MargardKazuki/SessionTwenty
With the seven artifacts suggested by the Virtuous Cloud in hand, and a promise by Abbott Takgana to revere the Haslanti gods (with a gift of fine armor in the mix), the group is ready to head out to save Cherak. The group travels quickly towards the temple of the gods upon the Sky Chariot and the eight-legged steed. En route, the group discusses how the items should be presented, and who should present them.
The temple is grand and very obviously built for the gods. As the party lands within the temple's bailey, they approach the grand doors and knock. Their call is answered by, literally, a snow bunny -- quite obviously a god-blooded daughter of Snowshoe Hare Among Brambles. They are invited inside, where 6 additional god-blooded supplicants are busily trying to not be obviously watching.
Kazuki and Kira pair off towards the to pay tribute to the Gods of Ice. Mizugami and Judas are the ones to pay the Gods of Dreams. Jahanna, Ranka, and Reflections of Chaos take the path to the Goddesses of Fate. Each group faces a small challenge on their way to their respective chamber, though no one is adversely affected.
Judas and Mizugami appear before what appears to be an outdoor courtroom of some sort, with Carrion Crow sitting in the center, and Owl to the East sitting to her side. Showshoe Hare of the Brambles is not immediately visible, though Mizugami spots him hiding amongst some bushes. Their combined entreaties to the three gods earns the promise of great miracles in the coming days.
Ranka and Jahanna appear in a longhouse, where a great gathering is socializing around a large meal and warm fires. It is a short while Ranka and Jahanna stand awkwardly by the door before they are invite to mingle. Jahanna and Reflections sit near the entrance, while Ranka makes herself at home near one of the fires. Avrieanon approaches to speak with Ranka. She is kindly and geneal and speaks in a very conversational tone with Ranka, as opposed to the more interrogative approach taken with Mizugami and Judas. After their exchange is made, she introduces Ranka to Cadelious. Their conversation is more terse, but Ranka's point is made. Meanwhile, Spring Snowfall approaches Jahanna and Reflections of Chaos at their table and chats them up. All three are able to secure miracles from their exchanges with the gods.
Meanwhile, Kira and Kazuki make their way into the formal, austere setting of Master Winter's chamber. There, they are faced with the tribunal of the Gods of Ice. Master Winter addresses the pair tersely, but Kazuki is prepared. During their long trip through the passageways, he continuously repeated what he was going to say, with Kira helping him with his speech. At the meeting, he speaks exclusively while Kira hangs back. Master Winter speaks on behalf of the three gods (or so he thinks) and accepts the gifts, but both Lady Chimney Draft and Autumn Frost speak up at the presentation of gifts. While Master Winter promises a miracle, Lady Chimney Draft plans to place the antlers in a place of honor and promises a major miracle. Autumn Frost doesn't directly promise anything but tells Kazuki that luck is already on their side -- someone needed money, for example, someone needed money and someone needed services and deals were made.
Kira and Kazuki are quickly dismissed and though their trip is the longest, they make it back to the main area first. Only the Snow Bunny girl remains in the room. She offers something warm to eat, and leads the pair into another area. She introduces herself as Yuki Usa and tries to extract information out of their conversation, but Kira persuades her not to delve too deeply.
It isn't long before the other two groups are finished with their meeting, and Yuki Usa leads them out to their conveyance. Considering they gave away the chariot and the steed, this confuses Kazuki a little -- or maybe it was the long word that confused him. After they gather up in the main room, they head out towards the bailey and come face-to-stern with a large airship. An honor guard stands at the gangplank awaiting their arrival and a woman dressed in extravagent corsair's outfit steps forward looking for Ranya Petrus -- she introduces herself as Ranya, captain of the Adventure on the Horizon, and Ranka's father has contracted her services for 50 years. Happy graduation. They also receive word that they leave with Autumn Frost's blessing.
During the week's journey back towards Cherak, Kazuki tries to get chummy with the crew. They are a rough-and-tumble group who would probably rather be pillaging and plundering, rather than sailing a luxury airboat, so they are happy that they've been contracted to a Dragonblooded. There are occasional brawls, but as soon as it appeared that Kazuki was about to get involved, the fights immediately stopped, and they apologized profusely, asking Kazuki not to tell the captain.
Ranka tries to learn more about Ranya, and she learns that Ranya has, in the past, sunk two ghost ships and lost three of her own vessels. She yearns for adventure and is also glad to have received this contract.
At a day outside of Cherak, Mizugami receives an infallable messenger from the sorceress that cast the solar circle plague, Semmela, commending him on his actions for stopping her spell.
As the group arrives at the city, they immediately see the fruits of their labor. The city, while it is not free of disease, it is certainly not plagued. Everyone seems to be doing well, and the leadership is pleased. Virtuous Cloud and Crow successfully retrieved the satchel, but it has been fed to the Leviathan so that its healing magics are distributed throughout the city. The third person in their group, now that he has left the city, is Bagway, the current leader of the Heptagram and considered to be the Great Doctor of the Dragonblooded. What was done with the satchel is his idea. Now that the students have returned, Virtuous Cloud prepares to head out to find some people.
Mizugami speaks to Virtuous Cloud about the infallable messenger, who recommends that Mizugami stay close to either Kira and Kazuki, or Ranka and Judas if he is concerned about assassination attempts against him.
It is the next day, when everyone is gathered over breakfast, when Cathak Maladous arrives. He tells Mizugami that his job is not yet over, as there is now an off-season hurricane bearing down on the city that is due to hit in a couple of days. At first, the part fears that it is the ancient cloud elemental, Storms who Walks, they once befriended and owed a favor to, but an infallable messenger assuages that fear and brings them information about the storm's cause.
No single elemental makes up the storm. Blue Skulking Bear, a minor elemental dragon of air, drives the hurricane. The party, unsure of how to deal with this level of enemy, think of ways to ask for an audience with the elemental council to gain advice. They decide that they should try to contact White Venerable Bear to try to find information. By the time they learn this information, the edge of the storm is about 50 hours out. It would take Ranya about 4 days, with all of her charms, to reach the base of the mountain where the council resides. Even Storms Who Walks would not be able to get there quickly enough if he travels normally.
The team comes up with a plan to use Storm Who Walks as a messenger; they make a deal with a Peleps sorceror on the Blessed Isle to summon Storms who walks, who would appear instantaneously on the Isle, and be able to travel to the mountain quickly enough to pass along Mizugami's message.
As the group waits to learn about the results of the meeting, they plan on their next steps. If they do not hear back from Storm who Walks within 7 or 8 hours, they would scout the hurricane themselves to see what they can learn from it directly.
It is only about 2 hours later that a Storm Serpent comes soaring towards the Palace of Len Occam with a message. White Venerable Bear has agreed to speak with Blue Skulking Bear. As a precaution, the group decides to fly out towards the storm to watch its progress. If, at 11 hours away from landfall, the storm has not abated, the team agrees that then would be time to approach the eye of the storm to attempt action on their own.
Time ticks down, and at 11 years, the storm shows no sign of abatement. The group flies in and at the eye, they see two minor elemental dragons flying around each other; a moment of observation reveals that they are arguing. After several hours, Blue Skulking Bear continues to rage. Kazuki sends some silent encouragement towards White Venerable Bear and he is able to persuade Blue Skulking Bear to calm down and leave. Though the storm does not dissipate, the elementally-powered bizzard-cane is no longer of legendary proportions. There is damage to the city, but it is not as disastrous as it could have been.
As much as the Haslanti gods assisted with the plague, this disaster is what their blessings had the most affect on. The city was prepared to weather the storm; the citizens are high-spirited and have banded together -- perhaps miraculously -- to rebuild and repair as a unified people. The legions that dug in during the storm help maintain the peace and keep order within the city.
It is during Kazuki's patrols of his property in and around the Glittering Smoke District. A great deal of expense was given to ensure that the area had the supplies necessary to weather the storm. It does not take much time for Mahiro to discover that it was Cynis Yorake is the one responsible for fronting that money.
House Margard perhaps lost some face during this storm, as Merta was not seen during the blizzard-cane, though one of the household heroes was highly visible during the ordeal. Saiki was instrumental in saving many people's lives.
Ranka and Kira discover that the sorcerers that helped to blunt the storm worked hand-in-hand with the immaculate martial artists throughout the city.
Judas sees two things that have happened that have caused a change in the balance of power. Cynis Yorake expended enough money to become tapped and enough people were affected by the damage that Getato Funileo was able to convince enough people outside of the Glittering Smoke District to switch sides. The Golden Firefly Association was able to rebuild significantly and now it is difficult to say who the more powerful crime lord is.
J'hana is the one, for whatever reason, to notice the little things: like a Dragonblood that should have been overseeing a repair, or that a dragonblooded guard captain has disappeared. By the end of the season, Ja'hanna is certain that Dragonblood in Cherak are disappearing. She informs Crows of her suspicions, and Crow suggests that she go visit Magistrate Lays. Of course, Lays has also disappeared. Crow asks Jaaaana to seek out Kira next.
Jahan'na finds Kira easily, since she has been with Kazuki in the Glittering Smoke District. Chisato suggests one of the ways they can learn of the missing Dragonbloods' status is to send an Infallible Messenger out to them. They go to seek out Ranka next.
Ranka is going through the streets handing out hot food with her entourage. She actually takes a little more effort to find. A few infallible messengers later reveals that none of the missing are in Creation. Kira begins tracking one of the missing and the tracks lead to a familiar place -- the Ragara Chantry with a portal to the Shadowlands. With a little more checking, they discover that around 100 people, with at least 5 Dragonblooded, have walked in to this area, and not returned. A notice is sent to Crow; before the end of the day, 15 Legionnaires led by a Dragonblood lieutenant is are dispatch to guard the site. They are warned not to ever enter the Chantry, no matter what they see. Johana suggests that a headcount of Dragonblood, especially those in leadership positions, be taken.
The next day, on the first day of Resplendant Water, at breakfast, Crow is there to deliver a warning and news. The warning: the students are not to enter the Shadowland until further notice. The news: the Legionnaires have all vanished into the Chantry. Some time, between midnight and 2 AM, they all entered and never returned. General Ajava has assembled a significant force to enter that night. Judas provides a map and Mizugami gives intel from their last jaunt.
