The Taxman Part 7

Bo-Jing, Beatriss, Nar-Nuteng and their followers and companions returned to the Valley of the Five Fires by way of the Bolad fire camp.  The fire-watchers asked to see the yeti cave and see for themselves that the yeti were in fact dead.  The party agreed to this request.  In addition to yeti corpses, they also encountered a group of warriors inside the cave.  Although evidence suggested they were members of the Nergui horde, they denied this, claiming instead that they were wanderers looking for a place to camp.  Beatriss order the unknown warriors to leave the cave and they did, muttering curses under their breath.  The party didn't tarry long in the cave, casually the many runes and symbols before escorting the fire-watchers back to their camp.

It was a two-day trip back to the Crystal Cave.  Along the way, they developed their plan for taking the coin.  Ryu explained that with assistance of some honey-scented dried poppy pods, he would be able to enter the dream world or ethereal plane and take the coin. Also on the way to the crystal cave, they encountered Gan Yul.  He explained to them that  Gansukh had sent groups of warriors into the Valley to look for them.  Rather than argue, Gan Yul had silently resolved that in forcing him to break an oath, Gan Sukh had broken his allegiance to the Nergui Horde.  And thus he was free to enter the Valley and would join Bo-Jing's squad again.  "If you'll have me.  Otherwise, I will seek the coins for myself."  Bo-Jing grateful accepted Gan Yul as his noken.

The party reached the cave and by use of potions brewed for them in Banua, Beatriss and Ryu were able to enter the cave.  Ryu entered the dream world and smashed the statue in order to claim the coin. It was pure gold but reflected a green tint.  Ryu delivered the coin to Bo-Jing whom, apprising the new powers conveyed to him by the coin, immediately began to equivocate over the arrangement he had made with Ganbaatar.  "He just wants it because he's power hungry."  Ryu shook his head slowly and stared at ground.

The party made their way north, toward Banua, but with no stated purpose.  As they approached the Bolad fire, they decided to visit the yeti cave once more.  This time, Bo-Jing used the last gaseous form potion to slip through the crack in the wall and discovered a hidden chamber, carved with of the entire valley.  A cave was precisely delineated at the southern end, marked with a  series of symbols:

Rather than return to Banua, the party decided to venture to the south end of the valley and find the cave identified on the map.  Concealed by magic, the entrances, a total of four straight tunnels, would have been impossible to find without the map and the drawing of the cave.  They walked into a tunnel that led to a hall covered with gleaming white stones.  Three columns of stone warriors filled the hall.  As Beatriss and Bo-Jing stepped into the hall, two of the statues cave to life.  The two brave warriors warned their companions to stay out of the hall, for fear of causing additional statues to come to life.

The stone warriors were 20-feet tall and wielded stone swords.  Bo-Jing used his sword to break the statues sword and then level it.  Beatriss meanwhile, stayed low and smashed the statues legs.  The two of them moved to the back of the hall.  There was a bas-relief statue of an even larger warrior with a fox sleeping under his legs.

Bo-Jing and Beatriss puzzled over what to do about this problem.  They invited Ryu into the hall, assisting him in destroying the statue that came to life and attacked the monk as soon as he crossed the threshold.  And then they asked him to ingest one of the honey poppy pods.  He did, and when he entered the dream world, he saw that he could see there was a hidden room beyond the fox, but we couldn't enter it.  As he explained it to to Bo-Jing and Beatriss, the fox had stood up and continued to block his path.

While debating what to do next, Nar Nuteng, from the tunnels outside the hall, raised the alarm.  "Skeletons!  We're being attacked by skeletons!"

The Taxman's Rivals

In Khuzu Kala, Gansukh’s henchman Batzorig made quiet inquiries among the shamans, foreigner sorcerers, and wanderer, seeking adventurers for a special quest. Among those who answered the call was Bangqiu and Hyamsam, magicians from the far south who, since arriving in the lands of the Five Fires had developed reputations for eccentric behavior and awesome powers.

As soon as he appeared before Gansukh, Hyamsam proclaimed that the Emperor had sent him North to search for the magic orbs. There was a significant language barrier. The translator asked Hyamsam several times what he meant by an orb and received a different answer each time.

The next day, Hyamsam returned to the tent of Gansukh, this time accompanied by Bangqiu. Hyamsam had prepared for himself a special draught that allowed him to understand the language of his hosts, even while he continued to pretend ignorance. Listening to their side conversations, he learned they were looking for coins. He and Bangiqu explained that in their language orbs and coins were the same thing. The continued misunderstanding allowed all parties to believe they had come to an agreement. Gansukh explained that an Imperial agent and his well-armed warriors along with a pale-skinned woman warrior, was searching the valley for magical treasure, having entered the holy ground under the pretext of burying their fallen comrades. If the foreign magicians could discover what they had found or where they were searching, Gansukh would be very glad to receive the information. Bangqiu and Hyamsam were introduced to several local shaman who would accompany them into the Valley of the Five Fires and to the burial mound where they might pick up the trail of Bo-Jing and Beatriss.

The sorcerers spent a night at the Nergui fire, where they repaid thinly-veiled insinuations about their masculinity with insouciant displays of their magical powers-- and then retired early. The next day they descended into the valley and across the plains. The next day they found the burial mound and a pair of wolves pawing at the fresh graves. Hyamsam assisted the wolves in exhuming the bodies and stripped one of his burial armor, leaving the corpse for the wolves. And when the wolves slinked off, each dragging a warrior’s leg, Hyamsam followed at a safe distance. When the wolves reached a cave, Hyamsam announced his intention to follow them. When a shaman produced a glowing rock to use as a light source, Hyamsam took rock and told the shaman to wait outside. Reaching the mouth of the cave, Hyamsam, found the wolves crouched just inside, gnawing on warrior femurs and looking territorial. Even more territorial were the 12-foot tall men dressed in animal skins. Hyamsam blasted the group with a cloud of hot steam. The wolves were killed, but the giants melted into wall, ony to appear a few second later. By this time, however, Hyamsam had made himself invisible and the shaman was retreating to rejoin the rest of the party. The giants gave chase and Hyamsam used this opportunity to venture into the cave. Following a trickle of water, he ventured deep into the cave until he found himself on the shore of a large pool of warm, swirling water.

Outside the cave, the shamans and outlaws repelled the giants; the giants to their cave.

Back inside the cave, Hyamsam stripped down and dove into the pool. The glowing rock provide great visibility under water and he found that the gentle whirpool was created by a natural drain in the middle of the pool Re-surfacing for a moment to take a great gulp of air, Hyamsam dove back under and into the drain, following the submerged tunnel for a some distance. Though half-afraid of running out of air, Hyamsam kept pushing until he reached the end of the tunnel, and re-surfaced in a small cave. There was a coin there, pure gold and with a white tint. He took the coin and immediately sensed a number of new powers, among them the ability to see in the dark.

Hyamssam swam back through the underwater tunnel and then out of the cave. He kept the glowing rock in his pocket and brought it out when he met the giants; by throwing it into a distant corner, he distracted them long enough to run outside. That night, after dinner, while the others were settling into sleep, Hyamsam told Bangqiu about the coin.

Taxman Part 6

 After a meal and a rest, Bo-Jing investigated the area, looking for signs of what had happened to the fire-watchers.  He found blood and other signs of a struggle with large and fearsome beasts.  And in the icy snow outside the fire camp, he found large tracks and sings of bodies being dragged.  Deducing that the Bolad fire-watchers had been victims of a yeti attack, he rallied his troops and explored the area following the tracks to a well-worn path that led higher into the mountains.  The party found a cave of dried flowers and nearby a cave inhabited by three yetis.  Beatriss, Bo-Jing, and Naron faced off agains the terrible foes, and supported by Ryu and Bo-Jing's retinue, emerged bruised and battered but victorious.  They explored the rest of the caverns and found runes carved into almost every wall.  By creating a careful map and listening to the wind, they deduced that there was a hidden chamber situated between the flower cave and the yeti's cave, reachable only by a crack in the stone mere inches wide.  They concluded that this was another reason to go back to Banua-- to seek out a place to purchase more of the gaseous form potions that Beatriss had used to enter the crystal cave.

Back in Banua, Ganbaatar was interested to meet Bo-Jing and hear about his rumored success in dealing with the bandits. He smiled to hear about his brother and especially how quickly Gansukh had turned on Bo-Jing.  "That's my brother, he thinks everyone lives to please him and anyone who doesn't becomes his enemy."  He was also grateful to hear that Bo-Jing had hunted down and killed the yetis who had plagued the Bolad fires.  "I will send out new fire-watchers tomorrow."

And then he asked about the coins.  "That's why you spent so much time in the Valley of the Five Fires, right?"

Bo-Jing admitted that he hoped to learn the secrets of becoming invisible or taking on the form of an animal.  Ganbaatar reminded him that the coins were ancestral treasures of his people, but acknowledged that his brother was probably looking for them too "And maybe others, worse than him."  Ganbataar offered to take on the task of collecting taxes in Banua with the understanding that Bo-Jing would continue to look for a coin and-- if he found one-- he and Ganbaatar would present it to the emperor as a gift.  "I'm sure he will reward you and in this way, we will keep the coins away from my brother.

Bo-Jing and Beatriss spent a few weeks in Banua.  Ganbaatar supplied an office and sleeping chambers within the palace and convinced Bo-Jing to hire a scribe to handle the task of accounting for taxes collected and the expenses of Bo-Jing and his staff.  Finally, Beatriss accepted an offer of service from a teena-aged girl named Nar Nuteng who wanted to learn how to wear armor and fight with a sword.  seeing that the girl was already a skilled archer and hunter, Beatriss was glad to accept her as her sister-in-arms.

Taxman Part 5

Bo-Jing and Beatriss found the heroes' burial mound and Ryu presided over the funeral of the warriors killed by the necromancer. The ceremony was disrupted by wolves from a nearby cave, but Bo-Jing chased the animals away before they could scavenge the bodies.

Bo-Jing and Beatriss spent the next week exploring the Valley and various small caves.  They encountered fearsome monsters including yetis and giants that seemed to step at-will between the waking and the dream world and meld into walls.  Most notably they located a cave with a crystal door, accessible only by a small hole.  By drinking a magic potion, Beatriss was able to become a cloud of fog and slip through the hole.  Inside the cave, she found one of the coins, embedded in the chest of a crystal statue.  But like the strange giants, the entire statue resided in the dream world and could not be touched or wakened.

Running out of food and ideas, Beatriss and Bo-Jing left the valley. Opting to avoid Gansukh, they sought out the fire camp of Ganbaatar's Bolad horde.  They found the camp, at the northeast corner of the valley, but the camp was deserted and the fire was out.  Uneasy, but also very hungry, the party found the stores of firewood and rice.  After restarting the fire, they cooked themselves a large meal.

Taxman Part 4

Bo-Jing met with Gansukh, and asked him what he knew of the Four Coins. Gansukh explained that they were heirlooms of his people. If any of them were discovered, he could surely claim his place of leader of his father’s people. All the legends said they were hidden in the Valley of the Five Fires, a sacred place that he and his brother and all the local men of honor had sworn not to enter when receiving their first horse and formally joining the horde. But Bo-Jing was an outside. If he found one of the coins for Gansukh, he could name his price.

Bo-Jing knew what he wanted. “Something that could make me invisible.”

Gansukh promised he could do that.

Bo-Jing finished training his men and buying provisions for their trip to the Valley of the Five Fires. When the day came for them to set out, Gansukh asked Bo-Jing and Beatriss if they could help him with one thing.

“I am having problems with a thief. Of course I could deal with him myself, but it is not my place to enforce the law. I would not usurp the will of the Emperor or his agent . . .”

Gansukh explained that a shaman had stolen some jewelry belonging to his wife, a necklace and a ring. His right-hand man Batzorig, who also happened to be his brother-in-law would show them where the shaman lived. He could identify his sister’s necklace. And also the ring.

So the company set off. They found the shaman’s abode, a sprawling house built of stone and thatched with straw, next to a cave and a stone formation that happened to closely resemble a skull. When Bo-Jing ventured inside the house, a strange wailing noise, rose from an invisible source. Bo-Jing retreated and set fire to the rood of the house. While the wet thatch smoldered, a mob of skeletons began filing out of the caves, raising a terrifying din by clanging their swords against their shields. Ryu showed his holy symbol and began turning the skeletons to dust in a blaze of holy fire. A squat man stepped out from behind a rock. He pointed a wand at Ryu and hurled a huge ball of fire in the holy man’s direction. Ryu was knocked to the ground and the three of Bo-Jing’s men were killed in the fiery explosion. The others were badly wounded. When the smoke cleared, the shaman was gone.

“What are you doing to my home? To my creations?”

Beatriss and Bo-Jing argued with him. The skeletons ceased their advance and Ryu lowered his holy symbol.

The shaman confessed to having stolen Narantsetseg’s necklace, but denied that he’d stolen anything else from her. The shaman threw the necklace on the ground. Batzorig, recognizing it as his sister’s eagerly grabbed it. “This is it. She’ll be so happy!”

Beatriss asked Batzorig to describe his sister’s ring. When he could not, he agreed that there might have been a misunderstanding and that they should return to Khuzu Kala.

Narantsetseg was happy to see her necklace returned, so happy, that Beatriss did not trust her husband’s disappointment. “What about the ring?” Narantsetseg was deaf and could not be questioned closely, but she smiled like amother who had recovered a lost child, stroking the necklace with ring-heavy fingers.

Beatriss accused Gansukh of staging a trick that cost three men their lives. With a great display of insult and outrage, Gansukh ordered them to leave his tent. “I will pay your tax and then you will have no reason to stay here!”

During the week that Gansukh collected the tax money for Khuzu Kala, Bo Jing made inquiries as to how to bury the men who had been killed. Gan Yul explained that while most the bodies of most people were laid out on the steppe for the animals, esteemed warriors were sometimes buried in a place of honor. And before the treaty, the Valley off the Five Fires had been known as the Cradle of Humanity. The most esteemed warriors were laid to rest in the valley where humans had first appeared in middle earth.

B-Jing collected the taxes from Gansukh and then set out to bury his fallen men. Gan Yul led them to the edge of the Valley, where they rested at the fire tended by the Nergui horde. Gan Yul, as a member of the Nergui horde, would not enter the valley. But he pointed out a lone mountain in the middle of the valley and explained to Bo-Jing where to find the warriors’ grave. “On the far side of the mountain, at the edge of dawn’s shadow.”

Taxman Part 3

Gaansukh was pleased to hear about Bo-Jing’s success in disrupting the bandit’s activities. He called for two yurts to be erected for use by Bo-Jing and his men. Bo-Jing was pleased by the way his men had conducted themselves in their fight with the bandits, and made an opportunity to train them in more advanced maneuvers. Gan Yul, a memebr of the Nergui horde, asked to join Bo-Jing's company and was accepted. Beatriss used this opportunity to return to the bandit’s tower. Having lived the first half of her life in the underground city of Cynadicea, she was most comfortable in the darkness. Plus she owned a magical sword that let her become invisible. She left her horse below the camp and traveled the rest of the way on foot. She found many fewer tents in the camp and no men in the tower. Going from room to room, she concluded that most of the valuable had already been taken by the other bandits. She claimed a staff, likely magical, that they had missed, and returned to Kazhu Kala.

Despite his prowess and reputation, Bo-Jing was discouraged, that unlike Betriss, Bangqiu, and Hyamsam, he had no method for becoming invisible. Together with Beatriss, he found an old woman named Tolai who lived in fine yurt all by herself, made her living brewing potions purported to have magical powers. Bo-Jing showed her a potion he had found in his adventures and asked her to analyze it for him. She collected her fee and conducted various tests, finally pronouncing that it would make the imbiber vanish. “Turn invisible?” Well . . . depending on what you mean by invisible. Their body would turn in a cloud of mist, which is indeed very difficult to see. Bo-Jing was grateful for this information but what he wanted was to be invisible, to be able to sneak up on his enemies and attack them with surprise.

Tolai shook her head and laughed to herself before asking Bo-Jing if he knew the legend of the Four Coins. Tngri had made them for his four sons, the Kings of the North, the East, the South, and West.  A fox had stolen them and hidden him and they would never be found.  "But if anything could make a powerful warrior invisible, it would be one of those four coins."

Taxman Part 2

During their time getting to know Banua and its people, Bo-Jing and Beatriss were joined by their friends Bangqiu and Hyamsam. Bangqiu agreed to help them find the bandits’ lair. Using his magic, he located an ancient tower high up in the hills of the borderlands, surrounded by a dozen yurts. Bo-Jing, Beatriss, and their retinue were able to locate the tower and visit the people who lived there. They called themselves “Oken’s Horde” and claimed no allegiance to either brother. The tower was the tomb of their ancestors and they camped near it to prevent its desecration. They dismissed Bo-Jing’s questions about bandits, explaining that it was common practice for young men to raid across the border for livestock. It was an unfortunate practice but not the work of organized outlaws. Oken himself pledged his allegiance to the Emperor. He offered 1,000 taels as tax payment for the Oken horde and suggested that be taken into Bo-Jing’s service. “We know this land like the back of our hands. Give us authority to collect on your behalf while you take your ease in Banua or Blue City.” Bo-Jing declined and Oken, visibly offended, all but order the group to leave.

Having traveled to the borderlands, Bo-Jing and Beatriss decided to make his way to Khuzu Kala and meet Gaanbaatar’s twin. They were met and welcomed by a group of horsemen, who showed them the way to Khuzu Kala, offered rest in their own yurts and promised to introduced them to the khan the next day.

Gaansukh showed himself to be a hard man, scarred and half-dressed for battle in leather armor and with his sword close at hand. He lectured Bo-Jing on his superior suitability to be chief, insinuating that his cowardly brother had poisoned their father to prevent him from naming a successor. “And so the nobles selected that coward only because he was a few moments older. What about stronger?” However, he almost promised that he would pay the Emperor’s tax.

While staying in Khuzu Kala, Bo-Jing and Beatriss learned more about Oken’s horde. A tradesmen asked Beatriss to bring some food and warm clothes to his brother who was a “guest” of Oken’s. While scard to say so, it was clear that the tradesman understood that his brother was being held against his will. With some reconnaissance help from Bangqiu, Bo-Jing and Beatriss were able to confirm that multiple prisoners were being held in the tower. The three of them planned an early morning visit to Oken’s horder, arriving at the camp as dawn was breaking, and going straight to the tower without advertising their presence, thanks to Bangqiu’s cloaking magic. They entered the tower easily and were met by a few armed men, poring over a map at a table on the bottom floor. Beatriss accused them of holding prisoners. The men objected to the accusation and one went upstairs to get Oken. Soon violence broke out. Oken, his lieutenant, and his adviser, a sorcerer were all killed and the other bandits surrendered. Beatriss and Bangqiu found the prisoners and freed them while Bo-Jing stripped one of the dead bandits of his leather armor, deducing that it must be magical given that it had survived a magical assault that had charred its owner to black bones. Meanwhile, the surrendering bandits had used this opportunity to loot their former leader’s treasure chamber, releasing a cloud of poison gas. Bo-Jing, Beatriss, and Bangqiu decided that if they really wanted to rescue prisoners, they would have to forego any looting and instead used this opportunity to make a get away. Bo-Jing had the wherewithal to take the map from the table, reasoning that if it was useful to bandits, it would be useful to a taxman.

Taxman Part 1

"Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute."

Star War: The Phantom Menace, opening Crawl

"The best Star Wars is Phantom Menace. All the new ones suck."

Rainbow-Monkey-Sock (Player who runs Bo-Jing)


Bo-Jing comes from a prominent family, most well known for their wealth and mercantile prowess, but with a history of military success and loyalty to the Imperial Khan's great-grandfather. Bo-Jing's own recent success in battle gave new currency to the old stories and brought him to the attention of the Emperor himself.  Bo-Jing and his friends were invited to the Capital to witness Bo-Jing receive his commission as as Imperial agent, charged with collecting taxes and keeping order in the lands of the Naran horde, on the wild northern edge of the Empire.  He was granted authority to recruit assistants and used this authority to grant commissions to a few of his cousins.

On the way to the lands of the Naran Horde, Bo-Jing and Beatriss, together with their henchmen Ryu and Naron and Bo-Jing's cousins, stopped in Blue City where Bo-Jing met his immediate supervisor, the local governor.  The governor advised Bo-Jing that his new role would give him great authority over the local populace.  "But whatever you do, don't cheat the Emperor.  He will find out and you will be punished."  Bo-Jing and Beatriss joined a caravan bound for Banua, the capital of the Naran horde. Along the way, Bo-Jing recruited local warriors to join his squad. From them he learned that the Naran horde, following the death of it leader, had split into two rival branches, led by twin brothers. Gaanbaatar, the older twin led the larger Bolad horde, and controlled the old capital of Banua and most of his father’s lands. Gaansukh, whom Bo-Jing would learn based his claim to leadership on his strength, had established his own seat in a fortified camp on the shore of a lake known as Khuzu Kala.

When Bo-Jing arrived in Banua Gaanbaatar met him with courteous disdain, alluding to an appeal he’d made to the Emperor five years ago when his brother revolted and split the horde in two. His attitude softened greatly when Bo-Jing shared the details of his commission and how he planned to spend his salary. The Emperor had promised to pay him a bonus for taxes collected beyond the last census count and he wanted to use that money to build a road to connect Banua with Khuzu Kala. Gaanbaatar tested him, asking, “But surely you want to collect your money as quickly as possible and return to court?” No, Bo-Jing, assured him, he had no interest in court life and had chased adventure across the ocean and over burning deserts. Now his ambition was to make sure the people saw their tax money put to good use. Gaanbaatar suggested that he could handle the collection of taxes and Bo-Jing could help him with another problem. His people didn’t need a road. They just needed to be able to ride to Khuzu Kala without fear of a bandit attack. As Gaanbaatar explained it, a group of bloodthirsty bandits lived in the rough borderland between the two brothers. Merchants were afraid to make the trip and even poor nomads knew that they put themselves at risk when crossing the borderlands to visit family on the other side. The bandits had evaded the Khan’s men, but perhaps a small group of canny and experienced warriors would be able to track them down.

Bo-Jing pledged to help with the bandits. During his few days of rest, he heard rumors about other things that interested him. Monks in mountains, magical coins, and a Valley of Five Fires that all the surrounding hordes had agreed not to enter.