Emperor Valerian
First Post
I think he was simply referring to the temptation to yoink the throne for yourself... though the other is quite a temptation too, I suppose 
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The Celestial Empire (Romance of the Three Kingdoms-ish, Updated 12/09/05)
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Emperor Valerian
First Post
Attack of the Hill People, better know as:
THE INFAMOUS GNOME INCIDENT
The next day, Nayu, Liu, Felonca, Meiji and Yari Ai all agreed that they needed to move quicker towards Mingzhong than their commoner friends could accomplish. Wishing their former companions farewell and good journey, they began to gallop ahead. Just before they were out of earshot, one of their former companions shouted a warning to them.
“Beware of the hill people! They’re getting riled up now that war is about!”
“Wakabayashi Nayu... you have a great responsibility...”
“I know, Father,” Nayu replied, bowing his head. To his front, the shimmering apparition smiled. “What shall I do with it? Should I retake the throne? Should I try to make a living quietly? What do I do, father?”
“Carry this burden with care, my son,” the ghost seemed to bow, before suddenly the ghost shot upright. Its translucent face snapped to one side, looking off in the distance.
“They come for me. Hurry, Nayu! They’ll chase you too!” his father’s voice called, and the ghost seemed to start waft away, each strand of thin white shaking into tinier strands until it vanished.
“But Father! What should I do!” Nayu called, terror in his voice. “Who hunts us?”
“Nayu!” a terrible scream came from the ghostly figure, as something long, spindly and white seized the rapidly vanishing form. A cackle rose in Nayu’s ears, as he struggled to reach for the disappearing figure. Eight dark eyes flashed before Nayu’s eyes, their laughter burning deep into his mind as he stretched out, trying to save his father...
“Nayu!”
The young sorcerer shot awake, sweat and perspiration dampening his face and shirt. To one side was the group’s campfire, low and crackling. To the other, was a hunched over Felonca, her face away from him, scanning deep into the woods.
“Are you awake now?” she asked gently, and Nayu felt her reassuring hand on his shoulder.
“Yes.” It was only a dream... even though I saw him so clearly, it was only a dream...
“Good. We’ve got company,” she whispered quietly. “Act nonchalant, as if you’re waking up to stretch. Don’t look out into the woods, but we’re surrounded,” she whispered matter of factly.
“How many?” Nayu shook his head slightly, driving away the last vestiges of sleep that clung to his mind.
“Twenty at least. I can’t tell what they are.” He saw her other hand was shifting uneasily between her warfans and the longbow on her back. “They’re small buggers. Maybe its the ‘hill people’ our friends warned us about.” Suddenly, the hand on his shoulder vanished, and she shot into a firing position.
As her longbow sang out, Nayu flipped himself to his feet, facing the same direction as her. A quick glance showed the other three were already awake and armed, but neither Meiji nor Yari Ai had armor on.
Great, Nayu groaned inwardly. He closed his eyes, and a slow incantation came to his lips. A few seconds later, the world around him seemed to shimmer slightly, as a magical wall of protection rose around him. (mage armor)
A screech arose from the forest, as the dull thwack! of an arrow striking flesh echoed through the night. A long, low cry arose from around the party, and the woods seemed to come alive with crashes and cracks as dozens of feet rushed forward towards the party.
“Wolves!” Felonca shouted, her hands flashing towards her quiver. Nayu eyes flashed about, yet he saw no White Wolves, or regular wolves. Instead, he saw on all sides the same image... little people, almost miniaturized humans, running forward. Unlike people, their eyes were shining yellow, and their skin was a dull gray in the firelight. They each held tiny shields on one arm, and a dagger in the other, their mouths wide as they charged forward.
Nayu closed his eyes, and held out his hand towards one group still a good distance away from the party. Concentrating on speed instead of power, he felt his magic siphoning off into a single shining bead in his hand. It flashed out, and a thunderclap shook the forest as a fireball engulfed six of the charging gnomes, their decimated and burnt forms cart-wheeling through the air as the trees took alight.
Good ancestors... its basically three of us versus this mob! Felonca thought desperately, as she notched and loose another arrow. Another screech echoed in the woods as a second gnome fell, and arrow in its stomach. Meiji’s a fop! He can’t fight! And all Yari Ai has is that cane!
She backed up, and felt herself bump into something. By the fact that her head felt like it was on someone’s back, she guessed it was Nayu.
“Nayu, cover this front! I’ll protect Yari Ai and Meiji!” she called, spinning around him as she called. When she spun clear, she suddenly stopped in shock.
The first sight that greeted her eyes was accompanied by sound... namely the voice of Meiji singing. His scimitar was out, yet he was merely dancing about, almost laughing.
“The dregs run out,
And I’ve been played
O, as they say,
The orc got laid...”
One by one, three of the gnomes charging him slowed, then stopped, before collapsing in fits of laughter. Even as the battle rumbled on around them, they rolled on the ground, gasping for air as they split their sides with loud guffaws.
The other sight was of the handmaiden that only the night before, had been so frightened and scared. As four of the gnomes charged towards her, Felonca recognized the woman’s frighteningly calm movements.
That’s a combat position, for fighting with a long blade of some kind... but she has no blade...
For several agonizing seconds, the gnomes got closer and closer, while Yari Ai merely stood, partly facing away from them, holding the end of her cane out so it hovered just above the ground. As the first gnome drew close and raised his dagger to strike, the young woman became a mere blur, her strike so fast it seemed a sheet of steel had struck from her, splitting two of her attackers in half. For a split second she paused, just long enough for Felonca to see a long, curved blade coming from the end of the maiden’s cane...
Nayu was to focused to have heard the sudden shing of Yari Ai’s blade striking, or even Meiji’s tune. Instead, his eyes focused on the gap his fireball had created, and the shapes moving beyond... large shapes, far larger than the gnomes or even a human.
White Wolves... he thought simply, and he reacted in a simple manner as well... another white bead formed in his hands. As he made out six of the wolves, close together, rushing forward at breakneck pace, the bead lashed forth, landing in their midst.
Another thunderclap, and the wolves broke their run, dashing to the side. As two thundered towards Yari Ai and Liu, he could see they were badly burned. Alarmingly, another two still hung back in the forest...
Yari Ai is ok, Meiji! Felonca swung back to where her cousin was still singing. Two more gnomes charged towards him, and did not fall under the spell of his song. Meiji began to back up, trying to open the distance, until Felonca flipped over him, slashing apart one of the gnomes while in midair, before landing in front of him, blocking the last gnome from its intended quarry. A quick slash ended that threat as well.
“Your sword! Use your damn sword!” she snapped at her cousin, before she spun around, to see Nayu surrounded by three gnomes viciously swinging and stabbing at him, and two White Wolves, blades drawn, heading towards Liu and Yari Ai...
“GAH!” Nayu twisted and turned as the gnomes swooped in around him. For a few moments, he danced and wiggled, trying to avoid their blades, until he noticed something.
About six inches from his body, even if he did not try to dodge, their blades stopped. (DM’s Notes: The gnomes had major major issues with Nayu’s post-mage armor AC)
Well, I’ll be d-
His thought was interrupted as two blasts of pain seared through his side. He looked down, half expecting to see a gnome dagger stuck between his ribs. Instead, drips of green, gooey liquid hung from his robes, still burning them.
Acid... his mind snarled, and he realized why the other two White Wolves were still in forest, just within sight. As the gnomes continued to slash and poke ineffectually, her turned towards the forest, a sharp and decidedly predatory grin on his lips. He felt his magic building yet again, and yet another bead of shining power formed into his hands. In the ensuing explosion he saw both White Wolf spellcasters burst into flame, their screams confirming their agonizing demise.
Then, he turned towards the White Wolves trying to attack Liu and Yari Ai.
“You don’t learn, do you?” he snarled, baring his teeth.
Another slash, another gnome squealed in pain as Felonca felt pain in her leg. Damn daggers! she complained, making her way over towards Yari Ai and Liu, both of whom were now fighting toe to toe with two White Wolf warriors clad in full armor.
Ambush, ambush! Felonca flashed about the battle, trying to make sure the wolves did not see her until it was too late. As the thunderclap of Nayu’s third fireball echoed in the night, she felt a crackle of power above her head, and suddenly smelled ozone.
She spun around just in time to see another gnome fall to the ground, sparks coming from its body. In front of it stood Meiji, looking rather sheepish, sparks coming from his scimitar.
“Sorry, cuz... didn’t mean to almost hit you there!” He then spun towards the losing battle between Liu and the large White Wolf, and began to sing his song yet again. Felonca was about to shout at him to charge in with his fancy sword, when she saw the wolf, too, collapse in fits of laughter.
She didn’t have long to look, before more shouts from small voices warned her more gnomes were coming. As Yari Ai backflipped away from her larger wolf pursuer, slashing a gnome in the process, Felonca echoed the move, cutting down another two attackers...
There! Yari Ai had backflipped out of the way, and Nayu let loose a blast of crackling flames straight towards the last of the wolves standing. The wolf collapsed in fiery pain, and Nayu turned his attention back to the three little people still trying to stab him. As their blows came up short, Nayu leaned over, a fierce grin on his face.
“You don’t learn, do you?” he said, his voice deadly even. The three gnomes looked at each other, before two suddenly dropped their shields and daggers, before running into the forest. The third gave a brave cry and swung at Nayu again and again, coming up short.
“Oh well,” the sorcerer sighed, and raised his hands towards two trees close to the fleeing gnomes. They had already been battered by one of his fireballs, so when his scorching ray lashed into their burning forms at the appropriate moment, a huge, flaming bough fell right on the two fleeing hill people.
Nayu then turned, and as the third gnome was in mid-swing, grabbed his dagger arm. The grip was fierce enough the small creature dropped its dagger as Nayu grabbed its opposite arm. It squirmed viciously, as he held it up, till it was at eye level.
“What shall I do with you?” he asked, the noise of battle already dying around them. The gnome spat back something in its native tongue, and spat in Nayu’s face.
“Fine,” he replied sourly, walking with the creature close to the two flaming trees. Carefully, he held the gnome out and arms length, and with a mighty kick, punted the screeching creature into the darkness. His goal was to send the creature sailing between the burning trees. Sadly, he shanked the kick, and the creature slammed head-first into the tree on the right, falling to the ground quite dead.
Felonca looked at the carnage about her, and gave a sigh. Why would the hill people side with White Wolves? The last of the laughing growls from the White Wolf came to an end, as a sharp smack and a snap signalled Yari Ai’s blade finishing off the creature. When the girl looked back up at Felonca, at first the rogue could see the calm deadliness in her eyes, and why she’d been picked to be a bodyguard. The look suddenly changed, when the younger woman saw the blood coming from Felonca’s leg.
“You’re hurt!” she walked over, blood streaming from a rake in her shoulder and dagger thrusts to her stomach and thighs.
“Psssha... this is nothing!” Felonca gave a fierce grin. “I’ve been hurt worse!” Nigh dead one time! “No where near as bad as you... you should go see Liu about those cuts...”
“He’s busy healing himself,” Yari Ai said quietly, before reaching out and touching Felonca’s shoulder. The girl’s eyes closed, and a few whispered words came from her mouth. Felonca felt the familiar queasy feeling as wounds filled up across her body. The feeling didn’t compare to the shock in her voice.
“You... you’re a healer?” she asked, as Yari Ai touched her own chest and repeated the same words.
“Yes... the Maidens have long held methods of healing and even greater skills in high regard,” the girl replied, an impish grin of pride on her face. “That way, if a charge is hurt, they can be healed immediately, or if an assassin is captured wounded, he can be healed for interrogation.”
Felonca gave a low whistle. “Remind me never to storm the Jade City unannounced.”
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Yep... Yari Ai is a cleric, with domains of Earth and Healing. I thought it’d be a departure from normal to have a cleric with low strength, but high dexerity and little armor. She depends on speed to survive battle, as the heaviest armor she has is leather.
Notes on this battle... the party was attacked by some 20-25 sviberneblin gnomes, along with 2 5th level White Wolf warriors, and 2 5th level White Wolf Sorcerers. I’d intended it to be a hard challenge for them, with the swarming of the gnomes posing a problem, but the gnomes had a really, really bad day, with many attack rolls of 3 or 5 going around. To complicate matters, once Nayu’s magical protect got going, the gnomes basically could not hit except on a 19 or 20, which they got only a few times... and when they did hit, they managed to roll minimum damage every time except once (I believe Felonca was poked for 3 points damage once).
The White Wolves did far more damage, though since Felonca rotated to help Meiji with the gnomes, their ire mostly went against Liu and Yari Ai, both of whom were badly mauled by the end of the fight.
It was a tale of two combats... one end, Meiji, Felonca and Nayu all spent more time shaking gnomes off their limbs and complaining about gnomes blocking them from moving, while on the other, the two other party members were in a life or death struggle. Go figure.
The burning bough crashing on the gnomes was 100% flavor, after the battle became a rout. The ‘gnome punting’ was the same... with no opponents left alive, I ruled Nayu could take 20 on holding the gnome, and give me a ranged attack on where he punted it. He biffed his die roll, so I ruled it sailed into a tree instead of between them.
All in all, this was one of my favorite combats to run. Sure, it failed on the devious side, but on the entertainment side... how can you beat punting gnomes?
THE INFAMOUS GNOME INCIDENT
The next day, Nayu, Liu, Felonca, Meiji and Yari Ai all agreed that they needed to move quicker towards Mingzhong than their commoner friends could accomplish. Wishing their former companions farewell and good journey, they began to gallop ahead. Just before they were out of earshot, one of their former companions shouted a warning to them.
“Beware of the hill people! They’re getting riled up now that war is about!”
“Wakabayashi Nayu... you have a great responsibility...”
“I know, Father,” Nayu replied, bowing his head. To his front, the shimmering apparition smiled. “What shall I do with it? Should I retake the throne? Should I try to make a living quietly? What do I do, father?”
“Carry this burden with care, my son,” the ghost seemed to bow, before suddenly the ghost shot upright. Its translucent face snapped to one side, looking off in the distance.
“They come for me. Hurry, Nayu! They’ll chase you too!” his father’s voice called, and the ghost seemed to start waft away, each strand of thin white shaking into tinier strands until it vanished.
“But Father! What should I do!” Nayu called, terror in his voice. “Who hunts us?”
“Nayu!” a terrible scream came from the ghostly figure, as something long, spindly and white seized the rapidly vanishing form. A cackle rose in Nayu’s ears, as he struggled to reach for the disappearing figure. Eight dark eyes flashed before Nayu’s eyes, their laughter burning deep into his mind as he stretched out, trying to save his father...
“Nayu!”
The young sorcerer shot awake, sweat and perspiration dampening his face and shirt. To one side was the group’s campfire, low and crackling. To the other, was a hunched over Felonca, her face away from him, scanning deep into the woods.
“Are you awake now?” she asked gently, and Nayu felt her reassuring hand on his shoulder.
“Yes.” It was only a dream... even though I saw him so clearly, it was only a dream...
“Good. We’ve got company,” she whispered quietly. “Act nonchalant, as if you’re waking up to stretch. Don’t look out into the woods, but we’re surrounded,” she whispered matter of factly.
“How many?” Nayu shook his head slightly, driving away the last vestiges of sleep that clung to his mind.
“Twenty at least. I can’t tell what they are.” He saw her other hand was shifting uneasily between her warfans and the longbow on her back. “They’re small buggers. Maybe its the ‘hill people’ our friends warned us about.” Suddenly, the hand on his shoulder vanished, and she shot into a firing position.
As her longbow sang out, Nayu flipped himself to his feet, facing the same direction as her. A quick glance showed the other three were already awake and armed, but neither Meiji nor Yari Ai had armor on.
Great, Nayu groaned inwardly. He closed his eyes, and a slow incantation came to his lips. A few seconds later, the world around him seemed to shimmer slightly, as a magical wall of protection rose around him. (mage armor)
A screech arose from the forest, as the dull thwack! of an arrow striking flesh echoed through the night. A long, low cry arose from around the party, and the woods seemed to come alive with crashes and cracks as dozens of feet rushed forward towards the party.
“Wolves!” Felonca shouted, her hands flashing towards her quiver. Nayu eyes flashed about, yet he saw no White Wolves, or regular wolves. Instead, he saw on all sides the same image... little people, almost miniaturized humans, running forward. Unlike people, their eyes were shining yellow, and their skin was a dull gray in the firelight. They each held tiny shields on one arm, and a dagger in the other, their mouths wide as they charged forward.
Nayu closed his eyes, and held out his hand towards one group still a good distance away from the party. Concentrating on speed instead of power, he felt his magic siphoning off into a single shining bead in his hand. It flashed out, and a thunderclap shook the forest as a fireball engulfed six of the charging gnomes, their decimated and burnt forms cart-wheeling through the air as the trees took alight.
Good ancestors... its basically three of us versus this mob! Felonca thought desperately, as she notched and loose another arrow. Another screech echoed in the woods as a second gnome fell, and arrow in its stomach. Meiji’s a fop! He can’t fight! And all Yari Ai has is that cane!
She backed up, and felt herself bump into something. By the fact that her head felt like it was on someone’s back, she guessed it was Nayu.
“Nayu, cover this front! I’ll protect Yari Ai and Meiji!” she called, spinning around him as she called. When she spun clear, she suddenly stopped in shock.
The first sight that greeted her eyes was accompanied by sound... namely the voice of Meiji singing. His scimitar was out, yet he was merely dancing about, almost laughing.
“The dregs run out,
And I’ve been played
O, as they say,
The orc got laid...”
One by one, three of the gnomes charging him slowed, then stopped, before collapsing in fits of laughter. Even as the battle rumbled on around them, they rolled on the ground, gasping for air as they split their sides with loud guffaws.
The other sight was of the handmaiden that only the night before, had been so frightened and scared. As four of the gnomes charged towards her, Felonca recognized the woman’s frighteningly calm movements.
That’s a combat position, for fighting with a long blade of some kind... but she has no blade...
For several agonizing seconds, the gnomes got closer and closer, while Yari Ai merely stood, partly facing away from them, holding the end of her cane out so it hovered just above the ground. As the first gnome drew close and raised his dagger to strike, the young woman became a mere blur, her strike so fast it seemed a sheet of steel had struck from her, splitting two of her attackers in half. For a split second she paused, just long enough for Felonca to see a long, curved blade coming from the end of the maiden’s cane...
Nayu was to focused to have heard the sudden shing of Yari Ai’s blade striking, or even Meiji’s tune. Instead, his eyes focused on the gap his fireball had created, and the shapes moving beyond... large shapes, far larger than the gnomes or even a human.
White Wolves... he thought simply, and he reacted in a simple manner as well... another white bead formed in his hands. As he made out six of the wolves, close together, rushing forward at breakneck pace, the bead lashed forth, landing in their midst.
Another thunderclap, and the wolves broke their run, dashing to the side. As two thundered towards Yari Ai and Liu, he could see they were badly burned. Alarmingly, another two still hung back in the forest...
Yari Ai is ok, Meiji! Felonca swung back to where her cousin was still singing. Two more gnomes charged towards him, and did not fall under the spell of his song. Meiji began to back up, trying to open the distance, until Felonca flipped over him, slashing apart one of the gnomes while in midair, before landing in front of him, blocking the last gnome from its intended quarry. A quick slash ended that threat as well.
“Your sword! Use your damn sword!” she snapped at her cousin, before she spun around, to see Nayu surrounded by three gnomes viciously swinging and stabbing at him, and two White Wolves, blades drawn, heading towards Liu and Yari Ai...
“GAH!” Nayu twisted and turned as the gnomes swooped in around him. For a few moments, he danced and wiggled, trying to avoid their blades, until he noticed something.
About six inches from his body, even if he did not try to dodge, their blades stopped. (DM’s Notes: The gnomes had major major issues with Nayu’s post-mage armor AC)
Well, I’ll be d-
His thought was interrupted as two blasts of pain seared through his side. He looked down, half expecting to see a gnome dagger stuck between his ribs. Instead, drips of green, gooey liquid hung from his robes, still burning them.
Acid... his mind snarled, and he realized why the other two White Wolves were still in forest, just within sight. As the gnomes continued to slash and poke ineffectually, her turned towards the forest, a sharp and decidedly predatory grin on his lips. He felt his magic building yet again, and yet another bead of shining power formed into his hands. In the ensuing explosion he saw both White Wolf spellcasters burst into flame, their screams confirming their agonizing demise.
Then, he turned towards the White Wolves trying to attack Liu and Yari Ai.
“You don’t learn, do you?” he snarled, baring his teeth.
Another slash, another gnome squealed in pain as Felonca felt pain in her leg. Damn daggers! she complained, making her way over towards Yari Ai and Liu, both of whom were now fighting toe to toe with two White Wolf warriors clad in full armor.
Ambush, ambush! Felonca flashed about the battle, trying to make sure the wolves did not see her until it was too late. As the thunderclap of Nayu’s third fireball echoed in the night, she felt a crackle of power above her head, and suddenly smelled ozone.
She spun around just in time to see another gnome fall to the ground, sparks coming from its body. In front of it stood Meiji, looking rather sheepish, sparks coming from his scimitar.
“Sorry, cuz... didn’t mean to almost hit you there!” He then spun towards the losing battle between Liu and the large White Wolf, and began to sing his song yet again. Felonca was about to shout at him to charge in with his fancy sword, when she saw the wolf, too, collapse in fits of laughter.
She didn’t have long to look, before more shouts from small voices warned her more gnomes were coming. As Yari Ai backflipped away from her larger wolf pursuer, slashing a gnome in the process, Felonca echoed the move, cutting down another two attackers...
There! Yari Ai had backflipped out of the way, and Nayu let loose a blast of crackling flames straight towards the last of the wolves standing. The wolf collapsed in fiery pain, and Nayu turned his attention back to the three little people still trying to stab him. As their blows came up short, Nayu leaned over, a fierce grin on his face.
“You don’t learn, do you?” he said, his voice deadly even. The three gnomes looked at each other, before two suddenly dropped their shields and daggers, before running into the forest. The third gave a brave cry and swung at Nayu again and again, coming up short.
“Oh well,” the sorcerer sighed, and raised his hands towards two trees close to the fleeing gnomes. They had already been battered by one of his fireballs, so when his scorching ray lashed into their burning forms at the appropriate moment, a huge, flaming bough fell right on the two fleeing hill people.
Nayu then turned, and as the third gnome was in mid-swing, grabbed his dagger arm. The grip was fierce enough the small creature dropped its dagger as Nayu grabbed its opposite arm. It squirmed viciously, as he held it up, till it was at eye level.
“What shall I do with you?” he asked, the noise of battle already dying around them. The gnome spat back something in its native tongue, and spat in Nayu’s face.
“Fine,” he replied sourly, walking with the creature close to the two flaming trees. Carefully, he held the gnome out and arms length, and with a mighty kick, punted the screeching creature into the darkness. His goal was to send the creature sailing between the burning trees. Sadly, he shanked the kick, and the creature slammed head-first into the tree on the right, falling to the ground quite dead.
Felonca looked at the carnage about her, and gave a sigh. Why would the hill people side with White Wolves? The last of the laughing growls from the White Wolf came to an end, as a sharp smack and a snap signalled Yari Ai’s blade finishing off the creature. When the girl looked back up at Felonca, at first the rogue could see the calm deadliness in her eyes, and why she’d been picked to be a bodyguard. The look suddenly changed, when the younger woman saw the blood coming from Felonca’s leg.
“You’re hurt!” she walked over, blood streaming from a rake in her shoulder and dagger thrusts to her stomach and thighs.
“Psssha... this is nothing!” Felonca gave a fierce grin. “I’ve been hurt worse!” Nigh dead one time! “No where near as bad as you... you should go see Liu about those cuts...”
“He’s busy healing himself,” Yari Ai said quietly, before reaching out and touching Felonca’s shoulder. The girl’s eyes closed, and a few whispered words came from her mouth. Felonca felt the familiar queasy feeling as wounds filled up across her body. The feeling didn’t compare to the shock in her voice.
“You... you’re a healer?” she asked, as Yari Ai touched her own chest and repeated the same words.
“Yes... the Maidens have long held methods of healing and even greater skills in high regard,” the girl replied, an impish grin of pride on her face. “That way, if a charge is hurt, they can be healed immediately, or if an assassin is captured wounded, he can be healed for interrogation.”
Felonca gave a low whistle. “Remind me never to storm the Jade City unannounced.”
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Yep... Yari Ai is a cleric, with domains of Earth and Healing. I thought it’d be a departure from normal to have a cleric with low strength, but high dexerity and little armor. She depends on speed to survive battle, as the heaviest armor she has is leather.
Notes on this battle... the party was attacked by some 20-25 sviberneblin gnomes, along with 2 5th level White Wolf warriors, and 2 5th level White Wolf Sorcerers. I’d intended it to be a hard challenge for them, with the swarming of the gnomes posing a problem, but the gnomes had a really, really bad day, with many attack rolls of 3 or 5 going around. To complicate matters, once Nayu’s magical protect got going, the gnomes basically could not hit except on a 19 or 20, which they got only a few times... and when they did hit, they managed to roll minimum damage every time except once (I believe Felonca was poked for 3 points damage once).
The White Wolves did far more damage, though since Felonca rotated to help Meiji with the gnomes, their ire mostly went against Liu and Yari Ai, both of whom were badly mauled by the end of the fight.
It was a tale of two combats... one end, Meiji, Felonca and Nayu all spent more time shaking gnomes off their limbs and complaining about gnomes blocking them from moving, while on the other, the two other party members were in a life or death struggle. Go figure.
The burning bough crashing on the gnomes was 100% flavor, after the battle became a rout. The ‘gnome punting’ was the same... with no opponents left alive, I ruled Nayu could take 20 on holding the gnome, and give me a ranged attack on where he punted it. He biffed his die roll, so I ruled it sailed into a tree instead of between them.
All in all, this was one of my favorite combats to run. Sure, it failed on the devious side, but on the entertainment side... how can you beat punting gnomes?
HalfOrc HalfBiscuit
Adventurer
Emperor Valerian said:I think he was simply referring to the temptation to yoink the throne for yourself... though the other is quite a temptation too, I suppose
I was indeed. What with learning that the current "Emperor" is in fact illegitimate, why it's practically a duty ....
Of course if you do get the throne, then getting your hands on that dagger seems like a very good idea. Not that I'm suggesting you wouldn't be able to trust Felonca, you understand
Not easily. Though I did once run a gane in which the PCs got involved in a game of "hobbit-ball". That's six-a-side football with a halfling instead of a ball
.Emperor Valerian
First Post
Nayu’s Breath is Taken Away, and the Mysterious Man Along the Road
For the next week or so, the party found themselves traveling briskly, and thankfully, alone. Occasionally at night they could hear wolves baying in the distance, but none of the animals ever ventured close.
However, a week later, their pleasant ride would change...
Nayu wasn’t sure what was happening.
One moment, he’d been talking normally to Felonca, who was being her normal, silly self, the next, he couldn’t breathe, as if something was filling his throat and mouth... except he hadn’t eaten anything.
“Nayu?” he heard Felonca ask, as he desperately tried to cough, slamming his fist into his chest to try to loosen whatever was causing the blockage, except nothing worked. For a second, the confused panic continues in Nayu’s mind, until the road ahead of him seems to shimmer, a slightly transluscent mist fluttering just inches in front of his face.
Something’s trying to choke me! Instead of thumping his own chest, Nayu thrashed his head from side to side, and just as suddenly, whatever had been blocking his throat was wrenched free. The misty, shimmering figure suddenly grew, what looked to be a head and two arms gently flowing from its amorphous mass.
“Kill it!” Nayu gasped, reaching for his morningstar. When it flashed through the air towards the thing, it passed through it, as if it was made of air itself...
No sooner had his morningstars flashed through the air than he saw Felonca’s warfans do the same, and this time, an eerie, otherworldly screech filled the air as the mists tumbled upwards, away from Nayu’s face.
The rest of the party was already swinging at it, and Meiji’s voice sang the silly song that had knocked flat gnome and wolf alike only a week earlier. Instead of tumbling back in cackling laughter, the mists flashed down again, twin tendrils stretched forth towards Nayu’s mouth yet again.
Now you shall die... a raspy, faint whisper scratched through Nayu’s mind. The same feeling of something blocking his throat came over the sorcerer, who started shaking his head viciously. Yet again Nayu broke away from the creature’s grasp.
“Too bad we all have to die. You’re just gonna die sooner,” he snapped at the thing as his morningstar slices through it yet again. Nayu was about to swing again when a whoosh thundered over his head, as Liu’s fist missed its target widely.
“Watch where you’re... AGH!”
Blood spurted from Nayu’s shoulder, as Meiji’s sword swing, intended to cut the mist to shreds, instead hit Nayu’s shoulder. Cursing, Nayu tried to swing again, as the creature rushed his face yet another time, its hanging tendrils and wisps seeming to grow thicker...
...until Felonca’s warfans broke them to pieces, as the panther hengeyokai lost her temper. The moves were neither acrobatic nor regulation, but her rapid cuts and attacks did their work, and the tendrils drifted apart, the creature tumbling into ether.
Prince Hao will kill you, vile imposter... a weak, disintegrating voice mocked in Nayu’s mind...
“Are you sure you don’t know anything about why it would make that threat, considering its rather obvious it was sent by Prince Hao?” Liu pressed the young sorcerer a few hours later. “As far as I have witnessed, you have done nothing to draw the ire of the Dowager Empress’ brother...”
“Save that he impersonated the Dowager Empress’ enemy to her disadvantage, and now travels with one who knows the Emperor’s real ancestry,” Yari Ai offered.
Felonca frowned slightly as Nayu quickly added he thought that might be the reason. He agreed too quickly... something isn’t right here... surely Nayu taking Prince Hu Shikai’s place wouldn’t warrant them to send an assassin like that after him... Felonca looked at her friend, and easily noted his uneasy seat in the saddle.
Either he did something... or he knows something...
...but what would he know, Felonca? the rogue wondered. When it comes to the deeds of princes and kings, he knows nothing more than you...
...at least he says he knows no more than that, her suspicions replied. However, as she wracked her brain, she could not figure out anything that could’ve brought the Prince of Shu’s wrath on her friend.
Except...
Nah! Couldn’t be? Felonca chuckled to herself for thinking of something that silly. What could his mother give him that the Prince of Shu would be desperate for? Ha! That man probably has more coins and harem girls than...
...What DID Nayu’s mother give him, that was a gift from his father? Felonca asked herself quietly. What was that thing, that had ivory and a ruby? Was it a seal?
Nah... only nobility have seals with ivory and gems, and Nayu’s not a noble! I saw his house, and ate with his parents!
Maybe he’s...
Nah!
Doubts and suspicions continued to fill Felonca’s mind over the next few days, until the party ran into a gaggle of ill-dressed and worn out peasants running towards Mingzhong. When the party stopped to offer them water and food, the peasants thanked them, and in return, shared a frightening bit of information that pressed any concern about Nayu or the nature of his father’s last gift to the back of Felonca’s mind.
The Prince of Shu had invaded Langya, and even now his armies were galloping towards Mingzhong...
“So... is there any way we can move a little quicker?”
Felonca looked up towards her sorcerer friend and shook her head. He’s been really nervous since those villagers yesterday... though I’d be too if one of the major families was hunting me for some reason. Still haven’t figured out why... If she hadn’t been in her panther form, she would’ve scratched her head in thought. Instead, she nodded her head towards the back, where Yari Ai was still feverishly whipping her mule along, letting loose curses that made even Meiji blanche slightly.
Nayu sighed. “Too bad we didn’t get her a regular horse... that damn mule is so...”
Her friend’s words drifted away as Felonca’s sensitive nose picked up something... the smell of a human.
Probably more peasants, she thought, giving a slight growl to alert Nayu, before bounding ahead along the side of the road. It wasn’t a few seconds later when she saw a man alongside the side of the road, his horse’s bridle in hand. His small, well dressed form was bent over, looking in the grass feverishly.
What’s he looking for? She heard the canter of horses behind her stop, and Nayu hail the man, asking if he needed help.
“Oh no no! I just lost a spell component...” he said quickly, his voice abruptly dropping away to nothing. Felonca’s gaze caught him making slight glances into the woods, as the smell of multiple humans wafted through her nostrils.
Something’s not right here... she thought, before sourly adding, Nothing is ever right, is it? She looked back towards Nayu, and flicked her tail twice, her signal that there were more people than they could see. She could tell by the tone of Nayu’s voice when he asked the young man what component he was missing that he had caught on to her suspicions.
“A diamond... a... oh!” the young man suddenly looked into his bag, the attempt to look genuine failing immediately. “I do believe it was in here all along! I...um...” he was already backing towards his horse, “I should be going, need to get to Mingzhong in three days, you know!”
“Sir... soldiers are about, and bandits roam these roads. We are headed towards Mingzhong also... perhaps you’d rather ride with us than alone?” Nayu kindly offered, his eyes betraying his thoughts.
Wait... Felonca thought, looking again at the man’s horse. From a holder strapped to the side of the animal rose one of the most ornate longbows she had ever seen, etchings of flame carved into its wooden sides.
No scholar I know of fights with longbows...
“How do I know you are not thieves!” he shouted, pointing at them. Before they could respond, the young man leapt onto his horse with surprising speed, and was suddenly thundering away from the party.
Wait! Felonca started to bound after the man, when she picked up the whinny of horses to both her right and left. Six riders, clad in full military armor, thundered onto the road, blocking the party’s path. As they drew their blades and charged towards the party, the young man suddenly spun his horse around, the immense bow drawn, a smile upon his lips. Within a second, an arrow whistled through the air, slamming with a thud into Nayu’s shoulder...
“AUGH!” Nayu cried for the second time in a week, as the smell of burnt flesh filled his nostrils, and pain filled his shoulder. A fire arrow, his brain noted, as he put all of his willpower into pushing aside the sensation, pushing aside the pain and the noise of his companions rushing into combat, instead concentrating on the magical rage already building within his being.
Even after Felonca let me know something was up, I was going to help you! he mentally growled, the magic rising like a powerful, unstoppable tide. You will never trick another person again, you bastard!
The sorcerer’s hand stretched forth, and yet another small bead flashed forward, landing halfway between the fighters attacking his compatriots and the distant rider, engulfing all his opponents in a massive explosion of flame.
A feline roar told him Felonca had leapt into combat, and as he turned momentarily to see who needed help, he saw Yari Ai’s backflips and twisting, snake-like like assaults were holding off two of the attackers, while Liu, Meiji and Felonca dealt with one each. Seeing his friends were as well as possible, Nayu snapped back to his more distant quarry.
The young man, despite the fact his horse had reared in fright from Nayu’s fireball, let loose another arrow, which slammed into Nayu’s opposite shoulder. Once again, Nayu’s fury pushed aside the pain and smell, and another blast of fire thundered through the forest, downing the warriors assaulting Liu and Felonca.
Nayu remained focused, grim satisfaction filling him as he felt his magical powers doing the same. He was dimly aware of Liu charging one of the two men attacking Yari Ai, but he was momentarily caught off guard when a black shape darted straight towards his mounted opponent, who was still trying to regain control of his terrified steed. Felonca’s blindingly fast form leapt into the air with a screech, and slammed into horse and rider with such force than the wounded horse tumbled to the side, as Felonca’s jaws wrapped around the neck of the hapless rider. With a feral roar, she snapped her head to side, and Nayu had no doubt that their would be ambusher was dead.
Instead of him, a blasting ray of fire slashed out to the hapless soldier still mounted, still trying to fight Meiji. The man’s horse reared, tossing him back, and the soldier landed on his head with a sickening crunch. If there was any question whether he was alive, a timely slash from Meiji put that problem to an end.
The final two soldiers were already trying to run, and Nayu gave a ferocious smile as Liu ran past his quarry before delivering a punch that snapped the man’s neck, and Yari Ai threw her cane-spear into the back of her fleeing opponent. With all seven enemies on the ground in less than a minute, Nayu collapsed forward on his steed, adrenaline falling away and pain overwhelming his mind. Distantly, he felt Liu’s healing hands touch him, even as he slipped into in and out of a blissful unconsciousness...
Felonca growled, padding around the prone figure of the young ambusher. With dark satisfaction she eyed her handiwork, before starting the process of cleaning herself. An advantage of taking the shape of a panther, she noted dryly, I can make my own baths. As she was about to truly get to work on one of her paws, her eyes caught sight of something laying on the ground next to the young man... something that was fluttering in the breeze, but held to the ground by the young man’s bag, its contents now strewn about the road.
What is this? she padded over, using one of her paws to hold the paper flat. At first, she could not believe the words written on the page, but as she reread, her mind began connecting things, putting them together...
My dear son,
You are hereby ordered and commanded by the Son of Heaven, in accordance with Heaven’s Will and the guidance of our lady Dowager Empress, and your lord father, Prince Hao Lu of the province of Shu, to seek out and execute all those who falsely claim the Jade Throne. Heaven demands you use whatever means you can to do this. These include peoples not members of the Imperial Court, who nonetheless pose grave danger to the health of the Emperor.
Those that threaten the Will of Heaven, but are not already know to you, include:
Prince Hu Shikai, ‘Governor’ of Langya
Prince Jiangdong Royukgan, Governor of Han
Prince Huo Ling, Governor of Bei
King Kim-Jo San, of Chosun
The “Emperor” of Taisho
One Jiang Duo Wei, blacksmith, City of X’ian
One Wakabayashi Nayu, trader, Red Lotus Prefecture
One Bo Fang, innkeeper, Mukden Prefecture
One T’sao Li, baker, City of Xianlung
One Bo Si, trader, City of Mukden
These, and all relations to them within the 5th degree are to be sought out, and executed for treason against the Son of Heaven.
May Heaven’s blessings guide you in your quest. Should you succeed, the name of Hao Tong will soon be regarded with fear where-ever imposters may dwell!
Felonca’s mind went into overdrive. Falsely claim the Jade Throne? Why would Nayu false claim the Jade Throne... unless...
Suddenly, it all made sense. Why Nayu was so secretive about last gift his father gave. Why she saw him looking at what appeared to be an ornate and expensive seal. Why he had been so quiet and pensive since they’d left Mafeng. She snapped her gaze back to him, as Liu and Yari Ai helped him off his horse.
Nayu could be the Emperor? All ideas of cleaning disappeared, despite her cat-like instincts, and she quickly shifted back into hybrid form. Tearing a piece of cloth from the expensive tunic of the dead young man, she carefully wrapped the paper within.
If this is true... and if he doesn’t want others to know, I need to give this to him in private...
“Prince Hao Tong himself,” Felonca said in slight awe many hours later, as the two sat side by side on watch that night. Her fingers still ran along the beautifully decorated longbow she’d liberated from the dead young man. “Congratulations, we just killed who again?”
“The son of the Prince of Shu himself... the Dowager Empress’ nephew, the Emperor’s first cousin,” Nayu said quietly, before shaking his head. “As if we need more attention.”
“Well,” Felonca said quietly, “I think you’ve got quite a bit of attention now.”
Nayu looked back down at the piece of paper, and she could see his eyes wide as if each word was leaping forth from the page. Until ten minutes before, Nayu had been quietly bearing his burden alone, when the news came as a thunderclap that she knew as well.
“So you had this figured out, basically?” Nayu asked her, setting the paper aside. Felonca smiled, trying to cheer him up.
“I won’t tell a soul, my friend,” she said gently, before adding with an impish giggle, “Yeah, I realized it, you know! I’m not dumb!” She was rewarded when his serious face broke into a smile of its own.
“Damn, I forgot about that,” he rejoined, and her mouth dropped open in mock pain. Before she should fire back, he added, “I’m not sure what I’d do without the clever kitty by my side.”
Felonca for a second acted like she wouldn’t forget the remark. But at heart, she still shared many feline tendencies... so when he gave her a grateful scratch behind her ear, she grinned, the slight forgotten.
“So... what do we tell Prince Hu, when we get to Mingzhong? Do you want the throne?” she asked, turning her head to the side, trying to get him to scratch a little higher. The scratching suddenly stopped, and she turned in slight annoyance, only to see Nayu looking off in the distance, as if some distant memory was playing in front of him. For a minute or so, he was silent, before he slowly spoke.
“I think we should show him the letter. He has the right to know, and it will show our loyalty,” the sorcerer said. “And we need to tell him about what Yari Ai knows, for the same reasons. We need to show him we are loyal and true to him... hopefully he’ll be the same to us.”
“Hopefully,” Felonca sighed, outwardly calm. He's placing an awful lot of trust in this Prince, whose already shown himself to be very capable of deception... a part of her mind warned. Inwardly, another part noted with surprise that Nayu had not answered her second question at all...
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
This was the end of the sixth session, so Felonca knows of Nayu’s ancestry, and the party hopes that by being honest and up-front with the most powerful man they know, they can find some protection.
The assassin creature was a Breathdrinker, which I tried to ambush the party with. Fortunately for Nayu, he rolled rather well on his grapple checks and fort saves, avoiding being held by the creature or having his breath sucked away.
Hao Tong was intended originally to be a recurring villian, an antithesis of the two PCs. However, Nayu luckily passed both Concentration checks after being hit successively by the Prince’s flaming arrows, and managed to roll a great deal of damage with his two fireballs. I had intended for Tong to run away in the third or fourth round, after it became apparent his cronies were being blown through, save he missed his Handle Animal check to regain control of his horse, but passed his Ride check to stay mounted. So, he sat in place, trying to get his horse turned around while his doom approached. Felonca then finished the poor man off with a pounce and rake, with her bite doing critical damage. Ah well. I came up with some stop to top that decimated storyline
For the next week or so, the party found themselves traveling briskly, and thankfully, alone. Occasionally at night they could hear wolves baying in the distance, but none of the animals ever ventured close.
However, a week later, their pleasant ride would change...
Nayu wasn’t sure what was happening.
One moment, he’d been talking normally to Felonca, who was being her normal, silly self, the next, he couldn’t breathe, as if something was filling his throat and mouth... except he hadn’t eaten anything.
“Nayu?” he heard Felonca ask, as he desperately tried to cough, slamming his fist into his chest to try to loosen whatever was causing the blockage, except nothing worked. For a second, the confused panic continues in Nayu’s mind, until the road ahead of him seems to shimmer, a slightly transluscent mist fluttering just inches in front of his face.
Something’s trying to choke me! Instead of thumping his own chest, Nayu thrashed his head from side to side, and just as suddenly, whatever had been blocking his throat was wrenched free. The misty, shimmering figure suddenly grew, what looked to be a head and two arms gently flowing from its amorphous mass.
“Kill it!” Nayu gasped, reaching for his morningstar. When it flashed through the air towards the thing, it passed through it, as if it was made of air itself...
No sooner had his morningstars flashed through the air than he saw Felonca’s warfans do the same, and this time, an eerie, otherworldly screech filled the air as the mists tumbled upwards, away from Nayu’s face.
The rest of the party was already swinging at it, and Meiji’s voice sang the silly song that had knocked flat gnome and wolf alike only a week earlier. Instead of tumbling back in cackling laughter, the mists flashed down again, twin tendrils stretched forth towards Nayu’s mouth yet again.
Now you shall die... a raspy, faint whisper scratched through Nayu’s mind. The same feeling of something blocking his throat came over the sorcerer, who started shaking his head viciously. Yet again Nayu broke away from the creature’s grasp.
“Too bad we all have to die. You’re just gonna die sooner,” he snapped at the thing as his morningstar slices through it yet again. Nayu was about to swing again when a whoosh thundered over his head, as Liu’s fist missed its target widely.
“Watch where you’re... AGH!”
Blood spurted from Nayu’s shoulder, as Meiji’s sword swing, intended to cut the mist to shreds, instead hit Nayu’s shoulder. Cursing, Nayu tried to swing again, as the creature rushed his face yet another time, its hanging tendrils and wisps seeming to grow thicker...
...until Felonca’s warfans broke them to pieces, as the panther hengeyokai lost her temper. The moves were neither acrobatic nor regulation, but her rapid cuts and attacks did their work, and the tendrils drifted apart, the creature tumbling into ether.
Prince Hao will kill you, vile imposter... a weak, disintegrating voice mocked in Nayu’s mind...
“Are you sure you don’t know anything about why it would make that threat, considering its rather obvious it was sent by Prince Hao?” Liu pressed the young sorcerer a few hours later. “As far as I have witnessed, you have done nothing to draw the ire of the Dowager Empress’ brother...”
“Save that he impersonated the Dowager Empress’ enemy to her disadvantage, and now travels with one who knows the Emperor’s real ancestry,” Yari Ai offered.
Felonca frowned slightly as Nayu quickly added he thought that might be the reason. He agreed too quickly... something isn’t right here... surely Nayu taking Prince Hu Shikai’s place wouldn’t warrant them to send an assassin like that after him... Felonca looked at her friend, and easily noted his uneasy seat in the saddle.
Either he did something... or he knows something...
...but what would he know, Felonca? the rogue wondered. When it comes to the deeds of princes and kings, he knows nothing more than you...
...at least he says he knows no more than that, her suspicions replied. However, as she wracked her brain, she could not figure out anything that could’ve brought the Prince of Shu’s wrath on her friend.
Except...
Nah! Couldn’t be? Felonca chuckled to herself for thinking of something that silly. What could his mother give him that the Prince of Shu would be desperate for? Ha! That man probably has more coins and harem girls than...
...What DID Nayu’s mother give him, that was a gift from his father? Felonca asked herself quietly. What was that thing, that had ivory and a ruby? Was it a seal?
Nah... only nobility have seals with ivory and gems, and Nayu’s not a noble! I saw his house, and ate with his parents!
Maybe he’s...
Nah!
Doubts and suspicions continued to fill Felonca’s mind over the next few days, until the party ran into a gaggle of ill-dressed and worn out peasants running towards Mingzhong. When the party stopped to offer them water and food, the peasants thanked them, and in return, shared a frightening bit of information that pressed any concern about Nayu or the nature of his father’s last gift to the back of Felonca’s mind.
The Prince of Shu had invaded Langya, and even now his armies were galloping towards Mingzhong...
“So... is there any way we can move a little quicker?”
Felonca looked up towards her sorcerer friend and shook her head. He’s been really nervous since those villagers yesterday... though I’d be too if one of the major families was hunting me for some reason. Still haven’t figured out why... If she hadn’t been in her panther form, she would’ve scratched her head in thought. Instead, she nodded her head towards the back, where Yari Ai was still feverishly whipping her mule along, letting loose curses that made even Meiji blanche slightly.
Nayu sighed. “Too bad we didn’t get her a regular horse... that damn mule is so...”
Her friend’s words drifted away as Felonca’s sensitive nose picked up something... the smell of a human.
Probably more peasants, she thought, giving a slight growl to alert Nayu, before bounding ahead along the side of the road. It wasn’t a few seconds later when she saw a man alongside the side of the road, his horse’s bridle in hand. His small, well dressed form was bent over, looking in the grass feverishly.
What’s he looking for? She heard the canter of horses behind her stop, and Nayu hail the man, asking if he needed help.
“Oh no no! I just lost a spell component...” he said quickly, his voice abruptly dropping away to nothing. Felonca’s gaze caught him making slight glances into the woods, as the smell of multiple humans wafted through her nostrils.
Something’s not right here... she thought, before sourly adding, Nothing is ever right, is it? She looked back towards Nayu, and flicked her tail twice, her signal that there were more people than they could see. She could tell by the tone of Nayu’s voice when he asked the young man what component he was missing that he had caught on to her suspicions.
“A diamond... a... oh!” the young man suddenly looked into his bag, the attempt to look genuine failing immediately. “I do believe it was in here all along! I...um...” he was already backing towards his horse, “I should be going, need to get to Mingzhong in three days, you know!”
“Sir... soldiers are about, and bandits roam these roads. We are headed towards Mingzhong also... perhaps you’d rather ride with us than alone?” Nayu kindly offered, his eyes betraying his thoughts.
Wait... Felonca thought, looking again at the man’s horse. From a holder strapped to the side of the animal rose one of the most ornate longbows she had ever seen, etchings of flame carved into its wooden sides.
No scholar I know of fights with longbows...
“How do I know you are not thieves!” he shouted, pointing at them. Before they could respond, the young man leapt onto his horse with surprising speed, and was suddenly thundering away from the party.
Wait! Felonca started to bound after the man, when she picked up the whinny of horses to both her right and left. Six riders, clad in full military armor, thundered onto the road, blocking the party’s path. As they drew their blades and charged towards the party, the young man suddenly spun his horse around, the immense bow drawn, a smile upon his lips. Within a second, an arrow whistled through the air, slamming with a thud into Nayu’s shoulder...
“AUGH!” Nayu cried for the second time in a week, as the smell of burnt flesh filled his nostrils, and pain filled his shoulder. A fire arrow, his brain noted, as he put all of his willpower into pushing aside the sensation, pushing aside the pain and the noise of his companions rushing into combat, instead concentrating on the magical rage already building within his being.
Even after Felonca let me know something was up, I was going to help you! he mentally growled, the magic rising like a powerful, unstoppable tide. You will never trick another person again, you bastard!
The sorcerer’s hand stretched forth, and yet another small bead flashed forward, landing halfway between the fighters attacking his compatriots and the distant rider, engulfing all his opponents in a massive explosion of flame.
A feline roar told him Felonca had leapt into combat, and as he turned momentarily to see who needed help, he saw Yari Ai’s backflips and twisting, snake-like like assaults were holding off two of the attackers, while Liu, Meiji and Felonca dealt with one each. Seeing his friends were as well as possible, Nayu snapped back to his more distant quarry.
The young man, despite the fact his horse had reared in fright from Nayu’s fireball, let loose another arrow, which slammed into Nayu’s opposite shoulder. Once again, Nayu’s fury pushed aside the pain and smell, and another blast of fire thundered through the forest, downing the warriors assaulting Liu and Felonca.
Nayu remained focused, grim satisfaction filling him as he felt his magical powers doing the same. He was dimly aware of Liu charging one of the two men attacking Yari Ai, but he was momentarily caught off guard when a black shape darted straight towards his mounted opponent, who was still trying to regain control of his terrified steed. Felonca’s blindingly fast form leapt into the air with a screech, and slammed into horse and rider with such force than the wounded horse tumbled to the side, as Felonca’s jaws wrapped around the neck of the hapless rider. With a feral roar, she snapped her head to side, and Nayu had no doubt that their would be ambusher was dead.
Instead of him, a blasting ray of fire slashed out to the hapless soldier still mounted, still trying to fight Meiji. The man’s horse reared, tossing him back, and the soldier landed on his head with a sickening crunch. If there was any question whether he was alive, a timely slash from Meiji put that problem to an end.
The final two soldiers were already trying to run, and Nayu gave a ferocious smile as Liu ran past his quarry before delivering a punch that snapped the man’s neck, and Yari Ai threw her cane-spear into the back of her fleeing opponent. With all seven enemies on the ground in less than a minute, Nayu collapsed forward on his steed, adrenaline falling away and pain overwhelming his mind. Distantly, he felt Liu’s healing hands touch him, even as he slipped into in and out of a blissful unconsciousness...
Felonca growled, padding around the prone figure of the young ambusher. With dark satisfaction she eyed her handiwork, before starting the process of cleaning herself. An advantage of taking the shape of a panther, she noted dryly, I can make my own baths. As she was about to truly get to work on one of her paws, her eyes caught sight of something laying on the ground next to the young man... something that was fluttering in the breeze, but held to the ground by the young man’s bag, its contents now strewn about the road.
What is this? she padded over, using one of her paws to hold the paper flat. At first, she could not believe the words written on the page, but as she reread, her mind began connecting things, putting them together...
My dear son,
You are hereby ordered and commanded by the Son of Heaven, in accordance with Heaven’s Will and the guidance of our lady Dowager Empress, and your lord father, Prince Hao Lu of the province of Shu, to seek out and execute all those who falsely claim the Jade Throne. Heaven demands you use whatever means you can to do this. These include peoples not members of the Imperial Court, who nonetheless pose grave danger to the health of the Emperor.
Those that threaten the Will of Heaven, but are not already know to you, include:
Prince Hu Shikai, ‘Governor’ of Langya
Prince Jiangdong Royukgan, Governor of Han
Prince Huo Ling, Governor of Bei
King Kim-Jo San, of Chosun
The “Emperor” of Taisho
One Jiang Duo Wei, blacksmith, City of X’ian
One Wakabayashi Nayu, trader, Red Lotus Prefecture
One Bo Fang, innkeeper, Mukden Prefecture
One T’sao Li, baker, City of Xianlung
One Bo Si, trader, City of Mukden
These, and all relations to them within the 5th degree are to be sought out, and executed for treason against the Son of Heaven.
May Heaven’s blessings guide you in your quest. Should you succeed, the name of Hao Tong will soon be regarded with fear where-ever imposters may dwell!
Felonca’s mind went into overdrive. Falsely claim the Jade Throne? Why would Nayu false claim the Jade Throne... unless...
Suddenly, it all made sense. Why Nayu was so secretive about last gift his father gave. Why she saw him looking at what appeared to be an ornate and expensive seal. Why he had been so quiet and pensive since they’d left Mafeng. She snapped her gaze back to him, as Liu and Yari Ai helped him off his horse.
Nayu could be the Emperor? All ideas of cleaning disappeared, despite her cat-like instincts, and she quickly shifted back into hybrid form. Tearing a piece of cloth from the expensive tunic of the dead young man, she carefully wrapped the paper within.
If this is true... and if he doesn’t want others to know, I need to give this to him in private...
“Prince Hao Tong himself,” Felonca said in slight awe many hours later, as the two sat side by side on watch that night. Her fingers still ran along the beautifully decorated longbow she’d liberated from the dead young man. “Congratulations, we just killed who again?”
“The son of the Prince of Shu himself... the Dowager Empress’ nephew, the Emperor’s first cousin,” Nayu said quietly, before shaking his head. “As if we need more attention.”
“Well,” Felonca said quietly, “I think you’ve got quite a bit of attention now.”
Nayu looked back down at the piece of paper, and she could see his eyes wide as if each word was leaping forth from the page. Until ten minutes before, Nayu had been quietly bearing his burden alone, when the news came as a thunderclap that she knew as well.
“So you had this figured out, basically?” Nayu asked her, setting the paper aside. Felonca smiled, trying to cheer him up.
“I won’t tell a soul, my friend,” she said gently, before adding with an impish giggle, “Yeah, I realized it, you know! I’m not dumb!” She was rewarded when his serious face broke into a smile of its own.
“Damn, I forgot about that,” he rejoined, and her mouth dropped open in mock pain. Before she should fire back, he added, “I’m not sure what I’d do without the clever kitty by my side.”
Felonca for a second acted like she wouldn’t forget the remark. But at heart, she still shared many feline tendencies... so when he gave her a grateful scratch behind her ear, she grinned, the slight forgotten.
“So... what do we tell Prince Hu, when we get to Mingzhong? Do you want the throne?” she asked, turning her head to the side, trying to get him to scratch a little higher. The scratching suddenly stopped, and she turned in slight annoyance, only to see Nayu looking off in the distance, as if some distant memory was playing in front of him. For a minute or so, he was silent, before he slowly spoke.
“I think we should show him the letter. He has the right to know, and it will show our loyalty,” the sorcerer said. “And we need to tell him about what Yari Ai knows, for the same reasons. We need to show him we are loyal and true to him... hopefully he’ll be the same to us.”
“Hopefully,” Felonca sighed, outwardly calm. He's placing an awful lot of trust in this Prince, whose already shown himself to be very capable of deception... a part of her mind warned. Inwardly, another part noted with surprise that Nayu had not answered her second question at all...
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
This was the end of the sixth session, so Felonca knows of Nayu’s ancestry, and the party hopes that by being honest and up-front with the most powerful man they know, they can find some protection.
The assassin creature was a Breathdrinker, which I tried to ambush the party with. Fortunately for Nayu, he rolled rather well on his grapple checks and fort saves, avoiding being held by the creature or having his breath sucked away.
Hao Tong was intended originally to be a recurring villian, an antithesis of the two PCs. However, Nayu luckily passed both Concentration checks after being hit successively by the Prince’s flaming arrows, and managed to roll a great deal of damage with his two fireballs. I had intended for Tong to run away in the third or fourth round, after it became apparent his cronies were being blown through, save he missed his Handle Animal check to regain control of his horse, but passed his Ride check to stay mounted. So, he sat in place, trying to get his horse turned around while his doom approached. Felonca then finished the poor man off with a pounce and rake, with her bite doing critical damage.
Ah well. I came up with some stop to top that decimated storyline
HalfOrc HalfBiscuit
Adventurer
Yeah, I'm sure that'll happen ...
Doggone it, Valerian! That's two extremely useful villains that should be repeatedly plagueing the players with impromptu appearances, yet the "pesky kids and their little dog" ... er, "cat, too!" spoils the fun.
Whew, I applaud your honesty in letting the chips fall where they might and then coming up with a new backup. I myself might be tempted to fudge a bit to allow the bad guy to get away.
Nevertheless, great writing again. Good consistent quality and frequency, qualities where some of your compatriot SH authors frequently lack consistency in one or both.
Whew, I applaud your honesty in letting the chips fall where they might and then coming up with a new backup. I myself might be tempted to fudge a bit to allow the bad guy to get away.
Nevertheless, great writing again. Good consistent quality and frequency, qualities where some of your compatriot SH authors frequently lack consistency in one or both.
Emperor Valerian
First Post
Well, they’ve paid for these easy ones in spades, so far... And I think the new course of things has gone better than the previous course that would’ve happened if Hao Tong had stayed alive.
And yeah, I call things as they are. The players (well, Nayu's player) made a good case that if fireballs are being chucked at the man, his horse would panic. Reasonable, which would require a handle animal to get the horse to do anything. So I did that... and he failed.
So, this is the start of the seventh session, with the party having just returned to Mingzhong, intent on delivering their news to Prince Hu...
In Mingzhong Yet Again... and Felonca Meets Yet Another Old Acquaintance...
“Master Wakabayashi, Felonca did not lie when she said you were a master trader,” Yari Ai grinned, the healing staff still clutched close to her chest in the morning light of Mingzhong. “I saw senior sisters in my order with these, but I was never able to get one. And now...” she playfully touched its tip to the sorcerer’s shoulder, “You have been healed!” she declared in a mock commanding tone.
Nayu gave a smug smile, and then casually blew on his fingertips. “It’s not that hard, if you know the scholars, and know their breaking points!” He looked down to his own morningstar, now shimmering with magical power. “Such as... one; scholars will pay through the nose for things random and rare, like the skin of that white furred, overgrown horse of a lion we killed,” he chuckled. “And since you’ve decided to stay with us, I guessed you needed some equipment!”
“After talking with Felonca, that wasn’t a hard decision,” Yari Ai smiled, looking over towards the rogue briefly. “Considering our troubles mirror each other, I see no reason why we can’t fight alongside each other, at the least. The hard part was getting Meiji to say yes as well.”
“As if we need that fruit-head,” Liu observed sourly. The monk’s low opinion of the bard had not changed. “He’s good for a giggle and a farce, but that is all. A jester.”
“Don’t be upset that I’m prettier than you, baldy!” Meiji replied coarsely, tossing some curled locks over his shoulder, before looking around at the party. “What?”
“If you practiced with your blade as much as you toss your hair, you might be useful in a fight,” Yari Ai added her own disdain for his fighting abilities. “Then again, all I saw you do was make two gnomes giggle and accidentally cut Nayu here!”
“I took down a white wolf also!”
As the disagreement turned into a debate, Nayu then turned to look at Felonca. She’s so happy with her new toys...
The rogue had laid before herself, on the steps of the local Scholar’s Academy, her two warfans, the glint of a child with new toys in her eyes. She gently ran her hands just inches above both fans yet again, and gave a cackling, gleeful laugh.
“I can just feel the magic!” she laughed, picking up the two weapons and tossing them into their sheaths on her belt. Secured from mistakenly injuring others, she then bounded over to Nayu, and buried the sorcerer in his third crushing hug of the day.
“Uf!” Nayu gasped for a second, before Felonca released him from her grip, and he gave a sigh of relief that this one had been far shorter than her previous two since he’d talked the scholars into adding more magic to her warfans. Before she could launch another assault of thankfulness, Nayu tried a diversion. “We’d all better get going if we’re going to get to the audience hall of the palace in time! I’m not about to let a week of waiting for an audience to be wasted by cartwheels and dawdling!” he grinned.
“I haven’t cartwheeled yet,” Felonca said haughtily, before breaking out a grin and doing a few backflips towards the palace...
“Hai,” Felonca sighed a few hours later, “Why is it that royalty are always late? If I had been this late when Hsiu called morning drill...” She let her voice drift off into a slow whistle, before shaking her head.
“You heard the attendant, the prince is meeting with his generals right now, to try to stop the repeated Shu incursions into Langya,” Nayu nodded towards the servant standing patiently between the two ornate door guards, the plumes in their helmets now yellow and red, instead of the plain white the party had seen when they’d visited this place six weeks before.
That alone speaks volumes... Nayu thought to himself. Yellow and red plumes are only supposed to come from the helms of members of the Imperial Guard... so Prince Hu thinks of himself as something more than just a defender of the Emperor... just like the rumors said...
“Surely it doesn’t take hours to discuss how to stop a few cavalry raids,” Meiji said quietly. “Doesn’t this guy have a huge and powerful army?”
“Master Shenyang says that we must plan and consider our decisions carefully, to ensure they are for the good of all. Dangerous paths lie when one trods down the road of haste,” Liu replied quietly. Before any arguments could break out anew between them, the attendant suddenly stood straight, and after a bow towards the closed door of the audience chamber, walked stiffly towards the party.
“His Excellency will see you now,” the messenger bowed to the party, before leading them towards the massive bronzed doors, motifs of White Dragons and sea gracing its huge frame. With a creak and a groan, the doors swung open, and once again, the party stepped into the audience hall of Prince Hu Shikai, the self styled ‘Defender of the Imperial Throne.’
The hall was as immense as they remembered it, save now its formerly empty marble columns were now covered with white banners, the words “Virtue,” “Courage,” and “Knowledge” on each in massive black characters. Down the middle of the hall ran a red carpet, and to the party’s right side sat twenty scholars, all clad in the bright yellow of Disciples of Virtue, the highest and most studious rank within the Imperial Bureaucracy. On the other side sat twenty men clad in military armor, each holding at his side the yellow plumed helmet of a full general. To the front, on a raised dais, sat the young Prince himself, clad in gilded armor, gems within his helmet flashing in the sunlight.
“Please... Master Wakabayashi, Mistress Felonca, Master Liu, step forward, and introduce your friends,” the prince invited smoothly as he waved the party forward. Slowly, reverently, the five compatriots went forward, passing by scholar and general alike.
As Felonca walked forward, careful to observe protocol and keep her face looking towards the prince, her eyes carefully watched the generals as she passed them. Part of her hoped to see a tall man in light silver armor, his panther hybrid face as dark as coal. Another part dreaded the look she knew her father, General Wa-Feng Liaoxi, lately of the Imperial Guard, would have given her.
To her relief, she saw no panther hengeyokai within Hu’s ranks, however, as her eyes drew closer towards the prince, she thought she saw something else. For a moment, another general leaning forward obscured her view... but even then, she saw a familiar paw touch the leaning man’s shoulder... its palm covered in white fur, its back covered in brown. As the other man apologized, she saw a pair of black eyes staring back at her, a look of shock and confusion within their aged forms.
“Felonca!” Nayu hissed as he touched her arm. “C’mon...” his hand gently guided her into moving forward. He fell into step alongside her, purposefully drawing close to whisper, “Who is that man? Do you recognize him?”
“That is General Shih Quan-Shi,” Felonca replied, her voice trembling slightly. He got away from the Academy? But Gao Yun said everyone at the Academy was slaughtered... then again Nixi got away... why would Gao Yun lie about something like that? Her face still held a look of controlled shock when her nostrils picked up a familiar smell, and she suddenly stiffened.
“What now?” Nayu whispered, his mouth barely moving.
“I smell White Wolf,” she whispered back, her eyes following her nostrils as they continued their slow, protocol pace towards the throne. Lying on the dark marble dais just beside Prince Hu’s throne was a single long strand of white fur. A trap! Its a trap! The Prince means to kill us! her mind panicked. Instinctively, her eyes flecked to the carpet underfoot, searching for niches, holes and wires. A second after she started looking, she felt Nayu’s grip on her arm tighten.
“Look forward, nonchalant,” he whispered in reply. “If its a trap, we mustn’t let him know that we know.”
The frighteningly long trip towards the throne... which took perhaps thirty seconds... finally ended with the party ten paces from the prince, where they all went to their knees and bowed, placing their heads on the carpet in respectful kow-tow.
“Thank you for inviting us, Your Excellency,” Nayu spoke, before they all rose from their show of respect. “We hope that you might find the information we wish to tell you helpful in your quest to restore peace and order to our Jade Empire.”
“I am sure it will, Wakabayashi Nayu. Because of such, I have invited all my chief advisors and commanders to hear what you wish to say. But before that,” the smiling prince turned towards Felonca, and raised an eyebrow, “Miss Wa-Feng, please kindly tell me of this... item... that you carry.”
“What... item...” Felonca stalled, her mind panicking. He knows! He knows! Pros and cons fought in her mind, part of her remembering Nayu’s assurance that they’re best chance was if they were honest with the Prince, another shouting back her own mitrust, brought to life by the long strand of white hair, a piece of fur, that came from the carpet as some wispy, obscene spire.
“Oh! You mean the bow of Prince Hao Tong!” she blurted out. “Yes! He was a very tough combatant, very keen of tactical mind,” she bulled her way forward. Sell it, Felonca! You’ve gotta sell it! She forced her nervous fear into acting out excitement, as she started describing the fight with Hao Tong, before the Prince raised a hand.
“Wa-Feng Felonca, I am well aware of your combat with the son of the Prince of Shu,” Prince Hu said gently. “An amazing feat, knocking him dead from his horse as you did. But what concerns me, and the others gathered here, is another item you carry. A certain... dagger...” the prince leaned close, his eyes boring in on hers.
“What... dagger...” Felonca said slowly, feigning ignorance. “You mean this dagger?” she pulled out a mundane dirk taken from one of Hao Tong’s soldiers. “There’s nothing special about it, really. Its actually a little rusted, not nearly as useful as the bow we took...”
For a split second, a look of frustration and anger crossed the Prince’s face. Just as quickly as the blast of his inner emotions roared forth, his will quenched the flames, and his face went back to the same calm, gentle smile. His hand waved dismissively, prompting Felonca to stop.
“Never matter. This matter can be better discussed in private. I have more important issues... namely that I intend to declare myself Protector of the Empire, and I am in need of skilled persons. Will you five join my banner?”
Felonca looked at Nayu, and both immediately understood that the other had also witnessed the brief fury on the Prince’s face. Nayu’s eyes asked a question, and Felonca gave a slight nod in reply. The sorcerer cleared his throat, and gave a respectful bow.
“We are thankful Your Excellency considers us worthy of such praise. We hope you will forgive us if we wish to stay out of the political realm for now, and seek to return to our former, simple lives.”
To Felonca and Nayu’s surprise, the Prince merely nodded, and gave yet another charming smile. “I can respect wishes such as those. However, as I said, I have need of skillful people. If you are not willing to take my banner, perhaps you will assist me for payment.” He leaned back, waving his hand as if to dismiss their doubts. “It will be one task, a task that will go far in securing peace within our realm.”
“Um... with all due respect, Excellency, we have news which might affect your plans,” Felonca deftly stepped in during the pause. “It concerns the Emperor himself, as well as a threat against your person.” Slowly, she reached into a side pouch, and pulled forth the letter taken from Hao Tong’s body. For just a second, she paused, unsure whether she should proceed, until a light tap on her shoulder from Nayu told her to go on.
“This letter was taken from the body of Hao Tong, son of Hao Yu, Prince of Shu,” Nayu spoke as Felonca reluctantly turned the letter over to the Prince. Royal eyes scanned the letter quickly, though to Felonca’s chagrin, they stopped halfway down the page. For just a brief second, royal eyes flashed towards Nayu, before just as quickly returning to the page. A few seconds later, and the note was thrust back to Felonca, chuckles coming from the Prince’s lips.
“This is to be expected!” he laughed, somewhat too forcefully. “First Prince Hao Yu launches raids into my territory, burning crops and stealing peasants! Now,” the prince stood, speaking loud enough for all to hear, “he has the nerve to call me a traitor, and treat me like a bandit, when he is the one raping and murdering!”
A rumbling twitter arose the generals and scholars behind the party, all in various forms of agreement. As the murmurs continued, the Prince sat back down.
“You spoke of more than one piece of information. What was the second?”
Felonca sighed, forcing herself to put aside the images of the terror to come. If you do not tell him, someone else will. If we tell him, we’ll be the ones under his protection, and in the coming months, a friend this high will be useful... maybe even life-saving... She cleared her throat, and began to speak in a voice loud enough that it echoed through the audience hall.
“Prince Hu, honored others present,” she winced, realizing the slight insult she’d unintentionally committed against the scholars and generals, “it has come to my attention, through sources within the Jade City itself, that Emperor Beiyan-di in fact, did not sire a son!”
Felonca heard the collective gasp of the audience behind her, and resisted the urge to turn and comfort Yari Ai. The handmaiden had agreed that her tale should be told, but didn’t want herself to be connected to its origin. Felonca could imagine how much rehearing the news was tearing apart her new comrade, but if the rogue turned to comfort her, it would be all too apparent to everyone who the source was.
“How do you explain our beloved Emperor then?” one of the scholars scoffed loudly.
“Hao Yuan,” she used the boy’s true name... Hao for his father’s surname, Yuan for his name before coronation, “is no more than an incestuous blasphemy in the face of Heaven’s virtue, sired from an unholy union between the Dowager Empress and her brother, the Prince of Shu!”
The room immediately exploded into an uproar. Shouts from some of the scholars that the tale could not be true, sounds from the generals loudly discussing the coming wars if the tale was true. As Felonca returned her gaze back to Prince Hu, she saw his face was still covered with the same, plastic smile. Slowly, he rose, and raised his hands for silence.
“My lords! If this tale is true, if Beiyan-di had no son, then it is my solemn duty, no, my virtuous requirement, as a loyal child of Heaven, to hereby claim the Jade Throne, to ensure that Heaven’s wrath does not fall upon us for allowing so evil a union, the result of such lascivious debauchery, to rule from the holy Jade Throne!”
The room once again exploded into bedlam, and everyone in the party could easily see that for Prince Hu, the idea of becoming Emperor was not a solemn one at all...
And I think the new course of things has gone better than the previous course that would’ve happened if Hao Tong had stayed alive.And yeah, I call things as they are. The players (well, Nayu's player) made a good case that if fireballs are being chucked at the man, his horse would panic. Reasonable, which would require a handle animal to get the horse to do anything. So I did that... and he failed.
So, this is the start of the seventh session, with the party having just returned to Mingzhong, intent on delivering their news to Prince Hu...
In Mingzhong Yet Again... and Felonca Meets Yet Another Old Acquaintance...
“Master Wakabayashi, Felonca did not lie when she said you were a master trader,” Yari Ai grinned, the healing staff still clutched close to her chest in the morning light of Mingzhong. “I saw senior sisters in my order with these, but I was never able to get one. And now...” she playfully touched its tip to the sorcerer’s shoulder, “You have been healed!” she declared in a mock commanding tone.
Nayu gave a smug smile, and then casually blew on his fingertips. “It’s not that hard, if you know the scholars, and know their breaking points!” He looked down to his own morningstar, now shimmering with magical power. “Such as... one; scholars will pay through the nose for things random and rare, like the skin of that white furred, overgrown horse of a lion we killed,” he chuckled. “And since you’ve decided to stay with us, I guessed you needed some equipment!”
“After talking with Felonca, that wasn’t a hard decision,” Yari Ai smiled, looking over towards the rogue briefly. “Considering our troubles mirror each other, I see no reason why we can’t fight alongside each other, at the least. The hard part was getting Meiji to say yes as well.”
“As if we need that fruit-head,” Liu observed sourly. The monk’s low opinion of the bard had not changed. “He’s good for a giggle and a farce, but that is all. A jester.”
“Don’t be upset that I’m prettier than you, baldy!” Meiji replied coarsely, tossing some curled locks over his shoulder, before looking around at the party. “What?”
“If you practiced with your blade as much as you toss your hair, you might be useful in a fight,” Yari Ai added her own disdain for his fighting abilities. “Then again, all I saw you do was make two gnomes giggle and accidentally cut Nayu here!”
“I took down a white wolf also!”
As the disagreement turned into a debate, Nayu then turned to look at Felonca. She’s so happy with her new toys...
The rogue had laid before herself, on the steps of the local Scholar’s Academy, her two warfans, the glint of a child with new toys in her eyes. She gently ran her hands just inches above both fans yet again, and gave a cackling, gleeful laugh.
“I can just feel the magic!” she laughed, picking up the two weapons and tossing them into their sheaths on her belt. Secured from mistakenly injuring others, she then bounded over to Nayu, and buried the sorcerer in his third crushing hug of the day.
“Uf!” Nayu gasped for a second, before Felonca released him from her grip, and he gave a sigh of relief that this one had been far shorter than her previous two since he’d talked the scholars into adding more magic to her warfans. Before she could launch another assault of thankfulness, Nayu tried a diversion. “We’d all better get going if we’re going to get to the audience hall of the palace in time! I’m not about to let a week of waiting for an audience to be wasted by cartwheels and dawdling!” he grinned.
“I haven’t cartwheeled yet,” Felonca said haughtily, before breaking out a grin and doing a few backflips towards the palace...
“Hai,” Felonca sighed a few hours later, “Why is it that royalty are always late? If I had been this late when Hsiu called morning drill...” She let her voice drift off into a slow whistle, before shaking her head.
“You heard the attendant, the prince is meeting with his generals right now, to try to stop the repeated Shu incursions into Langya,” Nayu nodded towards the servant standing patiently between the two ornate door guards, the plumes in their helmets now yellow and red, instead of the plain white the party had seen when they’d visited this place six weeks before.
That alone speaks volumes... Nayu thought to himself. Yellow and red plumes are only supposed to come from the helms of members of the Imperial Guard... so Prince Hu thinks of himself as something more than just a defender of the Emperor... just like the rumors said...
“Surely it doesn’t take hours to discuss how to stop a few cavalry raids,” Meiji said quietly. “Doesn’t this guy have a huge and powerful army?”
“Master Shenyang says that we must plan and consider our decisions carefully, to ensure they are for the good of all. Dangerous paths lie when one trods down the road of haste,” Liu replied quietly. Before any arguments could break out anew between them, the attendant suddenly stood straight, and after a bow towards the closed door of the audience chamber, walked stiffly towards the party.
“His Excellency will see you now,” the messenger bowed to the party, before leading them towards the massive bronzed doors, motifs of White Dragons and sea gracing its huge frame. With a creak and a groan, the doors swung open, and once again, the party stepped into the audience hall of Prince Hu Shikai, the self styled ‘Defender of the Imperial Throne.’
The hall was as immense as they remembered it, save now its formerly empty marble columns were now covered with white banners, the words “Virtue,” “Courage,” and “Knowledge” on each in massive black characters. Down the middle of the hall ran a red carpet, and to the party’s right side sat twenty scholars, all clad in the bright yellow of Disciples of Virtue, the highest and most studious rank within the Imperial Bureaucracy. On the other side sat twenty men clad in military armor, each holding at his side the yellow plumed helmet of a full general. To the front, on a raised dais, sat the young Prince himself, clad in gilded armor, gems within his helmet flashing in the sunlight.
“Please... Master Wakabayashi, Mistress Felonca, Master Liu, step forward, and introduce your friends,” the prince invited smoothly as he waved the party forward. Slowly, reverently, the five compatriots went forward, passing by scholar and general alike.
As Felonca walked forward, careful to observe protocol and keep her face looking towards the prince, her eyes carefully watched the generals as she passed them. Part of her hoped to see a tall man in light silver armor, his panther hybrid face as dark as coal. Another part dreaded the look she knew her father, General Wa-Feng Liaoxi, lately of the Imperial Guard, would have given her.
To her relief, she saw no panther hengeyokai within Hu’s ranks, however, as her eyes drew closer towards the prince, she thought she saw something else. For a moment, another general leaning forward obscured her view... but even then, she saw a familiar paw touch the leaning man’s shoulder... its palm covered in white fur, its back covered in brown. As the other man apologized, she saw a pair of black eyes staring back at her, a look of shock and confusion within their aged forms.
“Felonca!” Nayu hissed as he touched her arm. “C’mon...” his hand gently guided her into moving forward. He fell into step alongside her, purposefully drawing close to whisper, “Who is that man? Do you recognize him?”
“That is General Shih Quan-Shi,” Felonca replied, her voice trembling slightly. He got away from the Academy? But Gao Yun said everyone at the Academy was slaughtered... then again Nixi got away... why would Gao Yun lie about something like that? Her face still held a look of controlled shock when her nostrils picked up a familiar smell, and she suddenly stiffened.
“What now?” Nayu whispered, his mouth barely moving.
“I smell White Wolf,” she whispered back, her eyes following her nostrils as they continued their slow, protocol pace towards the throne. Lying on the dark marble dais just beside Prince Hu’s throne was a single long strand of white fur. A trap! Its a trap! The Prince means to kill us! her mind panicked. Instinctively, her eyes flecked to the carpet underfoot, searching for niches, holes and wires. A second after she started looking, she felt Nayu’s grip on her arm tighten.
“Look forward, nonchalant,” he whispered in reply. “If its a trap, we mustn’t let him know that we know.”
The frighteningly long trip towards the throne... which took perhaps thirty seconds... finally ended with the party ten paces from the prince, where they all went to their knees and bowed, placing their heads on the carpet in respectful kow-tow.
“Thank you for inviting us, Your Excellency,” Nayu spoke, before they all rose from their show of respect. “We hope that you might find the information we wish to tell you helpful in your quest to restore peace and order to our Jade Empire.”
“I am sure it will, Wakabayashi Nayu. Because of such, I have invited all my chief advisors and commanders to hear what you wish to say. But before that,” the smiling prince turned towards Felonca, and raised an eyebrow, “Miss Wa-Feng, please kindly tell me of this... item... that you carry.”
“What... item...” Felonca stalled, her mind panicking. He knows! He knows! Pros and cons fought in her mind, part of her remembering Nayu’s assurance that they’re best chance was if they were honest with the Prince, another shouting back her own mitrust, brought to life by the long strand of white hair, a piece of fur, that came from the carpet as some wispy, obscene spire.
“Oh! You mean the bow of Prince Hao Tong!” she blurted out. “Yes! He was a very tough combatant, very keen of tactical mind,” she bulled her way forward. Sell it, Felonca! You’ve gotta sell it! She forced her nervous fear into acting out excitement, as she started describing the fight with Hao Tong, before the Prince raised a hand.
“Wa-Feng Felonca, I am well aware of your combat with the son of the Prince of Shu,” Prince Hu said gently. “An amazing feat, knocking him dead from his horse as you did. But what concerns me, and the others gathered here, is another item you carry. A certain... dagger...” the prince leaned close, his eyes boring in on hers.
“What... dagger...” Felonca said slowly, feigning ignorance. “You mean this dagger?” she pulled out a mundane dirk taken from one of Hao Tong’s soldiers. “There’s nothing special about it, really. Its actually a little rusted, not nearly as useful as the bow we took...”
For a split second, a look of frustration and anger crossed the Prince’s face. Just as quickly as the blast of his inner emotions roared forth, his will quenched the flames, and his face went back to the same calm, gentle smile. His hand waved dismissively, prompting Felonca to stop.
“Never matter. This matter can be better discussed in private. I have more important issues... namely that I intend to declare myself Protector of the Empire, and I am in need of skilled persons. Will you five join my banner?”
Felonca looked at Nayu, and both immediately understood that the other had also witnessed the brief fury on the Prince’s face. Nayu’s eyes asked a question, and Felonca gave a slight nod in reply. The sorcerer cleared his throat, and gave a respectful bow.
“We are thankful Your Excellency considers us worthy of such praise. We hope you will forgive us if we wish to stay out of the political realm for now, and seek to return to our former, simple lives.”
To Felonca and Nayu’s surprise, the Prince merely nodded, and gave yet another charming smile. “I can respect wishes such as those. However, as I said, I have need of skillful people. If you are not willing to take my banner, perhaps you will assist me for payment.” He leaned back, waving his hand as if to dismiss their doubts. “It will be one task, a task that will go far in securing peace within our realm.”
“Um... with all due respect, Excellency, we have news which might affect your plans,” Felonca deftly stepped in during the pause. “It concerns the Emperor himself, as well as a threat against your person.” Slowly, she reached into a side pouch, and pulled forth the letter taken from Hao Tong’s body. For just a second, she paused, unsure whether she should proceed, until a light tap on her shoulder from Nayu told her to go on.
“This letter was taken from the body of Hao Tong, son of Hao Yu, Prince of Shu,” Nayu spoke as Felonca reluctantly turned the letter over to the Prince. Royal eyes scanned the letter quickly, though to Felonca’s chagrin, they stopped halfway down the page. For just a brief second, royal eyes flashed towards Nayu, before just as quickly returning to the page. A few seconds later, and the note was thrust back to Felonca, chuckles coming from the Prince’s lips.
“This is to be expected!” he laughed, somewhat too forcefully. “First Prince Hao Yu launches raids into my territory, burning crops and stealing peasants! Now,” the prince stood, speaking loud enough for all to hear, “he has the nerve to call me a traitor, and treat me like a bandit, when he is the one raping and murdering!”
A rumbling twitter arose the generals and scholars behind the party, all in various forms of agreement. As the murmurs continued, the Prince sat back down.
“You spoke of more than one piece of information. What was the second?”
Felonca sighed, forcing herself to put aside the images of the terror to come. If you do not tell him, someone else will. If we tell him, we’ll be the ones under his protection, and in the coming months, a friend this high will be useful... maybe even life-saving... She cleared her throat, and began to speak in a voice loud enough that it echoed through the audience hall.
“Prince Hu, honored others present,” she winced, realizing the slight insult she’d unintentionally committed against the scholars and generals, “it has come to my attention, through sources within the Jade City itself, that Emperor Beiyan-di in fact, did not sire a son!”
Felonca heard the collective gasp of the audience behind her, and resisted the urge to turn and comfort Yari Ai. The handmaiden had agreed that her tale should be told, but didn’t want herself to be connected to its origin. Felonca could imagine how much rehearing the news was tearing apart her new comrade, but if the rogue turned to comfort her, it would be all too apparent to everyone who the source was.
“How do you explain our beloved Emperor then?” one of the scholars scoffed loudly.
“Hao Yuan,” she used the boy’s true name... Hao for his father’s surname, Yuan for his name before coronation, “is no more than an incestuous blasphemy in the face of Heaven’s virtue, sired from an unholy union between the Dowager Empress and her brother, the Prince of Shu!”
The room immediately exploded into an uproar. Shouts from some of the scholars that the tale could not be true, sounds from the generals loudly discussing the coming wars if the tale was true. As Felonca returned her gaze back to Prince Hu, she saw his face was still covered with the same, plastic smile. Slowly, he rose, and raised his hands for silence.
“My lords! If this tale is true, if Beiyan-di had no son, then it is my solemn duty, no, my virtuous requirement, as a loyal child of Heaven, to hereby claim the Jade Throne, to ensure that Heaven’s wrath does not fall upon us for allowing so evil a union, the result of such lascivious debauchery, to rule from the holy Jade Throne!”
The room once again exploded into bedlam, and everyone in the party could easily see that for Prince Hu, the idea of becoming Emperor was not a solemn one at all...
Emperor Valerian
First Post
And thank you all for the kind things said about my storyhour... I try my best... and my best usually comes when I’m avoiding typing papers! Which means that over the next week, I should have a few updates ready, when I'm not avoiding papers by planning my players doom... ![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
Which means that over the next week, I should have a few updates ready, when I'm not avoiding papers by planning my players doom... drag n fly
First Post
DOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!
Sorry, last year D&D moment
Love the type-ups, as always Emperor. And hey, easy on the DOOM, what did we ever do to deserve it
On a cool note, for a presentation in my Instructional Design class next week, I'm doing a 15 minute presentation on "Role-Plays". Do you think this would be a good starter? http://www.cybermoonstudios.com/8bitDandD.html
Sorry, last year D&D moment
Love the type-ups, as always Emperor. And hey, easy on the DOOM, what did we ever do to deserve it
On a cool note, for a presentation in my Instructional Design class next week, I'm doing a 15 minute presentation on "Role-Plays". Do you think this would be a good starter? http://www.cybermoonstudios.com/8bitDandD.html
ThoughtfulOwl
First Post
Emperor Valerian said:
Out of curiosity, how much did you tie this setting with your other story hour, if at all?
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