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Story Hour
The Celestial Empire (Romance of the Three Kingdoms-ish, Updated 12/09/05)
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<blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1835028" data-attributes="member: 15043"><p><strong>Burying a Past</strong></p><p></p><p>“Nayu,” Felonca said worriedly for the thousandth time in about a week, knowing full well that either her companion could not hear her, or refused to hear her. </p><p></p><p>Instead, he rode onward, eyes fixed towards the south, the depths of his pupils holding deep, violent emotions. His back was stiff and straight as he rode, as he cast nary a glance behind him towards the bound Captain Li, bouncing on one of the dead soldier’s warhorses.</p><p></p><p><em>Hope, Nayu... please keep hope...</em> Felonca wished quietly as the party rounded a familiar bend at a gallop. </p><p></p><p>Nayu had been in this deadly focus since their betrayal, and Felonca was deeply worried. Part of her understood the murderous outburst only a week before, but much of Felonca’s mind was scared... scared of what Nayu would find, and how it would affect him. She knew he’d never hurt her, Liu, or Chou, but nonetheless, she was afraid her companion might snap under the stress.</p><p></p><p>Her sensitive nose felt a strange smell in the air, distant but clear. She reined up her horse, and sniffed again, her mind pushing aside the smell of unwashed bodies and mounts, pressing to that smell that seemed terribly familiar. She blinked, and then looked down, as she heard Nayu’s mare trotting alongside.</p><p></p><p>“Charcoal... and burnt flesh,” Felonca said quietly, her head still down in despair as she heard Nayu spin his horse around and charge up the hill.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Nayu kicked the charcoal filled dirt underfoot in frustration, his eyes darting angrily and sorrowfully about to the spires of blackened wood that reached towards the sky; tombstones for the mangled forms laying about what had become a cemetery.</p><p></p><p><em>There was the smithy,</em> his eyes watered up as he looked towards the burnt shell of a building, <em>and there was the bakery Mistress Cixi had her stall in front of every market day.</em> He walked slowly, mournfully along the familiar street, past the collapsing shell of the former prefect’s home, the slow trod of his friend’s footsteps the only noise in the air save a soft, biting wind.</p><p></p><p>“Master Nayu?” a gentle voice said, and the sorcerer felt the monk gently touch his shoulder. “I think I shall go about blessing the bodies, praying that in their next life, karma will grant them lives not cut short in such a manner.” The last few words were said slowly, Liu obviously finding it difficult to speak due to his own tears of despair at such a horrific event.</p><p></p><p>“Please do so.” It took all of Nayu’s inner will to keep the response quiet, and keep his mind focused on his task at hand. </p><p></p><p><em>I must find my parents!</em></p><p></p><p>It was a strange urge... his mind already knew that logically, they were dead. But his heart, however...</p><p></p><p>“Nayu? Are you sure you want to go there?” Felonca’s worried voice asked yet again. For a second, there was a small upwelling of anger, which Nayu forced back down. <em>She’s worried about you.</em> His eyes then alighted in hate on the hoofprints beaten deep into the soil and ash.</p><p></p><p>“Yes... I... I need to know,” he replied, as he turned down another side alley and street. For a few moments, the blackened timbers became parts of buildings, and in his heart, he could still hear the children playing as he traced his way back...</p><p></p><p>A pair of twisted, burned timbers and a pile of stones was all that remained of the home he’d known for all his seventeen years of life. Within the mass he could pick out the blackened oak table of the kitchen, and a few collapsed, burnt out timbers from the walls and upper floor. He walked slowly into where the doorway would have been, and stopped.</p><p></p><p>Memories flooded back. His mother busy cooking, the smells of a rich soup flooding his nostrils. A loud rumble of laughter from the room that served as his father’s office of trade. The voice of one of his neighbor’s children asking for a turnip for her mother’s stew, offering some onions in return.</p><p></p><p>It was then that he wanted to sink to the ground, grief overwhelming him. The memories proved too much, too powerful, his world turning into a blur. He felt Felonca’s hands touch his shoulder, and something forced him to walk forward, despite the tears.</p><p></p><p>“I need to find them... to bury them...” he muttered between his tears, his hands groping through the remains of his childhood and adolescence. Past mother’s favorite pot and his father’s clay pipe, now broken. Through broken bits of his mother’s smallest jewelry. Yet as hard as he looked, he found no bodies, no remains.</p><p></p><p>No closure... a fact that gnawed him to the depths of his soul.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>“Nayu? If they aren’t here, they could be alive!” Felonca offered softly. <em>He needs some kind of hope! Something to keep him going!</em> She wanted him to have something to keep going... but at the same time, she didn’t want to falsely excite him. She knew chances were against them surviving the carnage around them, the hundreds of bodies scattered about. </p><p></p><p><em>But there is always hope!</em></p><p></p><p>As he slowly turned, she grabbed him and gave him a fierce hug. Hope flowed from her, as she whispered in his ear. </p><p></p><p>“Don’t worry, it’ll be okay. I’m sorry... it’ll be okay,” she said, not sure what to add as she felt him slump against her, genuine sobs coming from his throat...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It took a grisly two days to bury the dead... 231 by Liu’s final count. They came from all walks of life... men, women, children. At Felonca’s suggestion, Nayu did not participate in the work... instead Captain Li was forced to bury the dead in his place... a punishment that seemed to break the old man harder than any whip or threat of death might have.</p><p></p><p>The work done, the party remounted, unsure of where to go. It was Felonca that suggested the party head towards the south... towards the province of Langya.</p><p></p><p>“Why should we go there? We should instead go to Mukden, and get vengeance on the governor who ordered this!” Nayu hissed. Part of Felonca was relieved to see the anger return.</p><p></p><p>“Master Nayu... the governor has armies... we have but four,” Liu replied calmly. “I do not know what is in Langya... Mistress Felonca... what <em>is</em> in Langya? Why should we not go to the coasts, or head north towards the oasis cities?”</p><p></p><p>“Langya, as Nayu, you would know,” she gestured to him, hoping to draw him into the idea, “is governed by the Hu family, kinsmen to the Imperial line. Prince Hu Lun is renowned for his honor and bravery...”</p><p></p><p>“He is old!” Nayu shot back. “The merchants in Xianlung say that he is well past sixty winters in age!”</p><p></p><p>“He has <em>armies,</em>” Liu replied simply, “and should he be as just as people say, he no doubt will move them north, to help rid the people of these undead pests, and their cause.”</p><p></p><p>“Do you see an alternative?” Felonca asked gently, not wanting to box Nayu in.</p><p></p><p>“No,” he replied, eyes burning with anger at a man far to the north. “To Langya then!”</p><p></p><p>= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = </p><p></p><p>This is the end of the second session. The trap I had planned all along for the PCs, and they reacted creatively and with a great deal of in-depth roleplaying... which gave me more ideas for other upcoming sessions!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Emperor Valerian, post: 1835028, member: 15043"] [b]Burying a Past[/b] “Nayu,” Felonca said worriedly for the thousandth time in about a week, knowing full well that either her companion could not hear her, or refused to hear her. Instead, he rode onward, eyes fixed towards the south, the depths of his pupils holding deep, violent emotions. His back was stiff and straight as he rode, as he cast nary a glance behind him towards the bound Captain Li, bouncing on one of the dead soldier’s warhorses. [i]Hope, Nayu... please keep hope...[/i] Felonca wished quietly as the party rounded a familiar bend at a gallop. Nayu had been in this deadly focus since their betrayal, and Felonca was deeply worried. Part of her understood the murderous outburst only a week before, but much of Felonca’s mind was scared... scared of what Nayu would find, and how it would affect him. She knew he’d never hurt her, Liu, or Chou, but nonetheless, she was afraid her companion might snap under the stress. Her sensitive nose felt a strange smell in the air, distant but clear. She reined up her horse, and sniffed again, her mind pushing aside the smell of unwashed bodies and mounts, pressing to that smell that seemed terribly familiar. She blinked, and then looked down, as she heard Nayu’s mare trotting alongside. “Charcoal... and burnt flesh,” Felonca said quietly, her head still down in despair as she heard Nayu spin his horse around and charge up the hill. Nayu kicked the charcoal filled dirt underfoot in frustration, his eyes darting angrily and sorrowfully about to the spires of blackened wood that reached towards the sky; tombstones for the mangled forms laying about what had become a cemetery. [i]There was the smithy,[/i] his eyes watered up as he looked towards the burnt shell of a building, [i]and there was the bakery Mistress Cixi had her stall in front of every market day.[/i] He walked slowly, mournfully along the familiar street, past the collapsing shell of the former prefect’s home, the slow trod of his friend’s footsteps the only noise in the air save a soft, biting wind. “Master Nayu?” a gentle voice said, and the sorcerer felt the monk gently touch his shoulder. “I think I shall go about blessing the bodies, praying that in their next life, karma will grant them lives not cut short in such a manner.” The last few words were said slowly, Liu obviously finding it difficult to speak due to his own tears of despair at such a horrific event. “Please do so.” It took all of Nayu’s inner will to keep the response quiet, and keep his mind focused on his task at hand. [i]I must find my parents![/i] It was a strange urge... his mind already knew that logically, they were dead. But his heart, however... “Nayu? Are you sure you want to go there?” Felonca’s worried voice asked yet again. For a second, there was a small upwelling of anger, which Nayu forced back down. [i]She’s worried about you.[/i] His eyes then alighted in hate on the hoofprints beaten deep into the soil and ash. “Yes... I... I need to know,” he replied, as he turned down another side alley and street. For a few moments, the blackened timbers became parts of buildings, and in his heart, he could still hear the children playing as he traced his way back... A pair of twisted, burned timbers and a pile of stones was all that remained of the home he’d known for all his seventeen years of life. Within the mass he could pick out the blackened oak table of the kitchen, and a few collapsed, burnt out timbers from the walls and upper floor. He walked slowly into where the doorway would have been, and stopped. Memories flooded back. His mother busy cooking, the smells of a rich soup flooding his nostrils. A loud rumble of laughter from the room that served as his father’s office of trade. The voice of one of his neighbor’s children asking for a turnip for her mother’s stew, offering some onions in return. It was then that he wanted to sink to the ground, grief overwhelming him. The memories proved too much, too powerful, his world turning into a blur. He felt Felonca’s hands touch his shoulder, and something forced him to walk forward, despite the tears. “I need to find them... to bury them...” he muttered between his tears, his hands groping through the remains of his childhood and adolescence. Past mother’s favorite pot and his father’s clay pipe, now broken. Through broken bits of his mother’s smallest jewelry. Yet as hard as he looked, he found no bodies, no remains. No closure... a fact that gnawed him to the depths of his soul. “Nayu? If they aren’t here, they could be alive!” Felonca offered softly. [i]He needs some kind of hope! Something to keep him going![/i] She wanted him to have something to keep going... but at the same time, she didn’t want to falsely excite him. She knew chances were against them surviving the carnage around them, the hundreds of bodies scattered about. [i]But there is always hope![/i] As he slowly turned, she grabbed him and gave him a fierce hug. Hope flowed from her, as she whispered in his ear. “Don’t worry, it’ll be okay. I’m sorry... it’ll be okay,” she said, not sure what to add as she felt him slump against her, genuine sobs coming from his throat... It took a grisly two days to bury the dead... 231 by Liu’s final count. They came from all walks of life... men, women, children. At Felonca’s suggestion, Nayu did not participate in the work... instead Captain Li was forced to bury the dead in his place... a punishment that seemed to break the old man harder than any whip or threat of death might have. The work done, the party remounted, unsure of where to go. It was Felonca that suggested the party head towards the south... towards the province of Langya. “Why should we go there? We should instead go to Mukden, and get vengeance on the governor who ordered this!” Nayu hissed. Part of Felonca was relieved to see the anger return. “Master Nayu... the governor has armies... we have but four,” Liu replied calmly. “I do not know what is in Langya... Mistress Felonca... what [i]is[/i] in Langya? Why should we not go to the coasts, or head north towards the oasis cities?” “Langya, as Nayu, you would know,” she gestured to him, hoping to draw him into the idea, “is governed by the Hu family, kinsmen to the Imperial line. Prince Hu Lun is renowned for his honor and bravery...” “He is old!” Nayu shot back. “The merchants in Xianlung say that he is well past sixty winters in age!” “He has [i]armies,[/i]” Liu replied simply, “and should he be as just as people say, he no doubt will move them north, to help rid the people of these undead pests, and their cause.” “Do you see an alternative?” Felonca asked gently, not wanting to box Nayu in. “No,” he replied, eyes burning with anger at a man far to the north. “To Langya then!” = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = This is the end of the second session. The trap I had planned all along for the PCs, and they reacted creatively and with a great deal of in-depth roleplaying... which gave me more ideas for other upcoming sessions! [/QUOTE]
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