[Exalted] Protectors of the River Province

[The Nomad]

"I bid you farewell, Princes of the Earth", the spirit said, "and my thanks again for the dance, on behalf of my subjects. Oh," he added, waving his hand as Essence coalesced in his palm: "Take this," he said to Teamhair, "it will enable me to contact you when you are out of my forest." In his hand was a small amber acorn.

When the Exalts returned to the Storm Herald, the crew had nothing special to report. They rowed the ship out of the creek with mechanically assisted oars, and set sail as soon as possible.

Ten days later, they reached Yua Ta Creek. Orkie Kiam's forest was immense, but it touched the Yanaze River only for a thiry miles stretch... which was still potentially too large. No villages of importance were noted on the charts, but there had been several "coastal"*towns along the river where a rough idea of the layout had been provided.

There were three small villages in the span of forest - none of which housed more than a hundred inhabitants, only one less thab one mile from the river, the second two miles away, and the third five and a half away; projected along the river's length, their positions were evenly spaced at eight miles from each other. All more or less served as glorified inn complexs for local trade routes serving amber mines and trade posts outside the forest.

* (the main rivers being almost wide enough to be considered inland seas)

[SirNitram]

Orduin frowned as he surveyed the towns from the river. "It'd take three times our number just to adequetely watch each village." He ruminated. "And if we go to just one, it may well be that the black ship will know and go to another. I'm open for suggestions, short of hiding the vessel as best we can and giving chase into the mist."

[LadyTevar]

"I can try to speak to Orkie Kiam and ask for the aid of his followers," Teamhair offered. "There is also the question of how this forest god knew he would be the next target -- perhaps he will tell me how he knew."

To the Lunar, getting the aid of the Little Gods would make covering the villages easier, as the gods themselves could give them warning when the mist appeared. "We cannot ask them to fight, however, even as to delay the ship for us to arrive."

[Marcao]

It took ten days to reach their final destinations and he sought to make the best of the time at hand. He studied the charts provided to them closely, seeking a better understanding of the passage ways around them. If he was the captain of the black ship what path would he take? It was difficult to place himself in the shoes of their adversary. He knew little of the temperament, ideology and training of the Death Knight in question. Still, if he assumed that the Knight was competent at his craft then certain assumptions could be taken.

Upon their arrival to their intended destination he noticed that their task had become more complicated. Three potential targets, each placed roughly eight miles from the other. He sighed, shaking his head and letting his left hand move through his hair before he spoke.

"It couldn't be a bit more straightforward could it." He said. Still, if it had been easy Lookshy would have done it itself. His head turned and he glanced at Orduin as he spoke. His attention shifting to the Lunar when she spoke her own thoughts in turn. He considered for a moment before he nodded.

"I agree. This complicates things significantly. It may be in our best interest to see if you can contact the local spirits Teamhair. They may provide more answers and may prove as useful scouts. I agree, that with the ability to destroy spirits they will prove unlikely to help. As for the villages, there is three villages, there is three Chosen. I dislike the idea of seperating for a prolonged period of time, but it may be worth our while to look around each one of these villages and see if anything of note stands out.

I have sought to correlate the previous attacks with the surrounding waterways but I did not come up with anything conclusive. Physically investigating the potential targets seems to be our best next step." He concluded. He went silent then, waiting for anyone to throw out any other possibilities that he may have missed. Kolth in particular was known to possess a devious mind.

[rhoenix]

Nodding to Yvela's words, Kolth was pacing the deck of the Storm Herald while he thought furiously. After a few moments, he stopped, though he didn't look utterly resolute about his answer.

"Here's my thought - the previous assaulted villages were practically right next to the water. If this pattern continues, the first village on the list is most likely next," he said earnestly, before looking a bit troubled. "The problem is that I can't say that I'm sure about this due to not having enough information, and I really, really don't want to be a cause of this happening to another village because I guessed wrong and we all went for it."

He began pacing again for a few steps, before he stopped, and straightened, an assured smile appearing on his face slowly. Reaching into his pocket and pulling out a blunt, he lit it while staring into the distance, ignoring any glares his direction as he did. Taking a deep hit before exhaling, he spoke again immediately after. "On the other hand, this doesn't mean we can't go and get more information. Teamhair, I'm sure your foresty spirit friends will be able to notice more than we - so as long as you're in contact with them and you're in contact with us, we can know what they know relatively fast."

Taking another hit before he continued, it became obvious that Kolth was enjoying this idea of his unfold rapidly. "As for my suspicions, I can go scout out the town I suspect will be next on the list, and I can send up a signal of some sort if I'm right. If anyone else has ideas, I'm listening."

[Marcao]

"All right, it seems that it is in our best interest to visit the three potential attack sites and see if we can discover if anything in particular makes it the most likely target. As such, each one of us will take a village and see what we can find out. Teamhair will contact the spirit and see if they prove to be in a helpful mood. We all can see if we can discover anything of note and meet up by the water where the ship will pick us up after a predetermined amount of time. How does three hours sound?" He asked.

The plan was painfully straightforward as he saw it right now. There were three chosen of the Sun, three potential targets and the chosen of Luna to contact the spirits. The ship would move and deposit each and everyone one of them near their intended villages before proceeding down river and finding a suitable spot to wait. After the alloted time had passed, the ship would swing up river and attempt to pick them all up. Hopefully by that time, they would feel more certain about the intended target for their prey.

He had personally never faced a death knight in battle before. He would prefer to have all of the chosen along with him if it came to that.

[LadyTevar]

* The Song I've chosen is Orinoco Flow, as sang by the ladies of Celtic Women. The song starts on 0.06, after the clapping. If I do this right, you should be able to read this post from the (*) while listening to the music and have the actions suit the music -perfectly-, with each paragraph fitting a stanza of the music.

************

It took Teamhair time to find a spot similar to the glade she'd danced in before. It gave her time as well to decide on a new song, and to plot out the moves in her head. Once again, she would be dancing without musicians, as even the helots on the boat seemed to have no musical talent.

It annoyed her, yet she put her annoyance behind and focused on her duty, which was to contact Orkie Kiam and gain his aid to thwart the Black Ship. Finally, searching via air in her Mynabird shape, she found the perfect spot between the two towns and reported back to the ship to tell them where to take her, and where they could also watch if they so chose.

Once again, it was a clearing with features that spoke of spirits nearby. The trees grew larger, the birds were quieter, as if respectful of those dwelling within. There was not a tumble of rocks, nor a stream this time, although the glade was on the riverbank, some of the trees trailing their branches into the water.

It would do. She again wore the brightest of her outfits, bells and scarves and coins jingling as she walked into the center of the clearing and made sure it was clear of anything that could trip her. She waited for her Solar Companions to take their ease along one side of the glade, then dropped her illusions to reveal herself again as one of Luna's Beloved.

Drawing out the moonsilver fans, she called to the clearing and the spirits nearby. "I am Teamhair Moonlight Dancing on River, an Exalted of Luna," She spun, facing river, trees, and Solars. "I have come to dance for you, Orkie Kiam, as I danced for your brother before."

(*) She took her position, head down, hands to sides with the silver fans open. As the fast-paced music started in her head, her hips rising and dropping sharply to the beginning beats, no other part of her seeming to move. The bells on her hips chimed softly as her hips snapped with the beats: right right, left right, left left, right left.

As her hips kept the steady rhythm, the bells chiming in counterpoint, she then started the dance in earnest, her arms making graceful sweeps, forward and back like a drifting feather, as they rose slowly up and over her head, then drifted downwards again. With each sweep of her arms, her wrists rotated in full circles, turning the fans to show the images of ships on water, which seemed to take on a life of their own as the fans slowly flipped front to back.

The music shifted again, and Teamhair turned a slow circle to the left , hips leading the beat again, her arms weaving up and down, mimicking the lazy flow of a river. Her wrists flexed up and down, displaying the fans as her arms moved, the scenes shifting as each fan flipped up or down as her arms waved. Whether as a trick of the light or the magic of the fans, two boats seemed to sail the river, ending when her arms flung outwards suddenly.

Again, her hips led the way with the beat, side-stepping in a large circle with a jangle of coins and bells, as her arms continued the smooth rippling of water in motion, her back bending nearly double. As her extended arms flexed subtly as snakes, the two ships on the fans unfurled sails, closing in on each other as she slowly brought her waving arms together in front of her, the ships seeming to meet and cross over from one fan to the other, saluting each other as they passed.

The arms moved apart as she straightened up and stepped forward, revealing her torso as it rotating vertically, bosum rising and falling like the Sun following his path across the sky, a circle she was able to reverse at will, displaying the coined necklace draped over her ample cleavage. Her hands made slow circles at her sides and each step she took forward was a sashay of her hips, sending bells and coins jingling, before she swirled in a sudden tight reverse.

Her back to her audience, she once again copied the erotic spiral from her first dance: her hips traced a large horizonatal circle, followed by her waist, then her ribcage, then her shoulders then her head, , before the spiral was reversed, traveling down her body in the same erotically graceful manner, stopping at her hips as they again hit the right, right, left right beat from the beginning of the song.

The last minute of the dance Teamhair improvised, her steps tracing a great circle around the glade as her arms twined around her like seafronds, her wrists twisting the fans, opening and closing them to show the two ships sailing for home ports, crossing from one fan to the other as the arms met. As the song slowed to an end, Teamhair sank gracefully to the ground, ending with her sitting on the ground, fans closed, her head bent down resting on her knee.

And she waited to see if Orkie Kiam had come to witness her dance.

[rhoenix]

Though Kolth had officially already departed for the town next to the water he suspected would be the next one hit, he had in truth snuck back around and watched Teamhair dance. As she finished, he shook his head as he gracefully and silently left for the town. "Shit, if she keeps this up, I'll have to learn to drum," he thought to himself.

As he felt himself to be far enough away to be seen by those gathered to watch her dance, the very air around him shimmered, before his anima itself seemed to eagerly swallow him into its embrace, choking the senses of all around who might detect him. A rote which he had only learned since the Unconquered Sun visited him at midnight came alive, seeming to singe the air around him with the heat of the Sun itself for a brief moment, before activating. The rote ensured that others' senses would slide off of him even more easily than before.

Now, he was little more than a wraith - all the world blind and deaf to his passing.

Even so, he moved at a swift, silent jog through the thickets and brush, reaching the town soon enough. As he did, he circled around it carefully to map it out within his mind, his keen senses overlooking no detail.

[The Nomad]

[OOC: A three die stunt that awards you nine successes. At the end of the episode, you can have one additionnal XP, considering you don't need to use the stunt to regain motes or WP, though it happens only once per episode and you already had one such stunt...]


Following Teamhair's performance, the forest was quite silent for a handful of heartbeats. But then, she knew what to expect. There was a thunder of applause, though the denizens of the spirit world seemed hesitant to manifest in full sight.

Finally, a manlike shape which Teamhair could readily identify as the forest walker, the local spirit king, strode out of the woods.

"What good turn of Fate could bring me such an enchanting, artful sight?" he asked with a smile. He gave off an air of culture and sophistication that contrasted somewhat with the first forest walker's slightly more rustic demeanor. "And I see you bear a token of Uid Opht," he said, pointing at the acorn. "I am Orkie Kiam, warden of this forest. What can I do for you?"

[LadyTevar]

She had never gotten the first Forest Walker's name, but she had it now. "You honour me, Lord of the Forest," Teamhair answered, rising to her feet and then bowing respectfully to Orkie Kiam. "Your brother Uid Opht sent myself and my fellow Exalted to you, for he said you had a premonition of danger to your land. Thus, the question truly should be 'what can we do for you', Forest Warden?"

[The Nomad]

"Ah, I see then," Orkie Kiam said a little uneasily, though politely, "the Chosen will take that matter in their hands. Well, at any rate, the black vessel has not manifested into Creation yet. According to informants whose identity I wish to keep secret, there is something in my territory that would be of interest to its captain. I do not know exactly why it would strike my land, though as far as I know, if left unprovoked its sailors will not trouble the forest. It will merely settle its accounts with the local humans."

He sighed. "The mortal villagers are fortunate you come to their rescue, then. I even went as far as to overstep my bounds by warning them of the potential raid. It is not my place to defend them. That is something they will have to do on their own. They each have their own way of coping with the trial to come. I am surprised they did not leave, though considering the time since I last warned them and nothing happened, they may no longer take me seriously."

[LadyTevar]

While she would love to know his informants, she let that much pass. That the Forest Spirit was uneasy was something she would have to mention to Orduin and the others. She was not sure if it was unease towards them, or towards the Black Ship. "In Uid Opht's land, a dryad tried to save the villagers she loved. The Master of the Ship slew her, tree and spirit, without a second thought," Teamhair said sadly. "I would not see any of your subjects come to harm, Orkie Kiam, and I have sworn that the Master will pay for what harm he has caused."

"Please, Forest Lord... whomever your allies are, did they tell you what item the Captain craves?" It was time to turn on more charm (Third Charisma Excellency). "Your territory is wide, showing your own strength, yet we are few. What is the item, and which village has it, knowingly or not, for that is surely where the Black Ship will strike. And there we must stop him."

[SirNitram]

Orduin studied the three towns, trying to estimate which one it was. They were miles from any major city, artifice of ancient days, or Shadowland. What drew the Deathknights? Fresh bodies was possible; their ranks swelled with the walking dead. A Tomb? There was no secret that the tombs across the East were fat with wealth; perhaps one sat here?

Orduin flipped a Jade bit, and nodded when it came up. Time to look for any tombs.

He ventured out into the area around each town, surveying the land for any hints of the signs, ancient markings of warning or reverence. Small instruments had thaumaturgical rituals whispered over them to track any signs of Essence that would reveal such a treasure-tomb. The forest was obscuring his search, but he only ventured somewhat into it each time; more likely the tomb would be accessible, save unless there were rumours. Gah, so much to do, so little time..

[The Nomad]

[OOC: That's a Charisma+Presence attack, with a stunt it makes a 5-dice pool, plus the six bonus dice from the fan dance, resulting in five successes, technically unsufficent to overcome his MDV, but since you appealed to his Intimacy towards his subjects, it is just enough (I should be less lenient with that stuff ). Note that you used 4 motes, and regained 2 through the stunt.]

The god's gaze swept across the most revealing parts of Teamhair's outfit as she made her impassionate demand. He shrugged. "I know of no object that the captain would covet, only that the villagers themselves seem to be the target. What would a being from the lands of the dead want from them, I know not..." He stopped, annoyed at having revealed that much. "My apologies, but my forest is vast and these villages are but a small part of it. Your performance delighted me, but I must take leave; I have a word of advice though: since the villagers are the target, try to guess what could motivate a underworldly being to raid some villages and not others." With a polite nod, he vanished into a column of leaves. The breeze carried his last words to the Lunar's ears: "And please see that my forest does not take the brunt of the collateral damage..."

[LadyTevar]

Teamhair sighed as the Forest God vanished, his final request echoing in her ears. That had been... rather unenlightening. The godling had dropped some hints, but that was all. She returned to the ship, so she could report to the Solars all that Orkie Kiam had said ... and on those things he had avoided mentioning.

((OOC: This means she'll repeat his words to them, and also tell them all about his nervousness, his reluctance to say who his allies were, and that the Master was from the 'lands of the dead', which I think we already suspected.))

[Marcao]

He was the last of the chosen to leave the boat as it was his responsibility by virtue of being its captain. In the end, he left precise instructions with the helots left aboard in regards to what he expected done after the chosen had left the relatively safety of the vessel. Once he had reached the relatively safety of the shore he began to make his way towards his intended destination.

The truth was of course that he was uncertain as to what he was looking for. He had never before actively dealt with a Death Knight before, assuming that it was what their adversary was. He was not an investigator, but he had confidence that if anything truly stood out he would know when he saw it. His armor was gone, although it was not far from his reach. He had felt that moving without armor would make it less likely that he would stand out more so than he would already do. Orichalcum was hard to hide.

As he approached the periphery of this particular village his eyes sought out anything that seemed of note amongst the population and the village as a whole. Where the ruins of some type around? Was there anything that attracted his interest. Inwardly, he felt somewhat out of his league but he did what he could in the name of the Unconquered Sun.

[The Nomad]

Kolth went unseen in the woods, no man or animal or spirit troubled by his passage. It was easy for him to see that, overall, the forest was not dense enough to preclude large groups of people from moving from the rivers to the villages and back. The roads were merely well-traveled forest paths. Each village had a small palisade, but little or nothing in the way of guards or militia.

Orduin spent the day observing the graveyards near the villages. None of them showed any sign of necromantic depredations. He however noticed that the graveyards in two villages, the one closest and the one furthest from the river, were well maintained, and there were signs of burnt offerings near some graves. The graveyard in the middle village seemed bare and little thought-about in comparison. The area showed no Essence disturbance, merely a single dragon line crossing this part of the forest without a convergence into a Demesne or Manor.

To Yevala, there was nothing out of the ordinary around those villages. Typical rural communities, though with slightly better defenses. There were some ruins scattered in the forest, but none of them dated back to the First Age, and had merely been abandoned because of disuse.

[Marcao]

His eyes lingered on the villages but nothing really stood out to him. He had never before been on a situation such as this one before and it showed. He was not trained for this sort of thing but he did the best he could anyway. The village seemed to be typical even if slightly better defended than most. It was not enough to suggest to him where their adversary would strike however. He sighed softly as he walked patiently around the village, his eyes focusing on anything of note once more before he found the first of the ruins.

At first, he had been excited about the discovery but it did not take long for that excitement to fade. The ruins could barely be called thus, it was more along the lines of places where people had once lived and had allowed to fall into disrepair. If the humans that had once lived here had deemed the area not worth living in, why would their adversary think any different? He took a deep breath and held it, his eyes sliding around the forest around him.

“Not exactly what I had envisioned when I got off the ship.â€

[SirNitram]

Orduin jogged up to the meeting, eyeing the others.

"Ever seen an ancestor cult? We need to be quick, clock is running. But there's the signs here. Lots of them."

The Twilight was annoyed, as he had missed the obvious thing in front of him until he'd visited the graves.

[LadyTevar]

Teamhair's eyes widened. "So that is what Orkie Kiam meant by it's the people, not an item."

[rhoenix]

“Maybe Kolth is having more success.â€

[Marcao]

He blinked when Kolth replied to his words as if he were the ever present Unconquered Sun himself. How long had he been there? His eyes were drawn to the object in his hand and he frowned. How the hell had he missed that?

"I am not even going to ask how long you have been there Kolth." He muttered sourly. There were times when the only way to win was not to play the game.

"I am in a similar position. This hunting for clues in the woods is not exactly a strength of mine." He admitted. When the others made their presence known he hoped they had good news. Orduin it seemed had not come up empty handed.

"Ancestor Cult?" Was that what this really was all about? A moment later his attention focused on Kolth and Orduin as the former exchanged something to the latter.

"I am as ready as I will be. Ideally, our vessel should hit our adversaries when he is not aboard thus complicating his most likely escape route. I would prefer to be on the vessel itself to coordinate the attack." His gifts would improve the likelyhood of success in that matter, since he doubted the soldiers from Lookshy were quite as capable as he was.

[LadyTevar]

"Orkie Kiam will not aid us, I think," Teamhair said, delivering the bad news. "He wants no harm done to his forest when we face the DeathKnight, either." She left out how the godling had oogled her well before turning them down.

"Uid Opht, the Forest Lord I first danced for, left us a token to call upon his aid, but I'm not sure what he can do in his brother's land."

[The Nomad]

The end of the day was drawing near. If the Chosen of the Gods were to choose wisely which village to protect, they had better do it quick. Teamhair thought that perhaps they would ask Uid Opht, through his acorn token, which kind of worship the villagers in his domain offered to their ancestors... He would have no ability to intervene otherwise.

[LadyTevar]

Teamhair held the acorn token in her hand, level with her bosum. She wasn't quite sure how to activate the token, so she tried the first thing that came to mind. Blowing on it softly, she then spoke the Forest God's name.

"Uid Opht, I call on you. By the Token you gave me, will you answer?"