STORMS OF THE MARTIAL WORLD SESSIONS 19-20: THE TRANSFORMATION OF BLIND YAN

This log is for the nineteenth through twentieth sessions of a Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate campaign. See the EIGHTEENTH SESSION LOG to read about the previous session. 

Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate is our wuxia RPG. It is available HERE in PDF. 

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. 

Peng Biyu: Peng Pei's mother. 

Blind Yan: A blind hero and connoisseur of fine foods.  

Shin Du: A performer and actor who is a perfect shot with the bow. 

Song Pei: A one-armed physician.

Sister Fox: Brother Wolf's Sister who is ailing from Life Ebbing Venom. 

Feiyan: A yen-li priestess who is acquainted with Sister Fox.

A lot has happened. The party left the Palace of the Southern Thunder Goddess, having left two of the Phoenix Talismans with her (they are on a mission to place the Phoenix Talismans into the hands of powerful entities to help protect the world). They decided to go to the Southern Sea Demon next but didn't know where to find him. This took them to the City of the Lion God. Here they found multiple temples and priesthoods dedicated to different deities: a snake goddess, the southern Sea God, etc. 

In the city, they found the people spoke Singh. They attended a banquet at the Temple of Phra Guo, the same goddess. There they befriended a priestess named Phung, who explained their religion to them. She spent a great deal of time with Shin Du. 

They also went to the Temple of the Southern Sea God, learning that the priesthood was about to send an annual barge of offerings to the deity. They negotiated with the temple and were offered a place on the barge. 

Song Pei went deep under the temple and was given an audience with the Snake Goddess, Phra Guo. He made an arrangement with her, promising to find her a worthy concubine from the north (a king or prince). To make sure he kept his end of the bargain, she placed a binding of energy around his heart, giving him two years before it would kill him. She also gave him a talisman that made him invisible to demons and spirits. 

The next day the Blind Yan, Sister Fox and Peng Pei inspected the barge, to find it contained 300 virgins who were clearly going to be sacrificed. Blind Yan could not abide this and immediately attacked the guards on the ship. A massive fight broke out, but with the help of Sister Fox and Peng Pei, he was able to clear a path for the women to flee and beat back a swarm of attacking priests. 

When Blind Yan and the rest of the group returned to their quarters, Phung told the party that they had to leave the city as the Temple of the Southern Sea God was after them. Shin Du asked her to come with them and she agreed.

They returned to their boat and decided to avoid the Southern Sea God entirely. Instead they would seek out either the Northern Sea Goddess or the Northern Thunder God. They headed to Daolu. There the captain of the ship told them he would go no further with them, and departed. They went to the Tea Palace Brothel, while Shindu and Phung stayed at the Heavenly Meat Palace. 

At the Tea Palace Brothel, they secured a meeting with a merchant named Guan. He agreed to take them north, into the Yan lands. He wanted 40,000 spades, but they talked him down to 30,000 with a mutual investment in some blue pearls for sale in the north. He agreed to their terms and said they would leave in two days. 

The intervening two days were routine. The only slightly out of the ordinary occurrence was as rat demon in Shin Du's inn room. But he and his wife managed to deal with it (though they were not able to secure recompense from the proprietor). 

They departed by ship, and then took to land travel once they reached a small village further down the river. Master Guan took fifteen men with him and was prepared to buy horses from the Yan. They made their way through the mountains and that is when they ran into trouble. 

Deep in the forest, they were attacked by five men in blue cloth. The men through blue pearls at them in scattered flinging motions and many in the party were wounded. As they fought, one of the trees began to attack. Song Pei noticed a human-lied face on its surface. 

This was a grueling battle, and 10 of the merchants fell to the pearls. Song Pei managed to save 3 who were dying. They captured one of the attackers and tried to get him to talk. All he said was they had taken their sacred pearls from the city and this was forbidden. He then bit his tongue off when Song Pei pressed him for more information by sealing his accupoints. 

The party decided to follower their attackers trail. This tool them to a place in the woods where more men (about fifteen) surrounded a vast maple tree with human-features growing like knots on its trunk. The thing had roots that moved. 

Blind Yan rushed forward to attack and Shin Du launched flaming arrows at it. This fight was also a difficult one. Blind Yan was struck by one of the trees roots and and started to change hue. Ke-Yen over-exerted herself and became imbalanced in the fight, behaving strangely afterwards. 

They did manage to kill all the men and the maple however. 

After the battle, they checked out Blind Yan. Song Pei placed his talisman on Song Pei and energy flowed from it into his body. Thinking this might buy him some time, he made Blind Yan wear it. Blind Yan was not happy with this arrangement and tried to hit Song Pei with a piece of the tree root. 

During the voyage north, Song Pei noticed that Blind Yan was no longer wearing the talisman. This forced him, Sister Fox and Peng Pei to head south and backtrack to find it. While they were gone, Shin Du discovered that Phung knew how to heal Blind Yan. He also noticed that Blind Yan's skin was changing color and texture. However when he tried to slip something in Blind Yan's food to make him sleep, this caused conflict and Blind Yan generated black Qi smoke, trying to flee. In the confusion, the other players returned. However they saw that someone had taken the opportunity to stab Master Guan (who was dying on the ground). 

Song Pei healed Master Guan, while Peng Pei ran after Blind Yan. The two dueled. Peng Pei initially hit him with several potent finger flicks, but he used his blinding smoke again and this made the fight challenging for Peng Pei. She also found at close range, Blind Yan was very tough. He used Stick of the Rebounding Dog to send her in the air and she flung a pearl from the distance, dropping him to the ground. Then she crashed to the ground herself. 

Phung performed her ritual on Blind Yan, and he was healed of his disease. He also returned to his normal friendly self. 

In the aftermath, Song Pei accused Ke-Yen of stabbing Master Guan. Song Pei had inspected Master Guan's wounds and deduced that the only blade capable was Ke-Yen's jian sword. She didn't admit to stabbing but did say she didn't trust him. 

The party continued north and made it to the Yan lands. They eventually reached the Summer City of Borgo. There Master Guan spoke with the Yan and secured a meeting with Tolokhan. 

They found his yurt to be palatial, filled with guards and luxuries. He offered to buy their pearls. They explained that they needed to see one of the gods to the north over an important matter. He told them they would have to speak to one of the Three Northern Sages to be permitted to pass. He said he would send twenty men with them to Yosk (one of the sages). 

Ke-Yen remained outside the yurt. 

Inside he gave them fermented mares milk. When Sister Fox had difficulty swallowing the drink, he accused Daolun women of being weak. This angered Peng Pei, who challenged him to a drinking contest. They drank through the night, both getting very drunk. Peng Pei was able to keep up with him, but the contest was interrupted by activity outside the tend. Men came rushing in and spoke words in a language they didn't understand. 

Tolokhan looked at the party and said, there is a fire, we must go. 

This is where the session ended. 

COMING SOON.....

This is coming soon...

Art by Jackie Musto 

DISPOSABLE DISCIPLES SESSION 52: THE BATTLE OF DEE

This is a log for my ongoing Disposable Disciples of Bone Kingdom campaign. You can see the previous session HERE.  Note that I began recording sessions, so this has allowed me to do more detailed session logs.

Player Characters: 
Shen Chun/Crazed Raksha
Little Bai
Qui
Ong Lao
Min (Feiyan)

Disciples of the Sect: 
Red Eagle (Little Bai)
Mount Dao/Biggest Sister (Little Bai)
Filial Cricket (Little Bai)
Dim-Witted Chen (Shen Chun)

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. Recently they joined with Relentless Corpse again when Shen Chun arranged a marriage with their leader Da Mei Mei. 

Members:
Shen Chun (King)
Da Mei Mei (Queen)
Weeping Lotus (Right Vanguard)
Silent Dagger
Feng (Accountant)
Gu (Head Chef)
Little Bai
Min
Scholar Shen (a scholar who has been writing a story about Little Bai's life)

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

The Party went to Dee with a vast retinue of heroes, including the likes of the Autumn Killers, Iron King Kang, the Four Demon Pagoda Masters, Notorious Fox and many more. In all they brought over thirty heroes with them and camped outside the city. They also had over two hundred disciples, bandits, etc. Then they met with their allies: the Five Ghost Society and the Vermillion Sword Sect. They also spoke with the Holy Killers, who were angered over a recent transgression (the party had sent Dim-Witted Chen to spy on them and they found out). The Holy Killers were originally part of the alliance, but acted now as if they were not and stated that becoming involved directly in the battle would violate their purpose. They offered instead to overlook the spying and to not interfere should the players seek to establish a new order in Dee, provided they betrayed and killed Zhendao of Vermillion Sword Sect. 

Meeting with the Five Ghost Society, Murder suggested they request a formal engagement with Thundering Guan and her forces outside the city in as flat an area as possible (he believed any tactical advantages would be gained by her and not them if the terrain was sufficiently complex). 

The party made other arrangements the evening before the battle and prepared to meet Thundering Guan the next day. 

Arriving at the battle they found Thundering Guan standing behind a force of 400 bandits, 140 killers (all rabble), 30 Poet Immortals, 10 Scholars and beside her right hand man, Physician Chamber. 

Da Mei Mei, Shen Chun, Min and Qui strode forward as the Five Ghost Society took the lead position. Thundering Guan unleashed a terrible scream that sent them all flying back, wounding all except for Qui (who leapt out of the way). Physician Chamber then caused the heavens to crash upon their disciples, wiping out all their minor ranks in a moment. Shen Chun sent a burst of energy through the ranks of the Poet Immortals and Min made a similar attack that wiped out the bandits. 

Physcian Chanba hurled a metal thread that lopped off the heads of the Five Ghost Society, killing them and all their disciples. 

This went on for some time, but soon there were a dozen Poet Immortals, Thundering Guan and Physician Chamba remaining. It was at this point that Shen Chun decided to betray Vermillion Sword Sect and sent his men to slaughter them. They succeeded in cutting him down. 

Qui sent his forces to deal with Thundering Guan and Physician Chamber. This was a much more intense engagement. Ai Nu fell but was not killed. As they descended upon Thundering Guan, Swordsman Lao, Weeping Lotus (who Qui had concealed amid his ranks), Pale Fox, Smart-Minded Fool, Jagged Blade, Xu Kang, and Master Liu died. The rest killed Thundering Guan and Physician Chamber. 

The Vermillion Sword Sect and Five Ghost Society were completely eliminated in the fight. 

The party returned to the city and spoke with the Holy Killers. Then they went to the government quarter to speak with the City Lord, Yan Buwei. Buwei seemed nervous as they looted Thundering Guan's villa. He explained that he was more than willing to abide by their directions as new masters of the city, but they didn't seemed as concerned with government affairs as he had hoped. He did manage to prevent them from looting the treasury though, explaining the money was needed to ensure stability in the city. 

Then they looted The Five Ghost Society and Vermillion Sword Sect. After that they met again with the Holy Killers who informed them that City Lord Yan Buwei was distressed about some matter. 

They met with him formally and he told them that he'd received a letter from the Yan, demanding that the city capitulate to their rule or face an overwhelming invasion. He wanted to know how the party would like him to proceed. They basically told him to ignore the Yan for now. 

Speaking with the Ritual Master of the Holy Killers, Shen Chun was troubled to learn that he was considering working with the Yan if they invaded the city. The ritual master told him that what mattered was containing the powers they had sealed beneath the city and that he was willing to work with whoever he needed to toward that end. 

The party spoke about the matter and debated what to do. 

This is where the session ended. 

SCOUNDRELS OF DAOLU SESSIONS 1-2: BITING THE VIPER THAT FEEDS

I started a campaign set in the city of Daolu. It is an every-other-week campaign with a competitive bent and evil characters (or at least characters who are bandits, assassins and thieves). I structured the XP a bit differently to reflect the competition and darker focus. All the players in this campaign understand that killing another PC is entirely fine. I may get into that in future blog posts but here I am just going to break down the events of the last two sessions. Because there is a two-week gap, my memory on the first session may be hazy. 

There are four player characters in this campaign: 

Limb Taker
Pan Fu
Li Xun
Feng Yao

Pan Fu died early on and was replaced by Xaio Li.  

The party assembled in the slums just outside Daolu at Pan Fu's house. Pan Fu wanted to make some extra money and brought them together to thieve in the city. 

They spoke about the possibilities and decided that they probably needed to deal with the local gangs and make sure they weren't stepping on anyone's toes. They learned about a group of bandits called the Red Capes, who were needling into the Divine Viper Territory. The Divine Vipers controlled the Pleasure Quarter and slums so they went to the Tea Palace Brothel and asked for an audience with their leader, Bamboo Viper. 

He spoke with them and agreed to an arrangement where they paid 25% of what they made. He said he would even front them some money if they eliminated the Red Capes. 

They investigated and split into two groups. Li Xun and Feng Yao went to ride on a timber ship destined for a lumber yard under Divine Viper control (they felt this was a likely target of the Red Capes). Limb Taker and Pan Fu recruited five beggars (Pu Wang, Chao, Sun, Wan and Qin), paying them 20 spades a day to help them get around the city and acquire information. 

They asked Pu Wang to help them hire some muscle and he put them in touch with Long Armed Liu (a martial hero who wielded two chain whips) and the Twin Beauties (martial hero twins conjoined at the spine). Their rates were high, but they agreed to go with the party and handle the Red Capes at their cave. 

They went to the cave and found it empty (getting the location was a bit of a chore as well). They went inside and stole all the spades, furniture and jewelry they could. They came out with about 6,000 spades worth of goods.

On the timber ship Feng Yao and Li Xun waited on deck. The ship was stopped by a group of women wearing Red Capes. They boarded, paid the captain and gave Li Xun and Feng Yao 2,000 spades to keep quiet. Then they took all the timber. Li Xun and Feng Yao decided to go along with things and keep the money. 

When the party met up later they took their wealth to Bamboo Viper and tried to reduce their payment to him by accounting for expenses. He explained that expenses were not a consideration and said they owed him, what they owed him, regardless of how many servants they hired. 

In the end they paid and he suggested they sell some of the furniture at the morning market. The party left and instead of going to the morning market they headed to the Pearl Dragon, a restaurant and gambling hall under the control of the rival gang The Killing Bixies. There they went to the backroom where illegal goods were sold and made more money than they would have otherwise at the morning market. 

They spoke with the Killing Bixie's leader, a woman with one-eye and rough features named Sun Leng. She took a liking to Limb Taker and he offered to work as a spy for her, selling information about the Divine Viper Gang. 

When they left, they decided to make a name for themselves in the city, so that they would have more weight when extorting local businesses. They asked Pu Wang about notable members of the Green Tiger Gang who might be tough but beatable. He suggested Silver Immortal, a spearman with metallic robes who sang during matches at the Lei Tai fighting platform. They sent Pu Wang to go find him, and he came back saying Silver Immortal was at the Silk Peony Book Shop. 

They went there and cornered him. They attacked him viciously, with Feng Yao strumming a harmonizing strike on his Pipa sending a wave of crippling energy through Silver Immortal's meridians. Silver Immortal leaned forward and launched the spear on his back at them. Pan Fu came in and attacked with tremendous kicking force. He drove Silver Immortal into a book pile and Silver Immortal responded with a one-handed spear thrust that went through Pan Fu's neck, killing him instantly. 

The party dropped Silver Immortal soon after. Limb Taker ripped off his arm and made sure he was dead. He then looked at the book shop proprietor and said "Make sure everyone knows this was the work of Limb Taker.....unless the constables ask, then you tell them it was someone else; got it?"

The proprietor nodded. Limb Taker started to extort him as well but opted not to when he learned that the book shop was already being extorted by two rival gangs (The Zhen Bird Society and the Killing Bixies). 

The party returned to Pan Fu's residence after buying him outside the city. Pu Wang learned that Bamboo Viper wanted to speak with Limb Taker, and the rumor was he intended to hack off one of his hands and give it to the Green Tigers to avoid a war. 

Limb Taker snuck around the slums, and they made a plan to go ally with the Killing Bixies to get away from Bamboo Viper. On the way they were stopped by one of Bamboo Viper's Butterfly Men. The man told them to come with him. When they refused he drew two butterfly swords and attacked. He charged forward slicing outward at Limb Taker's belly but was knocked to the ground. Limb Taker snapped his neck and they ran to the Pearl Dragon. 

There they got an audience with Sun Leng. She agreed to take them in, but said she wanted special attention each night from Limb Taker. In exchange she would help train them to be assassins and possibly teach them other skills as well. She would also give them freedom to extort local businesses in her area. 

They agreed and were given quarters with Xiao Li, a member of the gang. In the morning they were awakened to a ringing gong. A man stood there, and said he was to teach them broad strokes with the dagger. He trained them in the courtyard for a while, then they left to make money on their own. 

They went to a restaurant called the Silk Thread Wine Shop. They ordered Blue Prawn and Wine, then demanded 1,000 spades a month from the owner. He said it was too much, but they looked at his books and decided otherwise. He cobbled together the money and paid them, then they went to go register at the fighting platform. 

At the platform Xiao Li (who was already registered) had two fights before getting knocked out. She made 200 spades or so. Limb Taker found a broker, and the broker convinced him to fall in his first match for 1,000 spades. 

They returned to the Pearl Dragon when some Green Tiger men came snooping around. There Sun Leng told them she had a mission for them. She wanted them to go to the Temple of Supreme Judge Yu. She had heard rumors that Bamboo Viper's personal physician was being held there against his will by the Zhen Bird Society. She figured they could rescue him, maybe get into the good graces of Bamboo Viper to smooth things over with Limb Taker and possibly learn some of his weaknesses as well. 

Because the Killing Bixies specialize in forged documents, the part concocted a scheme where they dressed as constables and had a forged order from the City Lord saying they were to arrest the Physician (Wei Lingsu). 

They went to the temple and presented the order dressed as constables, and found they were let inside. There they saw the temple had an illegal silk manufacturing facility (and the priests promised to send the Sheriff a bonus with his usual cut). The priests seemed disappointed that the constables wanted to arrest him but they bought the story and were more than happy to accommodate, only asking that he could be sent back to them at a later point. 

This is where the session ended. 

MARTIAL ARTS MOVIE DISCUSSIONS

Here are the latest movie discussions. 

Talked with Adam about the great Lady Snowblood: 



Kenny and I discussed the Angela Mao film, Swift Shaolin Boxer: 



I spoke with Lady Cao Feng about Police Story. She wasn't as impressed as I am with the film: 



We also discussed Magnificent Bodyguards: 

DISPOSABLE DISCIPLES SESSION 51: DUEL AT THE FOUR DEMON PAGODA

This is a log for my ongoing Disposable Disciples of Bone Kingdom campaign. You can see the previous session HERE.  Note that I began recording sessions, so this has allowed me to do more detailed session logs.

Player Characters: 
Shen Chun/Crazed Raksha
Little Bai
Qui
Ong Lao
Min (Feiyan)

Disciples of the Sect: 
Red Eagle (Little Bai)
Mount Dao/Biggest Sister (Little Bai)
Filial Cricket (Little Bai)
Dim-Witted Chen (Shen Chun)

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. Recently they joined with Relentless Corpse again when Shen Chun arranged a marriage with their leader Da Mei Mei. 

Members:
Shen Chun (King)
Da Mei Mei (Queen)
Weeping Lotus (Right Vanguard)
Silent Dagger
Feng (Accountant)
Gu (Head Chef)
Little Bai
Min
Scholar Shen (a scholar who has been writing a story about Little Bai's life)

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

Shen Chun retrieved the Chariot of Du Qian from the tomb in the south and made his way to Lebdek, where he purchased some horses and headed north back to his sect headquarters. There he managed matters pertaining to the sect and learned from Da Mei Mei that the Yan had taken Li Fan and Hu Qin. He spoke with his astrologer and diviner to decide on potential courses of action. Lingsu, asked permission to head north for his duel with Qui and departed. 

Min and Ong set out for the mainland and searched for Qui. Their travels lead them through He Dong where Ong recruited a one-armed farmer named Li as his disciple. He began training Li, who took well and mastered one of his techniques. They went to Xuilan Meadows and learned that Qui was destined for a duel at Chrysanthemum Lake. 

Qui arrived at Chrysanthemum Lake for his duel with Iron Clawed Lion. It was clear from the beginning that Iron Clawed Lion was not his match, as he was quite old and weary. Within moments, Qui had him in his clutches and drained his Qi energy, forcing Iron Clawed Lion to submit. 

Iron Clawed Lion nodded respectful and told him he admired his kung fu. As he departed, Min and Ong arrived. They discussed what to do. Ong was interested in recruiting Ogre Demons to raise an army. He had acquired an Ogre Demon follower (The Bone General) when they were in the south. The Bone General had recommended he consider raising an army to spread Gushan, as he had experience with the people of Qi Xien and felt they were resistant to new religions with strident points of view. In further discussion, Ong and the Bone General talked about the possibility of releasing the ogres trapped in places like the Four Demon Pagoda. 

Therefore, he suggested going to Four Demon Pagoda. Qui had a duel scheduled there with Lingsu. 

At the Four Demon Pagoda, they found Lingsu. He and Qui faced one another. Qui attacked, trying to clutch Lingsu with his life draining finger tips, but found Lingsu's Qi energy exploded inside his meridians*. It was a fairly good match, and they traded blows for a time before Lingsu was forced to acknowledge defeat. Lingsu politely conceded and agreed to go with them to into the Four Demon Pagodas. 

FOUR DEMON PAGODAS
Art by Jackie Musto

The four Demon Pagodas are rising hoodoos in the badlands of Yao, with sects living on their peaks. Stairs wind down to the surface. As they approached the stairs of one of the pagodas, a group of disciples blocked their path. This lead to combat, but Ong shoved most of them aside quite easily. 

The party went up the stairs and found a venerable master seated in his hall. He was tired and clearly had no desire to fight the party. He at heaping bowls of food as he spoke and said his name was Long Beard. 

Ong asked him to release the demon in his pagoda. Long Beard informed him that the the demon Wuzhi was an ignorant force of deception and would surely contribute to the world's destruction if unleashed. He reminded Ong of the history of the Demon Emperor. 

They negotiated and he agreed to join forces with them in their quest for revenge against Thundering Guan (Qui was bent on killing her and brought this up in the discussion). But he asked them to forget about the Ogre Demons in exchange. 

Ong was reluctant but asked to meet the other masters and see if an arrangement could be worked out. 

One by one they met the others. First they met Master Liu, who berated Long Beard for letting the party push him around. Then they met Master Tunan who belittled Master Liu for striking a terrible deal with the party and accused him of being a fool. Finally they met Master Yuwei, who had lost interest in the world and was on the cusp of releasing the demon himself. 

They agreed to join the party, but Master Tunan demanded the party give them more in return than simply refusing to attack their pagodas. He wanted more disciples to help them fend off the Yan. Qui agreed to help them recruit 150 men and they agreed to go to Dee and face Thundering Guan (Master Tunan was so confident he offered to have the masters of the Four Demon Pagoda go alone to take care of her). 

They returned to the new headquarters of the Golden Way in Hai'an. There Qui asked Shen Chun to send Da Mei Mei with them. Shen Chun agreed to send her, but left Xiaomin and several others to guard the Chariot and the sect. 

This is where the session ended. 

DISPOSABLE DISCIPLES SESSION 50: THE CHARIOT OF DU QIAN

This is a log for my ongoing Disposable Disciples of Bone Kingdom campaign. You can see the previous session HERE.  Note that I began recording sessions, so this has allowed me to do more detailed session logs.

Player Characters: 
Shen Chun/Crazed Raksha
Little Bai
Qui
Ong Lao
Min (Feiyan)

Disciples of the Sect: 
Red Eagle (Little Bai)
Mount Dao/Biggest Sister (Little Bai)
Filial Cricket (Little Bai)
Dim-Witted Chen (Shen Chun)

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. Recently they joined with Relentless Corpse again when Shen Chun arranged a marriage with their leader Da Mei Mei. 

Members:
Shen Chun (King)
Da Mei Mei (Queen)
Weeping Lotus (Right Vanguard)
Silent Dagger
Feng (Accountant)
Gu (Head Chef)
Little Bai
Min
Scholar Shen (a scholar who has been writing a story about Little Bai's life)

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

THE COURT OF SHEN CHUN 

The group re-organized in the south. Shen Chun and Da Mei Mei gave birth to a baby girl named Ying, and invited their allies in the martial world to announce the birth. A woman calling herself Duo Bai arrived. She claimed to be the daughter of Lady White Blade, and requested to become Sing's instructor 'so she can defeat the Yan one day'*. Ong politely requested to test her skills and they had a friendly duel in the reception hall. She charged and impaled him with her sword, and he told Shen Chun that her skills were acceptable. 

Shen Chun used the Righteous Staff of the Mantis to see Lady Duo Bai's past misdeeds. Within its swirling orb he saw her being tutored by Strange Phoenix, an argument ensued and she slashed her teacher's leg. 

He asked her about her relationship with Strange Phoenix and she said that Strange Phoenix was her aunt. After discussion with Da Mei Mei, Shen Chun agreed to take her as his child's martial arts instructor. 

Lady Duo Bai asked to be called Green Blade, and was taken into the sect as the instructor of Ying and all the sect children. 

Later a man named Qima Sao arrived and was granted an audience in the reception hall. He said he was the former head of the Astronomical Office in the Empire and hoped to be accepted into the sect in a similar capacity. He fled during the invasion and wanted to help protect the south. 

He too was accepted. 

Shen Chun decided to depart for the Chamber of the Ageless Guardian to retrieve the Chariot of Du Qian once again (they tried once before). Ong and Min went east by ship to find their new island. 

QUI IN THE BANYAN 

Meanwhile Qui had a number of engagements in the Banyan. He had arranged three duels, one with Iron Clawed Lion King at Chrysanthemum Lake, another with Gentle Demon of Zhe Valley and a third with Laughing Fox at Sun Mai Temple. 

First he went to The Valley and was greeted by men in fine robes who took him to their master's reception hall. Gentle Demon asked why he wanted the duel and Qui said it was to grow his reputation. 

Gentle Demon nodded and walked to face his opponent. Qui unleashed a terrifying attack, digging his hands into Gentle Demon's flesh and draining his life. Gentle Demon was hurled back and threw his guan dao, slicing Qui's leg. 

Gentle Demon then called him a bastard and said Qui had days to live. Qui dragged him out of the reception hall and to the edge of the canyon in the valley. Gentle Demon told him he was the only person who knew where the antidote was, that he had been poisoned by Black Naga Venom. Without the antidote he would die, so he wanted Qui to return to him to discuss business (and also agree never to reveal the outcome of their duel to anyone). 

Qui snapped Gentle Demon's neck before his men. He then demanded to know where the antidote was and brought his entire retinue of people into Zhe Valley hall. 

The senior disciple of Zhe Valley warned him that they had over 400 men in the valley, and while he surely had plenty of powerful masters among him, they were simply outnumbered. 

Qui calmed and asked to search Gentle Demon's chambers for an antidote. The head disciple allowed this. He found no antidote, merely a note addressed to him saying that Gentle Demon would see him in hell and that there was no antidote inside Zhe Valley.

He eventually learned that Gentle Demon had left the valley before their duel and place the antidote somewhere in the Banyan. Qui knew he had no more than ten days to live, possibly a lot less. So he used a meditation technique to slow the poison and buy himself time. He then decided to go to Xuilan Meadows and see if Timeless Perennial could help him. 

Without his meditation technique, he surely would have died on the journey, but he bought himself time and made it to Xuilan meadows. Timeless Perennial said she could help him but that he would have to perform a task for her at some point in the future (and he must agree to it, no matter what it was). He accepted provided the task did not violate the rules of proprietor set by his master. She agreed and gave him a pill. She then told him to return every few months for another dose. 

He left and went to Sun Mai Temple and faced Laughing Fox, who was in a placid mood. Within moments he did the same to Laughing Fox as he had to Gentle Demon, draining his life by digging his fingers into the flesh. Laughing Fox acknowledged defeat but asked to learn the technique. Qui agreed to teach him, if he lent his hands to getting revenge against Thundering Guan. Laughing Fox was delighted by this and began training in the new technique. 

ONG AND MIN AND THE ISLAND OF GUSHAN

Before leaving, Ong found a farmer and paid him to come with them to the island. Arriving at the new island, Ong and Min found a temple of Gushan with a towering Gushan Head and a vast swath of bells. The temple was surrounded by jungle. At the beach a group of Hechi award them. 

The Hechi claimed to have come into existence when the island was created. They said there was a book with a history of their people in the temple when they arrived, but they knew it to be a lie (Hechi are goat men with horns on their head capable of discerning falsehoods). 

They explained that the jungle was inhabited by spirited beasts. Ong, Min and Bone General (Ong's Ogre Demon servant) went into the jungle and searched. They encountered a monkey demon, which they fought and Min sucked into one of her orbs. 

As they walked back to the temple, Bone Demon asked Ong what his intentions were. Ong explained that he wanted to spread Gushan in Qi Xien. 

"I have some experience with this sir, the people of Qi Xien are quite resistant to these sorts of deities; if I might suggest possible courses of action?"

"Yes, of course."

"I believe only two approaches can work: deception or force. If we use force, I think we should create an army." 

Ong nodded. "Your people, are there more of you we can bring into our cause?"

"Yes, but many are sealed in powerful chambers like the Four Demon Pagodas and Yao Gong Palace. My people still feel the humiliation of our defeat and long to reclaim our standing. I think if we restored some of them, they would join you."

Ong nodded. 

He left Bone General in charge of the island, while he and Min left back for the mainland. 

SHEN CHUN ACQUIRES THE CHARIOT OF DU QIAN

Shen Chun and his men reached the Chamber of the Ageless Guardian and acquired the Chariot of Du Qian**.

This is where the session ended. 



*The Yan had just invaded the empire and taken over the palace, which was why the group fled south. 

**The Chamber of the Ageless Guardian will appear in an upcoming PDF called The Tournament of Daolu, so to avoid spoilers, I have not mentioned anything that occurred while he was in the chamber.