Darkness rises in the east

"There's nothing inherently bad about being an archer." Shi-Oda explained vaguely, waving his gauntleted hand in a small semi circle. The broad Lunar walked with purpose and resolve, his grandly-ornamented plate armor clinking softly with each step - along with the soft ring of his wrapped grand daiklave strapped to his back. What the hell is a Wyld Hunt, anyway? "It takes focus. A keen eye, sure. Steady hand. But all of those things could be better applied to mastering the blade or fist." He argued pleasantly, against pretty much nobody.

His mate absolutely wasn't going to, anyway. 

"I mean, when was the last time a child declared loudly to his friends that he wanted to become a great bowman?" Shi-Oda asked with a small chuckle. "It's a fine pursuit, and I'm sure that there are many legends about skilled, brave rangers out there, but they're hard to see for the... numberless legends regarding swordsmasters and their mythic blades." He explained, raising his eyebrows. "You never hear about a fletcher so masterful that he's driven to seek solitude to hone his art and be sought out by heroes and the like. Blacksmiths? Sure. Tons." 

"But in terms of pure practicality, one basically can never run out of sword. Arrows are finite. I can hit people with my blade until my arms fall off, but if my quiver only holds a couple dozen arrows, then I can only end a couple dozen threats before falling back on - you guessed it - a blade." 

Shi-Oda laughed at his own (somewhat poor) wit, finding that his footsteps had carried him to the ruin-built city of Dura, a city-state something or other that had made public their need for heroes. A call to arms that he - and his wife - weren't about to let pass without answering. For one, they were roughly in the area, already doing heroics. For the second, they were heroes - answering calls for help was basically the kind of shit that Shiyo lived to do. "So. Kira. Do you think they dug up something bad, or they're digging up something good that somebody else wants?" He asked with a broad grin. Maybe his bravado was a little crass, but neither scenario - or one he hadn't wagered on - would stop Shi-Oda from putting his considerably robust life on the line to save the day. 

That detail, much like the tactical details of the city, meant almost nothing to him. He was a hero - doing heroics was what he did.

Hui was, if anything, strangely quiet. What little information she had gathered hadn't been much. Some sage had been studying old artifacts--powerful ones, by any guess. And now, he was claiming some sort of bad omen was coming. At least, that's what her other spiders had told her. 



However, Hui, the Patient, quiet woman she was, had moved into the town relatively demurely. She want to scope out and observe the issues before she made a move. Only then could she prepare her plan. She remembered something suddenly. A nagging answer. And then, it passed. Annoying. Still, if this man who was looking for answer needed someone to save him from impending doom, who was she to judge? Anything to help a wealthy, powerful mystic with a knack for ancient lore.



And even more importantly, anything to watch a few other Exalted in action. Calling for heroes this far in the west would attract others. Perhaps she could learn from them. Or, perhaps she could mess with their heads a little. That too would provide some entertainment to absolute dullness of the situation. But, she had to be cautious. After all, attracting the intention of hunters would be problematic in an urban environment, and although her name was little known, there was no harm in playing safe at some level.


She walked over to one of the merchant booths, idly handing the man some scrip in exchange for a drink, waiting to listen and see what gossip could occur.

The last time Kira and Shiyo had seen something this depressing had been Varsi, and that was under the control of a demonic host. Naturally, Kira was on her guard for absolutely anything that might be wrong. Sea-blue eyes sharper than an blade easily spotted the poxed boy, and she narrowed her gaze in an attempt to make sense of what was going on around her. The city was in trouble, of course, but perhaps they were too late. If so, and this was a Varsi scenario, these people might already be beyond help.

Unfortunately, she was too caught up in her thoughts to hear anything about a curse, and her thoughts turned her to the task at hand. Whether or not Shi-Oda followed her, she walked with purpose up to the house she had just seen the afflicted lad peek out of. Knocking quietly a few times, she affixed her most understanding smile in preparation for whoever came to the door.

It didn't matter if they were expected or not at this point. Kira had seen someone in distress and was compelled to help.

Like Kira, Shi-Oda had an eye for trouble despite his convivial attitude. His eyes weren't as sharp as hers, but let none doubt that the Righteous Wind of Halta did not care for, and pay attention to, the health of children. He set his jaw and followed Kira to the door, knowing that her inherent sense of right had already set her on a direct path to the heart of the matter. It was something he admired, something he anticipated, and as a Lunar, it was his duty to watch the flanks of his Solar as she tackled the issues of the world head on. So when the townsfolk muttered about a curse, although Kira did not hear it, Shi-Oda absolutely did. "A curse...?" He mused quietly aloud as Kirasath strode forward, before straightening his back and squaring his shoulders. "If he's here, he's mine." Shiyo promised Kira without his typical cheer. Shi-Oda owed Albrecht a few hours of payback for Varsi, and he had a reckoning that even that blonde prick's metal skin would crack if he hit it continually and hard enough. 

While Kira knocked on the door of the home they'd seen the boy disappear into, Shi-Oda took a typical position beside his mate - choosing to let her handle the niceties, while he kept an eye out. Although he hadn't been through Dura (that he remembered,) the massive young man in huge, shining plate armor and his gigantic silver sword were surprisingly well-known in some places in the East. He'd been wandering for years, doing good and being noisy about it - with and without Kirasath, in fact. Let villains beware, and the innocent breathe a sigh of relief, Shi-Oda was on the job.

The mayor or leader of Dura could wait. If Dura had been corrupted anything like Varsi had been, that matter took immediate and absolute precedence. 

((Consider me on-guard))