Xuan roars, starts frothing at the mouth, and takes a swing!
Xuan puts the fire out threatening to consume him. Grummosh increases his fellows' prowess in combat. Ekanta lands a grazing hit across the elemental's mid-section but Sho is unable to land a hit of his own. Xuan almost misses but the creature dodges just the wrong way and his sword buries into the flame, dissipating it entirely.
Bold may act.
Round 1/2
Zyxtyvia
===========================
Red
Green
===========================
Aoife
Grummosh
Ekanta
Sho
Xuan (-3)
The wild, red elemental creature steps up to strike at Grummosh, but is unable to get past the shaman's defenses!
Bold may act.
Round 2
Zyxtyvia
===========================
Red
===========================
Aoife
Grummosh
Ekanta
Sho
Xuan (-3)
The combined assault manages to bring down the last of the elemental creatures. It dissipates into smoke and ash and nothing more.
Out of Combat!
Seeing nothing more of interest here, you start to make your way back, but see a familiar figure camped just outside the station, seated on a folding camp stool and peering through a tripod mounted telescope pointed at the night sky. Gesturing upward, Yue Xin says, “So the letters of green fire invoke the sign of the Dog, eh? Dogs may be vicious gluttons or friendly allies, and the wise know to be cautious until a cur’s true nature is revealed. But tell me, what does the Dog have to do with the lost palace?”
He waits impatiently for a reply.
Accomplishing your mission, you turn to the last of the letters from Mai Chun and make your way to Lanming without incident in a hurry, sensing the last piece of this puzzle without reach now. You ask the locals and seek out Jiang Fei. When asked about the School of the Jade Ogre, a few of the locals look at you quizzically for a moment, then say, "Oh, yes, the Dumpling House!" and provide directions to a small shop in a slow, shabby section of Lanming.
The shouts of merchants hawking wares and students practicing their forms are quieter in this part of the city, but the streets still bustle with activity. Rows of old and run-down dwellings line the streets. One small apartment has been converted into a food stall, where a handsome woman with dark hair chats with a few customers. The sign above the shop reads “Jiang Fei’s Dumpling House and School of the Jade Ogre Style.”
The woman smiles. A Tian-Shu woman on the young side of middle age with bright eyes. She keeps her long black hair up with a beautiful jade comb and wears the simple garb of a martial artist.
She says, "I am Jiang Fei. I assume you are here to help."
She quickly closes up shop and invites you into her home to discuss the favor she seeks. She tells you about the Scorpion School, whose students are known as bullies and braggarts, and her hope to have the PCs best them in a fight the next day. Jiang Fei plans to teach the PCs the basics of her Jade Ogre style in a park behind her apartment, then have them get in a fight at a local teahouse. Beating the Scorpion School students should garner her school some positive attention.
"I will train you in the Four Principal Motions of the Jade Ogre style. We do not have much time to prepare. If you do this for me, I will give you the information you seek."
Because she only has a day in which to train you, Jiang Fei focuses on teaching them the four principal motions which form the basis of her Jade Ogre Style. Jiang Fei believes that the principal motions should be sufficient for the PCs to show off the style in their fight the next day. After their training, for the duration of this quest only, you can use each of the motions as an attack action. The Jade Ogre style does not use weapons, and so the motions must be used unarmed, but thanks to Jiang Fei’s training, these attacks do not provoke attacks of opportunity. Each of these motions deals 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage plus the attacker’s Strength modifier, and the attacker can choose to deal lethal or nonlethal damage with no penalty for either. If a PC using one of these motions would normally deal more damage with an unarmed strike than the motion deals, the PC deals her normal unarmed strike damage instead. Some of the motions force the target that takes damage from the motion to attempt a saving throw. The save DC for these abilities is always equal to 10 + half the attacker’s level + the attacker’s Wisdom modifier.
Ogre Scares the Foe: A hard strike with the knee aimed at the lower body. A target damaged by Ogre Scares the Foe must succeed at a Will save or lose any Strength bonus to attack and damage rolls for 1 round.
Ogre Smashes Rock: A straight-line punch designed to rock a foe backward. A target damaged by Ogre Smashes Rock must succeed at a Fortitude save or be pushed back 5 feet.
Ogre Stomps Around: A fast, jabbing kick that distracts a foe. A target damaged by Ogre Stomps Around must succeed at a Reflex save or lose its Dexterity bonus to AC for 1 round.
Ogre Swings the Club: A strong side kick. Apply 1-1/2 times the character’s Strength modifier to damage rolls when using Ogre Swings the Club.
After your rigorous training the day before, Jiang Fei serves you a hearty breakfast of dumplings.
Jiang Fei leads you to the place after breakfast. The Wang Li Fa Teahouse is well lit and nicely decorated, with elaborate murals painted on the walls displaying the feats of local heroes. The furniture and serving dishes of the place are somewhat at odds with the decor though, and seem to be of cheap, rough make. The numerous patrons of the teahouse don’t seem to mind, and the place bustles with servers moving around and patrons chatting.
She directs you to a table and after sitting, points out a group of four rowdy Scorpion School students sitting across the way. She says, "You're going to have to offend them into picking a fight with you. Walking up and attacking won't do. Find a way to have them throw the first punch."
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Sho takes to the to the stlye as somehing easy to perform due to his own use of his Scizore which is practically a punch tipped with a blade.
He practises hard and tries to commit the moves to memory.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next day following, Jiang Fei and the rest after sitting down. Sho ponders what they have to do before winking at his companions.
Allowing his voice to carry over as if unaware of their likely opponents.
"This one is in admiration of the art of the Jade Ogre. I am sure that is is far superior to the one style that I have heard in this area. The Scorpion style? Sounds like a pale imitation of the actual creature, I mean can unskilled practicioners be able to emulate it? I doubt so. What do the rest of you think?"
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Though the Jade Ogre Style is more strength-focused than Aoife is used to, she does well enough. Her void blades are little different to Sho's scizore after all.
Once at the tea house, Aoife nods at the others' comments. "From what gossip I have heard, the Scorpion School is only a threat to wine jugs and ugly goats."
One of the Scorpion School students jumps up from her table and shouts, “That’s it! You are going to regret insulting the Scorpion Style!” Her fellow students follow her lead and leap to their feet, sending teacups and other dishes crashing to the floor.
In Combat!
Bold may act.
Round 1
Xuan
Grummosh
Ekanta
===========================
Scorpion Style Students (Red, Green, Yellow, Purple)
===========================
Sho
Zyxtyvia
Aoife
"Ogre Swings with Club!"
Xuan strides forward, and attempts to deliver a punishing slap to red's mid-section.
The woman in the red monk's garb crumples to the floor at Xuan's slap. However, Grummosh misses wide with his own strike. Ekanta has better luck, taking the Scorpion School student in yellow robes by surprise, and he goes flying backward into the table. The cheap table and chairs splinter under the force and the man takes even more damage as he tries to keep himself from falling, but passes out from the pain instead.
The two remaining Scorpion School students step through the remains of the ruined table and produce a combo of blows to Xuan and Ekanta with their fists! But only one seems to connect hard enough to do any damage to Xuan. The two students laugh nervously at the odds.
In Combat!
Bold may act.
Round 1
Xuan (-3)
Grummosh
Ekanta
===========================
Scorpion Style Students (Red, Green, Yellow, Purple)
===========================
Sho
Zyxtyvia
Aoife
Sho and Zyxtyvia both miss with their strikes, but Aoife manages to connect. The monk in the green garb manages to stave off the effects of the blow, however.
Bold may act.
Round 2
Xuan (-3)
Grummosh
Ekanta
===========================
Scorpion Style Students (Red, Green (-6), Yellow, Purple)
===========================
Sho
Zyxtyvia
Aoife
"Ogre Stomps Around!"
Xuan rages, and attempts to deliver a punishing kick to Green's torso.
Xuan and Ekanta connect with their attacks and send the last two Scorpion School students sprawling on the ground.
Out of Combat!
Jiang Fei rushes up to you and hurries you out of the teahouse and toward his apartment, handing you a key.
"Go and rest at my place. I must talk up my school now. I will be there in an hour; please wait for me."
You head back to Jiang Fei's apartment and sure enough, after an hour Jiang Fei shows up. She's got a weathered look on her face, demoralized and downtrodden. She does not try to hide it, either.
She says, "Would I but have known your strength. I wish the Scorpion School students could have lasted longer against you, then the crowd would have been better able to see the motions in action. But no matter, you have done what I ask, and I promised you information."
She takes the jade comb from her hair and hands it to the group. "This is what you seek. It has been an heirloom of my family's for many years. Take care of it, please."
Having obtained what you sought, you depart these lands and journey back to Ashima. Mai Chun’s door is wide open when you arrive back at her house, as if flung free by the cyclone of a woman pacing furiously around her house, referencing and cross-referencing books, scrolls, and maps. She suddenly stops her pacing, balancing two heavy books in one hand. “Ah! Delights abound! What have you learned?”
Xuan nods.
"The comb that you sought has been retrieved. Hopefully it proves useful to you."
Mai Chun listens eagerly to the PCs’ reports and praises their accomplishments. Her table is now covered in notes and drawings, all on a mess of parchment atop the large map from General Zhen’s estate. With the PCs’ information, she plots a location in the southern end of the Gossamer Mountains. Once she identifies a location, she utters,
“Spring melts into a
Summer’s dark night sky where
Cynosure abides.”
Mai Chun explains her poem by noting that the path into the Summer Palace’s valley can be identified by the position of Golarion’s polestar or “north star,” Cynosure, between two specific mountains. Mai Chun pulls a heavily annotated book from one of her shelves. “This is a chronicle of the Empire’s final days. I’ll be putting out a second edition when we’re through! Anyway, see here.” She points to a page featuring a gold-and-gemstone statue of a sovereign dragon coiled around a jade scroll case. “This scroll case is believed to contain the 29 final prophecies of the last emperor of Lung Wa. Only a true heir of Lung Wa can interpret them; if this interpretation can be made here in Shokuro, it ensures our nation a high political position among the Successor States. It was last owned by a princess of Lung Wa named Song Rui, but it has never been found. I believe it may be in the princess’s quarters at the Summer Palace. When you find the lost palace, seek out the princess’s chambers and find this scroll case. Even if we can’t interpret the prophecies, it still provides an excellent symbol of the lost empire. Having worked in politics, let me tell you: symbolism is everything.”
The trip to the summer palace takes several days through the Gossamer Mountains, but the journey is uneventful. The Summer Palace silently presides over a secluded valley, majestic despite its obvious abandonment. Its terraces and sloping roofs form a multi-tiered affair that seems to grow from the surrounding mountains. You move through the rooms, inspecting this ancient place.
This cavernous ballroom contains a long table and place settings for dozens of people. Cobwebs and dust attest to how long it it has been abandoned.
”Who are you?” the phantom woman asks.
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Aoife's eyes light up when Mai Chun mentions the prophecies. "Would these prophecies still be valid in this age?"
She remains silent for the majority of the trip, finally speaking up when they arrive at the palace. "Aroden's disappearance destroyed many prophecies. I wonder if these Tian ones are similarly affected."
As Grummosh greets the spirit, Aoife keeps an eye out for any signs of danger. "Mai Chun of Shokuro seems them, we are here as her agents."
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Sho bows to the spirit having seen or found nothing much of interest.
"This one is honored by your presence, your highness, I presume. We are pathfinders sent by the one known as, Mai Chun. We seek out a scroll case that contain the 29 final prophecies of the last emperor of Lung Wa. If you should know such an item, we show us where it maybe found."
The ghostly woman rises calmly from her meditation as you come nearer and bows with studied grace. She speaks with ethereal calm and introduces herself as the ‘late’ princess Song Rui.
She says, "Mai Chun of Shokuro you say? I have not had visitors in so long. Please, tell me what has happened to Lung Wa, what has happened to our empire."