Book II: Chapter 3: Pirates! The Leviathan Facility

They spent many weeks traveling at sea. Captain Hurloon was cured of his malady, and resumed command. A fellow by the name of Guy joined their crew, proving himself a handy Bo'sun with master's eyes.

After finding themselves stranded in slow seas and surrounded by shallow crystal reefs, the pirates discovered an underwater facility. A dry docks was housing mechanical submersibles, being worked on by pirates and Sauhaugin sharkmen.
They captured a pirate by the name of John Smitty, and with his aid launched an attack on the dry docks, stealing a submersible. They were informed that indeed, another had been launched to attack their ship.

They arrived in the midst of the attack, the pirates had just reached the cargo bay, and were heading for the powder room, aided by a tribe of sauhaugin. Cunning fighters, they held the minotaur crew at bay, but were finished once Huang Ti, Trogdor, Kilan and Arver arrived to flank them.

The pirate crew, now armed with submersibles, but stuck with a badly wounded crew and ship, decided to leave the Leviathan Facility, and report back.
But before reporting back, they wanted to take a 'detour' in order to test the capabilites of these submersibles.

Xian Hoy. An exotic frontier port, full of expensive goods and little room for the law. A perfect target. After baiting a merchant at the bar, and hitting up Minister Jong for some information, the pirates set their sights on the Meiyo Wenti- "No Problem". She was loaded with exotic glasses from the City of Glass in the Meshketi lands.
A plan was enacted. Captain Hurloon would assault a decoy target, while the submersible team would drill through the Meiyo Wenti, and then load up as many goods as they could and vanish. The Wenti plan went without a hitch- but the Seacow hit an unfortunate bit of luck, and was caught by the Imperial Navy and sunk.

Captain Hurloon and crew were due to be executed by morning. Depositing the goods in a nearby safeharbor, the remaining crew and Smitty returned in their submersible to Xian Hoy and snuck back to the harbor prison. Guy attempted to bluff his way into the jail, but when Trogdor tried to climb the prison roof,the jig was up. Stabbing his questioner through the throat, Guy started a whirling melee that ended up with all the guards dead and unconscious.

Time was not on their side. Quickly, Kilan smashed through the roof and freed the rest of their crew while the city guard began circling the area and cutting off the perimeter.

They armed the minotaurs with tables, chairs and the dead guard's weapons. Huang Ti and Guy targeted the weakest point in the Guard's perimeter.
There was only one plan, so Captain Hurloon gave only one order.
"CHARGE!"

Book II: Chapter 2: Pirates! And The Well Of Souls

Huang Ti smelled a rat.
The Minister had left with the dragon eggs in a suspicious set of circumstances. His suspicions were confirmed when they found the real minister, tied up and locked in a nearby storage closet.

In a race against time, they snatched horses from the stable and tore on after the stolen eggs and the carriage. As sunset approached, they reached the carriage. Kilan set the vehicle on fire, then lost control of his horse, spooked by magic.

Huang Ti and Arver maintained their pursuit, Arver picking off the driver and guards with his bow as Huang Ti leaped aboard and confronted the false minister on the flaming carriage.
It was difficult. The bureaucrat moved with the efficiency of a snake, dodging blows and delivering bites and stabs with poisonous spittle. The Imperial Guards were no pushovers either, their training allowing them to deal effective blows and distract the pirate captain.

Finally, as the carriage reached a full inferno, Huang Ti and the minister lept into the side of the road and the rice paddies. The minister was lost in the knee high water, but with cunning senses, Huang Ti found a leaping fish- then stabbed it. Upon death, it revealed itself as a spidery Neogi.

The pirates returned to An Biao, where they were directed to proceed to the Well of Souls. Trogdor was left behind in care of the ship.

After a long travel, they all reached the Well, where they were prompted to wait several weeks. To pass the time, Kilan and Arver decided to take the Magister's test. Kilan passed. As a cruel joke of some kind, The Black Council allowed Arver to take the test, never letting him even a clue that the Ministry of Magic was not a place for those in the service of gods or goddesses. They left him in a dark room for days, then tossed him out with a reccomentation to 'come back next year'

Of course, they full well knew that no divine spellcaster could pass the Test.

They later met with the Dragon Minister, Sae-Jin, caretaker of the well. This grim golden dragon was reputed for wanton cruelty and strange tastes. She wore the skull of a dragon as a grim headress, and dwelt in a lair of bones and screams, reputedly from her victims.

She accepted the eggs with grace, knowing full well they belonged to Hong Chi, the Minister in care of the Capital region. What happened to them, is a tale for another day.

The pirates were paid in gold for their delivery, and given an assignment. The Neogi carried a journal detailing 'The Leviathan Facility' a massive operation involving the infiltration of ports all over the Empire. If the pirates investigated the matter, and possibly destroyed it, there would be great reward.

The consequences of failure were unstated. Or perhaps, they were. When they left the dragon's presence, the next person to see her, a man dressed in offical robes, was pulled apart and eaten alive.

Book II: The Pragmatic Wisdom of the Great Sage

Our story begins in Yuelan.

The Guang Hu Hien, Otylia and Darius had joined forces with the Magistrate Julia and the Great Sage Melissa. They planned to take revenge for Quynh's death at the hands of Magistrate Antipheros, and Governor Lung's charge of treason.

The first step was to get into the Lung Palace, where the Historical Library was stored. After a confrontation with the guards, Darius was allowed in. There was a brief dialogue with Governor Lung, while the Dragon Minister Hong Chi watched on. The Governor scorned him and his niece, and throw him out along with a bag of money in an insulting condolence for Quynh's death.

The party ironically entered the Dragon Phoenix Restaurant to begin planning their downfall for Governor Lung. Armed with incriminating papers of stolen military supplies and war without the Emperor's approval, Otylia enacted a plan to get the papers to the Dragon Minister and set the fall for Lung.

She sent Julia in the hope that the Magister's status would get her into the palace unharmed.

Julia left for the palace, and was confronted by the gate guard. She was denied entry because she was associated with the Governor's niece. Then she tried to pull an elaborate hoax that indeed, she was a spy working for Governor Lung.

The guard, rather disbelieving, led Julia on that indeed, the Governor was expecting her. He trapped her in the "Null Suite", an antimagic room designed to accomadate 'guests' of her kind.

She was brutally tortured.

The Governor now alerted to the plan, sent Minister Hong Chi off for the capital, and sent his assassins after his niece and her companions.

The Dragon Phoenix Restaurant, was of course, a base for the Lung Feng Wong. Ironic, because Lung Feng does mean Dragon Phoenix. A battle ensued with rockets and explosions, and the assassins fled after being harried with magic and fire.
The party made it's way quickly through the city on high alert. After dealing with the gate guards, they scaled the wall of the palace into the Null Suite.
They dealt with a flood of guards, who were recalled back to the throne room after some embarrasing defeats. The party planned on holing up in the Null Suite, when Governor Lung delivered a message.

He had Julia captive. If they wanted her alive, they would come to him.

Hien was no fool, but she walked into the trap anyway. Darius and Otylia followed after some hesitation.

They confronted Lung in his massive throne room. They were surrounded by forty men with muskets and pistols. The Governor also had a massive Draconian body guard, and a terra cotta lion guarding him personally.

While Hien and he traded some nasty words, Otylia spotted a strange thing- something was moving under his hat! With a deft and critical toss of her dagger, she knocked the boxy headgear off the Governor's head, revealing a tiny Neogi hiding underneath, clutched to his skull.

Chaos ensued. The guards were motionless, confused about who to shoot. The Draconian bodyguard was crippled as the Neogi frantically tried to control his mind and render assistance. Darius, acting swiftly fired a blast of arcane energy that disrupted the creature's concentration, allowing Hien to deliver a swift blow that neatly seperated the creature's legs from the rest of it's body.

The Neogi died a squishy death under the boot of an Imperial Guard.

The aftermath was bittersweet and cold, the taste of revenge. Governor Lung was devastated, the memory of the heinious crimes he committed flooding back to him. It was revealed that he indeed was responsible for the assassination of Hien and Quynh's father, Hien's discharge from the army, and most recently, allowing Antipheros to enlist the Lung Feng Wong to find and kill Quynh.
He had mobilized the Lung family and all it's assets into revolution against the Emperor, and would have been at the head of his downfall. A central figure head in a massive Neogi infiltration network designed to sever the nation from within.
And there was still Magistrate Antipheros, and how he was connected with all of this.

One question remained.
Could it be stopped?

Chapter 16: Funeral

She was killed by the Three Horn.

Quynh's funeral was brief, but meaningful. Her body was cremated in the Taoist temple, placed into a dragon runed canister. Her death triggered many meaningful thoughts and events.

Raluhn left the Guang Hu world, and entered the Ministry. Unable to attend to funeral, he sent his condolences and someone to aid in his place, a Magister by the name of Julia. Quynh, never one to let death stop her, sent aid in the form of a guardian angel by the name of Melissa. Her coming was heralded by the monks as a great event. She was named the Great Sage, and adored by many.

After the funeral and the great commotion caused by the coming of the Great Sage Melissa, the party set out for Yuelan.
They had business with this Antipheros. Indeed, he was the 'dead' Magistrate of Saelan, the Jewel of the South that fell five hundred years ago during the Neogi Invasion.
The best source for information on him was the Governor's Historical Library in Yuelan City. They needed to pay Governor Lung a visit anyway.

After a long journey with a pair of fawning scribes in tow, they reached Yuelan.
The scribes had infact, spread much word about the 'coming of the Great Sage' and began writing a great book about her and her companions. Indeed, with old friends gone, and the coming of the Great Sage, a new phase in the story had just begun.

Chapter 15: The Well of Souls

Hien, Otylia, Raluhn, Darius and Quynh finally reached the Well of Souls.

It was a long journey, but they made it. Dismayed at the visage of death displayed all over the city, they stopped by the 'Skull Key Tavern' where they learned of a discount exorcist by the name of Shalkilzar, and the Temple of the Well.

Retreating to the Temple of the Well, they found a paradise of life amidst the city of death. Their first task was to exorcise the spirit of the cursed bear. With the aid of a Taoist exorcist by the name of Inquistor Gui, they banished the murderous child spirit, and imprisoned her soul in a tiny glass bead. It was a harrowing experience, drenched with blood. Darius wound up possessed, and stabbed in the heart. It was discovered that the child's name was Lee.
Fortunately for Darius, the temple preists were skilled healers, and they helped the party recover fully. In exchange for their services, the party 'gifted' the monks with the barbarian girl as a disciple.

They sold the Three Horn to an exotic mount salesman.

The second task was the test of the Black Tower. Darius and Raluhn took the written tests, and Darius was passed without issue, as his wild warlock nature did not allow him to progress further within the Ministry. Raluhn was however, compelled to join. The Black Council that oversaw the tests blackmailed him with a legal condition- he would become a Magister and gain the legal rights to protect his friends and himself; or they would be convicted for treason and the murder at the Jong Sheng waystation.

He took the test. He was confronted with destroying the soul of the cursed child, consigning her to oblivion in the name of justice. He did so, but to an illusion. His loyalty to the Empire was resolved, and the Council congratulated him and gifted him with the Magister's Robes and Staff.

After the celebration, the Hien, Quynh, Raluhn, Darius and Otylia met at the Skull Key Tavern to depart for Yuelan. They had unresolved business with Governor Lung, Hien's uncle. He was the one behind the treason accusation, the one behind the Shen.

Unfortunately, old enemies caught up fast. A man and two intelligent wolfhounds charged into the tavern, fireballing the place and snapping at the party's heels. A brilliant spellbinding battle followed, and the Skull Key Tavern was turned into flinders and webbing. When the tide seemed in the party's favor, the mage made a daring escape as a Three Horn, THEIR Three Horn burst through the wall of the inn, trampled over them and carried the mage to safety.

In the smoke and dust, Darius unleashed hellfire upon the escaping assailant, and killed him and the Three Horn. They began investigate the situation, and after the guard arrived to examine the body, they discovered that the man was indeed a kobold named Shalkilzar, and he was working for a man by the name of Antipheros.

That was when they discovered something wrong. Quynh was dead.

Chapter 14: Lung Feng Wong

They waited for a long time in Yuetong Gong.
By dawn, the guard had already been dispatched in full strength to find them. Desperate for a solution, Otylia delved into the underworld to look for a way out. The way they found was very unpleasant. It was discovered that an underworld element by the name of Lung Feng Wong was out for them.

They had a single demand; work for us, or die. The meeting took place in the Black Deeds Inn, a dirty place with a bad reputation. Otylia discovered to her horror that the 'special dumpling' they served was in fact the diced meat of their less fortunate clientele. After talking to a man in the black mask, she discovered that this guild of assassins wanted the Guang Hu to rescue Shen Tsung, and restore him to his old position.

The group found this unpalatable and left, but warned that the Lung Feng Wong would find and kill them.

Using ingenious magic, the group escaped from the city by midmorning, and fled into the countryside. After traveling for days without a map or guide, they found themselves stranded in the rocky steppes of the North; they only realized this after encountering a tribe of dinosaur hunting barbarians.

After meeting up with their leader, a man by the name of Ahan, they traded a magical halberd for safe passage to the Well of Souls. During the first night of their stay, the tribe was attacked by three Sword Tooth Titans (Tyrannosaurus). Hien slew one from the insides, as Otylia stabbed it in the brain cells. Once seeing one of their number fall, the predators fled with what they could.

Rewarded for their bravery and aid in repelling the Sword Tooths, Ahan gifted them with a captured Three Horn (Triceratops) and a slave girl captured from a rival tribe. After debating what to do with these gifts over a long trip, they finally reached the Well after a journey of 20 days.

Chapter 13: Unlucky Numbers.

Luckily for our party, the Lady Luck was kind to them. As it so happens, monsoon season is a regular event in the flood plains of Zhong Tien and Yuelan, so much so that most of the peasants resort to living on boats during the high summer months.

After some long debate, Darius recruited an old salt by the name of Xi Yan to guide them West. He took them along the Mei Lung River, through Yuelan province and further west. They were attacked by pirates along the way, but those were defeated and the ship commandeered.

Later they reached the city of Yuetong Gong, the border city to the Yuelan province. There they were questioned by the customs officials, and then captured. It was discovered that the Guang Hu Burning Hand and her band were accused of treason for overthrowing the Shen. They were thrown into jail for an indefinite period of time.

Fearing that they would be accused of the massacre at the waystation, they broke out after two weeks. In a daring nighttime escape engineered by Rahluhn, they hid in the city, and waited for dawn to come.

Chapter 12: The Journey West

The day began auspiciously for the party of Guang Hu.
Raluhn, Darius, Hien and Otylia were all in high spirits as they began their journey to the Well of Souls. The objective? To register at the Black Tower, and become official practioners of magic.

Unfortunately, they were delayed by a horrible event at a waystation two days into the journey. The bear, named Ms. Fluffikins was responsible for a terrible rampage in the middle of the night. When our adventurers awoke, they did so in pools of blood. The horses in the stables were found pinned to the ceiling by means of silverware, and the towns people all hacked to pieces and stuffed in barrels in the cellar.

The party quickly left. They inquired at a local farmhouse whether this was the fault of a local creature- it was indeed, not. They later stopped by a roadside shrine in order to request that the bear's 'curse' be lifted. The pastor confirmed that he had never seen such a curse that radiated no magic- in fact, he believed the party to be the perpetrators. They left after he suggested they wait for authorities to arrive.

After a few days, they finally reached the crossroad where the Inevitable Walk and the Capital Road met. Those led to the Well of Souls, and Zhong Tien respectively. The garrison of Bai Tien Tong guarded the pass, and they were questioned by magisters as to their heavily armed intent.


After a few clever dodges, they made their way onto the Inevitable Walk. That's when a monsoon hit. The water level of the river rose to such a degree that a man couldn't stand without drowning, and the massive winds prevented much travel. Wanting to avoid the authorities, the party pressed into the storm, and were savagely beaten by the elements. Almost lost to the wind, they managed to find an abandoned wagon, and took refuge there until the storm abated. They became quite sick, and the next day were floating on a cart in the midst of a flood plain, the hot sun bearing down upon them.