Thursday, July 27, 2017

DISPOSABLE DISCIPLES SESSIONS 53-57: THE UNRIGHTEOUS DEEDS OF SHEN CHUN AND DA MEI MEI

This is a log for my ongoing Disposable Disciples of Bone Kingdom campaign. You can see the previous session log HERE.  Note that I began recording sessions, so this has allowed me to do more detailed session logs.

Player Characters: 

Shen Chun/Crazed Raksha
Little Bai
Qui
Ong Lao
Min (Feiyan)

Disciples of the Sect: 

Red Eagle (Little Bai)
Mount Dao/Biggest Sister (Little Bai)
Filial Cricket (Little Bai)
Dim-Witted Chen (Shen Chun)

Sects: 

The Righteous Outlaws
Calamity Star
Ou Jinghzhu
Tea Master Houzhou

Stone Palace Sect (Also called Golden Way)

A gambling hall and criminal network in Yun Hu. Currently under control of party, with Weeping Lotus managing it. They've absorbed many other sects into this organization including Crocodile Sect, Blades of the Weeping Lotus, Temple of the Jade Mercies, Relentless Corpse Sect and more. Recently they joined with Relentless Corpse again when Shen Chun arranged a marriage with their leader Da Mei Mei. 

Members:

Shen Chun (King)
Da Mei Mei (Queen)
Weeping Lotus (Right Vanguard)
Silent Dagger
Feng (Accountant)
Gu (Head Chef)
Little Bai
Min
Scholar Shen (a scholar who has been writing a story about Little Bai's life)

Dancing Scorpions
Criminal network in Yun Hu

Relentless Corpse Sect

Da Mei Mei

Temple of the Jade Mercies (see Stone Palace)

Abbot Wei Zhao
Abbess Bao-Yu
Yao Tu-On
Yao Chun
Yao Ba

Southern Hill Sect

Yellow Mantis
White Chysanthemum
Green Mantis (Dead but important)

Twin-Fisted Eagle Sect

Twin Fisted Eagle
Jade Fist

Bone Breaking Sect
Destroyed and taken over by Drunken Hero Kang

Glorious Death Cult

Led by Supreme Master Tung, who says he is a god of death

I am about five sessions behind on session logs as I've been working on the Tournament of Daolu Book (an upcoming adventure for Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate). So this session log will try to bring people up to-date for the last five sessions. I may go over some territory already covered and may also breeze through major developments just so I can get this one up on the blog before I forget major details. 


Following the Battle of Dee, where the party wiped out the forces of Thundering Guan and many martial heroes died, Shen Chun discovered that the Yan were heading to the city to occupy it. Realizing that there were not enough heroes to defend it and that some of the sects in the city were willing to work with the invaders, he withdrew his people to his headquarters. 

They held a council of all the leaders of the martial world they felt could be trusted, including the Five Masters of Dehua and Lady Plum Blossom. Shen Chun proposed unifying the sects to meet the threat. There was some resistance to this idea, and much of it around Shen Chun's reputation for cruelty. 

The Five Masters of Dehua Sect expressed reluctance to work with a man who didn't abide by the key tenets of Dehua. He let them know that he was turning over a new leaf and would accommodate their concerns. However this move only made Lady Plum Blossom reluctant. He reached a compromise, giving both the Five Masters and Lady Plum Blossom special importance in their sect hierarchy. He also promised to commit righteous deeds. 

Ong and Min headed to the Kushen Basin, so that Min could help find a cure for her condition (she had become empty-hearted after receiving a special tattoo from the Holy Killers of Daolu). There they found a master physician. He gave here another tattoo to counteract the previous one. This time it was an image of too opera performers. When the process was complete she found her emotions returned but the sight of performers drove her into a rage. 

Meanwhile, Shen Chun and Qui took men to seek the Temple of Ageless Wisdom. Passing through the mountains they were attacked by more elemental heroes of the Yan. This time a large group who used ice-based attacks. They barely escaped with their lives, and Qui's Northern Dragon leader was killed. When the fight was over they questioned one of the commanders learned that the elemental heroes had crystals that could detect the presence of Qi cultivators. 

There they met with the abbot who brought them before the chained torso of an ancient monk. They were told the monk was effectively immortal, that he could be killed for a price and would go before the Eight Magistrates in the underworld but soon return due to a book keeping error in the Book of Living and Dying. They could ask him a question for a fee, and then send him on his way to see if he could find an answer. 

They asked many questions and tried to learn more about the Yan. Shen Chun also asked how to gain the Mandate of Heaven and was basically told to follow the virtues of propriety, filial piety, altruism, rite, wisdom and justice. Qui asked about the Chariot of Daolu (an object Shen Chun had recently acquired) but he didn't share what he learned. 

On the way back to their headquarters, traveling through the yellow forest, they went to the Temple of Enlightened Disarray to ask for magical artifacts to help them face the Yan. Shen Chun was given a drinking vessel. Qui became obsessed with a fabric necklace the abbot wore and demanded to know more about it. This escalated quickly into combat, but both men backed down eventually. However the seed of conflict was sewn between Shen Chun and Qui in this moment. 

Min and Ong went to Ong's new island and organized the men. Ong devised a scheme for his men to set free prisoners in the empire and Banyan, then brought to the island to become part of his new Gushan Sect. The island had been created through an arrangement with Qinwen the Master of the Seven Talismans. However the place was filled with spirited beasts. They spent much of their time clearing the wilderness of these creatures (and Min captured as many as she could). 

They spent time on the island and also going to Xuanlu to recruit. At one point they found a phoenix demon in deep in the forest of the island. She managed to grab Ong in her beak and break his arm but Min captured the creature. However the phoenix demon had mentioned a sister that had been transformed into powerful artifacts. Once Min had the creature contained, it began flattering her and telling her that she was the true leader of the martial world. 

Eventually prisoners arrived. Among them was a man named Red Crane. There was also an incident involving a foreign ship. Men from another land approached the island by boat and sent soldiers to the shore. There was a great battle replying them, but Ong used his Winds of Gushan to sink their main ships. He learned they came from a series of islands far to the east. 

Qui and Shen Chun arrived separately at the sect headquarters. Qui arrived first and confronted Da Mei Mei, demanding to see the chariot. She refused but he had men with him and threatened her if she didn't allow it. She brought him into their chambers and showed it to him. However on his way out, Qui was blocked by hundreds of disciples. They had a standoff and Da Mei Mei decided to have him killed. 

The fight was brief as Qui used his Swift Stride technique to escape. When Shen Chun returned Da Mei Mei told him about Qui's betrayal and they organized a better system of security for the headquarters. 

Shen Chun then restructured the sect toward the purpose of having his men perform righteous deeds in the world. He made an announcement to his men and then went to Xuanlu so he could perform them as well. 

In Xuanlu he followed rumors of a local boss who owned a workshop but basically tricked his workers into contracts that made them little more than slaves. These were all perfectly legal. So he went with his men to the workshop and told the owner to stop what he was doing. The owner and his men resisted. Blows were exchange but Shen Chun and his men defeated the boss who reluctantly agreed to change the terms of his contracts. 

As they were leaving a constable approached Shen Chun and asked for him to come to the local magistrate's. He was informed that he was under arrest. 

Initially Shen Chun said no, but he eventually agreed. Before magistrate Sima Tong he learned that he and Da Mei Mei were wanted for the murder of minister Wen and his three daughters. They had three witnesses who claimed to have seen them commit this act. 

The magistrate tried to render a guilty verdict, but Shen Chun walked to him knocking out solders that stood in his way and demanded to know who was behind the accusations. None of the magistrate's men stood a chance against Shen Chun and when he was threatened with death, the magistrate said that the House of Paper Shadows was behind the whole thing. 

Shen Chen left and returned to his sect headquarters. There he noticed a number of singing lanterns all over the halls. He asked Da Mei Mei and said she received a large quantity of them with a letter from him saying they were a gift. He began instructing the men to take them down. 

As that was occurring a woman wielding a bian approached the gate and demanded that Shen Chun face her. She accuse him of killing her friends, the family who operated the Burning Chrysanthemum Lantern Shop. Shen Chun asked what made her think he was responsible. She said that she saw him with her own eyes. She had seen both him and Da Mei Mei leaving the Burning Chrysanthemum. He believed her. 

Saying her name was Shao Fei, she demanded a fight. Shen Chun agreed but able to defeat her in a duel without harming her. Da Mei Mei said he should kill her, but he decided to let her go. Da Mei Mei approached Shao Fei with several disciples and said that Shen Chun decided to be merciful but that she should never come to the sect again. 

At this time, Min and Ong were also in Xuanlu conducting business. They had been working with Golden Centipede to secure silk worms and silk makers to bring to their island. Min decided to go to the sect headquarters and introduce a new disciple, Red Crane, to Shen Chun. 

Shen Chun met with Red Crane, who appeared sickly and kept coughing up blood. Min asked if they could make use of his physician and Shen Chun agreed. 

The physician gave Red Crane pills to take regularly which would alleviate the cough. 

On their way out Da Mei Mei approached Min and informed her that they were going to attack the House of Paper Shadows. She wanted Min and Ong to help and told Red Crane he owed them a service anyways after using their physician. 

This is where the session ended. 

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