Posts
Player Characters:
Shen Chun
Little Bai
Bao Yang
Chao Feng
Min
Sects:
The Righteous Outlaws
Calamity Star
Ou Jinghzhu
Tea Master Houzhou
Stone Palace Sect (Also called Golden Way)
A gambling hall and criminal network in Yun Hu. Currently under control of party, with Weeping Lotus managing it. They've absorbed many other sects into this organization including Crocodile Sect, Blades of the Weeping Lotus, Temple of the Jade Mercies, Relentless Corpse Sect and more.
Members:
Bao Yang (Chief)
Shen Chun (Second Chief)
Weeping Lotus (Right Vanguard)
Feng (Accountant)
Gu (Head Chef)
Little Bai
Min
Dancing Scorpions
Criminal network in Yun Hu
Relentless Corpse Sect
Da Mei Mei
Temple of the Jade Mercies (see Stone Palace)
Abbot Wei Zhao
Abbess Bao-Yu
Yao Tu-On
Yao Chun
Yao Ba
Southern Hill Sect
Yellow Mantis
White Chysanthemum
Green Mantis (Dead but important)
Twin-Fisted Eagle Sect
Twin Fisted Eagle
Jade Fist
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
SESSION
The Party had just killed Treasury Inspector Qu in his courtyard. They also killed a young student of his and an accountant. Little Bai ducked into the studio where Chao was searching and he found the Manual of Qu (which he took). Chao set fire to the studio. 
Everyone except Chao fled as soldiers approached and formed a corridor of men. A sedan chair approached and dropped before the soldiers. A magistrate exited the sedan and walked through the corridor of men into the courtyard. He spoke: "Great hero, you have killed a corrupt and scheming official. I wish to bestow titular office upon you and express our gratitude".
Chao, who was hiding inside the studio and record office, fired a hail of storming arrows, wounding everyone in the courtyard.
He heard the feint cry of the magistrate. "I only sought to give you praise, why have you attacked?"
Chao released another hail of arrows, killing everyone in the courtyard. He then examined one of the soldiers and noted his facial features for later copying. He then looked at the magistrate and took his medallion, which said "City Magistrate Dao Qi." From there he went to the edge of town to render a mask in the image of the man's face.
Min followed him and brought him back to stone palace.
When Shen Chun reached Stone Palace, Feng the Accountant approached and said "There is a man in the audience hall waiting to see you, he seems like a powerful martial hero".
Shen Chun expressed displeasure at this but Feng said the man had threatened him and he feared he wouldn't fair well against him. So he sent him to the audience hall to make time to time to warn Shen Chun and Bao Yang. He suggested caution.
Shen Chun took men with him and greeted the man. The visitor was there with ten women dressed in pink robes and he carried two heavy maces at his side. He said his name was Flower-Handed Snake and he'd come to find his brother, Blue-Handed Snake after hearing he was last seen at Stone Palace.
Shen Chun explained that Blue-Handed Snake was a follower of one of their former members, someone who had died some time ago (this was Chao who had spread rumors of his own death and taken an assumed name: Wen**). Flower-Handed Snake was not impressed by this explanation and said he would return in a day for more information.
Throughout the conversation Flower-Handed Snake was informal, occasionally rude and never showed any formal respect to Shen Chun. This made Shen Chun suspect he was a powerful master and to be dealt with cautiously.
In the kitchen, Little Bai read through the manual of Qu and saw that it had some pressure point techniques in it. He asked Chef Gu to make him a roast duck, then used it to practice pressure techniques on. When this didn't work he ate the duck and gave the manual to Shen Chun.
That evening, Little Bai, bored with the kitchen staff, went out into the city to look for people to fight. He eventually came upon a group of drunken men in nice robes stumbling from a wineshop.
"Do you know how to fight?" He asked.
One of the men crouched low and flamboyantly spread his hands "Yes, I know how to fight!"
"Good, my name is Little Bai and I want to fight someone" Little Bai said then stabbed the man in his belly. He could easily have killed the man with the attack but decided to make a less lethal strike.
The man fell to the ground. "I was joking you fool!"
His companions shouted "You have wounded the great Scholar Shen!".
Little Bai said, "well I don't know what a joke is but thanks for the great fight. I will see you later." Then he left and heard Scholar Shen Screaming something.
Shen Chun went to speak with Master Xiao, who had requested a conversation. Master Xiao informed him that the magistrate killed by Chao at the residence of Treasury Inspector Qu, was an official he had corrupted and relied upon. Further he said that the magistrate was there to help smooth over the death of Treasury Inspector Qu for them. He wasn't pointing fingers but felt they needed to plan accordingly because the Empire would soon be sending a replacement and someone, probably a very powerful and well-resourced someone, to investigate the death of a city magistrate.
That night Shen Chun was awakened in the middle of the night to sight of Yusheng, the Yen-Li Priest, trying to strangle him. They had placed Yusheng in a locked chamber when they learned he was cursed by a Golden Raksha medallion. Now he was somehow before Shen Chun trying to kill him.
Shen Chun fled and Yusheng did not pursue. He heard a scream from Bao Yang's room. Going there he found Bao Yang in a pallid state with a dark ring around his neck. He looked very weak. "Go kill Yusheng" he screamed.
Yusheng called Min since she had knowledge of these matters and asked her what to do. They weighed their options. They decided against killing him and burying him in a pit with the talisman and instead settled on letting him leave Stone Palace so he could travel far away.
The next day Shen Chun went to Yusheng's chamber and brought him out. Yusheng confirmed he had had dreams of attacking people. They decided he was somehow traveling in his sleep due to the talisman and said he should travel far away from Li Fan. He wanted to be merciful and show his thanks for Yusheng's good service. For his part, Yusheng was grateful for the mercy, as he understood the gravity of the situation. He said he would go to the Silk Tavern and continue to research the matter. That Shen Chun could go there and kill him if the attacks continued. He then departed.
Flower-Handed Snake returned and met with Chao at the entrance of Stone Palace Sect, who explained that Blue-Handed Snake had gone in search of the Immortal Killing Sword. Flower-Handed Snake was displeased. Little Bai wandered up to them and peppered Flower-Handed Snake with questions seemingly interested in learning from him. Flower-Handed Snake sent him away and he grumbled that he wouldn't make a good master anyways.
Flower-Handed Snake grasped at Little Bai saying "How dare you say this to me."
Little Bai said "Well you have a giant mace and that isn't a very good weapon. Everyone knows the jian is the best weapon in the martial world. I don't want to learn from you.
Flower-Handed Snake insisted that his maces could strike a man with enough force to send them any distance he desired. Then he shook his head in disgust and turned to Chao "I will be back in twelve days, have more information on my brother by that time." As Flower-Handed Snake walked away, Chao said he would make finding Blue-Handed Snake his top priority.
Little Bai walked around town and noticed everyone calling him Cruel Deceitful Little Bai. They also seemed afraid of him. He asked what deceitful meant and a frightened resident said it meant he was incredibly smart and intelligent.
"I like that" said Little Bai. He then went to search for Scholar Shen. He found him in a tavern. Surrounded by his men, Scholar Shen reprimanded Little Bai and said he was going to defame him in an epic romance he was working on. It was clear he was deeply angered and despised the young hero.
"Great," said Little Bai. "Can you do me a favor since you are a scholar. Can you make me posters telling people I want someone to fight?"
Scholar Shen's demeanor softened and he said "Why of course. In fact, I will not charge you a spade for the service. This is entirely my pleasure. But let's make sure we phrase this correctly so you get truly worthy opponents."
"Yes, that would be excellent, I'll be back in a few hours for them"
When Little Bai had returned, Scholar Shen produced a number of posters with a quickly drawn, but skillfully rendered likeness of Little Bai, showing him ripping a baby in half. The poster read "Cruel Deceitful Little Bai will kill a baby every day until a great hero comes and stops him."
Little Bai was pleased and spread the posters around the city.
Around this time, Min had gone to a book shop looking for Yen-Li ritual manuals. She found a book that contained Drawing Out the Demons and Forceful Opening. She purchased it and the proprietor told her their was a master in town recently. She asked who and he said it was Flower-Handed Snake.
Min asked what he knew of Flower Handed Snake and he said only that he loved pretty women and was terrified of his wife.
Leaving, Min noticed posters of Little Bai all around town. She was quite concerned and began gathering them. She then asked people who the artist was. They told her it was Scholar Shen.
Min, who was acquainted with these things, knew that Scholar Shen was the writer of the Erotic Chamber of the Hidden Chrysanthemum, the Romance of the Banyan Heroes and a number of commentaries on Dehuan virtues. She also knew he frequented the Sword and Wine tavern, so went to confront him.
He was visibly frightened of her when she arrived. She insisted that he make posters that wouldn't attract powerful heroes to kill him, and would ensure he received only fair competition. He explained that Little Bai had stabbed him in the stomach for no reason. She insisted that he was young and didn't know any better. Scholar Shen promised to make new posters, but said it would be at least two days.
Min continued to take down posters then found Little Bai and brought him back to the tavern where they dined on a spicy meal Chef Gu prepared for them.
A swordsman arrived, calling himself Restless Sword. He was dressed in blue and wore a conical hat. He said he was there to bring the baby killer to justice.
Little Bai said he would be happy to fight Restless Sword but Min intervened and told Restless Sword the poster was fraudulent, that Little Bai meant no harm and was just looking for a fair fight. Restless Sword agreed to fight fair then and said he wanted to kill the man who made the poster (which Min talked him out of).
Little Bai and Restless Sword clashed. Despite Restless Sword clearly having more experience and internal strength, he was handily defeated by Little Bai. This both impressed and embarrassed him. Little Bai asked if he could learn from him, but Restless Sword said he wasn't sure, since if he taught Little Bai any moves, it would only put him at a greater disadvantage the next time they dueled.
Restless Sword asked who Little Bai's master was. He simply said his master was 'master'.
Seeing that line of discussion went no where, Restless Sword suggested that Little Bai go with him on his next job. He was protecting a big shipment of jade traveling from the Banyan to the empire and after losing so badly he feared he might need more help than he initially thought.
Little Bai said he could not, but Restless Sword said he would stop by in the future.
In the meantime, Chao had travelled south to East Gate. He had sent word to Fearless Cat that he wanted to arrange a meeting to discuss the whereabouts of her son. He had done so by masquerading as Hidden Arrow and going to a steamed bun vendor. East Gate was a military outpost and settlement. He went to The Ox Plow and waited for Fearless Cat to arrive. Days later he had a private meeting in a dining hall with a man dressed in black.
Chao continued to masquerade as Hidden Arrow, but the agent said he knew Hidden Arrow was dead. He said he knew a number of other things about Chao and that he shouldn't continue deceiving them. As the conversation turned hostile, the sounds of flutes filled the air and leather shadow puppets crawled along the walls of the partitioned dining area. They attacked Chao's shadow, causing both his arms to fall useless to his side, paralyzed. He ran from the chamber as they continued to attack. One nearly struck his leg, but he dodged and used Stealth of the Spider Demon to flee to the roof tops.
This is where the session ended.
**For clarity I've retained the use of Chao when referring to this character.
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