Exalted 3rd: To Wound the Autumnal City

Whisper


@Grey


"I will return shortly, sir." Whisper makes good time back to Radiant Shine. "Chol wants you to come to him. Seems his wife has become sensitive to the light, and cannot leave the hovel. Except..." She glances aside. "The place smelled foul. It felt off. I will go with you, in case something should happen.
 
Yugo





"I'm afraid I don't have much of an answer for you. I came across a pile of burning bodies recently, which prompted me to investigate the cause. After asking around and getting directions, I encountered you." Yugo said, giving as much detail as he could. "My name, however, is Yugo Roh. By what name my I address you and your companion?" He asked.
 
Echo's Lament





"As I said when I first spoke, my name is Echo's Lament. My companion's name is Samesh. It is very nice to meet you, Yugo" The voice is harsh but the words are practiced and roll off the tongue effortlessly. "You say the bodies were burned. Were they totally incinerated? Was anything left of any of the bodies that might presage ritual?"
 
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Yugo





"No, it appeared to be more of a hurried pyre than any form of ritual." Yugo paused for a moment, thinking back. "However, one of the bodies was... strange. More beast than man." He said, detailing the claw-fingernails, abundance of hair and elongated limbs. "I cannot say if it was the natural state of the creature, or perhaps caused by this plague. Do you perhaps have any insight?"


 
Samesh:


"I'd heard some folks this morning talking about a mercenary group that claimed to be hunting beasts, although they reckoned it was a front for criminality. I suppose it might be beastmen, but raiding parties leave big tracks, and often witnesses. Seems unlikely. Whatever it is, it's been kept quiet.


What an odd series of events.These Interesting Times we live in are becoming positively *Fascinating*."
 
Echo's Lament





A grimace crosses Echo's Lament's face. "Insight? Hardly. A theory, perhaps, but the clues do little to support my conjectures. I have a...source...that says this plague that vexes this area is both elder and comes from without. It is also not the first time it has come. The men who took the body took it for a purpose. My hypothesis is this disease is not a natural thing, that it is being artificially manipulated. I also believe these men used this body to propagate the blackwater. But. Again. I have no proof. Only theory."


The musician's brow furrows once again, and a frown pulls the edges of his mouth toward the ground. "Comes from without. Three possibilities come to mind when that word is used - the Underworld, Malfeas...and the Wyld. These symptoms seem to have little to do with either the Underworld or Malfeas. The Wyld, however...a disease that causes agony and euphoria? Doesn't that sound just like the Wyld?


"Furthermore," Echo's Lament continues, his ruined voice adding a haunting quality to the grave sight, "this creature with sharpened nails and long hair could be a wyldman - giving further credence to the theory that this originates from the Wyld. Once more, though, this is only supposition." Another pause. "Perhaps supposition is what we need. Nothing else seems to be working. If this is a working of the Wyld, then our task changes. Significantly."


Echo's Lament shakes his head and gives a rueful smile. "First things first, though. Before we go haring off after wyld theories, we should garner some sort of cogent evidence to support such a theory. We are headed to Manua, Yugo. You are most welcome to join us, if your intent is to investigate these strange goings on. We should ask after the corpse's name in life. I know it has little bearing on the investigation itself, but respect should be paid to the dead, and calling it corpse and dead body shows little of that. Now. If you gentlemen will excuse me for a moment, I have another discussion to finish." With that, Echo's Lament walks over near the ditch and speaks in a low voice.

When the musician is clear of his two companions, he speaks to Elegant Shroud. "You say you have business here, Elegant Shroud. Is it anything for which I can provide assistance? You have aided me in my queries, I think it only proper that I return the favor. Should you need such facilitation, please, you need but ask."
 
Echo's Lament




"Are the awakening stones something to do with the plague? Or, more to the point, the distributors of the plague? Are Dragon-Blooded headed this way? Or is there some other meaning to the words 'The very stones are awakening'?"
 
Yugo





His mind flashing back to his abandoned kingdom, Yugo considered Echo's offer before accepting. "It would be good to have company. A plague of unknown origin must be stopped, and one person can only do so much." He said.
 
Samesh:


"Much appreciated, Yugo, many hands make light work, or so said my old sifu. He did have 6 arms, mind you."


"Right, I was going to ask around about the owner of the grave there, maybe see if the local healer knew any more about it. Maybe they even saw this creature you found in the pyre. Your help would be welcome."

Looking to ask the locals about the grave, if anything strange was witnessed, and if they could point me to a healer.
 
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Radiant Shine





Shine wipes his hands clean in a bowl, flicks his moustaches, and follows Whisper with his hands in his sleeves.


"I have a singular presentiment of doom, Whisper."
 
@Vanman


"You are a stranger to this land. Look to the desolate ruin at the very heart of the Old Crown." The ghost's face grows long and white. "The fire of the Dragons is of little worry. Go."
 
@Skrakes @Grey


Winding back along the floating track. The slide in the door opens and Chol looks out. "Oh, you again." He glances at Shine. "Who are you, sir?" Hot stink wafts out--the stink of sickness long kept in. "My boys...I believe them to be past the worst of it."
 
@Sarky @JayTee


Answers come easily enough: everyone simply points you to the communal house sitting at the heart of the village. A grand old building just sitting on its stilts. Inside, a decent number of folks in crudely curtained off wards with elders going here and there, faces wrapped in rags. A small group are clustered around one patient, tending their fever and feeding them. The others, occluded by the sheets, seem to be in the utter throes of the plague, raving or weeping.
 
Echo's Lament





Running to catch up with Yugo and Samesh, Echo's Lament falls in step beside them. It is at that point that he begins to speak. "It seems there's a desolate ruin at the heart of the Old Crown Lands that may yet yield some answers to our questions. This information was accompanied by the rather cryptic words 'The very stones are awakening.' It's not much, I agree, but it's something. I say we finish our business in town and then make our way to the center of the Old Crown Lands. Unless, of course, anyone else has a different idea."
 
Yugo





Seeing the men sick with plague, Yugo felt himself torn in two directions. He would dearly love to stay and help those who were afflicted, but lacking any medical skill, he likely would be in the way than of any use. No, better to find answers and the source of this plague, and cut it off.


"While questioning for the owner of the grave, we should also look in to these ruins." He said. "Any information is better than the scant few facts we have now."
 
Radiant Shine





"I am a simple doctor, Chol-san," he says, "May we come in, or at least talk awhile?"
 
@Grey @Skrakes


Hesitance. "You come of your own free will and what you bring out with you is upon your head." The slide shuts and muffled heavy sound comes from behind the door. Slowly, it opens along with a fresh, stinking wave of disease and scaled fish. A moan of distress comes from a shadowed corner on the far side of the hut. "Close...close the door, Chol... Please."


Inside, it appears much as any poor fisherman's hut. Cots for the family, fishing nets and hooks and harpoons latched to the ceiling, little trinkets and pottery. The children look haggard as feral tribesmen, but they smile at seeing you. Washing themselves and setting bandages into a pot for boiling.


Chol himself looks like a wraith. "The disease does much to the body as to the soul." He's gaunt, sunken cheeked. "My wife..."


You see her, covered in blankets and huddled on straw cot in the darkest corner of the hut. Her eyes are occluded by bandages the color of rust. "Who... Who is here? Chol?" She asks, hitching in panic.
 
Echo's Lament





Echo's Lament nods as Yugo speaks, then addresses his two companions after large man finishes. "We have some bearing, at least, when considering the ruins. They're at the center of the Old Crown Lands. But Yugo's suggestion of asking for directions seems a wise one. The center could be a vast space, not to mention nebulous. A clear trajectory would do much in aiding us in our objective. Now. What say we find this healer purported to be in town? He may be able to give us a name for our disappearing corpse."
 
@Sarky @JayTee @Vanman





The questions only needs be few and to only a handful before answers appear, "Master Radiant Shine is attending to Chol and his family on the river side of Manua. Follow the path around the sunken square, good masters."
 
Echo's Lament





With a small smile and a tilt of his head, the musician gestures to Yugo and Samesh to follow the route they've been given. The hut, when it comes into view, is what the musician expected. Small, bare, serviceable. It's when they get close to the dwelling that the true horror is made evident. "By the Unconquered Sun," whispers Echo's Lament, "if that stench is indicative of the virulence of this disease, the Old Crown Lands are, indeed, facing an epidemic. This healer has his work cut out for him, without a doubt. Well, while he tends to their physical needs, the least I can do is hope to assuage any fears they may have."


Echo's Lament pulls Tempestuous Harmony from his back and positions himself by the doorway, so that the music will be easily heard but he will not block any light the healer may need to accomplish his task. The tune he plays is both soothing and inspiring, bringing to mind the implacability of a river - one that flows serenely yet has the fortitude to wear down rocks and mountains. He draws strength from the people and land around him, those who work every day to make a living, the land that provides that living, and he infuses the song with that strength. Echo's Lament puts some of his own strength into the song, passing along the strength and power of the Unconquered Sun. If this disease is supernatural in origin, then Echo's Lament is determined to counter that puissance with the vigor of the Essence given to him. With this strength, the healer will be undeterred. With this strength, the patients will refuse to cede to despair. With this strength, both healer and patient will persevere. Much like the patron deity who burns bright every day, healer and patient will, through their own struggle, remain unconquered.

I am looking to instill a Minor Intimacy of "I will not allow this disease to defeat me." I am spending 5m of Personal to invoke Harmonious Presence Meditation, giving me three bonus dicen for my roll, as well as reduce the cost of all social influence charms by one mote, to a minimum of one. I am invoking Masterful Performance Exercise, spending 1 Peripheral mote, as well as Perfect Harmony Technique for 1m of Peripheral. I am also spending 2m for 2 dicen using Excellent Solar Performance.


[dice]17691[/dice]


I reroll the two ones:


[dice]17692[/dice]


[dice]17693[/dice]


So that's a total of 12 successes (I double nines and I get one success).


Essence wise, this leaves me with 3 Personal and 23 Peripheral.
 
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Radiant Shine





Shine's moustaches quiver as his sniffs the rank air, stepping deeper into the hut with his bag of tools and unguents open in his hands.


The golden mark on his forehead flares and softly illumines the room as he approaches Chol's wife with a mounting dread of what he will find.


He wonders whence comes the sweet music that buoys his spirit and lays a cool hand upon his trepidation, but there will be time to question that later.


For now, there is healing to be done, or infection to burn.


"Do not be afraid, good mother. I am a traveling doctor, come to give you aid..."
 
@Vanman @JayTee @Sarky @Skrakes


The song seems to stir the spirits of the little fishing enclave, you'll notice many of the fishwives and fishermen gathering on the jetty behind you, looking for the source of the music. Inside the house, the husband, Chol, and his sons seem calmer, a little more at ease with themselves. This can be beaten. Resolution appears on Chol's face. They are of one uplifted spirit now in the face of the disease. How effective that shall be, remains to be seen.


However, each of you notice the inside of the hut light up, sunlight spilling forth from the healer's forehead as he approaches the sick.


@Grey


She skitters back into the corner like an animal, covering her eyes further, afraid of the light. Her mouth yawns open in silent horror. Her canines glitter like needles in your light. "Away...away..."
 
Whisper


A premonition of disaster washes over her. "Shine..." she murmurs, stepping into the hovel after him. The woman's movements are barely human. Her hand goes inside her coat, onto the blade-lash's hilt.
 
Samesh:


"By the... Look Echo, another one!"


Samesh strode into the hut, eager to meet another of his fellow Chosen.
 
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