Dramatis Personae
- An Rang (Played by Chris D): Genius doctor, decent artist, escaped fugitive. Tagline: “They’re still alive if they aren’t dead yet.”
- Gushou Miren (played by Rory F.): Chains of lightning, drums like thunder, refreshing as a gentle rain, swift like the wind, bring on the Storm! Tagline: “My chain goes Snap, Crackle, Pop!”
- Shen Feng (played by Christian G.): This white haired warrior’s calm hides the fury of a thousand winds. Tagline: “The ground is your pillow and the sky your blanket.”
- Xhai Kiyun (Played by Calvin J): Stands head and shoulders over others. Solider, horseman, Swordmaster, merchant, leader, and he very tall. Tagline: “Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt..”
Previously . . .
As things start, the group continues onwards with An Rang’s wagon slowing down the group to only about 20 miles per day for a decent day of travelling. The horses need to be sure to get proper food meaning that they need to stop occasionally to let them rest and graze, they end up in-between towns at the end of the day with Xhai setting up a tent that An Rang keeps in the wagon for the other men as An Rang camouflages the campsite. From setting up the camp, they get a good comfortable area set up with lines of sight into the distance. Xhai stares into the sky, trying to determine what the weather will be like tomorrow, the forecast says rain. Trying to keep dry, they get some vittles and gets a watch schedule setup.
A Remarkable Fish
An Rang, Gushou Miren, Shen Feng, Xhai Kiyun
Wilderness
Sixth Month 18th day, 975 Zao Dynasty, 19th hour
Tengzou Province
Goshou seems to be taking the first watch, Xhai taking the second, and Shen Feng taking the final shift while An Rang rests comfortably within the wagon. During Goshou’s turn, his shenshou takes the form of an umbrella. It starts to storm worst with lightning striking a tree nearby and hail coming down hard. The constant flashes distracting Goshou from properly keeping watch. Still, despite the stormy night, the following day is fairly uneventful with large puddles of water sitting on the ground.
They find a nice stream that they’ve camped nearby and collect balls of hail for water while An Rang spills some of the horse feed while dealing with them as the others help fish. Shen Feng somehow managing to draw up something green and sparkly that demands to be released in exchange for a demand. It’s some kind of magical fish is all they can figure out. Shen Feng tries to convince the fish to travel with them in the wagon but fails. Letting the fish back into the water with the request of getting food. The water roils and out steps a woman in a jade coloured dress holding a platter of food. Shen Feng takes the platter and invites the woman to breakfast which she accepts.
They mostly behave themselves while the woman pours them some tea while An Rang does a delicate water colour sketch of the woman as they eat the breakfast food. She’d resided there for several hundred years of relaxation. She decides to go with them, mounting up behind Shen Feng and introducing herself as Yu Furen. After finishing packing up the rest of their camp, they head towards the town which is only another couple mile away.
A Sick Village
An Rang, Gushou Miren, Shen Feng, Xhai Kiyun
Xuanhua Farming Village
Sixth Month 19th day, 975 Zao Dynasty, 7th hour
Xuanhua, Tengzou Province
The village appears less populated than what it should be. Xhai keeps an eye out to see if something is wrong with the town infrastructure, just less people are out and about. A couple old people weaving baskets seem to be rather cautious of them saying that they’re experiencing a plague that is devastating the area. An Rang tries to convince them that he’s trustworthy but his over the top theatrics doesn’t work as expected. He has a rather in depth discussion with the two elders weaving baskets, trying to get more information from them but only learning that the plague was striking down the middle aged and children first, starting when a traveler came through town with the first victim being the Widow Chan Chu who perished the day before yesterday.
Aftermath
An Rang argues a bit and gets directions to the Widow’s daughter that handled the body and convinces her to let him in as he promises not to charge for healing them. She introduces herself as a Widow as well, explaining that the majority of the men in the town were lost in the Spring River previously, and An Rang finally manages to investigate the problem. Her chi is unbalanced and using her as a base patient, An Rang formulates an herbal remedy to distribute through the town. Still far from being over, An Rang celebrates by returning to their camp outside town and drawing a commemorative picture of the deeds done as he waits for the next day.
After Action Report (GM)
This one started out in one of my favorite places: wilderness survival. There wasn’t much of it, but it was fun. The Fishing roll was a useful excuse to introduce an NPC who was otherworldly. The fact that Shen Feng’s player critted made it more interesting. Getting into the village the PCs immediately went to work doing hero stuff – which as a GM I can always appreciate. The after game discord discussion was interesting too, though I wasn’t around for that because my body sucks sometimes and tonight was it’s turn to suck. Overall, a short session, but a good one.
Other Notes
This session was half as long as normal due to me having a really bad diabetic episode about halfway through.
Soundtrack
“Wherever I May Roam” by Metallica (Closing song)