It's not commonly in use anymore, though he thinks that a school in Nexus still uses term.
