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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ForceUser" data-source="post: 274154" data-attributes="member: 2785">Session One, Part 9LEI EASED his wounded comrade down onto the long wooden table in the living room of the ruined inn, which Hien had righted. Mai moaned and shuddered weakly as the young shaman took off her leaf hat and began to examine her. What he found wasn’t encouraging. “With the theft of her blood she has lost much vitality,” he told the others. “There is little my healing magic can do for her; the loss is great but the wounds are small. She must rest for a few days so her spirit can once again grow strong.” He smoothed Mai’s damp hair back from her forehead.  Woo grunted. “Should we take her to the hostel down the street and get her a room?” Vinh nodded in agreement.“Perhaps that is for the best. If I have time I can treat her and speed her recovery,” replied Hien.“No…” gasped Mai, suddenly awake. “I…can go on.” She tried to rise.Tam interjected, “Our time is limited; we must make use of it. We suggest that we get her a room and care while the rest of us continue.”“You “we” or we “we?”” said Woo, exasperated, as he glowered at the wu jen. Tam looked at the monk, perplexed. He gestured at himself. “We suggest…”“Right,” said Tran, “anyway, I agree with, er, them,” he nodded at Tam, who grinned. “We should keep working, but we should certainly see to Mai’s wellbeing before we go on.” He looked at the pale young woman.“I’m fine,” Mai’s voice, despite the resolve in it, quavered. “I’ll just stay to the back…” She stood and leaned on the table while glaring at the men, daring them to challenge her.“Okay then, let’s get back to it,” announced Tran. And that was that.The group walked out of the living room and looked around. Vinh pointed at the door across the yard from them. “That one.” He strode over and began to examine it. Woo and Lei joined him while the others took up defensive positions. From inside, Vinh heard the rattle of a heavy chain and a slow shuffle-drag of something walking. He told the others and they readied themselves for combat. Another rice-paper door, it took a surprising amount of effort for Vinh to slide it to his right. It was soon apparent why: the entire inside of the room behind the door was obscured by a cascade of giant spider webs, which adhered to the door, the frame, and the walls and ceiling inside. “What in the name of the Emperor…?” exclaimed Tran. “Stand back,” said Vinh, “and hand me a torch.”In short order, Vinh took the blazing stick and shoved it into the webs. They burned, blackening and curling away from the fire. Stepping in, he continued to clear the opening. It was at that point that the cat-sized poisonous spider lurking on the ceiling dropped on his face, mandibles groping. Vinh yelled in surprise and pain as the sleek black arachnid bit down on his cheek and injected venom! Stumbling, he leaped out of the room and managed not to fall off the short wooden deck outside the door. As he retreated, Lei and Woo rushed forward – straight into the path of the hideous creature chained to the far wall inside. It stood about four feet tall, though its true height was hard to judge because of the way it hunched over. It appeared to be a man-sized humanoid rat with rotted flesh and mottled fur. The creature’s face was terrifying: its eyeless sockets burned with pinpricks of red flame, and in the places where the fur had fallen away, dry flesh could be seen scraping against dusty bone. Around its neck was a thick leather collar attached to a heavy chain; it slithered taut as the creature squirmed to get at the heroes. It moved with torpor, but hissed violently with rasping lungs and lunged at Lei with filthy claws. The mercenary deflected the blow with his shield and shouted behind him, “Monster!”Beside Lei, Woo erupted into a whirlwind of blows, hammering at the spider with his staff. Behind the monk, Hien moved up while Vinh shook off the lethargy induced by the vermin’s poison. He focused his ch’i until he exploded into a frenzy of invigorating energy and uttered a reverberating “HAI!!” Then he brandished his kama-do and dove back into the room. Outside, Tam dug into his spell component pouch and Tran waved his sword about cautiously and kept well back. Mai, bringing up the rear, paused to scan the courtyard. Across the yard, right of the piled barrels, a form moved in the shadows of an awning. Mai exclaimed, “Something’s watching us!” but her weakened voice was lost under sounds of the men vigorously crashing, shouting, and smashing things. Inside, Woo had splattered the first spider, but a second one had appeared, scuttling down the webs. In moments, he’d dispatched that one too. Beside him, Lei made short work of the slow-moving rat-creature with the help of Vinh, who used his polearm’s greater reach to attack from behind Lei. In seconds, the fight was done. “Back out,” said Hien, “I need to tend Vinh’s spider bite.” He had the no-sheng sit on the wood deck while he applied an herbal poultice that drew out the infected blood. Afterward, he cleaned the wound and applied a layer of herb-soaked mud. To Vinh, it smelled like mint. “We can go now,” said the shaman. Hien’s brown fox, Sca, sniffed at Vinh’s face. “Out,” Hien addressed the animal sternly, “wait outside.” The fox hung its head and padded across the yard and out the gate, where it stopped to look back forlornly. The red eagle, Hiraki, perched on the compound wall.They walked into the room, avoiding the webs until Vinh and Tran, who had moved up and lit a torch, had burned them away. In the room, there stood two sliding doors opposite each other, north and south. Hien and Tam squatted to examine the desiccated corpse of the rat-man. After a few moments Hien announced “I don’t recognize this species, but it was once alive. Something turned it into a kaung-shi – a zombie – and chained it to this wall.” Tam concurred.The others exchanged grim looks. Lei and Vinh approached the south door and slid it open. On the other side lay a dark, squalid room with strange symbols on the walls and refuse littering the floor. Within stood another rat-man! This one appeared to be alive and female, and by the time the party realized the situation, she was already weaving her arms and chittering in a strange tongue. She thrust her clawed hand in front of her, and an eldritch bolt of black energy leaped from her fingers and ricocheted off the ceiling above Lei! Cursing, the group prepared to rush the room, but the witch was too fast. She wove her arms again and spoke in a different pattern…and disappeared. Lei strode into the room, and was surprised when two more rat-men leaped out from hiding spots on either side of the door frame, flanking him! Both creatures wielded scimitars and small shields, and one of them slashed a glancing blow under Lei’s leather scale cuirass, drawing blood. Lei deflected the other attack with his weapon and counterattacked, driving the smaller rat-man backward with the ferocity of his blow. It was at that moment that Tam decided to get involved. Up to this point, no one had really paid him much attention; other than his quirky speech and mannerisms, he had proven himself to be entirely forgettable. But the middle-aged magician strode up behind the combatants, assessed the situation, and cast a spell of his own. Yellow energy lanced up his arms as he spoke ancient words of power, and he pointed at the melee. At a spot slightly behind and between the two rat-men, Tam tipped the balance of yin and yang toward the element of WOOD, and the floor exploded in a violent shower of razor-sharp splinters. Both creatures screamed, and the one Lei had wounded dropped dead. Woo tumbled into the room, grappled the remaining rat-man in a mantis hold and twisted its neck. Snap. The creature died, and the battle was over.to be continued...</blockquote>

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