Tianchao Wangguo Chapter 1: Calm before the storm

[sword-dancer]

Arishan Tüen Li

*After giving the spirits his respect in a short ceremony after he rises, he goes in the common room for breakfast and meeting*

"Greetings, I hope you all sepd well."
"Magistrate, could it be that the word you intend to use the evening was Shugenja?." *In the Tone of an pupil helpful to his fellow pupil.
Certainly there isn`t the last mocking in his voice, certainly*

 

[Gez]

« Well, esteemed colleagues, here is the plan. We'll accompany young Mao and his fellow back to their village. In the meantime, they'll show us sites where the bandits have been reported, including desecrated shrines. We'll leave as soon as possible, and I'll scout ahead for potential ambushes or unlawful activities. Anyone objects? »

 

[Rhialto]

The magistrate shrugs to the priest's comments. "I make no claims in expertise in the correct termology of your profession. If you say that is what you are called, then that is what you are called, no matter what my opinions in the matter might be."

Turning to the scout, he says, "That plan sounds excellent to me, with one modification--after we search the places they have been seen, we go to a water temple of some repute in this area, which I believe several members of this group were interested in visiting. Something tells me if it hasn't already been targeted by the bandits, it's going to be..."

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

"And I must go the temple of the river god regardless. But if these bandits have desecrated the shrine, they will be punished," Guchiko says passionately.

 

[Gez]

« They will be punished anyway, » laughs Lin Xu.

 

[Rhialto]

Magistrate Pan Chou

Chou idly plays with his sword's hilt. "I think I stand with Ms. Supoja in wanting to make sure of that." He glances around. "I do not count justice as one of life's certainties, after all. Death, perhaps, but not justice..."

 

[Ariakor]

Some time later, after you had finished your breakfast and took your things from your rooms, you all meet the peasants outside at the inn's front gate. There are five of them: the young man, called Little Mao, an older one named Mao Wanxiong (his Uncle), another peasant of about fourty years named Hao Kairan, his son Hao Tianxiang (almost twenty years of age and of strong built) and a woman named Wang Meihua (Tianxiang's soon-to-be wife who'd arrived just a few hours ago from a nearby village where she had tried unsuccessfully to sell some of their wares). They had their stuff already loaded onto two ox-carts and are ready to go.

"So, we'll be heading towards our village, but if there's anything you'd like to see on the way, tell us, ok? otherwise we should be there by early afternoon, i think", says Hao Kairan, squinting in the sunlight and cheweing on some plant.

 

[Gez]

« We'll want to see places where these bandits have been seen, holy sites that have been desecrated, and holy sites that haven't, yet. »

 

[Ariakor]

Then you all set out towards the village. Due to the ox-carts relatively low speed, crossing the miles will take its time. Your party first follows the imperial road further south, but leaves it after about a mile or so along a crude trail made by carts and men over the course of generations, here and there lined with cherry-trees and some small groves of bamboo. The trail itself is still a bit wet and muddy where it is not already covered by grass, but aside from animal tracks there is not much to be seen in the mud. As the sun climbs higher into the sky, the terrain around the trail changes and the open plains make way for slow-rising hills which, according to your companions, cover most of the coastal areas.

At a place where the trail crosses a small stream on an old stone bridge, Hao Kairan halts his cart and points to another trail, branching from this one close to the water and following its course into a cut between the hills. "This trail leads to the village of Yutian and its nearby shrine. I met someone from that village about two weeks ago and he told me that their shrine had been desecretad by the smae bandits that also had toaken some of their food supplies a day or two earlier. If you want to, i can show you the way to the shrine while the others wait with here with the carts. The shrine s not very far from here, but the village is about two miles distant beyond those hills."

 

[Rhialto]

Pan Chou draws his sword. "I think we would like that. If it isn't any trouble for you."