MargardKazuki/SessionTwentySix

At the end of the year time jump, the next graduating class moves on with their lives.

Ferem Esley - Member of the Deliberative Margard Mier - Currently running around as an adventurer Ragara Fallows - One of the Thousand Scales under Ragara Jasir Cynis Soosilus - Taking a year to gain better control of her magic Kuk - A mercenary working for House Tepet attached to the Rose Black's Legion.

It is the year 769, and the group has re-gathered for the planned reunion party. Many of the friends that they had made over the years also show up, with the exception of Kasif, who remains with the Gethamane refugees in the Haslanti League. Amongst those invited include Ranka's class, the class following, the rectors, and the movers and shakers of Cherak. The party is pretty much a success.

Some time in the last year, Jaahana has renamed to Jade Phoenix.

After the party, the PCs gather, along with a small handful of the people that played an influential role in their lives -- Virtuous Cloud, Tepet Elena, and Crow. All three want bring the group up-to-speed with the events that have been taking place in the North. Virtuous Cloud makes mention of events that have been taking place that a part of Dragonblooded, much like the group, would be perfect to take care of.

Virtuous Cloud has in-depth information on the Abyssals and Death Lords of the North. She also has more information on the information on the Bull of the North. Much of this information has been passed to the Rose Black, but there is a fair amount of information that has come from what she admits are unreliable sources.

The good news as far as the Death Lords is concerned is that one of the two is deeply involved in the underworld and is leaving any activity in Creation up to his Abyssals -- the Bishop of the Chalcedony Thurible. He is deeply in with the Neverborn, and it is his belief that the goals of the Death Lords can be met by creating a pantheon of dead gods -- a heaven in the Underworld -- by killing gods.

The Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears is spreading her influence in Creation slowly with a tribe of Ice Walkers -- the Tear Eaters -- who consider her their goddess. The Tear Eaters are in a low-level conflict with the Bull of the North. The Tear Eaters continue to grow, and the Bull doesn't seem to concern himself with them enough to try to wipe them out, though if they grow big enough, they could threaten the Haslanti League.

Much more active in the North are the Abyssals of both these Death Lords. The group has already dealt with the Lady of Darkness and the Blood Stained Robes. She is an Abyssal of the Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears. She often works closely with another of the Lover's Abyssals, a Dusk Caste known as Mirthless Smile. Mirthless Smile can be as dangerous as any Dawn Caste, and could be considered the most dangerous single combatant in the North, and serves as the Lover's assassin.

There is also the Seven-Degreed Physician, who the group has also met, an Abyssal of the Bishop. What's interesting is that whenever there is a report that any of these three Abyssals are in Creation, they are working together. They appear to be working under a fourth Abyssal -- Virtuous Cloud believes that it is The Silver Consort, the Lover's favorite consort and a necromancer that is about as powerful as any necromancer can be -- but those three Abyssals are taking orders from someone who is in Creation, and only the Silver Consort is powerful enough to have three other Abyssals reporting under him.

If there is a place that these Abyssals are working out of, Virtuous Cloud believes it to be in the Shanari Nation, in the city of Inara. Inara is mining Soulsteel, which should be impossible since it can't just form itself as an ore that can be mined. This ore is being sold exclusively to the Tear Eaters.

Crow is most interested in learning how the Soulsteel in the mine is being created and to figure out a way to keep it from ever happening again. There is no known Shadowland of import in that area. Ranka questions the weirdness of the situation -- why be so above-the-board with the process if it is only being sold to the Tear Eaters. Why not keep it all secret

Virtuous Cloud hasn't had much opportunity to travel abroad other than a few outings to investigate the territories of the Bull. Any mortal spy that they could send in to look into Inari would be compromised much too easily.

Of the Solar exalted in the North, almost all have been recruited by the Bull. Virtuous Cloud strongly cautions against the group going after the Bull by themselves. The only non-Bull aligned Solar that Virtuous Cloud is aware of is Glory, who, to the best of her knowledge, is at the edges of Creation and has taken some action against the Raksha.

Jade Phoenix shares with the group one of Danic's earleir suggestions to her to form a pact with other nations of the North to come to each other's aid in times of need. Crow mentions that of the major parties, Gethamane is out, Inara is out, so that pretty much leaves Cherak, Whitewall, and the Haslanti League.

Virtuous Cloud shares the information she has on the Bull's Circle. He has many of the social charms of the Zenith Caste, though he is of the Dawn Caste. He has Charms that can create an elite fighting force within a short period of the time. This ability has its limits as he cannot convert hordes in this manner, and Dragonblood warfare charms are superior to his. He is an archer that is fearsome in both range and power. The best way to fight him is to engage in melee combat -- Kira and Jade Phoenix should only target his companions and arm, as he has abilities that grant him mastery of anything missile-based. He also has reflexive abilities that would allow him to instantly respond to any and all attacks directed against him -- this warning is for Kazuki and his Ringing Anvil Onslaught.

Next is Semmea, presumably the second most powerful sorceror in all of Creation. She is Zenith Caste that is extremely dangerous. Her spells have been witnessed as being so powerful that even a pantheon of gods could only weaken one of her spells, and she has been able to even subvert a Dragon of Air.

The others in the Bull's Circle are not nearly as powerful. Renneth is a Twilight Caste. He is young and not experienced, but he has demonstrated ability in being able to craft items comparable to those from the First Age.

Nalda Bloodaxe, a barbarian king whose kingdom is actually closest to the North, bordering the Haslanti League. The kingdom was conquered by the Bull, and Nalda was appointed their king. He is ferocious in combat and terrible to behold, but Virtuous Cloud believes that if Kazuki were to build up his strength of Will to shake off Fear, he could be Bloodaxe's superior.

There is Fear Eater, who is an enemy of the aforementioned Abyssals. He has braved the Underworld in the past. He is actively trying to instigate conflict between the Bull and the Abyssals.

Crimson Antler is a Night Caste Solar ninja. He is not a great combatant, but he is highly specialized in stealth and infiltration. Right now, Virtuous Cloud believes that there is not one place in Cherak that is safe from Crimson Antler -- he could be anywhere he wants to be, and completely undetectable.

Every Anathema that is in the Bull's Circle is likely more powerful than Glory. They have had better teachers and opportunities to push their abilities. Glory is likely the weakest Solar in the North.

Crow reveals to the group some combat secrets to help keep them alive. There are some things that she strongly suggests one or more of the following:

Whatever Skill is used to defend an attack should be learned to such an extent that no mortal can ever hope to be able to defeat a Dragonblooded. For example, the First Excellency should at least be learned.

Crow suggests that Judas learns All-Encompassing Earth Sense. He can therefore react to Surprise by acting first.

Crow also suggests that someone be able to reinforce others with Bellows-Pumping Stride. Kazuki is closest to achieving this.

Judas should learn to better time the activation of his Jade Mountain Form.

Kazuki should pick up Virtuous Negation Defense and Hopping Firecracker Evasion.

J'hana should learn to also protect Ranka and Kira with her Whirlwind Shield Form.

Reflections should learn to be a second-string melee combatant who should also learn Throwing Charms so that she can throw her Grim Cleaver.

When the group gets older, each person should also learn Inviolate Dragon Spirit. If anyone intends to go after Death Lords, this ability is vital. Once they've gotten that, then Chaos-Warding Prana and Defense from Anathema Method should be on their list so that they can more safely face raksha and Essence-draining abilities.

Also, the group should never go on anything equating to a suicide mission if the melee combatants do not have a perfect defense such as Portentious Comet-Deflecting Mode.

The group should learn to re-attune their artifacts on demand so that they can balance their Essence needs depending on the situation. If fighting against an army, for example, all their artifacts should be attuned to Personal Essence so that their anima can be activated as quickly as possible.

While Crow does not have a wide information network, she does have a summer break. She plans on visiting Kasif to find out more about what went on in Gethamane. What she has learned so far is that 1) although Gethamane's defenders did not appear to get up from the dead to fight back against the Bull, but the reports that have come out mention that some soldiers cut down the same Gethamani defenders multiple times. Soldiers are known to embellish somewhat, but she has heard one soldier claiming to have cut down the same man at least 8 times. Things got worse the deeper they got; the horrors became worse, things got stranger. The city was built in the First Age for a reason, but no one is sure what that purpose was.

2) Nearly 2 score of Dragonblood with the Blood went down into Gethamane with a couple dozen of Warstriders, but none of the Warstriders came out undamaged, and lots of them came out in pieces. A decent part of the past year has been spent repairing the Warstriders. He only has a handful of Dragonblood left working under him. For those keeping count, that means that the Rose Black's legions has more Dragonblooded than the Bull's army. With the Vermillion Legion, that brings the ratio to about 5:1. That does not include all of the non-military Dragonblood. It is possible that if every capable Dragonblood in the Satrapy were to pick up a weapon, the ratio could go up to 20:1.

3) The Bull's conquered lands are spread out enough and the Exalted in his army few enough that a small group could easily infiltrate the region as long as they remain quiet and stealthy.

Elana has a lot of information specifically concerning the Rose Black and her forces. The Rose Black was accompanied by several generals and Dragon Lords.

General Tepet Sextus is the second-highest ranking officer in the army. He survived their last encounter with the Bull. He is charismatic, but insists on being hands-on with everything. He does not like to delegate, so he tends to be somewhat inefficient.

General Tepet Tatara is an excellent field officer, but has no real political ability. THe Rose Black often wishes to combine Sextus and Tatara.

General Cathak Anano leads the Vermillion Legion. He is a sadistic, domineering murderer, and the Rose Black hates him. He is, however, loyal to the Rose Black and wishes to see her made Shogun of the Realm.

Dragon Lord Butro Mulala is General Anano's XO. He is a fairly good man from the Threshold and adopted into a family. Elana suspects he is an agent of the Imperial Eye.

The Methodical and Merciless Dragon Lord Sesus Kira is Anano's attack dog. She sends her Dragon on the toughest missions and has not failed yet. She obsesses after Anano and would follow him anywhere. She is in charge of most of the Vermilion Legion patrols in the region.

Dragon Lord Cathak Shrike is the Eyes of the Vermilion Legion in charge of cavalry and reconnaissance. He is a megalomaniac that supports the Rose Black and sees the idea of her ascending to power as him rising to within two ranks below that of the Shogun himself.

The Grim Dragon Lord Ladall Nikoto is a religious bigot and bully. General Anano trusts him with missions that other Vermilion Legion Dragon Lords might find distasteful.

Wing Lord Mnemon Gilly is the ranking sorcerer within the Vermilion Legion. He is nervous and intense, afraid of demons, and has a special hatred for wild-blooded creatures. Good news -- short of Virtuous Cloud, he may be the most powerful sorcerer in the Cherak region.

There are also mortal generals and troops attached to these groups as well.

Ifrin the Wolf is in charge of the group known as the Red Wolf Legion. He leads the Vermilion Legion's auxiliary troops. He is a large Northerner with barbarian blood in his veins and looks forward to testing his legion against the Bull.

There are other mercenary units in the North that are not currently in the employ of either the Bull or the Rose Black. Aside from the Red Wolf Legion, none of the other mercenary groups are large enough to commit any battle-swaying numbers.

The Rose Black has spent the last year studying Cherak's defenses. When Cherak made the decision to become a self-sustaining entity, it transformed its swords into plows. However, there were once 25 caches of weapons that have either been recently uncovered or confirmed lost. The Rose Black is spending a lot of effort to uncover the remainders of these weapons of old Cherak to bring them to new Cherak's defense.

The research station that the group uncovered some time ago has once against reared its head. There is a device -- the First Age Mobius -- that the Rose Black found that was designed to preserve Creation from the encroaching threats of the Wyld. The device can be used offensively as well in order to Shape combat. The Bull of the North is actively looking for the First Age Mobius, so now the Rose Black is actively looking for it too. Elena has also been looking for it and has uncovered a fair amount of information on it. She believes it is located inside Meramus Fell. She also believes that records detailing the location of the device can be found within the Chrysanthemum Palace. Elena has no intention of making any solo runs into Meramus Fell; however if the group decides to go, she would be willing to accompany the group there.

Elena spends more time than Crow or Virtuous Cloud wandering the southern regions of the North, and she has run across a significant number of members of the Cult of the Illuminated, mostly amongst slaves. She dealt with what she could find, but the slaves are worshiping the anathema from mostly underground. Word of this worship has gotten out throughout the Northern Satrapies. Most, if not all of the slaves outside of Cherak are addicted to the Resplendent Liquid. The numbers of non-slave citizens and patricians are very few in comparison to the Slaves.

With that, all of the seeds are planted, and the group is asked to set forth to look into things. There are 11 specific points that the group can devote resources towards investigating:

Bishop of the Chalcedony Thurible Love Clad in the Raiment of Tears Abyssals Inara/Soulsteel Crysanthemum Palace Gethamane Mercenaries of the North The Bull of the North Pact between Cherak, Wallport, Haslanti League The 25 Weapon Caches of Old Cherak The Slave Satrapies

Ranka also works towards increasing Deadly Rose Lord's influence and ranking within the Guild.

Through Kazuki's suggestions, House Margard publicly backs Cherak's alliance with at least the Haslanti League.

such investigations take some time to initiate, but within a week, resources go out into the four winds to get things started. Most of the resources go towards finding mercenaries, the tri-partate alliance, and finding the remaining 23 weapon caches.

The group moves out towards the Chrysanthemum Palace in person. They decide to leave the airship at the border and hike in towards the Palace. Chisato spends the better part of a week warding the ship against ghosts and keying the ward to allow Morning Frost Willow through.

Elena, Reflections, Ranka's automoton (Silmnera) and three elementals (Chitters, Bountious Alabaster Horizon, and Sundering Crimson Inferno), and Morning Frost Willow accompany the group into the Shadowlands on their way towards the Crysanthemum Palace. Morning Frost Willow acts as the advance scout, since she does not trigger undead reactions. Silmnera is rear guard as she does register as a living being. The main group mostly avoids any randomly wandering undead while Morning Frost Willow and Silmnere eliminate stragglers as they come across them.

Morning Frost Willow notices hoofprints on the ground, perhaps a dozen warhorses configured in a double-column; it is obviously a sign that this is an area guarded by undead. Kira goes up into the trees and spots what appears to be campfires a couple of hours out of the way for the group. They decide to ignore it for now to continue on their journey.

Night falls, and they are reached deep enough that the patrols seem to grow a bit slimmer. It is at about 11PM, still a full hour from the Chysanthemum morning Frost Williow is feeling that the patrols are thinning out. As they get closer, Morning Frost Willow finds that they have clearcut the forest over a range of miles. The Palace is clearly visible a couple of miles down, and manned by an army of 500-700 War Ghosts. Judging by the colors of the banners, this is one of the armies of Thrice Dead Achiva, the self-proclaimed Warlord of Muramus Fell.

After some discussion, the group decides to tunnel in under the Palace to appear in the daimyo's chambers and threaten them to stand down and allow the group to search for the papers they need. Should a fight break out, then they are prepared to fight, but they want to try to avoid a fight if at all possible.

They power on their charms and have Chitters tunnel from within the wooded area across the open area and under the Palace. They launch out from the floor in a coordinated effort and surprise four ghosts in the Daimyo's chamber, the Daimyo, an officer, and two guards.

The Daimyo is obviously wearing Soul Steel Ashigaru armor and on a sword stand by his side is a katana that is covered in shadow. His two guards are clad in very heavy Shogunate-era armor and heavy axes. The man he is talking to is in light Shogunate-era armor and carries a pair of daisho at his hip. They are quite obviously surprised and don't even have an opportunity to act when Mizugami steps forward with his ultimatum -- allow the group to search for what they want unhindered, and the Daimyo and his men will not need to be destroyed.

Kira asks about the Black Widow Razor (a Warstrider) and a Brass Legionnaire, which is an Essence-using automaton. She learns that some time ago, the wastrider was in the Palace, but Achiva has it as one of its personal guard.

Elena requests -- no, demands -- access to the records of the Palace during the Shogunate era while the area was still in Creation. Mizugami suggests that the Daimyo himself accompany the group to where the records are stored. He is allowed to be bring his two guards with him while he dismisses the cavalry officer to inform others that the Dragonblooded are here with the Daimyo.

The group is led to the records room; Mizugami taps Kazuki, Sundering Crimson Inferno, and Reflections of Chaos on the shoulder to assign them to stay outside with the Daimyo and his guards while the other perform their research. The first thing the search for is the Mobius; Kira also wants to look for information on the Brass Legionnaire; and there is also some desire to collect intelligence on the Palace itself -- logistics, especially.

Jade Phoenix finds through logistical records that Unexalted Links is the Daimyo that has been ruling the Palace for the last 62 years. He has been training Hungry Dead into war Ghosts, and within the last couple of years, Unexalted Links has basically decided that the work on the fortress is complete and ready to act as a lynchpin for an invasion to expand the Shadowlands.

It is a little after three hours after the group began their research -- Kazuki has started playing cards while Mizugami struggles to maintain the intimidation with the Daimyo -- that Kira finds the first of the information they were looking for. The First Age Mobius was moved to a Shogunate-era military encampment, Icewind Station Zebra, to shore up the front lines of reality.

At about 5 AM, the Daimyo finally speaks up and offers that unless he goes out to speak with his troops, he might not be able to prevent some of his more hot-headed soldiers from interrupting the research. Kazuki, Mizugami, and Sundering Crimson Duck accompany him up a level to the balcony; there, the Daimyo makes a fatal flaw and barely gets out the order to 'slay these...' before the three of them retaliate and attack.

The Daimyo is able to complete his sentence and take a weapon from one of his guards, but he is not able to attack before Kazuki shoves him off the balcony. The two guards try to attack Mizugami and Kazuki, but the unarmed guard misses his grab against Mizugami and Kazuki's Safety Among Enemies redirects the other's attack against his friend.

With the confusion of the attack, the trio fall back towards the records room to inform the others that it's time to go. The info-gathering group grab several books and scrolls and pull out of the room. The group easily mows through what little resistance is offered at the stairwell, and they are able to get back to the tunnel with little trouble. The group pulls away and tunnel for a couple of hours before returning to the surface.

They continue accosted and leave the shadowlands while they are still well within daylight hours, and with them, they bring several tomes of books and scrolls back as information and intelligence on the Chrysanthemum Palace and the Shogunate Era. Kira is able to learn that the Brass Legionnaire is referred to more as a person or an emissary rather than an object. When Maramus Fell fell into the Shadowland, the Brass Legionnaire was in the Chrysanthemum Palace. However, as far as the records go, none mention where it may have gone or when it left.

It is only a matter of days after the group returns to Cherak before they are able to find out the original location of Icewind Station Zebra, and the group prepares to set forth in search of the First Age Mobius.