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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 83 – The Lost City of Dari – Ganan (295XP 236DX, 293/231 spent; 20WhP 83GP 45SP), Jinabar (295XP 236DX, 276/232 spent), Gifty (???XP ???DX, ???/??? spent)

“Cram all of the stars and planets into my ass! What the fuck!”

“Baka! I told you! I specifically told you! Not to do that!”

“I told him not to do it first!”

“We both told you not to do that!”

Tepet Ganan just lets Cynis Jinabar and Dragonsgift Saber Edge berate him, with a smile on his face. He has just slain a giant spider behemoth in the partially collapsed car-tunnel that connects the Jadeborn cities of Shining Kren and Dijac.

Unfortunately doing so has collapsed the tunnel ahead of them.

And the tunnel behind them has been cut off with a deadly acid bath.

Our heroes are trapped underground, with limited supplies and no way out.

Ganan shrugs and points to Jin’s mangled face. “Worth it.” He says simply.

Jin fumes silently. The spider behemoth had nearly killed them – her especially. Half their demon army lay dead on the ground. She sighs, and points at the rubble, “Are you sure you can’t…” She motions parting the rocks with her hands, “Like you did in Dovak?”

“The Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier refers to that maneuver as the ‘Ramparts of Obedient Earth’. And yes, I’m sure I can’t ‘just do it’: it’s an innate facet of Creation that the ground should yield before Pasiap when he marches to war leading an army. Through the study of warfare, I have learned to emulate this ability, but that doesn’t mean I can reshape the face of Creation at will. No more than you can turn your blazing speed in combat to writing a book at super speed.”

Jin cocks her head to one side, wondering if she could carve a book into her enemies at super speed.

Seeing Jin cock her head, and more blood ooze out of her smashed helmet, Gifty winces, “That… does not look good.”

“Yeah, I’m not a doctor or anything, but I’m pretty sure that I only have one eye now.” Jin nods sagely. “Life support systems in this armor are fantastic though. Can barely feel it.”

She walks unsteadily a few paces towards Ganan, looking like she’s going to fall down with every step.

“Sit down.” Ganan says, channeling the power of his anima into the earth, assembling the loose debris into a crude chair (3SP).

Jin sits, “Okay, how come you can do that, but you can’t-”

Ganan cuts her off, “Why can I assemble a six-inch chair from rubble, but can’t blast my way through thirty yards of solid stone?”

Jin grumbles, “Okay, fair enough. Does anyone have a suggestion on how we get out of here?”

“Well…” Ganan points at his giant enchanted tetsubo, “I we can’t get out the way we came because of a giant pool of acid, so why don’t I collapse the ceiling on top of the acid pool, then we walk across the rubble?”

Gifty snaps at him, “Because likely as not, you won’t just fill the acid pool but completely block off both our exits.”

Jin makes an offhand gesture, “It was Gan who filled that pool with acid in the first place.”

Gifty points her giant two-handed sword, Abrojo, at Ganan, “That’s right! It’s your fault we can’t go forward and it’s your fault we can’t go back!”

“Well, what do you suggest!” Ganan snaps.

Gifty considers for a moment, “The Blood Apes can snap back to their summoners. We send one back, telling them we’ve killed everything from the access tunnel to here, and to send in the elementals to dig us out.”

Jin winces again, “Small problem: we know the Dune Folk… settlement(?) connects to the access tunnel. So… there could be a Dune Folk army flanking us on the other side of that pool there: they don’t need access to this section of tunnel to attack Shining Kren.”

“I told you!” Ganan crows, triumphantly, having wanted to wipe out that settlement as their first order of business.

Gifty walks over to the edge of the acid pool and waves the other two over. The liquid inside is still obviously corrosive – eating away at he Blood Ape bones stewing in the frothing depths.

“You’re pretty tough, right father?” Gifty says, her tone measured.

Ganan raises an eyebrow and looks at the acid bath, “I’m not tough enough to wade through that.”

Gifty nods in agreement, “Not all the way through, sure. But that acid has got to be eating away at the rock at the bottom of the pool, right? If you could wade out there and crack the floor, then the acid might drain away.”

Jin interjects, “And contaminate whatever ground water lies below. This tunnel follows one of the main trade routes of the South – we saw the caravansaries when we flew to Paragon.”

Gifty folds her arms, “I’m sure their wells aren’t drawing water from below us.”

“We have no idea how the water systems are linked!” Jin shoots back. “Bad plan.”

“I could nullify the acid with sorcery…” Ganan muses.

Jin slaps him in the chest, “Why didn’t you say that at the start!”

“Well, I don’t have any supplies… and it’ll take about a week… and we don’t have any food. I mean, except…”

Ganan motions at the bodies of the cannibalistic Dune Folk. Left without orders, some of the Blood Apes are already chewing on their fallen foes.

Gifty wrinkles her nose, “I can go a week without food. If we have literally no better plan.”

Ganan throws a chunk of rock into the acid bath. It sinks quickly, but obviously dissolves as it falls. The edges of the pool are pitted where the water has lapped up against them.

“I probably am tough enough to make Gifty’s plan work.” Ganan drawls.

Jin shoots him a fierce look, “It stripped a Blood Ape to the bone in a matter of seconds.”

“Right, but…” Ganan taps his Belt of Shadow Walking, “I can turn into shadow. Hold my breath. Slip through the water, hit the pool. I only need to materialize to climb out again, by which time the water level should be low enough to traverse.”

“Wait… if you can move through the acid immaterial…” Jin begins, “Why not just wade through the pool and go for help?”

Ganan interrupts, “How am I supposed to climb out the other side if I’m immaterial?”

“Wait, how come you don’t fall through the floor when you’re immaterial?”

Gifty shouts across the bickering, “Enough! Jin, if you have a better plan, let’s hear it! Otherwise, father, go smash!”

Jin doesn’t have a better plan.

****

Ganan transforms himself into immaterial shadow and slips into the acid pool. It’s a lot darker above the water now Ganan’s anima is immaterial. The bubbles being created on the surface of the water are the result of the bottom of the pool being eaten away by the acid. He locates a weak point, using his flawless understanding of masonry, and drives his tetsubo down with a fierce shout that blurs the boarder of the physical and spiritual worlds. With a single block, he turns a fault into a crevasse, and the acid begins to drain away, seeping into whatever lies below the Jadeborn tunnel.

Gifty and Jin watch the water disappear, then order their remaining dozen Blood Apes to cross back to the other side. Ganan’s shadow follows them back to the access tunnel.

“We’re going back, right?” Gifty says to her father’s shadow, “You can materialize.”

Ganan’s form blurs forward as he re-enters the physical world. “We still need to deal with this settlement. Otherwise, all we’ve done is block the tunnel.”

“Nice use of the word ‘we’, champ.” Jin chides.

“Okay, all we’ve done is block the tunnel and nearly die. Point is, if we clear out this settlement, we return in triumph. We’ve already slaughtered a goodly number of their warriors. And their spider god. And their cavalry. If you can, you know, not lose any more body parts”

Gifty snaps, “She can clearly barely walk! You and I might be able to continue, but Jin can’t. So we have to go back.”

Jin steps in, “Now wait a minute, I can speak for myself missy! Now the two of you might have some showy moves with your giant weapons, but you never would have killed that thing if it wasn’t for my help! I did a hell of a lot of damage to it!”

“I mean, it’s not a contest…” Gifty retorts.

“I’m grateful for the assist, but… I was the one that killed it.” Ganan adds.

“Technically, I think the cave-in killed it.” Gifty contends.

“Enough! I have a hit point left, I’m good to go!” Jin insists.

“I want it noted that I objected to this foolishness,” Gifty says, “But as there’s no convincing you otherwise, let’s press on.”

“Before we do,” Ganan says with measured slowness, “I want us all to be clear what our objective is. Our forces will be clearing hundreds, if not thousands, of tons of rock. For hundreds of miles, to reach our goal. Thousands of miles, if House Alinos doesn’t decide to just betray the Mountain Folk once we have what we came for. To do this, they need the threats in this tunnel removed. That’s what we’re here to do. We need to kill every living thing that might interrupt our primary mission. The warriors. The civilians. The children.”

Jin shifts uncomfortably, “I don’t like the idea of killing kids.”

Ganan glares at her, “Then maybe you should go back to Shining Kren. I don’t mind doing the actual skull smashing, but if we’re going to argue about this – we argue now and not when the enemy is right before us.”

“You’re a cruel man.” Jin says simply.

“What do you want to do? Find these cannibal babies a nice cannibal foster home on the Blessed Isle? Turn them over to the Lunars on the surface – they’re all monsters who eat people after all, should get along fine. We’re here to exterminate sub-human filth. This isn’t some great morality play! Gifty, do you have the stomach for this?”

Gifty’s eyes are cold, “Don’t doubt what I am capable of.”

Jin makes a sick noise, “Urgh. Do you think this is how Reya would want you to handle this?”

Ganan shrugs, “Reya wants me to handle it. If she didn’t want me to do this my way, she would have left explicit instructions.” He sighs, “I’ll grant you, this is one of those things where she doesn’t want to hear the details. There will be glorious tales told of our victory over the Tsuchigumo. There will be no tales about the massacre of the Dune People in their beds. This is the reality of being a champion of the Realm.”

Jin looks at him from behind her helmet, fixing him with her one good eye, “I thought we were supposed to be the champions of Creation.”

Ganan turns his back on her and walks toward the Dune Folk settlement, “It’s the same thing.”

Gifty softens her voice, “We really don’t need you for this. Take a couple of Blood Apes and go back to the city.” Then she turns and jogs after Ganan, ordering ten of the remaining Blood Apes to follow and two to stay with Jin.

Jin gestures at the demons, “Well don’t just stand there. Help me catch up with the others.”

****

Gifty sidles up to Ganan, “You don’t have to ‘protect’ me: you have no idea what I am capable of.”

Ganan shrugs, nonchalantly, “Do you enjoy killing children?”

“What?”

“Killing children. If you enjoy it, then I’ll stay out of your way: you can kill them all, it’s fine by me.”

Gifty makes a noise of frustration, “I didn’t say I enjoy killing children!”

“Then why do you want to?”

“I don’t want-”

“Then you don’t have to. You managed to lead Clan Saber Edge through the storm that shattered Great House Cynis. I would say that I was proud of you, but I know I don’t have that right. I am awed by you. I fully believe that you are capable of killing children, just as I know that Cynis Jinabar – handpicked by the Scarlet Empress herself, an elite warrior who banished Sondok to hell – is fully capable of killing children. You don’t have anything to prove to me.”

“I’m not-” Gifty stops, purses her lips, grunts, and changes tack, “Why do you have to?”

Ganan shrugs, “I’m good at it. I’ve had the most practice.”

****

Jin catches up with the others, as their animas start to dim.

Ganan eyes her, “Do I even dare ask about the enhanced optics suite in your armor?”

“Next question, move on.” Jin says, “What about the torches the Blood Apes were carrying?”

Gifty shakes her head, “Wet. Downed. Melted. Gone. I can light Abrojo. Ganan, you can see in the dark, right?”

“It’s not so much sight, as I can feel the-”

Gifty cuts him off, “So, we’re good, right? Jin, just do your swirling power thing.”

Jin grinds her teeth, “Just raise my anima by channeling the primal forces of Creation, then harness the raging firestorm within, dampen it down into a mantel of elemental energy that I can use as a battery for destructive power? It’s not that easy: I can’t just casually do that.”

Ganan shuffles awkwardly, “This has been… draining for me, too. The Breath of Creation stirs but weakly within me.”

“You’re out of essence?”

“I’m out of essence.”

(“Just say that, man.”

“… I thought I did?”)

Gifty throws her arms in the air, “Well I’m fine!”

Jin whistles, “Do you want to go first, maybe?”

****

The Dune Folk settlement is not in a wide-open cavern, like the Jadeborn city. Rather it is spread through a warren of access tunnels and crude burrows. Barricades and pit-fall traps block our heroes’ way, and the pitch darkness hides numerous ambushes.

The Dragon-Blooded and their demons work their way through the tunnels systematically. Despite the Dune Folk’s home-field advantage, there’s nothing they can do to stop the rampage – even their last few sandswimmers do little to hold back the trio of Exalts. When the last defender falls, Ganan breaks off from the rest of the group to finish the job with a pair of meaner looking demons.

Jin and Gifty are left alone in the darkness of the tunnel. Gifty’s flaming sword flickers in the darkness, casting eerie shadows. Gifty brings the blade to her face.

Jin, warily looks up at Gifty, “Is this the part where you murder me and blame it on the Dune Folk?” She asks jokingly.

Gifty doesn’t look like she’s joking. She scoops up a discarded Dune Folk blade.

“Oh.” Jin says, standing up and flicking Calumny out to fighting length, “So, one fewer share of the treasure?”

“Something like that,” Gifty says menacingly.

In the half-light cast by Gifty’s sword, Jin sees a flicker of movement behind Gifty. Jin raises her palm and fires a blast of flame at the perfectly hidden assassin creeping up behind Gifty. The assassin falls.

Gifty shrugs, “You got enough power to do that again?”

Jin cocks her head to one side and grins, “Nope.” For a moment she settles into fighting position, then thinks the better of it and tosses her wrackstaff away into the darkness, “Oh, fuck it. Just make it quick.”

“Harumph!” Gifty puts her sword away, having had a change of heart, “I guess one more person to split the treasure with isn’t that bad.”

A few minutes pass, and Ganan returns. He quickly finds Jin’s wrackstaff in the darkness and returns it to her. The trio returns to Shining Kren in glorious triumph… and in awkward silence.

****

Ganan spends 8XP to train Sage of Iron Meditation.
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Dynasty of Dovak