Adventures of Hoi: Bringing A Blind Swordsmith To The BBEG, Meeting The Dragon Of Time, Getting A Free Warning

Anyone who reads any of the Actual Play/After-Action Reports from our campaigns does so at his or her own damn risk. There are topics that might trigger somebody and we don't shy away from those. If you read on, have fun!

Also, previous session (kinda) in the Adventures of Hoi!

***

 

The game started with me being summoned to White Dragons quarters. I went and bowed.

 

White Dragon needed a certain master of swords to come to his palace. He'd been invited already, but refused.

 

Who? The blind swordsmith, master Nakamura, of course!
 

"Bring him to me from Scorpion Oasis. Try to persuade him first!"
 

"How harmed can he be during the persuasion?"
 

"He should be able to work and answer questions. Again, only as necessary. You'll be provided funds to pay for his services, should he require payment in gold."
 

"...does he need legs to work?"
 

"Try to bring him whole. If he refuses, you might need to remove those legs, but here".
 

White Dragon and Hoi understand each other perfectly.
"Any other parameters?"
 

"None. But you'll get a sample to carry, this might interest him."
 

So Hoi got a chest of gold, and a chest with metallic meteorite ore, to carry to Scorpion Oasis.
 

He bowed, and went to take his gifted sword. The sword had warned him not to bring him in White Dragon's presence, he's carried it before, so he'd sense the sword's presence...and the master inside is his grand (grand-grand?) father, too!
 

The sword didn't like travelling for weeks, though, when it (he, actually...) heard Hoi wanted to move the long, safe way - not passing Magic Mountains.
 

But Hoi believed that the gold, ore and his luggage would be too much to carry in eagle form. He wanted a horse, instead.
 

"I can help. Take your luggage and no horse".

And it transformed, becoming like an "anime-style surf-blade" (GM description) and lifting Hoi. So Hoi air-skated away (well, after first leaving the city on foot, the sword's presence is to be kept a secret from everyone).
 

He decided to minimize the odds of distractions and being spotted, and after a couple hours of travel this way, he went to sleep in a clearing. 

 

"We're going to travel during the night, sleep the day. If I get attacked on the ground, I'd rather fight when there's light. Also, people seeing us in the night might not be able to identify us, we don't want it known that you're a flying sword".

So Hoi went to sleep.
 

The sword doesn't sleep, so he woke him up shortly before nightfall.
 

"Wake up! Time to act!"
 

"Five more minutes!"
 

"Five guys ahead, trying to sneak up on you!"
 

Hoi woke up, but didn't open his eyes, no need to warn them if the warning was belated.
 

"Distance?"
 

"50 meters".
 

"Their formation?"
 

"Spreading and trying to encircle you. Don't seem too competent!"
 

"Do they have bows?"
 

"Only one, the one on 6".
 

Hoi rose up, snatching a stone.
 

"Let's just fly away!"
 

"But we could get some exercise!"
 

"Yeah, but I'm burdened with two chests, and I'd need to move. Not worth it. Let's just fly to pass near the bowman, we'll entertain ourselves in the next village!"
 

And so we flew. I instructed the sword to make a small turn left and down, and used the sudden dip to throw the stone. It struck the bowman in the head, knocking him out!
 

Hoi didn't consider this to be grounds to stop.

Instead, we arrived at a village. There, Hoi used the funds he's been provided - sufficient for a trip that was expected to last for weeks, remember - to get himself room, board and company.
 

How do you get all of this on such a place? You give a large tip to the serving girl and tell her what you're looking for.
 

"I'll see what I can do, if Young Master is leaving large tips".
 

"No, that wasn't a large tip. But the entertainer might get one".
 

...Well, and probably more than just the tip, but that's neither here, nor now.
 

Basically, a decent-looking girl arrived in his room and thoroughly entertained both his sword, and the sword's handle.
 

Importantly, the spirit in the sword stopped complaining about not getting to exercise on the wannabe robbers. And Hoi even remembered her name...well, her "professional handle".
 

They left in the evening and travelled mostly uneventfully...right until a dragon appeared and caught up to them. He wanted a specific pearl he'd lost on a betting game against my sword's inside essence, the elder Jing!
 

And no, the Dragon of Time had proof Jing had cheated. And no, he wasn't taking "no" for an answer, we had a month to find it! Any arguments like "but you didn't catch him in the act" were just brushed away! Whiner and sore loser!
 

Only problem, Jing had both gained and lost it before even dying...i.e. centuries ago! And it was likely lost in the city of the dead, the zombies-sewn place of Jin where even Hoi refuses to thread without a wet facemask!

Worst of all, we asked him what the Dragon needs the pearl so badly for. His answer stunned us...
 

"I'm going to dissolve it in ambrosia and drink it in order to sleep through the whole war!"
 

"War?"
 

"The incoming one! The last Ming sorcerer is going to start it, and the scions of the Jing* family are not heeding the prophesies!"
 

"Ain't he dead?"
 

"No, they just kept him alive and dismembered him, and spread the parts in different areas! Why, no idea, but he has all the power of all the demon-worshipping Ming Sorcerers of old, the ones who had enslaved the world and used it as a playground for them and their demons..."
 

He suggested also it might be because when one of the Ming got killed, the surviving ones got all his power. So yes, the last one had all the power of all of them!
 

To quote Hoi at this stage: "Oh fuck!"
 

And this thing? It's about to get loose!
 

"Who's helping him?"
 

"The Dead Men's King in that city you mentioned earlier!" 

 

(BTW, it seems the dragon is mistaking names a lot, because he mixes up names that dropped out of use with current ones and those that are yet to be. And he outright doesn't pay attention to "mortals' names", so he couldn't tell us specific names of the mortals helping the Last Ming!)
 

"Only him?"
 

"Well, there's some morons calling themselves the New Ming, but morons lack even a drop of the blood! And some morons in the Empire, thinking themselves smart, but are being used as useful tools... Dark Judgment* or something! I don't pay attention to mortals' names!"
 

"We'll do our best, but we might not be able to even find your pearl in a month. Say, have you tried big amounts of normal drugs?", Hoi suggested helpfully.
 

"Besides, no matter what you demand, my duty demands that I need to get to the Scorpion Oasis to find master Nakamura, and that's going to take time. Unless you can help us get there in less time, being the Dragon of Time?"
 

And the dragon actually agreed that's within his abilities, and gave us a ride to Scorpion Oasis. It was nice seeing even dragons admit the importance of duty and following the orders of one's superiors!

Once there, I went quickly to purchase a magic kite from a local sorcerer, and sent it to White Dragon.
 

"Boss, there's a war brewing! A Dragon told me...the Dragon of Time! Said your family has been ignoring some prophesies, last Ming sorcerer is getting help escaping from Dark Dishwashers or something and from New Mings, and that it's gonna be nasty! Continuing with the mission, Hoi, out."

It takes one hour each way, so I hired a guide and went straight to Nakamura's house. A young beardless student met me.
 

"I have personal message for the master", I said.
 

Then, after being introduced, I presented him the ore.
 

"That's metal that fell from the sky. I believe my master wants you to fashion a mighty weapon from it, and there's more ore in Rot, our capital!"
 

"So you're serving White Dragon?"
 

"That I am! And a war is coming, so a weapon like this shall be necessary!"
 

"Is your master going to start it?"
"No! A dragon told me someone who was imprisoned centuries ago is going to! Who would be better than master Nakamura to shape this ore into a weapon?"
 

"Nobody's better, indeed... Come tomorrow at dawn. I need to think!"
 

I bowed, and left. I had a good feeling!

Once in an inn, I started an orgy for my sword (three female entertainers and lots of drugs, which I purchased, so I let them play with each other and my sword) while waiting for kites to arrive, and writing replies.
 

"I just like a nice athmosphere!", as I explained. "I'll have my fun when I'm done with the important business!"
 

I did take time until midnight to pay them attention, though. Hoi calls that "thug's life meditations" - thinking your plans over during an orgy is best!

The next morning Hoi was up an hour before dawn. When I arrived, Master Nakamura and his lone student were packing up.
 

We sent off their donkey, attached their cart to the surfboard, and flew away immediately.
 

During the travel, Hoi practiced sword skills with the student, and guessed correctly that it's a girl. He didn't care one bit, and made it clear to her: "you're master Nakamura's student, doesn't matter to me whether you're a girl!"
 

He didn't explain that, but after all, there's many girls he can have, and those wouldn't anger Nakamura! She wasn't anything special, either...
 

Now, my sword told me she has been starting to look at me favourably. But Hoi didn't care much about that, either! He's White Dragon's assassin, why would he 

care about a girl's feelings?
 

So when we stopped in the village from the first night, he called the entertainer (...her stage name was "something something Lotus", I decided it's "Blowing Lotus") to his room.
 

The next morning, the student was icy towards him. He didn't care about that, either! He just asked what's wrong, and was told nothing's wrong.
 

So he just let it slide, and before leaving them - after we arrived in  the city of Rot, that is - let her know that if she wants someone to practice with, she can call me. Have a nice day either way!

Then I went to report, fully expecting I might not survive! As expected, White Dragon asked how we'd arrived that quickly, and I had to give him the sword and explain where I'd got it/him!

I suspect the grandfather and grandson spoke at length. Finally White Dragon returned the sword to Hoi, surprising me quite a bit.

"Keep this away from me...and no matter what, don't show it any pictures!"
 

"I'd guessed that last part already, boss! I need to see the treasurer now, I'm returning most of the money...Nakamura only cared about the ore! I think the man loves his job..."

And that's how this session ended, too!

 

 

 

 

Notes:

*Jing, as in the family name of the White Dragon...and his brother, The Wolf. The campaign is named "Wolf and Dragon Campaign" for a reason!
 

**The joke Hoi made here is probably untranslatable, as he called them "Dark Dish-Washers". The roots of the words "judging" and "dish" have only one letter of difference in Bulgarian, so you can reasonably misremember "Dark Judges" as "Dark Dishes" and assume it's "Dark Dishwashers", instead.

Adventures of Hoi: Killing Demons, Saving People, Being Perplexed (potentially highly triggering)

Anyone who reads any of the Actual Play/After-Action Reports from our campaigns does so at his or her own damn risk. There are topics that might trigger somebody and we don't shy away from those. If you read on, have fun!

***

My Art of Wuxia RPG character Hoi just stopped a human sacrifice recently.

Not being an exact paragon of the xia ideals, he was quite surprised by himself*, but he was following the advice of a hermit, so he let it slide...

Here's the list of Hoi's in-game...accomplishments...so far:

-A supply run to the pirate slave markets (an army has needs for labour, too), he performed excellently there. He didn't get all the slaves he wanted, but he got most of them.

Importantly, on the way there he passed through Magic Mountains, an accursed place. Hoi has no fear, feeling others should be afraid of him, but he is courteous to everyone right until he decides to kill (then he doesn't bother excusing himself for being rude). This helped him out, as the hermit gave him passage, and a sword that allows Hoi to walk on the water.

-Murdering nobles and bringing their magical trinkets to the White Dragon. He didn't ask why they had to die, he asked whether their families should outlive them (yes, discretion was required, so nobody else died).

-Training the wife of a neighbouring ruler how to dispose of him stealthily (literally exhausting him with sex, while she had the advantage of being drugged - and, Hoi suspects, he was as well, to ensure he won't make it). Then we visited her to impose an artifact she probably didn't want (it allows strangling her at a distance) on her neck. 

She came to the White Dragon for an extended visit a week later, and a White Dragon's puppet has been ruling her husband's city ever since.

During said mission, was under direct oversight from the White Dragon's daughter (and her body servant), which turned out to be way more fun than high-station bosses usually are.

-Visiting a cave somewhere to inspect some kind of seal. There was an old map of the World Before The Cataclysm, Hoi did his best to remember it just in case. He couldn't find the cave, though: he only knows one fourth of the way. The other fours are known to three different servants of the White Dragon, who seem muchly similar to him.

-Visiting the aforementioned hermit in his spare time. 

Hoi had found the man interesting (not "of interest", just fun to be around) and asking him whether he requires anything, and whether he wanted his sword back.

The hermit inspected the sword and asked how many men he had killed (7, counting the women as well) and whether he had killed any demons - which got a negative answer.

Then the hermit sent him to visit a particular place in the magic mountain, and do as he sees fit, in order to "get closer to his sword". 

There, Hoi saw a demon summoning ritual - some moronic witches were going to sacrifice a young girl - and killed the morons to prevent it. Then he noticed the demon had appeared, so he killed the demon, too, cackling maniacally.

Why? Because the sword had just said "oh, demon blood is the best" upon him delivering the first strike.

Thus, the reason he stopped the sacrifice is simply that the sword seemed like it wants to kill those there, except the sacrificial victim.

Yes, he asked his sword about everyone specifically. 

Killing the witches wasn't a fight worthy of more than a mention in one of his reports. ("Met three witches, killed them, turned out the demon is coming anyway, which would suggest the ritual wasn't actually necessary - I think it's just being attracted by the smell of blood. Killing the demon required lots of time, effort, and incurred me some minor wounds, and a bill for uniform repair, due to being swallowed - had to cut my way out of the stomach").

Once the fight had concluded, he realized he's just saved a fair maiden...well, a girl about 7-8 years of age. A future maiden, then.

"Am I a righteous xia** now? No, that's ridiculous... But, if I leave her here, it's like I'm wasting my own efforts fighting to save her!"

So he released her. She ran into the deep, magical jungle (they're literally in Magic Mountains).

He shrugged.

"Ah well, guess this one wasn't meant to be..."

Then it turned out the talking pet monkeys of the hermit had saved her and brought her back to him. So he decided he should actually bring her to her village.

Which he did - carried her away while in eagle form, she was in a reed basket that the hermit's pet monkeys prepared). 

The sword, who is telepathic***, talked to the girl to calm her down - Hoi can't speak as an eagle - and later mentioned he likes her, "she's a bloodthirsty little one".

"Maybe I should visit her in a few years and see if she's still like that, if yes, she could be useful", Hoi answered. "Either way, we'll see if she's still grateful for being saved".

Nope, he's not doing anything without an eye towards gain.

He also reported dutifully about killing witches, but omitted the presence of the sword, reasoning that it's his own now.  In fact, he never brings it in the presence of White Dragon or his daughters (the man only has daughters).

Notes:

*He's basically serving the supposed BBEG of the setting, and does so in a methodic, ruthless fashion. I suspect the GM is playing said BBEG as a "misunderstood badass", but Hoi doesn't see it this way - he believes the boss is out to be Number One, no scruples allowed, and is willing to support him (and being his right-hand man has perks)!

Yes, I'm the ninja serving the BBEG, envy me!

Also, for reference, I have 3 PCs in this campaign. One is a guy who would fight for ideals, revenge, or to protect others. Another is a guy who would fight for ideals, for revenge, but usually it's just because it seems like it would be a fun fight.

Hoi, however, is a guy who would fight someone because he was ordered to fight, because he was ordered to kill somebody and didn't manage to do it without fighting, because he wants the guy to suffer, or for profit. 

**Xia are supposed to protect the weak, punish the wicked and act with honour. Hoi knows full well he's one of those many xia would like to punish.

***Turned out, there was an ancient kung-fu master imprisoned inside, who had been a robber, pirate, highwayman, swindler and warrior. It just had been sleeping - until it tasted demon blood.

It has also been determined since that Hoi and the sword like each other's company alright. It probably helps that Hoi is helping the sword satisfy its carnal urges it has a handle that's quite nice, and Hoi pays different whores to use it.

My characters in Art of Wuxia

I am playing in an on-and-off Art of Wuxia campaign. The feature is that I have a stable of PCs, which inhabit different parts of the setting.

Let me introduce them...

1) Wang, a classical wandering scholar-warrior, who has some rather unexpected approaches to dealing with enemies stronger than him. OK, that last part is more due to me adapting to the GM's style, which means there's many NPCs you can't really match, akin to Elders in V:tM...

2) Fu, a Beggar Brotherhood Warrior-Mystic...in training. He's still learning, but he's kicking major asses already. Well, it helps that the Beggar's Staff is one of the best styles out there!

He's the least sociable of the three, and amusingly most prone to a fight.

3) Hoi, a Lin Kuei-type kung-fu master who uses magic and fists to...serve the presumable Big Bad Evil Guy of the setting, the White Dragon.

So far, his contributions to the security of the White Dragon's Realm was suggesting (with due paperwork) that the bodies of people sent to attack the Master's interests should be impaled as normal, but afterwards their bodies should be animated and sent to greet visitors to the city and tell them the story of their betrayals and due punishment.

So if you visit an evil wizard's city in this GM's game, and get greeted by the animated body of a former ninja who insists on telling you how he came to kill the Evil Wizard, and got captured, impaled and reanimated, you can thank my guy for that!

As I said, it's interesting. What's even better is that #3's involvement in the game is happening before the timeline of #1 & #2 and I've already realized that I've bought (and delivered to the city) the sister of an NPC that is allied to my #2. BTW, #1 wanted to find that same NPC, but never managed to.