Monday, December 19, 2016

STORMS OF THE MARTIAL WORLD SESSION NINE: SHE LIES IN STONE

This was the Ninth session of a new Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate campaign. See the EIGHT SESSION LOG to read about the previous session. 

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 continued into the Tomb of the Red General, where they came to a T-section. Before them was a set of stairs, and to their left and right passageways. They took the left passage first. It ended in a mass of stone rubble, written in dried blood were the words "She Lies". 

Zhendao began sifting through the rubble and found the skeletal limb of a woman. He moved several of the stones, uncovering the rest of her body. She had been there for some time and was wearing yellow and blue robes. 

They cleared out some of the stone at the top of the rubble and it opened a small pass into another chamber. 

Zhendao moved the body back and they began to perform the Spirit Keeping rites upon it. As they did so a voice came from beyond the rubble saying "Bring me a replacement". 

"Who are you?" They asked her. 

"I am Hen-Shi," she said. "Bring me another body."

The party led her to believe they would return with another body and ventured down the stairway at the T-Section. This brought them to a long pit, with a 20-foot fall into narrow spikes. There were six platforms throughout the room and at the other end a landing and some stairs. Upon one of the platforms they saw the upper torso of a mummified man. His hair was still black and long, and he rose up freely into the air. 

"You are agents of Brother Wolf!" he screamed. 

Looking back, the party saw the their stair passage was suddenly sealed by a flurry of iron threads. 

They tried to convince the man that they were not agents of bother wolf. And asked for him to explain what had happened. He told his name was Chief Chun or Stone Palace and that he had come here for the life-keeping stone with Brother Wolf and Sister Fox. He explained that Sister Fox took the stone, and that Brother Wolf had betrayed him on the way out, reducing him to his present state. 

He told them he wanted revenge and asked if they would help him. They discussed the possibility of helping orchestrate an ambush for Brother Wolf at the tomb. 

Chief Chun became more insistent, demanding the party betray Brother Wolf. They tried to extract information about the Life Ebbing venom, but he would not have that conversation. Shin Du attempted to bore him into telling them by reciting a long story. 

Chief Chun threw out a lash of iron threads, which wrapped around Shin Du's neck. Zhendao cut the thread with his butterfly swords. Song Pei accused Chief Chun of being rude, blasted the doorframe, to burst open the thread wall and they made their escape into the hall. 

They talked about going back to the woman at the rubble chamber, but decided they needed a body first. 

"I know where we can get a body," Said Zhendao. 

The party didn't asked any questions, they merely followed him to Crocodile Village where he went to a grove and puled out the body of a steamed bun vendor. They took the body back to the tomb and climbed with it through the opening into the chamber. There they saw a woman made of stone, emerge from the wall. Her eyes glowed blue, and she extended her arms. 

"If we give you this body will you help us?" Song Pei asked. 

She said yes and they presented the body before her. 

"What sort of help do you require?"

"We need to find a solution to the Life Ebbeing Venom".

"Life Ebbing Venom was made from the blood of the Dutiful Empress, therefore it is reasonable to assume that the blood of a powerful god or goddess would be required to make the antidote. You would also need a master physician, with exceptional skill at devising creative cures."

They thanked her and left the chamber, careful to take samples of the Life Ebbing Venom on their way out. 

Before they did, the party returned to Chief Chun to arrange a deal. 

Song Pei tried to reach a deal so to get to the other side but it was fruitless. 

They asked why he wanted the Life-Keeping Stone in the first place, and Shen Chun said he retrieved it for his bride, Da Mei Mei of Relentless Corpse Sect. 

During this discussion, Zhendao stepped forward and offered to find Da Mei Mei for him. 

Cheif Chun misunderstood his words and said "You dare take my woman!"

This led to considerable confusion, and ultimately the Chief believed he had come to trick him, so he unleashed an attack of Iron Threads from his spine and Zhendao narrowly evaded capture.

However, Chief Chun clearly could not leave the chamber, so once he was out, Zhendao felt safe. 

As the party gathered outside, Shin Du snuck back and spoke privately with Chief Chun, convincing him to let them across if they relayed a message of challenge to Brother Wolf. 

The party left and decided to set out for Xuanlu, traveling through the hills. 

As they made their way, they saw a man in glittering golden robes, surrounded by maidens dressed in rose colored uniforms. 

The man approached them. 

"Who are you?" He said. 

"I am the great Shin Du" said Shin Du."And who might you be?"

"I am Flower-Handed Snake. And what is so great about you Shin Du?"

Shin Du explained his skill in archery and when the man demanded an exhibition of his skills, he asked Flower-Handed Snake to hold his mace out to his side. 

Shin Du then fired an arrow so it bounded off a tree and grazed the skin of Flower-Handed Snakes hand. 

This infuriated Flower-Handed Snake and he leapt forward to attack. 

Zhendao played his flute, summoning Leather Shadow Puppets, which soon began to paralyze the man's limbs. Still he inhaled deeply and a storm of petals and debris washed over the party lacerating their flesh. 

The battle continued, but the man was soon fully paralyzed. His maidens leapt to his defense. The party managed to drop them. When the paralysis wore off, Flower-Handed snake tried to run away, so Shin Du shot him in the back with an arrow. 

Song Pei aided the fallen women, who wept for their master. As Ke-Yen took the body to a grove to offer it to the spirits, they pleaded to have the body so they could take it to his wife, Flower-Handed Widow. 

This is where the session ended. 

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