Session One, Part 8
THE FOLLOWING midday, the seven of them assembled on a dusty street corner in the Shih’s District. To their right stood a two-story, gabled inn called The Jade Unicorn. Even from the street the party could hear the low roar of conversation from the common room; people walked in and out constantly. That morning Tran had informed them that Yao Ren Phai had instructed him to bring his charges to this intersection at midday and await the sorcerer's arrival. “In the street?” Woo had asked. Apparently so. They stood to one side and ignored the curious glances of the wealthy.
Two hours later, Yao Ren Phai arrived. Despite their annoyance at being forced to stand in the sun for hours, the group straightened visibly when Tran whispered “Here he comes!” The mandarin looked much the same as he had a month and a half before when Lei last met him: blue silk robes of state trimmed in silver, tall and aristocratic bearing, sharp and heavy-lidded eyes, gaunt face, thin and wispy beard under a shih’s round, flat-topped hat. With him came the unnamed Xiao bodyguard with the iridescent banded mail and the magnificent sword. As usual, the man scowled. Yao Ren Phai strode up through the dusty street and stopped before them, not saying a word. His eyes crawled from person to person as he took the measure of them. He spent no more time on one than another, and only made perfunctory eye contact with any of them. After a long minute of this, he spoke in a gravelly voice that reminded Vinh of steel scraping across stone. “I am Yao Ren Phai, mandarin in the Emperor’s service. You work for me now. Most of you will be paid a retainer of 100 taels each per fortnight until further notice. Follow me.” Off he went, walking decisively down the street behind the party. Nonplussed, they followed.
He led them down a short side street to a cul de sac at the end. They passed several old houses and estates, and watched as the sorcerer stopped before a large set of rusted iron gates. Above the gates crouched an image of a coiled dragon in relief. Bits of faded yellow paint still clung to it under the rust. Beyond the gates lay a tangle of weeds and overgrown bushes that obscured most of the lot. On the back of the grounds they could see the roof of a long, one-story building. “The Golden Dragon Inn,” the yao ren announced. “This has been imperial property for a decade. The Emperor has had no need of it, and his mandarins have found no suitable buyers.” He turned to face them. “You will make this property presentable. Fix the roof, scour away the rust, landscape the yard, and make any necessary repairs to the interior of the inn. You have fifteen days - a fortnight.” He glanced at his bodyguard. “Chung Lah will come by periodically to observe your progress.” The bodyguard nodded and scowled at the group of them. The sorcerer turned back to the lot, produced a key, unlocked the gates, and departed without another word. Chung Lah followed.
Tran squirmed in his masterwork armor and peered through the gates. “We’ll need to get started right away, I think.” Lei stepped up and pushed the right-most gate halfway open before it jammed on a rusted hinge. He tried to push it further or pull it back, but it stuck firmly. “It’s okay, that’s enough,” said Mai. “I’ll look around.” She slipped into the lot and paused a moment to take it in. Other than the sound of cicadas chirping, the place was still. The path through the property to the inn was clearly visible and not quite completely overgrown. She studied the shoulder-high dry grasses to her left and briefly considered using them for cover to get closer to the house unseen, but discarded that idea. This place had to be crawling with bugs, spiders, and snakes. Ew. Instead, she padded silently up the path. Behind her, Vinh shifted restlessly in his partial armor.
“Perhaps the spirits can tell me if there is any danger,” offered Hien. He sent his eagle aloft and ducked as he entered the gate and followed Mai down the path. Most of the others stepped inside then, but Tran stayed just outside the gates. Hien walked haflway down the path, stopped, and listened. He couldn’t be entirely sure, but he heard nothing he could construe as spirit sounds. He looked back at the group and shook his head. In the bushes to his right, he spied a hare dart by. Inspired, Hien ordered his fox to stay on the path and stepped off into the overgrowth. As he approached the rabbit’s hiding spot, he whispered soothing phrases and kept his body language non-threatening. When he saw the hare’s floppy ears sticking out from behind a tuft of weeds, he cast a spell. A placid splash of green energy fell away from him like water, and he spoke to the frightened creature.
“
Hello, don’t run! I am friend,” said Hien. “
Is there danger in the man-cave?”
“I do not seek the man-cave!” quivered the rabbit. “All man-caves are dangerous. I stay in hide-grass and eat sweet-leaf.”
“
Have you seen enemies enter or leave the man-cave?”
“No! No enemies.” The hare backed deeper into the brush, wriggling its tiny nose.
Hien thanked the animal and straightened his legs. The others had advanced down the path and stood near his fox. Mai crouched next to the building and peered through locked gate.
The Golden Dragon Inn had seen better times. The roof was in good repair, for the most part, but the wooden walls were weather-beaten and morose. The entire inn was actually a compound of buildings enclosed by an 8-foot stone wall. The front was about 120 feet wide and sported a gate near either end. The portal on the left appeared to be a family entrance, but the one closest to Hien was wider and seemed to open into what had been the establishment’s main courtyard. Running front to back in the center was a large multi-roofed building; it was flanked by servants’ quarters on the right wall of the main courtyard and some unidentified rooms on the left wall of the family yard. Opposite the main gate, an empty stable sat flush to the back wall.
Mai spent a minute or so examining the main entrance, then walked to the family gate and investigated the lock. The others approached. “Is it locked?” Tran asked. “Yao Ren Phai didn’t give us a key.”
“We don’t need a key,” Mai replied. Lei raised an eyebrow at that, and Hien wondered how she was going to open the lock.
Ca-clack. Mai pushed the rusted gate slightly open and stood back. She smiled at the men. “Go ahead.”
Woo grunted and entered the yard, followed by Lei, Vinh, Hien and Mai. Tam and Tran waited outside. The family yard of the inn was about 60 feet long and 30 feet wide. Rocks lay strewn about in what were probably artful patterns at some point, but time had rendered their messages meaningless. Four small dogwood trees dotted the grounds, their boughs casting shadows over moldy leaves and rustling ferns. In what was roughly the center of the yard, a small koi pond sat dark and dormant, and a thick, viscous layer of scummy water could be seen underneath several large lily pads. On the left of the yard were two sliding rice-paper doors. The second one appeared to be to a shrine. On the right, three more sliding doors waited. At the far end of the yard sat a storehouse, and piled in front of its large hinged doors were dozens of barrels. Hmm.
Woo, Vinh, and Hien spread out slowly through the yard, while Mai investigated the first door on the left. Lei stood near her, ready with shield and scimitar. Tam and Tran moved into the yard; the wu jen took up a position near the gate, and the young aristocrat shadowed Lei. There’s nothing to unlock on a rice-paper door, so Mai carefully slid it aside and stuck her head in. This had been a living room at one time, but what little furniture was left had been smashed into kindling and shoved into the corners. The only intact piece of furniture was a long, low table turned over on its side. Seeing no obvious threats, Mai entered and searched the small chamber. Left of the entry was a closet door, and once she had finished scanning the broken furniture in the corners, she opened the closet door and looked inside. Dim sunlight, filtered by the dogwoods, streamed into the closet, causing something round and metallic to glint on the floor. Mai squatted and examined the object.
It was a bronze statuette. She picked it up to examine it, and was surprised to discover that it was extremely heavy, far more than she thought bronze would have been. Gripping it in both hands, she shivered at the character depicted: a powerfully built naked male with the head of a ferocious shark. In one hand he grasped a spear, and in the other he held aloft some sort of orb. The eyes were indented flecks of obsidian and gave the figure the dead, carnivorous expression of a killer of the deep. She turned the figure over in her hands a few times, and then placed it in her backpack. She could examine it later.
Stepping out, she noted that the men all stood in the courtyard. Tam the wu jen was poking his staff into the koi pond, and Vinh and Woo were examining the barrels. Mai walked to the next door on the left – the shrine – and listened.
Bzzt…bzzzzat…bzt she heard from within the shrine. “Lei,” she called, “I hear something in here.” Lei stepped up, followed by Tran, and Mai slid the door aside. The shrine was a small room about 12 feet wide and 15 feet long. At the far end sat an altar, and atop the altar nested two hideously freakish things that looked like a cross between a bat and a giant mosquito. The instant Mai opened the door, they launched themselves at her angrily, latching on with their tiny pincer legs and driving their proboscises under her leather armor and into her body. As Mai screamed and flailed backward out of the shrine, they beat their quadruple wings and
SUCKED. Mai staggered as the blood rushed out of her body, filling the purulent sacs under their abdomens.
Lei rushed forward in alarm, but Woo was faster. In a flurry of movement too quick for the eye to follow, he dashed across the yard and crushed both of the creatures with his staff! The engorged beasts burst open as they died, and Mai’s stolen blood sprayed into the air and pooled in the dirt where the bodies buzzed and kicked futilely.
Black spots danced in front of Mai’s vision, and she stumbled, fainted, and collapsed to the ground.
(DM note: This was an awesome little fight! First dungeon encounter of the campaign and I drain 7 points of Con out of the rogue in one round! Slurrppp! I love stirges! 
)
