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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 446779" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chinese Take-outChapter 22, "Hey Honey, I'm Home!", September 17, 1018, 11:00 A.M.  The group of Duegar, Hiroshi, Lannon, Mojo, Narg and Serita gather in Hiroshi’s rooom to prepare to travel to Chunming.   Duegar, Lannon, Mojo and Narg climb into the bags of holding.  Serita transforms into a white eagle to ride on Hiroshi’s shoulder as he dons the Helm of Teleportation.   They then vanish.  They arrive in the living room of Hiroshi’s home in Chunming.   The room is built onto the side of a mountain overlooking the city, with the final ten feet of the forty-foot square room being built into the mountain itself, and the remaining being built out overhanging the cliff, supported by sold oak pillars.  The overhanging part of the room has windows on all sides, and affords an excellent view of the city below.   The city itself is vast, covering about fifteen square miles of land, in approximately the shape of a triangle.  Mountains surround the city on two sides, the ocean being the third side.  The bay itself cuts another a triangular wedge into the city, Hiroshi explains that three-quarters of his home is actually inside of the mountain, with the remainder like that room, overhanging the cliff.  Looking out the picture windows, the party can see several dozen similarly constructed rooms below, above and beside them on the mountain.  The party comments about the safety of these rooms in times of severe weather, but he says that hurricanes and earthquakes are not common to this particular region, and that even if they were to occur, the solid dwarven construction should hold.    He says that the entire complex had been constructed for them by his father-in-law as a wedding present thirty-five years ago, and the design was “a compromise”, with his wife wanting traditional dwarven caves, but him wanting the bright sunlit rooms.  Not wanting a repeat of the Heian Empire problem, Serita transforms back into her half-elvan form.  The party asks Hiroshi if he wants to go get his wife.  As this visit is a total surprise, he answers, “No, there’s no reason to shock her, as she wouldn’t have gotten the message yet from her brother in Shosun that I am coming home.  This room is fairly well traveled, so let’s just sit and wait until somebody comes along and finds us here, gesturing to the well-crafted couches and chairs that afford fine views of the city below.   The quality of the woodworking of the furniture is exquisite, being a finely carved mahogany.  He goes to a cabinet along the wall, and removes several mugs, which he places on the coffee table before the couches and chairs.  He then goes to part of the stone wall, which slides to the side to reveal a liquor cabinet, removing a bottle and saying, “This is a family beverage that I think you’ll like.”  The group tries the beverage which tastes like a cross between mead and wine.   ”  The bottle is soon emptied, and a second is opened.  Propping his feet up on the coffee table, Duegar exclaims, “I could get used to this type of adventuring.”After about twenty minutes a middle-aged halfling comes scurrying through the room on an errand.  He is wearing glasses, and attired in long-sleeved tunic-style garment, with a dagger and pouch attached to the belt.  The halfling comes to an abrupt halt when he finds the room filled with people.   Hiroshi says to him “Hello Chin-Tang, it is good to see you again.  These are my friends.”  The halfling loudly exclaims “MASTER HIROSHI! I was not told to expect you!”   Hiroshi answers, “Well, I didn’t know I was coming here either until a half-hour ago.  We arrived by magical means.  If it’s not too much trouble, could you please let my family know that I am here?”  “Certainly! Certainly” the halfling exclaims, then scampers off.“Was that you butler?” asks Narg.   Hiroshi answers “Actually, he’s my children’s nanny.  When Chin-Tang first arrived in the city of Chunming he attempted to steal some fruit, and got caught.  Stealing in this city is strictly punished, and he was then sentenced to involuntary servitude working for Clan Ming.   The clan soon discovered, from his interactions with youngsters, that he had a natural ability with children.  That was shortly after Su-Ming had given birth to our first child, and with me away in the Heian Empire, he was assigned to assist Su-Ming with the infant.  Over the years all three of our children have come to deeply love their "Uncle Chin-Tang" and he is now a trusted member of the Mitsubishi-Ming household.   I guess he must like being here too, as his sentence of servitude was for five years, and he’s now been with us for nearly four decades.”  “Maybe he’s just really bad at math,” Duegar interjects.After a few minutes a stunning young woman enters the room.   Whatever the members of the party had expected the offspring of a Chinese dwarf and Japanese human to look like, she far exceeded those expectations, having clearly inherited the best traits of both parents.  Her age is a human equivalent of early twenties, and she stands slightly less than five feet in height.  Unlike dwarven women, she had no beard.  She has a head of beautiful long curly brown hair, of a color and texture clearly inherited from her dwarven genes.   Her face had a round shape to it, with a pleasant smile and sparking Oriental eyes.   Her body barely hints of the typical dwarven stockiness, and with a trim waist, and projecting a voluptuous hourglass figure.   The other aspect of her mixed parentage is that there is an indefinable exotic quality to her overall appearance.   Duegar, Lannon and Mojo each became immediately infatuated with her.Hiroshi embraced the young woman, introducing her as his eldest daughter, Kim-Sung.  As the party introduce themselves it soon becomes obvious to both Narg and Serita that their companions are acting unusually assertive and exceptionally polite.  This becomes even more apparent when Hiroshi states that Kim-Sung is a druid, and Mojo exclaims “How nice.  I’ve always enjoyed the company of druids.”  The shock of that comment causes Serita to spit out the beverage she is drinking.  Mojo then follows up with the comment to Hiroshi “Does she need a job, we’ve been looking for a new druid.”  “Since when!” Serita yells.  “Since now!,” Lannon interjects.  “Father, we did not know that you were coming home,” Kim-Sung states, with the party noticing that, like Hiroshi, she speaks the Common language without any hint of an accent.  He answers “Neither did I, as I only received permission to leave Miyako two days ago.   These people are friends of your cousin Toshiro, and I am assisting them on a mission to vanquish great evil.   We have come to Chunming in search of information for this quest.”  Mojo interjects “But we are in no hurry.  I think we should stay here, and spend time getting to know Hiroshi’s family.”  “Absolutely,” Duegar interjects.  “It would be rude to leave soon,” Lannon adds.   Narg and Serita exchange glances, with Narg softly saying, “Oh boy, I think we’ve got a new problem.”  Lannon pushes himself over closer to Kim-Sung, stating “My name is Lannon, and don’t be put off at all by my appearance, I’m gruff but loveable.”  “He’s a bit smelly too,” Duegar interjects.  “Hey, I took a bath just last week,” Lannon snaps back.  “You both should know, you bathed together,” Mojo interjects.  “Too much information,” Narg blurts out.   Duegar pulls a piece of pastry out of his backpack and offers it to her.  She declines, with him then asking “Would you perhaps like something else?”  Narg interjects “Yeah, he has half a restaurant in that pack.”  She politely declines.  Hiroshi’s wife Su-Ming arrives, and warmly embraces her husband, the kiss lasting for several minutes.   Seeing how tightly Hiroshi’s noticeably strong dwarven wife is hugging him, Narg whispers to Serita “You’d better have a healing spell ready, he might need it.”   “He’s been away for four years,” Mojo nods towards the couple and softly interjects “I think she’s got what he really needs.”  Hiroshi is apparently thinking on the same lines, as he asks Kim-Sung to help the party to find the information they are seeking, as he has some matters to discuss with his wife in private.  Duegar, Lannon and Mojo act thrilled to hear this, and Hiroshi gives Narg and Serita a look that clearly communicates that he will hold them personally responsible for his daughter’s safety.  Hiroshi and Su-Ming then quickly hurry out of the room.   “Well gang, don’t expect to see him again today” Narg comments.</blockquote>

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