"Think hard about what? The situation here seems fairly clear to me. These huokha worship a nature god; said god grew jealous of the worship the town provided to the god Shuionan and so ordered his followers to invade the town. The town couldn't stand against a trained group of warriors backed by god-bloods and surrendered. Now they are forced to worship the Huokha's god, Hakken I think you said, and pay the Huokha for the pleasure of staying alive." Kestrial lets a slight smirk creep onto her face. "Would you say thats an accurate summary of the situation?"
Kestrial relaxes slightly, letting go of a tension she hadn't even noticed. "As for dinner, normally I would welcome a nice meal before battle but I am unsure that the Huokha will allow us that respite when they are informed of what happened here."
"Pfft, I know Hakken and his thugs. They'll take their time licking their wounds. More than enough time to get some fresh fish from the river and have a feast with the villagers, yeah? A hero's feast before we go beat up Hakken, I mean."
Deadly Shadow shot Cikala a dirty glance, and put his finger to his mouth, motioning for silence. Without slowing his pursuit, he moved his fingers back and forth in a motion of a man running, and then pointed ahead where he had last seen the man go.
Hopefully she had understood what he was trying to tell her.
"Normally the hero's feast is saved until after something heroic is done. Though if you insist then lead on." Pausing, Kes tilts her head to the side slightly in thought, "The name is Kestrial by the way."
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lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
edited May 2008
Cikala returned the dirty look and then nodded, unshouldering her bow and knocking an arrow. She nodded towards Sho and gestured for him to go first, she would follow with her arrow ready for anything.
The Huokha warrior and his wolf companion move towards the center of Ananos. Though they tread quickly, stealth is not forgotten as the pair move through the alleys. The wolf's ears and nose twitch as he seeks any sign of pursuit.
Dex+Stealth of Barbarian&Wolf: (9, 1, 2, 6)
Awareness+Perception of Wolf: (8, 9, 5, 1, 6)
ahava and Papillion: roll Awareness+Perception to follow them and Dex+Stealth to do so Quietly.
Shouldn't be too very difficult
It seemed Deadly Shadows' skill had not deserted him completely as he crept through the streets of Ananos. The man he was following tried to keep to the shadows; but he was one with the shadow, flowing with the wind from one hiding spot to the next, his eyes never leaving the back of the retreating man.
Is this considered a new scene? If not, I believe I still have Easily Overlooked Presence Method active, which should keep me invisible automatically unless the wolf or man manages to get +2 to his Perc+Awareness roll. I rolled Stealth + Dexterity just in case. Stealth+Dexterity for Deadly Shadow (4 successes)
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lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
edited May 2008
Cikala's many months of training had not abandoned her at all. Not even in the slightest. Keeping her arrow nocked in her bow, she moved quickly and silently within the shadows. Her eyes stayed on the target, the man and wolf, trailing closely enough to not lose them, but far enough to be as the wind blowing through the village itself.
Jalen makes her way to the riverbank and looks around. "Now where can I find a... Ah, there we are." She steps over to a small fishing boat and appropriates one of the nets. She then wades into the river and begins throwing the net into the water.
Xie, Crow, and Kestrial stand and watch for a moment. Kestrial finally speaks up, "Uhm. Pardon me, but what are you doing?"
Jalen casts the net again and says, "What does it look like? I'm getting some food. Speaking of which." She pulls the net ashore with three struggling fish inside. Quickly cleaning and filleting the fish, Jalen gets a fire going and starts cooking the fillets. Turning to Crow, Kestrial, and Crow she asks, grinning, "So, who's hungry?"
Cikalia and Shadow easily follow the warrior through the city. He leads the two to the Town Hall courtyard at the city's center. The warrior and his wolf hurry across the open space and enter the hall.
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lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
edited May 2008
Cikala looked to Shadow, and then to the Town hall. She gave him a questioning look and hand motions as if to say, "stay or go?"
She seemed ready for either answer, arrow still nocked into the bow.
As the wolf man was crossing the courtyard Deadly Shadow's eyes wandered across the rest of the town hall, trying to spot any defenses which had been set up.
Seeing Cikala looking enquiringly at him, he shook his head and began walking casually back in the direction they had come from. Once they had gotten a suitable distance from the hall, he turned to Cikala.
"Do you know what's going on here? Who were those people you were fighting?"
Shaking her head, Kestrial addresses the gathered group. "This is ridiculous. The Huokha's leader has undoubtedly learned of your attack on his men by now and here we sit eating as if we had not a care in the world." Focusing on Jalen she continues "Will you act so uncaring when Hakken or his men assault us?"
Jalen laughed as she turned the filets over. "Of course not. Haven't you heard the saying 'fools rush in?' If we went and assaulted Hakken we'd be in his territory. And believe me, that would put us at quite a disadvantage, since I know none of you are from around here. It'll be much easier for us if we draw him out. And if he doesn't take the bait, eh, then we get to enjoy a nice meal! I think this is clearly a win-win situation."
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lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
edited May 2008
Cikala also walked back, moving quietly at Shadow's side. She shook her head a little bit and sighed.
"Something about Huokha and Hakken. I did not see what caused the fight, but the man we were just following was harrassing a man in the marketplace, something about Taxes being due and the merchant not having the money at this time."
She frowned and shook her head as they drew closer to the center of town.
"There is something even more wrong in this town than the lack of worship for a River God. I have never seen a town with a port and river such as this that felt so.... poor."
Now granted, Cikala had not seen many port towns at all. But then, Shadow doesn't know that. Cikala liked to try and seem more worldly than she was.
Of course, asking about whores and brothels at the last town probably ruined that illusion.
"If the rulers are overtaxing the people... that would explain much. I think we need to find the others, maybe they have learned something. If not, maybe we can ask the nice people in the town hall," Deadly Shadow replied, smiling ironically.
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lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
edited May 2008
Cikala grinned at him, an almost amused look in her eyes.
"You first. Don't worry, I'll watch your back."
She looked around the square and shrugged a bit.
"I think I heard them mention food. But I have no idea where they went."
"I've never been particularly diplomatic, so perhaps we should hold that option in reserve. As for where they went...I think our best bet is to go back to the site of the battle and search from there. It will probably be just a matter of following the bloody footprints."
Carefully arranging her cloak around her Kestrial sits cross-legged on the ground, laying her staff beside her. "So what brings you to Ananos Jalen, you obviously aren't a merchant here for the rich river trade. These Huokha sack your village, working for someone, or was it just boredom?"
"What I mean is, why do you think I'm here? After all, it doesn't matter why I think I'm here, it matters why you think I'm here. For example, if I were to answer your question and say why I think I'm here, I'd probably say to sample some of Shuionan's fine river salmon." Jalen took a bite, fixing Kestrial with an intense stare and a cheshire-cat grin.
'That was a noncommittal answer if I've ever heard one, I wonder what she has to hide.'
"So it matters more what observers think of someone's intents than what they themselves do? Very well then, I think you're here to pose mysteries and cause trouble." Kestrial grins, showing she meant no ill-will with the statement.
"Of course I'm here to pose mysteries and cause trouble. Without mysteries people don't think." Jalen stood back up again and waded into the water, stringing her net out again.
'Hmph, avoiding questions still are we? Oh well, that is a problem for another time.'
Kestrial leans back on her hands and stares upward to the stars, pondering the evening's events and what would likely be required before the night's end. Her heart seizes for a moment when she comes to "defeat a god and his warriors" and she looks around at those whom may be her allies.
Crow, Xie, and Jalen. Crow was a fellow Chosen of the Unconquered Sun but Xie and Jalen were still both mysteries. 'Something more is happening here than can be seen. At least two Exalts, possibly more, gathered in the same place for seemingly different reasons. I wonder if we had not stopped here, would we have found a similar reason to work together when we reached Nexus?'
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lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
edited May 2008
Cikala followed, or rather, walked beside Sho to the sight of the battle and then looked around, biting her lower lip.
Well....
"or maybe we should just follow our noses. This doesn't look like a place that will have a lot of restaurants or stalls for food...."
Deadly Shadow shook his head, as if to clear his mind.
"What am I thinking," he muttered, "The ground is covered in blood. It should be simple enough to track them."
Treading carefully to avoid disturbing any splotches of blood, Deadly Shadow made his way around the edge of the square until he found a group of footsteps leading towards the river bank.
"I think they went this way."
Following the tracks, he made his way down towards the river, where he soon found the others sitting around a campfire, eating fish. After sitting down, he turned towards Kestrial and Jalen.
"Would someone please explain to me what's going on? I think you should start with the bodies."
"They were warriors serving the Huokha, thats who has taken over the town by the way, though if you want to know why they are currently lifeless you'll have to ask those 3." Kestrial motions towards Crow, Xie, and Jalen. "I arrived after they were already dead."
"Currently we are, for some reason, sitting here enjoying a nice dinner before confronting the god the Huokha serve."
"Cikala commented that the town seems quite poor for what should be a bustling port city, and I agree. Do you think these... Hukhoia... are responsible?" Shadow stumbled over the name a bit. Why did southerners have to have such strange names?
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lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
edited May 2008
Cikala had followed Sho to the campsite and she stood aside while Sho and Kestrial spoke, she was still looking around the area, caution never full leaving her body.
"There was another one. That was not killed by those three. We followed him, it, to the village hall. He went inside, but we did not follow."
She grinned and winked slightly at Kestrial, her voice taking on a light teasing tone.
"Sho was too afraid to go inside. So we decided to come find you all."
Adopting a formal tone, he replied "It is said that one who does not know his enemy but knows himself will sometimes be victorious, sometimes be defeated."
"I do not yet know my enemy, if indeed my enemy he be."
"So know your enemy and you will fight? I suppose that can be arranged" Kes grins, then adopts a tone as if she was reciting from a book. "The Huokha are a group of warriors whom worship and serve a God of nature named Hakken. This town used to be a bustling port city that payed its worship to the god Shuionan, but then the god Hakken grew jealous and ordered the Huokha to invade the town and force the towns people to worship him instead. The Huokha did so and for good measure have forced the towns people to pay them 'taxes' far in excess of reasonable."
Kestrial pauses for a moment and then switching to a more casual tone continues. "Now, I intend to kick Hakken and these Huokha out of the town but am not so foolhardy as to think that is a battle I can win by myself so if you are willing to join me I would welcome your assistance."
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lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
edited May 2008
Cikala grinned at Sho's decided ignoring of her teasing and then focused back on Kestrial.
"No people should be forced to pay more than they can afford. Or to be made to worship anything other than what they desire. I will add my bow to your decision, if that be the decision of them all."
"Ahh, such pretty words!" called Jalen in a sing-song voice, dragging a full net from the water. She dropped the small take of fish on the ground, pulling her knife and getting to work.
"All for naught. Hakken isn't a god, my adorable little bird," Jalen said with a giggle. "I don't know where you got that idea. I mean, I'm sure Hakken would be flattered to hear you call him a god, but he's just half a one. Anyway, if you're all done trumpeting about how you're going to win the day and save everybody, I need to know how you like your meat cooked," she said, finishing cutting up the next group of fish, sticking several filets on the spit she used to rotisserie the previous batch.
Deadly Shadow paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts.
"I think you have left many questions unanswered. How many are they? If we were to defeat them, who would replace them? But those are not the questions which I think should be answered right now."
"What I want to know is why do you want to fight? The pinnacle of perfection is not fighting and wining a thousand battles..."
Kestrial faces the river's shore and responds to Jalen's question nonchalantly. "If Hakken is not the spirit these Huokha serve then he is not the one I truly want, though I suppose Hakken would know where to find the spirit so my course of action is unchanged."
Turning from Jalen to Sho she continues in a more serious tone. "I will fight because no person should be subject to another's whim. What these Huokha are doing is little more than slavery and is unacceptable."
"Yes yes, free everybody forever, I've heard that spiel before. Listen, if you don't tell me how you want your fish I'm just going to throw it at you raw and let you sort it out."
"If Kestrial doesn't want her fish, I'll eat it. Baked, if you please."
Returning his attention to Kestrial, he replied "I think you misunderstand my point. What I mean, is that it may be possible to accomplish your aims without a direct battle, but as far as I know you never considered such a course of action, even for a moment."
"First though, we need more information. Cikala and I have followed a man to what appears to be their headquarters -- a building near the center of town. They've certainly heard about what you did already, so I suggest we eat quickly, and then find some concrete information about these people. How many of them are there? How well organized are they? Do any of them have any interesting vices we could exploit?"
"Would you suggest negotiating with them to get them to leave? They attacked the town without provocation and have worsened the lives of the townspeople for their own selfish gain. If you'd like though, I will ask for Hakken's surrender before sending him from this world."
Turning back to Jalen she responds. "You're cooking fish on a spit over a campfire, there are not a lot of ways to do so. As long as its thoroughly cooked through it will be fine."
"Well, some people don't like their fish rare," says Jalen, giving Kes a hurt look. "And... baked? Like your friend said, I'm cooking over an open fire for you out of charity, so pardon if I don't have the ingredients on hand to bake."
"My apologies if I have offended you. My usual way of cooking fish while I am on the road is to wrap it in clay and place it near the coals. I believed this was refered to as baking, and as I said, for me it is the usual simple way to prepare fish. If you have enough for me, I am happy to eat it however you prepare it."
"Kestrial, I agree with you. They are destroying the town, and we need to get rid of them. But a righteous cause doesn't mean we can ignore the basic calculations of battle. It may be that we cannot win because they are too many. Also, depending on their numbers, a different strategy might be suggested. If there are only a few, we may be able to intimidate them. If a few more, we may be forced to kill them. With even more, we may not be able to attack them directly, but only sideways."
"Do you know how we can find out more about them? How many there are? How they are organized? Or do we need to take Cikala's suggestion, and walk in and ask them?"
Posts
Kestrial relaxes slightly, letting go of a tension she hadn't even noticed. "As for dinner, normally I would welcome a nice meal before battle but I am unsure that the Huokha will allow us that respite when they are informed of what happened here."
And before I mine his essence for starmetal...
Hopefully she had understood what he was trying to tell her.
At least, she hoped so.
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Jalen put her hands behind her head and began walking in the direction of the river.
Awareness+Perception of Wolf: (8, 9, 5, 1, 6)
ahava and Papillion: roll Awareness+Perception to follow them and Dex+Stealth to do so Quietly.
Shouldn't be too very difficult
Is this considered a new scene? If not, I believe I still have Easily Overlooked Presence Method active, which should keep me invisible automatically unless the wolf or man manages to get +2 to his Perc+Awareness roll. I rolled Stealth + Dexterity just in case.
Stealth+Dexterity for Deadly Shadow (4 successes)
dex+stealth (1d10=4, 1d10=8, 1d10=7, 1d10=1, 1d10=8, 1d10=6, 1d10=8) 3 successes
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The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
Xie, Crow, and Kestrial stand and watch for a moment. Kestrial finally speaks up, "Uhm. Pardon me, but what are you doing?"
Jalen casts the net again and says, "What does it look like? I'm getting some food. Speaking of which." She pulls the net ashore with three struggling fish inside. Quickly cleaning and filleting the fish, Jalen gets a fire going and starts cooking the fillets. Turning to Crow, Kestrial, and Crow she asks, grinning, "So, who's hungry?"
Cikalia and Shadow easily follow the warrior through the city. He leads the two to the Town Hall courtyard at the city's center. The warrior and his wolf hurry across the open space and enter the hall.
She seemed ready for either answer, arrow still nocked into the bow.
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Seeing Cikala looking enquiringly at him, he shook his head and began walking casually back in the direction they had come from. Once they had gotten a suitable distance from the hall, he turned to Cikala.
"Do you know what's going on here? Who were those people you were fighting?"
"Something about Huokha and Hakken. I did not see what caused the fight, but the man we were just following was harrassing a man in the marketplace, something about Taxes being due and the merchant not having the money at this time."
She frowned and shook her head as they drew closer to the center of town.
"There is something even more wrong in this town than the lack of worship for a River God. I have never seen a town with a port and river such as this that felt so.... poor."
Now granted, Cikala had not seen many port towns at all. But then, Shadow doesn't know that. Cikala liked to try and seem more worldly than she was.
Of course, asking about whores and brothels at the last town probably ruined that illusion.
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"You first. Don't worry, I'll watch your back."
She looked around the square and shrugged a bit.
"I think I heard them mention food. But I have no idea where they went."
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"I've never been particularly diplomatic, so perhaps we should hold that option in reserve. As for where they went...I think our best bet is to go back to the site of the battle and search from there. It will probably be just a matter of following the bloody footprints."
Carefully arranging her cloak around her Kestrial sits cross-legged on the ground, laying her staff beside her. "So what brings you to Ananos Jalen, you obviously aren't a merchant here for the rich river trade. These Huokha sack your village, working for someone, or was it just boredom?"
Kestrial's eyes narrowed.
"What I mean is, why do you think I'm here? After all, it doesn't matter why I think I'm here, it matters why you think I'm here. For example, if I were to answer your question and say why I think I'm here, I'd probably say to sample some of Shuionan's fine river salmon." Jalen took a bite, fixing Kestrial with an intense stare and a cheshire-cat grin.
"So it matters more what observers think of someone's intents than what they themselves do? Very well then, I think you're here to pose mysteries and cause trouble." Kestrial grins, showing she meant no ill-will with the statement.
"So what say you of me?"
Kestrial leans back on her hands and stares upward to the stars, pondering the evening's events and what would likely be required before the night's end. Her heart seizes for a moment when she comes to "defeat a god and his warriors" and she looks around at those whom may be her allies.
Crow, Xie, and Jalen. Crow was a fellow Chosen of the Unconquered Sun but Xie and Jalen were still both mysteries. 'Something more is happening here than can be seen. At least two Exalts, possibly more, gathered in the same place for seemingly different reasons. I wonder if we had not stopped here, would we have found a similar reason to work together when we reached Nexus?'
Well....
"or maybe we should just follow our noses. This doesn't look like a place that will have a lot of restaurants or stalls for food...."
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"What am I thinking," he muttered, "The ground is covered in blood. It should be simple enough to track them."
Treading carefully to avoid disturbing any splotches of blood, Deadly Shadow made his way around the edge of the square until he found a group of footsteps leading towards the river bank.
"I think they went this way."
Following the tracks, he made his way down towards the river, where he soon found the others sitting around a campfire, eating fish. After sitting down, he turned towards Kestrial and Jalen.
"Would someone please explain to me what's going on? I think you should start with the bodies."
"Currently we are, for some reason, sitting here enjoying a nice dinner before confronting the god the Huokha serve."
"There was another one. That was not killed by those three. We followed him, it, to the village hall. He went inside, but we did not follow."
She grinned and winked slightly at Kestrial, her voice taking on a light teasing tone.
"Sho was too afraid to go inside. So we decided to come find you all."
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Adopting a formal tone, he replied "It is said that one who does not know his enemy but knows himself will sometimes be victorious, sometimes be defeated."
"I do not yet know my enemy, if indeed my enemy he be."
Kestrial pauses for a moment and then switching to a more casual tone continues. "Now, I intend to kick Hakken and these Huokha out of the town but am not so foolhardy as to think that is a battle I can win by myself so if you are willing to join me I would welcome your assistance."
"No people should be forced to pay more than they can afford. Or to be made to worship anything other than what they desire. I will add my bow to your decision, if that be the decision of them all."
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"All for naught. Hakken isn't a god, my adorable little bird," Jalen said with a giggle. "I don't know where you got that idea. I mean, I'm sure Hakken would be flattered to hear you call him a god, but he's just half a one. Anyway, if you're all done trumpeting about how you're going to win the day and save everybody, I need to know how you like your meat cooked," she said, finishing cutting up the next group of fish, sticking several filets on the spit she used to rotisserie the previous batch.
"I think you have left many questions unanswered. How many are they? If we were to defeat them, who would replace them? But those are not the questions which I think should be answered right now."
"What I want to know is why do you want to fight? The pinnacle of perfection is not fighting and wining a thousand battles..."
Turning from Jalen to Sho she continues in a more serious tone. "I will fight because no person should be subject to another's whim. What these Huokha are doing is little more than slavery and is unacceptable."
Returning his attention to Kestrial, he replied "I think you misunderstand my point. What I mean, is that it may be possible to accomplish your aims without a direct battle, but as far as I know you never considered such a course of action, even for a moment."
"First though, we need more information. Cikala and I have followed a man to what appears to be their headquarters -- a building near the center of town. They've certainly heard about what you did already, so I suggest we eat quickly, and then find some concrete information about these people. How many of them are there? How well organized are they? Do any of them have any interesting vices we could exploit?"
Turning back to Jalen she responds. "You're cooking fish on a spit over a campfire, there are not a lot of ways to do so. As long as its thoroughly cooked through it will be fine."
"Kestrial, I agree with you. They are destroying the town, and we need to get rid of them. But a righteous cause doesn't mean we can ignore the basic calculations of battle. It may be that we cannot win because they are too many. Also, depending on their numbers, a different strategy might be suggested. If there are only a few, we may be able to intimidate them. If a few more, we may be forced to kill them. With even more, we may not be able to attack them directly, but only sideways."
"Do you know how we can find out more about them? How many there are? How they are organized? Or do we need to take Cikala's suggestion, and walk in and ask them?"