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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ariakor" data-source="post: 2254891" data-attributes="member: 8473">Supoja Guchiko The winter had been a time of wonderful studying for you. While the landscape outside was covered in snow, you spent most of your waking hours reading ancient scrolls or listening to the lectures held by the Masters of the Elements at the guildhall. Though it was hard and difficult, you succeeded at unlocking the secrets the guild had offered to you. Your masters and higher-ups within the guild saw your progress with joy and soon you rose into the ranks of the accepted, where you were allowed to study the ancient texts and theories contained within the library on your own. During one of these nights spent by candlelight at a low bench, reading cryptical texts on dry and brittle parchment, you came across a note, some half-forgotten handwritten addendum to one of the scrolls you were studying. It mentioned the journeys of a scholar, a fellow wu-ren of the same guild as you now belonged, which took him to the lands bordering on the southern realm of the Huren during the First Dynasty. Though incomplete,the notes mentioned certain places of magical power said to lie hidden for those who know what to look for and they also spoke of ancient magical secrets left behind by the people who had lived here before the rise of the First Dynasty, hundreds of years ago. It did not contain too many details, but it was specific enough for you to mach the descriptions of places, where further of these notes could be found, to the location of a small temple dedicated to a river god near the village of Fengnong. So when spring finally came, you decided to seek this village, which according to imperial census records lay near the coast in the Province of Haifeng, to seek out that temple, wherever it lies. The village, it seems, can be found in the same spot today as it was during the First Dynasty. So this would probably be a good place to start. There was also a guildhouse in a city nearby, in case you would need any further assistance. So after a journey of almost a month, you are as close to your destination as you possible can be. As nigt falls and the scent of cherry blossoms lies heavily in the air, you near a two-story buildings at the roadside, an inn named "Three Blossoms", and elect to spend the night there, as a storm seems to be brewing on the horizon when the sun went down and the village itself is not far from it, probably just a few more hours of walking.Lanyu The Empire is a place of extremes. From the uninhabittable mountain ranges of the North to the teeming jungles of the South, from the wide open plains of the West to the roling sea in the East. Its people are as diverse as the land itself, each area different from the next. But all the while they have the same spiritual beliefs, revere the same Holy Guardians and Elemental Spirits and live all under the rule of the same Emperor. This diversity, which is strongest the farther away you get from the cities, is also what makes your long journeys from one area to another so much more exciting. You can't quite know what lies beyond the next hill, how the people of the next village practise their ancestral worship, or ancient beliefs are manifest in the local spirits and small gods still revered in the more rural communities. But this is also what makes everything more interesting. What they thaught you at the temple gave you an insight in the world few outsiders ever have, but all the meditating over ancient texts and the spiritual guidance of your mentors was never quite enough to satisfy your need to experience the world outside the enclosure of the temple's walls. And furthermore, the scriptures even told that a dutyful monk could best serve his people not meditating all day but lending them a helping hand and by sharing his insights giving them guidance in their lives. So you set out from the temple of Fenghuo this spring and followed the road wherever destiny would lead you. Now it seems that after a long day spent walking along the street, passing through the open countryside of the more rural areas of the Hafeng Province, that fate brought you to an inn named "Three blossoms" , just before the looming dark clouds which had gathered during the afternoon would beginn to spill the gathered water in a torrential downpour. Not far from this inn, you were told in another temple where you stopped a few days ago, lies a small old village with a famous set of caverns considered holy since ancient times. This, and the tales you've heard about the local gods were enough to spark your interest and so you set out to find this village. But with night falling, it seems wise to stop at the inn and spend the night there.Magistrate Pan Chou The big cities of the EMpire nowadays seem to be a festering spot for crimes of all sorts. from robbery to slave trading, from selling of drugs to assasinations, from kidnapping to illegal magical practises there is nothing that you can't find in these sinkholes of human nature. But nevertheless, even where it seems that justice is more a token than a force to be reckoned with, it is still there and, given time, will prevail. That is what you learned during your long years as an Imperial Magistrate. But, not only the cities are places where crimes are commited and jstice is needed. Nowadays the provinces of the Empire offer a lot of work for someone like you, with all the bandits and insurrections and conspiracies that seem to have come out of nowhere to spread over the countryside, going by almost unnoticed in the larger cities who have to deal with their own problems. So the High Magistrate Li Yuanfeng one day appointed you to go from village to village and spread the Emperors justice where needed. There was, indeed, a lot that needed doing. This spring your travels have led you South, along the coast and into the Province of Haifeng, where you followed a group of known criminals who seemed to be working for a larger group which had, so far, gone unnoticed by the imperial Magistrates. This group sometimes split up, but kept a common base of operations in one of the medium sized coastal cities, until they continued to another one, leaving behind parts of their networks and setting up in new areas. You had intercepted a few messages they had received from someone giving them commands, all cryptic and with little detail, but containing just enough that you found it worthwhile to follow them to uncover the one(s) who stood behind them. Now, after they had spent some time near the provincial capital, the group, calling itself "Brothers of the Red Louts", had moved on again and you folled them again. But this time, they managed to loose you. Probably they finally realised someone was following them, or maybe they just found it a good idea to lay low for a while. But whatever the reason, they couldn't be that far away, so you decided to spent some time investigating this area. So far, your investigations haven't led to any useful hints, but you're not willing to give up that easily. You were nearing the village of Fengnong when the weather made a change for the worse and you were forced to head for a near roadside inn called "Three blossoms" which seemed like a nice enough place to wait out the storm and them continue your search. And, who knows, probably you could even find a lead or two at the inn whiel you're there.Jian Guo When you first had left the area where you had spent most of your life u until now in the presence of a group of catfolk travelling north and only with Shadow for company beside them, you were not shure where the road woul lead you. But ever since leaving your family behind and setting foot into the world outside your village, this chance encounter seemed to have been a sign of fate for you to follow. In the company of the catfolk, to whom you could act as a guide and intermdediate with the human world, with which they were unfamiliar, you came to the most distant regions of the Empire. It wasn't long before you had seen the wide open plains of the West and the majestic Rising Phoenix Mountains along the Empires borders, and from there on you followed them east, into the heart of the Empire. The catfolk were a group of envoys en route to visit several of the other communities of their people in the other provinces and you really enjoyed their company. but then, as the last winter drew to an end, came the time for departure. The catfolked thanked you for your help and assistance during the journey and invited you to come visit their city in the South whenever you would be back again,. They would stay with their brothers and sisters for some time before returning south and you found that the larger provincial capitals in the heart of the Empire weren't a place where you could stay for a long time. It was like you had been put in a cage: you felt the urge to go out and see more of the world, of which what you had seen up to now had only been a tiny little piece. So you took your leave from them and followed the roads, visiting the many different places and peoples of the Empire and getting accustomed to some of their strange customs. Now, after having travelled the East for quite some time, you decided to follow the coast a bit to the south toward more familiar territory before setting out again in another direction. As the sun came down today, the sky was covered with dark fast-moving clouds and strong gusts of wind that ripped along the coastline, foretelling of a storm to come. So you went a bit further inland before it was fully dark and before long, you found an inn along one of the major imperial roads. The inn, namend "Three blossoms", seemed warm and comfortable and the storm seemed to be almost on you now. But something else seemed to be amiss here, something like a strange uneasyness in your very surroundings, but you could not place your finger on it. Ahead, the inn greeted you warmly with two lit lanterns covered with rice paper flanking the main entrance.Lin Xu You had spent most of your time either at your monastery near the Great Spirit Wall or serving with the Empire's forces in the wilderness, seeking out incursions from the Shadowlands and the barbarians living beyond the wall. So far, you had been very successful in your doings and one day, when word reached the North of an increase in pirate and bandit activities in the southern province of Haifeng the Elemental Master of your Temple decided to send you South, officially to broaden your abilities by studying from the practises of other temples before returning North again. But what your master told you, just before you left, was this: it was feared, he said, that the increase in activities in this province could mean some otherwolrdly influence from the Shadowlands or one of the groups of magical practicioners aligned with them. So you woul be sent into this area to see if the rumors they had heard of strange things going on there actualy were based on truth or if they were just exagerations from the people suffering from the frequent raids and robbings. So they sent you South, first to the capital of the Haifeng province and from there you were directed into the coastal regions, where the attacks ahd been more frequent recently. So far, your search has not brought any results, but on the other hand you have only been here for a few days. Eyperience with the machinations of the Shadowlands had shown you that sometimes they could be much more subtle than a brutal frontal assault and so you bid your time, continuing your search. As thsi day drew to a close, you arrived at an inn named "Three blossoms" where you decided to spend the night. Just as you were about to enter the building, a distand rumble announced the comming of a mighty storm.Aishan Tüen Li After having left the Temple of Yüe Lan, you wandered across the central provinces of the Empire, bringing aid to those who needed it and to get more insight into the workings of the realms of men and spirits alike. While on the road your experience with the Magistrates had been as much of help as your training at the temple and you helped in matters great and small, from treating injuries to solving misunderstandings between people and the spirits who lived beside them. You began to get an understanding for the common people and those of noble birth alike, for the humans and the few Spiritfolk and Catfolk you have met so far on your journeys. Each encounter brought you new insights, helped to understand how the teachings of the temple were meant to be used to solve the problems of the real world. And your journeys took you from your temple at the eastern edge of the Western Provinces to the coastal areas of the southern province of Haifeng, where you spent several days at the local Water Temple in the provincial capital. Here you learned of the village of Fengnong along the coastline where it was said that a wise and old river god made its home in a set of sacred caves not far from the village. So you decided to pay this god a visit, to see what insights you could learn from it, before continuing your travels. After three days on the road you are finally not far from the village, probably just a few more hours ride distant, when the sun sets and an huge thunderstorm is gathering above you. As you round ha small groove of bamboo an inn appears out of the gatherin twilight before you. Its name, "Three blossoms" can be seen clearly due to the two rice-paper covered lanterns hanging on both sides of it by the door. But while you had been travelling through this area, you began to feel a growing uneasyness, as if the land and the spirits themselves were in turmoil. But whenever you looked or tried to concentrate on it, no source for this turmoil could be defined.Everyone The "Three blossoms" inn is a two-story building of red-laquered wood and white clay surrounded by an earthen wall and a little palisade at the back where the stables are. Its ground floor consists mainly of the kitchen, the common room as well as three small rooms for the innkeeper and his family, while tow stairs lead up, one to the first-floor part of the common room (partially open to the common room below), and the other up to the guest rooms of varying size. When you enter, there are only a few locals (ten in all) present at four of the dozen tables, eying you a bit nervously and keeping to themselves. Except for the other players, there don't seem to be any other strangers residing at the in tonight. The innkeepers two daughters act as serving maids but don't seem to have much work to do at the moment. The inside is lit by a large fireplace on one side of the common room and several other rice-paper covered lanterns like those outside the main entrance.</blockquote>

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