Exalted Champloo - Episode 1 - "Intolerance"

[Tokiwong]

Brief Recap

The Circle faced a swan spirit driven mad by thousands of years of loneliness, but eventually set her free. They are currently tracking down some leads through the city of odd events; Kilanusco’s reappearance, the Disciple, and the possibility of a First Age ruin in the desert. Of course the issue with the Rose Black, the Sand Rat, and of course trying to survive the Realm make things difficult… but thus far they have persevered…

Currently…

The Circle makes their way to the Camel Gate and see a slight commotion as a large man wearing green jade armor astride a horse barks commands to Realm Legionnaires, a scale’s* worth strong. They also see five men dressed in the uniform of the city-guard. The commotion seems to stem from the fact that the Realm soldiers are conducting searches on people leaving the city.

A scale is 25 fighting men.

A strikingly beautiful woman astride a black warhorse with long dark hair in the official garb of a Realm officer, Romen and Snow both recognize as the rank of Dragon-Lord, passes by the circle with five men on steeds trailing her.

As she approaches the men scale snaps to attention in crisp unison. She gestures to the man in green jade armor and he continues to bark orders. She is serene in her presence, but there is a palpable power about her, born of breeding and Realm training.

Swallow recognizes the woman as Dragon-Lord Tepet Lisara, and the Dragon-Blood in the jade armor is Cynis Veran not actually a soldier, but more of an overseer for his families opium trade in the city.

There is a line of about of caravans and travelers already forming to get out the city.

 

[Victim]

"I think the Dragon Lord is, umm, Tepet something. Who's the other Exalt?" Romen asks. This is why I wanted to leave immediately... "Temari, maybe you could sneak ahead to overhear what they're looking for exactly? It might be best to leave your bow here, or some other place you can jump to easily."

 

[Shalimar]

Temari cocks her head at Romen for a moment like an owl studying a mouse and then bobs her head once to ackowledge his suggestion. She slips off the bow and quiver and hand them to him, intending to do as he had suggested and get closer in an attempt to overhear the realm soldiers and figure out what was going on.

The girl watched the realm soldiers like a hawk for a moment before closing her eyes and concentrating on her essence to increase her sense of balance as she had before earlier in the day to leap along the ledges and follow the disciple. Nodding again to Romen, the girl faded out of sight as she wove through the crowd into an alley way. back away from the street she kicked off one wall to send her towards another, in that way scaling the low building. Trusting in the unconquored sun to watch over her and dim her prescence, the girl moved along the ledges til she was hidden behind a sculpture above the dragon lord that Romen had named Tepet. The girl was very eager to get to the bottom of this invasive action by the hated realm, believing that the more she knew about her prey the easier they would be to bring down in proper time.

OOC:
3 essence + 1 to activate graceful crane for the scene and mute the anima display
6 personal essence on the first stealth excellency
Stealth roll = 5 + 5 + 3 + 6 = 19

Personal Essence: 6
Periphereal Essence: 14
Commited Essence: 12

 

[Tokiwong]

2-Die stunt, bumped up to 3-Die for supporting Motivation, Silent Wind gets an astounding 10 successes! The Stunt is successful, she can gain 6 motes or 1 Willpower. BTW Everyone is at full essence just to make things easier.

Temari slips into the crowd and is able to get very close to Dragon-Lord Tepet Lisara. The raven haired dragon-blood was beautiful and striking as she watches the crowd impassively.

The larger bald dragon-blood stomps towards her and barks to her, “The search is under way, nothing yet, but Talon-Captain Allain is sure that they will come this way. We will find these two Anathema, Dragons willing and dispose of them.”

The Dragon-Lord grins slightly, “Excellent,” she pauses slightly glancing over her shoulder before continuing, “Well two anathema should be easily dealt with this many soldiers, Perhaps I will adorn their heads outside the Garrison, Veran.”

“Well excuse me, I shall continue the search,” Veran replies.

“Continue,” she says in bored tone.

 

[Shalimar]

They are looking for 2 Exalted so it can't just be that annoying sneak, or even that Sand Rat guy...it has to be us that they are looking for, but which two of us are they looking for...Maybe its Romen and Snow, they are both Dynasts so it might be known that they Exalted for the Unconquored Sun instead of the Dragons. The Raven haired night caste stayed put in her hiding place behind the statues above the Dragon Lord and the soldiers wanting to glean any further information she could before deciding on a course of action.

I'll go back once I know who they are after, maybe we can sneak those 2 out of the city some other way and let the others go out this way so it doesn't look suspicious if we all turn around and leave.

OOC: recover the 6 motes of personal essence

 

[Aenion]

"So far for beating them to the gates," Snow mutters, looking surprisingly relaxed with a possible Wyld Hunt in front of her, "If you are still adamant on not exchanging pleasantries, we should get out of sight. Maybe we can have a drink at one of those stalls until Temari gets back," Snow nods at a few small stalls where several more merchants have gathered to have a drink while they wait their turn at the controlpost.

 

[KentArnold]

"So far for beating them to the gates," Snow mutters, looking surprisingly relaxed with a possible Wyld Hunt in front of her, "If you are still adamant on not exchanging pleasantries, we should get out of sight. Maybe we can have a drink at one of those stalls until Temari gets back," Snow nods at a few small stalls where several more merchants have gathered to have a drink while they wait their turn at the controlpost.

He grimaced and moved over to speak to Snow, his voice was soft as he spoke to her, "I don't like this. Unless we can leave unnoticed, our attempts at returning to town are going to be nil. They'll be on the lookout for us. So don't go getting battle happy. Unless you'd care to consider this town a place we can't return to for a good year or so."

Then in a normal tone he continues, "A drink does sound good, but nothing with alcohol, we need to stay sharp."

 

[Aenion]

Snow smiled a mischievous smile at Alamar before replying seriously, "Don't you worry, I'm not that eager to pick a fight with an entire scale of the Realm's finest. Though I'm sure this city has seen much worse, those two dynasts seem like the kind to know how to handle their blade."

 

[Bobitron]

Swallow nods at Snow's suggestion. "There is a time for action, and this is not that time. I know the man who runs this place. We can trust him." She motions to a nearby eatery called the Bouncing Cart. "We can go in the side entrance."

Stepping with confidence, she walks toward the alley. The shade of the walls is filled with merchants and travelers who are taking advantage of the cool air to gripe about the delay while still being able to watch their goods and carts. A glance from her eyes is enough to clear a path to the kitchen door. Opening the door, she greets the grossly obese man shouting orders at his staff.

"Falesto!" Her smile lights up the room. "We need a table. Can you make it happen? Just for a quick drink and something to snack on." Holding out her hand to greet the man, the sharp-eyed among the Circle can see she is passing a few coins his way. "I know you are busy. I apologize for the lack of notice."

 

[Tokiwong]

"Falesto!" Her smile lights up the room. "We need a table. Can you make it happen? Just for a quick drink and something to snack on." Holding out her hand to greet the man, the sharp-eyed among the Circle can see she is passing a few coins his way. "I know you are busy. I apologize for the lack of notice."

Falesto claps his hands in a grand gesture, “Ah, most honored guest, this way, this way,” he leads the Circle to a back room with a table set up, far from the prying eyes and ears of the other patrons, “If you need anything at all, just holler milady, and shall I say it has been too long,” he grins.

The room was clean, and smelled of cheap incense, a dark curtain over the window, with ample light from strategically placed lanterns in the room.

Back at the Camel Gate

Temari hears the description of the anathema they are looking for an Unclean demon with a description that sounds very much like Two Stone, while the other is a woman the soldiers call the Wretched. The description of the woman sounds very much like Temari! But how could they have known?

A man whispers to Temari, so close she can feel his breath on her neck, “Looks like you have caused a ruckus, perhaps your beauty precedes you? If you want out of the city, I can show you a better path…”