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Note: I am running two campaigns in the same setting and treating them as occurring in different realities with some vague similarities. Characters in one may appear in the other, but there are no direct causal effects from one campaign to the next. Partly this is to playtest, but this is also partly due to the multi-dimensional aspect of the universe I run all my games in. It would theoretically be possible for the party from the Blood of the Demon Moon cult campaign to dimension travel to the Secret of Je Valley Campaign, in which case direct interactions could occur (and they could even meet their counterparts in the alternate dimension).
Player Characters
Mofeng: A young wandering Hero who is frequently at odds with his traveling companion Zhang Wan
Zhang Wan (Bone Breaker): An unpredictable and violent martial expert who is the brother of Zhang San. Third chief of Qui Pan Bandits
Zhang San: A wandering hero and sister of Zhang Wan, more calm than her brother
Chen: A poisoner and healer known for his lazy ways.
Key NPCs
Jade Priestess: Bone Breaker's Sifu and former member of the Demon Moon Cult
Jade Butterfly: San's Sifu
Reckless Storm: A crazed and unpredictable master who gained control of the Demon Moon Cult
Abbot Firebrand: A violent but gregarious ally of the PCs
General Dee: An important military commander in Hu Qin who pays Bone Breaker for services
Iron Spear Tip: A magic weapon with a mind of its own, the bride of Zhang Kang.
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| Jade Butterfly, San's Sifu |
The session resumed when the party was planning to attack Mystic Sword Temple. Bone Breaker requested reinforcements from Qui Pan, but received only fifty men. They went ahead with their attack and were victorious. The Flying Phantoms killed Lady White Blade and the party recovered manuals containing Mystic Sword Sect techniques. They gave Lady White Blade's head to Lady Plum Blossom.
After taking the temple they took a boat to Hu Qin and presented the body of Lady White Blade to General Dee. On the way Bone Breaker performed a Ritual to the Demon Emperor under the guidance of Jade Priestess. He offered Lady White Blade as a sacrifice and thousands of spades. He asked for transformative powers and was afflicted with a terrible pain that depleted his body of strength. When he awoke he found he was tired and weaker then before (a feeling that did not dissipate over time). Jade Priestess explained that the Demon Emperor gives gifts but at a heavy price.
When they reached Hu Qin, they met once again with General Dee. He still wanted the Wall Scroll of Hua. They negotiated money once again and after an agreement was reached the party went west back to Li Fan. They returned to the Ogre Gate Inn and discovered that Iron Cub was missing. They were told he had gone to Zhainan to find the Bone Breaking stick.
Chen remained at the Inn and headed south to The Heavenly Palace Sect after hearing a rumor that they could grant wishes in exchange for a price. There he met the leader, Qinwen Master of the Seven Talismans, in a jade hall and asked them to make the land near the inn fertile. Qinwen told him it could be done but there would be a heavy cost, one he could not reveal until the magic had been performed. Chen asked if he could send another person to make the request and Qinwen said he could. After thinking for a moment, Chen decided to return to the inn and talk with San and Bone Breaker before making a final decision.
Bone Breaker went north with San, Jade Priestess, Spear Tip and Abbott Firebrand. He took the Flying Phantoms with him but sent a squad to assassinate Qui Pan and his second Chief, Zhen Xun. When they arrived at Qui Pan Fortress in Dragon Tail Mountain, the place was in chaos. A subordinate named Chang greeted Bone Breaker (who was their 3rd Chief) informing them the first chief had been assassinated and the second chief had fled under pursuit from masked assailants. Because the party arrived with a group of Flying Phantoms, and the chiefs were attacked by Flying Phantoms (who dress very distinctly) the bandits quickly connected the attack with Bone Breaker. Divisions arose in the ranks. Chang defended Bone Breaker while a group of about 100 bandits called for a him to be put on trial. A battle broke out, but Chang's forces were larger and killed all the dissenters. After the battle they acknowledged Bone Breaker as First Chief. The party then went after second chief Zhen Xun. They found her cornered in a ravine where she promised to remain loyal. Bone Breaker expressed doubts and demanded proof that she wouldn't betray him. She immediately cut her own arm off at the elbow and kowtowed before collapsing. Bone Breaker allowed her to retain her position and had the men bring her to the fortress to recover.
In Zhainan they found a gate with the words "They are to blame. Avenge me with this." etched onto its surface. The place seemed abandoned. They also found a beggar who claimed to be former resident of the village. He told the party that the villagers left when a prince gave them titles and wealth. He also claimed that Iron Cub had passed through looking for the Bone Breaking stick and said he told him to go to White Cloud Mountain.
They went to White Cloud Mountain, a sudden peak in the yellow forest. Climbing it they found it became impossibly cold and snowy given its height and the surrounding climate. They made their way to a valley in the mountain and crossed a frozen lake where they seemed to be attacked by Reckless Storm. However he vanished with a single sword stroke.
They made their way to a series of halls scattered on the rim of the lake edge. These were the residence of Master Hu Gao. They found Iron Cub in the Hall of Perpetual servitude, where he informed them he had been captured by Hu Gao and forced into service under the threat of death. He had been afraid to flee because Hu Gao was unlike any master he'd seen before. There were other servants here as well. The party demanded they show them where the Bone Breaking stick could be found. One of the servants took them to the Hall of Beauty, and showed them a secret passage way behind a cabinet.
Bone Breaker threw the servants down the passage and demanded he lead the way, but as soon as his body crossed the threshold, a green energy assailed the man and he screamed in pain. He crawled out of the passage looking ten or twenty years older with a strange symbol glowing on his forehead. "Now the master will now I disobeyed!" the man screamed.
San went to the Hall of Supreme Wisdom while the rest of the party took the passage There she examined Master Gao's library and found an account of his life in which she learned Master Gao was married to another martial hero named Zhou Hua. They were highly regarded in Li Fan because they remained in the area long after many other martial heroes and sects had fled south to evade the emperor. One day, when Master Gao returned from a meeting with Nature Loving Monk Sect in Hai'an to discover his wife's body in the village of Zhainan. She clutched a painted wall scroll in one hand and had etched the following words onto the village gate: They are to blame. Avenge me with this.
Master Gao learned later that the wall scroll had magical properties and contained a pocket realm inhabited by spirits. He found a way to go inside the scroll realm and there he placed his wife's body in a tomb. His research led him to believe if he sacrificed the hearts of the villagers who had killed his wife to the scroll, she could be resurrected. However the villagers who had betrayed his wife had gone into hiding. Over the last ten years he had spent all his energy tracking them down (usually finding them living lives of wealth and luxury).
Bone Breaker and the rest of the party headed down the passage. They found two chambers. In one the Bone Breaking stick, in another there were 14 ice statues of a sword maiden. Bone Breaker sent Spear Tip beyond the statues to the next room, where she found a wall scroll. He ordered to to take it, but the moment she brought it to him the statues animated and attacked. Spear Tip fled with the scroll into the mountain valley and the statues chased her. Bone Breaker instructed her to march them off a cliff and she succeeded, returning to him with the scroll.
The party decided to burn down the halls. They also killed the remaining servants and fled as quickly as they could to Hu Qin. There they negotiated with General Dee for more money and gave him the Wall Scroll. He was pleased but they were concerned that Master Gao would come after them. Dee said they should ally with Prince Yuan of Li Fan and they should seek out the Heaven Palace Sect as well.
Over dinner the general discussed matters pertaining to the emperor and the players expressed their desire to work with the Glorious Emperor to help restore the Demon Emperor.
This is where the session ended.
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