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Dynasty of Dovak	By : JohnDoe Category: +A through F > Exalted RPG Views: 4983 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
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Session 52 – The Zianosen – Reya (140XP 112DX, 135/103 spent; 9GP 11SP), Melody (140XP 112DX, 139/108 spent), and Ganan (140XP 112DX, 131XP/103DX spent; 2WhP 33GP 27SP)

The gates of Rasoni’s manse, The Zianosen, yawn open. The inside of the manse is pitch black.

Melody kicks the bound Sesus Dabab forward, driving him into the manse first.

“What?” She protests as Danireya shoots her a withering look, “He’s been waiting to get in for three days?” And she follows in after him.

“I’ll just wait here.” Ledaal Ludila says, perching herself on the ground gingerly. Melody has bound the wound caused by Dabab’s Grand Daiklave, but she’s in no shape to be exploring a mysterious manse.

Danireya uncomfortably shifts her weight, feeling her own wounds. She takes Cynis Ganan by the arm, and they walk into the darkness of the manse. Ganan reaches out with his senses, feeling the dragon’s bones.

Ganan clears his throat as they enter the manse, “Don’t freak out.”

“Freak out about wh-” Melody starts… as the doors of the manse swing closed behind them, “Oh you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“The manse has very specific geomantic defenses. But I can override them from the hearth room.” Ganan explains patiently. “We get the alchemical soil, attune to the manse, liberate any treasures my aunt left behind-”

“Get eaten by the devil-vines.” Sesus Dabab adds under his breath. The light of his still blazing anima seems strangely muted, casting eerie shadows into the dark of the manse.

“Mela’s name! What’s a devil-vine?” Danireya asks, holding her shield close to her own still blazing body.

Ganan unslings his firewand and loads it.

Sesus Dabab continues, “Basically what it sounds like.” He spits out through gritted teeth, “Easy to fend off, impossible to destroy, poisonous.”

“And where is the control room for the manse?” Melody asks.

“The roots of the Zianosen go deep.” Cynis Ganan says, “This floor is for processing the grapes, living quarters above, storage to age the brandy in the basement below, with the hearth room below that.”

“And these devil-vines?” Reya questions.

Dabab leans towards the nearest wall to illuminate it with his anima. The entire inner wall is a slowly writhing mass of vines. They seem to twitch in the Dragon-Blooded’s light and a probing vine slowly peals away from the wall, causing Dabab to quickly back up.

“The outer walls of the manse are jade. But the inner walls are made entirely of the vines.” Ganan confirms. “Once we’re attuned, they’re no danger to us.”

Melody sucks her teeth, and prods Dabab forward again. The antechamber their in is small, and leads to a double door. As they approach the vines pull away from the door and lash at Dabab, who calls out in pain. Reya speaks the Burning Name, and the flames lick the devil-vines, driving them back, and the Dragon-Blooded stagger through the door, and Dabab collapses to the ground.

Melody examines Dabab: where the vines touched his skin, he has inflamed red welts, and his eyes look blurry and unfocused.

“He’s drunk.” Melody pronounces.

“Youradrunk!” Dabab shoots back, words slurring together.

Melody grins back at the others, “These devil-vines aren’t that bad.”

“Theysheatpeople.” Dabab chuckles softly to himself, and points a wavering finger at a vine snaking across the floor towards his leg. Reya sends another blast of flame at the vines and they drag Dabab away from the wall.

“You took us to a manse which eats people?” Melody accuses.

“Well… not ‘people’. Slaves mostly, the occasional intruder.” Ganan shrugs, “What? … What?”

The chamber they find themselves in is enormous: worktables lead to grape presses, leading to bottles, leading to distillation apparatus, leading to casks.

“At the far end of the room are stairs: a spiral staircase leading up, and a great wide ramp going down. The ramp is right up against the wall, unfortunately.” Ganan explains.

“So… we just cross this room and go down?” Melody says, moving on. “That seems refreshingly straight-forward.”

Ganan awkwardly clears his throat, “Well… there’s the barrel golems.”

In the gloom two massive shapes rear up out of the darkness, and start towards the heroes. Their foot-falls shake the ground as they approach.

“Of course, why not.” Danireya says.

Preempting haste, Ganan levels his firewand, waiting for the golems to draw closer.

Melody takes aim at the ponderous golems.

Each of the golems wades forward, their forms still indistinct in the shadows. One levels a hosed arm at Ganan, there’s the sound of stone striking stone and a spark lights the tip of the hose… the a whoosh of flame spurts out towards Ganan. Ganan detangles from Reya, and twists towards the blow, taking the Earth Dragon Form and finishing in Unmoving Mountain Stance as the flames wash over him. His anima roars from dim to totemic in a single flurry. There’s a smell of burning alcohol in the air. Ganan stands, his Invulnerable Skin protecting him from the flames… but the burnt fumes assail his lungs and sting his eyes.

The second golem sights Melody and lets loose with another gout of flame. Melody’s aim is unobstructed by the darkness as she looses, cutting through the gloom with an arrow that clashes against the spray, successfully diverting the attack. Melody’s anima also flares iconic, erupting into rich purple devil’s thorn flowers before collapsing into a storm of swirling thorns.

Ganan ignores the golem attacking him and fires on the one still reeling from Melody’s assault. Flames engulf the vaguely barrel shaped golem, lighting and burning it. A wick of brandy catches fire, and there’s a small explosion, but still the golem advances as it burns – lit up with what reminds the Dragons of a crude imitation of an anima banner.

Danireya fires a blast of flame at the damaged golem, setting off a chain reaction that causes it to catastrophically explode.

Hidden in the darkness, a vine from the wall snakes its wall across the room towards Dabab.

Melody fires an arrow at the remaining golem, hitting full force with a satisfying ‘thunk’. Between the essence guiding her aim and the her uncanny ability to bring death from nowhere, the golem is sent staggering back a step.

The golem charges at Ganan with an explosion of energy. As it draws close, it’s finally lit up well enough to see clearly. The torso of the beast is like a giant barrel, with casks set into the back, the legs are pistons with sprung ankles like a deer, the right arm is the flamethrower like hose, but the left arm is a giant, piston driven press. The golem smashes down with the press on Ganan, who jabs upwards with his bayonet, catching the lifeless automaton in the elbow joint to deflect the blow.

Danireya blasts the golem with flame, causing it to twist awkwardly to divert the fires from its vulnerable fuel tanks.

Ganan discards his firewand, leaping up and smashing into the golem with a double-fisted strike. Ganan’s fists knock bodily into the golem with a blow that would have driven a man to the ground. The automaton rocks back, but is too bulky and well balanced to be smashed to the ground, but it’s clearly set off-balance.

The vine wraps around Dabab’s leg and starts to drag him towards the wall.

Melody fires at the golem, her arrow bursting into thorns mid-flight, and shearing open the vulnerable tanks on the golem’s back. Rich spirits run down the legs of the construct, gumming its workings.

Ganan elbow drives into the golem’s damaged legs, and there’s a twisting sound of splintering wood as the golem starts to come apart at the seems.

Danireya cocks a finger and points at the golem, using her thumb to sight the automaton. She speaks the burning name and the flames catch the shattered fuel tanks. The golem shudders and explodes.

Thick, choking smoke fills the room. Melody is unfazed, her anima protecting her from the plant-based toxin. Ganan is blown off his feet but otherwise unharmed, the stinging gasses causing his eyes to stream but little more. Danireya chokes in the smoke, leaning heavily on her shield, the powers of the pure white jade fortifying her.

“Where’s Dabab?” Danireya asks, straining her eyes against the muted light. The burning wreckage of the barrel golems making it hard to see the edges of the room.

“He was crawling towards the door...” Ganan says, his enhanced senses picking out the movement and he points in Dabab’s direction.

Melody draws her bow without thinking, sights and fires. The arrow cuts the vine around Dabab’s leg and she goes to pull him back to the group. As she nears the vine wall, it rears to life and lashes at Melody… but her immunity to poison means the vine is only slightly annoying rather than harmful. She easily pulls Dabab back to the middle of the room. Dabab is breathing, but only barely: a thick trickle of vomit seeps from his mouth.

“Hold him.” Melody tosses at Ganan, who dutifully pins the Sesus scion. She clears the vomit from his mouth and fishes out some reagents from her satchel along with her orichalcum acupuncture needles. Dabab thrashes, and Ganan holds him down, as Melody administers the treatment. “He’ll live, but he’s not waking up any time soon.”

Ganan retrieves his firewand and tosses Dabab over his shoulders.

“We’ll go three abreast,” Danireya says, “Melody against the wall, then me, then Ganan and Dabab.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way… but remind me why we care about Sesus Fuck-Face here?” Melody asks.

Ganan stops and screws up his face in concentration, “That’s an unusual name.”

Danireya takes a deep breath, “House Sesus is fighting Cathak. We are fighting Cathak. Keeping Sesus Dabab alive, and tossing him a casket of fine Cynis brandy to take home might be the first step in forming an alliance. Killing a Dragon fighting against our enemy doesn’t help us.”

Ganan nods, “Makes sense.”

The Dragon-Blooded make for the down-ramp. Melody giggles as the deadly devil-vines tickle her ineffectually as they walk down. The level below is huge, and filled floor to ceiling with fine, aging brandies.

“I’ll hug the wall.” Melody announces, careful that her anima not destroy the brandy.

Ganan summons his tetsubo from his anima, and it collapses back to burning. “Zianosen Black Pearl 502.” Ganan says, eyeing an expensive looking cask, “Cynis Falen Rasoni gave us a 506 as a wedding present. I’ve got a pair of 504s. I don’t know anyone in the Realm who has a 502, except maybe the Scarlet Empress.”

They sweep through the vast basement, but there’s no obvious way down.

“Are you sure about this Gan?” Danireya asks.

Ganan drops to one knee, shuffles Dabab to the ground, and feels the floor beneath his feet. “There’s definitely another floor below us. I just don’t know how to reach it.”

“Gan, sketch out the shape of the room for me.” Reya asks.

Ganan grumbles to himself, “With what, Sesus Dabab’s blood?” But he uses his stone carving fingers to trace out the shape of the room with a finger. The work is precise if ugly.

Danireya studies the shape of the room, “It’s a code.” She pronounces, her mind turning over. “Can you move these stacks?” She asks Ganan, pointing at the drawing and gesturing where they should be shifted to.

Ganan moves the stacks and a clanking and grinding of gears is audible as a hidden spiral staircase is revealed. The Dynasts descend into the hearth room. Set upon a plinth in the middle of the room is the manse’s hearthstone, a green decahedron, the size of a chicken’s egg.

“The Harvest Gem.” Ganan identifies, “A potent crystal of vast power.”

The Dragon-Blooded attune their Essence to the manse, and Danireya sockets the hearth stone into her shield.

Melody raises an eyebrow, “Do we not get to vote on that?”

“I’m not keeping it,” Danireya says, “The Harvest Gem makes the surrounding land more fertile. If V’neef is going to try and feed the Imperial City with food grown inside the walls, then it’s going to be invaluable to her.”

The manse starts to glow with a soft light, and the muted effect on the Dragon’s animas lapses. Now that the room is illuminated, the Dynasts notice several notable features of the room.

On one wall is a sprawling family tree. Cynis Falen Rasoni’s name is clearly visible, and embellished as befitting the mistress of the manse. Cynis Falen Lorena is branched as her sister, with less prominence, and below it Cynis Ganan. As they watch, the Falen disappears from Ganan’s name, and it visibly becomes embellished before their eyes, growing new decoration. From Ganan, new branches form for Mnemon Danireya, Ferad, Melody and the children.

On the adjacent wall is a green jade daiklave. “Brandy-thorn,” Cynis Ganan identifies it, “A legendary blade, once wielded by my grandmother. Might make a better gift to House Sesus than a casket of brandy.”

“Seriously?” Melody says, as Ganan takes the treasure off the wall, “I don’t get anything?”

“Check the chest.” Ganan suggests, gesturing at the remaining wall.

Melody flips open the squat, lacquered chest and sees a fine silk cloth. She moves the green and gold cloth aside to find two talents of jade wrapped in the silks. Her eyes bulge. “That’s a lot of money.”

“Is it?” Ganan and Danireya say in unison, somewhat condescendingly.

“Fuck. You. Both.” Melody says, heaving the chest up. “Dragon’s breath, this is heavy.”

The trio walk upstairs to the brandy store and the unconscious Dabab.

“Ganan, grab the 502 for House Sesus, and find something nice for V’neef.” Danireya calls, ascending the ramp to the distillery. Against the side of one the walls are the alchemical workstations for enriching the soil, and banked up against the other is a supply of fertilizer.

Ganan picks up the brandy, carefully balances Dabab over his shoulder, and heaves upstairs after Danireya, as Melody staggers after him with her treasure chest.

“You could have made two trips.” Danireya chides, without looking up as she reads through what notes she can find on the alchemical process.

Ganan and Melody both blow air through their lips derisively (pwwt), and return to the manse entrance, which opens before then.

“What’s the betting there’s a Sesus legion waiting for us on the other side of the door?” Melody jokes, and she’s pleasantly surprised to see it’s just Ludila on the other side of the door.

“What are you doing?” Ganan asks Ludila.

It’s immediately obvious to Melody that Ludila was trying to open the manse, even as Ludila blusters a cover-story that she was just studying the mechanism.

“Check it.” Melody says, showing off her new found riches.

“That’s a lot of jade.” Ludila admits, clearly impressed, “What about the soil?”

“It’s inside.” Ganan grunts as he sets down Sesus Dabab. He puts the 502 and daiklave down by the unconscious man, and cuts the bindings on his wrists. (The rope, having shrunk after being wetted, has cut into the swordsman’s wrists, bruising them.) Ganan then retrieves Dabab’s own daiklave and sets it down next to him, hands-off the 506 for V’neef to Ludila, and heads back into the manse to collect the alchemical soil.

“This doesn’t look too hard to make.” Danireya says, again without looking up from what she’s doing (now inspecting the tools for making the soil). “I think V’neef should be able to replicate this.”

“We should probably still take as much as we can carry,” Ganan answers, before setting to work creating a wheelbarrow to cart the soil in from the crates in the manse (7SP 1GP). Filling a wheelbarrow full of soil, “Udi should be able to Stormwind a couple of these, right?” He confirms before putting together another one (6SP).

Reya looks up and over at Ganan, the light level of the manse rising automatically as she strains her eyes to the other side of the room. “Sure.” She answers, collecting the notes. She takes out her audient brush and pens a note for Sesus Dabab, entreating House Sesus to enter into an alliance against the Cathak usurpers, and she exits the manse, sealing it shut again after her.

The Dynasts wait until Dabab starts to come around, then Danireya and Ludila start casting Stormwind Rider. By the time Dabab has recovered his footing, our heroes are spots on the distance.

****

On the journey back, Melody spots signs of fighting to the east. Though miles from the Imperial City, smoke can be seen rising across the Numinous Rolling Wave Dominion.

Again, the Dynasts are stopped at the gates to the city, but they are allowed to proceed (this time without escort) to the Imperial Palace. Ludila leaves the alchemical soil at the palace gates, and Danireya takes a sample they dismiss their Stormwinds. V’neef receives then, again in her own room.

“Six hundred pounds of finest Cynis alchemical soil.” Danireya announces proudly, she hands over the sample and the creation notes. “And a small token of friendship: a cask of finest Zianosen Black Pearl Brandy, 506 vintage.” She gestures of Udi to hand the cask over.

V’neef nods appreciatively, “That was significantly faster than I expected. I’m impressed, Mnemon Alinos Danireya. As soon as your legions arrive, you may consider that we have an alliance to defeat Cathak Cainan. Any more than that depends on Berit.”

Danireya gives a short bow, and removes the hearth stone from her shield, “Excellent, one more thing: a hearth stone that will boost your harvests. Most potent magics. I hope that you find it useful.” She hands over the hearth stone to an astonished V’neef.

V’neef’s eyes narrow suspiciously as she takes the gem, “Mnemon is really serious about this, isn’t she?”

Danireya smiles, “I’ll tell you when we recruit Berit.”

The Dynasts bow and turn to leave, when V’neef calls out to them, “Wait… Ragara. He spied on us. He’s going to Berit ahead of you, and he’s going to have a much easier time passing through Cathak controlled land than you will. Take these.” She hands each of them a badge of office emblazoned with her mons, “I might help you pass through Tepet holdings a little easier.”

“Thank you.” Melody says sincerely.

The heroes retire to the Mnemon wing of the Imperial Palace, resolved to set off before first light. Danireya briefs the assembled Mnemon scions and retainers on the current situation, with Ludila at her side, whilst Melody and Ganan retire to play Gateway together – Melody entreating Ganan to think tactically, and Ganan admonishing Melody to think.

As Danireya wraps up the briefing, and Ganan packs away the Gateway board (wondering how Melody beat him), Ludila approaches Danireya.

“You’re surprisingly good at this.” She compliments.

Danireya looks up at the ceiling in frustration, “I’m going to try really hard to not take offense at the ‘surprisingly’, Udi.”

Ludila spreads her hands innocently, “Come on, I didn’t mean it like that. Be honest, you couldn’t have expected things to go this well. Cathak Cainan has been chosen as the next Empress by the Dragons, assembled the largest army since the Contagion, won unlimited financial support… but, call me crazy here, we’re winning. That’s impressive. You’re… impressive.”

Despite herself, Danireya feels her heart-beat quicken, but she keeps her cool composure, “If only you’d thought so in the Heptagram.”

Ludila makes a face somewhere between shocked and bemused, “We were stupid teenagers, you can’t still be mad about that.”

“You betrayed me, Udi. You betrayed me, and tossed me aside like I was worthless. And alright, maybe we never were going to settle down and get married some day, but damn it-” Danireya breaks off, “You were my oldest friend. My first kiss. And you threw our relationship away, for what, good grades? The thrill of hurting me? Yes, I’m still mad.”

“Hurting you? Hurting you!” Ludila blinks, takes a calming breath, “We might have still been sharing a bed, but you were pining for Cynis Ganan since the moment you saw him dragging his crippled-ass across the grounds. I… ended things between us because that’s what I had to do… to initiate. I had to make a sacrifice: I had to give up what I wanted most, to become a sorcerer. To catch up with you. And you were already in love with someone else. Breaking up with you was the first thing I ever did… for love. It was the least selfish, the best thing, I’ve done with my life.”

Danireya smooths the front of her top, “I didn’t know that.” She responds levelly. She pauses for a beat, “You’re impressive too. I’ve not really… capitalized on my sorcery since school. But you seem to have… done very well. Certainly you’ve become a better fighter than me. You’ve been a great asset so far, and I’m grateful that you’ve put yourself in harms way for me… for our cause.” She gestures at the wound caused by Sesus Dabab.

“Are you happy?” Ledaal Ludila asks quietly.

“Goodnight Udi.” Danireya says firmly, but not without affection, as she turns her back to seek out her husband and their bed for the night, leaving Ludila alone.

****

Melody spends 8DX to train Intelligence 3, and 8XP to train Rebirth of Flesh and Ivy.

Battle-map:

Red: Cathak Cainan's Forces
White: Mnemon's forces
Black: Sesus forces
Green: Independent
White Manse: The PCs

https://ibb.co/yNZTNRn
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Dynasty of Dovak