LOG START
[19:16:00] Master of Games
All Creation, Beneath the Sword
Session 4
A new day brings news of a skirmish at Nathir to Jibei. Rumor on the streets has it that Gensuji’s forces thwarted an attempt to resupply the city-state under cover of night, but opinions as to what this means for the campaign are split.
But that is not the only information of concern to the heroes of the sun. The day finds us also in a small, anonymous teahouse in the outer city, in a room on the second floor which offers a decent view of Agate Lake, and coincidentally doesn’t offer a view into the room from any other nearby windows. The tea is cheap, and costs extra if it’s to be pure rather than mixed with roasted rice, but clean. It’s an establishment the Datei know well.
Here, Raizo the Urchin Prince and Lord Kagemori meet over tea—they have both learned things that concern the other.
[18:23:59] Raizo
Raizo, one of many talents but an asbestos mouth not among them, leaves his tea plenty of time to rest to a drinkable temperature. “I have some information you might find interesting. I also have an offer you might find interesting. Do you care which to hear first, or maybe you’d like to start us off?”
[18:27:40] Datei ma Kagemori
”Go ahead, information first. I will have something to discuss of my own, but we have plenty of time.”
[18:31:12] Raizo
”Alright. Well, first of all, your assistant introduced me to your… cousin? Someone of your clan, Datei ma Kanano, who told me I might do her a favor by evicting squatters from a property she considered hers. The band staying there were just your run of the mill street toughs for the most part, but their leader was distinctly more notable.”
[18:33:59] Raizo
”He told me his name was V’neef Sengal, and he also told me about some other of his kind from the Blessed Isle are looking for general ne’er-do-wells for muscle and local lords that may not agree with the Prince’s strategic plan to push for, well, I’m not entirely sure. We didn’t get that far. Mainly, though, he suggested the possibility we could work together in the future and told me, well, some far off empire has spies digging around here.”
[18:37:12] Datei ma Kagemori
”Hmm. Interesting. To an extent, I expect many other countries to have at least a few eyes within our capital. It is only wise. But the Blessed Isle is quite far away.” Kagemori sips his tea thinking. “I think we should determine his intentions in any case. It seems he has ambitions beyond simply keeping a sense of the Prince’s current goals.”
[18:40:38] Master of Games
Kagemori, of course, knows of Kanano, not blood related but adopted into the clan. A sorceress and alchemist with deep knowledge of incenses and smoke, his understanding is that she manages Datei operations in the outer city of Jibei and holds many strings in her hand through the licensed and unlicensed gambling halls she controls. He also knows her to be among those voices in the clan that opposed his appointment as family head.
[18:41:56] Datei ma Kagemori
”As you’ve met my…Cousin, how do you judge her mettle?”
[18:44:55] Raizo
”I didn’t get much of a gauge on her. I would guess that if she’s as talented as it was implied, the job she gave me either can’t have been very important. On the other hand she may have been so annoyed with me she gave me something she considered impossible to get rid of me. Couldn’t say.”
[18:45:55] Datei ma Kagemori
”I am curious if she knew V’neef was the leader of this group or not. In any case, you said you also had a proposition?”
[18:50:44] Raizo
”She didn’t tell me anything about the group she wanted removed other than calling them riffraff, which isn’t very specific. But yes, a proposal; what say we join forces? Make it an official partnership.”
[18:55:13] Datei ma Kagemori
”Bold, but worth considering. Certainly, I figure I could find ways to utilize you. And you could, I presume, benefit from my clan’s resources and name. I think we can work something out. But I should tell you what I have learned first, before we make any decisions.” He takes another drink. “The Prince’s father wants to make of me a loyal subject. I implied I would be amenable, if sufficiently paid, and he tasked me with putting an end to local bandits. Something about a crocodile-rider and an urchin prince. He thought them one in the same, but I’ve yet to see any crocodiles.”
[18:57:17] Raizo
”Do crocodiles even live in this part of the world? I’ve never seen them.”
[19:01:20] Datei ma Kagemori
”Perhaps an import. It does mean we’re unlikely to get the individual confused with any other crocodile-riders, if they exist at all.”
[19:05:47] Raizo
”Maybe I should cede the title to this crocodile rider. It’s hardly one I applied myself anyway.”
[19:07:07] Datei ma Kagemori
”I figure the easiest way to thread this needle would be to ensure these individuals are brought under our banner or eliminated, or at least encouraged to bother some other area. If you are interested in an alliance, that solves half of this.”
[19:09:56] Datei ma Kagemori
”There is much room under the heavens, I am sure we can both find whatever it is we seek, especially acting together. What would you have our alliance do?”
[19:13:41] Raizo
Raizo rolls a shoulder in a half shrug. “Well, I want to kick out the Sword Prince. My thought was I’d replace him but I’m open to compromise on a candidate I can agree is better. Does that sound good?”
[19:17:59] Datei ma Kagemori
”Hmm. Straight forward enough. I have little love for our current prince, but I admit I do not hate him either. At its core, you wish the empire to be yours - or, with this alliance, ours. I think I can be amenable to that. Do you hold personal animosity for the current holder, or if he can be made…amenable to our desires, would that also be sufficient? Just to keep our options open.”
[19:26:14] Raizo
”I’m not a very complicated man. I want an honorable prince to lead the nation, I want our people to live in equality and fraternity. If he can be persuaded to see things our way and govern rather than dictate, then sure, why replace him? He has the benefit of legitimacy, I must give him that, and that is powerful in its own right.”
[19:29:01] Datei ma Kagemori
”Very well. To a righteous rule, under our guidance.” He raises his glass. “If you are still interested in an alliance, I shall make your enemies mine, and my enemies yours.”
[19:31:04] Raizo
”Then let it be so.” Raizo matches the gesture and downs his tea. It’s still a bit too hot. Oh well. “Joining my merry band is optional. But, we’re always recruiting if you decide a change of scenery is in order.”
[19:32:07] Datei ma Kagemori
”I shall keep it in mind, if we have need to flee. As for my wishes - I wish for Clan Datei’s influence to touch every corner of the empire and beyond. I wish for clan Iachi and their allies to be scattered to the winds. I figure these things can be fit within your vision for Vaneha.”
[19:34:05] Raizo
”Let your foes wash their necks for my blade.”
[19:34:12] River Snake
Around this time a waiter shows up to pour fresh cups of tea and deliver some snacks. After the cups are full, the waiter sits down at a chair and lets the identity obscuring effect drop. “So, what’d I miss, friends?”
[19:34:49] Datei ma Kagemori
”Merely planning treason. Do you also bring news?”
[19:35:49] River Snake
”I had a productive sightseeing trip, and might have found out why the lake was so quiet this morning. “
[19:37:29] River Snake
”I dont suppose either of you are an expert on hearthstones?”
[19:40:13] Datei ma Kagemori
”I’ve studied a fair bit of geomancy.”
[19:41:41] Raizo
”Honestly I am fairly shaky on what a hearthstone even is.”
[19:42:41] River Snake
Snake produces the documents from the gemonacer’s place. “Can you make out this. It looks bad but I’ve got no education in this field
[19:43:08] River Snake
They documents show a damaged hearthstone and are full of magical jargon
[19:43:11] Datei ma Kagemori
”A natural object of power, generated when leylines are carefully cultivated.” Kagemori looks over the documents.
[19:44:08] River Snake
”It looks like someone’s been chewing on it or something. Same as this one” He shows the actaul damaged stone he obtained briefly before pocketing it again
[19:44:11] Raizo
Raizo looks like he is no more enlightened now than he was before.
[19:46:39] Datei ma Kagemori
”Can I see the stone?” If Snake shares it, Kagemori compares it with the notes. Kagemori traces a finger across the drawings and compares to the stone. His eyes are alight with divine inspiration as he dissects the writing character by character.
[19:47:10] River Snake
”Its not the same as the one in the papers, I think, but go ahead.”
[19:47:34] River Snake
Snake slides the rock across the table, obscuring it from general view with a teapot and bowl of snacks
[19:49:27] Raizo
Raizo has absolutely no basis to grasp what he’s seeing but looks on with interest all the same.
[19:55:59] Master of Games
The physical stone River Snake has brought is indeed not the same one sketched in the notes—the shapes are different—but the phenomenon is clearly the same. This suggests there’s more than one such stone this has happened to.
As to what has happened, Kagemori hasn’t encountered the phenomenon before in person, but he’s learned of it. Hearthstones form when the essence of the land pools and crystallizes into physical form, usually through intentional and painstaking cultivation. The Sword Prince’s dragon-backed manse, he knows, has produced one, though he’s never seen it. Some of these stones remain closely linked to the alignments that produced them even after being taken away, and if their parent manse is destroyed or disrupted, they become inert and begin to crumble into so much ash. The one in his hands, too, feels more like a lump of flaky dough than the near-indestructible gem it is supposed to be. It does look almost like it has been chewed up from within.
[19:58:35] Master of Games
The stone in the sketches is presumably with the group that was sent to investigate what happened to make it crumble so, which has not been heard from since. Judging from the notes, it would have come from the shrine on the island in Agate Lake at which the sand-divers occasionally worship—the circle passed by it on the day they arrived in Jibei, but it was shrouded in a persistent patch of morning fog then.
[20:00:50] Datei ma Kagemori
”Something has happened to the manses that produced both of these stones. The one in these notes came from across Agate Lake. Do you know where this one was produced?” Kagemori hands the damaged stone back to Snake. “A damaged or destroyed manse is noteworthy in its own right, but such events do occur. But if it has happened to multiple, likely unconnected palaces, that speaks to a cause more esoteric than proper management.”
[20:08:18] River Snake
”It had a name of a place on it, not that I recognize the name. I assume not too far from here.” He shuffles around before pulling out a tag and putting it next to the damaged stone, the tag it had on it from when he ‘legitimately obtained’ it
[20:10:49] Datei ma Kagemori
”The two manses in questions have both been disrupted in some way. Hard to tell how from this. I am curious if it was something unique to these two, or if others have been similarly disrupted. Or, at least, will be in the near future. I suppose the easiest place to find answers would be Agate Lake.”
[20:12:29] Master of Games
The place name is not a well known one, but the notation suggests it would have also been on the flanks of Ama-Ni-Traya, some distance west from Jibei; perhaps in the great forest that dominates its western side and foothills.
[20:12:45] River Snake
”The people that were supposed to have gone missing, so something isnt right”
[20:15:21] Datei ma Kagemori
”That does sound like there is something more to this. Who sponsored these investigators?”
[20:16:02] River Snake
”At least one of them was Anori”
[20:17:47] Datei ma Kagemori
”Hmm. Close allies to the Prince, but there’s no clan in this land to not have enemies. “
[20:20:59] River Snake
Snake shrugs. “Something breaking manses is probably worth looking into, either way”
[20:24:02] Datei ma Kagemori
”Combining this with our earlier discussion, it seems we have two people and two locations to investigate: V’neef Sengal, an unnamed bandit, seen with crocodile, Agate lake, and some place approximately on the flank of Ama-Ni-Traya.”
[20:25:04] River Snake
”Dont suppose any of the people conveniently overlap with a location”
[20:28:49] Datei ma Kagemori
”As far as I am aware, Sengal is within the city and the bandits are on the other side of the lake. But it wouldn’t surprise me if there is some as-of-yet unseen connection.”
[20:38:11] Datei ma Kagemori
”Brother Raizo, what do you think we bring this one into our brotherhood?”