[Exalted] The Dragon's Spite
- Thread starter EarthScorpion
- Start date
- Mature Fantasy
Amused Bystander
Herald of 'She who Umu's' Be Brave!
- Location
- Philippines
[x] Fahd could be a useful ally, and the town is tolerable. She is considering whether to take up residence here, away from the eyes of the Demio, working with him as an ally.
[x] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
[x] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
[X] Fahd could be a useful ally, and the town is tolerable. She is considering whether to take up residence here, away from the eyes of the Demio, working with him as an ally.
[X] Yes. He's dangerous, interesting, and not unattractive in a slightly paternal way. She'll keep him close.
[X] Yes. He's dangerous, interesting, and not unattractive in a slightly paternal way. She'll keep him close.
- Location
- Singapore
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] To take what she needs, and then leave. She has no further interest in this place - not when Cahzor is so vast.
[X] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
[X] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
boo600
Ego sum egredietur tempestas.
- Location
- Texas
- Pronouns
- He/Him/Hungry
[X] To take what she needs, and then leave. She has no further interest in this place - not when Cahzor is so vast.
[X] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
Look, I know we should be grabbing at such an easily manipulated ally, laughing at the threat of being eaten by a Sobeksis, and going on. But while I'd love to not dispel ourselves from his good graces by not showing enough interest, I'd like to avoid tying ourselves down and adding too many things to juggle. Can't we focus on entrapping Blue, learning spells, and accruing points to pay off our debt? I liked that system... actually, I feel like I'm acting way too attached to it to grab the opportunity, but I still just don't feel any interest here. The gardens aren'r something Rena's interested in, and I want to go poke at sorcery and Fae. There's some water to investigate, but not much else.
[X] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
Look, I know we should be grabbing at such an easily manipulated ally, laughing at the threat of being eaten by a Sobeksis, and going on. But while I'd love to not dispel ourselves from his good graces by not showing enough interest, I'd like to avoid tying ourselves down and adding too many things to juggle. Can't we focus on entrapping Blue, learning spells, and accruing points to pay off our debt? I liked that system... actually, I feel like I'm acting way too attached to it to grab the opportunity, but I still just don't feel any interest here. The gardens aren'r something Rena's interested in, and I want to go poke at sorcery and Fae. There's some water to investigate, but not much else.
[X] To take what she needs, and then leave. She has no further interest in this place - not when Cahzor is so vast.
[X] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
[X] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
[X] To take what she needs, and then leave. She has no further interest in this place - not when Cahzor is so vast.
[X] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
[X] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
- Location
- Canada
[x] Fahd could be a useful ally, and the town is tolerable. She is considering whether to take up residence here, away from the eyes of the Demio, working with him as an ally.
[x] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
Fahd seems really uncomfortable to be around. Rena does have a mind-control spell, so she'll wind up in charge even as his mistress, but I'd rather she didn't want to spend time with such a cruel man. That said, he's far less dangerous than the Demio.
[x] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
Fahd seems really uncomfortable to be around. Rena does have a mind-control spell, so she'll wind up in charge even as his mistress, but I'd rather she didn't want to spend time with such a cruel man. That said, he's far less dangerous than the Demio.
- Location
- USA
What intentions does Rena have towards Zorpearl?
[X] To take what she needs, and then leave. She has no further interest in this place - not when Cahzor is so vast.
Does she have a fling with Fahd?
[X] Yes. He's dangerous, interesting, and not unattractive in a slightly paternal way. She'll keep him close.
It might just be that I'm having trouble finding interests to commit to for a Wood-Dragon consigned to the dry and desparate South? But even with the potential of gardens to claim the water issues here are realsies. And her talk of the oddity of this water cult doesn't seem encouraging on that angle, when we're walking around with trophies off another water spirit we beat up
Even if we can't look at nicer locations than Cazhor generally, I'm not sure this guy is worth the trouble? The way he's acting feels like he either has a weak grasp on power and is making examples early, or hes a pure sadist who will quickly find an excuse for anyone. Voldemort in the middle years , a bit. Better a doting scholar or soldiery-minion, with all their uses, than trying to lay in a serpents nest and hope to wake un-bitten.
And honestly? Dragons deserve to lay with Dragons , why sully ourselves with his weak mortal blood just because he has the least touch of mortal sorceries at hand? And in some petty outskirt where the local warlord can afford to kill branch-Jansi without reprisal from the main house due to lack of importance. If the Deimo is too dangerous to lurk in Cazhor proper that just means catching another caravan once we've healed and built an investment egg for elsewhere.
[X] To take what she needs, and then leave. She has no further interest in this place - not when Cahzor is so vast.
Does she have a fling with Fahd?
[X] Yes. He's dangerous, interesting, and not unattractive in a slightly paternal way. She'll keep him close.
It might just be that I'm having trouble finding interests to commit to for a Wood-Dragon consigned to the dry and desparate South? But even with the potential of gardens to claim the water issues here are realsies. And her talk of the oddity of this water cult doesn't seem encouraging on that angle, when we're walking around with trophies off another water spirit we beat up
Even if we can't look at nicer locations than Cazhor generally, I'm not sure this guy is worth the trouble? The way he's acting feels like he either has a weak grasp on power and is making examples early, or hes a pure sadist who will quickly find an excuse for anyone. Voldemort in the middle years , a bit. Better a doting scholar or soldiery-minion, with all their uses, than trying to lay in a serpents nest and hope to wake un-bitten.
And honestly? Dragons deserve to lay with Dragons , why sully ourselves with his weak mortal blood just because he has the least touch of mortal sorceries at hand? And in some petty outskirt where the local warlord can afford to kill branch-Jansi without reprisal from the main house due to lack of importance. If the Deimo is too dangerous to lurk in Cazhor proper that just means catching another caravan once we've healed and built an investment egg for elsewhere.
Tricky. If we have Fahd as an Ally, we could use him as an anchor for our sorcerer, presumably through his authority over his lands. However, he'd require a lot of time an effort for maintenance, time spent not indulging and studying sorcery, and Rena didn't really enjoy herself at the party.
[X] To take what she needs, and then leave. She has no further interest in this place - not when Cahzor is so vast.
[X] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
[X] To take what she needs, and then leave. She has no further interest in this place - not when Cahzor is so vast.
[X] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
- Location
- France
[X] To take what she needs, and then leave. She has no further interest in this place - not when Cahzor is so vast.
[x] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
[x] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
- Location
- in the trash
[x] Fahd could be a useful ally, and the town is tolerable. She is considering whether to take up residence here, away from the eyes of the Demio, working with him as an ally.
[x] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
We should probably keep it businesslike for once. We can change our mind later on once we get to know him better, but right now we don't know if he's the kind of person who's prone to jealousy, and as this update demonstrates he's definitely not above killing off his lovers if they cross him.
[x] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
We should probably keep it businesslike for once. We can change our mind later on once we get to know him better, but right now we don't know if he's the kind of person who's prone to jealousy, and as this update demonstrates he's definitely not above killing off his lovers if they cross him.
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[x] Fahd could be a useful ally, and the town is tolerable. She is considering whether to take up residence here, away from the eyes of the Demio, working with him as an ally.
[x] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
[x] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I think I should point out that allying with him means staying here, and settling down permanently. And this place is, not to put too fine a point on it, kind of a parched shithole. Don't jump on the very first offer we get (well, second if we count Haitham, but he actually had something to offer) just because it's convenient, guys. We want better than "tolerable".
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] To take what she needs, and then leave. She has no further interest in this place - not when Cahzor is so vast.
[X] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
He's nothing more than a little boy spoiled by power. She can do better.
[X] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
He's nothing more than a little boy spoiled by power. She can do better.
- Location
- USA
[X] To take what she needs, and then leave. She has no further interest in this place - not when Cahzor is so vast.
[X] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
[X] No. He's dangerous and she has two lovely boys waiting for her in her room. She'll keep him at arm's length.
Well, looks like the voting has dried up entirely, so I might as well close the vote.
Looks like Rena doesn't really want to stay in Zorpearl at present, and has decided not to let the James Bond villain stick it in her.
Looks like Rena doesn't really want to stay in Zorpearl at present, and has decided not to let the James Bond villain stick it in her.
Imrix
Periodically Malevolent QM
Yeah, I'm too late to vote but that's what I would've gone for, too. There's a certain temptation to accept just because this is the asset the QM is offering, but the flipside is we already tried to accept one offer in the form of Haitham. When we know we can snag a luminary of a major Jansi, and that the QM is prepared to throw such chances at us, then dropping all the way down to some thu of a border lord is too much of a diminishment for my tastes. We can do better. Heck, we could work on Zia if we wanted.
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- Location
- Library
Well, I was not really that happy with that, because we actually need to start to get to the "build the stable base of power" phase at some moment in time; and when we get back with loot to the city, we will probably be unable to fly under Demio radar.
And the James Bond villain was simply cool.
And the James Bond villain was simply cool.
XL. Rejection Symptoms
XL. Rejection Symptoms
Oh, this interesting man. He deserves the truth. And by that, you mean precisely the opposite. He deserves a cunningly woven web of deception, half-truths and simple-yet-unashamed lying to his face. He might take offence to the truth, and if there's one thing you don't like it's powerful people who feed their lovers to crocodiles threatening your life.
"Darling," you tell him, shaking your head, "I just… I'm just not ready for a serious relationship. Not after poor Haitham. I just need some time, some space to mourn him." Actually, and much more pressingly, it's because you just saw his last lover fed to a crocodile spirit. You linger on that point because it is very important to you. Given that you would in fact quite willingly break his laws and plunder his land for your personal profit, that's a real thing that dissuades you from getting into his bed.
"Or perhaps you just need someone to take your mind off things," he says, looking at you over the top of his wineglass as behind you the pink water swirls.
"I don't think so. It's a shame, but my soul is too deeply wounded and has no place for love right now." Hmm, maybe you're overplaying things. You are tipsy. "But as for your generous offer of a home on Zorpearl - might I have more time to consider it? I've only arrived this day, and I've seen nothing of the place. And on top of that - I may well be heading down to Gem once Calibration passes and the weather cools. It would be more than a little swift to make such an arrangement when I have no intent of keeping it."
Fahd leans back in his chair, the oil lamp lighting his features from below. "I suppose that's fair enough," he says, and he's obviously not happy about it. You can see the way he's eying you, and see the curl of the lip of a man who doesn't like being denied his vices.
"I'm not looking to make an enemy of you," you say, "but I simply can't rush into things. Even if this has been an enjoyable evening, and in other circumstances - well, you are a striking fellow." You sip your wine. "But enough of the melancholy. You mentioned things you'd seen down south in your youth. They sounded quite fascinating. I'd love to hear more about that."
Men like to talk about themselves. Or at least they do normally. This one doesn't. The entire tone of the conversation has been soured, and he seems very unwilling to expand on topics which had previously flowed from his mouth like wine. Which also is no longer flowing. Your glass is very unfairly empty, and not only does a servant not appear to refill it, but he doesn't offer you any more. No, he wanted you - and when you said "No", he didn't like that. And that's what concerns you; he hasn't dismissed you, and he's staring at you. You're not sure if now-sullen Fahd realises that he's no longer as charming and as smiling as he was. He might well think that he's hiding his disappointment, but you can all-but taste the change in the atmosphere. This is a man driven by his desires. You saw that already, but it is always important to remember that those claimed by their vices do not relinquish them when they might be inconvenient to you.
Well, naturally you don't let him know how obvious he's being. It would be rude, and of course, you don't want to be fed to a crocodile. Instead, you entertain him with a few stories - while being quite firm that no, you are not changing your mind tonight - and in due time he curtly dismisses you with a smile as greasy as ghee. You're glad to go. Your tipsiness is blending with your tiredness, and you feel like there is sand behind your eyelids. There might well be. After all, you have been crossing harshly desert-racked land for days.
"Thank you for a most enjoyable evening," you tell him, sparing him a beaming smile despite how he's been. "I hope that we can enjoy a profitable business," you make sure to just emphasise that very important word, "relationship."
His lips curl up. "Oh, of course, Lady as-Sayu. May I show you out? Would you be heading to the midnight prayers, by any chance?"
"No, just back to rest. I must say, if not for your inestimable company I would have been in bed hours ago. I have been travelling for days and I find myself quite exhausted."
"Ah ha." He runs one hand through his spiky white hair. "A wise decision. I should head to bed too. Of course, if you wish to stay…"
"Good night, my lord."
Tired and somewhat tipsy, you make your way back to your hotel. The moonlit streets are filled with deep, dark shadows. Somewhere in the middle-distance, wailing voices rise up together. A sonorous gong sounds out. Perhaps it is the temple thing that Fahd spoke of. But the roads are empty of human life. Not a soul stirs. Even the beggars and the iterants are huddled down in the shadows of doorways, piles of rags sleeping among the garbage. The things that are awake at the midnight hour are the beast. And that is something you have seen in Cahzor; at night, the animals come out. There are things moving in the darkness; rats scuttling, their claws sharp on ancient stone, and night-dwelling monkeys whose eyes gleam against your lantern.
Hands tucked up your sleeves, you pass a little shrine built into the side of a much larger building, decked with an inordinate number of lanterns. The night-dwelling moths flock around the lamps, their wings sounding like velvet on parchment. You pause for a moment, wondering who the faceless statue at the little altar is, and why they lack a temple when they have such a number of lanterns there. The oil in those lambs cannot be cheap. Ah, but the grass crown is a clue; it's an accoutrement of path or crossroad spirits, and now that you look close you can see little flecks of peeling yellow paint on the statue's robe.
Reaching up into your sleeves, you retrieve a yen from one of the small pockets hidden there, and approach the shrine. The coin clinks against a few others at the bottom of the stone bowl in the statue's hands.
"Honour to you, faithful servant of heaven," you murmur, inclining your head. "Protect me on my path, road-warden, and do not let evil men or wicked spirits lay their hands on me." You stand there for a few moments in silence, hands held together. Then:
"Beware." The voice is as faint as the wind, barely moving in the desert air, but it stirs the hairs on the back of your neck nonetheless.
You focus for a moment, exhaling, and catch sight of the iris-filled silhouette that sits on the shrine. "What must I beware, spirit?"
"Ahhhh." A faint breath. So thin and trembling. "Dragon-child. It has been so long since one of you visited my shrine. For that, I thank you. Beware, dragon-child. Beware that which stalks by night in this town. I do not have the strength to keep the beasts from the ruins from my roads. Hurry to your home, and lock the door and light candles to scare them away."
You glance around, feeling your breath catch in your throat and your heartbeat speed up. You reach up into your sleeves, and toss another coin into the offering bowl. "Thank you, servant of heaven." You consider whether to risk asking more - or whether this petty godling is shaking you down with rumours and myths. "And what stalks these streets by night, wise one?"
The iris-blossoms lean in towards you, a breath that smells of hot roads in the desert sun mixed with the sweet flowers brushing your nose. "There are demons here, dragon-child. Demons who hide from the judgement of the sun."
Demons! The spawn of Hell; the squirming broods who dwell in the demon-city Malfeas. And… yes. A road-spirit like this has plenty to fear from demons. So too do you, especially if they move in numbers. One demon would be an… unpleasant challenge. A pack of them? Well, to put it simply, you have no interest in fighting a mob of hellspawn.
You bow at the altar, clap your hands, and hurry off. There is no time to linger; no, not now. And in the night your mind conjures images and fearsome worries. What is the clattering down that alley; is that shape up on the rooftops a demon or simply a chimney? Your lantern is a tiny pool of light and the looming shadows are so very high.
If that godling is right, then perhaps you were wise to not wish to stay in Zorpearl. For reasons not related to woman-eating spirit-crocodiles.
In the end, though, you don't see a single demon. Several spirits and godlings, and blossoming white lilies and pomegranates at a graveyard, but no demons. Obviously the demons - if they even existed - were scared off by your terrible pussiance and awful might.
And you might even believe that yourself, if you didn't step into your room, close the door behind you, and flop face first onto the nearest soft thing, trembling as all the nervous energy leaves you. Damn that Fahd. He didn't say anything about it. Maybe he had been hoping you'd have a fright and come running back to his arms, or failing that you'd suffer for rejecting him. Why are so many interesting men such colossal assholes?
"Oh no," you hear Amigere groan. "Are we going to have to leave town quickly? Is there a lynch mob after us? Who did you kill?"
"I don't follow. How could she be to blame for anything?" Blue's trust in you would be touching, if he wasn't such a moron.
"We don't have to flee town," you say into the cushions. You consider. Well, it is possible that Fahd might have taken being turned down even worse than you'd thought, and there's a talon of soldiers headed here right now. "Almost certainly not."
"I'll make sure the bags are packed. Wouldn't be the first time. I've been run out of town before."
"I don't follow. Why would someone want to run you out of town?"
You put Blue's inanity out of mind, and blearily lift your head up. "Just stop worrying for a moment and help me up. I have had an exhausting day! Just exhausting!" You search for words to describe just how terrible things have been. "It's been just the worst!" The grinding, grainy fatigue has even started affecting your vocabulary.
"Is it about to get even worse?" Amigere asks as Blue helps you upright.
"I hope not. If it does, darling, I'm afraid I'm going to start hurting people until the world gets better." You realise how he might take that. "Neither of you two, of course. You're my handsome boys. I'm just so annoyed at that petty little man. The tyrant of this place, Fahd! Urgh! He sickens me!"
"Oh, so you didn't wind up in bed with him?" That's Amigere, being a catty bitch. As opposed to Sei, who would also say exactly the same thing, but has slightly more reason given that you did, in fact, trap him in the shape of a cat.
You look him in the eyes. "I saw him feed his last mistress to a crocodile."
"Ha, very… oh. You're serious." Amigere swallows. "Um. Holy crap."
"Yes. He had her thrown in the tank because she was selling things without his permission, and that," you yawn, "that is something I am very much in favour of avoiding."
"Do not fear!" Blue declares. "If he threatens you with such a fate, I will challenge him to a duel and slice him so thinly he will be blown away on the wind."
That… has its virtues. Reluctantly, you shake your head. "I just want to avoid trouble from that man."
"Men can't cause trouble when they are thin slices on the wind!"
"He's not wrong," Amigere says, with a weary chuckle.
"Yes, but the consequences of slicing him like grilled tofu would, I am afraid, fall on that pretty little head of yours. And I would be very sad about that. He's only one man. We can just pretend to be as good as well-behaved little mice when he's looking."
Amigere gives a cynical chuckle. "And I'm sure that will turn out wonderfully, Meira."
"Don't you sass me! I need your consolation after a very long and hard day, not your backtalk."
He cocks his head. "Long and hard, mmm?"
You're not sure you're up for that, not when you're tired and sore and worried, but you definitely think some pampering from your toyboys sounds like a wonderful idea right now. "First off, I need a foot massage. These shoes did not work. Not when I was already tender and sore from walking for days. And Blue, please help get the ornaments out of my hair and put my jewelry back in the box." You let your head fall forwards into your hands, blinking heavy, tired eyelids. "And Fahd is a very dangerous man."
"A dragon-child?"
"No, but he's a lotus-blossom eater."
"A what?"
Surprisingly it's Blue who speaks up, running his segmented black fingers through your hair as he removes the earrings from your right ear. "So he eats gods? How funny."
"Yes," you confirm for Amigere's sake. "Or at least has some way of stealing their power. He looks like he's half the age he should be."
Amigere kneels at your feet. "You're attracted to him," he accuses. If he had lips, you're sure he'd be pouting.
"Only physically," you say, reaching out to pet his head. "His personality is as sour and rotten as two-week milk." You glance out the window without thinking, looking to his palace. "I know the sort. He's the kind of man who thinks he knows what women like, and that's him. And very charming, right until someone says no."
"You said no," Amigere says, easing off your slippers.
"I tried to tell him 'maybe later, but not now' because he'd literally just fed his former lover to a crocodile in front of me."
"I don't think we should linger here."
You rest your foot on Amigere's lap and let him get to work. "In that, I am in full agreement. And I did have a chance to look over the maps this afternoon, my darlings. Tomorrow is a rest day for our people - as they've travelled hard to get here - but I've noticed a few landmarks which might be promising sites for our digs. And," you wiggle your foot in place, very much getting his attention, "I think the three of us might want to make a day of touring those places and see if there's anything else that catches my eye. Take some food. And something soft to lie on while… investigations occur. Isn't it a good plan?"
"You are very good at plans," Amigere says, sucking up to you in the hope that you'll suck up to him later. He's transparent, but you don't mind that.
"Quite the wonderful pla-" Your words are broken off by a loud, and somewhat embarrassing yawn. "Plan. Quite the wonderful plan."
"You are falling asleep," Blue tells you earnestly as he unfastens your necklace.
"Such a sweet boy to mention it," you remark owlishly.
"Come on, my lady. Let's get you to bed."
Oh, this interesting man. He deserves the truth. And by that, you mean precisely the opposite. He deserves a cunningly woven web of deception, half-truths and simple-yet-unashamed lying to his face. He might take offence to the truth, and if there's one thing you don't like it's powerful people who feed their lovers to crocodiles threatening your life.
"Darling," you tell him, shaking your head, "I just… I'm just not ready for a serious relationship. Not after poor Haitham. I just need some time, some space to mourn him." Actually, and much more pressingly, it's because you just saw his last lover fed to a crocodile spirit. You linger on that point because it is very important to you. Given that you would in fact quite willingly break his laws and plunder his land for your personal profit, that's a real thing that dissuades you from getting into his bed.
"Or perhaps you just need someone to take your mind off things," he says, looking at you over the top of his wineglass as behind you the pink water swirls.
"I don't think so. It's a shame, but my soul is too deeply wounded and has no place for love right now." Hmm, maybe you're overplaying things. You are tipsy. "But as for your generous offer of a home on Zorpearl - might I have more time to consider it? I've only arrived this day, and I've seen nothing of the place. And on top of that - I may well be heading down to Gem once Calibration passes and the weather cools. It would be more than a little swift to make such an arrangement when I have no intent of keeping it."
Fahd leans back in his chair, the oil lamp lighting his features from below. "I suppose that's fair enough," he says, and he's obviously not happy about it. You can see the way he's eying you, and see the curl of the lip of a man who doesn't like being denied his vices.
"I'm not looking to make an enemy of you," you say, "but I simply can't rush into things. Even if this has been an enjoyable evening, and in other circumstances - well, you are a striking fellow." You sip your wine. "But enough of the melancholy. You mentioned things you'd seen down south in your youth. They sounded quite fascinating. I'd love to hear more about that."
Men like to talk about themselves. Or at least they do normally. This one doesn't. The entire tone of the conversation has been soured, and he seems very unwilling to expand on topics which had previously flowed from his mouth like wine. Which also is no longer flowing. Your glass is very unfairly empty, and not only does a servant not appear to refill it, but he doesn't offer you any more. No, he wanted you - and when you said "No", he didn't like that. And that's what concerns you; he hasn't dismissed you, and he's staring at you. You're not sure if now-sullen Fahd realises that he's no longer as charming and as smiling as he was. He might well think that he's hiding his disappointment, but you can all-but taste the change in the atmosphere. This is a man driven by his desires. You saw that already, but it is always important to remember that those claimed by their vices do not relinquish them when they might be inconvenient to you.
Well, naturally you don't let him know how obvious he's being. It would be rude, and of course, you don't want to be fed to a crocodile. Instead, you entertain him with a few stories - while being quite firm that no, you are not changing your mind tonight - and in due time he curtly dismisses you with a smile as greasy as ghee. You're glad to go. Your tipsiness is blending with your tiredness, and you feel like there is sand behind your eyelids. There might well be. After all, you have been crossing harshly desert-racked land for days.
"Thank you for a most enjoyable evening," you tell him, sparing him a beaming smile despite how he's been. "I hope that we can enjoy a profitable business," you make sure to just emphasise that very important word, "relationship."
His lips curl up. "Oh, of course, Lady as-Sayu. May I show you out? Would you be heading to the midnight prayers, by any chance?"
"No, just back to rest. I must say, if not for your inestimable company I would have been in bed hours ago. I have been travelling for days and I find myself quite exhausted."
"Ah ha." He runs one hand through his spiky white hair. "A wise decision. I should head to bed too. Of course, if you wish to stay…"
"Good night, my lord."
Tired and somewhat tipsy, you make your way back to your hotel. The moonlit streets are filled with deep, dark shadows. Somewhere in the middle-distance, wailing voices rise up together. A sonorous gong sounds out. Perhaps it is the temple thing that Fahd spoke of. But the roads are empty of human life. Not a soul stirs. Even the beggars and the iterants are huddled down in the shadows of doorways, piles of rags sleeping among the garbage. The things that are awake at the midnight hour are the beast. And that is something you have seen in Cahzor; at night, the animals come out. There are things moving in the darkness; rats scuttling, their claws sharp on ancient stone, and night-dwelling monkeys whose eyes gleam against your lantern.
Hands tucked up your sleeves, you pass a little shrine built into the side of a much larger building, decked with an inordinate number of lanterns. The night-dwelling moths flock around the lamps, their wings sounding like velvet on parchment. You pause for a moment, wondering who the faceless statue at the little altar is, and why they lack a temple when they have such a number of lanterns there. The oil in those lambs cannot be cheap. Ah, but the grass crown is a clue; it's an accoutrement of path or crossroad spirits, and now that you look close you can see little flecks of peeling yellow paint on the statue's robe.
Reaching up into your sleeves, you retrieve a yen from one of the small pockets hidden there, and approach the shrine. The coin clinks against a few others at the bottom of the stone bowl in the statue's hands.
"Honour to you, faithful servant of heaven," you murmur, inclining your head. "Protect me on my path, road-warden, and do not let evil men or wicked spirits lay their hands on me." You stand there for a few moments in silence, hands held together. Then:
"Beware." The voice is as faint as the wind, barely moving in the desert air, but it stirs the hairs on the back of your neck nonetheless.
You focus for a moment, exhaling, and catch sight of the iris-filled silhouette that sits on the shrine. "What must I beware, spirit?"
"Ahhhh." A faint breath. So thin and trembling. "Dragon-child. It has been so long since one of you visited my shrine. For that, I thank you. Beware, dragon-child. Beware that which stalks by night in this town. I do not have the strength to keep the beasts from the ruins from my roads. Hurry to your home, and lock the door and light candles to scare them away."
You glance around, feeling your breath catch in your throat and your heartbeat speed up. You reach up into your sleeves, and toss another coin into the offering bowl. "Thank you, servant of heaven." You consider whether to risk asking more - or whether this petty godling is shaking you down with rumours and myths. "And what stalks these streets by night, wise one?"
The iris-blossoms lean in towards you, a breath that smells of hot roads in the desert sun mixed with the sweet flowers brushing your nose. "There are demons here, dragon-child. Demons who hide from the judgement of the sun."
Demons! The spawn of Hell; the squirming broods who dwell in the demon-city Malfeas. And… yes. A road-spirit like this has plenty to fear from demons. So too do you, especially if they move in numbers. One demon would be an… unpleasant challenge. A pack of them? Well, to put it simply, you have no interest in fighting a mob of hellspawn.
You bow at the altar, clap your hands, and hurry off. There is no time to linger; no, not now. And in the night your mind conjures images and fearsome worries. What is the clattering down that alley; is that shape up on the rooftops a demon or simply a chimney? Your lantern is a tiny pool of light and the looming shadows are so very high.
If that godling is right, then perhaps you were wise to not wish to stay in Zorpearl. For reasons not related to woman-eating spirit-crocodiles.
In the end, though, you don't see a single demon. Several spirits and godlings, and blossoming white lilies and pomegranates at a graveyard, but no demons. Obviously the demons - if they even existed - were scared off by your terrible pussiance and awful might.
And you might even believe that yourself, if you didn't step into your room, close the door behind you, and flop face first onto the nearest soft thing, trembling as all the nervous energy leaves you. Damn that Fahd. He didn't say anything about it. Maybe he had been hoping you'd have a fright and come running back to his arms, or failing that you'd suffer for rejecting him. Why are so many interesting men such colossal assholes?
"Oh no," you hear Amigere groan. "Are we going to have to leave town quickly? Is there a lynch mob after us? Who did you kill?"
"I don't follow. How could she be to blame for anything?" Blue's trust in you would be touching, if he wasn't such a moron.
"We don't have to flee town," you say into the cushions. You consider. Well, it is possible that Fahd might have taken being turned down even worse than you'd thought, and there's a talon of soldiers headed here right now. "Almost certainly not."
"I'll make sure the bags are packed. Wouldn't be the first time. I've been run out of town before."
"I don't follow. Why would someone want to run you out of town?"
You put Blue's inanity out of mind, and blearily lift your head up. "Just stop worrying for a moment and help me up. I have had an exhausting day! Just exhausting!" You search for words to describe just how terrible things have been. "It's been just the worst!" The grinding, grainy fatigue has even started affecting your vocabulary.
"Is it about to get even worse?" Amigere asks as Blue helps you upright.
"I hope not. If it does, darling, I'm afraid I'm going to start hurting people until the world gets better." You realise how he might take that. "Neither of you two, of course. You're my handsome boys. I'm just so annoyed at that petty little man. The tyrant of this place, Fahd! Urgh! He sickens me!"
"Oh, so you didn't wind up in bed with him?" That's Amigere, being a catty bitch. As opposed to Sei, who would also say exactly the same thing, but has slightly more reason given that you did, in fact, trap him in the shape of a cat.
You look him in the eyes. "I saw him feed his last mistress to a crocodile."
"Ha, very… oh. You're serious." Amigere swallows. "Um. Holy crap."
"Yes. He had her thrown in the tank because she was selling things without his permission, and that," you yawn, "that is something I am very much in favour of avoiding."
"Do not fear!" Blue declares. "If he threatens you with such a fate, I will challenge him to a duel and slice him so thinly he will be blown away on the wind."
That… has its virtues. Reluctantly, you shake your head. "I just want to avoid trouble from that man."
"Men can't cause trouble when they are thin slices on the wind!"
"He's not wrong," Amigere says, with a weary chuckle.
"Yes, but the consequences of slicing him like grilled tofu would, I am afraid, fall on that pretty little head of yours. And I would be very sad about that. He's only one man. We can just pretend to be as good as well-behaved little mice when he's looking."
Amigere gives a cynical chuckle. "And I'm sure that will turn out wonderfully, Meira."
"Don't you sass me! I need your consolation after a very long and hard day, not your backtalk."
He cocks his head. "Long and hard, mmm?"
You're not sure you're up for that, not when you're tired and sore and worried, but you definitely think some pampering from your toyboys sounds like a wonderful idea right now. "First off, I need a foot massage. These shoes did not work. Not when I was already tender and sore from walking for days. And Blue, please help get the ornaments out of my hair and put my jewelry back in the box." You let your head fall forwards into your hands, blinking heavy, tired eyelids. "And Fahd is a very dangerous man."
"A dragon-child?"
"No, but he's a lotus-blossom eater."
"A what?"
Surprisingly it's Blue who speaks up, running his segmented black fingers through your hair as he removes the earrings from your right ear. "So he eats gods? How funny."
"Yes," you confirm for Amigere's sake. "Or at least has some way of stealing their power. He looks like he's half the age he should be."
Amigere kneels at your feet. "You're attracted to him," he accuses. If he had lips, you're sure he'd be pouting.
"Only physically," you say, reaching out to pet his head. "His personality is as sour and rotten as two-week milk." You glance out the window without thinking, looking to his palace. "I know the sort. He's the kind of man who thinks he knows what women like, and that's him. And very charming, right until someone says no."
"You said no," Amigere says, easing off your slippers.
"I tried to tell him 'maybe later, but not now' because he'd literally just fed his former lover to a crocodile in front of me."
"I don't think we should linger here."
You rest your foot on Amigere's lap and let him get to work. "In that, I am in full agreement. And I did have a chance to look over the maps this afternoon, my darlings. Tomorrow is a rest day for our people - as they've travelled hard to get here - but I've noticed a few landmarks which might be promising sites for our digs. And," you wiggle your foot in place, very much getting his attention, "I think the three of us might want to make a day of touring those places and see if there's anything else that catches my eye. Take some food. And something soft to lie on while… investigations occur. Isn't it a good plan?"
"You are very good at plans," Amigere says, sucking up to you in the hope that you'll suck up to him later. He's transparent, but you don't mind that.
"Quite the wonderful pla-" Your words are broken off by a loud, and somewhat embarrassing yawn. "Plan. Quite the wonderful plan."
"You are falling asleep," Blue tells you earnestly as he unfastens your necklace.
"Such a sweet boy to mention it," you remark owlishly.
"Come on, my lady. Let's get you to bed."
Article: You have reached the end of Arc 3. And with that, you have 600XP to spend, in plan format. You can spend the XP on Styles as listed in the character sheet. There is no sorcery option here, because you are still mid-way securing an anchor for your previous extant spell.
Style Summary:
Viper Style - Disciple (Crippled) (100/800XP) (Wood)
Peacock Style - Disciple (Crippled) (0/800XP) (Air)
Graceful Willow Style - Disciple (Crippled) (0/800XP) (Wood)
Unnoticed Breeze Style - Initiate (Crippled) (0/400XP) (Air)
Petal-Wreathed Diva Style - Master (0/2400XP) (Wood)
Smiling Siaka Style - Master (0/2400XP) (Water)
Wyldwoods Scholar Style - Grandmaster (0/3600XP) (Wood)
XP Vote - Allocate 600 XP
[ ] Plan Vote
Additionally, you now need to move onto the process of carrying out a dig in Cahzor, in the face of the local lord not exactly being too happy about being turned down, there being a rival scavenger lord in the area, and other such fun amenities. And the thing is, the map you have doesn't have the resolution to actually tell you exactly what it's marking. So, Rena figures, she'll just start poking local landmarks and that'll look like she has a good reason for being here.
Where does Rena start her dig?
[ ] At the Demon's Gullet, a sizable gash in the land where ancient broken pipework spills water down into a sandstone and concrete canyon.
[ ] At the ruins of the Second Southern Bank, long since thought picked clean - but what if it wasn't?
[ ] At the base of the shimmering heights of a long-abandoned tower, sealed-off at the time of the Great Contagion and still - it is said - with some untouched rooms.
Vocalist
Verdant Maiden in Violet
- Location
- By a Cedar Tree
Two chapters ago: "Hey let's vote for the lustful tyrant option, so Rena can seduce him!"
One chapter ago: "This guy seems way too creepy for the level of power he can offer us, let's not sleep with him."
Fahd: Is irate
Voters: Shocked Pikachu face
This is just like that time at the party when we voted for Rena to
a) look for casual sex while
b) chatting up the men who aren't interested in casual sex.
Just to be clear I voted for the options that got us into this mess, but I think there's a lesson to be learned here about planning.
One chapter ago: "This guy seems way too creepy for the level of power he can offer us, let's not sleep with him."
Fahd: Is irate
Voters: Shocked Pikachu face
This is just like that time at the party when we voted for Rena to
a) look for casual sex while
b) chatting up the men who aren't interested in casual sex.
Just to be clear I voted for the options that got us into this mess, but I think there's a lesson to be learned here about planning.
