15[20:04] And so the kinship, shaken and stirred, makes the uneven trek down the far side of Hamoji. Each of them has much to think about as they descend to the timberline - and much to discuss. How does the trip pass 15[20:04] ? [20:06] 4Horsey~ [20:09] 07Dryas: "You remember - Seiri, I swear you to secrecy about this - you all recall the deal that Nn Tloc and I reached, to transport captured Anathema?" [20:09] 10Daizo falls into a reverie partway down and nearly leads his horse off the path. It's probably a good thing his horse refused to take a step further when it did.  [20:09] 4Pretty sure you can't swear people to silence mid-way through the sentence. [20:10] 10Yeah, and you can't do it one-sidedly either.  15[20:10] Seiri looks up, alarmed, though she seems so out of it - riding behind Sadako, with her own horse following beside - that she might just be startled by being called on. [20:11] 14Piu: "Seiri can be trusted, I'm sure. And yes." [20:12] 6Zhangyu just looks at Dryas expectantly. [20:13] 07Dryas, elaborating: "I saw their eventual fate. It was horrific. Transportation to enormous slave-pits, in a hellish pit beneath a rust-red sky. The cruelty of a pompous, disfigured, and deadly princeling..." [20:14] "..I think it could be the pirate who crossed ahead of our path before. But death did not await them, it was life - a song with thirteen syncopated beats. Freedom, but on the terms of another's will. And darkness beyond darkness, a black snake with many eyes and teeth."" [20:16] 14Piu: "Sounds...unfortunate." [20:16] 14And perhaps a little bit familiar. [20:17] 10Daizo: "Thirteen. Never an auspicious number." [20:17] "I...ah. Have to apologize. I asked selfishly about my family -- my birth family, before House V'neef -- and their fate. What I learned was...personal. And not particularly surprising." [20:22] 10Daizo: "It's hardly a selfish wish. Being adopted into a Great House doesn't mean you have to abandon your roots entirely." [20:22] 07Dryas, looking right at Piu: "Indeed." [20:23] 14Piu doesn't reply to either. [20:24] 10Daizo: "Mine was… complex. I'm still unpacking it." [20:25] "I asked how I could purify myself. And I believe I was told to check my premises." [20:29] 07Dryas, rolling a handful of cocoa leaves around a lime wedge: "Told?" [20:29] 6Zhangyu: "I asked how to gain true respect, not one centered in battle. The answer I received was..." 6He trails off, thinking. Then: "Not the one I thought I would receive," 6he says, finally. [20:31] 14Piu: "I mean frankly it seemed like time to do some introspection, not ask about the mission." 15[20:33] Sadako: "None of you could hear each other?" [20:34] 07Dryas: "My business with Nn Tloc has little or nothing to do with the mission, but has greatly troubled me all the same. I am worried I - what?" [20:34] 10Daizo rides in silence for a minute, then speaks again. "It's difficult to tell in these sorts of experiences, but I believe I may have briefly made contact with a spiritual entity." [20:35] 14Piu is very well-trained, and does not stiffen at the implication in Sadako's statement, nor let ice creep into her voice when 4she says: "Nope!" [20:35] "No. No, I never encountered any other human." [20:36] "Besides myself." [20:38] "A spiritual entity?" 07Dryas asks. 15[20:38] "We were all bunched so close together... maybe it was different for me. My peculiar constitution," Sadako says, briefly mimicking Caxi's voice and mannerism. "Everybody was talking about stuff. Praying or, being confused, or getting really angry." [20:39] 6Zhangyu: "There were crowds, in mine. An older man, and a younger one, and..." 6He thinks. "The Nazarene." [20:40] "The what? [20:42] 10It takes some more prodding, but Daizo fills Dryas in on some more of the details of his experience. The Demon Realm, nature that withered and died around him, the struggle against himself, and finally reaching out in the darkness and being "pulled up" by a feminine hand.  [20:43] "There's… quite a bit to chew on there, as you can see." [20:53] "As for the Nazarene, that one's… a piece of work. River god who hit it big in the North. Too many believers to suppress without aid. And what kind of cult forbids their believers from calling their holy writings anything but 'the book'?" 15[20:53] Particularly sociable cultists might call it the "good" book! [20:54] 4Piu: "Sounds like a drag." [20:56] 10Daizo: "I'll admit, I don't understand the relevance it has to Zhangyu's question. [20:58] 07Dryas: "Yes, you said it had to do with earning respect?" [20:58] 6Zhangyu: "He kept asking me 'how could I,' while I was chained to a post." [20:58] "This was after being dragged through the mud in front of a jeering crowd." [20:59] 10Daizo: "Did you have a sense of what you'd done?" [21:00] "Or perhaps, was it the act of a mob?" [21:01] 6Zhangyu: "If it was said, I missed it." 6He remembers dimly that was something horrible, but not what. [21:03] "But you didn't answer—because you couldn't know. What happened then?" [21:05] 6Zhangyu: "I broke my bonds and charged at him," 6he says frankly. "The crowd stopped me, and the next I remember is... it felt like water?" [21:05] "Then I woke up." [21:08] 07Dryas: "Do you feel like you had made a mistake? Like you should have nobly suffered the mob's indignities?" [21:10] 6He grimaces. "Something like that." [21:12] 10Daizo: "Only you can decide what the truth of what you saw is." [21:14] 14Well. [21:15] 14In some cases, there are those who can corroborate. And they have names and addresses. [21:15] 10Pressing Seiri right now seems like a very poor idea, so… "When you heard us all talking, Sadako, were we still in the witch's hut? Or in another place?" 15[21:16] Once she realized she wasn't being asked to do anything, Seiri's attention drifted back to the rising jungle and her own thoughts. She looks pretty close to resting her head on Sadako's back and falling asleep. [21:17] 07Dryas pops the cocoa leaf wedge into her mouth. Supposedly they enjoy these out in the upper Northeast. She's got more if anyone else wants them. 15[21:18] Sadako: "I didn't go anywhere, but I felt like I was floating. I imagined... deep, dark water, and I heard a voice, and I felt so good. I started leaning back, sinking into the water... and then I realized I sank into the floor." [21:20] 4Piu: "You're a weird kid, Sadako! But cool." [21:22] "It seems to have done you quite some good, that makes me quite happy," 07Dryas agrees. [21:24] 10Daizo: "This might sound strange, but see if you can do it again sometime without the witch's brew." 15[21:25] You can hear the camp before you can see it - a crackling fire, some kind of ill-tempered nattering between the armed cohort and the support staff. The subject becomes clear as the jungle parts and it pulls into view, the violet travel lanterns strung up to mark the boundaries of the camp throwing their light on quite a large reptile, maybe a bit smaller than a horse, still stuck with 15[21:25] broken-off spearhafts. Its dead, conical eyes point off in seemingly random skewed directions. [21:25] "Sinking into the ground, I mean. There are Blooded who are capable of the same thing." [21:26] 14Piu sighs. "Peacemaking time." [21:28] 07Dryas spurs Diamond Weapon onward, blowing a short sharp note to alert the guards to their arrival. "Good evening, gentlemen!" she exclaims to her retainers. [21:28] 07Dryas spurs Diamond Weapon onward, blowing a short sharp note to alert the guards to their arrival. "Good evening, gentlemen!" 07she exclaims to her retainers. [21:28] 4Piu will give the horse a last hug around the neck as she dismounts and surrender him to the ministrations of the people hired for such things. [21:31] 10Daizo is thoroughly pleased to dismount, and he imagines the horse must be feel the same way about not having to carry him anymore. 15[21:33] Everyone stands at attention when Lady Dryas and her kinship ride back into camp. There's a brief and silent scrabble to be the one who briefs Dryas, and it's won by the mercenary captain over the provisioner. "My Lady," begins the mercenary, who is not Realm-born but was likely Realm-educated, "While you were gone, animals got into some improperly-stored provisions. Easily driven off, 15[21:33] but the disturbance drew a larger creature from the jungle, and it took all our people to bring it down. 15[21:33] "Three injuries, one serious, a couple of knocked-down tents... well-managed." [21:36] "And what is the current status of our provisions?" 07Dryas asks of the quartermaster. 15[21:39] The quartermaster: "We saved almost everything, but your soliders were so reckless in the carnage we've roughly half what we should." [21:40] 10While Dryas is handling the personnel, Daizo will go and take a closer look at the trophy.  [21:41] "Well." 07Dryas turns to mumble to her companions - "Whatever would the Commodore do? Turn a blind eye and conclude all's well that ends well? Let's do the opposite." 15[21:45] The creature's tough, scaly skin must have shimmered with a dozen colors when it was still alive. Now, an erratic, vivid pattern bleeds beneath the surface, like a decorative bottle of colored sand or one of those sorcerous liquid-crystal windows after it's been shattered by too ferocious a party. If she finds a bit with a color scheme she likes, it'd make fine leather. Its mouth is 15[21:45] unimpressive froglike, with no teeth wicked enough to make suitable trophies. [21:45] 4Piu sighs again. "I think the Commodore would go hunting with the men to replenish supplies, as a teambuilding exercise." [21:46] "That actually sounds quite rather enjoyable," 07Dryas ponders. 15[21:46] It's hard to spot beneath the spearhafts and oozing blood, but Daizo notices older wounds - this reptile recently survived an attack by some wild beast before falling to the hunters. [21:47] 4Piu shrugs. "It's good exercise and the right move for morale, I think. And they NEED the teambuilding." 15[21:47] Daizo detects both bite and claw. [21:48] 10Daizo clicks his tongue. Well, now it's much more important to keep order among the servants and guards. [21:49] 10He'll wave the others over. "Take a look at this." [21:49] "There's something much bigger out there, and it's probably nearby." [21:50] 6Zhangyu: "Any ideas what it could have been?" [21:50] 4Pius smacks her fist into her palm. [21:54] "Ah. Excellent!" 07Dryas clears her throat and addresses the gathered men: "Gentlemen! Such discord is unbecoming, but understandable. Accordingly, we'll address it with a bit of a team-building exercise, in two parts. First part, let's skin this beast and set it out as chum. Bait. Second part, we'll take whatever came in for a bite of her." [21:56] 4Firm, perhaps-overserious nod. 15[22:02] Judging by the shape of the bites, Dryas guesses that the creature resembles a great cat, but is much larger - perhaps the size of one of those huge, blunt, furious fat monsters the cattlemen of the near South fondly call "river horses". 15[22:03] Daizo comes to the same conclusion. 15[22:04] The bite was quite recent - it hadn't stopped bleeding by the time the guards slew the lizard. Looks to be peripheral, a wound incurred in a chase. [22:04] 07Dryas: "Terribly exciting! An enormous feline! Larger than a tiger!!" [22:06] 10Daizo: "It will certainly come and play if we set out a dish for it." [22:10] 07Dryas grins a wide, wide grin. "Then let's prepare a last repast for our quarry." [22:10] "Piu, can you find a suitable location for us to prepare an ambush?" [22:12] 4She blinks. "I can...try?" [22:19] 4More confidently: "I can try!" 15[22:21] What kind of staging area does Piu choose, and what does she reveal of her thought process in choosing it? [22:23] 14Knife-circle -- preferred way of killing regents and politicians while obscuring exact blame while creating an indeliable bond of shared guilt, but also quite good non-ideologically when you've got a bunch of guys with pointy bits of wood and metal. You want a forum -- a clearing -- for the target to hold forth in, and something in that forum to hold their attention. That'll be the [22:23] 14bait. Then you approach from all sides and take turns with the kill. [22:23] 14Now, two things: [22:24] 14First, a giant cat is much more dangerous than a debauched would-be emperor. So, the circle will have to close starting downwind, with the rest of the circle coming in afterwards to seal the circle. Second: instead of bouncing the victim back and forth from knife to knife, it will have to be a choreographed dance, moving WITH the cat as it strikes and tries to break free. [22:26] 10Getting the real Piu to show herself is rapidly becoming one of Daizo's hobbies. (NARRATOR: It wasn't the real Piu.) [22:28] 4Communicating it publicly is a bit trickier. "So, um, has anyone told you all the tragedy of Anax Ilia? I was thinking mostlyyy that, but we start off downwind and coordinate against the cat's response. Which'll be more strenuous than Ilia's. By a lot. Kinda like dancing!" [22:32] 10Daizo: "Oho. I think I see where you're coming from here. A solid plan." [22:33] 6Zhangyu nods. He's familiar enough with the concept, even if he hasn't actually used this tactic himself. [22:35] 07Dryas: "That sounds excellent. I can wheel around the outside of the circle on Diamond Weapon and close the gap. We'll take half the guard with us. The rest can stay here with horns to protect the train and the wounded." 15[22:36] Who or what will serve as the bait? [22:37] 4Not her department! [22:38] 07Dryas: "Mighty Tepet Zhangyu, would you do the honor of setting the bait with the lizard carcass?" [22:40] 6He grunts in agreement. He's strong enough to move it wherever it needs to go. [22:42] 10Daizo excuses himself partway through the strategy meeting to unpack and don his gear, and borrows a couple of Dryas' servants for assistance. He's not going to stand in front of a great cat barehanded and in visiting clothes if he can avoid it. [22:43] 07A porter arrives at Dryas' side bearing an enormous lance of blackened ash with a gleaming bronze spearpoint. Her personal mon is visible on a silk pennant halfway down the shaft. 15[22:44] Zhangyu has no trouble dragging the corpse into position, leaving Dryas and her team to take up their positions. [22:46] 10The replacement back plate feels cheap and thin compared to the rest of the armor, even though it's thick fine steel. But it isn't jade, and the cutout for the wings is unsightly.. 15[23:07] They hunker down in that oppressively humid jungle for what feels like hours. The lizard corpse rots with remarkable speed and dead bait was already less alluring than live bait. But still it comes, slowly and subtly, with the greatest of care - something enormous sidling through the brush, vast and undulating with the occasional impression, in Hamoji's witch-light, of a spot. 15[23:09] They hear High Realm, spoken by Dryas's mercenary-captain, at once indulgent and reproachful. "Watch your tongue. Any more talk like that and I'm going to have to pass it upstairs." [23:10] 10… [23:14] 07Dryas grits her teeth for a moment, preparing to beat her own captain's head in with the butt of her lance - but then realizes the trick. A ventriloquist, mimic, monster?! Quite the catch, quite the catch! [23:14] 4Piu freezes. What the...?? [23:15] 6Bizarre. And-- devious. [23:15] 10Someone tell that idiot to shut up! Daizo almost does it— [23:16] 07Hold, hold, hold... 15[23:17] The captain's voice again, with different inflection - weary, frustrated. "Clean this shit up and get back to your post." 15[23:21] The creature isn't advancing further. It can clearly sense something is amiss - it would've begun eating by now otherwise - but it doesn't seem to have decided what to do about it. [23:28] 07Dryas lets out a deep, gutteral 07mrrrrrow07 to entice the creature a few steps farther into the trap. Is it sexy? Are you a cat that's hip-high yeddim? [23:29] 07*hip-high to a yeddim? 15[23:30] The brush rustles, and the light from the sky catches three eyes in the dark: one lower, deeper-set, and well to the side of the others. The hunters hear two things in rapid succession. 15[23:31] The first, in Dryas's own voice: "Daizo, it will be relatively safe here?" 15[23:32] The second, a young man's voice with a fine patrician accent, tremulous and bemoaning: "I'm in real bad trouble." [23:34] 10Wait. Wait wait wait just a minute. [23:34] 4Piu is not moving until she figures out what's going on. 15[23:36] The cat moves further into the clearing, something kin to an Eastern ocelot but far larger. Its coat is shimmering smooth, and the creature looks strong and unblemished. At the base of its throat a second, almost-fully-formed face extends, forever staring down and to the left from the cat's normal face, with no neck to articulate along. The second face speaks with a human voice, and 15[23:36] when its mouth opens you can see the great cat's rear teeth working, observe the gentle ripple of the breathing throat it flows into. 15[23:39] This is all too terribly visible when it speaks again, in that nervous young man's voice, now an urgent whisper. "I'm dead, you understand me? I'm a dead man!" 15[23:40] NEXT TIME: Cat fight