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CHARACTERS
Zhaofeng Yu: A junior disciple of Mount Zun Sect.
Wandering Owl: An initiate into Mount Zun Sect.
Feng Yaochun (Hardened Bull): An artisan who joined Mount Zun Sect.
Shui: An initiate into Mount Zun Sect who wields the meteor hammer.
Cheng Gao (NPC): Claims to be the reincarnation of the Heavenly King.
SESSION
Still at Celestial Heart Sect headquarters from the prior session, the party continued speaking with Abbess Tu Bao. Shui tried to convince her to teach him one of their meteor hammer techniques and she insisted on a fair exchange (where they would reveal one of Zun's techniques in return). However it was discovered the party did not know any techniques that Celestial Heart Sect needed. So they put the matter on hold.
In the mean time, Cheng Gao, the monk they had saved from the demons at Plum Tree Temple, revealed his secret to the party: he was the reincarnation of the Heavenly King and was instructed by Hen-Shi to re-unite with the Earthly queen so they could take Dhamma without shedding a single drop of blood and rule jointly. Shui was skeptical of the man's claim but Zhaofeng Yu thought it might be true.
Later, after Abbess Tu Bao learned of the revelation, she told Shui she would teach him a technique if he agreed to help the monk find the Earthly Queen. She promised to teach him one before he left, and a better technique upon his return.
Zhaofeng Yu preyed to his ancestors for guidance and received a vision of the northern face of Mount Wuxing, and sensed it was the Tomb of the Earthly Queen. He then asked Celestial Heart Sect if they had any disciples who were knowledgable of such environments and they introduced him to Wu Dao who was very unskilled in martial arts but learned and experienced on the subject of tombs and other underground environments.
Wu Dao told him that the Tomb of the Earthly Queen was part of a pair: the Tombs of the Earthly Queen and the Heavenly King. According to legend, the Queen's tomb was free from traps but difficult to navigate and unnaturally cold. The Tomb of the Heavenly King was supposedly heavily trapped and contained the greatest treasure the king possessed. Wu Dao had heard that there was a map to the King's tomb, instructing one how to navigate the traps safely, located at the Tomb of the Earthly Queen.
Cheng Gao, the monk who believed he was the reincarnation of the Heavenly King, felt that the Tomb of the Earthly Queen was a nice starting point, so the group set out almost immediately after Shui learned a technique from Abbess Tu Bao.
They decided to split up, Shui would go directly to the tomb with Wu Dao; while Zhaofeng, Cheng Gao and Wandering Owl would go to Zun Shan temple and request guidance from their sect leader on the matter.
Both reached the destinations uneventfully. At Zun Shan, Supreme Immortal Gaozi was somewhat irked to be disturbed over such a trivial matter but told them he could assign other disciples to investigating the Lord Frog and Supreme Judge Yu situation, leaving them free to focus on helping the monk.
The party rejoined at the entrance to the Tomb of the Heavenly Queen. Zhaofeng had Mu and Gor (his enchanted Toad Demon disciples) stay at the entrance of the tomb while the party went in to investigate.
Inside they found a large hexagonal chamber with many passageways leading from it (at least five different halls). In the center was a grate that had been bashed inward with blood caked to the metal. Inside the grate was a deep cylindrical chamber about 40 feet wide and 70 feet deep. Wandering Owl went inside and discovered the severed hand of a Yaksha demon on the ground, amid a fatty slime. They found a trail of blood leading down one of the passageways and followed it, where they found a severed Yaksha leg (which they believed belonged to the same creature).
Eventually they came to a room where Wu Dao sprung a spinning blade trap. It nearly cut him in two, but Wandering Own used her Weapon Stride technique to leap up and take him to safely (narrowly missing being sliced herself). Shui took his meteor hammer and destroyed the blade trap. As he did so, Zhaofeng spotted a Yaksha peering at them from a distant tunnel. Once he detected it, the creature fled. The party gave pursuit, eventually coming to a chamber with a floor of ice or Jade. Imbedded 2 feet deep was a sword, which Zhaofeng recognized as the Ice Sword of the Zun. He began digging it up with a pick and when it was unearthed, the blade disappeared in a swirl of energy, eventually landing on Wandering Owl's finger where it formed into a ring. The group believed it must have chosen her due to a connection with the sword's spirit from a previous life.
The cold was becoming intense and starting to wear on Cheng Gao. They came upon an impaled Zun Tribesmen in a hall (speared by a shaft that crossed the tunnel). He had a medallion and a very fine fur cloak (which they put on Cheng Gao to ward off the cold.
As they came to a T section in the tomb, they saw a great round beast to their right blocking the northern passage. To the south it was clear. The creature hovered above the ground and was a mass of eyes, beaks and slimy skin.
Zhaofeng, Shui and Wandering Owl began to engage it, whittling at it slowly with their strikes. Chen Gao and Wu Dao fled down the southern passage. Shui was able to call Wu Dao back so he was closer to them, but Chen Gao ran for his life in an animated state of terror. They heard him scream and his voice became very distant.
Wandering Owl decided to chase after him. Zhaofeng and Shui remained behind to contend with the beak-eyed demon. It unleashed a flow of acidic spray from its beaks, burning Shui. Shui then used Blast of the Dragon to send it flying down the passage.
As they fought, a square of light appeared on the wall beside them. Inside they could see a shadowy figure. A chorus of voices announced "Give Plum Tree Temple what belongs to us!".
Zhaofeng refused telling it to give up. The voices resumed saying they would reclaim the monk momentarily.
Wandering Owl found the chamber of the Earthly Queen. A trap door was open on the floor before her stone coffin. It appeared that Cheng Gao had fallen through it. She flew down and followed a slide like tunnel, which lead to a wooden cage suspended over the side of the mountain (carefully avoiding an obvious trap along the way). Peering out she saw four Yaksha Demons escaping up the side of the cliff with Cheng Gao.
Wandering Owl leapt to the air and flew toward them, grabbing the monk and returning to the tunnel. When she reached the chamber of the Earthly Queen, she slid the stone coffin over the trap door to block the Yaksha's. Cheng Gao opened the lid and removed a piece a of paper telling Wandering Owl it was a map to the Tomb of the Heavenly King.
The party rejoined, where Shui was sending the beast back once again with Blast of the Dragon. As the Plum Tree voices got louder, they decided to flee. Shui used Blast of the Dragon again, this time on the door of energy. To his surprise it rebounded upon him, sending him crashing 80 feet back into wall, hurting him pretty badly.
They continued to flee, running through the halls with Zhaofeng carrying Wu Dao and Wandering Owl carrying Cheng Gao. As they left, Shui used Strength of One-Hundred Oxen and tried to collapse a section of the tomb. He succeeded more than expected (scoring multiple 10s) and nearly half the complex collapsed.
Outside they found the toad demons eating a Yaksha they had just roasted over some flame. From there they set out for the place marked on their new map: The Tomb of the Heavenly King.
Zhaofeng was skeptical of the map's authenticity, given that according to the legends, the Tomb of the Earthly Queen was free from traps yet they had encountered more than one.
At the tomb, the found five entrances and followed a path marked out on their map. Almost immediately they triggered a trap that unleashed streams of acid, burning Wu Dao. Shui tried to revive him and nearly succeeded, but he was too badly burned and died shortly after.
When they hit another trap, they decided the map was a forgery and took different paths. Eventually, after much exploration, they came to the chamber of the Heavenly King and found the following inscription:
The Heavenly King’s greatest treasure!The sword is a tool
Needing wisdomGood men raise their swordsLike lamps at nightWhen the darkness fadesPut out your lamps
They pondered the text's meaning, and decided to quite literally extinguish their lamps. This revealed narrow shafts of light shining from a circular panel on the ceiling to the ground. Wandering Owl opened the panel and went into a chamber where a radiant stalactite of Jade filled the area with light. The group ascended after her and when they struck the stone, images began flickering on its surface. They were unclear but it seemed to be showing the burial of the Heavenly King, then the body of the Earthly Queen, possibly still alive, being taken by sorcerers from another land. They eventually entombed her in a land filled with jungle and mesa-top cities (which Zhaofeng recognized as likely being Naqan).
This is where the session ended.
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