EarthScorpion: OK, when do you want the session to start? Anything you want to get done family-wise in 'downtime'?
Aleph: Well, this is our tying-up-Baisha session, so a summary of what Ali and Zany talked about on that walk and how much he filled her in on Keris's nature would be helpful. And then it's basically a matter of "are you coming with Y/N?" and "how do we tie things up here?"
EarthScorpion: Oh yes. The significant-pause walk.
Aleph: dun dun duuuun
EarthScorpion: When they made sure to hand their child off to someone else to look after, rather than take her with them on the significant-pause walk.
Aleph: ... you know, I'm kind of half-expecting Zany to have already guessed that Keris is a Sun-Chosen or something, picked up on her weakness to small children, and deliberately put Hany with her to keep her in the house and stop her from following or eavesdropping.
Aleph: Though yes, I'm also getting implications that they're going to have a fight that Zany has been too frail for until now.
EarthScorpion: ... uh. Not quite. Not fight. Or flight. I thought you'd guessed because of how Keris was trying not to listen in, but... uh, Zany had some 'vigorous physical exercise' on her mind.
Aleph: ... well yeah, I'd expected that afterwards. But I figured she might at least have some arguing re: "we need to get the fuck out of Taira" to get out of her system first.
Aleph: As well as "okay seriously, you've been jumpy since the night after Keris arrived; what's going on?"
Aleph: ... actually I guess that would come some time afterwards. As pillow talk, so to speak.
...
<mid-Xasan talk>
EarthScorpion: Okay, so where are you going to try to go from here?
Aleph: I think I've more or less settled on taking them back to Terema, hiring the Bloody Lionesses and heading upriver. The question is how many people constitute "them". What's Baisha's non-Vakotan population?
EarthScorpion: Keris thinks there's a few hundred people in here, but she's not sure how many of them are Vakotans. They're probably a minority, though - they're an occupying force, not inhabitants.
EarthScorpion: She can gather from their already expressed positions that Xasan wants to rescue everyone and possibly take over the area or at the very least get revenge, that Zany just really wants her family out and will freely willingly go with Keris, and Ali is scared but will lean towards trying helping people, but isn't sure.
Aleph: Eko and Calesco support rescuing everyone, Vali supports Xasan's 'punch the Beik lords in the face' plan, Rathan wants justice but is more interested in the slavers who took Keris than the Baishans she's not related to, and Zanara doesn't really care.
EarthScorpion: Strictly speaking, Eko just cares about people who love Keris back - her family. It's Calesco who's wanting to save everyone.
Aleph: Keris as a whole is pretty set against leaving her loved ones in Baisha, and at the very least wants to get her family out.
Aleph: Yes, but Eko definitely supports killing all the Vakotans with murderwind and giggle-giggle-zooming the Baik lords with the various amusing bits of Adorjan's Excellency.
EarthScorpion: it's true, Eko would like Keris to try out Scarlet Rapture Shintai in battlefield conditions.
...
Aleph: Okay, I'm off my game today and can't really focus. Can we pause and pick up via PbP or next week?
EarthScorpion: Fine, very well. What's up?
Aleph: I dunno, just... bluuurgh.
EarthScorpion: Blurgh?
Aleph: Yeah, I dunno. Just seem to be off today. Not sure why.
EarthScorpion: Otherwise, how did you feel the session is going?
Aleph: Good progress. I reckon we can probably get the mercenaries to murder Beik, talk Xasan into coming with, and then... urgh, there's something I've been considering which is in-character for Keris and assures the safety of the Baishans without having to take more than her four kin, but...
EarthScorpion: Like, what I'm basically trying to tutorialise here is the impact of being overtly superhuman and how it doesn't mean instant death - and can in fact just make things easier.
Aleph: Yeah.
EarthScorpion: Although, hmm, you will either need effort or supernatural powers to get the mercenaries to turn on them. After all, they are being paid right now.
EarthScorpion: You could have just gone to talk to him, of course.
Aleph: Keris was not kidding about stabbing him before the second course.
EarthScorpion: Yes, but in fairness she's probably going to do that anyway, she could have talked to him, and then listened to Eko chanting about JIVA and Scarlet Rapture Shintai.
Aleph: : P
EarthScorpion: Oh, Zany. Will Zanara ever be permitted to meet her?
Aleph: ... possibly.
EarthScorpion: Zanara: "She's cool. You should make her a priestess! And teach her magic!"
...
EarthScorpion: So what's in consideration so I can plan ahead for it?
Aleph: Basically, I don't think taking all of Baisha is viable, and honestly Keris doesn't really have the territory in the Southwest set up yet to receive all of Baisha - it'll be tricky enough finding a place for four people to live, if her transport option gets them there before she's done with her quest. But she does want her hometown to be safe to some extent and for her people not to be subjected to the Beik's excesses. And she also wants to murder the Beiks, which will throw the valley into some level of chaos as the power vacuum sets in.
Aleph: so, uh
Aleph: my options have basically boiled down to: 1) put the fortress at Nehra under the control of Baisha and the temple of Shamsun and arrange a means by which they can hold it (which in effect probably means enough money that they can afford to keep mercenaries employed to man it, because training them all up would take too long)
Aleph: or 2) cash in on that favour Orange Blossom owes her for the sorcerous documentation and tell her to look after Baisha, since she's in Taira anyway. And frankly, can probably easily afford to employ a mercenary group to hold the fortress and leave Baisha and the temple out of the war and in relative peace.
EarthScorpion: There are also other lesser options - like, say, escorting the population of Baisha who want to leave to Terema or out of the mountains.
Aleph: hmm
Aleph: yeah, she may settle on that
Aleph: which, sigh
Aleph: allows Keris to just basically go "okay, you all saddle up on the Vakotan's horses, we're going to ride down the valley and I'm going to murder anything that attacks us until we're back at Terema. Okay?"
"... but that means going through three war fronts"
"And I'm going to murder anything that attacks us until we're back at Terema."
EarthScorpion: Terema is the gateway to Taira, after all, so that's where to go if you want out.
Aleph: Hmm. That's, what, 400 miles? Argh. By horse and drawn carriage that's a journey time of weeks. Months, by foot.
EarthScorpion: Yes, but it's also just downstream to the Grey River.
Aleph: Still two weeks. Eeesh. Hmm. Though I guess two weeks is doable.
Aleph: Goddammit, this is really making me realise how painfully fast Keris is strategically and how she can only move like that if she has, like, Mag 1-2 people with her.
EarthScorpion: It's her fault for not learning Stormwind Rider. That'd let her carry (Essence) magnitude people.
Aleph: She will probably consider learning it, after this.
EarthScorpion: But yeah, there are river barges going up and down the rivers. After all, that's literally how Keris got carried to Terema herself
Aleph: Yeah. Hmm. Okay. So, revenge on the Beiks, barge down to Terema with everyone who wants to go, steal enough from the Beiks to give everyone a lump sum to start a new life with, then take her family upriver following the trail.
EarthScorpion: Or she could leave her family in Terema with some bodyguards. Or at least the non-Xasan ones.
Aleph: Yeah, she might... hmm
EarthScorpion: Hell, she could hire those cavalry people if she feels like it
Aleph: Yeah, I'm planning to have her hire the Bloody Lionesses after a talk with Nandi.
Aleph: ... and, sigh, Keris is Keris.
Aleph: So she may wind up looking at Nandi and Xasan thoughtfully.
EarthScorpion: keris r shipping
EarthScorpion: eko approves +10
Aleph: ... hah, actually. She's pretty much decided to summon Rathan, who is Lord of the Waters. He can probably speed their trip downriver somewhat.
EarthScorpion: She could have Calesco keep her family safe, of course. Also, where exactly is Keris getting her money?
Aleph: Partly the Beik vaults, and partly some ~heist music~ schemes.
Aleph: And, mmm. Basically, it comes down to "is Keris willing to leave her children unattended and unbound in Creation before they've been taught how to control themselves as Haneyl is being taught?"
Aleph: and the answer to that question is "no", or possibly '
hell no" depending on the child in question.
Aleph: If she summons Rathan, she will take him with her upriver - because he'll be acting as her judge and her smuggler and her river-manipulator as she follows the trail to Nexus and then wherever it leads after that. And she'll be coaching him in how to operate in human society when you're decidedly not one.
Aleph: She could do something similar with Calesco - but if she leaves Calesco in Terema, not only will she be scared for her safety, but she'll be worried that Calesco will see something unCompassionate and start crusading.
EarthScorpion: Eko volunteers to stop the armies in Taira from fighting.
Aleph: That would involve murdering them all, and she'd get six hours into it before forgetting what she'd volunteered to do, taking stock of who she'd killed, and deciding she must have been trying to win the war for the shahbanu.
Aleph: Upon which she would retire herself to the shahbanu's palace to give her friendly advice on how to rule a country, from one genius to a much less clever one.
EarthScorpion: Keris comes back six months later to find the cult of Eko is the new state religion.
Aleph: Keris: "..."
...
EarthScorpion: Hmm. So which of Keris' souls can pass as human when she's using them during the year normally?
Aleph: Haneyl and Calesco both can - they're the stealth pair, really.
Aleph: Eko can once she's picked up Elloge, but only when playing a role.
Aleph: Rathan and Zanara never really can; Rathan has his horns and Zanara is... Zanara.
EarthScorpion: Zana: "I can~."
Aleph: Vali... to some extent depends. But in general he can look like a godblood if he cares to.
...
EarthScorpion: Session 151 resumed.
EarthScorpion: So, last time we left off, uh, Keris had a touching talk with her half-uncle about revenge and she rejected his suggestions that she put herself as Shahbanu.
Aleph: Indeed she did. So, hmm. First off, I suppose. Money. Does Keris have any that didn't get lost with the Old City?
EarthScorpion: Not particularly. She has some small amounts that were kept close to hand by Dulmea to handle Keris going 'give me money to buy some food', but nothing that's more than spending money.
Aleph: I knew you were going to say that, and I'm still vaguely annoyed about it.
EarthScorpion: Basically, the school of thought I'm running into is that the unlimited Elsewhere storage is basically being used as a Bag of Holding and that's a bit dull - and cuts down on interesting interactions, since there's no limit on the number of small objects you can hide on your person effectively - or weight limits, just as pertinently, when you're talking about pulling out Resources 3-4 as a casual expenditure.
EarthScorpion: But we can probably talk about that later.
Aleph: Yeah, fair enough.
Aleph: ...
Aleph: I do hope you haven't disappeared my dragon, though.
EarthScorpion: As it turns out, Zanara had already stolen it from Dulmea to 'keep it safe'
Aleph: Oh good. It's better art than Keris or Zanara can make, so they'll probably keep it as-is.
Aleph: Right, so Keris is going to plan a HEIST which is also REVENGE and is basically going to consist of marching up to the Beiks with Xasan and whoever else wants to come, scaring off anyone who wants to stop her, murderin' the naib and cleaning out his vaults.
Aleph: And then she'll decide on what to do next.
EarthScorpion: Well, heh, if she wants to take his invitation, there's still enough time to catch up with the riders and follow them back as his guest. She'd have to be alone, but that's one way of doing it.
EarthScorpion: Actually, she could take Xasan with her at some risk even with that plan.
Aleph: ... yeah, okay. Hmm. She might.
Aleph: Yeah, let's do that. Do we need to RP that conversation out, or can we assume he'll go for it?
EarthScorpion: Hmm. You can suggest it and then roll Per + Pres for it, and then we can skip over any argument based on the roll.
...
Aleph: And call the session there?
EarthScorpion: Yep. End of session
Aleph: Right then.
EarthScorpion: Admittedly, she's going to need to make them stop, because she needs to pick up the Baishans.
Aleph: Yes, she'll have them settle down around- yes. Baisha.
Aleph: Heh. My first Command/Bureaucracy challenge.
EarthScorpion: Yep.
Aleph: And we're definitively moving again. This should be fun!
Aleph: Hee. I was totes wary of letting Xasan and ready to intervene, but I kind of like that I didn't have to. It spared his pride a bit.
Xasan: "Best. Niece. Ever."
...
EarthScorpion: I think I do do more things with setpieces naturally than you do, vis a vis @Shyft's comment about them.
Aleph: Yeah, though that might just be my relative inexperience.
Aleph: I may improve as I get better holding lots of details in my head and adding hooks to a scene.
EarthScorpion: Mentally I just frame these things as movie scenes. Like, that for example was Keris meeting with someone with a gallery of crossbowmen behind her.
Aleph: Hee. Amusingly, I don't think even Calesco will have much to complain about with what she did there
EarthScorpion: Killing isn't incompassionate, no.
Aleph: Agemi was a bad man, she reduced the collateral damage to zero by getting everyone else out, and she even let him have a fair fight for his life against Xasan, who had suffered more directly from him than Keris.
Aleph: Calesco may actually be in agreement with Rathan that it was a pretty good way to handle it, as opposed to Eko's suggestion of "turn into murderwind and kill everyone in the fort".
EarthScorpion: Eko pulls a face at the mean misrepresentation! It was only going to be anyone who tried to fight back!
EarthScorpion: Also amusingly, she did all of that without giving any clue as to what she was, beyond "supernaturally beautiful and justified and lovely and innocent".
Aleph: ikr
Aleph: : D
Aleph: Even when she's blatantly being a social sledgehammer, she's pretty stealthy
)
