Mission 6: Black Magic Woman
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Exalted: |
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Chapter 2 |
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The Circle With No Name |
The Job
Client: The leadership of the growing Thorns rebellion
Target: Yarnal Kai
Type: Assassination
Target background: Yarnal Kai was the eldest daughter of a noble Thorns family before they showed up. House Yarnal fought bravely, but was ultimately left in ruins by the Mask of Winters' violent takeover. Although Kai survived, she was unable to bear the ignoble fate of a fallen aristocrat knocked from her seat of power, and masqueraded for years as a plebeian merchant woman, resigned to spend the rest of her years in quiet shame. That was until she showed up.
Kai didn't know who it was that walked into her shop that fateful day, but the woman's words were undeniably wise - she spoke of routes to power, routes to revenge. She said death was everywhere - Gods and their Champions could die just as mortals could, and likewise, mortals could harness that same morbid power to their advantage. Although Kai kept no personal contacts, those who frequented her shop, which dealt in historical artifacts recovered from the fledgling days of the territory as a Realm satrapy, noticed the shop closing more often and for longer periods of time. Indeed, Kai was spending more and more time with this woman, and was becoming stranger with each passing day.
After a time, Kai, now a sufficiently powerful thaumaturge to have some local repute (it was assumed, but never confirmed that the woman she spent so long with instructed her in the arts), contacted the area's rebellion leaders. Although she cared more about avenging her fallen house than the people of Thorns, the leaders had no choice but to accept the aid of someone so mystically inclind. Their decision would backfire on them in due time.
Eventually, it became clear that Kai was no ordinary thaumaturge. Her powers relied on death - corpses, blood, sacrifice, and so forth. She extolled the use of death as a tool - as much for veneration as for revolt. She argued to members of the rebellion that used properly, death could be a beautiful thing, empowering the living to achieve levels they'd never before attained; she cited her own unique powers as an example of this. With the magical results to back it up, Kai began to gain followers. Fortunately, having honed their skills avoiding the notice of the Mask of Winters, the leadership of the rebellion was well-versed in handling treachery without making too much of a show of it. They were able to persuade her that the people of rural Thorns needed to be enlightened, and for a short time, she was little more than a distant thorn (no pun intended!) in their side, shelved away in a far-off area of the city-state.
Then Covenant fell. Tales of successful rebellion in an impossibly far-off world nevertheless found their way to Thorns. Although Covenant may not, and likely did not exist in the form in which the embellished story was told, a lone traveler from the North with a good story was all the desperate people of Thorns needed to grasp on to. The leaders of the rebellion practically had to turn away aspiring members in the following days. This was, on the whole, a positive situation, but the rebellion leadership began to fear the effect Kai might have on the swaths of new, impressionable members. After much deliberation, they made the decision to relieve her of her duties. It was a precarious situation, however - the rebellion leaders risked losing supporters if they murdered her openly. With an influx of donations, they had some scrip to spare and decided to handle the problem once and for all. As a lesson to all of the citizens involved in the resistance movement, it would be ideal if Kai appeared to meet her end as a result of her necromantic inclinations. That's where the Grass Spiders come in.
Critical Notes:
- Our clients have specified in the terms of our contract that it must appear as though Kai was murdered or otherwise killed as a result of her affiliation with the powers of the dead. Perhaps she was eaten by hungry ghosts, perhaps she was pulled into Oblivion by a botched necromancy attempt - as long as the evidence is convincing, be creative.
- Guards employed by the Mask of Winters are acceptable casualties, but outside of those loyal enough to Kai to defend her in battle, resistance members are not. Tread carefully.
- Kai herself is not expected to be physically powerful, but it is thought that she has managed to learn a significant amount of necromancy through some odd means or another. If she allowed time to prepare rituals and cast spells, she may be able to quickly produce hordes of undead minions - or worse.
- Kai's base of operations is in the outskirts of Thorns, in a rural area just a mile outside of the city walls. This is where the leadership originally sent her away to keep her out of their hair. Although its population is small, she has turned this village into her personal cult. Although the denizens of this village hate the Deathlords as much as the rest of the resistance, they are extremely loyal to Kai.
- Kai still owns a shop in the downtown area of Thorns, and uses it as an information trafficking center. She will occasionally visit the shop to check in, although on a day-to-day basis, it is run by associates loyal to her, all of whom she is personally acquainted with. She knows first-hand how manipulative the Mask's servants can be, and sends only her most trusted associates to man her shop in the city.
- At this time it is unclear whether or not Kai has been corrupted by the Mask of Winters and is now a mole in the rebellion serving the Deathlord. If this is the case, the Mask may consider her an investment worth protecting. Be on watch for things fouler than city guards.
- Refer to page 101 in the Scavenger Lands book for a map of Thorns. Kai's shop is in the southeastern corner of Aspir Haven, just a few blocks from the walls of the Shroudvant District.
- You have no explicit restrictions on revealing your Dragon-Blooded nature, but you are in a city controlled by a Deathlord - the more he suspects there are foreign Exalts stirring up trouble, the more likely he is to send Exalts of his own to address the issue.
Expected Threats:
- Thorns Human Guards (Threat level: Low, Probability of Encounter: High)
- Thorns Dead Guards (Threat level: Low to Medium, Probability of Encounter: High)
- Yarnal's cultists (Threat level: Low, Probability of Encounter: High)
- Necromantic beasts (Threat level: Medium to High, Probability of Encounter: Medium)
- Deathknights (Threat level: Very High, Probability of Encounter: Low)
Team: Lord of the Ashen Cloud, Zealot of Iconoclastic Virtue, Fay Morgana
What the Others Are Up To
Opal, Mesa, and Naru are presently in Nexus pursuing a lead in their investigation into the White Veil Society.
Mission Status
Job: Complete
Dates: Descending Air 6 - Descending Air 13, R.Y. 770
Kill: After an armed robbery of Kai's shop in Thorns and the unintentional killing of one of its guards, the group traveled to her village to find most social doors closed to them in an exclusive society hostile to both Thorns and the rest of the Resistance. Nevertheless, Ash struck a deal with a local village leader and agreed to provide him a cabin for a "card game" which would later turn out to be a necromantic summoning ritual. Not all was wasted, however - at this ritual, the team caught a glimpse of this so-called 'Black Magic Woman'; it was enough for Fay to disguise herself as the witch. The team traveled to Kai's house the next day and attacked her there. Although she had a larger compliment of war ghosts and human guards than expected, the Grass-Spiders dispatched them efficiently while Fay killed Kai, framing the Black Magic Woman for her murder and riding off madly into the sunset.
Quote of the night: "He could just send me a wind-carried words." - Zealot
"That's a waste of essence." - Fay
"You're a waste of essence." - Zealot
Exp. Awarded: Base - 5 (6 for Fay)