Just a reminder folks, I really need you to move your icons on the map to whatever positions you want your PCs. I'm making a best guess here on the map based on your posted actions... From this point forward, you absolutely need to stay on top of that. Also, I need to know who will be leading the group through the next few rooms and what your actions will be before moving forward (i.e. Checking for traps, listening for enemies).
Dawn searches the servants quarters, finding nothing of value, but seeing extensive indications of the bear's presence. Aoyagi goes to examine the southern room (btw North will be the right side of the map) and spots several ruined pieces of furniture and a large pile in the northeast corner of the room, which was likely the bear's bedding. The room appeared to have been the hosting hall for the General's guests.
Hey all, I think I buried it too deep into my last post, but North is actually the right side of the map.
The Pathfinders check all the northern rooms and find nothing more than ruin and signs of bear residency. You still have the large room to finish examining and the entire southern half of the estate.
As Dawn moves into the hallway... A tattered rug adorns the floor of this short, forlorn hall. Pieces of a broken weapon rack lie on the floor in front of a statue of a stern Tian-Shu man wearing ceremonial armor and holding a long-bladed sword above his head. Doors lead out of this hall to the north, west, and east. As soon as Dawn's hand touches the eastern door to gain entry to the room, the statue towards the south suddenly snarls and points its sword directly at Dawn before a gout of flame bursts out from its mouth to engulf the magus!
Fire Damage:2d4 ⇒ (2, 1) = 3Dawn, I need a Reflex save DC 11 for half damage.
"Burnt to a crisp? No, I don't want to ruffle any- there I go again."
"I'm okay. The statue blew a bunch of flames my way, but it only caught my ankle." Dawn notes her singed pants. "Honestly I can sleep off this kind of injury. But hey, thanks for checking."
Upon her return to the door, Dawn finds that it is locked tight; however, time and neglect have weakened the door and the lock itself appear worn... (hardness 5, hp 20, break DC 20, Disable Device DC 20).
"Okay, I definitely found something interesting. I got to see the trap up close, and now It's locked. Is anyone a good lock smith? Otherwise I could just clobber it."
Sorry folks, dad was in town for the week and then my wife and son both got sick with sinus infections, so I've been busier than normal and have not been about to get into my computer with access to my notes.
Raevin easily picks the lock and opens the door... In stark contrast to the decaying ruin of the rest of the manor, this combination of bedroom and office is almost pristine save for a thick layer of dust. One wall contains shelves bearing books and scrolls, and another wall is covered with an enormous map of central Tian Xia. On the desk lay several sheets of thick paper, their script indecipherable under ages of dust.
The books on the shelves are military treatises and the scrolls are military orders detailing troop movements in the dying days of Lung Wa. The giant map of the region that became Shokuro is highly detailed. Someone with a steady hand carefully marked several remote locations in various mountain ranges. The border of the map is an intricate depiction of the Dragon Empires zodiac.
Despite both of these fantastic finds... The papers on the desk are the most significant items here. They are a series of one-sided correspondences in Tien from an adjutant of the last Lung Wa emperor to General Chiang Zhen. The adjutant thanks General Zhen for his visit to a recent military summit at a place called the Summer Palace .Though these letters are putatively written on behalf of the emperor, their tone is familiar, even intimate, and hints at a close relationship between the adjutant and the general. Details about the sunsets viewed between mountain peaks and constellations seen from the Summer Palace provide hints as to the lost Summer Palace’s location.
Knowledge: History or Nobility DC 15:
You identify the Summer Palace as a near-legendary palace believed to have been lost when the empire fell.
Treasure:
The fine calligraphy set on the desk is worth 100 gp. The PCs can also find gold ring worth 300 gp and 50 gp in loose coins in the desk drawers. Leaning against the desk is General Zhen’s masterwork naginata.
hp 31/31; AC 16, 14, 12; fort +3 refl +8, will +3; bab 3, melee 3, ranged 6; cmb 4 cmd 19; init +4; folio reroll 1/1 | aasimar rogue/4 | - 4 *
skills:
acrobatics 11 appraise 6 bluff 1 craft: alchemy 9 diplomacy 1 disable 10 disguise 3 escape 1 intim 1 know dungeon 8 know local 9 linguistics 11 perception 8 ride 4 sense mtv 3 sleight of hand 11 stealth 11 UMD 9
Is there enough information there to actually find the summer palace?
"This is all fascinating, we should take some of these papers if they'll help us, and of course, the valuables as well... Though I'm sure it would all be valuable to the right collector, we obviously can't carry it all."
"Is this a naginata?" Dawn balances the weapon between her hands. "Incredible... it's so well balanced! I can hold onto this, unless you guys want to."
"Very fortunate find," Too-tuk says as he looks over the relics. "We should take this back to our patroness. And by we, I mean the strong backed members of our flock."
The total weight of everything would require every party member to assist, but with a bit of cooperation the Pathfinders gather up everything of historical value they can find and return to back to their patron, Mai Chun. Sadly, there is not yet enough information at hand to pinpoint the location of the Summer Palace.
Mai Chun is overjoyed at the troves of treasure you all provide. "Please, make yourselves comfortable and have some tea while I look over the adjutant's letters." She gestures as she begins to read. Suddenly her eyes widen and she abruptly rolls out the map onto her table, her fingers trembling in anticipation. "Do you know what this means? The location of the Summer Palace has been lost since the fall of the Imperial Lung Wa! No one knows what treasures may be inside, but they most be significant. We do not yet have even information to pinpoint the location of the Palace, but this is a wonderful start." Tapping her fingernail on the map, she muses aloud...
“The moon, with joy enough to tear the heavens,
Sinks to the horizon, and suddenly,
The Spring has grown old.”
With a large grin she looks to you all. "Please, help me track down the location of the Summer Palace. Who wants to make history?"
hp 31/31; AC 16, 14, 12; fort +3 refl +8, will +3; bab 3, melee 3, ranged 6; cmb 4 cmd 19; init +4; folio reroll 1/1 | aasimar rogue/4 | - 4 *
skills:
acrobatics 11 appraise 6 bluff 1 craft: alchemy 9 diplomacy 1 disable 10 disguise 3 escape 1 intim 1 know dungeon 8 know local 9 linguistics 11 perception 8 ride 4 sense mtv 3 sleight of hand 11 stealth 11 UMD 9
"Making history is good... making money is better... Best is making both at the same time! When do we start?" Raevin smiles at her warmly, excitement dancing in his eyes.
"The Summer Palace has fallen into a winter of disconent. We will find it though, because hope springs eternal." Perform(Comedy):1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23
Dawn instinctively does a play on words and grins. That may be her best play on words yet.
"I'm just kidding. Let's find the Summer Palace. Reminds me of a story Shylye told me about the Plains of Summer. Those seasons are pretty unstable."
Maps/Handouts have been updated! There are three handouts that will detail where you will go next! I'll strive to keep us on track a little better than I have been.
"I can briefly vanish from sight, but I'm no thief." Dawn ponders. "I'd love to go to the teahouse and meet Jiang Fei. Uh... do I call her Master Jiang Fei? Or Master Fei? I'm bad at honorifics."
The group receives their first set of instructions from Mai Chun to proceed to Lanming and seek out the descendant of a once resident of the Summer Palace. You are able to easily seek out the town; however, as you begin to seek out the School of the Jade Ogre, you all received quizzical stares. Most people shake their head and say that have never heard of the place. Eventually you find an older woman who chuckles. "Oh, you must mean the dumpling house!" She then provides easy directions to get there.
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.”
Jiang Fei is a Tien-Shu woman on the young side of middle age, with bright eyes and a demure smile wearing the simple garb of a martial arts master. Her long, dark hair is pulled up into a tight bun and held in place with a beautiful jade comb. She looks up and spots the group. "You must be the Pathfinders that Mai Chun wrote about! Please, come in! The rest of you, the shop is closing up now!" She claps her hands loudly and escorts the remaining few customers out before closing down the shop. "I am Jiang Fei, how may I help you all?"
"Hello there, Miss- um, Master... uh... Jiang. that's correct, right? Like Mai Chun said, we are here to help you on a task. You knew something about a Summer Palace?"
Okay folks, I apologize, I was waiting for more from the others; however, I think the delay is getting too long. I'm going to start pushing us through each of the Quests more quickly so that we can get close to being done for GameDay. Either way, it will be reported for Boons. To get through this a little faster, I'm going to post the mechanics for the next portion.
Jiang smiles. "Indeed. I will be frank and open with you. I need your help to deal with a rival style school. The Scorpion School is full of bullies and braggarts who do whatever they want to whomever they want without much repercussion. I cannot stand their arrogance and therefore I would like to teach you all some of my own style, the Jade Ogre style. I want you to fight some of the students from the Scorpion School tomorrow and best them. This will be a twofold success for me; they will be taught a lesson about their arrogance and hopefully garner some attention for my own school. If you agree to these terms, I will share with you the information I know. What say you?"
Assuming you all agree....
Mechanics:
Because she only has a day in which to train the PCs, 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, the PCs 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[b]: 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.
[b]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.
You all spend the next several hours working extremely hard under the watchful eye of Jiang. It is well after sundown when she finally gives you bid to get some rest... The next morning you are greeted by Jiang with a hearty breakfast of dumplings and then quickly whisked off to the Wang Li Fa teahouse.
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. Map updated.
Jiang Fei leads you all to an unoccupied table against the front wall of the teahouse. She points to the rowdy Scorpion students sit nearby. "You must provoke them into starting a fight. What you should not do, is to walk over and punch one of them. That is just crass and would tarnish my school's reputation."
hp 31/31; AC 16, 14, 12; fort +3 refl +8, will +3; bab 3, melee 3, ranged 6; cmb 4 cmd 19; init +4; folio reroll 1/1 | aasimar rogue/4 | - 4 *
skills:
acrobatics 11 appraise 6 bluff 1 craft: alchemy 9 diplomacy 1 disable 10 disguise 3 escape 1 intim 1 know dungeon 8 know local 9 linguistics 11 perception 8 ride 4 sense mtv 3 sleight of hand 11 stealth 11 UMD 9
Raevin takes a seat at the table... and nods at Jiang Fei's instructions. Oh my, I hope I'm up to this." After training very hard the day before, Raevin looks a little tired, not being used to so much physical activity outside of the bedroom.
With a glance over at the Scorpion students, Raevin remarks, "They really don't look like so much after all that chatter I've been hearing... I think perhaps they are all talk. But can they back it up?... I doubt it!"
"Scorpions think they are good at stinging, but really they are good at fleeing. They see my book when they see my. boot about to squish them, safely under the nearest rock. Sucks to be them, really. "
The Scorpion students overhear the numerous slanders to their honor and pride, shooting glares at your table until suddenly they cannot suffer it no longer! One of them slams down his tea cup and leaps to his feet. "Enough! We shall see who the honorless dogs are when you are lying at our feet!" His companions all quickly join him!
Dawn almost smashes the table, but she's too caught up in the the sheer fun to care.
"Now, calling out the names of your attacks? That's cool, I can used to this!"
