assassins_pursuit_rpg | Entries tagged with falling cloud

Investigation 3/Event 5

I remember the first time Shui took my pulse. He stopped, listened close, shook his head that way he does, then told me to show him my stance. He had me take stance over and over, then had me stop before fully taking stance - "There! Hold that." Every few months he'd have me do it, each time, shorter and shorter. Until I didn't move at all.

"This is how you take a stance without taking a stance. You should do it more often."

I remember now and then, but I forget a lot. Today, in this cell, I remember because I don't want to alert the guards.

"How did you learn this?"
"I'm one of the few doctors the Beggar Gang will come to. Did you think they were laying about all day?"

Times like these, I wonder if I've been running around so much to avoid thinking about the past. Maybe, all the running has left me laying about all day in my head. My teacher tried to teach me so much, too much in the months before he was killed. Maybe he knew it was coming. And it's too much to think about, but I suppose I have nothing but time right now.

If I break out too early, the investigation might get shut down. If I wait too late, I won't be there to help. The Tao is about right time and right place.

So I take the stance without a stance and breathe.

yeloson

Investigation 3 / Event 4 (rolling doubles.... aiyah)

I started thinking about the common thread to our lines of investigation. Why would Madame Sang know anything? I spent a few days looking through the Imperial Census. 3 years ago, a single woman moved from Madame Sang's House to Duke Ding's household and no others in the last 40 years. "Lanfen"

Why kill the Emperor? He's produced no heir in over the years, the noble houses would simply fall into disarray over which 22nd degree cousin should inherit the throne. With the rumor of Eight Ghost Assassin out, everyone was scrambling and protecting their interests... except Duke Ding. Why not? Maybe he already has a winning move.

Duke Ding's household is preparing for the Spring Festival, so it wasn't hard getting in on the grounds as a geomancer. I had gotten pretty far in when I heard the cry of a baby near the inner household. It took a few quick changes of clothing to look like one of the house's servants, and I reached a room full of curtains, a woman and a child.

"Lanfen?"

She looked up, her eyes got wide and I was lucky to see the reflection of my assailant in her eyes. The woman with the trembling hands and Endless Thunder Fist. I... haven't trained enough to fight her. I had managed to get to the outer courtyard when the dozens of soldiers surrounded me. I knew I could use Flying Step to escape the soldiers, but that woman would kill me as I tried.

The Duke laughed. "We only needed someone to blame for the Emperor's death, but attempted assassination of his son? What a gift!"

I'm in a dungeon, somewhere. Don't worry, I'll be free soon.

Protect the Emperor.

yeloson

investigation 1/ Event 4

I briefly looked into the other criminal leads before dropping them altogether Either: they were unrelated; already dead; or still alive only because they were so far away they couldn't possibly interfere with Eight Ghost Assassin's plan.

Another lead occurred to me:

Eight years ago the Emperor had the ice pits built in areas around the Capital - quite ingenious for keeping food fresh, though getting the ice cut from the mountains and brought down was a pricey endeavor. A few nobles began doing the same 2 years ago, and that beyond the taxation, there's very little inspection or interrogation of the ice caravans that are not going to the Palace.

Of the seven pits built, one is under construction, two are still flooded from last year's quake, two are waiting for ice (it appears the Shu and the Bi both cross-sabotaged each other's ice caravans this year. Sigh. Politics.), and the last two - Duke Ding's household and his close ally, North Minister Yang, have working ice pits.

I started with Yang's, as it was easier to get a geomancy pass and enter for an inspection. Although I made a show of reading the elements and stars, I was mostly looking for clues. I found nothing. Until I came back to the geomantic compass.

The magnet was wrong. North pointed south, south pointed north.

When someone's chi is wrong, you can feel it. But what kind of person can live with reversed chi, thrive with it, strong enough to reverse the magnetic lines of a cellar and leave no other feeling? Was this hours, days, or weeks old? Whether this is Eight Ghost Assassin or not, we should be worried.

yeloson

Investigation 1 / Event 5

After finding Axe Hand Lao's...body... I rode back to the capital without delay.

The Grand Cryptkeeper was reluctant to assist me. I whispered the name of our quarry and he had the slightest of twitch, then agreed. We went to the Halls of the Unspoken Dead - not a crypt for the ancestors, the nobles or kings, no this served a very different purpose.

Each coffin held a body, each body held a secret. Each one the body of a person killed by a different fighting style and the lids were labeled.

The keeper stopped after 15 coffins. "You are forbidden from the rest."
"No. I must know what did this."
"Seeing further is death."
"Then let me see and leave a note for my comrades, at least."

He stared at me long and hard, then he hit my shoulder. My arm went dead and a terrible pain tore slowly up my arm. Tears welled up in my eyes and he moved the next few coffins, each one showing me a new way of harm I hadn't even thought of.

"Do you dare continue?"
"Yes."

A hit to my other arm. It was getting hard to stand. The pain almost made me vomit. A few more coffins. Another question, a reply. A hit to my stomach. Things were flashing in and out. Some more coffins.

"This one!"

I woke up later. The keeper said, "You have seen far more than you should have, but because you didn't fight back or flee, I knew you had to be telling the truth. I've cured the attack. Pain brings the truth."

The coffin was labeled "Endless Thunder Fist" - someone in Xu Zhun's lineage is likely to be our assassin. Xu Zhun, the bad news is that he or she works faster.

yeloson

Investigation 0/Event 5

My master once said to find something, you have to look for something else, first. The last time this came up, Chun and I got into a... philosophical debate. (“No path, just source. No mind, just Buddha.” “What does that even mean?”) We decided the only way to resolve it would be to go from winehouse to winehouse, talking to the poets, philosophers, and scholars to resolve it (There was also a side bet about which places had better wine. He won, and I really should have known better...)

Anyway, perhaps it was money well spent, because my investigation begins with the local hangouts of the Jianghu in the city - many are simply in and out - running errands for various officials that are best not spoken of. It’s easy enough for me to walk in and talk to the owners, make a few demanding inquiries, under the guise of a stolen planting vase or such, then settle down with a smile and say, “Well, now that the business is over, how about a drink?”

Eight Ghost Assassin is too smart to enter the capital without having gathered information, as well as made sure his or her informants are either indisposed or dead when it comes time to strike to avoid messy situations such as being identified.

Notable missing individuals of interest:
- ‘Ten Hells’ Bao
- Fire Needle Mei
- Axe Hand Lao

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28

The Assassin's Pursuit: a Play By Post Game

Entries tagged with falling cloud

Stance without a Stance

A crumpled note attached to a messenger pigeon

What is the correct placement for something that shouldn't be?

The First Victim

“Beat the Grass, Scare the Snakes”

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February 2013

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