PATHS FROM NOWHERE SESSION THIRTEEN

This is a sandbox campaign for Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate, operating in "Condor Heroes Mode". I used a lot of the procedures described in the wuxia sandbox posts. It is a campaign with three players. Before the campaign started we spent time establishing their family connections, rolling randomly for both their mothers and fathers (normally only one parent is randomly rolled, but in this case we wanted characters with potentially scandalous backgrounds). These characters each started play with just one Kung Fu Technique. 

CHARACTERS

XIANG GUIYING: The daughter of Jade Fist of Twin Fisted Eagle sect and Pale Fox, a notorious bandit. She is seeking pelts from Pearl Tigers. She is beautiful but wears a disguise to hide this from others. 

ZHENG BAO: Short and burly, he is the son of Zhang San of Bone Breaking Sect and of Reckless Storm. However San is married to Chen and has maintained the presence that Bao is Chen's son. Unfortunately due to crucial background information, Chen knows that Bao cannot be his son so is distant. Zheng Bao's uncle, Bone Breaker, is fond of him. He is seeking the Thousand Painful Deaths Flower to please his uncle. 

PAN JU (MOGHA): The son of the Witch of Zhaoze Zhou and Nergui Mogha, Pan Ju grew up in the Kushen Basin but has returned to the Banyan and Hai'an, where he knows his mother resides.   

THE VENEER OF THE DEMON EMPEROR 

The party set out with Feng Min to find the Tomb of the Timeless Master, stopping in Shai Yu to procure a river going vessel. Zheng Bao, heeding the advice of the nun, approached a large statue of Hen-Shi and placed a golden offering. However he was filled with a sense of unease and shared his feelings with Feng Min. She cautiously inspected the statue.

"Something evil is afoot here," She said. "This is not Hen-Shi."

A crowd began to gather as Feng Min swayed and swung her sword, chanting a ritual to cleanse the statue of demons. 

Zheng Bao tried to assure the crowd there was no reason to be alarmed, but his words merely attracted more attention, so Xiang Guiying told the gathering villagers that this was all a performance for their pleasure. 

The external veneer of the statue peeled away violently, revealing an image of the Demon Emperor beneath. 

The Locals murmured in anger. 

A young scholar or physician, it was difficult to discern which, approached the party and told them it would be wise to depart before things grew violent. 

Pan Ju smashed his meteor hammer into the statue and Feng Min and Guiying toppled it to the ground, causing it to break into to halves. 

The crowd grew and began to circle around them, nearly 100 people enclosing the party. 

Zheng Bao raised his jade talisman and said "I am a disciple of Jade Swallow. We have vanquished the evil in this statue. You will let us go peacefully. 

The crowd became hostile and a ritual master stepped forward rebuking them and began making a series of strange gestures. 

With the hostility of the crowd growing, Zheng Bao hit everyone in a circle with his spear, sending them crashing to the ground. He then grabbed the Ritual Master and took him as hostage saying "You will all give us a boat, we will take your shaman and he will live once we are further down the river."

The Ritual Master nodded to the people and the party was provided with a long fishing boat. 

The physician/scholar helped them aboard the boat and said "I am a great admirer of Jade Swallow, may I join you?"

"Your name sir?" Asked Zheng Bao.

"My name is Qu Li."

"Come aboard."

As he climbed in Zheng Bao saw the physician carried a three-section staff. 

Once everyone was in the boat and it set off Feng Min said "We should drown him, this man is too evil to let live."

The party began to discuss what to do with the ritual master. Zheng Bao tried to talk to him, asking him about the village. The man told him that the demon emperor would return, that they had always remained loyal. He then started to chant and they felt the air shift. Zheng Bao knocked the man out instantly. 

Once the party agreed to dispatch him, Feng Min stabbed the ritual master in the neck and Guiying threw him overboard. 

THE TEACHING OF FENG MIN

As they travelled, Feng Min taught them about the scriptures of Sun Mai and Hen-Shi, explaining she was originally a thread of the Enlightened Goddess' hair, and contained all her divine compassion. 

Late one night, Zheng Bao noticed that Qu Li seemed to be a woman, so he confronted the physician. 

"Yes, it is true," She said. "My name is really Qu Lihua. I am a woman. It is easier to travel as a man sometimes."

Zheng Bao explained that he wanted her to be honest with the rest of the group as he had planned to introduce her to his master, Jade Swallow, but didn't want to do so in a misleading way. 

Qu Lihua revealed to the group that she was a woman. Her beauty was observed by some, and Feng Min seemed irritated by the revelation. The nun then spoke in her teachings to the party about the danger of feminine temptation, that it distracts from true understanding. 

SISTER SNAKE 

As their knowledge of Hen-Shi grew, they were getting closer to the area where the Tomb of the Timeless Master was supposed to be found. They only had a vague sense of its location though. Deep in the woods, they saw a large blue snake slither by, then they saw the other end of the snake seemed a woman. The creature hissed at them and addressed Feng Min "Give me my sister from that pathetic gourd Nun!"

Zheng Bao immediately attacked the snake, stabbing it ferociously with his spear. Pan Ju dealt with her in the manner he dealt with her sister, sending a wave of daggers, that sunk into her flesh. She was clearly injured but still very much alive with fight. Then Feng Min bashed the creature with her parasol, toppling her, and used the gourd to absorb her spirit. 

Astonished by the object, Zheng Bao asked about it. She explained it was a gourd used in her ritual to draw in demons. He then asked her to teach him the ritual, and she said she would if he proved to be righteous.  

INTO THE TOMB OF THE TIMELESS MASTER 

Making their way by the Zun Peaks, Guiying began searching for the tomb. Early in the search she spotted a tall crack in the cliff-face which she recognized as a vast doorway into the tomb's canyon structure*. Examining the rise of the mountain, she saw a circular entrance high up and used her Great Stride ability to reach it. 

There Guiying found herself face to face with a nun in white. 

Startled she asked the nun why she was in the tomb and the Nun explained it was her home, that she belonged to Jade Maiden Sect and that this was their headquarters. Guiying asked for an audience with their leader and it was granted. The Jade Maidens opened the enormous cliff-side door and they saw a white haired abbess with a retinue of nuns seated amid a ruined structure in the center of the canyon. All about the canyon were stone stairs and a maze of cave dwellings. 

Qu Lihuan had heard of the sect and whispered to the party as they approached that they were righteous and connected to the Jade Maiden statue found in the Purple Caverns, but she had always heard they were vagrants. 

"I am Abbess Ba," Said the leader of the Jade Maidens. "Why have you come?"

The abbess reclined in her seat, a jade axe, a jade spear and an iron spear resting against her chair. Guiying explained they were there seeking the martial arts manuals rumored to exist in the tomb, in particular hoping to find the Timeless Master's spear techniques. 

"What techniques are here, were bequeathed to me," She said. 

Guiying introduced Zheng Bao as Jade Swallow's disciple.

Abbess Ba looked at Zheng Bao. "It seems you are in a sense my disciple, for Jade Swallow is my former pupil."

"We hope," Said Guiying "That you will grant the disciple of the supremely righteous Jade Swallow some of your martial knowledge."

"Jade Swallow. Righteousness. These two things do not belong together," Said Abbess Ba. 

Zheng Bao asked for an explanation. 

Abbess Ba explained that Jade Swallow had been kicked out of the sect for giving into her lust with a man. That this went against their rules. 

"Do you believe in redemption, Abbess Ba?"

"I have long hoped that Jade Swallow would mend her ways," Replied the Abbess. "The penally for her crimes is death, but I have held this in abeyance. Jade Swallow would need to perform a lifetime of good deeds to atone."

The conversation then moved to the possibility of Zheng Bao learning from her. She said that they do not take male disciples but she offered to teach him some techniques if he promised to stay Jade Swallow's hand against the sect and to thwart her if need be. 

Zheng Bao agreed to prevent his master from shedding the blood of members of the Jade Maiden sect. 

The party then decided to stay for several months. The Abbess promised to teach two techniques to Zheng Bao: The Bone Cracking Palm and the Iron Spear of the Timeless Master. 

QU LIHUA 

During the night as his training was entering its second month, Zheng Bao awoke and saw Qu Lihua sitting near him on the bed. 

"What are you doing Lihua?" He asked. 

She gestured and said "Shh" then inched closer. 

Zheng Bao leaned back and got out of bed, she rapidly tapped her fingers at his arm but missed. 

"What is the meaning of this Lihua?"

Raising her fingers to the sky she said "Lady Yang sends her regards, tonight you will breathe your last breath."

Zheng Bao launched into an attack shouting to his companions for help but she deftly leapt against the wall and evaded it, then struck his the acupoints from his collar bone to his wrist, with her finger tips.

Suddenly Zheng Bao could not breathe. 

He began to suffocate. 

Moments later the Pan Ju and Xiang Guiying arrived. The former launched into Blade of the Dancing Fox, slicing Lihua to ribbons and leaving her dead on the floor. 

Pan Ju was then able to tap Zheng Bao's acupoints and restore his breathing. 

The commotion attracted Abbess Ba who demanded an explanation. 

They told her that Lihua was secretly an agent of Lady Yang, their great enemy. They would have to go and confront Lady Yang themselves as this was one of a number assassins she had sent against them. 

Abbess Ba told them that the attack sounded like Little Wan's Lung Stopping Strike. "I cannot in good conscience let you face such a wicked enemy without some help. I shall instruct your friends in martial arts as well and be certain you all improve greatly before departing."

She continued to train Zheng Bao but also instructed Guiying and Ju in a number of Dianxue techniques, including the Finger of Supreme Annihilation. 

When they mastered the abilities some months later, Zheng Bao asked if they could teach one another what they had learned, but she told him not until they had defeated Lady Yang. 

As they were preparing to leave, Abbess Ba told Zheng Bao that the reason she feared Jade Swallow would seek their blood, was that she had killed Jade Swallow's lover, An Sunan. She added that Jade Swallow was not permitted to return to the sect. 

The party then left The Tomb of the Timeless Master and bid the Jade Maidens farewell. 

*The Player rolled a 10 on his survival roll