Monday, November 14, 2016

DISPOSABLE DISCIPLES OF BONE KINGDOM SESSION 23: JADE FROM HEAVEN

This is a log for my ongoing Disposable Disciples of Bone Kingdom campaign. You can see the previous session HERE. 

Player Characters: 
Shen Chun
Little Bai
Silent Dagger
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

Silent Dagger and Shen Chun negotiated with Five Dagger Chang. To make his point, Silent Dagger performed a series of Kung Fu strikes in the air before Chang. In the end they persuaded him to give the half the jade if they did all the work. 

Once they made their agreement, Silent Dagger went to the Singing Reed and spoke with Mrs. Lo, the proprietor. For 75,000 spades she agreed to let him stay at the inn, whenever he wished and to help him conceal his presence there. He also learned from her that Master Xiao owned the Sword and Wine Inn. 

However he left the inn and dressed in beggar clothes, then returns and started demanding wine. The servers brought him wine when he presented enough money. Mrs. Lo came in, not recognizing him, and said she didn't want any beggars. He passed her a slip of paper indicating he was Silent Dagger. 

Mrs. Lo told him she didn't want him dressing as a beggar in her inn because it would drive away customers. He nodded and asked if there was a back entrance. She took him through the kitchen into a courtyard, told everyone there to leave and he climbed out over the wall. 

Back in Hai'an, Little Bai, Min and Chao faced off against Flower-Handed Snake. Little Bai leapt forward stabbing him several times, nearly killing him. The battle played out much like their first one back at Stone Palace. Chao told him that they would let him live if he stopped fighting. 

Flower-Handed Snake changed tone quickly and said perhaps he had overreacted to the situation. He let them leave freely and even sent an escort of servants with them down the hillside. 

As they made their way through the Pale Hills, they were surrounded by a group of Perfect Heaven Lineage priests and nuns. They moved toward the party and seemed ready to attack. Chao tried to reason with them, but they said the group needed to be destroyed because they were with Stone Palace Sect. Chao explained that their grudge was with Bao Yang who was already dead and that the rest of the group didn't have any desire to harm them. A nun told them that if they came willingly to their headquarters the masters would hear their case and perhaps show mercy. Chao said this was reasonable but asked if they could postpone it, that he would promise to appear before their masters once he handled some other matters. When he agreed to make a vow, they allowed him to leave on the condition that he returned to their temple on the first day of the Monkey Moon. 

When they returned to Yun Hu, Chao went to Five Dagger Chang to finalize their agreement about the jade. He learned that the ship it was being transported in had changed, as had its escort. It would now be shipped on the vessel Shui Jing Chuan and protected by a group of woman called Yiqian Ge Shaonu. Chao also convinced Chang to arrange stripes of spiked chain ropes they could raise along the canal as the ship passed by. 

The whole party went to the canal to lay their trap for the ship. Shen Chun was now leader of the sect and brought 7 disciples with them. Dim Witted Chen also went with the party.

As the ship passed they pulled the chains. It came to a halt in the canal and they saw three men (two pilots and a hero) upon the deck. Little Bai jumped onto the ship and told them hero that he should surrender or die. 

The hero threw his head back and laughed, but he soon found himself overwhelmed by a hail of swords and daggers. Chao and Min also jumped onto the ship. As Chao approached the lower hold, seven women crashed up through the boards of the deck and then launched into a pyramid formation, balancing on one another's shoulders. 

From this position they were harder to strike up close and they hurled rope darts at the party. The battle went on for some time, with the women remaining in a pyramid formation until the party started picking off the members forming the base. First Shen Chun used his Iron Thread to pluck one of them off the ship, then the rest of of the party took out the center. Silent Dagger made use of Storming Daggers to take out some of them as well. 

After the pyramid collapsed and the women were surrounded they were offered mercy if they worked with the party. They raised their hands and struck themselves in their chests to commit suicide. 

They went below deck and found a room-sized formation of jade held down by ropes and chains. They told a disciple to use Stone Shattering finger to break the jade, but this merely sent energy back upon the disciple throwing him across the room. Shen Chun and Dim-Witted Chen tried using a smashing fit technique and found the force of the attack reverberated back upon them. 

They spent some time trying to cut it, Qi strike it, break it and do what they could but there was no sign the jade had been affected by any of it. 

They decided to speak with the Hero, who turned out to be a man named Magistrate Guan. He was still alive and they learned from him that the Jade had come from the Banyan. He also said it was believed to be from Heaven. 

Min remembered hearing that the Temple of the Jade Mercies had a group of nuns who could destroy powerful artifacts with chanting. They called upon Smiling Abbot who brought his chanting nuns to the jade three days later. In the meantime they dug a pit and placed the jade in it, then burned the ship and sent it down the canal. 

When the nuns arrived Smiling Abbot explained to Shen Chun that they were not like other members of his order. They were sincere and led to believe that the Temple of the Jade Mercies was righteous, so he would need a sound lie. They had him tell them that while the jade was meant for the empress, it was entirely evil and would bring harm upon the empire. So they needed to destroy it with their chanting. They circled around the jade and as they chanted Chao found himself sick and weakened. Others experienced similar effects after a time. 

In twenty minutes of chanting the Jade changed hue, but the women collapsed and coughed up blood. The lead nun inspected the jade, and told Shen Chun they could destroy it, but it would take years. 

This stunned Shen Chun. They summoned Five Dagger Chang who was equally surprised. His men tried all the same methods and achieved no results. 

Not knowing what to do they dragged the jade to a nearby disused temple that Tiger Clan used to hideout in occasionally. Searching the temple they found statues of Gushan and Min discovered some  wooden ritual manual scrolls. 

Silent Dagger spoke with Five Dagger Chang and convinced him to buy the Jade. He explained that it was an investment. They agreed to sell the Jade to Chang for one hundred million spades. 

The next day, Chang's men arrived and informed the party that Chang could only pay four million spades. He said he would also need to borrow the chanting nuns. It turned out, he overestimated the money he could borrow from Master Xiao. 

They agreed and left Chang with the massive deposit of jade in the temple. 

When they returned to the city, Chao passed by a steamed bun vendor who said "Hidden arrow sends his regards."

He spoke with the man who gave him a bundle containing the Immortal Killing Sword. 

This is where the session ended. 






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