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Twin Emperors[EPIC RPG MKIV] - Story Minute
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<blockquote data-quote="Iron Sky" data-source="post: 7080095" data-attributes="member: 60965"><p><strong>Session 2 - Heaven's Gateway</strong></p><p></p><p>The crowd boo'd and hissed as Aiko solemnly recited the varied crimes of the strange foreigners lashed down on the platform before them. She halted her indictments briefly as a squad of horsemen thundered out of the stables at the rear of the execution square, the a path through the thronging crowd hurling clear as the heedless silk-garbed riders charged forth. When the crowd had calmed itself enough to be heard over, Aiko finished and stepped back. The headsman wasted no time heaving his axe up to take Gorge's head off. Instead, he took a face-full of bronze chain as Gorge slipped one heavily-greased wrist loose, rocked the chain free from beneath the chopping block, and shattered the headsmn's nose and cheeks.</p><p></p><p>As per the plan, they "kidnapped" Aiko, swiping the wakazashi from her sash and holding it to her throat as they retreated towards the nearby stables, the half-inebriated guards held at bay with a few swings of chain, some bestial roars by Gorge, and shouted threats against Aiko's life. Once ahorse they battered their way through the guards, Raxtus nearly trampling a beautiful young woman who threw herself in his path before they thundered away from the inept guardsmen and down into the curving streets of Weir. Siatese city folk at festival leaped out of their way at every turn as their horses hooves clattered sparks from the cobblestones. </p><p></p><p>A few horsemen rallied and pursued across the gorge-spanning bridges, through narrow allies, and amidst startled festival throngs. At the docks, they leapt from their horses to pile into the boat at which Hamura – Aiko's giant sister – awaited them, realizing they were one short, the first-time-ahorse Raxis left behind at some point in the chase.</p><p></p><p>Back around the last bend, a thrown spear dropped Raxtus' mount mid-stride and pitched him out of the saddle. He would have been lost but for Michkin's selfless decision to ride back into danger, weaving the thrusting spears of the pursuing cavalry to catch Raxtus before riding like mad back to the river, pursuers close behind. Meanwhile, at the docks, the small craft poled slowly into the current, the companions watching as Michkin hurled his mount into the river, leaping clear with Raxtus, and paddling wildly after the boat.</p><p></p><p>Once the two were dragged aboard, Pursus glanced back to see Jade Warrior Maderu Shima planting a spear-tip into the earth, Pursus' three-eyed Ghost Bank mask dangling from the far end. As Pursus readied to swim back to fight his dropped mask of office, Gorge launched his trained hawkling wing-lizard to steal it, leaving Maderu shouting impotent threats of pursuit as the lizardling winged back with mask in claw.</p><p></p><p>Michkin, Pursus, and Aiko's huge sister Hamura poled hard towards safety as crossbow bolts rained down, sending the others scrambling for the tall oak shields Hamura had wisely stacked in the back of the boat. As the bronze-tipped rain darted down from the top of the gorge above and thudded heavily into the wood of boat and shield, panic swelled in their guts as, high above, teams of soldiers wrestled catapaults and ballista into position atop the cliffs.</p><p></p><p>As those at the poles pushed to the brink of exhaustion, a final bend in the gorge passed, revealing the wide tunnel beneath the massive mountains of Saito's Wall. Their elation deflated almost instantly to the clanking sounds of a massive portcullis inexorably descending to block their passage ahead. This vision of doom spurred them to a final sprint, the metal-capped teeth of the gate nearly biting into the back of the craft as they slipped under.</p><p></p><p>Once enclosed in vast, weighty darkness beneath Saito's Wall, two distant, echoing Gongs echoed faintly from the fading smear of sunlight at the tunnel's entrance behind. Aiko and Hamura unleashed un-Saitese-like wails before falling into huddled silence. Several hours passed before the companions were able to drag from the sisters that the peals signaled the death of Chiain's sacred Twin Emperors, the only beings capable of withstanding the purity of Lord Saito's divine voice. Suspicious at the timing, Pursus interrogated Aiko, prying out that her siblings were also twins and thus eligible to be selected to become the new Twin Emperors, though Aiko assured him no twins from beyond Saito's Wall had Ascended in the long history of Chiain.</p><p></p><p>After a day's endless darkness beneath the stone they squinted into the bring morning sunlight on the far side of Saito's Wall, the approach of a custom's inspector's craft inspiring a plan to cast themselves as branded exiles cast out from within, all cutting their arms in the same spot before swaddling them with bandages. Aiko argued with the suspicious and agitated inspector at length in Saitese – gibberish to the companions – somehow cowing him and opening the way to the city of Heaven's Gateway and freedom.</p><p></p><p>After retrieving Raxtus' Tinker Cart and Gorge's terrifying chameleon-alligator skulk pet, the group headed north towards the village of Shrine Grove from whence the twins were kidnapped, quickly leaving the teeming city of Heaven's Gateway and plunging into a countryside of bamboo groves and rice paddies. Near dark they arrived, Aiko's questions to the wary Shrine Grove villagers unearthing that Aiko's Uncle Nise Akuma had suddenly passed through town the night before bandits attacked the family's homestead north of the village. Only Akuma's body and those of the twins were not recovered, the bandits' tracks trampling off into the wilds beyond.</p><p></p><p>After deciding to settle in at the still-intact stables for the night, Raxtus repaired the skulk-gnawed handle of his cart to discover a carefully packaged scroll hidden within, scrawled with glittering Runics. Everyone held their breath as Raxtus carefully repackaged the terrifying scroll, hiding it deep within his junk-packed cart as the others settled in to sleep. Much later, Michkin on watch woke everyone to watch in reverence as a six-legged Tapir spirit drifted through the woods amid a swirl of fireflies.</p><p></p><p>With dawns like a more thorough search of the farmstead revealed many graves, smoldering ruins, and the bandit's blatant trail. On closer examination of their tracks, wizened Eliot Sam discerned that nine bandits had dragged a wounded tenth figure along with two bound children. On the trail, Pursus convinced Michkin to visit a Ghost Bank office at the next town for the trade of a probably hypothetical soul for the very real power the Bank might grant. </p><p></p><p>After following the trail for several miles, the trail became false, Eliot and Pursus scouting ahead to a dead end, then doubling back to discover a hidden crawl-way through a thicket of thorns. Beyond, a stream, leading to a cave...</p><p></p><p>Returning to the others, they spoke of what they had found. </p><p></p><p>Michkin asked if they had been followed back. </p><p></p><p>"Probably." Prusus replied.</p><p></p><p>"Duck," Michkin joked... as an arrow winged into their midst.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Iron Sky, post: 7080095, member: 60965"] [b]Session 2 - Heaven's Gateway[/b] The crowd boo'd and hissed as Aiko solemnly recited the varied crimes of the strange foreigners lashed down on the platform before them. She halted her indictments briefly as a squad of horsemen thundered out of the stables at the rear of the execution square, the a path through the thronging crowd hurling clear as the heedless silk-garbed riders charged forth. When the crowd had calmed itself enough to be heard over, Aiko finished and stepped back. The headsman wasted no time heaving his axe up to take Gorge's head off. Instead, he took a face-full of bronze chain as Gorge slipped one heavily-greased wrist loose, rocked the chain free from beneath the chopping block, and shattered the headsmn's nose and cheeks. As per the plan, they "kidnapped" Aiko, swiping the wakazashi from her sash and holding it to her throat as they retreated towards the nearby stables, the half-inebriated guards held at bay with a few swings of chain, some bestial roars by Gorge, and shouted threats against Aiko's life. Once ahorse they battered their way through the guards, Raxtus nearly trampling a beautiful young woman who threw herself in his path before they thundered away from the inept guardsmen and down into the curving streets of Weir. Siatese city folk at festival leaped out of their way at every turn as their horses hooves clattered sparks from the cobblestones. A few horsemen rallied and pursued across the gorge-spanning bridges, through narrow allies, and amidst startled festival throngs. At the docks, they leapt from their horses to pile into the boat at which Hamura – Aiko's giant sister – awaited them, realizing they were one short, the first-time-ahorse Raxis left behind at some point in the chase. Back around the last bend, a thrown spear dropped Raxtus' mount mid-stride and pitched him out of the saddle. He would have been lost but for Michkin's selfless decision to ride back into danger, weaving the thrusting spears of the pursuing cavalry to catch Raxtus before riding like mad back to the river, pursuers close behind. Meanwhile, at the docks, the small craft poled slowly into the current, the companions watching as Michkin hurled his mount into the river, leaping clear with Raxtus, and paddling wildly after the boat. Once the two were dragged aboard, Pursus glanced back to see Jade Warrior Maderu Shima planting a spear-tip into the earth, Pursus' three-eyed Ghost Bank mask dangling from the far end. As Pursus readied to swim back to fight his dropped mask of office, Gorge launched his trained hawkling wing-lizard to steal it, leaving Maderu shouting impotent threats of pursuit as the lizardling winged back with mask in claw. Michkin, Pursus, and Aiko's huge sister Hamura poled hard towards safety as crossbow bolts rained down, sending the others scrambling for the tall oak shields Hamura had wisely stacked in the back of the boat. As the bronze-tipped rain darted down from the top of the gorge above and thudded heavily into the wood of boat and shield, panic swelled in their guts as, high above, teams of soldiers wrestled catapaults and ballista into position atop the cliffs. As those at the poles pushed to the brink of exhaustion, a final bend in the gorge passed, revealing the wide tunnel beneath the massive mountains of Saito's Wall. Their elation deflated almost instantly to the clanking sounds of a massive portcullis inexorably descending to block their passage ahead. This vision of doom spurred them to a final sprint, the metal-capped teeth of the gate nearly biting into the back of the craft as they slipped under. Once enclosed in vast, weighty darkness beneath Saito's Wall, two distant, echoing Gongs echoed faintly from the fading smear of sunlight at the tunnel's entrance behind. Aiko and Hamura unleashed un-Saitese-like wails before falling into huddled silence. Several hours passed before the companions were able to drag from the sisters that the peals signaled the death of Chiain's sacred Twin Emperors, the only beings capable of withstanding the purity of Lord Saito's divine voice. Suspicious at the timing, Pursus interrogated Aiko, prying out that her siblings were also twins and thus eligible to be selected to become the new Twin Emperors, though Aiko assured him no twins from beyond Saito's Wall had Ascended in the long history of Chiain. After a day's endless darkness beneath the stone they squinted into the bring morning sunlight on the far side of Saito's Wall, the approach of a custom's inspector's craft inspiring a plan to cast themselves as branded exiles cast out from within, all cutting their arms in the same spot before swaddling them with bandages. Aiko argued with the suspicious and agitated inspector at length in Saitese – gibberish to the companions – somehow cowing him and opening the way to the city of Heaven's Gateway and freedom. After retrieving Raxtus' Tinker Cart and Gorge's terrifying chameleon-alligator skulk pet, the group headed north towards the village of Shrine Grove from whence the twins were kidnapped, quickly leaving the teeming city of Heaven's Gateway and plunging into a countryside of bamboo groves and rice paddies. Near dark they arrived, Aiko's questions to the wary Shrine Grove villagers unearthing that Aiko's Uncle Nise Akuma had suddenly passed through town the night before bandits attacked the family's homestead north of the village. Only Akuma's body and those of the twins were not recovered, the bandits' tracks trampling off into the wilds beyond. After deciding to settle in at the still-intact stables for the night, Raxtus repaired the skulk-gnawed handle of his cart to discover a carefully packaged scroll hidden within, scrawled with glittering Runics. Everyone held their breath as Raxtus carefully repackaged the terrifying scroll, hiding it deep within his junk-packed cart as the others settled in to sleep. Much later, Michkin on watch woke everyone to watch in reverence as a six-legged Tapir spirit drifted through the woods amid a swirl of fireflies. With dawns like a more thorough search of the farmstead revealed many graves, smoldering ruins, and the bandit's blatant trail. On closer examination of their tracks, wizened Eliot Sam discerned that nine bandits had dragged a wounded tenth figure along with two bound children. On the trail, Pursus convinced Michkin to visit a Ghost Bank office at the next town for the trade of a probably hypothetical soul for the very real power the Bank might grant. After following the trail for several miles, the trail became false, Eliot and Pursus scouting ahead to a dead end, then doubling back to discover a hidden crawl-way through a thicket of thorns. Beyond, a stream, leading to a cave... Returning to the others, they spoke of what they had found. Michkin asked if they had been followed back. "Probably." Prusus replied. "Duck," Michkin joked... as an arrow winged into their midst. [/QUOTE]
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