MargardKazuki/SessionSixteen

Resplendant Fire

True to the their promise, the characters have departed for their summer vacation in Whitewall immediately at the close of the school year. In addition to the PCs, Reflections of Chaos, Morning Frost Willow, Tepet Elana, the Idiots, Soosilus, Esley, and various numbers of retainers and servants are also in attendance. Because of the number of people involved, Mizugami had to charter a ship in addition to thRanka has been called back to Gem to help defend the city of her birth. Cynis Elin is also en route, but a week or two behind the group.

After some travel, the ships land in Wallport, where they are greeted by members of the Mnemon family, Kira's cousins. The twins welcome the group warmly and invite them to stay the night to enjoy an evening of revelry. Mizugami also asks for an Infallible Messenger to be sent ahead to gain permission for bringing Morning Frost Willow into the city.

The next day, the group sets out for Whitewall. They hire a train of coaches so that the various members aren't that easily tempted to stray from the road. In the first night on the road, Judas makes certain that Kazuki stays asleep through his guard shift so that he doesn't go off the cuff and attack something while everyone else is sleeping. Judas takes the opportunity to stay awake for every shift.

There is one 20-mile segment of the road that has been overtaken by Marama's Fell.

That night, during Jahanna's watch, she hears a weeping out in the distance on the Fae side. A fog has built up around the area, but they spot a cloaked figure holding a knife to a young child's about 150 yards from the edge of the road, surrounded by 18 large wolves. Those on guard ignore the incident as a temptation by the Fae to try to draw them off the road. This goes on for three shifts before the cloaked figure slits the child's throat and drags the corpse away.

In the morning, Esley is uncomfortable about what occurred and wants to discuss a course of action when the event inevitably happens again. It is decided that the whole group will be woken up to confront the threat.

Once again, during Jahanna's watch, in which Judas and Mizugami are also awake for, the cloaked figure returns, this time with an older child, who is old enough to plead for help. The group is roused from their sleep and prepare for battle.

Mizugami attempts to negotiate for the boy's release as the group investigates the situation to learn that the child is likely genuine, and is not some illusion or disguise.

Kira manages to overhear the cloaked figure, undoubtedly a raksha, speaking to the wolves surrounding him to bring Mizugami to him. She passes the word along, and Jahanna steps over the boundary of the road, launching her god-granted swords into the fog to intercept the wolves. Kira also notices the cloaked figure manipulating the mist of the fog to lengthen the blade of his dagger.

With the wolves inbound and the boy's life in imminent danger, Kira and Kazuki perform their super-special combo attack, with Kira shooting Kazuki's dire lance from her powerbow, quickly launching Kazuki into melee range of the cloaked figure. Kazuki's lance manages to catch the raksha off-guard, wounding him slightly and knocking him back away from his hostage. Kazuki uses the opportunity to shield the boy from further attack. Judas advances forward to assist, and throws one wolf against another, putting one out of commission.

The wolves close in and meet the fury of Jahanna's whirling blades, and two of their number are cut down before they even reach the line of defense that has formed in front of Mizugami.

Kazuki exchanges a series of blows with the raksha before Kira glides to the top of the fog to provide Kazuki with fire support. Her rain of arrows force the Count of Fog to expend essence to defend himself.

Meanwhile, five wolves have surrounded Judas, who has advanced ahead of the defensive line, and manage to wound him. The remainder of the wolves move to the defensive line. Elena launches a furious attack that dispatches with four wolves at once. Reflections of Chaos also kills a wolf, and Jahanna's flying blades brings their numbers down to a mere handful.

Soosilus steps forward with her wave-motion hat and, with Judas' permission, fires at him and the wolves surrounding him, killing the wolves and allowing him to continue advancing towards Kazuki.

Kazuki has managed to grievously wound the Count of Fog, who is forced to begin his retreat, but Kira's well-placed arrow, empowered by encouragement from Kazuki, kills him, and his body dissolves into mist.

Jahanna's blades does away with the remainder of the wolves, and the battle is over. Anima burns brightly this night, but the boy is saved, and accompanies the group towards Whitewall. The group learns that he was a member of caravan, when the coach encountered and accident and veered off the road. The group thought it was safe when it managed to gather up all their supplies without coming under attack. Unfortunately, that night, as they lay in their tents, heard a melodious song and all wandered off the road. This event happened several weeks ago, and the boy hasn't seen anyone from the caravan since.

It was obvious that everyone else had likely perished, so Mizugami offers the boy an option of staying in Whitewall, or returning with the group to Cherak. The boy chooses to return with those that saved his life, and Mizugami takes him under his wing.

The group arrives at Whitewall and encounters little trouble as the guards were expecting their arrival. They arrange to meet with the Syndics in the morning, and Mizugami rents a villa for the month after donating a significant sum of money to the city's public works.

The meeting with the Syndics goes smoothly, as Mizugami demands little -- he asks for permission to access the forbidden libraries and to be allowed to copy books. He also asks for the right to negotiate for ownership of any first age artifacts that are found.

Judas looks for a first-age map of Cherak, and after a week with Rokumasu's help, hits the jackpot.

Kira is looking for information on First Age artifacts with Chisato's help, and finds more than enough information to occupy her for the rest of their vacation. One item she learns about in particular is the Wondrous Globe of Precious Stability. When it is mounted on a vehicle, it will protect the vessel and the beings within it from the ravages of the Wyld and the Underworld. She learns that one can be found in Opal Spire.

In the second week, Kira and Chisato look up information on the Death Lords. They learn that the Death Lords, cosmologically speaking, are relatively new. There are books in the libraries that predate the Death Lords. However, she learns about their history, how they were created, and what their goals were. She learns that their greatest weakness is, perhaps, each other.

Jahanna spends the first week learning more about Whitewall itself. During that time, she becomes curious as to how the city nearly came to ruin, and how certain areas actually survived. Rokumasu helps her to perform more research into this area, and they learn that it was due to an uprising of Terrestrial Exalts against their Solar rulers.

Kazuki and the other Idiots go about town, shopping and learning more about the city. They find exquisite metalwork and jewelry. Mahiro helps Daihama find an apprenticeship under a metalsmith, while she learns a little more about the politics of the city. During the first week, they are greeted enthusiastically. After spending a little money, the merchants realize they are not a fount of cash, and their friendliness starts to diminish. Kazuki, Okagura, and Hikaru start finding themselves bored of the city.

Mizugami spends some time building up his network and looks for an enchanter to add to his retinue. Thanks to Icewalkers who often visit, a young, enterprising thaumaturge "runs with the Icewalkers" and joins up.

By week three, Judas goes off looking for organized crime in the city. He finds out about mercenary guilds that are often hired on as monster hunters, which are the closest things to rough-and-tumble types in the city. Most of these mercenaries are outsiders, some of whom even come from Lookshy, and many of them simply do not fit with the somber image of the city.

He discovers that there is a monster bounty out in the city and he finds that one of the guilds looking for it is the other half of the Dragonblooded in the city. He shoehorns himself in with the investigation and begins helping to look for the shadow snake creature that is being hunted for killing people within the city.

Mizugami pays his respects to the other Dragonblooded of the city, and he meets up with Elin as she arrives in the city with her 125 Realm soldiers.

Kazuki goes to help Esley with his maps. Jahanna and Rokumasu continue looking for information on the history of the city, while Soosilus looks up information on the history of the Realm. Kira looks up and finds valuable information on the City of the Opal Spire and and on the two Deathlords of the North -- The Bishop of the Thalcadony Crucible and the Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears.

After a week of making maps, Kazuki gets bored again, and he goes about the city looking for heroic things to do. He finds that the city is actually very safe, and the most downtrodden people are those who have pooled their resources together to rebuild damaged buildings. He spends the rest of his time helping there.

Jahanna and Rokumasu spend the rest of their time to discover more information about the history of the city.

JUdas asks to stay another week to continue his hunt of the shadow snake creature. Kazuki learns about the hunt, and takes Rokumasu with him to look for it on their own.

Jahanna takes Chisato with her to learn Whitewall was called before it was known as Whitewall. They learn about Righteous Guide, the Solar priest responsible for the creation of the city. Jahanna decides to speak with the Syndics about the history of the city. They reveal why Ondar Shambal's name became besmirched.

Kira goes out in the city looking for a First Age artifact to buy. She finds a Thousand Comforts Lounge, a Wind Slave Disk, and a Resplendent Personal Assistant. She buys the latter.

Judas finds out the pattern of the Shadow Snake... to be continued.