THE STAR-CROSSED BLADES OF THE GREEN PEONY SESSION VII

This is the Seventh session of our Star-Crossed Blades of the Green Peony campaign for Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate (session I can be found HERE, session II can be found HERE, session III can be found HERE, session IV can be found HERE, Session V can be found HERE, session VI can be found HERE). It is set in Zhang Chang prefecture (which I hope to release a blog entry for). In this campaign, every player rolled randomly to determine who their family are, how many siblings they have and whether individual family members are still alive. The players also gave very rough sketches of their background (no more than a few sentences) and I secretly added a "20-year" backstory to each one. I have implemented a special rule in this campaign that every encounter has a 3 in 10 chance of being connected to their secret backstory in some way. Note in this session I was play testing a specific scenario and the players were made aware prior to play.

CHARACTERS

QI YUN: A roaming martial expert who has secretly learned his martial arts from two different masters (and the masters have no knowledge of one another). 

XING GE: A traveling pipa player and the son of Lu Guiying the Iron Flower. His father died when he was five, and his mother married Gongsun Yuan, the chief of Black Parrot Society. Gongsun Yuan despises Xing Ge. 

TU JIN SHI: A wandering fighter seeking to be the strongest and most upright hero in the region. His father, Tu Haitao sent his mother away when he was young, after being consumed by grief over the passing of Jin Shi's brother, Tian. Shortly after his father died consuming a lethal concoction in a misguided effort to become immortal. 

LU LI: A traveling physician who comes from a family of successful fishermen. 

BLUE STAR EMPRESS LENDS A HAND

Tu Jin Shi was rattled after the battle at the Jade Gourd with Thundering Scorpions men, and realized he overexerted himself using his Kung Fu. This led to him being possessed by a Wolf Spirit (a type of Qi Spirit). However he was able to exert mental control for the time being. 

As the rest of the party gathered themselves up from the fight and inspected the damage, the innkeeper demanded compensation. When Lu Li offered a silver tael, he balked and said it would take more than that for the repairs, to say nothing of the bloody carnage they had caused. 

As Lu Li pointed out the Thundering Scorpion people had started the fight, and thrown the thunderbolts that blew apart sections of the inn, nine constables filed into the building. The head constable began pacing around. 

"What happened here," He asked. His tone seemed imperious. 

Tu Jin Shi explained that the Thundering Scorpion had sent men to rob them and attacked when they resisted. He then described the events of the battle. 

"Thundering Scorpion is a well known hero; he would not send his men to perform some petty robbery."

Xing Ge explained how they had been attacked by Thundering Scorpions men in the middle of the night, and that wanted their charge. He also said they had offered to pay the innkeeper a silver tael.  

Tu Jin Shi noticed a look of recognition in the constable's eyes as he spoke with Xing Ge. 

The constable paced and examined the blood stains. "You are all free to go."

"Does a silver tael seem sufficient for the damage?" Lu Li asked

"Yes, that should cover the damages," said the constable. "If you need anything you can reach me at the constabulary in Li An. My name is Shen Gao, I am the sheriff here." 

After the incident at the inn, Tu Jin Shi looked for someone in town who could help him with his imbalanced state. He found an information broker who informed him (for 400 spades) that two people possessed techniques that could remove his Qi Spirit possession. One was Gongsun Yuan of the Black Parrot Society*, while the other was Blue Star Empress of Thirteen Star Sect. He also explained that Blue Star Empress controlled the Armillary Sphere of the Thirteen Stars, and was respected by officials all over the empire for her astrological predictions. Gongsun Yuan was a greedy and cruel man, and a murderer as well. 

They decided to go to Blue Star Empress and see if she would help. Xing Ge did not mention his personal connection to Gongsun Yuan. They took a boat by river and reached Blue Star Empress' manor. A servant brought them to a courtyard where a woman was seated, holding court, and wearing vibrant blue robes. The mood of the chamber felt regal, even though she was not royalty. There they were greeted by a blind man whose eyes had clearly been gouged out. 

"Blue Star Empress will hear your plea," He said.

Lu Li turned to speak to Blue Star Empress but the blind man interjected. 

"Speak to me, do not address Blue Star Empress directly!" he rebuked. 

Lu Li explained to the man, that Tu Jin Shi was possessed by a Qi Spirit and they were told she may be able to help him. He also expressed an interest in learning the technique she used through observation. 

The blind man stepped beside Blue Star Empress and conversed with her in whispers. He then walked to Lu Li and said, "Blue Star Empress, in her endless compassion, agrees to help your friend. And she will allow you to observe and learn under a condition. You must agree, not to be her disciple, but to adhere to her will and follow her orders. If you agree we can proceed."

Lu Li thanked Blue Star Empress and said he would forgo learning the technique in that case. 

The blind man nodded and ushered Tu Jin Shi before the empress, who placed her hands on his back and flooded his body with Qi. After several hours the Qi Spirit was purged. 

They began their return journey using the road. As they walked, they spotted an archer taking aim at them from a tree two hundred feet away. 

Lu Li fired a rain of arrows striking the attacker, but even though he was riddled with with wounds from the attack, he still seemed strong. 

The man fired a shot at Xing Ge, but Lu Li used Deflecting Canopy to redirect the arrow at the attacker. It struck him and he began convulsing, indicating it may have been coated in poison. When they reached the attacker his mouth was foaming and he was dead. 

Xing Ge recognized the man and his arrows. "This is Qian Henglao," he said. "He is famous for his deadly Jade Arrows." He then explained that the poison was metal used in the arrow tips itself. 

RELENTLESS CORPSE QUEEN 

After some traveling they reached Beishan Manor and were brought into hall to meet with Relentless Corpse Queen and her retinue. She had several disciples with her, all zombified looking from her poison and several of her Corpse Kings. They handed over the dead snake, the staff and the body of her former disciple. Then they gave her their prisoner in exchange for the antidote. She informed them that the victim needed to take three pills 

The conversation turned to the attack and the Turquoise Necklace that the disciple tried to steal. She explained that the necklace sounded like The Turquoise Necklace of Zhaoze, which had recently been stolen. This was likely the reason her former disciple had tried to take it. 

They departed and headed back to Lanyin. 

THE TURQUOISE NECKLACE PART TWO

In Lanyin they went to the Tu Association and spoke with Tu Wan explaining everything about the necklace. 

Chief Tu Wan was grave. He asked to speak with Tu Jin Shi privately and told him he should forget what he knew about the necklace, that they had spent far too long on the escort mission and he just wanted to stay out of any conflicts. 

Tu Wan and Tu Jin Shi rejoined the rest of the group so he could see them off. Before they left he informed Xing Ge, that the sheriff of Li A wanted him to stop by the constabulary when he next passed through. 

Lu Li gave the antidote to Lady Wang, and they set off for Li An. When they arrived, they chose to stay at the Golden Swallow instead of the Jade Gourd. Xing Ge went to the constabulary and was informed by one of the constables that Sheriff Shen Gao was dead. Xing Ge was brought to constable Bao, the new Sheriff. He greeted Xing Ge and told him that Shen Gao's throat had been slit the night before in his chambers. Sheriff Bao then brought him to the room where the murder occurred to let him look around. There he found a letter addressed "Xing Ge"**. Because he could not read it, he bid the new Sheriff goodnight and brought it to Qi Yun to read. 

Opening the letter, Qi Yun read: "Gongsun Yuan killed your father"

Xing Ge explained to Qi Yun and the others that Gongsun Yuan was his stepfather and that Qian Henglao, the man who attacked them, was his favored assassin. He then went to Sheriff Bao and explained the situation. The Sheriff seemed reluctant to act on the information because of The Black Parrot Society's influence. 

Xing Ge resolved to tell his mother about the murder of his father after they dealt with Tu Jin Shi's rematch with Golden Monkey. 

This is where the session ended. 

*This is Xing Ge's stepfather. 

**Xing Ge can barely read but he knows how to recognize his name.