Gwinch returns to Khanbaliq

Gwinch returned to his own meditation hall and compound after a two-month sojourn at a monstery outside town where he studied advanced martial arts styles under the tutelage of Sensei Luche, who had defeated him at a tournament earlier in the year. He was surprised by some of the changes Sheevani had made, namely that not only were the young servant women involved in the religious instruction of visiting samurai (while serving beer) but that this instruction extended to the womens' private quarters, newly constrcted to accomodate this innovation.

Gwinch ordered a moratorium on evening temple hours and gave the women to return to their previous activities of cooking and cleaning. He asked which they preferred, but they did not indicate a strong preference. Sheevani had recommended that one of the women, who had inspired a fierce argument between two samurai, should be returned to the Temple outside the city; the woman was sad about this and said she preferred serving samurai at Gwinch's house. Gwinch agreed that Sheevani's practice should resume. He agreed to escort the "disputed woman" back to the temple and to bring back three more to his meditation hall.

At the temple, Gwinch negotiated with the monks at the gate to speak to Ali, the merchant who lived at the temple, and delivered a message from Sheevani. Ali brought Gwinch to the grand temple hall and introduced Gwinch to six women. Ali suggested that he might choose three to entertain guests, and a fourth to be his own companion. With Saisho's advice, Gwinch chose.

Mysterious Sala woman
Originally uploaded by fab to pix

Gwinch broight four women back to his meditation hall. The re-opening was well-attended. Besides familiar samurai, there was a merchant who dealt in arms and armor. Gwinch made a nice deal with the merchant to buy weapons for about a dozen of his monks who were otherwise without weapons.

Lesserton & Mor

that bee on a flower
Originally uploaded by Brayo

Joined another new campaign as player, this time with a magic-user named Strothbogie. The character-creation process was fun as we all had very limited starting gold; we contributed to the seediness of an already pretty despicable little town in order to get more. Maybe just to be able to buy a few flasks of oil, that’s how poor we were. But these turned out to be very useful.
Soon after arriving in the ruins of a long-destroyed city of former importance, we met one of its residents, who with the help of some magic, welcomed Strothbogie and guided him to the clan of the bee-keepers. The honey of these bees has unusual effects on those who ingest it. Strothbogie hoped to sample these effects, while his companions hoped to profit by taking some honey and selling it to others back in town. We traded some oil and other goods for a few doses of honey and Strothbogie succeeded in accomplishing his plan. The others have taken several important steps; we successfully brought honey back to town, and are now trying to figure out how to sell it. (It’s illegal.)