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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ForceUser" data-source="post: 297008" data-attributes="member: 2785">Session Two, Part ThreeTHE SORCERER grunted once in acknowledgement as he brushed by the assembled party on the grounds of the old inn. Tran led him up the path, pointing out this and that, and Woo and Vinh followed at a respectful distance, ready to answer any questions. Behind the rest of the group, Chung Lah stood at the main entrance. Scowling, of course. The man never smiled.As Tran related the events of their assignment, Phai nodded brusquely and inserted occasional comments. “We have never heard of these rat-men, master,” noted Vinh, “Do you know what they are?” “Vermin,” replied the yao ren, “They are of no consequence.” Tran took the little procession around the finished grounds of the hostel, pausing in various rooms to explain to the mandarin what they had found there. The man seemed impatient. Finally, Tran led him to the stables and displayed the gaping hole in the earth. He outlined in detail what they had found below.“We weren’t sure what you wished us to do with this pit, master, so we left it alone.” The noble deferred to the sorcerer.“Close it up.” Yao Ren Phai replied. The three young men bobbed their heads. “It will be done,” replied Vinh.Minutes later, the group stood with the mandarin in front of the estate. “You’ve done well,” he declared, “You may be the servants the Emperor needs. For now, he will keep you in his employ with a continued retainer of one hundred taels twice a month.” He paused. “The Golden Dragon will be your home until further notice. You may arrange your quarters as it suits you and live in it how you wish. However, you will not reopen it as an inn. You will not profit off the Emperor’s grace. A housekeeper will be sent along at the expense of the imperial scepter. Have you any questions?” A bit dumbfounded, the party shook their heads. “I will not call on you for some time; there are other matters that require my attention. Do as you wish, but do not leave Thang Long, and stay out of trouble. Should people ask, you are the owners of the property and are using it as a private residence.” This gave them pause. Hesitantly, Woo ventured, “We have already informed several people of the nature of our service here.” Phai scowled and said, “Who? Give me their names.” The group discussed it briefly and came up with a short list. “Very well. I will deal with this. Do not spread the nature of your employment about carelessly henceforth. Understood?” They nodded. “Then farewell.” The sorcerer departed with a flourish, bodyguard in tow.“Wow,” said Hien, echoing the general sentiment of the others. They turned to look at their new home. Several of them displayed happy, lopsided grins. Perched atop the iron gates, the painted dragon grinned back.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The next month passed quickly. Woo, Vinh, and Lei spent most of the time in physical training, honing newly learned skills. Lei also spent his time building a practice yard for the three of them and grooming the horses. He spent many of his evenings in the stables, and the others soon noted his love for the animals. With Mai’s help, Tam tracked down an older wu jen who lived in a squat pagoda-like tower in one of the city’s poorer districts, and convinced the man to part with some spell scrolls, which he eagerly scribed into his own spellbook. Hien spent his days at doctors’ clinics around the city, tending to the poor and the elderly, and his nights reveling in his powerful new-found Sight, which allowed him to peer across into the places where the Spirit World borders the mortal realm. A fortnight later, the Fish Festival arrived in Thang Long, heralding the end of summer. For three days, multicolored streamers and fireworks filled the air, partygoers took to the streets, and rice-paper boats set with candles drifted down the city’s many canals. The temples and shrines burst with folk waiting to offer thanks to their ancestor and patron spirits, and street vendors hawked rich foods and drink. The celebration culminated on the third day with a massive parade down the Emperor’s Avenue, the single widest lane in the city, which ran all the way from the East Gate to the West Gate and circled the Imperial Palace at the center. All in all, everyone had a fine time, and Mai used the festival to earn her keep with Bay and the giang-ju, pilfering the houses of the rich while they danced in the streets.Two nights into the festival, Hien sat in his room studying the bronze statuette Mai had found on their first day exploring the Golden Dragon. He had bought a set of weights and measures and an alchemy kit, and had deduced that although the exterior of the object was made of bronze, the interior was solid lead. Odd. As he sat there pondering why someone would make a statuette of lead, the shadows in his room grew thick, choking the light from his candle. Startled, he stood up and glanced around, peering into the dark and the realm of spirits simultaneously. Something – a shadow within a shadow – moved along the south wall and slipped into the night. Hien followed cautiously, grabbing his cudgel and quietly stepping over the sleeping form of his fox, Sca. As he crept to the exit, he heard a loud thump from the shrine next door. “Hello?” he called outside. Nothing. Most of the others were out celebrating, although he knew Lei was somewhere on the far side of the estate, building his practice yard. A cool breeze greeted Hien as he stepped into the night. The moon shone bright as leaves rustled across the deserted grounds. He walked to the shrine’s entrance, and could hear revelers laughing in the distance. The rice paper and wood door was slightly open even though Hien was certain he’d closed it that afternoon. Gripping his cudgel tighter, he advanced on the door and slowly drew it back to reveal a waking dream. Instead of the 10x15 interior of the tiny shrine, he saw a long corridor into darkness. A chill mist rolled out from behind the door into the night, swirling about his feet. And standing twenty feet down the shadowy, ethereal hall was – impossibly – a beautiful maiden.She seemed both older and younger than Hien himself. Her long white robes were gilded in gold and cut in an alien design; likewise, her hair coiled high upon an elaborate headdress atop her head, in an equally unfamiliar style. But her eyes…her eyes captivated Hien. They were dark and lustrous as a pair of finely cut onyx stones, and in the moonlight filtered in from the family yard they glinted in…fear? No, sorrow. So lovely was the woman that Hien felt her sorrow as a living thing bursting from his chest, and he heaved a ragged breath to choke back tears. “…Lady?” he whispered. But the woman turned and walked down the hall, trailing one exquisite hand along the wall as she went. Hien stood dumbfounded, merely watching. But she turned and held his eyes with hers, a plea. Before he realized it, Hien had stepped into the tunnel and left the night behind.Shadows enveloped him, and the mysterious woman became the bright, blazing center of his universe. He stumbled after her as the dark groped at him, trying gamely to catch up to her, to ask her who she was, and what he could do to help her. But try as he might, the gulf between them widened, and so he ran, down the corridor, stumbling into the walls and careening along until he thought his lungs would burst from his breast, and still he could not catch her. And then she stopped short, and Hien saw she stood at the end of the corridor at a pair of doors. They were massive, impregnable, daunting. Ringed in cold silver, gilded in pale blue light, taller than the sky. Somehow, Hien had stopped, shaking and exhausted, but a few scant paces from the doors. His breath, he noticed, puffed out into the air visibly, and he wondered what that meant. He shivered, and realized that beneath the sweat, he was cold. She smiled at him then, a wan smile, a smile of hopelessness, and touched the doors. Then she was the doors, then she was behind the doors, and then she was gone. Hien cried out and rushed forward to fling open the massive portal, but when he touched it a shock of ice ran through his soul, and he screamed in pain and crumpled. When he opened his eyes, he lay on the floor of the shrine.</blockquote>

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