DISPOSABLE DISCIPLES OF BONE KINGDOM SESSION 14: FACE IN THE FIRE

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

Player Characters: 
Shen Chun
Hidden Arrow
Bao Yang
Chao Feng
Wei Ruomei 

Sects: 

The Righteous Outlaws
Calamity Star
Ou Jinghzhu
Tea Master Houzhou

Crocodile Sect*
Player Characters (See above)
King Iron Beard
Li Sou Chao (Witch of Zhaoze Zhou)

The Roaming Avengers
A group of five brothers who swore loyalty to Hidden Arrow.

The Golden Way
Iron God Meng

Dancing Scorpions
Criminal network in Yun Hu

Relentless Corpse Sect
Relentless Corpse Queen
Da Mei Mei

Temple of the Jade Mercies
Abbot Wei Zhao
Abbess Bao-Yu
Weeping Lotus

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

Stone Palace Sect
A gambling hall and criminal network in Yun Hu
Currently under control of party, with Weeping Lotus managing it
Feng is an important member (the accountant)

The Golden Corpse Alliance
This is a unified group: Relentless Corpse Sect and the Golden Way combined their interests. Relentless Corpse Queen and Iron God Meng are joint chiefs of the sect, and below them are the player characters via Crocodile Sect. 

Session 

Early in the session the party split in different directions. Ruomei and Hidden Arrow went south with Li Sou Chao and Golden Roc to oversee Crocodile Sect. Chao and Shen Chun stayed at Stone Palace sect. Boa Yang placed Weeping Lotus and his bandits in charge of Stone Palace then went north by ship to Tung-on to see Iron God Meng. 

Stone Palace 

An ornate box worth a small fortune arrived at Stone Palace. It appeared to be a gift. Chao and Shen Chun had it brought outside by a canal. Soon they heard screams and went out to find a horde of Stone Spiders pouring from the box and attacking locals. In all, 18 were killed, but the party was safe because it had been moved a fair distance away from them. 

Chao put out word that he would pay a small fee for any dead Stone Spiders brought to him, and even more for living ones. Over the next four days dozens were delivered by the brave and the greedy. 

Chao then went to meet his new sifu, Supreme Master Tung, just outside of the city. His sifu placed painting supplies on the ground and pointed to the horizon. "Make it beautiful," he said. 

Chao spent the next several hours painting until he impressed Supreme Master Tung with his results. His sifu told him to continue mastering the skill and then return in two days for another lesson. As he left Supreme Master Tung said "Death is beautiful."

When he returned to the city, Chao decided to fake his own death and spread rumors that he had died. He then wore a hood to conceal his face and adopted a new name: Seven-Faced Owl. 

Chao went to a painter's stall in the center of the city, where he met Mr. Ko*. Ko painted portraits for a fee and agreed to teach him the basics of painting. Chao insisted that he needed to master the art quickly. Ko expressed skepticism that this was possible but promised to do his best. 

While he was at the stall, Chao noticed a woman watching him from across the way. He chased after her, and tackled her on the outer edge of town. When they crashed to the ground, a mask fell from her face, revealing hideously burned and scared features, as well as a missing nose. Sensing that she might be a student of Supreme Master Tung, he apologized. The woman said he didn't know how to tell friends from enemies and that she was protecting him for Glorious Death. 

Two days later Chao returned to Supreme Master Tung. There was a burned body by the tree. Supreme Master Tung gave him a cloth and told him to give it a beautiful face. Chao succeeded and his sifu told him to learn the art of disguise while he mastered painting. As Chao departed, Supreme Master Tung said "Some deaths are more beautiful than others." 

Shen Chun woke in the morning to discover a lover's bao with his name upon it, on a nearby table. He asked all the servants in Stone Palace if anyone entered his room at night, but they said no one had. That evening, he asked Chao to watch over him while he slept. As the night went on, a heavy air hung over Chao and he struggled to breath. He felt his life leaving his body and had to flee the room but not before he saw a lover's bao materialize on the table near the bed. 

Chao went to the Spinning Ox Tail Theater and learned the art of disguise from a man named Gao. He wanted 50 spades a day and thought him over the course of the month. 

Chao met his master once again outside town, this time finding a large camp fire and some painting utensils. "Paint the flames," said Supreme Master Tung. Chao made many attempts but each failed to impress his master. Finally late into the evening, as the fire burned to embers, he succeeded. Supreme Master Tung told him to approach and thrust Chao's face into the embers. His skin blistered and burned, but he managed to remain calm. When he returned to Stone Palace, the skin was swollen and red. By morning he was unrecognizable.

Tung-on

Bao Yang reached Tung-on and met Iron God Meng at a teahouse in his Golden Way Pleasure Quarter. There he presented 50,000 spades as tribute and said it was Meng's cut. He announced that he had expanded and taken over Stone Palace Sect. Iron God Meng was pleased but then looked a bit puzzled. 

"Why has my tribute not increased?" he asked. 

Bao Yang tried to explain that he needed to spend much of the earnings in order to continue to expand. 

Iron God Meng persisted with his questions and demanded greater tribute each month. Eventually he was persuaded to wait two months so Bao Yang could put some things into place with the influx of money, then the tribute would be raised. This seemed to please Iron God Meng who invited Bao Yang and his disciples to drink with him. 

Bao Yang politely refused but Iron God Meng pounded the table and insisted that he drink with him. 

When the drinking was done, and Iron God Meng quite drunk, Bao Yang left to return to Stone Palace. 

Stone Palace
When Bao Yang returned to Stone Palace, he gathered Chao and Shen Chun and they headed for Crocodile Sect. But before they left, he received two people looking to become his new disciples. The first was a man with a large sword and the stench of wine on his breath named Master Ban. The second was a woman named Zheng Min. He accepted both of them. Then the group headed south. 

Crocodile Sect Headquarters 

At Crocodile Sect Headquarters Hidden Arrow received word on important matters from his informant in Bone Kingdom. He then wrote a message to Sun Mai Temple making a request specific to the news. 

Ruomei spoke with King Iron Beard about the different animals at the headquarters (crocodiles, tigers, birds, etc). She started training under him to learn how to handle them. 

Hidden Arrow continued to study his book on the Ghostly Emperor. He learned that the Ghostly Emperor was a kind of celestial criminal one could call upon for favors, but that it was unwise to cross him. How much was legend, how much was truth, he didn't know. 

A eunuch from The House of Paper Shadows arrived and received an audience with Hidden Arrow. He said he was sent by Fearless Cat who wanted to know about their progress finding her son. He suggested she might be displeased by the speed of their investigation and remained as a guest for the next several days. Hidden Arrow had his men watch the eunuch who clearly was spending considerable time snooping the grounds. Eventually he returned to the House of Paper Shadows. 

Word reached Hidden Arrow that the rest of the party was on their way. He prepared a proper reception and banquet for them. After the banquet he and Bao Yang traded news. They decided to restructure the sect to make it more manageable. This took a considerable amount of deliberation but ultimately it was decided that Shen Chun would be made the southern vanguard of the Golden Corpse Alliance, and Bao Yang would be made the northern vanguard. They would effectively control all the sects and organizations in the north and south under the Golden Corpse Alliance. Hidden Arrow would placed in charge of the information network. King Iron Beard was elevated to chief of Crocodile Sect, and Ruomei was made the groundskeeper. Li Sou Chao was made 3rd chief of Crocodile Sect, while Golden Roc was made 2nd chief of Crocodile Sect. Chao decided not to take any formal titles. 

Stipends were to be issued monthly. 

Shen Chun continued to find lovers baos near his bed in the morning. He started collecting them. 

A couple of days later, word reached Hidden Arrow that Relentless Corpse Queen was approaching. They made preparations to receive her. 

She demanded to know why Iron God Meng received tribute, when she did not. She refused to split tribute with Meng when it was proposed. 

"Why don't we just kill Iron God Meng?" Bao Yang said. 

"How do I know you won't just kill me after we kill him?" She asked. 

Bao Yang persuaded her he had no such intentions, that their relationship was entirely different from the one between him and Iron God Meng. 

She thought about it, and they decided to head north together and kill Iron God Meng. 

*This character is clearly inspired by Gu from A Touch of Zen. 

SECTS OF THE MARTIAL WORLD I: THE SILKEN ROBE SOCIETY AVAILABLE IN PDF

The Silken Robe Society, the first book in our Sects of the Martial World Series, is available in PDF. Each of these books will include stats and information on a new martial sect for Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate. The Silken Robe Society is an eccentric sect inspired by Chor Yuen movies like The Legend of the Bat and Death Duel. Led by the most beautiful man in the martial world, The Silken Robe society is a vain but brave group of unusual heroes. 

It is available at RPGnow for 50 Cents. It includes a complete description of the Silken Robe Society, 5 new Kung Fu Techniques, full stats for the 6 major ranking members of the sect, and 3 stat blocks for the junior members. You can find it HERE. 

INTERVIEW WITH JACOB ROSS ON KAIGAKU: A SAMURAI RPG

Jacob Ross just launched a kickstarter for his Japanese-inspired OSR Roleplaying Game, Kaigaku. The game has been available for free (HERE) for some time, but Jacob decided to crank up the quality with a kickstarter campaign and release a more polished final version. It looked like an interesting project and I thought many of my followers would have an interest as well, so I interviewed Jacob about Kaigaku. 

If you want to learn more about the kickstarter, you can go HERE. 

Can you tell me a little about your gaming background?

I've been a gamer for most of my life. The first RPGs that I ever bought were the D6 system from WEG and Last Unicorn Games' Star Trek: The Next Generation. I was heavy into L5R for many years. So much so that I ended up getting to work on two of the books for that game's fourth edition, Enemies of the Empire and Great Clans. From there I did work for Mongoose on Traveller, Chris Perrin's Mecha and some other small stuff. I currently amuse myself (and hopefully others) by writing supplements for various OSR games, as well as GM screens.

What is Kaigaku?

Kaigaku is, at its core, a reskin and expansion of The Black Hack by David Black. It plays fast and anyone who is familiar with old-school rules can be playing it in minutes. The system is easy to learn and to teach so rookies and veterans alike can have fun right out of the box. There are several rules additions that hark back to some of the more popular, but out-of-print samurai RPGs.

Why did you decide to launch a kickstarter for Kaigaku and what has the response been like so far?

I want the game to be as good as it can be. In the past I've used a lot of stock art, and there's nothing wrong with that, but I want to really make it stand out and customize the game. Kickstarter allows me to hire exceptional artists, such as Gennifer Bone and Peter Frain (and David Okum and GUillame Tavernier if we meet our stretch goals). We're a couple days into the campaign and we're over 2/3 of the way to our funding goal, so things are going quite well!

Can you describe the setting?

In a sentence, Kaigaku is an Asian-themed empire whose culture is primarily influenced by feudal Japan, but which also takes notes from China and Korea. Noble (and not-so-noble) samurai serve their masters for the glory of their clans. Each of these clans has its own agenda, which they publicly proclaim as a service to the Emperor, but often is privately for their own ends. Conflicts that arise in courts lead to clashes on the field of battle, all so that a few lords can bask in the prestige that their power brings.

You said it was written for dramatic potential; can you elaborate on this?

Kaigaku's biggest inspiration, as I wrote before, is feudal Japan. That covers a lot of time in the real world. What I've done is taken what I feel to be the most interesting parts of each of several eras of history and combined them into one setting. For instance, in Kaigaku the Imperial succession alternates between two branches of the royal family. This actually happened in Japan during the Nanboku-cho Period, and it went about as well as you'd expect. I like the drama that brings, so it's in the setting. Likewise, the daimyo in Kaigaku are ambitious and based on the clan leaders from the Azuchi-Momoyama Period, which took place after the Nanboku-cho Period. There's currently no shogun (the old supreme military ruler of Japan), which creates more of a power vacuum that the clans, and the PCs, can rush to fill.

The presence of gaijin, or foreigners, is inspired by both the Azuci-Momoyama and the Meiji Period, which is probably most recognizable to Westerners as the setting of The Last Samurai. All of this combines to provide political, military and social crises from a variety of angles, which all adds up to more storytelling and roleplaying opportunities!

What drew you to feudal Japan?

As a punishment for something or other as a young child, my teacher made me write a 500-word report on Japan. Ever since then I've been hooked. The history, the language, the culture. Everything. I even spent a few weeks as a D-list celebrity in Japan!

Can you tell more more about that experience?
It's a long story, but it involves a message in a bottle sent from Japan, which found it's way to Oregon five years later. I was only slightly involved at the beginning, in that after a local travel agency and one of the major airlines sent the man who found the bottle over to Japan they sent the boys who sent the message to Oregon. As my after-school Japanese teacher was the one who translated the messages, one of the boys stayed in my home. The travel agency and airline wanted more publicity, so they generously sent my teacher and my class to Japan. We ended up on TV with people taking our picture everywhere we went. From the lovely cities of Fukuoka prefecture, to the legendary doll factories of Hakata, the castles of Kyoto and the deeply moving atomic bomb museum of Nagasaki, it was an experience that I'll never forget. One big highlight was being able to see performances of bunraku puppetry, noh theater and the tea ceremony. I didn't realize how widespread our story was until I got back home and several weeks later ran into people who recognized me from TV!

What are some of the sources of inspiration for Kaigaku?

Besides actual history, I really enjoy the films of Akira Kurosawa. They present both the romantic and gritty side of samurai life that I feel is important to historic truth and good storytelling. Cloud of Sparrows and Autumn Bridge, by Takashi Matsuoka, are a pair of novels that detail the final years of the samurai class, and I really appreciate their balance of action and intrigue as well as the more honest lens that they use to examine Japanese and American history. I also really enjoy the frenetic pace and visual style of Koei's Samurai Warrior video game series, especially their way of making long-dead figures seem real and human (despite the fact that those games feature swords that shoot lightning). Lastly, I'm inspired to some extent by L5R. They used to say "Rokugan, not Japan", well I say "Kaigaku, not Rokugan". I enjoyed the political interplay among clans, but I'm really committed to creating an original world.

What were some of the challenges of making a game about Samurai?

There's a tone that you have to aim for. While the code of Bushido is largely a recent invention (look back at the actions of men like Oda Nobunaga and see how "honorable' they seemed to act), it's expected in Samurai games. You have to write more than simple dungeon crawls, as life in this society is more than simply hacking an slashing. Samurai are expected to be a combination of artist and warrior, and it's tough to both get that across in the writing. Running characters this multi-layered who have to balance political and martial responsibilities, is also a challenge for GMs and players, but it's a rewarding challenge that I'm sure a lot of people want to rise to meet.

When the final book is out, what can people expect to see and where will they be able to purchase it?

The book is going to be a relatively slim volume with a a full game system and several optional subsystems for greater convenience (NPC generator, mass battle system, etc.). The initial fulfillment is going to be via Drivethrurpg, but I'm also looking into Lulu, Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

DISPOSABLE DISCIPLES OF BONE KINGDOM SESSION THIRTEEN: THE BLOOD-SOAKED HALLS OF STONE PALACE

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

Player Characters: 
Shen Chun
Hidden Arrow
Bao Yang
Chao Feng
Wei Ruomei 

Sects: 

The Righteous Outlaws
Calamity Star
Ou Jinghzhu
Tea Master Houzhou

Crocodile Sect*
Player Characters (See above)
King Iron Beard
Li Sou Chao (Witch of Zhaoze Zhou)

The Roaming Avengers
A group of five brothers who swore loyalty to Hidden Arrow.

The Golden Way
Iron God Meng

Dancing Scorpions
Criminal network in Yun Hu

Relentless Corpse Sect
Relentless Corpse Queen
Da Mei Mei

Temple of the Jade Mercies
Abbot Wei Zhao
Abbess Bao-Yu
Weeping Lotus

Bone Breaking Sect
Destroyed and taken over by Drunken Hero Kang

Stone Palace Sect
A gambling hall and criminal network in Yun Hu

The Golden Corpse Alliance
This is a unified group: Relentless Corpse Sect and the Golden Way combined their interests. Relentless Corpse Queen and Iron God Meng are joint chiefs of the sect, and below them are the player characters via Crocodile Sect. 

Session 

The party had just poisoned Gambling Butcher, the leader of Stone Palace Gambling Hall. They forced him to hand over ownership of the hall and to give them his fortune, or they'd withhold the antidote. He had reluctantly agreed, but one of his guards could not take the humiliation and flew on to the table to attack. 

She was met by a flurry of iron claws from Ruomei. Shen Chun then used his Phoenix Spirit Disruption technique, tapping her meridians to disrupt the Phoenix Spirit of love. He then told her she was beautiful, and a look of confusion crossed her face but she still dove onto the floor and began a terrible spinning blade attack at peoples' legs. One by one the party was brought to the ground. Ruomei managed to counter and evade the attack, Shen Chun was safe as the woman deliberately avoided harming him.

This changed the situation a little, and Gambling Butcher tried to gain the upper hand in the discussion once again. He told the attacking guard, Kuan, to cease, and she obeyed. However the party remained adamant about their terms, despite their condition. 

Ruomei and Shen Chun escorted Gambling Butcher to the Yun Hu bank to take out his money. He initially tried to take out four million spades, but they forced him to take it all out, and ended up with eight million spades. 

On the way back they purchased crutches for the group (with the help of their physician it would still take fifteen days before people could walk). At the gambling hall, the party had tied up all the guards, and began a process of calling in all the captains of the organization. One by one, they were brought in then tied to a chair. Bao Yang offered them more money if they transferred their loyalty to him. The first five refused and he crushed their skulls with a giant mace. The sixth, Mr. Gao, accepted the offer. 

They asked Gao how much he wanted, and he said 800,000 spades a month. However when they asked Gambling Butcher how much the place made a month, he said it was 580,000 to 600,000 spades. Eventually they brought in the accountant, Feng, who told them while the hall brought in roughly 600,000 spades a month, this varied considerably from one month to the next and at least 200,000 of that was tied up in bribing officials. There was 100,000 additional expenses each month as well, so the final total was closer to 280,000 to 300,000 a month. 

Bao Yang asked Feng if they could trust Gao, and he reluctantly said that trusting Gao was a mistake. That he shouldn't trust any of the captains who could be bought in such a way. They ended up crushing Gao's skull as well, then crushing the skulls of the two remaining captains. 

In the meantime Kuan, the woman who had broken the party's legs, was infatuated with Shen Chun due to her phoenix spirit of love being disrupted. Bao Yang wanted her to talk the rest of the guards into joining with him, since their leg breaking technique would come in handy. She said she might be able to do so over a matter of days. 

She spent the next few days trying to talk them into it, but was unable to persuade them. Bao Yang had them all killed. He talked with Shen Chun about killing Kuan as well, given how dangerous she might be. Shen Chun was a little conflicted about this. 

When he saw her next, Shen Chun welcomed Kuan with a hug and she asked when they would get married. She offered to go to a matchmaker and find a good date and time. He said they could seek out the matchmaker in the morning, that she should get rest first. 

That night, Shen Chun snuck into Kuan's room and used inverted three point touch to paralyze her. He then lit a lamp so he could see, and found a lovers bao with his name written on it by her bed. "In the next life" he said, then slit her throat. She opened her eyes, saw him, and died. 

Bao Yang continued to work with Feng to organize the gambling hall and take control. Feng was insistent that they should kill Gambling Butcher before the entire organization to establish his control. He was reluctant and waited a bit, sending word to the Lu Da security company to bring men to help him control the hall. 

Eventually Bao Yang dragged Gambling Butcher into the main gaming hall and stabbed him in the neck. He told everyone that Gambling Butcher was dead and that the Stone Palace Sect answered to him now. Feng went around the room and observed everyone's reaction, then brought a list of seven names to Bao Yang, telling him the people on the list should be killed. 

Bao Yang had the men appear before him in a private chamber with the rest of the party, in group so of three or four. He made each group kotow and vow loyalty, then smashed their skulls in with his giant mace. 

Hidden Arrow spent time in the city finding a new poison. He purchased something called Languid Toad Venom, then returned and met with a prospective disciple (he had put out word that he was looking for students). The man who answered the call was named Hateful Scholar. He accepted him as a disciple and told him to infiltrate Bone Breaking Sect to find out information about the organization. 

That night, Chao Feng went to the gaming hall. He had been watching the crowd the past several days looking for martial heroes. To help him get around he used a large man named Hung to carry him while his legs healed. He spotted a strange man in black robes with a stark white beard, playing a one of the tables. He approached on the back of Hung and bluntly requested to learn Kung Fu from him. 

The man turned and said he would do no such thing. Chao Feng said the game table was done for the night in response, and this clearly angered the man. As the dealer put away his dice, the man struck him in the chest. The dealer turned black and died. Chao Feng told Hung to hurry away, and as he turned the man struck Hung on the chest, who also turned black and died. The man then grabbed Chao Feng and carried him to a grove at the edge of the city. 

The man told Chao Feng that if he seriously wanted to be his disciple, he would need to resemble death. 

Chao Feng asked what that meant exactly. 

"I am a god of death and my students must prove their devotion", the man explained. 

Chao Feng agreed. With one motion the man drew a sword and sliced off Chao Feng's nose. He then told him to crawl back to the Gambling Hall and return the next morning for his first lesson. 

The next day the party went to the head of the Antique Guild, Master Zhao. They had worked out an arrangement with him before where he paid them two million spades to kill Gambling Butcher. Bao Yang told the guild head that they succeeded and were now in charge of Stone Palace. He requested that the Dancing Scorpions honor their territory. 

Master Zhao accepted the request and said it was reasonable. So long as they respected his territory, he would respect their's. 

Bao Yang also asked if master Zhao knew about the man who had cut off Chao Feng's nose. Based on the description, he assumed it was Supreme Master Tung. A man who claimed to be a god and had many fanatics serving under him. 

Chao Feng went to meet Supreme Master Tung in the grove and learned Stealth of the Spider Demon. His master told him he was one among many students and that he would return in ten days to the same spot. 

When Chao Feng returned he spoke with Blue Handed snake about his new master. Blue Handed Snake asked to meet Supreme Master Tung, but Chao Feng was reluctant to this idea, saying he might mention him to the master, but wasn't so sure. 

Ruomei, Hidden Arrow, and Li Sou Chao went south with the Lu Da Security Company and Roaming Avengers to return to crocodile sect while the rest of the group remained at Stone Palace to oversee the venture. 

This is where the session ended. 

STORMS OF THE MARTIAL WORLD SESSION THREE: ASSASSINS OF THE FIRE PEARL

This was the third session of a new Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate campaign. See the SECOND SESSION LOG to read about the previous session. This session took a lot of inspiration from Five Element Ninja by Chang Cheh and was the first time Ninja or Samurai have made an appearance in the setting. 

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. 

The party traveled with Xu An (a member of Tiger Clan) to a clearing in the Yellow Forest to retrieve the body of Granny Chang. On their way to the site they were approached by a magistrate standing in the road and could discern a number of men hiding in the nearby forest. He told them that he had come to arrest Peng Pei and Peng Ke-Yen for their involvement in the murder of the monks of the Sleeping Mercy and for helping Abbot Yan steal five million spades. They were also wanted for taking the slave, Zhendao from master Zhao Yi*.

Peng Ke-Yen rejected the accusation and immediately attacked the magistrate with her Lashing Dragon technique. A fight broke out. Zhendao went to the trees on the right and found three soldiers there, on the left, the party found three more. Peng Pei used finger flick to strike a number of them. 

The battle was over quickly. By the end four soldiers were on the ground, with at least one dead. Shin Du tried to avoid bloodshed by putting a dagger to the magistrates neck and telling the remaining soldiers to run away if they wanted him to live. The rest of the soldiers in the trees hurried away as commanded. 

Song Pei tended to the wounds of the magistrate and the party left him unconscious on the side of the road, then continued their journey. 

They found Granny Chang's body, which was burned from the pyre that Zhendao had built for her before. Ke-Yen performed the spirit keeping ritual but failed. As they carried her through the woods, Granny Chang bolted up and began attacking people as a hopping ghost. Zhendao stabbed Granny but it did her no harm. They were able to contain her with a trapping wind technique and bring her down with Peng Pei's Jade Rending Claw technique. Then they performed the ritual again. The next day they passed by some Yen-Li priests who were going to Zhun temple in Yuzhing. They agreed to help the party perform the spirit keeping ritual, provided they escorted the priests through the dangerous countryside. 

When they reached Yuzhing (in the province of Hu Qin), they spoke with Xu An about their next move. Zhendao and Peng Ke-Yen wanted to kill Five Dagger Chang (the leader of Tiger Clan). Xu An was their captive and she told them that Tiger Clan was on a ship at the docks. 

Zhendao went to the harbor and found a ship with a tiger stripe banner called the Vermillion Star. He approached the ship and observed it. He fell several times trying to climb aboard and was nearly detected by the crew. Later he managed his way into the crew's quarters and stole a sailor's dagger. It was notable for being of foreign make. He also saw Five Dagger Chang issuing orders on deck, protected by a man in red pearl armor (essentially Japanese Great Armor coated in some kind of mother of pearl). 

Zhendao returned to the temple and the party talked about their next course of action. Xu An told them that the sailors were all from the Eastern Archipelagos. They offered to help  make her leader of Tiger Clan if she worked with them to attack the ship. She agreed provided they promise not to kill Five Dagger Chang. 

Shin Du prepared several divine fire rockets and positioned himself on a roof overlooking the ship from a distance. The rest of the party carried Granny Chang's body aboard the ship and Zhendao called for Five Dagger Chang, who emerged from quarters on the rear of the ship with his samurai bodyguard and descended tall steps to the deck. 

As he was walking, Shin Du fired a rocket, which exploded on both Five Dagger Chang and the Samurai, catching both on fire. Xu An leapt toward Chang and knocked him out with the butt of her butterfly sword. She then announced that she was the leader of Tiger Clan now. 

However Peng Ke-Yen grabbed the body and slit Chang's throat. Song Pei tried to intervene but was unable to stop the attack. Xu An then gave a surprised look, and announced to the crew that Five Dagger Chang was dead. Peng Pei used this moment to tend to the wounds of the burned samurai, who was barely alive. 

As the crew began to kowtow to Xu An, Zhandao, who noticed the people aboard the ship resembled himself, asked her where he was from, if he was from the same land as them. 

Frustrated she scolded him and said he wasn't the center of her world, that she didn't know where he was from, nor did she care. This sent Zhendao into a rage. 

He berated her and Tiger Clan for abusing him and mistreating him, then attacked Xu An. 

Xu An flew up into the crow's nest mast and as the fight was picking up again, soldiers boarded the ship. Their captain demanded to know what was going on. 

Zhendao calmed the captain, saying that they had brought the body of Granny Chang aboard but she rose as a hopping ghost. Matters were under their control now. The captain accepted the story but warned the crew he was going to keep his eye on the ship. 

As all this was going on Peng Pei went to search the ship's quarters. In Chang's room she found the five million spades but also found letters form Master Zhao Yi. One of them said that he should give the group the five million spades then send the ninja of the fire pearl after them. It also said that they needed Zhendao's hands, due to new information. 

Back on deck, Xu An descended and told Zhendao they should refrain from fighting, that she would give them the five million spades now that she was leader of Tiger Clan. 

The party took the crates and went back to the temple. Zhendao found a tattoo master and had his slave tattoo altered to look like a monkey. Peng Ke-Yen went with him and had her face and hands tattooed as well (with black designs). Getting the slave tattoo altered required a bribe of 10,000 spades. 

Asking around, the party learned that there was another Temple of the Sleeping Mercy in Nansun. They decided to take the spades there and return them to the order. 

They headed north on the road, careful to avoid Yun Hu. However they found wanted posters of themselves all over. As they were traveling along a canal, they spotted a body on the side of the road. 

Song Pei went to the body and examined it. As he did so, a thick creamy red smoke vented from its mouth and filled the area. His eyes began to burn and he could not see. From a distance, the party saw several men in cloth masks climb from the canal into the smoke. 

Zhendao charged into the smoke as well and struck whatever he could. Song Pei ducked under the body and hid. Peng Ke-Yen used trapping wind to blast the smoke away from the area. They could see clearly there were four masked men (basically ninja) attacking with shurikens. While the smoke was gone, both Zhendao and Song Pei were unable to see. 

Zhendao managed to strike a few, but was dropped by a shuriken and nearly killed. Peng Pei leapt in, and killed the remaining three ninja with her kick of the swan technique. 

After the battle, Zhendao meditated to heal and Song Pei inspected the body to find the cause of the smoke. In the chest he found a golden canister with small perforations on the side and some kind of cranking mechanism. Nothing he recognized. Zhendao and Shin Du took the masks and clothing from the ninjas. 

They continued north and had to bribe a group of soldiers that tried to stop and arrest them (this cost them 40,000 spades). They were also attacked by bandits wearing Golden Raksha talismans. They killed several of them, knocked out some more, and the rest fled. As they ran, Shin Du shouted "Never trouble the Warriors of Shin Du again, or face my wrath." Peng Pei and Zhendao took the  golden talismans and wore them. 

They reached Nansun, and went to the temple of the Sleeping Mercy. When Peng Ke-Yen showed them her talisman (which Abbot Yan had given her) they took her inside and there they found Abbot Yan in hiding. 

He thanked them and he gave Peng Ke-Yen a protective talisman (which she later gave to Peng Pei). He told them they should hide too, but they said it was not in their nature. He suggested they stay at the Lover's Bao, as officials wouldn't bother them there. They gave him the spades and told him that they had taken out a small portion for themselves (which he accepted as more than fair). 

The party went to the Lover's Bao. Zhendao was prominently wearing the Raksha Talisman which seemed to intimidate anyone they passed by. At the Lover's Bao they were given four rooms to themselves and no one disturbed them unless they requested something. 

That night they entertained the sing-song girls with stories of Shin Du's exploits. Zhendao told their tale as if its as all achieved by Shin Du alone. This delighted the crowd and helped spread Shin Du's fame. 

They talked privately about what to do next. It seemed they were inclined to return to Master Zhao Yi and kill him. 

This is where the session ended. 

*While Zhendao was a slave and did belong to Zhao Yi, the rest of the accusation the party knew to be completely untrue. 

BILL'S ENDURING SPIRIT

Today is the second anniversary of the death of William Butler, my friend, co-designer and the other half of Bedrock Games. It is also Saturday, the day of our regular game, and two years ago, Bill would have been our game master. So it is hard not to think about Bill today. 

Bill was a gamer's gamer. He never missed a session, and was always up to run or play in a campaign. He was in three or four different games when he died and one of the ways people identified themselves at his memorial was by what day they gamed with him. He had a passion and dedication to this hobby that I've rarely seen. 

Bill's knowledge of game systems exceeded my own. He was the one who first introduced me to Harn, he was the one who broke down the pros and cons of GURPS for me. He was good at breaking down systems and talking about them. That came in handy when we were designing games. A lot of what I know about RPGs came from Bill. 

I hope that in the last two years, I've helped preserve Bill's spirit in our books. In the past, Bill and I spent a lot of time talking about game mechanics. We spent some of that time arguing, but as time went on, we came to lean on each other's strengths and learn from our differences of opinion. 

I continue to ask what Bill would want when I make a decision about design. I've also worked to emulate his style of GMing as best I can, while still being true to my own. After he died, we continued playing on Saturdays and I assumed the GM role. Bill had an enduring style that was all about the long haul so I did my best to emulate his approach while being true to my own. I am always asking myself how Bill would handle a given situation in a campaign. 

To me this is important, because I know how much his mattered to him. He was brimming with gaming ideas all the time. We would routinely make whole games, that never saw the light of day, simply because he had so much enthusiasm and energy. I might begin a conversation talking about a movie or some show I was watching, but eventually we'd find ourselves debating the best die mechanic for some new system. 

I want people to remember Bill and know that without him, there would not have been a Bedrock Games. 

CRIPPLED AVENGERS REVIEW

I have a review of Crippled Avengers at the Shaw Brothers Universe site. You can read it HERE.