ONE SWORD TO DIVIDE THEM ALL

In a recent Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate session we split the group in two temporarily, with one half going to deal with a Snake Demon and the other heading south to take care of some personal business. The team who went south crossed paths with Lady White Blade, leader of Mystic Sword Sect. She had abducted the brother of Zhi Zhu (a player character) and burned him in an incident described HERE. In rage, Zhi Zhu led the party to Mystic Sword Tempe to rescue her brother. Once they got there she took the opportunity to steal Lady White Blade's Sword, The Wind Saber of Sunan. This is a magical weapon that carries a lot of prestige in the martial world. The person who has the sword and the Phoenix Crown of Bao, according to custom, becomes master of the Wulin. 

A lot of other things happened that session but the key event was an internal squabble in the party over the sword within days of taking it. It occurred when Xi Kang asked to borrow the weapon so he could kill Mr. Red Claw (the notorious leader of Kang's gang). Though he did promise to return it to Zhi Zhu, when he had finished killing his master he told her he could not relinquish it to her because she was the only person who could reclaim the Phoenix Crown (the details of this arrangement are explained HERE). 

Things got a bit intense during the standoff between the characters. There were three participants: Rong, Zhi Zhu and Kang. Ultimately Rong sided with Kang and a fight ensued (with Zhi Zhu holding her own but taking some tough hits from Rong's Storming Daggers. 

I was intrigued because this was a totally unexpected development. It made sense from all the characters' points of view, I just hadn't seen it coming (nor had I anticipated them stealing the sword in the first place). 

This was also curious because the previous campaign (which serves as the backdrop for this one) was all about a conflict over the sword. In this one, the martial world had kind of settled into a calm, and the party placing the Phoenix Crown at Red Mountain Villa helped reinforce that calm. 

One-Armed Fire Demon loses The Wind Saber 

When the rest of the party meets up, we will have to see how they deal with it. 

One of the interesting things about this weapon is it isn't really that powerful. It is nice sword and has a couple of potent abilities, but by fantasy RPG standards it is a fairly tame item. Most of its value comes from its place in the setting and tradition associated with it. 

This has prompted some thoughts on part conflict in the Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate setting (which I will probably post in the next day or so).