The Invasion of Wu-Jian

The Invasion of Wu-Jian is a major event during the Sunset of the Realm campaign. Following the events of a disastrous wedding on the Blessed Isle, the tumult between the Dynastic Houses reaches a head, resulting in House Peleps moving Westward. Their goal: to dominate the Western Seas and the Wavecrest Archipelago to create a new Realm hierarchy, with House Peleps at its head.

This is, of course, counter to the interests of the Lunars in Sunken Luthe, and the Circle volunteers/is charged with the task of putting an end to it. To do this, they set to work within the city of Wu-Jian, knowing that the city will be a major outpost/staging ground for further Peleps aggression if they cannot stop the onslaught.

(See also: The Wu-Jian Invasion Temperature Map)

## Preparations

### Dusk Thrashing Princess

Dusk's primary task in the months leading up to the invasion was to cultivate the history of the hero "Bolverker," a guise of fellow pack-mate Kurgan the Chainbreaker. She also assisted the efforts of Silk Veils the Necropolis in expanding the reach of the local god Aswen Kecak for city defense by drawing up the new laws that Aswen would follow.

### Kurgan the Chainbreaker

Kurgan, taking the form of a Sumbawa native, begins to make appearances as the folk hero "Bolverker." As himself, he visits his good friend Throne of Coral Overlooking the Basin of Dreams, convincing her to be ready to take up arms to defend Wu-Jian when Peleps reaches their shores.

### Ruby Labyrinth

Ruby meets with the assassin Eighteen Slumbers, purchasing his assistance in the removal of Nissar Jelaya, a Dynast with sympathies towards Peleps. She also engages with the architect Mnemon Fading Leaf and attempts to broker her help in fortifying Wu-Jian with bolt-holes and access tunnels.

### Silk Veils the Necropolis

Silk first entreats the god Aswen Kecak and the City Father of Wu-Jian, negotiating an increase in Aswen's power to help stave off the would-be invaders. She then speaks to V'Neef Irori, representative of the Merchant Fleet, entreating her in the form of the Spider Goddess to help instill a principle of defiance towards House Peleps.

## Attack on the Black House

The Circle met with Sesus Nemoia at her domicile, the manse known colloquially as The Black House. Before their meeting could begin, Kurgan recognized something was amiss and shouted for Throne to protect the Satrap as he rushed into battle. The guards, now revealing themselves to be Dragon-Blooded assassins, are joined by Peleps Kammin as they attack the Satrap, with Throne and the Circle standing in defense.

A furious fight ensues, and though an air-aspected chakra-wielding assassin attempts to flee, they, along with the other would-be assassins, are cut down, leaving only Kammin alive but deeply wounded. During the fight, however, Kurgan's Caste Mark shone through, catching the eye of Nemoia, and Dusk's outrageous combat skills belied her attempts at presenting a more mortal countenance. As the dust settled, Sesus Nemoia engaged the Circle, now clearly no longer buying their guise of simply being God-Blooded mortal men and women.

## As The Fleet Approaches

### Dusk Thrashing Princess

With the aid of Silk's infiltration abilities, Dusk Thrashing Princess creates a forgery of the fallen Nissar Jelaya's signature. Using this signature, she writes to house V'Neef, pretending to be concerned about Peleps' refusal to follow the rules of engagement. This will, with some luck, help to obfuscate any future killings and assassinations as being Realm-sponsored, potentially keeping Immaculate eyes off of Wu-Jian for longer.

### Kurgan the Chainbreaker

Kurgan, again taking Silk alongside, goes to meet with Antero Staghelm in a bawdy brothel known as the House of the Crooked Tower. Silk attempts to profile Antero and pass along their learnings to Kurgan, who then attempts to recruit him to their cause. While not immediately successful, Kurgan instead gives a rousing speech about the glory of freedom, instilling a tie that can be leveraged at a later period.

### Ruby Labyrinth

Ruby engages in a deal with Sesus Nemoia, promising to remove House Nissar from power in Wu-Jian and beyond. In preparation for the oncoming fleet, however, Ruby hunkers her forces down within her territory borders - looking to send a clear message to the incoming Peleps forces not to venture too deep within. While this happens, she further considers how to go about taking down Nissar Vedan and his house.

### Silk Veils the Necropolis

Silk uses the hysteria to seed her agents within the upper crust of Wu-Jian, working to spread the influence of the Spider Witch amidst a particular group of nobles. These "concessionists" would be openly loyal and welcoming of Peleps occupation, and Silk intends on being there to listen when they do. As the fleet makes contact and beachheads begin to form in the Air and Earth Ports, Silk takes to the place of power within Crimson Sluice and begins the ritual to curse their food supplies to rot faster than they normally should.

## The Invasion Begins

Ruby diverts a Peleps force towards Fire Shade, where her agents begin to provoke the patrolling battle group with thrown rocks and jeers. This brings the attention of the Hero Bolverker, who, as a persona of Kurgan, had been ready in the pre-considered area to do battle with the patrol to begin with. A short but fierce battle ensues, and the people of Fire Shade are left with some new armaments they didn't have an hour ago. Dusk spins the event into a heroic story of Bolverker standing up to the Dragon with street art around the quarter.

Silk continues the sorcerous working, turning her strands of web into an increasingly-complex geomantic pattern within the streets of the Crimson Sluice. One night, Antero Staghelm receives a dream, courtesy of Silk's sorcery, of Bolverker standing alongside him against the rising tide of Peleps forces, with the intent of instilling a tie of Awe to Bolverker as a result.

Dusk solidifies a martial arts ethos, propping her up as a larger-than-life figure in her own right as a great teacher and person of interest within the Thirteen Schools of Martial Arts in Wu-Jian. This results in something of a memetic teaching tool, an idea that can spread to others to pass her needs on when necessary.

Peleps pushes hard against Ruby's territory, suffering some small losses, though the most dramatic was the events in Fire Shade at the hands of Bolverker. They secure the Earth and Air quarters for themselves, gaining traction all the way up to Topside in order to push down on the Fire and Water quarters from above by taking control of the roadways.

## The Scales Unbalance

Ruby's digging uncovers a new secret: A shadow war, ran in the open by a gang calling themselves the "Red Fences," are striking out towards Ruby's assets and attempting to wrest control of the underworld, all in the name of House Nissar. Ruby diverts her efforts to stave off this new threat, but suffers some losses as a result of being caught unprepared.

Dusk pushes further on her influence over the 13 Schools, going to each of them to ingratiate them to the idea of a unified bloc of martial artists in resistance to Peleps. It takes a lot of unintentional fights, and her ghostly mentor, Li the Living Blade, is less than impressed, but the end result is a solid, if competitive, sense of unity bringing the schools together as one.

Kurgan and Silk work together on intelligence gathering. Using his hawk form, Kurgan spies out several targets of interest, and Silk uses her contacts topside to learn more about them. Together, they are able to locate seven key targets for assassination attempts. Three of them are relatively easy, two are more moderately difficult to defeat, with the final two proving particularly difficult to draw out and eliminate.

Silk also finally completes her sorcerous working, drawing forth the geomantic energy of the Crimson Sluice and using it to exert pressure on the similar energies in the Earth Port, causing the entirety of the Peleps' food supply to become fully spoiled, as if left submerged in sea water. This causes an immediate escalation in force as Peleps begins confiscating food from local merchants, the result of which begins a famine within the streets of Wu-Jian.

Working as a team, the group plans to assassinate one of the mid-level targets that Silk and Kurgan picked out. Ruby and Silk manipulate the environment, with Silk weaving tripwires to douse the gaslamps of their chosen locale, and Ruby's crew pushing carts and boxes into the way of potential escape routes without being noticed. The plan seems to go sideways as the Junior Quartermaster target manages to suss out the potential ambush, but once the lights go out, Dusk immediately makes short of him and Kurgan cleans up his attendants. While the group discusses how exactly to deal with the bodies, Silk moves into action, wrapping them in webbing and squirreling them away in parts unknown.

## Wu-Jian of Rage

With the combination of their momentum in earlier incursions against Ruby's territories and the sudden-onset famine, House Nissar presses their advantage, sending a number of their loosely-aligned satellite gangs into the Lunar grounds to attempt something closer to a full-scale gang war. The Circle responds in force, with all four members hitting the Streets of Wu-Jian to meet and quell these uprisings with as minimal a loss of their own forces as possible. Ultimately, they are successful in beating back the rival gangs and putting House Nissar once again on the back foot.

## The Taking of the Chrysanthemum

The Circle is contacted by Nemoia from deep within the Black House vaults. She has received word that one of her favorite consorts, Twice-Blossomed Chrysanthemum, is being held captive by the Peleps forces, likely as a show of aggression towards her. Nemoia, never being one to kowtow to pressure, asks the Circle to send the Imperial forces a message by removing the consort from their grasp. Silk senses a use for her unique talents, and sets to work.

It takes little time to discover the location of Twice-Blossomed Chrysanthemum, and so Silk, in the form of a spider, and a cat-shaped Kurgen spend some time patrolling the building's many rooms, learning of the Peleps inhabitants and the chain of command within. When looking for secrets, Silk discovers one of the Peleps Winglords, Hana, to be hiding something. After some digging and shadowing, eventually they are able to drag the secret out into the light - Peleps Hana is with child with a common, non-Dragon Blood soldier named Boulder. This sort of thing is tantamount to career suicide in the Imperial Legion, but Hana seems to be willing to carry the child to term anyway. Upon learning this secret, Silk is able to take Hana's form, which facilitates the escape attempt.

Silk, in the form of Peleps Hana, and Kurgen, in the form of a simple porter/servant, are able to walk into the commandeered compound, reach Chrysanthemum, and walk out with little issue. Few wish to go against the orders of a Winglord, after all.

On their way out, they stop in an out of the way location, as Silk suggests another's involvement in masterminding the rescue. Kurgen, who had slipped away previously, now returns as the Bolverker, to be seen liberating the prisoner and reuniting Nemoia with her consort.

## The Destruction of House Nissar

The Circle makes plans to put the nail in the coffin of House Nissar. Utilizing her contacts, Ruby Labyrinth is able to determine that Vedan is locked deep within his mansion, and there are 5 or 6 Dragonblooded Exalts in residence, though their exact purposes are unknown. They decide that Nissar Vedan has to die, and Ruby begins a sacred hunt against him. The Circle slips into the Nissar compound quietly and makes their way to Vedan's office chambers. Inside, he is engaged in a heated political argument with two of the Dragonblooded, but none of them are any match for the Circle's combined martial might. With his last gasp, Vedan asks Ruby how she paid for 'her', presumably asking about the champion of the Bloody Conclave, Dusk. Ruby simply responds, "There's so much you don't know," and ends his life, partaking of his heart's blood to take his form.

Dusk and Kurgen exit the scene with the bodies of Vedan and one of the Dragonblooded, and Silk sets to work doctoring the crime scene to paint a particular picture: that Nissar Vedan has assassinated one of the Exalts, and plans to enter House Nissar into open conflict with the Peleps forces after gaining their confidence.

## Finishing the Fight

Silk and Ruby stay behind, with Ruby in the form of Nissar Vedan, and Dusk and Kurgen leave to dispose of the body and maintain the front of the ongoing conflict. Silk and Ruby begin to modify the plan, claiming that one of the Dragonblooded was, in fact, an assassin who was sent to kill Vedan. Ruby convinces her own people, though the Legionnaires remain mostly unconvinced. During the commotion, Silk looks over the papers that were being argued over prior to their home invasion. From them, she is able to determine that House Vedan has a stockpile of Death Globes, glass vials full of Yozi Neurotoxin, and that House Peleps intends to use them to assault the Black House by magically prying open one of the window barricades and dropping them inside. Silk locates the stockpile and gives one of the Globes to Ruby as a potential trump card or bargaining chip.

Meanwhile, Dusk and Kurgen notice the riots of the city are increasing in frequency, and Dusk's art is being poorly copied throughout the city as something of a call to arms. They go to accost the Dragonblooded warrior Antero Staghelm once more, attempting to win him over to the side of rebellion. Antero agrees to join the cause, if Kurgen can beat him in an arm wrestling contest. Kurgen, excited at the prospect of a contest of strength, immediately initiates a Sacred Hunt that rides on the contest as well. Surprisingly, Kurgen finds his own wrist slapping the table first after an extended struggle. With his affable nature, Kurgen manages to convince Antero to make it best two out of three, and scores victory over the second match, bringing everything down to the final match. The match goes on for what feels like forever, drawing the attention of the entire brothel, but Kurgen is finally, after three or four minutes, able to wrench Antero's arm to the table, prompting him to boisterously join the revolution after slamming an entire bottle of foul-tasting fortified wine.

One of the patrons comes to Dusk and asks if she would like to see her etchings. When Dusk agrees, she is taken upstairs, where the woman puts her finger in the door to unlock it and leads Dusk inside. Upon entry, Dusk finds she is no longer looking at the same woman. Though she looks similar to Dusk, she has something very unfamiliar and strange about her eyes. Staring into them, Dusk sees that they are showing many different reflections of different parts of the city. The woman is revealed to be the City Architect of Wu-Jian, who remarks that Dusk is doing a lot to increase the degradation of the city. She requests that Dusk stops getting 'her city's' people killed, one way or the other. The Architect reinforces that she does not wish to be an enemy, but that things are progressing in ways that are dangerous to the townsfolk. She concludes by encouraging Dusk to push towards something concrete in the rebellion efforts now that the people are frothing for change. After a bit of discussion, the Architect is convinced to help watch the Circle's backs, as well as potentially uncompromise identities if need be.

Ruby is greeted as Vedan by Peleps Gaan during "his" afternoon snack. He demands from Vedan iron and various alchemical components, ranting about Vedan and the Generals want the Satrap dead but he needs his materials right now. Ruby continues to brush him off despite his aggressive stance, learning that he is operating under pressure from his own Peleps higher-ups. Gaan claims that HE is the nice one, and that Vedan has two days to procure the materials. Silk, observing Gaan during this time, learns that Gaan came directly from his workshop, and is legitimately being harried by his higher ups. His accent suggests someone who's spent lots of time in the Imperial City, and he is somebody who cares a lot about his projects. His control spell is Death of Obsidian Butterflies, and most importantly, he is not exaggerating about being the 'nice one.'

## The Last Days of Preparation

Dusk finds out one of the 13 Schools of Martial Arts, Thousand Waves Break the Shore were able to kill an Immaculate Monk, bringing about the ire of the Legion even further. Dusk responds with a letter to all 13 Schools in an attempt to teach them to "fight without fighting" in an attempt to lower the heat after the attack. This involves more property damage or organizing efforts, which Dusk attempts to lead.

Silk arranges a commission with a glassblower on behalf of House Nissar for 13 glass globes, intending to replace the Death Globes with fakes over time. The glassmaker claims they will be done by the next day. Silk also gathers information on a piece of news she overheard recently, that V'Neef Irori has been forcibly extracted from his house arrest. Though details are scarce, the best Silk can pull at short notice is that there was violence in the extraction, and it appears that Irori was removed from Peleps control rather than spirited away by Peleps skulduggery.

Kurgen continues to confer with Antero, learning more about his skills in large scale battle. Afterwards, he moves to pull together an Honor Guard from what troops he can muster for Antero, when he is met by a young man, who warns Kurgen that he believes his uncle is going to do something stupid. After some interrogation, the young man reveals that his uncle is planning an attack on one of the officers' compounds, believing Xiphia the War God will protect them, though the young man is less sure of Xiphia's divine guidance in the matter, and Kurgen's tactical sense tells him the same. Kurgen goes out to meet with the uncle, who's gathered about twenty five people to his cause. Taking a dramatic entrance, Kurgen, altering his voice, tells them that Xiphia has chosen them for better battles than this, anointing them as Xiphia's Chosen (and Antero's Honor Guard).

Ruby, still in the garb of Nissar Vedan, continues to stage his increasingly unhinged persona, ranting about assassination attempts and Peleps double-crossing him. Meanwhile, she continues to push on Vedan's contacts to attempt to collect Sorcerer Gaan's materials. She is relatively successful in the former, but only moderately so in the latter.

Silk begins the second day pulling on the strings of Irori's departure, and finds a strange absence of information in the usual channels who would know these sorts of things, as well as a large amount of ridiculous misinformation on the exact items that he took with him in his escape. The lack of information from Wu-Jian's upper crust leads them to believe, with some apprehension, that the same group that is attacking House Nissar assets is also the group that abducted Irori, though the only concrete clue linking them is a building across the lawn of the extraction, whose roof has some damage that is in line with anima flux damage, indicating some type of Exalt was involved in using archery to attack the guards in the compound.

Kurgen, as the Bolverker, takes Antero and his Honor Guard to a warehouse, before returning as Kurgen, putting forth a ritual to Xiphia to bless the both of them for the upcoming battles. He speaks on the powers of Xiphia, paints them in sheep's blood, and offers Antero the gift of a Goremaul.

Dusk continues to write letters while arguing with her mentor Li, when one of the orphans she came up with comes up, claiming an attack. Dusk immediately follows along, going with the child to the Earth Quarter. According to the boy, The People (as in the generalized Wu-Jian resistance) are staging attacks on the rice warehouses being guarded by Imperial Legionnaires, and are woefully underprepared to do so. Chasing towards the source, Dusk finds a group chanting and pelting rocks, threatening violence against a legion standing in ranks before them. Dusk decides to land between the two forces in as dramatic a fashion as possible, sending a shockwave from her landing to push both sides back and focus all attention on her. Though talking is not her forte, Dusk uses her status as a master martial artist to convince the crowd to follow her to another source of food instead.

Ruby begins to use Vedan's coffers to purchase the materials for Gaan's sorcery. She picks the most bribable ones to ply with money to grease along the wheels of trade. By the end of the day, she is able to get the materials together as requested. Silk prepares the ritual to summon the proper Anuhle to provide a believable-enough poison substance for making fake Death Globes. Kurgen meets up with the rest of the Circle in kind to compare information and begin tactical planning in earnest, as the final hours before the conflict begin to tick down.

## Final Drumbeats of War

The battle begins with buffoonery. Ruby, in the guise of Vedan, makes her final exit from the role. After giving everyone near him the opinion that he had gone fully insane, Ruby decries Vedan's full support of Sesus Nemoia as the proper Lord of Wu'jian, before bumbling into the Peleps forces sieging the Black House. With him, Vedan carries the (mostly) faked Death Globes, with one truly live Globe within. As the Peleps crowd gathers, Ruby stumbles and drops the lots of them, dashing away in the ensuing chaos and leaving the formerly-stashed body of Vedan behind to try and close any questions of his life ending. The siege force begins to choke on its own blood and die from the potent Yozi poison.

Meanwhile, Silk speaks to her agents and followers in dreams, appearing as the Spider Witch to command them to action. Speaking of immortality etched in deed, she sends more Death Globes to be released in the command stations of the Peleps commanders that they have been embedded in as servants, porters and the like. Silk herself, taking the guise of disgraced Winglord Peleps Hana, leaves a globe of her own in the midst of a locked room full of officers, pulling on the silken thread they'd attached to it as she closes the door, eliminating even more of the Peleps chain of command. In the chaos, she slips down to the Crimson Sluice, beginning the process of listening out for the cries of Aswen Kecak's followers to steal them for her own growing cult.

Dusk and Kurgen split their attention Topside and beneath, respectively. Dusk, Antero Staghelm, and his Xiphian cohort bring the fight to more Peleps officers, driving directly into the heart of their command center. Dusk immediately destroys two Dragonblooded Officers in a matter of moments. Kurgen, meanwhile, as the Bolverker, marches out of Ruby's territory, taking down Peleps forces by the dozens as battlegroup after battlegroup falls to his furor.

Ruby directs her own forces from the safety of her territory, only coming out when it is threatened by fire. She helps Kurgen to navigate his own forces back to further defend the territory while she goes with a group of her own to help put out fires and keep her territory safe.

Topside, Dusk, finally, engages with the main general of the Peleps forces in Wu'jian. After a devastating battle, an already-bloodied and battered Dusk still manages to attain the upper hand. Before she can strike the killing blow, however, an Air Aspect Dragonblooded swoops in, taking their general and whisking her away to safety. All the same, the horns of retreat sound, and Peleps forces begin to mobilize back to their ships as the invasion force is, at least for now, successfully driven away.