Tomb Raider
6/10/99

Prelude

The East
What is this?
An antique spear with the colors of House Ch’hina, the monkeys had lined a pit with them.
Then the beasts Have found the horde... Send for the Ginyu!

The Hells
…	500 years working my way from a humble tender of fires to the Duke of one of the thousand hells
…	400 years as a guardians at the court of the Yama kings
…	300 years shuffling papers within the courts
…	200 years collecting errands souls
…	Then with only one soul left to collect before becoming one of the Yama kings, I am chosen to collect Kackarot and it take me another 100 years to find his hiding place,
I will not be denied my rightful place. I will take the Dragon.

Down below
Soooooon…

Adventure Summary

The evening began with the players trying to determine the function of the four gems while awaiting the return of WuHo Song with some additional supplies. With a little experimentation, they found the powers of the gems were activated by placing them in their mouths. Each gem conferred a different power. The green gem of water left one with hands of ice, the red of fire provided flaming fingers, the blue of air rendered one invisible, and the yellow of earth made one as hard as stone. Each of those who had helped to discover them recieved one, but Hu Shude, citing the ties between smithing and the earth gave his to Li Hong as a gift.

Li Hong had come back with two bearers when WuHu Song was ordered to return to guard duty. They brought some of the necessary supplies. The group returned to the temple and began exploring.

Most of the place had clearly been abandoned and they were barely disturbed by the undead who traveled the halls, still tending to the tasks assigned by their long dead lord. In fact, the walking dead they saw seemed not to notice them at all, nor to be very aware of their surroundings. One of them pulled his own arm off when his writing was interrupted; he seemed to take little notice.

Continuing to explore, they were suddenly attacked by a creature which seemed to be almost a shadow itself. It howled at them and while most were able to stand their ground (albeit nervously), Li Hong was struck by a great fear and ran. The creature melted into shadow before it could be attacked. Pursuing Li Hong, the group found him in a room whose door he had locked. As they sought to calm him, they were again attacked by the creature. This time, its howl left Sung Li feeling very sick and he retched.

As they tried to attack, he again disolved to shadow, only to reappear a moment later with has hands at Chang Kai's throat. His attack failed, and he suddenly split into three exact duplicates of himself. Luckily, two of them were illusions and were easily dispatched. The remaining one attacked with both his clawed hands and his barbed tongue.

The struggle continued, with the servant of Ch'hina even calling forth the rest of the walking dead within the tomb, nearly eighty of them. Hu Shude used a charm to kill about a quarter of them, but they continued to move in blindly for the attack. The Howler tried to run, but Sung Li struck him dead and the rest of the walking dead returned to their familiar tasks.

Further exploration revealed that the dead creature had once been a Japanese man. Several items were recovered, including: 2,000 Ch'ien, black splint mail, and a katana wakizashi combination. The ch'ien was split evenly.

The also found an onyx ring which opened the tiger-gate in the throne room. With the key, they were able to part the tiger's massive jaws and move forward. As Chang Kai moved to light the webbing which choked the hall, he was attacked by the webbing itself. It struck him with a bolt of lightning and continued to fight. The web was defeated, but many members of the expedition were wounded. Rather than risk death, and at least marginally aware of the need to report some of what had transpired to Yung Cho, the group returned to town.

Tao Cheng sent them to guard the tomb from the Ninja, but gave them his approval to continue with their looting. They were accompanied on their return trip by a dozen guardsmen and two priests. They were later joined by Li Kow and Wo Yu, as well as their masters.

Noteworthy Events

Sung Li received the green (water) gem which, when placed in his mouth, covered his hands in sharpened ice.

Chang Kai received the red (fire) gem which, when placed in his mouth, covered his hands in fire.

Hu Shude received the yellow (earth) gem, but gave it to Li Hong as a gift since both Li Hong and the gem were tied to the earth. The gem, when placed in his mouth, changed his body to a hard gray stone.

Pang Sho received the blue (air) gem which, when placed in his mouth, allowed him to become invisible unless he took violent action or deliberately tried to be noticed. When he tries to get noticed, he appears as a ghostly outline of himself.

The shadow of a small girl was seen in the tomb, but the girl was not found

Monkey fought the Ninjas of the Rose Petal clan. One of them used what might have been a Chi power to throw him across a glade and through two trees without ever touching him. The monkeys were able to identify the following members of the clan:

• An obese man who sounded like a Sumo; it was he who threw monkey. He is not as stealthy as his companions.
• A man who bore two swords
• A deeply-tanned man who wore a single piece of armor on his left shin. Sung Li recognized this as potentially marking him as a master of Toad Style, a style which leaves the master with but a single vulnerable point on his body
• An archer whose arrows sometimes burst into flame when striking a target.
• A woman who threw iron stars

Based on what Stone Monkey said, the man with the armor is either the most stealthy or has not been scouting like the rest of them. They were also able to cast spells.

The Ch'hina Emperor experimented with techniques to trap Chi in the body. He had twelve servants who had this power. Five are widely believed to be dead. The creature we killed sounded like one of the known survivors, Howler

Some undead can drain Chi from the bodies of their victims and leave the soul behind. This leaves a husk which can still move but has little intelligence or motivation.

Quotebag

Tim (addressing Steve): Master, I have something to say... you should brush your chin; you look foolish with popcorn in your beard

(Tom puts the green gem in his mouth and his hands are covered in ice)
Lou (poking at Tom after putting in the red gem)): I'm melting you, I'm melting you, I'm melting you

Hu Shude: Who don't you use your ice power
Sung Li (to GM): I do
Steve: He can't talk with the gem in his mouth, right?

Lou: Ewwww! I got tongued
Tim: It's good when you're with a woman, but not when you're with a shadow.

Mai Lan: Somebody smacked me
Lou: Green-eyed bitch!

How Wee: My wife passed out trying to keep up with their drinking. I had to lift the hair from her face!

Tom (In his master's voice): Great. I'm in a temple where everyone has taken a vow of silence; who can I tell?!

Experience Summary