Dramatis Personae

• He Bohai aka Eleven (NPC): TBA. Tagline: TBA.
• He Donghai aka Twelve (NPC): TBA. Tagline: TBA.
• Ko Lenfan aka Four (NPC): TBA. Tagline: TBA.
• Laoshu aka Mouse aka Three (NPC): TBA. Tagline: TBA.
• Meiyou Ren aka Six (NPC): TBA. Tagline: TBA.
• Rang Baozhai aka Ten (NPC): TBA. Tagline: TBA.

Previously . . .

They just recently brought back a large number of Shenshou to The Order’s HQ where several have staked a claim to some already. Rang and Zhiyu will be continuing to investigate the story behind them while the rest do something else. The Undercity has rallied behind the Underprince and the Underprince has rallied behind Jing Min who has somehow managed to have become the object of the Underprince’s obsession. There’s only two more avenues of investigation, the Guild and the Nobles. It seems like Wu is their ticket into the Guilds whereas Jing Min has a bit more connection to the Nobles.

It’s decided that they’d head for the Guilds after a bit of rest with Ting leaving behind the cestuses that Rang forced him to accept. The guild works a lot like a council and are the movers and shakers of the empire controlling the economic status. A lot of back alley dealing, give and take, the guilds keep the emperor and nobles in line just the same as the emperor and the nobles keep the guilds in the line. Too much one way and everything collapses. The Order is somewhat neutral in this fight, though they serve the emperor, they serve the empire first and foremost and have previously removed nobles from their positions and have actually removed emperors before. The abuse of this amount of power will cause a lot of problems though, but the Commander Ni Tu did give them the order to find information however they have to in order to remove the problem.

To the Royal District

Jian Wu, Jiao Ting, Liang Jing Min, Nongmin Chushi, and Sheng Yi
Royal District
Ninth Month 18th day, 1006 Zao Dynasty, 9th hour
Jiangzihua, Ketuso Province

There’s a special building in the Royal Quarter where Nobles and richer members of the Guilds keep Houses along with several other important people. Nongmin moves out first by socializing with the spirits in the town, getting more information by taking the ambient temperature. They’re fairly scared and there’s several that have gone missing, and while they are scarcer in the outer region, the Nobles area is almost literally made from spirits, the walls, the roads, items and everything.

Sheng Yi starts off by having Jing Min do a Chi Sensing to see if there’s anything off around the area, it’s a darker shade around the area with Jing Min leading them towards a house in the district where it seems to be coming from. An old decrepit building, an old Courthouse Building that was worn down and is rather lackluster. Whatever is coming in is coming from that spot. Sheng Yi looks around and manages to spot someone living there, occasionally coming out while more people keep coming in via the back entrance. There’s only been four individuals they’ve counted around the place. Sheng Yi recalls that it’s an estate building to the Sun Clan. They decide to move in stealthily.

They get over the wall quite stealthily, avoiding what looks like an evil looking Fu Dog, made from shadows and looking like a gnash of teeth. It’s an evil spirit, not a demon thankfully, a corrupted Fu Dog. Once inside the grounds they feel a sense of oppression, other spirits are floating around and they know that there’s something going on but not what. They move towards a window that should be large enough to get Wu into, they find one they’d have to slide open from metal bars and lacquered paper with Wu getting them in quite easily by popping the lock.

Once they enter the room, they feel a vibration on their skin, almost weird. They see a dark, hell-ish red light from a door almost in front of them and a smell of something burning. Peering through they find a hole ripped through reality, the same as underground. People praying around the hole, looking like they’re trying to keep it open as Nongmin determines that it’s a demon portal. Apparently, it’s not completely stable and if they destroy it from inside it should close up properly. Plan is to destroy it and sort it out afterwards.

Portal to Hell. Redux

Jian Wu, Jiao Ting, Liang Jing Min, Nongmin Chushi, and Sheng Yi
The Hell of Blood Letting
Ninth Month 18th day, 1006 Zao Dynasty, 10th hour
Hell

Wu starts by charging in and grabbing the one furthest in to knock them out with a simple punch while Jing Min follows through and strikes at the cultist with his new spear held like a staff for non-lethal damage. Ting is shoved through the door to hit someone while Sheng Yi fires a bodkin arrow and kills final one next to the door. The blood from the next to the door forms a sinuous arc that flows around almost snakelike around the portal. They all head on through and the blood locks them in by forming a viscous film over the exit with seemingly electric arcs coming off of it.

They’re confronted by a good amount of demons, giant red skinned humanoids with large tetsubos. Jing Min waits for Wu to go first, who just steps forwards and evaluates his options, before he runs forwards and stabs at one of the demons, causing it some agony, before missing his second strike and the spear tells Jing Min that he’s terrible. Sheng Yi fires off two arrows, hitting twice, in the vitals killing it instantly. Jing Min goes on the defense, his spear unhappy with the poor parrying. More keep coming after Jing Min but none connect while another charges towards Wu who easily parries the blow. Ting charges forwards and slams into the back of one of those surrounding Jing Min, taking recoil damage before fighting back with two donkey punches to the back of the demon’s skull killing it. Nongmin moves to grapple another demon near by Jing Min.

Wu moves to slice through the demons, bisecting both that moved towards him. Jing Min moves back and stabs at a demon’s vitals as they notice the blood from the demons are flowing towards the portal whereupon Jing Min shouts towards Sheng Yi as he kills the demons who flashes to the ground in dust. Sheng Yi fires off two arrows, nearly killing a second demon that steps forwards who attacks Ting that cannot defend himself. Taking a lot of damage later, Ting gets knocked back by the large amount of damage from the demon’s club before Ting rushes forwards and slams into the demon and punches it into the face, killing it.

Wu moves to catch the demon, and Ting’s, blood that is flowing through the air with his tunic while Jing Min stabs the final demon in its eyes, killing the final one.

Aftermath

The blood keeps slipping around Wu’s giant shirt and the portal is beginning to destabilize while Jing Min grabs Ting and hauls him through. As they manage to get past the gateway they are covered with blood and looking like they just came out of a charnel house. Ting disposes of his bloody robe and starts to help with dragging the cultists towards the Order’s HQ where they can question those still alive.

After Action Report (GM)

Missing another player, this time it was L.A. The PCs really blasted through this week’s game. First, they were able to bypass all the sneaking and socializing by doing something I should have anticipated but did not. All the PCs have the ability to sense chi energies. All the PCs kept this ability at level 1 meaning they could only sense the presence or absence of chi. All but one PC. Randy’s character had bought level 2 a while back and I completely forgot about it. The PCs all sensed the dark chi that swirled in the city, they knew it was there. But Randy’s character was able to *follow* it to an abandoned siheyuan (Chinese villa). This completely bypassed about 2 hours of game plot (which was fine but I had not anticipated it – something I’m really good at usually). I had luckily put together a map for the battle to come and despite the PCs steamrolling the demons fast (lots of good rolls for them and more than a few bad rolls for me). They destroyed the portal itself and came out ahead. The PCs used their shenshou without knowing exactly what properties they had and that might take several sessions while the items decided if their new wielders are worthy.

So what is next? Well, they probably should be looking at who made the portal. Also, why the previous one required the bone of heroes and this one required the blood of heroes to both open and close. What might the next one require? We’ll find out.

Other Notes

Bonus report here.

Soundtrack

None.