The Dragons' Run - Act 1

[Hair]

Abyss' Black Reach

Abyss gestures Yvara forward. "Best you go rouse your captain then, soldier, since our visit concerns the others you mentioned."

 

[FuzzMonster]

Yvara

The magistrate flows forward, unrolling her seal of office and displaying it clearly. She speaks in perfectly fluent High Realm, knowing that the officers will hear it as the tongue of Dynasts, the tongue of command.

"I am Yvara of the Grey Serpents, Magistrate of the Tribunal. We will be boarding the vessel, as we must speak with Captain Ma'hen. The captain will not appreciate you acting to delay this meeting."

 

[Chaka]

The guards give each other long looks, then one shrugs and heads back up the gangway. He returns a few moments later with who you presume is Captain Ma'hen - strong Southern features, dark olive skin and close-cropped black hair. He is lightly armoured, with his arms bare to the shoulder and heavily tattooed, though he has strapped his breastplate on and has a cutlass on either hip. The grey sash of a Delzahn dereth is wrapped tightly around his waist. He appraises you from the gangplank, but is respectful - you're technically Cadet House Dynasts, after all, if only on paper.

"Can we help you, my lords? Is something amiss?"

 

[FuzzMonster]

Yvara

Oh, good. Captain Ma'hen, I truly hope that you are an intelligent man, because if you are not, then some people are about to die. Maybe.

[How's he looking? Alert, wary, afraid, tense, ready for violence, suspicious, does it seem like he's waiting for something to happen?
Ten dice Read Intentions roll, 5 successes. Sorry, forgot to add the code to make it auto add.]

Ah, fuck. I'm about to ruin this poor guy's night.

How does he feel about us? How does he look at his crew.....

[A quick second Read Intentions roll on the heels of the first, to pick up a rapid sense of his Intimacies re: Dragonbloods and/or his crew. 6 successes, plus Loyalty Reading Meditation for 4m Personal.]

Yvara moves forward, her usual smile not present at all. She continues to speak in High Realm.

"Captain, it is my sad duty to inform you that the festival has been disrupted, and that vile crimes have been committed. As part of an investigation into the activities of Peleps Daejon and his entourage, it will be necessary to detain you, your crew, and the Star of Faxai. This will go much smoother for everyone if you cooperate with local authorities."

Yvara's tone makes it clear. She's not asking. She's telling. If he acts the idiot, people are going to be hurt.

[Presence roll, instilling the following temporary Intimacy: "Things will only go badly for my crew if I try to fight this."
Cha 2 + Pre 3 + 3 dice from the Presence Excellency, 3m Peripheral, + 1 WP for success, aiming to take advantage of his intense loyalty to his crew, a Major Intimacy.

Total 4 successes.]

Yvara is now on: WP 4, Personal 9, Peripheral 24.

 

[Chaka]

Ma'hen assesses you steadily, then nods. "I hope you know what you're doing, Magistrate. For all our sakes."

He unbuckles the classes from his belt and gently places them at your feet, before turning to stunned guards. "Duny, Ashaz, go up and inform the troops that we're surrendering to the Magistrate here. I want this to go orderly and with discipline until this misunderstanding gets sorted out. Now, go."

 

[FuzzMonster]

Yvara

The magistrate motions Abyss and her sailors forward to seize the ship, and then steps towards Captain Ma'hen.

"Bring your first mate and lieutenants. We're going on a walk."

As soon as he brings his officers down, and once she has his signature on the warrants of impound, Yvara brings them to the village square, all unarmed. She points at the bodies of the dead Lintha.

"What the fuck are those? What are they doing here? You brought a Dynast commander and an Immaculate with you, where are they? I do apologise, captain, that last question was rhetorical. Peleps Daejon fled the island via sorcery, and the Immaculate fought so hard to cover his escape that she is currently enjoying a nap, and under arrest."

She gives the assembled officers a moment to absorb this, and then looks at them the way a tsunami eyes a vulnerable beach.

"Does it begin to dawn on you just how deep you have been dropped in it?"

Read Intentions
10 dice plus 4m Peripheral spent on two successes.

 

[Chaka]

Ma'hen hisses when he sees the Lintha corpses. "He abandoned Seréa and fled? Of course. But Lintha..." He stares you full in the face and comes suddenly to attention. "Arshad Farsh Ma'hen, Captain, Imperial Navy, 4th Fleet."

He obviously realises how bad things are because he's acting as a prisoner of war. Name, rank, and posting.

 

[FuzzMonster]

Yvara

She steps closer to Ma'hen.

"And tell me, Arshad Farsh Ma'hen, Captain in the 4th Fleet of the Imperial Navy....where in your doctrine and manual does it say 'Set Lintha Family members upon a fishing village, and then run away'?"

She's now facing him directly from a matter of inches away.

"I truly want this not to turn into a bloodbath, and so do you. That's why you're going to tell me everything."

 

[Hair]

Abyss' Black Reach

When Captain Ma'hen acquiesces to surrender Abyss sends four of her men to intercept the Wavestrider, while the others flank the gangplank on the dock and inside the entry port. While their main purpose is to be seen, they also check to ensure nothing but personal effects are removed from the ship. From the corner of her eye she sees the rowboat reach the Wavestrider, and a few moments after her sails unfurl and she soon slinks up to an unoccupied dock. Her marines pour ashore in force, and begin escorting the Realm Legionnaires to a bare stretch of beach. They seat them in lines, all facing the sea, and forbid talking with sharp cuffs to the side of the head. It's obvious these men have experience disarming ships.

As the last few stragglers leave the Star Abyss' sailors and soldiers wait on the dock. A pair push up, a folded cloth in hand. "Let's get that Mon down, lads!" she roars, to hoots of approval from her men, and backwards glances and muttering from the prisoners. Once the prisoners clear the dock her men swarm aboard and begin a thorough turnover of the ship. The hold is inventoried, the weapons lockers opened and checked, every bulkhead is knocked upon, hidden compartments found. Abyss herself inventories the captain's cabin, checking charts, communications, anything that could give her an advantage in the coming weeks. She checks for valuables and instruments, of course, but intelligence is foremost in her mind.

[Spending 4 motes on Indisputable Physical Analysis Technique for 2 successes, spending WP for a further success]


[7 successes total]

Once her work is done, in the early hours of the morning, Abyss stands on the poop deck, her paired daiklaves in hand, though resting on the wheel. She quests forwards with her essence, feeling burning resistance as she does so. Her fury from the fight earlier returns in force and a flood of Water essence douses the flames lying within the swords.

Bitch was his daughter, eh? Pity I can't use these to carve him several new assholes, really. Wonder how he'd like getting her back in installments? Now that's a thought.

 

[Chaka]

Ma'hen stares straight ahead. "There's nothing to tell, ma'am. On my honour, no-one aboard ship knew about this. Daejon acted alone. I doubt even Seréa knew the full extent of his plan, if what you say is true. If you're the kind to massacre unarmed prisoners of war, I suggest you get started. I don't have all night." He doesn't seem fazed.

 

[FuzzMonster]

Yvara

The magistrate's response is a sad smile.

"Oh. You thought the bloodbath was me threatening your crew, on this one little island? Think bigger, captain. I want this to end here. I want this to be an embarrassing diplomatic hiccup, a footnote in a boring history text. I don't want villages to burn. I don't want the people of these isles to suffer and die because a pack of Dynasts moved tokens on a map and decided it was time to stir some shit."

She shakes her head.

"Look at you, so concerned about war crimes when what terrifies me is war itself."

Presence roll, instilling the following impression: Yvara truly wishes to prevent war and bloodshed. If I don't help her now, I will regret it in the future.

That's Cha 2 + Presence 3, plus 2m Peripheral fir an Excellency success plus a WP for a success.

The rerolled 10 got nuthin.
5 total successes.

 

[Chaka]

The captain's eyes soften slightly. "I believe you, my lady. I truly do. And Daejon is testing the absolute limit of my loyalty, I promise you. But the truth is the truth. I have no intelligence to give you, though if your companion finds anything useful on the Faxai she's welcome to it."

 

[FuzzMonster]

Yvara

She nods grimly, and addresses the officers.

"I'll escort you to where the crew are being held, and you can assure yourselves that they are not being mistreated."

The ghost of a smile flits across her face.

"Provided being told to sit tight, not cause trouble, and being given a clip across the ear for chatting is not mistreatment."

While walking down, she asks captain Ma'hen for his impressions of Seréa, and puts this in the context of what she knows about the man himself. Which really may not be all that much.

[What the heck does she know about Daejon?]

As soon as she gets the chance, Yvara will arrange for the monk to be moved to a clean, safe infirmary bed. She'll check on Saria and tell her family that the Serpents know what happened and she's safe now.

When Yvara sleeps, she will, as she thought, be doing so at the infirmary. Just, at the bedside of a different patient than she initially planned.

 

[Chaka]

@Hair

Most of the ship is clean, no contraband or other signs of any illegal activity bar the occasional stashed bottle of moonshine and a... well-thumbed illustrated copy of the Immaculate Texts stashed in a soldier's bunk. However, in Daejon's quarters some careful knocking turns up a ledger of accounts in a concealed drawer. At a glance everything seems to be in order, but its concealment suggests it may be important.

 

[Hair]

Abyss Black Reach

Abyss tucks the ledger away in a belt pouch. It could wait until she wasn't half cross-eyed. She heads back to the Hearth, and if she isn't intercepted along the way she sleeps until mid morning.

When she does she starts leafing through the ledger from Daejon's quarters. At first the numbers seem to add up, but soon she starts to spot. She focuses in on the areas where the inconsistencies are the strongest, and with some work she pierces the obfuscation.

[Willpower and 2 motes for successes on Perception + Investigation (6 dice)]



[4 successes total]

"Daejon, you filthy bastard," she smiles to herself, before shutting the ledger and wandering off to find Yvara.

 

[Chaka]

Lesanda comes back not long before dawn, exhausted and covered in other people's blood. She reveals tersely that the remaining pirates are dead, but there was nothing useful there. She doesn't seem surprised that Daejon escaped, though she is surprised he used sorcery to do it. "He'll be on damage control now, and so must we." She instructs you all to accompany her back to Stormledge on Banoron Isle with the prisoners and grants Yvara full access to question them, though it will be days before the Immaculate is conscious and recovered enough to be questioned. Then she goes to sluice off the gore and get some rest.

On the docks, as you all prepare to board, an excited Galen dashes up to you. His mum's awake, he says. She doesn't remember the last few days, and she'll be healing for a long time, but she'll live. Solemnly, he hands Jensa a woven bracelet, decorated with seashells. "For luck! You're our good luck, miss. Thanks you!" He dashes off back up towards the town.

The trip from Seppish to Banoron Isle takes most of the day, and those of you not native to the island are provided accommodation in the Great Hearth at Stormledge, the largest city in the archipelago and Banoron stronghold. For the next three days, your time is your own.

3 days downtime! You gain 8xp and 2 Terrestrial XP.

 

[FuzzMonster]

Yvara

With cheer and glee, Yvara welcomes Abyss aboard her little boat before they head out for a flying trip to Helige. Having assured the masters there, she oversees the trade of those twin daiklaves for paired razorclaws from the dojo vault, and also requisitions access to a certain scroll....

Rejoining Lesanda a day or so later, Yvara gets down to the business of her investigation.The prisoners from the Star of Faxai receive a few visits from Yvara, both during the voyage and in the days after. She asks them if they knew anything about Lintha involvement, if anything had gone missing from the Star, if officers were acting strange, all of that. For those who inevitably say that they cannot answer any questions, she instead makes sure that they are being fed and looked after, and asks if any of them need medical treatment. Above all else, the message they receive from this treatment should be the following: "Our Peleps commander did something supremely shitty, it involved the Lintha, and it got us all captured. However, the Serpents are not going to mistreat us, don't want a war, and just want to know what the fuck the Peleps are thinking."

Ma'hen comes in for a spot of questioning, too, as Yvara wants to know anything he can tell her about Seréa. If he asks why or demands a justification, Yvara will quite openly tell him: She wants to save her life. The best chance of that happening is if she can get Seréa to talk to her. Yvara's Guile is high, but she doesn't bother trying to hide her relevant Intimacies: "Bloodsoaked justice is not the best justice" and "I will save her from the consequences of her idiocy."

She also goes to have a word with Lesanda, and asks what the fuck it was that Daejon wanted. If Lesanda stonewalls, Yvara will point out that had Lesanda trusted her the first time she asked, the attack at the festival might have gone differently.

She'll also go and sample some of the local beers, and look for the spiciest of fish sauces! Stormledge market! Woo!


If anyone really stonewalls her and clams up, then Yvara will be perfectly lovely and friendly while she deploys...the Read Intentions dicepool.


She also takes an evening to pore over the ledger which Abyss trusts her with, and her keen mind notices some discrepancies...
[Perception + Bureaucracy, 6 dice, plus one autosuccess from Excellency. Total 6 successes]

[Sequestering 8 XP for picking up the first grapple enhancer charm from Mantis Style.]

 

[Hair]

Abyss' Black Reach

Abyss hands the Star off to Lesanda in the morning and spreads her between Crestclipper and Wavestrider, and the Star, if needed, before setting them on the path to Banoron. She then goes in search Yvara, who had offered to see her as far as Helige. On the way she fills Yvara in on Daejon's ledger and embezzlement. She'll leave the small book with Yvara if she wishes.

When they get to Helige Abyss sends a message to Bharat, asking for his guidance. She then goes to the armoury with Yvara to trade the daiklaves she won for something she can actually use. Her new Razor Claws in hand she finds Bharat near the harbour. Then next couple of days are spent getting accustomed to her new weapons, as Bharat rocks the boat under her and throws various attacks her way. "If you can dodge a belay pin you can dodge a fist," is a maxim he's especially proud of.

As the sun goes down on the third day after the attack Abyss launches a small, hired dinghy from Helige, bound for Banoron. It'd be a late night, but the silence of the sea after dark always thrilled her, where it terrified others.

[Spending 2 Txp and 5 xp to raise my MA to 5]

 

[Sarky]

Jensa:

Jensa dutifully followed Lesanda to Stormledge, and observed all appropriate etiquette at the Great Hearth. She and her troupe were happy to perform at a handful of discreet social gatherings in repayment over the next few days. It was good to have some rest, and perhaps not be on Caerdath business for a little while. Well, once she had completed her duty from Seppish, perhaps.

There was a tavern in Stormledge she'd been told about by her tutors. Handed down through the family for many generations, one of the original owners had either been Banoron or Caerdath and married into the other. It had a fair reputation for food and drink, but its chief quality was as a Caerdath home away from home, for those clan members of a certain disposition. After some enquiries, Jensa entered the Sea Spout and asked for Dervan. She penned a brief letter, and requested that it find its way to Caerdath Ifina with all possible haste. A nod and a wink, a few coins and a drink, and the letter was on its way.

"Hearthmother Ifina,
Seppish welcomed me too warmly. Your suspicions were inverted; Dynastic ambitions rebuked by Banoron in favour of all the isles. He responded with, I jest not, Lintha. No hard proof yet but make no mistake, Peleps Daejon has broken the Pact. Prepare accordingly. Writing from Stormledge, will update once Seppish prisoners are questioned, including his daughter."

 

[Chaka]

Three Days Later

Stormledge, the Banoron seat and largest city in An t-Oiléanra, is a medium-sized city, not too different from any other city in the west. Dotted with First Age ruins that also poke out from the surface of the harbour here and there like fingers of imperishable, seamless stone and metal, it is a hodgepodge of traders, sailors, freebooters, the occasional pirate, and the Banoron Navy. At the centre of the city is the five-storey palace of the Banoron Great Hearth, ancient seat of the Clan. It is to here that Caerdath Maya Jensa, Yvara and Banoron Cylin, the Abyss' Black Reach, have been summoned this afternoon. However they have a couple of hours before they must attend Lesanda, and an old friend of Yvara's is just arriving at port...