2024-11-01 - Feast at the River Palace

General Summary

Scene: Feast at Essence of Spice Trade’s palace, formerly the home of Tamed Rapids

• Burning Feather, Lady of Intoxicants brought her understudy: Frascata Carmina, the goddess of wine and grapes.
• At the end of the table are the Coin and the Raksha, next to them are the guild, then the Tang-Zen Crime Syndicate Zen, then the gods that are here. In sort of the middle, are the Exalts: the Lunar delegation and the Sidereals.
• We heard Sublime Danger mentioned among the Lunars.
• There are maybe 20 instruments playing themselves, all First Age Artifacts.
• Alton Sabraël, chosen of Battles and Moradiant Glory, chosen of Endings aren’t directly arguing but being very catty at each other.
• Alton and Titiana Botticelli, chosen of Serenity, his wife, are trying to build up their art gallery cover.
• Flying Eiderdown aka Selene, chosen of Jupiter had tried to sit with them but they seem to be avoiding her.
• On the other hand, the new Sidereals are all very interested in speaking with Agent Prital Tarawi.
• Stelsor Bladed Tornado finds a moment to try to talk to Prital.
• Prital is very new to the politics of Yu Shan, but said she heard rumors that Selene is moving up in the organization.
• Prital has a mother and Stelsor offers to make arrangements for her to be protected and cared in light of Prital's new position. It is a nice, but unnecessary gesture as Prital has already handled it. 
• Stelsor begins assuring Prital that he will try to transfer her Mortal duties to someone else, but Prital says it isn’t going to be an issue because there are other Sidereals that can step in for her with a Resplendent Destiny.
• Bears-Fangs-at-the-Sun company is providing the dresses for an upcoming event.
• Prital mentions that we have an invitation to the Ambassadors’s party
• Mask day is every 14th of Descending Air. (3-14 of every year)
• Fortifier of Hearts & Bones recalls that Moradiant was the last person Prital recalled seeing before her Exaltation and approaches.
• Moradiant’s cover right now is as a somber poet.
• Moradiant says Prital is one of the first people he met when he arrived in the city.
• Bears-Fangs is able to overhear changes in Moradiant’s demeanor that suggests he is lying yet again.
• A large procession of soldiers arrives with very loud trumpets and flags from the Confederacy of Rivers.
• Everyone except the Guild stands to acknowledge them.
• This seems to be an official embassy entourage of Ambassador Wisdom’s Shining Promise and his wife, who is also an ambassador.
• They are introduced to the gods and to the Exalts.
• They remember meeting Fortifier of Hearts & Bones and Stelsor back at the housewarming party.
• The ambassadors make a point of greeting the Raksha at the party
• There seems to be a superstition about paying respect to the Raksha at a feast, but it is very awkward for the Raksha because these two are specifically here as the personal staff and lover of Director Byorn.
• The Raksha seem very uncomfortable about and unable to give their names.
• Stelsor hops up to introduce the Raksha and hopefully smooth over the awkwardness.
• Only after this do the Guild Directors introduce themselves and their entourages.
• When the Raksha are introduced for the second time, the caste marks on each of the Sidereals flares briefly.
• Stelsor recalls from a previous incarnation that this seemed to happen when Destiny is altered or defied.
• Ember Mountain Oysters which aren’t real oysters because Ember is inland.
• Stelsor asks Director Norma Jean where she is from. She is from the Pearl Islands.
• Blue Eyes is talking to Thousand Brushstrokes about caravans and heading back to Dari of the mists.
• Stelsor asks our host if there is any dancing at this party and if they dance “[River and the Spoke]”
• (Stelsor’s player came up with the name and so we workshop it into being a Nexus folk dance with a line and everyone gets a turn in the center)
• At the mention of the dance, the magic instruments immediately start playing it.
• Stelsor invites Director Norma Jean to dance
• Bears-Fangs invites Dark Bonbon of Perdition, champion of Shines-in-Numbers to dance, which sets off some kind of mild Wyld effect, which we all withstand.
• The undead aren’t dancing.
• The Tang Zen aren’t dancing, except for Temagen and Apollonia Sophia Mana-V'neef-Grimaldi.
• Essence of Spice Trade, Architect of Nexus is dancing with Frascata Carmina .
• Tidetamer is seen moving to ask Dreamflower to dance, but hesitates and so Golden Chrysanthemum pulls him onto the dancefloor.
• Fortifier invites Burning Feather, Lady of Intoxicants to dance.
• She discusses how old Fortifier must be.
• She brings up that the oldest Sidereal just died of old age, which is a rare occurrence, since they normally die to violence or misadventures.
• Fortifier asks how quickly the exaltation would reincarnate and Burning Feather says it would happen within the day.
• [This kind of gives us an in-character way to add up that Prital is the reincarnation of this elder Sidereal, who we know is Chejop Kejak.]
• Fortifier asks what Burning Feather’s impression of this Sidereal Elder.
• She and him had been quite close during the Usurpation, but had grown apart since.
• Fortifier thinks she means the Divine Revolution, but she explains the Usurpation to him.
• Missing a step in the dance, Fortifier is deeply dismayed to hear the Exalted Host fell apart so horribly; he initially makes sense of it as a logical side-effect of Autochthon’s absence.
• Frascata Carmina and Burning Feather, Lady of Intoxicants seem very practiced and vigorous at the dance.
• Stelsor Bladed Tornado does an acrobatic feat that makes Director Norma Jean look impressive.
• As Bonbon and Bears-Fangs are dancing, she runs her hands over his Moonsilver tattoos and they glow when she does.
• As she is dancing, Bears-Fangs hears her say, “Unshwaya, Unshwaya, Unshwaya” very quietly. It sounds like she is speaking from the farthest corner of the room.
• The song ends and Stelsor goes to speak to Temagen.
• Stelsor asks what should be done about Miribadi Ghostlover.
• Temagen thinks they can wait until she makes herself a problem. Says that Miribadi is a skilled organizer and manager, but not much of a plotter herself; someone else directs her.
• Stelsor goes to find Selene, who is talking to Moradiant Glory.
• The Sidereals were clearly talking but it wasn’t easily understood, like they were using a Charm to speak privately.
• Stelsor and Selene run into Alton and Titania.
• Titania is excited to speak to Stelsor, who she has been wanting to meet as he is known as a patron of the arts.
• Bears-Fangs attempts to surreptitiously pass a note to Bonbon.
• Bonbon exchanges a knowing glance with Bears-Fangs and then she and her brother fade away with Travel Without Distance.

Scene: Later that evening, Back at 12 Carnelian Peaches

• Bears-Fangs goes home to his own apartment above his shop.
• Stelsor cooks for Selene while they discuss the party.
• Selene is annoyed that she is assistant director in the Division of Secrets and yet she is the last Sidereal to know Prital was going to Exalt.
• Prital comes to visit. She is glowing at Bonfire anima and came to ask Selene what it means and what to do.
• Selene explains how Essence use causes Exalted to glow.
• Stelsor asks if Prital has made progress romantically and she says she was interested in Moradiant Glory.
• Both Stelsor and Selene aren’t crazy about this.
• Selene mentions Moradiant Glory is one of the Division of Endings best assassins, an excellent martial artist and skilled with the kusari-gama.
• Fortifier works in the lab to reverse engineer how Black Sunshine is made.
• Fortifier identifies these ingredients, which is probably most of them, but there might be another.
• Ash Tree Ash
• Beast of resplendent liquids' white snow
• Munétaré Spores
• Gethamané mushroom paste
• Black Jade dust
• Darkwyne
• Grave good dust
• Exposure to a shadowland
• Eucalpt leaves
• Ember sand
• Many of these are related to subterranean places or even the Underworld itself.
• Stelsor suspects that the suffering of the drug-maker may also be a necessary ingredient.

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Report Date

01 Nov 2024