Session 02: Burning Tiger, Ascending Dragon
General Summary
Master Raman tried to get rid of the group, giving Pang Zhu to them, but they requested the use of a discreet room to interrogate him. Raman led them through the academy & down wide stairs to a large double door. Unlocking them revealed a wide corridor with 3-foot tall jars lining it. The corridor curved into a large underground room, the equal of the training arena. An ironbound door was set into the far side, which he unlocked with some difficulty, a puff of rust coming from the lock.
"We haven't used this room in some time, but it should serve your purposes and give you the privacy you need," Raman said. With some effort, he forced open the door, revealing a cobwebbed storeroom with dusty shelves & racks.
Kayle Mar'Ven quickly searched the room, followed by searching the still-unconscious Pang Zhu, while Vulpis Red checked him for magic and his mouth for poison capsules or the like. Cebril Hawkson bound the comatose student in intricate knots with a long length of silk rope before casting Zone of Truth around him.
Waking Pang Zhu, the group began to interrogate him as the single lantern in the room cast them in ominous shadows.
The teen revealed that Steel River had gone to Korgawa Academy to study, and boasted that Steel River would take him to the school in turn. He was confident he would succeed despite the school's renowned mortality rate, scorning the Su Chi Academy as too slow and ineffective.
Cebril asked Zhu how to reach Korgawa Island, yet he knew little of use. Steel River had left instructions with the youth to throw the ribbon at the Su Monster if a group of dangerous strangers arrived at the Academy, and then left him. However, Zhu also revealed that about three weeks ago, he had been introduced to the Jade Wasp, who had said nothing to him, and that the Steel River had a home in Bajapur near the Su Chi Academy.
Kayle knew a little of the Korgawa Academy: mainly that it was known for the brutality of their accelerated training methods, which allows students to learn techniques in a month which would take a year elsewhere - but their mortality rate was seven dead in every ten students. The Island was located somewhere to the north-east of Bajapur.
Cebril Hawkson found Master Raman pacing at the top of the stairs, asking him, "Do you know where Korgawa Academy is on Korgawa Island?"
"The island is the academy," Raman replied. "It is about three days' sail from here. It is hardly competition for us, but you would have to ask a ship captain to find out a more specific location."
"Have you ever heard of the Jade Wasp?" Hawkson continued.
"Yes," Raman responded. "I have heard of her and her dangerous and strange spirit style, but little more than that."
The group carried Pang Zhu to the doors, where Kayle spoke to Raman. "What can we do about blocking spirits or spirit styles? Are there any techniques?"
"You would need to discuss that with a cleric or wizard, but they may be able to offer some help."
Kayle thanked him for his aid, and said that he would mention the aid of the Su Chi academy to the House of Cats, which Raman appreciated, then the group left to return to the House.
Meeting Zamadan, the group listed their progress and handed over Pang Zhu for confinement and further interrogation. He confirmed that their letter of credit was good for the hire of a ship, and they proceeded to the library for further research.
The Korgawa Academy was indeed known to the House of Cats Library. Korgawa Island was noted for being a tall and mountainous island, only known by that name in the last twenty-five to thirty years, named after the Master Korgawa who took it over. A former adventurer, he was known for a great many deeds both good and bad, until he finalised his training method, whereupon he used his adventuring wealth to set up the Academy. The island formerly didn't have a real name, other than sailors calling the islands in the area "The Sea Teeth" thanks to the rocks projecting from the sea around them.
Steel River had a home located in the Street of Soft Rains, at number 16, in Bajapur. It was a small two-storey house with a five-foot wooden fence and a small courtyard at the front, with a pattern of curling waves carved into the front door. The interior was tastefully decorated with dark wood floors and inkbrush art hanging on the walls. Interior doors opened to the right and left of the entrance hall, and a passage went deeper into the building while stairs led up.
The door to the left slid aside to reveal a study or meditation room, with a series of charts showing how to focus chi energy into the body via breathing methods, and a thick mat on the floor where a student would kneel to meditate. Scrolls and books contained more martial arts information. One of the looseleaf books showed the basics of the Su Chi Academy style, as well as a primer on the methods of several other schools.
The room to the right was dedicated to calligraphy and art, with an easel and a comfortable chair, and a selection of brushes and inks. The art on the walls and scattered around the room showed the basics of the Raging River style.
The passage deeper into the building opened into a large and simple open kitchen, with glazed paper windows allowing in light. An open door at the back of the house held a loosely-woven curtain screening out insects, revealing a small, well-tended garden filled with herbs and vegetables. The garden had apparently not been tended in a few weeks, with leaves scattered across the walkways . A comfortable lounge area next to the kitchen contained a low table and cushions surrounding it.
Underneath the stairs was a door leading to a storage pantry containing basic items such as teas and cured meats, with a very fine patina of dust indicating it had not been touched in a week or two.
A landing surrounded the top of the stairs in a horseshoe pattern, with a pair of double-doors at the centre and another door at either end of the horseshoe. The double door opened to reveal a small but well-appointed dojo, with mats on the floor and glaives and nine-sectioned flails on the walls. A small shrine at one end of the room appeared to be used for ancestor-worship and had a carven raging water pattern, with burned incense and candles in front of the shrine. Moving the shrine revealed a concealed hollow beneath, but it was currently empty. Waxed-paper windows in the dojo could be slid open to reveal the back garden. Much of one wall was taken up by a very large and valuable mirror, possibly for use in developing the Steel River's martial style.
The room on the left side of the landing was a spare bedroom, with rumpled bedclothes and large indoor plants scattered around. A few thumb-sized dead wasps lay on the windowsill, with black and metallic green bands on their abdomen, likely evidence of the room's use by Jade Wasp.
The room to the right was Steel River's bedroom. A large double bed was perfectly made, with expensive art on the wall and an open wardrobe containing more of his fine robes. The room was well-appointed and very tidy with nothing out of place, with the exception of a box sitting in a nest of geometrically-patterned silk and a gold ribbon, evidently wrapping it before it was opened. The whole appears to have been either a very expensive purchase or an incredibly lavish gift, suitable for a Mogul. The open box held a cushion bearing the imprint of an s-shaped item. Careful investigation revealed it to be the imprint of a nine-sectioned flail staff, but the residue of magic left behind was constantly changing chaotically. Removing the cushion revealed that two types of lacquer had been used on the inside bottom of the box: glossy and matte. The symbol of Rawhn was marked with the matte lacquer.
A chest of drawers to one side of the room contained varied knick-knacks, including a drawer with two hundred gil plates, and another drawer with jewellery worth five hundred gold.
A concealed trapdoor above the bed opened into a dusty storage space. Disassembled heirloom-quality furniture was stored within, along with items like a set of high-quality crockery and china which would be worth a thousand gil by itself.
The entire house has the feeling of being cleaned out and put into storage for an indefinite period of time.
Returning the House of Cats, the group discovered the House had been following the Golden Hand's investigation into the Rawhn artefacts. There was an un-located artefact known as The Braided Whip, which was supposedly able to move victims away from the attacker when struck. It had been recorded as moving beyond the borders of Bajapur before the Hand abandoned the investigation.
The House of Cats offered one of their own ships with a captain named Botrek, a large and bulky man with a magnificent long moustache. He was cautious about the rocky shoals in the area, but the group reassured him that they only needed transport to a reasonable distance away. The ship set sail a mere hour later, after the party each acquired antitoxin and healing potions.
The crew ran out the oars to boost the sailing speed, and Cebril Hawkson began to sing, accompanying the drums. Motivated, the crew made excellent time for the rest of the day and into the night.
The next morning dawned obscured with slight fog, and the shapes of islands were darkly visible through the haze. The crew muttered warily and the captain warned the adventurers, "We must make the observances."
The sailors hauled a large and expensive-looking red-lacquered chest above deck, accompanied by an older man bearing a long staff topped with a bell the size of a beer stein which he was careful not to ring. Putting the staff over the gunwale, the older man immersed the bell underwater and began to ring it, the clanging chimes drifting up from the surface of the sea. A rushing sound came as the crew looked at each other nervously.
About 250 feet away, a black mass rose from the water like an island coming to the surface. Looking at first like an overturned longboat, then a ship's hull, then even larger It rose forty feet into the air, at which point it was revealed to be a huge arch of tentacle. The crew looped ropes through the handles of the box and started lowering it to the surface of the water, as the arch moved toward the ship threateningly. The tip of the tentacle broke the surface, questing toward the ship, and the sailors lowered the chest onto the massive tentacle-tip. The tentacle rotated slightly, allowing the man-sized suckers to grasp the chest.
Looking over their shoulders, Mortimer, Kayle and Junko saw three huge pillars rising into the fog, forty feet across, towering into the foggy sky. The tentacles all receded into the water, together with the chest, with barely a gurgle. The sailors started rowing frantically to clear the area.
Behind the ship four huge pillar-tentacles, each forty feet across, rise into the sky before merging together into a huge shaft 160 feet across - resembling the fingers at the end of an arm. The tentacles once more slipped soundlessly back beneath the water, and the captain clapped Cebril on the back, saying, "It's not every day one sees the hand of a god."
The fog cleared and the wind picked up, and the ship made excellent time. About three hours after midnight on the night of the second day, the ship slowed to a halt about half a mile offshore one of the islands they had been sailing past. Two small lights were visible at sea level, on the edge of the island.
The captain offered to have the group rowed ashore in a longboat, as maps indicated an area with fewer rocks, but the party refused. Instead, Mortimer Thornehaven cast Water Walk on the group as well as 300-foot Darkvision, and the group jumped overboard to walk ashore, greatly impressing the sailors.
Reaching the edge of the island, the group found a long stone pier in a bay-shaped area. A lantern shone from the large hexagonal tip of the pier, with another halfway back the length of the jetty. Amazingly large, the pier was big enough to dock a warship, and the rising tide had its surface fifteen feet above the sea level.
After some debate as to the best path of action, the group clambered up onto the pier, which was suspiciously deserted and bare without so much as a coiled rope on its surface. A carved wooden plaque read, "Prospective students, walk carefully. Show your style and walk with respect."
Junko noticed a small strip of paper on one of the pillars edging the stone walkway; a small strip of paper with arcane sigils inked on it. One of the first sigils was an inked arcane eye, which was moving as if the ink was animated. It looked at her, and she called over the rest of the group. It appeared to be some kind of divination magic.
Vulpis tried to cast Identify on the paper, but the eye rolled around wildly before the sigils started to glow orange and the paper burst into flames, incinerating itself in a flash. The banner at the second lantern, halfway down the pier, started to snap and flap wildly before tearing itself free and fluttering to the stone below. A large glowing reddish-orange tiger the size of a cart-horse rose from it and started running down the pier toward the group, snarling.
Junko ran to the forefront of the group, and prepared to dodge. The tiger sprinted towards her and made a huge pouncing leap and bite, and only Junko's dodge saved her. Kayle dashed around the tiger to flank it, and hit it twice with draconic strikes, lightning crackling over his fists.
Cebril cast dispel magic on the tiger, and its fur rippled and the illusion vanished, to reveal an origami construct, inked sigils shifting as its paper muscles shifted and bunched.
Emeny flew forward, recklessly attacking with her axe, and making the calligraphy on the origami flare as it was struck. Mortimer moved up and cast Spiritual Weapon, attacking it and dealing force damage, before channeling his divine twilight ability to create a sphere of dim light around him, granting temporary health to those within its realm. Vulpis moved forward and hurled a firebolt at the paper tiger, and then his samurai skeleton archers shot their arrows, all missing.
Junko channeled power into her blade, then attacked, energy pouring into the construct and bypassing its resistances, slashing rents into it.
The tiger shifted to one side, and breathed out a cone of long fluttering scrolls in a blizzard of paper. Junko, Vulpis, a skeleton, and Mortimer were wrapped in paper and restrained, before it turned on Kayle and attacked. He managed to avoid the slashing claws, but was wounded by its bite.
Kayle's fists glowed with flame and he rained blows upon it, causing it to burst into flames and the sigils to glow ever-brighter. Cebril cast Heat Metal on Emeny's axe-head, which glowed red-hot in response. She struck at it, hitting twice and raising the flames ever-higher.
Mortimer's spiritual weapon struck and missed the origami tiger as he struggled to escape the paper bindings, and he cast Toll the Dead, the spell slippingly uselessly past the construct. The binding paper tightened around him as he failed to escape its grasp. Mummified, he was unable to so much as twitch.
Vulpis cast Sword Burst, spectral blades slashing the air around him and Mortimer, but although the blades wounded Mortimer the pages continued to wrap him. Vulpis and one of his skeletons were mummified by the paper, but Junko managed to burst free of the bindings.
Ash and smoke and magical sparks poured off the paper tiger as it bit and clawed at Kayle, wounding him severely as he only managed to dodge a single swipe sailing over his head. Kayle dived at it in return, acid-green energy wreathing his fists. Smashing it with a flurry of blows, he hit something vital and streamers of sparks flew up into the sky as he destroyed the construct.
Vulpis cast Life Transference, almost healing Kayle's grievous injuries but grimacing as dark blood-bruises bloomed under Vulpis' own skin. The necromancer sighed in relief as Thornehaven cast Cure Wounds on him, the bruises shrinking and disappearing.
Reaching halfway along the pier where the flag had been, the party saw another paper sigil, the eye watching carefully. This time the group bowed to the sigil, then Vulpis and his skeletons moved down the pier, demonstrating a martial kata, and Kayle followed suit, being careful to appear as a lower-level student than he actually was.
The group proceeded down the pier before once more finding another paper sigil at the far end with another flag opposite it. The banner bore an inked calligraphic illustration of a tiger, with a row of sigils in brushwork below it. Cebril cast an illusion of a slowly-thickening fog cloud around the eye, attempting to conceal its view. Vulpis looked at the flag, trying to tell if he could dispel the magic, but was unsure as he had never encountered this style of magic before.
After a few moments' hesitation, the group bypassed the flag, and stepped off the end of the pier onto the island, where a path wound upward into the darkened jungle .
Missions/Quests Completed
Locate and explore Steel River's home.
Follow Steel River to Korgawa Island.
Report Date
13 Feb 2022
Primary Location
Secondary Location
Related Characters
Comments