Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
Arc 6 Post 12: Tea with the Three
Tea with the Three
2nd of October 2006 A.D.
The lights are low inside the shop and voices lower still, a soft hum of sound from young and old alike local and visitor alike seated around the small tables with flickering paper lanterns at their hearts. In the air you recognize the scent of green tea black... and you think that one is called red though as the steam rises from the cups as if to swath the words of the patrons in a gantlet mist that smooths out the edges of Middle American into something more like the quick tonal syllables of Chinese. Though you catch two distinct streams of meaning which Usum assures you are languages in their own right and not merely dialects it is hard at first to sense the mood of the tea house, it seems like nothing more than an extension of the worry and fear in the streets, but the more you listen the more certain you are that the company you chose is not a welcome one here.
Faces tip away from the door as you walk in, menus are lifted a few inches higher and eyes fall upon the content of their cups with an intensity that not even the, no doubt excellent, service merits. When a little girl asks her mother 'why the lady is dressed funny' she gets such a quelling look as to make one wince.
The server, dressed in very fine looking black and gold leads you towards the back of the building where a discrete door almost blends with the light pinewood of the back-wall. Beyond a short corridor is a darkened room lit only by the lanterns, though these are mental and wood not paper, spilling out whiskers of light onto a trio of faces who are not quite there.
Closest to the door and to the left of both the others is an old man, bald as an egg on top, though more than making up for it with the braided beard and mustache, he makes no bones about his other nature as the tip of his beard is braided with crane feathers. This then is Lán Hè, whose use name means simply 'Blue Crane' eldest Shen in all of Chicago. Though he bids the four of you welcome with all courtesy his smile does not touch his eyes.
In the center of the table sits a young woman in a black turtleneck that seems very Steve Jobs-y an impression helped along by the seeming extraordinary youth of Língguāng whose name means 'Nimble Light'. According to Bùshì Tùzǐ she is a Cloud Butterfly, one who danced among the Mountains of Heaven and whose call is beauty mortal and divine alike, though she had been banished from that realm more than a century ago and send to wander the Dragon Lines eastward over the endless waters of the Pacific until she finds wisdom. She had instead found her way to Chicago where she had grown into a lover of firework displays and airshows, particularly those who show a pilot's daring. She is one of the most invested of the local shen in material existence, spending enough time incarnate to run a small weekend piloting school and mentain her certification up to date. Her manner is less cold and more intrigued, eyes the color of old amber remain fixed upon the point at the center of your forehead where the mark of your power would burn.
Finally to Língguāng's opposite side stands a man in a dark silk suit the likes of which would not be out of place in one of those Italian Mob movies or maybe the Chinese Triad, though both of the assumptions would be just as wrong. Leaping Jack, as his use-name translates, belongs to a web of beings that was old when Han Dynasty was young, he is one of the spider-kin, those who weave the dusk and hide away the siins and embarrassments of dragons. Had he seem one too many of those, you wonder to have ended up in Chicago rather than remain in he Middle Kingdom? That you cannot say for certain, but to Usum's particular scent of intrigue he seems particularly young and inexperienced
"Welcome, welcome all and may you have the pleasure of tea and the comfort of company in these trying times," Lán Hè offers once all of you had said your part. "Strange that we should meet under such circumstances, strange and unexpected. Far it is from the Roof of the World." He glances meaningfully at Brother Divisimar. "Farther from the Realms above..." he glances at the Sword your father bears, almost as though he expects it to answer. "You come seeking asnwers and promising solutions and yet whose solutions hmm? Do you seek to put the servants of the Coldheart King to the sword, to give them a chance to repent or..." he looks directly at you. "To make them kneel?"
What do you reply?
[] You would see the murderers perish for their crimes
[] You would offer clemency to those who have the ability to accept it
[] Write in
OOC: No rolls yet since I need to know what flavor of promise you make to tell what the DC for this would be and just generally what to roll for
- Location
- washington
I looked at the images first and for some reason with zero context other than the images as I haven't read in a while I feel this is a weird fashion show.
Spirits do tend to be rather vain all other things being equal and these ones are trying to put their best foot forward, unlike the senri who thought a sheet would do for clothes.
I mean, we can't promise to not offer clemency. We have a knight of the cross with us. Giving the chance for redemption is part of their whole thing. Sure, the sword is for when that chance is inevitably turned down, but I am pretty sure the sword would turn of them if they got so jaded as to stop asking.
[X] You would offer clemency to those who have the ability to accept it
- [X] We all have our crosses to bare. You well know what that sword means. Is that enough for you, to have the killing end, or are you so flush with allies that you can afford to turn away the chance of three at the low low cost of answering our questions?
[X] You would offer clemency to those who have the ability to accept it
- [X] We all have our crosses to bare. You well know what that sword means. Is that enough for you, to have the killing end, or are you so flush with allies that you can afford to turn away the chance of three at the low low cost of answering our questions?
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- Location
- Germany
We could tell them that we know that the war-party is split upon its own goals, that some seek to do their duty to Emma-O and some seek freedom.
But we can't tell them why we know that.
Also we are not sure if those are the desires of different people, or if the same people might want both.
But we can't tell them why we know that.
Also we are not sure if those are the desires of different people, or if the same people might want both.
[X] You would offer clemency to those who have the ability to accept it
- [X] We all have our crosses to bare. You well know what that sword means. Is that enough for you, to have the killing end, or are you so flush with allies that you can afford to turn away the chance of three at the low low cost of answering our questions?
- [X] We all have our crosses to bare. You well know what that sword means. Is that enough for you, to have the killing end, or are you so flush with allies that you can afford to turn away the chance of three at the low low cost of answering our questions?
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Edited my vote to fill in a dropped word.
Well, he's not addressing us as the Prince of the Earth, so he can't be that old.
[X] You would stop them from harming innocents in the future. Be it with your blade parting their heads from their bodies, or with your words setting them on the path of repentance and amends is up to their wisdom.
[X] You would stop them from harming innocents in the future. Be it with your blade parting their heads from their bodies, or with your words setting them on the path of repentance and amends is up to their wisdom.
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- Location
- Who knows?
Uh we're talking to the local spirits right now, not the Jade Court delegation. We in fact discussing with the former what Molly intends to do with the latter.
[X] You would offer clemency to those who have the ability to accept it
- [X] We all have our crosses to bare. You well know what that sword means. Is that enough for you, to have the killing end, or are you so flush with allies that you can afford to turn away the chance of three at the low low cost of answering our questions?
[X] You would stop them from harming innocents in the future. Be it with your blade parting their heads from their bodies, or with your words setting them on the path of repentance and amends is up to their wisdom.
Both of these seem fine to me, unless someone has an argument for one or the other?
Also, hello, everyone!
- [X] We all have our crosses to bare. You well know what that sword means. Is that enough for you, to have the killing end, or are you so flush with allies that you can afford to turn away the chance of three at the low low cost of answering our questions?
[X] You would stop them from harming innocents in the future. Be it with your blade parting their heads from their bodies, or with your words setting them on the path of repentance and amends is up to their wisdom.
Both of these seem fine to me, unless someone has an argument for one or the other?
Also, hello, everyone!
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Please see correction above. I missed the word stop.
- Location
- United States
[X] You would stop them from harming innocents in the future. Be it with your blade parting their heads from their bodies, or with your words setting them on the path of repentance and amends is up to their wisdom.
So, regarding the update:
1) We should probably recruit Língguāng. A certified pilot is useful to have, and we could probably craft her a next generation fighter craft. Very little beats air support. Maybe also go flying with her -without an aircraft.
2)All shen seem young, as far as their kind go. I am betting not a one of them is over a thousand years old.
3) They don't recognize us, or anything like us. And seem to dismiss our father for his sword. This si a mistake.
Overall impression? These are not high grade spirits. Those are misfits and cast-offs. Small times, and probably those who know that they are small timers.
1) We should probably recruit Língguāng. A certified pilot is useful to have, and we could probably craft her a next generation fighter craft. Very little beats air support. Maybe also go flying with her -without an aircraft.
2)All shen seem young, as far as their kind go. I am betting not a one of them is over a thousand years old.
3) They don't recognize us, or anything like us. And seem to dismiss our father for his sword. This si a mistake.
Overall impression? These are not high grade spirits. Those are misfits and cast-offs. Small times, and probably those who know that they are small timers.
Regardless of What we do with anyone else we probably need to kill the greater Akuma. She genuinely lacks the ability to choose to be better anymore, unless the sword is bullshit enough to free her.
Letting her run home and regenerate isn't ideal for us, so we probably need to test if MiM can arm wrestle her soul from Emma-O long enough to trash it.
Letting her run home and regenerate isn't ideal for us, so we probably need to test if MiM can arm wrestle her soul from Emma-O long enough to trash it.
That's my intention, yes. They had the stupidity to wander into our domain and make themselves a priority target. They are not leaving this city with ability and intent to harm innocents. Either they genuinely and meaningfully repent, likely falling into our service, or they die the final death.
1) Agreed, though building her a plane is probably beyond us right now. Easier to buy one on the black market, though getting it into the country would be a pain.
2) Sounds about right
3) I don't think they're dismissing him because of the sword so much as dismissing his idea of justice. Mercy to even the vilest sinners isn't exactly a universal ideal, and these guys probably knew the people who got killed on top of looking down the barrel of losing their own loved ones.
I'm not surprised they don't look kindly on his mission.
This is probably the sort of thing that saying explicitly would help, if we're willing to reveal the capability. "The one who managed all of this is getting oblivion if they don't run flee before I get my hands on them" sounds like a good counterweight to the mercy we'll offer to the lesser servants for the purposes of soothing vengeful spirits.
This is a little aggressive. It's not like they're being wholly unreasonable here.
We showed up with a weird party to a delicate situation and they're at worst being abrasive about asking what's up.
[X] Yog
There's an important point, I think - they don't know we have spirit killer charms. They probably have no concept of what a spirit killer charm is. Death is supposed to be "sent to hell to suffer tortures that cleanse the soul for the next reincarnation". The "no, you are gone. Forever. No chance of anything" is not part of the cosmology outside of some very specific things, I believe.
I think that some of the proper immortals end up that way if you manage to rules lawyer their deaths properly, but DF canon doesn't go into too much detail on that so who knows.
Thinking on it for more than a second though, it's probably a bad idea. Both for information security reasons and because Micheal is unlikely to be happy to hear about it. Especially because MiM basically reads like Molly chewing up and eating the souls of the immortals she kills with it.
She's got a lot of strange powers, but that is a real hell of a trip.
Oh, I am not planning on telling them about MiM. I just wanted to share an observation that our perspective on what "kill them" means and theirs is differentl.
- Location
- Brazil
I hope you're not suggesting we don't use MiM in a damn Akuma, because of someone else's thinking. Because if so I'm really going to revolt.
I'm already angry at the many other very useful charms that we didn't buy with the moan of "but what will other people think of us?", if that happens to a charm we already bought it would be a very bad sign.
(I'm sorry if that's not what you're suggesting, but I want to cut any thought that looks like that at the root)