Defending the Lands of the Five Fires 05 (First Khazu-Kala and then Banua)

Bo-Jing, Bangqiu, and Salt decided they would go to Khazu Kala. Expecting a difficult battle, Bo-Jing ordered that they make a comfortable camp and rest for a couple days, giving their wounds a chance to heal. 

And so, by the time they reached Khazu Kala, the battle was all but over. A single wizened creature, wielding a rusty wicked sword, stood surrounded by a dozen Nergui warriors—and also dozens of corpses. Bo-Jing, riding on Ses-Hami, arrived by air and Bo-Jing attacked the strange fiend with a flying leap. With his fiery sword, Bo-Jing dispatched his foe and won the admiration of the Nergui. 

Gansukh was dead and his name had the taste of ashes. His duplicity had brought his own death, the deaths of his loyal bodyguards, the deaths of the people who depended on him. With little argument, the survivors of the attack, both the warriors and the people, agreed they would join Bo-Jing. Yes, even in rejoining the Bolad horde in Banua.

It took three days to arrive within sight of Banua and the arrival was not a cause for celebration, but another serving of hardship. For the proud city of the steppe was surrounded by an army of beastmen, dragons, and monsters. Bo-Jing himself cursed bitterly at how the pettiness of Gansukh had brought such horror among the people he had agreed to protect. But Salt would not allow her friend the luxury of despair. She directed his gaze from his foes to the people who now trusted him. With courage and faith, he could bring these people into Banua. Reuniting the people of Bolad and Nergui did not guarantee their survival but preserved their hopes for another day.

Bangqiu became invisible and rose into the air, surveying the enemy camps, and determined the safest route to the city. Bo Jing received the information and led the way. The Nergui warriors formed two files around their families and herds. They raised their swords and shouted as they approached, making themselves appear to be another war-band arriving to join the assault on Banua. The beastmen accepted the deception, cheering as the Nergui passed through their lines. Bangqiu, invisible, flew into the city and alerted the defenders to the ruse. When the gates were opened, Salt and Bangqiu blasted the band of beastmen who tried to join the people of Nergui. The unarmed people passed into the city. Bo-Jing and the warriors stayed to defend their entry, warding off more attacking beastmen. Only when the innocents had entered the city did the warriors follow. Bo-Jing entered last of all and the gates were closed.

Defending the Lands of the Five Fires 04 (The truth about Batzorig's sister)

Npi-Nhut and the other khimoris thanked Bo-Jing for his assistance. They promised to keep watch over the valley and alert him to any more incursions. And, as a further sign of appreciation, Ses-Hami would accompany him as he made his way to Khazu Kala. Bo-Jing was especially grateful for the khimori’s assistance as a scout and promised his father to not expose him to unnecessary danger.

The company made their way out of the valley, Ses-Hami sometimes scouting ahead when they reached likely ambush points. They reached the watch fire of the Nergui horde and were given a cold welcome. The soldiers shrugged off Salt’s questions about the beastmen and rather than share their ger, sent the guests to sleep among the firewood. 

The company, still including the eight men from the Worm Clan, departed early the next morning and not far from the edge of the valley, heard the sounds of battle. Drawing closer, they found a Nergui encampment under attack by beastmen. Bangqiu broke the beastmen’s charge with a wall of fire then levitated above them to blast them with a cloud of steam. Salt cast her magic missiles and the few stragglers were cut down by Bo-Jing and his men.

The families in the camp offered thanks and, recognizing Bo-Jing’s status as a local baghatur, pledged their loyalty to him and the Emperor. They shared a meal and, though hesitant at first, voiced their discontent with Gansukh. Many had avoided Khazu Kala, waiting for a sign. Over the course of the meal, as they listened to the grim tales of the Worm Clan, they began to believe that Bo-Jing was that sign. The invaders welcomed by Gansukh were worse than they had feared. If anyone could rally resistance against the armies of the mysterious “Master,” it was Bo-Jing.

Among the group were three skilled archers and a retired officer from Gansukh’s army. They vowed to support Bo-Jing when the time came, though their first duty remained to their families.

Later that day, Ses-Hami alerted Bo-Jing to another camp under attack. Bo-Jing and Bangqiu again led the counterattack. Several warriors from the camp joined the fight, and one of them proved to be Batzorig—formerly Gansukh’s right hand, and brother to Gansukh’s khatun, Naransetseng.

After the battle, Salt warned Batzorig that Naransetseng was in special danger: the beastmen had been searching for her among the Worm Clan.

Batzorig’s scarred face went soft. His lip quivered. He nodded, then shared his story.

“I overheard Gansukh speaking with a stranger. At first, I thought it was another black shaman—someone after her necklace. But I listened more closely. The man didn’t want the necklace. He wanted Naransetseng.”

As trust in Gansukh eroded, many people of Khazu Kala made secret plans to flee. Batzorig had persuaded his sister to join them. He remained behind, pretending ignorance—a role Gansukh accepted, perhaps too willingly.

“It was easy. My brother-in-law was afraid of her, and he avoided her. But then... the stranger returned. He brought half-man monsters. And suddenly Gansukh demanded I bring her to him.”

Batzorig stalled. He told Gansukh that Naransetseng had gone to visit their mother’s grave—three days west of the city. Gansukh had raged. And then he had despaired. The stranger promised to return.

“That was four days ago. I stayed close, in case Gansukh needed me. Because... he’s my khan.”

Batzorig turned to Salt, Bo-Jing, and Bangqiu.

“My sister is deaf, but she is not a witch. She’s the daughter of the King of the East. When we were children, my mother was alone—my father and uncles were at war. One day, a man came to our camp. He wore green and played the fiddle. He helped my mother... stayed with her... and then Naransetseng was born. Before my father returned, the man left, but he gave her a necklace.”

He looked down at his hands.

“She was beautiful. She believed our father—the man who raised her—was the squat, scarred soldier who came home from war. An ugly man, look at me, my face was his face! And he loved my beautiful sister more than anything. More than me, I think. She was not deaf when she was born.”

Then, almost in a whisper:

“But the stranger... he knows who she really is. That’s why he wants her.”

Defending the Lands of the Five Fires 03 (Not the coin they were looking for)

Over the next few days, the party was joined by the remnants of the Khimori herd—Npi-Nhut, Ses-Hami, and only three others. Then they were attacked by the lion-eagle creatures. These beasts were fearless and seemed driven by hunger. They targeted the party’s extra horses, swiftly killing two and carrying them off.

Salt reacted immediately. Bo-Jing had given her a magic wand, and she used it to unleash an explosive ball of fire as the creatures fled. Those not killed were forced to land. Bo-Jing and his men galloped after them, fighting with arrows and swords. The brave warriors were grappled by talons and slashed by claws, but they defended each other and killed the monsters.

The Khimori expressed their gratitude, praising the party for slaying enemies they had come close to believing were insurmountable. Ses-Hami examined the bodies and told Bo-Jing he believed six more remained—including one that was invisible except when attacking. Bo-Jing assured Ses-Hami that he and his company would remain in the valley until the threat was eliminated.

Bangqiu then suggested that while ranging over the northern end of the valley, they should search for the Northern Coin. Bo-Jing agreed. Following Erke’s earlier hints and their own knowledge of the valley, they located an enormous horse statue, which they reasoned must represent the King of the North. Bangqiu climbed it. Following the statue’s line of sight, he spotted a high cliff to the north, pockmarked with caves. From this vantage point, he also saw figures moving outside—possibly human, possibly animal, likely something in between. The company decided to rest and approach the cliffs the next day.

While resting, they kept a close eye on the figures. The next day, they climbed to the cliffs and encountered a group of beastmen, clearly agitated but held in check by a robed man—Erke, the mysterious traveler they’d met in Khanbaliq. He greeted them like old friends, apologizing for having left Banua without them.

“I didn’t know when you’d return. And as you can see—I found some new partners!”

Erke explained that, with the beastmen’s help, he’d located several tunnels, one of which surely held the Northern Coin.

“Unfortunately, these are the breeding grounds of the crimson death worm. Watch your step—or your last breath will be a cry of agony!”

Beastmen from the Clan of Worm tapped their crimson shields and laughed.

Erke added that most of the beastmen had died exploring.

“They almost never watch their step...”

Salt found the beastmen unsettling. Their musky odor was overpowering, and they stared at her with bloodshot eyes and drooling fangs, whimpering when Erke shouted at them in a harsh metallic tongue. Their glowing marks oozed blood and pus as they scratched at them.

Erke pointed out the tunnels he had explored and suggested sending in the beastmen first to draw out the worms.

“Your men can shoot them—the worms—before they shock us. And if all the beastmen die, we won’t have to pay them. Speaking of payment, I’m working for the Emperor. He expects the coin, but we’ll all be well rewarded.”

Bangqiu and Salt rejected this at once. Salt didn’t believe Erke. Bangqiu didn’t care.

“We don’t work for the Emperor,” Bangqiu said. “If we find the coin, I want it.”

As they argued, Erke lost control of the beastmen, and they attacked with fury. Erke pulled a potion from his robes. As his body sublimated into a blue-green cloud, Salt fired a ball of flame from her wand. The cloud evaporated and two beastmen were incinerated. The rest attacked.

At that moment, a screech from above heralded another assault. The lion-eagles returned. As the Khimori took to the sky, the beasts targeted the party’s horses. Bo-Jing and his soldiers outnumbered the beastmen, who fought with a death-wish. Four horses were killed before Salt and Bangqiu drove off the lion-eagles with magic, killing one.

Knowing another attack could come from any direction, the party set camp with many watchers.

After a day of rest, Bo-Jing and Salt chose to explore the tunnels. The Worm Clan refused to follow.

“The death worm is our totem,” they said. “We must warn you—if molested, it will defend itself with poison, needles, lightning... But if it spares you, so will we.”

Bo-Jing promised to avoid unnecessary violence, believing the coin could help in the war against the Master. Bangqiu chose to remain outside to guard the horses—and to keep an eye on the Worm Clan.

Bo-Jing, his men, Ryu, and Salt ventured into the tunnels. The warnings proved accurate. Gan-Yul was bitten and his leg swelled painfully, but he survived. The party cleared the path with long poles, using rocks to kill worms from a distance. Most effective, however, was Ryu’s snake staff. As a giant python, it drove out the worms, crushing and devouring them. Even when bitten repeatedly, it endured, only reverting to staff form when finally overcome.

The nest they found covered an older, human-made tunnel. After crossing a chasm, they entered a small chamber. A bronze coffer rested on a stone pedestal. Though small enough to hold, it was too heavy to lift. Bo-Jing summoned all his strength to knock it off. Something clattered inside.

From his pack, Bo-Jing retrieved a bottle of vinegar he’d found in Khanbaliq. While his men gagged, he drank it down and, with a great shout, smashed the coffer open. Inside was a dull metal disk, possibly pewter, with four doves flying in a circle—no symbols, no writing. Ryu read the accompanying scrap of paper:

“Where your treasure is, your heart will be also.”

Outside, Npi-Nhut approached Bo-Jing with a plan. He believed Bo-Jing was honorable, but the lion-eagles would return. Many more horses—and people—might die. The Khimori couldn’t fight effectively while carrying riders, but Npi-Nhut was willing to make an exception. Each would carry one fighter into the aerie.

Bo-Jing agreed. Ryu volunteered. Bo-Jing chose Gan-Wei and Yi-Ren. A dilemma arose over whether to take Zhang or Gan-Yul—Salt resolved it by volunteering herself. Npi-Nhut approved, noting her uncanny timing in battle.

They flew by moonlight. Salt pressed her face into Npi-Nhut’s mane. Bo-Jing, riding behind Npi-Nhut on Ses-Hami, held tight, his legs aching. At dawn, they reached the southwest cliffs.

Npi-Nhut signaled. The Khimori circled, then dove. Two lion-eagles were visible. As Npi-Nhut feinted, the others dropped their riders. Bo-Jing landed on one, severing its wing. Gan-Wei and Yi-Ren flanked the other. Ryu landed and released his snake staff.

Salt remained airborne. The wounded lion-eagle screeched. Two more emerged—and then the invisible one struck Bo-Jing, pinning and slashing him. Salt blasted it with bolts of energy. Bo-Jing tracked it by claw marks and gusts of air, striking again and again.

Gan-Wei and Yi-Ren killed one, but struggled with the next. Ryu’s snake immobilized it long enough for Gan-Wei to finish it. Ryu healed Yi-Ren, then joined the fight with his staff. Salt hit the invisible foe with magic again.

It screeched and flew—Salt bathed it in violet light, revealing it to the archers. Struck by arrows, it dove. Ses-Hami chased it to the ground. Though wounded by its talons, he threw it off, then pounded its head with his hooves. The others arrived to find the final beast dead.

Back in the aerie, Bo-Jing found a fine sword among the bones and gave it to Gan-Wei.

Defending the Lands of the Five Fires 02 (Into the Valley)

The party returned to Banua and shared news of their success at Sum Sukhis. Ganbaatar was thoroughly pleased and announced a small feast in their honor.

The celebration was muted, however, by the growing evidence that their recent triumph, however symbolically important, had done little to address the danger now gathering around them.

The population of Banua had noticeably increased during the weeks Bo-Jing and his company had been away. The most obvious newcomers were members of the Bolad horde returning to the seat of their khan, as was their right. But more and more of the new arrivals were refugees from the Nergui horde.

They were not soldiers.

They were families. Widows. Children.

Ganbaatar called them his “long-lost people returned,” deliberately striking a tone of generosity rather than conquest. Clearly, Gansukh had not been able to defend his people as well as Ganbaatar.

But an uncomfortable question hung over Banua.

Would “better than Gansukh” prove to be good enough?

Bo-Jing discussed the matter with Ryu and came to the one obvious conclusion. As an Imperial baghatur, he was not Ganbaatar’s man and he was not a partisan of the Bolad horde. His commission might have brought him north to collect taxes, but it also gave him responsibilities to the people of the frontier, Bolad and Nergui alike.

He would go to Khazu Kala.

He would make peace with Gansukh if possible and, regardless of whether he succeeded, find some way to bring help to the people there. If he could not organize a defense himself, he would gather enough information to make a compelling report to the Imperial authorities.

The mysterious Salt had also found her way to Banua.

Bo-Jing suspected that Bangqiu had somehow contacted her through the dreamworld. Regardless, he was glad to have the advice of another magician before confronting the armies of the “Master.”

Another newcomer also volunteered to join them.

Nekhil was a wandering warrior with a poor horse, shabby leather armor, and little besides his spear. His explanation was simple.

Every shaman deserved a bodyguard.

Salt, apparently finding nothing unusual in this arrangement, accepted his protection. Bo-Jing welcomed Nekhil into the company.

Nar-Nuteng, however, made a different choice. She respected the customs of her people and the ancient taboo against entering the Valley of the Five Fires. She would remain in Banua.

And so Bo-Jing departed with Bangqiu, Salt, Ryu, Nekhil, and the usual members of his retinue.

En route to the lands of the Nergui, they encountered a khimori—a blue-black flying horse—who introduced himself as Ses-Hami, son of Npi-Nhut, the khimori Bo-Jing had previously met in the Valley of the Five Fires.

Ses-Hami brought grim news.

The Valley had been invaded by evil creatures who defiled the cradle of humanity with wanton bloodshed. They fought one another, killed animals, and set the grasslands ablaze.

At first, the khimori had been able to avoid the danger simply by taking flight.

Then the land-bound monsters were joined by flying abominations: lions with the heads and enormous razor-sharp beaks of eagles.

These creatures could pursue the khimori into the sky.

Several of the herd had already been killed. Without assistance, Ses-Hami feared the rest would soon be eliminated.

Bo-Jing immediately promised to help.

That night, however, he slept badly.

He had been traveling toward Khazu Kala because frightened people needed him. Now he had promised aid to the khimori as well. Every detour carried a cost, and Bo-Jing found himself wondering whether the promise he had just made might eventually be paid for in human lives.

By morning, he had reached a decision.

Helping the khimori might also help the people of Khazu Kala. If nothing else, entering the Valley would teach him something about the creatures causing such havoc throughout the northern frontier.

The company turned toward the Valley of the Five Fires.

On the approach, they passed through the Bolad fire camp that guarded one of the traditional entrances.

It had been completely destroyed.

Every firewatcher was dead.

Bo-Jing and his companions crossed into the Valley.

There they encountered a group of haggard soldiers carrying crimson shields.

The strangers reacted with open joy and relief at the sight of other natural people. They identified themselves as warriors of the Clan of the Worm and told a story much like the ones Bo-Jing had already heard elsewhere.

Their lands had been overrun by beastmen.

The creatures attacked without reason or apparent purpose except for their obsessive search for two people they called the “deaf witch” and the “queen with no name.”

Circumstances had become so desperate that the Worm Clan warriors had broken the taboo against entering the Valley of the Five Fires. Their plan was to cross it, warn their treaty-partners among the Nergui, and begin organizing a common defense.

Bo-Jing thanked them for the warning and agreed that all people threatened by the invaders would need to stand together.

He believed the “deaf witch” might be Naransetseg, wife of Gansukh, khan of the Nergui horde.

He intended to accompany the Worm Clan warriors toward the Nergui lands.

But first, he had made a promise to the khimori.

The men of the Worm Clan asked to travel with him. They had seen enough already to recognize in Bo-Jing a true baghatur of courage and honor.

Bo-Jing welcomed their help gladly.

Not long afterward, the enlarged company encountered several of the beastmen the Worm Clan had described.

What they saw was worse than expected.

These did not appear to be creatures born as beasts. Beneath the claws, fangs, and strange tattoos were recognizably human bodies caught in the midst of some agonizing transformation.

The creatures were fearsome opponents.

Bangqiu and Salt struck first, blasting them with scalding steam and other magic. Those who survived were swiftly cut down by Bo-Jing and his men.

The Worm Clan warriors pledged their gratitude for having been accepted into such valiant company.

Some time later, Ses-Hami approached Bo-Jing privately.

There was something he had not told him.

His father, Npi-Nhut, had been captured by the beastmen.

The creatures had offered Ses-Hami a bargain: deliver Bo-Jing to them, and they would spare his father.

After traveling with Bo-Jing, Ses-Hami had come to understand that he was not merely formidable but honorable. And he knew his father would rather die than purchase his freedom with the betrayal of such a man.

Ses-Hami also knew where the enemy was waiting.

The beastmen and other monsters had prepared an ambush along the main path into the Valley, expecting Bo-Jing to pass beneath them.

But Ses-Hami knew another route.

A narrow path through the forest climbed even higher than the ambush point.

If Bo-Jing agreed, they could approach the enemy from above, rescue Npi-Nhut, and turn the ambush against those who had prepared it.

Bo-Jing agreed immediately.

Ses-Hami led the company through the forest and eventually to the crest of a steep grassy slope overlooking the main path below.

The khimori had spoken the truth.

A group of beastmen and three trolls waited above the path. They had assembled a great mass of rubble, held in place by logs and ropes, ready to be released onto anyone passing beneath them.

Nearby, Npi-Nhut stood chained to a rock.

Three enormous wolves guarded him.

Bangqiu rose into the air.

From above, he cast down a ring of fire around the would-be ambushers. The flames expanded, trapping the beastmen and trolls inside.

The Worm Clan warriors loosed arrows into the surrounded enemy.

The wolves charged uphill.

Bo-Jing ordered his men to concentrate their arrows on the animals while he stepped forward, sword ready, to meet whatever survived.

Salt added her own magic to the volley.

Two of the wolves fell before reaching the company.

Only one reached Bo-Jing.

He killed it with a single blow.

Below, the ambushers tried desperately to escape Bangqiu’s burning prison. Some were consumed by the flames. Others managed to break free and charge uphill, only to be overwhelmed by Bo-Jing and his men as they reached the crest.

Soon the monsters were dead.

Bo-Jing’s company had turned an ambush into a complete victory.

And not one of them had fallen.

Npi-Nhut was freed from his chains.

He confirmed his son’s account and expressed pride in Ses-Hami’s choice.

The elder khimori announced that he would gather the surviving members of the herd. With Bo-Jing’s permission, they too would join the growing company as it continued its campaign through the Valley.

Bo-Jing agreed.

The party that had entered the Valley seeking information was becoming something else.

Everywhere they went, survivors were choosing to follow.

Defending the Lands of the Five Fires 01 (Cleansing the Shrine of Sum Sakhius)

After their adventures in Khanbaliq, the company returned to their house in the city and allowed themselves a couple days of rest. There were long baths, good meals, and few responsibilities beyond deciding when to leave.

But then, one afternoon, Bo-Jing announced that they would depart the following morning. He was eager to return to his official post at Banua—and equally eager to leave Khanbaliq before the Emperor found some new reason to summon him to court.

Bangqiu used the quiet interval to send a thought-message to Kafka in the Happy Valley. The Monastery of the Two-Fold Path, he reported, was now free of the slavers and corrupt monks who had been using it as their stronghold. It should be suitable for reconsecration and occupation by genuine monks, although there remained certain practical difficulties involving ants and a badly neglected sewage system.

The company set out the next morning: Bo-Jing, Bangqiu, Nar-Nuteng, Ryu—Bo-Jing’s spiritual adviser, an adherent of the Two-Fold Path—and the rest of Bo-Jing’s retinue.

As they traveled north, Bo-Jing and Bangqiu discovered that their reputations increasingly preceded them. Where there was no inn, someone found them a snug house. Where there was no house, there was an encampment around a roaring fire, the smell of roasting meat, and a crowd of smiling faces.

Mostly, people wanted to hear about the coin Bo-Jing and Ganbaatar had presented to the Emperor. Where had they found it? What powers did it possess? What would the Emperor do with it? Would Bo-Jing now be rewarded with marriage to an Imperial daughter?

Others had heard about the feud with Gansukh and the Nergui horde. Some knew rumors of Bangqiu’s magic.

And nearly everywhere there seemed to be one or two young men eager to test themselves against the bright-eyed warrior maiden traveling in Bo-Jing’s company. Nar-Nuteng rarely declined the challenge.

Bo-Jing and Bangqiu, meanwhile, had begun thinking seriously about finding another of the ancient coins.

Along the road they met a mystic named Erke, who claimed to travel through the Valley of the Five Fires in the dreamworld. There, he said, he had heard a rumor concerning the Northern Coin.

“The horse of Khagan Harad still looks for his master.”

It was little enough to go on, but Bo-Jing invited Erke to travel with them.

Farther north, the welcomes remained warm, but the questions changed.

People were hearing stories from the western lands: men losing themselves to the minds of beasts, surrendering to hunger, rage, lust, and fear until little remained of the men they had once been. There were still occasional jokes about the barbaric habits of the Nergui horde, but most understood that this was something different.

Now, instead of asking for stories of Imperial treasure, people wanted reassurance.

Was it true that Bo-Jing and Bangqiu had fought wolves, giants, and flying monsters?

Had they really led men against the Master’s creatures?

And if those creatures came again, would they fight them again?

Yes, Bo-Jing told them.

They would.

By the time the company reached Banua, thoughts of the Northern Coin had begun to seem less urgent.

Ganbaatar greeted them with relief.

“So thankful you decided to leave the good life in the capital and return to little old Banua.”

He had already forbidden his people to travel west into Nergui lands. The stories coming from that direction were too disturbing, and Ganbaatar believed the Master’s beastmen might already be moving east.

But another report troubled him even more.

The shrine of Sum Sukhis had been defiled.

The shrine lay several days northeast of Banua, and Ganbaatar considered it the true jewel of his lands.

“A holy place for all people,” he told them. “No matter your faith, anyone who went there with an open heart came away with peace and joy.”

Until now.

Pilgrims had disappeared. Others had abandoned their journeys after finding themselves increasingly uneasy as the shrine’s stupa came into view.

Bo-Jing, Bangqiu, and Nar-Nuteng agreed readily to investigate. Ryu and several of Bo-Jing’s other associates went with them.

Erke declined.

He would remain in Banua and await their return.

The journey to Sum Sukhis took several days. At first they still encountered shepherds, travelers, and small settlements. As they drew nearer to the shrine, the country became steadily emptier.

Eventually they met a hermit who told them something of Sum Sukhis’s strange history. The shrine had been deliberately constructed in three levels: an upper story, a ground floor built around a sacred pool, and beneath them an underground level that had always been closed to pilgrims.

The design, the hermit explained, expressed a truth about the world.

Peace and holiness did not exist because evil was absent.

They existed because evil was continually resisted.

Now blue and purple oni had taken the shrine. They attacked pilgrims, desecrated the holy place, and filled its former silence with violence.

On the day the company finally reached Sum Sukhis, they encountered two of the creatures before they even entered.

The ten-foot-tall blue-skinned monsters were trying to knock down a tree in which an eagle had built her nest.

Bangqiu and Ryu used their magic to transfix the oni, sending them crashing rigidly to the ground. The eagle immediately descended and began pecking at one monster’s eyes, carrying bits of flesh back to her chicks.

Examining the bodies, Bo-Jing noticed something unsettling. Both oni were covered with large pus-filled sores and bloody boils.

Ryu spoke with the eagle. She told him that the monsters lived in the “quiet stone house.”

They had, she said, “taken the silence away” with fighting and screaming.

Inside the shrine, the party found the sacred pool just as the hermit had described it. Nearby, a staircase descended below ground.

At the foot of the stairs stood two oni guarding a closed door, their backs toward the party.

Bangqiu addressed them in their own language and in his most commanding voice.

He had come from the Master, he announced, and required a full report.

The guards immediately became defensive. They insisted that they were faithfully carrying out the Master’s orders. They were guarding the place as commanded.

But something underground was making everyone sick.

Most of the oni wanted to leave.

The chief would not allow it.

Bangqiu informed them that he would speak with the chief immediately.

The guards obligingly escorted the visitors back upstairs.

The other oni seemed almost pleased by the novelty of guests. Bo-Jing, displaying both his sword and the power of the Eastern Coin, helped persuade them that the strangers were powerful allies of the Master.

The creatures were violent, certainly, but not in any organized way. Their aggression came and went in bursts, sometimes directed at the visitors and just as often at one another.

At one point, apparently on a whim and perhaps hoping to entertain their guests, two oni seized a third and threw him over a balcony into the sacred pool below.

All of them bore the same sores and lesions.

The chief was less welcoming.

By the time Bo-Jing and his companions entered his quarters, they found themselves surrounded by a dozen enormous creatures. The chief himself was suspicious and openly hostile.

Bo-Jing acted first.

Calling upon the power of the Eastern Coin, he spoke a single sharp command.

The chief collapsed, motionless.

For a moment, the oni stared.

Then one of them lunged for the fallen chief’s yak-skin cloak and wrapped it around his shoulders.

“I am the new chief!”

Another immediately challenged him.

Within seconds the room dissolved into a brawl.

Somewhere in the confusion, Bangqiu made the cloak disappear.

It took the oni a little while to notice.

When they did, their outrage turned once again toward the visitors.

Bangqiu had already vanished from sight.

Invisible, he climbed outside through a window and called down to them.

“The chief’s cloak is outside! Whoever reaches it first will become the new chief!”

To prove the claim, he allowed the cloak to become visible and dropped it to the ground.

The oni crowded at the window. They considered jumping, but even oni could recognize a bad idea when staring down from sufficient height, and instead began shoving one another toward the stairs and over the balcony.

By the time they reached the ground, the cloak had vanished again.

A short distance away, it reappeared.

The oni charged after it.

Then it vanished once more.

While Bangqiu led the shrine’s occupants farther and farther away in pursuit of their wandering symbol of authority, Bo-Jing and the others slipped out.

Near the exit they encountered two oni unlike any they had yet seen.

Disease had transformed them almost beyond recognition. Their swollen skin had stretched into a pale, sickly violet. Most of their teeth were gone. Their bodies were a mass of sores.

They attacked without fear and with almost no regard for their own survival.

When Bo-Jing and his companions cut them down, it seemed less like defeating enemies than releasing creatures that had already been destroyed.

The party exchanged grim looks.

Then Bo-Jing led them back downstairs.

The door the oni had been guarding had been smashed open.

Beyond it, the company found more diseased creatures and put them down.

And then they found the source.

Deep beneath Sum Sukhis rested a boulder of black stone nearly as massive as the shrine above it. Sickly purple light pulsed within it like a heartbeat.

Almost immediately, their skin began to itch.

Their thoughts changed.

Anger came easily. Suspicion seemed reasonable. Cruel impulses arrived with the seductive simplicity of common sense.

They withdrew and continued exploring.

Nearby they discovered two chambers whose walls were covered in unfamiliar writing. The moment they entered, the oppressive feeling lifted. Touching the inscriptions brought an extraordinary sense of peace.

Bo-Jing could not read the characters, but they reminded him of writing he had seen in Bangqiu’s books.

The party left the shrine and made camp outside, waiting for Bangqiu to return from his successful campaign to establish the yak-skin cloak somewhere else on the northern frontier.

When he finally rejoined them, they told him what they had discovered.

Together they entered Sum Sukhis once more.

Bangqiu could indeed read the writing.

As he spoke the words aloud, a profound calm settled over them.

When they returned to the chamber of the black stone, they discovered that something had changed. A gentle yellow radiance now surrounded the enormous boulder. Its purple light still pulsed within, but the corruption no longer touched them.

They could stand beside it without feeling their minds turn against them.

The evil had not been destroyed.

It had been contained.

Bangqiu considered the broken door through which the oni had entered the undercroft.

A wooden barrier and good intentions, he announced, were clearly inadequate.

He raised his hands.

Stone flowed across the opening.

When he was finished, the passage beneath Sum Sukhis had vanished behind a seamless wall.

Slave Pits of the Undercity 03 (Finale)

While in the Happy Valley, Nar-Nuteng had trained rigorously with Beatriss; in sparring contests with Bo-Jing’s retinue, the bright-eyed girl proved she could hold her own with any of them. Bo-Jing never openly acknowledged her prowess, but his insults desisted. And when she announced that she would return with him to free the slaves, he made no objection.

Salt, meanwhile, had disappeared. She had accompanied Bo-Jing and the others to the Happy Valley but refused to enter Beatriss’s fortress. Villagers claimed to see her from time to time and Bangqiu seemed to know where she was. Truthfully, no one seemed to care and soon it was time to return to Khanbaliq.

Bo-Jing, Nar-Nuteng, and Bangqiu made the now familiar journey back to the capital. Rumors of an invasion from the western deserts circulated in the taverns and Bo-Jing and Bangqiu were often recognized as that baghatur and that sorcerer who had deflected the Master’s advance. Good food, welcoming company, and soft beds made the short trip feel way too short.

Back in Khanbaliq, the hospitality was less hospitable. Bo-Jing was invited to tea with one of the Emperor’s high-ranking ministers. In this meeting, Bo-Jing learned that the Emperor was surprised that Bo-Jing had tarried so long in Khanbaliq. Bo-Jing bumbled through a few excuses and then promised to make preparation and leave the day after tomorrow.

Bo-Jing, Bangqiu, and Nar-Nuteng agreed that they had one more day to drive the slavers out of the Monastery and free the captives within.

They party made this approach by the main gate, fully prepared to meet another ragtag group of monks and their fire-breathing machine. The courtyard was empty, the machine still in the same ruinous state that Bangqiu had put it in during the last assault. Bangqiu made himself invisible and using his magic boots, rose up over the gate to land in the courtyard. The doors to each of the winch rooms were closed and barred—from the outside. Listening at one of the doors, Bangqiu heard scratching and slavering, but smelled something far worse than rabid dogs. He knocked the bar off the door and then rose into the air. A half-dozen ghouls rushed out with wild eyes and bloody teeth. They smelled Bangqiu but couldn’t find him and clawed furiously at the air.

When Bangqiu did appear, he was only a few feet above their heads. They rushed towards him and—into a thick cloud of scalding steam that delivered their second death.

Bangqiu entered the winch room and raised the first gate to allow his friends into the gatehouse. Then he opened the second winch door and blasted its two undead occupants with a barrage of hot green bolts of light. He opened the second gate and the rest of the party entered the courtyard.

Bo-Jing led the way to the temple room in which they had fought the priestess, and warned Bangqiu and Nar-Nuteng that the priestess had been killed by the sudden descent of an enormous sword held aloft by a thirty-foot statue while trying to escape through a trapdoor at the statue’s feet. The sword was once more poised aloft, and no one wanted to open the door. Bo-Jing persuaded Ryu to eat one of the lotus pods to enter the dreamworld so that he could pass through the trapdoor without opening it. After passing through the door, returned from the world and deliberately triggered the trap door from the safety of the other side. With silent cheers, the party lit torches and went below.

The party found themselves in the narrow, fulsome tunnels of the antpeople. Wanting no quarrel of double-sword-wielding creatures whose carapaces were like steel, and whose voracious larvae lurked in huge pools of offal, the party sought and found the path of least resistance—by avoiding the sound of clicking and clanging and the smell of rotting compost, the party passed through the antpeople’s lair and into the relatively homey tunnels of the Khanbaliq sewer system. The tunnels were well-made with wide iron walkways alongside an easy-running course of garbage, waste, and storm runoff.

By accident or evil design, the iron walkway was insecure in some places and the bold Bo-Jing was dropped unceremoniously into the sewage canal. There was a circular current here and Bo-Jing found himself pulled swiftly toward the bottom. The fast-thinking Nar-Nuteng through him one end of the a rope. Bangqiu seized the other end and with the help of his magic boots, ran up the arched ceiling to hover above the canal and help Bo-Jing pull himself out of the sewage. The party continued, Bo-Jing still leading the way, but tapping the floor ahead of him with a half barge pole.

The party group found their way to the cells where the slaves had been held captive, and found that they were now occupied by a several monks, who murmured softly to each other while sharing a bowl of rice perched on a stool. One of them saw the party’s approach and caught his breath. The others turned to stare in terror, not moving until the rice bowl slid off the stool onto the floor. None of them reached for his spear or hatchet. At last one of them spoke, “You have come to kill us too?”

Bo-Jing had learned from talking to the rescued slaves, that many of the monks had come from the same southern villages. These monks were thin, one of them emaciated, shivering in his thread-bare scrap of saffron cloth. It was clear to Bo-Jing that if a lucrative slaving operation was running through the monastery, these men were seeing none of the profit. He asked them why they were there. Their answer, in Southern-accented Zhou, with references to soldiers, burning rice paddies, and promises of getting educated in the North, became completely unintelligible when Ryu asked them to name the basic precepts of the two-fold path.

Ryu shook his head and looked at Bo-Jing. “You understand the way of the two-fold path better than these men.”

Bo-Jing asked the men if they wanted to leave the monastery with him. After receiving his reassurance that he did not wish to torture or eat them and his promise that if that was his plan he would just kill them now, the monks agreed to show Bo-Jing a way out.

But it wasn’t time to go out. There was something else down there that Bo-Jing needed to deal with. The monks didn’t know if there were more slaves but there could be soon. There were two bosses and after the priestess boss disappeared, there was one boss, a disgusting man with several pet weasels.

The party wandered the sewers until they met another group of sewer-dwellers. Well-fed and well-clothed Northerners, these men did not even pretend to be monks. “This is just our home.” They were led by a sinister look shaman and maintained a fortified stretch of tunnel on both sides of the sewage canal, with no obvious way of crossing between them.

They knew the weasel man and where to find him. If the party was looking to buy slaves, they could take a message. The party waited and played dice on one side of the tunnel while runners from the other side went to find weasel man. During this time, Bangqiu found a way to cross the sewer undetected and eavesdrop on the men on the far side of the tunnel. The men expressed mild curiosity about the visitors, but said nothing that betrayed a hidden agenda beyond selling slaves. When the runners return, the conversation changed. Weasel man did not want to meet the visitors. These were the robbers who had killed all the monks and stolen so many slaves. Instead, the runners, explained, weasel-man wanted them to find out where the robbers lived so he could report them.

When the runners shared their message with Bo-Jing and Nar-Nuteng, the warriors didn’t need magical powers to know something was up. Bangqiu, invisible in the darkness of the shaman’s cave, promised him new powers if he could help him meet the weasel man.

The shaman liked the sound of this offer. The other men were confused, but when the shaman ordered boards to be placed across the canal so the rest of the party could cross over. After a brief and amicable farewell, the party were on their way, led by the shaman who school his staff and rattled his bone jewelry as he led “the voice” and “the voice’s companions” through a series of passage, at last bringing them to the circular room where Bo-Jing and Nar-Nuteng had once before encountered weasel-man.

Weasel-man wasn’t there, but the weasels were, three of them, large as wolves. Bo_Jing called on the power of the Coin of the East and the weasels, fell to the floor and curled into tight balls. Nar-Nuteng heard the sound of human footsteps running out of the room. They followed the sound back into the antpeople’s tunnel, but soon lost the trail. The monk-refugees were afraid and asked to return to their cells. Bo-Jing told them they could if they found their own way back. They decided to stay with him.

The party decided to return to the circular room, hoping to lay in wait for the weasel-man. While rummaging through his belongings, they found a store of decent food, a sack of tael coins, and business records. A group of monks arrived, unarmed, but well-fed. They greeted the visitors and promised that their master did want to meet them. But he was in the city.

Bangqiu was skeptical and tapped one of the monks on the forehead, ordering him to tell the truth. The man began blabbering. His master was hiding in the stone shed. The other monks gasped and began to run. Bangqiu and the others chased them, through the antpeople tunnels to the surface, then through a garden toward a small shed built next to the monastery wall. Bangqiu became invisible and reached the shed first. The small room was cramped with tools, cooking pots, and sleeping mats. There was an exit, a stout door built into the monastery wall. The shed appeared empty, but Bangqiu sensed the sweaty, weaselly breath of another person. Bangqiu positioned himself in front of postern door. When the monks reached the shed, they cried out to the empty room that Li-Ho had told the robbers he was there. An invisible man reached for the door and collided with the invisible Bangqiu. The two men grappled and wrestled. The other man stabbed Bangqiu with a knife and Bangqiu retaliated with a blast of magic missiles.

Both men became visible and stared at each other. Weasel-man was pudgy and round with a flat nose and large eyes. But the smell. Weasel-man retreated while commanding the monks to attack. As they grabbed tools and charged, Bo-Jing arrived. He killed the Weasel-man with one slash of his sword and ordered the monks to leave his friend alone. They joyfully threw down their weapons. “We are free!”

Slavepits of the Undercity 02

 After finding the rescued captives in the Happy Valley, Bo-Jing and his crew, along with Bangqiu returned to Khanbaliq.  Nar-Nuteng had elected to stay behind in the Happy Valley and train with Beatriss.  Although Bo-Jing had sometimes denigrated the girl's prowess in battle, he admitted that her unique way of looking at things was often useful and enhanced his own decision-making.  Finding his men too obliging and Bangqiu too selfish, Bo-Jing was glad to meet Salt, a plucky team-player with a mind of her own plus nascent magical abilities. 

The party set out early in the morning and encountered a group of imperial guards.  The guards recognized Bo-Jing's status as a baghatur and seemed embarassed when it become apparent that they were going to the same place.  While Bo-Jing and his friends were seeking to infiltrate the monastery, the imperial guards had been charged with-- guarding it. Reaching the monastery, Bo-Jing learned that their previous entry point was no longer an option.  The stables had been reduced to rubble, with broken boards, large stones, and garbage blocking the passage that had once allowed access to the lower level.  This was the point the guards were expected to patrol.  With feigned naivete they suggested that if Bo-Jing had business with the monks inside, he should present himself at the front gate.  Their solemn duty was to remain "right here directly in front of the ruined stables no matter what might be happening somewhere else such as at the front gate-- way over there on the other side of the monastery from where we couldn't possibly be expected to see or hear anything anyway."

Following the guards directions, the party found the entrance, a roofless gatehouse with two portcullises and a courtyard beyond.  The monks in the courtyard seemed welcoming, pausing in their work of lading a cart to greet the visitors, but soon showed their duplicitous nature.  The monks opened the outer portcullis and, once the party had entered dropped it closed without opening the inner portcullis.  When Bo-Jing drew his sword and threatened him, they turned the heavy cart toward him and blasted him with a stream of boiling oil.  Bo-Jing sustained little in the way of burns but his armor was damaged and all of his men sustained minor injuries from the splash.  More seriously, it seemed likely the monks had the means to cause more mayhem from behind the near-complete safety of the portcullis.

Bangqiu stepped forward and blasted the monks with hot steam.  As they ran away from their machine, he used his magic to become invisible and levitate over the inner gate.  Bangqiu found the winch room and raised the gate and allowed his comrades inside.  Then he assumed bird form and flew away.

The monks, with their poor weapons and threadbare robes showed little appetite for combat without the protection of a gate between them and Bo Jing's sword.  They fled to their ramshackle dormitory and Bo Jing led a charge toward the temple.  In the gloomy, cobwebbed sanctuary, dominated by a huge statue of a man with a sword raised above his head, they found the head priestess and her minions.  She hexed Bo Jing and his man-- Ganyul and Ganwei were transfixed, while Bo-Jing shook off the paralyzing magic and responded with a curse of his own.  Clenching the Eastern Coin in his palm, he castigated the deceptive priestess as she rose her hands to cast another spell; she froze as if his on the head, blinked and wandered away in a stupor.

And so the battle was on.  A dozen captives, in chains, turned on their captors who were cut down by Bo Jing and his men.  Ryu tended to Ganyul and Ganwei.  Salt watched from the shadows until a monk in black robes slinked up behind Bo Jing with a wicked dagger.  A bolt of blue energy from Salt struck the man in the back of the head.  He cried out in shock; Bo Jing spun on his heel and cut him down.

The panicked priestess stumbled toward the statue and bent over to open a trapdoor.  As she raised it, the statue's sword swung down and killed her.

The captives cheered.  Bo-Jing found the key to unfasten their chains and together with his friends, led the newly-freed people out of the monastery.

Like the others, they were mainly from the "Southern Empire" of Zhou Song.  They would not be safe in Khanbaliq and could not make the long trip home unaccompanied.  Most had lost their families in the war and were grateful to start a new life in the Happy Valley.

Slave Pits of the Undercity 01

tl;dr:

Bojing and his crew go to explore a monastery which has been transformed into a place of human trafficking. Walking in the front door, Bojing saw a woman on a bunk and Nar Nutang yelled that the woman on the bunk was a shape-changing monster and Bojing listened and killed the woman but the woman wasn't a shape-changer but a real slave.

Bojing and the crew saw some ""MONKS" and a merchant; Bojing, a powerful baghatur, stuck fear into the monks' hearts forcing them to run. The slave merchant's two powerful bodyguards remained, one with the abilty of shooting meteorites the other a powerful warrior that the mighty Bojing even struggled with but the crew defeated the bodyguards and recovered the keys to rescue the slaves.


"AKSHULLY":

When Bo-jing learned from Ryu that innocent people were being pressed into slavery in the shadow of the Kanbaliq's walls, his heart hardened against the Emperor. He promised Ryu that we would cleanse the monastery of this wickedness, free the enslaved people, and one day depose the cruel despot who misused his power in this way.

Beatriss knew about the monastery and its ugly secrets. Besides the corrupt monks who received captives from the outskirts of the empire and beyond, Beatriss warned her new protege about shape-changers and a lizard that turned people to stone. After her months-long absence from home, Beatriss herself would return to the Happy Valley. Based on these warnings, Bo-jing and Nar Nuteng both bought mirrors.

Based also on Beatriss's advice, Bo-Jing, Nar-Nuteng, plus their sometimes associate, sometimes rival Bangqiu, along with Ryu and Bo-Jing's men-at-arms, entered the monastery through a secret door and based through several halls so long ruined that their original purpose was impossible to know. They encountered a horde of undead creatures whose chilling touch caused temporary paralysis. None of the party was lost in this encounter, but Bo-Jing elected to choose another entrance to gain access to the actual monastery.

Bo-jing led the party in breaking into the stables. There, the party encountered a group of monks whom were so terrified at the sight of the fearsome baghatur that they fley in terror. A woman who had been hiding in the loft space peered down. "Who is there?" she called. "Who will save me from this place?" Something about the young woman's helplessness put Nar-Nuteng on edge and she warned Bo-Jing of the seductive shape-shifters. Bo-Jing charged up into the loft area and angrily killed the too-good-to-be-true ingenue.  She screamed and bled and died and her body did not revert to a gray, alien form.  She was not a monster but a true victim, killed by the one she thought would rescue her.

Bo-Jing was despondent and blamed Nar-Nutang.  Bangqiu rebuked him for being too emotional.  But Ryu patiently explained that he alone was responsible for his mistake and that he must accept it and learn from it and give his focus in the moment to rescuing other slaves.  

The party found their way into a series of tunnels dug under the monastery and inhabited by disgusting ant-men.  With the power of his magic coin, Bo-Jing drove away the ant-men and the party navigated the labyrinth to arrive at the lair of the resident slave lord, a greasy-looking man in leather armor.  While contending with a dozen cowardly monks and several ferocious giant weasels, the slave lord escaped.  Rifling through his belongings, they found some useful information about the work of the slavers including contacts in other cities.

The party continued to explore and discovered a series of cellblocks, where they encountered a group of monks negotiating with a merchant sought to purchase and enslave a number of the people imprisoned there.  Alarmed by the heavily-armed intruders, the monks and the merchant were put to flight while the merchant's bodyguards stayed in place to guard his retreat.  A blast of steam from Bangqiu killed one of them while Bo-Jing defeated and slew the other in trying hand-to-hand combat.  A search of the surrounding storage rooms located the keys and the party freed about a dozen prisoners.  These people, mainly young women from Southern Zhou were glad to leave the monastery but feared being left alone in a city where they would be regarded as enemies.  Bangqiu suggested that they should be taken all the way to the Happy Valley and resettled there.

Interlude: Bo-Jing in Khanbaliq

 Bo-Jing and and Ganbaatar presented the Southern Coin and enjoyed a week of congratulatory banquets and interrogatory private audiences. The Emperor granted a one-year tax holiday to Ganbaatar and his people. One of the Emperor's Ministers insinuated that Bo-Jing had not kept his possession of the Eastern Coin a secret and that the Emperor was prepared to appoint Bo-Jing was prepared to appoint him to the post recently vacated in Blue City.  Concealing his concern as to whether this was an offer or a threat or both, Bo-Jing simply restated that he looked forward to returning to his post in Banua and continuing to serve the Emperor there.

During this time, Ryu visited the local Monastery of the Two-Fold Path, located just outside the walls of Khanbaliq.  He was shocked and dismayed to find it was being used as a holding place for captives who would be sold as slaves-- many of them to the Emperor himself.

Bo-Jing made a private vow that he would rescue these slaves, restore the monastery to its intended purposes, and one day punish the Emperor.

The Taxman Part 10: Southern Coin

In Banua, Bojing, Beatriss, and Nar Nuteng parted ways with the sorcerers and resumed their search for the coins.  They made their way once more to the southern cave, guarded by the stone warriors.  Beatriss, Bo-Jing and Ryu fought three of the warriors and then Ryu swallowed a lotus pod to go into the dream world in hopes of accessing the secret chamber at the back of the hall.  He was able to converse wit the stone statute who friendly and chatty but refused to step aside to allow access to the chamber. "I don't know you and I cannot allow you inside unless you know me."

Bo-Jing and Nar-Nuteng reasoned that the word they'd found in the yeti cave was the fox's name, but the fox didn't seem any better to read it than they were.  There seemed nothing to do but go back to Banua and find someone who could read the old script.  But on the way there, they encountered a wild fox and with a few scraps of meet and the power of the Eastern Coin, were able to befriend the fox, speak to him, and learn about his indigenous belief system. Most notably, the great ancestor of all foxes was named üneg.  

And indeed the fox in the Southern cave responded well to that name and happily stepped aside, allowing them into a small dark room where they found the Southern Coin, most notable for its red tint.  Bo-Jing gripped the coin and knew that it would make him an even more powerful warrior.  But he also remembered his honor and his promise to Ganbaatar.  "We will present this coin to the Emperor together."

The party returned to Banua to announce their success.  Ganbaatar was pleased and praised Bo-Jing for his honor.  "Your Emperor will be most pleased will us and with you in particular.  Let us go to Khanbaliq at once."

Within days, Ganbaatar had organized a caravan and they began the trek to the capital. Along the way they stopped in Blue City and received a reminder of the dangers of displeasing the city.  Among the bodies of the criminals hanging from the walls, they recognized the same governor who had warned Bo-Jing against doing anything to cheat the Emperor.  The sign hanging around his neck proclaimed, "In cheating the people, I cheated the Emperor."

The Taxman Part 9: Meeting the Rivals

 Back in Banua, Ganbaatar had good news for Bo Jing.  The people of the Bolad horde, having heard that the Imperial Agent had drivn off the bandits and killed the yetis that were attacking the fire camp, were paying their taxes with minimal grumbling.  Ganbaater asked Bo Jing about his success in searching for the lost coins.  Bo Jing was clumsily evasive but Ganbaatar didn't press the matter.

Bo Jing and his companions spent a few weeks in Banua, waiting out a blizzard and a cold snap, and then decided to go to Kuzhu Kala so that  they could return Narantsetseg's necklace. On the way there, they found the remains of several large campfires.  By investigating one of these sites, they found a discarded brass badge of a distinctive design.  Beatrsiss and Bo-Jing both recognized it as part of the uniform of the armies of the "Master" whom they had fought in the Sind desert.  The next evening as they were seeking a suitable place to make their own campsite, they heard the noise of a large gathering and as they cautiously approached heard snatches of songs in the voices of the bestial bakemono, possibly amasssed in large numbers.  They circumvented the sounds of the enemy camp and rode onward through the dark, Beatriss leading the way.

After another dya of travel, the party reached Kuzhu Kala and found a place to stay in one of the yurts outside the walls. Soon, they learned that Gansukh was entertaining a pair of mysterious visitors, foreign sorcerers whose descriptions made them instantly recognizable as Bangqiu and Hyamsam.  Rumors hinted that Gansukh had hired them to find something and that he was very disappointed with the news of their progress.

Beatriss and Bo-Jing decided that  even if their friends had become their rivals, they were friends first and might need assistance.  They entered the town just as the gates were closing and went to the yurt of Gansukh.  A cataclysm of emotions erupted over the Khan's face as Bo-Jing came into his presence, holding the Khanum's favorite necklace.  Caught in the midst of a red-faced red directed at Hyamsam and Bangqiu, GanSukh looked ready to draw his sword when he heard Bo Jing's greeting-- until he caught sight of his necklace.  The color drained from his face and he smiled weakly.  "Oh, where did you find that?"

Gansukh was saved from further embarrassment by his wife's excitement at seeing her necklace.  Gansukh sent her and the other women away as his soldiers crowded in.  Bo-Jing and Beatriss learned, as they expected that Bangqiu and Hyamsam had found a coin and that they were refusing to turn it over to Ganuskh in exchange for the reward he was offering of several thousand tael.  A long argument ensued in which Bo-Jing revealed that he too had a coin. Beatriss told Gansukh about the threat posed by the Master and offered her services in fighting off his advance.  Bangqiu nodded, avowing that he too would help protect the lands of his host but would not relinquish the coin. With nothing else to offer, Gansukh became threatening.  The coin rightfully belonged to him and he would take it by any means required.  If the sorcerers refused his gifts of wealth and prestige that was no matter.  Beatriss and Bangqiu agreed that they were ready to fight if necessary, but that Bangqiu should first try his charm magic.  Because it was clear that Gansukh had become an enemy.

Bangqiu sat down and stared at his hands as if considering Gansukh's offer.   Then he looked up without standing and said, "I think you are a good friend and have made an interesting offer.  I only wish to think about it over night.  Let us retire with our friends outside the walls so that we can see the wisdom of your offer."

To everyone's surprise, Gansukh agreed.  He ordered his soldiers to make way for the visitors to leave his tent and gave the order for the gates to be opened.  Once outside, the reunited friends rode into the cold night, headed towards Banua.

Friends?  And still rivals.  Bangqiu told Hyamsam and Bo-Jing that they should both give him their coins, that he was the most powerful member of the party and that he was the best suited to unlocked the combined power of holding all four coins.

The Taxman Part 8

Nar-Nuteng and Bo-Jing's men surveyed the scene-- scores of animated skeletons and a group of men on horseback. Reasoning that while the hollow-headed skeletons were a horror, the minds of evil men were the true danger, the heroes launched a volley of arrows at the men on horseback who reacted by raising their shields and spurring the horses behind the ranks of undead that were closing in around the entrances to the cavern hall.

As Bo-Jing reached the tunnel, Gan-Wei pointed out to his master the enemies on horseback. Bo-Jing, clutching the magical coin in his pocket cursed the men with their evil; immediately they broke out into an argument with each other and within moments, blades were drawn.  Beatriss joined the archers and Ryu called for divine wrath on the undead horde; a dozen skeletons exploded in a flash of blinding light just as they reached the entrance to the hall. As Ryu strode toward the entrance to meet the undead horde with his holy symbol. the necro-shaman from outside Khuzu Kala appeared from nowhere and launched an exploding ball of fire into the hall.  Ryu was knocked off his feet and his robes were badly singed, but as the shaman raised his wand, decrying "self-righteous fools who stand in the way of progress," intervened.  Squeezing the Coin of the East into his palm, Bo-Jing cursed the shaman with a word of rebuke that made him drop his wand and wander away in a stupefied daze.

Ryu regained his feet and resumed destroying skeletons, clearing a way for Bo-Jing to reach the skeletons.  Beatriss and the other warriors, meanwhile, cut down the few skeletons that reached the cave.  Some of the men on horseback continued to fight each other while others galloped away.

Soon Bo-Jing reached the befuddled shaman and cut him down without mercy.  When the shaman's body fell to the ground, the skeleton fell into disarray, come continuing to attack, while others retreated, some attacking each others, while other's attacked shadows.  Most of those who pressed the attack were obliterated by Ryu while the stragglers were obliterated by Bo-Jing and Beatriss.  When the dust cleared, Bo-Jing claimed the shaman's ring and reveled in its power-- he was invisible!

Beatrriss noticed that the shaman was once again wearing Narantsetseg’s necklace and encouraged Gan Wei to take it.  "You should return it to her."

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.