SheerCliffsManse

Manse: The Sheer Cliffs Shrine

This Manse is a simply constructed shrine, hacked into the side of a high peak in the Southeast mountain ranges with a winding path leading up to it from the base of the cliff. Fierce winds blow all around it, and it is a challenge for even an Exalt to reach unassisted. Inside, however, the air is strangely still. The shrine itself has three chambers: an entryway with a simple, free-standing wooden arch, festooned with yellowing scrolls and tokens; a meditation area adorned with ancient tapestries and mats, which doubles as a sleeping area for the shrine's infrequent visitors; and the heart of the Manse, which has a stone altar bearing three feathers, a folded paper fan and a small recess where the Hearthstone forms.

Taro, who will be thinking of a cool alias as soon as he does something worthy of one, first came upon the shrine while lost in the mountains. Accidentally disturbing the interlocked bones of two bodies, their hungry ghosts manifested and promplty tried to tear him to pieces. He broke and ran, fear driving him up the mountainside even through the cutting winds and into the shelter. The ghosts did not pursue him here, and he shivered in the corner of the altar room for the night, praying to the little gods of the place for succour and salvation. In the morning, a bowl of freshly steamed rice and a broom awaited him. He took over as the caretaker of the shrine for a while, interspersing his training with a general spring cleaning of the place and hearty meals at the expense of the shrine's little gods. Eventually, he had to move on and find new experiences, and he explained this to the gods in his prayers, promising that he would return.

The following morning, the gods yielded up the Manse's Hearthstone along with a sheaf of paper talismans protecting against evil spirits, such as the ghosts that had driven him there.