15[20:18] Hamoji has fallen, and the mountain shudders in grief. Mad with fury, the dead god's Chosen has turned on the hearth that made an innocent pilgrimage to the top of the mountain, who have had to stand their ground, defending themselves, and each other, and attempting to talk some sense into the crazed Feathered One. [20:18] 4Well, at least it's fire. That's...something. 15[20:18] There is hope, however - the honor guard of the Imperial governor is just cresting the mountaintop, and with them, the Governor herself, Ragara Kou. Surely she can defuse this. 15[20:20] "IF THAT FEATHERED APE DISTURBS ONE IMPERIAL HAIR ON ONE IMPERIAL HEAD, SKIN AND STRIP HIM LIKE AN ANTELOPE!" comes a harsh voice from inside the fluttering palanquin. [20:20] 07Dryas has run up ahead of the honor guard, practically at spear point, to help the rest of the Hearth try to defuse the situation. [20:20] 4Sigh. [20:21] 6Well. [20:29] 10Daizo's had the wind knocked out of him, and the fire is spreading up his sleeve despite his efforts. But, he's otherwise unharmed. 15[20:43] The Feathered One, deaf to the threats of the Governor and the pleas of the hearth, lashes out at the man who demanded his attention. The two huge men collide, and the air shimmers around them like they're enveloped in the heat of a distant mirage. The light shining from the mountain and the Feathered One's aura of essence curdles from crimson to bruise-violet. The ground is unsteady 15[20:43] beneath everyone's feet. [20:44] 4!!!! 15[20:46] Daizo, lacking his translator, can't understand what the Feathered One mutters when their faces are mere ilms apart, but the pain of the hierophant's huge, wrenching hands vanishes, replaced with a cool, gentle pressure. Daizo feels inexplicably lighter. Even the fire doesn't burn. Muscles twitch in his back, and that feeling sharpens to blades of pure cold digging in beneath his 15[20:46] shoulders. His vision goes hazy. 15[20:48] The others see, before Daizo does, the huge wings split messily from his back, tearing his shirt to shreds, stretching and shining in the violet light. In the heights of Daizo's anima, each individual feather glitters like a chip of mica and glints like a blade in the dark. [20:48] 4Aw shit. [20:50] 6Zhangyu: "Cousin!" 6His glare turns murderous at the Feathered One. He was angry before, but now... [20:55] 10Daizo staggers under the sudden new weight, unbalanced, 10wrong. "Stay—Stay back, Zhangyu! Don't let him curse you too—" [21:01] 4Piu isn't close enough to stop the madman from, uh, giving Daizo wings, but she IS close enough to practically flash up to him, leaving a trail of flame behind her, and deliver a devastating kick to his head. 15[21:01] The Feathered One blinks and shakes his head like a struck cow. [21:02] 4Well...she was hoping for...a bit more of a reaction. It's a start...! 15[21:05] The palanquin clatters to the ground as the figure inside emerges, a woman in gleaming white jade so elaborate and heavy she's nearly as side as she is tall - though she only comes up to about Dryas's shoulder. Smoke rises from the collar of her plate and her eyes are diamond-hard. [21:09] 4Uhh. 15[21:09] She speaks, steady and forceful, in that islander dialect none of the hearth know. The Feathered One starts shaking his head rapidly before she's even finished, stomping and shouting, his anima burning with his need for vegenance. [21:10] 4Uhhhhhhhh. [21:15] 6Zhangyu roars and charges the Feathered One, assaulting him with vicious slaps, elbows, kicks, and all manner of blows. He's going to choke this thing that warped Daizo. [21:16] 4Oooooooo. [21:16] 4Yeah!!! [21:23] 07Dryas draws her flamepiece and pulls the hammer back, pointing it right at the Feathered One's chest. "Another move like that and you can follow your fire god," [21:31] 07She's amazed that he still won't listen. What tenacity! Such savagery! 15[21:32] The god of Hamoji is dead, but the blood of the Dragons is coursing and vital, and between Piu's fire and the crushing weight of three earth animas, it's as if the volcano itself lays the Feathered One low. [21:33] 4Ugh. 15[21:34] The Feathered One hasn't died, but his injuries are grievous. [21:34] 4Piu will step back after he crumples. From start to finish, that didn't feel like a win. 15[21:34] The Governor glares at the hearth. "Any of you a doctor?" [21:34] 4Piu: "Sorry!" [21:35] 6Zhangyu: "No." 6He's still visibly furious, but he'll make his way over to Daizo. "Are you all right?" [21:35] 07Dryas stares silently at the ground, crossing her arms across her chest. [21:35] 10Daizo backs away, totters, nearly falls over backwards. He sinks to one knee. "No." 10He's answering both Kou and Zhangyu. [21:36] 6Zhangyu swears under his breath. 15[21:36] "Can't be helped, I suppose." She gestures, and a pair of her men grab the Feathered One, head and foot, and lift him, inching towards the rim of the caldera. [21:37] 10Daizo's not weeping. It's just smoke and dust. "No! Send a messenger to the town and fetch Cynis Caxi." [21:37] 4Ugh. [21:37] 14She won't turn away, though. Interested to see what happens. 15[21:37] Kou raises a hand, and the soldiers halt. [21:38] 10Daizo takes a hitching breath. "This has all been… a terrible mistake." 15[21:38] "Get him on the palanquin!" she orders, and the soldiers obey, turning her opulent conveyance into an ersatz stretcher. [21:41] 4Piu: "Honored Governor, I am V'Neef Piu." 4Bow, etc. "Do you have men at the base of the mountain?" 15[21:41] "Obviously." [21:41] "Then keep your man. And watch these sick moves!" [21:42] 4Piu sets off like a streaking, fiery bolt for the bottom of the mountain. 15[21:43] Kou watches her depart, and once the cliffs have obscured her descent, she turns to Dryas. "Three questions." 15[21:43] "Who the fuck are you, what the fuck are you doing on my island, and what the FUCK happened here?" [21:44] 10There are still burning patches here and there on Daizo's festival-day tunic. Easy enough to extinguish now.  15[21:46] Piu doesn't need to get more than halfway down the mountain before she sees the panic roiling in Abalone below. The revelry has turned into crowds pressing every which way - into the thoroughfares away from the volcano, to the base of the mountain where the Governor's men bar the way, and seeking shelter. [21:47] 4Piu leaps from outcrop to outcrop all the way down, the flames dying on the rock as she goes, until finally she lands by slamming into the ground a safe (for them) distance away from the Governor's men. In her full, terrible anima and aspect, a flamenado swirling around her, eyes limned with fire: "Hi! I am V'Neef Piu, Scion of House V'Neef. The Honored Governor requests you send [21:47] for Cynis Caxi of the Daana'd's Defiance! Right now! I'd do it myself but I'd set the town on fire. Thanks!" [21:47] 4She'll provide them with the hostel information. [21:47] 07Dryas: "I'm Cynis Dryas, the owner of the Falling Leaf. I'm traveling aboard the Danaad's Defiance, which has put in here for provisions. I proposed buying the life of one of the condemned for another's life. The Feathered One and the priests became angry, Hamoji thundered and appeared, and when he did, he was struck dead by an arrow fired from down the mountain." [21:48] 4As she says this, the flamenado explodes into just, a pillar of fire. [21:48] 4Still safe! Safe distance! 15[21:49] The crowd and soldiers both openly gawp at Piu, but after a moment the officer on duty collects herself and sends a runner away. 15[21:50] Kou: "Who is in charge?" [21:52] 6Tepet Zhangyu: "Commodore Peleps Ratel." 6he growls out. He's not looking at Dryas right now, only between Daizo and Kou. [21:53] 4Work complete, Piu is going to uh. Wander up the slope a bit, until all this fire dies down. 15[21:55] Kou: "What are you doing here?" [21:56] "Came to see the sacrifice," 07she explains. 15[21:56] Piu only has to wander for about fifteen minutes before the sound of howling wind picks up, and she sees Caxi, riding a whirlwind with some kind of doctor's bag, or box covered in fabric. She makes a minor detour to pick Piu up. [21:57] 10Daizo speaks in a detatched tone. "I had met the Feathered One this morning during the drumming this morning. I asked a local in my employ about it and thought it might be interesting to take in the culture." 15[21:57] "Who's hurt?" asks Caxi. [21:57] 4Piu: "Volcano god's servitor. Dryas fucked up, and something else took the opening to kill the volcano god." [21:57] "So...ex-servitor." 15[21:58] Kou: "And you just happened to see a single arrow fly from out of nowhere and kill a living god?" [21:58] "Oh and Daizo's got wings now." [21:59] "That's also probably bad." 15[21:59] Caxi frowns. "Oh. I'd assumed it was one of us." She looks down at her bundle, which has a handle coming up through the fabric like a valise. "Too late now, I suppose. Wait, wings??" [21:59] 4Piu shrugs. "Volcano guy punched him hard enough to give him wings. Fucked up!" [22:00] 07Dryas: "Yes." 15[22:00] "...alright. Hold tight!" The whirlwind scales the mountain rapidly. [22:00] "Woooo!" 15[22:00] Kou: "Did any of your friends see this mysterious arrow?" [22:00] 4Only the severity of the situation stops Piu from trying to cop a consensual feel. [22:01] 10Daizo, tiredly: "I saw it. I believe the asassination was pre-arranged. I observed a blood-ape making its way up the mountain in an incorporeal state. I think its purpose was to disrupt the sacrifice and cause Hamoji to show itself." [22:02] "Had the blood-ape shown itself… the four of us would have been more than equal to the task of dispatching it." 15[22:05] Kou: "And where is that ape now?" [22:05] 6Chortling about how its job was done for it, maybe. [22:08] 10Daizo: "I don't know. Cynis Caxi is a sorcerer; perhaps she can track it when she's finished tending to the Feathered One." 15[22:08] The whirlwind crests the mountaintop, and soldiers make a wide berth as Caxi and Piu touch down. [22:09] "But I can attempt to search for it now as well." 10By this point, emotion has drained out of Daizo's voice.  15[22:10] Caxi looks around at all the soldiers and finally settles on Ragara Kou. "You're the governor," she says. 15[22:10] Kou: "And you're only half stupid. Go on, he's there." 15[22:10] Rather than immediately descending on the Feathered One in the palanquin, Caxi turns to Daizo. "Does it hurt? Are you physically stable?" 15[22:11] "Have there been any secondary transformations?" [22:11] 4Piu isn't gonna intervene; she did her job! [22:14] 10He's pointedly not looking at Dryas. When he does… "It felt light. Then like I was being stabbed with icicles. Please, help the Feathered One first, not me…" 10He makes a sound deep in his throat and turns away… nearly bowling Caxi over in the process. [22:17] 14"I challenged him. I earned this."  15[22:18] Caxi scoffs, but she sets the case down by Daizo and ducks into the palanquin. [22:18] 07Dryas sighs and blinks a few times, avoiding making eye contact with anyone or looking anywhere near Daizo. Did Hamoji leave a body? 15[22:19] Hamoji left a body, but it blew away in the wind, having rendered into a stuff sculpture of ash. [22:19] 4Hot. [22:19] 4Like, temperature-wise too, but that's a great way to go. [22:20] 07Dryas takes a few steps over towards what remains of the volcano-god, amid the heat. Is there an arrowhead among the ashes? 15[22:20] People next to Daizo - though not Daizo himself - hear the gentle rustling of wings and feathers within the case. They realize, perhaps abruptly, that it's not a case at all, but a cage covered in fabric. [22:23] "More birds?" 07she mutters, barely audible over the wind. [22:23] 6Zhangyu squats down and peers at the - cage? Hrm. Probably shouldn't touch it. [22:23] 6Anything strike him as off about it, beyond the noises from within? [22:23] 14Piu will observe the cage antics, but from a remove. [22:24] 14The excuse of the moment is not wanting to set any possible birds on fire...but whatever's in there is not normal. 15[22:24] It's just a box covered in black cloth, besides the sound. 15[22:25] After about fifteen minutes, Caxi crawls out of the palanquin. "I've treated his burns, and most of his wounds are bound up. He'll be unconscious for a day or two, but he should be good as new within a week." [22:26] 6Zhangyu: "Will he still be incapable of reasoning at that time?" 15[22:27] Caxi shrugs. "I don't know a cure for madness. If it's just grief, then get him drunk." [22:27] 14In context, the Feathered One's actions were almost excessively reasonable. But there's no benefit to saying that aloud. [22:28] 6The first attack was. When he became gravely outnumbered while multiple people attempted to get him to stop, and attacked Daizo instead... [22:28] 10Daizo: "Surely the Governor will take him into custody." 10And probably the rest of us as well. 15[22:31] Kou: "Good. Good work. What's in the box?" 15[22:31] Caxi: "I'm sorry?" 15[22:31] Kou points at the covered cage. 15[22:33] Caxi: "Oh! Just, just some pigeons." 15[22:34] Kou: "I'm sorry?" 15[22:34] Caxi: "In case his wounds were more grievous. It's a very esoteric technique. I studied under Cynis Umara, you know." [22:35] 6That doesn't sound right, but Zhangyu doesn't know enough about magic to dispute it. [22:36] 10She just happened to have pigeons on hand? [22:37] 6You never know when you'll need supplies for magic. She must just be prepared. [22:39] 10Caxi, as always, remains a frustrating enigma to Daizo.  [22:41] 07Now that things have calmed down, Dryas takes a moment to study the composure of the Governor from the corner of her eye. 15[22:44] Kou: "Fine, whatever. Here's what's going to happen now. The five of you are going to cool your heels up here for an hour. You are not to be seen among my troops or near the body of the Feathered One. After an hour, find your own quiet way down the mountain, get your CO, and meet me in the Governor's Mansion. Will you need directions or can you find it yourselves?" [22:46] 4Piu: "We're good!" [22:47] "-your excellency. We can do that." 07Dryas hastens to complete for Piu. [22:47] 6Zhangyu nods stiffly. [22:47] 10Daizo: "Understood, Your Excellency." 15[22:48] "Good. It will be my dinner hour, so bring empty stomachs. MOVE OUT!" [22:49] 14Bitch. 15[22:49] The palanquin, now bearing two and borne by six, makes its way down the mountain, the honor guard in tow. [22:49] 14Piu watches them go. [22:49] 14Then turns. "So. Let's never do that shit again." 15[22:50] Caxi descends almost immediately on Daizo. "What happened? Are you in pain? Can you move them? How's your balance?" [22:50] 6Zhangyu: "Agreed." 6To Caxi: "Can you do anything to help Daizo from here?" [22:50] 6Good. Already on it. [22:52] 10Daizo sits cross-legged on the ground. It would be calming, except for, well. Everything. 10Can10 he move these accursed things? [22:52] 07Dryas doesn't speak. but instead kneels on the dusty rocks of the caldera rim. [22:52] 14Good that Caxi's here, but to build rapport and help Daizo. But Piu's gonna wait til she's gone for the real talk. 15[22:53] Daizo... can move them, though quite stiffly. [22:55] 10Ugh. It would almost be a relief if he couldn't. That these weren't 10really10 part of him. "He struck me and set me aflame. Then he touched me and whispered something in a language I didn't understand." 15[22:58] "A Wyld mutation...?" Caxi's expression darkens. [22:58] 14Through offering to run down the mountain and get Caxi and then wandering around the periphery going 'tee-hee,' Piu managed to escape examination on the killing itself. Might not be true at this dinner at the governor's place. [22:58] 07After a moment or two she stands up again, and walks over to the pile of ashes that was once the mountain god. [22:58] "Nothing hurts. They move about… this much." 10Twitch, twitch. "And it feels like I've strapped on an overloaded pack." [22:59] 14To Cynis Dryas: "You are aware the entire economy of this city is based around this now-dead god, right." [23:00] "Tell that to whoever ordered it killed," 07she replies as she buries her arms into the pile of ashes and starts sifting around. 15[23:00] Caxi lays her hand on Daizo's brow. "Your temperature's up. Let me know immediately if you start hallucinating or find yourself overcome with strong appetites." [23:00] 14Mmmmm. [23:02] 10Daizo laughs bitterly. "Am I going to start craving human flesh? Is that what you're telling me?" 15[23:02] Caxi: "That's comparatively unlikely." [23:02] 6Zhangyu: "Unlikely is not zero." [23:03] "What should we be prepared for?" 15[23:03] Caxi: "The Wyld is unpredictable. But I would expect you to suffer from difficulty controlling impulses you already have, rather than developing new ones. Erratic behavior, large swings in your mood, uncontrollable emotions..." [23:05] 10Daizo: "Cousin? If I do anything stupid, beat the living shit out of me." [23:05] "Promise." [23:05] 6Flatly: "I will." [23:06] 14To the room, so to speak: "So what happens to a god when it's killed. What are we in hock for as potential accessories." [23:06] 10Daizo: "Good." [23:07] "Truly killing a spirit is difficult. If we had slain Carmine Road, for instance, it would have been taken out for a time… and then returned to life in its sanctum." 15[23:07] Dryas sifts through the ashes, and they run through her fingers, leaving a fine white dusting on her hands. There's no trace of magic here - whatever divine anima flowed through this being is totally dissipated now, leaving only inert ash and... ah! Dryas reaches deep into the mound and comes up with an ash-dusted arrow. A quick buff-and-polish reveals the entire thing, from fletch to 15[23:07] tip, is wrought of pure silver. She knows from bows, and knows that such an object would be worth far more than its weight in material, considering the delicate work required to make sheets of silver that can aerodynamically replace an arrow's fletching. [23:09] "It's said that certain elite exorcists have the power to do so." [23:09] 14Piu: "So...that means someone's about to attack Hamoji's sanctum." [23:10] "Or already has." [23:10] "Here," 07Dryas announces, holding the silver arrow aloft. "Our first clue. This is finely wrought..." [23:10] 10Daizo: "I think this was Hamoji's sanctum." [23:11] 6Zhangyu: "Do we know where that blood ape went?" 15[23:11] Caxi: "Blood ape?" [23:11] 6He gestures to Daizo. [23:13] 14Piu frowns. "Surely it's...down there, somewhere. You know, with the lava." [23:13] 14Whatever. Not her specialty. [23:13] 10Daizo: "Partway up the trail, Seiri fainted…" 10He relates the sighting to Caxi. [23:14] "Once the—the dispute started, I didn't think to search for it again." [23:14] "Those figures watching us on the road could have been part of the plot as well," 07Dryas notes. 15[23:15] Caxi: "Have any of you met any sorcerers here in Abalone?" [23:18] "I don't think so," 07Dryas replies. But Nn Tloc is quite a strange man... [23:18] 4Piu: "Nope!" [23:18] 6Zhangyu frowns. "None that I can recall." [23:20] "Nn Tloc was a strange fellow, but his house was haunted, not hellish," 07Dryas continues idly. [23:20] 10Daizo: "None that were known to me. There was that strange woman I fought in the Hinokuni, but perhaps she just had some godly blood." 15[23:20] Dryas traces the arc as best she can from memory... it can't have come from anywhere on the mountain, the slope is too steep. But the draw strength and keen eye it would take to have fired a shot that struck true from the ground... it doesn't make any sense. Not even a Prince of the Earth could have managed it. [23:22] 07Dryas sneers as she tracks back along the uneven terrain of the caldera. "This doesn't make sense,"07 she observes. [23:24] "Zhangyu - stand over there and throw a rock straight up for me, please?" [23:24] 6He glares at her for a moment, but this is a reasonable request. [23:25] 07Dryas asks this as she jogs a dozen or two yalms away. As the rock goes into the air, she draws the flamepiece again - and fires it into the sky! [23:26] 6He hurls that thing as hard as he can straight up. Tempting to instead whip it around, but no. [23:27] 14Piu watches with concealed amusement. 15[23:28] The shots arc up, up, up, and then back down. [23:29] "I can barely make a shot from that angle with a flamepiece. But with a greatbow, something that could fire an arrow like this?" 07She twirls the gun for a moment and with a bit of legerdemain replaces it with the silver arrow - "You can't make that shot from the ground. Not even the greatest Prince of Earth could make that shot." [23:30] 14Piu feels kind of bad about this, but Caxi is still here. [23:31] 14And SHE'S not going to be the one that sends her away. [23:31] "We're not just looking for a sorcerer, we're looking for Anathema," 07she observes. 15[23:32] Caxi: "Anathema here?" [23:32] 10Daizo: "When you put it that way…" [23:32] 4Piu: "I guess it's possible!" 15[23:33] Caxi: "Anyway... it's been about an hour. We should go tell the Commodore." [23:33] "Anathema here, with the werewithal and resources to execute a plan like this," 07she points out. [23:34] 4Piu: "I agree with Caxi!" [23:35] 6Zhangyu: "Yes." 6Quiet way down, huh. [23:35] 10Daizo sighs. "Yes, our dinner date approaches. Caxi, you're the most presentable already, go on ahead and we'll meet you at the Governor's mansion." [23:35] "I need a change of clothes. And a very talented tailor." [23:40] "Tepet Daizo," 07Dryas says quietly, "I apologize for this situation. This Anathema could have completed its plan against Hamoji regardless, but it would not have resulted in this happening to you. I will do whatever I can to avenge your..." 07she doesn't say 'mutation,' but she doesn't know what to call it. 15[23:42] "...affliction," Caxi finishes, before taking her case and walking off. [23:43] 14When she's flown off, Piu turns to the others: "So. The shooter's name is Ted." [23:43] 10Daizo draws himself up to his full height and takes a deep breath. Then… [23:43] 10Daizo: "Is it now." [23:44] 6Zhangyu: "'Ted'?" [23:44] "Ted? What kind of name is that? Is it something obscene? What an absurd name." [23:44] 14Piu: "Not his real one, obviously." [23:45] 6Wait. "Wait. That Ted?" [23:45] 10Daizo: "Is this that creep you went off with after our match at Hinokuni?" [23:45] "The guy I went home with the night you beat up the crocodile lady sponsored by Tloc, yes." [23:45] "And in his defense, the man can fuck." [23:46] 6Zhangyu: "What do you know about him that's relevant here." [23:46] "Being able to fuck is actually relevant for anathema classification. But. He has a symbol on his right hand, which is what's important here." [23:47] "Who else saw you with him?" 07Dryas asks. [23:48] "Everyone at that underground bar-slash-arena. Not a particularly talkative group where the authorities are concerned. And he's only on our radar, for now." [23:49] 10Piu isn't wrong about this matter of taxonomy. The guest lecturer that day had been very colorful in their descriptions. [23:49] 14Piu kneels down. "Here's the mark. It's on the back of his hand. Commit it to memory." [23:50] https://i.imgur.com/rZNbG8D.png [23:50] 14After finishing the outline, she frowns and adjusts the gradients in the dirt a bit for the right shading. [23:55] 10Daizo: "I've seen this before." [23:56] 6Zhangyu grunts in a way that might be "go on, I'm interested," or it might be "I will remember this" or he might just be angry still. [23:58] 14Piu: "Yeah? What kinda boy is Ted?" [00:02] 10Daizo: "This is unlike the marks of the thieves of the Sun and Moon. It's old—likely even older than the days of the Cleansing." [00:02] "It's called the Soul Eater." [00:03] 14A slight smirk. [00:03] "Its bearer is said to wield dominion over life and death itself." [00:03] "Well. Makes sense." [00:04] 6Zhangyu frowns deeper. [00:04] 10Daizo: "He's certainly very good at killing things." [00:05] 07Dryas: "We've been shipmates, but we're involved in something deeper now." [00:07] 14...Here it comes. [00:08] 14She had the talk with Caedus already. It's worth getting in on. [00:08] 10Daizo: "Hamoji's killer must be brought to justice. And then there is the mystery of the Empress." [00:09] "Two great hunts," 07Dryas concurs. [00:10] 14Piu: "Hamoji's death certainly needs to be investigated. We should probably find out why the kill order -- and if Hamoji is indeed permanently dead -- before going hunting for a guy who can ace a god like that on a whim." [00:10] *the why of the kill order [00:12] 07Dryas: "There's certainly a deeper conspiracy there." [00:13] 10Daizo: "Something that could command the loyalty of a Crest-bearer would be fearsome indeed." 15[00:17] NEXT TIME: Sold under sin [00:20] 「Am I now to walk the lands as the cenotaph of thy fallen master? Then carve me well in his image.」 —Mnemon Oarai, Reflections. RY 375