The Emperor's Gonna Die: Difference between revisions

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: [[Media:Snsu0303.zip]]
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==Prologue==
Part 1 - Spring ‘02 - A preliminary look
Brigetta and I were contacted by the Guild Council and asked to report. An delegate, Huan Yong
Lee, from the Shoji Empire on the Plane of Haarn, had arrived seeking aid to help their ailing
Emperor. All their local physicians were baffled so he had come here, on an unauthorised
mission, seeking more unorthodox help.
I was the only available adventuring healer about and Brigetta was assigned as my bodyguard,
and translator (being a bard). We portalled back with our guide and arrived a few days travel
away from the capital.
Notes about this land
It’s mostly human and is ruled by an Emperor. Under the Emperor are several generals which
take care of particular areas. They also have several people under them and so on and so on.
Basically it’s a very stratified society, with everyone at their particular level in the hierarchy.
Demi-humans are treated as ‘oni’. This roughly translates as ‘devil’ and are kept apart from
normal humans, having their own quarters, eating areas etc. It is suggested that any party coming
through be all human. Elves and dwarves may get away with it, as they can look human, but
giants would definitely have problems interacting in this society. We saw some strong ‘oni’
decked out as warriors at one point so I presume they must have their place.
Their script and language, called Shoji, is very strange. Thank goodness for translators. At least
Common is spoken by our guide and several of the high-ups. I guess that they have trading
contacts with people that speak a similar language.
Their coinage consists of a series of disks threaded on strings - called ‘cash’. I guess the longer
the length the more value it was. 1 disk was basically 1 cash. Ten of those made a ‘stick’ while
ten sticks was a ‘bar’. and Not sure exactly on conversions, all our expenses were being provided
for. We spent most of ours on documents.
Speaking of which, they used scrolls a lot which needed to be unwound. No bound books here.
Also instead of reading left to right then down the page it was downwards then left to right. Their
script consisted of complex pictograms which each brushstroke having a meaning.
Much of their medical techniques were different too. They talked about things called yin/yang
and chi flows i.e. energy pathways through the body that had to be kept in balance. If it went out
of balance various techniques were used such as inserting needles in various places - something
called ‘acupuncture’. A similar technique, involving massage and pressure points was also used,
called ‘acupressure’.
Our spells effects were also changed. We did some testing with their Magicians Guild and noted
some rather interesting effects. The spells acted reasonably normal with some slight variations
i.e. my Light spell emanating from the end of a staff. I did attempt to discuss this with their
wizards but the language barrier didn’t help - something I must sort out before I try again. They
don’t have Colleges as such but more like Spheres, it being easier to learn magics of one chosen
Sphere then it is to learn others - especially those of opposing Spheres. Spells could be turned
on, or off, during the duration.
The Journey Continues
We travelled for the most part in people borne carriages, i.e. four strong guys, running along
carrying the carriage on poles. Locally they’re called palequins. Spent most of the trip figuring
out the language in the scroll I was reading. These were single person carriages by the way. Both
Brigetta and I had brought scrolls. Mine was on medical matters while she was reading poetry.
We stayed the night at what could be classed as ‘inns’. Their food mainly consisted of rice and
some meats with added spices.
During one night, someone tried to kill us. A hole had been opened in the ceiling and a thin
thread lowered, down which someone attempted to dribble down poison. Fortunately I spotted
the light bouncing off the thread and alerted the local guard. There were a couple of these black-
clad assassins, called ninja, but we were unable to get much out of them as the killed themselves
with poison capsules, immediately upon capture. We did manage to find out later that they were
a group who had been responsible for assassinating some very high up officials a while back.
Evidently someone didn’t want us helping the Emperor.
Brigetta did a Ritual of Recitation on the bodies. She discovered that the name of one of them
was ‘Little Dragon Tongue’ who worked for ‘My Honour’. He had killed many, including Chang
So Lu and Hung We.
It was a three day trip until we reached the capital. It was a very large city. In the centre was the
Imperial Palace, built on top of a large featureless cube - designed to stop people climbing up
it and into the Palace itself where the Royal Family lived.
We were taken in the city - through the outer wall - then, after a while, through another wall, into
the Imperial Gardens, then into the cube itself. By now it was getting late on the third day. We
were taken to quarters and left in the very tender care of assigned courtesans. Mine were known
as the ‘Ladies of the Midnight Lotus’.
During the night a couple more of those black clad assassins tried to take us out, killing all the
guards along the way in. The whole combat was a bit of a blur as far as I was concerned.
Somehow one of them got mashed against the wall by a spell.
Again the Ritual was performed to find out more. This one was ‘Stinging Venom’ who was
working for the Cho Li Assassin’s Guild, otherwise known as the Guild of Beneficient Sleep’.
One of their victims had been Cho Sun Long - the Emperor’s seventh eunuch.
Next morning we were led up the cube, on to the gardens on top, and into the palace. There were
a lot of protocols to follow upon greeting the Emperor, involving a lot of bowing and scraping.
The Emperor was on the throne, weighed down by all this heavy armour and ornaments. He
didn’t look very well at all and all that lot must have been extremely uncomfortable. To make
matters worse we couldn’t even look at him, touch him or even speak to him directly. We had
to address the Ears of the Emperor and listen to the Mouth of the Emperor. We also ended up
arguing with the Protocol Officer. Basically we were getting nowhere.
Finally we broke protocol much to the consternation of the entire court. That also led me to an
argument with the physicians that had been trying to cure the Emperor. Basically, as far as I
could tell, they were all charlatans, apart from one, the acupuncturist. He was actually on the
right track as it turned out.
We managed, somehow, to get private access to the Emperor. Most of it was due to Brigetta’s
negotiating skills - something I’m not good at. There seemed to be nothing physically wrong but,
with the help of the acupuncturist, I was able to determine that there was some sort of dark
magical energy present in the Emperor that was sapping his strength and was taking over his
body like some malignant growth. Where it had come from I had no idea but I suspected dark
sorcery at work.
The cure turned out to be simple in theory but rather strenuous in practise. Basically I laid down
a Wall of Holy Light and passed the Emperor through it, feet first. At least that was the plan. It
took several burly guards to overcome the resistance in order to push the Emperor through it and,
even so, we had to go slowly and carefully as the Emperor was suffering. I was doing all I could
to ease the pain of the reaction.
Several hours and Walls later we finally did it. The Emperor was cured and very quickly
regained his strength and health. And, boy, did he have words with the Royal Court who had
taken advantage of his condition. The Protocol Officer lost his job and I got the impression there
were going to be a few major changes, like throwing the book out the window. There were
certainly going to be major changes coming.
Anyway we were rewarded and sent home. Our next task was to bring back a party to find out
who had been behind this dark plot. Basically we had been away for a week.
Treasure Obtained
Two sets of bamboo/cloth armour in black (3pt, +5 to stealth)
17 Sharkeen (throwing disks) (PS9 MD16 BC60 DamD Bclass, Range12 as dart)
6 daggers
2 Ninjato shortswords
Nekode - climbing claws
(5000 ep each & three quarters of a pound of silver worth 250sp after tax)
==Scribe Notes==
==Scribe Notes==
Blah blah blah
Blah blah blah

Revision as of 06:40, 17 March 2026

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: The Emperor's Gonna Die
GM: Scott Raymond
Season: Summer 803 WK

Party
Time on adventure
1st Meadow 803 to 24th Meadow 803 WK
Employer
Huan Yong Lee - a delegate
Mission
Seeking unorthodox aid to help their ailing Emperor.
Plane
Haarn
Places Visited.
The Shoji Empire
Imperial Capital City
Imperial Palace - in top of the Cube
Pavarrum - local school of magic
Important People
The Emperor
Cho Sung Long - the Emperor’s Seventh Eunich (assassinated)
Han Thiron - local alchemist and linguist
Little Lotus Blossom - the Seventh Eunich’s ‘friend’.
Losee - Acupuncturist
Original Scribe Notes
Media:Snsu0303.zip

Prologue

Part 1 - Spring ‘02 - A preliminary look Brigetta and I were contacted by the Guild Council and asked to report. An delegate, Huan Yong Lee, from the Shoji Empire on the Plane of Haarn, had arrived seeking aid to help their ailing Emperor. All their local physicians were baffled so he had come here, on an unauthorised mission, seeking more unorthodox help. I was the only available adventuring healer about and Brigetta was assigned as my bodyguard, and translator (being a bard). We portalled back with our guide and arrived a few days travel away from the capital. Notes about this land It’s mostly human and is ruled by an Emperor. Under the Emperor are several generals which take care of particular areas. They also have several people under them and so on and so on. Basically it’s a very stratified society, with everyone at their particular level in the hierarchy. Demi-humans are treated as ‘oni’. This roughly translates as ‘devil’ and are kept apart from normal humans, having their own quarters, eating areas etc. It is suggested that any party coming through be all human. Elves and dwarves may get away with it, as they can look human, but giants would definitely have problems interacting in this society. We saw some strong ‘oni’ decked out as warriors at one point so I presume they must have their place. Their script and language, called Shoji, is very strange. Thank goodness for translators. At least Common is spoken by our guide and several of the high-ups. I guess that they have trading contacts with people that speak a similar language. Their coinage consists of a series of disks threaded on strings - called ‘cash’. I guess the longer the length the more value it was. 1 disk was basically 1 cash. Ten of those made a ‘stick’ while ten sticks was a ‘bar’. and Not sure exactly on conversions, all our expenses were being provided for. We spent most of ours on documents. Speaking of which, they used scrolls a lot which needed to be unwound. No bound books here. Also instead of reading left to right then down the page it was downwards then left to right. Their script consisted of complex pictograms which each brushstroke having a meaning. Much of their medical techniques were different too. They talked about things called yin/yang and chi flows i.e. energy pathways through the body that had to be kept in balance. If it went out of balance various techniques were used such as inserting needles in various places - something called ‘acupuncture’. A similar technique, involving massage and pressure points was also used, called ‘acupressure’. Our spells effects were also changed. We did some testing with their Magicians Guild and noted some rather interesting effects. The spells acted reasonably normal with some slight variations i.e. my Light spell emanating from the end of a staff. I did attempt to discuss this with their wizards but the language barrier didn’t help - something I must sort out before I try again. They don’t have Colleges as such but more like Spheres, it being easier to learn magics of one chosen Sphere then it is to learn others - especially those of opposing Spheres. Spells could be turned on, or off, during the duration. The Journey Continues We travelled for the most part in people borne carriages, i.e. four strong guys, running along carrying the carriage on poles. Locally they’re called palequins. Spent most of the trip figuring out the language in the scroll I was reading. These were single person carriages by the way. Both Brigetta and I had brought scrolls. Mine was on medical matters while she was reading poetry. We stayed the night at what could be classed as ‘inns’. Their food mainly consisted of rice and some meats with added spices. During one night, someone tried to kill us. A hole had been opened in the ceiling and a thin thread lowered, down which someone attempted to dribble down poison. Fortunately I spotted the light bouncing off the thread and alerted the local guard. There were a couple of these black- clad assassins, called ninja, but we were unable to get much out of them as the killed themselves with poison capsules, immediately upon capture. We did manage to find out later that they were a group who had been responsible for assassinating some very high up officials a while back. Evidently someone didn’t want us helping the Emperor. Brigetta did a Ritual of Recitation on the bodies. She discovered that the name of one of them was ‘Little Dragon Tongue’ who worked for ‘My Honour’. He had killed many, including Chang So Lu and Hung We. It was a three day trip until we reached the capital. It was a very large city. In the centre was the Imperial Palace, built on top of a large featureless cube - designed to stop people climbing up it and into the Palace itself where the Royal Family lived. We were taken in the city - through the outer wall - then, after a while, through another wall, into the Imperial Gardens, then into the cube itself. By now it was getting late on the third day. We were taken to quarters and left in the very tender care of assigned courtesans. Mine were known as the ‘Ladies of the Midnight Lotus’. During the night a couple more of those black clad assassins tried to take us out, killing all the guards along the way in. The whole combat was a bit of a blur as far as I was concerned. Somehow one of them got mashed against the wall by a spell. Again the Ritual was performed to find out more. This one was ‘Stinging Venom’ who was working for the Cho Li Assassin’s Guild, otherwise known as the Guild of Beneficient Sleep’. One of their victims had been Cho Sun Long - the Emperor’s seventh eunuch. Next morning we were led up the cube, on to the gardens on top, and into the palace. There were a lot of protocols to follow upon greeting the Emperor, involving a lot of bowing and scraping. The Emperor was on the throne, weighed down by all this heavy armour and ornaments. He didn’t look very well at all and all that lot must have been extremely uncomfortable. To make matters worse we couldn’t even look at him, touch him or even speak to him directly. We had to address the Ears of the Emperor and listen to the Mouth of the Emperor. We also ended up arguing with the Protocol Officer. Basically we were getting nowhere. Finally we broke protocol much to the consternation of the entire court. That also led me to an argument with the physicians that had been trying to cure the Emperor. Basically, as far as I could tell, they were all charlatans, apart from one, the acupuncturist. He was actually on the right track as it turned out. We managed, somehow, to get private access to the Emperor. Most of it was due to Brigetta’s negotiating skills - something I’m not good at. There seemed to be nothing physically wrong but, with the help of the acupuncturist, I was able to determine that there was some sort of dark magical energy present in the Emperor that was sapping his strength and was taking over his body like some malignant growth. Where it had come from I had no idea but I suspected dark sorcery at work. The cure turned out to be simple in theory but rather strenuous in practise. Basically I laid down a Wall of Holy Light and passed the Emperor through it, feet first. At least that was the plan. It took several burly guards to overcome the resistance in order to push the Emperor through it and, even so, we had to go slowly and carefully as the Emperor was suffering. I was doing all I could to ease the pain of the reaction. Several hours and Walls later we finally did it. The Emperor was cured and very quickly regained his strength and health. And, boy, did he have words with the Royal Court who had taken advantage of his condition. The Protocol Officer lost his job and I got the impression there were going to be a few major changes, like throwing the book out the window. There were certainly going to be major changes coming. Anyway we were rewarded and sent home. Our next task was to bring back a party to find out who had been behind this dark plot. Basically we had been away for a week. Treasure Obtained Two sets of bamboo/cloth armour in black (3pt, +5 to stealth) 17 Sharkeen (throwing disks) (PS9 MD16 BC60 DamD Bclass, Range12 as dart) 6 daggers 2 Ninjato shortswords Nekode - climbing claws (5000 ep each & three quarters of a pound of silver worth 250sp after tax)

Scribe Notes

Blah blah blah

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