22 Descending Air, 768

If there was one thing to be said it was that Fulgar's house was warm and restful. The morning sun beams through the narrow windows lined with glass, a rare commodity among the barbarians. Its rays creep across the Lunar's sleeping faces and urges them to awaken. Already the scent of cooking and clatter of pots can be heard in the next chamber. Breakfast would be served soon.

As Willow and Seeks rouse themselves the serving woman enters with platters heaping with pork, eggs, and bread. Honey, thick and golden, slathers the bread. She bows and presents it to Fulgar's guests.

"My apologies but my master was called away in the night. I was instructed to make you comfortable and fed for your journey."

Seeks What Is Forgotten had slept like a cat, curled up within the nest he had made of his cowl along the wall of the dwelling.  His rush sleeping mat had been unrolled beneath him, and as he snapped awake he sat up upon it, metal charms and bone trinkets cascading in a soft waterfall of tinkling notes.  It was hard to see where the man truly was, beneath the heavy cloak, and he hunched low as he gathered up his meager belongings and began dutifully wrapping them up in the mat.  Slender Willow Swaying knew what he truly had hid beneath his cloak, and it had nothing to do with wanting to spare the mortals the sight of his withered flesh.  Even if he hid it beneath his cape, she knew that he would be bundling the Green Jade Daiklave known through the ages as Spring Razor up within the mat.  Always careful of his secrets, he was sure to never let eyes fall upon it.

"Oh?"

He rasped inquiringly.

"A strange thing, to be called away in the night.  Was he called by Gods or mortals, I wonder?"

Binding the sleeping mat to his back, he hobbled over towards the tray, rubbing his dry hands together as he surveyed its contents.  He crouched down beside it, running a single narrow finger over each of the proffered items.  He dipped it in the honey, bringing it to his lips and letting out a little wheeze of satisfaction, before setting about preparing himself a formal breakfast.

"Don't answer that, I have a better question I'd want to use on you.  Does this village have any stories of cities in the clouds?  A strange question, true.  But if my arrow of inquiry has struck true I'd hear the tale off you."

He did not let her gaze upon his face, cowled in shadow as it was, but he watched her as she answered.

Slender Willow Swaying slept... but in the fashion of beasts. A time of stillness, followed by moments of wakefulness and wariness before falling into sleep once more. Her unconscious form curling ever so slowly in upon itself and the blankets as to resemble, disconcertingly, the flickering and darting nature of her shadow that the particularly keen of eye might catch. The skittering of a thousand legs almost palpable even though one might rightly expect the harsh click of obsidian hoof. It was the intrusion of the servant in the early hours of the morning to begin preparing breakfast and excuse the absence of the Shaman that interrupted the cycle, her presence met with a cold glance of one blue eye before the mind flooded fully into wakefulness.

The rasping voice of Seeks earning a cautious glance as he spun his question, her silence cautious and wary for an instant as she relaxed into the routines of the morning and accepted the offered bread from the woman. Her mind torn between the vindictive desire to maintain the contact a moment too long and simply to keep it as brief as possible. Ultimately, the kinder aspects of her personality won as she offered polite and soft thanks and her hand did not touch the other woman's at all. Old wounds that were not drawn up from the deep wells of memory still pulsed as she recalled the warding gestures... and the monstrous desire within to do harm in kind lingering in the muddle of thoughts and recollections of her own and lives not quite her own. She'd pay a passing visit to her blood kin before they left... If only to remind the monster they cast out still drew breath and knew from whence it came.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:07, Thu 03 June 2021.

The servant considers the questions as she busies herself with serving breakfast. Bangles in her dark hair clack as she finally shakes her head.

"I've heard my master say that the gods live in a grand city beyond the sky. I...don't really understand what that means -- how can something exist beyond the sky we see? I'm just a simple servant."

She frowns as a thought occurs to her. "They say the hero Ocina of the Half Foot once dealt with people from the clouds. That he went away with one of their maidens long ago. But I don't know if that means they are gods or men or something else."

She shrugs helplessly, unable to offer more. Perhaps the libraries of Azrego can offer more information?

"Ha."

Seeks coughed in response, resuming the task of preparing breakfast.  When he had assembled a small mountain of food, he started devouring it with gusto.

"The time of legends is upon you once again then, it seems.  Look to the skies, or don't."

He mumbled around a mouthful of food.

"Some stories don't like to be told."

He turned towards Slender Willow Swaying, still hunched and crouched over his meal.

"Did you wish to take a direct path, like how we got here, or did you have something more meandering in mind?"

He was likely anxious to get going, despite his indulgence in the food.  The sooner they were away from the village and aloft upon the air, likely the happier he would be.  He got like that, when there was a secret to explore, doubly so when some relic or another was involved.

Slender Willow Swaying was not so voracious as her companion but she was perhaps as thorough when it came to the matter of breakfast. Anything and everything that could be consumed and processed was with a certain care as she listened to the tale that was spun with precious little knowledge of the order of things. Glimpses of old memory twisting and bubbling to the surface of times before she was she. Her soul well traveled and burdened by it's myriad identities for it along side the burning rage that fueled the essential spark of her own divinity.

"The sky is but one more barrier to Heaven. Once brave men and women could reach it and look upon the faces of their gods... but that was an old age and we've fallen rather short of the mark, haven't we?" Willow offered with both amusement and a hint of bitter recollection as she glanced towards Seeks as his question found breath and flight. Her mind turning the option this way and that as she cleaned her fingers with the bread served along side their breakfast.

"I've a single visit I'd like to pay but either way, we'll take wing out of sight of the village." the handsome woman offered finally with both an impression of finality in her assessment and the cut short lilt of a question as if seeking the other's opinion on the matter. She had her suspicions that her companion would have preferred the direct route... A bird in the hand, after all... but then there was a romance to the winding path that spoke to something in one of the three parts of her soul.

With little desire to wait upon the responses of her companion, Slender Willow Swaying made her way out into the crisp morning air once more. The rolling, graceful stride shifting once more to that print destroying shuffle that hid the truth of her wicked hooves. There was still an alluring grace in even that as her skirts swayed with each motion and further destroyed the evidence of her passing. Her companion knew well enough though that there was a lethal and angry thing lurking beneath that facade of near heavenly perfection. A fact that showed as she let her thoughts drift into memories not quite her own and ruminated on the past that seemed so much greater, so much brighter than the present... and that she hoped she might forge a fragment off in the future. The remembered pain of it's fall turning her thoughts to the path she walked and the careful directions that her true parent had whispered to her.

She led the way flawlessly, ignoring what glances she gathered as she approached the hut that  served as home and hovel to those who had given birth to her. She had made certain they knew her and recognized her in her past visits and, in truth, needed to do little to inflict the pain of memory upon them. Merely a gift here, a wicked smiled there. She looked to the ground for an instant then before drawing out a small pouch of coins. The material worn and stained but clearly the pelt of something that made a home in the swamp... and part of the blanket they had cast her into the waters with. They knew it well enough for what it was. She didn't much care what they did with the coin as she knew what they thought of her but that she had made something of herself and stood to make something even greater upon that foundation is what made the gesture so pleasing to her vindictive mind. It wasn't bloody or visceral... Merely blunt and quiet in equal measure. Something personal and grounding.

With a quick and deft flick of the wrist she pitched it at the door of the hut. The thud unmistakable and impossible to ignore. She wanted to laugh and it bubbled in her throat like a knife but she held it in as she cast a wicked grin towards her companion.

"Secrets await."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:14, Thu 03 June 2021.

Taking their few things and exiting the shaman's home, the Lunars find a few Blue Limbs up in the early morning hours as they pursue the daily work. They draw a few curious stares but the barbarians merely nodded, hands making a sign of polite greeting to Fulgar's guests. A child feeding a passel of clucking hens watches wide-eyed as the strangers pass.

Willow breaks off from Seeks to stand in front of one of the rude homes. She examines something in her hand before tossing it to land with a metallic thunk at the door, a grin upon her face.

A moment later the 'door', fashioned of oiled hide upon a round wooden frame, opens and a child peers out. It spies the bag and bends down to pick it up between chubby fingers. The door opens wider as the child's grandmother, Willow's mother investigates. She smiles at her grandchild before deftly plucking it out of his hands and peers inside. Her eyes widen as she shakes the bag, its contents giving a healthy clink. A frown sparks upon her face as she examines the hide of the bag more carefully, a gasp resounds as she drops it too the frozen mud. She looks out and spies the two Lunars, Willow's toothy grin evident. Paling she draws her grandchild protectively behind her. Uncertainty and old guilt in equal measures cross the old woman's lined face as she carefully lays the bag upon the ground. She withdraws into the hut, closing the hide door. The little bag lies there in the frozen mud like a promise.

[Where too now?]

Wrapped up in his cowl, bangles and charms clanking with every lumbering step he took, Seeks What Is Forgotten watched the exchange with fierce interest.  If she had wished to keep it from him, it would have been simple enough to send him away.  Yet she had chosen to let him witness whatever it was that he had just seen.  Who was the message for, he wondered.  For him?  It did not seem likely.  For the grandmother then, as the child had not seen the contents of the bag.  He was aware that his companion had somewhat of a temper, for all of Luna's children were cursed with such, but he was beginning to suspect that the barbed words she so often employed were not just a front or a tool.  No, perhaps they struck at something deeper, something more ingrained within her psyche.  He didn't yet possess true insight into it, or her for that matter, but the exchange he had witnessed certainly shed some light into the darkness.

Slender Willow Swaying was the only other Luna he had ever encountered, despite his long years of travel.  He had met Dragon-Blooded, and even a Sidreal, though the latter had gone poorly.  So poorly, in fact, that he had been forced to roam the jungles and forests of the East for close to two decades to avoid Outstanding Contribution to the Historical Process' retribution.  It was only meeting another of his kind that had encouraged him to cease his hiding, and he was unsure of her in many ways.  For one, she only seemed to have been embraced by Luna, Mara's gifts had not touched her.  He didn't know if that said more about her, or about him, but he suspected his own past was the reason for his demonic influence.  Had he not sought Mara out, after all?  He was careful to not rouse her wrath, even if he still did not yet know what might trigger it in full.  Instead, he strove to make himself useful to her, so that she might have more cause to keep him around.

"Aye, aye they always do."

He said in response, ducking his head low in an almost servile gesture as he shuffled away.  He always moved thus, not revealing the full extent of his capabilities.  In truth his step was smoother even then his companion's grace.  Yet such was one of the many things he kept hidden, preferring instead to reveal his capabilities only when strictly necessary.

"The sooner we take wing, the better.  I notice your friend the shaman didn't specify which mountain range we are to search.  Let us hope our prize is somewhere in the Creeper Peaks, and not farther afield, or we could be at this for a great while."

"The Gods give precious little to their mortal servants. The system's imperfect and no longer like it ought to be." Slender Willow Swaying offered in response, that smile like a razor still lingering on her lips as her head turned towards the rough direction of the Creeper Peaks. There was an ugliness now in that near perfection of physical grace, the evidence of that tearing laughter that roiled within her even as she considered the finer points of their shared quest. Motion followed not long after as she began to make for one of the gates of the settlement, a pale hand beckoning her fellow lunar after her as if inspiration had struck upon her in the instant... though one could barely call the flickers of recognition of long past lessons inspiration in truth. She merely knew a place or two where answers might be happened upon with the slow encroaching of civilization... but what knowledge was held there might never truly be accessible to her.

Men of civilization were enamored of letters and language upon a page... She had never won such knowledge for herself but it would happen with time... with peace, perhaps.

"We can take wing a few hours from the village in a clearing. It's comfortable and familiar enough. From there we can steer our way towards Azergo. Maybe tease some wisdom out of the Twilighters or see if the Guild may have a map-maker at hand or just somewhere to study the region. Men like to rove far and throw their weight around so... I've little doubt there isn't something to learn in a city of them. Plus a chance to needle at the dynasts is rarely something I'll pass up." Slender added with an almost gleeful hate in her voice at the mention of the Dragon Blooded. Her voice little more than a teasing whisper at the ear, so lovely, yet so strangely afflicted by such powerful convictions. It seemed as if she might be many women in a single body. Some calm but hurt, others bitter and angry, yet more enraged and incensed by their ordeals and sufferings past. For now, though, it seemed that so much of this was her and not these strange memories that welled up from the depth of her well traveled soul.

"All else fails... I've an idea or two more that we can lean upon but they take a bit more time." she concluded with a pause in her graceful yet shuffling step to turn back towards Seeks What is Forgotten with a smile less wicked and perhaps more thrilled for the notion of adventure... or perhaps merely that so much of what was described there spoke to those old memories and selves... and that there might be a thread that could be pulled at to guide her in turn to something far more personal.

Seeks What is Forgotten was already moving as his companion turned to him, but he stumbled a little when she mentioned Azergo.  He stopped just long enough to cast her a backwards glance, but he kept his gaze hidden under his cowl.

"Azergo, eh?"

He said, and let out a little chuff of a breath.

"Who huh... who holds Azergo these days?  I haven't even been to much more than a village this far West in longer than I care to count."

He spoke little enough of his past, but what he had shared had led Slender Willow Swaying to believe he had spent a considerable time deep in the woods and the jungle of the East.  For him to refer to their current location as "far West," certainly lent credence to that guess.

"Wouldn't you rather just, oh I don't know, spend a few years mapping out each and every peak of the Creepers?  I devoured the Heart's Blood of a Harpy Eagle two decades ago, I bet we could accurately map the whole range in less than two!"

He did not say why he was so hesitant to visit the township, he certainly had not possessed any such reservations around coming here.  Still, despite his protestations to the contrary, he had turned his matching shuffle step in the direction she had indicated.

"We've certainly got the time!"

He whined, though it seemed he intended to heed her words as he led the way in the direction she had indicated, out of the village and into the forest.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:17, Thu 17 Sept 2020.

An Azrego Primer, or Common Knowledge:

Nearly 17 years ago a coalition of five Guild merchant princes decided to break new ground by establishing a trade route up the usually unnavigable Meander River. The Five, despite many costly failures, managed to do so after two years. On the banks of the Greyscale River they built a trading post that grew into the Azrego of today. A thriving city-state and hub of trade. While still rough and ready by the standards of the River Province it has come a long way with a population in the tens of thousands, with more settlers and fortune-seekers pouring in from the west.

Physically the town stretches from the lake shores and down a gradual cliffside decline (Azrego's famous Falls) and out onto the river plain. The steep Falls is handled with a variety of elevators and switchback roads.

Its composed of three neighborhoods:

Lake-Town is right on the lake shore and center of lake trade, fishing, and slaver raids. House Stormbreak, once a junior of the Five, has risen to prominence through its domination of lake trade and fishing fleets.

Up-Falls is the center of government and the neighborhoods of the wealthy. It drapes up and down the Falls in spectacular fashion. House Startreader maintains a small school of magic here. House Rivenstone handles much of the bureuacracy of the city.

And finally there is River-Town where the most recent immigrants arrive and river trade is handled. Its a polyglot of tenttowns, log cabins, and field stone houses. The alliance of Houses Quagmire and Cliffside has built up a string of plantations out into the River Plains.

NOTE: Azrego is a Guild project. While Dynasts from the Realm do come through occasionally the Five Merchant Houses frown on them attempting to build power bases in the city.

Religion: The Immaculate Faith and the Hundred Gods Heresy are popular in the city. The Five Houses will step hard on any religious feuding or power plays.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:32, Fri 09 Oct 2020.

The tribesmen make way for the strangers, knowing better then to upset the shaman Fulgar's guests. The Blue Limb warriors waste no time opening the village gate for the Lunars. Seeks and Willow can feel their eyes boring into their backs as they enter the wooded swamps. Cold puffs of air pull at hair and clothing as the two Lunars crunch along the snow covered game paths.

Eventually they come to a clearing upon dry bank rising a few feet above the waters. A large tree had fallen into the surrounding waters and its gnarled exposed roots clawed at the open sky. There were signs of an old fire ring in the lee of the tree roots from Willow's earlier visits.

There was little discussion as the two Lunars reshape themselves in an instant. Wings spread wide and beat once, twice, and then they are airborne. Clearing the trees reveals the silver band of the North Meander below and the Creeper Peaks rising ominously to the North West. Turning East they wing toward the distant band of silver on the horizon where Azrego lies.

The hours pass as the Sun rises higher, warming the chill winter day. It was almost pleasant, daydreaming to while away the time as the Lunars effortlessly cover the many miles to Azrego.

The gust of cold air and icy wind against the Lunar's faces is a wake-up call as they snap back to the present. Above them glides a massive pterosaur like creature composed of clear ice. Each beat of its wings sends sleet raining against them in gusts of unpredictable wind. Its blazing blue eyes peer at the two birds below inquisitively.

"I sense power, little birds. Little lying birds!" It crows in mockery as it flies above the Lunars, in Old Realm.

[You are flying several hundred yards above a forested region with the Meander River below. The thing above you is large, a wingspand of 10 yards or more, and flying at Short Range above you.]

Well now, that was less than ideal.

Seeks What Is Forgotten had never considered himself much of a fighter, both before and after his ascension.  Oh, Luna had granted him plenty of tricks, but such things generally required even the smallest shadow for him to step into.  Hundreds of meters above a lake, in broad daylight?  Well, his nature would always be to remain hidden in plain sight.  To not appear to be a threat, to not appear to be wrapped in either Luna or Mara's power.  It should have worked, wrapped in woven Harpy Eagle flesh as he was. Yet suddenly this foe was upon them, piercing through his deception as easily as if it had not existed.

Frustrating, that.

He couldn't even respond, for the vocal cords within his throat would no answer to any instructions he gave them but a screech.  He was possessed of forms that could fight, but none that could fight and fly at the same time.  He silently chastised himself for not summoning and binding one of the Agatae to him to free up his hands.  Yet if he had, what would he have called to him to defend himself?  He would have relied on Slender Willow Swaying, hoping she had a battleform that also had wings, and he would have called Mara's power to himself.  Did he need his hands and his raspy throat to do such a thing?  He had never tried, not in all his centuries.  Could he?  Or would it falter and resist his call?
This message was last edited by the player at 00:02, Mon 19 Oct 2020.

Slender Willow Swaying was a creature in contrast to many things and seemed to exist in a mocking clash with many more things besides. A thing torn between a dozen worlds and lives yet grounded in the misery of a fallen age with wicked smile and cruelly mocking laugh. To be mocked in kind by a spirit of that same world, no doubt swollen on ill-gotten gain and riches that should never have belonged to it seemed to only stir that dangerous fire that Seeks What is Forgotten knew burned in her breast. That fire only seeming amplified as the light of the Sun caught in the bright plumage of the form she had borrowed; that of a rainbow hawk. It was a creature no less beautiful than the human form she wore yet markedly predatory in the line of it's beak and the fierce yellow of it's long sighted eyes... It was that visage that twisted up to regard the spirit above them with a piercing stare.

There were no words as, of course, the throat of a raptor could give rise to no such thing but the mockery in kind was clear as she cut to the heart of the matter.

And what lie do you live, little bird?

It was with that same, mad grace that seemed to suffuse almost everything that she did that she rode the twisting winds and pounding sleet before stretching her wings to their fullest. Her ascent wound tight like the spring of some arcane machine as it launched her upwards and above the spirit that seemed so intent to taste their blood. Her piercing shriek almost like laughter as she felt the sun upon her again and memories of happier lives, of greater times, stirred at the edges of her mind even as her predatory heart focused in on what mattered most in the moment; the kill. Blood thundered through her then as she waited for just the moment she needed, knowing that her sudden ascent would have the spirit on it's guard and it's attentions split between her companion and she.


8 motes from personal towards excellencies + stunt ceiling:

11:37, Today: Slender Willow Swaying rolled 7 successes using 8d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7.  Wits Excellency + Dex Stunting to Join Battle.

11:22, Today: Slender Willow Swaying rolled 3 successes using 7d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7.  Wits + Awareness (Join Battle).

Join battle final value: 13

3 Motes from Peripheral for Glance Oratory Technique

Getting altitude on it in preparation for what comes next.

This message was last edited by the player at 15:05, Sat 17 Oct 2020.