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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 75 – Siege of Dovak *Smut x2* – Ganan (255XP 204DX, 253/204 spent; 20WhP 41GP 86SP), Melody (255XP 204DX, 251/203 spent), Jinabar (255XP 204DX, 252/198 Spent)

The next morning Jin rises early and pours herself an obscene amount of espresso. The smell brings Tinkara and Melody out of their rooms. Melody’s jade collar keeps her looking fresh and clean.

Jin raises an eyebrow as Melody approaches with her traveling mug, and fills it with the strong, Jadeborn espresso. Tinkara takes a normal sized cup.

“Sleep well?” Jin asks, wiggling her eyebrows at Melody.

Melody raises her mug in salute, “Eventually.”

“Anathema, right?” Jin winks salaciously, before turning to Tinkara, “Speaking of, where is your brother?”

Tinkara sips her bitter drink, “Where’s your brother? Isn’t he supposed to be making me an arm?” She gestures at the discarded enchanted wood and the bones of her arm.

On cue, Ganan and Whims stagger out of the bedroom together. Whims looks thoroughly disheveled, though Ganan is immaculate. Ganan wrinkles his nose at the stench of the coffee.

“How can you drink that?” He complains as he picks up his work from the night before, shaping the wood to the shape of an arm and creating hollows for Tinkara’s bones.

“What did you do with the flesh?” Jin asks, pulling a face a of disgust at Ganan’s sorcery that looks eerily like Ganan’s disgust at coffee.

Whims shrugs guiltily, “He said he didn’t need it anymore.”

Tinkara boils with barely contained rage, “Did you eat my flesh?”

“He disposed of it,” Ganan says, firmly, “We don’t want it falling into the wrong hands.”

“In lieu of Yochanan being here,” Melody steps in smoothly, “I think Jin and I should get down to the siege strider and put in another day’s practice. I need to see to Clapper first. Ganan and Whims should stay here and finish that arm. Tinkara, why don’t you come with us: get some… ‘fresh air’?”

Tinkara grumbles something about being underground and all the air being the same, but reluctantly gets ready to go ‘out’. Jin makes no move to get ready.

“What are you going to do, bathe all day again?” Ganan asks, looking up from his work.

“I don’t have to rush,” Jin says calmly, taking another sip of coffee, “Melody said she wanted to see Clapper first, I have hours.”

****

It doesn’t take hours for Melody to finish checking in on Clapper, but Jin is still ready to go before her. The Jadeborn workday begins with a bustle, which soon turns into a commotion. Yochanan appears, flanked with armed Jadeborn guards who escort Melody and Jin back to their room and proceed to tear the Exalt’s spire apart.

“What’s this all about Yochanan?” Melody asks indignantly.

“There’s been an incident in the workshop. We are the prime suspects. I have an alibi, you do not.” He stares pointedly at Cynis Jinabar.

“What kind of incident?” Ganan snaps, “What exactly are you accusing us of?”

Yochanan says nothing until the Jadeborn have finished their search. They exchange a few words in a language our heroes do not speak, then the Jadeborn leave.

“Yochanan,” Melody demands, “What are we being accused of?”

“It seems,” Yochanan begins slowly, his eyes not leaving Jin, “That Lady Magnificent visited the workshop last night. She tried on a suit of armor that Hiram’s finest artisan had just completed that night. In the morning, the theft of several tools, and the armor itself was discovered.”

Jin burns with righteous indignation, “That damned thief! How did she find us?”

“The Jadeborn suspect that we are in cahoots with her.” Yochanan says. He breaks Jin’s gaze to cast a slow look around the room.

“Well, we’re not!” Ganan bristles, “I owe her an ass-kicking for starters, she’s ruined Jin’s life, and Melody spent the night with... we can account for Melody’s whereabouts.”

Melody casts a suspicious eye on Jin, “And Jin’s and Tinkara’s: they both locked themselves in their rooms all night. And the elevator platform was deactivated.”

Ganan goes back to his work on Tinkara’s new arm, clearly having lost interest in the conversation.

“We believe that Lady Magnificent climbed the workshop spire.” Yochanan says, addressing Melody.

“If you’re accusing me, I don’t climb. I don’t even like walking places. I ride a six-ton giant lizard.”

“Ganan could have made the climb.” Yochanan shoots back.

“Ganan was in bed and isn’t a woman.” Ganan says as he works on the fine joints between the phalanges, “Melody and Jin should be drilling in the siege strider. I can’t work with Tinkara looking at me like that. Don’t you have something productive you could be doing?”

Yochanan has a short conversation with Tinkara in Dovaki before addressing the others, “Tinkara and I will prepare for the attack. The army arrives tomorrow night and we shall strike at first light.”

Jin, Melody, Yochanan, and Tinkara take the elevator down. The Dovaks go in one direction and the Dragon-Blooded go for the siege strider. Whims and Ganan are left alone in the room.

Ganan looks up from his work, “Did you eat Tinkara’s arm meat?”

Whims tosses his hair indignantly, “You said you didn’t need it!”

****

Ganan completes the carving of Tinkara’s arm. The wooden prosthetic is oversized, and whilst it is a detailed replica of human anatomy (minus muscles and vasculature) it is not in any way functional. As a component for Ganan’s sorcery, it is clearly valuable, and though Tinkara and Melody don’t return for many hours, Whims is certainly impressed with the level of craftsmanship (-10SP: 9GP, 4SP).

“What else can you make, Breaker?” Whims asks with a devilish curiosity.

Ganan shrugs, “Anything, I guess. Come on, let’s get my staff back.”

Ganan and Whims go to retrieve his traveler’s staff. The Jadeborn give them suspicious looks as they pass, but Ganan doesn’t pay them any attention.

“Breaker, I don’t have a ranged weapon. And these Mountain Folk all have crossbows. Let’s go shopping!”

Ganan shakes his head at him, “After the theft last night, I don’t think they’re going to sell us a crossbow.”

Whims smiles and takes his hands, gazing into his eyes, “Not a crossbow. Crossbow parts.”

The Jadeborn are not willing to sell them a crossbow, but they will sell strips of steel, wire, and wood stock, which Whims purchases charmingly in quantities far larger than they need, whilst Ganan scowls in the background. They return to their room and after a little trial and error, Ganan constructs a functional crossbow complete with a stack of bolts with hardened steel tips (-10SP: 9GP, 3SP).

****

Siege Strider lessons are boring. Melody isn’t allowed to drive the machine, instead having the controls and read-outs meticulously explained to her by Jade Walker. The explanations require remedial lessons in mathematics and history – topics a great deal simpler than her instructors tried to beat into her at Pasiap’s Stair, but taught with a great deal less indifference as to whether she grasps them.

The pretenses for keeping Jin from the machine are flimsier, and she’s kept under constant guard by Jadeborn warriors carrying crystal staffs. Jade Walker sets her meditation tasks to complete, then disappears to instruct Melody.

It’s dark, or at least the lights in the cavern are dimming, when Jin and Melody return to the tower. Several Jadeborn warriors have been posted outside the tower, no doubt for their protection with dangerous criminals on the loose.

Tinkara has beaten them back, and her prosthetic sits on the low table in front of the sofa Ganan was working on.

“Do you want me to attach that?” She offers, not seeing any leather straps or padding on the false arm.

“It needs to bake.” Ganan calls from the bedroom.

“Well bake it!” Melody shouts back.

Ganan walks into the room, “It’s an expression.” He points out runes carved into the wood and Tinkara’s bones, “The parts need to fuse on an Essential level. This needs incantations, runes,” He looks at Tinkara, “A little fresh blood. Five more days before it’s ready to graft. Then a week for the magic to take root in Tinkara’s body.”

“Oh, so it’s not finished yet? You want to add some padding and straps and stuff?” Melody asks. She goes to pick it up, then sees Ganan’s face and decides that maybe the magic will work better if she doesn’t touch it.

“No. It’s going to be an uncomfortable week. They need to heal together, flesh-to-wood, no intermediaries.”

Jin spots Whims’s crossbow, “Where did you get that?” She asks suspiciously.

“Breaker made it for me,” Whims says emerging from the bedroom, “Do you want one?”

“You learned how to make crossbows in one day?” Melody asks, somewhat impressed.

Ganan shrugs, “Not that different to a regular bow, I don’t see what the fuss is about. The Mountain Folk seem to have an intricate loading system that I haven’t worked out yet – I’d have to study one of their devices up close – but the basic design was easy enough.”

“Any news on Lady Magnificent?” Whims asks, “Did they catch her yet?”

“No,” Yochanan says stiffly, “But she’s about your build. And I know you could scale these buildings.”

“He was with me.” Ganan says, moving to stand by Whims’s side.

“Whilst he was eating my arm?” Tinkara asks pointedly.

“Easy,” Melody calms them, “We’re all here to defeat Oka and the Mask of Winters. Turning to infighting because a thief with a grudge against House Cynis… stole some hammers? Come on! Whims has fought by our side against the dead. He’s not slit our throats in our sleep. We know Lady Magnificent is operating in Dovak. We know she’s a very capable thief. Let’s not turn on each other. There’s no reason to suspect that she’s anything but a free agent, doing whatever she wants – there’s no reason to suspect us,” And here she gestures to herself, Whims, and Ganan, “Of helping her. We,” She gestures to Ganan and herself, “Have fought against her.”

Yochanan calls them to gather round the high table and he lays out a stack of notes and illustrations, “Regardless, we have a war to plan – and infighting, whether by turning on each other with accusations or stealing from our allies, only helps our enemies. Gather round, and we’ll go over the plans.”

The others start to gather round Yochanan, but he casts a sneer at Whims.

“I’ll just… be in my room,” Whims excuses himself.

“Tinkara and I have already formulated the plans,” Yochanan says in a low voice, “The north side of the city is the one most densely populated by the dead, so that’s where you’ll hit with the siege strider. You’ll hit from the north west, with Tomonas’s lair behind you.”

“It’s also the most heavily defended,” Jin says, “There’s the palisade, crucified sentries, ditch.”

“Which is why they’ll only have a third of the army with them. Tinkara and I will lead a strike force through the escape tunnels to attack the palace directly.”

“Déjà vu,” Melody quips.

Ganan shrugs, “If it works, but Oka knows about the tunnels. They might not have been guarded last time, but that’s easy enough to explain – he expected that only Tinkara would know about them and he wanted her to attack through them. Now he knows we’re in play, won’t you meet stiff resistance?”

Yochanan smiles, “Oka knows we’ll come in person. He won’t be able to resist fighting us himself. But it’ll be a tunnel fight, his best against mine – he won’t be able to bring weight of numbers to bear, and I like my chances against any of the greater dead. The point of the strike isn’t to win, it’s to take Oka out-of-play.”

“Wait… so the siege strider is a distraction for the strike team, which is also another distraction?” Jin asks, “For what?”

“I want the bulk of our forces deployed to east side of the city – striking from the river. Oka will commit his army to stopping the siege strider, and there are no crossings or tunnels on the eastside: it will be all but undefended. Ganan can lead the Jadeborn over the river and into the city, the army can save the living, and start an uprising in the city. Once we take the city from the inside, the dead will be caught between the siege strider and our walls. Then you’ll be able to take the palace, and we’ll trap Oka between us.”

“Oka is one of the Unclean,” Ganan reminds him, “He’s not so easily trapped.”

“You mean he’s one of the Twilight Caste,” Tinkara challenges, “And that they can escape to a place of power.”

Melody sees the tension between Ganan and Tinkara, “What’s a Twilight Caste?”

“It’s an archaic name for the Unclean: how they identify among themselves. Many heretics have come to think as the Anathema as ‘saviors’ for conquering the land with their armies of the dead and are trying to bring back the old nomenclature as a form of worship for their dark gods.” Ganan spits with obvious contempt, “They think the Realm ‘evil’ for protecting civilization from the horrors of the Anathema.”

“We think the Realm evil because you enslave and murder our people! You butcher our gods! You rape-” Tinkara stops mid-rant, looking nauseated, “The Solar Exalted once ruled Creation.”

“Yes, they did,” Ganan says with a quiet seriousness, “And they did everything you accuse the Realm of doing. The horrors of the Solar rule, their madness, are well documented. The Solars made themselves enemies of Creation, and you’ve seen what they’ve done to your precious Dovak. We are underground now, because the Solars forced the Jadeborn underground. The Dragon-Blooded honor our allies, the Jadeborn. That’s why Yochanan needs us to lead their armies. We extract our rightful tribute, true, but we don’t murder your citizens and raise them as undead zombies. The Gift of Merciful Silence deserves the name ‘Unclean’: Oka Dovak may have been your nephew once, but now he is one of the demonic Anathema – not because he wields unholy power, but because he wields it against Creation. If I did to Dovak what Oka has done, I would expect you to call me Anathema as well.”

“Irrelevant,” Jin says firmly, “The Oka is a sorcerer, I presume it’s his magic that makes him hard to trap?”

“He can teleport,” Yochanan confirms, “Dissolve into nothingness and reform in a place of power. His nature as a Deathknight means he favors places seeped in death.”

Melody slams her fist into her palm, “The Heartrot Tree. If we’re sweeping in from the North West, we can take the tree and tune it to the Underworld. I can’t think of anywhere else that’s as great a place of power, and tuned to the Underworld it will draw him for sure!”

“It also fulfills the Mask of Winter’s plans and unleashes the Underworld on Creation!” Jin snaps, “Bad idea!”

“You’re both right,” Yochanan confesses, “If we don’t do something, he could appear anywhere. He’ll slip past us and escape. We can force him to manifest at the Heartrot Tree (although that’s likely the absolute limit of his powers), but not without unleashing the Mask of Winters on Creation once more.”

“Capturing Oka is not worth unleashing the Mask of Winters. We topple Oka, and go back to our lives, and if King Yochanan wants Realm help running down his wayward son, he can pay his damn tribute. Otherwise, that’s your problem, not ours. We’re here to stop the Mask.” Jin says firmly.

Melody appeals to Ganan, “Gan, you don’t like leaving a job half-done. You’ve seen what happened last time we left Dovak in the hands of these mortals – they didn’t stop Oka then, there’s no reason to think they could stop him now. Unless we take care of Oka, we’re not stopping the Mask of Winters, we’re just delaying him for another year. I for one have no desire to make the return to Dovak to topple a Deathknight a yearly recurrence.”

“We’re not unleashing the Mask of Winters. If we can capture Oka, so much the better, but we shan’t be ransoming the servant for the master.” Ganan says, giving Jin a nod to show he supports her.

Melody seethes.

****

Our heroes agree the specifics of their plan. Yochanan has prepared for almost every eventuality – he has been plotting this campaign for months, bringing the others into his confidence only now to shore up the last details. Eventually the heroes retire to bed.

“You could have backed me up about stopping Oka!” Melody rounds on Ganan as he starts to undress.

Ganan stops and turns to face her, “You’re right, Oka needs to be stopped. But not at that price. You were wrong, that’s why I didn’t back you.”

“You would have backed Reya!” Melody accuses.

“I have known you for years. We have fought side-by-side. You are my friend, my lover, my sworn kin. I have known Alinos Danireya for decades. She has saved my life more times than I can count. She is my wife, the mother of my children, my matriarch. One day you will earn the trust I place in her.”

“So, it’s like that.” Melody rues, bitterly.

Ganan takes her by the shoulders, “I know you want vengeance for your friends who died at Thorns. But this isn’t the way. You need to trust me: I have fought against the Mask’s forces for a year. I will help you to bring an end to all of this, but not like this.”

Melody seems about to object when Whims takes hold of her from behind. He holds her close and croons in her ear, “Surely there’s something more productive we can be doing with such a great battle on the horizon than tearing each other apart? Some kind of team-building exercise, maybe?”

“I’m still mad at you!” Melody warns as she relaxes into Whims’s embrace.

****

*Smut*

Whims’s hands deftly start to strip Melody as he drags her to the bed. Ganan goes back to undressing, but his eyes don’t leave Whims and Melody. Whims is wearing nothing but long black socks and gloves, trimmed with gold – his small cock bobs prettily as he sashays back to the bed. He sets Melody sitting up at the head of the bed and beckons the now nude Ganan over:

“Seeing as you seem to have got your way out there,” He says as Ganan approaches, caressing his face gently, “It does seem only fair that she gets her way in here.” Whim’s lips are teasingly close to Ganan’s and his other hand plays over the inside of his thigh.

“It does… sound fair…” Ganan grunts as Whims teases him.

“Good boy,” Whims croons into Ganan’s ear as he pushes Ganan onto the bed between Melody’s legs. Whims meticulously positions Ganan on all fours, twisting his neck into position as Melody shuffles onto his face.

The thick musk of Melody’s scent fills Ganan’s senses as she rubs her sex all over Ganan’s face. He sticks out his thick tongue and slobbers all over her. Melody rubs her fingers over his coarse, closely cropped hair.

Whims fusses through Ganan’s pack. When Ganan tries to turn his head to see what Whims is doing, Melody grabs his head and forces him onto her clit. Ganan licks rhythmically, swirling his tongue round in circles. Whims finds whatever it was he was looking for and positions himself behind Ganan.

Melody rides Ganan’s tongue to a weak orgasm, “Stick your backside out.” She hisses, keeping both of her hands on the back of Ganan’s head as she pushes against him. She clenches her thighs around the sides of his face.

The hands controlling his head, and the smell and taste of Melody on his mouth, put Ganan into a daze. He arches his back without thinking about it, pushing as close to Melody as he can. Whims lubes up his cock with a thick glob of Ganan’s lube and presses against the larger man’s hole. Ganan moans into Melody’s pussy and his tongue goes slack, until Melody squeezes him between her thighs to spur him on.

Whims starts to fuck hard into the furnace of Ganan’s core. His hole is achingly tight, despite Whims’s size and Whims drives against the Dragon-Blooded’s prostate. He locks eyes with Melody who lustily looks back at him:

“Harder!” She gasps. Half-lidded eyes losing focus. Her mouth opens a fraction, revealing her pink tongue.

Ganan works two thick fingers into Melody as Whims drives harder into him. A powerful orgasm overtakes Melody as she squirts into Ganan’s face. Dutifully and unthinkingly, Ganan keeps licking: his cock strains and leaks with precum.

Whims strains. Melody moans as her third orgasm begins to build. Whims wraps a gloved hand around Ganan’s cock and jerks him in time with his thrusts. As the men cum together, Melody pushes Ganan’s tongue to one side to rub her clit herself. Ganan licks over her fingers as his orgasm subsides pushing Melody over the edge one last time. She slips out from under him, and rolls onto the dry side of the bed. Whims pushes Ganan down into the puddle of his jizz and Melody’s squirt, pulls his shrinking cock from Ganan’s ass, rolls to the other side of the bed, runs his nails over Ganan’s back and gives his backside a healthy slap.

Melody pulls Ganan’s pussy-soaked face to hers and kisses him full on the lips, “Goodnight, lover.”

****

Next morning, Yochanan arrives early with a Jadeborn worker at his side and gives a short speech to the heroes:

“The army arrives tonight. We march on Dovak in the early hours of tomorrow morning: we’ll leave the hour before dawn. Turn in early tonight… and (I don’t believe I have to say this as you’re all related to each other or dead) abstain from sexual activity. I need you awake and vital. Jin and Melody, come with me, we need to work on your skill with the siege strider. Tinkara, you’d better come too. Ganan, this is ‘Shrut’ – he will give you a foundational course in repairing the Strider in the field. If I had my way, we would have drilled with the army, but you’ve tipped our hand and we’ll just have to make do and trust that the Jadeborn are more disciplined than you.”

He motions for Tinkara, Jin and Melody to follow him.

“Y’all know we’re not related right?” Melody says as she approaches, “It’s important to me that you know we’re not related.”

“Wait!” Ganan calls, “Before Tinkara goes, I need a little blood. Doesn’t have to be palm blood – stump blood would be best.”

Tinkara gives a tight nod, and Melody draws off a couple of vials of blood for Ganan. Yochanan and the women depart, leaving Shrut with the men. Ganan tends to Tinkara’s new arm, scribing glyphs whilst the others let him work. Shrut examines the crossbow prototypes Ganan discarded as Ganan wraps up with Tinkara’s arm. Whims shows the Jadeborn the finished product. Finally, Shrut begins instructing Ganan in basic Jadeborn crafting techniques.

****

Tinkara directs Melody on where to drive the siege strider. Its movements are more fluid now, and the array of controls and read-outs are more comprehensible. Tinkara also calls targets to Jin who easily dispatches them. Jadeborn security stand-by, but Melody and Jin don’t try to steal the siege strider.

****

The Dragon-Blooded regroup in the early evening. Yochanan sends them provisions: a thick paste of flavorless fungi (the mechanical pipes in their quarters providing clear drinking water). Extra has been provided in wax packages to fill tomorrow’s rations and the day after that. Our heroes grimly pack the food away and make sure their canteens are full, before turning in for an early night.

****

*Smut*

“You know, I was thinking it might be too early to go to sleep,” Melody says with a wink as she strips out of her clothes.

“I don’t actually need sleep,” Whims confesses as he looks over to Ganan and raises his eyebrows, slipping out of his own clothes.

“There is a school of thought in the Realm’s Legions that being sexually frustrated during a battle can lead to distractions, decreased performance and even death.” Ganan nod sagely.

Whims looks over to Melody skeptically, “Is that true?”

Melody shrugs, “I wouldn’t know – I’ve never gone into battle sexually frustrated. And I don’t mean to start now.”

Ganan also starts to strip, “This time, I think I should get a say in what position we-”

Melody interrupts him, “Whims sandwich. Me on the bottom, you on the top.” When Ganan opens his mouth to protest, she presses against him and silences his objections with her tongue.

Whims drops to his knees in front of Ganan and licks his lips at the sight of Ganan’s already engorged member. He grabs Ganan firmly by the base and sucks the cockhead into his mouth. As the thick, savory, taste of Ganan’s manhood fills his mouth, Whims closes his eyes in reverie.

Melody breaks her kiss with Ganan and looks down at Whims with a giggle. Ganan’s hand finds the back of her head and starts to push her down. “Well, I suppose we don’t have to rush.”

Melody grins and kneels next to Whims. The Liminal seems totally fixated on Ganan’s giant cock. She gently runs a hand over Whims’s back in gentle encouragement. Whims moans and tries to suck more of Ganan into his mouth. Melody looks up into Ganan’s eyes as she runs her hand through Whims’s thick hair and starts to push his head forward. Whims starts to gag half-way down the shaft, and he looks up at Ganan as well. Melody’s other hand finds Whims’s cock and she strokes him with agonizing slowness.

Ganan’s grins stupidly down at them. He places a hand on each of their heads. His fingers interlock with Melody’s on the back of Whims’s head and he pulls her closer to him.

Melody leans in eagerly, kissing and nuzzling Whims’s cheek as she gently pushes him out of the way. Her voice is a throaty whisper as her breath catches in her throat, “Share.”

Whims groans as he reluctantly removes his mouth and watches with awe as Melody hungrily sucks on Ganan’s cock. Her hand leaves his cock, and Whims lets go of Ganan’s shaft as she takes Ganan’s entire eight inches into her throat.

Warmth envelopes Ganan and pleasure overwhelms him. His eyes roll back as Melody’s causes him to give a long moan of ecstasy.

Nuzzled right against Ganan’s pubes, Melody sticks out her tongue, awkwardly flattening it against his balls. Whims sees the inviting pink and presses close, licking across Melody’s tongue and Ganan’s scrotum.

Melody pulls back and Whims’s tongue chases her retreating mouth until the two of them are French kissing with the tip of Ganan’s dick between their lips.

****

Our heroes wake early, dress, and are ready to go before Yochanan sends for them. Melody retrieves Clapper and they march out of the city. The promised Mountain Folk army does not disappoint: the force is impressively huge, armed with the same crossbows and crystal spears of Yochanan’s advance force – though these Jadeborn also wear thick armor. Jin pilots the siege strider: it is an awkward business, but her skills are more than adequate to walk the giant war-machine in a straight line.

They march on Dovak by the tunnels, splitting into their three battlegroups as they draw close. The exit tunnel is not, quite, wide enough for the siege strider. Melody climbs into the cockpit as Jin takes the gunner’s position. Melody deftly marches the siege strider forward and uses the machines powerful claws to smash the tunnel wider.

Melody’s forces proceed unsubtly through the forest. Unridden, Clapper smashes trees indiscriminately as it marches – the disciplined Jadeborn giving it a wide berth. The strider itself shakes the ground as Melody ramps it forward and the Jadeborn army marches hard in its wake.

Yochanan, Tinkara, and the best of the Jadeborn warriors make for the secret escape tunnel from the palace.

Ganan, Whims, and the bulk of the Jadeborn force march under the river to take up position on the western side of Dovak.

****

No outriders sally forth to meet Melody’s forces, but the Dragon’s approach the city they see their unsubtle approach has drawn the dead to the walls (which Ganan built) that defend the city. Ranked zombies slather to be unleashed whilst the more tactical among the dead (mostly ghosts possessing suits of armor) take cover armed with slings and javelins. It is clear that they are vastly outnumbered.

The morning sun illuminates the army of the dead. The trees surrounding the city have been stripped back and the outlying share-farms burned to create a killing field devoid of cover on the approach to the city’s defenses.

Jin grimaces as she targets the closest section of palisade – the unmistakable forms of living soldiers can be made out among the army of the dead. Most of them are scurrying to load extra weight onto grotesque spine chains.

“Jin,” Melody calls up, “Can you hit them from here?”

“Yes, I can!” Cynis Jinabar snarls as she forces the power of her essence into the siege strider’s cannon. The machine thrums then crackles with energy. Melody braces the siege strider as a great blast of white light pours from the cannon. A large section of palisade disappears – collapsing into nothingness. The enemy forces are yanked toward the center of the explosion (implosion?), scattered into disarray.

The Jadeborn archers take aim as the spear wielders make ready to charge.

The zombie army charges forward. The spine chains are released on the flanks. The auxiliaries move forward behind the mass of dead bodies to bring their weapons into range. Darkness blankets the advancing army of the dead. The moans of tortured souls materializing into the unnatural night fill the air.

“Tell me you can see in the dark?” Melody calls up to Jin, who is already aiming at the dead.

“Oh, I can see in the dark!” Jin grins, as she takes aim at the body of advancing troops.

Melody orders the battleline of Jadeborn to cut down the shielding zombies with their crossbow bolts. The Jadeborn unleash a deadly hail of bolts into the darkness.
****

On the western side of the city, on the other side of the river, Ganan and the bulk of the Mountain Folk army emerges into the morning light. Ganan directs them to form up and start to move as stealthily as possible toward the water’s edge.

****

Under the cover of their unnatural darkness, the dead continue to advance. From out of the dark comes a hail of javelins and stones. They plink harmlessly off the siege strider but a handful of the Jadeborn go down.

A blast of lightning rips from the strider’s cannon, smashing its way through the ranks of the dead. Though the unnatural darkness swallows the light, the smell of burnt flesh and ozone tells of the devastating power behind the blow.

Melody orders the spear-wielding troops forward as she plows the great siege strider on into the darkness. She swings the powerful claws of the great machine right and left smashing out indiscriminately as she plows through the ranked-up dead.

The spear wielding Jadeborn plunge into the unnatural darkness. There is a clamor as they find their foes. The archers peal off and move around the darkness, hammering bolts into the sides of the dead’s formation (so as not to hit their own fighters in the melee).

The weighed spine chains smash into the legs of the siege strider with unerring precision – the undead constructs being able to see perfectly in the unnatural gloom. Melody’s anima whips up as she tries to keep the strider upright. Thorns embed themselves in the delicate control panels and wedge the control levers. Clearly these devices were not built with the Dragon-Blooded in mind.

“Ah… shit.” Melody curses.

Jin pops the hatch on the gunner’s cockpit. She faces her palm into the darkness and blasts the spine chains with bolts of elemental fire. She dispatches them easily, turning the corpses into pyres.

****

Ganan and his forces reach the river.

“Charge!” Ganan bellows as ramparts of obedient earth form bridges across the water and ramps over the city’s outer defenses.

One thousand five hundred Jadeborn warriors pour into the undefended side of the city. Ganan smirks, pulling his tetsubo out of a prominent pillar of rock that rises at his feet and then charges in after them.

****

Hungry Ghosts protected by the unnatural night descend on Jin, materializing as they climb the siege strider. Jin whips out her wrackstaff with a flick of the wrist and batters away their attacks.

The zombie hoard clashes against the Jadeborn. Unseen figures in the darkness direct them out of the darkness to close on the crossbow wielders trying to flank them. The zombies move with unnatural speed wheeling against the Jadeborn as they charge from the darkness.

Melody keeps the siege strider gunning forward: there’s little the dead can do as she tramples over their bodies. The claws of the strider smash apart the rearguard of the dead’s forces as it barrels out from the back of their battle-line.

Ghosts again descend on Jin, whose anima erupts into a fiery dog that seems to chase in the wake of her wrackstaff as she batters the unnatural foes aside.

Jin counterattacks smashing the hungry ghosts into ectoplasm. Each one gives a scream of frustration as she disperses their physical forms. Her flaming anima scorches the gunner’s position, flames blazing against the delicate controls.

****

Ganan’s Jadeborn forces split into three “Dragons” as he shouts commands: five hundred troops march to evacuate the living of the city, sweeping through the Western and Southern quarters of the city; five hundred troops lay siege to the Wall of Stone, hoping to breach the palace; and five hundred charge after Ganan as he runs across the city to the swirling darkness encompassing the breach in the northern wall. He immediately becomes aware of the immaterial spirit awaiting him there.

****

The Jadeborn loose their quarrels at point blank range, cutting down the zombies. Melody’s siege strider rampage and Jin’s expert gunnery has torn the heart out of the undead force, and whilst the remaining creatures fight with preternatural strength, the Jadeborn cut them down to size. Darkness still blankets the battlefield, and an unnatural chill worries all those within it.

An eruption of dirt, stone, and discarded sling bullets storms up in a terrible tempest. Even Jin, high on the back of the siege strider, isn’t immune to the savage attack. The Jadeborn spear-wielders within the darkness break and flee, trying to reach the safety of the light. Even in the pitch darkness, Jin is able to weather the storm, dodging out of the way of the debris – though much of it lands in the open gunner’s cockpit. The remaining greater dead in the middle of the darkness try to group now they have lost their foot-soldiers.

Melody keeps the siege strider heading forward and feels the crunching of the palisade remains as she barrels her war machine into the city. Jin closes the gunner’s cockpit and slides down the side of the strider, landing on the floor in the darkness.

Ganan enters the unnatural darkness, his Jadeborn warriors at his side. He extends his senses through the earth: whilst he cannot feel the position of his immaterial nemesis, he can still pinpoint them by listening to the subtle currents of spiritual wind.

The dead trade fire with the Jadeborn but are unable to make a significant dent in their numbers. Another storm of dirt and debris rocks Jin and the legs of the siege strider, buffeting her and gunking the joints.

Ganan brings his tetsubo down heavily on the immaterial ghostly commander. He smashes the creature to the ground: neither unnatural darkness nor being intangible protecting the creature from Ganan’s attacks. Blurring with demonic speed, Ganan hits the downed ghost again, smashing its corpus to pieces and dispersing its essence like dust on the wind as he rends it apart on an essential level. The darkness lifts.

Melody rallies the fleeing Jadeborn, and those few ghosts still in the field flee under the light of the harsh morning sun. The archers cut down the fleeing suits of armor and possessed corpses, but the spirits animating them by-and-large get away.

Jin directs the newly combined force to sweep the city, she nods at her brother’s tetsubo, “Can that thing knock down the palace walls?”

Ganan shakes his head, “Given enough time, but I was thinking you could use that!” He points at the siege strider’s cannon.

Melody looks at him in disbelief, “You want us to fire on the palace inside a city full of civilians? That’s nuts!”

“I built main street wide enough to walk Clapper through it: you can get a clear shot. Just aim at the ground in front of the main gate. Or you could try and walk the claws into range.”

Melody examines the read-outs in front of her: the siege strider is good for a handful of steps, but it’s not reaching the gates. “Jin, do you think you can hit that?”

“Hit the ground?” Jin withers sarcastically as she climbs back in the cockpit, “I think I can manage that, just give me a good angle.”

The machine gives a groan of protest as Melody spurs it forward. Her anima intertwines with the controls pulling them apart. Jin’s anima, burns in the cramped confines of the gunner’s position: seals melting. Together they aim at the spot in front of the main gate and the cannon powers up again: the mechanical noises of the machine do not sound healthy but the weapon powers up and fires. A black void engulfs the space in front of the main gate: it seems to shine with a blinding darkness, like looking into a bright light, then when it dissipates the gate, and a large chunk of the ground and surrounding walls, have disappeared – completely atomized. The siege strider gives a mechanical whine then powers down.

Melody retrieves the Gateway Key, pops the cockpit and clambers down the machine, drawing her bow, “Well, it was nice whilst it lasted.” She whistles up Clapper, then looks up the strider to Jin, “Are you coming?”

Jin smiles down apologetically, “Go ahead without me!” She shouts, “I’ve melted the cockpit shut, I can pry it open, but it’ll take me a couple of minutes.”

“I can get her out!” Ganan says, approaching the siege strider, but Melody lays a hand on his arm.

“Quickly, but without damaging the machine?” Melody asks. Ganan shakes his head. “Then leave her, come on, let’s finish this.”

Melody and Ganan charge into the Wall of Stone. The flames inside the gunner’s cockpit transmute into twisting vines as Lady Magnificent retrieves her stolen power armor and suits up.

****

“You want to go room-to-room?” Ganan asks walking ahead of Melody with his tetsubo ready.

“No,” Melody commands swiftly, “Let them run: we go straight to the tunnel to reinforce Yochanan.”

“They could ambush us,” Ganan notes as he makes a beeline for the hidden escape tunnel.

“Just saves us the trouble of looking for them. Why go room-to-room if we can lure them to us?” Melody smirks.

Ganan smirks, “I see no problem with that logic.”

****

Lady Magnificent pops the fully operational hatch of the siege strider. Her flaming anima blazing as she climbs out of the machine and heads into the Wall of Stone. She proceeds to stalk through the rooms, stealing valuables.

****

The escape tunnel is pitch black: unnaturally dark and swallowing all light. Unseen hands grope at our heroes, clutching and them and dragging against them as they press forward. Harrowing echoes of mad, dead-gods, whisper on the fringes of their minds. The ominous dread Melody and Ganan feel is not precisely the same as when they fought Ebonheart the Lightbringer or The Keening Shriek of Mother's Love Lost, but it is the same quality of power. It sets their teeth on edge.

All sounds are muted as they push forward, but the noises of combat – the ringing of blades on steel, the groaning shuffle of zombies, and Yochanan’s bellowed shouts penetrate through.

Ganan runs face first into a large dead bulk. A pair of undead buck-ogres fill the tunnel from side-to-side. They turn slowly to face Ganan and Melody.

Melody can’t see through the gloom she can feel the unnatural presence of the undead. She fires a shot at them.

Ganan smashes his tetsubo into the staggered beast. The massive pillar of jade smashes into the creature’s chest. The force animating the ogre leaves its body and it falls to the ground, but even as it falls, the imploding body sucks in Ganan’s tetsubo and wrenches it from his hands.

The remaining ogre swings a table-like fist at Ganan, who throws up his arms to guard his body. The blow drives the wind out of him.

A press of zombies pours over the downed ogre’s body, cutting Ganan off from his tetsubo. The slash out at Ganan with their claws, and he batters their attacks aside.

The Dragon-Blooded’s animas seem to rage against the undead whispers. They blot the screaming madness from their minds.

In the heartbeats before death, Melody shoots the remaining ogre. The clumsy looking beast raises a hand to defend itself and the arrow embeds in its palm. Melody struggles to move back the way they came, away from the press of zombies.

The buck-ogre makes an awkward double handed pass at Ganan. Ganan ducks under the first blow with ease, but with the second the monster grabs Ganan, pitting its unnatural, dead, strength against the Dragon-Blooded’s. Ganan leverages his body even as the ogre lifts him into the air and slams him into the ground. Ganan spits up a wad of blood as spectral hands clutch at him pinning him to the floor of the tunnel.

The zombies fall on Ganan with raking claws, tearing at his flesh. They rip open wounds in his invulnerable bronze. More of dead pour past Ganan to slash at Melody, who ducks under their attacks.

Ganan punches a hand through the press of the zombies and grabs the buck-ogre by the leg. Bronze fingers smash through rotten flesh as Ganan grips hard bone. Ganan throws his arm up into the air lifting the massive creature off the ground. The buck-ogre tips and falls with a tremendous crash. Ganan keeps his grip tight, leveraging the tremendous weight of the creature to help pull him to his feet.

The ogre lands heavily, but Ganan doesn’t stop once on his feet. He smashes into the zombies with sweeping two-handed strikes. The zombies collapse under his furious assault as Ganan pushes his way through to his tetsubo. The zombie battle-line falters and Ganan wrenches his massive jade weapon from the buck-ogre corpse.

The Dragons close their hearts to the insults and temptations trying to claw their way into their minds.

If the zombies could think, they would be able to feel the tide turning against. The buck-ogre roars and rolls onto its front, trying to push itself to its feet. Ganan looms over the creature and smashes his tetsubo down on its back, breaking its spine and destroying the beast.

Melody punts arrows into the nearest zombies, dropping them as she gives a war-cry pressing forward.

Ganan laughs as the zombies try to claw at him. He batters their reaching arms away with tetsubo with contemptuous ease.

****

Lady Magnificent has filled her pockets with Cynis trinkets and Dovaki riches. She has condensed her anima to orbiting balls of flame, which swirl around her as she blazes with power. She fires the occasional blast of fire at any fool who tries to stop her from looting the palace. She takes a rich tapestry off the walls and turns it into a crude sack to make it easier to carry more loot.

****

Ganan’s anima smashes into the zombies, driving them into the ground.

Melody pushes her way through the darkness, “Gan?” She calls out falteringly into the darkness, “I… I don’t feel too good.” Bile rises in the back of her throat as she nocks another arrow. It flies into the darkness and takes out a single zombie.

Ganan blocks out the temptations of the eldritch dead. “Keep pushing forward!” He bellows as he smashes the remaining zombies into gore and splintered bone.

OH, DO KEEP PUSHING FORWARD.

The temptations and mad whispers of the Neverborn give way before the singular thought as Leshak taunts them.

Ganan stops in his tracks and raises his tetsubo – his Earth Sense can’t detect the creature. He strains his ears trying to pinpoint Leshak in the narrow tunnel. His tetsubo hums with power.

Melody gropes forward in the dark feeling the presence of her heathmate in front of her. “Kick. His fucking. Ass.”

A rough crinkling, liked dead leaves and broken sticks, echoes around the tunnel as Leshak laughs at the Dragon-Blooded before it. They are neither able to see nor feel what the creature does in the darkness.

Ganan wades forward through unseen dead hands that drag at him, slowing him down. He swings his tetsubo in a wide arc through the darkness. He hits nothing but empty air as he tries to pinpoint Leshak’s position.

Melody closes her eyes (it makes no difference in the darkness) and strains her ears to listen for Leshak. The eerie nature of the necromantic darkness distorts sound – phantom noises, distortions, and mystic silences beguile her senses.

Leshak focuses its energy on Ganan as he swings wildly in the darkness. An invisible pulse emanates from the creature: the pain of death, stretched endlessly and forged into a spiritual weapon. Ganan’s temples throb, but he stays on his feet and grips his tetsubo harder.

“Do you call this pain?” Ganan taunts, forcing his body to keep moving forward despite the wracking agony, “I will teach you pain, abomination.” Ganan brings his tetsubo down in an overhead strike, aimed directly at the middle of the tunnel. There’s a dull thud, a hammer hitting old, dead wood, as Leshak blocks the blow with its large, branch-like arm. Leshak had been hovering above the ground, Ganan’s Earth Sense feels as the creature’s “feet” are driven down to touch the ground, but his blow does not topple the creature.

Melody sights eerie green light in the pitch darkness, as the animating energy of Leshak’s body starts to leak from the place Ganan struck it. She feels out Ganan’s position through their mystic link, and estimates the position of their foe, firing out into the darkness. Her shot tears at Leshak’s bark, revealing more green light in the unnatural darkness.

YOU KNOW NOTHING OF PAIN, FLESH THING! Leshak pulses with deathly power. It’s green light throbs and Ganan feels the same beating as it pulses in time with the agony with him. It feels like maggots squirming behind his eyes. Leshak brings its wounded arm high into the air and sends it crashing down into Ganan. Ganan roots his feet upon the Earth as the blow strikes, staying upright despite the battering-ram force of Leshak’s blow. Ganan exhales heavily as the blow crashes against him, and he struggles to raise his guard again.

Melody fires again, but Leshak smashes the arrow mid-air with a wave of psychic force.

I WILL TEAR YOU APART PIECE BY PIECE CREATURE OF BLOOD! YOU WILL BEG FOR DEATH AT THE MASTER'S FEET! Leshak focuses its mental energy on Ganan, rending him with the power of the Labyrinth. Ganan screams in wild agony under the assault.

Ganan draws on the totality of his power for a desperate attack. Calling on Ndiza’s speed from his Yasal crystal, he smashes out with a hard body-blow into Leshak’s bulk. The creature hardly seems to register the blow, only twisting harder with the mental hooks driven into Ganan. But then Ganan strikes again, surging the last of his spiritual reserves into a mighty attack directed at the creature’s legs. Ganan’s white jade smashes into Leshak, sweeping it onto the floor. The unnatural darkness lifts as Leshak’s concentration breaks, and the tunnel is immediately flooded with the white and green light of the Dragon-Blooded’s bonfire animas. Ganan doesn’t let up his assault, turning his tetsubo on Leshak’s head. Thunder’s Crash smashes Leshak’s grotesque wooden face to pulp.

The rest of the tunnel is thrown into relief. A force of zombies stands with their back to them, pressing down the tunnel to fight some unseen foe – presumably Yochanan’s force. A pillar of semi-translucent blackness exists near the front of the zombies. The Dragon-Blooded see… something: a pale purple shape, glinting with unnatural green light, writhing in the blackness.

But beyond the blackness, they see something else.

Ganan had always described the light of his anima “white”: the pure white of the most perfect sand, like white-jade dust. He now feels foolish as he sees an anima of perfect white – the light that falls upon that sand and gives it its whiteness – framed with brilliant gold. Melody can’t explain why that light fills her with feelings of “hope” and “unity”, but she feels indelibly that they and Yochanan are united in a righteous cause against the army of the dead.

Leshak is still active, apparently its head is an optional part of its being. Melody fires a shot at the creature’s core, laden with her killing intent. The arrow buries itself deep into the creature and the green light that spills from the wound is almost blinding. Melody advances forward to Ganan’s side.

Ganan twists his tetsubo smashing into the downed Leshak’s body, sending the creature skidding along the tunnel floor into the mass of zombies. He breathes heavily, Leshak’s psychic assault still distracting him with raging agony, and stomps heavily after the creature.

The mass of zombies doesn’t seem to notice as the giant tree-like creature barrels into their rear line.

Leshak’s bark begins to crack as the powerful light within it spills out, uncontained and uncontrollable. As it rises from the ground the light seems to find the eyes of the zombies, who turn, glowing with malevolent power, and advance on Ganan and Melody.

Ganan charges at the zombies as they lurch toward him with outstretched claws. Ganan brings his tetsubo down on the lead zombie, smashing past its reaching hands… but the blow does nothing. Ganan hits with force that would shatter a brick wall, but the zombie doesn’t even flinch as its fellows flank Ganan.

Melody fires a shot into the zombies as Leshak spreads its branch-like arms wide – its wounds seem to open wider as more of that green light spills forth. Her arrow strikes a zombie directly in one of its glowing green eyes. Melody has driven arrows through reinforced breastplates at this range with her powerbow, but this arrow splinters into fragments – as if a mortal archer had shot an inch of solid steel. The zombie isn’t even scratched and now the zombies start to glow, not just bathed in Leshak’s green light but giving off their own unnatural, green anima. Without its twisted wooden face, it’s even harder to ready Leshak’s expression, but the creature doesn’t carry itself like a badly battered being on the verge of losing – it seems to radiate poise and confidence.

“Fall back, Gan! Switch to fire!” She calls out as she backs away from the ponderously moving zombies.

Ganan backs away, ducking the clumsy, grasping arms of the zombies. He brings his Dragon-Sigh Wand to bear.

Leshak and the body of zombies advance on the Dragon-Blooded. The zombies seem to move ponderously, slowly, but their pace seems implacable: even though the Dragon-Blooded can easily outpace them, they don’t seem to get any further away from the dead. Time and space seem distorted: the tunnel behind them seems to stretch on forever, and the gap between them and the zombies seems to be getting smaller, no matter how quickly the Dragon-Blooded move – like the physics in a nightmare.

Melody fires on Leshak. The creature’s attention is momentarily broken as it swats the arrow from the air: as it blocks the blow, the advance of the zombies falters momentarily.

Ganan thumbs a firedust cartridge into the breach of his weapon and fires. A jet of flame washes over the creature and the zombie advance halts as their leader burns. A mental headache, Leshak’s wordless, psychic scream, pierces the Dragon-Blooded.

The green aura of the zombies dies. They rush forward, as the Dragon-Blooded keep one step ahead of their grasping claws, but only just. The start of the escape tunnel comes back into sight.

KILL THEM! KILL THEM! Leshak roars.

Ganan reloads his weapon as he backs away from the zombies. Melody also backs away, but the zombies keep pace, spurred on by Leshak’s necromantic command. Melody shoots an arrow into the lead zombie, thanking the Mela as her shot strikes true and destroys the creature.

The remaining zombies trample their fallen comrade as they close with the Dragons. Melody ducks and weaves through the creatures, her anima coming into bloom as she dodges under their attacks. The zombies claw at Ganan and his firewand, pulling at him with rotten claws and interfering with his next shot.

Melody flips out from among the melee and stands at the entrance to the escape tunnel. She rains arrows into the zombie horde, cutting down those closest to Ganan.

Ganan turns his firewand point-blank on the zombie horde, burning the remaining dead away to ash. He pushes down the tunnel toward Leshak.

Leshak aims at Ganan, focusing its mental energy.

Melody trots after Ganan, “Wait for me, idiot! I only have little legs!”

Ganan reloads his weapon as he closes into range with Leshak.

Leshak unleashes another devastating psychic assault – blunting Ganan’s charge with raw pain that ignites Ganan’s deadened nerves. The Dragon-Blooded’s pace slows.

Melody stops to aim at Leshak. She takes a deep breath to steady herself as she raises her bow.

Ganan grits his teeth through the pain and raises his firewand. He shoots, but this time Leshak is ready for him. No longer empowering the zombie horde, the creature turns its might into a shield of green light, which funnels the deadly flame away from its body.

Leshak strides toward Ganan. With a powerful sweep of its arm it strikes Burnt Offering out of Ganan’s hands, sending it clattering to the rocky floor.

Melody shoots, and her arrow carries away a large chunk of bark as she deals a telling blow. Leshak falters for a moment: the Dragon-Blooded ahead of it, Yochanan behind – the creature realizes it is trapped like a rat in a cage.

Ganan seizes on the moment of indecision: he throws himself forward and wrestles the creature into a body lock. He plunges a bronze hand between a gap in the creature’s bark: the green light of its core burns like acid, but as expected there is something solid in there. His fingers find the creature’s heart – cold and hard and he squeezes.

Ganan’s grip on Leshak’s heart is unable to damage the creature, but it immediately falls still, focused entirely on the internal struggle to escape.

Melody takes careful aim at Leshak once more: aiming at the point in the beast’s belly where Ganan’s hand should be.

Release. Me. Leshak commands, but its “voice” is weak and raspy.

“Now you know fear. Now you know pain.” Ganan keeps his voice level as he taunts Leshak. His hand feels like it has been flensed to the bone, but he keeps Leshak pinned in place. Ganan spreads his fingers, framing the dead center of Leshak’s heart with a V-shaped gap, no more than three inches wide between his middle and ring fingers.

It is a target Melody can’t even see – the thick bark of Leshak’s outer form obscuring her shot. Summer Thunder feels warm in her hands. A tranquil feeling of peace – like a hand on her shoulder. A voice in her mind telling her that everything is as it should be. She fires.

Thorns grow around the shaft of her arrow as it soars through the air, wreathing it in the primal savagery of the elements. The hardened point smashes through Leshak’s rotten bark and embeds in the dead center of the creature’s black heart. The green light is extinguished.

Ganan withdraws his hand and looks at it – the pain was all in his mind and his arm is undamaged. He pushes Leshak’s wooden corpse to the ground.

Melody scoops up Ganan’s discarded firewand, and trots past him, “Come on, slow-poke! Yochanan still needs our help!”

****

Ganan and Melody proceed back down the escape tunnel. They arrive, just in time to see The Gift Of Merciful Silence disappear into nothingness as his anima swallows him in its inky-blackness, teleporting him to safety – exactly as Melody predicted.

Corpses little the ground – destroyed zombies and fallen Jadeborn alike. Tinkara is wounded and downed, but still alive.

Yochanan Dovak stands proud, surrounded by a halo of white light with the mark of the Deceiver shining golden on his head.

****

Jin spends 8XP to train Supple Viridian Scales. Jin reaches Essence 4.

Ganan has used 3 Crafts rated at 3+ for 9SP. Ganan spends 10XP to train Threshold Warding Stance. Ganan reaches Essence 4.

Melody spends 8XP to train Tiger-and-Dragon Combination. She spends 12DX to innovate a new Evocation for Summer Thunder. She spends a further 8DX unlocking Earth-Shaking Behemoth, Invincible God-Beast Hide, Legendary Titan Prana, and Primeval Vitality Lifeblood for Clapper (as well as the Tighten Clutches latent ability). Melody reaches Essence 4.
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Dynasty of Dovak