Trial by Fire - IC Thread

[D. Rex]

"Indeed. You did right by us. You could have left us stranded at Sijan. But you didn't." Bard said to the captain.

"I meant what I said too. If you do get questioned, put the blame on us. Turn us in, even, if it will make the heat go down. Trust me, I understand the situation you are in. Besides, we had to disembark anyway."

As he spoke, Bard took a bag of jade and plopped it on the desk with a satisfying jingle. "But that doesnt mean we can't say friends. For you and your crew to enjoy. And maybe we will work together again if things calm down and we are ever in need of a reliable ship."

 

[jaydude]

She awakens bleary eyed and exhausted as they pull into port at 11, following Kuaidao into town in a drowsy haze until the excitement of visiting somewhere new snaps her awake. She could plan a northern expedition in her sleep, but given the way their last foray into town went she isn't letting Kuaidao out of her sight, nor missing an opportunity to explore the market.

"I think you might be overreacting just a tiny bit." Kuaidao would say to Maja with a hint of amusement when he became aware of how insistent she was about keeping a close eye on him. "I can take care of myself, same as you. And yes, the Wyld Hunt are still going to be looking for us, but by the time they come here, we'll likely be long gone."

He would then smile and hold out his hand for her to take as they walked side by side. "Still, if you are going to accompany me like this, then perhaps..."

The Dawn Caste couldn't deny his growing attraction to the woman. Besides the fact that she was amazingly, abnormally beautiful, there was something he found endearing about her protectiveness towards him.

Spoiler: OOC

Kuaidao's Minor Tie towards Maja is changed to one of Attraction.

 

[Random Word]

Maja grasps the proffered hand and squeezes gently, favouring Kuaidao with a radiant smile that rivals the dawn. She notices the part of her she's come to think of as the source of her power is almost, well, she's not entirely sure what to call it but it's almost singing and she can't help but think it's as ecstatic about this turn of events as she is. That's weird but considering its implications is way less exciting than just enjoying this moment. It takes a small force of will not to join it in song, but she's no Bard and she's certain that would be a mistake.

"Famous last words if I ever heard them," she laughs, preening as Kuaidao equates his ability to defend himself with hers. "Even you must be leery of taking on ten of them alone, and Melinda's gift aside two months of them showing up absolutely everywhere I go bred instincts that are hard to deny. I'll believe they aren't here when we're safely out of town. Until then, you'll just have to suffer my company."

 

[jaydude]

"I think that if ten trained Dragon-blooded got the jump on me, I'd be stuffed with or without your help. Not that I mind having you around, of course." replied Kuaidao, continuing to smile at her.

"Can't really say I had a similar experience to you, though." he added. " I left the Haslanti League soon after I found out that the Wyld Hunt were onto me, and while we were separated from each other, I was always on the move if I could help it, trying to stay ahead of the Dragon-blooded. And I'd say it worked, because I saw very few signs of the Wyld Hunt until Melinda bought us all together."

 

[Sherwood]

With the party moving quickly through the town, everyone is able to get the cold weather supplies that you'll need on your way to the valley where the cache is located. This time, there are no problems in town, and so far, the Dynasts are far behind you.

Thallus is able to find a small hall of records (the closest thing to a library that Jaffa has), and after a bit of searching, you find the following snippit of information about Wangler's Knob.

Founded three centuries ago, Wangler's Knob is one of the many independent settlements that dot the far north. The town draws its name from its founder, Myan Wangler, and the wide hill it sits upon, which arcs, wavelike, over the steam covered Dragon's Breath Lake below, ending not in a peak but a rounded, rocky knob.
Myan Wangler was a trapper and trader dealing with the barbarian tribes of the Far North, and the Knob began as little more than a stockaded trading post. Over the centuries, the Wangler clan multiplied, and others began to filter in, fleeing the disease, strife and oppression of more settled lands. Due to the town's two most important features, Dragon's Breath Lake and the settlement's almost supernatural peace, the Knob has continued to grow steadily and by the current day, sports a population in excess of 10,000, mostly farmers, craftsmen and trappers.

 

[jaydude]

"Well, I'm ready to head back to Melinda." Kuaidao would say to Maja and anyone else accompanying the two, once they had all gotten their gear and provisions. "Let's go; the sooner we get out of here, the better."

He still remembered what Maja had said to him just now.

 

[Sherwood]

She turns to Drommond when he gives his excuse. She locks eyes with him, and says with much ceremony "Do not demean yourself for putting the lives of your men first. In fact, it might have saved our lives in turn when you agreed to take us from Sijan despite the danger to yourself. For this, i would like to propose you a boon from my own magic. If you accept, i would grant you physical changes that will be a benefit for your life on the river. You will no longer be human, but something more. What say you?"

Dromond gives a little chuckle. "Some would say that I am hardly 'human' now, ever since I received my Exaltation as a Dragon Blood. As one of the Children of Danaa’d, I am already at home in the water. But I would be a bad host and poor friend if I were to turn down your kind offer, assuming it is something that will work on a fellow Exalt."

"Indeed. You did right by us. You could have left us stranded at Sijan. But you didn't." Bard said to the captain.

"I meant what I said too. If you do get questioned, put the blame on us. Turn us in, even, if it will make the heat go down. Trust me, I understand the situation you are in. Besides, we had to disembark anyway."

As he spoke, Bard took a bag of jade and plopped it on the desk with a satisfying jingle. "But that doesnt mean we can't say friends. For you and your crew to enjoy. And maybe we will work together again if things calm down and we are ever in need of a reliable ship."

The captain looks over at Bard and smiles. "Jade always speaks my language, and it is very much appreciated. I will keep my eyes open for you as I ply the river trade, and if you ever are in need of a ride, let me know."

 

[HumanPlus]

Rivers nods solemnly "Alright then. And worry not, friend Drommond, it will work".

She holds a hand on his shoulder and gestures for the huge man to kneel down. When he does, she reaches into her robes and takes out a bronze dagger with a carved ivory hilt. "You have done us a service, Drommond of the Dragons' Chosen, and none can say that the Omen Serpent doesn't pay her debts". She holds out her left arm, takes a small bracing breath, and sinks the dagger into her bicep so her caustic dark purple blood begins to flow.
"You may be powerful indeed, being home on land as well as in the seas. Yet there is still a world i can grant you, friend". As the blood flows down her arm, it changes hue. The poisonous liquid that flow through her veins turns to the dark red of healthy lifeblood and begins glowing faintly with power as it passes the thresholds of her tattoos. She stows her bloodied knife and uses her unharmed arm to tilt his head so she can let drops of blood drip from her fingers and onto his lips. Then with solemn ritualistic silence she brings a bloody finger over his eyelids, and when he opens them again the irises has expanded to cover the whole eye in a visibly animalistic fashion. She paints a bloody symbol on his brow and fine white feathers spread in an intricate pattern over his bald head and down his neck under his shirt. She takes her knife again and cut open the back of his shirt where a pair of massive white-gray wings with black tips spread out and stretches toward the sky. the pattern of small white feathers can be seen spreading down his arms, and his feet extends from his shoes turning into the digitrade orange webbed claws of a hunting waterfowl.

"Now rise Beastkin Chosen of the Seas and Rivers, and know that you bear the marks that will tell any who bear tattoos like mine that you are a friend". Rivers says with a smile, holding a hand over her wound to staunch the blood flowing from her arm.

 

[Sherwood]

Dromond slowly stands up, looking a bit shaken. "That. Felt. Very strange." He looks over his shoulder at the newly sprouted wings with an astonished expression on his face. "Wings?!? I. Have. Wings! By the Empress' thong undies, this is incredible! Does this mean I can fly?"

 

[Psychie]

Spider is off to one side, silently watching her fellow Lunar at work, calmly drinking from a mug. When the transformation takes place, she is not overly surprised, knowing that the power of Essence is great. What does shock her is the reference to the Empress' underclothes. She nearly spits out the mouthful of beer that she was about to swallow, trying not to choke. "Oh, damn! You didn't just say what I thought you said! That is a new one for me."

 

[HumanPlus]

Rivers grins and gives off a chuckle. "only one way to find out, i believe" she says and holds her arm out to the air in a gesture that dares him to try

She glances over to Spider with a slight annoyance. She's working miracles here and her new companion is more impressed with learning a new swear from a sailor?

Spoiler: OOC

I used Sharing Luna's Gift to grant fully functional wings and webbed feet that gives an extra dice to movement underwater, as well as some cosmetic changes

Sharing Luna's Gift
Cost: 3m, 1lhl; Mins: Intelligence 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Flesh-Sculpting Art
The Lunar shares her protean Essence with another, anointing him with her sacred blood. She grants a willing character up to five dots of mutations reflecting an animal whose shape she possesses. The beneficiary need not be human, but must be living. Player characters incur experience debt; Storyteller characters can only benefit from this Charm once per story.
This Charm’s health level cost is waived if the Lunar grants herself mutations.

 

[Sherwood]

Dromond slips out of the rest of his ruined shirt and stretches out his wings as the crew stops what they are doing to take a look at what is going on. With a silly grin on his face, he jumps up into the air with a powerful flap of his wings . . . and promptly spins out of control and slams into the mast of the ship! Dropping down in an ungraceful flop, the dazed Dragon Blood shakes his head and laughs. "Damn. Its not as easy as I thought it would be. I need some more practice at this flying thing."

After several more unsuccessful attempts to get airborne, he actually manages to get into the air for a short flight around the ship before landing on the deck once more, his breath puffing in and out from the exertion. He turns to look at Rivers and says, "Dear lady, I cannot thank you enough for this gift. Well, actually, I think I might be able to give you something in return." Dromond goes into his cabin and comes back out with a metal disk, and presents it to Rivers. "This is my Guild seal. It was given to me many years ago, and now, I give it to you. With this, you can show that you have the favor of me as a member of the Guild, and can get preferential treatment from other Guild members, or you can ask them to get word to me and I'll come with my ship any time the bunch of you need it."

 

[Psychie]

When Dromond slams into the mast, Spider quickly moves to his side to see if he is injured, but stops as the changed man begins to laugh. "At least you have kept your sense of humor!"

When he goes around the ship for the first time, she cheers and claps for him, knowing how fun it is to be able to take to the sky like that. "Well done! With a bit more work, soon you'll be swooping and doing loops! Very nice!" Then, she turns more sedate when he takes out the metal disk. "Thank you, captain! This is truly a wonderful gift, and I look forward to seeing you again. In this Age, having friends in many places cannot be a bad thing."

 

[D. Rex]

The Emresses thong undies. He imagined she was pretty enough that such a thing was a pleasant thing to image. He added his laugh to Spiders at the crude saying.

Bard watched him attemp to fly with a smile, and when all was said and done, and the captains gifted imparted. Bard slapped him on the back. "Waterfowl. Practical and majestic. Though I do say there might be one more part of yourself you wish to check... in case that got affected too." Bard said with a mighty guffaw as he walked towards the gangplank.

"May we meet again, Captain. And may both the Sun and Moon always be on your side."

"Spider, Rivers, let us leave the Captain in peace. We must rejoin the others, before Maja's heart eats poor Kuidao and Thallus barricades himself in a library. And Melinda... well. No clue where she went. But we do have preparations of our own to make, just as Drommond has preparations to make to head back south."

 

[HumanPlus]

"Indeed, i could not have said that better myself. I do hope we meet again one day" She says, accepting the Guild marker.

She gives a quick nod to Bard "Let's do so. We will need to gather some provisions for the journey ahead" she says and turns to walk towards the town with her tattoos fading out of sight and procures a rag to wipe off the remains of her bloody ritual.

 

[Sherwood]

As the day goes by, the various members of the Circle are able to reunite once more with a decent amount of food, water and cold weather gear to get by - at least for a while. Once you actually get to Wangler's Knob you can reassess your supplies and make any additions that are needed. One thing that you are keenly aware is that you are not the only people that have heard the stories of First Age artifacts being found up north in Wangler's Knob, and others have already passed on through on their way to find their fortune. You will have plenty of company searching for this treasure.

Checking the time, you see that you have a few hours of daylight left before dark. Do you decide to stay in Jaffa for the night, or do you set out in Melinda's whirlwind to get as far as you can before it is too dark to see the road?

 

[D. Rex]

"The sooner the better." Bard said, bundled up well for the cold already. He was well more suited for a tropical climate than this. "We are in a race to get there before the Wyld hunt. But also there is no doubt forces will be sent after us after what happened in Sijan. Another day gives them time to catch up."

 

[Psychie]

Spider looks over at Melinda and says, "I agree with Bard. We should get moving as soon as possible, and put as many miles behind us as we can before we stop for the night. Do you have any issues with the amount of supplies we are bringing along? I can turn into a smaller form if that will make any difference."

 

[D. Rex]

"I can stuff the inside of the body of my lute with rags and fluff. Should keep you warm and secure inside there while being buffeted by northern winds." He offered. "Unless you think being stuffed down my shirt would be something you prefer." He joked.

 

[Psychie]

Spider makes a face. "Down your shirt? And deal with your body odor? No thank you. I'll take my chances in your lute, no offense." He may be her Solar, but that doesn't mean she can't give him a bit of grief every now and then.

 

[D. Rex]

Bard made a face of feigned indignation. Though was obviously amused. "I shall have you know that you dont smell any better." He retorted."So try not to stink up my lute."

 

[jaydude]

Kuaidao spared both Bard and Spider a chuckle for their antics. "I also agree that we should get out of here as quickly as we can, though I'd prefer we use the spell somewhere outside of this town. A group of six flying off in a suddenly-appearing tornado is going to be a memorable sight for anyone questioned by the Wyld Hunt."

 

[D. Rex]

Bard shrugged. "The heat is already on us, and it won't take a genius for them to realize where we are already heading. But it would at least not draw the eyes of any dragon bloods that might already be here." He said in agreement.

 

[Sherwood]

After a few miles of travel out of town, Melinda calls a stop and has everyone gather around her. She looks to the Lunars of the group, saying, "If you wish to do so, now is the time to take on smaller forms before I cast the spell. As for the rest of you, just give me a moment to gather the needed energies to make the spell work."

She waits long enough for everyone to take on whatever forms you wish for traveling, then with a nod, she begins to shape the surrounding Essence into her spell. It does not take long for the whirlwind to take shape around you, and soon after you are all lifted up and whisked away in the heart of the small tornado, traveling at nearly 100 miles per hour!

That first night, you manage to put several hundred miles behind you as the Circle makes their way north towards Wangler's Knob. As you travel, Melinda doesn't talk very much, since she is focused on not running the whirlwind into something and causing an unpleasant crash. When it finally get too dark for her to be able to safely see, she eases back on the speed and settles down, allowing the magic to come to an end. With a satisfied look, the Sidereal says, "There now. We've managed to put quite a bit of distance behind us and the Wyld Hunt, and come morning, we'll make our lead on them even greater. Lets find a place to settle in for the night and get some rest. I'd like to be on our way again come first light."


This goes on for several days, moving you ever closer to your destination at a rapid pace. There is, at least for now, no signs of the Hunt coming along behind you. The temperature is dropping, and soon you come to the snow line, making all of you glad that you took the time to get some good furs and other cold weather gear in Jaffa. Finally, as you top the rise, you can see off in the distance the glimmering sunlight shining off of Dragon's Breath Lake, and sitting next to it is the trading community of Wangler's Knob.

The town itself is a small community, surrounded by a circular palisade that measures about a mile in diameter, with ever increasingly impressive buildings the closer to the center of the town you get. Right now, you can see a roughshod tent city has sprouted up around Wangler's Knob, showing you that the word of the potential riches has spread wide across the area, and everyone that could has dropped everything to make their way here.



As of now, you are still a few miles away from the town to be able to make your approach without alerting everyone to the presence of Exalts in the area. Do you go to Wangler's Knob, or try and bypass it?

 

[Random Word]

Maja's expression sours, "How about I just fly above the tornado? I can't quite keep up with you on flat ground, but I know where I'm going and I don't have to worry about intervening terrain. I'll be able to find your camp each night."

Maja spends her time practicing flight and hunting, making up for any lost time by flying at night. She can fly at full speed tirelessly for days, so while she can only fly about 3/4s the speed of the tornado she makes up for it in endurance.

Upon reaching Wangler's Knob in her snowy owl form she settles in the high branches of a tall tree at the crest of a nearby hill and peers over the walls to study the town and surrounding encampment. She glances down at those assembled below and points a decisive wing at the town, indicating her vote to go explore.