Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
The Party having successfully located the boar-incised piece of the Kalachakra, Po insisted that redolent reminders of swine be sluiced from Penrington before the group proceeded in its search for the palace of Kublai Khan. The Party returned to the Tibetan Buddhist temple to learn more. Built some 600 years ago, the compound - which was a hunting lodge rather than a palace per se, was no longer in evidence. Kublai Khan himself had been responsible for the spread of Tibetan Buddhism into China. Recalling Samuel Coleridge's poem, "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan..," Voronika commented drily, "Well, he had hedonism down pat." However, if the Party wanted to find a sage to tell them more about that period of history, it took money and time to become an apprentice.
The next day, Voronika spent time questioning locals and learned that outside of Chengdu, to the west, there were more ruins to be found. Sister Sunshine looked politely triumphant at the notion of looking to the west, so the troop allowed her to bring the Mustang horse as they followed that clue. The horse veered off the road onto an un-farmed fallow plain; the Party followed. Eventually the beast stopped to munch grass. Forester, looking around, thought that the hummocks sticking well up from the ground were too regular. With a bit of digging, they discovered that statues were hidden under a foot of sod. Each statue revealed seemed to be a life-sized musician, each one unique, made of marble. Forester and Ramsey started taking notes: there seemed to be a double rank of such statues. Steele continued digging down; at the six-foot level, he uncovered marble flagstone.
Ramsey: "The fact that this site has not been touched by peasants indicates that they were frightened of it."
Voronika: "It's been covered a long time, to have so much sod."
Forester set up his camera to record the site. His first picture was ruined by a glow fogging the picture. It seemed to be coming from behind the photographed statues.
Penrington: "Something is interfering with your picture-taking."
Forester tried again but was bumped by the horse, again returning a blurred picture. As he worked a breeze came up from behind. The horse winked and led Sister Sunshine down the pathway between the ranks of statues. The druidess realized that she was expending Endurance as the wind picked up strongly enough to strip some of the sod from a nearby statue.
As the Party clustered around the druidess and the horse, it became clear that they were in the middle of a twister. Sod was rapidly being whipped away. Sister Sunshine continued to move past the 12 pairs of musicians to a marble door and archway in a large building that hadn't been seen earlier.
Po: "Are you doing this or is the horse?"
Sister Sunshine: "I must be; this is tiring."
The wind dropped and the druidess found that her END use had stopped [down 5 long terms] as she stepped into the building. The corridor was decorated with carved pictures of large battle scenes. Po teased Forester, "This would make quite a picture!" Those who could read Mandarin saw that the archway was dedicated to Wang Jian. It proved to be but a gatehouse in a wall around a green space extending about a square mile. Four buildings - 3 large and one small - and a reflecting pond could be seen within the compound.
Ramsey: "In 600 years, one would expect the pool lining to have deteriorated."
Voronika: "The close buildings or the farthest?"
Steele: "Both."
Po: "How far away do we want to get from Sister Sunshine?"
Voronika: "Why don't we all go try the little building first."
Sunshine: "All right. It seems simple enough to examine the small building and work our way back."
Thus the Party traveled between two large buildings to go nearly to the center of the compound where the third large building was flanked on the right by the small building, on the left by the pool.
Ramsey: "There's something sneaky out here," noticing flitterings viewed from the corner of his eyes.
Forester: "The little building looks like some of the interior buildings in temples we've seen. Those inner buildings usually house relics or a meditation chamber or workshops for the monks." The center building nearby was larger than manor houses on most Anglish country estates.
Voronika too noted figures out of the corner of her eye; they seemed to be moving at some distance.
Po opened the door to the small building; perceptive people heard a soft gong.
Sister Sunshine cast Light into the darkened building [it cost double END]; the wind started up again and tiny glowing winged horse apparitions flew into and around the room, making vision possible. The group could see it was a scriptorium. The walls had bright freshly painted murals. There was nothing on its podium, albeit standing by the podium was the familiar figure of the old oriental with one tooth and a loincloth. He smiled. Penrington exclaimed, "Now we need another blanket."
Voronika, who had been trying to stay on guard against the hard-to-see distant figures, heard the request for a blanket and entered the building. She presented the old oriental with her shawl. The Old Man put his hand out in an introductory gesture. There stepped out from the wall a powerful Chinese man in fine armor.
Voronika: "Does anyone else see this guy?"
Though everyone was sorely tempted to answer "what guy" Sister Sunshine replied: "Yes. He is dressed in formal costume."
Po muttered an introduction and bowed deeply to the warrior. The warrior returned the bow to a lesser degree (as would be appropriate, elder to younger), "I am General Wang Jian. I have heard of you. The Conqueror brought your word here."
Po: "Why is the book not displayed?"
Wang: "The Conqueror only brought it when he came here."
Po: "Have you been at rest?"
Wang: "I was here before the Conqueror came. He has treated me badly, defiled my home.
Po: "Can we rectify that?"
Wang: "Restore me to my place. You will find my bones hidden by the elements. They belong in the temple-tomb in the center."
Po: "Where is that."
Wang: "It is here, in the center."
Voronika whispered: "Probably in the central big building."
Wang continued, "If you do that, I will see that you get the thing you came for. This audience is at an end."
The Party now had time to observe the murals that depicted a mix of Mongols and other peoples. The Mongol figures were the largest and were decorated with gold. They seemed to drive before them slaves and be followed by women and children. However there was one boy, painted with long earlobes and a faint glow, who seemed to appear in places of prominence; he was always in front of the biggest of the three main Mongol figures.
Steele, looking at that Mongol figure: "Reminds me of the giant figure back in Anglia who fought with Britannia."
Other parts of the murals seemed to be paintings of things described in the Bardo Thokal, the Book of Dying: cyclops with clubs, three canyons, and big shafts of light. Also, inscribed around the walls were the animals of the Zodiac in their celestial order: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Serpent, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig.
Ramsey suggested checking the pond because it held water, the Western "element" corresponding to the oriental WangThang, Personal Power. As the group left the small building, Voronika could see that the elusive figures seemed to be on horseback. The reflecting pool was constructed of nicely fitted rocks, creating a shallow lip, some 50-60 feet across. The rocks had been covered with a ceramic or plaster lining to retain the water, which was clear and without any sediment. Sister Sunshine glanced at her horse and saw, on its back, a white-bearded old man gazing intently into the pond. He spoke, "Paths of the Old. The Elements are here. Conflict brews. The opening is below." Quickly she repeated the words to her companions.
Po: "Very nice pronunciation." The druidess vaguely realized the boy had complimented her on her Mandarin.
A rope around her waist, and the men of the party studiously looking away, Voronika went swimming, finding the pool some 14-feet deep, its sides sloping to a round metal plate at the bottom. She quickly pulled her hand away from touching the plate; it was hot. She returned to her companions and the group discussed approaches: Voronika could try to pry the plate up with her magic sword or Steele could use his strength to muscle through. Steele gave the gypsy a magnet and she returned to the plate to discover that it was non-magnetic. After the rope was attached to him, Steele opted to slide down into the pond and walk along the bottom. His IR showed the plate glowing with heat. The metal had expanded to make a tight fit. He punched a small hole in the plate using the converted gun in his arm. Out of the hole spurted a red jet of boiling lava [13 Body of which 7 got through Steele's defenses]. Seeing the steam, the Party pulled the rope. It came up, burnt off at the end.
Sunshine cast Strength upon Penrington and Po cast his Force Fields. Then Penrington slid down into the pool to find the mechanical man, taking damage [11,3] from the boiling water. Penrington saw that Steele's weapon arm was encased in hot rock and that the steel man himself seemed unconscious. He attached the rope to Steel. Forester and Ramsey pulled from above; Po jumped in and helped Penrington push from below. As they leveraged the mechanical man out, it was plain that the water was boiling off at a rapid rate. Forester cast his Force Wall to keep the liquid lava from sliding back down the pond and covering the hole. The jet of lava tended to cool and solidify as it hit cooler water.
Penrington could not wrestle the rock off of Steele's arm. It took two swings (and the destruction of) Po's staff before the stuff cracked enough the most of it could be pulled off. [Steele would be minus 3 OCV with that arm until it could be properly repaired.] Meanwhile Voronika noted that the lava had run out before the water did, as the remaining water vanished down the hole from which the lava had spurted. She saw a wisp of steam from the hole in the plate and dove for cover.
A huge explosion blew out the bottom of the pond, blinding and deafening [2 phases] the Party (save for Voronika's sight) and knocking them down. Voronika saw a band of ethereal Mongol horsemen fly from the crater and land amongst the flitting figures at the edge of her vision, merging with them and giving them a solidity that could be seen straight on. Down in the crater, the lava had cooled to make almost steps down to a 3-foot hole. She immediately headed down into the hot, steamy, stinky pit. Holding her breath, she found a small, pretty red chest, completely undamaged by the explosion. Knowing it for the container of Wang's bones, the gypsy scooped it up and started back up. At the edge of the former pond, she saw the Mongol horsemen had organized themselves for a charge. "Run for the building!" she screamed and acted herself, running faster than anyone in the Party had seen anyone do before. She opened the nearest side door.
Sister Sunshine clambered onto the horse. (Somewhere in her consciousness, she realized she'd just seen all of the Chinese elements - La, earth; Sok, air; Lu, fire; WangThang, water; Lungta, the wind horse - but that seemed unimportant for the moment.) Penrington tried to hold the rear as the Party fled the impressive ghostly charge. Penrington slammed the door shut and sacrificed his machete to bar it. The door opened into a corridor lined with more doors. Voronika continued far in the lead. Ramsey, the druidess on the horse, and Forester followed at some distance. Po, Steele and Penrington held the door in case the Mongol horsemen tried to follow. The hallway was about two hexes wide.
Trying to reach the center of the tomb-temple, Voronika ran through a door into a room, which had stairs going up and down. Four skeletons with swords suddenly accosted her. Screaming, the gypsy backpedaled into the hallway. Back in the corridor, a skeleton stepped out of a doorway and turned to face Ramsey. The clatter of battle commenced.
Po moved up to assist Ramsey. Steele and Penrington moved up next to the horse. Another skeleton stepped out in front of Steele who blocked its swing. Two more came out next to Po. The skeletons seemed to be fast [SPD 3 DEX 20]. Ramsey and Po both blocked while Voronika moved to attack, as did Steele. Unfortunately, it seemed to take more than one blow to down a skeleton.
Voronika was hit in the chest and Po took two blows to the chest and were shielded in part by their Force Fields, although the gypsy was knocked to the floor. Penrington wiggled up next to Steele and, drawing his sword, hit the damaged skeleton in the chest, destroying it. Sister Sunshine dropped her Strength spell in order to Heal Voronika at a distance. She thought she saw tiny ethereal Pegasai glowing green, fly from her casting to circle her patient.
Steele pressed forward to damage one of Po's opponents. Two skeletons continued to hack on the downed gypsy in the thigh and shoulder driving her unconscious. Po took two more hits in the shoulder and fell; the Force Fields around the Party members faded. Forester leaned out to get a view and cast Force Wall between Voronika and her attackers. Penrington stepped over the Chinese boy's body and took out the skeleton Steele had damaged. Ramsey disengaged and stepped back to fire his gun, ineffectually.
The druidess continued to Heal from a distance [10,28 on Po], fearful that she would be unable to aid all of the skeleton's victims. Luckily the skeletons seemed unable to break through the Force Wall. Steele dropped another skeleton. Two of the undead, frustrated by the Force Wall, disappeared back into doorways.
The battle continued as Ramsey discovered that his bayonet could be effective against the skeletons. Sunshine Healed Voronika again [7,27] and then Po again [4,12]. As Penrington moved forward, another skeleton came out of a door near Voronika's body, slicing the hunter's off hand [8,8], impairing it. Yet another skeleton emerged behind Penrington to attack the prone gypsy [torso crit]. Steele swung at that one, damaging it.
As various Heroes sliced and blocked, Steele boosted his strength and disarmed his opponent which, undeterred, kicked Voronika in the chest [for NO damage]. The druidess cast another Heal at Voronika [7, 24]. Penrington hit his opponent as it hit back in the vitals; Penrington fell. Steele and Ramsey finished up the remaining skeletons.
Slipping off her horse, Sister Sunshine Healed Penrington [12] and slipped into unconsciousness, completely drained by the effort it had taken to use her spells in this place.
Next Run: The Bones of Wang Jian. The Road to Lhasa?
(a) Cumulative (b) Cumulative since Volume II (c) Cumulative since Volume III
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