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Orobouras Requiem Part IV
Prelude
Is the snake, stripped of its henchmen but still in its lair and at last trapped, more or less dangerous?
Player Perspective
As the group awaited the return of Miro Song and The Other Monk*, who had gone to check on the prisoners, they grew impatient. Miromoto Long recalled that they were near one of the two vaults and decided they should investigate and attempt to recover some articles deemed valuable by Song Kami. Miro Song not being available to pick the lock, The Prince of Sparrows* handled it with a magic scroll.
They investigated and found many items of ceremonial garb and regalia, some deeds, several sets of daishyo and the baby teeth of every living Song. They recovered the castle's deed, the teeth, the swords that matched Hansu's nagamaki, and the Imperial Seal which had been entrusted to House Song.
In a rare priestly moment, Fong Fa Hong made sure all of them were healed as best he could and they set off for the lower levels in search of Acu. They used the secret passageway and so came to the shrine first.
From the shrine, they could see eyes glowing dimly in the pit room. Hoping to avoid a fight and conserve their strength, Hansu was given the invisibility stone and told to sneak past the Hydra which waited for them. Unfortunately, the Hydra's keen nose detected him and the fight was on. Hansu cleaved four heads from the thing in but an instant and the others cleaved the only other two they could reach.
The beast attacked and even as it did, the heads that had been removed grew back twofold. The others took to the air, but Hansu, frustrated with yet another delay, jumped into the pit and began cleaving heads at a furious rate, first one, then two, then four and finally sixteen heads fell to his wrath before the beast stopped moving altogether. They continued their search and headed west into the labs.
The labs had clearly been ransacked and were also damaged by the burning ghost, but there was no sign of Acu. They headed into the throne room and across to the other room, taking advantage of the ghost's slow speed to avoid it entirely.
Two snake guardians awaited outside and were quickly killed. Inside were dozens more snakes, apparently released by Acu, who had already fled the scene. Miromoto Long and Hansu slew many snakes before becoming bored with it and departing.
The Other Monk*, flying ahead, spotted a second Long giving orders and taunting one of the ghosts. The pursuit was on. He lost the group easily but wound up cornered in the waterfall room. It was there that he chose to make his final stand.
As the group entered, they saw three glowing spheres of light, a shield guardian, and the enchanted White Dove. Fong Fa Hong called on his powers to break the charm and he succeeded - White Dove fainted and dropped the large tetsubo which she had carried.
A terra cotta warrier stepped forth from the wall. Hansu charged the warrior, smashing it with a single mightytm blow from his hammer before turning to join Miromoto Long and The Other Monk* in their attack on the shield guardian.
Four water elementals appeared and Hansu turned to deal with them leaving the guardian to the others. Fong Fa Hong and The Prince of Sparrows* flew out of the cavern they were in and into another so they could see Acu. They could not, but their spells could reach him and they launched an attack.
Meanwhile, Acu and his minions pressed their advantage. Miromoto Long was nearly killed by the guardian and was saved only by the virtue of the prayer beads. The three balls of light began hammering at The Prince of Sparrows* relentlessly with magic missiles. The Other Monk*, hearing Acu's cackle, moved to the back of the cave to join the battle with him but soon had to return to help Miromoto Long in his battle with the shield guardian. The Prince of Sparrows* conjured a dire badger which immediately attacked Acu.
Acu, perhaps dazed by the steam breath of The Prince of Sparrows* and the combat prowess of The Other Monk* and the badger, flew out of his current room to face The Prince of Sparrows* directly. Fong Fa Hong was there a struck a single blow which left Acu motionless as the two of them tumbled to the water below. At last the tide of battle seemed to be turning!
Fong Fa Hong continued to beat Acu despite the score or so of monsters who leapt to their master's aid. Miromoto Long and Hansu finally killed the shield guardian and the last of the water elementals. They joined the others in killing Acu. Acu was finally killed when his unconscious form, borne from the water by Miromoto Long's powers, was beaten to death by Hansu using the mighty tetsubo they had found.
With Acu dead and returned to snake form, the group made their way to the prisoners and led them out of the dungeon only to find themselves in the midst of 500 Chung soldiers.
Chung Zu made ready to kill them, but Miromoto Long offered to provide evidence of Acu's culpability in their feud. He also told him of Sun's promise of a day to make good their escape. Sun was retrieved from the castle and denied having said it. Zu and Long went off together and stood on bamboo for a time. Zu wanted a bribe to leave and the Song could not afford it.
When they returned he announced that he planned to give Long a noble death and offered to let him fight Chung Sun, the Red Rider. Sun's life was spared when the imperial minister decided that the group most find the monster Jiang Xang who had been released from the Tain when they restoreed the castle. They were also ordered to destroy any of his progeny they might find.
He further declared that Shing should take the visier to find the proof of Acu's duplicity. Hansu as given a ring which allows someone to track his actions and see what he sees as part of his quest.
They were all charged to complete their missions and return to the Milk Jade Temple.
They returned first to Flower Fruit Mountain to report to Song Kami and deliver the items they had recovered. She thanked them for all their efforts, particularly Miromoto Long, then elevated Hansu to the rank of Sergeant (Zhong Shi).
Treasure
| Miromoto Long | +2 Ring of Protection |
| Miromoto Long | Obi of Giant Strength, +2 |
| The Other Monk* | Amulet of Natural Armor +2 |
| The Other Monk* | Wand of Bull's Strength (43 chgs) |
| The Prince of Sparrows* | Potion of Blur |
| The Prince of Sparrows* | Dragon Bracers of +3 Protection |
| The Prince of Sparrows* | Belt of Many Pouches |
| Fong Fa Hong | Feather Fall token (works once) |
| Fong Fa Hong | Snake Talisman |
| Miro Song | +2 Fang Sword |
| Hansu | +3 Tetsubo of Shock |
Experience
| Mirumoto Long | 52,230 | |
| Virtue 12 (73) | Barginning with Sun, dealing with Jade eye agent, Pearl vision. | |
| Wuxia 11 (70) | Drawing off Ghost, Jumping into pit. | |
| Honor 10 (85) | Killing Acu, Being called up by Jade Eye, Recovering seal and deed | |
| The Other Monk* | 52,378 | |
| Virtue 11 (72) | Contacting Master, Talking to Jesserot, "Yeah Shing found out that he had been a weasel." | |
| Wuxia 13 (70) | Kicking lizard into pit. | |
| Honor 10 (85) | Killing Acu, Being called up by Jade Eye, Recovering seal and deed | |
| The Prince of Birds* | 38,215 | |
| Virtue 10 (60) | Looking up stuff, first prestige class. | |
| Wuxia 10 (62) | Bearing up well under barrage of Magic missiles, buzzing Acu, badgering ninjas, dogfight. | |
| Honor 10 (74) | Killing Acu, Being called up by Jade Eye, Recovering seal and deed | |
| Fong Fa Hong | 42,920 | |
| Virtue 10 (63) | Using vision, following kidnapped Hansu, dealing with spirits. | |
| Wuxia 10 (79) | Special power use, Calling up wall of fire on self, finally healing someone during game. | |
| Honor 10 (74) | Killing Acu, Being called up by Jade Eye, Recovering seal and deed | |
| Miro-Sung | 28,060 | |
| Virtue 5 (47) | Remind Gm that the ninjas didn't attack this turn. | |
| Wuxia 7 (50) | Scouting, "They slip in my blood." | |
| Honor 10 (54) | Killing Acu, Being called up by Jade Eye, Recovering seal and deed | |
| Hansu | 57,098 | |
| Virtue 11 (82) | Threatening NPC who was up to something, looking up stuff, guarding stuff, chasing sword, checking for eyeholes. | |
| Wuxia 13 (86) | I like the club, "Hansu Angry, Hansu smash.", Throwing down armful of swords, Blocking doors, giving Gm chance to say, "Oooo, threats we have". | |
| Honor 10 (92) | Killing Acu, Being called up by Jade Eye, Recovering seal and deed |
- Virtue
- Participation by role-playing to the setting and involving your background. Each point is based on 1% of what you need for your next level.
Wuxia- Actions and role-playing that play to the setting. IE jumping around shouting about your honor and cutting up things in bamboo groves. Each point is based on 1% of what you need for your next level.
Honor- Overall achievement for the night, killing stuff and meeting goals. Mike is always going to end up with a lower honor number because of his advancement being one level higher. The Honor level is based on overall difficulty of achieving goals for the night, this number is awarded to each character instead of being divided.
- White Chips are Yang and are awarded for actions that advance the plot or impress the GM, these will also often result in a Wuxia award.
- Black Chips are Yin and are awarded for insights and role-playing that advance the plot or impress the GM, these will also often result in a Virtue award.
- Yang (White Chips) may be spent to give +5 to a dynamic roll (combat, balancing on a rope, catching a falling child before he tumbles past you and into a lake of molten lava, etc.) or to alter the environment in a plausible way (there could be a rope hanging from the loading derrick that lets you swing out to the escaping ship, there could be a weak bar in the cell window, etc.)
- Yin (Black Chips) may be spent to give +5 to a non-dynamic roll (lying to people, making a charm person spell harder to resist, artistic endeavors) or to alter the environment in a plausible way (you hear about another characters capture, the prison guard is married to your aunt, your cellmate happens to be the architect of the dungeon you had heard was imprisoned here, etc.)
* Don't like your name? Fill out a character description...
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