TenThousandBrokenDreams/Session01

In a village of the Third Age, four young boys ran out in the wee hours of the morning to see Mother Cypress, a storytelling spirit, who offered to tell them a tale; of course, they chose to hear the tale of the return of the Solar Exalted.

Mother Cypress speaks:

"Hello, children. You’ve come here for a story, haven’t you. So then, what story would you hear? Would you hear a tale of the last days of the First Age: of how Sharn Larenn's brother killed ten thousand mortal men for sport, of how she slew him for it, and how the Deliberative judged her for her crime? Or would you hear a tale of the Contagion: of how the Jade Stars rescued the Shogun’s seven daughters from the plague, and what became of them? Or would you hear a tale of the doom of Thorns: of how the son of the Autocrat blinded his brother with hot irons, put him in chains and cast him into the dungeons to be forgotten, so that he might take their father’s place? Or would you hear a tale of the fall of the Scarlet Empire, and of how a golden power returned to the world?

"Then gather round, my children, and spread ears like elephants, and I shall tell you a tale of the dawn of the new age, the Third Age, and of how the lost children of the Sun were finally reborn."

Li accidentally killed a boy her age in a fight. Running away, she found herself on the beach of black sand that her mentor Wudi always told never to visit, and was accosted there by a sea-spirit that tried to convince her to join it beneath the sea. Even when the spirit spoke of Li's parents and offered to bring her to them, Li refused its blandishments, until at last Wudi arrived to drive the spirit off.

Thorwald and his friend Frannja traveled to the volcanic rifts near his tribe’s lands to meet with the Firbolg, the one nonhuman folk his tribe will deal with; on the return trip, they were attacked by ice beasts, and Frannja Exalted as an Air Aspect. Thorwald would not deal with her; he called her a demon and tried to fight her, forcing her to knock him unconscious and leave him behind on the snows.

Shirking his lessons, Tepet Aekino wandered into the lower levels of the family manse. Hearing screams from his mother’s workroom, he entered to find a demon torturing his mother to death within a magic circle. He refused to let it out despite its offers and threats, until it killed his mother... or so it seemed, for his mother was not really there; all was illusion crafted by the demon's magic. A moment after Aekino vowed vengeance, his mother arrived in truth, to banish the demon and berate her son.

As young Zera Thisse waited for his parents to return from market day, a runaway from Thorns came to the house seeking refuge from soldiers. Zera let the man in, but demanded to know why the man ran; learning he was a thief, Zera berated the man, but offered to lead him to safety. Then the troops came; Zera hid the thief in the cellar and let the soldiers in, mouthed off and got bloodied for it. He led the troops into the woods on a wild goose chase; when no thief was found, they beat him and left. He returned home to find the thief had made off with all of the family’s valuables.

Mother Cypress then told of Aekino’s first love: of how he met Cathak Nerin and Mnemon Dara at school, of how the two friends bickered over Aekino’s favor, and of how Aekino chose Dara over Nerin, breaking apart the childhood friendship and creating a rivalry that would last for years to come.

One night, pirates attacked the isle of Orchid, led by the God-blood Zerus Shadow-of-Siakal. Zerus called up two Children of Siakal to fight Wudi, and battled Li to a standstill until Wudi’s loss of a leg distracted Li long enough for Zerus’ spear to pierce her heart. Then the dawn light Exalted Li, and she made short work of the pirates. Wudi gave her a golden boat from the First Age and brought her to an island manse, the Golden-Water Palace, where she found Hearthstones and two ancient blades of orichalcum. She took the boat into the east...

... and was caught in a Wyld storm that deposited her in a tiny hot spring amidst the frozen North. In the spring’s little warm valley, a Star-chosen awaited her, Hotaru, who gave her training and supplies for a trip into the deepest North.

Thorwald’s people came together to fight the painted Fair Folk of the Lhiannan tribe. They joined battle at a mighty spire of stone called Neroon’s Glory. The people’s iron blades served them well until a third force arrived: jade-armored demons out of the blood-realm of the South, beyond the sea. As the sun rose high into the sky, Thorwald was Exalted. The Sun spoke in his heart, telling him that the people would be abandoned no longer, and that Thorwald would serve the Sun in this.

As the battle raged, Li arrived on the scene, having followed the Wyld Hunt to the site. As the tides of battle swept past, the Dragon-Blooded engaged the Anathema. Thorwald’s fresh Exaltation gave him the strength to smite the Terrestrials; even as Li fell with a grave wound, Thorwald struck down all but the last of the Dragon-Bloods, who removed her helm to reveal a familiar face: his old friend Frannja, who had Exalted in their youth. They railed at each other for a time over that moment of Exaltation and betrayal, but neither would slay the other. Frannja faded into the snows, Thorwald helped Li to her feet, and the Sun spoke once more into Thorwald’s mind, telling him to go to the city of Tul Tuin in the Scavenger Lands.

Aekino’s parents, having concluded that he would never Exalt, sent him to join a diplomatic mission to Thorns and points east. Giving him a number of missives sealed in tubes of jade, his mother scorned him as useless, acknowledging that the entire scene with the demon had been staged in an effort to force his Exaltation, and gloated over having arranged for his lover Dara to be assigned elsewhere. Instead, as he learned upon arriving at the ship, Cathak Nerin, the jilted rival for his affections, would be present for the expedition. The trip to Thorns was unpleasant for all concerned, but they survived intact enough to arrive safely at the Autocrat’s palace.

As the sun began to set in Thorns, red light arose in the south; black and scarlet lightning crackled about the city’s towers; and the earth began to quake as the crawling city, Juggernaut, approached Thorns from the south. Zera Thisse watched it all. As his girlfriend Mara joined him upon the balcony, he thrust his money into her hands and insisted that she depart, and that they were to meet again in Nexus in two weeks. As she fled, he strung his bow, gathered his meager possessions, and set off to the slums to his family’s apartment to protect them as best he could.

Aekino, too, saw the coming of Juggernaut from the palace balconies. His cousin Tepet Serenna, the leader of the diplomatic mission, instructed him to leave the city immediately while she led the Exalts against the walking dead. She assigned Nerin to protect Aekino, an awkward pairing at best. The two gathered their possessions, found horses, and rode out into the plaza just as the sun’s last light shone along the boulevard from the West Gate. As the light struck Aekino, he Exalted, though he did not realize it until Nerin pulled him from his horse and forced him to view his own reflection in an ornamental pond.

As Aekino and Nerin prepared to leave, the vanguard of the dead legion arrived, led by a blind deathknight, aged and gaunt, his eyes covered with a scarlet cloth. Naming himself Red Iron Rebuke and claiming rule over Thorns, he attempted to slay Aekino with a volley of arrows enhanced with Charms; but Aekino called reflexively upon the sorcery that was his birthright, warding himself and his steed with whirling winds, then hurling a spray of black glass upon the deathknight and his bodyguard. Wounded and without aid, Red Iron Rebuke fled with a curse, leaving the young Exalts to flee towards the north.

Zera Thisse found the city bursting into riot as he entered the slums. When he came to his parents’ house, he found that looters had burst into the home, mortally wounding his father and violating his mother and his sister. In that dark moment, he Exalted. Alone, he defeated every one of the intruders, making their deaths slow and painful, giving his mother and sister his knives so that they might finish the job.

Sending mother and sister away to escape as best they might, Zera went out into the streets to see how he might fight against the horror that had engulfed Thorns. Encountering a woman in green jade armor who was slaughtering passers-by with a mighty jade daiklave, he attempted to defeat her with arrows; but she replied with bolts of black fire that crumbled the wall behind him to dust, and so he moved on, stopping only to steal a horse and to snatch a helpless young mother and child out of danger.

Zera encountered Aekino and Nerin amidst the chaos at the north gate; seeing themselves both Anathema, Aekino and Zera joined forces, and the group fled through the sewers by a route Zera knew, escaping the city and making their way north in search of safety.

... and then the sun rose in the village, and Mother Cypress ended her tale for the night. She offered to return again to tell more stories, then faded into the trees, leaving the children to wonder at all that they had heard.

(Note: all PCs received 10 XP for this session. Li received an additional 5 XP for contributions. XP totals to date: Aekino 10, Li 15, Thorwald 10, Zera 10)