Act 1 Scene 3: Shadow on the Sun [Alliance of the Renewal]

The captain had, with an effort been ignoring the zenith, confused why he would continue his talk of assaults on the guild when there were potentially exalted threats, in a ship no less, to be dealt with. He had a bit of a grin on, it had been a while since he had had to deal with a naval threat, one of the few downsides to takig his ship overland.......


Only after a moment did he suddenly note the mutants absence as her form neared the barge with surprising speed...... "What's she doing.....?" He asked only a moment later doing a double take as the others words struck him....."Wait, you know them...?" He asks of the griffon rider...
 
Maressa's eyes widened as she watched the Wyld mutant approached the barge. Maren's strong jaw tensed as the two looked at each other. "Meet her," he said tersely and the Night Caste nodded before going to the prow to meet the crimson-skinned creature.


Up close, she was a coffee-haired beauty with bronze skin and bright blue eyes, clad in an iridescent silk sari of pink, scarlet and green over a vivid yellow choli. Her hands rested on her hips, near the two oversized pink silk fans tucked into her waist.


(OOC: 1 mote on Mastery of Small Manners).
 
Crimson Arroyo


Trotting up to just inside of firewand range, Crimson calls out to the woman on the prow, "What's with the Anima on your friend back there? You folks got some sorta problem?"


-----


OOC Note: Incidentally, Crimson is just part of her name, not a descriptor. She is actually pale with freckles.
 
Maressa's eyebrow rose at the mutant's belligerent attitude. "If you haven't noticed, he's a Water Aspect and we're on a barge," she pointed out with a faint smile. "It would be rather natural for a Dragon-Blooded's anima to be going as he uses his Charms, hmm?"


The graceful woman gestured to the white flag flying behind her. "And this means 'peaceful intention' in this part of the world. We might be river pirates, but we're not idiots."


She closed her eyes and an empty golden ring formed on her brow. "I hope you intend to return the sentiment in the spirit of cooperation between *all* Exalted," she added pointedly.
 
Crimson Arroyo


She rolls her eyes at the woman and mutters, "Malfeas, more of them. Did I step into a portion of the Wyld where no one understands subtlety and keeping a low profile or something?" Sighing loudly she says to the woman on the barge, "Well, in that case you mind me asking where you're headed? There's a shadowland hereabouts, so you might wanna be careful is all I'm saying."
 
"We know; this might sound callous, but we were intending to help lay them to rest and take what they no longer need. Better than praying on the living, yes?" Maressa answered urbanely. "We're offering our help in such an endeavour."
 
Crimson Arroyo


"Well, you probably oughta come discuss that on the boat," she says gesturing at the landship, "I'm sure we could use a little extra help. Your Dragon-Blooded friend should stay where he's at, until he can tamp down that anima, leastways."
 
Hiraeth


The not-so-fat Monk sits cross legged on deck of the land ship his eyes are closed and the leather bound bottle sits uncorked on top of his head he has sat like this for hours. Beforehand he was walking the masts and doing a punishing exercise routines.


Over the week of the journey, the not-so-fat Monk's routine has dramatically changed from the one he previously undertook in the caravan prior to his exaltation. He now wakes with morning and trained non stop, when he was not training he sat cross legged in quiet comtemplation.


The evening were lively with him regaling baudy tales of tavern lasses and high born men, or grooms and high ladies, his repertoire of tavern songs and sea shanties was extensive and he always seems to be the centre of any meal turning it with seeming ease into a mini celebration, someones birthday, aniversary, pets birthday, day someone found a lost shoe... any excuse is found for a party. During which the drink never seems to stop flowing from his wine skin, which in all truth it never does.


As the commotion starts around him he flips the bottle into the air catches it in his hand and starts to drink from it.
 
Captain Spider


The captain frowned as he watched the proceedings,wishing he had invested the time to learn to enhance his senses.......Also annoyed at having apparently launched an envoy without wanting to...


He took a calming breath, he was the Captain of the web, but these were passengers, not sailors, and it was foolish to expect a sailor's discipline from them.
 
Moving to the railing, Truth looked attentively at the deliberations in the barge.


OOC activating Keen Hearing and Touch Technique
 
Maressa smiled at the mutant. "My friend is Maren Sidaris; I guess you mightn't have heard of him where you're from, but I wager anybody from these parts will. I will come onboard with a bodyguard and scribe, if you don't mind." She whistled and an average-looking Eastern man came up, followed by a slender woman in neat robes. "Not that it's a sign of no trust... but well, I wouldn't invite you on our ship without a friend or two."
 
After a few minutes, Maressa and her followers came on board of Spider's marvellous ship, introductions were made and Vargas spoke again:


"The Sun God has gathered us here today. And we should honor him by doing our duty as his servants.


Let's go to Balsa and find out what truly happened here.


I will then clean the death taint and reclaim this land from the cold embrace of the dead realms, and when all things return to normal, we shall free those slaves !"


As he spoke the gryffon dived with incredible speed and stopped just a few yards from the ship. Vargas jumped from the ship on his back as if he wore nothing but light clothes.


"I need to see things from up here to see the extent of the damage, I'll be joining you soon brothers and sisters, start your search without me !" and with that he flew up.
 
White Lilly


White Lilly gets her thoughts together, and says "My fellow Solars, let us all go and meet with Iron Crane to convince him to release the slaves, since it's on our way, and then we can move into the city and search for clues as to the source of this blight." As she speaks this, she is movng among them, hoping to try and rally them to these causes, but mainly it's a chance for her to get near Jonas again, and put her hand gently on his shoulder.
 
Triumphant Truth


Truth listens to Lilly's words and replies: "I do not know this Iron Crane, but I am not opposed to freeing the slaves who want to be free, and so will go with you. And this forming shadowland certainly should be investigated thoroughly, and that is an endeavor I wish to aid in." And with that, he follows White Lilly
 
Maressa sighed inwardly as they discussed freeing the slaves. "I hope you have somewhere to put them," she suggested pragmatically. "Of course, we could populate the reclaimed city with them."
 
Crimson Arroyo


Though she initially rolls her eyes a little at the discussion of freeing the slaves, Crimson does eventually chime in, "Ya know, it might be easier to just buy them. If any of you have money that is," she says with a shrug. "I mean, I don't know a lot about running a kingdom, but it seems to me if you start convincing Guild caravan masters to set their slaves free, the Guild won't be sending many more caravans through your kingdom. Reckon it'd be hard to be a prosperous kingdom if you got the Guild and the Realm not liking you..."
 
Triumphant Truth


With a thoughtful look on his face, Truth speaks again "That is a valid point, Crimson. And convincing them to free the slaves would no doubt change nothing in their future behavior, so we would not be doing any difference on a longer scale. However, I think the only ones among us with that kind of funds is Vargas and King Filipo, and I very much doubt Vargas would be willing to actually trade with slavers."
 
"Also the problem with that if his alliance makes a habit of freeing slaves by purchase whenever a caravan goes through then the guild will send more caravans with more slaves through. Eventually they'll run out of space for freed slaves or money. Anyway, let's go find Iron Crane if only because he will be easier to find than Lonely Crane and might point us in the right direction........But that is the man I wish to talk to....." Says the solar sailor.....
 
"There are many things to be considered before making a decision, so let us not do so without having all the relevant information at hand. I am personally very keen on finding out what happened here, and why a shadowland is forming, not to mention who is behind it and with what purpose. The matter of the slaves is important as well, but since they are most likely decently cared for, I feel that it can bear to wait until we camp for the night, whereas important clues are getting fainter in the city while we speak."
 
Captain Spider


The Captain nods...."Fair enough, I'll send some of my men to fine both Iron and Lonely Cranes. We chosen can take a look about the city in the interim.....The restless souls should all be at rest at this point....but it doesn't hurt to make certain....I was injured while the rest of us cleaned them out, but i believe the job was thoroughly done....We'll explore the city now and meet with the Cranes at the camp's center at sundown....Sound Good...?"


He turns and holds an arm out to the elven monkey in the nearby rigging, "Striga, I'd like you to accompany......Your eyes may well come in handy...."
 
Maressa nodded thoughtfully. "I'll come along and let Maren know. This could prove beneficial to us... and I trust you'll remember my help?" She turned and issued a set of instructions to the scribe, who ran off towards the river-pirate's barge.
 
White Lilly


Acceding to the voices of reason from her fellow Solars, White Lilly vows to do all in her power to try and free those slaves when the investigation is over, a flame of passion kindled in her heart.


"Let us get to the city, and find the source of this menace."
 
With a joyful whistle, Striga hopped from rope to rope to land on the shoulder of its solar master, giving his head a warm hug.


"Y'know I like you when you need me !" he said.


A few minutes sailing, and the ship arrives at the gates of Balsa. The smoke of the burning pyres was long gone, but the stench of decaying corpses remained. The mercenaries had been too afraid to enter the city, for fear the exalt hadn't finished wiping the city off of its undead inhabitants, and they apparently felt relief when they saw you coming back, and started to chant and scream, acclamating the heroes returning.


The skies were still grey, and you all could feel something off as soon as you passed the gates, the feeling that the essence of this place had already changed and that it quietly lay between the plans of the dead and the world of the living.


***


For all of those who were here the first time roll intelligence + awareness


the others: perception + awareness


also Striga is a he isn't he ?
 
White Lilly


As White Lilly enters the city she's having a hard time understanding why the mercenaries are afraid. except for the smell of rotting corpses, nothing seems to be out of the ordinary.


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


White Lilly rolled the following in his 6 dice:


6, 6, 2, 5, 3, 5


Using 7 as the target number, the roll resulted in 0 successes.
 
Triumphant Truth


Truth enters the city in all his golden panoply, still keenly aware of his surroundings


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OOC: Activating 2nd Awareness Excellency for 2 motes and Keen Hearing and Touch if it isn't still running (for 2 more motes)


Triumphant Truth rolls 9 dice to Perception+Awareness 7 successes


9,7,6,7,6, 2,3,10,10


plus 1 for excellency and 2 for keen hearing and touch if applicatge, so 8 or 10 suxx
 
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