Post by John Niska on Jun 27, 2011 17:21:09 GMT -5
The Legacy of Wen Xiang
While I was brought into the situation a little later than some of the others, I will do my best to record the startling circumstances of the last few days.
It started with several events that did not seem to be connected but in the exciting times that we live in, disparate events have a way of colliding with great force. Maximillian Dragonard was having trouble with his grandfather. It seems his grandfather had seen a Chinese dwarf or possibly dwarfs spying on him. The elder Dragonard even took to carrying a Chinese sword he had acquired during his time in the Orient. It would seem he scared their maid, thinking she was a Chinese dwarf. Lisette had a broken dinner engagement with her friend Dolores Manray. According to Lisette, it was unusual for Miss Manray to miss an engagement. To add to the situation, Winston Graves, a private investigator, received information from a mundane officer that a stevedore named Jeff Hobb had reported his common law wife was missing but late changed his story to say she left him and left town. The officer advised Winston that the way Mr. Hobb told both stories seemed to be true and similar yet different.
Using his skills in occulomancy, Winston read the mind of Mr. Hobb and managed to discover the two conflicting stories about his wife. It was clear to Winston that someone had tampered with Mr. Hobb mind. Winston went in search of some friends of Miss Mulligan, the missing wife.
Fu Ban accompanied Max to his house and found a Chinese dwarf and two other Chinese men inside the house. A battle ensued, with the two men wielding hook swords of goblin manufacture and the dwarf wielding enchanted daggers. Max used his magic versus the pair while Fu Ban assaulted the dwarf. The dwarf managed to get away but Fu Ban managed to strike the dwarf and said it was akin to striking clay. The two men bore tattoos of the Black Scorpion Tong. The tong has been making head way in our fair city’s criminal underbelly. Max checked and his father was fine and nothing was missing. He took the time to look through the possessions that his grandfather brought back from China. Among the various items, he found a large medallion that had an unidentifiable magical aura.
Lisette inquired about her missing friend and found out she was dating a young man named William Jacobs. Mr. Jacobs seemed to be a mundane at first, but upon investigation it seems he was an untrained new blood. Miss Manray must have discovered Mr. Jacobs wizardry potential and she took him the Sterncastle Hotel for dinner. A goblin band was playing and Mr. Jacobs saw them with the cloud of the Veil.
Winston spoke to some of Miss Mulligan’s friends and they said they went to see a Chinese magic act down in the Bowery. They were disappointed to find that they had come on the wrong night as only acrobats were performing. The other two women decided to go to an opium den but Miss Mulligan decided not to go and went home. This was the last they saw of her. In case Miss Mulligan had changed her mind and decided to go to the opium den, Winston inquired about it and discovered that the opium den was just a cover for sex shows involving Chinese men and white women dressed up as Chinese women.
Max and Fu Ban decided to investigate the laundry that had provided the dwarf in the hamper for no extra charge. At Hop Sing’s Laundry, they found no answers just an assurance from the owner, Weng Lee, he would look into the matter.
I decided to research information about Chinese dwarfs, wizards and vampires. At the Rothe bookstore, I found a book called The Fall of the Jade Emperor by Lord Perrin. I assimilated the book and discovered it dealt with the burning of the Summer Palace by the Co cilium about thirty years ago. It turns out the Jade Emperor was a vampire and a wizard and he was ruling China. The Concilium didn’t like that and they struck with a considerable force. One of the powerful vampire wizards, Wen Xiang had a Chinese homunculus that was designed to be a wizard killer. It could enchant daggers to disrupt the energy of an opponent which in the case of wizards, it would severally diminish most mages. According to the book, Wen Xiang’s heart was found and burned which caused his body to incinerate. He and the homunculus were considered dead. I learned a few things about Chinese vampires and how they differ from those of the Red Court.
Lisette managed to obtain Mr. Jacobs diary and after I assimilated the contents it became clear that Mr. Jacobs is an undiscovered talent. Unfortunately, the diary spoke of undergoing electric shock treatment to cure his “insanity”. He believed Miss Manray also saw the things he saw and he decided to take her to see a Chinese magician by the name of Li Shun that worked at the Bowery Theater. Mr. Jacobs said the stage was full of phantasmagoria that only he could see. He hoped that Miss Manray could see it and he would not be insane.
As our investigations have twice revealed the Bowery Theater, we decided to go and see this Li Shun the next time he performed. Max bought a theater box for us to use and our little coterie, along with Winston’s wife, settled in to enjoy the show. Unfortunately, Mr. Hobb decided to show up at the theater and demand that Li Shun release his wife and stop doing whatever unspeakable things he was doing to her. Winston talked to the man and he left. Li Shun show was a masterful display of illusions. He maintained multiple phantoms while continuing to entertain the audience. He was assisted by Mr. Ping, a Chinese dwarf that seemed to lack cultural graces that caused Li Shun some amount of feigned embarrassment. The theater also served us some delightful little delicacies called Dim Sum. I will have to ask Fu Ban if his restaurant serves it. We decided to stay for a second show and while the Dragon Dancers were on stage, we wandered into the alley to discuss our next move.
Unfortunately, we found Mr. Hobb scaling the fire escape, trying to reach his wife that was on the building across the way, tied up near the edge of the building’s fire escape. Max used his magic to push Mr. Hobb back against the building. We determined his wife as well as the fire escape across the way were illusions. We managed to convince Mr. Hobb that he must have been hypnotized and we would take care of it. He was well beyond calming down at this point so I engaged in a bit of thuggery and struck him on the back of the head with my cane. He crumpled to the ground and Winston managed to get him into a cab and dropped him off at a speakeasy with several drinks in his stomach. While he was gone, we discovered that Winston’s wife had gone missing. Max transformed himself into air and went backstage to see what he could find. In the basement, he found more members of the Black Scorpion Tong as well as a secondary basement. This floor contained a rat of enormous size and Winston’s wife chained to a wall. As soon as Winston returned to us, we assaulted the first group of Black Scorpions. They also wielded goblin make hook swords. With the first group dispatched, we confronted the second group. This time they were with Mr. Ping. Mr. Ping proved to be a deadly foe. One scratch from his dagger and my reserves were nearly exhausted. It was difficult but we managed to destroy Mr. Ping and his associates, rescue Winston’s wife and escape.
We did find reference to a hidden palace and as the Bowery Theater had goblin wards upon it, we figured they may have used goblin wards upon their other headquarters. A short trip to the Goblin Market told us that they would not share any details about the wards they had put in place, but they were interested in any special pearls we found when we entered the hidden palace. We decided to track the mundane yet aware Black Scorpion Tong and see if they could lead us to this place. It turns out that this plan worked so we found the building and after Edith scryed upon the building, we went to the building next door and went to the roof. The roof of our target had four shadow scorpions the size of a small carriage and four Black Scorpions armed with goblin blades. Battle ensued and one of the Black Scorpions cleaved my wand in two. I had to resort to bashing things with my cane. As the Sting of Serket, protected me from their venom, I engaged the shadow scorpions. We managed to win without setting off any alarms.
Entering the hidden palace, we found a gallery with many mundane and magical artifacts. Winston also located a concealed vault that contained three petrified hearts, a fortune in gold and enough of the soul pearls to make all of us quite wealthy. Max wasted no time in destroying the pearls and as the gold was quite heavy and not really the point of our mission, we took the hearts and left the gold for later. As we went down, we found an alchemical lab with several potions labeled in Mandarin. Unfortunately, Fu Ban was called away before we could enter the hidden palace so none of us could decipher the language. On the next level, we found a cabinet that could not be opened but it had a depression that seemed similar to the amulet that Max carried. With equal parts of curiosity, youthful bravado, and silent consent. Max placed the amulet upon the cabinet. The cabinet opened to reveal an extradimensional palace. At this time, Wen Xiang appeared behind us and thanked us for opening the cabinet. He animated his shadow and battle began anew. The battle was fierce but after several exchanges of spells, Wen Xiang entered the open cabinet and shut the door. As we could not get in and as the cabinet disappeared with an onrush of wind, we decided to continue exploring the building.
We found a book in Latin with notes in the margins in Mandarin. I assimilated the book and discovered it was about summoning a creature called the Bloated Woman. The Bloated Woman is a ‘Herald of the Outer Gods’ and its presence could bring about the release of a God of Chaos trapped at the center of the universe. It said it was possible to summon the Bloated Woman before her time but it would require a large investment of magic. We also found notes on a magical enhancement net that would siphon power off of mages to fuel the creature. Most disturbing was a map that had all the nexus’ marked on it. It seems Wen Xiang was going to use the Bloated Woman to destroy the wizarding society. We started to fight two Chinese vampires but as one of them ripped hunks of flesh off my body, Edith waved the petrified hearts at them and threatened to incinerate them. They stopped and told us the people we were looking for are on the next floor down.
We continued to search the building and we found four people, in what we assumed was a magical enhancement net and a young Chinese woman. The young woman transformed into a corpulent thing with an array of tentacles. Her very presence caused the floor around her to become like mud and the space around her to warp. The others attacked her as I went to the prisoners and the net. I had two choices; I could kill the four people outright and disrupt the net or I could disengage each person one at a time while restructuring the matrix to make sure it didn’t kill anyone. It really wasn’t a choice. I started to disengage the prisoners while my friends battled the Bloated Woman. I managed to free two of them before the matrix crashed. With the destruction of the matrix, the Bloated Woman returned to her waiting for the time yet unknown for her return. The other two were dying but the Shroud of Nepthys managed to prolong their lives as well as mine until Edith could tend to our injuries.
Wen Xiang fled with his cabinet, the Bloated Woman returned to her post and some of the lost people we were looking for were recovered. Unfortunately, Miss Mulligan, Jeff Hobb’s wife was not found. While my interaction with Mr. Hobb was limited to clubbing him over the back of the head, I do feel sorry for his loss and I feel partly responsible for her death. William Jacobs and Delores Manray were rescued which leads us to another problem. Mr. Jacobs has the potential for magic. He has pierced the Veil. It is up to him but he has a choice of having his memory obliviated or learning a new way of life.
Winston contacted the Concilium as we knew we had to report the Black Scorpion Tong. Violent mundanes with goblin made blades that can pierce the Veil. It might have been too much for us to handle, but the heavy hand of the Concilium will come down hard on any one sporting a Black Scorpion tattoo.
While I was brought into the situation a little later than some of the others, I will do my best to record the startling circumstances of the last few days.
It started with several events that did not seem to be connected but in the exciting times that we live in, disparate events have a way of colliding with great force. Maximillian Dragonard was having trouble with his grandfather. It seems his grandfather had seen a Chinese dwarf or possibly dwarfs spying on him. The elder Dragonard even took to carrying a Chinese sword he had acquired during his time in the Orient. It would seem he scared their maid, thinking she was a Chinese dwarf. Lisette had a broken dinner engagement with her friend Dolores Manray. According to Lisette, it was unusual for Miss Manray to miss an engagement. To add to the situation, Winston Graves, a private investigator, received information from a mundane officer that a stevedore named Jeff Hobb had reported his common law wife was missing but late changed his story to say she left him and left town. The officer advised Winston that the way Mr. Hobb told both stories seemed to be true and similar yet different.
Using his skills in occulomancy, Winston read the mind of Mr. Hobb and managed to discover the two conflicting stories about his wife. It was clear to Winston that someone had tampered with Mr. Hobb mind. Winston went in search of some friends of Miss Mulligan, the missing wife.
Fu Ban accompanied Max to his house and found a Chinese dwarf and two other Chinese men inside the house. A battle ensued, with the two men wielding hook swords of goblin manufacture and the dwarf wielding enchanted daggers. Max used his magic versus the pair while Fu Ban assaulted the dwarf. The dwarf managed to get away but Fu Ban managed to strike the dwarf and said it was akin to striking clay. The two men bore tattoos of the Black Scorpion Tong. The tong has been making head way in our fair city’s criminal underbelly. Max checked and his father was fine and nothing was missing. He took the time to look through the possessions that his grandfather brought back from China. Among the various items, he found a large medallion that had an unidentifiable magical aura.
Lisette inquired about her missing friend and found out she was dating a young man named William Jacobs. Mr. Jacobs seemed to be a mundane at first, but upon investigation it seems he was an untrained new blood. Miss Manray must have discovered Mr. Jacobs wizardry potential and she took him the Sterncastle Hotel for dinner. A goblin band was playing and Mr. Jacobs saw them with the cloud of the Veil.
Winston spoke to some of Miss Mulligan’s friends and they said they went to see a Chinese magic act down in the Bowery. They were disappointed to find that they had come on the wrong night as only acrobats were performing. The other two women decided to go to an opium den but Miss Mulligan decided not to go and went home. This was the last they saw of her. In case Miss Mulligan had changed her mind and decided to go to the opium den, Winston inquired about it and discovered that the opium den was just a cover for sex shows involving Chinese men and white women dressed up as Chinese women.
Max and Fu Ban decided to investigate the laundry that had provided the dwarf in the hamper for no extra charge. At Hop Sing’s Laundry, they found no answers just an assurance from the owner, Weng Lee, he would look into the matter.
I decided to research information about Chinese dwarfs, wizards and vampires. At the Rothe bookstore, I found a book called The Fall of the Jade Emperor by Lord Perrin. I assimilated the book and discovered it dealt with the burning of the Summer Palace by the Co cilium about thirty years ago. It turns out the Jade Emperor was a vampire and a wizard and he was ruling China. The Concilium didn’t like that and they struck with a considerable force. One of the powerful vampire wizards, Wen Xiang had a Chinese homunculus that was designed to be a wizard killer. It could enchant daggers to disrupt the energy of an opponent which in the case of wizards, it would severally diminish most mages. According to the book, Wen Xiang’s heart was found and burned which caused his body to incinerate. He and the homunculus were considered dead. I learned a few things about Chinese vampires and how they differ from those of the Red Court.
Lisette managed to obtain Mr. Jacobs diary and after I assimilated the contents it became clear that Mr. Jacobs is an undiscovered talent. Unfortunately, the diary spoke of undergoing electric shock treatment to cure his “insanity”. He believed Miss Manray also saw the things he saw and he decided to take her to see a Chinese magician by the name of Li Shun that worked at the Bowery Theater. Mr. Jacobs said the stage was full of phantasmagoria that only he could see. He hoped that Miss Manray could see it and he would not be insane.
As our investigations have twice revealed the Bowery Theater, we decided to go and see this Li Shun the next time he performed. Max bought a theater box for us to use and our little coterie, along with Winston’s wife, settled in to enjoy the show. Unfortunately, Mr. Hobb decided to show up at the theater and demand that Li Shun release his wife and stop doing whatever unspeakable things he was doing to her. Winston talked to the man and he left. Li Shun show was a masterful display of illusions. He maintained multiple phantoms while continuing to entertain the audience. He was assisted by Mr. Ping, a Chinese dwarf that seemed to lack cultural graces that caused Li Shun some amount of feigned embarrassment. The theater also served us some delightful little delicacies called Dim Sum. I will have to ask Fu Ban if his restaurant serves it. We decided to stay for a second show and while the Dragon Dancers were on stage, we wandered into the alley to discuss our next move.
Unfortunately, we found Mr. Hobb scaling the fire escape, trying to reach his wife that was on the building across the way, tied up near the edge of the building’s fire escape. Max used his magic to push Mr. Hobb back against the building. We determined his wife as well as the fire escape across the way were illusions. We managed to convince Mr. Hobb that he must have been hypnotized and we would take care of it. He was well beyond calming down at this point so I engaged in a bit of thuggery and struck him on the back of the head with my cane. He crumpled to the ground and Winston managed to get him into a cab and dropped him off at a speakeasy with several drinks in his stomach. While he was gone, we discovered that Winston’s wife had gone missing. Max transformed himself into air and went backstage to see what he could find. In the basement, he found more members of the Black Scorpion Tong as well as a secondary basement. This floor contained a rat of enormous size and Winston’s wife chained to a wall. As soon as Winston returned to us, we assaulted the first group of Black Scorpions. They also wielded goblin make hook swords. With the first group dispatched, we confronted the second group. This time they were with Mr. Ping. Mr. Ping proved to be a deadly foe. One scratch from his dagger and my reserves were nearly exhausted. It was difficult but we managed to destroy Mr. Ping and his associates, rescue Winston’s wife and escape.
We did find reference to a hidden palace and as the Bowery Theater had goblin wards upon it, we figured they may have used goblin wards upon their other headquarters. A short trip to the Goblin Market told us that they would not share any details about the wards they had put in place, but they were interested in any special pearls we found when we entered the hidden palace. We decided to track the mundane yet aware Black Scorpion Tong and see if they could lead us to this place. It turns out that this plan worked so we found the building and after Edith scryed upon the building, we went to the building next door and went to the roof. The roof of our target had four shadow scorpions the size of a small carriage and four Black Scorpions armed with goblin blades. Battle ensued and one of the Black Scorpions cleaved my wand in two. I had to resort to bashing things with my cane. As the Sting of Serket, protected me from their venom, I engaged the shadow scorpions. We managed to win without setting off any alarms.
Entering the hidden palace, we found a gallery with many mundane and magical artifacts. Winston also located a concealed vault that contained three petrified hearts, a fortune in gold and enough of the soul pearls to make all of us quite wealthy. Max wasted no time in destroying the pearls and as the gold was quite heavy and not really the point of our mission, we took the hearts and left the gold for later. As we went down, we found an alchemical lab with several potions labeled in Mandarin. Unfortunately, Fu Ban was called away before we could enter the hidden palace so none of us could decipher the language. On the next level, we found a cabinet that could not be opened but it had a depression that seemed similar to the amulet that Max carried. With equal parts of curiosity, youthful bravado, and silent consent. Max placed the amulet upon the cabinet. The cabinet opened to reveal an extradimensional palace. At this time, Wen Xiang appeared behind us and thanked us for opening the cabinet. He animated his shadow and battle began anew. The battle was fierce but after several exchanges of spells, Wen Xiang entered the open cabinet and shut the door. As we could not get in and as the cabinet disappeared with an onrush of wind, we decided to continue exploring the building.
We found a book in Latin with notes in the margins in Mandarin. I assimilated the book and discovered it was about summoning a creature called the Bloated Woman. The Bloated Woman is a ‘Herald of the Outer Gods’ and its presence could bring about the release of a God of Chaos trapped at the center of the universe. It said it was possible to summon the Bloated Woman before her time but it would require a large investment of magic. We also found notes on a magical enhancement net that would siphon power off of mages to fuel the creature. Most disturbing was a map that had all the nexus’ marked on it. It seems Wen Xiang was going to use the Bloated Woman to destroy the wizarding society. We started to fight two Chinese vampires but as one of them ripped hunks of flesh off my body, Edith waved the petrified hearts at them and threatened to incinerate them. They stopped and told us the people we were looking for are on the next floor down.
We continued to search the building and we found four people, in what we assumed was a magical enhancement net and a young Chinese woman. The young woman transformed into a corpulent thing with an array of tentacles. Her very presence caused the floor around her to become like mud and the space around her to warp. The others attacked her as I went to the prisoners and the net. I had two choices; I could kill the four people outright and disrupt the net or I could disengage each person one at a time while restructuring the matrix to make sure it didn’t kill anyone. It really wasn’t a choice. I started to disengage the prisoners while my friends battled the Bloated Woman. I managed to free two of them before the matrix crashed. With the destruction of the matrix, the Bloated Woman returned to her waiting for the time yet unknown for her return. The other two were dying but the Shroud of Nepthys managed to prolong their lives as well as mine until Edith could tend to our injuries.
Wen Xiang fled with his cabinet, the Bloated Woman returned to her post and some of the lost people we were looking for were recovered. Unfortunately, Miss Mulligan, Jeff Hobb’s wife was not found. While my interaction with Mr. Hobb was limited to clubbing him over the back of the head, I do feel sorry for his loss and I feel partly responsible for her death. William Jacobs and Delores Manray were rescued which leads us to another problem. Mr. Jacobs has the potential for magic. He has pierced the Veil. It is up to him but he has a choice of having his memory obliviated or learning a new way of life.
Winston contacted the Concilium as we knew we had to report the Black Scorpion Tong. Violent mundanes with goblin made blades that can pierce the Veil. It might have been too much for us to handle, but the heavy hand of the Concilium will come down hard on any one sporting a Black Scorpion tattoo.