Exalted 3rd: To Wound the Autumnal City

[Grey]

Radiant Shine





Shine pauses. He watches. He inclines his head ever so slightly toward his companion.


"Is this known to you, Whisper?" he asks, in a low voice.


I will cure before I kill.


But if I must, I will kill.

 

[Skrakes]

Whisper


She glances back, startled. Best keep her distance... She steps aside, letting Samesh pass.


Edit: "Not known to me, Shine."

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

@Sarky


The family is ill at ease, yet calm in the face of a man shining like the sun. He approaches the wife of the fisherman, gentle as rain. She is shirking the light, but her limbs seem off and her teeth! Fangs like a wolf.

 

[Sarky]

Samesh:


The smile quickly disappeared of Samesh's face as he saw the woman. This couldn't be the work of the plague, could it? What if Echo's Lament had been right about the Wyld being involved? Oh, Unconquered sun watch over us.


Not taking his eyes of the strange woman cowering from the light, he edged along the wall to a better position. "I see the sign of a brother in arms on your brow, healer. I will trust your direction, and not interfere unless you ask for help."

 

[Vanman]

Echo's Lament





Eyes widening in shock, Echo's Lament is, for once, speechless. Two in one day? What can it mean? This can't be coincidence. Can it? The odds here are astronomical… A shake of the head realigns his thoughts and brings him out of his reverie. Then his gaze falls upon the woman cowering in the corner. Echo's Lament stares for several seconds until a second shake of his head allows his brain to function once more.


"I have little skill in the healing arts," says Echo's Lament says to the healer, "but, as my compatriot Samesh says, you are not alone here, brother. It was my music you heard earlier, and I do have some skill with words, with persuading people. Should you need assistance coaxing this poor woman to accept your aid, you need but ask. We are at your disposal, friend.


"We may also have information on this disease. One of my compatriots witnessed another with physical features not unlike this poor woman. Finish your work here and we can speak on this. Once more - should you need any assistance, we are here to help you in any way we can."

 

[JayTee]

Yugo





Nodding at the newly exposed Solar, Yugo watched the woman closely with a fist clenched, ready to spring in to action at the first sign of violence. "Be cautious." He warned. "Whatever beast blood runs through her, we don't know what changes it have on her state of mind."

 

[Grey]

Radiant Shine





Shine is bemused by this confluence.


"Does Fate smile, or smirk, my friends?" He says, then continues toward the woman. "Alas, I may be forced to ask that you hold all present lest anyone come to harm..."


"Be not afraid, good mother..." he extinguishes his mark, so as not to provoke her, and crouches with outstretched hand.

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

@Grey


Ever gently, warily, she'll reach out to you once the light fades. "Help me... I can smell your blood." The children edge toward the door and hug their father.


@Skrakes @Vanman @JayTee @Sarky


"I brought this plague to Manua," Chol begins, hugging his sons close. "The gods were good, mostly. We brushed past the worst of it, but my wife... Look! It's changing her. What manner of madness is this?"

Spoiler

You can make whatever rolls you'd like with medicinal charms to get this ball rolling.

 

[Grey]

Radiant Shine





Disquieted, Shine takes her hand.


"Be calm. Let me check your symptoms."


[dice]17797[/dice]

 

[Vanman]

Echo's Lament





Addressing the man, Echo's Lament pitches his voice in a calming manner. "Let the healer do his work. I am assuming you are the one known as Chol. If anyone can do something for your wife, it is this healer. Rest easy, my friend. This plague is running its course throughout the Old Crown Lands. Why do you think you are the one who brought the plague here? That is much to take on yourself. It is human nature to think oneself responsible for random ills that befall us. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. I say again - why do you think you are the one who brought the plague here?"

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

@Grey


Same disease as in the communal house. There is more. Her flesh is fire, though it seems to bother her little. Elongated canines, misshapen nose. Swelling in the cheeks. It seems the euphoria and fever have mostly subsided. Whatever it is, the sickness urges her bodily change. That is an iron certainty. If it is to be stopped, it needs be stopped now.

 

[Grey]

Radiant Shine





Shine opens his bag and his prepares a series of tinctures and tools.


"It would be polite to turn your backs, or avert your gazes," he says quietly to the room in general.


Mighty Sol, let me now be thy vessel; pour out thy compassion everlasting through mine hands and save this innocent life from the darkness which would claim her.





[dice]17798[/dice]

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

@Vanman





He's startled by the harshness of your voice, the rasp. "I came upon a scene not far up the river here, among a few sunken towers. There's good fishing there and I was there in my boat. They was dead men among the sunken foundations, half bobbing in the water like bloated lilies. An uncommon courage took hold of me, and I looked for survivors. It had been a harsh, bloody thing. I waded in water oily with blood. Silver fish were nibbling at the dead. No survivors...but I must have caught it there."

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

@Grey


Time sluices by. The disease is as if a tangible thing inside of her, a howling, hungry thing. After the diagnosis, it backs into a corner, seemingly aware of your presence. A sharp light ignites behind it and the disease crumbles like a castle made of sand. You feel it begin to break up and lose its grip inside the fisherman's wife. She exhales a red stink into the air tinged with blood. Her teeth return to normal before your eyes. Her breathing mellows.


Yes. Come this time tomorrow, with proper care from her family, she'll be cured.

 

[Grey]

Radiant Shine





Shine stares into her eyes for a long moment, then nods.


"Rest now," he says, softly, and rises.


"I'll treat the boys," he says, joining the group. "But something terrible is afoot in the Crown Lands, and I think medicine will not be its cure."


He pats a firewand on his hip, pointedly.

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

@Grey





The boys, oddly enough, seem to have some fire in them when it comes to overcoming sickness. Either it never wholly took on them or they're of a hale and rare breed. Their father, too, despite his haggard appearance seems to have sweated the disease and beaten it through sheer will.

 

[Sarky]

Samesh:


Samesh realised he'd been holding his breath, and sighed with relief on seeing the woman's bestial features subside. He gave a bow of respect to the healer.


"We met a spirit earlier that said something similar, and that answers might lie in some city in the centre of these lands. And... Does anyone know of the recently dug up grave at the edge of town? Who was buried there, why it was exhumed and the body, I suspect, burned in a pyre north of here?"

 

[Skrakes]

Whisper


Watching Shine at work sometimes reminds her of an artist at play. He elevates healing to something like music...


At the moment, though, she feels trapped. She recalls a play she once saw, as a unit of Metropolitans moved through a western kingdom. Some players staged a play: a farce, wherein a pious Immaculate must resist temptation from Anathema who lurk in every corner. First his young ward was Anathema. Then, the monks at his monastery. Then, every soldier in the Wyld Hunt he summoned to face them -- all latent anathema. What had been a mockery of paranoid priests is somewhat less funny when it actually happens to you.


"...what are the odds, Shine?" she murmurs.

 

[Vanman]

Echo's Lament





Echo's Lament shakes his head and tries to take the most abrasive qualities of his voice down as much as he can. "Perhaps you caught it there. Perhaps you caught it elsewhere. This plague is a tricky one, my friend, and I do not believe the course it runs is natural. When magic is involved, the normal rules do not apply. But we are fortunate to have a healer of such high esteem - and of such high skill - present to attend to your wife. It appears your wife is on the road to recovery, thanks to this man's skill. Be with your wife, good sir. She will need you as she walks her road to recovery. Do not blame yourself, for no one benefits in this. Be well. Be strong. For yourself and for each other."


With that, the musician separates himself from the family and approaches the healer. "You have done wondrous work here, brother. But you are correct in that something terrible is afoot. Can you tell me if this disease is magical in nature? I have some information, scant as it may be, as to its origin. I also have a place to begin our search if you believe medicine will not be the plague's cure. But first things first. Names. Mine is Echo's Lament. My large companion," and here he indicates Yugo, "is Yugo Roh and this," indicating Samesh, "is Samesh. Now. Do you have names? I heard the young woman call you something, but I didn't hear it. What shall we call you?"

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

@Sarky


Chol's eyes go out of focus a moment before snapping back to the moment. "Oh, that was the village elderman, Liu. He was the only one in Manua yet to die of the plague, as far as I know." He looks at you oddly, "He was exhumed? By whom?"

 

[Sarky]

Samesh:


"I don't know, not yet anyway. From the tracks, it looked like a group of men dug up the grave last night or the night before, and left on the road. Echo's Lament here talked to a spirit who claimed the body was taken north to be burned. And Yugo just came from that direction and witnessed a pyre of burned bodies."


"Hmm, I remember this morning someone mentioned a mercenary group calling themselves Martyrs, from what I remember of the gossip at my last stop they had recently 'cleansed' a village, and..." Samesh glanced at Chol's sleeping wife, "... they claimed to be hunting, um, beasts. From what the villagers told me they weren't to be trusted, but I'll bet they know a bit more about what's going on."

 

[Vanman]

Echo's Lament





"Perhaps," Echo's Lament says, looking at the non-family members in the hut, "it's time we allow the family time to themselves. I realize you still have work to do, friend healer, but perhaps you can take a break and we can speak outside. It seems we may have much to discuss, and doing it whilst disturbing Chol and his family does not seem the most prudent course of action. And I'd still like to learn your names. What say you?"

 

[Grey]

Radiant Shine


Shine offers Whisper a mild shrug, pointing down with his hand at his side. Low odds.


He bows politely to the musician - Echo's Lament? - and nods.


"Let us indeed speak outside. This sickness is certainly a thing of magic, and wicked purpose," he says, softly.


His eyes brighten as he gestures to the door. "Perhaps we might share tea before moving on."

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

@Grey @Sarky @Vanman @JayTee @Skrakes


Despite Manua only being a modest village floating here in the reeds, there is in fact a small teahouse. A heart of community in any village, this one is quiet and bereft for obvious reasons. A trio of older men are playing Go on an ancient board. The rice paper walls are thin, but offer shade and are steeped in the rich scent of green tea, blocking out the stench of civilization and bogs.

 

[Skrakes]

Whisper


Whisper walks alongside Shine, trying to calculate how to play this. In many ways, she is stunned. If the City chooses them, then why these apostates? Is it a sign of displeasure?


Clearly, the city must be displeased with the schism. All the better to resolve it quickly.


When they are seated, she finally introduces herself. "Greetings, to all of you. I am simply called Whisper, and like you, I was chosen. It is a pleasure."