Exalted Update

So... to catch up:
The Circle has gone on to Autochthon and had to convince the local leadership they came to help. There was a fight with a couple corrupted/insane alchemical alts and meetings with multiple levels of the "Tripartate" governing bodies.
This diplomacy culminated with a meeting with Autochthon himself (by way of his temporarily possessing Symphony). He was most displeased with the exalts in general, his memory going back easily to a time when they turned on his creations/people after they had helped in the Primordial War. But with some nice rolling, he was convinced of the Circle's sincerity and allowed them to remain and help. (Allowed to be of assistance - so nice, ain't he?)
The Circle then proceeding to the most imperiled of the nations, setting off the spell Alexandra learned to cleanse the plague and making plans to confront the First and Forsaken Lion's forces.
It should be noted that information was sorely lacking for the fight. Troop strengths may have been roughly known, but there was no idea how much exalt-level defense the death lord might have and most of the PCs still knew next to nothing about what the Lion could actually do himself.
Kashim almost single-handedly cleaved through the rank and file. Then the group was confronted by a pair of death knights. They didn't last too long, being highly outnumbered and limited in essence, though one got off a social attack charm of some sort that caused Alexi to limit break. On thing I hate about limit breaks is that they can happen (due to social attacks or other mental influence) at inappropriate times. The break for "compassionate martyrdom" usually involves throwing yourself in front of someone who is suffering, but if there's no such person, what do you do?
Which brings us to last night's confrontation with the First and Forsaken Lion himself.

He beat everyone on the initiative roll. Soundly. He conjures up a war strider around him and goes on the offensive. So, on Tick 0, he attacks at Vee and Kashim. Naga pulls his trick of intercepting blows, only he fails to negate it completely, loses an arm, and is dropping into Dying health levels. On Tick 5, the Lion acts again, this time carving up Kashim, "slicing off" his exalted shard and stabbing him dead with his soul-devouring sword.
Then on Tick 6, the Circle gets to act. Alexi pulls her distraction charm, delaying the Lion's next action, because that's really her most effective trick against an opponent like that. Nightlily goes after the spirits chained to the Lion's armor, killing 7 out of 8. Selina buffed. Symphony knocked the Lion's sword out of his grasp - possibly the best move thusfar. Tamara attacked with Memory, but the counterattack with an improvised weapon dropped her into Dying. Kujath whipped out his Swiss Army Sword of Plot (okay, I never can remember its real name) and went to town. The Lion's war strider and armor were shredded, though he wasn't left defenseless.
After that... I lost track a little. Symphony went to help Tamara. Nightlily ineffectively attacked the chain binding the last spirit to the Lion's armor fragments. Alexi buffed in anticipation of attacking and tried to block access to the sword. Selina went to town and apparently burned through the last of the Lion's defenses, striking a killing blow (I missed the last part, having turned in for the night).

The deathblow scene looks like it's waiting until next session (Thursday, I hope). As rules are reviewed, the kill count is climbing. It seems Tamara was beyond Symphony's ability to stabilize, so she's probably dead. And Naga might have been savable under optimal conditions, but at the time we didn't realize he was going to die and we can't really retcon him into having been saved without addressing other issues. If it had been clear that he would die without help, Alexi could have saved him, but if I had done it in the wrong order, someone else might have died instead. Bleh.

So... bloody regardless. It looks like Kashim, Naga, and Tamara are all fatalities here. And how much of a victory it is remains to be seen. The dust won't settle 'til next session, then we'll have to see what happens. Playing a compassion-heavy leader who just lost three of her team, though... ick. Doesn't sound like fun.