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 . . .
With the team back together, they try to sense the imbalance of the lands, Shen Feng being able to detect the presence of dark chi that had passed through the land recently. An Rang has to explain to folks that there can be something that affects one gender over the other as women are naturally yin based and men are naturally yang based. Depending on the affliction and condition, one could easily fall ill with an overabundance of metal chi.
They pass an uneventful night, taking care of the horses and plan for setting off after the dark chi using Shen Feng as bloodhound, but they are led to some ancient ruins, a former outpost made from brick. Inside they can see a glowing figure cloaked in black. He raises his finger and corpses start to rise from the ground, thankfully An Rang is only fearful of spectral undead. The man proclaims that the group will not last the night before the flies off.
A Sick Village
An Rang, Gushou Miren, Shen Feng, Xhai Kiyun
The Wilderness
Sixth Month 20th day, 975 Zao Dynasty, 16th hour
Tengzou Province
There are multiple corpses attacking the group as Xhai closes distance and gets nearly slammed off his horse while Shen Feng gets clawed by the corpses. Several leap over the vanguard with one ripping out An Rang’s knee, forcing him to the ground while more rip through Shen Feng. Gushou slices his way through by striking with his sword, the cut itself doesn’t do much but the lightning damage causes some outrage as it catches fire. An Rang tries to throw a shuriken at the corpse standing over him but misses.
Xhai slices through a corpse’s neck and while decapitated, it’s still not dead while Shen Feng slices through four of the corpses surrounding him, but they’re still “alive”. An Rang gets grappled by the corpse, barely unable to fight it off while everyone else defends themselves admirably. Gushou slices slashes at the three around them, somehow managing to kill the one grappling An Rang, it’s now laying full on him and burning.
Xhai starts to slice through necks with ease, decapitating more corpses while Shen Feng slices through more, though still alive. Shen Feng takes more claws to his chest and his neck virtually ripped out, but he’s still standing. Gushou takes the offense but misses each attack at the standing corpse. An Rang manages to push the corpse off of him, suffering more burns, but at least it’s off though he’s still prone from a crippled leg.
Xhai decapitates more corpses while Shen Feng continues to slice through the corpses surrounding him despite his wounds, only hitting once while managing to parry their attacks. Gushou is the next target for their attacks but they’re easily repelled. Instead he feints and then strikes at them, frying them with lightning and killing both. An Rang crawls away from the battle.
Xhai causes more heads to go flying while Shen Feng cuts more to no avail. Gushou comes to the aid of everyone, slicing out the remaining dangerous one and then dispatching the rest with his lightning blade. An Rang barely manages to get back up on his feet and treats everyone, though Shen Feng is having a lot of trouble. They only mange another couple of miles before setting up for the night. In the middle of it, folks can hear flute music and Shen Feng is mysteriously healed. They’re scolded about fighting vampires and they need to either cut off their heads or set them on fire.
Aftermath
Folks are warned that the town ahead, Danyaun, doesn’t smell right. When arriving several houses are burning and some are burned down. Gushou and Xhai rush in to try to put out the fire, but find that most folks are unconscious on the ground. While Xhai triages people, Gushou pleads with Stormcaller for rain and clouds begin to form. There’s only 17 people left alive which An Rang helps treat. They’ve had their chi drained from him and the group asks if it’s obvious it’s the dark man that they passed by while An Rang takes the moment to commemorate it with a nice painting as he waits for them to wake. Shen Feng transfers some chi into the people to help with recovery.
The village elder is the first to wake and tells them the tale of the town. The man in black came demanding the location of a grotto that contains a fantastical source. They refused to tell him and he spawned more vampires that attacked the town and abducted one of the young men. The fire was an accident, but it managed to kill their attackers before the group arrived. The town is essentially dead and they’re looking to move onwards. The group suggests the villages head for the town the group left previously while they travel onwards towards the grotto.
After Action Report (GM)
This session went by pretty quick even though it was 3/4 combat. The PCs fought their first supernatural being and had mixed results. On one hand, they won. On the other…they were hurt pretty bad. The healer (An Rang) nearly bit it from fighting *one* jiangshi, while the monk (Shen Feng) took on six and almost won out. The fact that he was the most injured by the end of it was also something to note. Gushou Miren did good as well since he was using a weapon that they had a specific vulnerability to. Overall, Xhai Kiyun had the best methodology: CUT OFF THEIR FREAKING HEADS.
I revealed more of my plot with the dark wanderer and set up some stuff for later game sessions. It feels a bit video gameish at the moment, but I’m sure that’ll settle out as I introduce more story elements.
Other Notes
Bonus report from Rory.
Soundtrack
None.