Stairway to Heaven

The Lintha were gone. The fogbank cleared. There was no evidence of our battle anywhere except for the debris and slightly black blood in the water. The War Sharks took their leave. It was time to clean up. However, there was that question of where that large Essence Cannon was fired from.

We had consulted with Raging Snowstorm and apparently he's brought the refugees to the Island and he's encountered someone else he'd rather not talk about right now. I wonder why. Akira summoned him to the Arc and he moved stayed with me in the Prince. We traced the trajectories of the blast and despite the fog tracked it to an island in the middle of this archipelago. It was a rather large island, with a huge mountain. The charts said this was Kerekis, an old volcanic island and perhaps the highest point of old Okeanos.

We made landing near on the islands and Snowstorm went exploring while we supervised the cleaning up of the ships removing the traces of Lintha in it. Akira got bored and soon joined Snowstorm and they gained the top of the mountain not really discovering where the Essence Cannon came from. However, Nemo, the little god who serves as Akira's companion and comic relief spotted a Celestial Gate to Yu-Shan.

The rest of us made our way up there. We decided to make good on the vacation Naar apparently won from Plentimon. He happily informed us on the way up of his bet and his winnings. We decided on a plan to get ourselves inside and when we assembled we strode purposefully towards the Lions there as guided by Nemo.

We were quickly let in but apparently we had to be stamped by some officious looking Mandarin. If I thought bureaucrats in Creation were annoying I can imagine where they got their inspiration. After a rather annoying forehead stamping episode and an amusing Akira peeing on the minor god, we used a cloudcar to get to Plentimon's Palace, where it seems we were expected.

The majordomo immediately brought us to our rooms, which actually consisted of a large building with a casino each. The servant gods seemed to cater to our specific tastes. Naar already set up our appointments with the Celestial Monitors of the Seasons and Weather, or the Bureau of Seasons for short.

We set about some business and some entertainment. I decided to make inquiries in the form of courtesy calls to gods important to our interests in the West. The first to answer my request for an audience was Siakal. I met once more the War Sharks who assisted us in the bloodbath with the Lintha the day before. They seemed amenable for a repeat performance and the audience with Siakal seemed to say the same thing. The audience was blunt and short and it appears I still am in her favor. I hope we will be able to enlist aid in future conflicts with armies larger than ours. I'd put the entire Lintha race in her pool of black basalt for that. We aren't the unstoppable forces we were in the First Age. I believe we will need support.

Rudhira seems keen on our increasing our fleets but says our best resources are outside the West. She recommended some worshippers of the Unconquered Sun down south but I think it will have some political ramifications in Heaven. She also mentioned shipwrights from the East and to contact one Fuuma Raya, a Solar. Previously, I would have been overjoyed. But I have met Moray Darktide and it seems not all of us work towards compatible ends. However, I will still request Akira to send a message to her via her Infallible Messenger.

The majordomo has also recommended that I visit the so called "Solar Demense" or The Salient of the Unconquered Sun as it is marked on the maps. He also mentioned a group of formerly unemployed gods working for a Solar named Silk Midnight Princess somewhere in the East. Perhaps, we could set up our own group here. We'd have our offices and if I remember right each of our Exaltations has it's own apartments assigned.

I still have a pending meeting with Blue Crest Merchant and I find out that Naar and Snowstorm have arranged some sort of show and word has reached Tachi-kun, god of Exalted Combat. They're moving the betting and the fight to a place called the "Plaza" in front of the Jade Pleasure Dome. Snowstorm's opponent is supposed to be another Dawn Caste Solar of comparable power named Crimson Bladebearer. The bookeepers are starting to work double-time and the bets are coming in. Naar devised a way to charge for seats and to make a lot of money out of it. Maybe we can use that to fund some projects here in Yu-Shan.

One thing still bothers me. I wonder if there are any experts on the gates and someone who knows who fired an Essence Cannon from Kerekis.

I still believe that this side trip will be profitable.