I started running this campaign to playtest the material in our Li Fan book, and it kind of grew from there. I am not 100% sure what session we are up to at this point, so we will just call this session six for now.
In their first outing the party went to Yao Gong Palace, home to Pure Phoenix Sect. They had recovered a manual that their Sifu, Bone Breaker, desired and also recruited some of the nuns from Pure Phoenix into their own sect.
After their return from Yao Gong Palace (which took about 3-4 sessions), they were sent to participate in a tournament being hosted by White Haired Crocodile, chief of Crocodile Sect. He promised the winner, the Manual of the Jade Phoenix, an object people thought vanished long ago. They went to the tournament and managed to defeat the competition, taking the prize. On their way back they were hounded by other sects for the manual.
This session, they had just returned and appeared before Bone Breaker and his wife, Fearless Cat. Two members of the party had a dispute during the competition and spoke their grievances to the sect leaders. They were both punished.
Bao Yang asked if he could be given a special weapon as a reward and Bone Breaker agreed. He told him of a smith in Hu Qin named Bu Donglai. He gave Bao Yang a note for 1 Million spades and told him to bring it to the Yen-Li Bank in the capital then purchase what he needed from the smith.
The party set out over the mountains. As they came through a vale, they were herded by bandits into an ambush. The leader, Weeping Lotus, demanded they give him the 1 million spade note. Bao Yang challenged him to a one-on-one fight (a tactic that has worked well for him in the past) and the man, who seemed pleased by the suggestion, agreed. They would fight for the note, and that would settle the matter. No other blood needed to be shed.
Weeping Lotus fought with a Guan Dao, and used Biting Blade, to spear Bao Yang. However Bao Yang had just masters a similar, but more powerful technique and used it to impale Weeping Lotus. He stopped short of killing him but threatened to behead their chief if the bandits didn't reveal who told them about the note.
One of the bandits pointed at one of their nun disciples and said she had informed them. This was quickly determined to be a lie. Eventually they discovered that Fearless Cat was the source. They returned to Bone Kingdom to inform Bone Breaker about the news, bringing Weeping Lotus with them as a witness. He tried to bribe them with 4 million spades to free him, but the party refused. They ultimately promised to help secure his freedom if he gave them 4 Million spades, but only after he confessed to Bone Breaker.
Bone Breaker listened when they returned and said no one was to take any action against his wife, but they should return Weeping Lotus, where he would continue to work with Fearless Cat but report everything back to him. They poisoned Weeping Lotus and made him reliant on an antidote to secure his loyalty.
They departed once again and reached Yu Zhing (the capital of Hu Qin). Upon arrival they secured the four million spades and then went to speak with Bu Donglai. He said he would make the items they requested but would only do so in exchange for favors.
First he wanted them to retrieve his Harmonious Blade. His disciple had been carrying it through the mountain pass and was killed by bandits. He wanted it back.
Second they would kill White Haired Crocodile. They asked why and he told them that he had killed Donglai's niece.
They asked Weeping Lotus if his men had killed Donglai's disciple. He said they had, but that the weapon was now with the Jade Temple. They often worked with the Jade Temple, selling them precious artifacts. However at the prospect of killing the head Abbot, Weeping Lotus said he had been waiting for such an opportunity for many years. He had several hundred men he could use to help them fend off the temple monks and nuns (of which there were 300). But the Abbot and his subordinates were very powerful, according to Weeping Lotus. They might need help.
Bao Yang asked if there were any martial heroes in Yu Zhing. He said that Golden Roc had arrived shortly after the emperor died and taken up residence. Also he heard a rumor that Reckless Storm was at the Towering Chrysanthemum.
Bao Yang went to speak with Reckless Storm and found it only took wine and talk of killing an Abbot to recruit him. Reckless Storm announced his intentions to kill Grand Abbot Lao, loudly in the restaurant and accompanied Bao Yang to find the rest of his party.
The rest of the party when to Thundering Villa, where they heard Golden Roc was living. They found an old man playing Weiqi. They asked if he would help them take a sword back from Jade Temple. He it sounded like a dull invitation to bloodshed. He was not interested.
They persisted, and eventually found a way to attract his interest. They would bet their bones. If they went to the temple and the situation proved dull and uninteresting to him, one of them would allow him to break their bones. If, on the other hand, he went and found the occasion amusing, he would refrain from breaking their bones and would lend a hand in their efforts to recover the sword.
This is where the session ended.
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