A Wanderer's Romance - Sessions 3 & 4 - A Thousand Paper Cuts
Audio
(sorry for the coughing, some sick fuck hurt me. I'm OK, here's a link if you want to help others.)
Art by Pipe Dream
I completely forgot to do a write-up for session 3! We played the fourth game last night in a Wanderer's Romance campaign (eastern-asia flavored island hopping adventures). I stopped using the system in favor of 24XX though, as the prep was a bit of a chore with the original ruleset. I will pepper in stuff we wrote on Google Docs for the game while quickly summing up what you've missed since last time.
After defeating the Sun Pirates, our heroes went off to the City of a Thousand Cranes with the backing of Madam Min Ba Sei. Their arrival in the city was stalled by the Silver Hand Company, a bunch of bureaucrats and armed thugs who took away their weapons and would have them pay a fine to step foot on the Island. We learned then that Hanshi was a member of the Albatross Clan, but without proper identification, it didn't sway the guards.
So they just waited until night in their boat and snuck their way into the City.
Next morning, they explored the City while looking for the administrative building where they could register for the Trial of Emerald, a martial arts tournament they'd been looking forward to join. On their way, they came across a burning restaurant, abandoned by the Fire Brigade, and decided to brave the flame to try and save a young lady and her kitten. Hanshi passed out, Mun got trapped in debris or something? And Lei saved Hanshi and the lady. The kitten somehow escaped on its own, unscathed.
Besides some rambling, I think not much else happened on session 3. They found the admin building and found Long Dong, the Western Dragon, once more. This time as a friend, who would participate in the tournament alongside them. With Sing La on her way to the island too, they now have a handful of neat NPCs with them that I should detail more for next sesh.
Session 4 was yesterday and a bit more happened. First the PCs had to find lodgings. Long Dong invited Mun and Hanshi to the Scorpion & the Frog inn, which doubles as a pleasure house, while Lei preferred the cold comforts of the ground, and went to find shelter in the Temple of the Dragon-Turtle. That evening, a strange, very dirty and smelly vagrant with long wild hair and black teeth found his way into the temple. Since he was armed, Lei gracefully accepted to help the monks get rid of him. Instead of trying to throw him out though, she treated the old man with dignity and kindness, and helped him sober up, and get access to clean bath water. Afterwards, he thanked her and asked her about herself - we then learned that Lei was raised by an ecologist tribe of monkeys and humans living in harmony, and is participating in the tournament to get the Emperor's attention and ask him to support their tribe's independence. The old man found the tale intriguing, and offered Lei some of his own teachings, as he turned out to be one of the fabled Masters - the Starving Hound.
In the mean time at the Inn, a young serving girl left a note saying "HELP" and the party invited her under the pretense of hiring her services. In private, she explained that she had been sold by her endebted father and wished only to be freed. Somewhat drunk, our heroes decided to fit her in a massive jug emptied of booze and bring her out in the morning. Except the next morning, the innkeeper came to them and questioned them about the girl's absence. Mun bullshitted him and managed to Karen his way out of larger incident, although the group was now stuck in their room (with the jar). Lei made her way to the Inn after tending to the monks' garden as thanks for providing shelter.
After defeating the Sun Pirates, our heroes went off to the City of a Thousand Cranes with the backing of Madam Min Ba Sei. Their arrival in the city was stalled by the Silver Hand Company, a bunch of bureaucrats and armed thugs who took away their weapons and would have them pay a fine to step foot on the Island. We learned then that Hanshi was a member of the Albatross Clan, but without proper identification, it didn't sway the guards.
So they just waited until night in their boat and snuck their way into the City.
Next morning, they explored the City while looking for the administrative building where they could register for the Trial of Emerald, a martial arts tournament they'd been looking forward to join. On their way, they came across a burning restaurant, abandoned by the Fire Brigade, and decided to brave the flame to try and save a young lady and her kitten. Hanshi passed out, Mun got trapped in debris or something? And Lei saved Hanshi and the lady. The kitten somehow escaped on its own, unscathed.
Besides some rambling, I think not much else happened on session 3. They found the admin building and found Long Dong, the Western Dragon, once more. This time as a friend, who would participate in the tournament alongside them. With Sing La on her way to the island too, they now have a handful of neat NPCs with them that I should detail more for next sesh.
In the mean time at the Inn, a young serving girl left a note saying "HELP" and the party invited her under the pretense of hiring her services. In private, she explained that she had been sold by her endebted father and wished only to be freed. Somewhat drunk, our heroes decided to fit her in a massive jug emptied of booze and bring her out in the morning. Except the next morning, the innkeeper came to them and questioned them about the girl's absence. Mun bullshitted him and managed to Karen his way out of larger incident, although the group was now stuck in their room (with the jar). Lei made her way to the Inn after tending to the monks' garden as thanks for providing shelter.
Then the players discussed what to do / how to get out of the Inn without alerting the guards to their reverse-kidnapping for a bit too long so I asked them to stop talking about doing stuff, and just do stuff.
So Mun punched a guard in the face and knocked him out cold, then they just walked out trying to look inconspicuous, and ran off into the streets just as the innkeeper realized what was happening.
They met back with Sing La at the Trial's opening ceremony, where the Great Clans Leaders were gathered alongside the Emperor. Lady Sahina of the Butterfly Clan made a grand speech, while Sing La met with Kaoru, the serving girl, and let her know she'd be safe at the Burning Wish and could choose which skills she'd like to earn her keep with.
The first day, Earth, had two contests. Sumo wrestling in the morning, Cooking in the afternoon.
Lei did great, as did Mun in Sumo. Hanshi faced off with Barish, an odd foreigner with a fancy moustache and a gilet with his name on the back. Barish was nice enough, but still broke a few of her ribs as she failed to judo throw him out of the ring. Lei, having some medicinal herb knowledge, attempted a strange preparation to try and ease the healing. It worked, but gave Hanshi a terrible rash as a bonus.
Risking elimination from the tournament, Hanshi did her best in the second competition, Cooking. Sadly she was paired of with Mun Cerule Mun, who is canonically a terrible cook. So they cheated and switched their food and another team's (made up of a one-armed angsty teen and a peaceful, smiling monk). It worked out fine. Lei went in the nearby wilderness to gather fresh herbs and cooked a simple fish dish but got lucky with which food critic would taste the food.
So Mun punched a guard in the face and knocked him out cold, then they just walked out trying to look inconspicuous, and ran off into the streets just as the innkeeper realized what was happening.
They met back with Sing La at the Trial's opening ceremony, where the Great Clans Leaders were gathered alongside the Emperor. Lady Sahina of the Butterfly Clan made a grand speech, while Sing La met with Kaoru, the serving girl, and let her know she'd be safe at the Burning Wish and could choose which skills she'd like to earn her keep with.
The first day, Earth, had two contests. Sumo wrestling in the morning, Cooking in the afternoon.
Lei did great, as did Mun in Sumo. Hanshi faced off with Barish, an odd foreigner with a fancy moustache and a gilet with his name on the back. Barish was nice enough, but still broke a few of her ribs as she failed to judo throw him out of the ring. Lei, having some medicinal herb knowledge, attempted a strange preparation to try and ease the healing. It worked, but gave Hanshi a terrible rash as a bonus.
Risking elimination from the tournament, Hanshi did her best in the second competition, Cooking. Sadly she was paired of with Mun Cerule Mun, who is canonically a terrible cook. So they cheated and switched their food and another team's (made up of a one-armed angsty teen and a peaceful, smiling monk). It worked out fine. Lei went in the nearby wilderness to gather fresh herbs and cooked a simple fish dish but got lucky with which food critic would taste the food.
And that's where we stopped. 24XX worked really, really well - I'd say it takes about an hour to do the stuff we used to do in two with these mechanics. Plus now I can post these on Jason's server, hehehe.
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