Saturday, October 1, 2016

STORMS OF THE MARTIAL WORLD SESSION FIVE: THE GLORIOUS DEATH OF MASTER ZHAO

This was the fifth session of a new Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate campaign. See the FOURTH SESSION LOG to read about the previous session. 

Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate is our wuxia RPG. It is available HERE in PDF. It should be out in print in about a month. 


Characters
Peng Ke-Yen: Eccentric daughter of a merchant who goes against conventions and is notable for her white and black streaked hair. From Dashen village. 

Peng Pei: Daughter of two low Yen-Li priests. Also from Dashen village. 

Zhendao: A former slave of a man named Zhao. 

Shin Du: A performer and actor who is a perfect shot with the bow. 

Song Pei: A one-armed physician. 

In Yun Hu, the party prepared for its dawn attack on Master Zhao's residence. They had determined this was an auspicious time to kill the man. 

As preparations were under way, Peng Pei went to Stone Palace, a notorious gambling hall that had bad blood with Master Zhao. She left a note suggesting that it was an auspicious day for Master Zhao to die and that he would be at a serious disadvantage during the dawn. 

When the party was ready they approached Master Zhao's residence early as light was first dawning. They saw the place looked asleep. Only a single guard stood before his residence hall in the courtyard, and the guard was asleep on his feet. The party climbed over the wall and into his audience room. He was asleep in a large wooden chair, remnants of a drunken night of revelry on the floor before him. 

Zhendao stuffed a bit of cloth in Master Zhao's mouth and pointed a dagger at his throat. He then demanded Master Zhao use his seal on papers granting him freedom. Zhao complied, stamping said papers with his seal. They then asked where his library was (as both Ke-Yen and Song Pei were looking for a book rumored to be here). 

He took them across the courtyard to another hall where he had many books in dozens of cabinets and rotating shelves. There they found a trove of manuals. Among them: The Time-Shattering Monkey Manual and Strange Accounts of Hu Qin (the latter being the book they were looking for). As they searched the library, Peng Pei heard a dull thud in courtyard. Looking outside she saw the sleeping guard collapsed on the ground in a pool of blood.  She closed the doors to the library and poked a hole in the oiled paper wall. Watching through the hole she witnessed a swarm of people pour over the walls. Each one was missing a nose and their faces were all burned and disfigured. 

Song Pei recognized this as the Glorious Death Cult. Master Zhao suggested they work together and flee as the cult was quite dangerous. They heard the sounds of sword clangs and the smelled smoke in the air. 

Master Zhao glanced at a pillar on the southern wall and said he had a secret exit. He would lead them out to safety. They grabbed Master Zhao and thrust him out the door into the courtyard, where a hail of arrows from an unseen source quickly enveloped him. 

The party left though the passage which took them just outside the city and went back to master Qian Bei's. There they examined the books. From the Strange Accounts of Hu Qin, they learned that the Iron Temple in Hai'an was where they could find the Thousand Painful Deaths Flower. The Time-Shattering Monkey Manual was a strange book that appeared to be only 150 pages but contained far more information than 150 pages could hold. It also mentioned a prophecy of a monkey wounding the Enlightened Goddess with the Sword of Time. But they didn't have time to delve too deeply into the subject. 

They went back to Master Zhao's and found a total bloodbath. Bodies were impaled on spears and stick to the walls, blood stained the stone floor and most of the residence was burned down. Because it was made of superior materials, Master Zhao's personal hall was intact and they explored that, finding a note of some importance, plenty of golden taels, a stash of exotic pearls, a jade sword and papers to Zhao's holdings. 

Peng Pei heard a groan coming from one of the courtyards, shortly after remarking it was still the month of the Demon Moon and they were inside a house filled with dead bodies. She, Song Pei and Zhendao approached the sound. 

Someone leapt at them from over the wall. His body was slashed all over and blood coated his flesh. His face was obscured by it as well, but his eyes were wild and he attacked with a spear. Zhendao recognized him as the guard captain he had fought the day before while inspecting the area. 

The man screamed "no good slave!" and whipped his spear at them. All three attacked and Song Pei brought him to the ground using Stone Shattering Finger. As he fell he cackled and pointed at Zhendao's chest. 

They dragged the man from the residence and went to see Magistrate Li, the subordinate of the magistrate who had orchestrated their being wanted as criminals. Magistrate Li's superior and been executed himself and he was now listed in Zhao's books, earning 20,000 spades a month. 

Song Pei explained to Magistrate Li that Master Zhao would no longer be paying him on a monthly basis and that they would be happy to pay in his stead if he could make all the business with the wanted posters go away. Magistrate Li told him that "The Era of Mr. Zhao is at an end, it is now the Era of Song Pei." He was very amendable once the payment arrangements were worked out and he personally took the injured guard into his care. 

The party returned to Master Qian Bei's to plan their next course of action and this is where the session ended. 


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