The Lotus Blossoms! - Volume II

[Sticks]

Leaf smiles at Kelam. "It's time I give up the past, love, that's all. I been who I was, definin' myself by old boundaries. let's see who I'm gonna be, once I break 'em down. I jes' gotta say 'goodbye' first."

She leads Kelam to the main temple and takes her to the great bell, shows her the copper-capped log on its sacred rope, and asks her to ring it. "Keep a steady cadance, 'erry four heartbeats."

Stepping into the courtyard. Brown Leaf kneels, facing northward to the pole of earth as she had done so many times. She bows, placing her palms down and slowly lowering her head to the paved stone. She straightens, places her palms together as she hears the first strike of the bell. She rises on her feet, her hands still together. With a scrape she draws her right foot forward, tracing a curve in the dust and grit of the courtyard floor. She brings her hands up, assuming a forward defensive stance, with a burst of movement she steps once, striking with her left fist into the air, her leg snaps around and she whirls, bringing her feet up in a double spin-kick. Ducking low, she rises, her fists forming into gentle swooping finger-blades as she slips into another Immaculate form. It was here that she practiced them, Fire, Air, Water, Wood and Earth, here that she dreamed of Exalting under Paisap or Heiesh or Mela. She knew it was a long shot, that her blood was not blessed as those in the Realm, but she still hoped. She seethed with envy as they met the princes of the Realm in Chiaroscuro and Khirigast, their hands smooth and lacking callouses, their power evident in their every movement, the blessing of Dragons. She embraces the memory, and with a strike and a toll of the bell she shatters its meaning, the feeling becoming mere fact of the past. She looks at the temple grounds as she turns to adopt a new stance, feels her small hands grow tired as they swing a mallet at the end of a long day, driving these pillars into the ground. She sees the faces of the other young monks, straining with heavy burdens, laughing as another pillar slides into its hole and settles slanted, Leaf rushes to correct it and finds Sifu's hand already there, but he lets her push as hard as she is able, stumbling in her too-large robe. She leaps, turning mid-air to kick in an upward arc, below her are rows of stone benches filling this courtyard with sand-bags, dozens of monks are striking them in unison, high, young voices united in kiais, striking with fist, palm, fingers, elbows, feet, she is among them, smallest by far but most practiced, Sifu nods as he walks among them, hands folded in his robes behind his back. His eyes do not linger on her, but she knows he noted her effort especially. She lands, the bell tolls, she is bathed in sweat, though the moisture running off her scalp is insufficient to hide the tears pouring down her face.

Leaf finishes with her feet together, every Immaculate Kata ever learned in two decades complete. She bows northward once more, her eyes are closed and she does not see the droplets of sweat and tears dotting the dry stone floor. She walks up the steps to Kelam, and gives her a classic Brown Leaf grin, full of open mirth. "I'm done here. I hope it makes some los' soul a good home one day. It's what it's fer."

She goes to the well, draws up a bucket of cool water, drinks from the copper ladle and then dumps the bucket over her head. It's mid-day, she'll be dry soon enough. She grins at Kelam, water running down her long nose and soaked robe. "Damn but that's refreshin'. I'm ready t' go back when you are."

Spoiler: OOC

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Leaf gains a minor intimacy of Agape (Unconditional love), she reduces her negative intimacies by one tier. This eliminates her minor negative intimacies (The Realm) to nothing.

[Malozing]

With the Sky Titan closing in, Slang eyes its limbs and how the creature shifts its weight as it moves. Immobilizing one folded wing would not only prevent it from flying but also inhibit its movement on the ground.

The Tya slowly readies Serpent-Sting and circles around to a shrub on the Sky Titan’s left side. Slang’s essence pulling shadows over them like a cloak. Set up is key to this hunt, and one mistake could cost them.

Spoiler: Stealth

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We are going to go for 9 excellencies dice. 2 motes to keep everything mute.
18 dice total thanks to -2
(5d10)[6][2][6][10][5](29)
(5d10)[5][6][6][7][10](34)
(5d10)[7][5][1][9][10](32)
(3d10)[6][4][10](20)

With their muscles tense, Slang focuses hard on a point about head height on the forelimb of the beast. The sky titan steps forward, and the Tya leaps forward and strikes.

Essence venom pumps out from the ends of the seven-section staff in hopes of replicating the results from the previous fight with Safa.

Spoiler: Attack and Gambit

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3 motes spent to use Crippling Pressure-point Strike, and 9 motes for excellencies. 20 dice pool.

Spoiler: Attack Roll

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(5d10)[9][3][9][6][7](34)
(5d10)[4][5][8][6][5](28)
(5d10)[7][6][9][3][8](33)
(5d10)[4][3][2][9][9](27)

Spoiler: Gambit Roll

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(5d10)[8][5][9][4][10](36)
(5d10)[9][3][9][5][7](33)
(5d10)[8][3][10][7][9](37)
(5d10)[6][1][3][4][6](20)
Will roll more in OOC if I gain more from the stealth roll

[Ascension]

Though the Sky Titan's head sweeps over Slang as the Tya captain approaches, its sensitive tongue tasting the air, their uncanny stealth keeps them concealed. When they strike from concealment, the creature is caught completely off guard.

The Sky Titan's pressure points are different from a human's, but Slang's extensive knowledge of both wilderness survival and of medicine gives them a good idea of where the creature's vital essence flows must be. When they strike, their educated guess proves true. The essence-venom of their art spreads quickly through the meridians of its left wing.

As the strength of its forelimb withers, the Sky Titan stumbles, its quadrupedal stance disrupted. A squawk of confusion turns to a cry of distress as it tries and fails to shake life back into its wing, then to an eardrum-rattling screech of rage as it notices the cause of its discomfort, the ant of a human who has dared attack it. It draws back its head, ready to strike, serpent-like, at the nuisance.

And strike the Sky Titan does, driving a lance-sharp beak longer than Slang's entire body toward the valiant Tya. Skymoth moves to act in the same instant, but can he do anything to blunt the massive beast's attack?

[pfm1995]

Tuoni's shoulders set as he faced the crocodile-headed creature's massive bulk, and he crossed his arms and tilted his head. He was tired, and wounded, but not so tired and wounded as to miss that there was precedent being set here. Passing a prince of the earth and shaman of Linowa off to a servant was acceptable, even wise, once. Now it was becoming annoying. "May I tell you a story?" He said, not bothering to wait for an answer before starting to speak again. "In my homeland, far to the north, there was once an old man who, through wit and toil, had made for himself a small farm. He was well into the twilight of his life when a beggar approached, and being wise to the ways of hospitality the old man offered the beggar food and a place by his hearth. The beggar accepted, and that night spun such a tale of woe as to move Saturn to tears. Beside himself, the man offered the beggar a place at his farm - he had no son, you see, and surely between the two of them they could easily raise enough for both to live happy, fat lives. And do you know what the beggar said?"

His voice turned dark.

"No. He said no, for why should he work when kind elderly farmers are willing to provide such wonderful meals for only the price of a few tears? The beggar moved on the next morn, and the old man died some two years later. The farm, so lovingly tendered, was left fallow. Thus was Creation lessened."

Tuoni re-focused on the looming crocodile-headed messenger. "When your lord chose to hide, hide behind bushes and ill-tempered minions, he relinquished any right to object to what he was given. He refused to sow and so ate only what he could scavenge from the generous and the trusting -what has been given was in ill-proportion to what was offered, but only in that anything was given at all. You speak of plans half-carried-out? Those monks," he gestured to the few testing the water's edge, "are a seed, unplanned for but welcome, which may yet bloom into something glorious indeed. Something that could have been made even more glorious with the participation of the mighty Sundiata, but now? Now your master has no part in this history, to his detriment. The Age of the Exalted has come again, and your master is... he is irrelevant. As for you..."

Tuoni gestured behind him, where patches of fresh-turned earth still soaked up the sun. "A feast I promised you and a feast awaits - should you and yours lower yourselves enough to dig. Appropriate, for those who expect reward without risk and sacrifice without reason. I freely offer warning, though: the Exalted of Luna who's sisters you speak of consuming may not look kindly on your desecration, and I have found him more helpful than you or your master. Why should you lower yourself to help me? Because I am a Solar Exalted, and I am asking for information about the Last Supplicant of Endless Power."

Tuoni let the title hang in the air.

"Think on that. Think on what it means, that the princes of the sun are back and that we seek such a thing. Thing on what would happen, if we approached it ill-informed. Why should you help us? Because to do otherwise is to court disaster. I come to your master with an offer, a chance to shape events that will see the whole South changed - or not. If he chooses to stand to the side and simply watch the world turn..." He affected a shrug. "then that is what he chooses, and I will respect that choice. But I will make no apology when events turn out not to his liking."

Spoiler: Actions

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Alright, this is an attempt to Inspire using Tuoni's story - though, if it's alright with you, I'd like to propose a moral rather than an emotion: "If you don't help change things, then things may change in ways you don't like". I feel like that's general enough to still be more of an Inspire than an Instill, but I defer to you. Anyway, 3m Excellency and Masterful Performance Exercise.

Spoiler: Rolls

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(12d10)[5][6][4][3][5][5][10][2][6][6][5][8](65)

[Eurus]

Above the furious pterosaur, the innocuous moth flares with silver light. In an instant, Skymoth has grown back to his human form -- but then he keeps growing, fountains of moonlight extending from his shoulders to form huge wings covered in tiny shimmering scales. Long antennae extend from his head, and patches of downy white fur cover his limbs. His eyes shift and glint, oddly textured and oversized, and his limbs seem to elongate slightly, his body becoming something impossibly graceful and delicate and powerful at the same time. A beautiful monster.

Descending slowly, Skymoth shouts. He clangs his spear against his shield while his wings beat the air, and grins at the Sky Titan.

"Noble creature! I look forward to eating your heart!"

Spoiler: OOC

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Using Hybrid Body Transformation and Deadly Beastman Transformation. Updated mote pool will be edited in.

[Ascension]

Slang:

As Skymoth trusts Slang to defend themselves (sorry, old chap), the Sky Titan's beak hits its mark... or does it?

Spoiler: OOC and Roll

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Decisive beak attack.

Spoiler: Roll

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Attack: (9d10)[10][4][1][3][7][5][3][1][1](35)
Damage: (12d10)[3][9][8][8][8][3][3][7][1][4][4][8](66)

Brown Leaf:

Tears streak Kelam's own cheeks by the time Brown Leaf is finished. What she just witnessed... what she was just a part of... was beautiful, but Leaf's noble goal unintentionally brought the Bodhisattva of Dark Waters' perverse faith to Kelam's mind. Her happiness for Leaf mixes uncomfortably with tumultuous memories of her own past.

Kelam reaches out and hugs Leaf tightly to her body, desperately grateful that Leaf's determination to let the past go doesn't count her as 'past.'

"Must the past always die?" she breathes into Leaf's ear. "Is that what's right?"

Kelam feels a surge of homesickness. Though the Mourning Blade is securely sheathed, she feels the voices of her sword, the voices of her past, singing through her blood, and, for the first time in years, she wants nothing more than to be called by the name her parents gave her.

Even the mere thought of that sin against the Neverborn stirs the whispers in her skull.

She is dead, the chorus insists.

'Is she?'

Tuoni:

Spoiler: OOC

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Okay, two-point stunt for that speech. Gain a WP, if Tuoni's not already at maximum.

The crocodile-headed herald growls, and appears to be on the verge of speaking, but then he stops as if listening to words Tuoni cannot hear. A moment later he begins to sink back down into the waters of the Sundiata, and the river itself rises behind him. The water's surface bulges, then breaks, and from it rises a man whose skin is the deep, wet brown of fertile mud, a man whose long hair and beard are stiff, green reeds, a man who wears flowing waters as a cloak. Tuoni deals with an intermediary no longer; the Sundiata stands before him.

"The Last Supplicant's power is beyond the reach of anyone," the river-god says, his voice soft and liquid, like sucking mud and lapping waters, "save perhaps the Sun Himself. It was sealed, at the Sun's order, by the power of the departed censor, Swan Dragon. And it will never be unsealed. Swan Dragon has been lost since the time the Scarlet Realm was established, and it is far beyond Wong Bongerok, the snake who now pretends to his position, to release that which Swan Dragon bound."

The river-god shakes his head.

"You chase after the unattainable, Copper Spider. Unattainable even for one of your power, as hard as that may be to fathom."

Wic:

There's nothing for Wic to do but press on with the summoning, lest he risk losing control of the power he works to channel... but he can't ignore that little irregularity, that subtle portent of... perhaps nothing. Or perhaps everything.

[Sticks]

Leaf hugs Kelam back. "Naw jarabi, the past ain't dead, jes...harder t' see an' hear an' touch. It's why folk cling t' their ancestors after they up'n died, an' why them ghosts don't want their heirs t' change nothin'." She looses her grip, leans back to take in the sight of Kelam's tear-streaked face, then smiles and kisses her on the chin.

"Lettin' go ain't easy, but I got practice. Half th' time, it's jes' a matter'a sayin 'goodbye' the right way. I jes' done that t' ol' me, th' me what never left this-here valley longer'n she had ta. New me lives on a ship, with a cap'n an' crew, a lil' brother what's gonna teach her sorcery, an older brother who keeps t' hisself, a sister in Chiaroscuro, a friend what turns inta a moth, an' th' most wonderful girlfriend I coulda dreamed of. If'n we do come back an' settle here someday, it'll be a new home fer both'a us."

[Malozing]

"Stront!" As the beak comes down towards them, Slang throws themselves to the side and rolls with their momentum.

Spoiler: OOC

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Slang has evasion 4. Hopefully, it is enough.

[Malozing]

Landing in a three-point stance, Slang spings forward again with Serpent-sting. They fling an end of the staff towards the right side of titan's face as the creature begins to pull its beak out of the ground. With any luck, the beast will try to step back onto its unresponsive limb and topple.

"Are you just going to let me do all the work, Skymoth?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Burning 3m for Striking Cobra Technique to add Slang's Dex to the raw withering damage pool.

Spoiler: Dice

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Attack 14 dice: (14d10)[5][6][8][5][5][1][3][4][9][1][9][3][1][4](64)
Withering Damage:(inculding the Dex Dice) (18d10)[5][4][3][6][5][3][10][1][9][3][1][4][5][5][1][4][8][6](83)

[Ascension]

Slang and Skymoth:

Unfortunately for Slang, the earth provides negligible resistance to a creature as mighty as the Sky Titan, and it withdraws its beak as rapidly as it struck, evading Serpent-Sting's counter-stroke by inches.

The Titan's gaze shifts from the human at its feet to the moth-creature hovering before it. While its wing still burns with the former's poison, that one won't catch it off-guard again. The latter, however, is another surprise, an unknown, an interloper. The Sky Titan needs to demonstrate to the newcomer that it is not weak, it is not vulnerable, it will not be treated as prey by insects a fraction of its size.

And the Sky Titan needs to show that no enemy is outside its reach.

Its snakelike neck strikes out at full extension, closing the distance between the Titan and the hovering Skymoth. The lance-point of its beak whistles through the air; if Skymoth is struck by such a blow, even the cunningly enchanted brocade of his cloak will afford him little protection.

Of course, with its neck stretched out so far, the Titan may be vulnerable to reprisal...

Spoiler: OOC and Rolls

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This is a Withering, Piercing beak attack from short range against Skymoth. If it hits, it will ignore up to 7 points of Soak from Armor (Skymoth's Soak from Stamina and Deadly Beastman will stay intact). However, the Sky Titan's Defense is reduced by 1 until its next turn.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Attack: (9d10)[3][9][5][2][4][5][6][2][8](44)
Damage (Base 18, Minimum 6, ignores up to 7 Armor Soak): (18d10)[5][4][9][1][4][8][7][9][2][4][4][2][3][6][5][9][8][7](97)

Brown Leaf:

You can never go home again, kinslayer, the bleak voice taunts.

Not to my old home, no, Kelam thinks, but perhaps Leaf and I can still build a new one.

You will bring doom to this quiet valley.

None we can't handle.

Kelam rubs her face affectionately against Brown Leaf's scalp.

"I'd like that," she says aloud.

She drapes her arms over Brown Leaf's shoulders.

"Were you planning on carrying me all the way back, too?" she asks. She winks, and teases, "Whatever will people think?"

[Sticks]

Brown Leaf smiles as she hoists Kelam into her arms. "Let 'em talk. I owe this valley two years'a gossip. I think I'll jes take the stretch in th' villages at a slow jog."

Running through the paddy-fields, leaping across streams and vaulting over fences, Leaf calls out to the villagers as she goes. "We'll be back! Might be some monks comin', they're okay! Gotta go save the world, ya'll relax, we got this!"

Reaching the open flat before the mountains, Leaf's stride lengthens as golden tendrils of essence stream about her and Kelam. They've got a short time to get back before Wic is done with his summoning, and the way out of the valley is harder than in. Behind her she smells the cookfires being stoked, hears grandmas calling for children to come help gather vegetables, feels the rumble cattle being driven to their afternoon pastures. This is a good land, a good home for the people she grew up with. She'd like to come back soon, see what more she can do here.

As she summits the first peak of the trail, she grins at Kelam and speaks between breaths. "Y'know, I - think I'd like ta - see a bit more'a the - world 'afore we decide we're gonna - settle down. How 'bout you? Whoa! Hold that thought." She leaps, careening off a great boulder to avoid a monk coming up the other way. "I mean - we got long lives aheada us. Why - not - see the world - once we - save it? I bet - Cap'n Slang gets up t' - all kinds'a adventures. I mean - they done plenty since comin' here. Wanna - bet they're doin' somethin' crazy right now?"

[Eurus]

The champions of Luna are many things, and Skymoth does his best to hold most of those traits. He takes pride in beauty, in fluidity, in mirth and coldness and light and dark. When he fights, he's a glory to behold, almost as glorious as the moon itself.

He's never been very good at subtlety, though.

A blast of light so bright and clear that it seems to wash the entire savannah in eerie, bleaching light radiates from Skymoth's caste mark. His wings fold around him and he plummets as the Sky Titan lashes out, crashing his entire weight onto its neck. He lands lightly an instant later, then dives underneath the beast, rolling and slashing with his spear at its legs and underbelly. When he emerges, the light has dimmed slightly, but a swirling column of moonlight and silver mist rises above the battlefield into the sky, visible even at midday. In that haze, humanoid silhouettes shift and blur, women with spears circling around in the ghostly light of his anima like they're goading the beast toward Skymoth for the kill. His sisters, living and dead, remind him that he's never truly parted from them; and in the distance, a shadow of great horns looms in the mist.

Spoiler: OOC

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Defense and counterattack stuff is in the OOC thread. For Skymoth's turn, he will land on the ground in Close range with Slang and the Titan and then make a Withering attack against it. Divine Predator Strike (2m), Unerring Fang Technique (1m), Excellency (5m). That leaves Skymoth at three motes in peripheral, and bonfire anima.

Dex (5) + Melee (5) + Specialty (1) + Stunt (2) + Accuracy (3) + Excellency (5)
(21d10)[6][9][10][9][9][10][3][10][7][5][2][4][2][1][6][10][2][3][3][4][4](119)

Unerring Fang Technique then adds 1 non-charm success, and +1 non-charm die for every 10. Rolling a handful, apply one die for each 10 on the main attack roll.
(8d10)[3][9][2][5][4][6][9][5](43)
(Looks like 14 attack roll successes.)


Damage is Str (5) + Weapon (12) + Beastman (5) + Net Successes + (1 + Number of 10s on the attack, max 5) - Soak. Let's just roll a ton of dice and see how many we need.
(30d10)[8][3][10][7][2][9][5][2][1][5][9][5][7][3][6][7][8][6][9][1][8][2][5][1][1][6][5][4][1][4](150)

EDIT: If my math is right, Skymoth should end up dealing 27 dice of withering damage.

[pfm1995]

Tuoni bows his head to the newly-emergent god of the river, giving him the respect he was due now that he'd actually shown himself. "Were it that I am the only one to seek it. Sadly, the one who also does is my greater in both experience and knowledge, and has a head-start. You speak of this being out of my reach, but I fear not that - only that it is not out of his. Anything you may be able to tell me about the Last Supplicant could make all the difference. Who built it? Why? Was it every truly activated?"

Tuoni deliberately avoided mentioning the Hortatum, though he toyed with the idea of bringing him up - now that the god himself was here, telling him of a rogue sidereal and his solar dupe could scare him straight back into hiding and take Tuoni's answers with him.

[Ascension]

Tuoni:

The river-god gives out a gurgling chuckle.

"Your kind built it, Copper Spider. At the height of your power. I was not privy to the councils of its architects, but I imagine it was built for their convenience, or to suit the mortal notion of expedience, which is the same as convenience. If a Lawgiver were to follow proper procedure when petitioning Southern spirit courts to, say, adjust the level of Wood Essence flowing through a particular dragon line to enrich the fertility of his fields, or to shift a line rich in the essence of Fire so that it flows beneath a mountain range near her foe's cities so that volcanoes might form, it might take centuries for all the rituals and all the paperwork to be complete, and the Lawgiver would run the risk that the courts might, at the end of the entire process, answer 'no' to a particularly frivolous or self-serving request. With control of the Last Supplicant, however, such changes could be made in a matter of hours... and, if ill-considered, might cause problems which could last generations."

He shakes his head.

"Thus far it seems the returned Lawgivers retain the same ethos, if not the same methods. The rumors say an Iron Wolf now stalks the spirit courts, striking down elementals and minor gods in political killings. And I have even heard that a Circle of Solars working together drove Queen Tenepeshu from her seat of power. Impatience. Rash action. The faults of humanity, raised to the power of gods."

Skymoth, Slang:

Incredibly, the Sky Titan finds that the little flying creature, the outsized moth, stings even harder than the human at its feet. The Titan's blood flows from a wound on its neck... only a trickle, for now, but a sure sign of its mortality nonetheless. The onslaught of Skymoth and his phantasmal sisters also achieves the goal which Slang had aimed for: in its desperate attempts to escape the Lunar's superhumanly strong jabs, the Titan instinctively attempts to brace against its paralyzed limb. The lame wing slips out from beneath it, and the Titan sprawls pitifully, the proud master of the sky brought low by creatures a fraction of its imperious size.

Spoiler: OOC

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New Initiative count is in the OOC. End of round, regain 5m, and Skymoth is up again! Also, don't forget to roll that last die of Decisive damage from the counterattack, Eurus!

[Eurus]

Skymoth grins. It would be a charming smile, in other circumstances. Right now, splashed with blood -- even a superficial blow to a beast this size is enough to send liters of the stuff spraying -- it seems more like a baring of teeth. Perfect, pearly-white teeth that have smiled flirtatiously at many a handsome lass or lad, but teeth nonetheless, more than capable of tearing flesh and cracking bone.

He has an opportunity to strike, so strike he does. Skymoth hops onto the creature's neck, his wings propelling him through the air gracefully, and prepares to thrust his spear into what seems like the weakest point.

Spoiler: OOC

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Regain five motes for new round, then make a decisive attack. This time, I won't put anything on it.

Dex (5) + Melee (5) + Specialty (1) + Stunt (2)
(13d10)[9][5][4][3][1][6][5][1][1][6][10][6][2](59)

Damage:
(20d10)[8][2][3][9][6][1][9][1][1][5][3][6][4][10][10][9][2][6][7][6](108)

[Ascension]

As Skymoth prepares to strike, the Sky Titan thrashes its neck beneath his feet, nearly bucking him off, but his spear strikes out just fast enough to secure a hold in a vulnerable spot between the creature's hardened scales, and subsequently the beast's thrashing and Skymoth's efforts to stay atop it actually help drive the spear in deeper than it might have struck if the Titan had simply stayed still.

The flow of blood from this second wound is not that much greater than from the first, but it must have struck something significantly more vital within the beast; the great Titan's movements visibly slow, and its breathing becomes more labored.

Spoiler: OOC

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That attack was a hit (though just barely!), and the Titan took seven levels of damage... enough to kill a normal person in a single blow, and also enough to drop this Sky Titan into its -2 health levels. Skymoth's Initiative resets to 3, and Slang is up next!

[pfm1995]

Tuoni stifles a surprised cough. "An Iron Wolf, you say? I wonder... it seems unlikely that ourselves and they are connected, but there are questions I may ask others. It is not one of the Night Caste that we seek. Still, thank you for your help - I have no more desire for things to change so quickly than you do. Be safe."

[Malozing]

Slang laughs as the ground shakes from the Sky Titan’s fall. The Tya dodges around the beast’s thrashing limbs and drives an end of their staff into the creature’s hide at the right shoulder joint.

Spoiler: OOC

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Decisive attack. Spending 3m to activate Striking Cobra Technique for an auto success for the decisive damage. 1m to round out my attack dice pool to 10 dice.

Spoiler: The Dice

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Attack: (5d10)[6][6][8][9][1](30)
(5d10)[3][10][9][1][5](28)
Damage: (5d10)[9][5][8][5][7](34)
(5d10)[6][2][3][5][5](21)
(3d10)[10][7][2](19)+ 1 success

[Ascension]

Slang's strike is sure, and even without the aid of essence-venom, a sharp fang of Moonsilver forcefully driven into the correct spot is capable of ruining the mighty flight muscles of the Sky Titan. The creature makes matters worse for itself by struggling, straining stressed tendons past the breaking point. The once-proud predator collapses, both its wings unable to bear its weight, its body balanced too far forward to stand up on its back limbs only. It still struggles with a vigor befitting its station as an apex predator of the sky, but it is injured past the point of recovery, crippled at best, if not dying.

Finishing the job, at this point, will be a mercy killing... though the subsequent act of carving through the enormous creature's chest to reach its heart and drink its vital essence may seem significantly less merciful.

Spoiler: OOC

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Eurus, you're free to describe Skymoth finishing the Sky Titan off and obtaining its heart's blood however you wish.

[Eurus]

There are few mercies a hunter can offer his prey, but Skymoth does what he can. Drawing his skinning knife, he slices one of the beast's pulsing arteries. Its heart's struggles spill its blood quickly, and in moments it quiets. It takes a few minutes after that to die, but at least it's beyond pain.

Skymoth returns to human form and shucks off his cloak, grinning broadly. "This may take a bit. No sense in ruining my clothes."

--------

It's almost the deadline for Wirric's summoning to complete when Skymoth finally returns to where he left the group. He's stark naked, clothes tied to the end of his spear like a bindle, and he's whistling a chirpy tune. His body is absolutely coated in dirt, sweat, and blood, and the smell of him is... well, it's impressive, in a horrible sort of way.

"I hope I'm not late! Are we ready to go?"

[Malozing]

While Skymoth works to get at the beast's heart, Slang collects as many of the feathers as they can fit into some spare pouches.

-----

Slang chuckles at Skymoth's cheerful greeting and is wholly used to the stench clinging to the Lunar by now. The Tya's clothes, bloodied from earlier, has some newer blood splatters and a fine layer of dirt. Once they reached the rest of the group, Slang plops down into a seated position and begins to undo their top knot.

"They wouldn't have left without us," they say as their hands work to shake out the dirt clinging to their hair. "Besides, I doubt that would have been a problem for you now."

[Ascension]

Tuoni:

The god of the Sundiata is not particularly happy to be dismissed by Tuoni, but he ascribes the shaman's manners to his Solar nature, and he does not press the issue.

"If the Last Supplicant is truly within your quarry's reach, I do wish you success in your hunt, Lawgiver," he says in parting, and then his physical form dissolves back into the water and mud of the river.

Wic:

As Skymoth and Slang arrive, the egg of coruscating essence at the heart of Wic's summoning circle bursts open, and a large rainbow-feathered eagle emerges. It tastes blood on the air, and it immediately fixates on the gore-covered Skymoth. As the Thunderbird assumes human form for the first time, he takes on a distinct resemblance to the Lunar, similar in facial features, in powerful build, in skintone, and in nudity.

"What is my task? Who is the enemy?" the Thunderbird mutters absentmindedly to Wic, but his attention is entirely elsewhere.

Brown Leaf:

Leaf and Kelam meet the southbound monks on their way back north to the Sundiata's banks, and Laughing Brook gives a grin and a wink in passing when she sees how Leaf carries her girlfriend. When the two women reach the river, they see Skymoth approach from the west, covered head to toe in blood and grime and otherwise entirely unclothed. A moment later, Wic's summoned Thunderbird, mid-manifestation, assumes a human shape twinned to Skymoth's appearance and equally naked.

"I... hope we're not interrupting anything," Kelam murmurs, her face flushing with embarrassment.

[pfm1995]

Bowing back to the Sundiata as it departs, Tuoni gives the water a few moments to settle before turning his back and returning to the others. He's not exactly surprised by what he sees. "I hope you both" - he gestures at Skymoth and Wirric's newly-summoned thunderbird - "are here for business rather than pleasure, as I have uncomforting news. This 'Last Supplicant', it is indeed some geomantic creation but one that was sealed away by the order of the Censor of the South. The Lost Censor of the South. It seems that if the Hortatum would wish to avail himself of it, he would need to find that which the entire heavens have failed to find for some centuries - or he knows something more than we do. Furthermore, there is yet another solar exalted dancing around the edges here - a Night caste. Was there one in Kidale's party?"

[Sticks]

Brown Leaf smiles at Kelam's flustered question. Seems her girl still feels more instinctive reactions to life than she'd admit. Not that Leaf can blame her, look at them two! She laughs and puts Kelam on her feet, turning to Tuoni.

"Yeah, her name's Faka Kun, she fled inta the desert with her folk, south'a Chiaroscuro, but I 'spect she done gone t' ground. I ain't sure we's gonna find her 'les she wants us ta find her." She turns and addresses Tuoni and Slang. "I'd say our best bet's makin' straight fer th' Remora. I been t' the Lap. Ain't no way we're gettin' in without gettin' noticed, you'll see why when we get there. Best t' go in th' front door wearin' a smile. The Penitent's sacred t' the locals an' the Immaculate Order, an it's in easy reach'a the Realm so if they hear there's a buncha 'nathema bargin' in, they's gonna react. Also, if what you'n Wic'v learned is true, I 'spect there's some powerful touchy spirits what's got they eyes on the place."

[pfm1995]

"If she is gone to ground, then she is not who we seek." Tuoni said. "The Night caste in question was reported as assassinating prominent members of spirit courts. But regarding the Lap..." Tuoni hesitates, uncertain if he really wants to suggest this. "Perhaps we can... warn them? We have the ability to convincingly fake a threat of anathema."

[Ascension]

Kelam looks at Tuoni incredulously.

"We aren't fake Anathema. I don't know how we'd put the Lap's defenders on guard against the Hortatum without putting them on guard against us."

[Inspector Valin]

"Unfortunately not that."

After four hours, Wic could have done with significantly fewer naked people to deal with. 'Elemental Imprinting' is a new one on the sorcerer. In some vain attempt at maintaining an air of dignity, he coughs before rapping his cane upon the ground. "We are planning to fight the single strongest man in the South. A Chosen of the Sun. He's the sort that levels buildings, and throws large rocks at people. "

This is accurate. They're going to the Lap to be ready to face the Hortatum and Demetheus, so the presence of the Solar is probably the best selling point he can muster. Wic smiles. "We don't know just where he is yet, but we know where he's going to be. Our group have to make it there ahead of time for the battle, incase he and the people who are manipulating him beat us there. We've a long way to go to reach it though. And when it comes, we'll need a worthy companion for the fight. He's probably bringing friends, we should bring friends... think of it as something between a battle and a kind of violent party. At least ideally, we'll beat some sense into him rather than playing this out to the death. Are you in?"

Wic flashes a smile at the Thunderbird, trying to look more confident than he's feeling. It says something that even Skymoth's new form hasn't quite managed to truly heighten his spirits. As Tuoni and Kelam talk, a memory returns to the sorcerer, and he offers an aside. "I warned Abbot Remah as Tepet Forivas. Somewhat. I didn't have proof of what I was saying, so I assumed he wouldn't believe it or act on it, but I told him the story of the Hortatum. Was trying to see if he had any anathema hunting advice."

Spoiler

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(22d10)[6][4][6][1][8][1][3][4][10][7][1][4][6][6][9][5][4][7][2][5][3][5](107) Binding roll, stunt and maxed Excellency from 4 hours of regen

[Ascension]

Though the intent to end the fight non-lethally is somewhat boring, the promise of a good fight manages to pull the Thunderbird's attention away from Skymoth.

"That sounds like a battle worthy of my strength," he agrees. "You have my allegiance, sorcerer."

[Sticks]

Brown Leaf begins to take a step, then stumbles. "Wait, Wic, you said, 'Remeh'? As in Abbot Remeh? I thought you'd done said that 'afore, but I had other things on mah mind an'..." She walks right up to him, grabbing his sleeve in both hands as she bombards him with questions. "What was he like? Has he got an air'a boundless wisdom? What's he look like? He got scars? Scars like Tuoni? Scars half-as-bad as Tuoni? Where did ya see him? Can you introduce me!?"

She is practically bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet as she gushes.

[Inspector Valin]

"You want to be introduced to a legendary Anathema hunter. When you have Orichalcum literally tattooed on your body."

Wirric can not quite resist the deadpan. He's not exactly eager to go over his memory of that encounter, but for Leaf's sake he sights, closes his eyes and makes the effort to describe Abbot Remah fairly. "He's... a decent dinner guest? Very quick with his katas, has an obnoxious secretary that follows him around everywhere. Doesn't talk much unprompted, comes off somewhat judgemental and suspicious. Though that might just be because I met him at a Regara salon - between me and the dynasts, he had plenty to be suspicious of."