Jin Dynasty Recap

2/2/07 Assembly of Assassins

The characters met for the first time on April 15th 803ND in Beuch, Uusam. Their mission: assassinate the mad emporer Jin. Reward: uper loot. Time limitations: intelligence predicts the war will start in 5 months and that Uusam will fall one month later.

Because Viktor Kreikil was a no show, Capt. Yu was assigned to the group. They geared up, and took a Crag boat north to Tia Jua Ana. In Tia Jua Ana, Zhi Zhi engineered a ride west on a smuggler boat headed to Mae Dison.

2/9/07 Mae Dison and the road through Grundle

In Mae Dison the group found Viktor locked up in jail. Capt. Yu got him released and after speaking with a Sontaran at the border the group headed west through Grundle. They ran into a Sontaran camp, and later dispatched some worthless bandits and met a monk.

2/16/07 Huan Fang and crossing the border into Shin

We arrived in Huan Fang without too much incident, as I recall; We met a monk on the way, a "humanist", who was spreading his doctrine. We pawned him off on some Huen-Rae hovels much in need of everything, including spiritual guidance.

We spent a long time figuring out how to get into Shin. Eventually we just crossed a river.

We sepnt a long time staying out of sight in Shin. Wei Feng decided to test the waters, and wandered into a village, where, far from being crucified, he was greeted with good will and food. Still, the group decided to stay out of sight still, and cut cross-country through the forest for two months (!) before reaching the road to the city we're headed for.

3/16/07 Shin Jin

Having obtained the secret plans from Lo Ten's ancestral home, and having given up hope of recovering the errant Lo Ten, the characters proceeded south along the road to Shin Jin. Using the money they had obtained in Wu Han through the sale of valuable property (jewelry) and illicit currency exchange, they got a nice hotel room overlooking the park containing the secret passage. After scouting the area and getting supplies, the characters entered the secret passage. After finding a guard post deserted by sentries (strongly suggesting imperial knowledge of the secret tunnel: perhaps the emperor gets in/out this way?) they entered a cavern. Here they were confronted by a man called "the master(er)", apparently the master of The Faceless or perhaps a rival. While the faceless and Viktor engaged him in a furious battle of sword and spear, ZhiZhi and El Mano crossed the defile in the middle of the cavern to fall upon the Masterer's rear. In an attempt to eliminate the faceless, the Masterer went on the offensive, opening himself up to a desperate (ie, rerolled a bunch with luck) series of attacks from ZhiZhi. After her ironwood striker brained him (52 stun, I think that's a new record for a non-heroic character), El Mano and The Faceless dispatched/tied up/released him. The group proceeded to the end of the tunnel after finding the body of Lo Ten. They found the imperial city essentially deserted except for two gardeners. As it turns out, the emperor likes to write. Also, the world we know is just a tiny fraction of a huge continent, largely controlled by the Sontarans. Also, if the writings of the emperor (who ZhiZhi thinks is immortal/ancient and the same guy as the first emperor) are to be believed, the real threat is Sontaran expansion, and he is just trying to unite the lands of humans to withstand them. Unfortunately, the politicking and conniving leaders of Konn, Uusam and Huen Rae are too short-sighted to realize this and that is why he is making war on them. While ZhiZhi and Wei Feng posted up in the library to await the fall of night for further investigations, El Mano went to pilfer star sapphires, where he was found by four elite guardsmen. Despite holding out for two rounds, they finally bested and captured him.

Epilogue

It is said that in the years before the great unification, the glorious father of the emperor, emperor Jin Mae Tien, was wont to travel the countryside in simple monk's garb, so that he might know the heart and mind of the people. But after the three terrors, Faceless, the Good Doctor, and the Gypsy stormed the forbidden city, eluding the emperor's elite bodyguard and giving him the notorious scar across his temple, it is said that he never left the city again. And though Faceless was never seen again, the Good Doctor, the Gypsy, and their companion known as Kreikil, wandered the lands freely for many years, and each place they visited spoke of the fear they inspired in the emperor. So it came to be that many of the greatest warriors in the land tried their hand against them: all of them lie buried in the graveyard of the emperor's bodyguard. Finally, when the great Neme was laid to rest, the emperor let it be written upon the scrolls: "let no man raise arms against the three assassins, called the Good Doctor, the Gypsy, and Kreikil, under penalty of exile. let them go freely amongst the people, for are they not also our brethren? If I, whom they threaten, can make my peace, so should my loyal subjects." Shortly thereafter, the assassins disappeared. And yet, though they be liars and thieves, the gypsies still tell tales of three wanderers, who travel the far off lands and return to sit by the fires of the gypsies, give sage counsel, dance and make music, and drink fine ale deep into the night.