Qin - Tianxia

Third session of the campaign, on February 27, 2007. During the first scenario, the players managed — thanks to their tenacity — to make sure their characters kept hold of writings coveted by some obscure organization. According to the "script", that was not supposed to happen. Not knowing how important these writings were, I went on the assumption that the Sect of the Tilted Sky would take them back from the group no matter what.

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Characters present

• Chen Chi, "Soothing Hand"
• Cheng Minh, "The Snake"
• Cui Yuan Foc Sui To, "Thirsty Panda"
• Liu Mei Shan

Preamble

Six months after the incidents that shook the city of Nao, Soothing Hand and Liu Mei Shan are invited by their debtor, Mok Shi Minh, to join him in his city of Yanshan, at the far edge of the border with Xiongnu territory. Determined to accompany their new companions, Thirsty Panda and the Snake join them.

The cold has taken possession of Zhao: the journey promises to be arduous and the stopovers many.

How the Session Unfolded

A Difficult Path

Winter has fallen upon Zhao, making the roads barely passable. Taking advice from travelers accustomed to the north of the territory, the group estimates the length of its journey at two months — not counting the stopovers. Despite serious questioning of the merits of this winter expedition, our heroes let themselves be carried by challenge and adventure: after facing a horde of demons and a possessed soldier, what harm could a little snow do to them? To begin with, the Wuxia travel as escorts for a small family as far as Handan, capital of Zhao. From there, they determine that Zhongshan, the only city of consequence before Yanshan, is their next destination. Since this is without question the most arduous part of the journey, everyone prepares in their own way:

• The Snake commits petty thefts in the hope of netting a few Dao ^[1] - a good twenty-odd, once Lady Liu has sold off the trinkets. She will also take the liberty of quietly skimming a "tax" off her contribution, taking advantage of the almost naïve trust Minh places in her. Hyperactive as ever, our seasoned assassin then gathers information on the state of the roads, as well as on the reputation of Zhongshan and Yanshan. Given the grim forecasts, he strives, successfully, to convince a few bystanders to join the group for the journey.
• Liu Mei Shan buys 300 Dao worth of dried meat she plans to resell at a good price in Zhongshan. Never short of money, she then acquires a chariot and an ox. Then a driver for the chariot, seeing that none of her companions knows how to drive a team...
• Soothing Hand suggests everyone buy what they need to survive individually: food, warm clothes, utilities. Faced with so much wisdom, the whole group nods and heads to the checkout.
• Thirsty Panda warms himself by drinking.

All set to leave, the group takes to the road toward the mountains. The first days, grueling, stand out for the absence of way stations. One must make do with tents, find sheltered spots to sleep, and count on dried meat and grain to subsist. Yet this is nothing compared to what awaits them: over the course of a dreary afternoon, the group is startled by the distant sound of galloping horses. For the most part, our Wuxia wonder: it has been days since they crossed paths with a living soul, and the riders seem to come from the plains bordering the road. Who could it be?

Liu Mei Shan pays little heed to these details: she rushes toward the horses, convinced she has found a benevolent patrol that could lead them to a place of rest. Two of the bystanders accompanying the group join her, drawn as they are by this glimmer of hope. Unfortunately, a bit more caution would have been in order! Bursting over the horizon, seven fearsome riders charge toward our heroes' convoy in a studied formation: three tandems, each equipped with different weapons, precede a chief who supervises operations. The first tandem leads the charge, the two riders jointly holding a rope that narrowly misses knocking Liu Mei Shan over. "Agile Rack", on the other hand — one of the men accompanying her — enjoys no such luck and falls violently. The second duo of riders is equipped with Yue^[2] - marking them as the most direct threat — while the third uses bows to harass the group and cut down any would-be fugitives. In response to this aggression, Soothing Hand leaps onto the chariot and prepares to defend it at the peril of his life. Cheng Minh hides behind a boulder bordering the road, with a sneak attack in mind for an opportune moment. As for Thirsty Panda, he draws his favorite gourd and tries, as best he can, to reach an assailant.

Soon, Cheng Minh senses an opportunity. He leaps onto one assailant's mount to unhorse him. Unfortunately, his efforts are in vain, and he is soon being worked over by his target and the riders' leader, who has come to his subordinate's rescue. However, the Snake little suspected that his worst enemy was none other than his own fragile balance: with an unlucky move, he falls off the horse and crashes heavily to the ground before being partially trampled by the mounts. For his part, Soothing Hand strikes back at one of the assailants armed with a Yue. With a formidable blow of his staff, the man is sent flying to the ground, not far from Minh, who was coming back to his senses. Our assassin seizes the occasion to fall upon him — literally — and slit his throat. Meanwhile, the other riders finish their run through the convoy and disappear into the winter mist — their assault was as brutal as it was short-lived. Our Wuxia collect their sole victim's gear and dress their wounds before taking the road again.

Only a few hours down the road, the sinister sounds of hooves ring out again, heralding a new attack. The convoy has no time to prepare: they are already upon them, led this time by the chief, who coordinates his men with vigor. Minh throws himself at him, armed with the Yue picked up from the body of the rider he killed. By way of reply, the leader does not try to defend himself. On the contrary, he takes advantage of Minh's movement to cut him down simultaneously. Both opponents suffer terrible wounds, but the riders' leader manages to keep his balance and pierces through the convoy, soon imitated by his men, who mow down everything they can in passing — be it equipment or individuals, like Lady Liu, who is sent sprawling to the ground by a rope strike. Once again, the aggressors vanish over the horizon, leaving the group to its wounds and its questions. No doubt they will be back. Minh, Chi, Sui To and Mei Shan look for a solution to the problem, but their unfamiliarity with the area keeps them from working out an effective counter to the charges. Failing that, Soothing Hand tends to the wounded: it is always better than nothing.

Misfortune falls upon them once more when, further along, they come upon a guard post. The soldiers stop them there, asking perfunctory protocol questions. During the discussion, Chen Chi spots clumsily hidden corpses inside the post. He needs no more to warn the group that the "guards" are impostors. For once, our heroes strike first. Not that it changes anything, for their aggressors resist with ease and immediately order them to surrender. Faced with a situation turning sour, the Snake religiously applies his survival guide: he grabs a horse and beats a hasty retreat, dodging a few stray arrows. The situation seems hopeless, so Thirsty Panda and the rest of the convoy surrender without making a fuss. And yet, Soothing Hand and Mei Shan persist. The doctor hides behind the chariot and uses a bow — rather clumsily — to riddle the brigands' leader with arrows. The latter eventually sinks, gravely wounded. Meanwhile, Lady Liu defends herself like a she-devil, until it becomes obvious she will not prevail. Only Soothing Hand remains, enraged: against a trained and mostly unscathed group, he is outmatched. A few blows will be enough to bring him to death's door.

The survivors are brought to their knees and interrogated: apparently, the riders are looking for the parchment discovered in Nao. Imagine their disappointment when they learn — according to Lady Liu — that the coveted object is in Nao, in the hands of Tian Zaisheng and Lu Yan Sheng. In a flash, the brigands take their frustration out on the prisoners by beating them bloody, then mount up again and gallop off toward Nao. Once the riders are gone, Thirsty Panda draws on his inner strength to heal Soothing Hand. Our heroes are all exhausted and gravely wounded: either they find a haven to rest quickly, or their journey will end sooner than planned. As for the Snake, he had found himself a hiding spot within a small rocky outcrop on a nearby hill. He waits until he sees his aggressors gallop over the horizon before returning to the guard post to rejoin his companions, miserable. In a vain attempt to avoid shame, he likewise feigns having been gravely wounded. His little comedy convinces no one but himself, but nobody holds this act of self-preservation against him.

Fortunately, Yin cannot eternally eclipse Yang, and so luck eventually smiles upon our heroes. After barely an hour's walk, they spot light and vast ramparts in the distance. It is the small city of Hungo, where the Wuxia joyfully stop to find the warmth of a bed and of alcohol.

Hungo

The group's first reflex is to find a doctor. The latter patches Soothing Hand up, as best he can. After which, exhausted, our battered heroes take a room in an inn, "The Phoenix's Rest". Half an hour after going to bed, they are awakened by a melodious voice coming from the neighboring building. Always the first to venture somewhere, Minh leaps out of bed and rushes over: though he cannot read, he gathers the place is a gambling den, which he climbs up to the first floor, whose window overlooks a vast theater hall, filled with an awestruck crowd on the verge of tears. On stage, a ravishing singer with golden makeup and purple blush. He will learn no more this evening. Meanwhile, Thirsty Panda mixes with the city's beggars and tries to find out what is going on: the rascals tell him that the singer in question is called Lo May and that she is in fact a ghost who lures virtuous men onto the path of perdition! Lucky thing Cheng Minh isn't virtuous. To verify the fanciful beggars' claims, Thirsty Panda takes out his spirit compass, whose apathy tends to indicate they were mistaken. The other, less committed members of the group learn from the inn's visitors that the building is called "The Four Sisters" and that it is a house of courtesans. For the Wuxia, that is enough information for one night.

The next morning, everyone indulges in their favorite activities:

• Liu Mei Shan resells the dried meat that survived the journey: she manages to get 450 Dao out of it, a tidy profit of 150 Dao.
• Thirsty Panda trawls for rumors among the populace: talk of a haunted manor not far from here. The descriptions are credible enough to worry our exorcist...
• Soothing Hand gets hired as an assistant by the city's doctor. He plans to earn enough money to hire the services of some fine blades for the rest of the journey.
• The Snake likewise engages in his usual activities — thefts and pickpocketing. To vary the pleasures, he hatches more spectacular scams, notably in synergy with Thirsty Panda: why not pose as a possessed man and collect a few coins as gullible passersby witness a fake exorcism? For lack of time, this project will never be seen through.

Back at the inn, the group turns its attention to Lo May again. Feng Sho, a soldier on leave apparently madly in love with the beauty, asserts that she was the mistress of a deposed king, rather than a ghost. Apparently, the golden-voiced courtesan arrived in town a month ago, bringing glory and popularity to the "Four Sisters". She hardly goes out during the day, and the entry fee for her recital is steep: needless to say, seeing the beauty is no easy task. Out of pure kindness of heart, Thirsty Panda solemnly declares his willingness to sacrifice himself for the good of the cause: if given the necessary sum, he will himself attend the recital, brave the perils of the free-flowing alcohol, the charms of Lo May and those of the establishment's other Ladies, all to check whether or not his compass has a ridiculous range.

His dream comes true when the group chips in to offer him a seat. Come evening, there he is at the doors of the "Four Sisters". He succumbs to a first vice as soon as he sets foot inside: the establishment's old madam offers him alcohol, and there he is accepting, despite some reluctance. In truth, Thirsty Panda is a democrat ahead of his time: for him, majority rules. So much so that despite his mind telling him "no", his mouth and his stomach prevail by saying "yes". Thus begins the downfall of Thirsty Panda, soon known as Sodden Panda. Barely able to stay on his chair, he attends the recital: his spirit compass shows him nothing. Lo May, however, notices him and throws him a few flirty winks. Sure, the panda is a black-and-white animal: but right then, our exorcist was rather red with embarrassment. After the recital, all the spectators are invited to a farewell collation. Thirsty Panda staggers over. He will not learn much there, except that obtaining a private interview with Lo May is very difficult, and that a thief takes advantage of her performances to burgle the city's houses. An accomplice? Conceivable, but nothing points to it with any certainty. Armed with this information, Thirsty Panda returns to the inn, shares his findings, and goes to bed, praying not to suffer a horrible migraine in the early morning.

Now it is the Snake's turn to step into the limelight. With all the discretion that characterizes him, he enters the "Four Sisters" through the window. Unable to decipher the courtesans' names on the dressing room doors, he tries as best he can to spot a chamber different from the others, that of the house's leading light — which he eventually finds. The establishment's constant din prevents him from listening through the door, so he decides to slip into the room, plunged into half-darkness. Inside, no living soul except a small cat that lovingly rubs against our assassin's clenched heels. He searches the room from top to bottom: among other shiny trinkets, he finds a golden sword perfectly matching the description of one of the thefts committed during the singer's recitals. So perhaps he is not the only one looking to set up a scam in Hungo! On that note, Minh returns to his comrades, satisfied with his discoveries. Many mysteries remain to explore in Hungo, all the more as our brave Wuxia are in no hurry to get back on the road.

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Comments

A session mostly unconnected to the "An Eternal Lover" scenario, since my main objective was to allow the Sect of the Tilted Sky to take possession of the writings discovered during the previous scenario.

In the first scenario, the PCs' power had slightly intimidated me: it is indeed hard to bend a character without unfairly pitting them against an opponent of too high a level. The secret of Qin PCs' "superheroism" lies in their reserve of Chi points. My idea was therefore to have them face constant harassment, so they would burn their energy in vain counterattacks. The form of this harassment was obvious: the Sect of the Tilted Sky could perfectly well count, among its allies, a horde of Xiongnu raiders active in the lands of Zhao. Ironically, the plan worked perfectly, but the Snake's cowardice nevertheless allowed the group to slip away with the writings recovered during the previous session. All that, without the players even realizing their exploits. Caramba, missed again!

Let us also note that this session highlighted a slight imbalance in the system: automatic successes on doubles come up too frequently, leading players, among other things, to try anything and everything in disregard of their characters' skills. Hence, our solution was to limit automatic successes to doubles lower than or equal to the sum of the skill and trait used: a character with 2 in Jianshù and 2 in Metal could only count on doubles 1, 2, 3 and 4. Above these scores, doubles count for 0.

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1. Currency in use in some of the Warring States. Dao is the term used to refer to Chinese sabers. In this case, Dao currency is precisely shaped like small sabers. ↩︎

2. A battle axe, usually mounted on a long haft. ↩︎