Player Characters:
Shen Chun
Hidden Arrow
Bao Yang
Chao Feng
Wei Ruomei
Sects:
The Righteous Outlaws
Calamity Star
Ou Jinghzhu
Tea Master Houzhou
Crocodile Sect*
Player Characters (See above)
King Iron Beard
Li Sou Chao (Witch of Zhaoze Zhou)
The Roaming Avengers
A group of five brothers who swore loyalty to Hidden Arrow.
The Golden Way
Iron God Meng
Dancing Scorpions
Criminal network in Yun Hu
Relentless Corpse Sect
Relentless Corpse Queen
Da Mei Mei
Temple of the Jade Mercies
Abbot Wei Zhao
Abbess Bao-Yu
Weeping Lotus
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
Stone Palace Sect
A gambling hall and criminal network in Yun Hu
Currently under control of party, with Weeping Lotus managing it
Feng is an important member (the accountant)
The Golden Corpse Alliance
This is a unified group: Relentless Corpse Sect and the Golden Way combined their interests. Relentless Corpse Queen and Iron God Meng are joint chiefs of the sect, and below them are the player characters via Crocodile Sect.
In Hai'an
Shen Chun awoke to find another lover's bao, this one with the words "The Next Life" embroidered upon it.
Bao Yang intended to go south to the River of Swarming Beggars to find some monkeys. He tried to gather people to go with him but in the process learned that Li Sou Chao and Golden Roc were both missing. Instead he took his disciples and physician with him, then headed down the mountains. As they approached the bottom he saw a dead body impaled upon a spear. He summoned the whole sect and they approached.
It was Golden Roc's body. He appeared to have fallen from the mountain side and landed on the spear (which was placed into the earth). It seemed he had tried to slow his fall using Qinggong or internal energy, so his body never hit the ground itself. But he was most certainly dead.
They learned that some guards had seen Golden Roc meandering around the sect headquarters in his evening clothes. Bao Yang decided it was related to the haunting of Shen Chun and told him to take care of things. He then departed with his men to the south in search of monkeys.
Shen Chun summoned Yusheng, a priest they hired to assist in such matters. He asked what could be done about the haunting. Yusheng said he needed more information but if they could obtain a book called the Geography of the Spirit World, he believed he could get to the bottom of things. Chun immediately sent for the book.
In Li Fan
Recently arrived in Yu Hu, Chao, disguised as Bao Yang, spoke with Master Zhao at Stone Palace Gambling Hall. Zhao explained that he wanted to partner with the Golden Corpse Alliance, saying he could offer them a great many resources. As a gift he gave Chao a large fire pearl from the Eastern Archipelagos.
After the meeting, Blue Handed Snake appeared before Chao and groveled on the ground. "Master please forgive me," he said "I have lost the Immortal-Killing Sword".
Chao was displeased and and asked for details. Blue Handed Snake told him that it had actually gone missing back at sect Headquarters before they left to go kill Meng. This displeased Chao even more who commanded Blue Handed Snake to go and find the sword at all costs. Blue Handed Snake left quickly for the mission.
Later Chao's sifu, Supreme Master Tung, arrived at Stone Palace. He took Chao aside and instructed him in a new technique called Thundering Blue Reply. He informed Chao that this was a very specific maneuver, meant to counter-act and attack called Thundering Foot. Chao practiced but did not master it.
Supreme Master Tung told him to gather 2-3 more martial heroes and master the technique within five days. He planned to send him on a crucial mission to kill a terrible foe.
Chao asked for more details and Supreme Master Tung explained that he wanted him to kill his brother, Tung Lu. He told Chao that Tung Lu was a mere farmer and that he would also send two of his other disciples to go under Chao's command.
Chao agreed, and told Supreme Master Tung that he had lost an object called the Immortal-Killing Sword, which he hoped to give to his sifu as a gift.
Supreme Master Tung nodded and said if Chao were to recover the sword and give it to him, he would make Chao his First Chief.
Chao sent a message to Crocodile Sect by pigeon, asking Hidden Arrow, Bao Yang, Shen Chun and Ruomei to join him at Stone Palace Sect for something important.
Hai'an
At Crocodile Sect, Hidden Arrow consolidated his information network. His agents were well positioned in Hai'an (where his reach was strongest), fairly well-placed in Hu Qin, and had marginal reach in Li Fan. In the Empire and the Banyan, he didn't have much of a presence.
Hidden Arrow also spent time researching information on the Ghostly Emperor and discovered a ritual called The Pearl Burning Ritual, that could summon him. However it required a pearl at least a pound in weight. He looked into the matter further and learned that Silken Robe Society was rumored to have such a pearl. He dispatched agents to acquire information on Silken Robes and report back to him.
Meanwhile, Shen Chun instructed five of his sub chiefs to master Biting Grasp of the Invisible Master.
Chun found another Bao, this one saying "Marry me". Yusheng reported back to Chun, saying the ghost in question was a love spirit of some kind and by his account seemed rather powerful. He believed it couldn't be destroyed but it could be contained and surpassed. He would need to work with King Iron Beard to construct a chamber then have the body of Kwan brought back to sect headquarters. He then planned to seal the spirit in the chamber. It might escape but was better than having it run amok and kill people.
Chao's message arrived and the group, sans Bao Yang, left for Li Fan.
Bao Yang continued on his way south. As he walked through the Skinless Forest, he was surrounded by nuns and priests of Perfect Heaven Lineage sect. Two strode forward and said "Bao Yang, we will kill you for our sect brother's today."
It took a moment for Bao Yang to realize what they were talking about, but he recalled killing some members of Perfect Heaven Lineage outside Xuanlu some time ago. He tried to reason with them, and said he didn't want to fight. He appealed to honor, saying he would drop his weapon and surely they wouldn't kill an unarmed man. The nun, looked sternly at the priest and motioned for him to attack anyways.
Bao Yang tried to negotiate a duel, but they refused. However they didn't want to dishonor themselves, so they attacked in groups of two instead of all at once.
The lead priest and nun struck at him with their swords and a melee ensued. Bao Yang eventually incapacitated the nun and then grappled the priest, holding him as a hostage and threatening to kill if the rest of the sect didn't allow him to leave peacefully.
The lower ranked priests and nuns backed away and he fled to Lu Hai. There he stayed at the Golden Duck. In the morning, on his way out, something didn't seem right with the proprietor. He pressed him, and saw a man dressed in green outside. The proprietor told him that he had no choice but to tell the man that Bao Yang was staying at his inn. He said if Bao Yang didn't exit through the front door soon, the man would punish him harshly.
Bao Yang threatened him and demanded to know if there was a back entrance. The proprietor revealed that an underground tunnel existed beneath the inn. Bao Yang smashed his face and knocked him out. Then knocked out the Perfect Heaven Lineage Priest and left through the underground exit.
He reached the River of Swarming Beggars and came upon a group of monkeys. A skilled Monkey Handler he attempted to befriend them. He managed to lure one to the side and it took a liking to him. The others seemed to resent both him and the departing monkey. They kept getting up on their toes and imitating a praying mantis. He combed through the river and found several more groups, eventually acquiring about 6 monkeys. However they were increasingly hostile to him.
He sent his disciples to go find people in the area who knew about the monkeys. Hours later they came back and one of them, Master Ban, was missing an arm. He collapsed and explained that the man in green had attacked and severed his arm with a stick.
Bao Yang decided not to press his luck any further and headed back toward Xuanlu to speak with Temple of the Jade Mercies. There he learned that they had continued difficulty breaking into Hai'an's criminal underground. Apparently the Queen kept having their men arrested despite his agreement with her. He decided to move the temple to Li Fan and found a boat to take him there.
Li Fan
On the last day before his mission, Chao mastered Thundering Blue Reply.
When the party reached Li Fan (all except Bao Yang who was some days behind), they spoke with Chao. He told them that they were going to kill someone for his master. They agreed to help. The two Death Disciples (both with noses missing and faces burned like Chao) arrived as well and they all departed. The Death Disciples knew the way and took them to a homestead several miles northeast of the city.
There they saw Supreme Master Tung painting the homestead from a hill. A farmed plowed fields at the homestead.
Chao strode to the farmer and spoke with him. He told him he was here to kill him and the farmed laughed saying he was tired of killing his brothers disciples.
Combat broke out quickly. The party managed to land some attacks but the man slammed his foot into the ground causing arcs of lightning blue energy to streak toward them along the ground. Chao was able to use his new counter to avoid it, then gripped the energy and tried to hurl it back at the man (which didn't work).
Hidden Arrow unleashed poisoned needles from his fan on the farmer and the farmer once again stomped the ground. By this point, Shen Chun was harmed the most by the blue energy. He hit him with a phoenix spirit disruption technique that filled the farmer's heart with sorrow.
Chao used Storm of Arrows and fired a volley a the farmer. The clearly could have dodged, but nodded toward his brother in the distance and seemed to accept the attack. They lodged into his chest and stumbled back but was still very much in the fight. Ruomei pounced forward with her Swan Taming Strike and delivered several deadly stabs. He was heavily wounded but reveled in the bloodshed. Two small toddlers rushed from the homestead screaming "Daaaa!" and came to the farmer's side. However Shen Chun struck the man with Strike of the Raging Tiger. This filled him with a potent anger and he used Kick of the Golden Elephant on one of the children, causing the child to land somewhere in the distant fields. The other child stomped the ground unleashing a blue energy like lightning against the party. By this point Shen Chun was desperate to avoid such attacks and fled out of range.
With another series of strikes from Ruomei and arrows from Chao, they brought down the farmer.
The other child screamed "You killed my Daaa!" and attacked by exhaling a furious cloud of Qi energy. He missed and Ruomei leapt toward him with another Swan Taming Strike. She succeeded and killed the child.
The fields filled with Supreme Master Tung's laughter and he was beaming with delight. He told Chao to check the homestead for the wife. Searching they could not find her.
Pleased, Supreme Master Tung told Chao to rest for a month. They would meet around that time and discuss many things. Shen Chun approached and asked if he could learn one of Supreme Master Tung's claw techniques without becoming a disciple like Chao. Supreme Master Tung agreed to make an exception and allow him to do so if he killed Kang Xi, the current chief of Bone Breaking Sect. Shen Chun agreed.
Back in town Chao then went and spoke with someone at a local Dak station (a kind of post office). He once again made arrangements with the boss to hold any messages sent to or from Bone Breaking Sect and Qinwen.
This is where the session ended.
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