First Contact

With great care, the warstrider settles onto the airship's deck. As Ash begins unbuckling herself from the interface, she feels a great rush of motonic energy returning to her weary limbs.

This is the first fight she's been in for a long time where she actually had to fire more than one shot, and the hollow space inside of her where her Essence has been drained away feels very strange. If I have the time, I'm going to have to study ways of making my energy consumption more efficient. At least, if the future is filled with undead Exalts and gigantic zombie things.

"OK, Thunder, you know the drill. Warn anybody, living or dead, who touches you to back off -- loudly -- and call me if it looks like somebody or something is trying to climb up to the cockpit." She doubts any of these sad little ghosts has the Essence necessary to pilot a 'strider, but why take a chance?

Letting down a coil of rope from the door of the fuselage, Ash slides down to the deck and goes to find Khutulun and Weiss.
 
Ash finds her two fellow Exalts in the control room of the necro-ship. Looking about, it mechanically matches the design of the Excellent Air Boat that TARU thought it was, but it is made of bone, flesh and Soulsteel. As you enter the room, you see Weiss is still in her Deadly Beastman Form and has her weapon out still, but Khutulun has banished her blade away. They are facing a mortal and two ghosts that are huddled at the far end of the room from them.

Psychie said:
Weiss plants the butt of the Glaive into the deck and looks at the mortal. "Good choice. First off, are there any other Exalts on board? Were any messages sent out to these Deathlords we have been hearing about, telling them of the deaths of the Exalts that came here? Finally, why was this ship sent here?"
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The man shakes his head. "No, all the Exalts on board are now dead. He," nodding at the fallen Dragon Blooded, "was the last of the Exalts here. I am not aware of any messages being sent back to our Master, but I suppose that it is still possible. As far as why we are here, I don't know. That knowledge was kept by our Deathknights, and not shared with the crew."

The Necromancer comes hobbling up to the doorway. "I can answer that. The Walker in Darkness was somehow able to sense a powerful Essence signature out here of a scale that he had thought lost from Creation. We were sent out here to investigate the source. I am not positive as to just what it is, but there is something inside this mountain that has recently been awakened that has drawn the Walker's attention. I don't suppose you know what it is? Would that same Essence source be the reason that so many powerful Exalts are here when there has not been a Celestial Exalt up here for generations?"
 
"We'll consider letting you in on what we know about that later," Khutulun says, shutting down that particular line of inquiry for now. "First, I think you'd better start talking. Standing down in the fight was the correct move, as we've demonstrated, but now you've got to earn your life. Start by telling us just what Deathknights are, what Deathlords are, who in particular the Walker in Darkness and First and Forsaken Lion are, and how badly they're going to take us killing your four former friends."
 
After the conclusion of the battle with the Deathknights, Nagao - who has remained on the ground - proceeds to sweep the area, assisting any of the Metagalapan forces still engaged with enemy combatants, to dispatch them quickly, then moves on to provide medical care to anyone that has been wounded, with potential assistance from any other individual present who is trained in medicine.
 
Ash enters the bridge of the airship, her faded shirt and bare feet making an odd contrast with the halo of light that surrounds her. Immediately, she sees the corpse of the Dragon-Blood lying sprawled on the floor where Weiss and her glaive had left it.

Swiftly, she bows her head and says the Nine Words --

Unceasing, unending, unobstructed,
open, ongoing, incoming,
ever, ever, ever

-- before stretching out her hands towards the body. Though the towering phantom warrior no longer looms overhead, Ash is still engulfed in a brilliant bonfire of Essence, and it leaps from her fingertips to consume the corpse in a conflagration that leaves no scorch marks but only a small pile of gray dust behind.
 
Esbilon said:
"We'll consider letting you in on what we know about that later," Khutulun says, shutting down that particular line of inquiry for now. "First, I think you'd better start talking. Standing down in the fight was the correct move, as we've demonstrated, but now you've got to earn your life. Start by telling us just what Deathknights are, what Deathlords are, who in particular the Walker in Darkness and First and Forsaken Lion are, and how badly they're going to take us killing your four former friends."
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The Necromancer nods and says to herself, "So there is something under the mountain. I wonder what it is?" Then, she looks up to the three Exalts in the room. "Let us first discuss the Deathlords. There are thirteen of them, rulers of the Underworld. Powerful ghosts of the first fallen First Age Solars with all the knowledge of their past lives still intact. Some of them are more powerful than the others, but all are masters of the dead in their realms."

With a deep breath, she continues. "The Walker in Darkness is - was my Master. His cruelty is legendary in the Underworld. Any time I failed in my lessons he would punish me in very creative ways. One was to use my parents as raw materials to make my armor and sword. So I can always have them close to me." She looks sad as her hand idly strokes the breastplate of her armor. "The Deathlords serve the fallen Neverborn as they sleep in the Labyrinth in the heart of the Underworld, and they seek the end of all things living."

"The First and Forsaken Lion is another of the Deathlords. Voice was his servant, along with Ember in the Darkness and Shadow of the Living - the two Exalts that were up on the ship with the bow and cannon. His power is unrivaled in the ranks of the Deathlords, both personal and militarily. His army numbers over a million dead and is growing daily. He only lacks easy access to a shadowland to be able to access Creation with his forces to begin his conquest."

Continuing with her story, she says, "The Deathknights are dark mirrors of the Solar Exalted. Each of the Deathlords has a small group of us serving them, and somehow, they are able to control the recipient of the Abyssal Exaltation to those they choose to receive it. When one of our number falls, the Exalted Shard returns to the possession of the Deathlord that owns it to be placed in another host, so it will be readily apparent that this mission of ours ended in failure when they get them back."

"It happened a few years ago that the Deathlords first got the dark Exaltations of the Deathknights. I was one of the first of Walker in Darkness' Exalts, and he trained me relentlessly in the arts of Necromancy and flesh crafting. In fact, I was the one that made the war beast that you killed, piecing the various bodies together to form the monster." She reaches inside her robes and pulls out a small flask and takes a drink. Putting it back in her pocket, she says, "I have told you much, now would you answer a question for me? Where have you come from? None of the Solars of this Age are as powerful as you are, so it is clear to me that you have been able to avoid the Wyld Hunt for some time to learn to use your gifts and raise your Essence so high."

Ebon_Arbiter said:
After the conclusion of the battle with the Deathknights, Nagao - who has remained on the ground - proceeds to sweep the area, assisting any of the Metagalapan forces still engaged with enemy combatants, to dispatch them quickly, then moves on to provide medical care to anyone that has been wounded, with potential assistance from any other individual present who is trained in medicine.
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As Nagao looks around, you can see that the fighting is over, and the few war ghosts that remain 'alive' are gathered together under the watchful eye of the Exalts of the Slope, just as ordered by the Necromancer. There are a number of wounded, but thanks to Khutulun's training, there are less injured than there would be before her work. It will take you some time to be able to successfully treat the injured, but you are not alone in plying healing skills.
 
Ash glances at her fellow Solar and raises her eyebrows. "I say we should tell her the truth. Let her know that these Deathlords and their henchmen are up against someone with the power to overthrow them."
 
"That's not a decision we can take here and now," Khutulun says, cutting off the line of discussion started by Ash, "we owe it to Nagao if nothing else to hear his input."
 
Weiss decides that there is no longer a need to maintain her Warform, and so she shifts back to her human form and dispels her Glaive. Easy enough to bring it back if needed. She then looks at this Necromancer and can see that she's hurt. "Lets get this boneship down on the ground so we can get Nagao's input in this, and I suggest that you let him look at your injuries. He can help to treat them."
 
The controls of the airship look fairly standard to what you know, even if they are a bit creepy from being made of bone, flesh, and Soulsteel. It doesn't take long to maneuver the ship down to the ground and let the Essence engine power down. With the boarding ramp down, it allows everyone ready access to the vessel.

Searching the ship, you find that the lower deck was used to hold the monster, leaving little room for anything else down there. As for the rest of the ship, it has little in the way of amenities for the crew. It doesn't take long to figure out that since the passengers are all dead, it doesn't need all the usual things in the ship to tend to a living crew.

The Necromancer escorts the remaining ghosts off of the ship and over to the other remaining ghosts that were not destroyed in the fighting. She assures you that they will not cause any trouble so long as she is around.
 
"This Walker in Darkness will also know you've betrayed him," Khutulun muses after some time for thought. "Do you still have friends or family who will suffer for this? And do you know which names any of the Deathlords had in life?" She adds, asking the question that's been most pressing on her mind since the Necromancer started her tale.
 
She looks over at the Solar. "No, after my parents were killed, the rest of my family went into hiding, out of the Shadowland that they used to live in." The Necromancer looks sad for a moment, then puts that away as she continues. "The names that the Deathlords had in life is a closely guarded secret. If someone did know who they were, their name would give a necromancer some power over them. So, despite my best efforts to decipher any clue that might be there, I do not know any of their names. I am sorry."
 
Ash helps pilot the ship to the ground, just enough for her Craft Charms to give her a glimpse of how it was made. What she sees fills her with one part fascination...and four parts disgust.

To Nagao, as he arrives, she mutters: "The sooner we dismantle -- or torch -- this thing, the better."
 
Arynne said:
To Nagao, as he arrives, she mutters: "The sooner we dismantle -- or torch -- this thing, the better."
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Nagao lifts his head and stands up from the wounded people he was tending to, as his companions approach. Wiping his hands, takes a troubled look at the Deathlord's airship and its emanating wrongness, then turns to Ash.

"You seem to be right about that. The essence of Death hangs heavily around it and its presence is ominous and might be disturbing for the local population as well". He pauses for a moment, thinking, then continues.

"However, we should make sure first to inspect it carefully, analyze its construction and maybe make a rough blueprint of it, for future reference in case we need to deal with its kind again in the future. Besides, one might consider the possibility of maintaining it, solely for reconnaisance and inflitration purposes, in case we need to approach the territory of those Deathlords, avoiding scrutiny and attention from their forces. Might serve us adequately in that capacity".

He also turns to the remaining Deathknight, offering to cleanse and dress her wounds, as well as provide any other medical attention necessary for the injuries she sustained during the combat.
 
"I say we leave the airship to Ash's discretion," Khutulun offers and regards her companions, "first, however, I think we need to go somewhere private and have a candid talk about who needs to know what. I have a feeling information and trust are going to be key in the very near future."
 
Weiss nods. "We are rapidly running out of time to make this decision ourselves. Something about the place we were before has garnered the attention of this Deathlord. We may have some . . . mechanical issue to deal with that is making it detectable. In the meantime, should we drop the power to bare minimums once more? We were able to deal with the initial investigators, but now these Deathlords know that something was able to kill off their Exalts and take their ship. The alternative might be fun, though. We were able to hand these Deathknights their asses well enough. What else could we have to face?"
 
A slow smile grows on Khutulun's lips. "I think, perhaps, that we should inform our friends of just what they're dealing with here. And when this Deathlord's next party of miscreants arrive, we show them just what they're dealing with."
 
As the four Exalts are discussing their options, the Necromancer is moving about to gather up the various Soulsteel artifacts from the fallen Deathknights. One item that is immediately disturbing is the sight of the Essence weapon that was being used against Weiss. Instead of a simple concussive cannon, it is a dark parody of the Glorious Solar Cannon made of Soulsteel. A rather disturbing find, since it requires a sizable commitment of materials to be able to make such a weapon.

While all of that is going on, you can see that the local Dragon Blooded have split up, some keeping a close watch on the Necromancer with the rest waiting down at the base of the boarding ramp for you to finish your private meeting.
 
Weiss looks out at the residents of the mountain. "But, with TARU helping out with the teaching machines inside, it will give us a growing cadre of trained crew for Scattered Blossoms. Once everyone is moved inside, we can clear the outer hull and have all of the defenses available to repel other attacks. My only question now is, just how do we go about this? Bring a few people into our confidence at a time, or make a general announcement to the people at large?"
 
"Test the waters with a few first," suggests Ash. "See how they react. And get their input."
 
Khutulun nods in agreement, "some of the terrestrials. The people I've trained who are loyal and skilled."
 
Weiss looks over at the waiting Dragon Blooded. "Vale seems to have a real good connection with her people. Any discussion should include her in the first group. Also, I think that the Necromancer should not be told about the Titan quite yet. Let her prove herself to us first, then we can bring her into the fold."
 
Ash grins slyly. "One question they'll probably want an answer to is the one nobody's asked yet: What are we going to do with all those giant birds?"
 
"We have a few choices: let them sit on the Titan, use one of the landing bays as a new nesting ground, or have ourselves a giant sized chicken cook-off as we teach these guys to fly the interceptors that are still inside the ship." Weiss grins as she offers up her ideas, not being truly serious about killing off the birds - probably.
 
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