Act 1, Scene 1: In the last remaining light [Alliance of the Renewal]

cyl

cyl

Creepy smile
The camp was almost asleep, a soft cold wind was running through the land, making the blue grass sing. Lights were absorbed by darkness one by one, and after a good meal, everyone was going to bed.


The young already dreaming of the great adventure this caravan would represent for some of them... the greedy hearing the singing sound of jade... and others praying for a safe trip all along.


But from the darkness a light emerges, a candle carried by a small child going for each and every one of you in the middle of the night with a message.


"I'm supposed to take you to see an old friend of yours, he said he had been expecting you for a long time and he has an important message for you. Follow me."
 
Honest Blossom had gone to sleep once the sun went down, so when the child with the candle came around, she'd at least gotten a watch's rest. The olive-skinned beauty opened vivid blue eyes and drew the thin robe she slept in around herself at the young one's words, years of being a twitchy sleeper keeping her in good stead. "I'll come," the Zenith said with a sigh.


She rose to her feet, uncaring if the child was still there, and pulled on her outer robe. As always, her warding talismans remained around neck and wrists. Then she joined the child, walking into the darkness cast by the Unconquered Sun's absence.
 
Kestrel, having been about to settle for the evening, was a little surprised by the child but is also curious enough to attend. Glad enough that he hadn't had time to change, and thus have to dress again, he throws his cloak on to ward off the night's chill.


"After you, small one."


Then he follows the child into the night.
 
Arelean Kethesar


Having gone to sleep just past dusk, Arelean was long into a deep slumber when the messenger arrived. Despite this, by the time the girl stopped a few yards from the fire Arelean had made the Eclipse was wide awake, his keen senses having alerted her presence to him some time before. Wrapped in large woolen blanket, he sat up and listened to what the girl had come to tell him. As she finished, he nodded slowly.


"Of course. Give me moment, please?"


Motioning for the child to turn around, Arelean rose once the messenger had averted her gaze away, and clothed himself in a warm, woolen robe.


"Alright, I'm ready."


Turning to the great hawk beside him that had now awoken, Arelean gives his companion a reassuring look.


"Eleclaethil, I'll be back shortly. I'll be fine, so stay here. Okay?"
 
Shine of the Blade of Tomorrow


As most of the camp was sleeping already, laughter still resounded at the edge. A small party of mercenaries was listening to tall stories of bravery from the beautiful and skilled Bladeshine. Before the evening meal she demonstrated her sword skills for them, she had feasted on roast meat and wine with them, she had danced and joked and flirted with every one of them - bur never giving too much attention to a single one, lest the others lose interest. As laughter was starting to dying out and eyelids becoming heavy, she was considering a difficult matter: take one of them to her tent, or let desire swell for another night or two to better savor that final moment of intimacy? Luckily, a small child appeared seemingly from nowhere with a strange message, and Bladeshine had to ponder no more.


Well, this is strange. An old friend, she says, but I am pretty sure I didn't recognize anyone in this caravan. Must be someone from Great Forks, a message from my mother maybe...


Raising from the camp, and gently rebuffing the offer of several men to escort her through the dark camp, Bladeshine smiled at the child: "Thanks for coming, I'll follow" and then departed into the night.
 
The revelry was enjoyable for the most part, although those that associated with the slave trade, and did so happily, found a cold shoulder colder then chilled winds. Those that were part of the caravan for other reasons were treated as friends and equals. Yet the drinking and chatting of the day's events eventually came to an end and Jonas sought solitude.


Ah, the sweet solitude. A time when he could appreciate the beauty of Creation, the simple splendors of Gaia. The singing of the grasses, the songs of the insects upon the breeze. The simple things that made him long for his farm and for those he could share such wonders with. His only companion, his silent friend, rested at his hip. War's Bounty wore the metallic skin of the great Khopesh, a heavier sword reminiscent in shape of it's primary form, the scythe. Such was the mystery of this blessed weapon that deigned to move with the seasons and changed shapes as Creation chose to do as well.


At the approach of the simple light he peered up from his contemplation. A simple nod was the only response the older man gave to the youth before getting up to see who this "old friend" was. He patted War's Bounty both to assure him, as well as she about the possible chance of a fight as "old friends" tended to lean towards betrayal. His footsteps were light and moved with the swaying grass, leaving nary a blade to mention his passage in the slightest.
 
Lucien put aside the book he was writing as the quiet knock came at the door of the vardo ((gypsy wagon home thing.)) and placed it back in one of the countless drawers built into one wall of the wagon. It was hardly an ideal place for writing, tinkering, or creating a few minor talismans to barter away, but at least it kept things organized. His attempts to make a more... digestible translation of Daric's Laws of Magic were going poorly, proving nearly as impenetrable as the original he remembered.


Stepping down to he nodded assent to the child with a simple “Alright.â€
 
One by one the candles gather around a small campfire, warming the bones of an old man staring at it.


The man is old, more than fifty years by the look, skinny, he is almost bald, and has a wild white beard. His eyes are completely white, maybe some illness made him blind a long time ago, maybe its just him aging.


Nevertheless he smiles as each candle comes closer to his fire. When all his guests have arrived, he mumbles something, and the kids go away, putting their candles in the ground at your feet.


"Evening friends, 'been quite a long time since we've spoken. Last time I was just a helluva lot younger and you were so much... more... Never stop'em from wastin'ya, unfortunat'ly."


He smiles again


"Name's Lonely Crane...


It's my last journey, and I just wanna to do something I believe in... one last time. So I came to warn ya... this caravan will never reach its destination. Everyone here will be dead soon, and it is my duty to make sure everyone dies properly... my last duty.


But I know you can make a difference in this world, once again, and I wanna make sure you all met stuck together and survived this."
 
Honest Blossom's fists clenched as the man spoke of the caravan dying like it should. The words tickled something in her memory, but it was gone like a butterfly flitting through an open window and out another. She didn't claim to be a saint, only a holy woman, and to speak so casual about death... "I don't know you from the boy who cleans up the animals, stranger, and for you to speak so coolly about death... Reckon you might be one of the agents of the Deathlords."


Screw being polite to elders. This man was fishing for information and trouble besides.
 
Lonely Crane laughs


"Heh, no lady, I'm no deathlord minion. Death actually used to be a natural part of life, there was nothing wrong with the dying part in the order of things. People died so they could live again, as they always do... I've been chosen to make sure it happens for those people and hopefully it will.


I just want you all to be away from this, because you are chosen of the Sun.


People can die, but they must never loose hope, else the skies will turn grey, and there won't be much of the living soon at the rate things decay in this world.


You are hope..."
 
Arelean Kethesar


The old man sparked Arelean's youthful curiousity. Strange, his words were, and all too unsettling. Yet, they resonated with him in a way he could not fully articulate, yet alone comprehend. Dumbfounded, he could only listen and watch as the dusky-skinned priestess responded with rage. As the old man answered the woman's reply with more prophetic tones, Arelean could not help but be blunt. Though he was raised far better, he was too lost in Crane's words to maintain his normal etiquette.


"What are you, sir?"
 
"Someone who knows too damn much," Honest Blossom said flatly, vivid blue eyes snapping with outrage. "I don't claim to be a good person, old man, but if you think I'm going to walk away and let a whole bunch of people die because you think it's about damned time, then you can just go to hell."


She looked at Lonely Crane and added, "You can damned well come out and say what you are, like the bird-rider over there wants."
 
Shine of the Blade of Tomorrow


Normally, the prospective of sitting idly or run away while an entire caravan of men was sento to their doom would be ebough to cause Bladeshine's anger. But this was too sudden, strange and unbelievable to raise more than her curiosity.


Well, this makes no sense, but luckily I can fix that


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As the man says

It's my last journey, and I just wanna to do something I believe in... one last time. So I came to warn ya... this caravan will never reach its destination. Everyone here will be dead soon, and it is my duty to make sure everyone dies properly... my last duty.
But I know you can make a difference in this world, once again, and I wanna make sure you all met stuck together and survived this."
Click to expand...
Bladeshine invokes two times Sagacious Reading of Intent (Core page 233) to discern his motives behind the first and second statement, for a total of 6 motes from her Personal pool


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In the meanwhile, she watched the rest of the group the man gathered there. The lovely, lovely lady's heart seems to be in the right place... But she made the mistake of letting anger take control of her, and this wasn't the right situation. If worst came to worst, she maybe could be an ally for her... And she looked kind of familiar, come to think of it. The rest seemed too stunned to be of any relevance.


I must thread cautiously here... If I understand correctly what this man claims to be, angering him here would be really not good. Besides, he could answer a few questions about my lost memories...


So, Bladeshine showed her most charming smile, bowed deepply to the old man and stated:


"My apologies, venerable elder, but though you claim to know every one of us, I think we can't remember who you are, so I'd rahter make proper introductions. My name is Shine of the Blade of Tomorrow, daughter of Shield of a Different Day, one of the Glorious Three of Great Forks. And if I may, oh venerable elder, I'd like to inquire further about this doom you foretell, and our eventual role in it"


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No Charms to back up the introductions. If the geezer says something fishy, I want to be able to use Sagacious Reading of Intent again. Need Social Combo.
 
Jonas


He took everything in stride. The commentary, the laid-back presentation of the elder, the outbursts of his apparently Solar companions, and the strangeness of it all. Yet if this man was telling the truth time was of the essence, and he had a feeling that their remaining during such a critical moment very well could mean their deaths.


Looking to the elder he spoke, his voice relaxed and filled with a bit of understanding of age. "It seems you have us at a disadvantage here. I'm guessing you new our past selves and been eye-balling us all of these years. And seeing as you are telling us these things I think we have a right to be cautious and a bit paranoid. And if you know us so well you would know, despite some disagreements with this caravan's ways, that we would not sit idly by to let them die." Jonas was rarely a man for many words, but this just didn't sit right with him, especially with the fleeting memories he had of his former self.
 
Lonely Crane smiles again.


"Well I'm a chosen too. I have a different patron, but my purpose is the same as yours, protect what is important.


Look I'm not telling you to let these people die, I'm asking you to live. I know there is a good chance that you'll die if you stay with them, as I will myself die with them. I don't know how and why, but I know we will never reach the end of the trip alive, it's been written, it's our fate.


So I am trying to save your lives here...


Look I know this is cold, and you mean well, but you need to understand that you're more useful alive than dead while trying to rescue a few souls.


This world needs you, all of mankind does, and people will die wether you want it or not, but as long as you survive you can make a difference and set things right again!"
 
Shine of the Blade of Tomorrow


Still smiling, Bladeshine answered "I can sense from your words your intentions are pure, Lonely Crane, and you intend to do us good with your forewarning. But from the words of at least two of these Chosen... You should understand that they will not blindly step aside and let what you call Fate kill all these people." And then she looked the elder directly in the eyes, and suddenly the Mark of the Eclipse was shining brightly on her forehead. "And neither will I. The Arrow of Heaven doesn't stray from its path - it either breaks or pierces through."


With that, she turned towards the other Chosen, once again smiling, and bowed in the directios of the big man with the dustcoat and the khopesh slung across his back. "Lonely Crane said that there's a good chance that we will die without being able to save anyone anyway. I reckon you feel like taking the impossible chance of living through and saving as many as we can... Fate, afeter all, binds mortals, not us."


"I already introduced myself... Why don't you tell us your names too?"


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Yes, Bladeshine's spending 1 mote of Peripheral Essence just to show off her Caste Mark. She's a show-off like that. With another mote she supports her introduction with Mastery of Small Manners (Core page 240), which makes her more amicable and allows here to discern the basic motivation of everyone involved in the social scene
 
Adamant Kestrel


Kestrel's listened carefully to everything being said. The initial explanation and the outbursts, the challenges, the denials and the assurances. He takes a moment to arrange his thoughts. Fools rush in, after all.


"I don't mean to dispute your words, friend,"he offers, his tone calmer than the thoughts whirling around in his mind, "but how is it that you can know for certain that this caravan is doomed without ever knowing why or how?"


Because he needs to know. If someone or something is going to slaughter this caravan out of malice the Night caste avenger wants to know about it.


A sensible question, a need to know, but all of it covers up quite a bit of alarm. Reasonably new to his role, Kestrel had hoped to someday meet one of his own kind. Now, thanks to Bladeshine's display, he's met one and he's not certain at all how to proceed.
 
Those vivid blue eyes narrowed as Lonely Crane spoke, and then Bladeshine - oh, she knew well who the girl was - and then the other Solars. Honest Blossom stood and loosened the tight collar of her outer robe to reveal a lithe body sheathed in the light robe of a Great Forks priestess and neck and wrists glittering with silver-and-crystal talismans. Her teeth bared in nothing which could be called a smile as she looked at the God-Blooded Eclipse. "Shine of the Blade of Tomorrow, I'd say it's a pleasure to finally meet you, but I don't approve of those who work for divine protection rackets. I guess you recognise me - I'm Honest Blossom, former priestess of the Eastern Goddess of Green Vegetables and current priestess of the Unconquered Sun. I guess he Chose a grifter like me to keep people like you honest."
 
Shine of the Blade of Tomorrow


Now who and what? she thought, ever more puzzled, then she lost control of her carefully selected expression for just a moment - a moment to see her totally taken by surprise. Of course I know who she is! I was little more than fourteen when she left Great Forks, but...


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Since this is a direct challenge to Bladeshine's Motivation and Intimacies, I will roll my Valor:


9 1 7 5, 2 successes


Bladeshine spends 1 Willpower to ignore the compulsion to eat Blossom's face and adds 1 to her Limit Break


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She quickly regained control, and smiled at the priestess: "Honest Blossom, who has not graced with her presence my home of Great Forks since... Almost five years now? I reckon what happened back then would have somewhat... influenced your views on the religious life, but that's something we can talk about later".


Her narrowed eyes, fixed in Blossom's' told an entirely different story however. Volumes of speech she would not dare to bring out in this particular situation - but maybe later...
 
Honest Blossom's lips twisted into something which might have been mistaken for a smile. "I broke my religious vows by eating meat, I have lived as a grifter for the past few years, and I would have been hung for fraud by the machinations of the servants of the Mask of Winters had not the Unconquered Sun Chosen me with these words: 'You have lived a lie; now know the truth: I am the Unconquered Sun, and once, I looked away from Creation in anger as you turned your gaze away from righteousness in anger. Never again. You have refused to be a hypocrite at the end of your life, so I deliver your life and this charge to you: the truth lies in life, not death, and you must embrace the reputation you have created. So I give you the power to be My priestess.'"


Vivid blue eyes swept across the other Solars and the stranger Exalt. "I have been a breaker of oaths and a grifter, but the Unconquered Sun has seen something in me to save me for the revelation that truth lies in life, not death. I seek merely to be worthy of the reputation as a holy woman I created, and to deny the Mask of Winters any power in Creation."


She returned her gaze to Bladeshine. "I don't seek cults or power, Shine of the Blade of Tomorrow. But it's fairly bloody obvious we have to work together as Solars - and while I personally think you're a spoilt little bitch who adores being noticed, I think it is better we get out our differences now before they threaten our future."


---


02/10/2008 07:26:08 - Honest Blossom


Rolled Dice: 7


Target Number: 7


Number of Successes: 4


Name of the roll: Charisma + Performance, Preaching
 
Lonlely Crane seems sad and sighs;


"Those two used to be like sisters... look at em now..."
 
Jonas


He shook his head and sighed before speaking, "Ladies, if you're done with the pissing contest we have more important things to deal with. And in response to your question, I am Jonas Windson, Dawn of the Unconquered Son. And no, I could care less about him as I just happened to be chosen. I'll leave the preaching and evil glares to the two of you." His words held no malice, nor a attempt to trump either of them. He could care less who "led" and it showed in all that he was.


Looking back to Lonely Crane, "Fate is what it is and not perfect or failsafe either I would think. I plan to watch over these people, and should they or I should die in such a battle then so be it, I will not sit idly by." With that he nodded to them each before turning back to head towards the caravan, preparing mentally for what might be his last battle.
 
Arelean Kethesar


Or much more than sisters...


Wait, what?!


Though, before Arelean could even think twice, the voice that had made the risque comment had already disappeared. Confused, and wondering if he was somehow losing both his sanity and his sense of morals, without any forethought, Arelean decided to be completely stupid. His father had told him on several different occasions that fights between wild beasts seem tame compared to those between women, but Arelean didn't remember that sensible little pointer at that moment. Letting the Essence of his body leak free through his forehead, Arelean stepped in between the priestess and the other Eclipse. Caste mark glowing softly, the Eclipse spread his arms to separate the two squabbling women and gave each a smile.


"Ladies, ladies...," he spoke in a peaceful tone. "This Jonas guy is right. This isn't the time for arguing."


Glancing back to the old man, Arelean continued with a troubled look on his face.


"Now, Lonely Crane, right? You know who we once were, or something like that? What was I like back then? I keep having these strange dreams about a huge stryx, and a woman with feathers in her hair..."
 
Crane mumbles:


"He on the other hand is as stubborn as ever..."


Then he slowly gets up and smiles:


"Though I tried to save your lives by letting you sacrifice those souls, you wouldn't let a few mortals die to help build a better world. This is stupid, and reckless, but your compassion for the weak gives me hope.


Fate is always changing my friends, and by your actions you may change the plan... I believe what I heard tonight comforted me that if you stray from the plan, it will be for good... that is if you survive whatever fate has plan for this caravan.


Oh and about how things were back then, trust me... you don't want to know, it'd give you nightmares for weeks... something are better left in the past. All that matters now is the future."
 
Jonas


He waves off the old man and then yells back over his shoulder, "Some things never change eh old man?" in response to the mumbled words he heard so well.
 
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