Hun actually scores a hit! The yeti is flailing and leaves a solid opening! Another hit like that will be all it takes.
Round 2:
Piper: Go
Thiera: Go
Baddies: TBD
Hun: TBD
Oggil: TBD
Dupine: TBD
Yeti: 35 (Blind)
Thiera's magical onslaught is too much for the blind yeti. Fire and dweomer combine to take it down.
Out of combat.
Right now the room is a courtyard, and a big one. Piper finds no auras after sweeping the courtyard though.
The party decides to first check the room whence the yeti came. Eleven ruined mattresses and a few aged and cracked pots are this room’s only furnishings. A section of the ceiling has collapsed in the northwestern corner of the room, causing the wind to howl eerily as it blows over the building. A series of images has been carved into the still-standing sections of the room’s walls, each image indicating a humanoid in a series of different positions and stances.
Nothing magical appears here either. The stairs also seem to have collapsed, and you're confident that whatever was beyond is now squashed.
The carvings in the room depict a series of exercises and forms that one could follow as part of an Iroran training regimen.
Dupine finds nothing strange about the door, so he opens it. The fifteen-foot-by-thirty-foot room seems to have escaped the destruction found throughout the rest of the monastery. A statue, leaning against the northern wall, appears out of place among the rest of the room’s contents—clay pots, ruined sacks, and aged tools. The statue, made of finely carved stone with jade inlays, depicts a man with a serene face, standing in a meditative stance.
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"Hey, spellcasters, over here! This statue, quite ornate, seems strangely out of place. Could it be magical?"
Dupine bows formally and then enters, not really sure why he did that, but it somehow seems more respectful in this place. While not a follower of any god, he has often wondered if he should be a little more dedicated to a higher purpose.
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"As the mariner through his telescope, you are most observant." acknowledges Oggil to Thiera.
He too studies the patterns on the wall, and tries out a variety of the positions.
"As a man to his wife, so attentive shall I be."
When the others move to the room with the statue, Oggil reluctantly follows. "I would return here later."
He too looks at the statue. Does it hold any of the positions from the previous room?
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Hun looks at the carvings, not paying them much mind as he puts little stock in religion, preferring to trust in the perfection of mathematics and the mysteries of percentages and odds. They do, however, remind him of a tome he used to keep hidden in the hold the ship he lived on as a teenager. But those pictures had two figures in various "poses."
Hun shakes the memory off with a renewed warmth in his core then turns his attention to his surroundings, looking for clues, traps, signs of life or passages to continue their search.
when the trickle of blood on his temple reminds him he has wounds to attend to, thus he produces his wand of cure light wounds and tries to make it work...
As the party searches about the room a voice enters everyone's head, "Greetings. I am Jiang Dan, a simple servant of the Master of Masters. What brings you to these once hallowed halls?"
The statue doesn't respond for a while before coming out with "Humor has long since lost its touch. What brings you here?"
"“A petulant student believed he knew better than his master. The student proclaimed that the master unfairly gained power from the Braid of a Hundred Masters, cheapening the path to self-perfection. He challenged the master to remove the braid and compete against him without its power. The master did so and, in the process, defeated the student. Once the master had proven himself to the student, the master left the braid at the student’s feet, then turned away, leaving the monastery, never to return. The master took one student with him that day, the young disciple, Ying Pei, while the remaining students squabbled and fought over the braid. None could call upon the power of the braid and so they left the monastery, one by one, once again seeking their true paths to perfection. Eventually, only the petulant student and the braid remained. Here he stayed, until the day he died, contemplating the significance behind his master’s actions. Perhaps, through searching for the master and his last disciple, you may uncover the answer to the Braid of a Hundred Masters."
"I cannot roam any longer, obviously. I would search here for clues. Within the monastery he must have left some clue behind."
"I foolishly asked for wisdom. In response, I was given time to find that wisdom for myself. you cannot help me, for I can only help myself. I would try the Master's Chamber. It is in the other building. If it is not there, I am at a loss for further advice.”
August heads over to the other side and opens the only remaining door here.
It looks like this room was once a master's quarters. Spartan, but still impressive. Well, it was likely once impressive. Now it looks like a messy bird's nest. Yeti fur covers the nest and much of the room.
Before leaving, the statue speaks to the party a final time, "Remember, even if you find it, only the master of the monastery would know how the Braid of a Hundred Masters functions. The last master, Li Yao, left the monastery and the braid here many, many years ago.”
August uncovers a variety of treasure items hoarded by the yeti. There are a number of surprisingly fragile items of value, including an antique Iroran silver holy symbol, four jade gemstones, a magnifying glass, a set of silvered armbands depicting pouncing tigers, two blue-colored jade gemstones, a matched pair of incredibly well made sai; and a beautiful temple sword.
And the Braid of a Hundred Masters! With your mission accomplished, you spend a little more time looking about, but find nothing else of interest.
Traveling back down the mountain is a simple matter, as the slope works in your favor and all threats along the way were cleared on the ascent. Venture-Captain Amara Li personally thanks you for the recovery of the Braid of a Thousand Masters. With the information gained from Jiang Dan, the Lantern Lodge venture-captain immediately begins organizing a search for the last master and the young student that followed him. She asks you to stay on as tracking down the monastery’s last master, or his last disciple, is very important to the Society.
The sai are +1, and the bracers +2.
It’s been three days since parting ways with Venture-Captain Amara Li, and the journey along the Tuunma River has been unusually quiet so far, with the two-masted junk called the Laughing Crow holding up surprisingly well, especially considering its simple design and relatively minute size. The journey has been peaceful so far, the endless processions of sand dunes and clear skies proving remarkably contrary to many of the warnings Amara Li provided during the meeting with her nearly half a week ago.
“No time to rest, Pathfinders!” she exclaimed late one night, barging into the bedroom of the ramshackle tavern in Goka. “I’ve looked into the situation surrounding the relic you found, the Braid of a Hundred Masters. As you may have noticed, the artifact appears to have been dormant for many years now, and in this state it’s essentially worthless to us. Fortunately, it can be reactivated, but only by the descendant of the braid’s last master, who, as you may know, was the master of the Clouded Path Monastery many years ago, a man by the name of Li Yao. I’ve discovered the whereabouts of his final living descendant—a woman by the name of Je Tsuin—but she now resides in the nation of Shokuro to the east, far from where her ancestor taught in his monastery in the Wall of Heaven. In order to reactivate the sacred relic, you’ll need to travel to the village of Nesting Swallow in Shokuro and find Je Tsuin to perform the necessary ritual."
“Unfortunately,” she continued, “we’re not the only group interested in Iroran artifacts. Our operatives claim that Lingshen, the Successor State to the southeast, is after the relic as well. Since Lingshen’s armies have a stranglehold on the overland routes from here to Shokuro, you’ll have to travel by river. Riding the Tuunma is faster anyway, though you might run into some hostile Mutabi-qi or goblinoids along the way. The river empties into the Sea of Eels—cross it and you’re in Shokuro, and from there you can follow the map I’ve provided to reach Nesting Swallow."
“Ah, before I forget, you’ll also need you to make a quick stop along the way. The ritual requires a large amount of rare incense—more than I could easily procure from any of my local suppliers—so I’ve contacted a nomadic tribe in Shaguang, the Jhemulit, and they have agreed to provide you with the prepared herbs. I’ve already paid their shaman, a man named Ogokai, and I’ve marked their approximate location on your map, so it’s simply a matter of picking up the incense on your way to Shokuro.”
"Mutabi-qi is what the nomad tribes of Shaguang call themselves. Most are pretty aggressive toward outsiders, but if you can make friendly contact, you’ll find them very hospitable. They travel from oasis to oasis across Shaguang, and frequently make stops along the Tuunma River to water their horses. You won't need a passcode of any type. You should be all set.”
The Laughing Crow is a modest two-masted junk with a stylized crow painted along its bow. At this point in the scenario, you should decide among yourselves who will be the boat’s primary driver, though you may switch up this role at any time. Driving the ship while out of combat does not necessitate a driving check, but keeping the ship going while in combat requires a DC 20 driving check (a move action) each round in order for the boat to continue safely down the river. A driving check with the Laughing Crow is made using the driver’s Knowledge (nature) or Profession (sailor) skill, or with a Wisdom check. A failed driving check or failure to make a driving check during a round of combat entails the possibility of a random mishap.
Who's driving?
any other questions for the VC?
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"I would be honoured to learn from you Lady Thiera the fine art of driving a boat."
Oggil would appear to have some natural talent, but little skill in it.
"What more can you tell us of Ogokai and the Jhemulit? Is the influence of Lingshen likely to extend to the route we travel - and if so, should we take precautions of any kind?"
“The Lingshen have the largest and mightiest army in all of Tian Xia, their soldiers fight with fanatical devotion, and they’ll only offer you one chance to surrender—after that, they show no mercy. I’d avoid them if at all possible, but if confronted, your only option might be to fight. As far as their influence, both Ogokai and the Jhemulit are traditionalists. They hold respect and hospitality in high regard here. As for the language, they speak hong la natively, but everyone here speaks Tian. It's like Taldane in your part of the world.”