Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 2121388" data-attributes="member: 15043">Plans“What... what do you mean?” the very confused Ling asked, mirroring the look on Felonca’s own face.Why is Nayu asking him to be the governor?!  No one can do that unless...She suddenly realized her friend’s intent, and immediately tried to cover the surprise on her face.  Her focus was so strong that at first she didn’t notice the warm feeling across her body, or the gentle presence of another person within her mind, until Ling’s surprised voice echoed within her head.”My God... you have it!”“What?!” Felonca visibly recoiled, pulling back and covering her head.  First he looks into my mind, then he speaks?!  “You...you have the dagger?” the now frightened old man looked at her wide eyed.  “Please... keep...keep it safe!  The Dagger of On Wei is not a toy to be trifled with!”Felonca was still too surprised to speak, so finally it was Nayu who started asking the old man probing questions; what the dagger did, who made it, how it could be unmade.  The old man constantly replied that he didn’t know, he wasn’t sure, and that the only thing he saw within her mind was the dagger.  At that revelation, Nayu seemed to relax a great deal.“No more peeking into my mind without my permission!” Felonca warned.  Looks like Nayu was worried that Ling had discovered his ancestry...  I should keep that information to myself...“I’m sorry, Madame Wa-Feng!” Ling apologized, bowing profusely.  “I... I could feel anxiety coming from you, and I wished to see what it was!  With your friend’s odd request, I did not know what was occurring, so I panicked and looked...”“My request doesn’t have anything to do with her thoughts,” Nayu said, before giving a slight grin.  “Now... how would you like to be the new governor of Dai Province?  It’s a rather simple question... it needs only a yes or no...”“Yes or no?” Ling sputtered, looking incredulously at Nayu.  “Simple question?  No!  No no no... it is not a simple question!  Governors can only be appointed by the Emperor himself, or the auspices of Heaven’s Will, not just because a young man with albeit extraordinary powers says so!”  The old scholar began to wring his hands in fret, and he began to pace back in front of the still smiling sorcerer.  “And who would my superior be?  Governors are never superior alone, they always are subservient to the will of either a Prince or the Emperor!  It is simply not done that a governor acts alone, without directions from the Jade City!”“You’ll take your orders from Heaven,” Nayu smirked.  “Simple as that.”“But Kongxi teaches us that the Will of Heaven is manifested through the actions of men, specifically the leading figures within the Bureaucracy and within the Empire!  How can I follow the Will of Heaven if I am not following either of the above?”  The scholar stopped and plaintively looked towards Nayu.  “I must have someone above me!  It is the way Kongxi teaches us that bureaucracies are efficient and pleasing to Heaven!”“Isn’t Heaven’s Will, however, superior to the will of mere men?” Nayu frowned at Ling’s reluctance.“Of course,” the scholar replied.“Then, if you rule by Heaven’s Will, you are ruling from an authority greater than that of mere men,” Nayu replied, with the same Aha! look that Felonca had seen before.  “There you go, simple as that.”“Your logic... it...it puzzles me, Master Wakabayashi, but I follow its tenets,” Ling looked down uncertainly.  “If it is by Heaven’s Will, I must obey.”Good, Nayu thought, There’s one long philosophical argument avoided.  He then looked over towards Felonca uncertainly, until he saw her eyes.  Excellent... she knows, but she kept it hidden from Ling here.  Nayu flashed her a wink to ask her to trust him yet again, before moving to the next subject.“Now... if we have the successor to the current governor picked,” Nayu nodded towards the still nervous Ling, “then we need to create a way to get rid of the current governor.  First... Ling, can you tell me and Mistress Wa-Feng the layout of the city of Xianfung?”Ling went on to describe a metropolis, the third largest city in the whole of the Empire, larger than Mingzhong even.  The city was purposefully constructed on the wide farmland of Dai hundreds of years before, in the shape of a perfect square, its streets and walls lining perfectly with the cardinal directions.  Within the center of this enormous city was the governor’s palace, itself a miniature of the city at large... and seat of the highly unpopular governor“Who else distrusts this governor?” Felonca finally asked.“Well... I am sure that the regular army commanders within the province hate Governor Ho, as his extravagances have cut back their pay, as well as the pay of the soldiers.  Neither did the city watch commander...  at least, the last time I sneaked into Xianfung that was the state of things,” Ling added.  “Well, that should be easy then,” Felonca laughed.  “No army, no city watch... that means no protection!”“I am afraid it is not as simple as that.  When I was fired twenty years ago, Yi advised Governor Ho that the city watch and the army could not be trusted, and they started recruiting a special unit of bodyguards from north of the Desert Wall,” Ling shook his head in dismay.  “If that trend has continued, Governor Ho might have thousands of troops from north of the wall loyal to him.”“Bah...” Nayu groaned.  “And I’m assuming this Yi is the infamous adviser we’ve heard about?”“Yes,” Ling said, bristling slightly at the mention of Yi’s name.  The old man then sighed.  “Yi was my replacement... he was a young man then, arrogant with youth.  He is a foolish man... he dabbles in eating green metal of some kind.  Sadly, he hasn’t poisoned himself yet.”“Um... why would he eat green metal?” Felonca asked.  “Wouldn’t that cut his throat?”Who would eat green metal? Nayu asked himself, thinking back to his father’s stories of traveling far and wide.  Finally, he remembered the fragment of an ancient tale.“There’s supposedly a cult of people to the south that eat green metal,” Nayu said slowly, reaching into the depths of his brain to recover the information.  “They think it makes them stronger... in some way,” the sorcerer finally shrugged.  “I remember my father spoke of seeing some of them once, but for the life of me, I can’t understand how eating metal would do that.”For a few moments, an awkward silence filled the air as the three looked amongst each other.  Finally, Felonca broke the silence with a question.“Ling... if you were the governor’s advisor 20 years ago... how old are you, exactly?”“I am 68, young woman,” Ling replied, an aged smile coming to his lips.  “I have seen more winters that your parents likely, young one.”He’s 68? Nayu frowned.  I need him to stay here for a while... if something happens to him...Does he have any family?A few more questions, and Ling revealed that while he had no sons, he had three daughters, one of which was married to the captain of the Xianfung city watch... a daughter he hadn’t seen in eight years......an inroads into the City Watch... Nayu smiled as Ling talked, and the sorcerer’s mind weaved this knowledge into an ever larger, ever more complex pattern of plots and counterplots...=================================================Shorter update today, as I'm going to try to Photoshop some maps that I used during this session.  The maps will appear in later, more relevant posts.</blockquote>

Verification