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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.
THE TIGERS OF HEN-SHI
XIANG GUIYING/MERCIFUL TIGER: 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/COMPASSIONATE TIGER: 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)/PEARL TIGER: 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.
SUNAN THE MURDERER
After the battle they remained in the swamp, as Lady Yang was clearly experiencing a spiritual transformation. They all agreed to erect a temple to on the grounds of the Manor and Lady Yang offered to use her wealth to help fund the temple's construction. Feng Min would be the temples' Abbess.
They sent word to Jade Swallow to come to the swamp with an evil-doer (any evil doer).
Zhengbao and Guiying began researching the vision they had when the Boundless Stone was created. They learned that the figure they saw may have been Bua the Towering Mercy. According to esoteric Hen-Shi teachings, Mercies were enlightened spiritual beings who served her on the Isle of Xan. But was associated with bodies of water and for sending omens to send people on a more righteous path. They decided to build a statue in her honor on the temple grounds.
Ten days later, Jade Swallow arrived with a murderer in chains named Sunan. They asked him how many he had killed but he boasted he'd lost count then said he did it for entertainment.
Through testing, Zhengbao learned that Sunan, Captain Yi and Pan Ju all saw the stone as a tree stump.
Zheng Bao placed the stone on Sunan's chest but he continued to declare it was just a tree stump.
Guiying them forced Sunan to recite countless sutras, for six hours each day.
Eventually he was able to see the stone and its writing and said "Hen-Shi's compassion is indeed boundless."
"In time," Said Guiying. "You will become an instrument of Hen-Shi."
Sunan laughed at her statement. "I will be forgiven for all my crimes. I can kill and be forgiven! Hen-Shi's mercy frees me to do as I wish! She will even forgive me when I kill you!"
Troubled by his misunderstanding, Zheng Bao left him under the stone overnight and explained that if he truly understood the sutra, he would not wish to kill them.
The party decided to head south to Dee to find an architect to design their temple. They left Sunan in the care of Abbess Feng Min, and Jade Swallow decided to stay behind to protect the temple in their absence (the stains on her hands had been cured by the power of the stone).
In Dee they went tot the Red Mist Inn and wine and food. There they learned that a man named Dongfeng resided nearby in the gambling quarter and was called The Supreme Architect. They went to Dongfeng Manor and asked for an audience.
Dongfeng was a burly man and greeted them enthusiastically.
They asked if he would design their temple.
"I am retired," Said Dongfeng.
Zheng Bao explained the temples importance. Impressed, Dongfeng agreed to come out of retirement if they could obtain an artifact for him. He had no desire for money.
"I want the Belt of Mercy," Said Dongfeng. "It can be found at the Hanging Temple of Bao."
HANGING TEMPLE OF BAO
The party traveled to Mount Bao and to the Hanging Temple of Bao, where they were greeted by Abbess Gu Wei in a cavern hall with a running water fountain.
"Greetings Abbess Gu Wei," Said Zheng Bao. "We have heard you keep the Belt of Mercy. I am Zheng Bao, a disciple of Jade Swallow and protector of the Boundless Heart Stone," Zheng Bao gestured to the stone strapped to his back."
"You are most welcome here Zheng Bao," Said the Abbess. "And it is true we are the keepers of the Belt of Mercy."
"I am reluctant to ask, but we have an arrangement with Supreme Architect Dongfeng of De, that he will design the temple provided we give him the Belt of Mercy. Is it possible for us to request this belt so we may build our temple?"
"We are willing to give you the belt, provided you make a point of asking the Supreme Architect to donate it to your temple where it can be housed in a pagoda."
Zheng Bao promised to do so.
"Please follow me," Said the Abbess and they began to follow. "I would love to gift the belt to your temple, and would do so, but I am affraid it was stolen two years ago."
She brought them to a terrace and pointed to a mountain peak.
"A powerful master came here two years ago and took the belt into that peak," She said. "When he arrived that mountain peak was not there, it formed in his wake as he fled. I sent five nuns after him but only one returned, the other four, Jingzi, Ruo, Yu and Ke, never came back."
Abbess Gu Wei led them back into the temple complex, in what looked like a prison. A woman was rotting in a cell, wearing the robes of a nun.
"This is Shuxin," Said the Abbess. "She returned, her flesh eaten away, and attempted to eat the flesh of her sisters. We locked her here and she has been raving about monks, a jade pagoda, strange birds and an endless hunger."
Zheng Bao approached the cell and tried speaking with the nun, but she cackled and spoke incoherently about the monetary upon the peak of the mountain.
"May I try something that could possibly heal her Abbess?" He asked. "It could be dangerous but it might work."
She nodded and he attempted to use his Fires of the Merciful Heart ability. Meditating he caused a swell of fire to burn in the nun's heart, but it soon consumed her with violence. The process caused her to die for which he apologized but the Abbess seemed pleased with the outcome.
THE JADE PAGODA
The party agreed to go into the new peak in search of the nuns and the belt. They found narrow stone steps leading up the slope and took them. Along the way the branches of surrounding trees moved and gripped the party. As the branches began to tighten and squeeze the breath from their bodies, they realized that the trees in the area were all sprouting branches that looked like living constrictor snakes.
Once again, Zheng Bao meditated and brought a fire upon the trees, causing them to burst into flames. This allowed them to escape and proceed up the mountain.
As they got closer to the peak, they saw a temple complex, and monks moving like ants, carrying barrels filled with jade from a nearby cave. All the monks seemed to have the same face. The entrance to the temple was guarded by a woman in blue robes with a familiar countenance and wielding a kushen saber. In the distance they saw a structure being erected, like a tall tower or pagoda, that appeared to be made from jade.
Guiying used her great stride and appeared behind the women, attacking immediately. However she twisted and used Guiying's momentum to pull her into a choke hold. Leaping from a nearby precipice, Pan Ju delivered a litany of stabs that rendered the woman unconscious.
From the temple gates, strode a man, with wild hair but the robes and prayer beads of an abbot. He looked at the party.
"Why have you brought violence to our temple, this is a place of peace," He said. "Please put your weapons down so we can discuss the situation with clarity and calm."
"Very well," Said Zheng Bao holding forth the Boundless Boulder upon which the Boundless Sutra was written. "What is this I am holding?"
"A delusion," He said. "Nothing more."
The group signaled each other to attack but the Abbot unleashed a cascade of threads from his robes towards Guiying, but she was able to twirl out of the way.
The fight continued for some time before it was ended with Pan Ju unleashing another onslaught of blades that brought the abbot to the ground. Pan Ju chose not to deliver lethal blows, merely to incapacitate.
The party spoke with the monks carrying the barrels and found one named Lu who was moved by the Boundless Stone and asked to follow Zheng Bao. They bound the abbot and gathered all the other monks into the courtyard, while Lu showed them around the temple grounds.
He brought them to the Hall of Death Transcendence. In the hall was a tapestry depicting Sun Mai teaching Bao one of his hidden sutras. It instantly became clear Lu was identical to the Sun Mai Depiction, as were the other monks, and that the woman who guarded the temple entrance was the spitting image of Bao.
They also found a nun imprisoned in the hall. They discovered this was Jingzi and that she had the Belt of Mercy around her waist. The Abbot had been torturing her for information about a ritual path to immortality known to the nuns of Bao. She explained that the belt prevented her from escaping by crushing her waist anytime she took a violent action. It also could not be removed by normal means. When they asked Lu about the woman guardian, he told them her name was Bao, that he believed her to be the Bao of legend.
Though conversation with the nun and Lu, they learned he was building a pagoda of Jade to the sky.
Zheng Bao was able to remove the belt from the nun by touching the stone to it.
They spoke with Lu and the other monks, who all believed they had been on the mountain for years. But Lu told the party he noticed discrepancies in their personal histories and he attempted to meditate, taking his mind back second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, in real time, until he came to a wall two years ago where all the memories of his life seemed to flood in at once.
Lu then showed them to the Master's chambers where they found black ink paintings of everything and everyone at the temple and on the mountain, including the trees they had seen. They were able to reason that he was somehow fabricating them through these drawings. This also explained the appearance of the new peak.
Zheng Bao found an image of a flock of birds, then looked for similar birds in teh sky and ripped the paper, causing the flock to vanish like running ink.
Guiying suggested they rip up the images to see what happens but Pan Ju cautioned waiting until they reached the base of the peak.
Asking Lu about the pagoda, he explained they were creating it with the vast jade deposit in the peak. It was only about two hundred feet now but the Abbot, who Lu explained was named Mi Bozhong, intended to make a pagoda that reached the moon.
They awakened Abbot Mi Bozhong and asked him about the tower and the images. He explained that he had an inkstone that made whatever he painted come true, and that he was building the Pagoda to the moon so he could sneak into the City of Perpetual Righteousness and place the Belt of Mercy Supreme Judge Yu, so he would be free to become a god and spread chaos*.
Guiying searched the abbot. Finding the inkstand she took it and they began experimenting with it on the images. Because they lacked the artistic ability they had Lu, who knew calligraphy and painting, use the inkstone to paint two rabbits. Within seconds two rabbits appeared in the temple grounds. They found all the pictures of the monks, and had Lu draw distinct marks on each of them, watching as the marks they painted appeared on each monks face in reality.
Zheng Bao gave Lu his illustration, saying he was free to do with it what he wished.
Then they gathered the remaining images and had Lu paint a tree, which sprouted near the temple entrance. Gathering the monks they implored them to be good and disperse, then ripped the image of the tree causing the tree to dissipate to intimidate them to obey.
Speaking with the woman named Bao, she explained that she believed herself to be the original Bao, who fought alongside Sunan. They tried to persuade her this was not so but have her the image that had made her, and told her she was free to live her life and do with it as she pleased.
Pan Ju noticed that the Abbot was becoming pallid and weak, seeming on the cusp of death. Trying to treat his injuries Mi Bozhong explained that he could not live without the inkstone.
"I stole the inkstone in a dream," Said Mi Bozhong. "And the dream has not ended. Without the stone I will awaken, which is death for me. I wanted to be a god, so I could dream endlessly"
Lu advised against returning the stone to the master, calling him a crazy tyrant who planned mischief in the world of man.
Zheng Bao chipped the inkstone, and the whole mountain rumbled, one of Mi Bozhong's eyes burst in a bloody mess. Then Zheng Bao put the chipped piece in Mi Bozhong's mouth and asked him to swallow it. His eye grew whole once again.
Zheng Bao chose to be merciful gave Mi Bozhong the inkstone and put the Belt of Mercy on him, telling him to come with them to their temple and reform his ways.
They told the monks to leave and live their lives, warning them they would destroy the mountain when they left the peak.
Walking to the Hanging Temple of Bao, to return Jingzi, they ripped up the image of the peak and it evaporated in a misty blackness.
WIND BONE OF THE MOUNTAIN
As they left Mount Bao and walked through the hills to Dee, Guiying sensed two men following them. She called out and asked who they were.
Two figures sheepishly peered from over a hill but said nothing.
"Come here," She said. "I won't hurt you."
They came forward but it was clear they couldn't speak, only communicate with hand gestures.
"Why are you following us?"
One of them drew the character for "Mountain" in the dirt.
It took quite a while for them to communicate with the men, who rendered their names as Ot and Ong. They worked out that the men were here on behalf of a man named Wind Bone, who was upset that the beautiful mountain peak had been removed and wanted their treasure, the Belt of Mercy, as compensation. They understood him to be a powerful master, and they were aware that the Jin Suk, a tribe these two men presumably belonged to, served him.
"Very well," Said Guiying. "We have business in the city, but we will personally meet with Wind Bone at the Chang Bridge in two months."
The men nodded and departed.
As they continued to Dee, they passed by senior disciples of Twin Fisted Eagle Sect, the organization Guiying's true father belonged to. They informed her that her father was doing well and was eager to see her again soon. They asked if she needed any assistance on the road. Guiying said they none was needed and told them to send her greetings to her father.
THE SUPREME ARCHITECT
When they arrived in Dee and were on their way to Dongfeng Manor, they spotted Fa Si, the Plume Smoking Assassin. She noticed them and approached with a bow.
"The contract has been rescinded," She said, referring to the contract that Lady Yang had given her to kill the party. "We are at peace."
Fa Si looked sickly and was clearly inebriated by plume.
"Do you still wish to have a fair fight, like we spoke of before," Said Guiying.
"Yes, but not to the death," Fa Si said.
"You fight one of us in seven days, three strikes each, whoever is most injured loses. If you lose you must walk the path of Hen-Shi, and if we lose?"
"A pound of plume a week," Said Fa Si. "Also no blocks or counters. We must fairly trade blows with full force."
"Very well" said Guiying,"Who do you want to fight?"
"Zheng Bao!"
THE SUPREME ARCHITECT
They returned to Dongfeng Manor and brought Mi Bozhong before the Supreme Architect. Pan Ju explained how the belt was placed on Mi Bozhong to restrain his evil, but made it sound like it was put there by the Nun, Jingzi rather than themselves.
"So you see we cannot give the belt to you as it can only be removed by killing the person," Pan Ju concluded.
"And the inkstone is that still with you?"
"Yes," Said Guiying.
"Then would you agree to let me study the inkstone in exchange for designing the temple?" Asked The Supreme Architect.
"Yes, but it seems tied Mi Bozhong, he would die if separated from it for too long. We would advise giving you free access to study the inkstone at the temple where he would be staying. It might be unsafe for us to leave Mi Bozhong here with you."
The Supreme Architect agreed and gave them quarters so they could rest until their fight with Fa Si. They spent the week training and Guiying made a point of teaching Grudge Bearing Sword Strike to Zheng Bao, something he found worked well with his spear.
LADY OF THE PALACE LIBRARY
A servant at the Dongfeng Manor informed the party that there was a woman sent by the Queen to speak with them and that she was waiting in the hall.
"Greetings to the Three Tigers of Hen-Shi," Said the woman. At her side she was flanked by two rows of women wearing brown caps, blue robes and gripping swords in a militant stance. "I am Ma Ping, The Lady of the Palace Library, and come with greetings from Queen Ai Nu. She congratulates you for erecting a temple to Hen-Shi in the Whispering Swamps."
After they thanked her appropriately she informed them that the queen wished to inspect the temple herself.
"I am sure this would be fine but I must speak with the Abbess first," Zheng Bao said.
Ma Ping bowed and smiled, "Please understand, it might confuse things and create difficulty if I return to the queen without news of a firm date for inspection."
"If you like you may come with us to the temple and see it for yourself while we secure a date with the Abbess and then return to Queen Ai Nu."
"This would be most agreeable," Ma Ping said. "We have accommodations outside Dee and will leave with you when you depart."
DUEL ON THE BLUE CLIFFS
Fa Si and Zheng Bao faced each other on the blue cliffs. They agreed to let fate decide who would make the first strike, and it chose Zheng Bao.
He lunged forward with the Grudge Bearing Sword strike Guiying had taught him, and impaled Fa Si on his spear.
Fa Si bled but remained standing. She inhaled a long draft from her celestial plume pipe and expelled a dark cloud of vapor that enshrouded Zheng Bao with bone crushing force.
Zheng Bao delivered another Grudge Bearing Sword strike, this time causing Fa Si to stiffen.
The stoned woman retaliated with a violent palm strike that sent blue energy coursing through Zheng Bao's body. The initial blow hurt him badly but the energy continued to harm his internal organs in its wake.
Fa Si crumpled onto Zheng Bao's spear as he delivered another Grudge Bearing Sword Strike. He treated her wounds and she stopped the blue energy she had sent into his body. He asked her to vow on the Boundless Stone, promising to follow him on the righteous path. She did so and inhaled deeply on her plume pipe.
"If that celestial plume habit steers you from the path of Hen-Shi, and leads you to commit unjust acts, I may have to encourage you to quit, by force if necessary." Zheng Bao emphasize his words with a commanding gaze.
"Does Hen-Shi have a rule against smoking celestial plume?"
"No," Said Zheng Bao. "But if the habit leads you to evil actions, we will need to remedy the problem."
*Supreme Judge Yu is largely in charge of enforcing the laws of the Celestial Bureaucracy and dwells in Lunar Kingdom
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