Here be Dragons [Exalted 2.5] (IC)

[golentan]

Preparations are underway near the docks of Noble for the journey of your lives so far. In the deep southwest lies the city of Wilsesa, where the secret to saving the life of the Mouth of Peace may be found. Each of you were approached to help with this voyage through different channels, some of you may have been asked by your families, others by your organizational superiors, others by mysterious strangers... In the end, you have all been brought to this moment, through a combination of requests, promises of rewards, and thinly veiled threats. The why is no longer important, what's left is the how.

In an hour, the Sazanami is due to leave port. The crew is currently loading everyone's personal effects to their cabins, or into the cargo hold.

On the docks, there's a tremendous amount of bustling activity... perhaps more than usual. Something seems vaguely off about the amount of activity, perhaps even to the participants: visible on the pier opposite the Sazanami, a rice farmer seems very confused as it takes more than three trips to bring a single bag of rice on board a merchant vessel, and another three to retrieve his scrip in compensation...

OOC here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?395212-Exalted-2-5-Here-be-Dragons&p=18731004#post18731004)

[Aruetii]

Luckily for the crew of the Sazanami Arachi tended to travel light, most of what he needed was on his person at all times save for the most formal occasions where walking around in Armor was not the best of plans. There were still a few things he would need to bring aboard however, like the tools necessary to repair and maintain the armor on the journey. It wasn't known how long it would take them to finish the rescue, and it was better to have the tools available.

As he went to relax on the deck of the ship he took note of the very confused farmer, raising an eyebrow behind his helm. 'Well, the journey should be rather uneventful. I'll regain whatever Essence I spend along the way.' He spent a single mote of personal essence to activate the Fire Dragon armor's Sensory Augmentation Visor before looking around frowning a bit as he got used to the flood of information suddenly appearing on the screen. 'It'll be a while before I'm really used to that. . . let's see why this guy is so out of it. . .' Arachi focused his attention on the farmer, flickering his eyes between the man and the flood of information the visor provided him of the surroundings.

Rolling awareness to see what bureaucratic nightmare has the poor man so confused!
(3 {Perception} + 3 {Awareness})

Sensory Augmentation Visor: +2 Awareness for 1 mote per minute.

Essence;
Personal: 13/14
Peripheral: 15/32

[golentan]

6 successes, no stunt.

It's not just the farmer. Everyone seems to be operating under an air of confusion: the merchant captain keeps leaving his wallet behind to pay his suppliers, sailors keep tying knots wrong, correcting it at the last minute. People keep taking rest breaks and then standing, forgetting their next task, and taking their seat once more, there's no rhyme or reason to it. Everyone is confused out to a range of several hundred feet, and the confusion and general disarray seems to actively ensnare people, leading to an ever increasing press of bodies on the pier. None of it seems to be leading to permanent errors, it's simply that everything takes longer than it should, requiring several attempts to get right.

[Guancyto]

"Hoy!" the pint-sized fire-aspect Carmela Contarini, long red hair and white jade breastplate and all, spun around from her relaxation spot atop a stack of crates and landed on the docks next to the person in power armor. "Hey, cutie," she said with all the familiarity of someone talking to an old friend, "I'm looking for about five-ish of the fanciest pants around. I know this is a city just bursting with laces and ruffles and gold embroidery with an overwhelming obsession with putting them on legwear, but we're talking fancy-pants so fancy that a thousand ships would come from the corners of the world to see them, and marvel, and submit before their fanciness.

Oh, here, let me get that," she says to a dockworker loading the Sazanami, taking a particularly heavy set of boxes in one hand like a lesser person would handle a cup and turning back to Arachi, "have you seen them?"

[Dazhbug]

Xian had arrived early that day, ready to oversee preparations for departure. She had taken her time, slowly inspecting her charge and ensuring that the crew was their usual efficient selves in taking care of the thousand and five little details that had to be overseen before any long journey. She also noted the flicker of surprise on at least two of their faces when she appeared suddenly nearby, and one new sailor had actually yelped when he turned around to find her quietly studying his work in the upper nest. Not her best record, but then again she hadn't actually been trying to scare them, had she?

Convinced that the Sazanami was well on the way to being ready, she visited her personal cabin and returned to the deck with a slim, leatherbound folder stamped with the official mark of the Empire customs agencies. With a casual upward flick of her hand, she is quite abruptly yanked from the deck into the upper rigging. Calmly landing on a sparr, she found a comfortable resting position against the mainmast and began to peruse the contents of the leather folder.

Glancing up from her study, she spies two figures down on the dock that are quite obviously out of place. She chews her lower lip, noting the powered armor and other calling cards of her fellow Princes of the Earth. For the moment she remains a quiet observer, expanding her attention to the rest of the people milling about the docks, seeing how the pair below disturb the usual patterns of hustle and bustle. The crowds of dockworkers buzz like angry hornets, and she frowns, leaning forward slightly as she tries to take in the picture as a whole.

Perception+Awareness plus spending 2m on First Awareness Excellency for a total of 9 dice.

[Aruetii]

Arachi frowns deeply behind his helmet, brow furrowing as he watches everyone walking about in their confused stupor. He turns his head, the visor looking over everyone and printing out some information upon the screen before he looks over to the ship to see if it was affecting the mortal crew of the Sazanami as well as the people along the docks. If he could figure out where exactly it was affecting it would be easier to figure out where it was coming from.

Unfortunately his attention was taken away from the work as the small Fire aspect moved over towards next to him. 'Definitely wasn't expecting someone like her to be called on to this mission. . . remember, it's for the Realm, she probably won't destroy another tavern. .. . probably.' In answer to her question however, he couldn't help but left out a chuckle from inside of his armor before shaking his head. "Sorry, definitely can't help you there. High fashion is most noticeably outside of my realm expertise. There is something else I've seen however, come here for a moment and take a look out at the dock."

He turned his attention back out towards the bustling people upon the dock. "You see everyone out there? People are starting to act strange, moving about like they don't quite know what they're doing. That farmer has tried several times to get his paperwork, and those guards have inspected that same cargo container at least five times since I've started watching. Something is definitely off. . . ." The armored man settled him into his position as he watched the dock. Was someone trying to affect them, or was there something else at play? Arachi wracked his memories, drawing upon his studies in the Heptagram to try and remember what could do something like this.

(4 {Intelligence} + 3 {Occult} to try and remember what could cause this effect on people.

[Kell_tamer]

The troublesome Tepet teen trampled toward the traveling team. "Oy wutz the 'oldup?" The girl spoke in her much preferred low realm.

Slip stood naught more than 4 feet 2 inches in height, yet she still felt like the biggest person there. Exaltation can make a person quite cocky, and it didn't help that Slip was cocky even before she Exalted and became a Prince of the Earth. "Ah bet dey're watchin us, sneaky soldiers, always watchin ol' Slip!" Planting a hand on a pillar, Slip vaults backwards up to a perch as she watches and listen intently to the happenings. She had nary a case with her and had been ready to go since she arrived. She squatted atop the pillar as an invisible ripple of water essence filtered out to the dock, bouncing back toward her feeding her information. "IS TRECHREY IT IS!"

Slip uses observer awareness method and I probably should have asked in the OOC if we were going to use aspect surcharges or not, particularly on excellencies, I know a few STs who don't have them get used on Excellencies. It won't matter for this roll, but she spends 4 motes personal, 1 for observer awareness 3 for first larceny which only nets 5 dice because her thievery specialty is most likely inapplicable here.

Perception 4 + Larceny 5 + 5 excellency + any stunt.

One success tells her if people are watching, further successes pinpoint where

And yes i'm quite aware her actions will pretty much bring up a positive reading

[Guancyto]

Carmela looked from the farmers to the dockworkers back to Arachi back to the guards to the package in her hand. Offloading it to a different dockworker than the one she got it from (who staggered under the weight), she clapped her hands together. "Oh I used to love this stuff! Granddad used to show it to me when I was a kid. What you do is you find a secretary and mention to her that she's filing something wrong and that she should see her boss about it, only her boss is busy so she winds up getting someone to get someone to get her boss, and when he gets there her boss can't figure out what's up so he pulls in someone else to help, and then they pull in someone to help, and pretty soon you get a huge crowd around the misfiled papers and nobody has any idea what's wrong besides 'there are lots and lots of people working on this problem so it must be something critical and important' and nobody gets any work done. And then, it depends on how many bosses there are, hours or days or weeks later the biggest boss comes down, puts his face in his hands and says that the paper's stamped four times instead of five, and maybe fires a bunch of people."

She nodded to herself with great confidence, pausing to take a breath, "I think this is kind of like that, only weirder. I, hm, I think pulling something like this maybe gets your head chopped off in the Realm? You guys are more serious about your shipping than a fourteen-year-old-girl."

She turned on Arachi - and Slip - with bright enthusiasm, "hey, want to see what happens if we try to help them out? I'm curious now."

Int+Occult from OOC: (5d10)[6][10][2][5][8](31)
Any possible stunt dice: (3d10)[7][9][5](21)

Hope this isn't taking too many liberties with the results.

[golentan]

As the terrestrials gather and greet, the crew of the Sazanami appears grateful for the help (whether overt or subtle) provided in the packing for the journey. The dockworkers seem to be impressed by the obvious collection of magical force on their docks, and many of those whose attention has frayed from the general confusion and tedium setting in on the dock are eyeing their exalted masters with open curiosity and veiled whispers...

The entire dock appears to be under the influence of Thrashing Carp Serenade, a somewhat puerile bureaucracy charm that hinders the use of actions that contribute to bureaucratic exploits, in this case the conduction of Trade (which may be why the Sazanami and its crew appear to be unaffected by the general malaise and incompetence radiating from the docks: being unengaged in mercantile activities at the moment, there isn't money or paperwork or manifests hinging on the completion of their tasks in a timely manner).

Arachi managed 3 successes, Carmela 5, both enough to identify the relatively common charm. Both get a 2 die stunt, choose your rewards!

Guancyto, I'm letting it stand this time, but in the future please give me your dice pool, and let me roll (it lets me more easily adjust penalties and also there are times I may wish to use ST prerogative to fudge the results without announcing as much: I promise it will never be done to foil a good plan or to deny you a victory that you have earned).

Indeed there are several people watching the young Tepet. Most of them appear to be starstruck peasants, likely viewing princes of the earth in the wild is a rare occurrence for them, and potentially a religious one at that. Others seem to be bored, waiting for customs to complete paperwork that seems to be languishing indefinitely, in the process their eyes turning to anything interesting to distract from the tedium of red tape. One figure appears to have been sitting on a bench: a nondescript man, almost colorless, really. In fact... he seems to be completely colorless, as if the light around him has been bleached and made sterile, or sickly... He most emphatically pinged on Observer Awareness method, but the moment its essence washed over him he stood and began to walk back towards the town, quickly but firmly...

You scored 7 successes and a 1 die stunt, regaining 2m.

The Sazanami does indeed seem to be ready, but with the milling on the docks it's impossible to make out what may be transpiring below apart from obvious points of interest, such as your fellow princes of the earth.

You scored 2 successes and a 1 die stunt, regaining 2m.

Is there any information in particular that you looked for during your perusal of the dossier on Wilsesa, or would you like just a general rundown at this time?

[Aruetii]

Arachi shook his head as he looked out over towards the docks. "No, I remember this charm from the Heptagram. Thrashing Carp Seranade. . . if someone is trying to hinder us specifically it's not affecting our crew. If it is targeted to hinder us, going and interacting with them will basically shout that we see what they're doing. The good news about this charm is that it only affects people within the sound of their voice, so whoever is doing this has to be on the dock. What do you say about doing a civic duty before we go and start our mission? Figuring out who wants to delay trade here could be an interesting diversion. Noble may not be the most important city in the Realm since the Empress' disappearance, but I doubt Governor Owl Star would be happy with someone adding to their already considerable issues."

Keeping the Visor on, which drains another mote of essence since I'm guessing its been a minute. I'm also rolling Awareness again to spot who would be using this charm in the crowd. Choosing the Essence reward so he's tapped back out on Essence for now.

[Guancyto]

"'Thrashing Carp Serenade?'" Carmela repeated incredulously, hands on her hips, "you have got to be one of the fancy-pants types I was looking for, that's a whole lot of poetry for the sound of a flopping beached fish. But anyway yeah it's just about exactly the thing granddad did. He was an artist, though, this one's not even being sneaky about it."

Although Power Armor Guy was more observant, he didn't seem to realize what he was saying. She hadn't realized that it wasn't affecting their crew, that changed everything! She put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a warning look. "Mate, let's let's talk about this. Two ways this goes, either someone's trying to gum up everyone's job and they can't gum up ours, or they don't want to. Why do you want to run out and stop them?"

She unhanded him with a little spin and shrugged her shoulders, "just call it a lucky break that we get to get out early. You spend all your time questioning your good fortune you'll just get grey hair."
Well, there's no need for motes or willpower, so for my stunt reward I choose... a puppy!

[Kell_tamer]

"OY! Waxxy! Where d'ya fink yer runnin to!?" Slip hops from her perch and heads over to the man.

"Talkin t'yu Mate! Turn 'roun an say somfin!" She moves at a moderately high clip towards her quarry.

[Aruetii]

Arachi looks over towards his companion for a second, raising an eyebrow behind his helmet before looking back at the docks. "So you have absolutely no curiosity why someone would think it is a good idea to use Charms to hamper trade upon a dock in the Realm, a dock of military importance to the Realm?" The man sighed softly and shook his head. "Something isn't right about it, but fine. I do however reserve the right to say I told you so if this comes back and bites us in the ass." The man in armor stopped his observations of the dock, ending the Essence commitment to the visor as he went to rest on the Sazanami instead. "Worst case scenario it's Pelep's problem instead of ours."

[Guancyto]

"I'm not gonna say I'm not a little curious," Carmela admitted, she was actually pretty curious but she had a mission for a hat to focus on. She stopped, kicking at the ground in the dockyards and thinking about it, looking from the other ships to a struggling farmer - ha! He didn't get paid again - before finally grabbing Arachi before he could do a proper job of leaving.

"Okay!" she concluded, "I think the key is to figure out if this has been going on pretty much just since we showed up, or if it's been going on a while and we just happened to step into the middle of it. If it's about us then it's probably just somebody being helpful, and we can go grab a drink. If something else is going on and there are real shenanigans, we can chase someone down and get answers with our Percussive Diplomacy... um," she stuck her tongue out the side of her mouth a bit, trying to figure out something appropriately flowery, "Percussive Diplomacy Phalanges? How's that sound?"

[Dazhbug]

Xian continued to chew her lip, watching as the dragon-blooded below discussed things among themselves. They all seemed to sense the disturbance in the crowds, and the armored one and his companion shifted their weight, obviously thinking about intervening. The tiny thin one, however, suddenly took off into the crowd. Xian blinked twice as mild recognition dawned, followed by old and familiar aggravation mixed with amusement.

With a sigh, she carefully secured the folder to the mast and leapt into space. Flicking her hand out, she swung in a graceful arc towards the dockside; she wrenched her anchor free and spun into a backflip to drop downward into the path of the younger Exalt, landing smoothly in a flash of essence.

"Must you always cause trouble, Slip?"

Dex + Athletics of 8, and I'll spend a WP for a success as well. Xian triggers Flashing Passage just after the backflip to "bamf" the last few meters of drop to the ground, which is 2m and another wp.

[The_Snark]

Kazue is the last to arrive, trailing a servant and a pack mule loaded down with bags. The young Ledaal heiress has never traveled to the Threshold proper, and she doesn't intend to be caught without something she might need: clothes for riding, clothes for weathering the sun and sand of the South, fine clothes suitable for impressing foreigners and the unExalted, a pair of finely sewn waterskins suitable for traversing the desert, a selection of medicinal texts and supplies, Mnemon Parona's History of the Tengese Satrapies, a collection of travelogues of the South, a borrowed text describing the Courts of Fire and other spirits, two maps of the area (neither of which wholly agrees with the other, a fact Kazue finds worrisome), a small mirror, a flute, a number of other miscellaneous items...

Despite her extensive preparations, she doesn't feel especially ready. The last time she'd boarded a ship, it had carried her away from the Isle of Voices... Not the most auspicious of omens. For the thousandth time since visiting the Palace Sublime, she wonders what possessed the Mouth of Peace to single her out for a task like this. There must be a thousand better candidates, all eager to serve the Realm and the Immaculate Order...

For the thousandth time since visiting the Palace Sublime, she tells herself to shelve those worries. This is too important to waste time dawdling. The hubbub and crowd near the docks is hard to navigate, but people make way for a Dynast, and she's pretty sure she has the right pier. There: the Sazanami, and standing nearby a pair of fellow Dynasts, one clad head-to-toe in impressive red jade armor (is that a Shogunate relic? It must be) and the other bearing the distinctive red hair and aspect markings of a Child of Heshiesh. (The short one, she can't help but note, is rather devastatingly cute.) Well, the Mouth of Peace did mention sending others, along with the unassuming young ship captain she'd met in Sion...

She approaches the pair, clearing her throat as a prelude to interrupting. "Good morning, sir and madam. Are you taking passage aboard the Sazanami?"

[Kell_tamer]

Slip jumps at the sudden appearance. "EY yer lettin 'm get 'way!" Without even thinking the brash water exalt grabs her reunited companions hand and starts pulling her toward the waxxy gentleman. "I ain't the trubbler dis time!" Slip seems startlingly nonplussed about the reunion, however that was just her, when she had her eyes on something it was front and center, and like a tidal wave she would barrel down upon it. "C'mon we kin get em still!" A grin crosses her face as she look back at her old friend, the silent acknowledgement of old times.

[golentan]

Apparently hearing the commotion of Slip attempting to give chase and arguing with her compatriots, the pale figure breaks into a dead sprint, shoving aside a porter and spilling the woman and the pack she's carrying over the edge of the dock and racing away at a startling pace, rushing past Kazue in the process. As he passes, she gets a look at his face and sees something very wrong. There seem to be too many teeth to fit in his jaws, a grotesque orgy of fangs crowded into several rough rows are visible as he grimaces... the face perhaps of a Wyld Mutant...

Arachi and Carmela, meanwhile, discussing the interference with commerce on the docks, spot a sour faced woman, skin so dark as to best be described as onyx, staring at the captain of the mercantile vessel from a seat across the way with naked loathing, apparently rubbing some sort of jade bauble between her hands as she does.

Xian gets a 1 die stunt for her athletics action, Arachi succeeds on his spot check, and Carmela may add a one dot familiar to her sheet. :smalltongue: Seriously speaking though, I apologize this took me longer to compose than I expected for the action currently going on.

If anyone decides to give chase to the pale man, Kazue and Slip will have a 2 die bonus on the first round for being closest/kicking off the chase respectively (I'm going to be stealing the chase mechanics from Shards, Dex+Athletics instead of Dex+drive, with speed boosts giving you bonus dice, tell me how fast they make your Dash and I'll apportion appropriately)

[Kell_tamer]

Slip lets go of her friend's hand and goes into a dead sprint. She runs quite quick for someone of her size, however lacking any speed boosting magics she relies upon her natural aptitude for finding shortcuts. Flowing like water shes dashing along and leaps through a fishing stand as she runs to keep her momentum going. She uses her small size to her advantage to fit into small areas that the mutant can't, makes for great shortcuts.

Dex 4 Athletics 3 +any stunt dice. +2 for being closer Kinda wish i favored Athletics instead of dodge but that would screw with my BPs so no excellency for Slip. I shall definitely invest in charms for that. Dash is 10 yards + stunt die

[Dazhbug]

Xian snorted softly, her aggravation at the younger Water aspect crinkling her brow. Best to end things quickly and get on their way.

Grabbing a nearby hank of line, she sighs before blurring towards the running figure with impossible speed, stepping between dockworkers that suddenly seemed frozen in place. As she passed Slip, she pats the younger Exalt's shoulder in a somewhat patronizing fashion.

Dex + Athletics of 8 with +2 from being closer and any stunt dice. Triggering both Light-Treading Technique and Flashing Passage: LTT adds 5 yards to the dash, and FP quadruples the distance after all other modifiers. Total dash distance is 16*4 = 64 yards. Excess distance will go towards running around the target in a tight circle, binding him with the rope.

[Aruetii]

Arachi let out a low chuckle at the name, grinning a bit behind his helmet. "Well, it seems that woman has an issue with House Nellens." He motions as subtly as a man clad in power armor can towards the sour-faced woman and the man wearing the Cadet armor of an unExalted Nellen. "Or at least that one in particular." Seeing Kazue approach them however draws his attention away from the annoyed looking woman to his former mentor. 'Wasn't expecting to see her again anytime soon. . . Still don't know why she disappeared from the Heptagram either. . .' "Kazue. . . ? Good to see you again, haven't heard from you since the Heptagram. Yeah, we're taking passage on the Sazanami. . . but seems things are getting a bit interesting on the docks."

He's distracted by the sight of Slip running off, frowning deeply before letting out a sigh. "Slip what are you getting yourself into now. . . . " Watching the teenager jump through someone's fishing stand he slaps his palm against his forehead, letting out a groan. "And today started so simply as well. We should probably go and figure out why in the Dragons Slip is running after someone. If that woman is still around causing an issue for things we'll introduce ourselves afterwards, or at least talk to the cadet of Nellens to pass word along." Arachi takes one last look at the woman, doing his best to memorize her features and the bauble she was so attached to before sighing again, moving to chase after his adopted cousin, powering up the Velocity Magnifier Engine as his armor whirrs to life and speeds him up even faster than normal.

Unlike his cousin, he's not quite as flashy as her and disruptive to commerce around him. Arachi runs and jumps on to the railing of the dock, using it as his own personal highway along the dock, trying his best to keep himself away from the confused throng of people so he doesn't accidentally run into someone and harm them. When the railing stopped and turned to allow other sections of the dock to jut out he jumped over the confused civilians, landing back down on the other side of the railing. 'This is going to be seen as a very bad idea if House Peleps didn't keep this dock well maintained. . . ' Once he was able to move alongside Slip he called out to her, keeping pace with her. "So, Slip! Care to fill me in on why exactly you're chasing this guy across the docks of Noble or is this just something that you do when I'm not around?"

Running after Slip and the man! (5 {Dexterity} + 3 {Athletics}) Dash is 11 (5 {Dexterity} + 6 {Dash}), with the Velocity Magnifier Engine his ground speed is doubled so he goes 44 yards per tick. I'm assuming that's enough to catch up to Slip and maintain momentum with her. Also if there's any roll where he needs to balance the Monkey Stone reduces the difficulty of the roll by 2 to a minimum of 1. (It also doubles the distance he can jump)

Essence;
Personal: 12/14
Peripheral: 15/32

[Guancyto]

Carmela started to open up her mouth to respond to Arachi, to ask for some kind of clarification on the parties involved, when he dashed off faster than a speeding austrech after someone named Slip.

"Five dinars says she runs off and gives him the Slip," she said to Kazue, not even trying to pursue him, he was going that fast. Standing there on the docks, she looked from the Dragon-Blood that had just shown up to the little fire-trail that Arachi had left on his way to a likely altercation. On the one hand, there was probably going to be fire and blood, on the other hand, there was probably going to be fire and blood here too, but it involved less playing catch-up.

Well, that settled it! "Kazue, right?" She spun to face her new companion, putting her hands behind her back and leaning in close with a cheeky grin. "Carmela Contarini, pleasure to meet you, yeah, I'm with this boat. Armor Guy looks like he's just given up his spot on the greeting squad, you want to go say hello to a dangerous lady and poke her until she lets on what she's doing?"

You know I don't actually even remember what Auspicious First Meeting Prana does mechanically and I don't care, supernaturally good first impression gogo!

[The_Snark]

"Er, yes," the Air Aspect says, staring at the fleeing figures with a look of consternation on her face. "Ledaal Kazue; a pleasure to make your acquaintance... Did you get a look at that fellow? He had far too many teeth, I don't think I've ever seen that many outside of a shark's mouth..."

Well, the armored fellow - from the Heptagram? She'd expect a monk or shikari, with armor like that, but evidently not; hopefully she can place his voice before he realizes she hasn't recognized it - seems to have that situation (whatever it might be) well in hand. The blood of Mela may run quick in her veins, but she's not much of a runner.

"Ah, I'm sorry" - she returns her attention to the Fire Aspect in front of her, evidently not a Dynast; strange - "who were you wanting to poke? Might I ask why?"

Auspicious First Meeting Attitude gives you a +3 social specialty in Dealing With [Person X]. I'm not 100% clear on what else it does, since the errata doesn't explicitly overrule the original text. It mentions the ST giving hints and warning the player whether something is likely to go over badly (or conversely, if it'll go over well), and that sounds reasonable, so I'll do that. A few pointers:

Kazue is highborn, slightly reserved, and doesn't have a lot of experience with the world outside her social mileu. It wouldn't be hard to shock, overwhelm or bemuse her, and Carmela could use that to push her around, but in the long run it'd make a bad impression.

Her pride is fragile; handle with care. Excessive compliments are bad, insults are bad, making her look foolish is bad.

She thinks Carmela is kind of hot.

[golentan]

As Carmela and Kazue speak, a crewman from the sazanami approaches, bows, and offers to take Kazue's pack on board. Meanwhile, the sour faced woman continues her monomaniacal death glare at the captain of the merchant vessel.

I'm gonna go ahead and say that the 3 die specialty to social effects against each other overrides the text in the splatbook, and you get one "reset" mechanism. Either the listed options in the errata or a suitable substitute, to maximize the specialty again should it lapse over time by default: I know that as written that requires a repurchase, but what the hell, let's be monty haul in this case. Carmela, you have a three dot social specialty in "Kazue" that applies to all social rolls and will decrease by one dot at the end of each scene of interaction with her, and yes it counts as a specialty for all purposes, and are vaguely aware of the info in Kazue's spoiler, not necessarily consciously but you're aware of it on some level.

Good?

Slip's unusual choice of route allows her to gain a little speed and avoid falling behind initially, and indeed gives her a tremendous advantage as the Paleman flings a barrel of cod across the docks, slopping slippery fish across the path of following him to a volley of cursing in an eclectic mix of low realm, rivertongue, and seatongue from the fisherman watching his profits slither across the timbers of the pier. Meanwhile, while the others have a definite speed advantage, but are impeded by the crush of people around them.


Difficulty is currently 3: If you do not acquire at least 3 successes on your roll, you will not make or may actually lose progress
Cumulative difficulty is 10: If you accumulate 10 total successes before the Paleman, you catch him on this leg. If not, he passes onto the next leg of the chase: if he gets 5 successes before you pass to the same leg, or he completes the final leg, he escapes entirely into the city. This is potentially a 3 leg chase.
Hazard: You can take chase actions to gain advantage at the risk of hazard, inflict hazard on Paleman, or hazard can be imposed on you by circumstances or Paleman's actions: Anyone reaching 10 hazard will crash and burn in some spectacular way, wiping out or otherwise removing themselves from the chase.
Chase Actions include: Activating charms, making an attack against a close enough enemy, Moving Cautiously to mitigate hazard, closing in aggressively, making a cunning maneuver, a dangerous stunt, trying to conceal your presence from the enemy while continuing the chase, and attempting to weave through cover to avoid being attacked.

Let's give you all a 2 die stunt.

I'm going to say that Slip's and Arachi's stunts bypassed the hazards of maneuvering on the dock. Xian, you didn't get the two die bonus from starting the chase, that applied to Slip and Kazue if she had decided to give pursuit. Xian receives 4 bonus dice from her superior speed, Arachi receives 2 if using the velocity magnifier.

Current Totals:
Paleman: 3 successes, Hazard 2, has imposed a -3 die penalty on the next round barring stunts, charms, or maneuvering actions.
Slip/Arachi: 3 successes, Hazard 2 (from taking riskier paths, you guys risked a pratfall, it sounded like Arachi was attempting to catch slip rather than Paleman, you've managed to match her pace, otherwise Arachi has 5 successes).
Xian: 3 successes, Hazard 1 (You scored more raw successes with your extra speed, but the crowd of dockworkers is keeping you from taking the lead, rolling at difficulty 3 rather than 1)

Came out way more even than I anticipated.

[Dazhbug]

Xian cursed colorfully in seatongue as she shot through the crowded docks like a bolt of lightning, her Essence-infused speed sent down crooked paths by the crush of people. She glanced to the side, noting the pair of her compatriots streaking along the top of a railing and avoiding the worst of the milling throng. "Well alright then," she murmured, her competitive nature getting the best of her for the moment, "three can play at that game. And I know the lay of the land. Well, not land..."

Knowing from her time shipside that all the docks converged on the main quay that housed the customs and counting houses, Xian gracefully cartwheels off the side of the dock. Landing solidly on the surface of the water, she dodges a very surprised harbormaster and puts on another burst of glittering speed, throwing up a rooster-tail of water that glittered brightly in the morning sunlight. Flashing across the surface of the harbor, she ducks through the rising pillars of the main quay to run up the side further from their quarry in an attempt to gain the element of surprise.

Just to keep tabs on things, Xian has spent 7 motes and regained 6 with a one and two die stunt so far, I believe? She's spending another 5 to trigger her Aspect ability here, and then a further 5 (along with another 2WP, total of 5 so far) to trigger LTT and FP again now that she has plenty of room to maneuver. As she passes through the piles of the main quay she's going to attempt to re-establish stealth, which has a pool of 13; she'll spend another 4m to trigger Just Another Branch Deceit to add 3 successes to the roll (4, if gol thinks the quay pilings provide at least 50% hard cover). Same stats for the dash as before.

[Kell_tamer]

As she moves by the fisherman, Slip pulls an obol from her pocket and tosses it to the him "Oy! Sorry Mate! " Letting her essence pick up she plants her feet on one of the fish making the watery coating as sturdy as solid ground for her. Using its slick nature as a propulsion she slides along the ground toward her ol waxxy. "Oh yanno, chasin folks an' causin ruckus, is whut ah does bes'!" She ducks below two men holding a large crate and skates along on her smelly conveyance. She ramps it off a stack of crates into a tank of lobster as she runs across the top surface keeping speed up. "ah'll 'ave dat one when ah get back! looks like a foighter!" She points to a large lobster in the tank as she dashes on by. "STOP RUNNIN!"


OK activating anima for 5 motes personal to make water sturdy for her. Gonna burn a willpower to prevent a botch on an attempt to maintain balance. figure its worth a shot, if anything its awesome. Dex 4 athletics 3 plus any stunt.

This may actually be two actions, feel free to chastize me if it is, i am unfamiliar how chase legs work complete so i just kinda described a full section of what she'd do.

[Guancyto]

That sounds good! Really the bullet points are more interesting than the dice (although Dragon-Bloods do like their Specialties), so if they hadn't been included I'd probably have wanted to make a repurchase to get them.

"Yeah, there are shenanigans afoot," Carmela said, taking out her favorite phrase for the occasion like the good silverware. An ivory tower smart-girl type. Yeah, she'd do for this kind of thing, and maybe she'd learn something in the process. And she was smitten with Carmela's stunning good looks, although that wasn't really anything new, that happened to a lot of people! "Looks like Armor Guy's got it handled. Now, you see how that merchant has tried no less than five times to get the right signature to release his cargo?" Carmela nodded across the dockyards, "young lady over there is doing it, she's probably a dragon-blood and she looks really unhappy, so I'm hoping to either make her day a whole lot better or a whole lot worse. Or both!"

She turned 'round again and casually leaned an arm on Kazue's shoulder, "it's a two-person job, though, probably. I'll be friendly and you be curious? That should come naturally."

[Aruetii]

"Ah right, I forgot, just another day in the life of Slip. Well try to keep up hrm?" Although it couldn't be seen, Arachi grinned widely behind his helmet as he charged forward at full speed as he went to surpass Slip and divert his full attention on his cousin's prey. Looking around he quickly scanned the environment for potential ways to better catch up to his quarry, comparing the images briefly while he ran along the railing. 'If he manages to get back to the city this will be. . . troublesome, better end this quickly, preferably where there isn't as many civilians in the way.' He looks over the target to see if he could damage him with a well placed Elemental Bolt, but the potential collateral damage was far too high for his tastes; so for now he had to continue running.

It was then that he was able to see his way to gain up quite a bit of distance on the Paleman, grinning deviously as the thought occurred to him. The next time the dock jutted out to allow more ships to dock he followed the railing, going towards the less populated area of the dock, especially now that they were out of range of the woman's voice and Charm affecting the populace. Thankfully the blood of Hesieh burned bright within Arachi, and he never even considered how exactly he would recover from this should he fail.

Aarachi took the chance that Fate presented him, and when the dock ended suddenly he leaped from the railing on to the back of a Junk that was pulling out of the city of Noble, landing with a loud thud and the sound of wood splintering underneath his weight as he rolled during his landing to recover quickly. He offered brief apologies to the rather confused crew as he continued running forward, moving along the length of the ship. Arachi barreled up the stairs as if there was nothing stopping him, and for the most part there was. Who was going to try and stop a Prince of the Earth going at around 90 miles per hour along a ship? He wasn't done yet though, when he reached the back of the Junk he wasn't quite close enough to the dock to make the safest jump, so he did the only reasonable thing he really could; he leaped from the back of the ship on to the next ship over. This time the distance wasn't nearly as egregious as with the first jump, not even breaking the deck of the ship this time. Still he offered his apologies before moving diagonally across the ship, heading back in the direction of the dock. When he reached the end of the ship he hopped on to the railing and got a running start before leaping through the air, landing himself back down on the solid ground of the dock and hopefully much closer to the Paleman than he was, and out of the way of any hazards he could have imposed behind him.

Getting more Essence back with the Stunt because omnom Essence. [I really need to figure out how to incorporate Green Jade into Refining the Inner Blade]

I'm assuming that I've gotten a good look at him now that we're chasing him. So Int+Occult role to figure what in Creation this guy is. Going to spend 2 motes of Essence to get 1 automatic success on the roll from Essence Triumphant.

Also, since the Chase thing has a Difficulty I'm assuming it is a roll as well. With that in mind, I'm going to spend 2 motes of essence on Essence Overwhelming for Athletics to get 3 dice. I will catch the Paleman!

Essence;
Personal: 10/14
Peripheral: 15/32

Edit: If GM says that 336 feet ([4 Strength + 3 Athletics * 2 Horizontal Jump] * 2 The Monkey Stone * 4 from Speed bonus * 3 Yards into feet) isn't enough to jump between the ships I'm willing to spend a point of willpower to add another two yards, bringing it to 432 feet ([4 Strength + 3 Athletics + 2 Willpower] * 2 Horizontal Jump * 2 The Monkey Stone * 4 from Speed Bonus * 3 Yards into feet).
Edit2: As Dazh pointed out, I'm a derp and used Solar Essence Triumphant, edited accordingly.

[golentan]

As the paleman rounds the pier to head for land, he skids to a stop as a red jade figure crashes into the planks ahead of him, landing heavily, turning to look behind him as Slip surfs his obstacle in behind him, seeming not to notice as Xian returns to the docks, completing a triangle enclosing him. He mutters something under his breath as he contemplates his options, then calls out in low realm. "How did you even see me?" he asks Slip, seemingly more confused or perhaps consternated than truly angry or fearful.

Well, both Xian and Arachi were able to catch him, since Xian's last action involved reestablishing stealth as well you are concealed for the time being. Slip is mere seconds behind at the end of the chase (9 net successes), everyone gets a 2 die stunt, so have at!

You've only scored 2 successes on the Int+Occult roll: you haven't placed paleman's origins yet. You do recognize what he mutters, though: In Old Realm "Cornered by a couple kids, on the Blessed Isle no less... Worst. Assignment. Ever."

Approaching the sour faced woman, Carmela is given a nod. "Hello... Cousin? Can I help you?" She asks, continuing to roll her bauble, but breaking her death glare away from the captain of the merchant vessel and flashing a clearly faked smile for the benefit of her new audience, her face softening and becoming almost pleasant. "I'm Peleps Ikun, and you are..." her eyes flicker to take in Kazue quickly, "Ledaal Kazue and... Ledaal...?"

[Guancyto]

"Do I look like someone who could hack it in Ledaal?" Carmela asked good-naturedly, "I can't even keep quiet in a library, they'd throw me out in seconds." She put a friendly arm around Peleps Ikun, if she didn't flinch or recoil at the touch, "I'm Carmela, and I noticed you were looking pretty down, and I hate to see a lady like yourself looking so put out, so..." one of her bags passed by, hauled by a dockworker, and without even skipping a beat she pulled a jug of wine out of one of them and presented it, "I was hoping we could sit down somewhere and have a drink before those creases started to stick, hey?"

Peleps Ikun gets some auspicious first meeting attitude, too! Let's share the love, here.

[Aruetii]

Arachi looks t the man curiously after hearing what he was muttering to himself. It didn't sound like he was form the isle with a comment like that, certainly didn't look like a natural resident of the Isle. Most normal residents of the Isle didn't know Old Realm either, and he certainly didn't bear the markings of a Dynast. Dusting his power armor off he looked the Paleman in the eyes, as much as he could through his helmet. "What exactly is your assignment?"

Moar essence.

[Kell_tamer]

"Whut you mean 'ow? Ah'm Slip!" She kicks off the haddock with a flourish and gives a bow. "An' you dun get to be as awesome as me wifout bein 'bzervint" She kicks her conveyance up and catches it and slaps it over her shoulder like a club. "What's wif da runnin?"

[Dazhbug]

Xian perched silently overlooking the quay, watching her companions interrogate the strange man. Her initial frustration towards the inevitable eddies that Slip naturally caused in the best laid plans was slowly giving way to curiosity, especially as she caught bare glimpses of the odd Wyld-scaring beneath the stranger's hood; however, she judged the others more suited to holding conversation. For the moment, she would listen and observe. Idly, her hands looped the rope into knotted loops, ready to drop onto their quarry if he decided to attempt escape once more, or become violent.

Xian is listening and watching as intently as she is able through natural means, since she doesn't want to give away her position by spending more essence. Perception + Awareness of 6, Awareness favoured if it means anything. Meanwhile, she's set and ready to drop on this guy and tie him up at the first twitch of flight or fight.

[golentan]

Peleps Ikun smiles at the offer. "Hah! All good company here, then. I pretend at respectability when it suits me, but my tutor was the Palace of Ancient Stone as a child," she says, unwinding a little bit and taking a draft from the jug. "I don't suppose you're here on business, eh? Your accent, you're an outcaste, I can hear it, and I figure if you're not here to join a House you're probably on some sort of business. I could give you a really good tip about silk futures in Coral, and you'd be helping me out with a... hobby of mine by taking advantage of it."

Quick bullet points on Ikun:
*She's simultaneously personally conservative, and deeply exhausted by the social niceties of dynastic politics: A blunt approach works best with her as long as you agree with her views of the immaculate order.
*She has never hated anyone as much as the captain of the Nellens ship, and is willing to risk personal ruin to turn his life to shambles.
*She will stand by her friends through fire and hail, but if you befriend her and betray that trust she will spare no expense to destroy you.
*She prefers to work through financial means and metaphors.

The Paleman shrugs, holds out his hands in a "handcuff me" gesture, and smiles unnervingly. "What can I say, you caught me. I'm a guild representative, trying to keep tabs on import/export for House Cynis's slaver ships, I was hoping to muscle in on the market if a compatriot of mine could convince the deliberative to lift the ban on outside financiers. I was mutated when our wards failed in a wyld storm, so my partner suggested I could blend in just hanging out on the docks for market research while he could lobby our contact without being as offputting." He grins with an odd sort of cheerful menace, showing all 5 rows of fangs "But clearly we were wrong... Hey, I don't suppose you folks have the ear of any of the Most Notable and Infallible Governors of Trade and Tariffs? Preferably someone who'd like to see Cynis take it in the wallet?"

Paleman is making a mundane social attack with 8 successes to convince people that he's a mostly harmless corporate shill. Anyone care to pop mental defenses against it: Defensive Stunts, Charms? Submit to the Social Attack? Spend Willpower to resist?

[Kell_tamer]

Slip swings the haddock idly like a golf club. "So uh, whu?" While she has a decent knowledge of bureaucracy but her talent mostly lies with fences and thievery. She glances at her companion with a raised eyebrow. "Yanno whut 'es talkin bout?" Essence coats her words and reinforces her thoughts. She seems just awful friendly all of a sudden.

Spending 3 motes to reflexively activate Auspicious First Meeting Attitude She burns another 4 motes on 6 dice of PResence Excellency. as she tries to deflect the attention to her companion with ignorance.

IF that and the stunt isn't enough she will spend the willpower. With First Meeting she has a base MDV of 5 Before Appearance gets factored in. After chase and all shes at 4 Personal and all but committed ... which i just realized i forgot her perfect boots for chase speed, not that it mattered :smalltongue: Gotta remember she has a base move of 4 + 3 from shoes.

But yes after this spend she's at 4 motes personal and 19 peripheral.

[Aruetii]

Arachi narrowed his eyes behind his helmet as he looked towards the Paleman. Something wasn't adding up with what the man was saying. He started running when Slip did something, not before anything else. So what exactly had Slip done to make this guy want to run from the Sazanami? Arachi took a few steps towards the Paleman as he inspected the man carefully while contemplating what he said. 'I doubt that most Guild operatives spoke to themselves in Old Realm. . . ' "How about the real reason that you started to run? If you were trying to remain hidden, suddenly trying to run away from Slip wasn't the best way to accomplish this. You could have fed us any line if we had even noticed you before starting running, instead you ran and condemned yourself, why?"

Spending a willpower point to resist his social attack

Willpower 5/6

[Dazhbug]

Xian caught herself nodding along with the businessman, ready to chalk this up to another of Slip's wild goose chases (including the one that had actually involved wild geese), but shook her head minutely. Had her time in the Palace taught her nothing? Here was a man, trapped as surely as if his leg was squeezed in a bear trap, and his first response was to, calmly and clearly, tell the complete truth? Normal folks just did not act like that, especially when being glared down upon by an annoyed and armored Prince.

She refocused, berating herself mentally for missing the little signs and subtle clues of a lie that her training had drilled into her. She would not let the Sifu down so easily, not this early in their journey.

[Guancyto]

Ikun's words are a pleasant surprise to Carmela. She's expecting someone a little stuffy or proper but easy to butter up, instead she finds someone who might have come close to a kindred spirit. "Yep! You have me pegged," Carmela says cheerfully, "I'm a Contarini. If you believe the stories, our founder sailed West beyond the world and found Danaa'd, and then they made sweet, sweet music together. I don't know anybody out that way nowadays, but we definitely get all over, I could pass it on and see if somebody can make use of it."

She takes the jug as it's passed and takes a swig as well. Not very ladylike, but no surprise there. "Okay, so stop me if you've heard this one before.

There's an Eastern warlord that's marching his soldiers around, when from behind a rock outcrop someone yells, 'one Dragon-Blood is better than ten soldiers!'

Now the warlord's not going to stand for it, so he sends ten of his best men. When the sound of punching dies down, the same someone yells, 'one Dragon-Blood is better than a hundred soldiers!'

The warlord's getting mad, so he sends a hundred of his best men to root out the troublemaker, there's a lot of people hitting things, then the noise dies down. The yell goes 'one Dragon-Blood is better than a thousand soldiers!'

Absolutely furious, the warlord sends a thousand of his men to overwhelm the enemy. There's a lot of sounds of battle, and then silence. And one of his soldiers, just one, wounded and bleeding, crawls back to the warlord and with his dying breath says, 'it's a trap, sir, there's two of them!'"

[golentan]

The paleman shrugs at this. "Hey, corporate espionage is a tricky business, and trickier when your business rivals can poison you through a handshake. I realized you weren't a cynis ship, weren't a slaver, and I got up to leave when your little pal there started making a hullabaloo and chasing me. I panicked, what can I say?" He smiles disarmingly, a little bit of an edge working into his voice.

1) He really, really wants to get out of here without talking to you anymore.
2) He was specifically following you guys. He wants nothing more than to pick your brains about your voyage.
3) If he sees an immaculate monk, he's liable to flip out and become violent.

Ikun, in the middle of a drink, chokes a little, coughing as she laughs.

"A classic!" she roars, slapping Carmela on the back. "Did you hear the one about Lookshy's navy? Their flagship gets lost in a storm, and they see a light in the distance. They fire up their signal lamp and flash out a message: 'Unidentified ship, adjust your course 5 degrees north.' A few minutes later, they get a message back. 'Unidentified ship, adjust your course 5 degrees south.' Irate, the captain signals back: 'Unidentified ship, this is the Pride of Danaa'd, a Swift Midday class battleship in perfect repair. We have enough armor to weather the fires of hell itself, a heavy implosion bow capable of leveling a fortress, over a full talon of Dragon-Graced marines, and enough support vessels to conduct a small war with the full backing of the Seventh Legion to do so if threatened. Adjust your course or I will sail through you.'

There's a small pause, and then the ship gets a message back. 'Pride of Danaa'd, this is the Jade Coast lighthouse. Your call.'" She passes the jug back. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

[The_Snark]

Please answer that question, Kazue thinks fervently. Carmela's brief explanation of what they're doing (and why) was less than clear. Weren't they supposed to be setting sail right about now? To save the Mouth of Peace? That's... kind of important, right? She's not really sure how to talk to a pair of raucous lost (or found?) eggs, in any case. The Fire Aspect seems to have both chattiness and curiosity handled...

But just in case this is meant to be her cue, she ventures, "We saw you glaring at that ship over there, and we were... curious, I guess? Since all of the local shipping seems to have ground to a halt?"

[Guancyto]

"Ha! They probably would have tried it anyway," Carmela laughs. "You ever meet a Lookshyan? Mela's breath they are so stubborn." Okay, she's seen a Dynast choke on her drink, this is looking to be a productive day already.

Yes! Ledaal Kazue on cue. Sort of. Good enough. "Yeah," Carmela says, a little more softly, passing the wine to Kazue just in case she felt like partaking. "To tell the truth I mostly just wanted to see you laugh? It might be too soon to say this but I think you kind of get me. But, well, something kiiiind of happening right in front of us."

The lack of anything in her hands lets her face Peleps Ikun more fully, "you don't want to say anything, it's not a problem, there's things a girl has to do herself." She nods in affirmation of her own statement, not many people would characterize her as a compassionate soul but people she can relate well to, that's a bit different.

"But yeah, wasn't going to stand there and not say anything."

[Dazhbug]

"Hello, little man."

Xian had dropped from her position as silently and smoothly as her years of training allowed, appearing behind the blustering figure like a swift moving shadow. Her arms slid around him, fists clenching at throat and belly as thin blades extended to prickle the imagination with all sorts of possibilities. Her smile was feral as she spoke quietly into his ear. "It's really quite sweet of you to spin a tale for us, but no one's buying it anymore. It's laughable to think that any tradesman worth his monthly profits would even bother to glance twice at my ship as a slaver." She spat the word, an epithet in her mouth. "Not only are the lines all wrong on her, but this harbor doesn't even maintain the necessary equipment or infrastructure. As if the Mouth would tolerate such things this close to Scion." She sharpened her senses at that, straining to catch any tell made in response to the mention of the Mouth of Peace. "Besides which, it's quite well known that House Cynis prefers to operate out of Pangu. Keeps the merchandise closer to home, and all."

"Since you seem so eager to tell us what we want to hear, why don't we all retire to somewhere a little less out in the open, and skip straight to you telling us what you're actually up to, and why I shouldn't gut you and toss you in the harbor for the gulls and the fish. Or give you to my Immaculate friend here in the gorgeously lethal armor." She smiled sweetly, even though he couldn't see. "Slip, dear heart. Would you be so kind as to inform those fine upstanding members of the guard that are eyeing us that this has become official naval business, and not to worry themselves?"

With that, she begins herding the man towards a nearby alley between two pierside warehouses, careful to keep her claws where he can feel them.

Not sure what the pool would be here, but Xian certainly isn't bluffing about offing the guy. Also, she hasn't actually met Arachi yet, and is assuming that Dragon Armor means an Immaculate monk; it seems logical, given the nature of the mission. So she's not lying about that bit.

[Kell_tamer]

Slip looks the man up and down. The intimidation game wasn't necessary. She can find out information about entire organizations with but a glance.

"Lets not be hasty Xian..." The girl's shift to high realm was a drastic change.

"Oy, no one 'ere 'nnerstans a good con like ol' Slip. Practly invent em I do. But I fin' it a bit insultating dat you fink to lump me in wif doz in 'ouse cynis." Her low realm shines back through again. "Slip is many fings, conman, spy, master feef. But she aint a druggy, child lovin, snake." She carries her haddock club again but this time has a friendly smile. "So les start over, Ah'm Slip. Spy, Scoundrel, Troublemaker, an' master Feef."

Every river cones from somewhere, and slip read the river he came from and headed to like a map.

I need to know how many motes I got back, since I am using Revelation of Associates Hunch, I'll save you the trip to the book.

-----------------------------------------------
REVELATION OF ASSOCIATES HUNCH
Cost: 4m, 1wp
Mins: Investigation 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Any Investigation Excellency

Just as each individual drop of water in the ocean is connected to every other drop of water, so is each person connected spiritually to those close to her, from friends to family to accomplices. Upon meeting someone, the Dragon-Blood can gain an intuitive knowledge of the person’s closest associates. Each success by the player on a (Perception + Investigation) roll gives the Dragon-Blood the name and a one-sentence description of two of the target’s allies, contacts or employers, beginning with those most important to the target.

ERRATA

The soldiers of the gods should not pry into the affairs of their betters. Beings with a higher Essence rating and all Celestial Exalted are invalid targets of this Charm. All demons are valid targets regardless of their Essence. The Charm never reveals associates who are invalid targets.

------------------------------------------

I need to know if i'm burning into peripheral or not, since i was down to 4 personal. I will be using a 1st investigation excellency and buying 6 dice, 4 ability, 2 specialty in people.

Full pool is Perception 4 Investigation 4 Specialty 2 + 6 Excellency + any stunt from her bein all friendly like. (she actually has 1 more specialty dot from Auspicious First Meeting, but only buying 6 dice)

[Aruetii]

Arachi was about to help Xian with her intimidation tactic before Slip piped up once more. He shrugged mentally as he stood there, still staring down the Paleman. One of the benefits of the armor was having a more intimidating profile it seemed.

[golentan]

Ikun frowns, then chuckles. "Ah, hell, you're not a dynast, you won't use this against me. Nobody'd believe it if either of you did, anyway," her frown returns as gestures at her target. "You see that man? A few years ago he took up with my son. Fool boy has several marriage offers from families of good breeding, but he's rejected them all. Even a V'neef. A V'NEEF! His mortal boy-toy keeps whispering in his ears about running off together to chiaroscuro. Oh, sure, he'd pass on in a couple decades, assuming my boy didn't lose interest in his rapidly balding mayfly first, but imagine the shame! I'd have to disown the boy if he ran off, and what good would that be for gaining me grandchildren? The child's too proud to come crawling back. I don't understand why that fool can't just suck it up, close his eyes, and get through his wedding night like anyone else, but he doesn't want to 'deny his love.' Feh. What did love ever get anyone?" She takes a drink. "So. Little nellens goes bankrupt and runs off in shame, and maybe my boy will come to his... What was that?" she asks as a haunting noise rings out, almost deafening, and waves begin to lap more vigorously at the pier.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, across the way, Paleman breaks into a cold sweat as he feels the prickle of blades, allowing himself to be herded.Okay, it's true, but hear me out as to why you shouldn't gut me. I'm not a businessman, or a courtier, or a warrior, and as I think this whole incident has concluded, I'm a pretty bad spy as well. You know what I am? I'm a first rate demonologist. Just, absolutely first rate." He shouts a short phrase in old realm. *RISE AND ATTEND ME* "And what else I am is the guy holding the leash. If you look to the east, you'll see why you don't want my hand to slip off of it. That fellow's name is Olcanrin, Who Swallows Cities. Now me, I'm a nice guy, I like people, I'd never ask him to do something untoward, but if I die, he goes free. And he's been bugging me to eat just one fishing village the whole way here... If you kill me, there are enough princes of the earth to drive him off, sure, but I shudder to think how many thousands would have to die in the process. So, how about we chalk this up to never again and you let me go talk to him about why Sion isn't a menu item."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Visible to everyone, about half a mile offshore, a gigantic serpentine figure at least 500 yards long rises out of the water, emitting a low moan and disrupting the tides through its sheer bulk. A nearby naval vessel is nearly swamped as it lifts itself high, high into the air, and peers at Xian with malevolent green eyes. From the town, a warning bell begins beating out a staccato alarm as it screeches, beginning to swim closer...

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/091/e/e/sea_monster_by_ryomaninja-d4xl51f.jpg

[Guancyto]

Carmela can't help but interject at certain points in the tale, it's certainly a conundrum the likes of which her own father and mother might someday find themselves facing with three headstrong daughters.

"Hey, hey," she elbows Ikun playfully, a scheming expression on her face, "this is definitely too forward, but is your son cute? I bet I could talk him out of it and his boy-toy with a wink and a..."

As a the roar sounds across the docks and the monster approaches, she falls silent. Someone else might have an expression of consternation or horror or maybe determination, depending on their temperament.

Carmela?

The look that grows on her face is her birthday's just come early. She clasps her hands together and practically sparkles with growing joy.

"Ikun, hey Ikun," she says, with a presence of mind that has her trying to elbow her erstwhile companion and missing, "or Kazue, Kazue too. One of you tell me you have something to let me walk on water so I can fight that thing. I'll do anything you want."

She looks between the two of them and then, with an idea, punches a fist into the air. "No wait! Two birds one stone!" With that she's off like a shot, streaking off in the direction of the Nellens ship, hopping the pier and vaulting up onto the decks.

"GENTLEMEN!" she proclaims, "consider yourselves commandeered 'coz there's a giant monster in the harbor! Anybody who doesn't have the balls to go, get off now! Anybody with hair on their chests," she points dramatically to the giant demon and little sparks start to fly off her, "CAST OFF AND MAKE FOR THE ENEMY!"

Charisma+Presence, target the captain, your ship is mine! Getting the crew too if they count as a social group. Pretty sure this counts for "audacious declarations!"
4m on a presence excellency, so 9+8=17 dice before stunts/bonuses/penalties.

[Dazhbug]

Xian lifts her hand slightly, scoring a long, slow, shallow gash down the pale man's cheek. She chuckles icily. "My oh my, but who said anything about killing you? It would be terribly difficult for you to command your pet over there without a tongue, wouldn't it? And really, does a man need both eyes?" She non-chalanatly brings the shining point of one claw to within a centimeter of the man's eye.

"Now, how about a counter-offer?" She stabs the man neatly in the flesh of his thigh during the pause in her speech. "You send your pet back - oh, do stop twitching- back to the hells, and I don't indulge my imagination before handing you over to the Realm for questioning." She glances sideways at Arachi. "What would you say the punishment for rogue demonology is, these days? Nothing pleasant, I'm sure."

She glances towards the harbor quickly, using the motion to sink claws into the pale man's shoulder. "You know, it just occurred to me. If yon pet breaks free, do you suppose it will be particularly mad at our friend here? Maybe we can offer it a chew toy."

[The_Snark]

Kazue turns as the strange call echoes through the harbor, eyes widening as she sees the creature rise from the waters. Her mouth falls open a little. Just when she thought she was starting to find her footing...

Carmela's request jolts her out of her daze. Is she mad? Well, no, it's their duty as Dynasts to rally to the city's defense, but surely it would be wiser to stay close to shore rather than engaging the beast in its own element...

She fumbles at her wrist, unwrapping what looks like a cord of green jade from beneath her sleeve. The sling was not a traditional Dynastic weapon; the Realm's sons and daughters favored blades and bows and other weapons purely for war, while the sling was considered a commoner's weapon, used by peasants to hunt and defend their herds. A jade sling was hardly a commoner's weapon, of course, but it evoked the Threshold, where jade was rare and an outcaste might need to forage as well as fight. This sling, however, had family history: it had belonged to her great-great grandmother, a lost egg who'd first joined the Imperial Legions and later married into House Ledaal.

As she follows Carmela (and why is she doing that? Well, she can't let the Fire Aspect go out there alone, and it's easy to get pulled along in her wake), her mind races, trying to work out what they're facing. This is no natural beast - even the great sea-dragons of the farthest West only reach a fraction of that size. It could be a behemoth or mutant out of the Wyld, but they're on the eastern edge of the Isle. No; she suspects that this creature is a god, or perhaps demon.

Int+Occult roll to identify the thing, spending 2m on the 1st Excellency - 13 dice before stunt. She didn't hear the name, of course, so may only get information on the worm-thing rather than the demon inside.

[Aruetii]

Arachi turned his head at the sound of the monster rising from beneath his waves, paling behind his helmet. 'They never summoned anything like that in the Heptagram for them train against. . .even in the Hall of Verdigris. . . Okay, think, think damn it! First of all what is it? That's not Olcanrin, so it's probably its host. Thank the Dragons I actually decided to study what the children of the Yozis were like. . . . . . I'm staring down one of the children of the Yozis. Okay, we can't let it spread, can't let it 'bleed' on anything. What else was there. . . How was it defeated. . .back in the Shogunate area, with a lot more sorcerers than we have near by I think. . . great.'

"Okay, so.. . . good news and bad news you two. . . The good news is, I know what that thing is, and I know how we can beat it, probably. The bad news is. . . well everything else. We can't stab it, that's not technically Olcanrin. . . that's its host. Olcanrin is inside the damn thing, and the more we puncture the host's hide, the more can get out. It's also a children of some Yozis, because that just adds to the fun. You seem to have the Demonologist under control, I have to go and warn the ships capable of combat not to shoot the damn thing."

When Xian suggested feeding him to the thing, he mulled it over for a few moments in its head. "Probably, Demons aren't too happy when you bind them to your will. Though if we do that it'll still be very, very hungry. I suppose we can always feed his corpse to him just to make us feel better if he refuses to Banish it." Arachi quickly scanned the area, looking for the sign of House Peleps on somebody's armor, preferably an Exalt and not another cadet. "There's someone." Without waiting any longer he ran from the trio, moving as quickly as he could towards the member of the Great House. "You're a member of House Peleps correct? I need to talk to someone in charge of the fleet here, I know what that damn thing is and if the fleet and people aren't warned about its dangers a lot of people are going to die."

Down 2 motes of essence and 1 willpower, to 4/6 willpower now.

[Dazhbug]

Xian snarled an epithet as the tall man she had yet to be introduced to sped off to inform the Fleet of the situation they faced. "Slip," she ground out, "go tell the other two, and as many others as you can. Word needs to spread, now, and there's no guarantee our friend will get the message to the top of the chain." She silently hoped the young Exalt wouldn't do something completely hare-brained.

"As for you," she shook the pale mutant under her tender ministrations, "it seems the circumstances have changed. Dismiss the demon back to the hells immediately, and I will see you to the Threshold. Otherwise, you'll be turned over to the Peleps, right here and now, with explicit description of your involvement."

[Kell_tamer]

Slip frowns at the situation but makes a dash over to the other Exalts in their posse. "SO uh, paley is kinda a demonologist apparently." She switches over to the High Realm since she realized not all dynasts speak the common tongue. "He uh, made a few threats with regards to there being a potent demon here. I think he's bluffing in his skill but hey, even I am not crazy enough to endanger people over demons."

[golentan]

As panic begins to break out and spread throughout the docks, their are a few points of light. Within minutes, Fire Fleet ships are casting off and making way for the demon beast, cranking ballistae into firing positions and several anima banners begin blazing throughout the town and ships.

Ikun, seeing the beast rise, takes off running down the pier, conducting a swan dive into the ocean and swimming towards Olcanrin at a terrifying pace. As Carmela concludes her speech, the Nellens man casts a glare around at his crew and shouts at them: "You heard the lady! MOVE! Hoist the yard arm, raise anchor! You, raise the ballistae, you, get the ammunition from storage! Bolts, sailcutters, and firepots, I want 5 of each before we're off! I want us ready to cast off an HOUR AGO!" To Carmela, he whispers "I hope you know what you're doing, My crew and I have never seen battle against pirates, let alone something like this." Slip leaps on to the deck as the ship begins to move...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arachi, meanwhile, finds a captain preparing to make sail in the House uniform of a Peleps. Passing on his message, the Peleps visibly pales as the young sorcerer passes on his information about Olcanrin. His anima sparks to life as he bellows the information, a roar audible out to what seems likely miles, and several vessels almost within firing range break off, unloading ballistae bolts from their grooves and scrambling for other weaponry. A few elemental bolts streak forth from officers, shattering their essence against its hide without much visible effect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back with the paleman, he cries out softly as Xian slices his flesh, almost falling as his flesh is pierced. "Circumstances haven't changed, actually, you just understand what they are. Release me without further harm, and I give you my word that I, my beast, and all of my other agents throughout the city will depart immediately without harm to you, your companions, your city, or anything else until at least such time as we meet again far from here, and none of us or any others under my control or employ will return to the blessed isle for a year and a day. Continue to hold me hostage, or drive those daggers home, and you will die where you stand, and I can't promise the safety of any others."

[Aruetii]

Arachi nodded his head once the Peleps started passing along the information, bellowing the orders to the rest of the ships near by. 'Well, Peleps are the best naval combatants in the Realm, let's hope that they can be replace the Sorceres to drive the Demon back.' "Fire, acid, bludgeoning, anything that can hurt it without directly breaking its hide is the best way to take the thing down." Without really waiting for permission to stay on the man's ship he moved towards the bow of the vessel, looking at the Demon. If he could get close enough he could conjure up a weapon capable of dealing a good amount to that, but for now he was too far away for it to be viable.

Observing some of the officers slinging Elemental Bolts at the demon he rubbed his chin in thought. With the nature of the Charm, the more Exalts that worked together on the attack the stronger it would be, perhaps enough to do some damage to the Demon. Arachi waited for the Captain to stop giving orders to his crew before approaching and asking another question. "Does the Fire Fleet have many Dynasts who know the Elemental Bolt Attack charm? If we can coordinate an attack with the Charm we could do a great deal of damage to it without letting any of it escape from its host." It finally hit him that he was vastly overstepping his bounds by remaining on the ship without permission. "Ah, sorry, permission to remain aboard? If we can grab any of the near by Dynasts who know the charm we'd have a powerful force against it."

[Dazhbug]

A dozen potential futures rushed through her mind. A decision was reached, and made.

"Right," she nodded, and punched the pale man solidly in the back of the neck, aiming to knock him unconscious. "Hard way it is then." Allowing the punch to slam the mutant into the wall in front of them, she springs backwards and crosses her arms, firing both claws to bite deep into the wood on either side of the mutant. Kicking off the wall behind her, she snaps her legs up and over into a somersault, drawing the nearly invisible chains taught around her victim as she kicks again off the second wall. A third bounce snugs the chain around the pale man's neck and she yanks viciously, allowing her pent up frustration to fuel the attack. With it came unexpected but welcome rage; not only was he delaying their mission, but this cur dared strike not only against the Empire, but at the heart of her home province! Images of her parents dying to the terrifying demon in the bay flickered through Xian's mind as she drove her foot into his gut, planted her back to the wall in front of him, and triggered the chain to retract.

First attack is as described in the OOC thread. Second attack spends 4 motes (2 motes into peripheral) to add 8 dice, plus I'm channeling a WP through Conviction to add another 5, for a total of 24. Gol, any boosts for this guy threatening her home town and, by extension, her family?

[Guancyto]

Carmela hears the proclamation of the Dragon officer and makes a fist. Damn, there goes the plan of impaling it on a mast! Well, she can make do.

She glares at any sailor daring to slack off, she wants to be punching this thing in the face sooner rather than later.

"Hey, your lot chains the slaves to the oars, right? We're going to need a lot of chains, I want to bog it down so I can hit it." The fact that this plan will take her right up close to the monster is a strictly incidental benefit.

She's forgetting something. Oh yeah! "And I guess the fleet can hit it too, you know, if they think they should. But good idea on the firepots!"

[golentan]

The paleman staggers as he's struck, falling to the pier, but comes rolling to his feet as Xian goes for the knockout blow. A ripple rolls from his head, and the air seems to solidify between her and him, actually shattering into crystalline plates still bearing the image of the scene as he raises his head to look her in the eyes with... all three of his? A third eye has opened on his forehead, glowing with green fire, which also seems to be eating away at his flesh throughout his body. In a second, there is no mark of the bruise she left on him, nor of the cuts she placed while holding him. He's gaunter, almost skeletal, as if he hasn't been eating for weeks, and any smoothness in his voice or mannerisms are gone, replaced with an almost bestial appearance. *hungry* he grumbles in old realm, as the ripples in the air warp into some sort of lightning and lash out for Xian, which she nimbly is able to duck away from.

Xian scored 9 successes on her attack, but has been parried anyway by a charm use. She receives a 2 die stunt for her offense, upgraded to 3 dice for resonating with you motivation (excellent use of defending House Iselsi). Give yourself 1 xp and your standard awards.

Since Xian and He are now acting on the same tick, he counterattacks with an accuracy of 15, scoring 5 successes. He's very clearly using a charm on the attack.

Arachi's Captain gives him an incredulous look. "Damn right you're staying on this ship! If you know how to beat this thing, I want you close, and if you lied about it I want to be able to feed you to it myself." He begins bellowing again, attempting to coordinate enough terrestrial officers to close enough to combine their elemental powers. Meanwhile, between the ship setting sail and the creature's advance, the behemoth has drawn close enough to the RNS Thunderchild for attacks to be made.

On the Nellens vessel, the captain shakes his head. "This is a free ship, many of our destination ports don't allow slaves and we don't want the diplomatic crisis. I've got about 100 yards of anchor chain I can get you... GET THAT ANCHOR CHAIN HERE, CUT IT LOOSE IF YE HAVE TO YE MAGGOTS!" He pauses... "We're at the extreme range of the ballista... Do either of you have artillery experience? I'm not sure I or my crew could manage the shot, even against such a large target."

Olcanrin has a DV of only 1, but you can miss from external penalties or failure to accumulate successes.

Several ships have begun to shower it with elemental bolts or firepots, depending on range and presence of visible animas... It has begun to become agitated, and while no ship is close enough for it to lash out right now that's certain to change soon.

PS, Kudos for anyone who gets the reference.

[Dazhbug]

"Leviathan's tentacled arse!" Xian hurls herself away from the eldritch tendrils, kicking off one of the walls and arching up and over the hungry energy. Her hands ball firmly into fists, claws scything out as any hope of a non-lethal option vanished. She needed space, and the alley was becoming a murderously tight space to work in. She tensed, forcing a smile full of teeth to cover her bubbling nerves. "Going to have to catch me first, then!" She relaxes for a bare fraction of a moment, her posture shifting, and then slams both alley walls as her aura explodes in a blinding, mesmeric wash of pulsing light. The thunder of impact re-doubles and skirls over itself impossibly, adding to the confusion.

Immune to the cacophony, Xian kicks off the wall and leaps higher, digging her claws into the wood and disappearing onto the roof in a, well, flash. From the high point, she raises her voice as loud as she can.

"ANATHEMA! CLEAR THE AREA!"

Xian is activating the Crystal Chameleon form charm (4m of the 6 regained from the stunt, putting her at 0m personal, full periph), and heading for the roof tops in an effort to re-gain the upper hand. Going for a climb roll on the move action, which'll be Dex + Ath + specialty = 10, I believe? And I'm hoping I can shout as a reflexive action here.

[Aruetii]

Arachi grinned a bit behind his helmet at the captain's words. 'Well, now all I have to do is not be wrong and I don't get eaten to a devourer of cities. Should be easy enough right?' He looked back over to Xian and the Paleman to see how she was doing, watching her jump to the rooftops for safety. Looking between the demon and the Paleman for a moment. It was his duty to help organize an attack against the Demon, it was part of his training at the Heptagram and what he was expected to do. She was agile enough to get away from the summoner, she won't let him get away, he had to get the demon. Doing his best to avoid the people moving about the ship he made his way to the bow of the ship.

The Essence Lens integrated into the wrist of his armor flared to life as he started using the Charm, glowing a dim red through the Jade as fire appeared in his palm. 'All right, focus. This is just his host right? So the demon itself is inside, in the blood. I don't know if I'd be able to do too much damage to its hide. . . but. . .. Oh please work.' "Try focusing your attacks on its mouth or eyes! The Demon is in inside of it so get as many attacks inside as you can!" Arachi raised his arm, tracking the demon with his eyes as he tried to figure out the best angle for attack to get the fire into the beast's maw. After a few moments of studying he grinned widely as his visor gave him an excellent readout of what he could do. "Any of you who can use Elemental Bolt, combine it with mine! We'll send this bastard crawling back to Malfeas!" He gave them a moment to combine their attacks with his if they were going to, before unleashing the ball of fire at the demon. If he had aimed correctly the bolt would fly in between the teeth of the demon's Host, and hopefully down its gullet, but charring the inside of the mouth would be good too.

So, forgive me on the ticks stuff. I'm going to spend the entire Aim action before doing anything, so tell me if I need to wait for the actual attack or not. (pain meds and trying to figure out where on the action I am isn't the best combo.)

Spending 4 Essence for Essence Overwhelming and willpower for this, it is a giant demon that can eat cities, I'm burning willpower.

The actual attack is 18 - whatever penalties I've got for ranged and a called shot. (5 {Dex} + 3 {Ath} + 3 {Accuracy} 1 {Specialty} + 3 {Essence Overwhelming} + 3 {Aiming}
If it hits it'll do 20L (4*2 * 2 {Lens} + 4 {Fire}) + anyone else if they helped.

Essence;
Personal: 3/14 (-4 from Essence Overwhelming, -5 from the Charm itself)
Willpower: 3/6 (Oh god my willpower.)

[The_Snark]

"We're dealing with an Infernal worm here," Kazue volunteers nervously, fitting a smooth oval stone to her sling and whirling it about absently with one hand. "They're big and they're strong, but they're not much smarter than animals, and aside from spreading omen weather and vanishing they don't have any demonic tricks. This one must be awfully old, they don't normally get that big..."

She's babbling a little, talking to soothe her nerves as much as to inform her comrades about the beast they're sailing towards. "I don't know much about Olcanrin - I'm not sure if we should expect cleverness, or if it's as stupid as the worm... It can puppet anything it gets inside, and it can eat through anything. Don't let the slime get on you. Fire or ice to cauterize the wounds, if we pierce it by accident."

A trickle of Essence flows through her, stirring a cool breeze. She can feel her senses extending, testing the sea-winds around the ship. "Ah. Is it a good idea to get close enough for chains, C... Carmela? It's... a lot bigger than this ship. And I'm not that good at swimming... Oh, excuse me a moment."

Gauging the distance to be about right, she steps up to the railing and lets fly with the stone. It sails out over the water with a whirr, skipping across the surface in hundred-yard steps. The wind carries it in a gentle curve, around the Thunderchild and a pair of small frigates, across the long expanse of wave-tossed water as it clears the harbor. It seems as though the stone will pass a few dozen yards east of its target, but at the last second it banks off a wave at an odd angle, sending it up and to the right to strike the worm on the underside of the jaw.

So! Sling attack, with Persistent Hornet Attack, Loyal Weapon and 4m spent on the 1st Excellency. Specialty applies here, I should think. Attack is 23 dice (5 Dex, 5 Thrown, 3 specialty, 2 weapon Accuracy, 8 Excellency) plus stunt, -2 external penalty due to range. Damage is 7L (Overwhelming 2) before threshold successes. If the worm takes damage, Kazue gets to steal a mote from it. Speed 4.

Persistent Hornet Attack means this stone will keep coming back to hit the worm again; if targeted, the difficulty to knock it out of the air is 2. Loyal Weapon means it'll return when it's done attacking. (Because you don't waste good skipping rocks, that's why.)

Essence
Personal: 10/15
Peripheral: 17/29 (9 committed; 3 sling, 2 armor, 4 bracers)

Willpower: 10/10

Anima: 1-3 level

[golentan]

As Xian escapes over the roof, the Paleman scoops up an entire barrel of cod with his strange powers, his mouth expanding to unreasonable proportions gulping down the entire bucket in a single mouthful, timbers and all, licking his lips. Rising into the air, high above the city. He cocoons himself in strange glowing crystal as he begins speaking Old Realm in a rumbling voice that can be heard by all. "You. Not stop me. Nobody stop me. Murderers, try to destroy realm. Try to frame ME... Smarter than you all. Onto your TRICKS. You FAIL! I save... Mouth. Save Realm. Whole world, Mine: Realm, MINE!!! You not break it before I take it! OLCANRIN! Keep them here, do what have to. NOBODY FOLLOWS ME! Follow and DIE!" A green and white anima flares from the crystal, depicting a strange, salamander like creature. Then, it and the crystal are gone in a flash of light, the skies to the south now lit green on the horizon.

Olcanrin meanwhile, reels as attacks converge on it. Notably, the flaming blast fired by Arachi catches him in his Eye, melting it away and leaving just charred, blackish, tarry goo in the socket. In addition, the sling rock strikes him squarely, ricocheting back to Kazue, who catches it neatly, noting with some satisfaction the visible bruising from the impact.

Both of you get two die stunts and hit easily... While Olcanrin is big and has an absurd number of health levels and massive soak, he lacks hardness.

Arachi scored 5 successes, dealing 4 Levels of damage but inflicting a crippling injury from his stunt, Kazue scored 12 successes and did 2 levels of damage, regaining 1 mote from the green jade.

Xian gets a two die stunt as she makes it to the roof, from whence she can see much of the city... It seems the Paleman wasn't lying about other agents. There are strange, flowering things stirring in the city, moving for the dock districts... Things somewhere between man or beast and vegetation. Some are armed, others simply have excessively large teeth and claws, or sharp leaves and fleshy tendrils. Several stalk through the crowds, seemingly unnoticed by mortals, though an unknown terrestrial who wanders across one immediately sets up a hue and slices it into several pieces with a daiklave.

Thrashing, it turns and appears to be targeting ships now, no longer concerned with reaching Xian. Thrashing its tail, it crushes one of the ships harassing it with firepots. A handful of sailors dive from the decks into the water, but most are apparently lost, the force of the blow launching a tsunami into the harbor, swamping ships that are still anchored and crushing several others into the pier or the shore. In one blow, half of the fire fleet is in desperate straights.

Behind Olcanrin, the water begins to glow, then bulges upward into the form of a vast dragon. In its forehead, just visible to those looking for her, Peleps Ikun rests just beneath its brow, her anima iconic, glowing like a cast mark. The serpent opens its mouth, and sings melodiously, "I, Peleps Ikun, Vice Admiral of the Fire Fleet, and I, Sorrowful Djanni, as her Consort and Leader of the Elemental Court of the Southern Inland Sea, will not suffer the intrusion of yozi tainted fools upon my sacred waters!"

The entire harbor surges, a vast maelstrom opening beneath Olcanrin, drawing him in... While he thrashes, it is clear that he cannot escape... It is equally clear that maintaining the prison is taking everything that the two very different Dragons of Water have... Desperate, he sinks his own fangs into his flesh and begins flicking ichor at those he can. A few blobs land on ships in range including the Thunderchild and the Jadehammer, though he is thankfully too far from the city to infest it. The blobs immediately begin to bubble, eating the wood of the ship and expanding. An unlucky crewman on the Jadehammer is struck in the leg, the result significantly more dramatic as he barely has time to convulse and issue a choked scream before he is completely absorbed, a small droplet becoming a man sized blob in under a second and becoming mobile, flowing across the decks swiftly for the next nearest sailor...

There are Three Blobs on the thunderchild, 2 on the jadehammer including the mobile one. The more they do damage, the more health levels they get and mobile they become. Unarmed combat or weapons that may expose you are not advised, though you are far more resistant than the unlucky mortal.

The main body is damaging itself to spread itself. It's starting to show serious signs of wear (roughly in its -2 health levels)

[Aruetii]

Arachi's eyes widened watching Ikun cage the great demon with the most of her powers. It wasn't a permanent solution no, nor a total binding, but it was far more powerful than anything he could have done to behind the Demon. When he was about to launch another bolt at the creature and hopefully help send him beneath the waves permanently, the beast started thrashing and flaying itself to spread itself to the ships. He wanted to help bring the beast down once and for all, but there were mortals on the ship. Arachi remembered what it was like to be mortal, and while they were certainly more prepared than he was to face threats for the Realm, they were not nearly as resilient as he to the effects now. The Blood of Olcanrin would have to die before he could pay attention to its host.

With an outstretched hand, focusing his will through the Essence Lens embedded within his armor he summoned forth a spear of living fire that licked at his gloves while it was created. The need for range would be prevalent here, a sword would be no good, a spear at least allowed him the reach to kill them safely. Breathing slowly he focused himself to calm him down for a moment. 'Remember what Wei taught you, how to use Fire, the Spear. Who is farthest away? What's going to cause the most damage?' Arachi opened his eyes and looked around with the visor, spotting the farthest Blood from him before finding the other two. 'Destroy them before they can hurt anyone.' "Everyone, focus your attacks on Olcanrin! I'll take care of the things that land here, drive it back!"

Taking one last breath he whipped into action, charging forward to the nearest two Bloods. While his visor helped him calculate a firing solution based on the distance he threw the elemental Fire at the Blood, hoping to dissolve it in one go before it could do any damage. As he was charging and channeling his Essence so recklessly, his banner exploded to life. A huge set of burning wings erupted from his back, along with a long tail that flickered to life and moved behind him in a mockery of tails for balance. The moment he is close enough to attack he dug his feet into the wood and jabbed forward with the spear, skewering the Blood with the spear made of fire. With the attack and using more of his Essence to fuel his attempt at defending the mortals above the Thunderchild the rest of his anima banner exploded to life, burning horns erupting from his helmet. He wasn't wasting time however, the moment the spear made contact with the first Blood he whipped around, forcing the shaft of the spear through the side of the first Bloods before the tip of the spear went to slash clean through the second in an attempt to divide it in half, burning away any of the foul blood that came in contact with the Fire.

Of course I'm rolling Occult to figure out what Ikun just did.

I forgot with Essence Overwhelming that its ability + specialties, so I can buy 4 dice instead of 3 when using Elemental Bolt Attack. I also just realized I had the wrong Strength listed for all my damage. I am not a smart man.

Using the stunt to get 1 willpower back to spend it on RtIB. (Also RtIB does Aggravated damage against creatures of darkness)

So, Elemental Bolt Attack at farthest slime for 13 dice (16-3), Spear attacks the two closest at 15 (19-4) and 14 (19-5) dice. (Tell me if I buggered something up)

Spear stats;
----Accuracy: 19 ([Dexterity {5} + Melee {4}] + 1 + Specialties {2} + 1 {Jewel of the Flying Heart} + 6 {Essence Overwhelming}).
----Damage: 19L ([Damage {4L} * 2 {Elemental Lens}] + 4L {Dragon Graced Weapon Fire} + 4L {Strength} +3L {Dragon Armor})
----Damage (Lance): 25L ([Damage {7L} * 2 {Elemental Lens}] + 4L {Dragon Graced Weapon Fire} + 4L {Strength} +3L {Dragon Armor})
----Parry DV: 7 ([Dexterity {5} + Melee {4} + Specialties {2} + 2 + / 2.)
----Rate: 2

Elemental Bolt;
----Accuracy: 16 (5 {Dex} + 3 {Ath} + 3 {Accuracy} 1 {Specialty} + 4 {Essence Overwhelming})
----Damage :20L (8*2 + 4)

Essence;
Personal: 0/14 (-3 from RtIB)
Peripheral: 7/32 (-5 from Elemental Bolt Attack, -8 Essence Overwhelming [-3, -3, -2])
Willpower 3/6

[Dazhbug]

Xian felt waves of anger and frustration wash over her as the crystal shone and winked out above her; she knew the emotions to be her own, but she remained calm and centered within the kata. She would have time for worry and stress later, after the situation had resolved. Her stilled mind rippled with the unfamiliar words she heard, and she took a moment to commit them to memory as best she could.

Turning, her gaze caught movement within the closer districts, strange shapes half beast and half creeping vegetation. The agents the yozi had spoken of? She studied their motion, trying to discern any obvious pattern; the creatures were ignoring the mortal citizenry, and being ignored in turn, a fact she filed away for future reflection. Review of the situation leading up to the current moment brought with it a ripple of guilt. Wrapped in the calm certainty of her form, she could examine her missteps, see how her own pride and fear had turned her away from placing the city and its people above her own goals. She knew the shame would overwhelm her, once she relaxed her mind from the perfect stillness of her discipline. Time enough for that later.

She shot a glance toward the harbor, peering through the chaos to see if her ship lay among those damaged on the pier. Beyond, a raging maelstrom opened up beneath the infernal wurm, the voice of Peleps Ikun and her consort ringing across the harbor. The battle raged, and men died. Her fault, all of it. She should have-

Xian shuddered, breathed, focused. There was work yet to do.

She headed off across the rooftops, running to catch the closest of the monstrosities. Her fingers slipped into an inner pocket as she ran, gently stroking a thin strip of waxed paper there. "Honored Sifu," she muttered, "wise and knowing, who has deigned to uplift my mind and guide my spirit... now would be a really good time for you to indulge your fondness for coming upon your student in embarrassing circumstances when she least expects it."

Xian's going to make an... Intelligence + Linguistics check? to memorize the speech for later. She'll probably fail miserably.

Temporary Stat Block:
Personal: 4/15
Periph: 17/31 [14 committed]
WP: 6/10

[Kell_tamer]

Slip watches the scene unfold. "Well dat ain't good" Throwing caution and logic to the wind the girl dashes on the surface of the water before leaping into dive below the beast. Using the sounds and torrents of battle to mask her movement
Making full use of her free movement down there she swims up bringing a hard foot to the creature from below.

Making use of the anima to fight this creature, IF allowed i know the charm is simple but i don't know what our JB at this point is, i'd like to spend 2 motes on Distracting Breeze to add 2 sux on a stealth roll to attempt to attack it from surprise as she uses the creatures own size against it hiding. There will also be 5 motes spent on the second stealth excellency since staying out of sight is part of this. This nets her 2 sux on top. Pool is 8 (4 dex 3 stealth 1 spec)

She will spend 3 motes on peripheral for an MA attack to supplement her kick which is 8 dice normally (4 dex, 3 MA 2 spec -1 acc. Damage is 5B + extra sux. Total pool is 13 before stunt. Speed is 4.

Hopefully she can chip away at it with bludgeoning. All essence is peripheral.

Is slip very bright? probably not..... Is she brave, you bet!

[Guancyto]

Carmela raises a hand and opens her mouth as Slip jumps out into the water, but the words don't come. It's only when she notices the slime starting to eat away at the crew and ship that she stops watching Peleps Ikun's dramatic show.

"Rassem, frassem, arghle," she grumbles, turning to the more immediate threat, "gorram Water-Aspects getting all the good fighting done! All right, you!" She points dramatically at the slime, which may or may not be able to understand her (it's a slime mold, but demons are weird).

"You're making me look bad with all your being in the water, melting to the touch, and messing around with being a bad idea to punch."

Seeing the anchor chain of the Jadehammer being extended, she decided immediately that it was being handled far too slowly. With a yank that would make a yeddim proud, she seized the anchor chain and practically flung both it and the anchor across the deck. Another spin in place as she caught the chain close to the anchor, and she had herself a weapon that would hit slightly harder than an angry river dragon.

She swung the anchor on the chain around in circles over her head, getting a feel for the immense weight as it whistled through the air.

"You just made my list." It would have probably been a very long list if she had ever remembered to write it down, or in fact remembered it at all.

Any questions about how she was going to actually hurt the demon were answered when she sped the circles and the anchor and chain both began to glow orange from the heat she began to pour into it. She flung the anchor end at the slime with a roar; it was closer to a chain-controlled meteor than a weapon in Carmela's hands.

Improvised reach weapon is go! It's mostly a vehicle for delivering fire damage via Dragon-Graced Weapon.

Attacking! 9 base accuracy dice, adding 2m excellency to it and Dragon-Graced Weapon (Fire) for +4L fire damage, making it 3m from Peripheral. (3m peripheral spent so far, no anima flux yet.)

Running off to get a reach weapon proooobably disqualifies me for Charge Right In! but that's okay, I AM WIELDING AN ANCHOR.

[The_Snark]

Out over the water, Kazue's stone ricochets off the worm's hide and back towards land, descending slowly back to sea level and skipping off the surface once more. It strikes the hull of one of the ships of the Fire Fleet, glances off to one side; a hundred yards further on it hits a wave at just the right angle to send it rising upwards, where it strikes a ship's mast and rebounds... directly towards the worm, in the same spot it struck before.

Back on the Jadehammer, Kazue backs away from the encroaching slime, fitting another stone to sling. Her mind races nervously, plotting trajectories and calculating spin... With a flick of her wrist, she casts the stone at the smaller of the two patches, the angle and spin aimed at sending the splatter over the rail and off to sea; as a bonus, the stone bounces in the direction of the larger slime-creature, catching it from behind.

So! As per Persistent Hornet Attack, Kazue's first attack against the worm repeats, using Perception in place of Dexterity; base accuracy 14, base damage 7L/2 (not sure if the range penalty still applies?), steals motes. Loyal Weapon actually doesn't call it back to Kazue until Persistent Hornet Attack is finished.

And for her actual action, she'll flurry an attack against both slime-things on the Jadehammer, spending 4m to enhance the attack against the first and 2m against the second. Accuracy 21 for the first, 16 for the second, base damage 7L/2, still steals motes if applicable.

Essence
Personal: 9/15
Peripheral: 17/29 (9 committed; 3 sling, 2 armor, 4 bracers)

Willpower: 10/10

Anima: 1-3 level

[golentan]

As the battle rages, it becomes clear that in the water, the blood of Olcanrin is very much mobile... several gobs which missed ships ooze their way through the currents and attach themselves to the sides of vessels, beginning to burn holes below the waterline. Out of water, it appears they are inert until they have consumed enough, and that moving takes effort on their part. As they watch, those on the boats watch several more blobs fall into the water and the surrounding vessels. Meanwhile, the Fortress of the Eternal Guardian appears to have brought its main cannon to bear, as a beam of pure white power streaks from it to burn away a huge piece of olcanrin's head, preventing it from savaging itself further, but as it convulses and continues to move more blood falls upon the fleet.

The first of the strange beasts Xian had seen reaches the harbor, and immediately leaps onto a ship, bladed vine tendrils tearing at sails, cutting ropes, and severing oars. As she advances, she finds herself face to face with what may have once been a dog, its flesh ensconced in bark scaled armor, a ruff of flower petals resembling a mane, and in place of a head just a gaping maw with rootlike, grasping tendrils. The last lash out, flinging something past Xian's head.

Under olcanrin, Slip finds it devastatingly hard to maneuver even with her anima active, and her kicks glance against rock hard flesh and thick hide... As she looks, several blobs streak through the water towards her, the smallest the size of her fist, the largest her torso.

Two die stunt, looks like you split the flurry correctly, take a reward. 6, 5, and 8 successes, managing to incinerate the blobs attacking the Thunderchild. Several more are approaching through the water, and the captain is currently directing troops to pour oil over the side in preparation for igniting the water while navigating away (with its iron plating, the thunderchild should be resistant if not immune).

Two successes, enough to commit it to memory for at least a couple days. I'll give you a 1 die stunt for the internal monologue. The prayer strip, as Xian touches it, seems to whisper to her...

"Look for my coming at Sundown."

2 die stunt for the anchor! 9 successes, for a total of (I'm going to say) 14b+4L + extra successes, crushing the blob and cauterizing it with flames...

Carmela beats you to the Mobile Slime with her current initiative, you get a 2 die stunt, I'm sorry about the mixup with Persistent Hornet Attack. Gain back 2m (1 from each attack that hits), and while the effect on the core body is limited again the remaining blob is knocked clear from the ship by the force of impact and appears to disperse in the waves.

You get a 2 die stunt, but you're battered by the maelstrom (being a charm effect I'm ruling your anima reduces it but does not negate it), taking initiative penalties and also a -6 internal penalty on all actions...

Your kick lands (4 successes) and does no damage.

Xian: The flower dog launches an attack at you, spitting a thorn in your direction, but with a mere 4 successes it misses. Feel free to defend or counterattack as you see fit.

Carmela, Kazue, Arachi: being subject to an ongoing area attack from the shower of gore that continues (though it's unlikely to expand), Kazue is targeted by two blobs falling from the sky (both with effective 8 successes), and Arachi by 1 (10 successes), as well as several more hitting the deck or approaching through the water: none large enough to become mobile yet by a longshot, but rather just to keep you abreast of the situation. Please defend as appropriate.

Slip: The penalty of the maelstrom decreases your DVs by 3. You're subject to 3 attacks by the blobs, one misses outright, and two score 4 successes. Please defend appropriately. In addition, Olcanrin's thrashing constitutes an unblockable hazard (Evasion 6) dealing 14B on a hit. PLEASE come up with a defense!

[Aruetii]

Arachi started panting from the exertion behind his helmet as he stood amongst the incinerated Blood of Olcanrin. Really he hadn't expected that to work, and he felt almost as exhausted now as he did when he was a peasant. Somewhere during the fight his banner had flared completely, the young Terrestrial not quite noticing until know. Attempting to steady his breath he stood himself back up properly, looking towards the giant demon's host as the Fortress of the Eternal Guardian obliterated the monster's head, fighting back his urge to cheer for the Realm's defenses. It was nowhere near over yet, the Demon had savaged itself rather thoroughly and more of its Blood was coming.

Just a few years ago he was living in the shadow of the Imperial Mountain, destined to continue living there and working the same professions his parents had been working. Now, he was standing on a part of the Fire Fleet, bearing witness to a Maelstrom that was raining Blood from a Demon of at least the Second Circle. He wasn't quite sure if it was a good thing that he'd rather be here than back there.

As more of Olcanrin started to rain down from on high he snarled, the tail of his Anima banner flicking back and forth in sheer irritation. It wasn't an attack he could deflect with an Elemental Bolt. Whatever didn't dissolve would rain down upon the mortal and Exalted crew members and he wasn't willing to risk that. Gripping the spear made of his burning will tightly he braced himself for what was to come next. The saner part of his mind screamed at him to move out of the way of the Blood, but this was the easiest way to get rid of it. When the Blood came down upon him he raised the spear of his will above his head and quickly spun it around in his hands to create a swirling shield of fire above him. Essence channeled through him and the spear to power his Charms in an attempt to fend off the Blood and dissolve it before it had any chance to do anything by practically guaranteeing it could only land upon the burning defense.

Spending the Stunt to get 1 Willpower, which I promptly spend to get a Success on the Parry DV, also spending 3m on Essence Overwhelming for Melee.

Soak:
Bashing: 18 ([4 {Stamina} + 14 {Armor}] + Anything else)
Lethal: 18 ([4 {Stamina} + 14 {Armor}] + Anything else)
Aggravated: 14 (Armor)

Essence;
Personal: 0/14
Peripheral: 4/32 (-3 Essence Overwhelming)
Willpower 3/6

[Kell_tamer]

Slip may have overestimated her abilities. But then again she was canny and quick. Darting back and forth and using the motion of the ocean to help her she flows around the blobs attacks as they come crashing into the beasty instead of her. Who did this guy think he was trying to use her element against her.

A maelstrom began surrounding the tiny Exalt herself as she did so, essence bleeding out of her and into the very water she was the master of creating a foamy discharge around her making her harder to pinpoint. As the vile substance overcame she drove herself past her limits to get away from it, following the currents as she moved to dart away.


As the title says, i'm not a fan of seeing the rare instance of water anima's movement being useful trumped, but here goes.

Essence burn.

4 motes for third dodge
3 motes for third dodge
4 motes 1wp for safety among enemies
3 motes 1wp for safety among enemies
3 motes 1wp for Safety Among enemies
I ASSUME its 3 seperate blobs so DV is 4 base + stunt +2 for Third Dodge

Channeling conviction through willpower as she can't really do much if she's dead so trying her damndest to get away.
Dodge pool is 4 dex + 4 Dodge + 3 Bracers + 3 Conviction
Third dodge will be used if thats not enough for 3 motes

She reduces environmental damage by 5 dice for natural soak and armor if she gets messed up by it.
She will be down to 3 motes total by the tie this is over if she uses that last third dodge. But her anima is also active at its iconic so anyone in range starts taking Lethal damage.

-EDIT
Mathed my motes wrong. Aspect surcharge reapplies the right way.

[Dazhbug]

The thorn whipped past her face, shattering a psuedo-reflection into a thousand glittering shards that amplified the blinding sunlight thrown off the distraught waters of the bay. Xian felt the fear skittering off her calm center, the rising tide of panic held off firmly by the stormwall of her focus. Outwardly, her only reaction was to throw herself to the left, arcing over a pallet of crates and briefly out of sight of the creature. She watched out of the corner of her eye as three other images followed the motion, finding cover behind crates or swinging up into the rigging with the odd warping of distorted mirrors. She noted the beast's stalks twisting, confused as to which image to follow, and grasped for solutions to this new threat. If only she had something... to... ah.

The painted labels on the crates in front of her suddenly stood out in sharp relief to the rest of reality. Firepots, waiting to be loaded below to serve the ship ballistae.

A quiet slash of one claw loosed the top-most crate, and in one motion she crouched, braced her foot and flung it towards the chlorofiend. Capitalizing on her momtenum, she tumbled upright, sighted, and fired a claw through the heart of the fragile ceramic cargo.

Xian dives for cover, starting her flurry off with an attempt to re-establish surprise with Just Another Branch Deceit (13 dice, 3-4 automatic successes depending on if the crates give 50% hard cover). Following this, she's going to hurl the crate (possibly a roll?) and spike it with a claw, spending 2m on the First MA Excellency to add 4 dice (19 total). Stat-lines are in the character sheet, and it's up to gol to decide what the pots add/do.

Temporary Stat Block:
Personal: 2/15
Periph: 15/17 [31 Total, 14 committed] (1-3 flare range)
WP: 6/10

[Guancyto]

When Carmela had grumbled about Slip getting all the good fighting done, she hadn't thought the water-aspect was going to be so literal in her intentions to kick it in the head! Seeing the lass at very least in an opportune position to make her way out of the giant-dragon-maelstrom-thing and come 'round for another go, she started yelling at the sailors on the Jadehammer.

"More chain! Give me more chain! And get us closer!"

As the crew scrambled to comply with her wishes (and not die a horrible, slime-related death in the process to varying degrees of success), she reeled the anchor back in close to herself, each link ringing against her gauntlets like a zipper.

Swinging it above her head once again, she called out to Slip, "hey you, total badass! Hop on!"

She flung the anchor out to sea in a wide arc, maybe the little water-aspect would catch it, maybe she would hop on and go surfing, she looked canny like that. But while the anchor was hurtling in a wide arc close to the water, she could probably give Slip a swinging boost to anywhere in the fleet nearby, or even right back at the monster, at least if she could manage to wrap the chain around the mast and get a good rebound.

"Where do you want to go today?"

Leaving Kazue to hold down the fort, giving Slip a boost.

[Kell_tamer]

Slip surfaces and grabs the anchor. "Gimme some momentum! I ain't hittin hard enough and this'll do nicely!" She grips the chain and hangs onto it ready for round two. Her eyes focused on the creature as she did so. This was stupid, ballsy and Exalted. "And pass me a jar of that firedust!" She also always wanted to try it.

So its not a chandelier, but it will do. Aim action while Guan sets the momentum going.

I'll lay the plan out in advance here. When the time comes I'll stunt it. But slip is going to use the anchor and direct it through her body weight shifting it to bash it into the beast and as it completes its arc shes going to leap off onto the boat. I figure an anchor ought to hit like a sack of bricks. And she might get a good throw in as well. And if it swings well she can complete her journey around to the deck of the ship.

[Guancyto]

"MORE CHAIN!" Carmela shouts, this is probably going to take a lot more than she has and involve getting way closer to the monster than anything but a completely terrified crew would dare! So be it, no guts, no glory! "And toss her a firebomb!"

Once she's satisfied that both are accomplished, with a fierce battlecry, she takes the chain in both hands and swings both it and Slip at a sharp angle, just clearing the ship's deck, snapping straight through the rigging and setting the sails afire as the chain heats up again. They soar through the air beyond the ship, bending around the mast and sending Slip and the anchor both hurtling in the opposite direction, over Carmela's head, straight back into the fray! She's not exactly sure what Slip's plan is after that but it's probably one that won't end in the horrible demise of her and everyone she knows!

(Probably.)

I'm guessing this will probably count for my next turn as well. I, um, will channel valor on whatever roll happens to be necessary, or use a WP if it would be more. And if it's a melee attack (at, um, considerable range), all the excellency dice available from peripheral. MUH DICE!

[Kell_tamer]

Slip catches the jar and grips tight to the chain with one hand and her weapon in tow with the other. Her feet stay planted in the hooks on the anchor. She keeps her eyes locked on the demon, adjusting her position as she takes to the sky on her makeshift conveyance. As she comes around the mast toward the worm she swings the jar out to arms length. "EH! Ugly! You like eating the stuff 'ere? Chew on dis!"
With a snap at the arc she sends the jar flying toward the monster, into its massive mouth and down the back of its throat.


Following through on the swing, as the chain passes back over the ship she dismounts with a jump, landing with her legs split and and plam on the deck. before rising back up. Without even a glance her hand reaches out and fist bumps her fiery compatriot.

Ok so Dex 4 + the OOC stated 3 die stunt + 3 for valor + any for aiming if it was granted, so at least 10 dice. possibly up to 13.

[The_Snark]

"You want to go closer?" Kazue yelps, backpedaling as the slime-behemoth belts the deck. Her eyes focus upwards: if she keeps an eye on the worm's movements, she can tell when its thrashing is about to send more their way... and maybe even knock some of them out of the air before they can hit the ship's deck. Not that knocking the slimes into the water does much good in the long run, since evidently they can swim (somehow), but better than letting them grow larger as they feed on wood and flesh...

"Dragons," she mutters, "we need a way to kill this thing." But how? Cutting it apart slows it down, but it doesn't seem to do much in the long run... That leaves fire, a dangerous weapon aboard a wooden ship, and... Oh. Of course.

She exhales as she whirls her sling, letting Essence flow through her body more freely; her senses sharpen, the noise of battle (screams and battle-cries and the crash of waves) washing over her mind but leaving her unmoved, a rock before the wave. She is acutely aware of her body, every movement perfect, the breeze cool against her skin.

And then she releases, a sudden wind kicking up to speed the rock on its way: straight towards the worm, the source of the taint, as hard and fast as she can. In mid-flight it strikes the stone she cast when the fight began, the clack audible a hundred feet away. This is no accident; the one glances upwards to strike the demon in the ragged wound where it once had a jaw, while the other curves away and downwards, where the bulk of its serpentine body rises from the sea. Mela's breath coils around Kazue, a flickering aurora-blue linking her to the flying stones; the temperature nearby plummets.

This, too, is no accident. She cautiously steps forward, placing the nearest patch within range of her anima's bitter chill.

Kazue's base DV is 9, -1 for her action; a 1-die stunt should let her dodge both attacks.

Persistent Hornet Attack, again enhanced with 4m of Excellency and Loyal Weapon; this puts Kazue's anima at the 11+ level, which starts to deal lethal damage to any slimes that get too close. (She will approach those that don't seem to be mobile yet.) The old one will make its last attack this round, also enhanced by 4m of Excellency. Wasteful? Maybe, but Kazue wants her anima flux up. 22 dice for the old Persistent Hornet, 23 for the new one.

Essence
Personal: 15/15
Peripheral: 9/29 (9 committed; 3 sling, 2 armor, 4 bracers)

Willpower: 10/10

Anima: 11-15 level

[golentan]

As Xian fires her claw through the pot, a spark glints off the metal and pauses for a moment of eery stillness, before the entire roof is engulfed in an explosion. When it clears, the chlorofiend, wreathed in flame, staggers towards her, before collapsing, softly burning against the tiles...

2 die stunt, the firepot does 7L damage against the chlorofiend, triggering a bonfire effect. It's very definitely dead within a few ticks.

Arachi's spear incinerates the blob plummeting towards him, shielding the ship from further harm for the time being. The captain, taking the moment to regroup, pulls away from Olcanrin as the waters ignite. "How much can this thing take?" he demands, clearly frustrated.

2 die stunt for your defense.

As Kazue's stones continue to batter the Worm, her test with her anima bears fruit: With shocking speed the blob on the ship freezes over, cracks, and goes inert...

1 die stunt, for the defense, 2 dice on the attack. 2 hits, but only one to any effect: You get 1 more mote back from the attacks, do another level of damage, continuing to drain away its resources...

Meanwhile, the dynamic duo of Slip and Carmela wrench Slip from the water and whips her over the worm... Its one surviving eye tracks her path with malicious intent, but it is unable to reach her as she lobs the firepot down its throat, bypassing entirely the thick armor which has been protecting it. The Anchor adds insult to injury, crushing into Olcanrin's stomach and sending it convulsing, doubled upon itself. With a violent retching, it begins spewing up black bile: the same texture that its blood takes when burnt.

Confirming, yes, you get a 3 die stunt for this (give yourselves an XP), and you've managed to deal more damage than anyone else including the heavy essence cannon: As part of your stunt, for feeding it the firedust, I'm allowing you to bypass its soak entirely. 8 successes, dealing 13 levels of damage. The Anchor, smashing into the beast, dealing an additional 5b (All of the damage dice were successes) Combined with the prior damage dealt, the main body is dead!

[Kell_tamer]

As the cleanup finishes Slip gives a massive bow to the people who are watching. "FANK YEW! FANK YEW! If'n yer lookin to repay me, yew kin do so by settin me up on dates wif yer 'ottie sons an dotters!"

The very fact she did some incredibly stupid things completely gone from her. Slip gives another flourishing bow to the onlookers, leaking a bit of essence back into her anima to give it a torrential swirl around her accenting her cocky nature.

Yeah this wasn't going to her head or anything. Nope, no sir.

[Guancyto]

Already having fist-bumped Slip with the eagerness of someone far too audacious to die, Carmela pumps a fist into the air as the demon vomits forth a torrent of black bile instead of the green slime. They have stared death in the face and come out ahead! In the passionate rush of victory, she grabs one of the sailors nearby and kisses him. Then, she grabs Kazue and kisses her too. And then the Nellens captain, for good measure.

"Score one for the dragons! Drinks are on-" A gob of green slime starting to eat at her shoe interrupts that thought.

She tears off stray pieces of the sail she had thoroughly destroyed with that maneuver. Lighting them on fire with a touch, she tosses them on the remaining pieces of slime remaining on the deck. It's going to be pretty bad for the ship, but then, so is playing host to the bits of an all-devouring slime monster.

"Okay who wants to get something to eat? I could go for Chiaroscuran..."

What? She has something to get back to? She'll probably remember it once the adrenaline fades a bit. Probably.

[Dazhbug]

"Well, that's the first good news we've had all morning," the young Exalt deadpanned, feeling to see if she'd kept her eyebrows. Turning to the ship railing, she flagged down the nearest Fleet officer she could find. "They're vulnerable to flame, and they should be concentrating on the dockside!"

Without pausing for the man's acknowledgement, Xian tossed herself over the railing and sprinted across the surface of the harbor towards where the Sazanami floated. She took advantage of a particularly high swell, riding its momentum upward and flicking her wrist to sink a barb into a yard-arm, landing on the deck with a silent somersault behind her first officer. "Excellent work, Daikan," and she was pleased to note that he barely flinched at her sudden appearance. "An extra day at next port for quick thinking. Bring her along that ship, there," she pointed, "and we'll gather our passengers before departing. I shall return shortly." She paused with one foot on the railing. "Oh, and there is a leather folder at the fourth cross below the nest, wedged into the main halyard. See it brought to my cabin, if you would."

With that, she was once again over the side, skipping across the wave tops towards the towering form of Peleps Ikun and her consort. Once again taking advantage of a rising swell, Xian leaps into the rigging of the nearest vessel, firing right and left gauntlets in quick succession to swing herself higher and higher until she perches at the top of the mainmast. Above her looms the mighty head of Sorrowful Djanni, trailing long whiskers of flowing water across the morning sky. The girl's blinding aura dims until it mirrors the turbulent harbor surface, but does not fade entirely.

"Vice-Admiral! Honored Elder! I am Xianhou Riptide, Captain of the Sazanami! I have valuable intelligence to report, before my ship weighs anchor!"

The fact that she was boldly addressing the Vice-Admiral of the Fleet and the Elder of the Elemental Court of the Southern Sea made some tiny voice in the back of her head start gibbering quietly. She ignored it.

Temporary Stat Block:
Personal: 6/15
Periph: 15/17 [31 Total, 14 committed] (1-3 flare range)
WP: 6/10

[The_Snark]

Dead. Thank the Dragons. The behemoth inside may not be slain, but they've robbed it of a valuable pawn, at least... She remains wary, on the lookout for a final spiteful outburst. A Child of Mela must be ever vigilant -

... oh.

She reels a bit.

"Ah," she manages after a pause, her pale skin showing a faint pink tinge, "ah, shouldn't we get back to the... Sazanami?" Yes, that's the name of the ship. "And the worm might be dead, but I'm not so sure about Olcanrin..." She trails Carmela as she rounds the deck, the rime of her anima extinguishing both the fires and the hissing slime patches.

She absent-mindly puts out a hand to catch her stones, as they complete their improbable trajectories and return.

[Aruetii]

"Apparently not much more by the looks of it. . . " The spear vanished in a puff of burning essence as the fighting wound down and the ship was safe, it apparently decided that the trouble was over for now. Arachi looked out over the ship to the host of Olcanrin, watching Slip or a few moments. 'Dragons, she is going to be insufferable for the next few days. . . .' When everything became calmer his banner died down, no longer raging against the blood of demons. He moved over towards a place to sit himself down where he wouldn't be in the way of the crew of the Thunderchild.

Looking out over the waters now that the Host of Olcanrin had well and truly died and the rain of Blood stopped he turned his thoughts inward. What had he really done this fight? Pass on information? He didn't even manage to completely blind the Demon's host, and he wasn't anywhere near powerful enough to Banish it outright. If he was going to live up to his Exaltation he head to become better than he was now.

Taking another point of Willpower.

[golentan]

Slip and Carmela are subjected to the showering praise of the Jadehammer crew for as long as they are willing to put up with it, Captain Nellens fetching a bottle of Sake dating from the time of the Seven Tigers and gifting it to the pair. An unwise sailor, cheering, leaps up and moves to hug Kazue, recoiling as his fingers brush against the icy cold of Kazue's anima, blowing on them to stave off frostbite and turning the move into a more immaculately correct bow.

Olcanrin is not dead, but seems to be retreating: As she watches, she can see blobs detaching from ships and submerging, swimming away from the harbor as various vessels begin turning weapons and magic against them. There are thousands of blobs, many retreating in different directions, it seems likely that at least one will survive the hunt, but not many as water aspects join elementals associated with the Great Dragon in hunting down the behemoth: Based on legends of previous defeats of the monster, it may be as much as a century before the Devourer of Cities is a threat again.

On the Thunderchild, the Peleps captain is not so afraid, sweeping Arachi into a hug and giving him a vigorous kiss. "You are one hell of a fellow! Thank the Dragons you warned us, and getting rid of that... goop, that was quick thinking. What house are you? You've done your family proud this day!"

Meanwhile, as the maelstrom dies, the Thunderchild approaches the Admiral and Dragon. It leans in close, ikun stepping lightly onto the deck as Sorrowful Djanni slides back into the water wordlessly, leaving the harbor much as it was before save for the damage.

"Report your intelligence then. I assume you have some knowledge of what dared cause this attack? Is there a reason I wasn't informed... BEFORE the worm showed itself in my harbor? Because if it's not a good one, I've got a stockade and the contact information of an Imperial magistrate, and if I can expect more... SHENANIGANS of this sort," she spits, turning the mild word into the worst curse Xian has ever heard, "I want to be ready for the next one."

Xian doesn't think that Ikun legitimately wants to throw her in a stock, but the lady is Pissed! with a capital exclamation point, and wants someone to hold accountable.

Almost certainly, the harbor watch (supposed to give early warning of enemies approaching by sea, whether above or below the water) are in for a round of demotions, demerits, and the like that will leave them in disgrace for decades to come.

[Dazhbug]

"Sir," and she sketched a formal miltary salute, "the creature was summoned by a Wyld-mutant here in the harbor; I have reasonable cause to believe he may be Anathema. I also have cause to think his intended targets were my companions and myself; we apprehended him spying on our departure. Unfortunately, we believed him to be an ordinary mortal, and took steps to detain and question him." She grimaced, bowing her head. "I forced him into revealing his hand, and thus take full responsibility for this chain of events." Steeling herself, she lifted her head to gaze steadily back at the ranking commander of the Fire Fleet. "Regrettably, I am not at liberty to reveal the details of our mission, but if my supposition that we were the intended targets of this attack is correct, than it seems likely that our departure will protect Noble from future related attacks."

Swallowing, she took a bare moment to let her rising panic fade. "Naturally, you will want to confirm my identity; my commanding officer is Peleps Laizon, and I am currently liaison to the Palace Sublime, coordinating through the Honored Four Mesas." She nodded succinctly. "I was unable to prevent the ultimate escape of the summoner, to my eternal shame. However, he ranted madly before his disappearance. The words are beyond my knowledge, but perhaps they will provide more insight on these events." Xian recites the last ramblings of the Pale Man, tripping slightly on the unfamiliar syllables. Finished, she stands to rough attention, and allows a burr of Seatongue to creep into her voice. "Your permission, honored Vice Admiral, and we'll catch the tide, to let the bastard know he can't escape the Realm's justice so easily."

The two contacts that Xian gives the Vice Admiral are part of her cover-story, set up by the Eye and Zhuge Wolong. All records and paperwork are in impeccable order, should the Vice Admiral inquire; Xianhou Riptide is a privateer under Peleps Kaizoku, and currently a laison to the Immaculate Order.

[golentan]

"Peleps Laizon? Liaison to the Palace Sublime? Anathema? Anathema trying to save the Mouth of Peace and the Realm?" Ikun asks, bemused and ANGRY. "If I weren't sure you were telling the truth, for everything other than your superiors... I'd say that you were counting on a ludicrous lie being more likely to get you believed, so I'd have to be an idiot to fall for it. Throw you in prison until I sort this mess out. As it is, I don't want anyone blinking at me too hard, you follow? Get the hell out of my harbor, I'll get whatever lies your supervisors decide are fit for my ears from 'Laizon,' you... Delightful young prodigy." She apes a monocle with her thumb and forefinger and sticks her tongue at you.

She turns to the captain. "C'mon, enough slackjawed gaping, shut your #$@!-trap and get your ass in gear, we've got to pretend nothing happened before any foreigners show up! Spooks'll handle the rest. Tell that idiot Dorin to conjure up a storm to buy us some time, you're good at shouting."

[Aruetii]

Apparently him removing his helmet the moment he sat down might not have been the best plan as the sly Peleps Captain quickly took advantage of his state. He was quickly swept up from his position and kissed by the Captain, quickly tearing his attention away from the morose thoughts he had been subjecting himself to. It took him by surprise but he couldn't help laugh and return the hug to the captain, grinning like a kid in the candy store. 'Seems like the Heptagram schooling paid off after all!' "My pleasure! Couldn't let any of that Blood hurt your excellent crew! I'm a proud member of House Tepet!" 'Done my family proud huh? Wonder what Huan and Xiang are going to think of all this when they hear about it. . . or even the higher ups within House Tepet. Maybe I've actually proven that it was a good decision picking me up after all.' He let go of the Captain, looking towards Admiral and Dragon, clearly more than a little humbled to be in their presence.

When they approached Ikun and the Dragon, he followed the Captain's lead with how to deal with her. If he saluted, Arachi followed suit. "Ah, apologies Captain. . . looks like my comrade is reporting to the Admiral." With another grin he saluted the Captain of the Thunderchild, moving off to stand by Xian's side with his helmet held under his arm. This would be the first time that Xian saw him without the full coverage of armor on, and it would be extremely clear that he was a Fire Aspect. His skin was starting to show signs of a reddish tint, while his hair was a deep crimson color. Once he was by Xian's side he offered the Admiral a formal salute but otherwise remained silent, he was mostly there to help support Xian if he could.

[Dazhbug]

Taking her cue to leave, Xian nods towards Arachi in a "this way" sort of gesture as the Sazanami pulls alongside the Thunderchild. "Best we be going."

She deftly leaps from railing to railing, her aura flaring with glittering highlights that makes the motion burn afterimages into the eyes of any watchers. Once they're both aboard, she stands in taught silence as the ship tacks over to the Jadehammer to secure their two other companions. Once they are aboard, she makes her presence known.

"I am Captain Xainhou Riptide, master of this vessel. The crew will show you to your quarters, and the evening meal will be at seven bells. Until then-" A deep shudder passes through her, and her countenance cracks into pieces as her aura blinks and disappears; panic rises in her eyes. "A-ah, I beg your forgiveness, but please make yourself welcome." Breath coming in short rasps, she hurries away to her cabin, the door slamming behind her.

If anyone comes dropping eaves, I'll go into detail about Xian's little mental breakdown.

[Kell_tamer]

Slip finishes schmoozing the general public and generally soaking in a bunch of praise. 'm sorry folks, gonna 'afta get goin! I 'spect elgible sons an dotters when I git back!" She confidently strides aboard the vessel.

[The_Snark]

"Is there - " Kazue begins, intending to ask whether the ship has any rooms reinforced to withstand a Terrestrial anima. Surely they have at least one, with a Dragon-Blooded captain? But she appears to have vanished belowdecks. She glances towards the others, wondering if any of them are crew -

"Oh! Arachi. I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you earlier under all that armor. It's good to see you again, too. How are you? Have you travelled with, ah, Captain Riptide before...?"

[Aruetii]

Arachi nodded towards Xian before following after her, thankfully able to keep up with her movements. Once they were aboard he turned his attention towards Xian, opening his mouth to speak before she bolted below deck. 'Well, all right then.' His frown immediately vanished as Kazue grabbed his attention, grinning a bit towards her. Arachi didn't quite look the same as she would have remembered, it seems that his skin had lightened up from the darker red it was, along with the fact his eyes were the color of granite and not blue. "Not a problem, the armor throws a lot of people off. Well uhhh. . . " He looks out over the water towards the former Host of Olcanrin and let out a low chuckle. "Can't really complain! I haven't traveled with them at all. For a little test run things seem to be going rather well, as well as we could hope at least. We didn't need a cadre of Sorcerers and a town for bait to put Olcanrin down like they did in the Shogunate."

Frowning again he looked over towards where Xian had disappeared to. 'It did seem like something wasn't quite right, and with everything else going wrong today?' "Apologies Kazue, but I'm going to go have a word with the Captain and see what information she can share." He bowed his head towards her, before moving off to where Xian had gone, trying to find her quarters.

[golentan]

As the Sazanami sails into the sunset, stormclouds begin to mass as the navy puts into effect the orders of the admiral. The crew begins to settle into their routines for the voyage, relieved to be underway but seemingly tense in light of recent events, the Daikan ordering a double watch at all times for the duration of the voyage.

The princes of the earth find their quarters cramped but comfortable as far as such things go, most of the officers having vacated to hammocks in the main hold voluntarily for the sake of propriety.

[Kell_tamer]

Slip handwaves away the private quarters, electing to sleep with the common folk. Sure she was arrogant and full of herself, but she never once would say she was more important than anyone. Thief she may well be, but those people earned their ranks, she wanted to make sure they kept what little entitlement they were allowed. She took to joining in on a card game with some of the crew, swapping stories and the like.

She wasn't good at that whole "you don't mingle cause familiarity breeds contempt" thing.

[Guancyto]

Carmela had elected to bask in the praise of the Jadehammer's crew perhaps a little bit longer than was strictly necessary, and was a little late getting aboard the Sanzanami. It wasn't like people taking a flying leap aboard as it started to depart was anything new, though, and she had managed to save the wine as well.

"All right!" she says when her quick inspection of her quarters is finished, she gets an evil smile on seeing no captain on deck, "so my place is pretty nice but it's missing a little something.

Hey guys!" she announces to the greatest available concentration of people who aren't currently working (or if that's not going to work, people who are working), "hey guys! We're gonna have a contest. Winner gets to share my cabin."

She turns to whoever happens to be handy, which given the distribution of people (and Arachi and the Captain's departure) is probably poor Kazue, or possibly Slip. "What do you think, footrace? Dance competition? Hmm, might be funny to see them try improvisational poetry."

[Dazhbug]

At least she had made it to her cabin. No need for anyone else to have to deal with her when she was like this.

She moved around her cabin almost mechanically, lighting a lamp and organizing the already perfectly ordered belongings stored there, allowing the small tasks to occupy her mind and push out some of the rising panic. Tears welled briefly, but it was alright; she was alone, no one could see, and better to let the emotions bleed away. Bleed away like... like... She couldn't help but picture the smashed ships and dockside, the few brief screams of mortals unlucky enough to be caught by the demonic threat. "It could have been worse," she muttered to herself, not really believing the words, or at least not allowing them to soothe her turbulent mind.

The storm passed relatively quickly, lulled back to rest by the familiar roll and slap of the sea against the hull; she had barely been a "captain" a month, but she found herself taking to it like, well, a fish to water. As the fear faded she allowed a quiet moment of shocked pride that she had not only fought the pale man, whatever he actually was, but had stood up to Peleps Ikun herself. That wasn't like her! She chuckled inwardly, still a trifle nervous at the thought of the wrathful face of the woman.

Lighting a candle, she carried it over to a low table set against the side wall of her cabin and carefully secured it. She allowed herself to lapse into the quiet movements of ritual, dispelling the last of her emotional turmoil as she curled up in a meditative posture before the small altar.

When the polite knock at the door interrupted her, she momentarily pondered ignoring it, or making a quick departure via the rear porthole. Sighing softly, she composed herself and resumed a meditative pose, alert and listening. "Enter."

[Aruetii]

Arachi bowed his head towards Xian as he entered the Captain's cabin. "Apologies, it seemed that you weren't feeling that well, but I believe we have to talk. You seem to know much more about what is going on here than I do, given your report to the Admiral. I need to know a bit more about what exactly the mission is for me to be useful to the Realm, at least a little more than 'Your Obligation is being called in, report to Noble's docks and the Sazanami.'"

[Dazhbug]

A pause, and Xian uncoiled gracefully to her feet, stubbing out the candle as part of the motion. She wound up facing the man, a faint frown crinkling her brow. "I see. So no one saw fit to actually inform you all what was actually at stake." Her mouth jerked to one side, driven by exasperation tinged with the acceptance of experience. "Very well. It's close enough to seven bells, and I'd rather not explain this more than once." She politely eyed the man up and down, taking in his armor as well as his now visible face. One eyebrow rose crookedly. "This is your first time aboard a ship." She made it a statement, moving past him while her words drifted behind. "Otherwise you would know not to beard a captain in her den. And do feel free to change into something more buoyant."

She turned the corner, disappearing briefly from sight, and used the moment to drop gently through an open hatch into the orlop deck. The man had irritated her, she found as she analyzed her actions while striding forward to amidships, with his demand for explanations. She could not well fault him for the desire, of course, but his very directness chafed at her. She paused, hearing a commotion through the open mainhatch leading to the deck. She skirted forward, smoothly ascending through the forehatch on a fired chain to land just behind the foremast. She moved aft, discovering Slip engaged in a game of dice and most of her crew cheering and gathering about one of her new companions. She cleared her throat, startling several and causing the general ruckus to die down. Sailors drifted sheepishly away, suddenly very busy in their duties. Those few currently not occupied reluctantly scattered as their captain approached the woman, quite obviously a Child of Hesiesh. Xian found her eyes wandering and flushed, hoping her dark skin and the dim light of day's end hid the rise of blood to her cheeks.

"My apologies for my earlier absence," she sketched a bow, shallow but formal enough, and raised her voice to include Slip in the conversation. "As it is about to be seven bells, I believe we might eat and make formal introductions. As well, it seems only myself and Ledal Kazue have been informed as to the nature of our journey. If we might repair to the aft cabin?" She caught the eye of her erstwhile interrogator as he came on deck, attracted by the conversation, and gestured to one of her officers nearby. "Daikan, find Ledal Kazue and direct her aft, and then tell the cook to send up the evening meal. Everything stowed and square by first watch, and the men fed and watered, if you please." She gestured to indicate the present three of her companions follow her, and proceeded aft with a quickened step.

Xian makes a quick stealth check to shake Arachi by moving between decks; standard pool of 13, she's just kind of annoyed by his tone and doesn't like people cornering her. So far as the ship goes, I can't find any good side plans for a large junk (in keeping with the flavour of the game), so I'm using the plans for the HMS Beagle (http://physics.scsu.edu/~dscott/evol/i/HMSBeagle.jpg) as a rough guide, with the addition of an orlop deck. Crew complement is roughly 50. Seven bells is roughly 19:30, because I like the bell system :smalltongue:

[Guancyto]

Oh no, Carmela's crowd was clearing up! Ah, the Captain had returned, that would explain it. "Hey, we'll finish this some other time," she said to the dispersing crowd, that particular roving discipline problem not put to bed in the slightest.

She gave Xian a look-over. Formal, commanding, Exalted... blushing. She shifted her weight to one leg, put her hands behind her back, leaned up to Xian and positively beamed up at her, deploying the most disarming grin in her arsenal. That the crew respected (or feared) Xian more than they wanted to schtup Carmela was actually a good sign, really! "You must be the captain! It's good to meet you. You can add one to that list, I know what the job is, but I'd love to have dinner. Monster-slaying is hungry work, you know?"

Auspicious First Meeting Attitude for some cliff's notes on Xian! Always important to make a good first impression.
With that she was more than happy to follow Xian to their meal.

[The_Snark]

A quick check belowdecks finds Ledaal Kazue in her cabin, having chosen to take refuge from Carmela's indiscriminate blandishments rather than discover if it's actually possible to die of concentrated embarrassment. She doesn't generally consider herself shy (a mild self-delusion on her part), but the Fire Aspect's contest would be enough to make a Cynis blush. Well, some Cynis. A few.

... one or two, at any rate.

She accompanies the officer to the aft cabin without comment, having already found time to change into a less battle-stained robe. She offers a slight bow to the other Dragon-Blooded upon entering.

[Dazhbug]

Xian frowns mildly as the the very forward Fire aspect utterly disregards her personal space. One eyebrow quirks upward, quickly becoming recognizable as a habitual gesture, and she turned away to lead the group, conveniently hiding any further signs of inner turmoil. She couldn't quite help the barest flash of a predatory grin, even if she mentally chewed herself out as she shouldered open the door to the aft cabin.

She spent a moment clearing away charts as the rest filed in and they waited for Kazue, making sure everything was neatly filed and out of the way of any potential mess. She caught the red-haired woman taking frank stock of her out of the corner of her eye several times, but continued unperturbed in her straightening. Time enough for idle pleasantries later, and any instances of her eyeing the woman back where pure happenstance. She clearly knew her own strength, though, and her movements belied frequent physical training. Xian stored the mental note away for later.

When Kazue joined them, Xian nodded in greeting and perched herself at the head of the small map table, taking in the group as a whole for the first time. Slip was a known factor, and Xian reminded herself to keep the little hellion occupied as best she could while they were stuck at sea. At least Slip had the whole ocean to play in, if necessary. Kazue was looking a trifle green around the gills, although whether that was the motion of the vessel or just her personality was hard to say. Xian chuckled inwardly, feeling a twinge of sympathy in passing.

The last two she had yet to get names for. Both children of Hesiesh, the taller male clearly from a fairly affluent family to be traveling with heirloom armor. She frowned, remembering the sigil of House Tepet worked into the armor, but failing to place the man. Perhaps a new inductee, out to prove his worth? If so, that would explain his rather blunt aspect. The female was equally unfamiliar, and had no easy markings to belie her affiliation. Her brash attitude was certain to have stuck out like a loose nail on the Blessed Isle, though; perhaps a foundling? She caught herself examining the woman again, and coughed politely as the ship's bell tolled.

"Right then, down to it. As before, I am Captain Xianhou Riptide, captain of this vessel. I have already had the pleasure of meeting Ledaal Kazue," she bowed her chin slightly in recognition, "and Shia is an old friend and inconvenience." She shot a grin at the younger Dragon to take the sting from the words, knowing Slip disliked her real name. Turning she addressed the last two. "This morning's events notwithstanding, I have the shame of not knowing our last two companions."

A couple of notes for interacting with Xian: Outwardly, she's fairly reserved, and does her best not to let slip any particular clues as to who she is or her background. She's wearing typical dress for a merchant captain, with no markings or other distinguishing rank. The garments are well cut but bear some mild sea-stains, the wear and tear of working at sea. She's also not displaying any real outward sign of her gender, and those unfamiliar with her may mistake her for a young man.

Carmela picks up the following about Xian:

Xian has an air of being noble born, but lacks the small touches of refinement typical of the sons and daughters of the high Houses. Carmela will have better luck skipping the typical frippery of high social etiquette and just being clear in her approach. Xian's roughness around the edges suggests a greater breadth of experience that she's eager to add to.
The captain wears her self-sufficiency like armor. Any move to pry into who she is, or do her work for her, will be met with hostility; better to approach slowly and let her set the pace of things. There's an undercurrent of past trauma, though it's well hidden.
She's clearly uncomfortable around large groups of people, so catching her away from large-scale social settings is a way to put her at her ease, so long as she has escape routes.
She seems to prefer being in motion to sitting still, and has a competitive streak a mile wide.
In case it wasn't obvious, she's nearly as intrigued in Carmela as Carmela is in her.

[Kell_tamer]

Slip got a chuckle at the phrase inconvenience. "You forgot awesome, pretty and an outright menace!" Slip knew what she was, and she preferred it that way, and no one, not even the empress herself should she return was gonna tell her who she was.

[Guancyto]

So nobody here was inclined to be formal or stodgy, and even the adorable little bookworm could hold her own. Carmela felt a surge of confidence in their chances. "Carmela Contarini," Carmela said with a bit of a flourish, "a dragon of the Riverlands. My family does business with the Realm every now and then - I think they like us better than the Guild.

I was hired on as an independent contractor. For some reason, someone without any connection to the big dogs is considered more reliable for a top secret mission like this." She looked at the assembled Dragons, "I think they might have had the same thought with all of us. From what I'm told they wanted my father instead, but when all was said and done you ended up with me."

She gave a dramatic toss of her hair, all but sparkling with enthusiasm, "don't think for a second you got the second-best, we're gonna take this thing by storm."

[golentan]

As the group speaks, there's a knock on the door, followed by some of the younger crewmembers bringing in a series of trays. The cook (Xialin) appears to be trying to outdo himself in light of the guests, serving a tea smoked duck that must have been slow roasting since before dawn, along with an egg soup, assorted fresh and steamed vegetables that are not likely to keep for the duration of the voyage, a few fritters, a pot of steamed rice, and some sweet lotus paste cakes.

In addition, Zhuge Wolong lets herself in alongside the crew, bowing formally to her pupil. "Ah, Lotus cakes! My favorite!" she says, slipping from her normal reserved mien for a brief moment. "Pray continue, Captain, I apologize for the impropriety, if you wish I can wait outside until your business is concluded," she says while eyeing the tray, clearly hoping that she will not be asked to absent herself. She's making no attempt to hide her presence, dressed elegantly at the moment, in a formal robe and an elegant braided hairstyle flowing down her back, but appears to have an intimidating and fresh cut across her forehead.

As Xian invites to sit, she bows again, seating herself at the table. As soon as Xian signals the meal has begun, she begins filling her plate with the lotus cakes, completely ignoring the more nutritious fare on either side.

Despite Zhuge's openness, the two fire aspects have managed not to notice her yet... She's extremely overlookable.

[Aruetii]

Unfortunately he had irritated the Captain, and that probably wasn't the wisest move he could make at the moment. With a Behemoth rampaging near Noble's docks, and him woefully in the dark, he hoped that he could at least mend that bridge later. If not this was going to be a very, very long trip. He let out a soft sigh as she had disappeared behind the corner and out of his sight. Since he had no idea where the Captain disappeared to he decided her suggestion would be a decent idea. Rubbing his forehead he decided to move to his quarters, if he really needed to don his armor while on the ship they had more troubles.

Eventually finding the room with his things in it, he changed out of the power armor. His usual change of clothing resembled some far less flashy clothing common in the Realm, made of some more durable material. Really the armor itself wouldn't cause the most problems while he was attuned to it. The spell on the other hand, if he went overboard he'd sink like a ton of bricks. Perhaps he shouldn't cast the spell again tonight just in case. With a sigh he decided to wander around the ship, heading to the deck to start.

Arachi managed to stumble across the group, doing his level best not to shoot the Captain of the ship a glare for ditching him, following after the group to the aft cabin. "Tepet Arachi, a pleasure to actually meet everyone. I'm afraid who called in or why they decided this was my Obligation is something above my pay, but I'm a graduate of the Heptagram, and I'd like to think I can pull my own in a fight." He nodded his head towards Carmela, grinning a bit. "She's right, we did well today against a Behemoth that was last banished with a fairly large contingent of Sorcerers and a town sacrificed as bait. This was a staggering victory compared to the Shogunate Era; if we, even with the aid of the Fire Fleet, can do that, we'll have this mission wrapped up."

[Dazhbug]

Xian couldn't help herself; as Carmela tossed out her little pun, she pulled her most deadpan expression and interjected. "No sailing or weather puns on board. The crew will mutiny, superstitious louts that they are, Rudhira will call up a storm just to prove she can, and Siakal will send her children to eat us." Her serious expression may have cracked a little around the edges, but it was a work in progress.

She bowed politely as the man, confirmed as a Tepet, made his introduction. "A fair point, and let me say you did honor to your house in knowing of the demon and how best to combat it. Perhaps you could tell us the tale of... Olcanrin, was it? Olcanrin's first defeat while we eat; I for one would be interested in hearing it. But let's not put the stern before the bow." She fidgeted a bit, quieting her unease at being the center of attention. Best to get through this quickly and move on to the meal.

"Allow me to begin from the beginning, and apologies if I'm repeating what some of you already know." She chewed her lip briefly, sorting her words. "Best to have it out; the Most Enlightened Mouth of Peace has been attacked. The assassins were dispatched, but not before the Most Enlightened Master was poisoned. She remains on the brink of death, and it is all the best healers of the Order can do to keep her there." She grimaced, the sight of the powerful secular head of the Immaculate Order lying frail in bed coming back to her. "The Order has located a potential antidote for the Most Enlightened's condition, and that is what we have been sent to retrieve."

Xian paused briefly as the crew entered, her eyes widening ever so slightly as her sifu glided through the door with her usual elegance. She directed the crew in putting down the dishes, not deigning to betray her mentor by openly recognizing her yet. The Sifu was quite nearly as entertained by sneaking up on people as she was, and Xian was loathe to deny her opportunity. "You have outdone yourself, Xialin, as ever. The tea just there, if you please, and the cakes- no, over by the door, for later, yes?" She smiled inwardly as the cook placed the tray as she directed, positioned closest to her honored mentor. Xian knew that she would recognize the welcoming gesture. As the crew departed, the young Water aspect cleared her throat.

"I'm sure everyone is hungry after this morning," she gestured towards the table. "Please, at your leisure." She sorted her thoughts again, finding where she had left off. "In brief, we are making our way southwest, to the southern Violent Coast. The ruling prince of a city named Wilsesa has unearthed a vast trove of lost knowledge, and has been selling it to maintain his grip on the city and its inhabitants." She casually pulled a plate towards her and started piling it high, not keen to stand on ceremony longer than necessary. "Among the artifacts unearthed is a book titled 'Plagues of Metagaos', which is purported to contain the cure we seek. We are carrying necessary treasure to barter for the book, but from what I know of this prince Silver Blossom, I do not expect things to go as smoothly as that. He is purported to keep strange company, including reports of Anathema. In fact, the pale man who attacked Noble harbor this morning may well be one of these." She growled this last bit, clearly upset at his escape.

"I can confirm Contarini's assessment of the matter, in that the Order is maintaining strict secrecy in this. I needn't explain the consequences if the Most Enlightened Master is not healed, or even if word of Her condition were to spread." Her tone bled worry and frustration, typical sentiments when it came to Realm politics. "We have some days ahead of us to discuss potential plans, and may yet gain further insight on the situation."

She relaxed back into her chair, ceding the conversation as she inhaled the vapor rising from her tea. There would be questions of course, but that was most of her piece, for the moment. She glanced briefly to her mentor and a smile played over her lips, pride mixed with a need for approval.

[Aruetii]

Arachi rubbed his goatee as he listened to the Captain explaining things. At the mention of the book he perked up however, looking at Xian and waiting for her to finish speaking. "If I may speak, I actually have some measure of experience with the book in question. I saw the book during my schooling at the Heptagram. It was penned by an Anathema named Rose Petal Tea during the First Age. From what I recall it held the untold number of afflictions that another Anathema, All Hunger Blossom, inflicted upon his victims. Though it was also a treatise on the idea behind treating disease through essence flow manipulation."

He took in the smell of the tea before taking a sip, grinning a bit. "Ah, absolutely delicious. Now, during the First Age it was a rather popular tome for this, despite its roots. That is of course until the Great Contagion swept across Creation and the Anathema's ideas proved wanting in the face of such a plague. It is truly a testament to how badly the Anathema understood the world, the techniques aggravated most of the cases of the plague with innumerable examples of incompetence and ill effects. When the news of this horrendous miscalculation got out, people of course rose up and burned the copies they could find. There was an unaltered version of the tome within the Hall of Verdigris until a rather careless student flared their Anima too near the tome. . . and that is why we are here I suppose."

Until now he had really been talking to no one as he turned his attention to focus on the Captain. "Now, I don't know what kind of affliction we are exactly dealing with. It's not exactly my area of expertise, if no one amongst us is skilled in the art of Medicine however, I know a type of Elemental that would be able to aid us."

[The_Snark]

"The All-Hunger Blossom is an old epithet used to describe one of the Yozi rulers of Hell, not precisely Anathema," Kazue volunteers, knowing this sort of clarification is probably confusing to the unlearned (few know the difference between Anathema and proper demons), but unable to keep silent. "But, er, yes, I believe that's otherwise correct. I have some small skill with medicine, and I've brought along a number of healing texts so that I can study further on the voyage..."

"My understanding is that the Order has skilled healers who can apply the techniques in the book, once retrieved. We need only know enough to make sure we have the correct text." It is we now, not I; Arachi can likely identify the book as well as she. (Maybe better, given that he graduated properly.) She feels a bit of relief at that - the survival of the Realm does not hinge solely on her ability to recognize a text she's never actually read - but mostly... disappointment, as though she'd been superseded somehow.

[Guancyto]

Carmela did a little flex, smiling incorrigibly, "if Siakal wants to send her children to die we'll beat any force she has a-mast, any army she's a-rained against us. Then maybe we'll build a pile of them for trophies and sail them up to her and yell, 'send us some stronger ones next time, this is shark weak!' and she'll a-sail us again."

Really, what was even the point of ocean voyages if not to make nautical puns?

Well, and those sailors. Phwoar!

"That's a little more complicated than I heard but it shouldn't be a problem," she nodded once she had taken a break from stuffing her face in quantities that one might think she was burning the food instead of digesting it, "buy a book, or steal it, or fight for it, try to avoid getting mauled and eaten by anything giant and silver, right?"

[Dazhbug]

Xian felt laughter bubbling up from deep inside and had to wrench herself into meditative breathing exercises to curtail the response, her aura visibly sparking as her Essence flows become turbulent. As it was her expression cracked into a huge unconscious grin, although she managed to refrain from blushing this time. Of course, then she remembered that Sifu was sitting right there and blushed anyway, sipping her tea to hide the reaction.

The bravado of the fire-haired woman was irrepressible though, and Xian caught herself nodding slightly in agreement. "Simply put, although I daresay things will prove more exciting in the doing than the planning." She feels itchy at the thought of carefully laid plans in the hands of both Slip and the brasher Fire aspect, and reaches for another forkful of duck. "At least we have two among our number with the necessary skill to confirm the book's authenticity; I have no such talent myself. I suppose Shia might be able to tell you how much it's worth in jade." she added in afterthought.

One of the crew entered with a polite bow at a gesture. "Perhaps a few more cakes, if Xialin would be accommodating? We seem to have mysteriously run out of them." The man nodded, refilling teacups before disappearing once again. Xian sighed and fidgeted slightly, suddenly feeling not at her ease; social gatherings always made her restless. For the excuse to move around a bit, she took a moment to get up and dog open the portholes, allowing the cool evening air to wash in and mix with the warmth of bodies and savory aromas of the meal. The stars were just starting to become visible in the evening sky, and Xian took a sharp breath of the salt air before returning to her seat.

"There was one other thing I wished to mention. The manner in which our pale... friend escaped this morning was unlike anything I have had previous experience with, and I hoped that perhaps one of you might be more familiar with the occult." She took a moment to describe the occurrence, sketching a quick blow-by-blow of the lop-sided fight and the resulting escape (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18781708&postcount=60) of the pale man. "In addition, he uttered something in a language I am not familiar with. I think it is perhaps some form of the Old Realm dialect?" She relates the phrases that their foe ranted before his departure, dictating them to a quiet corner of the room as if pulling them from memory. Her eyes flicker down guiltily as she finishes the recitation, obviously upset about her roll in the morning's events.

[Kell_tamer]

Slip is leaned back flicking small bits of food into the air and catching them in her mouth. "He's lucky he ran! I'd have made him regret everything if he hadn't!" As if fate decided to TRY and teach her a bit of a lesson, one of her projectile edibles goes back further and the chair she is sitting on leans back far causing her to wave her arms frantically for balance. She catches her balance but gets a big ol chunk of food on her face.

Unperturbed by this she flicks her head forward and snaps the morsel as it flies off. "What about that mark on his head? Wasn't any 'Nathma mark i've seen before."

[golentan]

As the group talks, Zhuge places her current cake on her plate and focuses on each of them, steepling her fingers in front of her face, her eyes glimmering...

She murmurs something to her shoulder, then turns her attention back. From her satchel, she pulls several tiles and begins arranging them, a mysterious exercise at best as they are all blank save for an identical ruby dot in the center, but she examines each extremely carefully as she lays them out.

She nods to herself at the words recited by Xian, and smiles a little at Carmela's gung-ho response to superstition. Addressing Slip, she asks "Please describe this mark to me? In your own words." She begins sketching on a sheet of paper with a brush. "The more information you can give me, the more I may be able to assist you..."

[Kell_tamer]

"It was uh... an eye.. with green fire... and thats what I saw before he decided to run away." Slip thinks about it and then nods content with her description.

[golentan]

Wolong sighs at Slip's terse description, then very deliberately makes eye contact with Slip. Her eyes are incredibly green, and seem to swell to encompass the whole world as Slip looks into them... The contact lasts only a moment, but seems to stretch into eternity, and Slip's train of thought seems to melt away under the gaze, losing track of everything else for a few brief seconds.

She has 7 successes against MDV to steal Slip's surface thoughts and memories of the incident. OOC I'm notifying you that doing so does not remove Slip's memories. It has no permanent effect on slip other than a momentary "brain fart" or moment of deja vu (she still has the memories herself), but it seems in character for Slip to resist, so feel free to do so :smallbiggrin:

She then slides her paper across the table. "I see. Do any of these look familiar to you?" On the paper, are sketches of a variety of symbols. Various anathemic marks, the symbols of the maidens of destiny, and a variety of stranger images are all painted there. None appear to be the mark any of you observed.

[Dazhbug]

Xian coughed politely, perusing the sheet of paper. "None of these bear a resemblance, and Shia speaks more truly than she knows." She pauses, catching her mentor's eye with a sidelong glance. "It was not a mark, Sifu. Our opponent peered at me with both his eyes, and a third set on his forehead, wreathed in greenish fire that seemed to consume the surrounding flesh." She reached forward to lightly tap the paper and frowned, calling up memory. "It was not a mark, but a true eye, and moved with the other pair."

The young woman visibly caught herself, and smiled sheepishly. "Ah, but you have not met everyone present, Honored Teacher. Tepet Shia, I believe you already know. Another of House Tepet, Arachi, a student of the Heptagram, unless I miss my guess." She gestured to the man, then smiled and winked at Kazue. "Ledaal Kazue, of course, you are already familiar with. And lastly Carmela, of the House... Contarini, I believe it was?" She turned to her companions, and switched into deeply formal tones. "My most honored mentor, the Lady Zhuge Wolong."

[The_Snark]

"An honor to make your acquaintance, Lady Wolong," Kazue says politely, giving a shallow seated bow after a moment's deliberation. It's not at all clear what station the captain's mentor holds here; if she's in command, why didn't the Mouth of Peace say so? It seems strange, too, that so many outsiders have been brought in on this mission. Carmela, the captain herself, and now this woman... She understands why the Order is wary of the Great Houses in this matter, but to place their fate in the hands of lost eggs and mercenaries - she's never heard the name Zhuge, and the captain's is clearly constructed to conceal the lack of a proper family name - seems almost as dangerous. Perhaps the Order trusts them by virtue of the Dragons' blood, but Kazue is less certain of that. She's seen enough drunkards and layabouts among the Houses to know that the enlightenment their souls supposedly bear is... fragile. At best.

Oh, well. There's nothing to be done about it. Perhaps she can find a polite way to ask later on in the voyage.

In the meantime, she leans forward to examine the paper. There are the three symbols of the Lunar Anathema, and there the five symbols of their dreaded Solar kindred. But next to them lie a set of astrological symbols, and below that... She searches her memory, trying to place the marks on the paper.

Lore or Occult roll to see if Kazue recognizes any of the other marks? Will spend 2m on Excellency either way, for a total of 13 dice (Lore) or 14 (Occult) before stunts.

[Guancyto]

"It's a pleasure to meet you, can I call you Zhuge?" Carmela says. She's dead certain she didn't see the woman come in but her attention was more than a little bit occupied with puns and food and anyway, the captain seems to trust her completely, so she's totally at ease with their new visitor.

"You know I always thought they needed more of those, all they've got is sunburst, plate, smiley face, hoop, target, some moons, and, well, squiggly bits I guess? Never seen the rest but but none of them are really stylish," she leans over and starts doodling on the paper with the Anathema markings, making up some of her own, "how about a wheel or an ouroboros, maybe a sword and an axe over one another, or some ravens or lilies." Given time to do so she can make them pretty elaborate.

She thinks about it and shrugs, "I guess it's kind of stupid to have that on your forehead but so are the rest of them really."

Auspicious First You Know The Drill to get some impressions on our mysterious benefactor.

Also, getting a little elaborate with proposing caste marks!
Wheel: http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/images/symbols/dharmachakra-200.jpg
Ouroboros: http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20150107123952/cardfight/images/f/fa/Ouroboros.png
Sword and Axe: http://www.wizardsmuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/weapons.jpg
Ravens: http://i1.cpcache.com/product_zoom/58729549/raven_triskele_mug.jpg
Lilies: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3c/Fleur-de-lis-fill.svg/2000px-Fleur-de-lis-fill.svg.png

[Aruetii]

"An honor and pleasure to meet you Lady Wolong." Arachi bowed his head towards the teacher, frowning inwardly. He hadn't seen her come in, but he was distracted by this morning's events to say the least. Turning his attention back towards the Captain he spoke up once more, "Xian, could you repeat what this thing said to you? I may be able to understand it if it was Old Realm. He spoke Old Realm, at least muttered it, while we were chasing after him. In case no one else heard him, he said that he was -assigned- to this mission, not something that he himself chose. We need to find out who is hiring such Anathema."

[Kell_tamer]

Slip being a bit of a spaz both physically and mentally shifts thoughts away when dismissed. "third eye, eyes are weird... they are squishy and round... why are they different colors? Blue is a good color, why did the gods make sky and water blue? Was it the gods or was it the dragons?... Dragons are neat... ... gotta get me that dragon chair.... yes.... dragon chair... hm why didn't the cakes get to this chair... I want damn cake!"


Slip snaps her fingers. "Oy! Let's get dat cake o'er 'ere!"

[golentan]

"You may call me Zhuge if you must," says Wolong, nodding to Carmela. "Thank you, captain, for the introduction. I am pleased to meet you. I've been following all your careers for many years, though I confess I was hoping to meet under more... auspicious circumstances."

She passes the tray of cakes within reach of slip, but only after having added another two to her plate. "Indeed, the marks of the... anathema are often odd," she says to Carmela, seeming to hesitate over the word.

To Arachi, she continues "Your foe this morning said he was assigned then? And, reading between the lines of your words he was upset by the assignment... The more I learn, the more confused I grow. I'm sorry, I need to recuse myself for the time being. I have much research to do, but before I go, I had a gift for you." She hands one of each of the tiles she was fiddling with to each of the group, then rises and bows. "Xian, I'm sorry, I will have to reschedule the meeting I was hoping for."

You may each note you have destiny of 2 now...

Auspicious First Meeting reveals the following:
Zhuge Wolong is an alias.
Her greatest loyalty is to the Incarnae.
She's curious to meet you, and has evidently been spying on you in some form since you were a toddler.
She's so used to spinning lies that she can't keep track of what's true half the time, and so admires formality more than honesty.

There are a number of symbols associated with various gods: a coin which might be from the god of the guild, a die that looks like a symbol of plentimon (god of gambling), an iris flower, a hungry maw associated with some descriptions of forbidden gods, a gear that might be associated with Autochthon, the legendary king of craftsmen, and more. All except the astrological symbols and the anathemic caste marks appear to follow a pattern that could be mistaken for an eye relatively easily: a central "pupil" and exterior details.

You get a 2 die stunt, 7 successes.

[Dazhbug]

"Oh..." Xian can't help but swallow past the lump of uncertainty that was suddenly in her throat. "Yes, of course, Sifu. Allow me to see you out." She rose smoothly, bowing lightly to the table. "Please, excuse me for a moment."

Pocketing the tile on the way to the door, Xian bows her head in respect as Zhuge passes, moving silently to follow her out into the darkening night. Her eyes caught the glint of stars through the rigging, and through the quiet slap of wave on hull she caught the gentle impacts of the steersman's feet on the deck above. "Sifu." she began, unsure of what had driven her out into the night along with her teacher, her voice hunting for some sort of reassurance from the woman she had known for years and yet remained mysterious as Luna's hidden face. She throttled the impulse, re-modulated. "If there's anything I can do..."

[Aruetii]

Arachi mentally frowned at the mention Zhuge's mention of following their careers for some years now. Who exactly was she? How did she learn of each of them? Most only had the most tenuous of connections to one another. He couldn't speak for the others but there certainly wasn't anything noteworthy about his career up til this morning, so why was she watching previously? All of this caused the hair on the back of his neck to rise as it unsettled him. There would be time to get answers he supposed, all he really had to do was live long enough to get them. Which might be harder than it sounds at this rate, but, his curiosity was piqued.

When Xian's honored teacher spoke to him again he returned his attention back to her, nodding his head in agreement. "I believe his words were 'Cornered by a couple of brats on the Blessed Isle, worst assignment ever.'" He bowed his head towards Zhuge as she hands him the tile and gets up. "Until next time then." Arachi waited patiently for her to leave the room before examining the tile closely, wondering what precisely it was.

[golentan]

Zhuge stalks her way up onto the main deck, pulling out a jade and starmetal device and tapping away at it as she does, spiraling little glyphs of motonic light into the air as she operates the keys.

"Xian, I don't know what you can do here. I will be honest: in the last few years, plans built over millennia have unraveled in moments, and I don't know why. What I can tell you, whatever you've stumbled upon is beyond the purview of fate, and is clearly demonically tainted. Keep your wits about you, and I'm sure you'll do fine, keep to the mission. But now, I really have to go, I have to confirm something... I have my first answer to what we both may be fighting, but I have much to do and not enough time to do it. I'll be back when I can." She bows to her pupil, and steps behind a rope, vanishing into the night.

Meanwhile, in the cabin below, Arachi examines the tile. It appears to be a tile of flat, plain white jade, though the gem in it seems to be some unidentified substance rather than a mundane stone. It's about 2 inches to a side, and perhaps half an inch thick.

[Guancyto]

Carmela raised an eyebrow at her companions as their mysterious benefactor made her departure. After a moment of assessing them, she jumped to her feet.

"Huh. Nobody else picked up on that?" she said, a little incredulous. The silence confirmed it, and she shrugged and sat right back down, examining the tile too. "Well, anyway, somebody not happy with their job is a lot easier to persuade to quit it. I guess if we run into him again we can try matching his boss' offer."

[Aruetii]

"Do consider that they had Olcanrin under their control while we encountered them. I don't quite think we have the resources at our disposal to pay whatever they're offering them. With the rather bold attack on the Realm and us, I'm not sure that they'd be open to negotiations anyway. We have the upper hand in combat against him in the future unless he has similar tricks up his sleeve."

[The_Snark]

"Er," says Kazue, feeling so nonplussed that she almost despairs of ever being plussed again, "what is it exactly that I'm not picking up on?"

[Dazhbug]

Chewing her lower lip, Xian feels a swirl of dark thoughts swarm through her mind. Taking a moment to lean against the ship's rail, she fought to soothe the turbulent thoughts before silently padding back towards the aft cabin.

Pausing just outside the ring of warm light spilling through the doorway, she let her weight rest against the wall and listened, curious to see what her companions were discussing.

First, Dex+Stealth with 2 motes of excellency for a pool of 14 to not be heard dropping eaves. Next, Perception + Awareness with a light seasoning of 1 mote for a total pool of 8 to drop said eaves.

Temporary Stat Block:
Personal: 12/15
Periph: 17/17 [31 Total, 14 committed]
WP: 6/10

[Guancyto]

"Huh, shark guy was in charge of the giant monster?" Carmela says, putting down her food for a minute. "Not saying we have to look into paying him to tell us what his deal is or to leave us alone, in fact if he has another one of those lying around I'm all for beating him up. Just, we shouldn't rule it out."

She turned to Kazue, "okay, about the lady, Zhuge. I'm no schemer but I grew up with a lot of them, so I pick up on things. She's got the kind of... detachment, I guess you could call it, from things she's saying, like it's all just words to her, she could make a convincing case for the moon being green and feel like she meant it. Dad had friends like that. Wore their lies like a cloak. Doesn't mean she's bad for us, just that she probably knows more than she's saying.

Doesn't have any attachment to her name, either. No pride in it. Any number of reasons for that, could just be that she doesn't like her family. Or it could be that it isn't hers.

When she talked about watching our careers, she got that little smile people get when they've just made a little understatement that's only funny to them. We've been... or at least one of us besides Xian has been? Someone's been in her pages a really long time. Talks older than us. Looks younger. Except you, Slip. Plus she's the one that thinks she's going to figure this mystery out.

So, she's clever, she's a fabulous liar and she's been watching us a long time. Best case, that was a goddess that just walked out the door."

[Kell_tamer]

Slip glances around watching people do their things. Being a bit of an egotist she figured she'd take a look to see who all was interested in her. After all who wouldn't be?

But if gol doesn't mind a flimsy reason to facilitate developement I'm ALL about this. 1 mote, personal, and screw it, 2 peripheral to add 4 dice, 4 perception 5 investigation 4 excellency

If he calls shenanigans i shall edit this with a post of slip eating like an uncultured mongrel.

[The_Snark]

"Ah." Kazue nods at this reasoning, reassured to find she can make sense of something in this situation. "So that's why she spoke as though she was going someplace else. I was wondering, we are at sea... I wonder why the Mouth of Peace didn't mention her."

Unspoken: I wonder why she was watching any of us. A pair of found eggs, a pair of lost eggs, and... her. She can't see the link, there.

[Kell_tamer]

Slip saunters on over to the door. With a quick gesture she opens it and slips out. She shuts it behind her.

"Why you spyin?" She looks at her compatriot.

[Dazhbug]

Xian starts very slightly, but manages a slightly chagrined smile as Slip confronts her outside the door.

"Old habits, Shia. You remember how the Palace was." She reaches forward, as if to tousle the younger Exalt's hair, but thinks better of it and drops her hand awkwardly. "It's been a long while, now. Nigh on two years." She turns, resting her back against the rise of the cabin's bulkhead and staring up at the sky. Speaks quietly. "Lonilan took it hard, you know. When you left. Sesus and I had to take turns keeping an eye on him." She sighed quietly, punctuated with a rueful snort. "The others didn't get it, you know. Why you ran away. But I get it. Why have escape routes if you're not going to use them?"

She glances sidelong at Slip. "We're pretty boxed in here though, aren't we? Get the job done, or else the Realm itself collapses." She snorts in mock amusement. "Well, collapses faster, anyway." She nods her head towards the bulkhead, indicating the others. "They seem a useful sort. Even the quiet, adorable one."

[Kell_tamer]

Slip nods. "I had hoped you would have come with you know. That place was caustic." She hops up to sit on a railing. "It was a one time window, and I knew I wouldn't survive that place if I stayed."

She gestures to herself. "Hell I ain't a Dynast. I'm a kid who got super lucky, didn't want to press it a second time and busted out." her hands grip a nearby rail. "Just cause I get the ability to glow and walk on water means suddenly I'm an asset. " She looks up at her friend. "One day I'm being chased by a dragon blood and the next I'm told by a "new father" to dress nicely and go to school because I have to set an example." Slip glances away. "They went from not caring a lick if i lived or died to 'NOW YOU ARE ONE OF US AND YOU WILL ACT IT!', like I'd just forget moments before I was just another scrummy street rat to be gutted."

Slip lets out a sigh. "How is Loni? And Sesus for that matter?"

[Dazhbug]

Xian hardens over visibly at the question, eyes suddenly stony in the moonlight. "I'm not sure. I haven't heard of them in nigh on two years now." A shake of her head, and there's a flash of buried pain there that only Slip's shared experience allows her to catch. "We should focus forward, though."

The ship's bell tolls with crystal clarity through the night, fracturing the shared moment. "Best that the captain bids his guests good-eve," Xian mutters, the comment seeming rehearsed. "C'mon, then." She stalks forward and pulls open the door to the cabin, highlighted in side portrait by lantern-light that broke as waves over stone. A few paces forward and a semi-formal bow to the rest, the flint in her posture ebbing away slightly. "I believe I will retire shortly, given the nature of the morning. Is there ought I can be of assistance with, before I do? Please, feel free to enjoy yourselves further if you so wish." She chews her lip slightly, her eyebrow twitching upward as her gaze crosses Carmela. "The crew has been instructed to offer aid as needed, where it does not interfere with their duties." An amused-if-sardonic emphasis burrs the second half of the phrase.

Slip is almost certainly aware that Xian and Sesus were particularly close, given their shared time in the Palace. Very much a case of, "Everyone sees that they like each other except the two people involved."

[Guancyto]

"She didn't?" Carmela says to Kazue while the two water-aspects talk outside, "not even some kind of weird half-reference that would sort of make sense on its own but way more sense if she showed up? That's the most annoying thing about sneaks."

Her eyes narrow as she thinks about it, "maybe she didn't know. Worst case can get a whole lot worse. Or a whole lot more fun," her whole face changes as she grins brightly, "depending on whether you're Ledaal Kazue who wants to see this done, or Carmela Contarini who wants to get in more trouble. Ooh! If she turns out to be a super-demon too and we beat her, how great do you think they'd make the song?"

She puts a palm to her chin, lost in this new possibility. "Hmm, Kazue's not that hard to rhyme with, Carmela rolls off the tongue like butter. Slip's dead-easy. Arachi seems like it'd be hard though? Siracha? Pure watchee? Arachi, try not to die heroically so they don't feel the need to put your name at the end of a line."

It's this line of thought that sees their captain return, although Xian's sharp ears might well have heard more than just the mercenary's musings on the exact shape of their glory. "The point of a contest is to weed out anybody who'd do what I tell them on account of being afraid to say no," she says to Xian, "so I hope you didn't tell them there'd be terrible, terrible consequences for failing to dance for our amusement."

[Dazhbug]

This earns a spark of a smile from the captain, a bit of pride breaking across her face. "My crew," she drawls, "is perfectly capable of making their own decisions. As am I," and she tosses her head back towards the door. "Which should do well to allay any fears with regards to my most honored sifu." Another pause to chew her lip in thought. "If she is some sort of demon, she's certainly done a job hiding the fact, considering." Xian shows every sign of giving the possibility the full weight of consideration, then shrugs. "I never did consider her being Divine-Kin. Hmm."

She turns back towards the door, seeming lost in thought, but pauses and turns once more. "Oh, and if dancing be your aim, House Contarini, then I'll see you on deck at four bells. And try to keep up." A flashed smirk, and Xian is gone.

Four bells is 6am, just for reference!

[golentan]

As the dinner party breaks apart, the young princes of the earth depart to their quarters.

Over the next week, the days pass as smoothly as the Sazanami glides across the sea: Winds are favorable, waves small and the crew enthusiastic to be under way.

A number of small incidents occur, helping the time pass. Crewman Fordi, for example, is found to be operating a small gambling operation on the likely activities of the group: The Contarini pool is especially popular. At one point, a number of porpoises choose to accompany the ship for a while, departing only when some of the crew (fishing to supplement the ship's stores) fling a harpoon from frustration at the repeated theft of small tunnies from the fishing lines. At one point, in the distance, a thunderstorm looms, and with a great conflagration of hex warding signs by the crew a storm serpent is sighted, seizing a Siakal between its claws and flying to the top of the thunderhead to feast.

And, of course, a dragonblood always is able to find her own excitement...

[Guancyto]

"So yeah," Carmela's busy explaining the Threshold to Kazue in the bright sunlight, she's leaned against the side of the ship and enjoying an apple, "this little country called Chao, they used to be conquered, until their invincible overlords angered the gods and just completely fell apart. So Chao's new king hires me on to train his troops, help keep order, be his champion, that sort of thing. Good fun, good pay, pretty normal gig out there. And the people out there we so cute, so much short hair and button noses and blue hair from all the mingling with water spirits they did over the years. But I'm still a dragon, and the king's champion now, so I'm like this walking breathing power difference and I can't get too aggressive because people are going to be terrified I'll ruin them for saying no. So one of my troops comes up with the idea that people should fight for my affections because it's the only ethical way to go about it, and I do like watching people compete." There's no question of that, she nods to herself, her confidence absolute.

"The funny thing is, since they just got done being conquered they got really into the whole new art and music and dances thing and we had a really good thing going for a while. Then they started meeting up and comparing their old slave-songs and drum-talking and things like that, and started experimenting with new ways to put things together so they could impress me, and they found out they really enjoyed it even without a spicy fire dragon treat at the end, and before you know it I'm right smack dab in the middle of this, just, sprawling cultural movement." She holds her hands out wide, as though her armspan were sufficient to encompass the zeitgeist of a nation.

"That's basically the Threshold in a nutshell. You might have yourself a nice empire, and you'll make the wrong bunch of gods mad and boom, suddenly it's all in ruins. But, if you're a dragon in the right place, you can turn into a legend and spark a cultural revival in a whole country just with the power of your hips." She gives a little turn and a playful little hip-shake for emphasis, no doubt embarrassing the poor Dynast further. "Though I guess I did end up spending a lot of my pay - which was a lot mind you - on patronage for their art and things like that. They were just so earnest about it all. They've still got little statues of me all over the place.

Anyway, it's wild, it's dangerous and if you're the least bit powerful or exceptional the footprints you leave are huge. Honestly, the Blessed Isle's too safe, they give you lots of nice things but they're really invested in making sure you don't change anything. I hear a lot of you all run off to the Threshold, get that first taste of sweet freedom and just don't come back, and the family just assumes they picked a fight with a huge monster and died."

She beams at the Ledaal, "although now that I've said that, you probably shouldn't do that this time, you know? Important mission and all. So, you met her, the client I mean. What's the lady we're gallantly riding out to save like?"

[Dazhbug]

A distant splash is heard, and Xian climbs her way up and perches on the gunwale a little ways off, having completed her daily inspection of the lower hull. After a moment she lies herself out along the railing, allowing the sun to slowly dry the salt to her skin and the body-sock she'd stripped down to for underwater work.

She closes her eyes and dozes shallowly, allowing herself a few moments of contentment as she distantly listens to the pair chatting down the deck.Her fingers absentmindedly prod at a fading bruise on her leg, judging how close it was to healing.

[Kell_tamer]

Meanwhile in the hold, several crates have been moved to form a throne, and the pint size pilferer sits upon it. "Dance minions! Dancer fer yer Empress!" Holding a scepter made of an oar and a potato jammed on the end, and wearing a crown of wrapped fishing net she commands several of the crew to dance. It was their own fault for risking a game of gambling with a water aspect! Her skill at trickery won her the game and made these crewmen her "Serfs" for the next, forty or so minutes.

Sometimes there are better and far more entertaining things to win in a game than money.

[Dazhbug]

A light mist was rising from the ocean foam as day broke over the Southern Sea. Gulls wheeled and cried, while below the red-on-black hull of the Sazanami cut its shining wake across the rolling swell.

Xian greeted the morning with a sharp intake of breath, the chill of the salt air crackling in her lungs. She strode the deck in silence, noticing the morning watch going about their duties without comment. They had long since become used to their captain's early morning routine, and she payed them little mind as she set her feet amidships and bowed towards the rising sun. She followed with a quick sequence of stretches and warm-ups, her body bending and flexing on muscle memory. Breath steamed in the morning air as the motions got more energetic, Xian pushing herself to find the rhythm of muscle and sinew and heart.

Like a rising crescendo, her motions shifted into a focused clarity, and she took off in a dead sprint towards the bow. A series of smoothly executed handsprings threw her up the rising slope of the ship's deck, and with an explosive breath she hurled herself into a flying arc. Streamers of blue-green anima light flared and spun around her in corkscrew brilliance as her body shot forward in a gentle spiral that plunged into the ocean below.

She was on her third lap around the ship, slipping through the waves as deftly as any porpoise, when she caught flying red hair at the ship's rail. With a fierce grin she focused her essence, water streaming from her shoulders as she rose like the proverbial Leviathan until she was sprinting across the wave-tops. Her wrist flicked out and up, and she threw herself against the curve of the hull even as the claw bit high above; her legs uncoiled to send her up, up, up in a graceful arc described by the retracting chain, sweeping over the stern. Her second glove found purchase, and she smoothly transferred into a new arc, accelerating suddenly as the chain whipped around the mainmast to deposit her before her fellow exalt with a well landed somersault.

She puffed slightly, seawater gleaming in her hair and dripping quietly off her bare skin. Her grin slashed across her normal composure with the joy of motion and, if she was honest, a little bit of pride in being able to show off. She tossed water from her eyes and offered a jaunty bow. "Well met of a morning, House Contarini."

[Continued here] (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?401635-Here-Be-Dragons-Cinematics-and-Scenery-Chewing-Exalted-2-5-(IC))

[golentan]

A week has passed, nearly 2500 miles beneath the sail as the Sazanami has managed a fairly steady and impressive 15 knots for most of the journey. Now the ship has made roughly half the journey, rounding the coastal horn towards An Teng.

About an hour after officially entering the Violet Sea, one of the crewmen, an elderly fellow by the name of Viala, is found by slip leaning against the railing with a spyglass. "Hallo, empress. How fares the Kingdom of the Root Vegetables?" he asks, his eyes not leaving whatever he's watching.

[Kell_tamer]

"A terble coup 'curred! The traitrous grainsack people usurped the kingdom! BUT DEY'LL GET DEYRS!" She says matter of factly with a grin. She used the more familiar low realm, her natural speaking habits giving her an air of friendliness that has made her a mite bit popular around the crew. She was arrogant, but she never flaunted her Exaltation as something that made her better (Something the rest of the realm probably didn't like about her). "Wut's got yer eye out dere?" She looks out with a hand over her eyes to block the sun. Essence helped pull distant things into view.


3 motes for 3 dice (counting aspect surcharge) for 1st awarness, personal pool.

She has 10 dice to the roll, 4 perception 3 awareness 3 excellency.

[golentan]

With a 1 die stunt and 2 successes, Slip can make out something white on the horizon.

"Just keepin' an eye on a ship I spotted earlier. We're close to Lintha waters, 's probably nothing but..." the white blot shifts slightly, takes on a different color. "By her Redness's Crimson..." he starts, realizes something, and finishes with "...holy throne? I need to alert the Cap'n!"

He runs to the mast and begins clanging the bell in an alarm.

[Kell_tamer]

Slip swipes the spyglass as he goes running and uses it to get a better look.

Same pool + anything for the spyglass.

[Dazhbug]

The compass clattered to the table at the sound of the alarm; Xian had been elbow-deep in plotting the next leg of their course, but dropped everything to stride assuredly out into the afternoon sunlight on the quarter-deck. She caught Viala's panicked expression, shifted to Slip gazing out to larboard at the patch of sail in the far distance, put two and two together, and summoned up the deep bellow granted only to sea captains and stage managers.

"ON DECK! ALL HANDS ON DECK! PIRATES SIGHTED OFF THE PORT BOW! READY THE BALLISTAE!" She spat decisively to one side, her face a mixture of contempt and excitement. "HELMSMAN, BRING US ABOUT TO WINDWARD, AND RUN BEFORE THEM. SPYGLASS, IF YOU PLEASE SHIA, AND GET THE REST OF OUR FRIENDS ON DECK!" Xian held out her hand to catch the tossed spyglass, baring teeth and planting herself against the roll of the ship as it came about below the wind and lines snapped and sang. Above her, the crew whistled instructions as the sails were made trim and the ship settled on its new course, surging away from the pirate vessel. "LET'S GIVE THEM A SURPRISE, LADS!" she roared, "FIVE DRAGONS AND THE FINEST CREW OF THE SOUTHERN SEA!" Fists were raised and the crew roared back in response, morale rising to smother any initial panic.

A pillar of supreme confidence bestride the quarter-deck, Xian snapped further orders and awaited the arrival of the other Dragonblooded, her mind spinning through potential battle plans and strategies.

[golentan]

The crew cheers, and sets about their business, readying arms and armor. Fresh buckets of sand are prepared against assault or overexcited dragonblooded, and the crew begins loading the ballistae.

"Not just pirates, Cap'n. I recognize the banner, they're Raiders from the Pearl Court!" Viala says, softly, obviously trying to avoid alarming anyone else. "Raksha looking for souls. Don't normally see them this far east, they must be hungry."

[Guancyto]

Carmela was the first to show up on deck (if one didn't count the people that were already present), swinging up from amidships. She had in her hand a little bowl of popped corn, possibly gutted from one of the traitorous grainsack people in an act of guerilla vengeance on behalf of the deposed Empress Slip.

"So I heard there were pirates?" it wasn't polite to munch on popcorn when they were about to be attacked (save it for when people are fighting for their lives in front of you, Carmela!), but that had never stopped them before. "Are they faster than us? Be a shame to let them get away when they figure out how screwed they are."

[Dazhbug]

"Oh, they're chasing us at the moment - MORE SAIL! MAKE IT LOOK GOOD! - wouldn't due to have them thinking about running away just yet." Xian's smile showed nothing but teeth. "Let me ask you, House Contarini; you have any sailing experience?"

Xian reached to one side and tossed Carmela a fairly impressive-looking captain's hat. "After all, it always pays to put on a good show for the raksha - GET THOSE BALLISTAE SECURED! The captain's got to have the finest hat, don't you think?"

[The_Snark]

Kazue is the second of the belowdecks passengers to show, wearing a worried expression and a hastily donned sunhat. (Don't laugh. They're headed south! You'll be sorry you didn't bring one too, probably!) "Captain?" she calls out. "I couldn't quite hear from inside the cabin - what's the alarm for?"

[Kell_tamer]

Slip kinda backs away a bit to let the sailor types do their thing. Despite her aspect she was a bit of a landlubber herself. "I think I got an idea..." She looks to the others. "Car, can you make a big distracting scene to keep their eyes on you, Xian, you and I can slip under em and get on board to cause some mayhem. Catch em off guard. When the confusion starts we can get the rest in to hit em hard." Slip wasn't a keen military mind but she knew one thing, and that thing was causing trouble. She also knew that she and Xian could slip aboard unhindered thanks to their aspects. "We hit em before they hit us we can cause a lot of mayhem."

[Guancyto]

"My great-grandfather's House Contarini, you can call me Captain!" Carmela said, putting the hat on her head with a bow and a sweeping flourish like a fop in front of a mirror. "I once picked a fight with a bull-god and was sent sailing through the air, but if you can give me a long-suffering first mate that's obviously the real one who runs things, I can distract the Sun itself from its course!"

She pumped her fist, spilling her popcorn. "I hereby charge you with giving them hell, Team Sliptide."

[golentan]

As the crew talks, the reaving ship draws closer. It becomes clear that the sail is a rainbow woven around the main mast, and the crew can be made out. Each one is hideous beyond description in different ways, combining elements of sea creatures with a four armed, lumpily humanoid form, everything slightly offset from true symmetry. The exception is the captain. Also possessing extra limbs, he is perfectly, almost frighteningly symmetrical in stark contrast to his crew, with flesh seemingly carved from abalone shell, face an almost porcelain, featureless mask save for two black, almond eyes, bedecked in pearls and a uniform clearly in imitation of the Wavecrest navy for those familiar with it. He stands at the front of the ship, a glass blade in one hand, a trumpet in the other apparently made of silver (raising the question of how he might blow it without lips).

As the ship closes, he calls out in Seatongue, the distance making his words faint. "Surrender your vessel, and be rewarded with pleasure beyond your wildest dreams. Resist, and be rewarded with torment beyond the capacity of mortal men."

Everyone passes their perception awareness to make out his words, but I believe that only the Captain understands their meaning.

[Dazhbug]

Xian snorts under her breath. "READY WEAPONS! Standard 'surrender or suffer' ultimatum. Daikan! Assist your Captain," she winks and gestures towards Carmela here, "in any communication difficulties. Probably best to keep to Realm standard; haughtiness is something of a theme for most officers." She feels the beginnings of fear tug at her, forcing her words out more quickly than otherwise, and fights to tamp it down. "Ledaal Kazue, any information you can provide House Contarini in her very fine hat here, the better; my knowledge of the Pearl Court is mostly before-the-mast rumor and slop-talk." She squares herself up to Carmela last, throwing her a rakish grin. "'Captain', best I can tell you might try for single combat. Not only are raksha game for duels and challenges, but it'll keep eyes on you while Shia and I are busy. Do what you can to make a spectacle, and avoid a boarding action if you can."

She tosses the spyglass to Daikan and strips quickly out of her looser over-garments, passing them to a nearby sailor. "Shia, grab whatever you need to do some damage, but make it light enough to carry, if you please." Xian suits action to words as she grabs a small mallet and trio of marlinspikes off a nearby barrel, shoving the lot forcefully through loops in her belt. She takes the briefest of moments to breathe in deeply once, twice. The fear was rising again.

Tossing her head, she sketched a salute to Carmela and Kazue. "Good luck. Try to keep my ship undamaged." With that, she took off towards the bow, vaulting the railing gracefully and plunging towards the water below, on the far side of the Sazanami from the pursuing ship, hopefully keeping her out of sight. She allowed the plunge to arc her sternwards, the hulk of the keel sliding past her like the fin of some massive beast as the ships' speed carried her towards their erstwhile pursuers. As the sunlight rushed towards her in the wake of the Sazanami's passing she focused inward, sliding into mental focus as her aura rippled and spun with the currents, sparkling sunlight to hide her submerged form. Just before emerging into potential view, she flicked her legs and flashed forward, her wake leaving a trail of shining silver bubbles.

Xian is spending 4 motes to activate Crystal Chameleon form as she passes below the ship's keel. She's following this with an activation of Flashing Passage for 2m and 1WP, which rockets her forward invisibly to the tune of 44 yards. Gol, if that's not enough to get her out of sight under the enemy hull, let me know and I'll make a stealth check as needed.

Temporary Stat Block:
Personal: 11/15
Periph: 15/17 (31) [14 committed] - 1-3 range
WP: 9/10

[Kell_tamer]

Slip sighs and makes her way to the back of the ship and activating her anima makes her way overboard. The power of the dragon of water makes her displacement of the water unnoticeable as nary a splash is heard or seen. Unhindered by the water itself she makes her way to the boat.

Dex 4 Stealth 3 Keeping out of sight 1 4 motes for excellency adding 2 sux (+1 surcharge) 1 motes (+1 surcharge) for use on that captain for Distracting Breeze Meditation. 4 total sux so far. 5 motes for anima to remove need to breathe and any movement penalties in water for a day. Thats all her personal at the moment, but aside from Distracting Breeze, nothing is committed.

[The_Snark]

"Oh," Kazue says quietly as the faerie reaver's voice rings out. Nobody has bothered to answer her question, but she supposes it's obvious at this point... The Water Aspects are over the side before she's had a chance to finish processing what's going on. Carmela has the hat... she's playing decoy captain, right. Makes sense. She'll draw the attention away from more vulnerable targets, like the masts or the crew.

Kazue unwraps her great-grandmother's jade sling once more, stepping to the rail nearest the pirate ship so she can get a good look... not to mention a better vantage point once they come in range. They could be anything from Wyld mutants to pelagothropes to goblins, but that sail surely marks them as something out of the Wyld...

Int+Occult to get raksha info, spending 2m on the First Excellency; 14 dice plus stunt.

[Guancyto]

"Ohhhh noooo," Carmela minced in High Realm in the poorest impression of a naval officer that a person could conceivably do, "when daddy gave me this boat he said there wouldn't be pirates, ooh, I'm so angry I'll have to whip thirty slaves over it."

She was very lucky they weren't near enough to the enemy boat for them to really see that. "What do you think, too much?" she asked Kazue. "Probably too much."

[The_Snark]

"Um," says Kazue, trying not to sound annoyed at the caricature, "yes. A bit. I think the idea is for you to draw attention? That probably means making it clear that you're the biggest threat, try to draw their champion into a duel. Like the capt - ah... like Xianhou said, the Fair Folk like that sort of thing."

[Guancyto]

"Well, it's all about keeping to their expectations of what a Realm captain around my age should be like," Carmela laughed, "but I think I can do 'good at fighting things but godawful at command and sailing,' I won't even have to pretend. Anything I should know before I start barking out orders?"

[The_Snark]

"Not... really? I mean, nothing that's useful in a fight. No, wait - iron. They hate iron, it hurts them and shields you from their touch. First Mate, ah, Daikan?" she calls, hoping she's got the man's name right. And that she isn't committing some horrible naval faux pas by addressing him. And that she's not distracting him from anything important. "Have we any pure iron weapons aboard, or other, er... objects?"

[golentan]

"No weapons, ma'am! We do have a goodly supply of Pig Iron in the hold, and some iron nails for maintenance and joinings and such." Daikan answers Kazue. He turns to Carmela and lowers his voice.

"I can tell you what sort of orders to shout, if you let me, ma'am. First thing, we're going to want to tighten the sails for when the wind shifts, it's coming on quick. Tell them to pull in the boom to the 7th knot."

Under water, the away team sees something unusual. The ship they are approaching has flippers, and a giant eye, which seems to be watching fish swimming by.

[Dazhbug]

Xian frowns, slowing her pace to allow Slip to catch her and gesturing to the ship-beast in a questioning way. She circles one of her eyes with her fingers and mimes stabbing at it, then points to the ship-beast's eye. Her grimace shows her distaste for the plan. Then she motions to the ship beast, and gestures in a large circle towards its rear, then makes the gesture for ascent. Get behind it, climb aboard, and take things from there?

[Kell_tamer]

Slip darts under the beastie following her companion. Beastie or not the ship was a ship. It had to have something horribly explosive on it somewhere, otherwise whats the point? She gestures her hands expanding out as if to say she wants to blow it up.

[Guancyto]

"All right!" Carmela said, apparently deciding that her natural exuberance was disguise enough for the situation, "have someone fetch me nails, and leather straps about this long or longer," she spread her hands out to indicate a couple of feet, "I've got ideas."

She nodded to the first mate before barking orders, "Men! Tighten the sails! Pull in the boom to the seventh not! And fetch me alcohol, I need a bottle and a couple of glasses. Something that'll strip the rust off a blade!

And something rusty," she added after a moment.

[Dazhbug]

Xian rolled her eyes, at a loss for a series of gestures that would explain that the chances of blowing up the ship-beast were relatively slim. It certainly could be disabled, however. The question was how best to do that without causing too much collateral damage.

She frowned, swimming closer to the great cyclopean eye of the thing, allowing her shimmering aura to catch the weak rays of the sun at depth and glimmer in the watery twilight. Perhaps it could be distracted or led off-course, lending advantage to the Sazanami.

[golentan]

Onboard deck, the crew brings Carmela her desired implements. An entire barrel, nearly 500 pounds of nails are brought to the upper deck, along with some lengthy leather straps, some... well, the shifty looking seaman swears it's not from an illegal still, but some something flammable that doesn't appear on the logs, and he seems like a trustworthy fellow, no?

Meanwhile the pirate ship continues to close the distance. The captain shouts nonsensically... "Alright, if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you shall have! Avast, ye scurvy danes, prepare to be boarded! Stand down, Tim Curry, I'M the best muppet pirate! And I look far nicer in stockings than you ever will! Men, swarm the ship! And fetch me fresh stockings! Silk, by preference!"

Several of the goblins leap bodily into the water, not submerging themselves but paddling along at a rapid pace.

Meanwhile, below the waterline, the oceanic duo see the crashing bodies of the goblins hit the barrier between them and the surface world as they approach the ship. The eye catches their movement and blinks myopically at them. A voice comes in their heads as they approach, words without sound. YOU ARE NOT MY NORMAL FEEDING CREW? OH WELL, COULD I ASK FOR CALAMARI AND KELP TODAY? I'M BORED OF ORCA MEAT.

[Dazhbug]

Xian blinks and raises an eyebrow. Experimentally cautious, she... thought as directly at the ship-beast as she could. Most honored greetings to you, good beast. We are not your normal feeding crew, but may be able to assist your feeding... if you may perhaps be of assistance to us? Your current... occupants are attacking my pod, you see, although we had no quarrel with them. She pauses, chewing her lip. Do you have a name, or a preferred form of address?

While she engages the ship, she keeps an eye on the swimming goblins to get a quick estimate of numbers and whether she and Shia need to break off and deal with the problem.

[Kell_tamer]

Shia just kinda looks at the thing in seeming awe, (completely aware of everyone around her of course). She just can't help but imagine it with a Top hat and its the best thing in the world to her now.

Her attention is grabbed by the goblins. She quickly snatches some of the sea drift from the beast and forges it into a crude moustache and eyebrows against her face. She turns to her new "Companions".

"Oy! Whut took ya so long! weef bin down 'ere waitin er da cleanin crew! YOU!" She points to one of the goblins in a stern demanding manner. "GO GET A RAG!! BOSS WANTS DIS FING SPIT SHINED BEFORE WE GET TO THE 'THER BOAT! AN' YOU!" She points to another in yet another demanding fashion. "Our behe is hungry an 'e wants KELP an CALAMRI today! GO FETCH CHOP CHOP or yew get on the menu!"

She crosses her arms as she watches the goblins, tapping her foot like there's ground beneath it.

So obviously um Larceny for a disguise, possibly with wits? which is 3 dice + 5 ability + whatever stunt.

Charisma + Presence + whatever stunt I guess, OH spends 3 motes (1 surcharged) peripheral, which may help her disguise as water effects are apparent upon her now, for auspicious first meeting attitude targetting the leaderiest looking one. so 3 specialty which MIGHT work with the disguise? gol this was kinda spur the moment so... I'll leave it to you. also heres hoping they are extras and thus easy to trick.

Spending a willpower for an extra success on the chatty roll. appearance is 3 if that helps reduce their ability to back talk.

was informed i had 2 personal, so buying 2 presence dice and 2 larceny dice. WOO

Never let it be said that slip isn't ballsy.

[Guancyto]

Well, they are properly within shouting distance now. (Hopefully) getting a translation from one of the sailors on deck, Carmela yells back, her Old Realm education is from a professional god-botherer rather than anybody reputable but it should get the point across.

"You?! The best pirate?" It's laughable, really! "I haven't heard a shanty out of you sorry, malformed wretches! Not a verse, canticle or chorus! And what's that on your shoulder? How can you even call yourself a pirate when you haven't got a parrot?!"

Illegal stills, the very best kind. Uncorking the bottle behind her back, she dips some of the rustier nails into the bottle, letting it start to dissolve them before she pulls them back out. She isn't sure if rust will actually count as iron enough to make a difference, but it'll be an interesting learning experience unless they all die!

"I challenge you to drink with me, you non-filthy, fully-legged, non-singing excuse for a pirate!" she shouts with all her might, "and then the two of us, we'll fight like men! And ladies! And ladies who dress like men!"

She's got a little time, she punches some nails through one of the straps and cuts it off long enough to wrap around a gauntleted fist. As an improvised cestus goes it's far cry from the real thing (and unless worn with gloves it'd probably hurt like hell to actually use), but hopefully Xian's sailors are versed in the fine art of fisticuffs. She tosses her work to one of them. "Make more like that and start handing 'em out!"

[golentan]

The pirate captain looks confused, then holds up one hand. "Hold boarders! Looks like we have ourselves a drinking contest! For the souls of all aboard, then, I wager my drinking prowess against your own, lass! First mate. Fetch the larger of my drinking flagons!" The reavers pull up alongside the Sazanami while this continues, but nobody moves to leap onto deck, and indeed goblins are looking intrigued at this unusual twist... A gangplank is lowered, and the masked raksha captain steps onto it, beginning to cross over. The crew of the sazanami, nearly sweating crossbow bolts, look to their leaders for guidance, clutching at their improvised iron studded whips.

Meanwhile underwater, the goblins are confused by their conflicting orders momentarily, before one starfish faced fellow makes a keen observation. "If the boss wants us to hold off attacking the humies, that doesn't mean he doesn't want us to feed the ship, right?" Relieved at the suggestion that they probably won't be flogged for doing whatever anyone shouts at them, they fall to a debate as to where to find calamari, settled once again by the starfish fellow when he pulls out a scimitar apparently made of coral and hacks up a squiddly compatriot.

The behemoth addresses Xian in the midst of this debate. "No? I never needed a name, before, I don't think. Or maybe it just wasn't relevant to the story... the captain was always more interested in the swordplay part of being a pirate than the sailing. Am I getting a name now then? If I get a name, I won't be an extra! I'll have more lines! I might survive the plot arc!"

[Dazhbug]

Xian blinks, non-plussed. Well, she thought cautiously, we would be more than happy to give you a name, ship-beast. After that, we shall have to see.

She furrows her brow, keeping half an eye on the cluster of goblins that Slip seems to have tied up, for the moment. Something deep and echoing, I think. Umibōzu, perhaps? Or even Taniwha. Or did you have thoughts on the matter of your own?

She shakes her head, some measure of sanity reminding her of the still-perilous situation they lay in. Would you be able to assist us, honorable beast? While I wish no ill will against you or your crew, we are in something of a hurry to proceed with our own story.

[Guancyto]

"And be quick about it!" Carmela shouts to the enemy's first mate, haughty as the Dawn, producing the bottle of iron-infused rotgut and brandishing it about, "and for your part of the wager, my victory means your service to me for forty years' time! You'll fly my colors and fight my enemies and give me fifty percent of your plunder and you'll call me Admiral Contarini! Do you accept?!"

[The_Snark]

Kazue just sort of... stands there, sling hanging from one hand, not throwing stones at the Wyld-pirates. (In her other hand she clutches an iron nail like a talisman.) Is this the plan? She hopes it's the plan. Making a wager with a faerie that you don't intend to keep seems a bit risky to her...

[Kell_tamer]

Slip looks at her companion with a knowing "of course this worked, its one of my plans!" look.

"Roight! and 'member! 'e said spit shine!"

[golentan]

"Your terms are acceptable!" shouts the Raksha captain, pulling a bottle of his own from his belt and slamming it down between himself and Carmela. His first mate comes hustling up, carrying a roughly two pint flagon which blinks lazily around at its surroundings, apparently having just been woken up. "First to the bottom of the enemy bottle without vomiting, passing out, or dying wins." He pours himself a generous measure from the iron infused rotgut, and awaits her response... His head splits down the middle, revealing a mouth running from top to bottom, a long tongue lolling forth in anticipation.

Meanwhile, the beast begins twitching in pleasure as the goblins ply it with food and begin scrubbing the barnacles from its hide. "Ooooooh, that feels nice. I quite like the sound of Umibōzu... Help you how? I don't want the captain to get hurt, and it looks like you're exalted? But I don't want to deny him his chance for glory either..."

[Dazhbug]

Xian shook her head, a thin stream of bubbles trailing the motion before gently rising for the surface. Perhaps just tell us of yourself, and your master? Is he like to harm my people, or let us go? Is there a particular way that we could be on our way, without undue harm to either side? Our goal is speed, for our story requires swiftness less we all come to a bad end. She mused briefly on one of the goblins, watching it scrub the beast's great hide. Maybe you even saw something of those we are hunting? She described the great wurm that Olcanrin had been wearing briefly.

Chewing her lip, she glanced towards the beast sidelong. Unless of course you might be interested in joining us? Be you some manner of spirit, honorable beast, or a creature brought into Creation by your master?

[Guancyto]

Carmela whistles at the sight. "Daaaaaaamn," she says, appraising the fae captain, "you know they told me this stuff would give me a head-splitting headache but that's something else!" In response the grabs the faerie bottle and pours herself a glass, it'll probably turn her insides into butterflies or something so she really hopes than Xian will come through on that epic plan, or that Kazue's information is good. Sometimes you just have to throw yourself in headfirst and trust your luck and your allies...

She readies the glass so they'll both take a shot at the same time, and downs it all in one go once the fae captain's gotten his own mug far enough to his lips that she's confident he won't back out.

[Dazhbug]

Xian's eyes jerk wide open in sudden thought, and she shakes her head violently once again, holding up a hand to forestall any reply from the beast. Wait, wait, nevermind all that. Just tell me one thing, good be- ... Umibōzu, and tell me true. How does one become Captain, amongst your crew?

A tiny voice in the back of her head screamed at her that this was an idiotic plan, something that... that Carmela would try. She forced her breathing steady, feeling her heart beat pulse through the surrounding water.