Monastery of the Crimson Monks

Beatriss and Tetsukichi had been away from the Happy Valley-- and their families for more than a year.  Beatriss's children, being half-spiritfolk, were causing trouble.  For others.  And maybe themselves.

Damai, a skilled hunter and tracker offered to help the local community find non-harmful way to keep their animals safe from the foxes that were probably the children of their local ruler.  What he found was that at least one of the "foxes" wasn't chickens for food or even sport.  They were gifts.  Gifts for someone that lived up in the unexplored hills on the west side of the valley.  Damai followed the tracks and found a small pile of chicken corpses outside the entrance to what looked like a small cave formed by a rockslide-- but proved to be the entrance to something larger and intentional.  There were stairs carved into the stone, and a door.

Based on Damai's report, Beatriss, Tetsukichi, and their associates went to investigate.  They explored an eerie complex of rooms that was clearly one something and in dissembling might become something else.  There were shrines dedicated to sinister spirits, defaced in a way that made them more sinister.  And there were bakemono and goblins, many of them, in all colors and shapes, their only common feature being that they were dead.  There was a large room with a vaulted ceiling, whose only notable feature-- sockets carved into the stone walls-- hinted at some notable purpose that the explorers could not discern.

And there were people.  People in red robes, who greeted them with grave, menacing civility.  They were members of a religious order, and they were visiting.  Beatriss, hoping for more information, volunteered that some children from her village had been exploring in the hills and stumbled upon the entrance.  The robed visitors wanted to meet these children and offered a reward.
Beatriss agreed to bring them.  And then got out as quick as she could.

Returning home, Beatriss questioned her children and found out that they had been feasting and playing with the bakemono.  Beatriss told them that their playmates were all dead and not to go back to the cave in the hills.

Back to normalish

Bangqiu claimed a large portion of the monetary treasure from the snake lord’s tomb, and he donated it to Gwinch’s monastery, effectively buying the promise that Kafka would be permitted to accompany him on future adventures. In particular, he wanted to hire a sailing ship and return the captives he’d rescued to their far-flung homelands. Kafka agreed to meet him in Quitokai.

Tetsukichi and Beatriss had no plans accept to return home to the Happy Valley via Khanbaliq. They were accompanied by two of the rescued captives. There was Hui, the daughter of a merchant from Khanbaliq. Al-Fitar took her as his wife following a small ceremony in Khanbaliq. The young woman’s family gifted him with an odd gold box. The other new companion was Noi, daughter of a happy family in Quitokai who nevertheless had asked to leave her farm behind and pursue a life of adventure.

Back in Happy Valley, Tetsukich had a new son. Beatriss’s children were running wild. The people of the Valley had learned that they should not kill the foxes that raided their farms, but it was permissible to hurt them. These foxes’ love of stolen meals seemed to far outstrip any trap, punishment, or other tactic the villagers could devise to deter them.

Tomb of the Minor Snake Lord

Some people of Quitokai were willing to guide Tetsukich and Bangqiu during the first stage of their mission to return the lost children of the jungle to their homes. But as the jungle became thicker and the paths more tortuous, these guides pleaded their ignorance and returned to Quitokai. Damai, grateful for the help the outsiders had given to his village agreed to accompany them wherever they wanted to go, but confessed that he too had little experience in this part of the jungle. The children, thereupon, took on the role of leading the way. 

The way through the jungle brought the party to a level clearing that turned out to be the stone floor of an all-but-ruined building. This excited the children, seemingly because it showed that they had nearly reached home. Tetsukichi and Bangqiu agreed that the raised stone platform would provide a dry place to camp for the night, despite some unnerving architectural details. Among the trees surrounding the platform were three stone pillars, carved in the form of twisting snakes. A large round disk in the center of the platform was also carved to represent a coiled snake.

By close inspection of the disk, Tetsukichi noticed a handle in the center. With help from Al-Fitar, he lifted the disk, revealing a dark hole. The children, screaming with excitement and fear, jumped off the platform. The snake pillars emitted clouds of thick purple mist. Those caught in the mist fell into a deep slumber, and a pair of pythons, slither out of the trees to devour the sleeping men. The rest of the party leapt into action to rescue the friends. Soon, the snakes were dead, and the the children had a nice fire going. The children gorged themselves on roasted python, throwing the bones into the dark hole. The next day, Tetsukich and Bangqiu returned the children to their parents.

About a week later, Tetsukichi and Bangqiu, together with Beatriss and their henchmen, found the snake pit again, avoided the purple mist, and dropped underground to explore. They broke the seal on what seemed to be the tomb of one of Sakatha’s vassals. They destroyed the skeletal snake men who guarded the stone coffin of the snake lord. As the snake lord himself, remained at rest, the heroes did not disturb his remains, but only plundered his treasure, consisting of a large number of gold coins stamped with Sakatha’s image.

Joyful Rescue!

While Bangqiu was training, Tetsukichi and Beatriss made plans to return once more to the slavers’ stockade and this time to actually find and free the captive slaves. They met a traveler from Zhou Dang who was interested in accompanying them. He was a Tuigan, introduced himself as Sum-Dank and, by his bearing, showed he was used to the status associated with rank and wealth. He had a personal feud with the Black Flowers and wanted to avenge the death of a family member.

Without Bangqiu’s magical assistance, the party encoutnered new challenges entering the stockade. Damai led them to the secret entrance through a hole in the stone wall. They passed through the open courtyards into the garden where they met and killed the giant worm. The apes were also threatening, but Tetsukichi negotiated safe passage and Sum-Dank thanked them with generous gifts of goat meat.

The descended into the dungeon and passed through familiar corridors until they reached the room where they’d freed the man who was trapped with the rabid wolf. A man was there, tough-looking, and well-armed, but with a desperate look in his eyes. Kei-Ma was his name; he’d fallen in with the Black Flowers, but wasn’t a part of them. In fact they’d killed his friends. He offered the party some useful information, for a small consideration, just 25 tael so he could buy a horse in Quitokai and get away. Beatriss bargained him down to 20 and the party learned that the “best way” to get to where the slaves were held captive was to go through the natural caves accessed by way of a hidden tunnel in the torture chamber.

The passage proved difficult to navigate as it required the party to traverse a steep ravine filled with stalagmites and other sharp rock formations. Several rock pillars rose from the ravine, seeming to offer one way of crossing the ravine for those sure-footed enough to leap from one to another. But slick stone and thick mist rising from a steam vent discouraged this approach from being considered as a general solution. Instead, the party relied on rope, iron spikes, and the superior climbing skills of Damai and Sum-Dank to climb down into the ravine and then stumble across it. Climbing out proved more difficult. Strange creatures lived on the floor of the ravine. An adorable blue thing with bulbous eyes playfully stole Beatriss’s extra sword. Worse, when Sum-Dank free-climbed out of the ravine, he was shot by an arrow. Grimacing through the pain, he completed his ascent and scrambled for cover, then threw a rope down for the others. Tetsukichi climbed up next, under the cover of a thick cloud of mist. When the mist cleared, he could see that they were being attacked by a pair of archers from the other side of the ravine-- and one of them was Kei-Ma, the “helpful guide” who had suggested they come this way. Tetsukichi returned fire as the other party members made the climb. Those who successfully ascended joined Tetsukichi in shooting back at the ambushers across the ravine, finally driving them away.

The party rested briefly, and Ju-Mei assisted Sum-Dank in removing the arrow head from his back. The party pressed deeper into the tunnels, stopped to admire an underground bee-keeping operation (noting that the bees’ hive was in the roots of a hollow tree, which might provide another means of egress from the dungeon, if it weren’t for the bees), and then walked into another ambush: a hwacha, wolves, a score of cannibals, and a Black Flower commander. Mustapha pulled out a magic wand and blasted the villains with a fireball.

In time, the party emerged from the caverns-- into the room where they’d met and killed Marquessa. If there was any doubt before, they were now sure that the caverns had not been “the best way.” Bangqiu noticed that the cages of the owl-bear creatures were empty and warned everyone to be on guard.

Referring to the map that Gwinch had made in their earlier exploration with Toge, Bangqiu led the others’ out of Marquessa’s workroom and into a new part of the dungeon-- where they did find about a hundred captives. Unlike those from the moaning chamber above, these captives were eager to communicate, even if they spoke languages the rest of the party couldn’t understand. There was one toady among them who called out to the guards-- and promptly got those guards killed. Again, Mustapha played an important tactical role, using the illusion of a giant snake to cut off the guards’ attempt to raise the alarm.

The party hurriedly unlocked all of the prison cells and, after a few wrong turns, led them out of the dungeon to safety.

Back in Quitokai, the party was finally called heroes. They were feted and feasted in the weeks that followed. And they promised to stop bothering the baboons and their special fish. As word got out, villagers from the surrounding areas descended on Quitokai to be re-united with their loved ones. There were some other rescued captives who came from far-away places:

There was Bi-Gon-Dang, a monk, a young initiate from the monastery of the Two-Fold Path in Khanbaliq who had made enemies among his fellow monks when he objected to their participation in the slave trade. He and Sum-Dank set off for Khanbaliq, pledging that they would fight together to rid the capital of that evil.

There were several Cynadiceans. Most were, “of the lost,” committed to private hallucinations. The adults were distressed by the bright sunlight and their lack of masks; they sought refuge in darkness and accepted the hospitality of the people of Quitokai with scant gratitude. Bangqiu, even with his magic could barely understand their language as expression of coherent thought. The children, while sensitive to the sun, seemed to accept Quitokai as their new home. They adapted their imagined identities to match the make-believe games of the local children There was one Brother of Gorm. He told Tetsukichi and Bangqiu of the evil Zargon and and of his devotion to the the Order that would return Cynadicea to its former glory. He regarded Beatriss with pity-- a Cynadicean woman without a mask! But then he noticed the sickle scar on her wrist-- the last signifier of her former status as a Warrior Woman of Madura-- and his pity turned to scorn and condescension. Beatriss had no interest in leading him, or any of the Cynadiceans, back to the terrible place that had once been her home.

There were a handful of people who had crossed an ocean as captives. Bangqiu promised them that if they remained would him, he would take them to a port and buy a ship and with their guidance return them to their homes.

But first, there were those whose homes were closer by, but still needed help to reach them. There was Shushi, daughter of a Khanbaliq merchant who offered no reward, but was desperate to return home. Several were children had been kidnapped from hunter tribes that lived deep in the jungle and rarely interacted with the agricultural villages such as Quitokai. Tetsukichi promised that he would help them find their families.

Cannibalism! Xitaqa attacked! New Teacher!

Despite the lack of gratitude, heroes are heroes. A couple days later, the band of rescuers, led by Beatriss, Tetsukichi, and Bangqiu, made additional forays into the stockade and the dungeons beneath. They rescued one villager who was trapped in a box with a rabid wolf. Though traumatized by the experience, he was fully conscious and responsive. Once he was returned safely to Quitokai, showed great happiness to be together with his family. He also shared some disturbing news. There were still scores of prisoners in the dungeons below the stockade. Now that the Black Flowers had been largely been driven away, the dungeon was controlled by a band of cannibals.

The heroes returned the very next day. There was a message waiting for them. Written in black paint on the door leading to the dungeon, the message read, "We have enjoyed hosting you, monkey king! Today we will sample your hospitality in Xitaqa!" Bangqiu read this as a threat to his subjects, the baboons and convinced the others that they must return at once to Xitaqa-- the home of the baboons on the plateau.

Just as Bangqiu had feared, the Black Flowers had attacked. A small group on horseback had appeared from nowhere, ridden into the city, broken into the first house they came to, and killed most of its occupants, fleeing before the baboons could mount a counter-attack.

From this Bangqiu surmised (without evidence, and incorrectly) that the attackers were based in "ghost tower," a 40-foot structure in the middle of Xitaqa, and without visible occupants except birds that nested in its top story. Remembering the Marquessa had a twin sister, Bangqiu reasoned that she must be inside the tower, and had directed the attack. Bangqiu led the offensive against the tower. Although the front door triggered an electrical shock, he endured the pain and pushed the door open. The others followed him, coming to a second door that turned out to not be a door at all, but a sentient, shape-changing, killer, a mimic, if you will. Naron and others sustained minor injuries as his comrades battered the door into arcane goo. The party made their way up the tower, pausing briefly to appreciate dry fountains, and dusty fox-headed statues. At the top, they encountered an odd, but affable old man with a wispy beard, and wearing the plain black uniform common among clerks back in Zipang and also favored by Saisho. Although surprised not to encounter Marquessa's sister, Bangqiu was grateful to meet the wizard he hoped would become his new teacher. Bangqiu presented Sakatha's spell book, and was generally forthcoming about its undesirable effects. The wizard, whose name Kyo, answered that he was familiar with the hazards presented by studying ancient and felt qualified to effectively counter them. He was willing to agree to the bargain proposed earlier-- the book in exchange for tutelage-- but wanted one other thing. After he had educated Bangqiu, he would, from time-to-time, send messages in his dreams. He would teach Bangqiu how to answer these message-- and he would expect timely responses. Bangqiu agreed. Seemingly familiar with Bangqiu's abilities, Kyo asked him to report for lessons the next morning-- by way of the roof. The trapdoor would be open.

The next morning, the trapdoor was, of course, not open. Bangqiu pried open a shuttered window and received a bouquet of magic missiles for his efforts. Bangqiu returned to the ground and sought help from Ju-Mei. The dutiful priest tended to Bangqiu’s wounds and was persuaded to be lifted to the tower’s roof and wait for Bangqiu’s signal. Bangqiu returned to the ground and then climbed the tower by the stairs. As he reached the top, once more interrupting Kyo’s study of the lizard king’s book, he shot a magc misile out the window as a signal to Ju-Mei. Shùlí! the priest commanded-- and Kyo was held fast. Ju-Mei began chanting to break the book’s hold on Kyo; Bangqiu opened the trap door and lifted the old wu-jen a Ju-Mei completed the ceremony and as the effects of the Shùlí spell was wearing off. Only slightly abashed, Kyo locked the book in a trunk and congratulated Bangqiu on completing his first lesson.

Over the next few weeks, he would teach Bangqiu to receive his dream messages and also how to assume the form of a bird or other animal.

Joyless Rescue

After an unsuccessful attempt to track down Saisho, Bangqiu made plans with Beatriss to gather their associates and invade the slavers' stockade once more. Armed with knowledge of where the slaves were kept, and using their tested strategy, they scaled the wall at the back of the stockade and entered the low, windowless stone building in which Bangqiu had seen the captives. The room was unpleasant to be in. Besides the sight of rows of catatonic people, the sound-- a low hum, a deep passionless moan-- made the adventurers uneasy, challenged their courage more than the clang of clashing swords or the snarl of a pouncing monster. Moving their way around the room by torchlight, trying to track flitting shadows, they were surprised by long black robe that slipped off the fall and drifted toward them. Lieu, a high-ranking sohei, charged with his parang drawn. The black cloak enveloped his head and clung to his body like a rain-soaked length of silk. As his friends rushed to assist him, the cloak thing lashed out at them a tail-like appendage. Beatriss slashed at the monster with her sword. She slashed its alien body, but, based on Lieu's gasp of pain, knew that she was hurting Lieu as well. Bangqiu put on his invisibility ring. The others hesitated. They could not free Lieu without hurting him and he was in little position to help him. Beatriss decided that if nothing else, she would give Lieu a quick death rather than let him be suffocated or devoured by the cloak-thing resumed her attack with her sword, encouraging her followers to do the same. Nguyen cut off the thing's tail. Lieu fell to the floor and Beatriss leapt on top of him, doing her best to slash the monster only, but knowing she had little time for precision. At last Lieu burst, free, panting, the black cloak thing a shredded black mass. Ju-Mei tended to Lieu's wounds while the others sought a way to free the prisoners. There was a key, and manacles could be removed, but the prisoners still showed no interest in their own freedom. The humming had stopped. Still the prisoners were unfeeling, uncommunicative.

They did respond to commands. They responded very well, following orders to leave the room and fearlessly climb up a ladder to the top of the stone building and then climb over the sharpened stakes of the palisade. Bangqiu helped break their fall as they landed and led them across the ditch. They remained compliant as Damai led them through the dungeon and back to Quitokai. The celebration was subdued. The awkward question of how to treat Bangqiu the Baboon King-- who had threatened to attack the village with an army if they didn’t stop hunting the sacred fish-- was simply ignored. The people of Quitokai treated Beatriss as the sole leader of the rescue party. And, as they offered no reward, but instead asked why their rescued family members were acting so strangely, Bangqiu did not insert himself.